Episode 1 The Fades

I know you think it's ridiculous, but I saw it, Neil.

-Look, just wait for me.

-They're coming, I've seen it.

Where?

Hinkley Way Shopping Centre, meet me there.

GLASS TINKLES

Hello?

Sarah? Sarah?!

-Sarah, what's happening?

-Neil, hang on.

GROANING

You OK?

GROANING

Are you hurt?

Can you...

Come on!

DISTANT SHOUTING

This is a bad idea.

Correction, this is a good idea with bad possibilities.

What does that even...?

Neo, sooner or later you'll realise

that there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.

We're in. SIRENS WAIL IN DISTANCE

You see? What's not to like?

Remind me what we're looking for again.

Used junkie needles, I want to suck the dirty heroin out.

We're looking for film props, OK? For my horror - shapes, strange things,

cybernetic organisms, titanium rechargers, ectoplasmic residue,

anything that can be...

You found a dead thing!

Well done!

It must have got trapped in here.

If I cook it, will you eat it?

Don't poke it too hard! It could still be alive!

If you pick it up, I'll let you throw it at me.

No dibs, nothing, total freebie, but you've got to pick it up.

Definitely too old for that.

OK, if I pick it up, can I throw it at you?

Fuck off.

HE IMITATES CHICKEN

Fuck off!

HE SNIGGERS

Seriously, fuck off!

Oh, shit!

I'm going to wipe this all over your hair, you know that?

You're in trouble now, boy!

No, no, no, no, no, shit!

TYRES SCREECH Oh, f...

HE SCREAMS

FAINT MOANING AND PANTING

-MAN:

-Friend? Are you a friend?

What?

Where's Sarah? I'm looking for Sarah.

Who?

-I will shoot!

-Why?

Jesus! Um...I'm not...I'm not even supposed to be here!

It was my friend's idea of a fun night out!

-Who are you?

-LOUD CLATTER

Oh...shit.

-Run.

-What?

-HE SHOUTS

-Run!

-SHE GROANS

-Sarah.

HE GASPS Ah.

MUFFLED ROAR

SNARLING

HE GRUNTS

Argh!

HE SCREAMS

SCREECHING

Paul?

Paul!

Paul?!

Paul, where you been?

I called and I called and I heard gunshots, so I called a little quieter,

then I realised I heard gunshots so I called a little louder again.

(Has someone been executed?)

Triads, right? No.

Yakuza? No.

The League of Shadows? No.

The Watchmen?

Are they still here?

Are we about to get assassinated? Because I'm not ready to die.

I haven't decided what my last words will be yet.

Wasn't really gunshots, was it?

It was a...tyre blow-out or a...

I dunno.

It wasn't really gunshots.

We're in England.

Do you want to go home now?

Those were actual gunshots?

Actual actual gunshots?

Where's your bike?

Paul!

Oh, be careful!

This is new.

-What's your name again?

-Mark.

And do you do this a lot, Mark?

What?

Pick up random strangers and take them home with you?

Um...yeah, quite a lot.

-Where's the bedroom?!

-Just up on the left.

Oh, fuck it.

No, no, no, no! Not that one!

Matadors, ready?

-I told you, not this one.

-Jesus! Easy, tiger!

-Fuckin' hell.

-What's the matter?

-It's just...

-What?

This is my...wife's room.

-Right.

-I say wife,

I mean only in the most technical sense, we're separated.

But you live together.

-HE SIGHS

-Again, only technically.

The mortgage repayments are too much

for only one of us to handle alone.

It's just it can get...tricky.

I mean, I knew she'd be out

and Sarah's... She's fine with me having sex.

We're only technically...

Technically...

I just didn't want you in here.

This her?

Yeah.

She's pretty.

Yeah.

And...I'm going to go now.

-HE LAUGHS

-Yeah.

Just...a few too many technicalities for a...quick shag on a night out, you know?

Yeah.

I know.

We're here.

Careful.

SHE GASPS

There's ash...

There's ash everywhere.

-Hello, it's Helen...

-And bodies all around.

Helen, why aren't you answering? Answer the phone!

Sarah's hurt. They've hurt her, Helen.

And I'm alone.

I feel... I feel...

-Shh.

-Don't you see? This proves it.

My visions, they were right.

-Neil...

-Yeah?

Neil, do you hear me? The future...

it's ash.

Everybody dies, everybody's dead.

You're in so much danger.

I can't find a vein. I can't find a vein.

What did he do to you?

We all are.

SHE COUGHS

-Oh... All right.

-He's changing, Neil.

He's evolving, he's getting stronger.

He'll lead others through.

The Fades are coming.

The Fades are coming, it's inevitable, I see it now, I see it.

Our world is dying.

All that mattered was Mark,

and I wish I'd known that before.

I don't want to...

Sarah...

Sarah?

ROARING

HE GASPS

Morning, love!

Oh.

-I've got it, Mum, OK?

-No, you don't.

Mum...

It's nothing to be ashamed of.

Yeah, it is.

No, it isn't.

Well, do you remember what the dream was about?

-Who said it was a dream?

-Well, Dr Tremlett.

Mum!

I'm not your little kid any more, OK?

I'm not your boy. I'm trying to be a man.

SHE GIGGLES

-Thanks, Mum.

-No.

No, it was the way you said it, it was funny.

-Course you're a man.

-Yeah. Fine. Sure.

Paul...

Paul!

I just did these, shithead!

Paul!

-Just leave him be.

-Well, he just smudged my nails.

Just... I don't know what's going on with him.

It's called being a teenage boy.

He should be wanking, not pissing.

You're going to have to write me a note.

Well, I'm not going to make my first class now, am I?!

I need to do these again!

MARK: Sarah...

-WOMAN:

-Jesus.

You surprised me.

Helen.

Hi, Mark.

Hi.

What... What are you doing here?

I'm...stealing things. What are you doing here?

Um...it's my house?

Half of it.

Sarah gave me her key yesterday, asked me to pick something up.

And before you ask, no, I don't know where she is.

But I'm pretty sure she wouldn't like you in her room.

Last night was a bit, um...

-I got a bit...

-That would explain...those.

-It was less fun than you think.

-I'm not taking sides, Mark.

I think it's a sorry mess, but I'm...

-not taking sides.

-No, I know.

Do you, um...fancy a bit of breakfast?

I thought you'd never ask.

This is a bullet.

No. Mac, will you put it away?

Murder! Murder! I've just been shot!

Like anyone pays the slightest attention to what we do(!) We're the unwashed,

we're the unwanted, we're the invisible in this school.

And this is a bullet.

A slightly odd one, I think, which makes it even more exciting.

It's not exciting!

Hi, Jay.

-What?

-Fuck off, Paul.

How we came out the same egg is a mystery to me.

Womb.

We came out the same womb.

Egg and we'd be identical twins.

And there are certain differences between us

-if you hadn't noticed.

-Uh, yeah. You're retarded.

-Such a wanker.

-A bullet.

A strange bullet casing which my best friend claims was fired at him,

which makes my best friend Indiana Jones, which is good

because I've always wanted to be Short Round from Temple Of Doom.

Or Marion Ravenwood from Raiders when feeling particularly confused.

That was smooth, by the way.

Ooh!

What did you do that for?

Was it the Marion Ravenwood quip?

I'm not coming out to you, I'm probably the most heterosexual person you know.

Mac, I'm scared.

Minus the sex, of course. I'm a hetero-ual.

You do know this is the girls' toilets, right?

You're not taking this very seriously.

DOOR CREAKS

TRICKLING

Shh.

FARTING

Oh! I ain't got any toilet paper, have you got some?

FLUSHING

DOOR CLOSES

Well, there's the female mystique fucked, then.

Sadly, that genuinely may have been the most sexual experience

of my entire life. HE SNORTS

I'm taking this very seriously.

You got shot at. It's just... I talk when I'm nervous.

I once told my mum the entire plot of the Bible,

Old and New Testament, when we was watching Jaws.

She was enthralled...actually.

These dreams...

..I've been having.

Mate, those are natural things.

Beautiful things.

Shut up.

Yeah. You need to clean yourself up in the morning.

Like that gunk you got on your hand.

Your junk. That's the miracle of life right there, baby, right there.

Mac... don't you understand?

They're dreams.

My dreams are coming true.

Your dreams are coming...true?

When that guy shot at me, I followed him.

He fought...

He fought with this...

...creature. I can't describe him. He wasn't human.

The gun...

...and the bullet, they...

prove it, don't they?

That the dreams are sort of...

...real, which means I'm...

Which means I'm what?

Heather Langenkamp from Nightmare On Elm Street.

That is such a compliment, Heather Langenkamp's an utter legend!

OK, I will be Heather.

You be Kim Myers from Nightmare On Elm Street 2.

But honestly, mate, the film's not as good.

-I just wanted someone who believed me.

-Course I believe you.

-Do you think I'm mad?

-If you're mad, we'll find a way to cope with it,

but it's equally possible that what you're seeing

is what other people can't. That you're, you know... special.

Special?

Special.

I'm scared, Mac.

You're scared?

My only friend is either a lunatic or Heather Langenkamp.

I'm petrified.

OK, you crazy kids,

get ready, cos it is time for...

his story.

His story? History!

That's the one.

-GROANING

-Wow, tough crowd.

OK, Steve, if you wouldn't mind? Thank you.

Right, who is ready for the Holocaust?

I was hoping it was you.

I love the way you feel free

to just let yourself into people's places whenever you feel like it.

This isn't a place.

It's a hole.

Where were you last night?

What happened to your eye?

I kept ringing you.

-Where were you?

-I had things to clean up.

We need to bury her immediately.

-Neil, we're still a team.

-No, we're your team.

Oh, that's the thing, is it? You want a go at playing the man?

I got her gun.

I collected it, this morning, from her place.

Good.

I lost mine, my gun.

I shot it and then he attacked me and I lost it.

I got...

I was...scared.

OK? I was scared, this is Sarah.

Your eye looks painful, Neil.

Her body can keep.

Let me look at you first.

I'm thinking Pratchett.

If I could get anyone to write my life story,

-Pratchett.

-Hey, you're walking very quickly.

No, OK.

Um, a mix.

Pratchett's wit, definitely...

Alan Moore's soul,

and, um...

Susan Cooper's plotting.

Yeah. Clive Lewis's heroism,

and Tolkien's slightly twisted sexuality.

Tolkien had a twisted sexuality?

The eye of Mordor - the man was clearly petrified of vaginas.

What?

What?

Can you...?

Seriously, is this another of your jokes?

Because you're not good at jokes, and I've explained before,

when you tell a joke, you've got to wink.

That way I'll laugh, and we'll both feel better.

You can't see her?

You're not joking.

Yeah, I'm joking.

-Winked. (Joking.)

-That's not a wink.

She said that the attack proved her vision right.

The future was ash.

It was death.

Didn't sound great.

I don't understand why the attack proves that...

It proves it because it's never happened before!

The Fades are not supposed to be able to touch us.

I only just managed to fight him off

because he's weak, but he'll get stronger.

He's breaking through, Helen, he's becoming flesh.

-It's a big assumption.

-If he becomes flesh, others'll follow.

So, as death becomes life, so life becomes death,

and so everything ends. That's what the vision meant.

Let's not get too dramatic, shall we?

I'm not sure if this is a cheese-and-onion

Wednesday sort of day or a salt-and-vinegar Friday.

It is actually Friday.

Sometimes you're disappointingly literal.

Oh, my God! I didn't even consider smoky-bacon Monday! DOOR OPENS

-Get down!

-What?

Ohh...

-And ten Marlboro Lights.

-OK, love.

-Thanks.

-COINS CLINK

Hi, Paul.

-Yeah.

-Found it.

-See you, Paul.

-Yeah.

-Hi. I mean, yeah.

-I mean...

-DOOR CLOSES

-Bye.

Yeah, good, good. Good, that went well.

Not an entirely romantic instrument, but...

Welcome to the world of beefy Tuesdays.

Tuesday! Of course!

And ten Marlboro Lights.

You got any ID, kid?

I'm 18! I've just got a young face.

You could touch his stubble, if you want.

If you're working for the thought police,

I'll have your bollocks! All right, son?

Thanks.

I mean, I'm not. I mean, I'm grateful.

£4.10.

Um, have you got any cash?

(Does the Pope shit in woods?)

Can I owe you £2?

-NEIL:

-I can move in here, for a start.

-HELEN: I'll do as I do.

We can be safe here.

It's non-negotiable.

We are not here to predict the future, Neil.

Sarah was a seer.

Her inevitability isn't ours.

-We take every challenge...

-As it comes, I know that.

What if the challenge is too great?

-What if the Fades do break through?

-Then you're right,

we'll be fucked.

Does that make you feel better?

I don't like it when you swear.

SHE SIGHS

She loves you.

Mac.

-She loves you not.

-Mac! Really?!

-She loves you.

-Mac, you need to stop!

She loves you not.

I will use physical violence on you!

This is science.

You need science.

And you need love, Moby Dick.

She loves you.

That's just childish.

This is going to hurt.

I need to scrape out the poison.

HE GRUNTS

MUFFLED SCREAM

HE GRUNTS

HE SQUEAKS AND GROANS

HE GROANS

MUFFLED MOANING

GROANS AND PANTS

HE GROANS

HE GRUNTS

GROANING

HE GRUNTS

I couldn't save it.

The eye's dead.

He infected the cornea.

You won't see out of that again.

I couldn't have saved her, you know.

Sarah.

Any more than you could.

Her injuries were too severe.

I know.

I'll move in here, just until we understand what's happening.

Good.

The truth is, it's simple.

Either the world ends or we stop him or...

...or something stronger comes along that can.

You're back on this...creature who's going to save us all.

Why not?

He's out there, Neil. I know it.

He could be a woman.

I hear some of them do OK.

Careful, or I'll have the other eye.

What is your problem?

Because I've asked you repeatedly to do it!

-And I've told you repeatedly, I won't!

-You look cheap, Anna!

So I should take style advice from you, should I? I may look cheap,

-but you look dead.

-If you dress like a slut, people will treat you like a slut.

My mum actually thinks I dress like a prostitute!

There's an ambition achieved(!)

ARGUMENT CONTINUES

Shh.

I used to hide mine in a sock at the back of my drawer.

You?

Yep, it's me.

What are you...

...doing here?

I'm looking for you.

The boy who saw things he shouldn't be able to.

FOOTSTEPS ON STAIRS

Well, maybe if you had dressed like a slut, he wouldn't have left!

-Ever considered that?!

-DOOR SLAMS

You've got two choices.

You can scream and you'll get the whole house in here...

...or you can realise I've probably got some information you need to hear.

OK, close your eyes.

You just concentrate on my voice.

Empty your head of everything other than my voice.

And now open your eyes.

RUMBLING

They like height.

When organic matter passes through them, they burn, so...

...we see them on rooftops

and bus shelters, walking down the middle of the road.

Cars are fine. They get winged by a car, that doesn't hurt, so...

What are they?

They're the dead.

The dead?

And they're trapped here.

They're dead?!

Look, when people die, they go up or they stay here.

Some go up, some stay here.

These are those that stay here.

We call them the Fades.

They're just...trapped here?

If they don't ascend, yeah.

-So these are bad people?

-Good, bad.

Why people believe death is somehow fair...

Death is random, same as life is.

Life has famine,

illness,

shittiness. Death is similarly crap.

That's why the problem exists.

The problem?

You imagine being trapped in a world that you can't touch,

you can't taste.

Hate grows.

Those that get left behind, they get shitty.

It's... That... That thing that I saw attacking you,

that was a shitty ghost!

Well, he was something new.

And you...?

What are you?

Are you...

some sort of...ghostbuster?

Yeah, that's right, kid, I'm a ghostbuster(!)

And none of this...

-HE EXHALES SHAKILY

-None of this stuff's in my head?

Ghostbuster's honour.

CLOCK TICKS

You seem different today.

Different how?

Has something happened since our last session?

I donated blood.

Right.

Maybe that's it.

No.

I didn't donate blood, that was a joke.

You didn't laugh.

I want to talk about your dad again.

-HE SIGHS

-OK.

It's probably a bit pointless. What do you want to say?

Now, you see, I think it's important that...the dreams, the bed-wetting

didn't start until after the divorce.

So he's the reason I'm mad, it's my dad's fault.

-I wish you'd stop using that word!

-I see...things, I...

I look out the window and I see things

and I hate it and I want it to stop.

I just...want it to stop.

What do you see?

Just give me pills.

Give me a...lobotomy, just...

make it stop, because I hate this!

I'm not going to prescribe you anything, Paul.

Then why am I here?

You know, you remind me a lot of me when I was your age.

HE SCOFFS

Is that supposed to be a compliment?

There's a couple of things you should know, Paul.

One - you're never as odd as you think you are.

And two - the things that scare us

are the things that keep us human.

Never be afraid of being scared.

Just don't allow being scared to dictate the choices you make.

HE COUGHS

HE COUGHS I didn't know you smoked.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

I'm just learning.

I tried writing "L" on the cigarette in my sister's lipstick, but...

Well, you're bum-sucking the shit out of that! The filter must be soaking!

See?

Have you heard about the thing at the old shopping centre?

-No.

-Police all around it.

Everyone's talking about it in school.

Current theory is someone got raped.

-Yeah?

-Yeah, and Alicia's been off school.

Yeah? Alicia?

SHE LAUGHS Are you OK?

You seem weirder than ever.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm just...

...trying to decide if I'm mental, or not.

SHE LAUGHS What are your odds?

My sister would kill you if she even sees you talking to me.

She'd probably kill you, too.

She doesn't believe in the intermingling of the species,

even if it is just talking.

Guess you're all off out tonight?

We're all off out every night, up the woods.

Just be careful of the, you know, rapist.

HE MOUTHS

You're not mental, you're just...

...different.

That's what my mum used to say.

Your mum's wicked.

She cleaned me up from whoever bullied me.

"Oh, Paul, someone's squirted tomato ketchup all over you.

"They're just scared of difference.

"Oh, Paul, someone's emptied a bin on your head.

-"They're just scared..."

-I always wanted to be different.

I was a bit of a...hairbrush princess, you know?

Think I'm a pop star.

-I don't know.

-My dad thinks I'm better than everyone, so...

Well, I never wanted to be different.

Maybe I don't mean you're different,

maybe I mean...special.

You're the second one who's said something like that.

I've got the taste of your spit in my mouth now.

Yeah?

You've got nice eyes...

...in this light.

Yeah?

I'd better go.

All right.

See ya!

-You've got nice eyes too!

-I know.

Mr Etches, isn't it?

You, er, taught me GCSE history, Mr Etches.

Oh, right, yes. Er, do you know what this is about?

-Only, I just...

-The DCI will tell you.

Phillip Firth.

I am. DC Firth.

Right, yes, er, I remember now, Phillip.

-Yeah, how did you do in the end in your exams?

-I got a D.

Never was much shake at schoolwork. I...

That's great.

The DCI is, er, just through here.

DOOR OPENS

DCI Armstrong entering the room.

Er, the time is 5.27...pm.

So...what's this about?

When was the last time you saw your wife?

Sarah?

Er, she's not my wife.

Well, barely.

OK, when was the last time you saw Sarah?

Pff, um...the day before yesterday?

Some...time.

What's this about?

We had Sarah's DNA in our file.

Why?

I can't, for operational reasons, divulge that at this point.

Well, is she OK? You're beginning to scare me now.

This morning...a weapon was found.

An adapted gun...

in the Hinkley Way Shopping Centre.

The derelict place?

Patrol dogs found it.

Nearby, we found some clothing with...

Sarah's blood on it.

Her blood?

This doesn't mean... It shouldn't mean that...

-When do we start looking for her?

-We're sending out a search team.

What we need from you

are a list of all her friends...

Mark? Mark!

You're gonna be vital to this investigation.

You can trust him, Mr Etches.

He's a good guy.

-How was the session?

-Fine.

-You're gonna talk to me properly.

-Er...Mac's waiting, Mum.

Let him.

He...said that Dad was the reason I was screwed up, basically.

Then he said I reminded him of him, and that was sort of

-the end of the session.

-He said your dad was the reason?

Dad or the divorce, I dunno. I didn't...

Can we talk about it another time?

We're always talking about it another time, you and me, aren't we?

Yeah, well, that's because another time always is the best time.

I am allowed to be worried about you.

I know you are, Mum.

Paul, you haven't even eaten.

Good for me, bad for me. Bye!

RINGTONE

Hi, Mum.

Meg. Sorry.

I know.

I'll make sure he gets his protein!

I'm a big fan of protein.

Yeah, you too.

Bye.

-Parental quicksand?

-Something like that.

You know, the easiest way to escape quicksand is by raising your legs slowly

so you lie on your back - your actual back - then you just float.

Takes balls, but it's possible.

You OK?

Yeah.

I mean, er, Heather Langenkamp stuff...

-I knew what you meant.

-Cos I've had a thought.

What thought?

Sixth Sense.

Would you say everything you've ever learnt about was from films, Mac?

No.

Television's been doing some important work for me recently.

Then there's the complicated...nay, thorny issue of internet pornography.

Yeah.

INDISTINCT VOICES

Admittedly, the isolated incidents they show in the film,

maybe Bruce Willis could have been a ghost for those.

That bit with his wife and the wedding ring.

I like that bit.

What about the rest of his life? The bits the film doesn't show.

I mean, what if he feels like a coffee?

He walks into his standard American brand coffee place and goes...

(AMERICAN ACCENT) ...Hi.

I'd like a coffee, please.

No answer.

(AMERICAN ACCENT) Excuse me, but, er, I'd like a cup of coffee.

No answer.

They can't see him - he's a ghost.

I mean, eventually he's gonna get pretty, you know, annoyed.

-Yeah, OK.

-It's a fatal flaw.

(AMERICAN ACCENT) Hello? Hello, wh...where's my coffee?

Mate, like, he hasn't guessed he's a ghost.

Bruce Willis looks like a man who likes a coffee.

You OK, Paul?

Who's here?

What is it? Where is it?

Paul? Wait up, I haven't finished my theory!

Paul! Paul!

Ahh!

And who the fuck are you?!

It's gonna happen a lot, isn't it?

Good point, well made.

DOOR OPENS

SOFT THUMP

ROARING

So, you made your decision, then?

Oh, f...

HE SIGHS

You again.

Yep, me again.

Who is she?

Sarah.

Her name's Sarah.

She's a friend?

Yep.

They can talk?

She can right now.

She's looking for a place to pass.

This wood's one of the few places in the country not fucked with enough

to still have passing places.

What?

There are holes in the world.

Ascension points.

Used to be loads of them. Then man invented concrete.

Look.

-There's another.

-What are those, the...

the lights in their...in their chest?

They're beacons.

When the dead near ascension, their souls shine.

Those that pass, that light...

that'll take over their whole body with a bang.

Those that don't,

that light turns off.

That's when they know they're trapped here for ever.

So, this is...this is ascension?

-This is...this is about heaven?

-Heaven is a big word.

This is about death, kid.

Only death.

Come on.

Fucking birds!

Collateral damage.

Will any of this ever make sense?

Probably not.

Do you know how much danger you're... we're in?

Probably a lot.

WIND WHISTLES SOFTLY

RATTLING

WHOOSHING

GUN COCKS

GUN CLICKS

PANTS SOFTLY

Oh, shit.

SARAH: Neil?

-Neil?

-She's not going.

She's not passing.

What?

I'm sorry, Sarah.

I'm so sorry.

Oh, I feel...

It's...

Paul?

Paul! Paul?

EERIE HOWLING

NEIL GROANS

HE GROANS

HE PANTS

What did you see?

Look at me, Paul.

Look at me, Paul! What did you see?

HE PANTS

What are you?

-Your best friend.

-EERIE HOWLING

# Young Paul decides upon the future

# And he asks from her a favour

# He wants to know if she will tell him... #