Part 8

INT. AN UNDERGROUND DOCK

A ferry is carrying battered trucks and grim, tired looking workers. There are heavily armed soldiers on raised walkways around the ferry. Through a side door above the dock, Dan enters wearing a military uniform (including balaclava and breathing apparatus) and carrying a sub-machine gun

CORPORAL

Fuck you been?

Dan sees a group of soldiers standing nearby looking at him and he goes over. They are wearing similar uniforms, checking their weapons and are smoking.

TRADESMAN (O.S)

Remember what I told you. You are Jones, Private First Class. No one will suspect you so just act natural, like a soldier. 

CORPORAL

Heavy night was it you cunt?

DAN

Fuck off! (voice distorted by mask)

The soldiers roar with laughter but this quickly dies as a burly SERGEANT with a bushy brown moustache appears.

SERGEANT

Come on lads, look lively! On the fuckin’ boat!

TRADESMAN (O.S)

Do as they say, do as they do. You are one of them.

DAN

What about the virus?

TRADESMAN (O.S)

You're stabilized for now. Dan follows the soldiers up the gangway into the hold of the ferry.

INT. FERRY

The narrow corridors are filled with soldiers smoking, playing cards, passing round pictures of women. Looking in one of the rooms as they pass, He sees an older soldier demonstrating choke holds on a young rookie whilst the assembled soldiers watch. As Dan follows his squad through the maze-like hold, they come to a junction and turn right. Glancing left, he sees an attractive young woman, conservatively dressed in winter clothing, coming out of the toilet. As his squad walks away up the corridor, they pass two huge drunken commandos, Dan turns to see them approach the woman and trap her in the corner. One takes out a hip-flask.

COMMANDO

You want a drink darlin?

She recoils at his spit and alcohol soaked breath. The soldier ahead grabs Dan by the arm.

SOLDIER

Leave it mate, those guys are psycho cunts, more trouble than its worth

They walk briskly away to catch up with their comrades, Dan looking behind him at the leering commandos. The squad walks up a rusty damp, metal spiral staircase. They emerge through a heavy metal fire door, turning right onto a secure wide metal walkway.

EXT. DUSK. FERRY DECK

The sun is setting orange and purple into the pollution on the horizon, next to the fading silhouette of the massive factory complex, still buzzing with activity. The Sergeant halts his men on the walkway, next to two large mini-gun emplacements.

SERGEANT

Corporal, take Melsy, Jones and Wheeler and man the aft port guns.

The Corporal, short, squat and ugly with a broken nose snaps to attention .

CORPORAL

Sir.

He turns to MELSY (black and bald), WHEELER (6ft6 wth fair hair) and Dan.

CORPORAL

You heard the man, move out, on the double!

The men move off down the walkway as the other soldiers begin loading boxes of ammunition into the guns. The ferry sails out of the dock into open water. The Corporal is peering down the sight of a mini-gun.

DAN

'Aft port guns locked and loaded sir'

Dan is standing to attention.

Corporal

Fine Jones, back to your post

As Dan walks back to his mini-gun, he looks down into the civilian hold. There are 50 soldiers milling about amongst 5 army trucks and 1000 workers crammed into an area the size of a football pitch. People are dirty and tired, one woman is violently COUGHING, the CRIES of children hang in the air, men and women are sleeping against each other standing up, arguments degenerate into fist fights that the soldiers LAUGH at and bet on. Desperately ill emaciated families huddle together. Melsy approaches Dan.

MELSY

Jones mate, wondered where you got to.

Dan doesn't respond, just stares wide-eyed at the scene.

MELSY

Admiring the zoo are we? Haha. Don't worry,

they can't bite us up here

He pats the Cleric on the shoulder.

MELSY

Come on, we've got number 3 gun.

They walk back to the emplacement.

A siren SCREECHES out. Dan looks out at the horizon and sees a vast amada of gunboats and speed boats tearing towards them.

INT. BRIDGE

The CAPTAIN (sixty, portly and white bearded) seizes the tannoy.

CAPTAIN 

Battlestations men! To your posts!

EXT. DECK

The workers nervously look up at the soldiers running along the walkways with boxes of ammunition and automatic weapons. Two man teams start the mini-guns WIRRING.

Dan gets on his mini gun seat tense and breathing heavily, he is hot and clammy, he clutches his head. Wheeler runs up with an RPG.

WHEELER

Jesus Christ! I've never seen so many fuckin yardies before!

INT. BRIDGE

The lank, sweaty FIRST MATE runs in panicking.

FIRST MATE

Captain! Another fleet coming in on the starboard side. We're being surrounded!

The Captain shouts into the tannoy.

CAPTAIN

Fire at will! Repeat! Fire at will!

EXT. FERRY/OPEN OCEAN

The sky ROARS as a barrage of miniguns open up on the two approaching fleets, thousands of tracers WHIZZ across the water. A sniper FIRES his rifle from an observation tower on the ferry. A bearded Yardie has his brains BLOWN out all over his crew. An RPG slam into the side of a pirate frigate. Shrapnel SHREDS the legs of two Yardie's fleeing the explosion. Blood streams down the side of the frigate, further darkening the choppy waters.

A mortar round EXPLODES in the hold blowing several men and women to pieces. Dan takes a deep breath and squeezes the triggers, focusing his sights on the mortar ship and FIRES. The bullets PUNCTURE the target's hull, tearing yardies and scrap metal apart like confetti. The two fleets converge as they fully surround the ferry, the flame boats open up, SPITTING napalm up one side of the ferry, engulfing several soldiers who hurtle SCREAMING into the water. The miniguns train on the flame boats. One by one they are ripped apart and EXPLODE as their fuel tanks are hit. Petrol bombs are thrown into the ferry by yardies in speedboats, a soldier is hit with one and falls into the hold SCREAMING. The workers scatter and some watch as he burns in front of them. Dan trains his gun on a fast-moving speedboat. A yardie lights a petrol bomb. Before he can throw, a sniper SHOOTS the bomb, covering men and boat in flame. The boat ploughs into the side of a gun ship pounding the side of the ferry with heavy shells. There is a CRACKLE as the gunship ammunition catches and both boats are ripped apart in a violent EXPLOSION, sending a shockwave across the waves. The ferry handrails vibrate, an orange mushroom cloud fills the sky. CHEERS AND CRIES go up from the soldiers and civilians. The symphony of GUNFIRE becomes increasingly intermittent, indicating a lull in the carnage. Calls for MEDICS and AMMO RING OUT. Some pirates are retreating towards the horizon. Out of the smoke comes a large yardie destroyer bearing a single formidable cannon. The huge one-eyed PIRATE CAPTAIN is wearing a necklace of ears below his thick greasy dreadlocks

PIRATE CAPTAIN

Light 'em up rudeboy!

The cannon FIRES. A minigun turret on the ferry explodes and collapses into the hold. Blood and wreckage rain down as the workers trample each other attempting to flee, an old woman is crushed by a fallen girder.

INT. BRIDGE

Sailors are rushing from post to post trying to perform their duties as well as look after the injured and dying. The Captain grabs the wheel tightly.

CAPTAIN

Evasive action! Prepare to change course on my mark!

EXT. FERRY/OPEN OCEAN

The pirate captain admires the mayhem as he flashes a mouth full of gold teeth, taking a large toke. He exhales with satisfaction.

PIRATE CAPTAIN

Fire again mon!

The cannon FIRES. The ferry is turning away from the destroyer. The shell falls short, SPRAYING water high up the port side. An RPG round from the ferry EXPLODES off the destroyers thick armour, leaving it dented and blackened but in tact.

Dan is looking down his sight at the destroyer.

TRADESMAN (O.S)

Focus. The shell is being loaded into the cannon.

EXT. Destroyer

Two muscular sweating Yardies are loading the enormous shell into the cannon. The loading chamber door is closed.

TRADESMAN (O.S)

Picture it's insides, the circuits, the metal, the fuses. Bring them together, make them one entity.

INT. SHELL

The components are squeezing together in the centre.

EXT. Destroyer

PIRATE CAPTAIN

Fire!

EXT. DECK

Dans' eyes roll back in his head.

TRADESMAN (O.S)

Now.

The cannon swells in the middle, then the whole front half of the destroyers bow is BLOWN hundreds of feet into the air, sending thick scrap metal and pieces of meat raining down into the burning oil slicked water. CHEERS go up from all over the ferry. Extinguishers are being used by the crew to put out the fires in the hold. Medics slip on the bloody walkways as they run to tend the wounded. Soldiers are lighting cigarettes. Dan slumps back in his seat, exhausted. In the hold a tired yet relieved worker takes a gulp from his hip flask, he winces before passing it to an elderly lady. He looks down and sees a 12 year old boy smoking a cigarette. The child is in awe of the flames rising slowly into the evening sky, reflected in his eyes.