EXT. THE STUDIO PARKING LOT - DAY
The sky is blue and the sun is shining as Healy leads Lane across the parking lot. He stops and smiles.
HEALY: Breathe it in, Lane. That's what life smells like. No dead bodies, no cemeteries, no more gravers. Lane, we beat death.
LANE: I know but poor Mitch.
HEALY: Yeah. He was a great guy.
LANE: Is that all you have to say?
HEALY: There's a Denny's a few blocks from here. I could go for a Grand Slam. My treat.
LANE: Healy, we can't leave Mitch behind.
Healy knows she's right.
HEALY: I know. I can't leave somebody to be ground up like hamburger when he saved my life. I could've last week but not today. What do you think that means, Lane?
LANE: It means we're better people for what we've been through. We've set ourselves to a higher standard. We have a more refined conscience and a stronger respect for life. Respect for humanity and ourselves. It's a new beginning.
HEALY: Really? All that?
Lane laughs.
LANE: No, I'm just shitting you. But how do we get Mitch out before they chop ...
VROOM! THE NOW FAMILIAR SOUND OF THE WOODCHIPPER PROCESSING A BODY.
Since the pail containing the Floor Director's remains was removed, the bloody discharge from the woodchipper chute sails across the parking lot. It hits the roof of Lane's SUV with a SPLAT - spilling blood and guts everywhere.
HEALY: Holy shit.
Lane reacts in horror.
LANE: Oh god! Poor uncle Mitch!
HEALY: I'm sorry babe. Maybe we can catch a cab at the front gate...
VROOM! Lane and Healy watch as another load of blood and guts arch through the air, splattering again on the SUV's roof.
HEALY: I really should move your car.
GUNSHOTS - BOOM, BOOM. Mitch runs out of the studio door carrying Lane's Diary. A handful of other staff run for their lives out the studio door. Lane and Healy hurry to the priest and Lane hugs him.
LANE: We thought they killed you!
Healy picks Jessop's monocle out of the bloody sludge on the ground. The rest of their guts slither down the side of the vehicle.
LANE: Crim and Jessop?
MITCH: Sad to say.
HEALY: Mitch, you didn't? You said you couldn't break a commandment.
MITCH: (dismissing) There's no Thou Shalt Not Lie commandment.
HEALY: But you slushified them.
MITCH: Me, nah.
LANE: Then who?
MITCH: He came out of the shadows and surprised us.
Lane's face turns to stone as she sees a sinister figure emerge from the studio darkness. It's what's left of her father, charred and staggering towards them. Rushton's now a walking skeleton draped with bits of burnt tissue and ligament. He has Healy's shotgun and fires a round at them, hitting Healy in the arm. He grabs the wound and sinks to his knees.
Lane kneels beside Healy, cradling his head. He's dazed and bleeding.
HEALY: Lane. I'm beginning to think your dad doesn't like me.
YOU ARE READING
Came Upon Some Bodies Rotting
HumorWhen her deceased father walks away from the embalming table and starts killing people for body parts, a funeral director has to overcome her insecurities and personal demons to put her dad back in his place and find a new life among the walking dea...
