NATURAL BORN KILLERS

     TITLES END.

     EXT. WINSLOW/GALLUP - DAY

     MICKEY and MALLORY drive into a quiet one-street town on Rt. 666.

     EXT. MOTEL - NIGHT

     The car is parked outside a cheap MOTEL in the middle of nowhere.
     The sign reads "FREE HBO."

     INT. MOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

     MALLORY is drying her hair, in a slip.

                         MALLORY
               You wanna go out?  Get somethin' to eat?

     No answer.  The TV's on to "Thelma and Louise" blasting it out
     with the cops.  MICKEY has a copy of TV Guide in his hands, worn
     out.

                         MICKEY
               Nah, let's stay in, (he looks off to the
               corner) we got plenty action here.

                         MALLORY (stepping out of the bathroom)
               You know what I been thinkin' bout?

                         MICKEY
               Course I know.  You been thinkin' bout rollin'
               round that big sunflower patch outside Tulsa.

     He flicks the channel.  To "Badlands" -- another shootout.

                         MALLORY (pleased)
               How'd ya know?

                         MICKEY
               And you been thinkin' bout cutting your hair
               short.

     She steps on the bed and sits on her knees, snuggles.  She puts
     her head on his shoulder and he traces the line from her eyebrows
     down through her nose and chin.  She's like a cat, purring,
     nestling for his warmth.

                         MICKEY
               And you been thinkin' bout us settlin' down --
               on a boat in the middle of a big lake, with a
               dog and a juke box.

     Mallory wraps her arms around his chest, nibbles his neck. What
     she never felt in her father's house -- a warmth.

                         MALLORY
               Oh, Mick, I love it when you can read my mind.
               I bet I know what you been thinkin' bout?

     Mickey flicks to "Scarface" -- the chainsaw scene.

                         MICKEY
               Yeah, why they make all these fuckin' stupid
               movies. Don't they believe in kissin' anymore!
               I tell ya out there in Hollywood somebody's a
               taco short of a combo plate.

     He gives her a big kiss.  She smiles.

                         MALLORY
               Oh mercy.

                         MICKEY (laughs)
               You're so cute. I love you, right down to
               your... (notices)... where is it?

     Her wedding ring is missing.  He glares at her hard, grabbing
     her wrist.

     The CAMERA suddenly hauls ass from the bedroom back through the
     bathroom door and careens towards the sink.  It STOPS at a soap
     dish.  There, bigger than life, is Mallory's WEDDING RING.  A
     diamond to light up the sky.

     Her hand comes into FRAME, grabs it and exits FRAME.

     Mallory jumps back in bed with Mickey, waving her ring.

                         MALLORY
               Calm down Mickey!  I just took it off so it
               wouldn't snag when I washed my hair, goddamn.

     Mickey flicks the remote to a "Game Show" -- a new refrigerator,
     a miniature swimming pool, and a new car are given away in a
     rapid sequence. Mickey throws her perturbed looks inbetween:

                         MICKEY
               Even if that ring pulls out every hair on your
               head, it never comes off.  If it scratches my
               face, it never comes off.  If it tears out my
               eyes, it never comes off.  Every great thing we
               do, starts with these.

     Mickey clicks their wedding rings together.  Mallory, excited,
     kisses him in great slurps of lust as Mickey flicks to a "Nature
     Show" -- Insects devour insects.  Who eats who, and where.

                         MALLORY (sexy)
               If you put it that way.

     She makes love to him under the sheets.

     On the TV, a praying mantis swallows a bug.

     Mickey, a love crazed guy, splits his looks between the TV and
     something in the corner.

                         MICKEY (to TV)
               "Jeesus, look at that...my god!"

                         MALLORY
               Stop lookin'...will you stop lookin' at her!

     It could be the TV he's looking at; we're not sure.

     Mallory stops humping him, looks at her ring.  He blows some hair
     out of her eyes.

     Mallory, frustrated, gets off him, throws a jacket over her slip,
     adjusts her highheels.

                         MALLORY (going out)
               I'm goin' for a ride.  See ya' later.

                         MICKEY
               Hold it? Weren't we going to do something with her?

     CAMERA PANS, with Mallory on the way out to the corner of the
     motel room.  A young GIRL is tied up, her mouth taped shut, her
     eyes bugging out of their sockets, she's so scared.

                         MALLORY (going out)
               Later...

                         MICKEY
               Prude.

     Mickey closes his eyes.  The TV light washing his face with
     another trip to Hawaii.

     EXT. EDGE OF TOWN - NIGHT

     MALLORY drives, top down, through a truckstop town. It's a hot
     night.

     EXT. GAS STATION - NIGHT

     COYOTE catch MICE drawn to the street lights. A little outside
     town, MALLORY'S pulled into an all-night gas station.  Bugs fly
     around the neon.  The radio in the car is on to something like
     "Ted Just Admit It" from Jane's Addiction.

     A YOUNG GAS ATTENDANT slides out from under a Corvette he's
     working on in the garage.  He puts on his greasy cowboy hat and
     walks up to her car.

                         MALLORY
               Fill 'er up.

                                                          TIME CUT:

     He pumps the gas.  She walks over to check out the Corvette.  As
     he comes over,

                         MALLORY
               Nice 'vette.

                         ATTENDANT (nods)
               That'll be seventeen bucks lady. Say, don't I
               know you?

     Mallory leans into his face, a yearning.  She takes his hand,
     feels it.

     He looks, wondering, surprised.  There's something so needy, so
     desperate in Mallory's child-like eyes.

     She takes his hand and runs it up inside her shirt, muttering.

                         MALLORY
               Why don't you just feel me...tell me you want
               me...think I'm sexy?

     His hands feel her up.  She presses her lips to his neck,
     nibbling.

     A brief flashing image of MICKEY passes before her eyes.  It's
     him in front of her.

                         MALLORY
               ...come on, say it more...

     His hands get rough, taking the lead.  She doesn't want that.
     She pushes his head down, deflecting his agressivity.  (..."go
     down")  Camera dwells on her leaning back on the Corvette as he
     is he is beneath her.

     But he is rough, and pops his head back up and smothers her on
     the top of the hood.  His blackened hands starting to push and
     knead her roughly.

                         ATTENDANT
               Oh baby!  You are sexy!

     She is increasingly agitated, coming out of her reverie.  This is
     obviously not Mickey.

     He spreads her hard across the hood and spreads her legs in a vee.

                         ATTENDANT
               Holy shit!  I can't believe this...can I get ya
               autograph?  You're Mallory Knox ain't yal

                         MALLORY
               Yeah.  And you're dead.

     She kicks him hard, freeing her legs.  He falls off the hood. She
     gets the gun from her purse and fires an angry SHOT into him.

     She is ranting as she kicks him and steps over him.

                         MALLORY
               Next time don't be so fuckin' eager...that was
               the worst fuckin' head I've ever had in my life.

     She scoops the cash out of the night register at the pump.

                         MALLORY
               Goddamn! You deserve to fucking die!

     INT. GAS STATION - DAY

     Peering at Mallory's underwear, JACK SCAGNETTI expresses
     reverence, moving his attention to the hood of the Corvette,
     dusted with crime powder.  He's a cop, one of the best.  He
     consults a LOCAL COWBOY SHERIFF.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Jesus, a perfect ass... you can even see the
               crack... that's the back ... arm...her
               head...fuckin' dry saliva drops still on the
               fender.

     He drops down to examine the DEAD ATTENDANT.

                         SCAGNETTI
              ...poor bastard was eatin' her when she did 'im.

     He looks in the attendant's mouth, pulling out a small pocket
     knife.  Using the tweezers, he removes a pubic hair from the dead
     man's mouth. He holds it to the light, looking at it intensely.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Mallory Knox...meet Jack Scagnetti.

     INT. MICKEY CAR - (MOVING) - INDIAN RESERVATION - DAY

     CU of a rear view mirror -- MALLORY'S eyes looking.

                         MALLORY
               Fuck...fuckin' cheese!

     The camera now revolves in the mirror to rack MICKEY, driving,
     also peering seriously into the mirror.

                         MICKEY
               This fuckin' guy's got me worn down to a bare
               fuckin' nub.

     The mirror -- A NAVAJO PATROL CAR is shadowing them.

     INT. INDIAN CAR - DAY

     Closer -- stoic INDIAN EYES under a tribal baseball cap.  Just
     looking, tagging -- not on the radio or anything.

     INT. MICKEY'S CAR - DAY

     CU on a state road MAP showing Indian Reservation symbols.  Up to
     MALLORY.

                         MALLORY
               Be cool -- take the next right.  Looks like a
               town out there.

                         MICKEY
               All I see is desert.

     MICKEY turns onto a dirt road off the Highway.  A cloud of dust.

     They look back.

     The Indian slows to a crawl, watching them...then goes past, down
     the main road.

                         MICKEY (relieved)
               That's right Cochise, go eat some more fried
               bread...Gimme some more mushrooms.

     Mallory reaches for the mushrooms -- gives him a couple of dry
     chewy puips.  He gnashes on them.  The radio's been playing
     something zonal like "Alive" by Pearl Jam or "Dizz Knee Land" by
     Dada.

     EXT. DIRT ROAD - LATER - DAY

     They have run out of gas in the middle of nowhere.  Red earth.
     Sky.  Clouds.  A thrush calls out a song.

     MICKEY is staggering, besotted with mushroom power.  Sticks his
     gun in his belt, begins walking up the road looking for gas.

                         MICKEY
               Shit. Right now I'd go down on a lawman for a
               gallon of gas...do I have something on my nose?

                         MALLORY (sings it)
               "Guess it's farther than I thought."

                         MICKEY
               Snakes, birds, nothin' out here. "Turn right?"
               Turn right to what? You fuckin' stupid bitch.

     She punches him right in the face.  Then she kicks him to the
     ground.  On the ground he tries a savate kick. She sees it
     coming, jumps over him and lands right on him, gun in his
     forehead.

                         MALLORY (mocking)
               "You stupid bitch!  You stupid bitch!  You stupid
               bitch!!" Don't call me bitch.  My father called me that.
               Once too much.  You're losing it, Mickey.

     He has a tooth loosened.

                         MICKEY
               Sure Mall, take it easy...it's me, your lover,
               not some demon.

                         MALLORY
               How do I know that? Take off your pants and
               gimme your money...now.  I'm serious.

                         MICKEY
               Mall! I don't have to be dictated to by a woman...

                         MALLORY
               Shoes too.

     She fires. Into the ground. Right next to him. He hops to comply.

                         MICKEY
               What are you gonna do?  Leave me. Just cause I
               don't have the goddamn same puritanical belief
               systems you do!  What the fuck is that gonna...

     She fires again.  Speed it up.  He senses she's really pissed.

                         MALLORY
               Mickey, you gotta get respect for me...turn
               around and drop your knickers.  I want to see
               your ass up in the air.

                         MICKEY
               Mall!  What the hell game is this!

     She fires again. The shots bring the sound of BELLS jingling.
     They look.

     On a KNOLL fifty feet away stands a flock of RAMS.

     Conversely, the Rams' POV is of a near-naked man and a woman with
     a gun in the desert. The Chief RAM tears out after Mickey.

                         MICKEY
               What the fuck!

     He starts to run.

                         MICKEY
               Shoot it!  Goddamn Mall, shoot the fucker!!

     Mallory laughs as the ram closes on Mickey.  But the Ram comes to
     an abrupt stop as it hears the WHISTLE.

     A FIGURE now stands at the top of the knoll with the flock of
     sheep and a YOUNG BOY.  The ram trots back towards him.

     Mickey looking.  Mallory puts away the gun.

     The Figure is an OLD INDIAN.

     Mickey crossing himself, half joking.

                         MICKEY
               Rejoice...for he hath found his sheep which
               were lost in the desert
                    (pointing)
               Hey, Chief, we ran outta gas...our car's up the
               road apiece.

     The Indian knows something. He says nothing, continuing down the
     hill and across the road with the Young Boy, the ram and about 30
     sheep.

     Mickey, throwing on his clothes, follows with Mallory, their
     dispute forgotten for now.

     EXT. DESERT HOGAN - DAY

     MICKEY AND MALLORY approach a hogan -- a mud and log structure,
     twenty feet across.  A PICKUP is parked nearby.  A scruffy DOG
     alongside a PICKUP barks as they approach; a DONKEY is tied to a
     pinon tree and SHEEP wander.

     The YOUNG BOY stands in the breeze watching them.

     Mickey knocks at the open door.

                          MICKEY
               Hi...so look we got tobacco, lots of tobacco...
               you got any gasoline we can buy?

     No answer.

                          MICKEY (looking at the donkeys, to Mallory)
               We can always snatch the donkey and ride outta
               here.

                          MALLORY
               Maybe he don't speak English.

                          INDIAN
               Come on in.

     Mallory and Mickey look at each other and step inside.

                          INDIAN (his only English)
               Come on in.

     INT. HOGAN - DAY

     It's dim inside but cozy.  The old INDIAN sits on a rickety old
     bed with a horsehair mattress, sheep skins and an Indian blanket.
     A worn aluminum kitchen table occupies the middle of the room.

     Bays of dried ears of corn, squash, melon and beans lay on the
     dirt floor.  Chilies and dry mutton hang on wire strung on one
     side of the room.  A pile of cedar wood is stacked by an old
     franklin stove, a covered pot on top.  Scraps of cotton hang over
     the windows, various photos of family and friends, and feathered
     Indian gear hang from nails pounded into the wall.  It's very
     quiet.

                         INDIAN
               Come on in.