War of The Worlds

WAR OF THE WORLDS
screenplay by
Josh Friedman and David Koepp
based on the novel by

H.G. Wells
October 19, 2004
rev. 10-25-04 (blue)

11-02-04 (pink)
11-15-04 (yellow)
11-23-04 (green)
11-30-04 (goldenrod)
12-03-04 (buff)
12-09-04 (salmon)
12-14-04 (cherry)
01-06-05 (cafe au lait)
01-20-05 (2" blue)
01-31-05 (2-1 pink)
02-16-05 (2" yellow)
02-28-05 (2"1 green)
03-31-05 (final)
SQUIRMING BACTERIA 1
team before us. They're densely packed, thousands, maybe

millions of them, wriggling with abundant life. Pulling back, wa
realise they're all contained in a single drop of water, and
pulling baek further, the drop is one of many on a leaf, and we
think how truly insignificant those teeming baoteria really are,
because ~
BZT TROPICAL RAXNPORBST DAY 2
~ the leaf is one of a thousand on a treetop, and the tree one of

a million in a lush rainforest. Jangle animals BOOT, branches
bend as they're scampered over, the BUM of insects fills the air,
life is everywhere.
Beavy clouds part and all those billions of leaves turn upward,
stretohing for the light that comes from the sun, a brilliant
orange ball of warmth, huge in the sky. The sun dissolves to —
EXT BARREN PLANET SURFACE DAT 3
— anothor sun, and the contrast could not be greater. Whoro our
sun is full, rich, and hot, this second sun is tiny, small in its
sky, its rays thin and weak.
Re tilt down to the surface of the planet below it. A frosen,

inhospitable plain stretches to the horizon, obscured by driving
sandstorms that must render life above the surface impossible.
There's some evidence that this wasn't always the case, thousand
year-old structures dot the surface, but they're abandoned now,
worn away by the relentless battering of the storms.
As for growth, there's only one type of vegetation tough enough

to survive in this hostile environment — a scrabbly red weed.
It's mean and grasping, its sharp tendrils clawed into any
crevice it can find in the sand-blasted rock and buildings.
EXT A MOUNTAINSIDE DAY 4

Back on earth, springtime blooms on a mountainsIda. The sun
melts the winter snowfall on the banks of a stream, chunks of
melting white snow are swept away by the swiftly moving water.
Bigh up in the air, we see the stream is part of a network that
foods into a larger river, its banks swollen with the rich spring
runoff. This rich network of tributaries dissolves to —
EXT BARREN PLANET SURFACE DAZ 5
— a wider view of the surface of the barren planet, and a nearly
matching mountainside. But this one is dead, dried out rivers
carved into its faoe like aoaa soars. A VOICE comes over:
2.
CONTINUED: 5
VOICE (O.S.)
No one would have believed in the early
years of the twenty-first century that
our world was being watched keenly and
closely by intelligences greater than
man's and yet as mortal as his own.
That as men busied themselves about
their various concerns...
EXT SIXTH AVENUE DAY 6
One of those long-lens shots looking down Sixth Avenue in

Manhattan as the workday lets out. People, scads of thorn, all in
a terrible hurry.
VOICE (O.S.)
...they were watched and studied, the
way a man with a microscope might
scrutinise the creatures that swarm and
multiply in a drop of water. With
infinite complacency we went to and fro
about the globe, confident of our empire
over this world.
As we watch, the shot speeds up, turns into time lapse — the
people move faster, turn into the rush hour crowd, then thin out
as twilight falls. Re tilt up from the city as the last of the
evening olouds race away, the moon rises and sets, the sky turns
to night and dissolves into ~
BXT RED BOOK DOCKS NIGHT 7
-- a dazzling starfiold, somewhere in outer space.
VOICE (0.8.)
Yet, across the gulf of space,
intellects vast and cool and
unsympathetic regarded this earth with
envious eyes. And slowly and suroly...
No pan toward one star in particular, a brilliant, hot white

light.
VOICE (O.S.) (CONT'D)

... they drew their plans against us.
Drawing close, we realise it's man-made, an arclight on top of
the spindly mechanical arm of a container handler on the docks in
Red Hook, just across the Bast River from Manhattan. Down here
on earth, huge cargo ships are unloaded by LONGSHOREMEN working
the night shift.
3.
CONTINUED: 7
We follow one container up, out of the hold of the ship, and look
up the cables of the crane that's lifting it, up to the windowed
cab suspended a hundred feet up in the air. There's a guy in
there.
8 INT CRANE CAB NIGHT 8
RAY PBRRIBR, the crane operator, is in good shape but pushing

forty from the wrong side these days, halfway through life and
feels like it's taking forever.
He's bent forward, looking through the clear floor of the cab,
studying the cargo container he's hauling as he skims the huge
crane across the deck far below.
9 EXT DOCK NIGHT 9
Down on the dock, the crane nestles the twenty foot cargo
container into the back of a flatbed truck, resting it gently in
a tiny spot.
The container BANGS down into place, the metal spreader that held
it de-couples and rises swiftly into the air.
A SIREN blows in the distance, loud. Shift's over.
10 INT CAB NIGHT 10
In the cab, Ray works the lovers quickly, shutting down, hauling
the crane cab back to the top of the ladder that leads down to
ground level.
As it CLUNKS into place, he stretches out his back — long shift

in that chair ~ then reaches down into a bucket next to his cab
and grabs a chunky gold watch he puts there for safekeeping while
he's working. He SNAPS it onto his wrist.
11 EXT DOCK NIGHT 11
On the dock, the HATCH BOSS is waiting at the bottom of the ladder
as Ray climbs down from the cab.
HATCH BOSS
Farrier, I need you back in four Instead
of twelve, I've got half of Korea coming
in at noon.
Bay jumps the last six steps and his boots hit the pavement. He
heads for the parking lot.
RAY
Can't do it, I'm on a twelve hour blow.
Call Tedesco.
4.
11 CONTINUED: 11
HATCH BOSS
Tedesoo can't move forty orates an hour,
I need somebody who can do double picks,
c'mon, I'm in a position here.
RAY
Wish I could help you, Sal, it's these
Goddamn union regulations, whaddya gonna
do?
He keeps walking. The Hatch Boss calls after him.
HATCH BOSS
You know what your problem is?
RAY
(calling back over his shoulder)
I can think of a couple women who'd be
happy to tell you.
CUT TO:
12 EXT ANCHOR INN DAWN 12
The sun comes up over the Anchor Inn, a tavern nestled under a
freeway overpass near the docks.
13 INT ANCHOR INN DANE 13
A pinball gets smacked around the table, BIRGIHG off the bumpers
in a hot game.
Ray stands in front of it, working the flippers. Be manages to

throw a hip into the pinball machine without upending the beer
bottle that rests on top of the glass. Unfortunately, the second
hip he smaoks into the machine is a little too hard and the "TILT"
light lights up.
RAY
Oh, for...
The flippers go dead and the ball rolls through.
AT THE BAR,
Ray reclaims his stool, between two other REGULARS. The place
has a horseshoe-shaped bar with a half-dozen PATRONS at it, all
night workers just off their shift at the docks. Ray looks up at
the BARTENDER, a cute, slightly hardened woman in her late
thirties.
5.
13 CONTINUED: 13
RAY (cont'd)
I want my quarter back. You got the tilt
set too sensitive again.
The Bartender does not dignify this with a response. Ray shakes
his empty beer glass at her and the Bartender takes it.
RAY (cont'd)
I want my quarter back.
BARTENDER
From my cold dead hand.
RAY
Nothing cold about your hands.
BARTENDER
Sit down and behave yourself.
She picks up the remote for the TV that hangs over the bar.
There's a news report on CNN, we can't hear what the ANCHOR is
saying, but the graphic is fleatingly legible —
Deadly Lightning Storm in Ukraine

— before the Bartender hits a button and flicks it over to
SportsCenter, which is doing a report on the Yankees' latest free
agent signing. (FOR TOLL TEXT OF BOTH REPORTS, SEE APPENDIX A.)
RAY
I don't know, I don't know about this
guy, he hits what, .211 against left
handed pitching? And he has never
figured out Pedro.
A DOCXHORKER next to him shakes his head and gestures to Ray.
DOCKWORKER
Two years of double A boll and he thinks
he's an expert.
RAY
What we need 1B another arm. Shoulda
thrown money at that kid Santana in
Minnesota Instead.
DOCKWORKER
Whatever you say. Yogi.
The Bartender comes back with Ray's beer, which reminds Ray:
RAY
Forgetting something? My quarter?
6.
13 CONTINUED: (2) 13
BARTENDER
Oh, for God's sake...
DOCKWORKER
He's never gonna drop it.
The Bartender opens the cash register and SLAPS two quarters on
the bar.
BARTENDER
Like having my nine year old at work.
RAY
Shit.
Remembering something, he bolts out of there.
CUT TO:
14 EXT RAY'S STREET - XRONBOUBD DAY 14

Early morning in a part of Newark's east ward called the
Ironbound. Ray's block is mixed-use, a bodega on the corner, gas
station across the street, other than that it's mostly working
class row houses, close together, narrow driveways keeping
everybody just about ten feet out of their neighbors' business.
Although it's not that wide, the street is busy, lots of cars,
it's that good shortcut everybody knows about.
Ray's fifteen year old Impala comes SCREECHING around the corner
(keep meaning to fill those tires), and throws sparks as he pulls
into a driveway in the middle of the block. As Ray gets out of
his oar, he waves to a brand-new Lexus SUV idling at the curb in
front. Still got the dealer plates on it.
The front doors open. TIM and MARY ANN get out, dressed nicer
than the neighborhood. Mary Ann is about six months pregnant.
RAY
Thought wo said eight?
MARY ANN
It's twenty after.
RAY
That is one safe-looking new vehicle you
got yourself there, Tim.
Tin just smiles, refusing to take the bait. He stakes out a

position halfway between the oar and the house.
TIM
Ray.
7.
14 CONTINUED: 14
MARY ANN
We'll be back by nine-thirty Sunday,
depending on traffic.
RAY
There he is I
Ray's looking past Tim, to the car. ROBBIE FERRIBR, sixteen,

gets out of the back seat, backpack slung over one shoulder, G4
laptop shoved under one arm. Robbie's big for his age and not
used to it, his feet and vocal cords sometimes go their own way.
Ha walks toward the house as to a gallows, iPod earphones shoved

in his ears, BASSY RAP MUSIC so loud we can hear it plainly —
must be deafening to him.
RAY (cont'd)
(as he draws close)
I get a hug?
(as he passes)
Confusing handshake?
(as he goes into the house)
Kick in the teeth?
(baok to Mary Ann)
Still working on those manners?
VOICE (O.S.)
Hello, Dad.
Ray looks down. RACHEL, ten years old going on thirty, is

standing next to him, carrying a severely overstuffed American
Girl Travel Case.
RAY
Hello, Rachel.
Rachel sets down her suitcase, opens her arms and gives her
father a half-hearted sideways hug (you know the kind), then
picks up her suitcase again.
MARY ANN
Here, honey, let me give you a hand
getting that Inside.
RACHEL
I can do it.
MARY ANN
I don't mind.
RAY
She said she can do it.
e.
MARY ANN
It'8 heavy, I'll just get it in the
door.
And with that she wrenches the suitcase from Rachel's hand and
heads into the house. Ray is irritated.
CUT TO:
15 INT RAY'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM DAY 15
Ray stands in the middle of his living room as Mary Ann sets the
suitcase down near the base of the narrow flight of stairs and
takes a not-so-surreptitious look around the place.
It's not too clean. Or large. Or happy, for that matter.
Rachel sits on the edge of the sofa. Robbie is nowhere to be

seen. Tim lingers in the doorway, doesn't want to come all the
way in.
RAY
Better get going if you wanna beat
traffic, don't you think?
In the kitchen, parts of a car engine cover the table. Mary Ann
notices, is less than thrilled. She opens his refrigerator.
Momentarily in profile, Ray can see her pregnancy clearly, for a
moment he just stares at her rounded form, so beautiful at this
stage. Bis face looks wistful for a moment, and then —
MARY ANN
You're out of milk. And everything
else.
RAY
(hardening)
Could you close the door, please?
That's my refrigerator.
Rachel gets up, BANGS out the screen door to the tiny baok yard.
TIM
I'm gonna wait in the ear.
Bo loaves too. Mary Ann closes the refrigerator and picks up
Rachel's suitcase.
MARY ANN
I'll just get this upstairs.
RAY
Where are-
9.
15 CONTINUED: 15
But she's gone, headed up. He sighs and follows her.
ISA INT KIDS' BEDROOM DAY 15A
The kids' room — a pair of twin beds, two dressers, and not much
else. It shows almost no signs of life. The too-large TV set is
the only newish item in it. Robbie has yanked the mattress off an
old kids' bed that's carved and painted like a race car, he's
clearly outgrown it. He's sprawled out on the mattress on the
floor, iPod cranked, staring up at the ceiling.
Mary Ann stands in the middle of the room, sizing it up as Ray

appears in the doorway.
MARY ANN
A little old to still be sharing, aren't
they?
RAY
I don't hear any complaints.
MARY ANN
Ho, X do.
Robbie picks up the remote and CLICKS on the TV, to try and flush
his parents from the room. Mary Ann checks her watch, realises
she'8 late. She gives Robbie a kiss on the forehead and heads
downstairs as she talks.
MARY ANN (cont'd)

Robbie's got a paper on the French
occupation of Algeria due Monday which
he has yet to begin, it would be nice if
he were done when we get back so I don't
have to keep him up all night on Sunday.
15B INT LXVIHG ROOM DAY 15B
Mary Ann comes down the stairs, followed by Ray.

MARY ANN
We'll be at my parents' in Boston, but
don't call the house line, you know-
She gestures awkwardly, apparently they don't like Ray.
MARY ANN (cont'd)

Point is, I'll have my cell phone, so if
anything comes up or you have questions,
call me.
RAY
Believe it or not I can handle it.
10.
15B CONTINUED: 15B
She turns in the doorway and forces a smile.
MARY ANN
I'll leave the phone on.
CUT TO:
16 A TV NEWS REPORT 16
plays on a television screen, over another legend:
rroak Lightning, Earthquake Striko Osaka

A REPORTER stands on a hilltop, a darkened cityscape barely
visible behind her on a very dark night.
REPORTER
-BMP, or electromagnetic pulse, which
causes a temporary interruption of all
electrical current within its field. As
in the Ukraine, there are scattered
reports that the BMP here was followed
by seismic activity on the scale of an
earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter
scale. This region, already hit hard by
a flu epidemic that has killed over-
POOFI The report goes dead, but only because someone has —
17 INT KIDS' BEDROOM DAY 17
— shut off the TV that Robbie was watching, slumped on tho bad in
his room.
ROBBIE
I was watching thatI
Ray tosses a baseball glove at Robbie, who slaps it away.
ROBBIE (cont'd)
Baseball season's over.
RAY
Five minutes, it's not gonna kill you.
CUT TO:
18 EXT RAY'S HOUSE - BACK YARD DAY 18
A baseball SHACKS into Robbie's mitt. Ray threw it, and he's got
a good arm. Robbie throws it back, a half-aaead lob that's meant
to irritate.
11.
18 CONTINUED: 18
RAY
Call that a throw?
ROBBIE
Whatever, Ray.
Ray throws it back. SMACKI That one was harder.
Raehel looks up from the baok steps, where she's playing with two
American Girl dolls.
RAY
Your mom says you got a report due
Monday. You're gonna go work on it when
we're done here.
ROBBIE
Yeah, I'm almost finished, I just gotta
type it up.
He throws it baok, again too short, so Ray has to reach for it at

his ankles.
RAY
Bullshit.
ROBBIE
What do you know?
RAY
Everything. Haven't you heard? Between
me and my brother, we know everything.
Rachel chimes in, this is a familiar routine.
RACBEL
What'8 the capital of Australia?
RAY
That's one my brother knows.
Rachel laughs. Robbie does not.
ROBBIE
Okay with you if I just laugh the first
five hundred times you tell that one?
RAY
Just do the report. We don't send you to
school so you can flunk out.
ROBBIE
You don't pay for it, Tim does.
12.
Ray throws it back, really hard, and it SMACKS into the palm of
Robbie's glove.
ROBBIE (cont'd)
Ovl
RAY
Coma on, that's half what X got.
Robbie throws it baok as hard as he can. Ray backhands it easily.
ROBBIE
You're an assholeI X hate coming here I
RAY
That why you act like such a dick?
Ray throws it back again, as hard as the last one. Robbie just
steps aside and lets it sail past him —
— CRASH. Right through the kitchen window.
He gives Ray a look as cold as the North Pole, drops the baseball
glove on the lawn, and walks quietly Into the house, letting the
door close behind him.
RAY (cont'd)
(to Rachel, who's staring)
What?
RACBEL
That's not how you're going to get to
him. If you want him to listen you have
to-
RAY
What are you, your mother? Or mino?
He heads for the house, walking past her.
RACHEL
Where are you going?
RAY
To bed. I work for a living.
RACHEL
what are we supposed to eat?
RAY
There's money in my wallet. Order.
13.
18 CONTINUED: (3) IB
BANG. The door closes, leaving her alone on the back steps. She
turns her attention back to her dolls.
19 INT RAY'8 BEDROOM DAY 19
Ray RIPS the blackout curtains shut in his bedroom, tearB off his
pants and shirt, and flops onto his bed.
He fucked that all up miserably, and he knows it. He puts the

pillow over his head.
CUT TO:
20 IBT RAY'8 - LIVING ROOM DAY 20
Later in the day, around three. Rachel's on the couch in the

living room watching PowerPuff Girls with a glazed, four-hours-of-
TV look in her eyes. Takeout containers are spread out on the
coffee table in front of her, and half a dozen Briar Farm Horses
are lined up, taken from her open suitcase. One of them has a
yellow thlrd-plaoe ribbon around its neck. Rachel's huddled up
in a ball on the couch, hugging her knees to her chest, muttering
Into an expensive-looking cell phone.
Ray comes down the stairs in a bathrobe and boxer shorts. He's
wiped out. GRUMBLES a greeting to her and heads for the kitchen.
RACHEL
(mutters into the phone)
I gotta go.
She hangs it up and drops it on the coffee table with a CLATTER

without looking at Ray.
Ray goes into the kitchen, starts making coffee.
Rachel turns back to the TV, but her show is ending. She picks up
the remote and flicks channels, looking for another show.
ON TV,
she flicks past two more news reports about the lightning, but
she's going so fast nothing registers.
In the kitchen, Ray SLAPS the lid shut on the coffee maker and
pushes start.
Rachel settles on Nickelodeon, where a new show is starting.

Ray drops onto the couch next to her. She reaches out, turns one
of the toy horses slightly toward him. It's the one with the
yellow ribbon around its neck and she wants him to notice it, but
he doesn't.
14.
20 CONTINUED: 20
RACBEL (cont'd)
I'm cold.
RAY
(shrugs)
Boiler's acting weird.
She shrugs back at him. Be notices she's rubbing her palm, it

seams to hurt her.
RAY (cont'd)
What's the matter?
RACHEL
I got a splinter.
He reaches out, takes her hand and opens it. There's a sliver
buried deep in her palm.
RAY
Where"d you get it?
RACBEL
Your porch railing.
RAY
Want me to take it out for you?
RACHEL
(snatching her hand back)
Absolutely not.
RAY
It's gonna get infected.
RACBEL
No it won't. My body'11 just push it
out. That'8 what I read.
She holds her hand tight, isn't going to let him anywhere near
it. Ray shrugs — whatever. For a moment, they both watch The
Amanda Show.
RACHEL (cont'd)
You should get Tivo. Tim gave it to me
for my room, it's awesome, I can watch
my shows after homework.
Ray spots the half-eaten food on the table in front of them and
uses a crust of bread to scoop up some brownish dip.
RAY
I'll put it on my Platinum card.
15.
He makes a horrible face at the food as the taste registers.
RAY (cont'd)
What is that?
RACHEL
Hummus.
RAY
What the hell is hummus?
RACHEL
From the health food place. I kept one
of their menus last time we were here.
He stares at her as if she's insane while he tries to chew and
swallow that crap.
RACHEL (cont'd)
You said order.
RAY
I meant order food.
She reaches out and moves the horse a bit closer to Ray, brushing
the ribbon so it's facing him.
RAY (cont'd)
(looking around)
Where's Robbie?
RACHEL
He went out.
RAY
Where?
Rachel shrugs and mutters, pushes the horse away from him.
RAY (cont'd)
What'd you say?
RACHEL
Nothing.
RAY
Where'd he go, Rachel?
RACHEL
I don't know, he just took the car and
left.
16.
RAY
He took my car?
CUT TO:
21 EXT RAY'S - STREET SIDE DAY 21
Ray comes out the front door of his house, angrily pulling on a
shirt over a pair of blue jeans. Indeed, bis driveway is empty.
RAY
You little shit. You little sixteen
year old shit.
He walks to the street, looks up and down it. No sign of his car
or his son. But across the street, a GUY is staring at him.
And he's not the only one. THREE or FOUR MORE NEIGHBORS step
forward, drawn out of their houses to look at Ray, who puts his
hands out as if to say "what?"
But as they move closer, he notices they're not looking at him,

but behind him, slightly over him.
Bo turns around.
The okiea behind his house are nearly blaok.

Heavy storm clouds are moving In, fast, faster than we've ever
seen storm clouds move. And they're dark, really dark, more like
night headed this way than thunderclouds.
A BRAZILIAN NEIGHBOR steps up next to Ray as they both watch the

skies.
BRAZILIAN NEIGHBOR
You ever see anything like that?
RAY
In tho spring, maybe... not this time of
year.
The Brazilian Neighbor turns and says something to his WIFE in
Portugese. She shakes her head and replies.
Drawn to the storm, Ray walks down his narrow driveway —
22 EXT RAY'S HOUSE - BACK YARD DAY 22
— and into his backyard to get a better look, all the while
staring up at the sky. OTHER NEIGHBORS are going into their own
backyards too, and on this block the yards are close together,
you can see down ten or twelve of them all at once.
17.
22 CONTINUED: 22
Laundry hangs off lines in many of the yards, FLAPPING in a

freshening breeze. A few yards away, a GUY WITH A POWER
LAWNMOWER walks back and forth, cutting his grass.
Ray turns and looks down the yards to the left. His NEXT-DOOR
NEIGHBOR, a woman in her late twenties holding a TODDLER in her
arms, is standing at the fence line. She wears a pair of metal-
framed eyeglasses. Her dress billows out around her legs, the
air is moving faster now.
CRACK I
A wet towel hanging off her laundry line SNAPS in the breeze,
which should now be called a wind. The laundry is standing out
nearly straight on the line, but —
RAY
That's weird.
NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR
What?
RAY
Wind's blowing toward the storm.
— it is indeed pointing toward the clouds, as if sucked in that

direction.
Ray looks the other way. All the laundry. In all the yards, seems
to reach out toward the storm.
Behind Ray, Rachel opens the baok door of the house and steps
out. The back door, pulled by the advancing low pressure system,
SLAMS behind her with such force it cracks the frame.
Ray turns. Gives her a reassuring smile.

RAY (cont'd)
Come look, it's coolI
Rachel walks forward, pulled slightly by the wind, like walking
downhill. He catches her, laughing. We haven't seen him this
animated before.
The olouds are nearly on top of them now, and the wind is blowing
so hard ~
~ actually, no, the wind isn't blowing any more, in fact it

stops, suddenly, all at once. Nothing moves, not their hair, not
the Neighbor's lightweight dress, not the laundry on the linos,
nothing.
18.
A few yards away, the sound of the lawnmower abruptly stops too,
its engine dying. Ray turns. The Guy who was mowing bends over,
looking at the thing.
In the alley behind the house, a car's engine gives out, the car
rolls slowly to a silent stop.
The clouds are nearly on top of them.

NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR (O.S.)
Sure got quiet.
Suddenly, they hear a loud metallic CLANG from behind them. They
turn and look.
A metal garbage can lid is stuck to the side of a car, defying

gravity. They all look at it, puzzled, and as they watch three
more garbage can lids lift off the tops of the cans they're on,
fly across a driveway, and SMACK into the side of the car.
RAY
What the hell?
RACHEL (O.S.)
DUCK1
Ray does, and good thing, as a XID'S BIKE sails through the air
and SLAMS into a chain link fence, sticking there.
The Toddler starts to CRY.
Rachel is standing right next to Ray, his arm dangling near her
waist. She CRIES OUT as a blue bolt of electricity CRACKS out
from his wristwateh and ZAPS her belt buckle.
RACHEL (cont'd)
Owl
RAY
What happened?!
Ray whips his watch off and drops it, but instead of falling to
the ground, it flies out and sticks to Rachel's belt buckle.
RAY (cont'd)
It's magnetized1
As he speaks, the lawnmower starts to move of its own accord,
pulled across the laws and SLAMMING into the side of a pickup
truck.
Now the Toddler really starts to WAIL and the neighbor hurries
inside with him just as —
19.
RACHEL
What's that smell?
— a lightning bolt RIPS across the sky over their heads.
It doesn't touch the ground, it just arcs between two spots in
the clouds above them, but the CRACK is nearly deafening from the
masBive release of energy.
Neighbors GASP and SHOUT, pointing upwards, "Did you see that?!"
Rachel SHRIEKS and grabs on to her father, he hustles her over to

the back door, where they stand beneath the overhang.
RAY
It's okay, it's okay!
RACHEL
I want to go inside!
RAY
A'right, go ahead.
But he stays where he is, wants to watch the show. Rachel takes a
couple steps toward the house, then comes back. She doesn't want
to be by herself.
Another lightning bolt CRACKS a jagged path in the sky above

them, and the Neighbors who have stayed in their yards 000H at
the Impressive display.
Still no rain, and oddly, no thunder either, just huge releases

of energy over their heads.
A third RIP of lightning above them, and now the Neighbors CLAP,
like at a fireworks show. Hey, this is fun.
RACHEL
(warming)
Like the Fourth of July?
RAY
Yeah, that's It, llke-
A MONSTER of a lightning bolt strikes, just behind the row of

houses that borders their back yards. The smell of char fills
the air, a denso cloud of electrified dust wafts towards them,
and the SCREAM of whoever was in the vicinity of where it hit rips
across the open yards.
20.
The fun is over. Neighbors run for their houses, some are still
laughing, but others are SHOUTING to each other to get the hell
inside, what's the matter with you?, and now it's as if that
first lightning bolt to touch the ground has released a flood of
energy, because suddenly there is lightning everywhere, arcing
across the sky, striking trees and television aerials and
flagpoles and clotheslines, even, it's a true lightning storm.
Ray throws open the back door of the house, grabs Rachel, and
hauls her inside.
23 INT RAY'S BOUSE - LIVING ROOM DAY 23
Ray SLAMS the back door and locks it (not sure why), runs to the
front door and closes that too, giving us only a momentary
glimpse of what's going on in the front of the house — lightning
is leaping from car to car like an electrical virus.
But the door SLAMS and we don't see any more.
Ray runs to the kitchen again, where Raohel is curled up by the

back door, terrified. He bends down, grabs her by the shoulders.
RAY
You're okay! You're fine!
RACHEL
It hit right behind our house!
RAY
Well, it's not going to hit there again,
okay?! Lightning doesn't strike in the
same-
CRASHl Another gigantic lightning strike, from right behind the

house. They twist over to the back window and peer up over the
ledge, where they can see out over their backyard.
24 THROUGH THE WINDOW, 24
the lightning bolt has, in fact, struck in the same place, just
behind that row of houses. As they watch, the bolt strikes
again, the same bolt, the same shape, the same place.
25 IN THE KITCHEN, 25
Rachel SCREAMS, Ray is stunned, and while they watch the bolt
strikes a fourth time, louder than any previous —
RACHEL
Where's Robbie?!
— a fifth time, louder still —
21.
25 CONTINUED: 25
RAY
I don't know!
— a sixth, seventh, eighth time, the noise is deafening,

maddening ~
RACBEL
Is Robbie okay?!
RAY
(watching out the window)
Where's the thunder?!
— nine, ten, eleven, it's never going to stop.
RACHEL
Why won't it stop?/
He grabs her and holds her tight as the lightning strikes

continue, over and over and over again, until finally it stops.
Ray and Raehel stay frozen under the window, silent, eyes like
saucers. Finally, as if to announce that it's really over —
— all the magnets drop off the refrigerator and CLATTER to the
floor. That's weird.
RACHEL (cont'd)
Is it over?
Ray doesn't answer, because he doesn't know. It's darker in the

kitchen than it was before, the sun's down and no lights are on.
Slowly, Ray pulls away from his daughter and stands up.
RACHEL (cont'd)
Where are you going?!
RAY
Just to chock things. Wait here.
She nods, backs herself up against the wall under the window.
RACHEL
Are we gonna be okay?
RAY
I don't know.
Ray stands, goes to the light switch and flicks it. But the
overhead light doesn't come on. He tries the switch next to it.
Nothing.
22.
RACHEL
You don't know?
RAY
No, I meant... please, just... stop
asking questions.
Ray looks at the clock that hangs over the kitchen table. The
hands point to 4:26. The sweep second isn't sweeping.
He checks his watch. It too has stopped.

26 OMITTED 26
27 INT RAY'S BOUSE - LIVING ROOM DAY 27
CLICK. Ray turns the switch on a lamp in the living room, which
doesn't work either.
Be lifts the phone. No dial tone. He picks up Rachel's cell

phone from the coffee table, punches a button, but can't even get
it to turn on.
28 EXT RAY'S HOUSE - FRONT DAY 28
Ray steps out onto his front stoop and surveys the neighborhood.
It's quiet, unnaturally so, but PEOPLE are moving in the streets,
so at first it's hard to figure out the silence.
Then we get it — the cars aren't moving. There's just as many in

the street as before, but they're all stilled, right where they
rolled to a stop.
A thin, acrid black smoke wafts over everything. Ray takes a

step off the stoop ~
ROBBXE (0.8.)
Hey.
— and nearly jumps out of his skin. Robbie 1B sitting in a beat-
up old lawn chair behind the door, leaning against the house.
RAY
Jesus I
He lunges at the kid, throwing his arms around him, an embrace
Robbie doesn't return.
RAY (cont'd)
You'ro okay?! Are you hurt?!
Robbie shakes his head no. His eyes are full of tears, but he's
trying like hell not to show it.
23.
28 CONTINUED: 28
RAY (cont'd)
Where the hell did you go?)
ROBBIE
To get something to eat.
RAY
Did you see the lightning? Were you
near it?
ROBBIE
(nods)
The car just stopped. Then the
lightning started to hit, about a block
away, over and over. Me and another
guy, we climbed under a dumpstor.
RAY
Are you insane?
ROBBIE
What?
RAY
It's metal. Where was this?
ROBBIE
(offended)
Over on Lincoln Avenue.
RAY
That far? It looked so much closer, I
thought it was a block away.
ROBBIE
(shakes his head no)
Over by the church. Twenty-six times,
we counted. That's how many times it
struok. It opened like this, hole,
or... something. It was awesome.
Ray looks at him — the brave face isn't very convincing, Robbie
must have been scared shitless.
RAY
Yeah, I bet.
Ray turns, looks around the block.

RAY (cont'd)
You hear how quiet it is?
24.
ROBBIE
Power's out. Cars stopped. Everything
stopped. It's awesome.
RAY
Uh huh.
(starting down the steps)
Where'd you say it was? Lincoln Avenue
by the church?
Be starts down the steps. Robbie gets up to follow him.
RAY (cont'd)
Your sister's in the kitchen, stay here
with her.
ROBBIE
You stay with her.
RAY
I can't, she's scared, sho needs...
Trails off, can't find the words.
ROBBIE
What?
RAY
She nooda you. Just stay with her.
ROBBIE
Whatever, Ray.
Ray starts up the sidewalk, then turns back.
RAY
And the next time you take my oar, no
driver's license and no permission — I
call the cops.
He joins the stream of people heading up the street on foot.
Robbie drops back into the chair and lota it tip back against the
side of the house with a THUD. His head is right next to the
doorway now and he turns to see Rachel standing just inside the
screen, looking at him, scared.
RACHEL
Where did he go?
CUT TO:
25.
29 EXT RAY'S STREET - GAS STATION DAY 29
Ray reaches the gas station at the end of his block. MANNY, the
garage owner, is in front, working under the hood of a late-model
car with another MECHANIC.
RAY
Hey, Manny. What is it, dead?
Manny looks up, gestures around.
MANNY
All of 'em. Everything. Look at that.
He picks up the starter, which he has disconnected and set on top

of the engine, shows it to Ray.
MANNY (cont'd)
Starter's fried.
RAY
Lightning hit it?
MANNY
Not even close. Thought maybe if I
changed it... you got any idea what's
goin' on?
RAY
On my way to find out.
(over his shoulder)
Try'n change the solenoid. Mights
shorted...
Manny gestures, good idea.
CUT TO:
30 EXT THE INTERSECTION DAY 30

Ray rounds a corner and joins a STREAM OF PEOPLE headed toward a
four-way intersection about a half mile from his house. Same
kind of neighborhood as his, but as be acmes around the corner,
we see the difference —
— there is a huge, jagged scar in the pavement, right across the

middle of the intersection. It's about twenty feet long, scorch
marks halo all around it.
There are maybe a HUNDRED PEOPLE there looking at it, most
huddled in small groups, comparing stories. (SEE APPENDIX AA FOR
DIALOGUE.) Nobody seems to have been hurt, and their initial
fear is starting to ease.
26.
30 CONTINUED: 30
There are half a dozen COPS, but without cars or radios, they're
reduced to old-fashioned crowd control, which is not much. Also
A FEW PHOTOGRAPHERS, amateur and/or press, using non-digital
cameras, and a HEWS CREW cursing its useless video equipment.
Ray joins a couple guys at the edge of the group, JULIO and
VINCENT. They all know each other.
RAY
I should have known you two were behind
this.
VINCENT
God is pissed off at this neighborhood,
Raymond, I will tell you that much.
JULIO
You see it?
RAY
Yeah. You got power over where you are?
VINCENT
Nope. Ho phone, nothin'.
RAY
The cars, though, is the thing. You
know?
JULIO
Solar flare. That's what this dude over
there told me he heard.
RAY
Solar flare?
JULIO
Yeah, ho says the sun shoots off these
big blobs of plasma, they turn into
solar flares. It's the only thing that
can kill all the electronic stuff like
that.
VINCENT
I got news for you, Julio, the sun
doesn't make lightning, okay?
JULIO
I'm saying what the guy said he beard!
Ray keeps walking, leaving this important scientific debate

behind.
27.
Ho reaches the actual crack in the macadam and bends down to

investigate for himself. A few others are there too, running
their hands over the edges of it.
The crack 1B charred all along its edges, and rimmed with big
chunks of what looks like broken glass. Ray picks one up and
looks at it in the light — it's similar to glass, but not quite.
He touches the edges, and they're soft, but when he bangs the
thing on the concrete, it doesn't break.
Weird. Ray reaches down to run his band over the other chunks of
whatever-it-is, but as he touches the edge of the crack, a
strange look crosses his face. He lifts his hand off. Puts it on
again.
Be looks at the GUY next to him, who is studying the damaged

street as well.
RAY
Feel that?
The Guy puts his hands down flat against the edge of the crack. A
look crosses his face. Whatever it is, he feels it too.
Ray looks up. There's a parking meter a few feet away from him.
Be Btudies it.
It's trembling.
Ever so slightly.
Ray looks back down. As he watches, a few small chunks of asphalt

break off the edge of the crack and fall inside.
Ray stands up, shoving the piece of "broken glass" into his
pocket.
RAY (cont'd)
It's moving.
CRACK!
Ray whirls around. Behind him, the sound of CRACKING glass has
penetrated the still air.
Re looks at the house on the corner, a narrow row house like his.
The front picture window has cracked, right down the middle. The
Crowd starts to SHOUT in alarm. (SEE APPENDIX B.)
CRACK! CRACK CRACK!I
Ray whirls. Directly across the street, the picture windows of

several houses there are splitting as well.
28.
The crowd, which had gone silent, is starting to MURMUR and

CHATTER when suddenly —
~ everyone near the crack in the pavement is thrown to the

ground.
Row there are some SCREAMS. It's especially vexing because only
those in a roughly circular area around the crack itself were
thrown off their feet. Everyone outside the circular area is
still standing.
Ray's on the ground, but he looks up between the legs of those

around him who are scrambling to get out of there, and he sees
that par Icing meter again.
Except sow it's in the middle of the street.

The other parking meters are still where they were, in a neat
line on the sidewalk, but this one looks as if it has somehow
migrated out into traffic.
Pulling up above Ray, we see the sidewalk no longer follows a

straight line, neither the street, or the edges of the front
yards. A huge circular section of this neighborhood has suddenly
twisted three feet counter-clockwise, throwing everything out of
line.
There is great concern, but not quite panic.
Until the earthquake starts, that is. Because as Ray climbs to

his feet, that entire circle starts to rotate again, like a big
turntable, causing tremors that ripple out from its center,
spiderwebbing the pavement and sidewalks like ice in the
springtime.
The houses at the edges of the circle are ripping apart, right
down the middle, their facades tearing away, revealing cutaways
of the houses' interiors.
Ray, buffeted by the crowd as it flees the epicenter, comes eye
to eye with that rogue parking meter again. It's rattling
violently as it rotates around the edge of the circle, spitting
coins from the door in its front, which has sprung open.
A FOOLISH GUY moves along with it, scooping up the coins.

Ray bolts to the edge of the circle, which is now plainly marked
by the ruptures made by its rotation. Everybody clears it,
moving to the edges like soap flakes in a water glass.
The rotation stops.

People stop.
29.
Everything stops.
Silence for a second.
Those who still remain stare into the middle of the perfect
circle, which is now empty.
Ray looks at Vincent and Julio, who are standing next to him.
Nobody knows what to say. They look to the edge of the road, at
the now-eutaway facades of the houses, see a ROMAN in her
upstairs bedroom, staring in disbelief at her new view of the
street.
Okay, the buildup's over. Suddenly and with such foroe that we
feel completely unprepared, the center of the crack heaves up
into the air, spewing dirt, rook, and asphalt in all directions.
What's left of the crowd surges backwards, away from it, which is
good, because the geyser of earth that shoots out of the ground
is powerful and voluminous. Water mains SNAP like toothpicks,
sending geysers of water billowing into the air.
But still much of the crowd stays to gawk, standing in half-

fascinated terror.
Ray and those around him are knocked into the air and land hard on
their backs in the street. He sits up, but it's hard to see
anything clearly, there's dirt and water in the air and the
earthquake is still going on, everything is jarred, shaking, but
the one thing he gets a good look at —
— is the leg.
Long, spindly, mechanical, it claws up out of the torn earth and
SMASHES down into the pavement just in front of him.
It's followed by a second leg, and a third, long seemingly-

metallic tubes three feet in diameter, telescoping in the
strangest manner we've ever seen, they seem to both expand and
collapse simultaneously, as if the metal were flowing, in and
out, over itself, in continual flux.
As eaeh of the three logs plants itself at equidistant points

around the circumference of the circle, a bevelled pad irises out
of the bottom and claws into the earth, stabilising itself.
Then, as one, the three legs WHIR to life and exert pressure
inward. From the center of the hole In the street, the earth-
smeared, squarish hulk of... something rises out of the ground.
It rests there on the surface for a moment, as if the long climb
out of the ground has exhausted it.
30.
Two portholes iris open on the side facing us, they look like
eyes on a face. Something rotates within them, as if the thing is
looking both ways.
Then the powerful legs kick in again and it begins to rise,

shoved aloft by its tripartite base, up into the air, ten feet,
twenty, fifty, a hundred.
Finally, it stops, resting at the top of its fully extended legs,

hovering there like a giant head on a pair of shoulders, peering
down at the utterly thunderstruck humans beneath it.
In this way, the first of the Tripods appears, it stands there, a

black silhouette against the sun, setting just behind it. It's
strange, though this thing is clearly hyper-advanced, in some
ways it looks ancient, full of stress marks and weathering like a
relic that's just been dug out of the sands.
Whatever semblance of calm there was before is utterly gone now,

whoever was left in the crowd backs off as far and as fast as they
can.
But there are those whose curiosity prevails, and Ray is one of
them. He falls back with a group of a half dozen, into —
31 THE MOUTH OF AN ALLEY, 31
— maybe sixty or seventy yards away from the Tripod. They

strain for a look, shielding their eyes against the sun, which is
blinding behind the thing.
GUY 1
WHAT IS IT?!
RAY
JESUS!
GUY 2
JE8US CHRISTI
GUY 1
WHAT IS IT?!
RAY
IT'S MOVING!
True enough, seen from their point of view, we see the entire
Tripod shudder, as if it just took a mouthful of hard liquor.
This movement shakes the last of the remaining dirt and rock from
it, they fall to the street and SMASH.
The thing just stands there again, unmoving. Suddenly, with a

sharp HISS, several vapor olouds shoot out of ports on the Bides,
as if the thing is breathing.
31.
31 CONTINUED: 31
And a fat spray of water bursts from its undercarriage, as if

it's taking a leak on the street.
What the hell is it?
Ray looks around. Half the crowd is creeping forward again, not
out in the open, of course, but in the mouths of alleys and
driveways, behind cars, in doorways, half-sheltered groups of
four and five staring open-mouthed at the apparition.
In the street, there is no one, no sound.
Except for a CLICK-CLICK-CLICK from across the street. A

PHOTOGRAPHER steps from his hiding place between two houses and
moves into the street.
From the side of the Tripod, a thin black whip emerges, maybe six
feet long, snakelike. It stiffens and unfolds something flat and
round from inside the head of the Tripod.
A SECOND PHOTOGRAPHER joins the first, they move out into an open
area to get better shots of the Tripod.
The flat, round thing pivots upward, and it looks something like
a small satellite dish, except it's perfectly polished, its
surface brilliant and mirror-like.
RAY (cont'd)
Get out of there! Are you crazy, get-
Be starts to go after the Photographers, but a BIG GUY next to him
grabs him by the collar and pulls him back.
In the street, the mirrored disk turns ever so slightly, trailing

the Photographers as they make their way into the open, just
watching them, apparently it means them no harm.
Ray breathes a small sigh of relief.

Now, emboldened by the first two Photographers, HALF A DOZEN
AMATEURS move into the street bearing handheld videos, flash
cameras, and the like.
The flashes FLASH, strobing the block.
Immediately, the mirrored disk pivots in their direction, what

looks like a glint of sunlight flashes over it for the briefest
of seconds —
— and the Photographers simply evaporate, their bodies turned to
dust, leaving their clothes floating in midair.
32.
Ray blinks, he can't even register what's just happened, it was

so fast, one second ago two men were walking into the street, and
now they're, no, they don't even exist anymore, all flesh is
nothing but blowing dust now as their empty clothes waft to the
ground.
How the full-fledged panic that has been building in the crowd
hits at last, everyone takes off, bolting from their hiding
place, SCREAMING in terror.
Rather than tear ass into the open with the others, Ray remains
behind the corner of the building --
RAY (cont'd)
WAIT, DOtt'T-
— but those around him bolt, and his desperate grab can't hold
anyone back. The sudden movement of the crowd causes the Tripod
head to snap into notion. It pivots quickly, seeming to brace
itself, and the mirrored disk rotates, sweeping once across the
street in a slow aro.
The air between the disk and the material objects on the ground
wavers, heat ripples like off the highway on a summer day, and
slowly everything before it is incinerated.
So swift and terrible is the heat ray's destruction that before

Ray can even back away, it's nearly upon him, wiping out the
building he's hiding behind.
Ray bolts into the street, just ahead of the heat ray. Behind
him, a FORTYISB GUY runs in terror in the same direction, toward
the safety of another building, just ahead.
Rsy reaches the building first and lunges around the corner,
flattening himself against the building. Be reaches out for the
Fortyish Guy and gets hold of his hand just as the heat ray
reaohes that part of the street, it flashes, Ray tries to pull
the man to safety, he gets the Guy's arm around the corner ~
— just as the deadly heat hits him.
Ray pulls the arm, but that's all that's left of the Guy by the
time it comes around the corner. Ray SCREAMS and looks back in
horror, toward the Tripod. As ho watches —
— its legs suddenly telescope, vaulting tho thing another fifty
feat up into the air, but that's not all, now up at this new
height, the horrible thing —
— takes a step forward.

33.
It can move. As it begins to stride forward, the heat ray flashes

again, SEARING into the side of the brick building Ray is hiding
behind.
As the brick begins to glow, Ray's attention is caught by a

FATHER in one of the split-apart houses, racing down the stairs,
holding one SMALL CHILD and dragging another KID by the hand.
Ray's eyes widen, remembering the kids, and he takes off, down
the narrow alley and over a chain-link fence at the other end,
disappearing into the smoke and haze.
32-35 OMITTED 32-35
36 INT RAY'S BOUSE DAY 36
BANG! Ray, covered in ash, SLAMS through the front door and
staggers into the kitchen. Be gets there and turns in a half
circle, traumatized, not sure where to go or what to do. His legs
go out from under him and he collapses, cross-legged on the
kitchen floor.
Robbie and Rachel are visible through the open back door, staring
over the tree line at the mayhem in the distance. They hear him
and come into the house.
ROBBIE
What happened?
He doesn't answer.
RACHEL
Are you okay?
Still no answer.
RACHEL (cont'd)
Dad? What's the matter?
ROBBIE
What's that stuff all over you?
Ray gets up and turns to the sink, catches sight of himself in a
mirror hanging there. His face is covered in gray ash.
RACHEL
What's all that smoke outside? What's
going on out there?
Ray runs water and splashes it over his face, washing off the
ash. The cold seems to bring him back to life.
34.
36 CONTINUED: 36
ROBBIE
Hey! Hello?
Ray turns back to them.
RAY
We're getting out of there.
He goes across the room, finds Raohel's American Girl suitcase

and RIPS it open. He starts tossing aside school folders, dolls,
anything not absolutely necessary. He finds a sweater, shoves
that back inside. Also grabs another coat, hanging from a rack
on the wall, and shoves that in.
ROBBIE
What? Why? What's going on?!
Ray grabs a loaf of bread and a couple apples off the counter and
shoves them into the suitoase, SNAPS it shut. He slides it
across the floor to Rachel, it hits her feet and stops.
RAY
Take that and go wait by the front door.
RACHEL
Where are we going?
Ray picks up a cardboard box next to the trash can, it's full of
paper for the recycling. He dumps the contents onto the floor
and shoves the empty box Into Robbie's arms.
RAY
Take anything edible in the refrigerator
and put it in this box, plus the canned
stuff from the cupboards.
ROBBIE
What's-
RAY
Do what I said!
(Robbie hesitates)
ROW!
Robbie sees the look in Ray's eyes, sees enough to know something
very, very bad has happened. He moves.
Ray opens a drawer and takes out a flashlight. He tries it, but
it's dead.
35.
Rachel, still puzzled, goes to the coffee table and picks up the
third-place ribbon, the one she was trying to get her father to
notice before. She puts it in her pocket.Ray rips open a fresh
pack of batteries and dumps them in the flashlight.
RAY (cont'd)
We're leaving this house in sixty
seconds.
Ray tries the flashlight again, now it works, and ha tosses it in

the box. He turns and runs up the Btairs.
Rachel, confused and alarmed, notices something out the open

front door. She walks over to it and stands in the doorway.
Outside, TWO MEN run past their house at top speed. Raohel
watches, thinks it weird. Their street, which was perfectly
peaceful thirty seconds ago, is showing the first signs of alarm,
but it's not yet widespread.
37 INT RAY'S BEDROOM DAY 37
Ray runs into his bedroom, drops to the floor next to the bed, and
pulls a metal box from underneath. It has a set of three tumblers
in the top. He spins them to enter a three-digit code and opens
the box, which is a gun safe.
Inside is a .38 and a box of bullets. He dumps the bullets in his

pocket, puts the gun in his waistband, and runs out.
38 INT KIDS' BEDROOM DAY 38
Ray grabs Robbie's backpack from off the bed.
39 OMITTED 39
40 EXT RAY'S HOUSE DAY 40
Ray, followed by the kids, BANGS through the front door of the
house. There is a good deal more commotion in the street than two
minutes ago, but on a scale of one to ten, the panic level is
still at a five. The first bits of news have come back about the
Tripod attack by word-of-mouth, but the full tide of news is just
about to hit.
Ray drags Rachel up the sidewalk, in the direction that HALF A

DOZEN SURVIVORS seem to be fleeing. Robbie follows at a half-
trot, carrying the cardboard box of food.
ROBBIE
What happened?!
36.
40 CONTINUED: 40
RAY
Can't tell you now, we only got another
minute.
Ray looks ahead, to the gas station on the corner, where Manny
SLAMS the hood of the car he was repairing, which is now running.
Manny sees Ray coming and calls out to him.
MANNY
Hey, Ray! You were right! Had to change
the solenoid tool
(to the Mechanic)
Leave it on, run the alternator.
The Mechanic, who was behind the wheel, gets out, leaving the oar
running. Ray quickly forms a plan, and he leads the kids quickly
toward the idling oar.
Manny is at the corner, about ten feet away, talking with the
Mechanic, noticing the strange behavior of a few people in the
street, wondering what's going on.
Ray, Robbie and Rachel reach the car.
RAY
(quietly, to the kids)
Get in.
RACBEL
Whose car is-
RAY
(hisses)
Get in I
They do, Robbie in the front passenger seat, Rachel in the back.
Ray slides behind the wheel.
INT CAR DAY
Ray SLAMS the door. Manny and the Mechanic both turn at the
sound.
RAY
Lock your doors.
They do. Ray hits the window "up" buttons and the power windows
start to slide up, as Manny turns and looks at Ray, an odd smile
on his face.
Be extends his hands ~ "what's the joke?"

Suddenly and silently, right behind Manny —
37.
CONTINUED:
— a maple tree bursts into flame.
This is seen from inside the car, which perhaps makes it even
more stunning and horrific.
The kids can only stare in stunned horror, but Ray drops the oar
in gear, hits the gas, and cranks the wheel.
The ear spins a one-eighty in the parking lot, cutting around

Manny, who has fallen back from the tree in horror. His Mechanic
takes off running, but in the wrong direction, straight out into
the street, toward the approaching chaos.
At the edge of the driveway, Ray SLAMS on the brakes, reaches in

back, and throws open the rear passenger door.
He SCREAMS at Manny.
RAY (cont'd)
GET INI
Manny is standing in dumb terror, looking up at the tree, at the

fleeing people, and at Ray.
RAY (cont'd)
GET IN, MANNY, OR YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!
These are words Rachel has never, ever heard spoken in earnest.
She starts to SCREAM.
Manny has a two-second window here to adjust to the new reality

or cling to his old one and —
— he clings, snapping out of his stupor with a look of fury.
MANNY
Get the hell out of that car!
Wrong answer, and there's no more time for the right one. Ray
bits the gas and the car SCREECHES out of the parking lot,
leaving the furious Manny behind, SHOUTING at them —
— until he is inoineratad by the heat ray. His gas station busts
into flame.
Again, the kids begin SCREAMING, but it's hard to hear over the
racing engine, the SCREECHING tires.
Ray leans forward, trying like hell to see through the

windshield, through the smoke that's now blanketing the block.
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39.
46 COHTIHUED: 46
Robbie looks out at the swarms of PEOPLE as they ROAR past them on
the freeway.
ROBBIE
Where are we going? 1
RAY
I don't want to stop. We've got maybe
the only working car anywhere around
here, I'm not stopping until we're clear
of it!
ROBBIE
Clear of what?/
RAY
I don't know.
On the other side of the freeway, a DOZEN POLICE CARS and FIRE
TRUCKS race through the stilled traffic there, headed in the
direction Ray and the kids just came from. (Apparently those
vehicles are either still working or have been repaired.)
The SCREAMING SIRENS are deafening as they blast past. In the

back seat, Rachel starts CRYING hysterically.
ROBBIE
What the hell is going on?l
RAY
You saw. We're under attack.
ROBBIE
By who?!
Ray doesn't answer — how could you answer that?

ROBBIE (cont'd)
Who is attacking usil
But Ray, trying to concentrate on driving, is unnerved by
Rachel's hysteria.
RAY
Rachel! Stop it! STOP IT, Rachel!
But he's upsetting her more, and her CRIBS turn to 8CREAMS.
ROBBIE
(to Ray)
You're freaking her out!
40.
RAY
Do something!
Robbie climbs over the seat and slides in next to his sister,
comforting her.
ROBBIE
Okay, put 'em up.
(she keeps crying)
C'mon, Rachel, make the arms.
He holds his arms in front of him, making a space. She does the
same thing. Seems they've done this before.
ROBBIE (cont'd)
This space right here, this is yours.
This belongs to you. Right?
RACHEL
Right.
In front Ray tilts the rear view mirror, watching them. Be can't
hear what they're saying, but it's definitely working. As Robbie
speaks softly to Rachel in what seems a practiced routine, she
starts to calm down.
In back:
ROBBIE
Listen... I'll be right back. I'm just
going in the front seat to talk to Dad,
I'll be, like, two feet away, okay?
RACHEL
(panicking again)
No!
ROBBIE
A'right, alright, just... just grab my
belt.
Be leans forward, to talk to his father over the seat, and Rachel
grabs hold of his belt, to keep a hand on him.
In front, Robbie leans in closer to his father, lowers his voice

to a hushed whisper.
ROBBIE (cont'd)
I want to know everything you know.
Ray looks in the rear view, makes sure Rachel isn't watching
them. He too lowers his voice.
41.
RAY
This, this thing, like a machine.
Climbed out of the ground. It just
started burning everything. Killing
everybody.
ROBBIE
What is it?
RAY
I don't know.
ROBBIE
(a glance at Rachel)
Is it terrorists?
RAY
No. This came from someplace else.
ROBBIE
What do you mean, like, Europe?
RAY
Maybe it came down in the lightning
storm. Maybe the thing was here
already, buried, and then something else
had to-
ROBBIE
Wait a minute, what do you mean, came
down? You just said it was buried!
RAY
The machine, I'm talking about, is what
was buried, what came down had to be
what brought them up... brought up...
Ray just looks at him, can't bring himself to actually say "an
alien." Robbie returns the look for a long, puzzled moment, then
suddenly understanding breaks across is face and he grasps what
his father is trying to tell him without saying.
Robbie leans further forward and looks up, out the front
windshield. Bis eyes crawl up, to search the skies.
ROBBIE
Why aren't there any helicopters? Or
airplanes? Where is everybody?
Ray shrugs. He looks back at Rachel.
RAY
8he okay now?
42.
ROBBIE
Yeah.
RAY
What was that thing you did with her,
with your arms?
ROBBIE
Works sometimes. She gets
claustrophobic.
RAY
(calling out to her)
Rachel?
ROBBIE
I said she's fine.
RAY
You feel better?
RACBEL
I want Mom.
RAY
Yeah, I know, I just want to say... I
need you to hold it together, you
understand me? I gotta make a plan,
figure out what we do —
RACHEL
I want to be with Mom!
RAY
— and when you're screaming like that,
I can't think, I can't-
RACBEL
Mom! Take me to Mom'si
RAY
Fine! Mom's! That's where we're going,
okay?1, she and Tim probably turned back
when they heard what happened, just
gimme a break and-
RACHEL
Mom! I want Komi
RAY
I KNOW!
She starts crying again. Robbie looks at Ray disapprovingly.

43.
ROBBIE
Nice work.
Be sits back again, to calm her down once more.
Ray looks up in the rear view, sees them both looking at him. The
look in their eyes is not one of confidence.
Ray looks out through the windshield. They've reached an open

patch of interstate. Night is falling, but aside from their
headlights, no man-made light comes on to pierce the gloom.
CUT TO:
47 OMITTED 47
48 EXT UPSCALE SUBDIVISION NIGHT 48
An upscale suburban block. The power's still on here and all

seems well, the streetlamps throw warm light on two neat rows of
McMansions. There isn't anybody out on the street, but that's
probably not unusual at this hour.
Ray turnB into the third driveway on the right and Rachel
immediately bolts out of the car.
49 EXT MARY ANN'S HOUSE NIGHT 49
Rachel tears ass across the front lawn and up to the front door.
She pushes the doorbell, POUNDS on the door. Robbie's just

behind her, he gently pushes her out of the way and uses a key to
open it. The kids rush inside.
50 INT MARY ANN'S BOUSE NIGHT 50
The house is dark. Rachel flicks on the lights and runs inside.
RACHEL
Mom! Mom, where are you?!
ROBBIE
Mom?
No answer. Ray comes in and closes the door. While the kids
search the house, Ray sizes up the place. It's expensively
furnished, spacious, clean. Everything his place is not. He
runs a finger over a silver bowl on a side table. Notices a huge
flat Bcreen TV on the far wall.
He checks out a framed photograph, a shot of Mary Ann and Tim on a

beach somaplaoo, arms around the kids, Ray's kids, everybody
looking a little too happy.
44.
50 CONTINUED: 50
Rachel and Robbie burst back into the living room.
ROBBIE (cont'd)
They're gone.
RACHEL
She's dead! They killed herI
RAY
She's not dead, she's just not hare.
They were never here.
ROBBIE
Bow do you know?
RAY
Because they were on their way to
Boston, they told us, this would have
been completely out of the way, the
opposite direction. They kept going,
they're up in Boston at your grandma's
by now.
ROBBIE
I'm gonna call her!
Bo goes and picks up the phone, dials.
RACBEL
How come the lights work here but not at
our place?
RAY
Because nothing bad's happened here.
See, I told you, we're safe hero.
Robbie, who's picked up the phone, shouts to them.
ROBBIE
Busy signal — one of those fast ones,
the whole system's down!
He hangs up and immediately dials again.
RAY
Everybody just relax, okay? We're here
now, we're safe, we're staying. When we
wake up in the morning, Tim and your mom
are gonna be back, and everything's
gonna be fine. Okay?
Unconvinced, they don't answer. So he answers himself.

45.
RAY (cont'd)
Okay.
CUT TO:
51 INT MARY ANN'S BOOSE - KITCHEN NIGHT 51
A few minutes later. The kids are sitting at the table and Ray is
unpacking the box of food that Robbie hastily threw together.
Ray looks at the contents as he unpacks them, frustrated.
RAY
Mustard? Mayonnaise? Salad dressing?
What the hell were you thinking?
ROBBIE
That's all there was in your fridge.
RAY
Microwave popcorn, that's helpful.
ROBBIE
(half under his breath)
Dick.
Ray didn't hear that — or maybe he did, and chose to ignore it.
He opens one of Mary Ann's cabinets and starts looking there.
RAY
Where's all the food?
ROBBIE
Mom gave the cook the week off.
RAY
The cook, right, silly me.
(shakes his head)
She married up, your mom.
ROBBIE
She sure did.
(Ray looks at him sharply)
What? You said it.
RACHEL
What does that mean, married up?
RAY
Mothin. Means she loves him.
He finds a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread on the

counter.
46.
51 CONTINUED: 51
RAY (cont'd)
Peanut butter. Okay, good. We're gonna
eat sandwiches.
RACHEL
I'm allergic to peanut butter.
RAY
Since when?
RACHEL
Birth.
RAY
Just eat the bread.
RACHEL
I'm not hungry.
RAY
(to Robbie)
See if you can find a can of tuna.
ROBBIE
I'm not hungry either.
RAY
Fine.
He throws the bread back, leans against the counter, facing away
from them. Silence for a long moment.
RACHEL
Dad?
RAY
What?
RACHEL
What is happening?
(no answer)
Dad?
(still no answer)
Dad?
CUT TO:
92 IHT MARY ANN'S HOUSE - BASEMENT NIGHT 52
The door opens at the head of a flight of wooden stairs and Ray
starts down the steps into the basement. The kids follow him,
carrying armloads of blankets and pillows.
47.
52 CONTINUED: 52
RACHEL
If everything's fine, why do we have to
sleep in the basement? We have
perfectly good beds.
RAY
Think of it like camping out.
ROBBIE
What are you afraid is gonna happen?
RAY
(looking around)
Who has a basement this nice?
It is nice. There's a Stairmantor, stretching machine, other

workout stuff, and a mirrored wall with free weights on racks.
Ray finds a likely corner and dumps the blankets and pillows.
RACHEL
I want to sleep in my bed. I have back
problems.
RAY
(getting exasperated)
Look, you know on the Weather Channel
how when there's a tornado, they tell
everybody to go down to the basement?
For safety? It's like that.
RACHEL
There's gonna be tornadoes?
Robbie rolls his eyes, annoyed by his father's mishandling of

her.
ROBBIE
No more talking. Lay down, Rachel.
Be fluffs a couple pillows and Rachel lays down. He lays down
beside her.
Ray plugs a nightlight into a wall socket nearby, then cornea and
pulls a blanket up over Rachel. She stares at him, eyes wide.
RAY
In the morning, we'll see what's going
on. We're safe here for tonight.
ROBBIE
How do you know?
48.
RAY
I'm gonna be right in this chair over
here.
He turns and walks toward an old beat-up armchair under a window,

one of those narrow top-of-the-basement windows that is right at
grass lovel. On the way he bends down, surreptitiously pulling
something from Robbie's backpack, which leans against the wall.
It's the .38 he took from the gun safe under his bed. Hiding it
behind one leg, he turns and drops into the chair, sliding the
gun between the cushion and the arm of the chair, within easy
reach.
All of this he feels he has done on the sly, but when he settles
into the chair and looks up, Rachel is staring right at him.
RACHEL
Dad?
RAY
Yeah?
RACHEL
Am I ever going to see Mom again in my
life?
RAY
Yes. You are. I promise.
RACHEL
Toll me the other stuff.
RAY
What other stuff?
RACHEL
The stuff you don't want me to know.
He looks at her. The kid's too smart. He moves closer, sits down
on the floor next to her and tries his best.
RAY
Never could bullshit you.
RACHEL
You shouldn't use that language in front
of me.
RAY
Right, right.
He thinks. How the hell do you explain this one?
49.
RAY (cont'd)
Well, that... that lightning storm, it
made the power go out, right? I don't
know how, but it stopped all the phones,
and TV, and most cars don't work. How,
another thing the lightning did is it...
seems like it made this machine come up
out of the earth. And that machine,
it... it...
RACHEL
It kills people.
RAY
Yes, it does.
RACHEL
Bow did the machine get down in the
earth?
RAY
I don't know.
RACHEL
Is there more than one machine?
RAY
No. Absolutely not. I only saw one, I'm
sure of it.
RACHEL
Well, who were the people who put it
there?
RAY
Let me tell you something I know for
sure, okay? Wherever they're from, they
have done a very stupid thing. I don't
know what they expected to find when
they got here, maybe no life, maybe
nothing at all. But they found us. And
they pissed us right off. And right now
our army has found out about them, and
they are very, very angry, and they're
on their way this very minute to destroy
that machine and whatever is running it.
And then everything in your life, and
mine, and Robbie's, is gonna go right
back to exactly the way it was before.
She looks at him for a long moment, deciding whether or not to

believe that. Apparently satisfied, she rolls ovor, facing away
from him, and closes her eyes.
50.
Ray goes back to the chair and slouches into it, breathes deeply.
He's about to close his eyes when Robbie rolls over, eyes open,
staring at him.
Ray looks at him. Robbie continues to stare. In the background,

we can see Rachel putting her arms out in front of her, making
space like she did in the car with Robbie.
RAY (cont'd)
(to Robbie, a whisper)
What?
ROBBIE
He died. That guy, Manny. He died.
(no answer from Ray)
You stole his car, and now he's dead.
RAY
You're alive, aren't you?
Robbie considers this, his face neither condemning nor excusing.
Just thinking about the now reality.
Ray breaks the eye contact, pulls his Yankees cap low over his
eyes and tries to get some sleep.
So ends the first night.
CUT TO:
S3 INT BASEMENT NIGHT S3
Or so we thought. It's later. The kids are deeply asleep, Ray

lightly so. The nightlight glows In the socket on the other side
of the basement, a big round clock TICKS on the wall.
TICK. TICK. TICK.
The narrow window over Ray's head RATTLES lightly in its frame,
shaken by the wind.
Or is it the wind? Because the window starts RATTLING harder,

too hard for just wind.
Ray's eyes pop open. He looks up, at the pale moonlight coming
through the RATTLING window.
Ray twists in his chair, looks up at the window. He gets up and
stretches to look out through it.
THROUGH THE WINDOW,
he sees the trees in the front yard bending from a heavy wind.
51.
53 CONTINUED: 53
IN THE BASEMEHT,
Ray turns from the window, thinking. A hollow BOOM in the

distance draws his attention back to the window, and it's
followed quickly by a second BOOM, and then a third.
RAY
Oh, no...
Outside the window, there is a silent, blinding flash of purple

light that illuminates the entire basement as if it were daytime
for a second.
Both kids sit bolt upright.
RACHEL
What is it?! Is it the lightning?
RAY
I don't know! I don't think so.
Another purple flash, brilliant and searing, it lights up the
entire basement for a split-second, and it's followed closely by
a tremendous BOOM.
ROBBIE
What's that sound?I
RACHEL
Is it them?! Is it them?!
They start to get up, but —
RAY
Stay down!
Ray throws himself on them and they huddle into a corner.
The BOOMS grow louder, and the purple flashes, hot and irregular,
continue to flash into the basement through the window.
But this time another sound rises up over everything; this one's
like the SCREAM of an engine.
It starts out loud and gets louder, deafening, a HARSH METALLIC

SHRIEKING sound that is absolutely the loudest thing we've ever
heard in our lives, and it's building and building and building,
like a bomb about to fall right on top of us. On the far wall of
the basement, the rack of free weights starts trembling, tipping,
spilling weights that SLAM onto the floor around them.
52.
Ray and the kids are SHOUTING and SCREAMING at each other, but we
can't hear a word of it, and it sounds like that bomb is going to
be right on top of us in a few seconds.
Ray SCREAMS something we can't understand to Robbie, gesturing

urgently. Robbie SHOUTS back, points to the other Bide of the
basement.
Ray leaps to his feet, dragging Rachel with him, gesturing for
Robbie to go, quickly. Understanding, Robbie leads them all
across the basement, further in, toward a metal door on the far
side, he throws open the door —
54 INT MACHINE ROOM NIGHT 54
— and there's a staircase, down, and then another door at the

bottom of it, a fire door, he opens that one too and they all fall
into a deep, windowless room lit only by the flashing lightning
coming through the open doors. We get just a glimpse of the
inside of this sub-basement, it's full of pipes and tanks and the
other junk that runs a house, then both the inner and outer doors
SLAM, we're inside and in total darkness and —
55 IN TOTAL BLACK, 55
— the bomb hits.
The explosion above and around them is so bone-rattling, and so

close, that we practically lose our hearing for a minute.
It settles, but we're still in darkness.
Long moments go by. Outside, there are diminishing THUHKS and

BOOMS as the residual explosions from whatever happened outside
begin to fade.
Faintly, we can hear fire. But that starts to fade too. Until we
can only hear the breathing of three people.
Breathing. Silence. Still black. Finally:
RACHEL
(a whisper)
Are we still alive?
CUT TO:
56 INT SOB-BASEMENT DAY 56
The next morning, not that we'd know — the screen is still
black. (We're going for a record for on-screon blackness here.)
53.
56 CONTINUED: 56
We hear the sound of someone waking up. A rapid intake of breath,

a jerking sound, a GRUNT. It's Ray. At first, terror, he's lost
in darkness, where the hell is he?
Feet SCRAPE, he must be getting up. He fumbles around, searching
the walls with his hands. His hands fall on a doorknob, he turns
and pushes it open.
Now narrow streams of light fall into the machine room. We see
Robbie and Rachel are still asleep, slumped over in the corners.
Ray finds something to prop open the door and looks up the short
flight of stairs that leads to the basement. There's daylight
coming around the edges of the door at the top of the stairs.
Without waking the kids, he climbs the short flight of stairs and
turns the knob. Be pushes.
But tho door won't open. Be leans up against it, puts his
shoulder into it and forces it open about two feet, which is all
it will give.
Immediately, he winces from the brilliant daylight, but why is

there brilliant daylight in the basement? Bis eyes adjust and he
realizes ~
57 EXT RUINED BASEMENT DAY 57
« the entire house has been wrenched right off its moorings.
What once was the basement is now wreckage, the only thing left
intact is the staircase that leads up to the ground floor, oddly
spared in whatever catastrophe occurred here last night.
Overhead, blue sky.
Stunned, Ray picks his way through the wreckage and climbs the
basement stairs, which lead up to ground level.
58 EXT RUINED HOUSE DAY 58
Ray reaches the top of the stairs and stands in the ruins of the
house. It's not so much that the house was torn down, more that
it was sheared off its foundation, as if something reached down
and swiped it away.
We're looking at Ray, but something's obstructing our vision,

something turning, spinning in front of us.
All around, thick black smoke wafts through the air, and as a
breeze picks up, it parts, revealing to Ray the source of the
deafening explosion they heard last night, and finally we
understand the apocalyptic sounds we heard were caused by —
54.
58 CONTINUED: 58
— the crash of a 747.

The entire tall section, nearly intact, is buried in the house
across the street, which has been decimated. We pull back, and
realize the thing spinning slowly in front of us is the turbine
of one of the engines, turned slowly by the morning breeze.
Wreckage is everywhere, the entire row of houses across the

street wiped out, either by the crash or the resulting fire, and
the debris field extends a hundred yards in all directions.
There don't appear to be any survivors, either from the plane or

in the nearby homes, an unearthly quiet has fallen over the
neighborhood.
It appears the plane came In low, right over this side of the
street, clipping this bouse and the one beside it, then crashed
on the other side.
But some things were oddly spared. The screen porch, still
intact. A bicycle, leaning against a tree. The stolen oar still
in the driveway, thank God.
Like a sleepwalker, Ray stumbles forward, crosses what used to be

the street in the direction of the wreckage.
He stops short, next to an upright row of seats, five across from

the coach cabin. There are no corpses in them, but the seat belts
are all torn, the bodies ripped froe.
Ray looks around. He calls out.
RAY
Bello?1
(no answer)
Anybody?!
(still nothing)
CAN ANYBODY BEAR ME? I
He turns around and nearly jumps out of bis skin as he sees a MAN
bent over right behind him, facing away. The guy's about forty,
his shirt's soaked in blood, and he's using a crowbar to try to
pry open a smashed and twisted food cart. He clutches a bandana
over his mouth to keep out the smoke and stench of the burning jet
fuel.
RAY (cont'd)
Jesus, are you all right? Were you on
the plane?)
The guy doesn't answer, just keeps prying at the cart.

55.
RAY (cont'd)
I said are you all-
Ray walks forward and puts a hand on the guy's shoulder, and the
man whirls, fast, brandishing the crowbar.
VOICE (O.S.)
He's deaf.
Ray turns and sees a TV NEWS VAN that's pulled up onto the curb.
The back doors are open and a NEWS PRODUCER, a young woman around
thirty or so, is sitting there, shell-shocked. Her clothes are
torn and burned, and she's got a bandana over her mouth too,
which she moves only when she's speaking to Ray.
NEWS PRODUCER
A shell went off right beside him.
Camera on his shoulder saved his life.
(shouting)
You hear that. Max?! Your stupid camera
saved your stupid life!
Max goes back to prying open the food cart.
Ray chokes, gagging from the fumes. She tosses him her bandana
(which he takes and uses throughout the scene).
NEWS PRODUCER (cont'd)

Take this one. I'm used to it.
RAY
Thanks. Where were you?
She points behind them, to the west, where a line of smoke rises
on the horizon.
HEWS PRODUCER
Out there, in the Pine Barrens. We were
attached to a National Guard unit, the
83rd Mechanized. They moved on one of
those things around midnight. They've
got some kind of shield around 'em, you
can't see it, but everything we fire at
them detonates too early, before it gets
close enough to do any damage. Then
they flash that, that thing, and
everything lights up like Hiroshima.
RAY
(realizing with horror)
There's more than one?
56.
She gives him a look.
HEWS PRODUCER
Are you kidding?
58A INT HEWS VAN DAY 58A
BAM! The sliding side door of the news van SLAMS open and
daylight spills into its half-wrecked but still functioning
interior. There's shit scattered everywhere, they've been
driving this thing like maniacs, but the twin walls of electronic
equipment still appear intact.
The News Producer climbs in, Ray stands just outside. She talks
fast as she sorts through piles of three quarter inch videotapes,
pushing a few of them into machines.
NEWS PRODUCER
There's a lot more than one.
She hits play on the first machine and a jerky, low-resolution

night-vision image comes up on the screen. Ray peers closely at
it. It's a battlefield, there's fire and explosions everywhere,
shot with a very long lens from far away, but in a brief moment of
noar-clarity you can just barely make out the tall, spindly
shapes that dominate the field.
Tripods. Half a dozen of them.

Re were feeding Hew York, but New York
went dark, so we patched over to D.C.,
and they went down.
Ray peers closer. There's an enormous amount of static and
interference in the shot, but there are flashes when we can just
make out what's going on — the Tripods are marching through a
city somewhere, maybe downtown Newark. But whenevor the image
becomes d e a r enough to give us a good look, the interference
wipes it out again.

L.A., Chicago, we uplinked to London,
oven called affiliates to try to get
them to catch the feed, but nobody
answers.
On the screen, a skyline is visible, it's definitely Newark, but

then there's an enormous amount of interference, and when the
image clears —
— the skyline is gone, replaced by a smoldering valley.

57.
58A CONTINUED: 58A

It's the same everywhere — once the
Tripods start to move, no more news
aomos out of that aroa.
Outside, there is an EXPLOSION in the distance. The Cameraman

SHOUTS at them from outside.
CAMERAMAN (O.S.)
We can't stay herel
The Producer hits play on the next machine and Ray moves in close
to the screen. How it's shaky, hand-held footage from right down
in the thick of the battle, this must be how Max lost his hearing.
RAY
My God.
NEWS PRODUCER
You ain't seen nothin yet.
She hits "play" on a third recorder and another screen comes to

life. It looks like a mistake at first, it's just brilliant,
blinding flashes that blank out the screen.
RAY
That's one of the lightning storms, I
was in one of those, I saw this.
NEWS PRODUCER
You didn't aea it like this. Those
things, the Tripods, they come up out of
the ground, right, so that means they
must have buried 'em here a long time
ago. But who's driving the God damn
things? Look.
She slows the image on screen down to a crawl, allowing us to look

closely at one lightning bolt in particular. There's something
in it, an object of some kind, a thing.
RAY
What... is that?
NEWS PRODUCER
That... is Them.
Another EXPLOSION in the distance, but slightly closer.
Remembering, Ray takes the shard of burnt-glass from his pocket,
the one he picked up earlier. He stares at it, thinking. It's
got some structure to it, like the bottom of a Coke bottle.
58.
58A CONTINUED: (2) S8A
Like it was made, or forged, it's not a natural shape. He looks

from it to the screen, things come together in bis head.
RAY
They're in some kind of capsule. They
come down in the lightning, they ride it
down...
NEWS PRODUCER
(finishing his thought)
Into the ground, into the machines. And
once they activate them-
A third EXPLOSION cuts her off, as if to finish her thought, but

this one's enormous, and REALLY close. It rocks the van hard,
almost knocking them off their feet, reminding them they're still
in a war zone.
The Cameraman races past Ray —
CAMERAMAN
We're getting the hell outta here!
« rips open the driver's door and jumps inside. He starts it up

and guns the engine. The News Producer SHOUTS to Ray over the
ROARING engine.
NEWS PRODUCER
Bey, wait a second, were you on this
plane?I
RAY
No.
The Cameraman drops the car in gear and hits the gas.
NEWS PRODUCER
(as the van rolls)
Too bad! Woulda been a hell of a story!
She SLAMS the sliding door and the van tears away.
CUT TO:
59 EXT MARY ANN'S HOUSE - WRECKAGE DAY 59
Ray is looking straight at us.
RAY
Look at me, understand? Don't look
down, don't look around me, just keep
your eyes on me.
Robbie sees it all and nearly chokes, trying not to vomit.

59.
59 CONTINUED: 59
Rachel nods solemnly at Ray and he starts to walk her past the
smoking wreckage, sparing her the hideous sight. As they walk,
ho talks soothingly to her.
RAY (cont'd)
We're going to Boston, sweetie. Re're
gonna find your mom.
60-64 OMITTED 60-64
65-6SB OMITTED 6S-65B
66 EXT LOCAL ROAD DAY 66
Their oar ROARS down a deserted road, heading north. There are a
few other cars, but none of them are moving, they're pulled over
to the sides of the road, some left in the middle, but no people
to be seen, not a soul, not anywhere.
67 INT CAR DAY 67
Ray drives, Robbie's in the front seat, Rachel in back. Robbie's

searching for radio stations, but there's only STATIC.
ROBBIE
Why the hell aren't we on the highway?
RAY
I don't want anybody to see we've got a
working oar. We'll stay along the
Hudson till we find an open bridge or
ferry, then cross the river and stay on
baok roads across Connecticut.
RACHEL
Where is everybody?
RAY
Hiding in their basements, probably.
Most escaped, I hope. But we're gonna
catch up to them, I can tell you that.
Robbie leans over, lowers his voice so Rachel won't here.

ROBBIE
If we had any balls, we'd go back and
find one of those things and-
RAY
(cutting him off)
How about you let me decide when we
fight?
60.
67 CONTINUED: 67
ROBBIE
Which would be when, never? Never's
about your speed, isn't it, Ray?
RAY
Enough with the "Ray" shit. It's Dad
or, if you want, Mr. Forrier, but that
seems weird to me. You decide.
Ray looks at him for a long moment. Robbie meets his eye for a
moment, then goes back to tuning the radio. Still only STATIC.
CUT TO:
68 EXT THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE DAY 68
They've moved substantially further north, they're now in

farmland, it seems untouched by the battles that have raged
further south.
To the left is a seemingly endless corn field. To the right, an

untilled meadow. It's here the ear slows and pulls over to the
side. The passenger side door starts to open, then abruptly —
69 INT CAR DAY 69
— SLAMS shut. Ray has reached past Robbie, who was trying to get
out, and pulled his door shut hard.
RAY
Not so fast.
ROBBIE
I gotta go.
RAY
We got two things to watch for, and the
second is people who might want our car.
ROBBIE
There's nobody around!
Ray takes a long look around. The land is reasonably flat, you
can see pretty far in all directions. He relents, takes his band
off Robbie's arm.
Robbie bolts out of the car, MUTTERING under his breath.

70 EXT LONELY INTERSECTION DAY 70
A few moments later, Ray opens the trunk and takes out a gas can.
Though the car is still running, he unscrews the gas cap and
upends the can, into the tank.
61.
70 CONTINUED: 70
Off to the right, there is a tree line about fifty yards away.
Though Robbie has stopped short of it to go to the bathroom,
Rachel is walking towards it.
RAY
(calling out)
Rachel1 Right there is fine.
She keeps walking, calls back over her shoulder.
RACHEL
I'm not going in front of you guys I
She keeps walking, toward the tree line.
Ray watches for a moment, thinking. He looks around. They

certainly are alone. He looks over the roof of the car at Rachel,
who'B nearing the tree line now.
RAY
Stay where I can see you!
Rachel shouts something back, but he can't understand her. She

steps into the trees.
71 EXT WOODS DAY 71
Rachel enters the woods at the edge of the field. Looking around
here, you wouldn't dream there's anything unusual going on in the
world — trees, sunlight, birds, rabbits skipping through the
underbrush.
Rachel looks all around, finds a likely spot, and is about to go

to the bathroom when she hears a sound. She turns.
Nothing threatening, just rushing water. A river. She walks a

few steps more and looks through a stand of trees. Beyond, she
can see the Hudson River moving past.
The sunlight dapples off its moving surface. It's enticing. She
moves through a stand of trees and comeB out —
72 EXT RIVER'S EDGE DAY 72

— on its banks. It's beautiful. She looks upriver. It bends to
the left just about fifty yards away. Rachel sees something
float around the bend, something large and dark.
Rachel's eyes widen and she freezes as the strong current pulls
the something right past her.
It's a dead body, floating face down in the river.
62.
72 CONTINUED: 72
Rachel stares at it, transfixed, as it moves inexorably past her.

It's a man, or it was, in a business suit, but that's not what
catches her attention. It's his hand, which is still clampod
onto a leather briefcase, the fingers locked around the handle in
a death grip.
It passes, and Rachel lets out a breath of relief. At least it's

gone. She turns to look back upriver ~
— and sees hundreds of bodies float around tho bend in the

river, bobbing swiftly toward her like a huge dead army.
She 8CREAMS and turns to run, but there's a MAN behind her, he
grabs her roughly, she SCREAMS louder —
— before realising that it's her father.
RAY
I said stay where X can see you/
RACHEL
I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!
Ray looks up, just as the logjam of corpses moves past them. He
turns his daughter around, away from the carnage, and she buries
her face in his stomach.
CUT TO:
73 EXT THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE DAY 73
Tho three of them come out of the field and are returning to the
oar when Ray stops suddenly, holding up a hand. The kids stop,
look at him questioningly.
RAY
What is that?
In the distance, a low RUMBLING sound is rising up. it gets loud

fast, REALLY loud. They all turn toward a rise in the road, and
the RUMBLING around them becomes almost deafening as --
— AW ARMY COmOT ROARS OVER THE RI8B IN TBS ROAD.
The three of them stare in wonder from the side of the road as an
entire mechanized battalion passes them by, a aolumn that seems
to go on forever. Tanks, Bradley fighting vehioles, Humvee after
Humvee, dozens of armored personnel carriers, it's an awesome
display of military might.
63.
73 CONTINUED: 73
Robbie runs alongside them and waves like a madman, SCREAMING the
unprintable things he wants them to do to the invaders,
thankfully lost under the noise. Ray runs after him, grabbing
him and pulling him back.
ROBBIE
Let GO of me!
RAY
What are you, suicidal?
Robbie tears away and keeps up with the convoy. Ray pursues him
and both of them SHOUT over the noise of the passing trucks.
ROBBIE
I know where I'm going! I don't need
yon!
As a tank rolls past him, Robbie makes eye contact with one of the
SOLDIERS riding on top of it, his head and shoulders protruding
from the hatch. He's not much older than Robbie himself, maybe
nineteen years old.
Robbie stares, star struck, as the Young Soldier passes. Be

grabs hold of a handle on the back of the tank, it almost pulls
him over. A SOLDIER shouts at him:
SOLDIER
Watch it, kid, you're gonna get hurt!
Ray grabs hold of Robbie and pulls him roughly away from the
convoy, stopping him by the side of the road.
RAY
You know what, the sixteen year old
hardass routine is gettin' a little
tired. I know what's back in that
direction, believe me, anybody who stuck
around to find out for themselves is
dead! I'm not gonna let that happen to
you!
In the background, we see Rachel start to pursue them.
ROBBIE
What do you care?I For real, you never
gave a shit before, why start now?
RAY
Okay, you win, what's your plan? Come
on, lay it out for me, you're in charge,
what do we do?
64.
ROBBIE
I'll tell you what we do, we catch up to
those soldiers, hook up with whoever
else isn't dead, and we get back at 'eml
RAY
Yeah, now let's try one that doesn't
involve your ten year old sister joining
the army. You got anything like that?
They're still moving, and In the background we can see Rachel

running now, racing toward them.
ROBBIE
Why don't you just tell us the truth?
You have no idea which way to go. You
wanna come off all wise and shit, but
you only picked Boston because you think
Mom 1B there, and if we find Mom you can
dump us on her and you'll only have to
worry about yourself, which is exactly
the way you like it. Admit it, Ray, at
least I'll respect you.
The convoy ROARS away, a cloud of dust receding on the horison as

the convoy fades away to the south.
Rachel, who's nearly hysterical, catches up to Ray and Robbie and

SLAMS into Robbie, hitting him with balled-up fists.
RACHEL
Don't you leave me, don't you do that!
Don't you ever do that to me!
ROBBIE
Rachel, stop, hey, owl
RACHEL
You can't leave, you can't just run
away! Who's going to take care of me if
you go?l Who'8 going to take care of
me?!
This, more than anything, makes Robbie feel terrible.
ROBBIE
I'm sorry. Rachel, I'm sorry.
He picks her up and carries her back toward the car, murmuring
softly to her to calm her down.
And you know, it doesn't make Ray feel any too good either. He
watches his kids walk away from him, feels horrible. Worthless.
65.
Robbie looks back over his shoulder. He and Ray make eye
contact, then Robbie goes back to comforting Rachel, perhaps a
bit more tenderly than he even needs to.
Ray takes a deep breath and follows them.
CUT TO:
74-75 OMITTED 74-75
75A INT CAR DAY 75A
The speedometer needle is on eighty and holding steady.
The car and its three occupants keep moving north, on another two-
lane highway. The skies are dark and a light rain is starting to
fall. Rachel, in back, has fallen asleep. In the front, Ray's
eyes are droopy.
Robbie is back to obsessively tuning the radio, but the digital
numbers just whiz around and around the dial, not even finding
anything to stop on.
Until, suddenly, it stops, way up on the dial, 10B.6.
VOICE (ON RADIO)

— tuned to this station for updates.
Repeating:
Ray and Robbie look at each other sharply. Robbie turns it up.
VOICE (ON RADIO) (CONT'D)
You are tuned to the Emergency Broadcast
System. This is a test. This is only a
test. In the event of a real emergency,
keep your radio dial tuned to this
station and instructions and information
will be provided. Repeating ~ you are
tuned to the emergency broadcast system.
This is a test. This is only a test. In
the event of a real emergency-
Disgusted and disappointed, Robbie CLICKS it off.
Ray, tired as hell, catches himself nodding off behind the wheel
and shakes his head, trying to wake himself up.
ROBBIE
I could drive for a while.
RAY
You don't have a license.
66.
75A CONTINUED: 75 A
ROBBIE
Whan did that ever stop me?
Ray looks at him, and a second later —
76 INT CAR DUSK 76
— he's behind the wheel, and Ray's in the passenger seat,

asleep, head against the window. Some time has gone by, it's
dusk now, and a heavy rain is falling.
FOOM.
Robbie turns abruptly, as a PERSON flashes past the car, walking

by the side of the road. Surprised, Robbie turns and looks over
his shoulder.
FOOM. FOOM.
Two more PEOPLE, walking down the side of the road.
Robbie tightens his grip on the wheel. There's a growing stream

of PEDESTRIANS on the side of the road, all carrying bundles and
bags of possessions, all walking in the same direction.
ROBBIE
Ray.
Ray doesn't wake up. Robbie's white-knuckle on the wheel. In

baok, Rachel looks out the window too. Seen through the glass,
reflected off her face, there is a growing stream of displaced
people. Many are on bicycles, some pushing stocked-up baby
strollers or shopping carts filled with looted supplies —
refugees, but this is America, those are Americans. Some SHOUT,
wave, try to hitch a ride.
ROBBIE (cont'd)
Ray! DAD!
He smacks his father in the shoulder, and Ray's eyes pop open. He
looks around, wild-eyed, disoriented.
RAY
What is it?
ROBBIE
People. Everywhere.
He slows to sixty. More people. How to fifty. Hot because
Robbie wants to go slower, just to avoid hitting them.
67.
76 CONTINUED: 76
RAY
Let me drive.
(Robbie brakes)
Don't stop. Keep the car moving, hold
your speed, just slide over.
He climbs over the back of the seat and comes around to behind the
driver's seat. Rachel feels the movement on the seat in front of
her and wakes up, blinking in confusion.
RACHEL
What are you doing?
RAY
Just goofin. Go back to sleep.
Robbie slides over in front, now driving with his left hand, his
left foot on the gas. Ray slips over the back of the driver's
seat and back behind the wheel.
KA-THUNK. The door locks CHUNK down. Ray slips his seat belt
over his shoulder as he makes his way through the growing crowd.
RAY (cont'd)
Put yours on.
Rachel leans forward between the seats.
RACHEL
Where is everybody going?
RAY
They don't know.
RACHEL
But we do, right?
RAY
Yeah. We do.
The crowd's growing, marching toward a bottleneck up ahead. And
the working motor vehicle is arousing a lot of Interest.
Ray slows even more, down to thirty-five.
THUNKI
Somebody has SMACKED the hood of the car with a backpack In
frustration as they drive past.
RACHEL
Why'd he do that?!
68.
RAY
He just wants a ride, that's all.
RACHEL
Can we give him one?
RAY
Sit back, Rachel. Put on your seat
belt.
The crowd is really thickening now, the car slows to maybe twenty
miles an hour, and even that feels too fast, given the muddy
conditions. Ray clamps both hands on the wheel.
ROBBIE
Be careful!
RAY
I am.
A CRAZY GUY lunges in front of the ear, waving his arms, but Ray
snaps the wheel to the right and fishtails around him, slipping
on the wet pavement, but managing to keep it on the road.
ROBBIE
Where are they going?!
RAY
The ferry, probably, it's just up ahead.
But we're going all the way to the
bridge, it'll be wide open and it's only
another-
CRASB!
A boulder SMASHES into the windshield, spiderwebbing it. Rachel
SCREAMS, Ray and Robbie SHOUT in surprise, and Ray Immediately
twitches the wheel to the right and punches the gas.
RAY (cont'd)
Bang on.
Be hauls the car onto the shoulder and takes it up to thirty or so

again, he can move faster here and the crowd is staying mostly
out of his way, except for the SHOOTS and JEERS and some pleading
CRIES.
ROBBIE
DAD/
RAY
I SEE IT!
69.
"It" is a tent that's set up on the side of the road, thirty feet
ahead of them. Ray has to swerve hard, back onto the road, and
the crowd is getting thicker and thicker now, it's all he can do
to pick his way through it without hitting anybody.
They're getting angrier too, POUNDING on the oar as it passes.
But suddenly, up ahead, there is daylight, a big gap in the

crowd, and beyond that open road, as they all sees to be moving
off to the right, down an inoline that leads to tho river.
Ray's ayes light up, he hits the gas, he's twenty feet from wide
open road, ten feet, but just in front of him ~
~ a guy pushes a NOMAS' in front of the car.
Ray SHOUTS, cuts the wheel and slams on the brakes. The car
spins, but Ray has just barely enough control to somehow,
miraculously, out a seal-circle around the Woman in the road.
The ass end of the oar spins all the way around the front and
SLAWS into a tree by the side of the road. Ray SMACKS his head
off the driver's window, Robbie and Rachel are jostled but
unhurt, and the oar comas to a stop.
Ray turns, looks at them, disoriented.
RAY (cont'd)
Are you okay?! Are you guys-
Suddenly, a GANG OF TEH descends on the car, 8AHGXBG on the

windows with their fists.
RAX (cont'd)
GET TBS HELL AWAY FROM-
SMA8B! Somebody's got a rook, and they hurl it through Ray's

window. Glass flies and he recoils, his face flecked with blood
from tho flying shards.
Bands reach in, they're all In the oar all of a sudden, Ray's door
is unlocked, and he is dragged out.
ROBBIE
GET YOUR HARDS OFF BIN!
RACBEL
STOP IT STOP XT STOP I T U I
Robbie throws his own door open and lunges into the thick of the
crowd to try to protect his father.
70.
77 EXT SIDE OF THE ROAD DUSK 77

The Gang of Ten (from all walks of life, the only thing they have
in common is their desire to stay alive) drags Ray out of the oar
and throws him to tho ground across the road.
The rain is really pouring down now, Ray is face down In the mud
with somebody's knee in his back, no view of anything but feet
kicking up the road around him, and tho feeding frenzy that is
currently taking place over his car.
Robbie tries to get near him but somebody takes a swing and it
lands on the side of Robbie's face. He crumples into the mud.
RAY
Rachel... Robbie... !
Somebody kicks him hard in the ribs and he coughs, spits blood. A
stick CRACKS onto the back of his neck and his face rakes across
the dirt.
A VOICE in the background SCREAMS at them to stop it, but we can't

see who this decent person is, and can't hoar much over the
crowd.
In the midst of taking a beating from his faceless human enemies,

Ray manages to work his right hand free from underneath him Ho
snakes it around, to behind his back, he reaohes up under his
shirt, his fingers close around something —
— and all at once he rolls over, out from under the feet, pulling
the .38 from the waistband of his pants.
VOICE (O.S.)
GUN I
VOICE 2 (O.S.)
HE'S GOT A GUN!
The Crowd that had gathered over him parts, revealing the sky for
a moment, and Ray FIRES A SHOT, straight up over his head.
The CRACK rolls out over the crowd and they part, revealing his
car again. Ray scampers to his feet.
Rachel is still in the back seat, MEN are swarming into the
front, and Robbie, who has fought to his feet, is near the hood,
fighting and kicking for all he's worth.
RAY
Get away from the car.
71.
77 CONTINUED: 77
There is a response, but it isn't quick enough to suit Ray's

taste, so he FIRES ANOTHER SHOT into the air.
RAY (cont'd)
GET AWAY FROM THE CAR!
Now the movement from the car is more panicked, the Crowd moves
baok, some putting their arms up in surrender, others urging Ray
to calm down.
But he's in control now, he's got the situation in hand and all he
has to do is-
CLICK-CLACK.
A loaded gun moves into frame, pointed at Ray's temple.
A GUY IN A SUIT holds the weapon, it's cocked and loaded.
GUY IN SUIT
Put it down. I'm taking the car.
RAY
My daughter's in there!
GUY IN SUIT
Put it down!
RAY
ALL I WANT IS MY DAUGHTER!
GUY IN SUIT
PUT THE GOD DAMN GUN DOWN OR I PULL THE
TRIGGER!
The Crowd swirls and SHOUTS around him. (SEE APPENDIX c.)
Ray drops the gun In the mud, it's pounced on by several more of
the Gang, and In the ensuing confusion Ray is able to leap
forward, to the car. (In tho background, a guy in a BUS DRIVER'S
uniform ends up with Ray's gun.)
At the oar, Ray reaches around the front seat and unlocks the
rear door, grabs hold of the petrified Rachel. Immediately,
hands are on him and he is dragged away from the car again, but
this time he's got a grip on Rachel.
Ray and Rachel are pulled back, away from the car, and fall to the
road as the Guy in the Suit and two other LARGE MEN pile into the
car. They start the engine, over the protests of some others in
the crowd.
72.
Arms locked tight around Rachel, Ray falls over backwards. Be

turns and comes eyo to eye with his own handgun, now held by the
Bus Driver, who has another eye on the oar.
Ray rolls over, drags Rachel out of the mud and to her feet, and
moves away, toward the incline that leads down to the river
below, whore most of the orowd is headed.
RAY
ROBBIE?! ROBBIE!
ROBBIE
I'M HERB!
Robbie follows them, they get just ten steps from the road, their
stolen car (now stolen again) starts rolling, but the Bus Driver
steps calmly up to the driver's window and —
— POP! POP! POP!
The three men in the car are shot, the doors flung open, they're
dragged out and the car is once again swarmed over.
78 EXT ON THE EMBANKMENT DUSK 78
There are SCREAMS from the crowd of people swarming over the side
of the road and down the embankment, and now Ray, Robbie, and
Rachel are among them, without transportation and without
provisions, swept along on tho tide of humanity, down the hill.
Ray is carrying Rachel, she's hugging him tightly, hysterical but

unhurt.
ROBBIE
Where are we going?!
Up ahead, they hear SOOTHING MUSIC wafting strangely through the
trees. Tho people around them hear it too, they all press
forward, drawn.
RAY
We're gonna be okay!
ROBBIE
WHERE ARE WE GOING?!
RAY
It's there! It's working! SEE?!
Robbie looks ahead, and our vision sweops that way too. Down the
embankment, they're approaching the edge of the Hudson River, and
there, moored at the dock, its massive ENGINES BUMMING —
73.
79 EXT FERRY LANDING NIGHT 79
— is the Hudson Highland Ferry. The river's not terribly wide

at this point, but it's swift and dangerous. Just a mile or two
to the north, we can see the massive spans of the great bridge Ray
had hoped to make it to, but without a car the ferry is now their
only hope to get across.
Right has fallen, and the rain drizzles to a stop. The MUSIC they
heard is louder here, played through the boat's tinny speakers,
perhaps to soothe the panicky crowd. A FERRY WORKER is SHOUTING
to the crowd through cupped hands.
FERRY WORKER
Please move forward calmly... there 1B
room for everyone, and the boat can make
more than one trip... Please, move
forward calmly...
For the most part, the message is getting through. The crowd is
huge, but the boat is too, and there's no real sense of urgency.
The further they get downhill from the road, the more the
shooting at the oar is left behind them.
AB the crowd thickens, they notice people holding up hand-drawn

fliers, showing pictures of loved ones, searching for the
missing. Light poles are plastered with similar fliers, and
since the power's out, they're all made by hand, with real
photographs taped to them.
A DINGING sound gets their attention and the crowd stops, looking
around. A set of railroad crossing barriers descends right in
front of them and, looking down, they realize a set of railroad
tracks runs between them and the ferry landing.
The crowd looks around, waiting for the train to come, and it
arrives suddenly, all at once, barreling toward them at a hundred
miles an hour.
And it's on fire.
A shocked silence falls over the crowd as the burning passenger
train flies past them, a runaway, flames spewing from every
window, completely out of control. Ho sign of life is visible
within, and, as quickly as it appeared, it flies past them,
rocketing around a bend in a puff of smoke.
The gates rise, and the crowd pushes toward the ferry again.
74.
79A EXT ON THE DOCK RIGHT 79A

They reach the edge of the dock and step onto it. It's tighter
here, the Crowd has to bottleneck a little bit, but people are
still being cool about it. The MUSIC is louder.
RACHEL
The power's still on here?
RAY
Looks like it. Nothing came out of the
ground here.
At the edge of the dock, there's a Red Cross blood drive booth set
up, it's staffed by HALF A DOZEN VOLUNTEERS, but they're turning
crowds away.
VOLUNTEER
(through a megaphone)
Unless you are 0 positive and RB
negative, thank you very much, but we
already have more blood than we can use.
Again, if you are 0 positive, RH
negative, please identify yourself, if
you are not, thank you very much but we
already have more blood than people who
need transfusions. Once again —
And it goes on, as they move past the booth. Nearby them, a GUY
WITH A TRANSISTOR RADIO has replaced the battery and got it
working again, unfortunately there's nothing but STATIC all over
the dial.
Re start in close on the dial as it twists through the stations,

finding no information there. Pulling up from it, we follow Ray,
Rachel and Robbie as they move through the crowd, down the
hillside toward the dock. As they go they overhear murmurs,
whisperings, snatches of conversations, tho only information
anybody can glean about what exactly is going on:
OLDER MAN
We've got it the worst here, that's what
I heard. The U.S. mostly, South America
and Asia some. There's nothing
happening in Europe.
YOUNGER MAN
Really? That's not what I heard.
OLDER MAN
You heard wrong, it's mostly hero. Of
course they came after us first.
75.
79A CONTINUED: 79A
Now a quick fragment from behind them:
FRAGMENT GUY 1
-we're supposed to meet in New London-
They keep moving, passing a WOMAN clutching a tattered yellow

flyer:
LADY FROM UPSTATE
We were outside Albany, the planes flew
in low and dropped these, there's a food
drop, it says, just over the Connecticut
border, tomorrow morning, and first aid
stations, they're opening them all up
and down the Hudson...
A PANICKY GUY passes in front of them, beseeching everyone:
PANICKY GUY
-the top of the hill about five minutes
ago, please, did you see him? He's
eighty years old, he's about six feet
tall, he's got white hair and a bright
blue jacket-
They keep moving, passing into another conversation. An

INFORMATIVE GUY is talking the ears off a WORRIED FATHER who's
with his WIFE and LITTLE KIDS.
INFORMATIVE GUY
No information, that's what's got me
crazy, nobody really knows anything,
just the stuff they're making up to make
themselves feel better!
The Worried Father, who's been nodding, listening, turns away to
his Wife, away from the Informative Guy.
WIFE
What'd he say?!
WORRIED FATHER
He doesn't know anything.
Another quick fragment:

FRAGMENT GUY 2
-they'll protect anybody who can make it
to the submarine base-
Ray, Rachel and Robbie keep moving, through the crowd, into still
more talk:
76.
79A CONTINUED: (2) 79A
ILL-INFORMED GUY
Europe got it worst of all, that's what
everybody's saying. Completely wiped
out, some of it, full-scale invasion.
CONSPIRACY BUFF
Invasion? There's no invasion, it's us,
the government.
CONSPIRACY DEBUNKER
You're kidding yourself, there's no
government, there's no order, there's
nobody in charge-
CONSPIRACY BUFF
They're trying to soars us, pump up our
fear so we'll roll over for 'em.
DOOMSDAY GUY
I don't give a shit who it is, I got up
close to one of those things in
Stanfordville, If they're all over the
place we're dead, we're all dead.
UPSET MOTHER
Can you please not have this
conversation in front of the children!?
Ray notices Rachel, who's vastly concerned by all the

conversations going on around them. Be draws her attention:
RAY
Rach? Rachel, look... we're getting on
the boat... we're gonna make it.
Rachel lifts her head off his shoulder and turns around, sees
that they are, indeed, getting on the boat. This seems to help.
Ray kisses her on the forehead and wipes away her tears.
RAY (cont'd)
Nothing bad is gonna happen to you. I
promise, Sweetie.
Rachel nods, calming. Next to them, a MOTHER carrying a THREE

YEAR OLD is feeding a cereal bar to him. She notices Rachel
looking at the bar. She whispers in the Throe Year Old's ear, he
looks up at Rachel too.
The Mother takes the cereal bar, breaks it in half and holds it
out to Rachel.
77.
Rachel smiles and takes it. Ray looks at the Mother, grateful,
almost overwhelmed by the tiny gesture. He nods at her, she
smiles back.
Ray looks at Robbie, who is next to him. He gives him a wink.

Robbie grins tightly, exhales, calming. They've made it. This
far, anyway.
Rachel turns back, to rest her head on her father's shoulder,

chewing contentedly on the aereal bar. A flock of seagulls flies
low over them, and Rachel's eyes follow them as they head up the
embankment•
She sees something behind them and her eyes narrow.
She lifts her head. She cocks it sideways — huh?
Ray turns, and does a double take looking at the crowd, as he sees
a familiar face — it's the Bartender from the bar at the
beginning, the woman in her late thirties. She's across the
crowd from him, maybe twenty yards, clutching the hand of a NINE
YEAR OLD BOY.
Ray waves a hand in surprised greeting, she recognizes him and

smiles. Ray starts to Bay something, but is interrupted by
Rachel —
RACHEL
The trees are funny.
She's looking back up the hill.
Ray turns away from the Bartender, to follow Rachel's gaze. Up

at the top of the embankment, there ia a row of tall trees, the
forest runs all the way to the Highlands Road, which is what they
drove in on.
The seagulls are darting into the trees, up on the highlands,

which do indeed look funny. They seem to be breathing, a strange
mist emanating from inside them.And they're moving. But moving
forward, in a most un-treelike manner. Three of them, anyway.
Ray's face goes white, fifty heads around him turn —

— AND A TRIPOD STEPS OUT OP THE FOREST.
For a moment, absolutely everything stops, no sound, no movement,

no nothing, and the Tripod just stands there, its head-like top
staring down at the crowd as it swarms toward the ferry boat,
emanating clouds of vapor as it did in the street back in Ray's
neighborhood.
78.
Robbie and Rachel, who never saw the Tripod back on Ray's block,
stare at it, horror-struck.
The seagulls swarm around the head of the Tripod like moths
around a flame.
On the dock, panic hits. Ray turns back to where the Bartender
was, but all he sees is the whites of her wide-open eyes as she
and her son are swept away by the panicking orowd, which surges
forward, pushing to get onto the boat. The Captain hits the
engines, they ROAR.
And the Tripod, rather than immediately beginning the fight,

turns its head slightly and emits an inhuman cry, a MECHANICAL
BELLOW that rips over the landscape and echoes all the way across
the river and washes back off the opposite bank:
"VLLkl"
80 OH THE DOCK, 80
the crowd surges forward onto the boat. Ray, holding Rachel,
winces in pain as he tries to keep her from being crushed.
Rachel begins to panic, and Ray makes a space around her with his
arms, the way Robbie did in the oar.
RAY
This is your space, you hear me?! This
is your space, nobody's coming in here,
I will protect youI
Robbie, caught in the crush of people, actually loses touch with

the ground, his feet lift right up off the decking and he moves
forward as part of a massive organism, no control at all.
Ho SCREAMS for his father, Ray SCREAMS baok, but there's nothing
they can do to stay near each other, they're lost in the flood.
81 IH THE RIVER, 81
the massive propellers of the ferry boat CHURN the water as they
start to turn, but they're digging too hard in an area that's too
shallow, and they throw up an enormous spray of mud and silt that
flies everywhere.
The boat lurches forward, throwing up a huge rooster tail of

river mud.
The rear ramp of the ferry boat starts to rise up, spilling
whoever was on it into the boat, and blocking the way for whoever
was still on the dock.
79.
81 CONTINUED: 81
People leap off the edge of the dock, grabbing onto the lip of the
rising ramp.
82 ON THE FERRY BOAT, 82
the still-tied aft ropes on the boat pull tight, and with a
horrible GROANING they rip the pilings out of the riverbed.
The massive boat moves out fast, a dozen people clinging to the
half-raised rear ramp, suspended over the churning propellers.
Robbie leaps forward, onto the roof of the rearmost car, and gets
himself up near the top of the ramp. He hauls people onboard, one
after another. Some slip and fall into the freezing river below,
but Robbie saves easily a half dozen.
Ray, nearby, is clutching Rachel, fighting to keep space around

her so she isn't crushed by the crowd. He watches Robbie,
Impressed.
83 OH THE EMBANKMENT, 83
the Tripod that appeared from the forest remains at its edge, and
for a split-second it seems the boat may escape it simply by
virtue of being on the water. But then —
84 ON THE FERRY BOAT, 84
— the boat, now fifty yards out into the river, lurches from a
sudden shift in the water beneath them.
Ray turns and looks over tho side. The river is churning,
something's coming up from the river bottom, and as he looks —
— THE HEAD OF A TRIPOD BREAKS THE RIVER SURFACE.
Everyone on board SCREAMS and the ferry boat tilts sharply to the
Bide, unbalanced by the sudden depression in the water.
The Tripod rises, higher and higher.
The deck of the ferry is at a thirty degree angle now, oars begin
to slide, tumbling toward the railing.
Ray grabs hold of Robbie, who's still working to help people on

board the boat.
ROBBIE
BEY!
80.
84 CONTINUED: 84
But Ray doesn't have time to discuss it, cars are SLAMMING into
the railing all around them now, he hurls Robbie over the side of
the boat, away from the falling cars, then grabs hold of Rachel
and jumps overboard himself.
Just in time, too, because just the boat lurches again and half a
dozen ears SMASH through the railing whore they were standing.
84A-94 CHITTED 84A-94
95 UNDERWATER, 95
Ray, Rachel, and Robbie are underwater, just starting to swim for
the top. All around them, cars PLUNGE into the river, landing
like depth charges and sinking immediately, their terrified
OCCUPANTS pounding on the windows and trying like hell to open
the doors.
Ray and the kids kick for the surface ~
95A IN THE RIVER, 95A
— and find themselves just a few foot away from the churning
propellers of the sinking ferry boat, which is slowly rolling
over onto its top, its lights flickering as it hits the water.
As the ferry boat twists In the water, they kick like hell to get
away from the spinning blades.
The boat itself, which is now half sunk and well on its way to
going completely underwater, is churning the river like crazy,
its lights still burning in the murky depths. They're buffeted
beyond their control, sucked —
95B UNDERWATER. 95B

Beneath tho surface, Ray, Robbie and Rachel tumble close to the
massive propellers. The blades narrowly miss them, they kick for
the top ~
96 EXT IN THE RIVER NIGHT 96
— and again, their three heads break the surface.
Ray GASP8, treading water hard. The other two are stunned, but
alive, spitting river water.
They turn and look back. The Tripod that's risen up from the
middle of the river calls out — "VLLAI"
A moment later there's another mechanical sound, seemingly coming

in response, and TWO MORS TRIPODS stride out of the forest,
headed for the river.
81.
96A ON TOP OF THE SINKING BOAT, 96A

a MAN teeters for balance, one of the last left behind. Suddenly
black snakelike tentacles wrap around his mid-section. He looks
down in horror —
— and is swept up Into the air. Following him, we look up and

see that the tentacles have come from underneath the Tripod
that's standing in the river.
The Man is swept aloft, and around behind the Tripod, which is
where we lose sight of him. We're unsure where he's going or what
it wants with him.
96B IN THE RIVER, 96B
the current is strong, it grabs hold of Ray and the kids and
sweeps them away from the sinking ferry boat, out into the middle
of the river. They GASP and struggle in the current.
Ray looks back, over his shoulder, at the ruins of the dock,
where the lead Tripod now unfurls its heat-ray and trains it on
the sinking ferry boat and the hundreds of innocent people
swarming on and around it.
The Tripod points the disk at the dock and there is a flash, a
silent brightness like summer lightning. Waves like rippling
heat distort the air between the Tripod and the dock, then —
RAY
GO UNDER!
— the three of them gulp air and kick down under the surface.
97 UNDERWATER, 97
we see the explosion of flame that means the ferry boat has been
incinerated. It's muffled under here, and seen through the prism
of dark river water, but still horrifying.
98 ABOVE THE SURFACE, 98
they bob up again, beyond the ferry boat now, pulled hard by the
river's current, more than halfway across.
The Tripods move forward into the river, their swarms of
tentacles pluck SCREAMING PASSENGERS right off the deck of the
burning, sinking boat. Where they go after they're swept up into
the air, we still can't see.
Ray and the kids continue to be swept downstream, just away from
the chaos, which is good because —
82.
98 CONTINUED: 98
— the Tripods fire again. The heat-rays sweep in unison across

the center of tho river, directly into the swarm of SCREAMING
innocents.
A gigantic cloud of steam rises up from the touch of the heat-ray

on the river. Strange objects start leaping out of the water and
into the air, flopping all around Ray and the kids. They're
fish.
And if we wonder why they're leaping, we quickly put it together

as the river around Ray and the kids ROILS, seven to eight foot
waves wash toward them, and a huge cloud of steam washes over
them, obscuring all their vision.
ROBBIE
THE WATER!
RACBEL
IT'S BURNING MB!
RAY
SWIM FOR SHORE!
And they do, Ray grabbing Rachel and digging at the water with
everything he's got.
Behind them, the vast cloud of steam still blocks much of the
destruction behind, but they can hear SCREAMS, hear the HISSING
and BOILING of the water, and see the FLASHES of the heat-ray as
it's applied again and again.
They're near the shore now, but a huge, bubbling wave of water is
washing straight towards them. The shore's just twenty feet
away, then ten, but the boiling wave is just behind them too, the
water rises up —
— they hurl themselves onto the rivor bank —

99 EXT FAR RXVERBARK NIGHT 99
— and the tide of boiling water erupts in front of them, just

inches from their safe perch.
They lie there for a moment, scalded, catching their breath. But
with the SOUNDS of the destruction in the river ~
RAY
Keep moving!
— he drags the kids to their feet and they begin to climb the far
bank, towards higher ground.
83.
100 EXT ON THE HILLSIDE NIGHT 100
Ray drags the kids upward, upward, two hundred yards, to the
brink of the embankment on the far side of the river from the
dock.
Finally, they collapse to the ground and look down at the

wholesale slaughter they so narrowly escaped.
It's a view of staggering destruction, and the first wide shot of

the mayhem that we've seen so far.
Through olouds of steam and billowing smoke, we see it all — the

flaming dock (the boat has sunk by now), the drowning victims,
and the hideous Tripods, wading methodically through the river,
directing the heat-ray at any survivors as they make their way
upstream.
Raising his gaze, Ray looks up to the highlands, where TEH

THOUSAND REFUGEES are still flooding down the main road that
leads to the ferry dock, funneled directly into the massacre by
half a dozen Tripods that stalk behind them, spreading
destruction.
On the horizon beyond, fires dot the landscape as far as Ray can
see, and to the north, an even worse omen —
— the sky is alive with yet another lightning storm, which will
birth more of these murdering machines. It's the rout of
civilization... the massacre of mankind.
Ray pulls his two children close, their burned, soaking bodies
huddled next to his, quivering with fear, but still alive.
CUT TO:
101-104 OMITTED 101-104
105 EXT ANOTHER ROAD NIGHT 105

Ray, Rachel, and Robbie trudge along another road, still no
people in sight. They're tired, been walking all night. Far up
ahead, they can Bee a remote old Victorian house near a hilltop.
SHRIEK/
The three of them nearly leap out of their shoes at a DEAFENING
SOUND. Instinctively, Ray and Rachel duck, just as —
— FOUR FIGHTER JETS SCREAM OVERHEAD.
B4.
105 CONTINUED: 105
For the record, they're A10 Thunderbolt Warthogs, and we've never
seen fighters this low to the ground, they can't be more than a
hundred feet up.
They sweep over the ground, bank up slightly at the hilltop, and
swoop over the rise, disappearing down low on the other side.
Brilliant flashes of light follow moments later, lighting up the

gathering night, and hollow BOOHS come a few seconds later.
Robbie, who has stayed on his feet, lets out a WAR WHOOP and takes
off running in the direction the fighters went.
RAY
Robbie!
He takes off after him, dragging Rachel by the band.

And they're not alone — a group of SIX OR SEVER COLLEGE-AGE KIDS
emerge from the tree line to the east, following the path the
jets took, waving their arms in the air.
Ray notices them, looks around more as he runs toward the

hilltop. A FAMILY OF FOUR now emerges from the back of a van that
was nose-down in the ditch on the side of the road, it had looked
empty and abandoned but was really a hiding place.
And there's more — from the old Victorian house on the eastern
horizon, a BURLY MAN of about fifty comes cautiously outside,
clutching a rifle, bead darting from side to side.
Tho countryside, which seemed so abandoned a few minutes ago, is

suddenly alive with survivors coming out of hiding.
Ahead, Robbie races toward the hilltop, a couple hundred yards

ahead, rimmed by tall grass. Ray keeps moving after him, one
hand holding onto Rachel's arm firmly.
RAY (cont'd)
Stop where you are! Stay together!
RACHEL
Don't make ma go closer! Don't make me
look! I don't want to look!
RAY
STAY TOGETHER!
Ahead, Robbie ducks suddenly as a brilliant flash lights up the
entire area like broad daylight. A split-second later, a bone
rattling EXPL08ION follows.
85.
It's hard to describe just how loud the explosion is, but its
result is powerful. Ray and Rachel fall to their knees, hands
clamped over their ears.
Rachel SHOUTS something at Ray, but he can't hear her over the
still-echoing blast. He SHOUT8 something back, same story.
He grabs hold of her again and pulls her up the hill, she's
SHOUTING her objections, but Robbie's still moving ahead of them,
crawling toward the top of the hill.
RAY (cont'd)
I'm gonna get Robbie and be right back!
Stay here, STAY RIGHT HERE!
Rachel nods frantically and digs herself into the hillside, hands
plastered over her ears, eyes screwed shut.
106 EXT HILLTOP NIGHT 106
Ray crawls toward the top of the rise as fast as he can, closing
in on Robbie, who is headed for a GROUP OF SOLDIERS who are
crouched at the rim of the hill, staring down into the valley
below. The noise up here is deafening, two of the Soldiers are
watching the battle below through binoculars, two more SHOUT into
radios, but we can't hear a word they're saying.
It's a command post up on the ridge, the Soldiers are using laser
targeting (for the fighter jets) and reconnaissance gear.
The battle itself is obscured by the tall waving grass, a thick

gray smoke that billows In over everything, and blinding flashes
that accompany the constant explosions coming from below.
Ray reaches the still-moving Robbie and hurls himself at him,

tackling him ten feet short of the top of the hill. Be crashes to
the ground on top of him as the four fighter jets that flew
overhead earlier circle back for a strafing run, coming in low.
As tho fighting rages between the Army and the invaders, another
battle rages between Ray and Robbie, as Ray SHOUTS in Robbie's
ear, pleading with him not to go over tho hill. Robbie twists and
thrashes In response, trying to escape his father.
We can't hear anything they say, as MORTARS are exploding,

there's dense GUNFIRE, SHOUTING and SCREAMING from the battle
raging over the hilltop. (For suggested Ray speech, see APPENDIX
D.)
The entire hilltop goes white again, all the air in the valley
seems to Buck inward in one concessive second, and then it's
exploded in another deafening KA-BOOM.
86.
106 CONTINUED: 106
TWO PLATOONS of Marines pour over the ridge around them, down to
join the battle on the ground. Several CIVILIAN ONLOOKERS race
forward too, over the hillside, but any available Soldiers try to
deter them, to guide the civilians out of harm's way and to
safety.
Robbie rolls over and twists his foot free, but Ray lunges and
gats his arms wrapped around his son's midsection. The kid is
fighting him, trying like hell to wrench free.
As they struggle, Ray cranes his head to got a look down tho hill,
back the way ho came, to make sure Rachel is still thero.
She's fifty feet below them, hands clamped over her ears,
SCREAMING, terrified, and there are TWO SWARMS OF SOLDIERS now
pounding their way up the hill, boots SLAMMING into the ground
all around her.
A WELL-MEANING FAMILY has a hold of her, they're pulling on her,

but she's resisting. Bodies cross in front of him, he loses
sight of her.
107 FURTHER DOWN TEE HILL, 107
the Family, which must think Rachel is abandoned, is trying like

hell to get her to coma with them.
RACBEL
HE'S COMING BACK FOR MSI HE'S COMIHG
BACK FOR MB!
108 ON THE HILLTOP, 108
Ray sees what's happening, he SHOUTS for her.
RAY
RACHEL! RACHEL!
ROBBIB
LET GO OF ME!
Be swings a leg around and KICKS at his father, trying to get

free.
Below, Ray gets another glimpse of Raohol, she's calling out for
him, but she doesn't know where he is and the Rell-Hoaning Family
has a hold of her and they're dragging her off in the opposite
direction.
Ray looks back, to Robbie, who's now wriggling out of his grasp,
he's passing right through Ray's arms. Ray looks back down at
Rachel, SCREAMING for him as she's swept away, now passing
completely out of his line of sight.
87.
108 CONTINUED: 108
Robbie's passing through his grasp, now just his feet are within
reach, and Ray's got a hold of them, but knows what he has to do.
He lets go.
Ray and Robbie take off in opposite directions, Robbie throwing
one last look back over his shoulder at his father as he dashes
over the hillside the other way, headed down into the valley to
join the attacking soldiers.
Ray races toward Rachel, fighting against the tide of Onlookers

and Soldiers headed toward the hilltop.
109 FURTHER DOWN THE HILL, 109
Ray plows through a break in the people and he sees Rachel, being
dragged away by the Weil-Meaning Family. Ray's on her a second
later, scooping her up into his arms.
RACHEL
DADDY!
WELL-MEANING FATHER
I'm sorry, we thought-
Ray's got no time for niceties, he ignores the family and whirls,
looks baok up at the hilltop.
RAY
ROBBIE!
Night abruptly FLASHES into day again, and we know what this
means, there's another one of those BLASTS coming. Ray and
Rachel both instinctively clap their hands over their ears and
here it comes again —
— KA-BOOM!
Ray and Rachel pull their palms away from their ears, their hands
slick with thoir own blood this time.
Ray 8CREAMS for Robbie a few times more, open-mouthed, desperate,
but we can't hear it.
Then, suddenly, the ROARING battle sounds fade, and there's only
a strange silence coming from the valley.
Ray puts Rachel down, takes her by the hand again, and they look
at each other, excited. Is it possible?
But just as hope rises —

— a BVRBma MAR races back over the hill and crashes into him.
88.
109 CONTINUED: 109
Ray tacklos the Burning Han and rolls him on the ground, gets the
flames out. Be looks baok up toward the hilltop —
— as HALF A DOZEN BURHIHG OHLOOKBRS pour back over the hilltop I
Ray moves as fast and as hard as he can, knocking them to the

ground, rolling them in the dirt. How sound comes back, and with
a vengeance. HORRIBLE SCREAMS, explosions of flame.
Ray looks up, toward the top of the hill.
RAY (cont'd)
ROBBIE! ROBBIE?!
How military vehicles come pouring over the hilltop, headed baok
this way, fast, and then soldiers on foot, running for their
lives in a massive, ohaotic retreat.
And then, in pursuit — TBS TOPS OP THREE TRIPODS appear over the
crest of the hill.
Ray and Rachel freeze in momentary panic, just as the FOUR

FIGHTER JETS reappear, SCREAMING over the horizon to save the
day.
Ray and Rachel duck down, hands over their heads, and through the
blowing weeds, Ray sees four small projectiles HISS from beneath
the planes' wings.
The missiles head straight for the Tripods, but when they're a
good fifty yards away, the missiles explode harmlessly in mid-
air, as if detonated by an invisible, protective shield around
the invading machines.
Ray and Rachel, fleeing, fall Into an observation point, next to

TWO FORWARD AIR CONTROLLERS who axe frantically trying to
redirect aircraft. A THIRD SOLDIER, an offloor, leaps into the
pit, running baok from the other side of the hill, burned and
streaked with dirt and blood. He grabs hold of the other
Soldiers, tries to drag them out of the pit.
SOLDIER 3
Fall back! Move the hell baok! Fall
back five hundred meters on my ten
o'clock!
SOLDIER 1
Sir, we've dumped HE and sabot on these
things, what have we got left? Tows?)
Should we try the tows? I
89.
SOLDIER 3
Doesn't matter what you fire, you can't
get through, nothing punches through!
SOLDIER 2
What is it. Borne kind of shield?!
SOLDIER 3
(nods)
We can't penetrate it, everything
detonates before it even gets close!
Ray's heard enough. He grabs hold of Rachel and they crawl out of
the pit and run in the opposite direction, down the hill.
They near the bottom of the hill, still nowhere to go but
forward, ahead, away, but that won't do, they won't survive, and
just before panic hits —
VOICE (O.S.)
OVER HERB! OVER HERE I
— ha hears a VOICE and whirls. The Burly Man, the one they saw
coming out of the old Victorian house with a rifle before, is
fifty yards to the left, gesturing wildly to them.
Ray and Rachel change course and head toward him, running as fast
as their legs will carry them.
The Burly Man turns and takes off, waving them to follow, and
they do, toward the house, just beyond a stand of trees.
110-115 OMITTED 110-115
116 EXT OLD HOUSE NIGHT 116
The ROAR of the battle is still deafening as Ray and Rachel tear
across the front lawn of the old house, following the Burly Man.
He doesn't go in the front door, but instead to the side of the
house, where he throws open a storm cellar door.
117 INT OLD BOUSE - CELLAR NIGHT 117
Ray and Rachel stumble down the half flight of stairs and fall
into the cellar, GASPING for air.
The Burly Man drops his gun and goes to work on the storm cellar
doors, SLAMMING them shut and sliding a number of heavy bars and
locks into place to seal them.
He hurries down the stairs, out of breath himself, and squats in

front of them. The place is lit by a single hurricane lamp on top
of a red cooler.
90.
117 CONTINUED: 117
BURLY MAN
You all right?
Rachel nods, unable to speak. Ray doesn't answer. Tho Burly Man
puts an arm on his shoulder.
BURLY MAR (cont'd)

What about you?
Ray just looks at him, unable to speak, his eyes big and empty.
CUT TO:
118 INT OLD ROUSE - CELLAR NIGHT 118
Later that night, maybe the middle of the night. The cellar Is
lit only by the tiny flame enduring in the hurricane lamp.
On one side, there's a small cot, and Rachel 1B lying on it, under
a couple blankets. Ray's crouching beside it, stroking her hair
gently, WHISPERING to her. Her eyes are heavy, they want to be
closed, but she's trying like hell to keep them open. They're in
the middle of a conversation.
RACBEL
What do you mean? He got a ride? From
who?
RAY
Shhh, close your eyes.
RACBEL
With the army man?
RAY
He's... he's gonna meet us, honey. In
Boston. At Mom's. Close your eyes. Let
'em close. I'm right here...
She forces her eyes open again, WHISPERS to him.
RACBEL
Where do you think Mom is right thiB
minute?
RAY
Waiting for us. I think she and Tim are
in Boston at Grandma's house, and
they're all waiting for us.
RACHEL
Are you sure?
91.
118 CONTINUED: 118
RAY
I think they can't sleep, because
they're so worried about us, so they're
sitting in the kitchen, and they're
drinking that awful tea Grandma makes,
and they're counting every minute until
they see us again.
He reaches down to give her hand a squeeze, notices she's

clutching something there. It's a yellow third-place ribbon, the
one she tried to get him to notice earlier. She'd stuffed it in
her pocket.
Ray opens her fingers, pulls the ribbon out.
RAY (cont'd)
This yours? Did you win this?
RACHEL
(nods sleepily)
I won third place.
RAY
It's beautiful. What'd you win it for?
RACHEL
(yawning)
Walk, trot and canter. They call it
hunter-jumper.
RAY
Well, I'm very impressed. I'm... I'm
proud of you.
That's what you say to a kid in these circumstances, right?

Rachel smiles, starts to reply —
RACHEL
Sing me Lullaby ( Goodnight.
RAY
I don't know that one.
RACHEL
Sing me Hushabye Mountain.
RAY
I don't know that one either.
She turns her head away, disappointed. Ray thinks for a moment,
then starts to sing softly, huskily. It's "Little Deuce Coupe,"
the Beach Boys song.
92.
After a few lines, Rachel is asleep. Ray furrows his brow

slightly, that was odd, how quickly she fell asleep, but he puts
one hand on her stomach « she's still breathing.
Be pulls the blanket up around her chin and crosses the basement.
The Burly Man is sitting on a small folding camp chair next to the
cooler, the rifle over his knees. Be gestures to another chair,
which he has unfolded for Ray.
Ray sits heavily, close to collapse, and drops his head in his
bands. The Burly Man reaches out and nudges him with the baok of
one hand and Ray looks up — he's offering a glass half-filled
with a clear liquid.
BURLY MAR
Peach schnapps. Disgusting, I know.
Found a whole case of this shit.
RAY
Thank you.
Ray takes a sip. The Burly Man nods, knocks his back. He
breathes heavily, labored most of the time, maybe he's asthmatic.
BURLY MAR
I'm sorry about your son.
Ray nods. They drink In silence for a moment. Then:
RAY
Did you... lose anyone?
BURLY MAR
All of 'em.
He looks away. That seems to be all he's going to say about that.
Ray respects it. The Burly Man holds out a hand.
BURLY MAN (cont'd)
Harlan Ogilvy.
RAY
Ray Ferrier.
They shake. Ogilvy offers a metal plate with some sliced ham and
bread on it. Ray takes some and eats.
RAY (cont'd)
This your house?
OGILVY
Found it empty.
93.
He looks at Ray, but when Ray meets his eye, he fidgets. Maybe he
didn't find it empty.
OGILVY (cont'd)
What?
RAY
Didn't say a word.
Ray's eyas drop down, and for the first time he notices the large
hunting knife Ogilvy wears strapped to his ankle.
OGILVY
Got water, food enough for weeks.
You're welcome to stay. Both of you.
RAY
Thank you. I gotta sleep...
Ho stands up.
OGILVY
Those machines, those Tripods they
got...
Ray turns back. Ogilvy shakes his head in dire admiration.
OGILVY (cont'd)
Buried 'em right under our feet. Since
before the firBt people were here.
They've been planning this for a million
years. We're beat to shit.
RAY
Please keep your voice down.
OGILVY
Think about it, they defeated the
greatest power in the world in a couple
days. Walked right over us. And these
are only the first, they'll keep coming.
This isn't a war, any more than there's
a war between men and maggots.
RAY
Then what is it?
OGILVY
It's an extermination.
He pours himself some more schnapps. Ray nods. Again, he tries
to walk away. Again, Ogilvy won't let him.
94.
OGILVY (cont'd)
You afraid?
RAY
Of course I'm afraid.
OGILVY
I've been around death plenty. Drive an
ambulance in the city. Drove an
ambulance. That's all over now.
RAY
Hew York?
OGILVY
You know the people that make it? The
ones that don't flatline before the
hospital? It's the ones that keep their
eyes open, that keep looking at you,
keep thinking, they'ro the ones who
survive. We can't lose our heads, Ray.
Running, that's what'11 kill you. And
I'm dead set on living.
(laughs bitterly)
"Dead set on living."
Be finishes his schnapps again and pours himself some more. Ray
watches him. This is starting to be a concern.
Somewhere far off in the distance, there is a hollow BOOH.
RAY
Thank you for taking us in.
Ray goes to tho other side of the basement, where Rachel is

asleep. He lies down on the floor next to her cot, makes a pillow
of his jacket.
More hollow BOOMS, except they're slightly closer.
Ogilvy, still sitting with his back to him and faintly
silhouetted by the hurricane lamp, calls out in a normal, too-
loud voice.
OGILVY
Not gonna be exterminated!
Ray closes his eyes, but a few chunks of earth and plaster fall
from the ceiling and land on the floor around him.
Be opens his eyes. More debris wafts down onto his face. Ray
sits up and looks over at Ogilvy, who turns around to face him, a
mad grin on his face.
95.
OGILVY (cont'd)
We're gonna fight 'em, Ray. They gotta
have a weakness. Somehow they killed a
few of those things in Osaka, that's
what I heard. You telling me the Japs
can figure it out but we can't?
He comes over and elbows Ray in the ribs, a hard, macho gesture.
Ray GROANS in pain, his ribs are probably fractured.
From just outside, a loud, rhythmic POUNDING begins, like the

sound of a factory coming back to life after lunch hour. The
house above them SHUDDERS. Ray gets to his feet, a horrible
thought growing in his mind.
OGILVY (cont'd)
It's okay.
Be leans forward, opens the door on the hurricane lamp, and PUFFS
out the flame, plunging the basement into near-darkness.
OGILVY (cont'd)
Save a look.
He stands, still clutching the rifle, and scurries across the

room, gesturing to Ray to follow. He climbs up on an overturned
crate, onto a small ledge built into the wall.
When he climbs on it, his face is right at window level. A board

has been cut to fit the window space and slid into place, now
Ogilvy slides it back slightly so he can see outside.
Putting a finger to his lips, a signal to Ray to keep quiet, he

hops off the wall and gestures to Ray to climb up.
Ray does, with dread. Ogilvy gestures — look through the slit.
119 THROUGH THE SLIT, 119

Ray can see the open area to the side of the house. But it isn't
open field any more.
TWO TRIPODS have made their encampment in the field, and as Ray
watches a THIRD TRIPOD strides out from the trees, calling to the
others in its familiar mechanical tone.
"VLLAI"
120 IN THE CELLAR, 120
Ray's face snaps away from the window in horror. Ogilvy, who
seemed to know about this, seems unconcerned.
96.
120 CONTINUED: 120
OGILVY
Don't worry, they can't hear us when
those things are on.
Be scurries across the basement, climbs a ladder on the other

side, and pushes aside another piece of plywood that he's used to
obsoure the window over there.
Again, he gestures to Ray, who races silently across the room and
up the ladder.
121 THROUGH THE SECOND SLIT, 121
Ray sees ANOTHER TRIPOD on this side of the house, and as he

watches its GIANT MECHANICAL LEGS stride right past the window
and stop.
With an otherworldly GROAN, the legs contract into themselves,

lowering the "head" of the Tripod down to ground level.
There's a FLASH of brilliant light from within the head of the

Tripod that momentarily illuminates the fields around the house,
and in that flash we see equipment, dug-out pits, a bivouac —
clear evidence that this is, and has been, an alien encampment.
In their hurry to get inside, Ray and Rachel didn't notice it all
before, but they are now living in a house taken over.
122 BACK IH THE BASEMENT, 122
Ray leaps off the ladder and lands in front of Ogilvy, who's
pleased at showing off the true nature of their location. Ray
grabs him by the shirt, drags his face right up to his.
RAY
You knew?/ Are you insane?! How could
you bring us here?!
OGILVY
So wo could fight 'em together, Ray!
Row we're the ones coming up from
underground. And when the time's right,
we'll take them by surprise, the way
they took us.
Ray looks at him, realizing too late this guy's lost it.
OGILVY (cont'd)
Right under their feat, Ray. Right here
under their feet.
97.
122 CONTINUED: 122
RAY
You killed us. You just killed us.
CUT TO:
123 EXT OLD BOUSE DAY 123
The next morning.

SFFFTI A piece of plywood slides away and an eyeball appears
right in front of us. Re're outside the old house, down at ground
level.
There's something strange about the landscape out here,

everywhere there is dirt or grass or moisture, there is a
creeping red fuss, a red weed. We've seen these clawing tendrils
before, on the surface of the barren planet in the opening.
The red weed seethes, swarming over a dripping outdoor faucet at

the base of the house.
Ray's eye is peering out through the basement slit, looking
furtively from side to side. The sounds of HEAVY MACHINERY can
be heard behind us, the rhythmic, pounding drone of a factory.
The shadows of tall, moving shapes play across the house.
124 INT OLD HOUSE - CELLAR DAY 124
Ray slides the piece of wood back into place and hops off the
narrow ledge. He's upset, didn't like what he saw, clearly
they're Btill hemmed in by the Tripods. The POUNDING MACBINERZ
is deep and penetrating here in the basement, and it will hammer
away constantly the entire time they're here.
Up near the window, he sees the tendrils of a batch of red weed

growing around the edge of the window, making their way into the
basement.
He reaches up and RIPS them off. They're tough, sinewy, it takes

a few pulls.
He looks across tho room, sees Rachel still asleep on the cot.
Ogilvy is back on the camp chair, his rifle across his logs,
rocking back and forth slightly, watching Ray's every move.
CUT TO:
124A INT CELLAR - A SHORT TIME LATER DAY 124A
Later. Ray is beside Rachel's cot. She's awake now, and looking
up at him apprehensively.
98.
124A CONTINUED: 124A
With a dull SCRAPE, he strikes a match from a book of matches. He

holds a straight pin in the other hand and passes it back and
forth through the flamo, sterilizing it. Rachel stares at him
with wide, teary eyes, fixed on the pin. She's got her left band
balled up in a fist and is clutching it to herself.
RAY
(whispering)
It's infected. It's got to come out or
it'll just get worse.
Reluctantly, Rachel opens her hand and we get a look at her palm —
the sliver she got a few days ago is indeed infected, the skin is
puffy, red and angry all around it. Ray moves the pin closer.
RACHEL
Do you have to do that?
Ray puts down the pin, reaches down carefully, and pinches the
end of the protruding splinter.
RAY
Hot anymore. Look, the infection pushed
it out a little.
He pulls it the rest of the way out and Rachel snatches her hand
back happily.
RACHEL
Told you. It wasn't supposed to be
there, so my body got rid of it.
RAY
Yeah. It did, didn't it.
RACHEL
(pause, then)
How long are we going to stay here?
RAY
Hot long. Re need to wait for the right
moment, and then we're going to leave
and find another place to stay.
RACHEL
Are we still going to Mom's?
RAY
Of course wo are. But in the meantime,
juat try not to make a sound and I'll
bring you something to eat and drink,
okay?
99.
Rachel nods, fearful. Ray nods back, good for you, and turns to
got some food. But Ogilvy is right behind him.
OGILVY
Leave? What's the matter with you,
we're gonna fight. I already started a
tunnel, you wanna see it?
RAY
No, I don't want to see your tunnel.
He goes across the room to the other slit and slides it open.
Nothing encouraging there either. More red weed drips down the
wall here, Ray rips that off too.
OGILVY
What we've got to do is get to the
cities. We'll have our own tunnels
there, ready-made. The subways, see
what I'm saying?
RAY
Keep your voice down.
OGILVY
We can hide a whole army down there.
We'll go underground, stage attacks at
night. We're the Resistance, Ray. They
can't occupy this country, occupations
always fail, history taught us that a
thousand times. This is our land, we
eat it, we breathe it, only we can live
on it. They can't survive here, they
weren't built for it, they-
Ray swerves over in front of him and bands down, holding a finger
up in front of Ogilvy's face. Be speaks In a whisper (as ho will
the whole time they're in the cellar).
RAY
Keep. Your voice. Down.
Ogilvy stares right back at him, with meaning. Ray looks down.
The barrel of Ogilvy's gun is pointed at him. Be pushes it away
with one finger and leans in to Ogilvy's ear.
RAY (cont'd)
You know the first time you fire that,
we're all dead.
OGILVY
You don't know how well I shoot.
100.
RAY
I don't cars how well you shoot, they'll
hear it.
OGILVY
I told you, they can't hear us when
those things are pounding.
RAY
Just remember what I said.
Ogilvy stares at him.
And takes another swig of schnapps.
CUT TO:
125-12SB OMITTED 125-125B
126 INT CELLAR NIGHT 126
Nighttime. Still in the cellar. The red weed Ray tore down has
grown back in from around the corners of tho windows. The
rhythmic POUNDING goes on.
Water has pooled in the basement from a dripping spigot on the

far side. Rachel is huddled in a dry corner, her hands clamped
over her ears, going quietly Insane from the constant noise.
Ogilvy eomos over to her, slides down onto the floor next to her.
He's half drunk.
OGILVY
You miss your mommy?
Rachol just looks back at him, scarod, doesn't answer. Ray, who
is across the cellar getting some food onto a plate for Rachel,
notices Ogilvy talking to her.
OGILVY (cont'd)
I had a girl nearly your age. If
anything happens to your daddy, I'll
take eare of you.
Ray grabs Ogilvy by the collar and turns him away from Rachel,
but does so subtly, so his daughter doesn't notice the force
behind the gesture.
RAY
(low voice)
You've got nothing to say to her.
Understand?
(MORE)
101.
126 CONTINUED: 126
RAY (cont'd)
You want to talk to somebody, you got a
question, you ask ma.
Ogilvy looks at him, measures whether a fight with Ray is a good

or bad thing.
OGILVY
Yeah, I got a question. What exactly is
your plan, Ray? I mean, X know what I'm
gonna do, what about you? You gonna
just sit here, wait for them to come get
you? Is that it? Is that what you've
got up your sleeve?
He gets up and grabs his wheelbarrow, goes noisily across the

basement to go back to work.
RAY
Keep the noise down.*
OGILVY
(almost shouting)
Maybe you want to be caught... couple
days hiding in a basement, too much for
you, I bet.
RAY
Shut up I
Suddenly, the pounding stops. It's quiet out there now, VERY
quiet. As if they heard something.
RAY (cont'd)
Listen! It stopped.
But Ogilvy pays it no mind, he keeps talking in a normal voice.
OGILVY
Probably turn yourself right in, that's
what you'll do. Wonder what you ever
did before they came along and changed
your life.
Ray goes ovar in front of him, gets right in his face.

RAY
Listen/ Shut upl
OGILVY
Maybe you'll be okay. Maybe you'll get
lucky, they'll take you as a pet.
RACHEL
Dad/
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103.
As soon as it's out of sight, Ogilvy straightens up to grab the

axe off the wall. Ray stands and grabs hold of his arm to stop
him, but Ogilvy swings an elbow into Ray's broken ribs, hard.
Ray crumples to the floor in pain, is dying to scream, but

manages to stifle it.
Ogilvy snatches the axe and crouches down again, raising it,
waiting for the probe to come back into the room.
From the floor, Ray looks around frantically and spots a large
old mirror leaning up against the wall nearby. In great pain, he
raises himself up on one elbow and crawls forward to it.
He grabB hold of the mirror's gilt edges and drags it slowly,

silently over in front of himself and Rachel. Ogilvy, nearby,
still has the axe raised in readiness.
Ray HISSES for his attention, imploring the man to come behind
the mirror. Ogilvy shakes bis head no, but Ray mouths silently.
RAY (CONT'D)
(NOT NOW. LATER. PLEASE. NOT NOW.)
Ogilvy debates, still leaving himself out in the open.
RAY (cont'd)
(WE WILL GET THEM LATER. I PROMISE.)
The probe, perhaps hearing them, pulls out of the root cellar and
back into the main room, just as Ogilvy reluctantly decides to
scamper behind the mirror.
The probe senses the movement and darts quickly across the room,
bumping gently into the surface of the mirror.
Behind the mirror, Ray, Rachel, and Ogilvy all remain frozen.
The probe's head recoils from the mirror, seems to tilt its head
in curiosity. The mirror fogs right in front of it, maybe tho
probe expels C02, like a breathing organism.
It studies the mirror for one more moment, then with a piercing
HIBS, it's recalled, slithering back across tho cellar at top
speed and whipping up and out through the now-broken window.
After a moment, the RHYTHMIC POUNDING of the machinery resumes.
Ray drags himself up Into a sitting position, leaning against the

wall, nursing his ribs, Rachel at his side. Ogilvy sits cross-
legged, staring at him, still holding the axe.
104.
OGILVY
I got my doubts about you. Mister.
Ray stares him down. He's about to get up and take Rachel back to
the other side of the basement, but he freezes, staring down at
the water that's pooled on the basement floor. There are ripples
in it, little wavelets flowing toward him.
Reflexively, he hunches hunch down in the hiding place again,

listening. The ripples get bigger, something is moving on the
far side of the basement. Rachel looks up at Ray, her eyes
pleading — "what is it?" Ray shakes his head, "don't move."
They listen. Across the room, they can hear a LABORED BREATHING,
thick, short, wet breaths. Non-human breaths.
Ray moves, alowly, raising his head to peer between some laundry
that hangs from a clothesline overhead.
TBROUGB THE LAUNDRY,
he gets his first (and only) good look at the rounded bulk of one
of the CREATURES.
It's about five feet long, dense, sluglike in appearance. It has
three stubby limbs, all underneath it, and a long set of tendrils
around its "mouth," similar to the ones that dangle beneath the
belly of the Tripod it's operating. Its skin is somewhat
translucent, its internal organs visible through it.
Its "mouth" is shoved over the dripping water spigot on the far
wall, SLURPING at the precious liquid. Its breathing is very
heavy and slow, it seems ill or incapacitated in some way. As Ray
watches TWO KOBE of the things slither through the window
opening, their body mass streamlining to get through the narrow
space, then re-expanding as they land on the basement floor.
As the first creature sucks at the water pipe, the second goes to
it, perhaps to check on it. The third creature rummages through
tho stuff on the basement floor, using its tendrils to dip into a
cardboard box filled with photographs.
It scatters most of them across the basement floor, but finds one
that might be of Interest. It passes it over to the second
creature, which takes it from it and examines it.
BEHIND THE BANGING LAUNDRY,

Ray holds his breath. Ogilvy, who is full of tough talk whan not
faced with danger, is frozen in abject horror. Rachel,
thankfully, has her view obscured and can't seo what's going on.
IN THE MIRROR,
105.
the creatures just start to move across the basement, toward the
three humans crouched in the far aomer, when — ULLAI — a
mechanical cry from the Tripod outside sounds. The three bulky
creatures move quickly and with sudden power, even nimble, their
stubby logs propelling them rapidly across the floor, up the
wall, and out tho window, to rejoin their ship.
IH HIS BIDING PLACE,
Ray exhales deeply and turns around to face Rachel. Be looks

down at his hands, which have been balled up into fists. Be
forces himself to unclenoh. There are four red gashes in eaoh
palm, where his nails dug into his skin in fear.
CUT TO:
127 INT OLD BOUSE - CELLAR DAY 127
The next day. Or maybe the one after that. They're blending
together now. One thing we know for sure — there's a hell of a
lot more red weed in here than their used to be. It fringes the
windows, of course, but it's dripping down the walla too.
Ray, who's staring up at one of the windows, does a double take.

Through a gap in the frame, there's a thin red mist coming Into
the basement, like gas seeping through the cracks.
Ogilvy's across the room, staring out one of the slits.
Ray stands and goes to window where the red mist is filtering in.
He holds out a hand. The red mist covers his hand and he pulls it
back, looks at it. Rubs his fingers together.
The red substance smears, and it looks and feels unpleasantly

familiar. Deep down, Ray probably knows what it is but doesn't
want to admit it.
Be looks up at the wall, where the red mist has settled over a
patch of red weed, which is twitching and growing excitedly
underneath it.
Suddenly, from the other side of tho room, Ogilvy omits a stunned
CRY (which he fails to mute) and falls backwards.
Ray leaps forward and catches him before he tumbles off the
narrow ledge, preventing the racket that would have come from him
hitting the floor.
RAY
What is it?! What?
OGILVY
The... that thing! It... it...
106.
127 CONTINUED: 127
Ray scrambles up to the ledge and peers out through the slit.
128 TBROUGB TBE SLIT, 128
he sees the legs of one of the Tripods as it returns. This Tripod

has a different feature than we've seen before, a device that
extends from its shell, a large metallic basket of some sort,
affixed to its back.
Ray squints, trying to figure out this new development, but

Ogilvy's hands are on him, pulling at him, to get at the slit.
OGILVY
Let me seel
Ray swats him away like a fly, looks baok through the slit.
Suddenly, from the underbelly of the Tripod's "head," half a

dozen whiplike tendrils shoot out and extend to about a hundred
feet in length each.
They snake around, up to the basket on the back of the machine,

and slither inside it. HUMAN SCREAMS coma from inside.
RAY
Oh God...
The tendrils emerge from the basket, wrapped around the body of a
MAN IN BIS FORTIES. The Man is injured but still conscious,
SBRIEKIRG.
The tendrils snap, hurling the Man to the ground just behind a
large pile of dirt, then they stiffen, pinning him there, just
out of our sight.
The Tripod shifts so that it's standing directly over him, then a
thin pipette emerges from its base and shoots straight down, into
the earth where the man was screaming.
And ho stops screaming.

The translucent pipette turns red as blood flows up through it.
Ray GASPS, staring in horror. Suddenly, from the back of the
Tripod, a thick red mist sprays out, covoring the field of red
weed below.
129 BACK IN THE CELLAR, 129
Ray whips away from the slit, horrified, and looks again at the
red mist coming through the window on the far side, and at the red
smear on his hand.
107.
129 CONTINUBD: 129
It's blood, human blood, and they're using it to fertilize the

red weed.
Bands shaking, Ray finds the piece of plywood and slides it back
into place, obscuring the window.
Be looks across tho room and sees Rachel, who's staring at him,
desperate for Information (right, like he's gonna tell her this).
Ogilvy is nowhere to be found.
But suddenly there's a sharp SCRAPING sound from across the

basement. Loud, way too loud.
Ray leaps off the ledge and hurries across the basement to the
small root cellar that's off to one side. Be opens the door.
130 INT ROOT CELLAR DAY 130
Ogilvy 1B inside, standing waist deep in a hole, shovel in hand,

his asthmatic breathing louder than ever. He's digging like a
crazy man. This must be the "tunnel" he was so proud of.
RAY
Stop it!
OGILVY
(WAY too loud)
Christ, did you see it drinking?!
Ray grabs him by the arm roughly.
RAY
Be quiet I
OGILVY
They drink us!
He jams the shovel into the ground, it CLANGS off a rock.

RAY
They'll hear you I
Be reaches out to grab hold of tho shovel, to pull it away from
Ogilvy, but the man swings it instead, catching Ray hard in the
side of the neck.
Ray GROANS and falls back. He rolls over, WHISPERING

desperately.
RAY (cont'd)
Please, you've got to bo quiet!
108.
130 CONTINUBD: 130
OGILVY
(loud)
Get to the city! Tunnel into the
subway!
RAY
I won't let my daughter die because of
you! Do you hear what I'm saying? Do
you understand?!
Ray gets up, to go to him again, but Ogilvy whirls, brandishing

the shovel.
OGILVY
Not MY blood!
Ray looks at him. Ogilvy has gone completely unhinged.
131 XRT OLD BOUSE - CELLAR DAY 131
Ray comes out of the root cellar and into the basement, looking
around for something, searching, searching.
Rachel watches him, puzzled.
Outside, the SCREAMS and the CLANKING of machinery are louder

now, it'8 possible they haven't heard the sound of the digging in
the root cellar.
From the other room, Ogilvy can be heard ranting, LOUD.
RACHEL
(a whisper)
Dad?
Ray finds what he was looking for, or something close enough
anyway. It's an old tee shirt.
He goes to Rachel and drops to his knees in front of her.
RACBEL (cont'd)
What are you doing?
RAY
No matter what you hoar, do not take
this off. Okay?
Rachel of course has no clue what he's talking about, but she
nods anyway.
Ray reaches out and wraps the tee shirt around her head, tying it
firmly in the back.
109.
131 CONTINUED: 131
It's a blindfold.
Ray checks to mako sure it's tight, then turns and hurries out of
frame.
We stay on Rachel's face, half-covered by the dirty tee shirt,
and see none of what follows, we only hear the sounds and see the
reactions on Rachel's obscured face.
First we hear the digging, louder than ever, and Ogilvy's

RANTING, coming from the other room, and his RASPY BREATHING,
louder than ever. Then footsteps, silent, swift ones as they
head toward him.
A door closes. Maybe the door to the root cellar? The digging
stops. There are urgent, muffled sounds. More SHOUTING, Ogilvy
again, much too loud.
Then a Bilence, a long one, punctuated occasionally by slight

sounds of thrashing, and that breathing, still that RASPY
BREATHING, but it's all off screen and through a closed door, and
it's hard to tell.
A long moment goes by. Only silence.
And the BREATHING. Raspy, labored breathing. But only one

person now.
A door CREAKS open. Then closes, very softly.
Footsteps again. Heavy BREATHING. Someone sliding to the floor.
Slowly, Rachel roaches up and pulls the blindfold from her eyes,
terrified at what she'll see.
She blinks at the light. On the far side of the basement, she
sees her father, slumped against the wall, a vacant expression on
his face, breathing hard from the struggle. It was hie breathing
she heard.
He won't look at her.
Rachel turns toward the root cellar, sees the door hanging open a
few inches. And no sounds coming from inside it.
She crawls across the floor of the basement silently, and curls
up against her father. He puts one arm around her and pulls her
tight, but can't look at her.
Softly, Rachel starts to speak, through tears:

110.
RACHEL
I want to show you my school. I want to
show you where I sit, and my homework,
and I want you to eat dinner at my house.
I want you to pick me up from riding
practice, I want you to meet my friend
Paige, I want... I want you...
He reaches down, very gently, and wipes the tears from her
cheeks.
RAY
(whispers)
You've got me.
We move in on his eyes, haunted, dark-oiroled, move all the way
in until they fill the frame, and then wo dissolve to —
DISSOLVE TO:
132 INT OLD HOUSE - CELLAR DAY 132
— the same eyes, but now we're pulling back, and we can toll time
has passed, it shows in the gauntness in their faces and the
beard growth on Ray'8 face. Ha and Rachel are in basically the
same position, still slumped against the wall.
Rod weed is engulfing the basement, double the density it was

before. The area around Ray and Rachel looks like they've hacked
out a space in the jungle.
133 OMITTED 133
134 INT OLD HOUSE - CELLAR NIGHT 134

The name position, later still. It's nighttime. Both of them
are asleep, slumped against the wall. Close on Rachel's eyes as
they open. She blinks. Stares. Her eyes pop wide, but she
doesn't move, doesn't breathe, doesn't dare, because not twelve
inches away from her face —
— IS AW ALIEN PROBE.
It's the same kind that slithered into tho basement earlier, the
one they eluded, but this one seems to have come in while they
were sleeping, and there's no avoiding it this time.
Rachel lets out a tiny GASP of terror, which awakens Ray. He

jorks awake and sees the thing too, sucks his breath in hard, and
that moment of recognition convinces Rachel she's not dreaming.
111.
134 CONTINUED: 134
She SCREAMS.
All the quiet that's been building in the cellar explodes in a
long, deafening SHRIEK as Rachel empties her lungs in terror.
The probe jerks back a foot or so, Ray tries to cover Rachel's
mouth, but this is it, she's snapping, she can't take it anymore.
Ray lunges for the axe that's nearby and attacks the probe,
swinging wildly, making some contact.
Rachel, beyond reason, scrambles to her feet and takes off, up

the stairs that lead into the house.
RAY
Rachel!
But she's already gone, out of the basement, and Ray is delayed
by bis battle with the probe. Be lands a decisive blow and lops
the head off the thing, its remnant withdraws quickly, back and
out through the window it came in. Ray takes off after Rachel.
134A INT OLD HOUSE - HALLWAY RIGHT 134A
A door SMASBES open from the basement and Ray bursts out into the
darkened hallway of the old house they've been hiding under.
RAY
RACBEL?!
But she's already gone, and the front door is hanging open. Be
races after her, out the front door and into —
135-136 OMITTED 135-136
137 EXT OLD B0U8E RIGHT 137
— the weird and lurid landscape of another world.
Ray comes tearing down the front steps of the house and into the
yard beyond. Everywhere, in every direction, the red weed has
spread and multiplied, it's an ocean of crimson, it covers
everything in sight and extends as far as the eye can see.
RAY
RACHEL!!!
But she's gone, he can't see her anywhere, and now he's in the
middle of the open area in front of the house, completely
exposed, and before he even has time to calculate the danger he's
In —
— A TRIPOD LEO CRUNCHES DOWN IB PRONT OP HIM.

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113.
139 CONTINUED: 139
Ray SCREAMS, but the Tripod's already moving away from him.
RAY
RACHEL!!!
Be looks around frantically for a weapon, anything at all. Be

seas a Humvee, the burned-out military vehicle that rolled past
them earlier.
He races to it, rips the door open and searches through the
charred interior. He finds an automatic pistol and a grenade
belt. Those'11 do.
140 EXT THE MEADOW RIGHT 140

Ray takes off into a vast field of red weed, chasing after the
Tripod. Be can see it in the distance, moving quickly away from
him, covering huge chunks of ground.
Be SCREAMS at it, trying to get its attention. He's just making

sounds, beyond words at this point.
Be FIRES the automatic pistol, six, seven, eight shots, in the

distance we can see two or three of them TING off the surface of
the Tripod.
And it stops.
And it turns.
It'8 about three hundred yards away from Ray now, and this is it,
this is what it's all come down to, one human being against one
Tripod, and of course he doesn't stand a chance in hell.
RAY
Come on... come on...
The Tripod stands there for a moment, evaluating him. The black
arm extends from its side, the heat-ray disc emerges.
RAY (cont'd)
I'm right here...
(screaming)
I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE/ YOU HEAR MET I
COME AND GET ME, GOD DAMN IT, COME AND
GET MSI 11
The Tripod seems to think about that for a second. And then the
disc rotates, flattens, and the arm retracts Into the head of the
Tripod.
114.
140 CONTINUED: 140
It starts to walk, normal speed at first and then fast, really

faBt, right toward hia, its legs covering the couple hundred
yards in an elegant, beautiful blur of motion.
Ray takes a breath, sucking in as much air as he can get. His

whole body trembles, he tightens his grip on the belt of hand
grenades, and he holds his ground.
The Tripod's close, fifty yards or less, the black tendrils whip
out from the underbelly of its head, they drop down —
— Ray forces his eyes to stay open, the shadow of the Tripod
falls over him, the tendrils wrap around him —
— and he's swept off his feet/

141-143 OMITTED 141-143
144 IN MIDAIR, 144
suddenly everything is moving. When we were in the meadow we had

a wide-open view of events, but now we have almost no view of
what's going on, so chaotic is the movement.
Ray is caught in the tendrils, being lifted up into the air,

fast, upside-down now while the Tripod turns and takes off across
the field again, headed God knows where.
Ray is hurled aloft, the tendrils release him, and he CRASHES

down —
145 INT ON BOARD THE TRIPOD NIGHT 145
— in the metallic basket on the Tripod's back. A series of

"bars" close over the top of the basket, trapping him inside.
It's noisy up here, the WHIRRING of the machinery very loud, the
sound of the wind RUSHING past, and the SCREAMS —
— of the other humans caught in the basket. Ray has landed face
down on the floor of it, but when he rolls over be sees there are
FIVE OTHER PEOPLE in the basket with him. More on them in a
second.
The basket itself, which looked metallic when we saw it from down
on the ground, is actually more biological in naturo when you're
up close, or in it. Though its surface glints in the sunlight, it
seems to seethe, to novo as the Tripod moves. And the "bars" are
more like the slick limbs of junglo trees, dense as hell, but not
brittle like metal.
115.
145 CONTINUBD: 145
The whole thing is maybe only eight feet square and three feet
high, so Ray, who has landed face down in it, is actually on top
of the other people inside, they're like corpses thrown into a
shallow pit, or lobsters in a pen, a pile of arms and legs and
writhing torsos.
Ray adjusts and finds himself face to face, seemingly with all of
them. There's an ARMY PRIVATE, a BUSINESSWOMAN, TWO TEENAGERS,
and an OLDER WOMAN.
RAY
Rachel?! RachelI
There's much SHOUTING baok, people are twisting and turning,

trying to gat off of each other to little avail, as the basket
bounces and shakes and rattles as the Tripod keeps moving.
Ray doesn't hear Rachel, but through the twisting bunch of

humanity he gets a glimpse of his little girl's face, trapped
beneath two others.
Ray reaches out a hand for her, she reaches back, through the
mass of people, but just when they're about to connect —
— the basket tilts up at a forty-five degree angle suddenly,

producing a fresh round of SCREAMING from the trapped humans.
Ray is lying with his head on the lower end of the basket now, and
through his upside-down viewpoint, we see what's happening.
A small round opening, about eighteen inches across, irises open

at what is now the base of the basket. It's not a door, exactly,
it's more like a filmy, liquid cloud suspended in the air, a
water vacuole. You can see through it, but it's definitely dense
and Impenetrable when it's closed.
A set of pincers emerges from inside the Tripod's head, passing

through the iris.
The pinoero SNAP hard and grab hold of whatever's closest, and in
this case it's tho ankle of one of the Teenagers, a boy about
seventeen.
He SCREAMS and the pincers retract. The Teenager is pulled hard,

sucked into the head of the Tripod, he's SCREAMING and he's up to
his knees, then his waist, then his shoulders, and hands are
reaching for him, trying to grab hold of him, but too late and too
weak.
He disappears into the head of the Tripod and the iris SLITHERS
shut again.
The basket abruptly levels itself, jarring everyone in it.

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117.
Ray's moving now, as the pincers retract the iris opens up into a
sphincter-like opening that's pulling him in. He's up to his
waist, half into the opening from which no one has ever returned.
Marshaling all his strength, he SNAPS his arm free and pulls it
tight next to him, clutching the grenade belt.
RACHEL
(pawing at him)
DADDY!! I
Ray is still moving, now he's in up to the middle of his ohast.
The Army Private and anyone else who is near enough grab hold of
his shoulders or whatever else they can get their hands on,
holding onto him with everything they've got, to prevent him from
being sucked all the way inside.
One of Ray's hands is trapped in the sphincter, the one that's

left free is still clutching the grenade belt, but Ray is
SCREAMING in pain, the sphincter opening must be squeezing him
like a boa constrictor, bis whole face is turning red, his veins
are bulging, he's in up to his neck now, one arm stretched out
awkwardly (and unnaturally) in front of him.
Everybody in the basket is grabbing at him, trying like hell to

keep him from going all the way in. But the sphincter-like
device flexes tighter and tighter, and all at once, with a might
sucking sound —
RACBEL (cont'd)
DADDY, NOOOO!11
— Ray is sucked all the way inside the head of the beast. Rachel
SCREAMS in horror, but the Army Private refuses to give up, and
before the sphincter completely closes he hurls himself at it,
plunging both arms inside it.
The sphincter closes on his arms, but the Private has hold of
something inside, and he twists himself around, gets both legs up
against the edge of the thing —
ARMY PRIVATE
PULL MB!!I
— and pulls hard, with everything he's got, everyone else in the
basket pulling on him too.
All at once the sphincter CRACKS with a horrible wet CRUNCHING

sound, it opens ever so slightly, and RAY BURSTS OUT, all at
onae, coverod in a thick aqueous goo.
Be lands in the middle of the group and rolls over, GASPING for
air.
118.
ARMY PRIVATE (cont'd)

The belt! Where's the grenade belt?!
Ray looks up at him and raises his right hand, which is balled up
Into a fist. He opens it up, revealing a grenade pin In his palm.
It's at that moment —
— THE EXPLOSION COMES.
It's two explosions, really, the first being one grenade going
off, and the other, a split-second later, much bigger as the rest
of the grenades on the belt explode as a result.
The shell of the Tripod's head axplodos outward but does not
burst, absorbing most of the blast within its strong walls.
But the Tripod itself lurches, staggers like a punchy boxer.
(All of this is seen from inside the crazily bouncing basket.)
The basket rocks violently, the Tripod SLAMS into a tree on one
side, veers off, and its front leg telescopes halfway down all at
once, as if the thing is going to its knee.
How rudderless, driverless, the Tripod's right rear leg attempts

two consecutive strides, and the whole thing pitohes forward.
The ground races up at them fast and they SLAM into the earth,
dirt and mud flying everywhere, obscuring our vision and sending
up a thick cloud of debris.
146-159 OMITTED 146-159
160 WHEN THE DUST CLEARS, 160
all we see at first is a mass of mud. The mud starts to move,

arms and legs come out of it... somebody's head... human beings,
crawling out of the ooze, coming back to life.
We see Rachel's face firBt as she opens her eyes. She's no longer
in the basket, which has been wrenched free from the Tripod
wreckage by the violence of the fall.
The other bodies near her are moving too, everybody oozing out of
tho mud into which they have fallen.
There's GASPING, CRYING. But they're alive. One of the bodies
rolls over near Rachel, and she finds herself face to face —
— with her father. They crawl through the thick mud and grab
hold of each other.
CUT TO:
119.
161 EXT ABANDONED FREEWAY DAY 161
A HORDE OF REFUGEES make their way down the middle of a highway,

strewn everywhere with dead oars.
A sign in the foreground tells us we're getting closer:
BOSTON 12
CUT TO:
162 OMITTED DAZ 162
163 EXT BOSTOH - THE OLD CITY DAZ 163
A once-busy street in the heart of Boston. There's not a soul to

be seen, but destruction is everywhere — rows and rows of empty
human clothing in the streets where bodies were vaporized, a
geyser of water spewing from a sheared fire hydrant no one was
there to cap, an overturned bus at the end of the street. The
front of a whole block of stores has been burned off. One, a
jewelry store, seems to have exploded Into the street, leaving
expensive rings, watches, and necklaces strewn everywhere. But
no one has bothered to pick them up, they don't mean much
anymore.
The street stretches far into the distance, toward the river and
bridges far beyond, and it's the same empty, lonely story as far
as the eye can see. The most striking thing about the city is its
stillness.
And everywhere, the red weed, on buildings, on trees, everywhere.

There's something different about it hare, something off, but wa
don't have time to give it much thought, as Ray and Rachel come
around the corner and onto this abandoned block.
Ray looks down, at the water rushing through the street. The
gutters are swollen with red weed, huge rolling bundles of it all
along the water.
But Ray looks closer, because the red weed is dried out and
breaking. Great branches of it SNAP off and are swept into the
rushing stream, oarried away by the same waters that initially
fed it.
That's weird. Ray turns to a patch of weed that has grown off a
tree on the sidewalk and SNAPS off a chunk of it. It's covered in
white spots, something like tonsillitis. Be bends it. It's
brittle, and SNAPS in half at the slightest pressure.
Rachel leans over his shoulder and looks at the spots too.
120.
163 CONTINUED: 163
RACHEL
It looks sick.
RAY
Moire than sick. It's dead. Or dying,
anyway.
"ULLAI'
Ray whirls, hearing the sound of a Tripod calling out in the

distance, but it's bouncing off so many buildings they can't tell
where it came from. Rachel instinctively grabs hold of him.
The sound comes again, at regular intervals. They set off down
the narrow streets of the city, in the opposite direction.
164 OMITTED 164

164A EXT BOSTON - INDUSTRIAL AREA DAZ 164A
Ray and Rachel come around another corner and find a pack of
birds, pecking at the pods that have grown from tho red weed. But
the pods are split open now, raw and fleshy and exposed, lying in
the street.
Ray and Rachel keep moving.
165 EXT BOSTOH - INDUSTRIAL AREA DAY 16S
Ray and Rachel come around another corner and stop suddenly.
The head of a Tripod is crashed in front of them.

It's buried nose-first in the middle of the street. A hatch is
partially open underneath its front, the lower lip of a slack-
jawed mouth.
Over and over, it BLEATS its recorded mechanical cry, and we
realize why it sounded so plaintive — it was calling for help.
Ray and Rachel pass the frozen Tripod, waved along by a SOLDIER.
SOLDIER 1
Keep moving. It's all right, you can
pass on through. Move along.
RAY
(walking with Soldier)
What happened here?
SOLDIER 1
Something's happening to them. Please
keep moving.
121.
165 CONTINUED: 165
RAY
Did you guys take it down?
SOLDIER 1
Ho sir, it was behaving erratically.
Walking in circles, and went down about
an hour ago all by itself.
RACHEL
is it dead?
RAY
Yes. Don't stop.
RACBEL
Hew is it dead all by itself?
RAY
Rachel, I don't know.
Suddenly, ANOTHER TRIPOD, perhaps coming to the aide of its

fallen comrade, emerges from the end of the street behind them
and walks forward. Staggers forward is more accurate, it's
barely able to stay on its feet. It SMASHES into the side of
another building, bouncing off and taking another unsteady step
forward.
VOICES rise up from around them, PEOPLE emerging from the mouths
of alleys, from buildings, from side streets — a tentative
trickle at first, but there are more SOLDIERS, separated from
their units but still fighting.
The Tripod takes another step forward, shakily, about to go down.

THREE SOLDIERS take shelter on the alley wall opposite Ray and
Rachel.
As Ray watches, a BIRD circles around the head of the Tripod,

then lands on it. Ray furrows his brow, thinking. How three more
birds land on top of the Tripod's head.
Ray thinks, there's something off about this, he's seen something
like it, he's trying to remember... and then his eyes light up.
He turns to the Soldiers and SHOUTS.
RAY (cont'd)
Look at the birds!
But just as he speaks, the Tripod emits one of those piercing

cries of "ULLAI" and Ray's line is inaudible, we can only read
his lips.
80LDIER
What?!
122.
165 CONTINUBD: (2) 165
RAY
(now audible again)
Look at the birds! Look at the God damn
birds!
The Soldiers all turn and look, but another "ULLA" blocks out
Ray's next line:
RAY (cont'd)
(blooked out by the ULLA)
No shield!
SOLDIER
What?!
Ray SHOUTS again, and this time his words burst through, and the
Soldier is able to hear and understand him:
RAY
NO SHIELD 111
The Soldier, who carries a shoulder-borne missile launcher,

quickly realizes what this means and —
SOLDIER
LOAD/
— another Soldier shoves a shell into the launcher. Ray whirls

and covers Rachel with his body as the shell ERUPTS out of the
tube and SLAMS into the side of the Tripod.
The resulting EXPLOSION is huge, and effective. The Tripod's

hull RIPS apart with a SHRIEK of torn metal. Rose-oolored fluid
showers everywhere, the thing belches llfeblood, and the Tripod
pitches forward, first to one knee, and then careening all the
way down, SMASHIHG into the middle of the street.
Suddenly there's a commotion, and the crowd of people around the
first Tripod, the one with the hatchway hanging open, leaps back
as one, but crowds around it.
Ray moves forward. There's movement coming from inside the head
of the crashed Tripod, something slithering down that hatchway.
It's the forelimb of one of the invaders, moving weakly, near

death, trying to drag the bulky body down into the street.
But it has no strength left, it's covered in sickly white spots
like the red weed. Ray studies it, realizing something.
RACHEL
What happened? Did they get sick?
123.
165 COHTXHUED: (3) 165
RAY
Yes they did.
RACBEL
What from?
RAY
Our germs. Maybe infection. Stuff
we're immune to, that our bodies fight
off every day.
The creeping forelimb stops, dead, still halfway in Its ship.
RAY (cont'd)
After everything we fought 'em with,
they died from the air we breathe and
the water we drink. All the things we
need to live... that's what killed them.
PEOPLE advance slowly toward the hood of the Tripod, incredulous

and hopeful, and now more humans emerge from their hiding places,
crowding the streets.
CUT TO:
166 OMITTED 166
167 EXT BOSTOH - BROWNSTONE BLOCK DAY 167
A neat row of townhouses In one of the oldest parts of Boston. Wa

settle on the front door of one particular honse, we move in
toward it, and just as we reach it, the front door is yanked open
and Mary Ann is standing there, the kids' mom, alive and well.
She looks right at us and her face breaks with emotion, her hands
go involuntarily to her mouth, she rushes forward into the street
and finds Ray at the base of the stairs, carrying Rachel the last
few yards to her mother.
Ray smiles, deeply satisfied but feeling so keenly the loss of

Robbie. But then a pair of scuffed boots appear on the floor
behind Mary Ann and Rachel and Ray follows them up, disbelieving,
and of course the person standing there behind them is —
RACHEL
ROBBIE!
It is Robbie, bruised and battered, but very much alive, standing

there in the doorway of his mother's house. Be runs down the
stairs, kind of falls forward, into the street, into his father's
arms.
124.
167 CONTINUED: 167
They hug each other, and Rachel hugs them both. Robbie finally
breaks down, the first time we've seen him crying, and in his
sobs we hear a word we haven't heard him say before:
ROBBIE
... Dad...
Robbie pulls away from his dad and goes to the doorway, drops to
his knees and holds his little sister and his mom. Ray watches,
incredulous, moved to tears, looking at his children.
Mary Ann looks up over the shoulders of Raohel and Robbie. Tears
stream from her eyes, she makes eye contact with Ray and mouths
two words — "Thank you."
Tim appears in the hallway behind them, and their grandmother

too, hurrying down the stairs at the sound of the voiees.
They all look at Ray, thanking him with their eyes, and beckoning
him inside. He walks up the steps, the door closes on all of
them, and an enormous CLANG —
168 EXT BOSTOH STREET DAZ 168
— echoes as a BELL peals in the tower of a church steeple. The

heavy iron clapper SWISHES through frame and CLANGS again off the
side of the bell.
The VOICE OVER from tho beginning returns as we start to rise op

the steeple of the church at the end of the block, shining gold in
the morning sun.
As we keep rising higher, it's only the second big, global view
of things we've seen In the movie — this time, the morning sun
burns through the clouds over the skyline of Boston. In the
distance, the forms of Tripods are visible dotting tho streets
everywhere. But none of them are moving. They're crashed, or
heeled over on their sides, stopped in their tracks.
Re keep rising up and up, over the neighborhood, and we see four
or five church steeples in this old part of Boston, all with
their bells TOLLING jubilantly, calling SURVIVORS baok into the
streets.
The branches of a tree come into frame, and as we move in among

the branches we zero in on a loaf, moving closer we see it's
covered with drops of water. The VOICE OVER from the beginning
comes back:
VOICE (0.6.)
From the moment the invaders arrived,
breathed our air, ate and drank, they
were doomed.
(MORE)
125.
168 CONTINUED: 168
VOICE (O.S.) (cont'd)
They were undone, destroyed after all of
humanity's weapons and devices had
failed, by the tiniest creatures that
God, in his wisdom, put upon this earth.
Re keep moving, toward one drop in particular, and within that

drop we see the wriggling outlines of the tiny mioro-organisms
that swarm and multiply within it.
VOICE (0.6.) (CONT'D)

By the toll of a billion deaths, we have
earned our immunity, our right to
survive among this planet's infinite
organisms ~
As we go closer and closer and closer still, the drop fills the
frame, and we see the tens of thousands of squirming bacteria
inside that drop of water, and we think about how truly
significant they really are.
VOICE (O.S.) (CONT'D)

— and that right is ours against all
challengers. For neither do wa live nor
die in vain.
FADE OUT.
APPENDIX A
In scene 13, a CNN HENS ANCHOR is at the desk at CNN headquarters
in Atlanta. A map of the Ukraine is in a box on screen, and a
graphic in a banner across the bottom of the screen says "Deadly
Lightning Storm in Ukraine."
HEWS ARCBOR
The Ukraine, a country of some fifty-two
million people, is in almost total
blackness tonight in the wake of a
series of freakish lightning storms of
catastrophic proportions which struck
the country at approximately 4 a.m.
local time. The Associated Press is
estimating two hundred dead in the
sweeping blackouts which have paralyzed
the country and cut off nearly all
communication with the outside world.
In the middle of the above report, the Bartender picks up the

remote and switches the TV over to ESPN, where a SPORTS ANCHOR is
reporting over footage of a BASEBALL PLAYER.
SPORTS ARCBOR
As usual, George Steinbrenner wasted no
time getting out his checkbook this off-
season, signing free agent right fielder
Marcus Williams to a reported three
year, fifty-eight million dollar
contract yesterday in Milwaukee.
Williams, who is thirty-eight, batted
.262 with the Brewers last year,
pounding out 31 home runs and 85 RBls.
CONTINUED:
APPENDIX AA
Suggested dialogue for BYSTANDERS at the five-corner
intersection, before the ground starts to rumble:
LOCAL GUY
Hever Been anything like it! It was
like a, like a, lightning squall or
Bornething.
LOCAL ROMAN
I was standing right over there, I'd
just come out of the store, and it
struck right in front of me, I couldn't
have been more than twenty feet away
from it.
LOCAL WOMAN 2
You're lucky you're alive! You could
have been killed!
LOCAL WOMAN
Over and over and over, it just kept
striking and striking and striking.
UNIFORMED COP
You could smell it, is the weird thing,
this smell in the air, just hanging
there, like burnt toast or something.
FIREMAN
This whole block should be on fire, is
the amazing thing, nothing caught, I've
never seen anything like it.
CONCERNED MOTHER
I went over to the school, there were a
few other parents there, but they sent
us away, I don't know, do you think we
should get the kids? Maybe we should
pick up the kids.
MAN WITH KID

Don't get too close! Kevin, I said not
too close, c'mon, get away from there.
HIGH SCHOOL KID

Check this! You gotta see this, get up
here, look at this!
CONTINUED: (2)
FRAZZLED MAN
-and then the car went dead, just like
that, but it kept rolling I couldn't
stop, I was rolling right straight
toward it, it just kept flashing in
front of me, over and over and over, I
thought I was going to roll straight
into it I
WIDE-EYED WOMAN
I was completely blinded I Couldn't see
a thing, my eyes were burning, I thought
I'd been hit, I did, I thought I'd been
struck by lightning!
And then, as the RUMBLING begins and the ground starts shaking:
JULIO
Hey, you feel that? What is that, the
subway?
RAY
Subway doesn't run under here.
JULIO
PATH train, maybe?
RAY
Not this far west.
CONTINUED: (3)
APPENDIX B
Some suggested dialogue for a few members of the Crowd in Scene

30, when the windows start to crack:
DELI OWNER
The windows are breaking, get away from
the windows!
POLICEMAN
Lady, get the hell away from there,
watch out for the glass!
BEAUTY SALON LADY
It's an earthquake! Get Into a doorway,
it's the only safe placet
POLICEMAN
What the hell is the matter with you,
the glass is breaking all over the God
damn place, I said get away from there!
DOG OWNER
Arbus?! Arbus, get baok here! ARBUSI
PANICKY WOMAN
Oh my God, what is happening, God no, no
no, no please, what in the name of Jesus
is happening?)
DELI WORKER
Get some plywood, as quick as you can!
Board up everything before it explodes!
SECOND POLICEMAN
I got no radio! Dead air on everything!
Send Lopez back to the station, we need
a dozen patrol cars out here RIGHT BOW!
POLICEMAN
Clear the area! PeopleI People,
please, we need you to clear the area
RIGHT NOR!
CONCERNED MOTHER
Ernesto! Get your brother and pull him
away from there, get him out of there,
GET HIM OUT OF THERE!
CONTINUED: (4)
APPENDIX C
Some suggested dialogue for the crowd in Scene 77, when Ray is
confronting the people who are stealing the car, while Rachel is
still In it.
REASONABLE WOMAN
Stop it, stop it, both of you for God's
sake, stop what you're doing!
AGGRESSIVE GUY
Get the gunI Somebody get the gun! Grab
him I
CONSERVATIVE GUY
Get away from the gun! Don't touch him,
move away from the guns!
UNARMED POLICEMAN
Put 'em down, both of you, before
somebody gets killed here!
COHSPIRACZ GUY
This doesn't have to happen like this!
Listen to me, please, both of you, just
lower the guns and we can work this out!
JUDGMENTAL GUY
You're crazy, you're both crazy, you're
killing each other, that's exactly what
they wantl
NEARBY PARENT
Get away from them, Tommy, get behind
me! Move, move, MOVE!
LAW fc ORDER GUY

Where's a cop?! Somebody call a cop!
CONTINUED: (5)
APPENDIX D
Suggested dialogue for Ray in Scene 106, when he and Robbie are
struggling on the ground near the hilltop and Ray is shouting
into Robbie's ear:
RAY
Don't do it, I am begging you, I'm
telling you, do not do this. I know you
want to fight, I know it seems like you
have to, but you don't, this is your
life, the only life you get, and it's
gonna be over, you will die, do you
understand mo, if you go over that
hilltop you are going to be killed. I'm
not gonna let you, you can hate me as
much as you want, but X love you and I'm
not gonna let you do it, Robbie, I love
you, listen to me, I know what I'm
saying! Don't go! Don't go! DO NOT GO!

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WAR OF THE WORLDS

based on the novel by

October 19, 2004

rev. 10-25-04 (blue)

team before us. They're densely packed, thousands, maybe

BZT TROPICAL RAXNPORBST DAY 2

~ the leaf is one of a thousand on a treetop, and the tree one of

Re tilt down to the surface of the planet below it. A frosen,

As for growth, there's only one type of vegetation tough enough

EXT A MOUNTAINSIDE DAY 4

EXT SIXTH AVENUE DAY 6

One of those long-lens shots looking down Sixth Avenue in

BXT RED BOOK DOCKS NIGHT 7

-- a dazzling starfiold, somewhere in outer space.

No pan toward one star in particular, a brilliant, hot white

VOICE (O.S.) (CONT'D)

8 INT CRANE CAB NIGHT 8

RAY PBRRIBR, the crane operator, is in good shape but pushing

9 EXT DOCK NIGHT 9

A SIREN blows in the distance, loud. Shift's over.

10 INT CAB NIGHT 10

As it CLUNKS into place, he stretches out his back — long shift

He keeps walking. The Hatch Boss calls after him.

12 EXT ANCHOR INN DAWN 12

13 INT ANCHOR INN DANE 13

Ray stands in front of it, working the flippers. Be manages to

The flippers go dead and the ball rolls through.

Deadly Lightning Storm in Ukraine

A DOCXHORKER next to him shakes his head and gestures to Ray.

Remembering something, he bolts out of there.

14 EXT RAY'S STREET - XRONBOUBD DAY 14

Tin just smiles, refusing to take the bait. He stakes out a

Ray's looking past Tim, to the car. ROBBIE FERRIBR, sixteen,

Ha walks toward the house as to a gallows, iPod earphones shoved

Ray looks down. RACHEL, ten years old going on thirty, is

15 INT RAY'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM DAY 15

It's not too clean. Or large. Or happy, for that matter.

Rachel sits on the edge of the sofa. Robbie is nowhere to be

But she's gone, headed up. He sighs and follows her.

ISA INT KIDS' BEDROOM DAY 15A

Mary Ann stands in the middle of the room, sizing it up as Ray

MARY ANN (cont'd)

15B INT LXVIHG ROOM DAY 15B

Mary Ann comes down the stairs, followed by Ray.

MARY ANN (cont'd)

She turns in the doorway and forces a smile.

plays on a television screen, over another legend:

rroak Lightning, Earthquake Striko Osaka

17 INT KIDS' BEDROOM DAY 17

18 EXT RAY'S HOUSE - BACK YARD DAY 18

Ray throws it back. SMACKI That one was harder.

He throws it baok, again too short, so Ray has to reach for it at

Rachel chimes in, this is a familiar routine.

19 INT RAY'8 BEDROOM DAY 19

He fucked that all up miserably, and he knows it. He puts the

20 IBT RAY'8 - LIVING ROOM DAY 20

Later in the day, around three. Rachel's on the couch in the

She hangs it up and drops it on the coffee table with a CLATTER

Ray goes into the kitchen, starts making coffee.