SOUND:
THE REVELLERS HAMMER THEIR FISTS ON THE TABLES.
VICTIM 2:
(LIKE VICTIM 1, HE’S GAGGED, BUT TRIES DESPARATELY TO SPEAK)
SAM:
Am I pronouncing your name right, Nixau? Ah, who cares? It says here that Nixau hails from Tanzania – makes a change from all the Filipinos we’ve had tonight - and that he speaks very little English. But I think we can all guess what he’s trying to say. All right, lower the device!
SOUND:
AS BEFORE, A CLANKING OF CHAINS AS THE DEVICE IS LOWERED. THRU TO CICERO’S CONTROL ROOM. THE SCENE IN THE DINING HALL CAN BE HEARD IN DISTORT OVER THE SCREEN.
BRUNO:
What is that thing? It looks like a... a...
ALEXA:
Like a sarcophagus. What are those thing sticking out of the bottom of it?
CICERO:
Just rubber tubing. Nothing complicated. It was designed by Momma Cicero’s great-grandpa. A variation on the iron maiden. Still works.
SALT:
I don’t get it, why haven’t they changed?
CICERO:
(BEMUSED) Changed?
ALEXA:
Ignore him, what’s going to happen to that man? I saw him on the boat, what are they doing to him?
CICERO:
What they did to all the others. They put him in the device...
SOUND:
FAINTLY, OVER THE SCREEN, THE COMPLAINING VICTIM IS FORCED INTO THE DEVICE...
CICERO:
Raise it up over the table...
SOUND:
MORE CLANKING OF CHAINS. THE CROWD ARE GETTING INTO A FRENZY NOW, BEATING THE TABLE. THE CLANKING CEASES, AS DOES THE BEATING. AN AGONISINGLY LONG PAUSE.
CICERO:
Then down come the spikes.
SOUND:
THRU TO THE DINING HALL. AS BEFORE, TWO HALVES OF A LARGE METALLIC OBJECT SLAM TOGETHER. SHARP BLADES PIERCE THE VICTIM.
VICTIM 2:
(A STRANGLED CRY UNDER HIS GAG...)
SOUND:
...FOLLOWED SECONDS LATER BY THE STEADY DRIPPING OF BLOOD. THE DINERS ROAR. THRU TO THE CONTROL ROOM. ALL THAT CAN BE HEARD OVER THE SCREENS IS THE BARELY-HUMAN EXCITEMENT OF THE LORRIMERS.
CICERO:
Momma drinks first, of course. After that, it’s a free-for-all, until all the blood’s run down the tubes. Nasty blockage last year. Almost ruined the whole-
ALEXA:
Shut up!
BRUNO:
(STUNNED) Vampires. They’re vampires.
CICERO:
They’re not vampires! They’re... sick.
BRUNO:
No shit. What the hell are they?
CICERO:
It’s a disease – porphyria. This is the most acute case on record. Or it would be, if the Lorrimers hadn’t made sure it was never recorded. There are a lot of strange symptoms, but the most powerful of all is a craving for human blood.
BRUNO:
They can’t all have it! That’s impossible.
CICERO:
It’s an inherited condition. Trust me, they all have it. And this is their once-a-year opportunity to indulge it.
ALEXA:
OK, Salt, you’re supposed to be the one with the ideas, what do we do? (NO REPLY) I said what do we do?
SALT:
(VOMITS...)
SOUND:
...ALL OVER THE FLOOR.
ALEXA:
Great. That’s useful.
BRUNO:
We have to get out of here!
SALT:
(SPITS. THEN, SO HUSKY IT’S HARD TO MAKE OUT) The radio.
BRUNO:
What?
SALT:
Use the radio, call the cops on the mainland, and get them out here.
BRUNO:
I can’t call the cops. I’ll be deported.
SALT:
It’s deported or dead, Bruno!
CICERO:
Make it easy on yourselves, give up now. If you get them excited, it’ll be carnage.
SALT:
Shut up! (TO BRUNO) Bruno, the radio.
BRUNO:
(RELUCTANT) Fine!
SOUND:
THRU TO THE DINING HALL. IT’S QUIETENING DOWN A LITTLE.
SAM:
We still seem to have a couple more names here. I don’t know what the hold- up is. Has anybody seen Ned? Forget that, has anyone seen Cicero?
SOUND:
ALARMS START TO WAIL.
SAM:
What the hell-?
SOUND:
THE LORRIMERS SUDDENLY GO INSANE – THEIR REACTION IS MORE LIKE MADDENED ANIMALS THAN HUMAN BEINGS. THRU TO THE CONTROL ROOM. THE ALARM IS SOUNDING THERE, TOO, BUT NOT AS LOUD, SO DIALOG IS AUDIBLE.
SALT:
What did you do?
CICERO:
I didn’t do anything! How could I?
ALEXA:
I did it!
SALT:
Why?
ALEXA:
We need help, don’t we? So I pressed the alarm.
SALT:
There’s no-one on this island but the Lorrimers!
BRUNO:
(UNDER THIS DIALOG, HE’S TALKING ON THE RADIO) Yes, Seagull Island!/ Yes, where the Lorrimers are! Someone needs to come right now! Send a boat or a helicopter, please!/ Our lives are in danger! We- we’ve seen a murder!
SALT:
(TO BRUNO: BY THIS TIME, THE SALT/CICERO/ALEXA EXCHANGE HAS FINISHED) Don’t give him any details!
BRUNO:
(PROTESTING) But-
SALT:
Just don’t! They’d never believe you, take my word for it.
BRUNO:
(INTO THE RADIO) Hello? Yeah, I’m still here. At the dock. OK, we’ll be waiting.
SOUND:
HE SETS THE RADIO DOWN.
BRUNO:
We’ve got to get to the dock, they’re sending a boat.
SALT:
Great. Anybody remember the way out?
BRUNO:
(WHO DOESN’T) Uh...
ALEXA:
I do.
CICERO:
You won’t get away without me! The alarms will have sent the Lorrimers wild now! They’ll kill anything that moves!
BRUNO:
So stop moving!
SOUND:
BRUNO SMASHES THE GUN INTO CICERO’S HEAD.
CICERO:
(GRUNTS AS...)
SOUND:
HE COLLAPSES.
SALT:
You knocked him out!
BRUNO:
He was lucky. I could’ve used this thing to shoot him instead.
SALT:
You’re a ruthless son of a bitch, Bruno, you know that? What are you, Russian Mafia?
BRUNO:
Russian? I’m from Bosnia.
SALT:
Whatever. We’ve got to get out of here. No, wait! We- we can’t risk them finding us with the cameras. We’ve got to destroy all these screens.
BRUNO:
Got it.
SOUND:
HE FIRES THE GUN, DESTROYING A MONITOR.
SALT:
Don’t waste bullets, just smash them!
SOUND:
ANOTHER MONITOR IS BROKEN.
ALEXA:
Oh God! Cicero, he’s bleeding!
BRUNO:
Good!
SOUND:
HE SMASHES ANOTHER MONITOR.
SALT:
We can’t do anything for him, Alexa, we’ve got to get out of here! Come on!
SOUND:
ONE FINAL MONITOR SMASH.
ANNOUNCER:
We’ll return to Fangoria’s Dreadtime Stories – after this.
ANNOUNCER:
And now back to Fangoria’s Dreadtime Stories and the conclusion to “Table Scraps.”
NARRATOR:
At the end of every dining experience, it comes time to pay the check. But for Isaac Salt, would-be exposer of conspiracies- turned fugitive is hoping, praying, that the responsibility will not fall to him. For the first time since he originally logged onto the internet, he has no interest whatsoever in revealing to the public what the decadent Lorrimer family are really all about. Right now, he’ll be happy to escape still possessing every last drop of the blood his pursuers are so anxious to consume. Many visitors to Seagull Island have expressed a similar wish. To date, only one man, private security consultant Seymour Cicero, has been able to come and go as he pleases. But such privileges can also be withdrawn...
SOUND:
THRU TO THE CONTROL ROOM. THE ALARM IS STILL SOUNDING. SEVERAL PEOPLE ENTER.
CICERO:
(GROANS)
SAM:
(MORE ANNOYED THAN CONCERNED) Oh, God. Cicero. Cicero, wake up.
SOUND:
HE SLAPS CICERO’S FACE.
CICERO:
(FAINT) Mr Lorrimer... Thank God.
SAM:
Jerry, turn that damn
