Previously, I shared a few pages of a rewritten opening for The Mummy (2017). I was encouraged to offer more, so here are the first 15 pages of the screenplay, the first entry in an irregular serial, to be updated when I have new material.
Use the table of contents on the side to skip to new material.
ACT 1
EXT. IRAQ - DESERT - DAY
The sun blazes over rugged terrain. RAHEEM SAFAR (30s), a rugged and handsome Egyptian-American, scans the horizon. His eyes are sharp, focused. Beneath the cloak he wears as protection from the sun, we see flashes of an American military uniform.
Safar spots a series of tire tracks in the hard-packed sand. With a gesture, he signals for his horse, mounts, and rides off in pursuit.
He comes upon an abandoned truck with a busted axle. The back doors have been thrown open. Crates that could not be carried off litter the ground, shattered and splintered with gunfire.
Safar dismounts and sifts through the destruction, revealing ruined artifacts. His shirt is stained red. Blood drips from his side.
EXT. VILLAGE - DAY
In a ruined village, bodies lay where they fall, ignored by the PARAMILITARY FORCES who busily sets up both a defensive parameter and excavating equipment around a man-sized OPENING in the shattered tile of what was the village center. The hole reveals a dark chasm beneath.
A PRISONER, his wrists and legs shackled, stares into the void beneath him.
PRISONER
You have your location, VAIL. So what happens to me?
CAPTAIN CHRIS VAIL, ever cruel and cowardly, shoots the prisoner in the back of the head. Blood runs from the body and into the dark pit.
A LARGE SOLDIER watches with concern.
LARGE SOLDIER
What the hell is this place?
Safar’s voice calls out from his hiding place.
SAFAR
The world is full of sacred sites, Vail, both the holy and the cursed. You needn’t have come to this place.
VAIL
(Gestures for his men to fan out)
Still alive Raheem? Which one is this? Holy or cursed?
Vail moves out of the town square where he’s open and vulnerable.
SAFAR
Like most sites, I presume it’s both.
VAIL
(Tracks the village with his gun site, looking for movement)
Always the philosopher.
He OPENS FIRE. The other soldiers ANSWER HIS GUNFIRE WITH THEIR OWN.
At last he motions for them to hold. Rubble tumbles from the ruined buildings, into the street.
VAIL (CONT'D)
Tell me you’re dead.
SAFAR
I’m dead–or soon will be.
Safar steps out into town square, hands on his head. Bloodstains now darken half his body.
VAIL
You’ve looked better.
SAFAR
I swore you wouldn’t leave this land with its treasures.
Vail takes aim.
VAIL
Your oaths will mean nothing when you’re dead.
SAFAR
Oh, but they will. I called an airstrike on our position.
Vail turns to look into the sky. The SOUND OF A PLANE AND MISSILE. Soldiers flee. AN EXPLOSION rocks the village. THE TOWN SQUARE COLLAPSES, taking Safar with it..
EXT. COLLAPSING CRATER
Safar lands in a deep crater, amidst the sand and rubble, his body broken. As he dies, he stares up at a ONCE-BURIED IDOL, eyes of stone seemingly staring back. The sky above the idol ERUPTS WITH THE ROILING FIRE OF A SECOND EXPLOSION.
INT. MORGUE - NIGHT
DR. HENRY JEKYLL (40s), enigmatic and composed, examines a body on the slab. MALIK, his chief security officer, watches.
The body–bearded and professorial–is no one familiar to us.
DR. JEKYLL
We need a new archeologist. Find me an expert who’s down on his luck. Someone desperate.
MALIK
And if I can’t find anyone who matches that criteria?
DR. JEKYLL
Find the right man and pull the rug out from under him.
INT. SUBWAY CONSTRUCTION ZONE - DAY
The cavernous expanse of a half-built subway tunnel echoes with the sounds of machinery. Powerful LIGHTS illuminate the rugged, unfinished walls. DR. JENNY HALSEY (30s), determined and enthusiastic, leads her CREW through the bustling construction site. She wears a hard hat and carries a set of blueprints.
A BUREAUCRAT looking awkward and out-of-place follows at her heels.
BUREAUCRAT
Did you hear a word I said? They’ve cut your funding. This dig is over.
HALSEY
(raising her voice over the noise)
Everyone, gather round!
The CREW, clad in safety gear, pauses their work to listen. They exchange curious and eager glances.
HALSEY (CONT'D)
Today, we both make history and uncover it.
The crew nods, a few of them sharing EXCITED MURMURS. Halsey places the blueprints on a makeshift table and taps a specific spot.
HALSEY (CONT'D)
Eight years of study and research have led me to this spot. Today, we find a long-forgotten tomb of the crusaders, or it may never be found at all.
She points to a section of the wall that bears faint inscriptions, barely visible beneath decades of grime.
HALSEY (CONT'D)
Remember, precision is key. We don’t want to damage anything significant.
BUREAUCRAT
It’s too late for tha, Doctort. You’ve significantly damaged your reputation already. The funding is gone. Your work is over.
HALSEY
The men and the equipment are paid for. The Board can strip away tomorrow, but today belongs to me!
The FOREMAN adjusts his helmet.
FOREMAN
We’re ready when you are, Dr. Halsey.
HALSEY
Forward unto the past, my friends.
The FOREMAN signals. The DRILL rumbles to life, its bit slowly approaching the marked spot on the wall.
Halsey watches intently, her excitement tempered by a scholar’s caution. The drill begins its work, sending VIBRATIONS through the tunnel.
The noise is a mix of GRINDING STONE and the RHYTHMIC PULSE of a modern-day excavation.
HALSEY (CONT'D)
(to herself, hopeful)
The future is forever uncertain. Only history is set.
Modern technology meets ancient stone. Dust billows from its blades. The light shifts, casting moving shadows across enigmatic inscriptions.
The drill punches through, into a hollow space beyond.
HALSEY (CONT'D)
Hold! Hold!
The drill pulls back. Its spinning blade slows.
INT. CRUSADER TOMB
Halsey, the foreman, and the bureaucrat step through the hole and cast flashlight beams across the pillared hall, revealing it to be a large crypt with stone CASKETS surrounding a central STATUE OF AN ANGEL standing guard, sword drawn.
The angel’s face resembles Raheem Safar.
BUREAUCRAT
Do you have any idea how much paperwork you’ve just generated? You’ve been defunded. That doesn’t just go away with a snap of the fingers.
HALSEY
You can tell the Board, the Crusader’s Tomb beneath London is no longer a myth. This is history, gentlemen! This is truth!
VOICES RAISE in an EXCITED COMMOTION outside the tomb.
The bureaucrat and the foreman look back.
Halsey walks deep into the tomb, exploring her find.
ARMED TROOPS, followed by OFFICIALS, flood in through the opening.
OFFICIAL
We’ll take it from here. Have your men evacuate the area. This is our site now.
EXT. LONDON STREET – DAY
Traffic passes before a mid-scale apartment building.
INT. HALLWAY
Carrying her rugged work bags, Halsey arrives at her door, key in hand. An ENVELOPE with her name on it is taped to the door. She stares at the envelope a beat, too tired, too hopeless to react.
She opens the door.
INT. APARTMENT
The furniture is gone, but there’s a few pieces of scattered debris left behind from the move.
Halsey drops her bags where she stands–half in the apartment, half in the hall–tears down the envelope and steps inside, leaving the door open behind her.
In the center of her living room, she stares at all that’s gone. The envelope drops from her fingers.
For a beat longer, nothing happens, then she works off her bra from inside her blouse. She pulls out a blanket from the closet and switches on a FIRE in the fireplace. From the small kitchen, she retrieves a bottle of WINE, a glass, and corkscrew and then plops down in front of the fire, pours herself a glass, and drinks as she mutters to herself.
HALSEY
My goddam crypt. My goddam crusader. My goddam dagger.
She pours herself another glass.
HALSEY (CONT’D)
My goddam furniture.
The door she never shut now swings open, catching her attention.
Malik stands in the doorway, surveying the scene and Halsey watches him, the glass frozen at her lips.
MALIK
This–this we didn’t do.
He brings her bags inside and closes the door behind him.
Halsey SMASHES the wine bottle against the fireplace and points its jagged end in his direction.
Malik pulls out a knife, picks up the envelope, and uses the blade to open it.
HALSEY
Making yourself at home?
MALIK
(Reading the letter)
That’s messed up.
HALSEY
Read it to me.
MALIK
Don’t you think maybe you should…?
HALSEY
What did he say?
MALIK
I’d rather not.
HALSEY
There’s nothing left to steal, and you’re not touching me without losing your face. Read!
MALIK
(reading)
You say you don’t want to be alone, but the truth is, you do. You’re content with your obsession until you come up for air, and that’s when I’m supposed to be available, waiting with love and nourishment and support, to help you replenish your wasted reserves so you can dive back in and give all of yourself to your work. I’m proud of you, Jenny, but I can’t be there for someone who can’t be there for me.
Halsey finishes her second glass.
HALSEY
Everyone wants you to be their vision of someone else.
MALIK
There’s nothing I can do to help with that. I’m sorry.
HALSEY
Whatever you’re after, you won’t find it here. I’ve got nothing to offer anyone. Not anymore. Just go.
MALIK
We’ve been following your work.
HALSEY
You don’t even know who I am.
MALIK
Dr. Jennifer Halsey, you may call me Malik. Your theories could prove significant, I’m told, not that I’m one to understand these things. Today, I’m an errand boy, and you are my errand.
HALSEY
I’m your what?
MALIK
We can put you back in charge, Dr. Halsey. Get you the recognition you deserve.
He motions to the door.
MALIK (CONT’D)
But first, my employer requires your services.
EXT. PRODIGIUM HEADQUARTERS - DAY
The immense building feels out of place and out of time.
INT. HALL OF THE HONORS
Dr. Jekyll as a WORKER as a new PHOTOGRAPH, honoring the dead. The bearded professional in the picture we may remember from the morgue.
Malik walks up beside Jekyll but gives him a moment in silence before…
MALIK
Did he stay dead?
JEKYLL
His body passed quarantine quite satisfactorily.
MALIK
Well, at least there’s that.
They walk off together, passing long rows, one above the other. Photographs of the dead.
JEKYLL
The new archeologist, he’s here?
MALIK
She is.
JEKYLL
Dr. Halsey?
MALIK
Dr. Jennifer Halsey.
JEKYLL
Is she up for this?
INT. LIBRARY
Halsey, waiting, startles at their entrance.
MALIK
(holding open the double set of doors as they continue their conversation)
Are there ever?
JEKYLL
Dr. Jennifer Halsey, I presume, renowned archeologist. Come to help us with our little problem?
HALSEY
I’m not entirely sure. Mr. Malik tells me you can restore me to my site.
JEKYLL
Yes, doctor. Every word. You scratch our back, we make your dreams come true, but first there is the matter of the itch. You’ve been to the Middle East? Iraq?
HALSEY
Iraq? No.
Jekyll flashes her a look.
HALSEY (CONT’D)
Israel. Beirut. Greece. Malta.
JEKYLL
Specialty?
HALSEY
The crusades.
JEKYLL
(Turning his gaze to Malik.)
Not Egypt?
HALSEY
I did my early work in Damietta and Pelusium.
JEKYLL
(Pleased.)
Pelusium. Where the Egyptians lost to the Persians.
HALSEY
About 1200 years after that. Medieval. The Byzantines and the Crusaders, turned back by Saladin.
JEKYLL
What if I told you that Ptolemy took apart an Egyptian holy place, holy in the sense that the Egyptians considered it cursed, and sent it to Seleucus in Persia, ostensibly as a peace offering but quietly hoping it would be his ruin?
HALSEY
I’ve never heard of such a thing.
JEKYLL
No one has, and no one outside these walls is mad enough to think such a thing possible.
HALSEY
Who are you, exactly? Mr. Malik never told me your name.
JEKYLL
There’s an American soldier outside of London awaiting transport. He may have seen this holy place. We’re going to talk to him before he leaves, and I want you to join us.
HALSEY
So you can pinpoint the location?
EXT. MILITARY MENTAL HOSPITAL - EVENING
A cold, impersonal building–repurposed.
JEKYLL (VO)
We know where the holy site is, but we need to be sure what it is. That’s where I’m hoping you can help us.
INT. HALLWAY APPROACHING CELL
Halsey and Malik are accompanied by a PSYCHIATRIST and two ORDERLIES.
Malik hands the psychiatrist an INJECTION GUN.
PSYCHIATRIST
This isn’t how things are done.
MALIK
The clearances are in order?
PSYCHIATRIST
Yes.
MALIK
Then this is what we’re doing.
The psychiatrist indicates the desired cell, and Halsey peers in through a window in the door.
INT. MAXIMUM SECURITY CELL
Within a barred cell that occupies the majority of the hospital room, sits Raheem Safar, uninjured but not the noble soul we met before. He senses their arrival, and with an unsettling smile looks to the window and rises from his bed.
SAFAR
My dear doctor, what tender morsel have you delivered?
Halsey steps out of view. The door opens and the psychiatrist enters as far as the yellow strip indicating safe distance.
PSYCHIATRIST
You have visitors, Mr. Safar.
The others file in. Safar breathes deep, smelling the change in the air.
SAFAR
Delicious.
(Focusing on Halsey.)
You reek of the tomb.
HALSEY
A hazard of the job.
SAFAR
I like it.
MALIK
We have questions about your time in Iraq.
SAFAR
(Drawing closer to Halsey)
I was born in that desert. A new man.
MALIK
We can restore your memory.
SAFAR
I remember death and the taste of flesh.
(He stirs the air and sniffs again.) (To Halsey.)
Your flavors arouse me.
PSYCHIATRIST
You will behave, Raheem.
SAFAR
There’s that name again.
HALSEY
What would you prefer to be called?
SAFAR
Setepenre-set.
HALSEY
(A beat–mentally interpreting)
The chosen one of Ra and Set.
Malik casts Halsey a startled look.
SAFAR
(Smiling)
Saviors of the world. (beat) I don’t want your shot, and I remember well enough, though they be the memories of another man.
(His attention falls fully upon Halsey)
What will be my bounty should I comply.
HALSEY
You’re due back in the States to stand trial for murder.
Safar closes his eyes and tastes his lip with his tongue.
MALIK
We can return you to your former self.
SAFAR
Such as loss that would be.
MALIK
Die as you are or as you were, come with us. Those are your options.
SAFAR
(Addressing only Halsey.)
Did they tell you what I did?
HALSEY
They did.
SAFAR
And you’d let them set me free?
MALIK
Not you. U.S. Army Sergeant Raheem Safar.
HALSEY
Tell me what you saw.
SAFAR
What I saw? As if eyes alone are enough to behold eternity. What I experienced, Doctor, is everything the heart of man has longed for since the moment of his creation. It is his delivery unto salvation.
HALSEY
Could you be more specific?
SAFAR
Specific? Like a specific Crusader’s tomb hidden beneath London?
Halsey shoots Malik a look. Malik shakes his head.
SAFAR (CONT’D)
Specific? Like the dagger of Apophis?
HALSEY
Who told you these things?
SAFAR
Ra rises when Apophis falls, but chaos cannot be forever restrained.
HALSEY
Tell me what you saw.
SAFAR
You can see it for yourself.
MALIK
She’s not coming with us.
SAFAR
She is now, or my knowledge dies with me.
MALIK
That’s not…
HALSEY
You’ll take the shot?
Safar bares his arm and presses against the space between the bars.
SAFAR
If you’re going, you can shoot me. I’ll kill anyone else who tries.
MALIK
No.
Halsey holds out her hand for the injection gun. The psychiatrist hands it to her.
HALSEY
What did you see?
SAFAR
The temple of the serpent of chaos.
HALSEY
I’ll go.
She shoots Safar in the arm and stands back as he transforms from the lurid, hateful creature of moments before to the soldier he once was. He stares at those before him, first one and then the other, as if searching for answers–for hope.
SAFAR
(soft and trembling)
We’re damned. All of us.
INT. DR. JEKYLL’S OFFICE - EVENING
A KNOCK interrupts Jekyll as he holds and ponders what appears to be a VAMPIRE SKULL. We feel he’s noticed, but he barely reacts as says nothing.
The last light of the day streams red through the windows, and with a SIGH, Jekyll extends his hand into the light. The skull disintegrates into a wisp of gray ash.
There was only the one knock, and now Jekyll brushes clean his hands and answers.
JEKYLL
Come.
Malik opens the door; Halsey barges past him.
HALSEY
Someone has got to start giving me answers.
Malik exits, closing the door behind him.
JEKYLL
I understand you’ve invited yourself to our little outing..
HALSEY
Who the fuck are you?
JEKYLL
Me in particular or us in general? I can give you names. We are known as the Prodigium. A warning. Beware.
HALSEY
Of what? You?
JEKYLL
The name, Dr. Halsey. That’s what we are. A warning. Monstrum vel prodigium. “Beware of monsters.”
HALSEY
The Sergeant. Is he one of your monsters?
JEKYLL
We all have that capacity within us. Are you religious? I am. (beat) Was. (beat) I suppose I still must be. (beat) The nature of evil unsettled my religious convictions, but not like most, I suppose. I understood why evil existed. I’d come to terms with God’s inaction in the face of it. No, what bothered me was the deeply unspiritual nature of the psychopath. It’s a neurological defect, an absence of the empathy that makes a human. In such a case, good and evil are not a choice of the soul but a biological switch, one which could be replicated.
HALSEY
You thought you could cure psychopathy.
JEKYLL
In some cases, I have. The natural psychopath remains beyond my reach, but empathy can be taken from us, like a viral infection. For that I have a cure. It must be maintained in daily injections across a lifetime, but a cure nonetheless. You witnessed it for yourself today.
HALSEY
They say he killed and ate his victims.
JEKYLL
He did.
HALSEY
And that was a virus?
JEKYLL
Infection is accurate. The virus is metaphorical. I tested my work on a dozen men sentenced to die with no effect, but we infected a normal subject, and it was then that I proved such an infection could be controlled–not unlike the way one controls diabetes.
HALSEY
You infected the subject? A person?
JEKYLL
Eventually.
HALSEY
How could you possibly receive informed consent to do such a thing?
JEKYLL
The only way I could. I became the subject.
HALSEY
(Horrified)
Who are you?
JEKYLL
The name is Jekyll. Dr. Henry Jekyll. Our work here is the nature of evil–the abyss itself, with all that entails. I’ve approached this work with eyes open. Now, tell me, Doctor, that you aren’t taking this next step blindly.
HALSEY
Sargeant Safar. He knows things, hopes regarding my excavation that I’ve never spoken aloud or written down. The dagger of Apophis is presumed a myth, like the Holy Grail–or unholy, in this particular instance. I’ve told no one my theories that the crusader brough the dagger to London and buried it in that tomb.
JEKYLL
But he knew? What do you suspect? Was he toying with you, using your most secret desire, or was he truly interested in the artifact?
HALSEY
I don’t know.
JEKYLL
Interesting. I’m tempted to send you with them, but if you stay, we’ll bring the dagger here–where it’s safe. You can study it to your heart’s content.
HALSEY
And if I go? What becomes of the dagger then?
JEKYLL
It will be here, waiting for you, should you return.
And …
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