"The Dark Tower 1 - The Gunslinger"
by Matt Engstrom
Based on "The Gunslinger" by Stephen King
Current Revision: Dated July 27, 2009 09:17:06 AM
caine69@email.com
Copyright 2009 Matt Engstrom
SUPERIMPOSE: "When the world had moved on..."
FADE TO:
EXT. TULL - NIGHT - ESTABLISHING
The small town squats at the center of a bowl-shaped
hollow at the edge of the desert. The flat landscape
surrounding the town is made up of scrub brush and
short, thirsty crops.
Near a forgotten graveyard overgrown with devil grass is
a weathered sign that reads: "Tull welcomes you!"
Shacks and small houses line the-
COACH ROAD
-as it enters the town. The road widens within the city
limits. Clapboard buildings with boardwalk porches and
corrugated tin roofs line the main street and the three
intersecting dirt roadways.
On the whistling desert WIND comes the sound of
METHODIST HYMNS being played ragtime on a piano and
SINGING from-
SHEB'S TAVERN
Outside the tavern a horse and wagon are tethered.
INT. SHEB'S TAVERN - NIGHT
It is a wake. The dead man NORT is laid out on two
tables shoved together. His funeral clothes consist of a
patched vest over a stained white tee-shirt, a tie
knotted around his naked neck, and blue jeans.
Drunk patrons SING "Onward Christian Soldiers" along
with a man at the piano. They are not sad, but joyous
and LAUGHING.
The bartender ALLIE serves drinks. At the bar a MAN IN
BLACK is seated, his face in shadow beneath a hood, his
hunched body draped in a robe. He plays with a silver
coin, rolling it across the knuckles of his fingers.
ALLIE
What can I do ya for, Preacherman?
MAN IN BLACK
Whiskey. Good Whiskey. And I'm
not a priest.
She pours him a shot. He knocks it back and flips her
the silver coin.
MAN IN BLACK
Another.
ALLIE
I don't have change for this.
MAN IN BLACK
And I'm not finished here yet.
Allie smiles as she pours him another drink.
ALLIE
Are you only passing through?
MAN IN BLACK
Don't talk trivialities. You're
here with death.
Allie looks at the drunk patrons standing near Nort's
body. Nort's dead hands clasp devil grass atop his chest
like a bouquet of bridal flowers. His lips are tinged
green, but not with decay.
ALLIE
Trivialities? Right. Some wake
this is. They're bums. All of
'em.
MAN IN BLACK
It excites them. He's dead.
They're not.
ALLIE
He was the butt of their jokes
when alive. Don't seem right
that he should be the butt of
them still. It's-
MAN IN BLACK
You cared for him.
ALLIE
Nort?
MAN IN BLACK
You're soft-hearted and a little
afraid. And he was on the weed,
on it so bad he ate it 'stead of
takin' the time to smoke it,
looking out hell's back door
with that stupid green-smeared
grin of his.
ALLIE
I think you better-
MAN IN BLACK
And now there he lays, hell's
door slammed shut on him, and
you don't think it will be
opened again until it's time for
you to walk on through.
ALLIE
That's quite enough now.
MAN IN BLACK
Mistah Norton, he dead! Dead as
you or anybody!
ALLIE
Get out of my place!
MAN IN BLACK
It's all right. Wait. Just wait.
He pulls the hood back from his head, revealing intense
blue eyes that shimmer beneath a chock of blonde hair.
MAN IN BLACK
See? Do you see?
Allie nods dumbly and the man in black laughs. The music
and singing stop. He stands and faces the room, all eyes
now on him. The wind outside begins to HOWL. Sand
RATTLES against the walls outside.
MAN IN BLACK
I'll show you a wonder!
THUNDER booms. The man in black moves through the happy
mourners toward Nort. They shrink away from him, opening
a clear path. The man in black looks down on Nort with a
grin.
MAN IN BLACK
All right. Let's get down to it.
He HAWKS deep in his throat and spits on Nort's
forehead. The drunks gather closer now, circling the
dead body.
The man in black places his hand over the circle of
spittle on Nort's forehead. THUNDER booms again, fading
into silence. Nort heaves a ragged BREATH.
The crowd GASPS. One of the drunks stumbles out the door.
The man in black withdraws his hand and Nort's eyes flip
open. The circle of spittle on Nort's forehead is a red
eye, open and staring as well. Nort sits up and looks at
the man in black. The red eye on Nort's forehead drips
away down his face.
MAN IN BLACK
Hiya, Nort.
NORT
I been touched by God.
The man in black laughs as if at a joke.
NORT
(to the crowd)
I won't be dead no more.
MAN IN BLACK
How nice for you! Praise God and
the Man-Jesus!
The crowd scatters. Nort looks down at the devil grass
in his hands. His hands shake.
NORT
I'd like to stop chewin' the
grass. It don't seem right no
more.
MAN IN BLACK
Now, what fun would that be? Go
on.
Nort weeps.
NORT
Please, mister. Take that away
too.
MAN IN BLACK
Go on, Nort. It's okay.
Nort chews the grass. The man in black smiles.
MAN IN BLACK
I have important work for you.
The howling WIND increases-
CUT TO:
BLACKOUT
SUPERIMPOSE: "The man in black fled across the desert,
and the gunslinger followed..."
FADE TO:
EXT. DESERT COACH ROAD - DAY
ROLAND'S P.O.V. - REMAINS OF CAMPFIRE
-intersect in a strange pattern of charred devil grass.
A gloved hand prods at the burned grass and the pattern
crumbles to ash. The gloved hand withdraws.
BACK TO SCENE
ROLAND stands up from inspecting the campfire. His
clothes are the color of rain and dust: wide-brimmed
hat, shirt open at the throat beneath a duster, gunbelts
criss-crossing above his crotch, holsters at his hips
tied down with rawhide cords. The heels of his boots are
worn.
He continues to look down, noticing the tracks in the
earth. He looks up at the sky, the sun nearing the
horizon.
He walks over to his mule.
He lifts free a waterskin and takes a drink. The mule
BRAYS. He pours some water into a cupped hand and allows
the mule to drink, petting its neck and head.
ROLAND
It's his. We made good time
today. We'll stay here tonight.
EXT. DESERT COACH ROAD - DAY (SUNSET)
The mule eats the sparse grass at the side of the road.
Its mouth moves towards a dense clump of devil grass.
Roland shoos the mule away.
ROLAND
Not that. Your brain's slow
enough as it is. Go on. Get.
Roland pulls at the devil grass, piling it on the
abandoned campfire of the man in black in no discernible
pattern. He rises from the prepared campfire and looks
to the mule, which eats the scrub grass of the abandoned
field surrounding them.
He removes his hat and looks to the west down the road.
Searching.
EXT. ROLAND'S CAMP - NIGHT (DUSK)
Roland lights the grass campfire with flint and steel.
The grass PUFFS alight. He is careful to crouch upwind
from the smoke. The fire burns with a flat light, blue
and slow.
He stands up and rolls a cigarette. He lights it with a
blade of devil grass and breathes deep. He exhales and
looks at the stars coming out above.
A night wind strips the smoke away from his lips, and
with it comes the sound of:
SINGING VOICES
Hey Jude... Don't make it bad...
Roland looks down the road, the firelight gleaming dully
in his eyes.
ON THE HORIZON
In the darkening sky, a faint light glows.
Roland turns to his mule, already snuggled up against
the small grass campfire.
ROLAND
You stay here.
The mule SNORTS and sets its head back down on the
ground.
Roland walks up the road, the sound of his boots on the
packed dirt loud in the night. At the top of a short
rise he stops and takes another pull on his cigarette.
The glow at the horizon is brighter, but still a long
ways away. The night wind carries the singing voices to
him again:
SINGING VOICES
Na na na na-na-na-naaaaa. Na-nana-
naaaaaa. Hey Jude!
Roland looks for a moment more at the city lights on the
horizon. He turns back to his camp.
EXT. ROLAND'S CAMP - DAY (SUNRISE)
Roland sleeps. The devil grass fire has burned itself
out. The sound of SCRATCHING begins to rouse him, as
well as a GRUNT. Roland wakes with a start, pulling one
of his guns from its holster beneath his bedroll.
ROLAND'S MULE
Stares down at him blankly.
Roland sighs and lowers his six shooter.
ROLAND
One of these days, you're going
to end up as jerky.
The mule HUFFS. Roland rises from his bedroll.
ROLAND
I know. It's time to go.
EXT. DESERT COACH ROAD - DAY (LATER)
ROLAND'S GUNS
-are pulled from their holsters and checked by practiced
hands. The cylinders click open, spin fully loaded with
shells, and slap shut again. Roland holsters his guns on
his hips, the steel of the revolvers aged gray, the
sandalwood grips worn.
EXT. TULL - DAY
Roland stops at the-
SIGN
-that reads: "Tull welcomes you!" Fresh paint marks a
new message beneath the old: "Have a nice day!" along
with a smiley face with a third eye on its forehead.
Roland looks down on the town.
ROLAND
He's been here. And I think he's
left a trap for me.
EXT. MAIN STREET - DAY
The gunslinger and his mule walk into town, the street
deserted.
EXT. SHEB'S TAVERN - DAY
He tethers his mule near the watering trough. The mule
drinks as Roland walks up the steps and in through the
batwing doors.
INT. SHEB'S TAVERN - DAY
The place is empty.
ROLAND
Hello? Is anyone here?
No answer. He looks outside and takes off his hat. He
walks further into the tavern, looking about. He sits at
the bar, groaning with relief. He eyes the bottles of
liquor and barrels of beer behind the bar.
Leaning forward, he cranes his neck to see what lay
beyond the door behind the bar.
ROLAND
Hello?
Nothing.
ROLAND
To hell with this.
He rises from the stool and walks behind the bar,
grabbing a mug and filling it beneath the tap. He drinks
greedily and fills it again.
He stops drinking and turns toward the door behind the
bar. From behind it enters Allie, a look of shocked
surprise on her face. Her eyes light upon the beer with
anger, then fall to the guns at his hips with fear.
ROLAND
I'm not a thief.
Allie doesn't respond.
ROLAND
You got hamburger?
ALLIE
Sure. You got money?
Roland reaches into his breast pocket and retrieves a
gold coin. He rolls it across his fingers before
slapping it on the bar.
ALLIE
I ain't got change for gold.
ROLAND
Don't expect any.
Allie eyes him.
ALLIE
You're a gunslinger? Ain't you?
ROLAND
Yes.
ALLIE
I thought they were all kilt.
ROLAND
They were. I'm the last.
(beat)
Three hamburgers. With salt.
Allie turns to go back to the kitchen.
ALLIE
Help yourself to the beer. Much
as you want.
ROLAND
Thankee, sai.
Roland finishes his mug of beer and pours a third. He
walks out from behind the bar.
ROLAND
Where is everyone?
ALLIE (O.S.)
Sunday Service. I don't go. The
man who preaches has poison
religion. Let the respectable
ones go.
Roland sets his full mug of beer on the bar near his
hat. He leaves the tavern.
EXT. SHEB'S TAVERN - DAY
He stands on the front porch and looks further down the
street and sees a little-
CHURCH
It sits at the end of the street, its white paint
peeling.
Roland turns to his mule.
ROLAND
You stay here.
EXT. MAIN STREET - DAY
Roland walks up the empty street. As he nears the
church, he can hear singing inside:
CONGREGATION (O.S.)
"Shall we gather at the river.
The beautiful, the beautiful
river. Shall we gather at the
river that flows by the Kingdom
of God."
INT. CHURCH - DAY
The song ends as Roland opens the door and enters. The
church is full to bursting. The townspeople, all of them
minus Allie it seems, stand soaked in sweat. The women
fan themselves.
Roland stands at the back of the church in the shadows.
At the front, Nort stands behind a small podium, his
hands raised over the congregation. He lowers them and
the congregation sits as one. They shift and cough.
NORT
My dear little brothers and
sisters in Christ. The subject
of our meditation today is-
Nort looks directly at Roland.
NORT
The Interloper.
A rustle runs through the congregation. Nort reaches
into the podium, pulls free a clump of devil grass, and
pops it into his mouth.
NORT
When God touched me, when he
raised me from the dead, praise
the Man-Jesus, I read the Good
Book cover to cover. And I felt
I knew the players in that
story. But there is only one
that I do not know. Only one
whose face is in shadow.
Roland reaches down and places a hand on the butt of one
pistol.
NORT
I fear him. He came to Eve as a
snake on its belly. Oh, my
little brothers and sisters,
watch out for the Interloper.
MAN
Yes, oh Jesus!
NORT
It was him who took our Lord up
on the mountain to tempt him.
CONGREGATION
Yes!
NORT
It's him that will come back
when Last Times come on the
world - that will come as the
Antichrist, to lead men into the
flaming bowels of perdition! The
Last Times that draw ever near!
CONGREGATION
Yes, oh Jesus! Praise God!
NORT
Do you believe in the eternal
love of the Man-Jesus?
MAN
Your fucking-A I do!
CONGREGATION
Yes! Yes!
Nort bites down on another clump of devil's grass.
NORT
I know he forgives me my
frailties, just as he forgives
yours. And he will cast out the
unrepentant into the place of
burning darkness!
CONGREGATION
Praise God!
Roland looks at the congregation who flail about,
raising their hands, speaking in tongues, falling on the
floor to writhe and shake.
NORT
This Interloper, this
Antichrist, will be crushed!
Will you, my little brothers and
sisters, crush him if you see
him?
The congregation reach inside pockets, inside
compartments in the pews, inside blouses and purses, to
withdraw knives and clubs and pieces of wood.
CONGREGATION
Yes!
Roland moves toward the door.
NORT
He is in this very church! He
corrupts this holy ground! There!
Nort points to the back of the church.
The congregation turns to see the door shut.
EXT. MAIN STREET - DAY
Roland walks at a brisk pace. He looks over his shoulder
back towards the-
CHURCH
It sits silent. The door remains closed.
Roland reaches the tavern. His mule looks at him.
ROLAND
We're leaving.
INT. SHEB'S TAVERN - DAY
Roland enters. Allie stands behind the bar. Three
hamburgers sit on a plate near his hat and full mug of
beer.
ALLIE
What's wrong?
ROLAND
That is one fucked up church.
Roland picks up one of the hamburgers and bites into it.
He tries to find a place to tuck away the other two and
finally settles for inside his hat. He sets it atop his
head and presses it down snug.
ALLIE
Nort hasn't been the same since
he was raised.
ROLAND
By a man dressed in black?
ALLIE
Yes. Just passing through, like
you.
ROLAND
He's not like me.
EXT. SHEB'S TAVERN - DAY
Roland exits the tavern, finishing the rest of his first
hamburger. He looks up the street.
The congregation walk his way - an angry MOB - men,
women and children, dressed in their Sunday bests. In
every hand is clasped a chunk of wood or knife. Nort is
not among them.
Roland walks into-
EXT. MAIN STREET - DAY
He raises his hands to calm the advancing mob.
ROLAND
I am Roland Deschain of Gilead,
last of the line of Arthur Eld,
last of the gunslingers! You
have been bewitched by a wizard
named Marten! I am not your
enemy!
The mob marches forward. A MAN with a kitchen knife
breaks from their ranks and rushes forward.
MAN
You speak with a forked tongue!
You are the Interloper! The
Antichrist!
The man leaps and swings the knife down.
Roland reacts with swift, trained efficiency. In a flash
of movement, he draws both revolvers and fires one of
them into the man's face. The man drops dead into the
dust.
The ECHO of the gunblast fades. The mob is silent for a
moment before:
MOB
Satan! Bring him down!
Sticks and stones rain down on him. Roland raises his
forearms to fend them off. A board with a nail in it
rips into his shoulder. A knife strikes his boot and
bounces. The mob rushes around him in a horseshoe shape.
Roland turns right and BLASTS a hole through them. He
leaps over the bodies of two men and a woman as they
fall.
The hole collapses as soon as it's made and the mob
chases Roland across the street toward the-
GENERAL STORE AND BARBER SHOP
-that face the tavern. Roland mounts the boardwalk and
fires into the charging crowd.
His cold eyes lift and look-
ACROSS THE STREET
-where two men attack his mule, helplessly tethered and
BRAYING with fear. One of the men has a knife and
reaches to slit the mule's throat.
Roland blasts the man's hand off. The hand clasping the
knife falls into the dirt. Roland finishes the job on
the first man and tears a hole through the second man's
eye socket. Roland's fourth shot SNAPS the rope
tethering his mule. The mule darts away.
The mob, in the moments it took him to dispatch his
mule's attackers, gathers itself again. Roland empties
his revolvers into them, each shot finding its mark.
Men, women and children fall.
He retreats, dodging stones and sticks hurled from the
crowd and emptying the gun of the used shells. His
fingers dance from belt to empty gun cylinders as he
reloads.
INT. GENERAL STORE - DAY
The crowd swarms behind him up onto the boardwalk as
Roland steps through the door and rams it closed behind
him. He locks the deadbolt.
The display window at his right shatters under the
lunging weight of three men. Roland kills them all,
including the two close behind. They hang into the store
and fill the jagged hole.
The door shakes and breaks inward off its hinges. Men,
women and children spill into the store with murder in
their eyes.
NORT (O.S.)
The killer! The accursed! The
cloven hoof!
Roland, on his heels, empties his guns into them again.
The dead fall like pins. He retreats into the-
INT. BARBER SHOP - DAY
He kicks over a barrel of flour to slow them down. His
hands are a blur again, doing their reloading trick.
Roland runs out the back door and onto-
EXT. BARBER SHOP - BACK PORCH - DAY
The flat scrubland meets his gaze. Two men rush around
the corner of the building, having anticipated his
escape. They grin at him. He shoots both between the
eyes. A fat woman follows, shot through her many chins
and gurgling.
Roland eases down the steps, backing into-
EXT. SURROUNDING DESERT - DAY
Both guns are trained on the back door to the barber
shop. Ten paces. Twenty.
The door bursts open and out they spill. Roland shoots
again and again. The bodies fall back, fall over the
railing, fall down the steps. His guns CLICK empty.
Roland watches them charge closer and closer as his
hands do their reloading trick again. He winces with the
singing heat of the smoking shells.
ROLAND
Stop! These are the guns of my
father Stephen Deschain, and his
father before him! They have
been blessed by the blood of
mightier men than you! You must
stop!
He clicks the cylinders closed just as a splinter of
wood hits him in the forehead. He fires into the mob.
Their bodies thump like scarecrows. Blood and brains fly
in streamers.
His guns click empty again. He turns his back to the
mob, protecting his hands as they reload. A volley of
sticks and stones that rain him as he runs further into
the desert.
MOB
Devil! Devil! Devil! Childkiller!
Monster! Destroy the
child-killing Interloper!
Roland turns to fire again. A knife rotates end over end
toward him, thrown from the crowd. His eyes widen. The
hilt of the knife strikes him between the eyes and
knocks him to the dirt. His hat tumbles off his head,
along with the hamburgers inside.
The crowd rushes him, nothing but fingers, fists and
gleaming steel.
Roland kicks away from them, firing into the mob. Bodies
tumble in his crawling wake. A little boy scrambles out
from beneath the mob and stabs him through his boot into
his shin. Roland screams in pain and blows the grinning
boy's head off.
His guns empty again. The bullets in his gunbelt are few
and not within easy reach. He rolls over onto his elbows
and knees, protecting his working fingers from the
deranged attackers that remain. They punch, kick and
stab at him as he reloads. He snaps his head backward,
head-butting one off his back. He thrusts an elbow into
a woman's face.
The loaded cylinders click closed.
He crosses his arms over his chest, aiming into his
attackers above him. He pulls the triggers. Bodies fall
about him like unfolding rose petals. He rises to his
feet.
Only a few remain and they scatter. Roland limps after
them, shooting them in the back as they retreat. The
last man alive makes it as far as the porch before the
front of his face spatters against the wall.
SILENCE. The WIND blows sand against his face.
Roland reloads, slower this time. He holsters his
weapons. He finds his hat beneath a dead arm and places
it on his head. Near it lays one of the two hamburgers.
He picks it up and dusts it off.
He bites into it and chews as he limps back toward the
street, following the zig-zagging line of bodies as far
as the barber shop.
EXT. ALLEY - DAY
He walks the alley between two buildings and comes out
the other side onto the-
EXT. MAIN STREET - DAY
To his left, a safe distance away, his mule stands and
looks back at him. Its ears twitch.
He limps toward the tavern.
Out through its batwing doors stumble Nort and Allie.
Nort's green-tinged fingers hold a knife at her throat,
using her as a shield. Her eyes are wide circles. She
struggles against him as they shuffle into the street.
NORT
Hile, Gunslinger!
ROLAND
Let her go.
ALLIE
Please help me, Oh God, don't
let him kill me.
Nort smiles his green smile and a red eye opens in his
forehead.
NORT
You will never catch him. You
walk in the way of evil.
Roland's right hand drops to touch the butt of one gun.
ROLAND
You have a demon. I can remove
it.
He bites into the hamburger.
NORT
He was an Angel of God. He told
me so. And he told me the
Antichrist would follow.
ROLAND
I hope he smiled when he said it.
Nort grins, the red eye on his forehead seeming to grin
with him. He leans closer to Allie.
ALLIE
Please mister - gunslinger -
please help me. Please help-
Nort WHISPERS something into Allie's ear and her eyes go
blank. Her eyes alight on Roland. Her face transfigures
from stupor to insane rage.
ALLIE
Interloper!
She rushes him, running down the street, teeth bared and
mad.
Roland draws and shoots her in the head. A look of
surprise crosses her face. She falls headlong into the
dust.
Roland pops the last chunk of hamburger into his mouth
and walks toward Nort. Nort backs away, fear and shock
on his face. Roland steps over Allie's body, his face
set in ice.
NORT
Don't touch me! Stay away from
me!
ROLAND
The desert!
(points down the
street)
What after the desert?
Nort turns and looks down the street toward the waiting
desert. Then back.
NORT
You'll never catch him! Never!
You'll burn! He told me so!
ROLAND
I'll catch him. We both know it.
What is beyond the desert?
NORT
No!
Nort falls on his back, raising his hands in defense.
Roland points the gun down on him.
ROLAND
Answer me!
NORT
No!
The red eye looks up at Roland with terror. Looks at his
gun.
ROLAND
The demon, then.
Roland hunkers down and thrusts the end of the barrel
into the red eye. Nort convulses in pain. Somewhere,
something inhuman SHRIEKS. The sound comes from
everywhere. The eye beneath the gun smokes as if burned.
ROLAND
Answer me, demon!
Nort SCREAMS something, high-pitched and unintelligible.
ROLAND
What was that?
NORT
Mountains! He stops... on the
other side... sweet Jesus... to
make his strength. Meditation.
Do you understand?
Roland pulls the gun away. Nort SIGHS with relief.
Roland stands.
NORT
You will never catch him.
Roland pulls the trigger, shooting Nort in the forehead.
A gaping red hole replaces the eye. Roland looks down on
Nort's dead body for a moment, his face blank. He looks
at the ghost town he created. All is SILENT.
He looks up Main Street towards the coach road at the
end of town and the desert beyond. As if in answer the
desert wind stirs, WHISPERING VOICES on the air.
EXT. MAIN STREET - DAY (LATER)
At the other end of town, Roland's mule waits for him.
ROLAND
C'mon. It's okay now.
He takes it by the bridle and leads the mule back into
town.
EXT. SHEB'S TAVERN - DAY
The wind blows harder now. Sand streaks by. Roland
shields his face against it as he leads the mule to the
hitching post. Half of his mule's reigns hang on the
post above a handless dead man.
He ties the leather strap back together again. The mule
dips its head to drink in the trough as Roland unlashes
the tote sack and waterskins.
ROLAND
I won't be long.
Roland walks up the steps and into-
INT. SHEB'S TAVERN - DAY
He walks to the bar and drinks from his mug of beer,
still waiting for him after all the carnage. He eyes the
gold coin on the bar and picks it up. He places it back
in his breast pocket.
He walks around the bar and through the back doors into-
INT. KITCHEN - DAY
On the shelves, he finds a sack of cornmeal, dried and
roasted corn, and a cooler of hamburger. He fills his
tote sack full.
EXT. SHEB'S TAVEN - DAY
Roland exits with tote sack and waterskins filled and
slung across his shoulders. He holds a pail in one hand.
He sets the pail below the mule's nose. The mule dips
its snout and eats the corn inside.
Roland hefts the sack and skins onto his mule's back.
The mule GRUNTS, pausing for a moment in its meal.
ROLAND
I know.
Roland pets the mule and lashes its load tight.
EXT. MAIN STREET - DAY
Roland walks west towards the desert, his mule at his
side. He wears his hat low, shielding his eyes from the
blowing sand. He reaches the body of-
ALLIE
Already, the sand is beginning to cover her body.
Roland looks down at her.
ROLAND
May you find the clearing at the
end of your path, and find your
ease there.
He moves on, fighting against the wind and sand into the
emptiness of the desert. He leaves the ghost town of
Tull behind him.
EXT. DESERT COACH ROAD - DAY
Roland and the mule fight through the sandstorm, the
hardpan of the coach road swept clean and guiding their
steps. The clumps of devil grass bend in the wind.
EXT. DESERT COACH ROAD - NIGHT (DUSK)
The wind has died down. Roland looks down at the side of
the road to an-
ABANDONED CAMPFIRE
Much of its charred remains have been swept away by the
day's wind or buried by sand, but a portion of the crisscrossing
shapes are intact.
ROLAND
It's his. We lost some time.
The mule looks at him, eyes tired and weary.
ROLAND
Only a little.
EXT. ROLAND'S CAMP - NIGHT
The blue flames of Roland's campfire light his features.
He sits upwind from the smoke and smoking a cigarette.
He looks up the road to the horizon. His eyes widen.
ON THE HORIZON
-a pencil-thin line of smoke rises into the sky.
Roland rises to his feet and his eyes thin to focus.
ROLAND
It's him.
ON THE HORIZON
-there is no smoke. Only the purplish bruise of sky, and
the stars above.
Roland sits back down next to the campfire and gazes
into the blue flames.
EXT. DESERT COACH ROAD - DAY
ROLAND'S BOOTS
-shuffle and stumble on the desert hardpan. His BREATH
is heavy and PANTING.
Roland, sunburned and dusty, his face now framed by a
stubbly beard, walks with mule in tow under the glaring
sun. He looks years older, the desert taking its toll.
Dusty folds of skin deeped around his eyes as they
squint.
ON THE HORIZON
-nothing meets his gaze but sand dunes, clumps of devil
grass, and the arrow-straight path of the empty coach
road.
Then, through the wavering, liquid heat rising from the
hardpan, appears the shape of mountains.
ROLAND
Ka have mercy. Mountains.
He raises the smaller waterskin hanging around his neck
to his lips. Only a few drops fall onto his tongue. He
stumbles to his mule to refill, but finds the larger
waterskin hanging on its back all but empty.
He takes a small drink, and pours the rest into his
cupped hand, allowing the mule a drink.
ROLAND
We're closer. Just need to keep
moving.
He moves on again.
ROLAND
Push away the thirst. Keep your
eyes on the prize.
ON THE HORIZON
-the hardpan beneath the mountains shimmers. For a
moment, the stygian monolith of the DARK TOWER flashes
before his gaze, rising high into the blue sky.
He blinks and it is gone.
EXT. DESERT COACH ROAD - DAY (LATER)
Roland stumbles forward, the mule farther behind him now
and struggling to keep up. Roland looks down at his feet
as they kick at pebbles.
The devil grass is yellowed. The desert hardpan breaks
up in places like scales. The wavering mountains on the
horizon look no closer.
ROLAND
Almost there. We're almost there.
The mule behind GROANS and falls into the dust. Roland
takes a few more stumbling steps before he looks back.
ROLAND
Don't give up.
He walks back to the mule dying on the hardpan.
ROLAND
Don't give up now.
The mule looks up at him with pained eyes.
ROLAND
Okay. It's okay.
He unlashes the empty waterskin from the mule, tugging
it out from underneath the beast. It slips free and he
falls down. He crawls over to the mule's head and opens
the spout.
ROLAND
I'll see you at the clearing at
the end of my path, friend.
Roland unsheathes his knife and cuts the mule's throat.
The mule stiffens for a moment but doesn't make a sound.
The blood pours out and he catches it in the waterskin.
ROLAND
It's okay. It's okay.
EXT. DESERT COACH ROAD - DAY (LATER)
Roland takes a drink from the now full waterskin,
grimacing and forcing it down. The larger waterskin is
draped over one shoulder, along with the tote sack. He
looks back at the mule lying dead on the road.
He turns back toward the mountains and continues on.
EXT. DESERT COACH ROAD - NIGHT (DUSK)
ABANDONED CAMPFIRE
-and its charred devil grass intersect in its now
familiar ideographic pattern.
Roland hunkers down, collapsing a bit to his knees with
exhaustion, and brushes through the remnants of the
fire. The ash crumbles.
His fingers find a charred piece of bacon. He inspects
it, blows it clean, and pops it into his mouth.
DEVIL GRASS
-rips free from the desert hardpan in a dusty clump.
ROLAND'S CAMPFIRE
-of devil grass burns slow and blue.
Roland opens his tote sack. Inside are strips of mule
meat packed in salt. He skewers the meat on his knife
and cooks it over the flames.
EXT. DESERT ROLAND'S CAMP - NIGHT
Roland chews the meat and drinks from the waterskin. He
looks to the horizon, and for a moment a line of smoke,
pencil-thin, stands out against the purple sky.
Roland chews.
EXT. DESERT COACH ROAD - DAY
Time has passed, marked by Roland's now thick beard. He
stumbles along the coach road and raises the waterskin
to his lips. Nothing drips out of it. He shakes and
squeezes it.
Coagulated blood plops onto the hardpan. He looks at it
for a beat.
He continues on.
ON THE HORIZON
-the mountains shimmer. But there is something else - a
small shape wavering close, perhaps only a few miles
away.
Roland stumbles and falls to the hardpan. He scuffs his
hands as he tries to stop his fall.
His hands bleed onto the desert hardpan. He watches as
the small drops of blood are sucked into the hungry
desert and disappear.
He raises his hands above his greedy mouth, desperate to
conserve his water.
He rises again to his feet and continues on. The shape
on the horizon is much closer now - he is almost upon
it. A STARTLED CRY escapes his cracked lips like a
croak.
The shapes are-
TWO BUILDINGS
-surrounded by a rail fence fallen away in places.
EXT. WAY STATION - DAY
Roland nears the two buildings. One is clearly a stable,
but the other looks like a house or inn.
In the shadows of the stable sits a figure, leaning
against the building.
Roland blinks. The figure appears to be the man in black.
Roland stumbles forward, drawing one gun. He runs the
best he can, his path a winding line. He kicks through
one of the fence rails. It shatters to dust beneath his
boot.
The figure in the shadows moves and lifts his head.
Roland races across the stable yard.
ROLAND
You're covered! You're covered!
The figure stands up - too thin and short to be the man
in black. Roland slows his charge and shakes his head.
The figure is a boy - JAKE - with sun-bleached blonde
hair. The boy wears jeans with a brown patch and a thick
weave sweater. His eyes are wide and fearful. He backs
up into the stable.
Roland stumbles closer, gun still raised on the boy.
ROLAND
Cuthbert! That you? Stop your
playing! Someone'll get hurt...
Roland holsters his gun, takes two more steps, and falls
unconscious to the earthen floor of the stable.
INT. STABLE - DAY (LATER)
ROLAND'S P.O.V. - STABLE RAFTERS
-come into focus, the bright sunlight coming through the
missing slats. The boy hunkers down near him and offers
Roland a tin can.
BACK TO SCENE
Roland lies on his back where he fell into the stable, a
pile of hay beneath his head. He looks down at his chest
to see he is wet with water. The boy hands him the tin
cup filled with water. He drinks a little. Sits up.
Drinks more and pours the rest over his head, coming
back to himself. The water drips from his beard.
The boy smiles.
JAKE
Want something to eat?
ROLAND
Not yet.
(beat)
Who are you?
JAKE
My name is Jake Chambers.
Roland instinctively raises the cup to drink more, but
it is empty. Jake takes the tin can.
JAKE
There's more.
Jake retreats to the rear of the stable. A strange,
THUMPING HUM causes Roland to reach for his guns, but
soon he relaxes again. Jake comes back with fresh water.
Roland drinks sparingly.
He removes his dustcoat with a GROAN, then unbuckles his
gunbelt and holsters, setting them at his side in a neat
pile.
JAKE
What's your name?
ROLAND
Roland.
JAKE
I thought you were gonna shoot
me.
ROLAND
I thought you were someone else.
JAKE
The priest?
Roland is fully alert.
ROLAND
Priest? Did he wear a black hood
and cassock?
JAKE
What's a cassock?
ROLAND
A robe.
Jake nods.
JAKE
He camped in the yard. His horse
stayed in the stable. I was in
the house over there. He scared
me, so I didn't come out. I
would've hidden from you too,
but I was sleepin'.
(beat)
I don't like people. They fuck
me up.
Roland leans forward.
ROLAND
How long ago?
Jake recoils.
ROLAND
I'm not going to hurt you. How
long ago did you see the priest?
JAKE
I don't know. Every day is the
same here. Maybe a week or two,
I don't know. I haven't been
here too long.
(beat)
There's some dried meat.
ROLAND
All right. Good.
Jake rises. Roland inspects him - inspects his strange
white shoes, too clean to have walked the desert. The
boy's skin is tan, but not cracked - his posture is
straight and strong. Jake leaves.
Roland drinks from the tin can again.
The boy returns with a pile of jerky on a breadboard.
Roland eats.
ROLAND
Where did you come from, Jake?
JAKE
I don't know. I knew when I woke
up here, but now it's all fuzzy,
like a dream. A bad dream.
ROLAND
Did someone bring you here?
JAKE
No. I was just here.
Roland looks at him.
JAKE
I'm telling the truth! I was
just here. I didn't ask to be
here. I don't like it here.
ROLAND
Don't feel sorry for yourself.
Make do.
(beat)
What can you remember?
JAKE
There was a place... the one
before this one. A high place
with lots of rooms and a patio
where you could look at tall
buildings and water. There was a
statue that stood on the water.
A lady with a crown and a torch.
ROLAND
Are you playing with me, boy?
JAKE
No! I swear!
(beat)
I walked to school. And I had a
brown... book bag. I carried a
lunch. And I wore... a tie.
ROLAND
What is that?
Jake motions at his throat, pretending to pull the knot
tight.
ROLAND
A noose?
Jake drops his hands in frustration.
JAKE
I don't know. I can't remember!
It's all gone.
ROLAND
Jake, may I put you to sleep? It
might help you remember.
Roland removes one of the shells from his gunbelt and
twirls it in his fingers, smooth as oil. The shell
glints in the intermittent light coming through the
stable roof.
JAKE
I'm not sleepy.
The shell continued its fluid dance across the
gunslinger's fingers.
Jake smiles dreamily, his eyes droop, his face goes
slack, and he falls asleep.
The sound of WINDCHIMES rises, and Roland allows the
shell to drop into the palm of his hand. He makes a
tight fist around it.
ROLAND
Where are you, Jake?
The sound of the WINDCHIMES crests-
BEGIN FLASHBACK:
EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREET (YEAR) - DAY
Jake Chambers walks out of the apartment building doors
onto the sidewalk. He wears the same clothes - blue
jeans with a brown patch, and a brown sweater - and he
also carries a bookbag.
He walks down the sidewalk, keeping to himself. Yellow
cabs stream by on the street. He walks by shops with
mannequins in the windows.
The swirl of a black robe follows him.
EXT. INTERSECTION - DAY
Jake stops at the curb, waiting for the signal to change
to "walk."
JAKE'S SHOES
-are the same white sneakers that Roland has never seen
before. Behind Jake's feet, black boots step close, the
ends of the black robe surrounding them swaying in the
breeze.
Jake begins to turn, seeing the man in black in the
corner of his eye. But it is too late.
GLOVED HANDS
-push Jake squarely in the back.
Jake falls into the street.
He stares into the asphalt so close.
The bookbag springs from his hands.
A big, blue Cadillac runs him over. Jake's body CRUNCHES.
Jake watches the Cadillac's taillights flare red, smoke
coming from the SQUEALING wheels as it stops. People
SCREAM as they hover close.
Jake coughs up blood. Blood streams from his eyes. His
ears. He hears a voice through the screams:
MAN IN BLACK (O.S.)
I am a priest. Let me through.
An act of Contrition...
Jake sees the black boots walking toward him. The swirl
of black robe. He turns his head away with the last of
his strength as the shadow of the man in black falls
over him.
END FLASHBACK.
INT. STABLE - DAY
Roland sits with Jake. Jake sleeps with his hands folded
in his lap. Roland frowns, deep in thought.
ROLAND
Jake?
JAKE
Uh-huh?
ROLAND
Do you want to remember this
when you wake up?
JAKE
Forget it.
(beat)
I bled.
ROLAND
All right. You're going to
sleep, understand? You won't
remember any of this when you
wake up. Go ahead and lie over.
JAKE
Kay.
The boy lies down and sleeps. Roland looks at him
thoughtfully for a moment.
He turns and looks to the back of the stable. He rises,
grabbing the empty tin cup, and walks there. He reaches
the doorway of a small, dark room. He slowly enters the-
INT. PUMP ROOM - DAY
In the center of the room sits a stainless steel
machine, still gleaming bright after all this time,
untouched by rust or rot. A pipe juts from its left
side, terminating over a drain in the floor.
ON THE MACHINE
-a nuclear symbol is etched into the steel, as well as a
serial number and the manufacturer's name - "NORTH
CENTRAL POSITRONICS."
Roland pushes the "ON" button. The machine HUMS to life,
and moments later, clear, cold water streams from the
end of the pipe and falls down the drain.
Roland dips the tin can beneath the stream, pouring the
water over his head. He strips free of his shirt and
washes himself, scrubbing away the dust.
Many scars of all shapes mark his body.
INT. STABLE - DAY
Roland emerges from the pump room looking refreshed,
clean shaven and naked from the waist up.
He looks down on the sleeping boy for a moment before
lying down himself. He closes his eyes and falls asleep.
INT. STABLE - NIGHT (DUSK)
Roland wakes. He looks to his side. The boy is gone.
He rises and walks to the stable doors. Looking out, he
sees a small flame glowing on the porch of the inn. He
walks across the-
EXT. WAY STATION - NIGHT (DUSK)
Roland nears the porch of the inn and sees that Jake
sits there with a kerosene lamp.
Jakes watches Roland approach with fear in his eyes -
fear that is pushed away with a faltering smile.
JAKE
The oil is in a drum in the
house. I was afraid to burn it
inside. It's so dry.
ROLAND
You did just right.
Roland climbs the steps of the-
EXT. INN - FRONT PORCH - NIGHT (DUSK)
Roland sits down and reaches into his pocket. He rolls a
cigarette. Jake watches him do it.
JAKE
There's a cellar too. You pull
up a ring in the floor. I didn't
go down. I was afraid the ladder
might break and I'd be stuck
down there.
(beat)
And it smelled bad down there. I
didn't like it.
Roland finishes rolling the cigarette and lights it from
the lamp. He draws deep and exhales.
ROLAND
We need to talk.
Jake nods.
ROLAND
I'm on the trail of that man you
saw.
JAKE
Are you going to kill him?
ROLAND
Maybe. After he tells me
something. After he takes me
someplace, if he will.
JAKE
Where?
ROLAND
A tower. The Dark Tower.
JAKE
Like a castle?
ROLAND
Sort of.
JAKE
Who lives there?
ROLAND
I think God did once. Maybe He
still does. But now the Dark
Tower is under siege, by the
Crimson King.
JAKE
Is he the Devil?
ROLAND
Maybe. The man you saw is one of
his minions.
(beat)
They seek to bring the tower
down, and the rest of the world
with it.
It is silent for a moment, so silent the sound of the
FLAME can be heard.
JAKE
So when are we leaving?
Roland looks to the boy. He smiles.
ROLAND
Tomorrow, Jake. Tomorrow.
INT. STABLE - DAY (SUNRISE)
Roland wakes to the HUM of the pump. The spot where Jake
had slept is empty. He rises and walks to the back of
the stable and into the doorway of the-
INT. PUMP ROOM - DAY (SUNRISE)
Jake fills the waterskin at the pump. He shakes the
waterskin and tips it over the drain in the floor. Water
mixed with clotted clumps of blood spill out the end.
JAKE
Yuck!
ROLAND
Good morning.
Jake turns to the door.
JAKE
Oh, hi Roland. I figured you
needed your sleep, so I didn't
wake you. Hope you don't mind,
but I thought I'd start getting
ready to leave.
(looks at the
waterskin)
What the hell did you have in
this?
(beat)
No. Don't answer that. Better I
don't know.
ROLAND
Good work, boy. Maybe you will
live through this.
Roland leaves the room and Jake inside. Jake watches him
go.
INT. INN - AT CELLAR DOOR - DAY (LATER)
Roland's hand grips the rusted ring and pulls up the
door in the floor. A ladder descends into the darkness.
Jake puts a hand over his nose, grimacing. Roland does
not react.
JAKE
You smell that?
ROLAND
Old rot.
Roland tests the ladder, and once satisfied he climbs
down into the-
INT. CELLAR - DAY
Roland looks about the dark space, allowing his eyes to
adjust. The cellar floor is earthen. His head almost
touches the overhead beams.
Spiderwebs fill the spaces between the beams.
From the door above, Jake watches.
JAKE
You all right?
(beat)
Roland?
Roland spies boxes in the far corner.
ROLAND
Yes. There are cans. Wait.
Roland ducks and walks to the far corner. As he does,
small shapes move in the shadows between the beams. Tiny
eyes glint and watch the gunslinger below.
Near the box of cans are other boxes, filled with
rotting food of one kind or another.
He hunkers down and sorts through the cans, the labels
on them peeling. There are green beans, yellow beans and
three cans of corned beef. He scoops up an armload and
returns to the ladder.
INT. INN - AT CELLAR DOOR - DAY
Jake looks down into the shadows of the cellar.
ROLAND (O.S.)
Here!
A can flies up out of the darkness. Jake catches it.
Another can comes fast, looping and striking the floor.
Jake catches three more, setting them in a pile near the
door.
ROLAND (O.S.)
There's more.
INT. CELLAR - DAY
Roland returns to the corner. Something black and moving
catches his eye as it descends the sandstone wall. He
turns and it is gone.
INT. INN - AT CELLAR DOOR - DAY
Jake watches Roland climb the ladder with his second
load of cans.
JAKE
Careful.
Roland hands over the cans. Some roll across the floor.
ROLAND
We best be going. There is
something down-
The foundations GROAN. A rung SNAPS beneath Roland, and
he falls to the cellar floor in a heap.
JAKE
Roland! Roland!
INT. CELLAR - DAY
Roland rises to his feet slowly.
ROLAND
I'm okay!
The foundations GROAN again. And BREATHE. Roland looks
to the-
FAR WALL
Sand spills from one of many cracks in the sandstone
foundation, as if something is digging its way out.
JAKE (O.S.)
Come back up, Roland!
ROLAND
Quiet, boy!
Roland draws his weapon with his right hand and steadily
walks toward the-
FAR WALL
There is now a black hole in the wall. The GROAN ceases,
as does the spilling sand. There is nothing but
BREATHING.
ROLAND
Who are you?
Silence, but for the BREATHING.
ROLAND
Who are you, Demon? Speak, if
you would speak. My hands lose
patience.
From the hole, a deep, cracking voice speaks:
SPEAKING DEMON
Go slow, gunslinger. While you
travel with the boy, the man in
black travels with your soul in
his pocket.
(beat)
Go slow past the Doors.
INT. INN - AT CELLAR DOOR - DAY
The sound of the demon's VOICE is muffled. Jake cannot
make it out. But there is another sound - a SCRATCHING
beneath the floorboards.
INT. CELLAR - DAY
Roland stands before the hole in the wall.
ROLAND
What do you mean? Speak on?
The breathing is gone.
Above, between the floorbeams, shadows begin to move
again.
Roland steps forward and drives his left fist deep into
the hole in the wall. He pulls it free and in his hand
is a-
JAWBONE
Cobwebs like fabric trail from the jawbone. Its teeth
lean this way and that.
ROLAND
And now I carry your voice in my
pocket, Speaking Demon.
Roland thrusts the jawbone into his back pocket, half in
and half out.
From the-
HOLE IN THE WALL
-spiders spill out. They are large and mutated, with
mottled gray bodies. Some have eyes on stalks, others
scurry on sixteen legs, while some are nothing but teeth
and venom.
Roland stumbles back. The spiders drop onto him from the
shadows between the beams above.
INT. INN - AT CELLAR DOOR - DAY
Curling around the edge of the open cellar door, spiderlegs
like black fingers reach for the boy. The mutated
spider appears, crawling toward Jake, as well as three
others.
Jake falls back onto his rear, his eyes wide.
JAKE
Roland!
ROLAND
-swats the spiders off his back, his shoulders, crawling
up his legs. One crawls up his chest and moves to bite
him in the face.
Roland grips the thing and squeezes. It crushes in his
fist. Yellow blood spurts from the cracks between his
fingers.
JAKE
-kicks back from the spiders crawling toward him. One
catches hold of his shoe. He kicks it away. They keep
coming.
One of the cans that had rolled away from the door is at
his side. He picks it up.
JAKE
Get away from me!
He brings the can down and smashes one of the spiders.
He SLAMS the can down again and again.
ROLAND
-reaches the ladder and holsters his weapon. Swatting
and stomping a few more spiders, he climbs the ladder.
The foundations GROAN again. The earth SHAKES.
Roland skips the broken rung and reaches the top. Jake
is there to give him a hand. Up into the-
INT. INN - CELLAR DOOR - DAY
Jake grunts and pulls on Roland's arm. They sit on the
floor with the yellow splotches that were once spiders.
ROLAND
Time to leave this place.
Roland stands and picks up as many cans as he can, as
does Jake. The inn shakes all around them. They run for
the front door and out onto the-
EXT. INN - FRONT PORCH - DAY
Their supplies are packed and ready to go in a pile -
the tote-sack all but full, the waterskin bloated.
Roland opens the tote-sack and allows the cans to drop
inside. Jake places his inside as well.
The inn rocks violently. Wood splinters. The earth
continues to shake. The GROAN turns to an ANGRY GROWL.
JAKE
Whatever you did, you pissed it
off!
Roland lifts the waterskin and hangs it around Jake's
neck. He hefts the tote-sack and drops it over his own
shoulder. The kerosene lantern is tied to the tote-sack.
ROLAND
Let's go.
They walk off the porch.
EXT. WAY STATION - DAY
The inn cracks and splinters, partially caving in at its
middle. Dust explodes out from the foundations as the
inn collapses.
Roland and Jake hurry to the coach road.
JAKE
You really pissed it off!
The desert hardpan cracks as something moves beneath the
sand from the inn to the stable. Dust trails in its wake.
ROLAND
Run, Jake!
The two run away from the way station as fast as they
can.
INT. PUMP ROOM - DAY
From the floor, dust and sand explode with a SCREAM. The
cloud of sand seems to wrap around the pump machine. It
begins to collapse inward, the stainless steel bunching
and bending.
EXT. DESERT COACH ROAD - DAY
They run, Roland in the lead, Jake falling behind.
Roland lifts the waterskin off Jake's neck and throws it
over his other shoulder.
ROLAND
Come on, boy! Remember the face
of your father and move!
IN THE PUMP ROOM
-the demon crushes the machine further, the metal
SCREAMING along with the demon. The-
NUCLEAR SYMBOL
-becomes indistinct as the machine folds in on itself,
smaller and smaller.
ROLAND AND JAKE
-run away, the dust puffing at their feet. Jake breathes
hard, but he keeps up now, free of the weight.
IN THE PUMP ROOM
-the demon and metal SCREAM and GROAN.
The metal of the machine is small now, collapsing to a
point, the nuclear plug at its center being crushed with
enough force to flash and-
EXT. DESERT COACH ROAD - DAY
Behind Roland and Jake, the way station EXPLODES with an
intense flash of light.
A SHOCKWAVE races across the desert toward them, kicking
up sand and dust.
Roland and Jake fall forward with the blast.
A small mushroom cloud rises from where the way station
once stood.
Jake looks back, his eyes wide.
JAKE
The thing had a fucking nuke?!
ROLAND
It used the pump.
(beat)
He wants us to keep moving.
Jake looks over at Roland as they lie in the dust.
JAKE
The priest?
Roland rises.
ROLAND
He's not a priest. He's a
wizard. Like Merlin.
Roland helps Jake to his feet.
ROLAND
Do they tell of Merlin where you
come from, Jake?
JAKE
Merlin and Arthur and his
knights of the round table?
ROLAND
(taken aback)
Yes.
(he smiles)
You are a strange boy.
Jake grabs the waterskin from Roland and drapes it over
his shoulders again.
JAKE
I'm strange? I guess in a world
where spiders the size of New
York rats have sixteen legs, and
water pumps double as nuclear
warheads, I would be the strange
one.
Jake starts walking again, leaving the mushroom cloud
behind. Roland watches him walk away for a moment. His
smile fades.
Roland walks on, toward the shape of the mountains on
the horizon.
EXT. DESERT COACH ROAD - DAY
ABANDONED CAMPFIRE
-of charred devil grass sits in its familiar pattern. A
small hand pokes at it and it crumbles.
Jake hunkers over the abandoned campfire. Roland steps
up behind him.
JAKE
It's his, isn't it? Merlin's?
ROLAND
Yes. And his name is Marten.
JAKE
That's confusing.
Jake smiles at Roland.
ROLAND
You have the eyes of a tracker,
boy.
(beat)
We camp here tonight.
EXT. ROLAND AND JAKE'S CAMP - NIGHT
The devil grass campfire burns slow and blue. Jake
watches Roland silently.
Roland smokes a cigarette and inspects the jawbone,
turning it over in his hands.
JAKE
Where'd you get that?
ROLAND
In the cellar. It's the speaking
demon's voice.
JAKE
Why'd you take it?
ROLAND
I don't know.
EXT. DESERT COACH ROAD - DAY
The wind HOWLS, churning up sand. Roland and Jake
struggle against the scourging wind.
From out of the sandy haze, the shape of a wagon
appears, partially buried in the drifting sand.
JAKE
It's his, Roland.
ROLAND
Stay back.
Roland draws one of his guns and approaches the wagon.
Jake stays back and watches.
Behind Jake, a mound of sand shifts and moves.
ROLAND
-reaches the wagon. The tarp is still lashed tight, but
it is frayed in places. The frayed ends flap in the wind.
BEHIND JAKE
Something rises from the desert floor, the sand spilling
off its leathery hide.
ROLAND
-grabs at the tarp and rips it free of the wagon. His
eyes inspect the contents of the wagon - empty cans,
empty bottles, wooden boxes - training his gun on all he
inspects.
He looks up.
ROLAND
Where's the horse?
BEHIND JAKE
-the dead horse rises, decayed and desiccated, from the
sand that buried it. Its eyes open, black and dead, as
well as a third eye in its forehead. It blinks red and
finds the boy.
JAKE
-watches Roland, and hears a GRUNT behind him. He turns
to face the dead horse standing at his back. His eyes
widen as he looks into the third red eye, and feels the
thing's breath rush against his face.
DEMON/DEAD HORSE
Hear my prophecy, boy...
ROLAND
-sees Jake, and the dead horse behind him. He points his
gun but hesitates.
ROLAND
Jake! Drop!
JAKE
-doesn't hear the gunslinger, but stares into the dead
horse's eye. The horse GROWLS deep in its decayed
throat, a sound a horse cannot make.
DEMON/DEAD HORSE
The gunslinger will be forced to
choose. Between love and the
Tower. A choice made many times
before.
Jake backs away as-
ROLAND
-makes his way back to the boy, running, gun raised. He
cannot get a clear shot. The boy still stands in the way.
ROLAND
Drop, damn you!
THE HORSE
-gallops forward, rushing the boy.
DEMON/DEAD HORSE
Do you think, this time, he will
change? Do you think he can?
It rears up on its hind legs, towering over Jake,
blotting out the hazy sun. The horse SHRIEKS and its
hooves come down.
ROLAND
Drop, Jake!
Jake falls to the sand and rolls. The hooves come down
behind him, the sand exploding out from the impact.
Roland fires his weapon and strikes the corpse in its
third eye. Its skull shatters, and a thin stream of red
seems to evaporate into the air. The horse falls into
the sand, dead again.
Roland holsters his weapon and rushes to Jake.
ROLAND
Are you okay, boy? Are you hurt?
Roland's hands are all over Jake, checking him for
wounds.
Jake brushes his hands away.
JAKE
I'm okay, I'm okay.
Jake stands up and brushes himself off. He walks away.
JAKE
Let's just go.
Roland watches him go. He takes a deep breath of relief
and follows him.
EXT. DESERT COACH ROAD - DAY
The mountains are clearer now, no longer wavering in the
desert heat but rising high and snow-capped on the close
horizon. The desert rises into foothills, bedrock
breaching the surface. And beyond, as the land climbs
steadily, green life - grass, dwarf spruces, and willows
fed by snowmelt.
Roland and Jake pause to admire the view. Jake inspects
the waterskin hanging across his chest.
JAKE
We're almost out of water.
ROLAND
It won't matter soon.
EXT. FOOTHILLS - NIGHT
The devil grass campfire burns. On the horizon, towering
stormclouds slam against the mountains. They flash with
purple lightning - silent.
Jake watches the lightning, fascinated.
Roland again inspects the jawbone.
JAKE
Roland!
ROLAND
(uninterested)
What, boy?
JAKE
Roland! Look! A fire!
Roland reacts immediately, setting the jawbone down and
rising to his feet.
A good distance away, further up the rising foothills,
the unmistakable twinkle of another campfire meets his
gaze. Jake stands by Roland's side.
JAKE
That's him, isn't it? Marten?
ROLAND
Yes. We're gaining on him.
They watch the campfire.
EXT. FOOTHILLS - NIGHT (LATER)
Roland lies down, propping his head on his bedroll. Jake
pulls Roland's dustcoat over himself.
ROLAND
Get some rest, we push hard
tomorrow.
Roland looks over. Jake looks back, shivering beneath
the coat.
Roland closes his eyes and sighs.
ROLAND
Best train your body not to feel
the cold, boy. It will be colder
in the mountains.
JAKE
I'm not cold.
Roland looks over to Jake. Jake's eyes are wide.
ROLAND
He is still a good ways off,
Jake.
JAKE
I know.
Beat.
ROLAND
All right. Come here.
Jake immediately gets up and lies down next to Roland.
Roland opens his arms and looks down at the boy's head
resting on his chest, as if unsure what to do. He sets
his arms at his sides.
ROLAND
Get some sleep.
EXT. FOOTHILLS - DAY
Roland and Jake walk up a gentle slope toward the rising
mountains. Pebbles and sand run from their footfalls to
the flat shelf of desert behind.
Roland sets his hands on his hips and looks back the way
they had come.
THE DESERT
Like an off-white sheet, stretches from horizon to
horizon as far as he can see.
Jake looks back as well.
JAKE
I can't believe we walked across
that.
ROLAND
You did well, boy.
(beat)
It's beautiful from here, isn't
it?
JAKE
From here, yeah. From down
there, it sucked.
ROLAND
(not listening to Jake)
My mother used to say that the
only real beauty is order, and
love, and light.
(beat)
But it is beautiful. Like an
empty page, waiting for the pen.
Only wanting to tell the story.
Any story. Of heroes or
villains. It doesn't matter to
it.
Jake looks at Roland for a moment, who looks at the
expanse of desert. The boy turns to look the way
forward, up the slope to the rising mountains.
JAKE
Roland, look!
Roland turns away from the sight of the desert and
follows Jake's pointing finger, past the green plain at
the foot of the mountains, to the rocky cliffs and
gorges above.
A TINY BLACK DOT
Moves up the slope.
Roland sets his hand on Jake's shoulder.
ROLAND
Well done, boy.
JAKE
It's him?
The black dot seems to dance up the rising granite cliff.
ROLAND
Yes.
JAKE
You think we'll catch him?
ROLAND
Not on this side. On the other.
JAKE
What's on the other side?
ROLAND
Don't know. Don't think anybody
does. Maybe they did once,
before the world moved on.
(beat)
Let's go.
Roland walks past Jake up the slope. Jake watches the
black dot high up the mountainside. His eyes drop to
Roland.
EXT. FOOTHILLS - DAY
Roland and Jake toil up the slope of rocks and scree.
There are clumps of devil grass, but also other hardy
plants and scrub brush.
ROLAND
Do you hear them, boy?
JAKE
Hear what?
They pause for a moment. From the stillness rises the
sound of CHIRPING CRICKETS.
JAKE
Wow, we're close aren't we Rol-
In a flash Roland draws and FIRES. The THUNDERCLAP
startles Jake. He covers his ears with his hands.
JAKE
Jesus, Roland! You could warn me!
Roland walks forward twenty paces or so and reaches down
behind a clump of scrub brush. He lifts a dead rabbit by
its legs. Its head is gone.
ROLAND
Do you like rabbit stew, Jake?
EXT. GRASS PLAIN - DAY (SUNSET)
Roland walks through waves of grass dancing in the wind,
painted a dull red with the setting sun behind the
mountains. Jake runs out in front of him, skipping and
LAUGHING.
JAKE
You smell that, Roland? Life.
Life!
Roland manages a smile, following behind at an easy
pace. He looks ahead, the grass plain and dwarf spruces
leading to a-
WILLOW JUNGLE
Beneath the hanging branches, darkness looks back out at
him.
Roland reaches out a hand as if to stop the boy.
ROLAND
Hold, Jake!
Jake stops and looks back.
ROLAND
We camp here tonight.
JAKE
I'll get the firewood!
ROLAND
No. Sit yourself. Here.
Roland lets the tote-sack drop with a thump into the
grass. He pulls free his knife and throws it into the
ground.
ROLAND
Skin and gut the rabbit.
JAKE
Okay.
Roland takes the waterskin off Jake's neck.
ROLAND
You'll do fine.
Roland walks toward the woods.
EXT. WILLOW JUNGLE - NIGHT (DUSK)
Roland pauses a moment before entering the woods. The
crickets CHIRP.
He enters the woods, stepping over tangled roots
breaching the surface and ducking beneath the hanging
branches of the willows.
The light fades the deeper he goes.
Exiting beneath one of many willows, the wood opens onto
a-
EXT. SPRING - NIGHT (DUSK)
Mountain fed, it stretches before him like a mirror. He
kneels at the water's edge and fills the waterskin.
He listens to the sound of the woods. Beneath the
crickets, something soft MOANS and SIGHS. He looks up at
the willows, seeing their branches sway with a slight
wind, seeming to SIGH - notices the thicker branches
move with a MOAN.
He caps the waterskin and makes his way back to camp.
EXT. GRASS PLAIN - NIGHT (DUSK)
The sky above is purple. The stars begin to appear.
The headless rabbit in Jake's hands is skinned. Jake
carefully slices into its guts and thumbs out the
insides.
Roland approaches the camp, waterskin filled and arms
full of deadwood. He drops the wood in a heap and begins
to build the fire.
ROLAND
Let me see.
Jake holds up the dressed rabbit. Roland reaches into
the tote-sack and retrieves a small iron pot.
ROLAND
Good. Now separate the meat from
the bone.
JAKE
I can hardly see.
ROLAND
That will be remedied.
Roland strikes the flint into the wood and tinder
structure.
EXT. ROLAND AND JAKE'S CAMP - NIGHT
The iron pot boils atop the small fire, filled with some
of the canned vegetables and pieces of rabbit meat.
Roland looks into a small mirror, soap lathered on his
face, shaving with the same knife. He pours a small
amount of water into his hand and washes the traces of
lather away.
JAKE
It smells good.
He sheathes the knife and retrieves a bent spoon. He
dips the spoon into the stew, tastes it, and nods.
ROLAND
It is good.
JAKE
I'm starving.
Jake holds one of the empty cans. Roland reaches out to
Jake and pours the stew into the can. He also hands the
boy the spoon.
ROLAND
I've only got the one.
JAKE
Thanks.
Roland pours the stew into his own empty can, swirls it
around for a moment, and tips it into his mouth.
EXT. ROLAND AND JAKE'S CAMP - NIGHT (LATER)
Roland sits, smoking a cigarette, watching the wood fire
crackle and burn. Jake lies on his side, watching him
with curious eyes.
JAKE
Why do you chase him?
ROLAND
I told you. I seek the Dark
Tower.
JAKE
I know that's what you told me.
(beat)
Why are you really chasing him?
Roland looks over at Jake.
ROLAND
You see the truth of things,
don't you boy?
Jake doesn't answer.
ROLAND
When I was a boy, a little older
than you are now, I lived in the
last great city of Mid-World,
Gilead. My father, of the
bloodline of Arthur Eld and a
gunslinger, was Lord, and my
mother his Lady. Marten...
(beat)
Marten was my father's most
trusted advisor.
Roland pulls the last drag on his cigarette, looks at it.
ROLAND
Marten betrayed my father, and
all of Gilead with him.
Roland throws the remnant of cigarette into the fire.
JAKE
That sucks.
(quieter)
I'm sorry, Roland.
(quieter still)
He'll get what he deserves.
Roland looks over at Jake to see he is asleep. He
smiles, reaches for his bedroll - a horse blanket,
really - and unrolls it. He drapes it over the sleeping
boy.
He looks high up into the mountains, and sees the faint
glow of firelight.
BEGIN DREAM:
EXT. GILEAD - DAY
The city of Gilead is made of worn stone and wooden
shingle roofs. A stone wall surrounds the city, guarded
by soldiers. A large castle stands at its center. The
decay is apparent - the world is beginning to move on.
INT. CASTLE - UPPER CORRIDOR - DAY
YOUNG ROLAND walks down the hallway, wearing faded blue
jeans and a loose shirt. His legs are gangly and chest
wide - his body midway between a child and a man -
hinting at the man to come.
He crosses a partially opened doorway on his left. From
inside, a voice calls out:
MARTEN (O.S.)
You there! Roland!
Roland opens the door slowly.
INT. ROLAND'S MOTHER'S APARTMENT - DAY
Inside, Marten stands near the bed, his shirt unbuttoned
and loose, the fly of his black trousers undone, his
hair tousled.
ROLAND'S MOTHER lays in bed, naked and covering herself
with the bedsheet. Her black hair falls over a naked
shoulder. She sees Roland, and her eyes drop.
MARTEN
Don't stand in the hall! Come
in! Your mother wants to speak
with you.
Young Roland enters the room.
ROLAND'S MOTHER
Are you well, son?
Marten stands at her side, hand on her naked shoulder,
smiling on them both.
YOUNG ROLAND
Yes.
ROLAND'S MOTHER
Your training goes well?
YOUNG ROLAND
(to Marten)
I'll be a gunslinger soon.
MARTEN
Wonderful!
(beat)
You have a scar on your
forehead. Are you going to be a
fighter like your father, or are
you just slow?
YOUNG ROLAND
Both.
Roland's mother looks up at him.
ROLAND'S MOTHER
You killed us all, son.
She stands up in bed, allowing the sheet to drop and
reveal her naked body.
MARTEN
Look at that, Roland! How could
I resist?
YOUNG ROLAND
Mother?
Roland's mother is gone, and in her place is a naked
girl, her blonde hair in a braid, falling across her
shoulder. She is SUSAN.
SUSAN
You killed me, lover.
YOUNG ROLAND
Susan?
MARTEN
(looking Susan up and
down)
Very nice, boy. I'm impressed.
YOUNG ROLAND
Silence, bondsman!
Roland pulls his gun from the holster that is now there.
Young Roland has aged in an instant, becoming the man.
Susan screams and fire engulfs her beautiful body. She
blisters, then turns black, her skin cracking open.
SUSAN
You killed me! Just as you will
the boy! All for your damned
Tower!
ROLAND
No, Susan!
His tear-filled eyes turn to Marten, still taking aim on
him.
ROLAND
You, stop this enchantment!
MARTEN
Don't blame me, Roland. You
brought this on yourself.
Susan is a pyre, charred flesh and bones.
SUSAN
The boy! Roland, the boy!
ROLAND
No!
He fires the gun. The smoke clears and Jake stands where
Marten once stood, his eyes made of marble and a gaping
bullethole in his forehead.
Roland SCREAMS.
END DREAM.
EXT. ROLAND AND JAKE'S CAMP - NIGHT
Roland wakes with a start, the dying embers of the
campfire meeting his wide eyes. Jake is not there, the
bedroll lying in a bunched heap.
ROLAND
Jake?
He hears a SMALL GROAN. Roland looks to the-
WILLOW JUNGLE
In the moonlight, a trodden path is visible in the grass
laden with dew.
Roland reaches for his gunbelt and withdraws his gun. He
sees the jawbone in the grass and grabs it as well,
shoving it in his back pocket.
He races across the grass plain to the mouth of the
willow jungle.
EXT. SPRING - NIGHT
Roland follows Jake's tracks through the wood to the
edge of the spring. Roland hears the SMALL GROAN again,
louder now.
On the far side of the spring, muddy tracks continue on.
Roland splashes through the shallow spring and up the
opposite bank-
INTO THE JUNGLE
He crashes through higher grass and brambles; sprints
down a tunnel of overhanging willow and sumac thick with
hanging moss in places.
He reaches a-
EXT. CLEARING - NIGHT
The stars shine above, and the angular shape of the
mountain peaks look down on him.
In the center of the clearing is a-
RING OF BLACK STONES
In the center of the ring is a stone altar.
Jake stands before the altar, his back to Roland.
ROLAND
Jake!
Jake responds with the same GROAN. Roland rushes
forward, pistol drawn and aimed near the boy.
Roland steps into the-
EXT. CIRCLE OF STONES - NIGHT
Roland reels, shaking his head, dizzy. He looks at Jake.
ROLAND
Jake!
Jake turns, his face pale and twitching. His eyes are
rolled back, nothing but the whites and like marble. A
red eye is open and staring in his forehead.
The red eye glares at Roland.
Jake issues an INHUMAN SCREAM as the DEMON inside him
rushes out toward Roland, a red cloud of shimmering
velvet escaping Jake's eyes, mouth, nostrils and ears.
Jake collapses to the earth as a voice issues forth from
the charging cloud, sensuous, the voice of Susan:
DEMON/SUSAN
Come unto me, Roland. Come into
me.
Roland reaches into his back pocket and withdraws the
jawbone, pointing its crooked smile at the charging
demon.
ROLAND
Back, Demon!
The demon SHRIEKS and withdraws. Roland charges forward,
warding off the demon with the jawbone.
ROLAND
Away with you!
The red cloud dissipates, seeming to pull back into the
altar at the center of the circle of stones. All is
quiet.
Roland runs to Jake lying prone on the ground. He
holsters his gun in his waistband and lifts the boy into
his arms.
ROLAND
Jake! Wake up!
Jake's eyes roll forward and focus on Roland above him.
JAKE
Roland? Where am I?
Roland smiles with relief and pulls the boy close,
embracing him.
ROLAND
Good boy. I'm getting you out of
here.
Roland carries the boy over his shoulder, backing out of
the circle of stones with jawbone still in hand. The
voice of Susan comes to his ears again:
DEMON/SUSAN
Come unto me, Roland. Come into
me. I ache for you.
Roland leaves the stones behind.
EXT. ROLAND AND JAKE'S CAMP - NIGHT
Roland carefully sets Jake down by the glowing embers of
the fire. Roland sets a few more pieces of wood on the
coals, and the fire lights again.
JAKE
What happened?
ROLAND
You were sleepwalking.
(beat)
I have to go back there. I'll be
gone awhile.
JAKE
Don't leave me!
ROLAND
If I'm not back by sunrise,
continue on. Don't come looking
for me.
He reaches in his back pocket and withdraws the jawbone,
forcing Jake to hold it.
ROLAND
Keep holding this tight until
you are gone from this place.
Understand?
Jake nods.
Roland holsters his gun in the gunbelt and sets it back
on the earth. He opens the tote-sack and pulls out the
tobacco pouch. His fingers carefully pick out a small
white wrapper inside. He unwraps it and drops a-
WHITE PILL
Into the palm of his hand.
JAKE
What's that?
Roland laughs.
ROLAND
The philosopher's stone. Stories
tell of the Old Gods pissing on
the desert to make mescaline.
Roland pops the pill into his mouth and dry swallows.
Jake looks up at him, puzzled.
ROLAND
It's a drug. One that wakes you
up all the way for a little
while.
JAKE
Like LSD. Lucy in the sky with
diamonds.
ROLAND
What?
JAKE
I don't know. It just popped
out. I think it came from... you
know, before.
Roland nods, sitting down next to the fire and staring
into the flames.
JAKE
Will it hurt you?
ROLAND
It never has before.
(beat)
Be quiet now, and let it work
its magic.
THE FLAMES
Lick at the night sky. Shapes form within the hot light
and hotter dark: faces, smiling, yawning, weeping, all
of them looking out at Roland.
ROLAND
I have to go now.
Roland rises.
JAKE
Come back. Please.
ROLAND
Keep holding the jawbone, and
remember what I told you.
Roland turns his back on the boy and walks toward the
willow jungle.
EXT. CIRCLE OF STONES - NIGHT
Roland stands before the altar, looking at the upright
stones surrounding him, the overhanging branches of the
trees above, the mountain peaks and the moon. They
shimmer with blurry colors.
The crickets CHIRP, singing along with the CROAK of
frogs.
ROLAND
I'm here, demon.
Nothing but the crickets and frogs.
Roland climbs onto the altar and lies down, looking up
into the hanging branches and the stars above. The
branches sway, parting to reveal more faces, looking
down on him.
ROLAND
Come unto me. Now.
The call of the crickets and frogs stop.
DEMON/SUSAN (O.S.)
I come.
The grasses of the clearing move with a sudden wind,
bending toward the altar where Roland lays.
The demon rises above the altar and descends on him, a
cloud of rose petals. It takes the shape of Susan, her
naked body red velvet, her eyes gleaming like rubies.
ROLAND
Make your prophecy.
Susan smiles.
DEMON/SUSAN
Love me.
Roland GROANS and turns his head away, but the demon
follows.
ROLAND
Speak prophecy.
DEMON/SUSAN
Please. Don't be cold. It is
always so cold here-
The demon pulls his trousers open. It mounts him.
Roland SIGHS with pleasure, but quickly snaps back to
himself.
ROLAND
No. Speak, demon.
DEMON/SUSAN
Have a touch of mercy,
gunslinger. The same mercy you
showed your love so long ago.
Don't you love me?
ROLAND
You are not Susan. Susan is
dead.
The demon WEEPS, its tears falling like blood.
ROLAND
After.
DEMON/SUSAN
Now. Please. Now. It's been so
long.
ROLAND
Prophecy.
The demon stops weeping. It licks Roland's ear and
whispers:
DEMON/SUSAN
Hear my prophecy, my love.
The demon kisses him again and again as it speaks:
DEMON/SUSAN
Three. Three is the number of
your fate. Three Doors.
The demon moves to Roland's arms, kissing them.
DEMON/SUSAN
The first is young, dark-haired.
He stands on the brink of
robbery and murder. A demon has
infested him. The name of the
demon is Heroin.
ROLAND
I know of no such demon, even
from the nursery stories.
DEMON/SUSAN
There are other worlds,
gunslinger, and other demons.
These waters are deep.
The demon opens Roland's shirt and kisses his chest.
ROLAND
The second?
DEMON/SUSAN
She comes on wheels. Her mind is
iron, but her heart and eyes are
soft.
ROLAND
The third?
DEMON/SUSAN
In chains. I see no more.
ROLAND
The man in black?
DEMON/SUSAN
He is near. You will speak with
him. You will speak of the
Tower.
Beat.
ROLAND
And the boy?
The demon stops kissing him.
DEMON/SUSAN
He is your way to the man in
black. The man in black is your
way to the three. The three are
your way to the Dark Tower. Your
quest ends with you and you
alone.
ROLAND
God damn you.
DEMON/SUSAN
No god damned me.
ROLAND
Don't patronize me, Thing. I'm
stronger than you.
DEMON/SUSAN
Some live on love that comes to
the ancient places, even in
these sad and evil times. Some
live on blood. Even on the blood
of young boys.
ROLAND
May he not be spared?
DEMON/SUSAN
Cease your quest, gunslinger.
Strike your camp and turn back.
ROLAND
I am sworn by my father's guns
and by the treachery of Marten.
DEMON/SUSAN
Marten is no more. The man in
black has eaten his soul. This
you know.
ROLAND
I am sworn.
DEMON/SUSAN
Then you are damned, and those
you love with you.
Roland SIGHS, resigned.
ROLAND
Have your way with me, bitch.
EXT. ROLAND AND JAKE'S CAMP - DAY (SUNRISE)
Jake sleeps next to the smoldering fire, still clutching
the jawbone.
Roland stumbles out of the mouth of the woods, his
clothes hanging off of him, willow vines wrapped in a
bundle around one shoulder.
Jake wakes with a start, pointing the jawbone at Roland.
Roland walks toward Jake. Jake rubs his eyes.
JAKE
Roland? Is that you?
ROLAND
Yes. You can throw that thing
away now.
Jake looks at the jawbone and throws it into the grass
with revulsion. He wipes his hand across his sweater.
ROLAND
The demon is sated for now. But
we best get moving. Today we
make rope, and we climb.
Roland reaches the camp, drops the vines, and dips to
his gunbelt to pull free his gun. He looks past Jake
into the grass.
ROLAND
Plug your ears, Jake.
Jake plugs his ears with his fingers as Roland fires
three times in quick succession, in three different
directions.
ROLAND
Three. Three is the number of my
fate.
Jake uncovers his ears.
JAKE
What?
ROLAND
Nothing. We don't have to worry
about dinner tonight.
Jake smiles and asks in song:
JAKE
You kiww da wabbit?
ROLAND
Wabbit?
EXT. ROLAND AND JAKE'S CAMP - DAY
Roland finishes making rope, twining together the willow
vines. Jake sits off to the side, working with the knife
and smaller lengths of willow vine.
JAKE
Roland? Here.
Jake tosses Roland a small wooden object. Roland catches
it. It is a small cross made of two pieces of wood bound
together, with a larger loop of vine at the top of the
crucifix.
JAKE
It's from before. I remember it
protects anyone who wears it.
From demons.
ROLAND
Yes. It's a talisman. The sign
of the Jesus Man.
Roland drapes the cross over his head. It hangs against
his chest. Jake hangs his own on his neck.
ROLAND
Thankee-sai.
JAKE
Don't know if it'll work, but
it's not nearly as creepy as
that jawbone.
Roland smiles and continues his task.
EXT. MOUNTAINS - DAY
Roland and Jake climb, hefting their load of tote-sack
and waterskin, as well as braided rope made from the
vines. Three dead rabbits hang from Roland's belt,
bouncing against his legs as they pump.
JAKE
Scales the cliff, the rope lashed about his waist. His
sure hands and feet find the ledges.
ROLAND
Holds the other end of the rope below, watching the boy
climb with concerned eyes.
ROLAND
Careful, boy. Take your time.
JAKE
I'm fine!
Jake clambers over the top of the cliff face and looks
back down.
JAKE
Told you we didn't have to go
around!
Roland smiles.
ROLAND
Well done! Now tie the damn
thing off!
EXT. LEDGE - DAY (SUNSET)
A campfire burns and crackles. Roland skins and dresses
the rabbits. Jake lies atop the rock ledge, looking out
over the rocks below, the green jungle, grass plain and
desert beyond.
JAKE
Where are all the people? Why is
it all so empty?
ROLAND
There are people, far far behind
us. There were more, before the
world moved on.
Jake rolls back to look at Roland.
JAKE
Was there a war?
ROLAND
Even better. There was a
revolution. We won every battle,
and lost the war. In the end,
there were no winners, except
the Crimson King in his quest
for chaos.
(he chuckles)
And the scavengers that circle
the skies.
(grows more serious)
We made our last stand at a
place called Jericho Hill. All
of us gunslingers. My friends.
Now, I'm the last.
Jake is silent. His eyes droop. Roland notices.
ROLAND
Don't roll over in your sleep,
boy, or you may wake up in hell.
Jake smiles and rolls back, looking out over the
landscape painted red.
Roland continues his task, watching the boy, regret in
his eyes.
EXT. CANYON STREAM - DAY
Roland and Jake climb over boulders and hopping across
smaller stones as the water rushes past them. In some of
the rocky pockets, SNOW remains.
Jake stops before one pocket, staring down at a
FOOTPRINT in the snow. His face turns white.
JAKE
We're close.
Jake looks ahead, where the canyon rises steeper yet and
the falling stream curves up and to the right out of
sight. The THUNDER of a waterfall reaches his ears.
ROLAND
Go. The day's getting old.
Roland starts forward.
JAKE
Let's go back! Let's go back,
quick!
ROLAND
No, Jake. What's the matter with
you?
JAKE
I don't want to die. Not again!
Roland stares back at him, his face wooden.
ROLAND
You're not going to die. I won't
allow it.
JAKE
Do you promise?
Roland does not answer.
ROLAND
Come on, let's keep moving.
Jake manages to move forward. The two of them make their
way up the tumbled rocks of the stream and around the
corner to-
EXT. WATERFALL - DAY
From a rugged tunnel in the sheer cliff face, the river
spills out, crashing into the rocky stream twenty feet
below. A large pine tree grows on the right bank of the
stream.
Standing to the right of the waterfall, in the mouth of
the cave, is the man in black. He holds a staff and his
cloak waves in the wind.
MAN IN BLACK
Gunslinger! How well you fulfill
the prophecies of old! Like
Abraham and his son Issac, on
their way to the mountaintop!
Only you will not stay your
hand, Roland-
ROLAND
No I won't!
Roland pulls leather and FIRES three times.
The man in black ripples with movement, the bullets
harmlessly ripping through his cloak and slamming into
the rock behind. He LAUGHS.
MAN IN BLACK
Would you kill all your answers
so quickly, gunslinger?
ROLAND
Come down, Marten, and find out.
MAN IN BLACK
The other side of the mountain,
I think. There we will hold much
council.
(his hood turns to look
at Jake)
Just the two of us.
Jake seems to shrink, looking from the man in black
above to Roland at his side.
The man in black raises his arms, and in a mocking
impersonation of Charlton Heston as Moses:
MAN IN BLACK
Behold his mighty hand. God
opens the sea with the blast of
his nostrils.
(he brings the staff
down on the rock)
Aaaaaah-Choooooo!
The feigned SNEEZE echoes in the canyon, and the
waterfall rushes with incredible force. The water rushes
down to where Roland and Jake stand.
The man in black laughs again and disappears into the
tunnel beneath the mountain.
Roland lunges to the side, away from the wall of water.
Jake, stunned by the sight, manages to move but trips on
a rock.
From the safety of the side of the canyon, Roland
watches as Jake is struck by the rushing water. The boy
tumbles, whitewater cascading over and swallowing him.
ROLAND
Jake!
From out of the rushing water pops Jake's face. He
clutches a gnarled tree root, hanging on for his life.
JAKE
Roland! Help!
Roland looks up at the black mouth of the tunnel. Back
to Jake, the cross around the boy's neck appearing from
beneath the water. Back to the tunnel again, where the
man in black disappeared.
ROLAND
Hang on, Jake!
Roland holsters his weapon and makes his way back to
Jake. Wrapping an arm around the trunk of the tree, he
reaches out and grabs Jake's arm.
Roland pulls him from the water. Incredibly, Jake still
holds the waterskin, not lost to the rushing river.
Jake collapses on the shore as Roland falls back,
sitting on the shore. Jake coughs and shivers with the
chill.
JAKE
I thought you were going to
leave me.
Roland looks up at the cave, the power of the water
already receding.
ROLAND
I didn't.
(beat)
We stay here tonight.
EXT. WATERFALL - NEXT DAY
The fire beneath the pine tree smolders. Jake's clothes
hang from the lower branches, now dry. The boy pulls
them down and dresses.
Roland fills the waterskin in the stream, as well as his
own personal waterskin. Roland returns to the camp and
looks at Jake.
ROLAND
Come with me or stay. Your
choice.
Something SCREAMS, some animal, echoing through the
canyon.
JAKE
Some choice.
The two walk toward the cliff face and waterfall.
AT THE TOP
Roland and Jake finish their climb up the boulders.
Roland continues on into the black tunnel, the rushing
stream on his left.
Jake stops and looks back at the canyon, the desert on
the horizon barely visible. He turns and looks into the
blackness of the tunnel.
Roland seems to disappear into the murk.
Jake follows him.
INT. TUNNEL - DAY
Roland and Jake walk deeper and deeper, the river
rushing on their left.
ROLAND
Stop here for a minute.
Jake looks back at the daylight, a small dot in the
distance.
ROLAND
Don't look back, boy. It never
pays.
Roland strikes the flint into a small pile of tinder.
The sudden flash brightens their surroundings of tumbled
rocks and the jagged tunnel walls. A small flame is
kindled.
Roland lights the kerosene from the waystation.
Roland looks at Jake. Jake manages a smile.
ROLAND
Always keep looking forward.
The lantern shines into the tunnel and a smooth path in
the stone is clearly visible, running parallel to the
river.
INT. TUNNEL - LATER
Roland and Jake continue along the path.
Ahead, an upright, rectangular shape appears out of the
darkness. It is a stone pylon.
Jake runs ahead and brushes his hand along the smooth
surface, his fingers finding a steel ring. Roland is not
far behind.
JAKE
Look at this, Roland. It even
has a light.
At the top of the pylon is an electric lamp, long gone
dark.
ROLAND
It's a place to tether your
horse for the night.
JAKE
What night? Do you have any idea
what time it is?
ROLAND
None. I've lost all sense of
time in here.
(beat)
Let's go.
INT. TUNNEL - LANDBRIDGE - LATER
Roland and Jake cross the river, keeping to the path.
From out of the shadows, the opposite wall of the tunnel
shows signs of shoring - metal staves brace the curved
wall, running parallel to the tunnel. A similar electric
light is set into the curved stone.
Jake runs ahead.
JAKE
It's a railroad!
A pair of bright metal tracks is set inches above the
stone floor. The tracks continue forward, running
parallel to the river now on their right.
Roland looks left, to where the tracks enter a man-made
tunnel and continue on to unseen daylight somewhere
behind them. In the darkness of the railroad tunnel, a
faint green light glows. It quickly disappears.
ROLAND
We follow it. But after we rest.
INT. TUNNEL - RAILROAD - LATER
It is dark. Jake wakes from sleep. He rubs his eyes.
Roland is still asleep beside him, SNORING softly.
It is not completely dark - a faint green light comes
from the railroad tunnel behind them - enough to light
his surroundings.
Jake rises to his feet and walks back along the railroad
to the-
INT. TUNNEL - RAILROAD TUNNEL
The railroad curves around a slow corner. The green
light intensifies. Shadows pool in the cracks of the
tunnel.
Jake continues around the corner.
The source of the light appears to be a large-
FUNGAL GROWTH
On the side of the tracks. It glows with a green,
phosphorescent light.
JAKE
Cool.
Jake steps closer. He sees that the skin of the fungus
is slimy and wet, rough with small nodules. It pulsates
with both the bio-luminescent light and a sudden
movement.
Jake stops.
JAKE
What the-?
The fungus MOANS, and as it pulsates again, a SLURPING
NOISE, followed by the sound of BREATHING, fills the
railroad tunnel.
JAKE
Oh shit.
It is not a fungus - it is the curved back of a
nightmarish creature, hunched at the side of the tunnel.
The curved back straightens as it stands, the spine
visible beneath the phosphorescent skin, the back of its
gnarled head appearing. It continues to rise, almost
seven feet tall, its arms hanging from crooked
shoulders, its thick fingers covered with grime and
blood.
At its feet is what remains of its meal: a mountain goat.
The SLOW MUTANT turns, its drooping eyes staring at
Jake. It bares its bloodied teeth and SHRIEKS at him.
INT. TUNNEL - RAILROAD
Roland wakes with a start. He draws his gun and rises to
his feet.
ROLAND
Jake?
He turns to face the railroad tunnel. The green light
grows brighter.
JAKE
(O.S.)
Roland!
The SHRIEK follows.
JAKE
Runs back the way he came. He looks over his shoulder to
see the slow mutant following, charging at him on all
fours.
He runs out of the tunnel.
ROLAND
Watches Jake exit the tunnel, running between the metal
tracks. Behind him, the slow mutant gains on the boy.
JAKE
Runs. He sees Roland, standing with gun in hand.
JAKE
Shoot it! Shoot-
The slow mutant lashes out with its hand and catches
Jake's foot. Jake spills to the stone floor.
He rolls over to look up.
JAKE'S P.O.V. - THE SLOW MUTANT
Stands over him and SHRIEKS again as it lunges for the
kill. Its head EXPLODES and it falls back. The sound of
the GUNBLAST echoes throughout the rocky tunnel.
BACK TO SCENE
Jake wipes the thing's blood from his face.
JAKE
Jesus! Jesus!
Roland now stands above him, inspecting his kill. He
reaches down to Jake and helps him to his feet.
ROLAND
Are you okay?
JAKE
Yeah. What the hell was that?
ROLAND
A slow mutant.
JAKE
It sure wasn't slow!
ROLAND
Slow in the head. They were
human once, a long time ago.
Roland looks beyond the dead body of the thing to the-
RAILROAD TUNNEL
A faint green light glows steadily brighter, SHRIEKS
accompanying the light.
ROLAND
We need to move. Now!
EXT. TUNNEL - RAILROAD - LATER
Roland and Jake run down between the metal tracks,
carrying their load of waterskin, totesack, and unlit
kerosene lantern.
The tunnel is filled with the green light coming from
the railroad tunnel behind, growing brighter and
brighter, the SHRIEKS and MOANS louder and louder.
JAKE
I see something ahead!
Ahead-
A HANDCAR
Sits on the metal tracks, a flat square of metal with a
see-saw handle in the middle.
JAKE
It's a handcar!
ROLAND
A what?
JAKE
A handcar! Like in the old
movies. Watch!
Jake climbs onto the handcar, drops his waterskin load,
and pulls down on the handle, lifting his feet from the
floor and using all his weight. The handle SQUEALS but
does come down slowly, the handcar rolling ahead a few
feet.
FROM THE MOUTH OF RAILROAD TUNNEL
The shrieking horde of SLOW MUTANTS spill into the
larger tunnel, their phosphorescent green glow lighting
the rocky ceiling and the rushing river to the right.
JAKE
Hangs on the handle of the handcar, looking back over
his shoulder.
JAKE
Remember the face of your father
and get this thing moving,
Roland!
Roland climbs on, drops the tote-sack and lantern next
to the waterskin and stands at the other end of the seesaw
handle. He pulls up on the handle and Jake drops to
his feet.
The handcar slowly gets rolling, the SQUEALS of the
ancient gears fading and replaced by the SHRIEKING of
the slow mutants behind.
Roland pumps the see-saw handle, watching the glowing
mob of slow mutants charge closer.
Jake pumps at the other end of the handle, his eyes wide.
The slow mutants gain.
A rock strikes the handcar floor, thrown from the mob
behind. A leg bone ricochets off the pumping handle,
coming to rest at Jake's feet.
ROLAND
Don't look back, Jake.
JAKE
I'm looking forward! Looking
forward!
A slow mutant rushes forward from the pack, its hands
reaching for the handcar and Jake.
Roland lets his right hand drop from the handle and
pulls leather, shooting the thing in the head. The BLAST
echoes.
The slow mutant tumbles to the stone floor in a heap,
tripping up three others behind it.
ROLAND
Don't look back! Keep pumping!
Another mutant climbs the curved wall at the right side
of the track, leaping off of it, fingers hooked in a
swiping claw.
Roland shoots it in the chest. Its fingers brush through
Jake's trailing hair as it continues its descent onto
the tracks.
Jake SCREAMS.
A mutant jumps forward and grabs hold of the back of the
handcar. Its legs drag atop the stone, kicking and
trying to pull itself up.
Roland fires twice more, into the mob, the light from
the blast like a strobe.
Jake looks down to see the gripping fingers of the thing
in the gunflash. He stomps on them, smashing them, and
the mutant SCREAMS as it falls off the handcar.
The handcar rolls at a good pace now, pulling away from
the green horde.
Roland continues to pump with one arm, his right aiming
the gun left and right.
The slow mutants slow and finally stop as the handcar
races ahead of them. They watch them roll away into the
darkness.
Roland holsters his gun, both hands now on the handle.
ROLAND
I've got it, Jake.
Jake continues to pump, his eyes wide.
JAKE
Keep looking forward. Keep look-
ROLAND
Jake! I've got it. It's over.
Jake lets go of the handle and looks back at the slow
mutants, their hunched shapes and phosphorescent light
fading with the distance.
INT. TUNNEL - RAILROAD - HANDCAR - LATER
The handcar speeds on blindly through the dark.
The river RUSHES on their right.
Roland pumps the lever. He looks at the boy.
Jake looks forward, the wind pressing at his face.
Time passes as the handcar rolls atop the metal tracks.
AHEAD
A faint dull light glows, colorless and alien. Jake sees
the light.
JAKE
Is it more of them?
ROLAND
No. And it's not daylight either.
INT. TUNNEL - RAILROAD - SWITCHYARD
The faint glow reveals that the left tunnel wall has
fallen away, the tracks entering a larger space. Other
metal tracks join it, criss-crossing in a giant, complex
spider-web.
On some of the tracks sit dark boxcars. Roland and Jake
eye them nervously.
The dull glow brightens, its source revealed to be a
series of-
ENTRANCEWAYS
The metal tracks running parallel to their track split
off from the switchyard to enter them.
The handcar enters one tunnel, the light growing
brighter still. The sign above it reads: "TRACK 10 TO
SURFACE AND POINTS WEST."
JAKE
Well, we're still on the right
one, at least.
INT. TUNNEL - RAILROAD TUNNEL
Other tracks switch inside back and forth inside.
traffic lights still gleam with life, the ones facing
the moving handcar all green.
INT. TUNNEL - CENTRAL TERMINAL
The dull white light brightens as the handcar continues
on, a concrete LANDING PLATFORM on their left. The light
comes from fluorescent bulbs. The METALLIC GRATE of a
struggling air exchanger rises. Tiles line the tunnel
walls, broken away in places.
Grafitti marks the walls, one message reading "ALL HAIL
THE CRIMSON KING!" above a crudely painted red eye.
Roland allows the handcar to coast. Jake grabs the cross
around his neck and holds it in his fist.
JAKE
It's like the subway.
ROLAND
Subway?
JAKE
Never mind.
Small booths line the platform at regular intervals,
some dilapidated and crumbling, others still mostly
intact. A layer of dust covers everything.
Scattered throughout are-
MUMMIFIED CORPSES
Some lying on the ground, others propped against the
walls or booths. Empty eye sockets look back at them
above grinning teeth. Some wear trainman uniforms.
JAKE
Are those-?
ROLAND
Yes, Jake.
JAKE
Keep going, Roland. I don't like
this place.
Roland pumps the handcar handle again and they leave the
central terminal behind.
INT. TUNNEL - RAILROAD
Jake looks back and watches as the faint dull light
disappears.
JAKE
What happened back there?
ROLAND
I don't know. War. Poison gas.
(beat)
I've never seen the Old Ones
before. I've seen their
machines, but not them.
JAKE
Maybe I'm an Old One.
Jake smiles. Roland smiles in return.
ROLAND
Maybe, Jake. Maybe you're the
last.
JAKE
Just like you.
Jake looks forward again, into the darkness.
ROLAND
Yeah. Just like me.
The handcar continues on into the dark.
INT. TUNNEL - RAILROAD - LATER
Roland pumps the handcar handle. The kerosene lantern at
the front of the handcar is lit on its lowest setting -
a soft glow lights their path. Jake sleeps. Roland
watches him sleep in the gloom, the ever-present wind
fluffing his blonde hair.
Roland looks up.
A GREEN LIGHT
Steadily brightens, shining off the rolling rapids of
the river to the right of the tracks.
ROLAND
Jake. Jake!
Jake wakes and looks around with sleepy eyes.
ROLAND
Take the handle, Jake. We've got
trouble.
Jake's eyes finally adjust and he sees the green glow
ahead.
JAKE
Oh shit.
Jake scrambles to his feet and takes the handcar handle,
pumping it up and down. Roland bends over at the front
of the handcar and turns off the lantern.
The soft glow of the lantern is replaced with the
steadily growing phosphorescent green light.
To the right, along the riverbank, stand slow mutants.
Their heads turn to watch them pass.
JAKE
They saw us!
Roland pulls free both guns, aiming them from the hips.
The jagged shapes of bedrock speed by, and from within
their shadows and clefts appear more mutants, all eyes
on the passing handcar.
JAKE
They're getting closer!
ROLAND
Quiet!
The slow mutants crawl, climb, dart, and scurry closer
to the tracks, mouths yawning open to utter GROANS and
CHITTERING SCREAMS. Their shapes and mutations are
various - faces thick with unblinking eyes, tentacled
arms - all churning closer en-masse.
ROLAND
Whatever happens, Jake, keep
pumping the handcar forward.
JAKE
Okay.
ROLAND
And always remember the face of
your father.
A phosphorescent shape with wriggling arms leaps forward
with a SCREAM.
Roland fires once, striking it in the head. The
THUNDERCLAP of the weapon ECHOES. The flash of light
reveals more clearly the-
MOB OF SLOW MUTANTS
The green glow gone for an instant - a mass of
glistening, blistered skin, seeping sores, scales,
patchy hair - a nightmarish texture rolling toward them.
In a splash of blood the body of the slow mutant falls
onto the tracks behind them.
The mob of slow mutants attack. A line rushes forward to
cling to the right side of the handcar, while another
group ahead spills onto the tracks.
Roland fires again and again to the right, the gunflash
like strobe light. Slow mutants shriek with pain and
fall, some underneath the handcar's steel wheels. The
handcar lurches as it cuts through them.
JAKE
Hang on, Roland!
The handcar strikes the group rushing toward them atop
the tracks ahead. They splatter like rotten bananas.
A taloned claw sweeps through the air toward Roland's
head. He leans back to avoid the killing strike, quickly
firing again into the rushing swarm.
A tentacle wraps around Jake's foot. Jake looks down.
From the rear, a grinning face appears as the slow
mutant pulls itself onto the handcar.
JAKE
Roland!
Jake's fingers slip off the handcar handle as he's
pulled down.
He strikes the floor of the handcar, rolls onto his
back, and watches the hulking, irregular shape of the
slow mutant as it looms over him, lit by the repeating
gunflash.
JAKE
Roland! Help!
Roland turns to see the boy beneath the slow mutant.
The slow mutant's mouth yawns wide, filled with crooked
teeth and a wriggling tongue like an earthworm.
Roland pushes hard down on his side of the see-saw
handle.
Jake's side of the handle rises and catches the slow
mutant beneath its chin. Its jaw snaps shut, slicing off
its tongue, its head jerked back.
Roland fires and hits it in the chest.
Jake brushes the things severed tongue off his chest and
rises to all fours.
ROLAND
Jake! Empty the oil from the
lantern in a line! Here!
Roland points to the edge of the handcar with the barrel
of one smoking gun.
Jake nods and crawls to the front of the handcar. He
fumbles with the kerosene lantern and screws off the cap.
Roland fires his last remaining rounds as Jake pours a
line of fuel along the perimeter of the handcar, wide
eyes focusing on the task and not the horrid faces
rushing by at his side.
The handcar slows. The kerosene lantern empties.
JAKE
Done!
With his last round, Roland dips and fires close to the
edge of the handcar, the gunflash igniting the line of
kerosene, the bullet slamming into the grin of a slow
mutant.
The fire races along the edge of the handcar as the
kerosene lights. Clawed hands at the handcar edge block
the sudden light and heat.
Jake looks out on the mob with wide eyes and gaping
mouth - frozen in horror.
Roland's hands do their reloading trick, lit from below
by the flames.
ROLAND
Jake. Pump the handle.
Jake doesn't answer, doesn't move. The MOANS and SHRIEKS
of the slow mutants press at their fiery bubble of
safety.
ROLAND
Jake!
Jake snaps out of it.
JAKE
Yeah?
ROLAND
Pump the handle. Keep the
handcar moving forward.
Jake steps behind the handle and begins to pump again.
The handcar picks up speed.
Roland doesn't fire his guns again, the kerosene fire
wall of fire keeping the beasts at bay, but he's ready.
The handcar rushes on like a fireball. The crowd of slow
mutants line the right side of the track like a parade
route.
Slowly, the crowd thins.
Jake's eyes squint as he looks forward.
A JAGGED SHAPE
Sits atop the tracks.
Jake stops pumping the handle.
JAKE
Roland...
ROLAND
What is it, boy?
JAKE
We're in trouble.
Jake darts forward to the front of the handcar. Roland
watches him go.
The boy's hands find the handbrake. He winces and pulls
his hands back, the brake hot with the licking flames.
Roland looks forward. A dim white light reaches them,
unlike the glow of the slow mutants or the central
terminal - daylight.
Pushing ahead, the light from the fire reveals a-
PILE OF ROCKS
On the tracks, as well as a rusty, metal sign that
reads: "Now leaving Track 10 Tunnel. Have a nice day!"
In the center of the sign, a crude smiley face is
painted, a third eye in the forehead.
Jake pushes through the pain and grabs at the handbrake
and pulls with a strained grunt. The handbrake snaps
off. He looks at it in his hands.
JAKE
Piece of shit!
Roland holsters his weapons, grabs the tote-sack and
wraps his arms around Jake. He jumps off the left side
of the handcar just as it strikes the pile of rocks.
The flaming handcar smashes headlong into the barricade,
steel SCREAMING as it flips over the rocks and tumbles
end over end down the track.
Roland and Jake roll across the stone and stop in a
heap, Roland not letting go of the boy and trying to
cushion the impact.
The fiery wreck comes to a stop ahead.
Roland shakes his head, a bleeding gash on his forehead.
ROLAND
Jake? Are you okay?
Jake GROANS.
JAKE
Yeah, I'm okay.
ROLAND
Thank Ka.
The MOAN of the slow mutants behind grows louder. Jake
looks back.
JAKE
They're coming.
Roland sees a pinpoint of daylight in the opposite
direction.
ROLAND
Look. Daylight.
Jake turns and sees it.
ROLAND
We're almost there, boy. But we
need to move.
INT. TUNNEL - RAIL TRESTLE BRIDGE - DAY
Roland and Jake run up the metal tracks. The tunnel
opens into a larger chamber, with the river below
crossing beneath a long trestle bridge. The circle of
daylight on the other side of the chasm lights the
network of steel girders and struts.
Roland and Jake pause at the beginning of the bridge,
looking down as the solid stone drops away beneath them
to the surging river below.
ALONG THE CLIFFS
Slow mutants give chase.
FROM THE TUNNEL
Behind, the glowing mob emerges.
AHEAD
The parallel metal tracks dip and swerve, the steel
trusses holding them up rusted and broken in places.
JAKE
It's rusted-through, Roland!
ROLAND
It's all we've got. Move!
Roland and Jake run onto the bridge, the metal beneath
GROANING with their weight. Somewhere, a steel member
SNAPS. The structure trembles, but the bridge holds.
They reach the first section of bridge partially fallen
away. Jake crouches and finds his footing beneath, hands
on the metal tracks, beginning his climb across.
Roland looks back. The slow mutants have reached the
bridge, both running atop the tracks above and climbing
up the chasm below through the steel web like spiders.
Roland pulls leather and knocks down the leaders. They
fall and bounce through the steel girders, finally
plunging to the river below.
He holsters his gun and drops down into the steel
network, crossing the gap as Jake had done. Jake waits
for him on the other side.
ROLAND
Keep moving, damn you!
Below Roland's feet, a slow mutant climbs up the steel.
Its jaws yawn wide and Roland stomps on its face,
sending it tumbling from the bridge.
Roland climbs up the other side, pulls leather again and
picks off the leaders of the pack and those hanging too
close below. He continues on, reloading.
A section of steel breaks away with a GROAN under the
weight of the slow mutants. They tumble down through the
darkness as those behind continue across the bridge that
remains.
Roland reaches the next break in the bridge. The metal
tracks are broken over the gap. Jake climbs up the other
side and looks back.
JAKE
Careful, Roland, it felt like
that section was ready to give
way.
ROLAND
Move! Now!
JAKE
No.
Roland makes his way across, finding handholds and
footholds in the steel girders. One snaps away beneath a
boot. Another crumbles to rust beneath his gripping hand.
The steel GROANS.
JAKE
Roland!
The steel structure rolls to one side. Roland hangs on.
It stops with a jounce. Roland looks back.
The slow mutants are right behind him, climbing through
the steel.
Roland lets go with one hand and draws. He empties the
gun into his pursuers. Holstering the gun, he climbs
forward, reaching the edge of the break. He stops.
Jake looks down at him.
JAKE
Don't stop! Hurry!
Roland finds a firm handhold and stomps on the steel
behind him. The steel structure GROANS and HUMS. Rust
rains down. The slow mutants climb closer and closer.
JAKE
Roland!
The slow mutants are within feet of his kicking boot.
They SHRIEK wildly. Roland's boot breaks one of the
steel girders, the structure QUAKES violently, and the
bridge behind collapses completely.
A jumble of rusted steel and slow mutants fall into the
river below.
Roland safely clings to the portion of bridge that
remains standing.
On the other side of the gap in the bridge, the slow
mutants stare blankly.
Roland breathes deep and looks up. Jake looks down at
him, the daylight from the end of the tunnel lighting
his features.
ROLAND
That was close.
Jake smiles.
JAKE
That was cool!
The daylight is eclipsed. Jake turns and his smile
vanishes.
MAN IN BLACK
(O.S.)
Hello, boy! Remember me?!
A swirl of black robe, two thrusting hands, and Jake is
airborne, tumbling off the edge of the track.
Roland lets go one hand and reaches for him.
Jake's eyes are wide as he falls down.
Roland catches hold of the boy's arm.
The two dangle from the steel structure by Roland's
single gripping hand. Roland looks down into the boy's
upturned face. The wooden cross dangles from his neck.
JAKE
Don't drop me, Roland! Don't
drop me!
Above them, the man in black stands looking down at
them. He LAUGHS and pulls back his hood.
MAN IN BLACK
Déjà vu, all over again, ain't
it Jake?
JAKE
Roland!
Roland looks up at his quarry, Marten, smiling down on
him. Marten reaches down, offering his hand.
MAN IN BLACK
Come with me now, gunslinger. Or
catch me never!
Roland's hand gripping the bridge begins to slip.
Roland looks back at Jake hanging from his other hand.
Looks up at Marten and his reaching hand.
Roland looks back at Jake.
Jake's terrified features smooth. He is calm. Resigned.
ROLAND
Jake-
JAKE
Go then. It's okay. There are
other worlds than these.
Roland lets go of the boy.
Jake plummets into the darkness below.
Roland watches him disappear.
He looks at his empty hand
MAN IN BLACK
So! Not an end, but the end of
the beginning, eh? You progress,
gunslinger! Oh how I admire you!
Roland pulls his gun and points it up into the man in
black's smiling face.
MAN IN BLACK
Now. Oh, now. We make great
magic together, you and I.
You'll kill me no more than
you'll kill yourself.
He cocks the hammer.
ROLAND
Maybe I should.
MAN IN BLACK
Put that thing away and take my
hand.
Roland eases the hammer back and holsters the gun. He
stretches up and grabs the man in black's hand. The man
in black pulls him up to safety.
Roland draws his gun again.
ROLAND
Speak your prophecy, you
murdering bastard. Show me the
way to the three so I can put
you down.
MAN IN BLACK
That really isn't an incentive,
is it?
Beat. Roland glares at him.
MAN IN BLACK
(under his breath)
Maybe it is, considering the
circumstances...
(beat)
Come, gunslinger. Come.
Everything is prepared.
The man in black at first backs away and then turns
toward the circle of daylight at the end of the tracks.
Roland follows, gun trained on his back.
EXT. WEST SLOPE OF MOUNTAINS - GOLGOTHA - DAY
The man in black leads Roland to a bowl in the slope of
the mountain. At its center sits a small ring of stones
for a campfire, with an ironwood log positioned nearby
like a bench.
The bowl is filled with skulls - cattle, coyotes, deer,
rabbits. They all seem to stare at Roland as he
approaches.
Down the mountain slope, Roland can see the green of
trees, and beyond, the blue curve of the ocean.
The man in black approaches the ironwood log and sits
down with a tired groan.
MAN IN BLACK
Gather wood to remember your
Isaac, gunslinger.
Roland cocks the hammer again.
MAN IN BLACK
Please. You're not scaring me.
Besides-
He raises his arm and from beneath his cloak two skinned
and gutted rabbits fall to the dusty earth.
MAN IN BLACK
I'm cooking our dinner.
He grabs two sharpened spits and impales the plump
rabbits with a GIGGLE.
EXT. SURROUNDING WOODS - DAY
Roland stoops down to gather the dry undergrowth. The
wooden cross Jake gave him pops out from beneath his
shirt and dangles before his eyes.
Roland gently grabs the cross and looks at it.
ROLAND
Damn you. God damn you, God.
Roland kisses the cross and tucks it back into his shirt.
EXT. GOLGOTHA - DAY (SUNSET)
The sky is red as the sun sets over the horizon of
ocean. Roland returns to the camp with a bundle of wood.
The man in black sets the spitted rabbits against the
log. He sees Roland approach and his eyes gleam.
MAN IN BLACK
Excellent! How methodical you
are!
Roland allows the bundle to drop at the man in black's
feet. He remains standing, staring down at him.
MAN IN BLACK
Sit. Soon we'll eat. Watch the
sun set. You won't see it again
for a very long time.
Roland sits as the man in black arranges the firewood in
its familiar pattern. The man in black rubs his hands
together and CLAPS.
A spark ignites in the pile of wood, but fizzles out.
The man in black CLAPS again, with the same result.
MAN IN BLACK
A little help, gunslinger?
ROLAND
You need flint and steel, wizard?
MAN IN BLACK
No. Just some dry tinder.
The man in black motions to Roland's chest, where the
wooden cross hangs.
Roland grabs the cross, stroking it with his thumb. He
hesitates, then makes a fist about it and snaps it free
of his neck.
He tosses it into the pile of wood. The man in black
smiles.
MAN IN BLACK
Muchos gracias.
He CLAPS and the spark takes. The wooden cross burns.
EXT. GOLGOTHA - NIGHT
A PILE OF FRESH RABBIT BONES
Sits near the campfire. Another bone is added to the
pile.
Roland chews the last of his meal. The man in black
watches him. The sun has set. Stars shine above them.
The man in black reaches inside his cloak and retrieves
a deck of cards. He shuffles them, flying from hand to
hand.
MAN IN BLACK
These are tarot cards.
ROLAND
No more games, Marten.
MAN IN BLACK
But I'm going to tell your
future! Seven cards, one at a
time.
ROLAND
Show the way to the Tower,
wizard. I grow weary of this
palaver.
MAN IN BLACK
You have no idea how close to
the Tower you now stand. How
close in time.
ROLAND
Speak your prophecy, then.
The man in black draws a circle in the dust with his
finger and turns the-
FIRST CARD
On it, a man hangs over a pit, a noose about his neck.
The man in black places it in the center of the circle.
MAN IN BLACK
The Hanged Man. With nothing
else in the circle, it signifies
strength, not death.
(looks at Roland)
You are the Hanged Man,
gunslinger.
He turns the-
SECOND CARD
And places it below the first.
MAN IN BLACK
The Sailor. Young. He drowns,
and no one throws out the line.
The boy, Jake.
THIRD CARD
Is placed to the right of the first, along the
circumference of the circle. On it a baboon sits on a
young man's shoulder. The young man's face is stretched
with horror.
MAN IN BLACK
The Prisoner. A trifle
upsetting, isn't he?
FOURTH CARD
Turned, above the first continuing along the circle: a
woman with a shawl on her head, spinning at a wheel. The
woman smiles and sobs at the same time.
MAN IN BLACK
The Lady of Shadows. Two-faced.
A veritable Janus.
ROLAND
I've heard this all before. The
first with demon. The second on
wheels.
MAN IN BLACK
You've seen an Oracle, then?
ROLAND
Yes.
The man in black grins.
MAN IN BLACK
How was she?
Roland doesn't answer.
MAN IN BLACK
Well, I understand your boredom,
then. Consider this only
pointless ritual if it cools you
to do so. Like church!
He draws the fifth card. Looks at it.
MAN IN BLACK
And this one? Care to take a
guess?
ROLAND
In chains.
The man in black makes a BUZZER NOISE and turns the-
FIFTH CARD
-setting it left of the first. On it is the grim reaper,
his skeletal fingers clutching a scythe.
MAN IN BLACK
Death. But not for you.
(looks at card)
Kinda looks like me, don't it?
He turns the-
SIXTH CARD
And places it atop the first, covering the hanged man.
It is the Dark Tower.
MAN IN BLACK
The Tower.
ROLAND
Why does it cover me?
The man in black does not answer.
ROLAND
What does that mean?!
MAN IN BLACK
I don't know, I just work here.
He turns the-
SEVENTH CARD
And keeps it in his hand. On it is a blooming rose.
MAN IN BLACK
Life. But not for you.
ROLAND
Where does it go?
The man in black flips the card into the fire. It curls
and chars.
MAN IN BLACK
It is not for us to know.
(beat)
Sleep now. Perchance to dream
and that sort of thing.
ROLAND
I'm going to choke you dead!
Roland lunges across the circle of cards and catches the
man in black by the neck. Roland throttles him, the man
in black falling back off the log. The firelight
brightens. His cloak dances with a sudden wind, wrapping
around Roland and everything goes-
CUT TO:
BLACKOUT
FADE IN:
EXT. SPACE
Roland floats in a dark void. The man in black is gone.
He looks at his empty hands.
Stars appear and wheel all around him.
MAN IN BLACK (V.O.)
The universe offers a paradox
too great for the finite mind to
grasp.
ROLAND
Where are you, fiend?
MAN IN BLACK (V.O.)
Everywhere. Nowhere. I am the
furthest minion of the Crimson
King. Earth has been given into
my hand.
Below Roland, the sun rises, gleaming around the shell
of Planet Earth below. Blue seas. Brown and green
continents. White clouds.
MAN IN BLACK (V.O.)
Now shut up and listen.
(clears throat)
There was a time, a hundred
generations before the world
moved on, when the Old Ones
understood some of the
universe's great mysteries.
In the shadow of the earth, Roland can see city lights
gleaming bright.
MAN IN BLACK (V.O.)
Gunslinger, our fathers
conquered the disease-that-rots,
which they called Cancer,
journeyed to the moon-
A rocket capsule orbits the planet, near enough to
Roland for him to see the letters "NASA" and the US FLAG
painted on its hull.
The earth shrinks before his eyes. He passes the moon,
pulled back and back. The earth is soon a brighter dot
amongst the stars.
MAN IN BLACK (V.O.)
Journeyed to the red planet Mars
and found evidence of life
there.
Roland flies past the red planet in a flash, and it too
shrinks from his gaze.
MAN IN BLACK (V.O.)
But the greatest mystery the
universe offers is not life, but
size.
Roland is pulled back past other planets - a gas giant,
a planet with rings, through an asteroid field.
ROLAND
No. Stop.
MAN IN BLACK (V.O.)
Size encompasses life, and the
Tower encompasses size. Do you
remember, not so long ago? Only
the courage of a child can ask-
Roland hears his own voice as a child as he watches the
solar system retreat before his wide eyes. He reaches
for the small icy planet to stop his uncontrolled
retreat.
YOUNG ROLAND (V.O.)
Daddy, what is above the sky?
ROLAND'S FATHER (V.O.)
The darkness of space.
YOUNG ROLAND (V.O.)
What is beyond space?
The Milky Way consolidates, shrinking to become the
spinning wheel of stars.
ROLAND'S FATHER (V.O.)
The galaxy.
YOUNG ROLAND (V.O.)
Beyond the galaxy?
ROLAND'S FATHER (V.O.)
Another galaxy.
Galaxy after galaxy shrinks before his eyes, all
different shapes and colors.
YOUNG ROLAND (V.O.)
Beyond the other galaxies?
ROLAND'S FATHER (V.O.)
No one knows.
Roland's retreat stops. Galaxies expand before him -
thousands, millions, billions - pinpoints of light
themselves.
MAN IN BLACK (V.O.)
If you journeyed to the limit of
the universe-
Roland turns, looking behind him.
MAN IN BLACK (V.O.)
You might find something hard
and round, like a shell.
Roland reaches out to touch the void, and finds its hard
surface.
MAN IN BLACK (V.O.)
And if you should break that
shell-
Roland rears back and punches a fist through. The shell
shatters, white light spilling through.
MAN IN BLACK (V.O.)
What great and torrential light
might shine through?
Roland walks through the hole he made, into the light,
as he continues to steadily grow in size. He looks back
to see a red surface.
MAN IN BLACK (V.O.)
Might you look through and
discover that our entire
universe is but one particle of
something even larger?
The red surface pulls back, becoming a-
ROSE PETAL
Back further still, an-
OPEN ROSE
Back and back, a-
SEA OF ROSES
MAN IN BLACK (O.S.)
That the mystery of size is not
one infinite, but an infinity of
infinities?
EXT. FIELD OF ROSES - DAY (SUNSET)
Roland stands in the field of roses that stretch from
horizon to horizon.
The man in black steps up to stand at his side. He holds
a rose in his hand.
MAN IN BLACK
Do you see, Roland? Can your
pragmatic mind grasp the
implications of this truth?
He plucks free a rose petal and tosses it to the wind.
MAN IN BLACK
When that single petal withers
and dies, do the universes
inside it die as well? We say
the world has moved on. Maybe
it's just dying.
The man in black crushes the rose and tosses it with the
others.
MAN IN BLACK
What does that tell us about
God? What must the nature of
such a God be? Distant.
Reckless. Cold. Cruel. Watching
from his lofty perch beyond
infinity!
ROLAND
The Tower.
The two turn to look behind them, and towering above the
sea of roses stands the black pillar of-
THE DARK TOWER
Its windows rise in a spiral. A chorus of SINGING VOICES
comes from the field of roses at its base.
MAN IN BLACK
Yes, gunslinger, the Tower. All
worlds, all of Creation, meeting
in a single nexus at the base of
the Dark Tower.
Roland looks up, following the spiraling windows to the
top of the tower, high above them.
MAN IN BLACK
Within it, a stairway, perhaps
to the Godhead itself. Would you
dare to climb it?
ROLAND
I would. I am sworn.
The shadow of the Tower falls over them.
From the base of the Tower comes a raspy voice on the
wind:
CRIMSON KING
(O.S.)
Roland...
Roland's eyes come down. At the Dark Tower's base, from
one of the windows, gleams a single-
RED EYE
-staring back at him.
MAN IN BLACK
The Crimson King. The Beast. The
Keeper of the Tower. My master.
(beat)
And yours.
CRIMSON KING (O.S.)
Roland... Last of the line of
Arthur Eld... I await your
arrival...
ROLAND
No! I serve the Light! I seek
the Tower! I am sworn!
The man in black smiles.
CRIMSON KING (O.S.)
We shall climb the Tower side by
side...
ROLAND
Cease this enchantment, wizard!
Cease this trickery!
Roland grabs the man in black by the collar, shaking
him. The man in black LAUGHS.
MAN IN BLACK
I made your father and broke
him! I came to your mother and
took her! Many times!
CRIMSON KING (O.S.)
Together, gunslinger, we'll
bring it down!
The earth beneath them QUAKES and RUMBLES. The Dark
Tower high above CRACKS and SPLINTERS. Chunks of
obsidian rain about them, SMASHING to the earth.
ROLAND
Never!
MAN IN BLACK
You've already dropped one cotraveler
into the pit, have you
not? And you will soon draw
three more! Then the fun really
begins!
ROLAND
I'll stop your forked tongue,
demon!
Roland grabs the man in black by the throat, throttling
him, pushing him down into the bed of roses. The man in
black's smiling face turns purple, still smiling up at
him.
The Tower continues its destructive fall behind them.
The Crimson King LAUGHS amidst the falling black stone.
The sea of roses no longer sing - they SCREAM.
ROLAND
For my father! For my mother!
For my friends! For Gilead! For
Jake! For the Tower! Die, demon!
Die!!!
As Roland chokes the man in black, the jumbled NOISE of
the falling tower, of the screams, of the Crimson King,
climaxes-
EXT. GOLGOTHA - DAY (SUNRISE)
Roland straddles the man in black, choking him.
A skull stares up at him from within the black hood.
Roland lets go with a startled SCREAM and stands up. His
hair is long, streaked with gray above his ears. His
beard reaches the middle of his chest.
The man in black is a shriveled corpse. His bony fingers
clutch a single rose.
The fire has died, nothing but ash in its familiar
pattern.
Roland, with wide, confused eyes, looks around the bowl
of skulls and skeletons in the early morning light,
still in the gray shadow of the mountain.
He touches his beard.
ROLAND
What-? What-?
He looks down, the circle drawn in the earth barely
visible, but the card at its center remains. The Tower.
Roland SCREAMS.
EXT. GOLGOTHA - DAY (LATER)
Roland cuts his hair short with his knife.
He shaves his beard, looking into a small piece of
mirror glass. He notices that his hairline has changed,
receding at the temples. His wrinkles are deeper across
his forehead and at the corners of his eyes.
He looks to the corpse of Marten, wrapped in its rotting
black cloak.
ROLAND
How much time has passed,
Marten? Five years? Ten?
Roland stands and walks to the corpse, the skull smiling
up at him.
He reaches down and searches the corpse and cloak.
Inside, he finds a large leather purse, as well as a
waterskin. He stands and hangs them over his shoulders.
The skull stares up at him.
Roland reaches down and breaks off the jawbone. He
shoves it roughly into his front pocket.
He starts off down the mountain slope.
EXT. WESTERN OCEAN - BEACH - DAY
Roland walks out of the trees and reaches the beach. The
waves of the ocean CRASH on the shore.
He stands and stares at the sea. He breathes deep.
ROLAND
I am in the West, Cuthbert.
(beat)
I loved you, Jake.
He walks closer to the crashing waves, leaving a lonely
trail of footprints in the sand.
He looks south. Nothing but sand.
He looks north. Nothing but sand. And-
Roland raises a hand to shield his eyes from the sun.
Something stands on the beach, small with the distance.
Roland walks north.
His steps gain speed.
Soon he runs north across the beach.
His running steps slow as he nears the thing standing on
the beach.
It is a wooden door, standing upright on the sand.
The waves ROAR and CRASH to the left.
MAN IN BLACK (V.O.)
And you will soon draw three
more! Then the fun really
begins!
On the door are the words: "The Prisoner."
CUT TO:
BLACKOUT
END TITLES
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