Lonely No More: Episode 6: “The Shift”

As the wedding day unfolds, tensions between personal and global chaos reach a breaking point. Nina and Nikesh try to navigate their future together amidst ominous signs that the world around them is fracturing. Unsettling events at the reception—including unexpected guests and shocking revelations—disrupt their hopes for a peaceful union. Meanwhile, Zane Benedetto and Sam Butler venture into the countryside, discovering eerie structures whose significance grows ever more mysterious.

When the phenomenon known as Lonely No More escalates in ways no one could have anticipated, Nina and Nikesh are thrust into a terrifying new reality. As guests begin to exhibit chilling transformations, the newlyweds are forced to make a harrowing decision—escape the chaos or bear witness to the end of their world as they know it.

Transcript

LONELY NO MORE

by SEBASTIAN BACZKIEWICZ

EPISODE 6

SCENE 1              EXT. THE SEA FRONT BRIGHTON

SFX                      A POLICE CAR PULLS UP AND KILLS ITS SIREN. KEVIN GETS OUT OF THE CAR AND CROSSES SWIFTLY TO THE TAYLOR

1. KEVIN               (APPR) Maam?

2. TAYLOR            Officer?

3. KEVIN               All barricades now removed. Traffic on the Sea Front’s moving again.

4. TAYLOR            And the deceased’s identities?

5. KEVIN               Young male IC3, and middle aged female IC4. Looks as if they were both working in the hotel until about maybe a minute before they dashed out into the street. We’re intending to inform the families today.

6. TAYLOR            Perhaps hold back on that for a day or two. Just until we have a clearer idea of exactly what occurred.

7. KEVIN               Both bodies were delivered over to your agency less than an hour ago – as instructed.

8. TAYLOR            Then there we are. We’ll issue further instructions in due course. Thank you, Officer Hellyer. Good work.

9. KEVIN               So…what happens now?

10. TAYLOR          What happens now is we clear this area and move on. 

11. KEVIN             Only a lot of the boys and girls in the squad are pretty shaken up by the whole thing. I mean the eyes of those poor waiters. That strange noise. The clicking thing. All pretty freaky. 

12. TAYLOR          Which makes it absolutely imperative that there’s not so much as a squeak or a peep out of any of you about any of this. Last thing we want is any unnecessary panic. 

13. KEVIN             So it’s a bit the same as what happened at Cardiff Arms Park last week?

14. TAYLOR          Is it? I’m not sure that it is. And neither, Kevin, are you.

15. KEVIN             Understood Maam. 

SCENE 2              INT. BELVEDERE HOTEL

SFX                      DISTANT PIPED MUSIC, PEOPLE TALKING ETC

16. SYED              Snakes?

17. HAROUN         Tony’s keen.

18. SYED              On selling snakes?

19. HAROUN         Pending the necessary approvals.

20. SYED              And your position?

21. HAROUN         On selling snakes?

22. SYED              In this pet business of yours.

23. HAROUN         Good, baba. Good. Mad good.

24. SYED              You and this Tony person are partners then?

25. HAROUN         Tony’s not a person, he’s a friend and colleague. And owner.

26. SYED              Of the pet shop?

27. HAROUN         Yeh.

28. SYED              But I am concerned. You’re my son, Haroun, and I’m concerned.

29. HAROUN         About my position.

30. SYED              About your future life.

31. HAROUN         Well, I was hoping to put my days in the terrarium behind me, baba, but what did you go and do? You went and made a miracle recovery so any dreams I may have entertained of living large on the enormous family inheritance went the way of the doomed dodo didn’t they? Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

TINY BEAT

32. SYED              You cheeky cheeky boy. Kiss me.

                            THEY EMBRACE

33. HAROUN         Wow, baba. You are really, really strong.

34. SYED              As an ox.

35. HAROUN         Which is some kind of out-of-the-ordinary something, don’t you think?

36. SYED              Seriously, Haroun you need money?

37. HAROUN         Always.

38. SYED              I’ll get money to you.

39. HAROUN         Did I ask for any?

40. SYED              A child should never need to ask.

41. HAROUN         But the child is not asking for money. The child is asking that the father respect him and his beliefs. 

42. SYED              You don’t mean those crazy people you’re mixed up with?

43. HAROUN         I’m not mixed up with anyone crazy. They’re serious. They’re serious serious - because what’s going on under our noses right now is serious.

44. SYED              No. No no no. I refuse – I absolutely refuse - to have this argument.

45. HAROUN         I know you don’t want to hear it and believe me I don’t want to say it but you can’t deny the strange realities of what’s going on in the world.

46. SYED              Such as?

47. HAROUN         Such as you, baba. Such as literally you.

48. SYED              So you’re saying I’m ET?

49. HAROUN         I’m saying we‘re all a little bit ET.

50. SYED              You know you’re breaking my heart? You’re actually breaking my heart.

51. HAROUN         Which would only go and rejuvenate itself.

52. SYED              And on your brother’s wedding day.

53. HAROUN         Did you really have Nina’s mother investigated?

54. SYED              The very idea.

55. HAROUN         Well, did you?

56. SYED              Cristina knows total zero about it.

57. HAROUN         Then you did. And did she?

58. SYED              Did she what?

59. HAROUN         You know what I’m asking, baba. Did she shoot Nina’s dad deliberately?

60. SYED              Can’t remember. Maybe.

61. HAROUN         Can’t remember. Maybe. What kind of an answer is that?

62. SYED              I’ll not be lectured, Haroun. Especially not by you and especially not on matters that do not concern you.

63. HAROUN         Straight back at ya, baba.       

64. LIV                  (APPR) Hey there you two. You’ve not seen or spoken to Nina or Nikesh today?

65. SYED              Good morning Olivia. You’re looking ravishing as ever.

66. LIV                  And a very good morning to you too Mr. Bhakta.

67. SYED              Syed, please. And please don’t say we have a runaway bride and groom situation?

68. HAROUN         Oh, you’d love the drama of that, wouldn’t you?

69. LIV                  We have no situation at all Syed. But, if you‘d both like to find your seats for the wedding ceremony, I’m sure we’ll be under way in no time.

70. HAROUN         You want me to go look for them?

71. LIV                  Best you and your father sort yourselves out

SCENE 3              EXT. THE TERRACE

SFX                      ZANE IS DRINKING COFFEE ON THE TERRACE WITH SAM BUTLER – TRAFFIC STREET SCENE ETC

72. BENEDETTO   And they just shot them? The waiters.

73. SAM                Army came out of nowhere, Zane and shot them down dead. 

74. BENEDETTO   And this was out there on the sea front? 

75. SAM                One second those two waiters are in the dining room serving us our dinner - the next they’re walking out into traffic and getting themselves shot dead.

76. BENEDETTO   You’re saying soldiers gunned down waiters on the sea front in Brighton?

77. SAM                I don’t know what I’m saying other than it was very fucking weird. Plus nobody seems to have any clue as to what happened to the bodies

78. BENEDETTO   Meaning?

79. SAM                Meaning the word on the wire is they were whisked away before anyone could see that they’d, that they’d.

80. BENEDETTO   That they’d what Sam?

81. SAM                Changed.

82. BENEDETTO   Violet eyes? Strange clicking noises in their throats?

83. SAM                Nobody can say for sure,

84. BENEDETTO   Just as happened with the Tokyo flight crew. The jumpers in London 

85. SAM                … and those poor astronauts on the International space station.

86. BENEDETTO   And literally hundreds and hundreds of other similarly bizarre incidents scattered around the world, yet still nobody wants to give this thing a name.

87. SAM                Well, what would you call it?

88. BENEDETTO   I’d call it Lonely No More, Sam.

89. SAM                Lonely No More’s a tag on a wall. 

90. BENEDETTO   Unless it’s precisely the message we don’t want to hear? That we are indeed Lonely No More. That the long predicted global enlightenment has at last commenced. 

91. SAM                Ask me that’s the same conspiracy theory Xavi Anderson and all the other doomsayers have been spouting. We’ll be talking about the men of renown next.

92. BENEDETTO   Genesis 6:4.

93. SAM                You know that?

94. BENEDETTO   Everyone should know that.

95. SAM                You’re kidding right? You seriously believe angels or aliens or who knows what had it off with human women and progenitised some sort of a new human race? Cos that’s just the language of the mad.

TINY BEAT

96. BENEDETTO   Wanna go on an adventure?

97. SAM                Now?

98. BENEDETTO   Sure.

99. SAM                But what about the wedding?

100. BENEDETTO What about it?

SCENE 4              EXT. THE ROOF. BELVEDERE

SFX                      DISTANT TRAFFIC DOWN BELOW

101. NINA             I don’t know how you do it?

102. NIKESH         Skills well-honed in childhood.

103. NINA             I’ll bet Liv’s looking for us.

104. NIKESH         I’ll bet she is too.

105. NINA             She ever looked for you on a locked off roof.

106. NIKESH         I once showed Lucette how to get out on the roof of the London office.

107. NINA             How’d she like it?

108. NIKESH         Warned me there’d be a disciplinary procedure if I ever did it again.

109. NINA             And did you? Do it again?

110. NIKESH         Course. Everyone needs a space to think.

111. NINA              I miss Lucette.

112. NIKESH         I miss her too.

113. NINA              Y’know I dreamt about her yesterday. Lucette. She was living in our apartment and she kept saying how she’d never been happier as she arranged these strange flowers in a vase. And then she said she was leaving and suddenly we weren’t in our apartment anymore but on the space station.

114. NIKESH         Doing what?

115. NINA              We were just up there. But now Lucette was saying she was leaving at which point she punched in a code and opened the airlock. I shouted and said she shouldn’t do that but by now everything including me was being sucked out into space and that’s when I woke up.

116. NIKESH         That sounds horrible.

117. NINA              Not as horrible as being woken up in that coffee shop near work by Clifton Hayes.

118. NIKESH         Oh, yeh. 

119. NINA              Told me he’d walked out of St. Edwards because being a doctor was no longer necessary now that patients were recovering on their own.

120. NIKESH         He might have a point.

121. NINA             He doesn’t have a point.

122. NIKESH         Well, look at my dad.

123. NINA             It’s too soon to tell whether these sudden miracle cures are permanent.

124. NIKESH         There’s no guarantee that they aren’t.

125. NINA             Reality is we have no idea how or why this phenomenon is occurring. All we know is that it has. Tests need to be done. Extensive and thorough tests.

126. NIKESH         Then you really think baba might relapse? That this recovery might only be temporary?

127. NINA             His and every other recorded recovery in the last two months are unprecedented. So yeh, I think you have to at least entertain the possibility.

SCENE 5              EXT. THE DOWNS

SFX                      SAM AND ZANE ARE TRUDGING UP A HILLSIDE

128. SAM              Y’know I’m supposed to be dj-ing later tonight.

129. BENEDETTO I do and I want you to know, Sam that I appreciate you coming out with me.

130. SAM              Just need to be back in time for the reception. But, man, I want to see these structures too.

131. BENEDETTO Should be straight up ahead.

132. SAM              No sign of anything yet.

133. BENEDETTO According to my information they should be coming into view anytime.

134. SAM              And you really, genuinely think these things are connected to Lonely No More.

135. BENEDETTO What I think- and what Tucker Lane King thinks - is that Lonely No More’s like an alarm going off.

136. SAM              A wake up call?

137. BENEDETTO A wake up call – exactly.

138. SAM              For the whole world?

139. BENEDETTO For the lonely. You OK?

140. SAM              I’m fine fine. Good to get out for a tramp on the Downs. Every breath another shining pound in the bank of health.

141. BENEDETTO Excuse me?

142. SAM              It’s an expression.

143. BENEDETTO Right. You married, Sam?

144. SAM              In flux.

145. BENEDETTO Ditto.

146. SAM              Thought you were married.

147. BENEDETTO Thought so too until last month.

148. SAM              I’m sorry to hear that.

149. BENEDETTO We had an irreconcilable difference. She thinks I’m crazy. 

150. SAM              Nikesh tell you the story about his dad? Six weeks ago he’s all but pegged out in Mumbai with a terminal heart condition. Everyone’s steeling themselves for the worst and boom, suddenly he’s better. And it’s not just him. This is, like, going on everywhere. This pick up thy bed and walk Lazarus style, shit.

151. BENEDETTO Well, I would be very interested to meet Nikesh’s dad. 

152. SAM              Soon as we get back I’ll introduce you. 

153. BENEDETTO Look, Sam. Up ahead. You see ‘em?

154. SAM              Oh yeh I see ‘em. I’m sorry about your wife.

155. BENEDETTO Let’s get to it shall we?

SCENE 6              EXT THE ROOF

                            NINA STANDS LOOKING OUT ACROSS THE SEA. NIKESH LEANS AGAINST A CHIMNEY

156. NINA             Maybe we should go down? Face the music. Which, incidentally, had better not be fucking horrible tonight cos I told Sam Butler most unambiguously. 

157. NIKESH         Or maybe we should take another second or two? Breath in the view a minute more.

158. NINA             We don’t want everyone worrying.

159. NIKESH         Everyone will be just fine.

TINY BEAT

160. NINA             Hard to imagine isn’t it?

161. NIKESH         Hm?

162. NINA             What happened last night. The shootings.

163. NIKESH         And nothing on the news. It’s almost as if they’re pretending it isn’t happening.

164. NINA             Who’s they?

165. NIKESH         The authorities. But you, Nina, would know more about that than me. Being the authorities.

166. NINA             What?

167. NIKESH         Don’t tell me you’ve had no further secret instructions from Hazel Hill?

168. NINA             Niko.

169. NIKESH         Well, have you or haven’t you?

170. NINA             You know I can’t talk about any of that.

171. NIKESH         Cos it’s top secret and strictly on the qt. Yeh, you said.

172. NINA             Honestly - I need you to let this all go.

173. NIKESH         And what I need is for there to be no more secrets between us.

174. NINA             I’ve told you everything I can.

175. NIKESH         But you do know more, right? I know you know more.

176. NINA             I know things are in hand. I told you. 

177. NIKESH         In hand? What does in hand mean?

178. NINA             In hand. 

179. NIKESH         Then how come the politicians aren’t talking about it?

180. NINA             The President of the United States addressed the nation after the space station thing.

181. NIKESH         And she said it was all to do with some air supply malfunctioning. Something which doesn’t explain why seven astronauts stepped out of the international space station - 

182. NINA             - stepped naked out of the international space station -

183. NIKESH         - and certainly doesn’t get anywhere close to explaining Lonely No More.

184. NINA             Well, your guy Tucker Lane King’s certainly talking about it. You’ve seen the tweets?

185. NIKESH         Cos he thinks he can make money out of this crisis.

186. NINA             It’s not a crisis until everybody is talking about it. And nobody wants to start a mass panic.

187. NIKESH         And is that what they expect to happen if the truth gets out? Mass panic.

188. NINA             Just wait.

189. NIKESH         What?

190. NINA             Hold on. Got it.

                            NINA REACHES OUT AND BRUSHES AN EYE LASH AWAY FROM NIKESH’S EYE

191. NIKESH         What are you doing?

192. NINA             Rogue eyelash needed brushing away.

193. NIKESH         Right. Great. Thanks. You got it?

194. NINA             All gone. Listen, Niko - things may not be quite as bad as they might seem.

195. NIKESH         Because?

196. NINA             You didn’t hear this from me.

197. NIKESH         Because?

198. NINA             A stabilising remedy may have been found.

199. NIKESH         Huh? How does that work? 

200. NINA             It’s kind of complicated, but basically we’ve identified a protein that suppresses the DNA trigger.

201. NIKESH         That is what this is? Corrupted DNA. 

202. NINA             Not corrupted, activated. 

203. NIKESH         I don’t get it.

204. NINA             Those shapes you showed me from the bottom of the sea. Those shapes in Brentford and all across the downs today. They’re exactly the shape of the chromosome pair – the karyotype - that contains a dormant code of DNA which until now had been considered inert. 

205. NIKESH         Until now?

206. NINA             Why it’s been happening, we don’t know. 

207. NIKESH         Those crazy conspiracists have called it right all along haven’t they? 

TINY BEAT

208. NINA             Come here.

                            SHE KISSES NIKESH

209. NIKESH         That was very nice.

210. NINA             Yes it was. And we have a choice, we have a choice as to whether or not we allow what’s happening to ruin our wedding.

211. NIKESH         No denying it’s a lot to process.

212. NINA             No denying that. (BEAT) You’re sure?

213. NIKESH         About what? 

214. NINA             Niko.

215. NIKESH         You mean about marrying you or marrying you today?

216. NINA             I mean about both maybe. 

217. NIKESH         If you decide against, then I’ll decide against. The big flashy wedding was dad’s idea anyway.

218. NINA             Only because he didn’t think he’d live to see it.

219. NIKESH         He says he thinks it’s an invitation. Dad.

220. NINA             Huh?

221. NIKESH         Lonely No More.

222. NINA             And you Niko? What do you think it is?

223. NIKESH         I think it’s statement of fact. Like loving you’s a fact.

224. NINA             Can love be a fact?

225. NIKESH         If it’s true then maybe? 

226. NINA             Niko, listen.

227. NIKESH         What?

228. NINA             I.

229. NIKESH         You?

230. NINA             Have to tell you that.

231. NIKESH         That?

TINIEST BEAT

232. NINA             I love you. Fact.

233. NIKESH         Then?

234. NINA             Then I say we go downstairs and face the music.

                            NIKESH PUTS OUT HIS HAND

235. NIKESH         Together.

                            NINA TAKES IT

236. NINA             Together.

SCENE 7              EXT. THE DOWNS

                            ZANE AND SAM ARE CAUTIOUSLY APPROACHING THE STRUCTURES

237. BENEDETTO Ever seen anything like this?

238. SAM              No, Zane. Never. Seem to be arranged in pairs don’t they?

239. BENEDETTO Yeh, they do. 

240. SAM              Maybe that means something.

241. BENEDETTO Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t. What we know for sure is no one has any idea who constructed them. Which makes no sense, right? I mean somebody must have seen somebody do something. Stands to reason.

242. SAM              Really don’t think we should get too close.

243. BENEDETTO Seems like, seems like they’re made of old rags and paper.

244. SAM              And mud. Tons of mud.

245. BENEDETTO And the sheer fricking size of it.

                            ZANE PUTS HIS HAND OUT TO TOUCH IT

246. SAM              Seriously, Zane don’t get too close to it. Just in case.

247. BENEDETTO Just in case what? It bites?

248. SAM              Maybe.

                            BENEDETTO TAPS ON HIS PHONE

249. BENEDETTO Check this, Sam. On the phone, see?

250. SAM              What am I looking at?

251. BENEDETTO Art, Sam. Art. Aboriginal art dating back over five millennia.

252. SAM              Still don’t get it.

253. BENEDETTO The shapes, man. The shapes. Look.

254. SAM              Oh my God.

255. BENEDETTO You see it now?

256. SAM              It’s the same. It’s exactly the same.

                            ZANE SWIPES THROUGH HIS PICS ON HIS PHONE

257. BENEDETTO And look here. And here. These were painted in the early twentieth century by Katya Capecki the mystic.

258. SAM              Wow.

259. BENEDETTO I’m telling you they’ve been drawing or constructing these things for like, forever.

260. SAM              And now they’re here on the South Downs.

261. BENEDETTO And not just here. Everywhere else you can think of. From Khartoum to Killarney. You seen the Instagram.

262. SAM              Know what it looks like to me? Biology.

263. BENEDETTO Hm?

264. SAM              Chromosomes. A sequence of chromosomes stretching out across the landscape.

265. BENEDETTO Sure. OK. But what’s the actual significance of the sequence? What’s the story?

266. SAM              Maybe there isn’t one.

267. BENEDETTO There’s always a story. Take it from me.

268. SAM              Once you see them there you can’t unsee the fact that it might be some sort of system, can you?

269. BENEDETTO I raise invisible my hat to you, young sir.

270. SAM              Maybe whoever constructed these things is still around?

271. BENEDETTO Maybe. (SHOUTS) Hello? Anybody here?

272. SAM              Hell are you doing?

273. BENEDETTO Attracting attention.

274. SAM              And if they’re dangerous. The constructors.

275. BENEDETTO Then they need to know we come in peace. You OK, Sam?

276. SAM              Like maybe we should wave a white hankie.

277. BENEDETTO Have you a white hankie to hand?

278. SAM              I don’t. Do you?

279. BENEDETTO Never had one ever.

                            SAM WALKS 

280. SAM              You, you hear that?

281. BENEDETTO Huh?

282. SAM              Like a, like a vibration.

283. BENEDETTO I’m not hearing anything.

284. SAM              Really?

285. BENEDETTO Really.

286. SAM              It’s like something’s moving inside these things.

287. BENEDETTO Like an insect or something?

288. SAM              Like it’s clicking.

289. SAM              Y’ think we should be getting back to the hotel?

290. BENEDETTO For why?

291. SAM              For the wedding.

292. BENEDETTO Not invited.

293. SAM              You wedding crashed?

294. BENEDETTO No, son. I came to bear witness.

295. SAM              Bear witness to what?

296. BENEDETTO Why, maybe the beginning of the end of the world.

297. SAM              You’re really not hearing that.

298. BENEDETTO I’m really not. Can you describe it better?

                            SAM PUTS HIS HAND TO HIS HEAD

299. SAM              I. I need to get away from here.

300. BENEDETTO Sam?

301. SAM              Don’t you, don’t you feel it?

302. BENEDETTO No, but I really want to know what it is you’re.

303. SAM              Ugh.

304. BENEDETTO Sam?

                            SAM DOUBLES OVER

305. BENEDETTO You’re not fucking with me are you?

                            SAM WRITHES ABOUT THEN MAKES THE CLICKING SOUND. 

306. BENEDETTO Oh my God. Your eyes, Sam. What’s happened to your? 

                            SAM MAKES THE CLICKING SOUND AND STRIDES AWAY FROM TYLER.

307. BENEDETTO Where the hell are you going? 

                            SAM MAKES THE CLICKING SOUND 

308. BENEDETTO Sam? Sam?

SFX                      SUDDENLY THERE IS THE ANGRY RUMBLE OF TRUCKS ARRIVING AT SPEED OVER THE UNEVEN GROUND

309. BENEDETTO (QUIET) The hell is this now?

                            ZANE MAKES TO MOVE AWAY. 

310. POLICE         (LOUDSPEAKER) Stay exactly where you are and do not move. Repeat. Stay exactly where you are.

311. BENEDETTO  Identify yourselves.

SFX                      SOMEONE FIRES A SHOT OVER ZANE’S HEAD, HE DROPS TO HIS KNEES

312. BENEDETTO Don’t shoot. Please don’t shoot.

SFX                      THE RUMBLING TRUCKS GET EVER CLOSER.

SCENE 8              INT. THE BANQUETING HALL

                            THE GUESTS ARE ALL GATHERED AFTER THE WEDDING

313. LIV                Ladies and gentlemen let’s hear it for the beautiful bride and groom. Nikesh and Nina Bhakta-Markovic

                            CHEERS AND WHOOPS

                            Now I know you’re all dying to get to the amazing disco but before we get on down to all that we’ve a few speeches and an absolutely delicious buffet to demolish. So as they say in Shoreditch – let’s get involved.

MIX TO

                            HAROUN AND NIKESH ARE AT THE BUFFET LOADING THEIR PLATES

314. NIKESH         You think everyone’s having a good time?

315. HAROUN       Given the circumstances.

316. NIKESH         Well, we’ve got a choice haven’t we, a choice as to whether or not we let it ruin our day. But you‘re right.

317. HAROUN       I am? Wow. First time for everything.

318. NIKESH         And you? Are you having a good time?

319. HAROUN       Passable. I’d say I’m having a passably good time.

320. NIKESH         What more could a man hope for?

321. HAROUN       It’s totally amazing, Nikesh. The whole day’s been amazing. Proud of you, bro. You and Nina.

                            THEY EMBRACE

322. NIKESH         Proud of you too, bro.

323. HAROUN       And I’m sorry about the roundabout thing.

324. NIKESH         The ambush you mean?

325. HAROUN       I considered it an intervention. Xavi Anderson too.

326. NIKESH         Sure he’s not going to suddenly pop out of the wedding cake?

327. HAROUN       Nikesh. And it’s beautiful by the way. The cake.

328. NIKESH         Isn’t it. (BEAT) It was pretty shitty behaviour though.

329. HAROUN       Matters got out of hand.

330. NIKESH         Out of hand. There was a fucking riot.

331. HAROUN       Xavi’s just a tiny bit obsessed with you.

332. NIKESH         Well, that I really don’t need to hear on my wedding day. By the way you seen Sam Butler cos he’s supposed to be DJ-ing in an hour?

333. HAROUN       Saw him this morning on the terrace talking to Zane Benedetto.

334. NIKESH         Right.

335. HAROUN       Zane Benedetto, man. Still can’t believe I’m saying his name out loud in the actual context of your wedding.

336. NIKESH         He has no actual context in my wedding.

337. HAROUN       Oh yeh. You quit, right. Radical.

338. NIKESH         No need to look so pleased about it.

339. HAROUN       All the same he’s the uninvited guest, no? Isn’t there some tradition about that?

340. NIKESH         Enjoy the prawns.

SCENE 9    EXT. THE DOWNS

SFX                      ZANE SITS ON THE GROUND SHIVERING. TAYLOR STANDS BESIDE HIM. ALL AROUND THEM IS ACTIVITY.

341. BENEDETTO Quite an entrance you guys just made. Properly cinematic.

342. TAYLOR         Can someone fetch this man a blanket?

343. BENEDETTO Did you find him?

344. TAYLOR         Did we find who?

345. BENEDETTO Sam. Sam Butler. Guy who was out here with me.

346. TAYLOR         Which way he go?

347. BENEDETTO You tell me Captain or colonel or whatever it is you are.

348. TAYLOR         You can call me Taylor.

349. BENEDETTO Said he heard them vibrating, Taylor. The structures.

350. POLICE         Blanket Ma’am.

                            TAYLOR TAKES THE BLANKET OFF THE POLICEMAN

351. TAYLOR         Thank you Officer. That will be all.

352. POLICE         Maam.

353. TATYLOR       Wrap this round your shoulders Mr. Benedetto.

354. BENEDETTO You know my name?

355. TAYLOR         Even hard pressed and over worked security officers watch the odd action film now and again.

356. BENEDETTO Then this is a homeland security operation?

                            TAYLOR STANDS AND SHOUTS ACROSS

357. TAYLOR         Let’s bring those flame throwers forward.

358. BENEDETTO Flame throwers?

359. TAYLOR         Best you shield your eyes Mr. Benedetto. There’s about to be a lot of smoke and fumes.

360. BENEDETTO You’re going to burn them down? The structures.

361. TAYLOR         Let’s start with this pair right in front of us.

362. BENEDETTO But what about Sam? What if he’s in there somewhere?

363. TAYLOR         There’s nobody here but us. We’ve checked this entire area.

364. BENEDETTO Unless he’s like hiding somewhere.

365. TAYLOR         On my command – FIRE!

SFX                      A HUGE BURST OF FLAME ENGULFS ONE OF THE STRUCTURES –

366. BENEDETTO Man alive

367. TAYLOR         (INTO A WALKIE TALKIE) Let’s go for a second burst.

368. BENEDETTO You don’t think torching them for all the world to see is just a little bit over conspicuous.

369. TAYLOR         In that it sends a message to whoever’s building them? I most certainly hope so.

370. BENEDETTO Seriously this is a very bad idea.

371. TAYLOR         Some things can’t be tolerated.

372. BENEDETTO Don’t you feel it?

373. TAYLOR         I don’t feel anything. Now why aren’t they burning down those edifices over there?

374. BENEDETTO Seriously Taylor You really need to listen to me.

375. TAYLOR         What you need to do is shut up Mr. Benedetto and thank your lucky stars that I haven’t had you arrested. (ON WALKIE TALKIE) For pity’s sake what’s the hold up over there? Hello? Can anyone hear me over there? What’s the cause of the delay? Hello?

SFX                      SUDDENLY THERE ARE SCREAMS AT DISTANCE AND A HUGE EXPLOSION AS A TRUCK EXPLODES. ZANE SCRAMBLES AWAY IN PANIC

376. TAYLOR         The hell do they think they’re doing?

377. BENEDETTO What’s it look like they’re doing?  They’re abandoning their flame throwers and walking away. 

378. TAYLOR         But they can’t do that.

379. BENEDETTO Well, that’s what they’re fricking doing. They’re walking away because they’ve gone Lonely No More.

SFX                      ANOTHER HUGE EXPLOSION – TAYLOR ON WALKIE TALKIE

380. TAYLOR         You will cease and desist immediately.

381. BENEDETTO Little late for that I’d say.

SFX                      TAYLOR WALKS AWAY TOWARD THE SOLDIERS

382. TAYLOR         (SHOUTS) Where the hell’s Captain Harries? Is Captain Harries here?

383. BENEDETTO The hell are you approaching them for? Taylor stop. Stop.

SFX                      SUDDENLY THERE ARE MORE SCREAMS AS THE FLAME ENGULFS ALL THE SOLDIER’S PRESENT

SCENE 10             INT. THE WEDDING BANQUET

                            WE ARE WITH NINA, NIKESH, SYED AND HAROUN, AS CRISTINA ADDRESSES THE GUESTS

384. CRISTINA      What does it mean to love? For me it means to give and accept gratefully whatever is given in return. But we who are realists know only too well, life can sometimes dismay and surprise us. The challenge at times like these - and we have all had them - is to know how to forgive in a fashion which does not curdle truth of one’s soul. 

                            Which is why I would not only like to thank Syed over there for his beautiful son Nikesh but also to forgive him. I know that he meant well when he had me investigated over the tragic, and entirely accidental, death of my late beloved husband. And while true that I struggle with occasionally overwhelming feelings of anger and outrage that a total stranger could be so callous as to assume that I was cold blooded murderer of man I had loved passionately and devotedly for fifteen years, I would like to say today - in front of you all - that I not only forgive you Syed but actually thank you for helping me to survive such a horrible experience and grow as person.. 

                            THERE IS A LOUD GASP IN THE ROOM. 

385. SYED            (OVER) That’s a calumny. A ridiculous and grotesque calumny.

386. NIKESH         Sit down, baba.

387. NINA             Yeh, sit down Syed.

388. SYED            But she’s.

390. NIKESH         There is no “but she’s”.

391. HAROUN       So it’s true. You did have her investigated.

392. SYED            Shut up, Haroun.

393. NIKESH         Please baba sit down.

                            SYED DOES SO. 

394. CRISTINA      Of course when we look at Nina and Nikesh we are not just looking at two beautiful young people who have today made a lasting and lifelong commitment to one another, we’re looking at architects. Architects who have come together to design a better world for themselves and for all of us fortunate enough to know and love them. The world is undoubtedly a cruel and crazy place but as I look at you two sitting there together I see (love and hope embodied in two…).

                            THERE IS A BUSTLE FROM THE BACK OF THE HOTEL

395. CLIFTON       Nina!

                            NIKESH LEAPS UP FROM THE TABLE

396. NIKESH         Unbe-fucking-lievable - Clifton?

397. CLIFTON       Sorry to interrupt everyone but the good news is all over the everywhere. We are at last Lonely No More.

                            NINA STANDS UP

398. NINA             Get out of here, Clifton.

399. CLIFTON       No no no. I’ve not come here to spoil the party I’ve come to get it started.

                            HAROUN GOES ACROSS THE ROOM TO CLIFTON – ALL IS CONFUSION AND UPROAR

400. HAROUN       You come with me, mate. We can talk outside.

401. SYED            For goodness sake, Haroun. 

402. NIKESH         It’s all right, baba, don’t worry. Haroun can look after himself.

                            HAROUN SUDDENLY PULLS BACK FROM CLIFTON

403. HAROUN       What the fuck, man?

                            SUDDENLY CLIFTON IS KICKING ABOUT ON THE FLOOR AND MAKING THE CLICKING SOUNDS. NINA RUNS OVER TO CLIFTON

404. NINA             (APPR) Step away from him, Haroun. You too Niko.

405. NIKESH         You said this was in hand!

406. NINA             Just stand back, Niko and let me deal with this.

407. HAROUN       No dealing with this. This is the thing.

MIX TO                 

408. SYED            Who is this person?

409. LIV                It’s all right Mr. Bhakta.

410. SYED            Doesn’t look all right. Is anybody hurt?

411. LIV                 I, I don’t think so.

412. SYED            Oh my god they crashed the cake. 

413. LIV                Please stand back Mr. Bhakta.

414. SYED            (SHOUTS OVER) I don’t feel well. My head.

415. LIV                Mr. Bhakta. (SHOUTS) Nina. Nina.

416. NIKESH         Baba.

                            SYED STARTS CLICKING AND THRASHES OUT OF THE HOTEL SENDING TABLES AND CHAIRS 

417. NIKESH         Liv stop him. Liv?

                            BUT NOW LIV IS CLICKING &  ALL THE OTHER GUESTS SAVE NIKESH, NINA AND HAROUN.

418. NINA             Mama? 

                            NINA WANTS TO RUN OVER TO CRISTINA. NIKESH HOLDS HER BACK

419. NIKESH         No, Nina. No.

420. NINA             But it’s happening to mama.

421. HAROUN       It’s happening to everyone.

SFX                      FROM OUTSIDE CARS CRASH - SCREAMS AND THE UGLY SCRAPE OF GRINDING METAL

422. NIKESH         We have to get out of here. This way, Haroun. Follow us.

423. HAROUN       No, man I’m going out there to bear witness.

424. NINA             For fuck’s sake Haroun come with us.

                            HAROUN RUNS OFF

425. NIKESH         Let’s get the hell out of here. Now.

426. NINA             You think.

427. NIKESH         Please Nina. Please.

                            HE DRAGS HER AWAY WITH HIM. WE LEAVE THE CHAOS.

SCENE 11             EXT. THE STREET BRIGHTON

SFX                      NIKESH AND NINA PAUSE FOR BREATH IN A DOORWAY AND SLUMP DOWN – ALL AROUND THEM ARE THE SOUNDS OF DISTANT DESTRUCTION BUT NO HUMAN VOICES ARE HEARD

428. NIKESH         Nina, you OK?

429. NINA             Think so.

430. NIKESH         Have you a signal on your phone?.

431. NINA             Nothing coming through.

432. NIKESH         The fuck has happened? The fuck has literally just happened

433. NINA             I don’t know.

434. NIKESH         Your mum. My dad. Everyone at the reception.

435. NINA             Best we breathe.

436. NIKESH         Maybe, maybe this is only happening here.

437. NINA             Maybe. Get down.

                            A GROUP OF PEOPLE CLICKING PASS THEM BY

438. NIKESH         Tell me you’re seeing this.

439. NINA             I’m seeing it but I don’t believe it.

440. NIKESH         They’ve all turned. They’ve all turned haven’t they?

441. NINA             They’re all heading for the sea front aren’t they.

442. NIKESH         Where we just ran away from.

443. NIKESH         Don’t seem to be interested in us at all do they?

444. NINA             They don’t, no. No, they don’t. Come on.

445. NIKESH         You come on. Come on where?

446. NINA             Don’t you want to see where they’re going?

447. NIKESH         No.

448. NINA             I need to see this.

449. NIKESH         And if they turn on us?

450. NINA             I don’t think, I really don’t think they’re going to do that.

451. NIKESH         You don’t? Why don’t you?

452. NINA             Let’s go.

                            NINA WALKS AWAY AFTER THE CLICKERS

453. NIKESH         Well, this is going to be one hell of an anniversary story.