JACK
(transported with hope) ANGIEU!
He begins to STUMBLE toward the looming, indistinct figure. He falls, rolls in the snow, and lunges to his feet again. Behind him, HATCH gets out of the truck. In the background, FERD is doing the same on his side.
HATCH
Jack! Wait! That might not be-But it's useless. JACK is already melting into the snow himself, closing in on that WAVERING, STUMBLING FIGURE. HATCH starts after him. So does FERD.
21 EXTERIOR: JACK CARVER AFTERNOON.
He somehow keeps moving forward, CRYING HIS WIFE'S NAME over and over. HATCH can't keep up, and FERD is running a dead last. But now we can see that figure is a woman. As JACK closes in, the WOMAN falls herself, going facedown in the snow.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 275 JACK
Angie! Honey!
The WOMAN works to get to her feet, moving with the mechanical determination of a clockwork figure. And as she finally makes it, we see that it really is ANGIE CARVER ... but what a change!
BUSTER'S pretty mom is a thing of the past. This lurching, blank-faced creature looks seventy instead of twenty-eight, and the hair flying out behind her has GONE GRAY. Her eyes stare straight ahead through the snow, taking no notice of her husband. Her snow-coated face is PALE AND LINED.
JACK
(embraces her)
Angie! Honey! Oh, Angie, we been looking for you! Buster's so worried, honey!
He covers her face with kisses as he talks, constantly giving her little strokes and pats and touches, the way a parent will do with a child who has just had a close call. At first, JACK is so relieved that he doesn't realize she isn't responding. Then it starts to get through to him.
JACK Angie? Honey?
He draws back, really seeing her for the first time seeing the glazed blankness in her eyes and seeing the gray hair that used to be black. He reacts with HORROR AND AMAZEMENT.
HATCH comes stumbling up, badly winded. FERD is bringing up the rear. And now we hear the RUMBLE of the Sno-Cat, returning from its marketing expedition.
JACK
J/V^JV
Angie, what happened to you? What's wrong?
He looks at HATCH, but there's no help there. HATCH is also stunned by the change in her; so's FERD. JACK turns back to his wife and takes her by the shoulders.
JACK
What happened, Ange? What did he do to you? Where did he take you? Where are the others, do you know?
276 STEPHEN KING
210
A large YELLOW EYE looms out of the snow the headlamp of the Sno-Cat. ANGIE sees it, and as MIKE pulls up, it seems to break her loose from the deep daze she's been in. Her gaze moves to her husband and begins to fill with frantic FEAR.
ANGIE
We have to give him what he wants.
JACK What, honey? I couldn't hear you.
HATCH
(he heard just fine) Linoge?
The doors of the Sno-Cat open. MIKE and the others get out and begin floundering toward HATCH, FERD, and the CARVERS. ANGIE takes no notice. She stares only at JACK, and when she speaks, she does so with RISING HYSTERIA.
ANGIE
Linoge, yes, him. We have to give him what he wants, he sent me back to tell you. That's the only reason he didn't let me fall so I'd tell you. We have to give him what he wants! Do you understand? We have to give him what he wants!
MIKE takes her by the shoulder and turns her toward him.
MIKE What does he want, Angela? Did he tell you?
At first she doesn't answer. They cluster around her, waiting, anxious.
ANGIE
He said he'll tell us tonight. He said we're going to have a special town meeting, and he'll tell us then. He said that if some folks don't want to go along . . . don't want to do what's best for the town
. . . that they should be reminded of the dreams we had last night. That they should be reminded of what happened in Roanoke. That they should remember Croaton, whatever that is.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 277
MIKE
(perhaps to himself) His name, maybe. His real name.
ANGIE
(turns back to JACK) Take me inside. I'm freezing. And I want to see Buster.
JACK
Sure.
He puts an arm around her and leads her slowly back toward the town hall. MIKE goes to HATCH.
MIKE Any sign of Bill Timmons or George Kirby?
HATCH
No. Janie Kingsbury, either.
MIKE Jane Kingsbury's dead.
211
(to SONNY) Take it in, would you?
SONNY climbs up into the cab of the Sno-Cat and revs the engine. MIKE and HATCH start to walk toward the town hall, MIKE telling HATCH about MRS. K.
22 EXTERIOR: THE SIDE OF THE TOWN HALL, HIGH ANGLE AFTERNOON.
From here, we can barely see the line of ISLANDERS; trudging slowly back to the buildings through the drifts, they look like ants on safari across a desert of sugar. The Sno-Cat, piloted by SONNY BRAUTIGAN, drives slowly past them toward the building. We hold on this, then: FADE TO BLACK. THIS ENDS ACT 1.
Act 2
23 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN DOCK VERY LATE AFTERNOON.
Well . . . where the town dock used to be. The tide is rising again, and MONSTER WAVES pound at the shore. We see overturned boats, splintered lobster traps, shattered chunks of piling, tattered skeins of netting.
24 EXTERIOR: THE HEADLAND VERY LATE AFTERNOON.
The ocean ebbs and flows over the FALLEN LIGHTHOUSE. One wave ROLLS IN and deposits something beside the shattered circular window of the control room.
25 EXTERIOR: OUTSIDE THE CONTROL ROOM LATE AFTERNOON.
It's the waterlogged body of old GEORGE KIRBY. There's a GROWING ROAR as the next wave comes in and pulls the body away.
26 EXTERIOR: THE BUSINESS SECTION OF TOWN LATE AFTERNOON.
The storm is still howling away, and now the business buildings are buried halfway to the tops of their show windows.
