The Passage

ocean going vessels can be see floating, bottom up.

Mark's eyes have filled with tears, and he glances upward, not wanting to look

down. Finally he glances down to check on Brian, talking to himself.

At least you're not there to see all this. Time to

say goodby. Nothing left to live for.

Mark points the hot air jet directly at the parachute lines, melting them one

by one. The rig begin to tip to the side, suddenly plunging into the ocean

below.

71

-Harms Way-

Colonel Cage is fluffing the bedding he's been given, a cloth bag filled with

straw. He's laid his clothing out across the end of the bed, neatly as a

military man would do, and is down to his underwear, a grimly T-shirt and pair

of boxer shorts. He adjusts the back of his T-shirt collar, and then leans

back into the straw tick bedding, with a sigh. A puzzled look comes over his

face, and he fusses with the back of the T-shirt collar again, this time

getting an alarmed look, pulling the T-shirt over his face and staring at the

collar now in front of his face.

Oh, my God ..

Colonel Cage and Ian are in the council room. The light is dim, only a single

oil lamp burning, placed on the table. Colonel Cage has gotten Ian out of bed.

He's holding his T-shirt in front of him, under Ian's nose, shaking with rage.

Damn them to hell, they've bugged me, they know where

we are, and they'll be coming after us!

Ian looks puzzled and glances up into Colonel CageS’s eyes, staring steadily

by way of asking for an explanation. Colonel Cage sighs and seeing he has to

fill in the pieces, struggles to calm down.

It’s a wire. I didn't know I was carrying it. If it’s

live and I've got no reason to think it’s not, they

can trace me, trace this thing, and it'll lead them

right to where we're at.

A thought crosses his mind and he suddenly drops the T-shirt to the floor and

grinds the shirt collar under his heel until he hears a crunch.

But you don't know how long it’s been there, or even

if it works.

Colonel Cage’s face goes blank, as he realizes that he can't give Ian and the

others all the insight that he has, an impossible education in too short a

time. He finally explains, after struggling with himself over the issue.

Expect the worst.

_______________________________

The fog horn blowing softly again, a signal that some visitors have arrived at

the river bank across the river. Colonel Cage, uneasy from the night before,

jerks and twitches in his sleep, his eyes suddenly opening with a start. The

men's hut is a bunk for over a dozen men, all with similar primitive bedding

arrangements, all out in the open. Colonel Cage slips into his pants and

takes off toward the door, even before his pants are buttoned.

72

Ian is standing under a tree where he is barely visible in the shadows.

Colonel Cage walks up to him, his white T-shirt visible as a waving flag as he

moves between the trees. Ian says,

You've been seen.

A sleepy Colonel Cage quickly flattens himself behind a tree.

Too late, they've sighted you.

A group of men is on the shoreline across the river, dressed in dirty casual

clothes. Colonel Cage, his jaw tight and slightly twitching with the tension,

speaks in a soft voice, almost to himself.

I'll bet that's them. They've been killing and eating

families.

Ian glances at Colonel Cage, not shocked as he's suspected as much.

I'll post a watch to make sure they don't cross.

_______________________________

Frank is vigorously chopping at a pile of green chunks, the original

vegetables no longer recognizable, both hands on the chopper and heaving his

shoulders into it. He is chatting away non-stop with Madge, the stocky cook,

who is reaching into her herb jars.

The Death Card came up, and we all knew this was

coming ..

Madge has a grim look on her face, her perpetual expression, and says nothing,

but Frank is not put off. She hands him another handful of roots to chop. The

soft sound of a chopper's blades are barely heard at first, but increase in

volume. Frank stops, mid-chop, to listen intently. A silent black whisper

chopper is coming along the river, in the center of the river, but veers

toward the bluff.

_______________________________

Ian touches each camp member as they hurry past him, their personal belongings

clutched in their arms. All are rushing, single file, into the woods and into

a ravine, out of sight of anyone on the river or in the air. No one is

hysterical or challenging Ian's decision.

In the woman's hut, Danny is pleading with Daisy to come along. She seems

unaware of any danger, is brushing it all off, and is treating him like a

hysteric.

.. You don't understand, people have been killed,