Left One Alive (2024)

[bunniefuu]

Boom! Crack! I went outside and that damn

oak tree split my my damn roof like a damn

butcher knife at a f*cking birthday cake. Big

old branch right through the bedroom. sh*t, if

I had left five minutes later...

Damn.

See, the roof'sa total write-off.

I figured it was, you know,

cheaper to break my lease, eat the fee and move

down the street. So I get settled it in, right, and

I'm thinking I had a one in a million... a one

in a million... encounter with a 100-year-old

oak falling at exactly the right angle at

exactly the wrong time. I think to myself, well

sh*t, that's unlucky, but then I think, sh*t

man, you survived it by the skin of your teeth.

Lucky. Now here's the kicker... and you ain't going

to believe this sh*t. I'm sitting in my new kitchen

unpacking the last box from my move and it's

pouring rain outside... the wind is just howling.

And I hear this sound a sound I know pretty

damn well at this point: The sound of a very

big tree taking a very, very short trip.

No way.

Yesway. Boom! Crack!

The second tree through my

second roof in the span of like-like-like two weeks.

Now now, if this sh*t would have happened a week

earlier, I could say God was looking out for me.

But now I know for a fact God he hates my black...

Look out!

What you want to do?

Help her, I guess.

What the f*ck. Take out your phone.

It's out.

Record everything... and I mean everything.

Yeah.

Ma'am. Uh, are you hurt?

Look, uh, we just want to help you

out, but you got to... you got to talk

to us now, okay? What's going on? How

about we put the spear down, and the head.

Come on, lady, help me help you, okay?

I really want to...

She's in shock.

What?

She's in shock. She's

not going to hurt you.

Not going to hurt me? That's easy for

you to say. She's a white woman, I'm a black

man in the middle of bum f*ck, USA. Look,

if you want to help her, you approach

her... I'm not...

Christ, Till.

f*cking doing it.

My name's Hannah. I'm

going to help you, okay?

There. There.

Call the cops.

No f*cking way. They're just as

liable to sh**t us as to help us, and

besides, whoever's blood

that is still might be out here.

[Distant howling]

You hear that?

Mhm.

We need to go. Come on.

Sweetheart, what's your name?

S-S-Sara.

Sara, Sara, honey, we got to go.

[Whistling]

Google! Directions to Memorial

Hospital. Fastest f*cking route!

Miss Bite! Miss Bite! Sam!

Which room is hers?

Wait.

They said she'sstable, but...

Sam, wait, listen to me.

It's Sara. Our Sara.

I know. She's okay, she's safe. But this

is a police matter now. Barreling in like

some pissed-off mama bear is only going

to make things worse.

What... what happened to her?

We don't know. She can't remember.

Did someone hurt her?

She can't remember.

What about her friends? She went camping with

her f*cking dodge ball team of all people.

We know. We're looking. Do

you want to go see her now?

Yes.

All right. Hold her hand. Tell her that

you love her and just be there for her. Leave the who,

what, why to us, okay? We'll find those dodgeballers.

Sarah.

Sam.

It's me. I'm here. And

everything's going to be alright.

What is that?

f*ck if I know. Raccoon?

Maybe some kind of marmot?

What the Hell is a marmot?

Look, these woods go on for miles and there's

about a thousand dead and decaying animals

out here distracting the dogs. We have

got to narrow the zone.

Cancel dogs.

[Arguing]

[Distant howling]

You need me?

They said they'd handle it, let

them handle it.

My friends are out there.

Someone get this brave woman her clothes.

Wait. You've got g*ns.

Of course.

Bigger g*ns.

You packing?

What happened out in those woods,

sis?

Something attacked us.

Something? Not someone?

You okay to do?

My friends are out there. We

can't leave them out there all alone.

Are they... dead?

Yeah. Am I in trouble?

Not if I can help it.

Drift right.

A little more.

Sara...

Is this it? This is it. On me!

[Whistling]

Dear Jesus.

Call them. Call them all. States, feds...

everyone. Call them now and tell them to hurry.

Sara?

f*ck me, what's that?

I don't know.

What happened to it?

I happened.

They're calling you a person of interest.

She didn't do anything.

It was monsters.

Be that as it may...

It was monsters.

Legally, monsters don't exist.

Legally, I k*lled one.

As I understand it, the police are

still analyzing the, um, animal's remains.

Monster.

What does this all mean?

Forgive me,

I'm sorry for your loss, Miss Bite, I truly

am, but if the state charges you, it will

be because right right now only kids and

crazies believe in monsters. You, the insane

dodgeballer, it's a much easier sell. You got

allies in the sheriff's department? Cooperate,

and do whatever it takes to convince a bunch

of people who are barely paying attention that

monsters are real... and that they ate your friends.

Shot of whiskey?

Please?

Double shot?

Drinking alcohol with anxiety medication can worsen side effects

such as extreme sleepiness, slow breathing and trouble concentrating.

Bottoms up.

Get undressed, brush your teeth, go to bed.

So what's on the to-do list tonight?

Bills.

I'm sorry, Sam.

f*ck you.

I am. I'm sorry and I owe you.

When I'm the sole survivor of a monster

m*ssacre, you can repay me. Now go to bed.

Scared to.

The nightmares are just your brain working things

out. Let it work. In the real world, you're safe.

In the real world, you're safe.

Safe.

[Chatter]

[Screaming]

[Screaming]

[Screaming]

[Monster chatter]

[Screaming]

What?

I'm, uh, a Carlos Silva with 'Free

Times.' I was hoping to speak with...

This is all off the record.

Yeah, okay.

Do you know who I am?

Yes.

Do you know thelaw in this state?

I uh yes.

If I ask you to leave my property, and you don't

I can sh**t you. It's called stand your ground.

I know. You telling me to leave?

Do you believe in monsters?

I don't know. Whatdo you mean by monsters?

We'renot being clever, 'Free Times.'

No?

It doesn't matter, you know. I've

interviewed plenty of people I

was 100-percent convinced were full of sh*t.

I still quoted them accurately. I found

out the truth and I wrote it, even when

it f*cked my priors.

Did you believe in monsters before yesterday, Sam? Hell,

do you believe in them now? Talk to me. Convince me.

I don't understand.

Which part?

You're saying that five-foot-tall

man-eaters m*rder*d your friends.

Yes.

What were they?

I don't know.

Whydid they attack you?

I don't know.

Were they intelligent?

Could you draw one?

Sara...

It's fine.

Can you prove this?

Is my word not enough?

No, it's not.

There's a head... and a body.

f*ck, Lane.

We've sent the animal remains

away for analysis.

Where to?

She walked out of those

woods covered in blood, Carlos.

Yeah, butwhose?

Everyone's. All of our friends,

herself, at least one animal.

'Monster.' That's the word sheused.

She's a person of interest.

Have you met Sara Bite?

We've known each other for a long

time, Lane, seen the same horrible sh*t,

made sense of most of it, right?

Most of it.

So when a girl covered in blood limps from

the woods with a weird head in her hand and

says it was monsters, why don't we believe her?

We've both met monsters.

Looked them right in their beady

eyes. We should know him when we see them.

Hey, so, the address you put

in is like in the middle ofnowhere.

I know. I can pay extra.

That's not necessary. Have we met?

Doubt it.

Got a music preference?

No. Actually, yeah.

Something loud... angry.

f*cking A.

What the...

What is it?

Primate of some sort.

Like a monkey?

Like a human.

That isnot human.

No, I said like a human.

The girl, the survivor,

I need to talk to her.

She's a person of interest.

No. She is the person

that discovered a brand

new living human relative.

This is the greatest

scientific breakthrough since...

What's her name?

Sara.

Sara.

Sara means 'princess.'

And Latin for 'princess' is...

Lady and gentlemen,

please meet h*m* Princeps.

Are they mean?

Are people mean?

Professor...

Abidi.

Professor Abidi.

You think there are more of them?

Oh, most certainly.

Minimum viable population

for a primate species...

Dozens? Hundreds? How they've gone undiscovered for

this long is beyond me. But yes, there's more of them.

[Phone ringing]

She's going to be famous.

We're all going to be famous.

Sam?

Hey, it's your dime and all, but

this is, uh, starting to feel weird.

Five more minutes.

Five more minutes.

What's your name?

Shawn.

Can I ask youa question?

Sure.

Do you think you're special?

I can hold my breath a really long time.

My nephew thinks I'm hilarious. So yeah.

I don't. I've always

known I was average, regular.

Well, we're all just people. We eat and sh*t

and live and die, billions at a time. I guess we

tell ourselves we're special

so it's not all so scary.

I never did.

Ironically, that makes you pretty special.

At least that's what my mom

told me right before she died.

Never stop seeingthings for what they are.

You recognizeme now, don't you?

Saw you on the news. Sara, is it?

Bite. Mhm. Only one left alive.

This is... this is the place?

Yeah.

Why are we here, Sara Bite?

I don't remember much. I

thought it might come back to me.

Did it?

You know what doesn't make sense?

No.

My friends were strong, brave. Maybe none of us

is special, not really, but to me they sure were.

They must have fought.

Like demons they must havefought.

Fought who, Sara?

The monsters, Shawn?

Oh.

It just doesn't make any

sense. Why me, Shawn?

I don't know. Some

things are random, I guess.

Random. A thing like that. Some

Universe we've got here, huh Shawn.

Young lady, your

sister's in a panic. She said she

told you to stay put.

You're going toarrest me?

I ought to.

I'll take her from here.

Not to spoil the surprise,

but they named it.

Named what?

Your monster.

You believe in monsters now?

Sara, I never not believed in them.

Good, so I'm off the hook, then.

Our hook, probably.

But I have a feeling we're the least of your

worries. Duck down, we're going to go around back.

f*cking b*tch.

Sam, it's okay, she's okay. Take abreath.

You went back? I told you you can't

go back. There could be more of them.

It's not like I killedall of them.

Miss Bite, my name is HassanAbidi.

I'm a biologist at the University

Nice to meet you, professor.

You want in on this?

Sure. You discovered a

new species, Miss Bite.

We're calling it 'h*m* Princeps.'

Means 'princess.' Means 'Sara.'

You named it for me?

I... I didn't think you'd mind, um...

No, it's fine.

I have so many questions for you.

Did they vocalize at all? Did you see

any any evidence of tool usage, maybe?

Drink first, talk later.

Okay, yeah, okay.

I, uh, I have a question, too.

Um, do you ladies have an agent?

They're just reporters. I

figured I'd handle them myself.

The reporters aren't the problem.

I said no comment. f*cking goblins.

Sir.

The state, the feds, the f*cking National Guard are going to take a

while to mobilize. Until then, we need a cordon around those woods.

Sir, that's like 10,000 acres.

Main roads in and out, then. I'm not losing any

more kids to those h*m* princesses or whatever.

Go for chief.

Sir.

Okay. I'm just drunk

enough to handle the media.

I'll do it.

Uh, what?

I can do it.

[Reporters shouting]

Hi. My name is Sara Bite.

I mean, think about it. We didn't discover gorillas

until like 1847. Pandas, what, 20 years later?

Hell, until a couple years ago we only

thought there was one species of giraffe.

How many are there?

Six. Point is the world's just a lot bigger than

we think it is. Same with the solar system, galaxy.

Hell, there's a billion

billion planets out there.

That many?

Yes, that many. There's just so much space, so much life,

you know. So much stuff. If you could imagine that it exists,

it probably exists. I

mean, it's basic math.

Yeah, butmonsters?

Yes, monsters. I mean, why not...

Look out!

Oh sh*t!

Cut!

We going again?

Yeah, reset. sh*t, hold on. Tara?

Solomon, a question.

sh**t.

Does she see the car?

Yeah.

So why does she stand there?

You guys are going to cut it

so she almost gets hit, right?

Correct.

So why wouldn't she move out of the way?

She's been through Hell and back, right. An

automotive near miss is like, um, like a buzzing

fly, right. It can't hurt her.

Two tons of metal...

it can't hurt her? Nah.

Nah?

It feels fake.

It's a movie.

It's day one. It's the first scene on the

schedule, last scene of the script. We go

backwards from here.

You've got to get it right.

Sowhat are you saying?

I need a day.

You can't have a day.

Are you Sam Bite? I'm Tara.

I know who you are.

I'm looking for your sister.

She's got her own place now. Paid cash for

it, thanks to you.

I had very little to do with it.

Sarah's on a date if

you need to talk to her.

Oh, I don't want tointerrupt.

Trust me, you're not.

Your sister said you'd be

here. Said you wouldn't mind.

You guys paid me a million dollars. Comes

with privileges, I guess.

I need help being you.

You don't want to be me.

Yes, I do.

Guy walked out on me.

Third time in a month.

Do you care?

The guy's not the point.

The guy is a test.

Of what?

Species compati... compatibility.

Don't say it doesn't matter. Don't say it's

not important. What people think of me.

I know it matters. We're ants.

Prairie dogs. Chimps in troops. It matters.

I'm really sorry for what

happened to you, Sara.

f*ck you.

f*ck you! We're in this together now.

[Laughing]

Did I mention f*ck yourself?

I'm going to make you

famous. I want to do it right.

My friends screamed as

they died. Begged, cried

to their mommies. Told the moon, I guess,

to tell their baby sisters they loved them.

They didn't know I could hear

them. They didn't know that I was

still alive. They didn't know

that they were crying out to me.

I discovered monsters, Tara, fought them to

their death. The world I live in has a population

of exactly one.

Two.

You haven't earned my pain. And there's

nothing you could give me that would

mean more than that

million dollars. Go away.

No.

I'll hit you.

Excuse me.

I said I'll f*cking hit you.

No you won't. I'm... me.

Well, you know what? You know what?

Go ahead and hit me, you narcissistic cu...

The Hell am I supposed

to do with this shiner?

Use it. I had worse on the day.

You heard the girl. Use it.

Bit of a delay. Hour or so.

You want to see him?

Mind if I smoke?

Actually...

Let her smoke.

She's off.

She?

No d*ck.

They have dicks?

Of course they have

dicks. And she's too big.

With all due respect,

Miss Bite, we're not making

a nature documentary here.

What are you making?

A horror movie.

Right. Right.

[Monsters howling]

[g*nf*re]

g*n's legal-ish. The open container isn't.

The Department of Interior got a nexus

on these woods. Endangered Species Act.

Federal enforcement.

You see me heading toward those woods?

I see you getting closer, drunker,

more heavily armed every month or so.

Sara, you've already k*lled most of them.

Not most, just some. They're underground.

There's 50 biologists

looking for them twice a week.

They won't find them.

You could help.

My help wouldn't help. Not

unless the feds want bodies.

I hate them, Colleen.

They just keep taking and taking.

Now they're in my head.

They're just animals.

No, they're not.

You have any friends, Sara?

Besides your sister and me.

Yeah. One.

Call her. Him. Leave the car, that bottle

and your g*n here with me and the tubbies.

Her. Tubbies?

Yeah that's what the feds are calling

them now. After that old kids' show.

Tubbies.

So we're re-sh**ting the final scene the other

day, right? Sara stumbling out of the woods.

Powerful stuff, powerful powerful stuff, right?

Got good notes. And it occurs to me that... what

occurs to us... that this isn't the end.

This, this can't, it can't be the end, right?

Okay, what's your point?

[Snorting]

We want a fourth act.

Most movies have three.

But not ours.

You guys already bought

my life rights... adapt away.

Here's the thing, here's the thing. We're

going to need to write some sh*t. Some new

sh*t. We just want your

blessing... for legal purposes, right?

You guys are giving me an ending?

A different one, yeah.

What kind of ending?

Good?

Mhm.

You only got one more

of these left this month. I got limits.

Fine.

I think my girlfriend's spying

on me to her director.

Who, Tara? She's your girlfriend?

Something like that.

But she's like you, Sara.

I mean like a copy of you.

Also, you're g*y?

Hm... I guess I am.

My friends screamed as they died. Begged, cried

for their mommies, told the moon, I guess,

to tell their baby sisters they love them.

They didn't know I was still alive. They didn't

know I could hear them. They didn't know they were

screaming to me. I discovered monsters, fought

them you to your deaths. Well, some of you... the

rest of you... think I'm yours now, your scraps.

Well, I'm not. I'm worse. You know what you did

to my friends. You know what you're doing to me?

You! You haven't earned my pain.

Oh this is good coverage right here. Are you

seeing this, Sara? This is good coverage. Yes!

[g*nshots]

Ah, you can't buy that kind of coverage.

[Wretching]

You look like a hillbilly psycho.

You've been ignoring my texts.

I've been ignoring everyone's texts.

Where's Tara?

Don't know. Dumped her.

She's famous.

So?

You got anything to drink?

Actually no, haven't

been shopping in a while.

So you've been sitting here,

heavily armed, recently single, ignoring

everyone... and you've been doing it sober.

Jesus, now I know the world's ending.

Not ending. Changing.

First monsters. Who knows what's next?

[Arabic cursing] Who let you in?

Doorwas open.

Of course. So what can I do for you?

I read your book on the tubbies.

Tubbies. Well,what did you think?

I liked it. One thing, though.

You wrote that maybe they talk.

And?

Theydon't talk, they whistle.

Of course.

Why of course?

Come on, let me show you.

Sowe imaged the structure in its larynx.

Her.

Yes, yes, her. See, it didn't make sense

before but it makes sense now. The structure...

It's a whistle.

It's a whistle. I interviewed you for hours,

Sara. Why didn't you mention this before?

Forgot.

Well, something for

the second edition, then.

You won't feel a thing.

Who do you know who'd want to desecrate a

biological sample?

Oh you know exactly who.

Yeah. Yeah.

[Knocking]

Come in.

[Knocking]

Come in!

Colleen.

Sara.

Have a seat.

No thanks.

Look, we're friends.

I hope so.

But I'm a cop first. You know

that, right?

I know.

I know what you did, Sara.

What did I do?

You know, and I can't prove it

so it's not like I can arrest you or

anything. Look, I don't care about the

the body part you hacked out of the tubby. What

I care about is what you're going to do next.

What am I going to do? Work out your feelings, I'm

sure. Look, they're a protected species now, Sara.

I know. I was at the hearing

You can't hurtthem. No one can.

I know.

But you don't care, do you?

Not about something as silly as the law. Not when

you went through everything you went through.

Look, you're a clever girl, Sara, but you're

not cleverer than the sheriff's department.

The Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife.

Look, there's just two roads that lead out to

that forest. Six trail heads that any sane person

would use, and we're going to sit on every one

of them until you move on to your next bad

idea.

You sure you don't want to have a seat?

See you out there.

One for 'Endangered.'

I don't know what they think. What

they feel. Are they capable of

fear? Are they capable of fearing me?

What do you say we find out?

[Laughing]

Ma'am.

Are you seeing this sh*t?

Yeah, I've seen it.

You're being disruptive.

I'm doing everyone here a favor.

Ma'am.

You said you've seen the movie?

Yeah.

What did you think of the ending?

Hot girl gives a speech, kills a

bunch of monsters... what's not to like?

She remind you of anybody?

No.

Oh, it's you.

Wait.

What do you want, Sara?

I just have to know something.

What?

I know you hate me, and I know why.

They left one alive and it was...

It was me.

But I guess I just have to know something.

Is there any way

that you could forgive me... for surviving?

Forgiving you.

Would that bring my boy back?

No.

Then what's the point?

That's what I thought.

No f*cking way.

Please. Please, guys.

Till.

We could get in a lot of

trouble, Sara. We can get hurt.

I know.

Do you?

Do you understand the

risk we took even stopping for your a*s?

Do you understand how our life has sucked ever

since? I mean did you see that dumb-a*s movie.

Yeah. God. They made you white.

They made us white.

Theymade us white.

Look... we want the best for you.

We hope you find peace, all that magical jolly

sh*t. But we ain't taking you back there.

You owe me.

Bullshit, we do, Sara. You would have been

dead if we didn't stop for you.

Exactly. You're the reason why I'm

still alive. You're the reason I'm famous.

The reason why I have too much money

and too many g*ns and

a sister who's sick of me.

You're the reason why I'm all alone and in this world

that just keeps getting bigger and weirder and scarier.

You should have let me die.

No.

I would've been better off.

No! You wouldn't have. You're alive

and that means you got a f*cking chance.

You don't like your life? Change it. Grow.

Become someone else. I mean, people do it

every f*cking day.

Okay. Help me.

I got a question. Why us?

Because no one

else will. And because no one else

deserves what I'm offering in exchange.

And what's that?

Half of everything I've got left.

We're not for sale.

I'm just trying to give this sh*t away. Please

help me. Please just save me one last time.

Hey sis.

Jesus, Sara. Knock like a

normal person.

Not normal. Not for a longtime now.

I guess you're hungry.

Not really.

I just... I came to say bye.

Bye? You going somewhere?

Yeah.

You're scaringme.

That's probably healthy.

Where are you going?

No. Absolutely not.

I didn'tcome here to argue with you.

What you did for me, it's proof

that God is real... and She loves us.

I'm leaving you a little something.

It's not much.

I love you.

No! Sara! Where's my phone? You walk

out that door and I'm calling the cops.

Sara!

f*ck.

Till.

Stupid stupidstupid stupid. Just sitting

there like a f*cking jackass

on his f*cking mugshot.

Your sister, she recognized me.

You're going to be fine.

Not if you break the law, I'm not.

I'm an accessory.

You're not coming back, areyou?

What clued you in?

Look, we're not going anywhere

until you tell us what you're planning.

I don't know, Till.

How don't you know?

I said I don't f*cking know!

Hey, he's not your enemy!

Part of me wants to hunt them down

and finish the job. Extinct the species.

Part of me wants them to hunt me down and

finish the job... put an end to these,

these feelings. This ridiculous excuse for a

life. I don't know what I want. I

don't even know if I care whatI want.

There's just one thing I know anymore.

What's that?

Everybody thinks it's

the best you can do to

be the first at something, to do

the thing that changes everything else.

Everybody is wrong. I don't

want to be special. Please help me.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Be safe.

[Loud music]

[Whistling]

[Whistling]

[Whistling]

[Whistling]

[Monster chatter]

[Monster chatter]

[Monster chatter]

[Crying]

Hey fellas. Long time no see.

[Monster chatter]

I'm, um, I'm not doing so great,

guys. I'm just sad and angry all the time.

I'm too sad to tell one

problem from the next.

You, me, everyone else... I mean, who even cares

anymore. And that movie they made about us!

[Monster chatter]

I guess it should have

been obvious from that

first night that you were as

scared of us as we were of you.

I suppose it should have been obvious...

We were monsters, too.

I get it if you're so upset.

I just hope that somewhere in your scaly little

hearts you can you can find a way to forgive me.

Sure.

Where the f*ck are you, Sara?

Hey, hey!

Sara's?

She's got to be near! Sara!

Sara!

Sam.

Sarah.

Don't. You have to calm down,Sam.

What? Why?

They're here.

And they don't like the loud

sounds and sudden movements.

Where?

Seriously, guys, you have to calm down.

I can't lose you, too.

You got to comehome.

[Monster chatter]

I am home.

Are you f*cking kidding me... enough!

[Monsters attacking]

[Whistling]

You speak their language?

No. But I will soon. They

seem to appreciate that.

That's incredible.

No, it'sthe least I can do.

This forest is theirs.

Sara...

Sis, for the first time in your life, stop

trying to save me. Save yourself.

They're not anendangered species.

Why? How many of them are there?

Not my point. Endangered

species are... animals.

The tubbies, they're... they're people.

They're Americans.

Hold the line at the reserve. In six months,

I'll come to you and we'll negotiate.

Negotiate what?

A treaty.

[Monster chatter]

I'll be okay.

Turns out, I'm a survivor.

I know. I love you.

I love you, too.

Now f*ck off.