HOT ZONE

Nancy -- that's all theory. Lab

trials. Nothing solid. It could

take months to get results.

Gerry holds her trying to calm her down. She fights him.

JAXX

This is not just about our Jamie

anymore. If we -- can't save her,

if we lose her, think about the

lives we can save in a month or a

year --

Jaxx is choking back her tears, knowing what she's saying

but keeping her duty to humanity always above all.

GERRY

You'll do the right thing by Jamie.

You always do the right thing.

She breaks. The airlock door hisses closed behind her.

She hesitates at the port -- then disappears.

RESUME - TV MONITOR

ANCHORWOMAN

One last question, Col. Peters; Is

the the virus airborne?

CUT TO:

EXT. BACKBONE MOUNTAINS - DAWN

HAWK'S POV - DESCENDING TO THE RIVER BELOW

Tiny's cabin comes into view on the bluff. It's snowing

lightly. The Raft. Karl motions. They turn into the

bank. Reese jumps out pulling them ashore.

ONSHORE - FOOT OF THE CLIFF

Each Man shoulders a pack of medical gear. They begin the

ascent up a steep trail. The AIT Leader talks softly on

his radio as they climb --

AIT LEADER

(on radio)

Bird dog -- we made dry land.

RADIO RESPONSE (V.O.)

Police are enroute on fire road.

ETA forty-five minutes. Half-it for

their Rescue Chopper -- over.

CUT TO:

EXT. TOP OF THE BLUFF - LATER

Reese pulls himself up over the bluff rim.

REESE'S POV - A MOUNTAIN LION

In his face. Fangs bared. Reese flails back -- pulling

Karl with him.

KARL GRABS REESE'S HAND -- stopping each other's fall.

THEIR POV - THE MOUNTAIN LION

It's been dead for hours. Wedged in the rocks. Reese

checks it for wounds.

REESE

No bullet entries. No arrow wounds.

Karl wipes the blood caked around its nose on a swab, them

from its mouth. He seals it in a baggie.

JOHNSON

Maybe the virus just jumped

species... again.

THE BLUFF - LOOKING DOWN

The AIT LEADER climbs up beside them eyeing the dead

animal. Each grabs a respirator off his utility belt and

slips it on.

EXT. CABIN - DAWN

No movement. The Team chuck their equipment in the trees.

JOHNSON

Hello!

Nothing. He raises his respirator.

JOHNSON

Hello! Mr. Whippert! I'm a Doctor.

Do you need medical attention?!

No response.

AIT LEADER

Maybe he's gone... or dead...

Karl stands to approach the house. Reese pulls him back.

TINY FIRES wildly from the window raking the trees --

-- FILLETING the ground all around them --

ROCK MOUND - THEY DIVE FOR COVER

Rounds rip the rocks. Karl looks at Reese and grins.

JOHNSON

He's alive. That's a good sign.

Reese looks at him like he's nuts.

REESE

You are certifiable --

JOHNSON

(peeking at the

house)

We'll see. Shuck me a syringe.

Load it with a 100cc's of "ketamine."

Another look from Reese as he opens his pack --

REESE

You're going to anesthetize him?

JOHNSON

Sounds good to me. Just got to get

close enough.

Reese looks at the AIT Leader. Now he knows Karl's crazy.

AIT LEADER

Doc, we should wait for the Cops.

MOVE WITH JOHNSON - CABIN IN VIEW

He crawls along the rocks talking a bluestreak.

JOHNSON

Mr. Whippert! We have medicine --

and a helicopter that can fly you to

a hospital.

(no response)

How long have you been sick? You

know -- when did you get your first

headache? Fever -- ?

THEIR POV - THE CABIN

No answer. Reese tosses Karl a pack of two syringes.

Karl signals to the AIT to split up making tough targets.

WITH JOHNSON - RUNNING ONE WAY

Tiny fires wildly.

WITH AIT LEADER - RUNNING THE OTHER WAY

The ground fillets around him. A round rips into his leg.

He goes down screaming.

JOHNSON DIVES behind a stack of firewood as bullets chew

up the pile --

THE CABIN - WIDER

Silence... Reese makes his way to the wounded man.

TO JOHNSON - BEHIND THE WOODPILE

JOHNSON

No, no, no, no, no! The Police are

coming and if you start shooting

you'll be dead. I don't want you to

die right now. I want you to get

well...

(a beat)

Now -- how long have you been sick?

ON THE CABIN - JOHNSON IN VIEW

TINY (O.S.) (INSIDE CABIN)

More'n a week... I think -- Can't

'member anymore -- Sorry...

His voice is weak. Strained. Karl crawls toward the

Van.

JOHNSON

Good. Maybe you're getting better.

Let me come in. Check you out.

HIS POV - THE CABIN DOOR

TINY (O.S.) (INSIDE CABIN)

No fuckin' way! If the heat come,

I'll shoot'em too.

He fires wildly from the window. Then clicks no ammo.

TO REESE: Dressing the AIT Leader's leg wound.

TO JOHNSON: Reaching the van. The passenger door is

open. Karl checks it out. Keys? Yes.

JOHNSON

I know how you feel, Tiny. I can

help you. Walk out now, while

there's still time.

THE CABIN - VAN IN VIEW

Tiny answers with more gunfire. Karl turns on the engine,

the car radio and releases the emergency brake. Country

and Western blares.

THE VAN - ROLLING TOWARD THE CABIN

KARL RUNS behind it using it for cover --

TINY RAKES the front of the Van. A wheel hits a rock

jolting it off line -- The Van rolls past the cabin --

KARL DIVES on the porch rolling to safety --

THE VAN RUNS RIGHT OFF THE BLUFF

Crashing into the River below in a fiery explosion --

EXT. RIVER ISLAND SITE - EXPLOSION IN VIEW

The AIT's go into action. They're not waiting any longer.

Helicopter engine whines up --

RESUME: CABIN - FRONT VIEW

Reese can't see Karl anywhere from his vantage point.

Tiny is yelling inside, demented, delirious.

THE CABIN - REARVIEW

Karl edges toward the back door, he primes his syringe,

pumping himself up for the charge.

A BALL OF FLAME ERUPTS inside. Gasoline EXPLODES.

FLAMES BILLOW out the windows.

KARL reels back from the blast.

REESE covers the AIT Leader.

WITH KARL

The rage builds in him erupting in a primal scream. He

rushes headlong crashing through the back door --

THROUGH THE FLAMES: JOHNSON'S POV - SLOW MOTION

We're in the cabin. Flames swirl about Tiny. He's weak

-- leaning against a post, gun dangling in his hand. He

turns to us. His face hideous in the flames. His clothes

catch fire. He hurls a flaming gas can right at us --

KARL CHARGES tackling the big man sending them crashing --

OUT THE FRONT DOOR - A BURST OF FLAMES AND SPARKS

The two Men crash to the ground.

THE CABIN - FRONT VIEW - CONTINUING ACTION

Karl pounds out the flames on Tiny's body.

JOHNSON

Don't you die on me! Don't you

dare! Live Goddamnit. I need a

survivor -- damn you -- live!

He dumps his respirator -- he desperately checks the big

man's vital signs. Reese runs up with the medical bag.

THE HUEY SWOOPS UP over the bluff and lands. AIT's jump

out bringing more gear and the isolator.

Two AIT's spray fire extinguishers on the burning cabin.

TO TINY AND KARL

Tiny is not responding to CPR. Karl pumps air into his

mouth. Nothing.

Karl rips open his shirt -- his body is covered with

hemorrhages and skin ruptures.

JOHNSON

You're not dying on me, Tiny. C'mon

you son-of-a-bitch --

Reese hands him a big needle. He shoots the adrenalin

right in Tiny's heart. Nothing. He pounds the man's

chest. Reese pulls him back pinning him.

REESE

He's gone. He's dead...

Karl, angry at himself and the world, holds it all in. He

closes Tiny's eyes.

AIT (O.S.)

Hey! Over here --

Reese looks up, stunned by what he sees. He grabs Karl.

WHAT THEY SEE: AN APPARITION - JUST LIKE KARL'S DREAM

A GIRL walks out of the flaming smoldering Cabin. Tiny's

white trash girlfriend from the Roadhouse. She's dazed,

suffering from smoke inhalation, alive. A survivor.

JOHNSON

Now that is a genuine miracle.

Karl approaches her. She reaches out both hands and

collapses. He catches her laying her down.

THE POLICE HELICOPTER ARRIVES HOVERING OVERHEAD

VOICE (P.A.)

This is the Virginia State Police.

Clear the burning area --

Karl pays no attention checking the girl's vitals. More

Police and Rangers arrive up the fire road in the b.g.

ON THE CABIN - WIDER

Rangers join the effort to put out the fire. AIT's meet

the Police keeping them away from potential contagion.

WITH KARL AND THE GIRL

Reese gives her oxygen. Karl injects her with antivirals.

He checks her arms and neck for hemorrhages. No

petechiae.

JOHNSON

No symptoms. Maybe she's

incubating.

He finds a small patch of symptomatic rash on her back.

REESE

She's got the bug.

JOHNSON

Yeah, so? For how long? A week? A

day? What's her temperature?

REESE

(shocked)

Ninety-nine. She's almost normal.

She should be roasting if he

infected her in the last week.

JOHNSON

(incredulous)

Unless... she's a survivor.

Unless... she's immune.

Karl looks at the girl. Traumatized but her pulse is

normal.

JOHNSON

We have to get her back to RIID.

Now! Move!

TIME CUT TO:

EXT. THE CABIN BLUFF - MINUTES LATER

The Huey lifts off leaving the Police and Rangers below

dousing the fire.

INSIDE THE COPTER - FLYING

Tiny's body bag lays on the floor. Reese draws blood from

the Girl in the isolator. She is delirious.

GIRL

Tim? Where's Tim? Have to take

care of him. He's so sick --

JOHNSON

(floored, realizing)

She was no hostage. She liked the

poor guy.

Karl clamps a field centrifuge onto a seat back and begins

cranking. The blood sacks spin --

MATCH CUT TO:

OUTSIDE - THE ROTORS SPIN

They fly straight into the morning sun.

SHARP CUT TO:

INT. MORGUE - MORNING

Another corpse slides in the rack. It's Girard. There is

no more room for bodies.

INT. SLAMMER - MORNING

Jamie. Her arm covered with petechiae. The rest of her

body is under the sheets. We don't want to see it.

INT. PETER'S BL3 LAB - SAME TIME

Jaxx, dark circles under her eyes, exhausted, studies a

cell culture in the monitor attached to her microscope.

JAXX

Grow. C'mon -- grow. Maybe the CDR

grafting didn't take.

She turns to another monitor showing a complicated cell

structure turning in 3D graphics. The heading reads:

"RECOMBINANT IG MOLECULES - MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES."

She rotates the diagram with key commands. She looks up.

Someone enters the lab in a spacesuit. The figure moves

closer. It's Peter. Weak and frail, but he's there.

JAXX

Pete -- what are you doing -- ?

PETER

Hey, I'm beating this thing, okay. I

feel good --

He does a wobbly James Brown in his spacesuit. Jaxx is

blown away he's even walking.

PETER

The irony of it all. I wore this

thing for years to keep the bugs

out. Now I'm wearing it to keep

them in.

JAXX

Pete? Your fever broke?

PETER

Fever? What fever? Hey? You

trying to take credit for my work?

"Synthetic generation of human

antibodies by combination with super

immune animal cells" by Peter

Jahrling...

Jaxx eyes him suspiciously. He studies the monitor.

PETER

I've been grafting high immunity

guinea pig cells to human myeloma

cells, but the fusion hybridoma

immortalizes only a few B cells.

Low antibody production. Useless

against a mother-bug like Ebola.

JAXX

I used Supermonk's IG genes.

PETER

I'm impressed. Better gene match

with humans.

JAXX

The immunoglobulins won't clone.

It's not working.

PETER

Here's your problem. Change the

binding site. Splice the genes here

and hope it grows up to be the Holy

Grail.

Peter makes some adjustments to the computer generated

cell diagram.

Jaxx looks at the screen in awe. The two cells form one

super immune cell. (Computer graphic).

JAXX

You're a genius, Pete. Let's get

you back to the slammer.

He resists her, hugging the stool, barely able to focus.

PETER

No, I have to finish this. If the

human cells you're using are strong

and healthy, this just might work.

Whose are they?

JAXX

Mine.