ARCTIC BLUE

ARCTIC BLUE

by Ross LaManna

FADE IN:

1 EXT. BOREAL FOREST - ALASKA - (AERIAL SHOT) - DAY

Flying. Not at the intangible height of a jet, but at

spitting distance from the treetops. We're in central

Alaska, the Big Lonely, just north of the Arctic Circle.

A thick forest follows the contours of mountain foothills

like a deep-pile carpet. Up at treeline the forest thins to

tundra, a grassy scruff turning red and yellow with the

coming of autumn.

On the horizon, the hills rise to meet the Endicott

Mountains, a great fortress wall of granite so sharp and

jagged that snow cannot stick to its face. This is how all

North America once looked -- raw, indomitable.

Then, abruptly coming into the SCENE is a colossal etching

across the landscape too deliberate to be of natural origin.

Bisecting this country like a metallic ribbon -- or a scar,

depending on your point of view -- is the 800-mile-long

Trans-Alaskan Pipeline.

Even the immensity of the pipeline is rendered insignificant

by the vastness of the land. It goes on, and on, and on...

DISSOLVE TO:

A lone MAN walks along the Haul Road, a one-lane gravel

trail running parallel to the pipeline. The weather turns

sour -- rough wind and stinging snow cut across the man's

path.

DISSOLVE TO:

The man is ERIC DESMOND, twenty-four, clean-shaven,

determined. He's clearly out of place here, dressed in a

business suit and a light, camel-hair topcoat.

Eric is trying to follow some footprints in the snow -- a

predator's tracks, those of a wolf or coyote. But the

footprints ahead have faded, covered by the snow and wind.

DISSOLVE TO:

The weather becomes more oppressive. Heavy snow, gale winds

and sub-zero temperatures make his progress tortuous. Eric

strives stubbornly forward.

(CONTINUED)

1 CONTINUED:

DISSOLVE TO:

Eric has gathered some branches. He tries to make a fire.

Moisture from his breath has frozen in the upturned collar

of his insufficient coat, and his skin is split raw from the

cold.

His hands are too numb to hold the matches. After several

attempts at striking one, he slumps down next to the pile of

wood, exhausted and frustrated.

DISSOLVE TO:

The snow has covered the pile of branches. Eric still sits

next to it, partially covered in snow himself.

ERIC

His face is a death mask: eyes half-open and dull, lips a

purplish blue, bloodless skin crystallizing as it ices over.

The wind HOWLS around him. The snow sticks to his eyelashes

and hair without melting.

END DREAM

2 INT. DARK BEDROOM - NIGHT

Eric bolts up in bed. Next to him, ANNE MARIE GAUVIN sits

up and hugs him. All that can be seen of her in the dark is

a lovely silhouette and a cascade of dark hair. After a

moment, Eric kisses her. He shakes off the dream and lies

back down.

3 EXT. HAUL ROAD AND PIPELINE - CLOSE - DAY

A metal sign, peppered with shotgun holes, is posted near a

pipeline support piling:

PIPELINE UTILITY CORRIDOR

PRIVATE PROPERTY

NO TRESPASSING

NO HUNTING

NO TRAPPING

NO SHOOTING

WIDER

Eric walks quietly past the sign, intent on something ahead

of him. Although still somewhat boyish in appearance, he's

confident and resolute in attitude. His clothes have a

distinctly western feel: Lucchese boots, Levis 501's, Mahan

cotton shirt. His down parka is unzipped in the sunny,

windless, forty-degree afternoon.

(CONTINUED)

3 CONTINUED:

He pauses, then brings to his shoulder a rifle with a

four-power scope mounted atop it. He peers through the

scope.

HIS POV - THROUGH SCOPE

He puts the crosshairs on the shoulder flank of a big,

ivory-white timber wolf, fifty yards away.

BACK TO SCENE

Anne Marie stands beside Eric, a Nikon with a telephoto lens

in her hand, holding her breath in anticipation. She's

twenty-three, pretty, with soft features and piercing blue

eyes. She wears Eddie Bauer woman's gear like she was born

in it.

Eric expertly fixes his aim and slowly squeezes the trigger.

But instead of a loud retort, there is only the dull POP of

a CO2-powered dart gun.

NEW ANGLE

The tranquilizer dart finds its mark in the wolf's fleshy

shoulder. The wolf takes off running, but almost

immediately slows, sits, then lies down.

Eric and Anne Marie hurry over to the wolf, who is breathing

deeply. Eric kneels next to him and strokes his thick fur.

ERIC

What a beauty.

(to Anne Marie)

Hand me the transmitter.

Anne Marie passes to Eric a tiny, weatherproof homing device

attached to a steel collar band. Eric puts the collar

loosely around the wolf's neck and crimps it in place, all

the while TALKING soothingly to the semi-conscious animal.

Anne Marie smiles at Eric's tenderness and snaps some

photos.

With the collar in place and transmitter activated, Eric

backs away while the wolf tries to rouse itself from its

narcosis.

ERIC

(continuing)

He's coming around fine.

ANNE MARIE

Be right back. I left my

camcorder in the car.

(CONTINUED)

3 CONTINUED: (2)

FOLLOW ANNE MARIE

as she hurries back to their International Scout. On the

door of the Scout is a stylized logo of an oil derrick,

under which are the words:

NORTHLAND PETROLEUM CORP.

Anne Marie opens the hatchback and grabs a video camera.

ANGLE ON ERIC AND THE WOLF

Eric smiles as the wolf wobbles tentatively to his feet and

trots unsteadily away. Near the treeline the wolf turns,

glances back at Eric and then disappears into the forest.

NEW ANGLE

Anne Marie is taping the wolf's retreat. Looking through

the viewfinder, she crosses a gully between a pipeline

piling and a rock formation. Eric turns toward her and a

glint of light in the debris at her feet catches his eye.

ERIC

Anne Marie! Stop!

She glances down. Something metal is half-buried in the

dead leaves and gravel.

ERIC

(continuing)

Don't move.

Eric runs over. He pokes at the object with a stick. With

a SNAP, a steel leg trap chomps the stick in half. Anne

Marie jumps back. Eric brushes the dead leaves on the

ground behind her and she carefully backtracks out of the

gully.

ERIC

(continuing)

Goddamn trappers!

He angrily rips the trap out of the ground, unearthing

several others attached to one another by a long chain.

ERIC

(continuing)

Takes nerve, laying traplines on

restricted land.

Eric slips the scope off the dart rifle and climbs up the

pipeline on foot pegs to the top of an anchoring poINT.

(CONTINUED)

3 CONTINUED: (3)

Using the scope as a telescope, he scans up and down the

Haul Road.

ANNE MARIE

What are you doing?

ERIC

He still might be around. I saw

fresh tire tracks coming in.

HIS POV - THROUGH SCOPE

The road and the pipeline stretch toward either horizon,

north and south. In the distance, a jeep is parked on the

Haul Road. Near it, a Man climbs down into another shallow

ravine.

BACK TO SCENE

Eric hurries down the footpegs.

ERIC

Man and a jeep, about a mile and

a half down.

He jumps into the Scout. Anne Marie stuffs her cameras into

the hatchback. As soon as she climbs in, Eric tears out.

4 INT. SCOUT - (MOVING SHOT)

It races along the dusty gravel road at 60 MPH.

5 EXT. HAUL ROAD

Startled at the APPROACH of the Scout, the Trapper uproots

his traps and runs out of the ravine. He WHISTLES and

another Trapper appears nearby.

6 INT. TRAPPERS' JEEP

They pile into their dilapidated, all-terrain jeep. It's

oddly well-equipped, however. Bolted to the dashboard is an

expensive tape player and a beat-up radio beacon receiver

with a round locating screen. They zoom off.

7 INT. SCOUT - (MOVING SHOT)

Eric stomps on the gas. The dust from the jeep obscures his

view but he's gaining on them anyway. Anne Marie hangs on

and squints her eyes against the choking dust.

8 INT. TRAPPERS' JEEP - (MOVING SHOT)

The driver is LEMALLE (35), a tall, ugly, rawboned Canadian.

His entire outfit is made of animal hide. He has long red

hair, and a reptilian face usually twisted into a sadistic

sneer. While driving, he scans along the pipeline.

LEMALLE

Where the fuck did you drop

Corbett off?

In the passenger seat, MITCHELL (38), chews tobacco and

looks grim. He's a squat, flat-faced Okie, with curly

matted hair and tired grey eyes. He's dressed in a brown

long coat and has a Colt .45 Peacemaker in a quick-draw

holster strapped to his leg. Despite his intimidating air,

confrontation is not his style.

He spots a figure up ahead, where the road crosses a muddy

creek.

MITCHELL

He's over there.

9 EXT. HAUL ROAD

Turning sharply, the trappers' jeep splashes through the

creek bed without slowing. Bouncing, it comes down hard

against the axle-deep bank at the creek's high water mark.

LeMalle tries to back out, but can't find traction in the

mud.

Eric stops the Scout thirty yards behind them.

10 INT. SCOUT

Eric opens his door. To Anne Marie:

ERIC

Stay here.

ANNE MARIE

Be careful -- there're two of

them.

Eric reaches in the back seat and hands something to Anne

Marie.

ERIC

If I unzip my parka, stick this

out the window.

11 EXT. HAUL ROAD

Eric confidently approaches the jeep.

(CONTINUED)

11 CONTINUED:

Then, a third trapper climbs from the creek. He's got a

line of traps slung around his neck and a world of

experience on his face. He's BEN CORBETT, a life-long

huntsman, somewhere past forty, weathered beyond his years.