REINDEER GAMES

As the figure unlocks the driver's door of a Trans Am--

                        GABRIEL
           Get him!

Pug REVS the engine, speeds through the lot, cutting off the Trans
Am from backing away.

Gabriel jumps out, HAULS the cowboy from his car-and sees it's the
College Kid. Rudy's gone.

                        COLLEGE KID
                 (scared shitless)
           Oh man. It's your jacket, isn't it...

INT. TOMAHAWK

Merlin stumbles out of the bathroom, holding his throat. Catches
Jumpy and Ashley's eyes from the slots:

                        JUMPY
           Trouble..

INT. CASINO KITCHEN

As Rudy charges toward COOKS, holding a buffet plate aloft--

                        RUDY
           MEDIUM RARE?! You call this MEDIUM
           RARE??!!

--hands them the plate, hurries past them, and out the--

EXT. REAR OF CASINO - DAY

--to the back of the building. In his stolen clothes, he charges
across the staff parking area and into the snowy expanse of meadow
beyond.

Running for a thicket of winter woods.

EXT. PARKING LOT

Merlin and Jumpy stride out to join Gabriel and Pug. Ashley
follows, stumbling to keep up.

                        GABRIEL
           Where the HELL did he go?

                        MERLIN
           Monster. There never was a structure change.
           This place was built the same from day one.

                        PUG
           That motherfucker-

                        MERLIN
           And Monster ... he was talking
           with the casino manager. Nick
           was talking to him.

Gabriel darkens.

                        GABRIEL
           Get. Him. Back.

EXT. SNOWY MEADOW - DAY

Rudy races as best he can through the waves of snow. He keeps
struggling, losing his footing, fighting his way toward the cover
of trees. From far away...

                        ASHLEY (o.s.)
           Nick! Run! RUN!!!

Rudy turns back to see Merlin, Jumpy and Pug round into view back
at the parking lot. They see him.

And charge into the snowfield.

Rudy breaks into the trees.

EXT. PARKING LOT

Gabriel pushes Ashley into the Nova and peals Out of the parking
lot. Onto reservation roads.

EXT. WOODS - ON CHASE - DAY

Rudy darts among barren oaks and brush pines, crunching deeper
into snowdrifts, slowing him down. Stumbling forward, shivering,
breath frosting--

--as Merlin, Jumpy and Pug reach the treeline. Gaining but
struggling too. With guns held.

Rudy keeps battling through the drifts--

--as GUNSHOTS start to ring out. Rudy glances back to rest; the
truckers are a hundred yards distant. But as he turns to struggle
on, treebark SPLITS apart beside him.

Rudy keeps running.

INT. NOVA

Bouncing over a snowy dirt road, having found a shortcut into the
woods. Gabriel searches the trees, Ashley too.

EXT. WOODS

Merlin, Jumpy and Pug keep up their steady march. Rudy's running
figure now only fifty yards distant.

                        MERLIN
           You keep running, Nick! Keep
           running now! Can't keep warm if
           you don't keep running! We'll
           just be right back here...
           keeping track of your trail.

ANGLE to show Merlin's striding right in Rudy's bootprints. Pug
FIRES off two shots.

They KICK UP snow just behind Rudy, struggling, panting...

                        MERLIN (o.s.)
           Wherever you run ... we'll get there.
           Past as you want ... we'll be there.
           We drive for a living, Nick.
           Twelve, fifteen, twenty-hour days.

Rudy's anguished, ducking behind some pines, trying to brush
away his footprints. Realizes it's useless.

A BULLET whistles through the pine branches.

                        MERLIN (o.s.)
           We got nothing but time.

Rudy takes a breath, crashes onward--

--then stops at the sound of a RUMBLING. Getting louder. Closer.
It's a car's engine.

Rudy spins for the source, focuses, and manages to make out a
snow-covered dirt road fifty yards away, down a swale. Another BULLET
smashes treebark. Rudy runs for it.

EXT. WOODED ROAD - DAY

As Rudy leaps out to wave down the car, as around the corner
comes a Chevy Nova-

--with Gabriel and Ashley inside. Gabriel's eyes widen, he floors
the gas, RACING right for Rudy.

Rudy scampers toward the opposite roadside, a steep wooded slope
cradling a meadow and frozen river-

                        ASHLEY
           No!!!

--as Ashley grabs Gabriel's steering wheel, swerving the other
way. Gabriel fights her for control--

--as the Nova just misses Rudy, who dives off the road, hits the
slope and tumbles head-over-heels toward its bottom, a hundred
feet down, kicking up geysers of snow!

On the road, the Nova skids to a stop. Ashley and Gabriel leap
out, as Merlin, Jumpy and Pug reach the road.

AT THE SLOPE'S BOTTOM

Rudy pops to his feet, a dazed snowball.

BACK UP AT THE ROAD

Gabriel grabs a rifle from the Nova, steps to the slope-top edge
and takes aim-

                        ASHLEY
           RUN! ! !

--as Ashley suddenly slams into him from behind--

--Sending the both of them tumbling down the slope! Sliding and
tangled, the rifle flying from Gabriel's grasp-

TO THE BOTTOM

--where they come to a tangled, snowy halt. Gabriel struggles to
clear the ice from his face--

--as the butt of his rifle cracks him in the jaw.

                        RUDY
           That's for reading her mail.

He extends a hand to Ashley--

                        RUDY
           Come on.

--and hauls her to her feet. Ashley beams. As Gabriel howls, the
two of them scramble away from the woods, Rudy with the rifle,
toward the meadow and its frozen pond.

More GUNSHOTS ring as Merlin, Jumpy and Pug slide their way down
the ravine.

EXT. FROZEN RIVER - CONTINUOUS

Rudy and Ashley race out across the ice. The traction's slippery,
but there's no way around. There's a highway bridge two hundred
yards away, with sparse truck traffic.

                        RUDY
           We get to the bridge, we're all right!

                        ASHLEY
           Nick, the ice is--

                        RUDY
           Get to the bridge!
                 (waving at traffic)
           HEY! HEY! DOWN HERE!

He grips her hand tighter, as SHOTS crash into the ice at their
feet. suddenly, the ground splinters and gives way--

--and Ashley goes plummeting through to the river! She vanishes
from sight in an instant!

Rudy scrambles back, onto sturdy ice. He stares, stunned, at the
ripples in the freezing water.

Ashley's not coming up.

RUDY

looks to the truckers in pursuit. Coming down the ridge.

Then the highway. Safety within sight.

But he can't run. Cursing himself, he grips the rifle tightly and
LEAPS into the ice-hole--

EXT. RIVER BENEATH THE ICE

--plummeting underwater, the temperature hitting his body like
needles. He writhes, spinning around--

--and sees Ashley ten yards away, desperately pounding at the ice
above her. Strength giving out.

Rudy struggles to her, wrapping an arm around her. She fights,
panicked, clawing at the ice, both of them pulled further away
from the opening.

With Ashley safely in hand, Rudy raises his rifle-arm, pressing
the barrel against the ice above them--

--and FIRES. A HOLE blasts a shaft of light into the gray-blue.
Rudy FIRES again. Another HOLE caves in. Ashley reaches for a
sheath of ice, splashing--

TO THE SURFACE

--clutching frozen ground, treading water. Rudy surfaces beside
her, the both of them gasping, facing the bridge.

Instinctively, they spin around--

TO FIND GABRIEL, MERLIN, JUMPY AND PUG

--standing right behind them. Guns trained.

                        GABRIEL
                 (rubs his jaw)
           At the rate you're going, Nick...
           I'm gonna have a hard time ever
           considering you family.

He extends his hand, a gesture of help. But menacing.

                        GABRIEL
           How lucky ya feeling now.

                                                           CUT TO:

INT. GABRIEL'S RIG - DAY

Pitch black. We can barely make out a huddled, fetal form, quaking
and trembling. It's Rudy. Dripping wet, on the verge of
hypothermia. Trying to stay conscious:

                        RUDY
           I-I-I-I have n-n-no g-g-gifts
           to br-br-bring, pa rum-p-p-p-p-p
                 (struggling)
           ... pum-pum-pum. N-n-no treasures
           for the k-k-k
                 (waits)
           ... king.

The trailer doors swing open, crashing harsh light upon him. He
squints into the light, shivering madly.

                        RUDY
           Pa-rum-pum-pum-pum.

INT. KNIGHTS INN GAME ROOM - DAY

Gabriel is hurling darts again, focused, expressionless. Bullseye.

Merlin and Jumpy haul Rudy in. He collapses at Gabriel's feet,
unable to stand. Still trembling.

A couple KIDS scamper into the doorway--

                        MERLIN
           Game room's closed.

--and Merlin slams the door in their face. Gabriel hurls another
bullseye, then retrieves his darts from the board.

                        GABRIEL
           A for effort, Nick, honestly,
           A for effort and an honorary degree.
           I'm surprised you never escaped
           from the-Mountain.

                        RUDY
                 (teeth chattering)
           ... never ... tried...

                        GABRIEL
           Nick, here's what we're gonna do.
           In the spirit of the season, I'm
           going to give you a chance. I
           understand you're unhappy. Right
           outta the lockup, here against your
           will, it's the holidays and there's
           reruns on TV.
                 (beat)
           So we're gonna have a contest.

Gabriel strides back to him, with two darts.

                        GABRIEL
           We're each going to get one of
           these. Whichever one of us hits
           closer to the bullseye ... gets
           what he wants.
                 (beat)
           You land closer, you get Ashley.
           And you guys get to go free. I
           land closer...and we start getting
           your help.

He lifts Rudy's shaking hand, puts a dart in it. Rudy's fingers
are half-frozen, they don I t bend. Gabriel has to wedge it in.

                        GABRIEL
           May the best sportsman win.

Gabriel turns to the board, ten feet away, and tosses his dart. It
thunks in the "13" wedge of the outermost ring.

                        GABRIEL
           Damn.

He steps aside for Rudy. Rudy struggles to raise his hand,
trembling badly. He focuses on the board, teeth chattering, tries
to reposition his fingers, rears back and throws-=

--except the dart remains in his frozen grip. He brings his icy
hand back, tries to move his fingers. And the dart finally tumbles
out and hits the floor at his feet.

Gabriel smiles, steps close.

                        GABRIEL
           Got something to say to me, Nick?