EXT. CAP-HAITI - EVENING
[Opening background music cue: "Freedom" by Pharrell Williams; 0:00-0:21, then it fades]
It is a beautiful, golden sepia evening in Cap-Haitien. Birds fly together in unity, a shifting cloud of dark wings against the amber sky. Muffled school bells ring from the distance, echoing off the mountains that sit together like bloated, ebony old ladies watching over the valley.
The sun gazes directly at Dinah Harari, a Jewish woman whose eye is pressed tight against a sniper scope. Her hands are steady as she screws on a silencer, her finger sharply fixed near the trigger. The air is still. Through the lens, she gazes at a group of bandits conducting a black market exchange far from her farm that sits opposite the orphanage home she mothers.
DINAH-(Smirk) Low lifes…
She moves her scope from the bandits to the farm ground. Through the crosshairs, she watches the female orphans—some playing tag, others tending the crops. Satisfied they are safe for the moment, she lowers her gun and heads downstairs.
On the way, she meets her daughter, Creole, who is sitting quietly, reading.
DINAH-(Motherly) Créole, va prendre soin de tes sœurs. (Creole, go look after your sisters.)
Creole stands up, marking her page.
CREOLE-Oui maman. (Yes, ma.)
Dinah walks into her office and places the rifle on her desk. As she turns, a photo frame catches her attention. It is a picture of her and her missing husband. She touches the glass, a soft expression breaking her hardened features.
DINAH-(Nostalgic smile) I'll find you.
Suddenly, the rhythmic thrum of rotors vibrates through the walls. Military alert. Dinah rushes back upstairs, snatching her military-grade binoculars. She scans the sky and spots a helicopter heading toward the mountains. As she watches, the bay doors open.
The helicopter drops a Mark III "Fat Man" atomic bomb. It falls silently toward the peaks.
Pure, surprising fear violently claims Dinah's eyes. She drops the binoculars and vaults over the balcony railing, jumping down from the storey she is on. She lands running, sprinting like an athlete toward the female toddlers outside. She screams violently at them as the horizon begins to disintegrate the bomb's expansion wave is approaching.
DINAH-(Shouting in tears of fear) REJOIGNEZ LE BUNKER!!!!! (GET TO THE BUNKER!!!!)
Fear grips her heart like a vice. The expansion is getting closer, moving faster than sound. She starts scooping up toddlers, shoving them toward the underground entrance. She spots Creole and screams for her to start carrying the others.
The shockwave reaches her farm. It violently burns off the roots of the crops in a split second. Her car, parked nearby, somersaults through the air and fries in the heat of the expansion. Some of the toddlers are still near the edge of the farm.
Creole runs with desperate speed, clutching a toddler to her chest. Dinah screams at her daughter to run toward her direction at the bunker. Dinah has switched on the electric lock; the heavy blast door is on a countdown, about to seal tight until the explosion ends.
Inside the threshold, She holds the heavy bunker door open with her bare hands, fighting the hydraulic pressure. She screams at her daughter, watching the wall of fire drawing nigh.
The force of the shockwave knocks Creole and the toddlers off their feet. They cry out to Dinah.
The door presses down, crushing Dinah's resistance. Through the narrowing gap, she clearly sees the bomb's heat reach them. It fries her daughter and the remaining toddlers in an instant.
Broken by intense sorrow, her strength fails. She releases her grip.
Two seconds before the firestorm reaches the bunker, the door seals shut. Dinah falls to the floor in the midst of the surviving children. She stares directly at the cold steel of the bunker's door, her eyes drowning in sorrowful tears.
Days Later...….
Surulere, Lagos-Nigeria
It is a cold noon. Raymond Kuti stands at his ironing board, pressing the folds of the native attire he plans to wear to a burial. His plasma screen television is muted, displaying a news report about a massive atomic nuclear explosion in Haiti: "No injured, but 750 dead." The clandestine operation is attributed to the "New World Order Movement," the group responsible for today's global threats. The report triggers a brief flicker of pity and shock at the movement's sheer audacity.
RAYMOND- (Pity) Damn… poor souls. Tch.
Suddenly…
KKKKRRRRTTTTSSSCCHHH!!!!!
A stone violently shatters his window glass. Raymond guides his head down in sudden fright, slowly approaching the fractured pane.
He sees a middle-aged woman standing on the street below. Her eyes are locked directly with his, her face a mask etched with a profound, sorrowful scowl, glistening with intense tears. Raymond tries to smile at her, forcing a look of fearful bravado.
RAYMOND- (Smiles in fear) Heyyyyyy! (Smirk) You broke my window glass!…
He notices the woman maintains the same expression. Then, she slowly reaches toward her back pocket and produces a knife. Raymond's eyes grow wide. Recognizing her intent, he screams:
RAYMOND- (Frightened) Heyyyy! Stop her!…
She starts stabbing herself, repeatedly, still maintaining the same expression, standing and gazing directly into his eyes. Raymond lunges back, pulling the curtains closed, and looks away, crying bitterly in shock.
He uses his hand to cover his mouth, but he can still hear the woman stabbing herself severally, a woman screaming from a distance, and people wailing in misery. The horrific auditory assault triggers an immediate attack. He begins sweating profusely. Everywhere sounds louder to him as a high-pitched sound blends in. It is all intense. Everything is loud and muffled, making the high-pitched sound audible and unbearable. He covers his ears tight, tighter but it only gets louder.
He runs to the toilet and vomits into the basin. The sensory storm finally stops. Everything is normal again. He breathes, his chest heaving.
[Background Music cue: "Broski" by Joyner Lucas 0:00-0:23]
In an unremorseful haze, Raymond takes a quick shower. He snatches his Yoruba native attire from the ironing board, dresses swiftly, and bursts out of the apartment, near the suicide scene.
[Song Cut cue: 1:05-2:00, other atmospheric sounds are mute]
(Slow-motion effect)
An ambulance and police are already gathering around the woman's corpse. Raymond glances away unremorsefully and walks with a swiftly paced stride. On his way to the bus station at Yaba, after walking past a few streets, he sees Jubril across the road, the man he met in the supermarket two weeks ago. They lock eyes. Jubril gives him a cold stare while Raymond squints, trying to place him. Recognition dawns, and Raymond rolls his eyes in dismissal.
INT. BRT BUS - MOMENTS LATER
Raymond is sitting in the moving BRT bus, his head resting against the glass. He wears an intense, pensive frown on his face, gazing out the window at the endless rush of Lagos.
EXT. BURIAL SITE - LATER
The burial is a scene of utter sorrow, a pool of tears beneath a gloomy sky. Women weep bitterly over and near the coffin, while the men stand frowning in sorrow. Raymond gazes at the coffin, but his attention is quickly seized by the broken tears of the old woman—the deceased's wife. He pities her the most, given her age, but then the woman notices his presence.
She locks eyes with him, her sorrow instantly transmuting into bitter rage. Raymond adopts an intensely confused expression. The old woman stands up, shouting at her children while pointing a trembling finger directly at him..
OLD LADY- (Tears in anger) Kí ló ń ṣe níbí? What is he doing here?! Ehnnn… WHAT IS HE DOING HERE!!!!
Raymond is visibly frightened by her reaction, looking around in hostility. The woman charges at him, pointing, her face squeezed into a heavy, brutal scowl, her red eyes glistening with tears locked onto his. People try desperately to restrain her.
OLD LADY- (Bitter Sorrow) I know no one will believe this but Ìwọ lo pa á(you killed him), it was you, Ìwọ ni.
Raymond's eyes widen with frightened tears, locked with the woman as she continues:
OLD LADY- (Bitter sorrowful tears) O pa á lẹ́yìn gbogbo ohun tí a ti ṣe fún ọ nínú ìdílé yìí, I know it doesn't look so but… (Broke into tears) it was you, Ìwọ ni… Ìwọ ni…
She falls onto him in broken, bitter tears. Raymond grips her in a hug before she collapses entirely to the ground. Her statement confuses the other attendants; some conclude she is hallucinating out of intense grief. Softly, others lift her away from Raymond.
EXT. BURIAL SITE (LONELY SPOT) - AFTER
After some time, Raymond walks away to a lonely spot to think about the old woman's accusatory actions. Somebody whispers at his back:
JUBRIL- Raymond…
Raymond swiftly turns. It is Jubril, the man from the supermarket. Raymond steps back, shouting slightly:
RAYMOND- (Frightened) Hey! Stay… away… from me…
JUBRIL-(Confused) Raymond, it's me, Jubril, your ally. We drove in the Sahara together, your New World Order…
RAYMOND- (Confused) New World…? How do you know my name?… Just quit this, it's weird. I don't even know you…
JUBRIL- (Intense) Heyes groans in fury. He's hunting you down…
Raymond's expression turns fearful, his eyes wide as if he has seen a ghost. He heard that name in his dream. He stutters:
RAYMOND- (Fear) Who… who is…
JUBRIL- (Gasp in fed-up) You killed his father.
RAYMOND- (Sobering in fear) What?… As how?
JUBRIL- Not like you literally killed him, but, you told him to kill himself, and he did…
RAYMOND- (Fear) How… am I… able… to do that?
Jubril slightly tilts his head, looks past Raymond.
JUBRIL- (Shock) Speaking of the Devil…
Raymond swiftly turns his head to see who it is. Lo and behold, it is Heyes with several other men emerging from a black SUV. They are all staring at Raymond, all guns tightly gripped, approaching him as they pass the cemetery grounds.
Raymond and Jubril turned, holding back the raw adrenaline that begged them to run. Heyes and his men, sensing the coming break, maintained their composure as they all walked swiftly out of the cemetery and onto the streets of Surulere.
RAYMOND- (Shocking fear) It's him… Heyes…
JUBRIL- (Slight fear) Don't run…
RAYMOND- (Fear) What?
JUBRIL- Don't… run. Let's walk out of the cemetery.
RAYMOND- (Fear) Who is Heyes?
JUBRIL- I'll explain that later. For now, let's walk out of here peacefully.
Heyes' goons, Raymond, and Jubril paced faster, their bodies coiled and ready to break free. The moment they cleared the cemetery gates, they bolted, charging into a full-out chase through the dense streets of Surulere.
THUUCH!! THUUCH!! THUUCH!
Heyes and his men immediately opened fire, their shots ringing out as Raymond and Jubril instinctively guarded their heads. Jubril ripped a gun from his pocket and attacked back. It was now a gun-blazing fight. Panicked passengers started screaming as the air choked with the sounds of insecurity.
The two men veered onto the main road, where all Danfo buses instantly braked. Drivers and passengers scattered, running out of the buses, which instantly became thick metal shields against the storm of bullets.
Jubril took down two men—he couldn't miss. Heyes and his remaining three men pressed forward. Jubril glanced back and noticed Raymond shivering in fear behind him. He looked away in disgust.
JUBRIL- (Disgust) You know, I'm starting to like the former you…
RAYMOND- (Confused) Thanks, I'm better off without the bullets…
THUUCH!!
Jubril took down another of Heyes' men.
JUBRIL- You know I like to believe that sometimes…
Then, in a sudden surprise…
FIITCH!.... FIITCH!
Sniper bullets instantly took down the remaining men of Heyes. Heyes was forced to merge back into the shadows.
FIITCH!
A final bullet grazed his arm, forcing him to turn and run away.
The sudden intervention caught both Raymond and Jubril in intense shock. They bolted into a narrow passage between two buildings, still moving fast.
RAYMOND- (Fearful shock) Who was that?…
JUBRIL- (Intense) Ray, I forgot to tell you about your wife…
The statement made Raymond's eyebrows shoot up. He stopped running, forcing Jubril to also slow down and halt, though still facing forward. Raymond, standing in intense confusion, removed his Yoruba hat, his fila.
RAYMOND- (Intense confusion) My… Wife?
Jubril slowly turned his head, his expression grim.
JUBRIL- (Intense) Dinah. She's been looking for you…
Suddenly, a masked female figure with long, dark hair, dropped from the storey above in a calculated action pose. She landed silently, catching their attention. They both looked at her with suspicion, but Jubril realized instantly she was a threat. He charged against her.
THUUUUUUD!!!
(Slow-motion effect)
She countered his head with a hurling kick. Jubril lifted up mid-air, a mix of saliva and blood floating as it slipped from his mouth. He thudded down hard, lying unconscious on the narrow ground. Raymond gazed in intense surprise at Jubril's still form. Before he could turn his attention back to the masked woman…
VUUGB!
She landed the living boy scout of him a blow.
(Cut to black)