FADE IN:
EXT. CITY STREET – DAY – A FEW YEARS IN THE FUTURE
A vehicle's taillights are visible through a fast food restaurant's shattered façade. A mob of bystanders surround and gravitate toward the wreckage. A few injured people labor on the sidewalk. Over the crowd noise, distant SIRENS grow louder.
CUT TO:
Partially-eaten meals, bodies, and broken chairs and tables are strewn in the vehicle's wake. Multiple SIRENS arrive and fade as they turn off. A few people tend to injured patrons. Others injured remain unassisted. Many people stand around in shock, or not knowing what to do, or not wanting to get involved. A few people take photos and videos on their cell phones.
PERSON #1
(in shock)
He just ploughed in.
One person grabs another who is speaking on a cell phone.
PERSON #1
Did you see that? Didn't try to slow down. Cranked the wheel and came right at us. Deliberately.
The person on the cell phone tries to shrug off the other person.
PERSON #2
I'm trying to talk to 911.
PERSON #1
A bunch of ambulances. Did you tell them?
The person on the cell phone pulls away and looks around the restaurant.
PERSON #2
I don't know. It's busy in here. Lunch crowd. Send a bunch of ambulances.
The person on the cell phone pauses and listens intently.
PERSON #2
(exasperated)
How should I know? Ten people. Fifteen.
PERSON #3
(crying out from near the front of the restaurant)
Anyone know first aid?
PERSON #2
Maybe more. I can't see the sidewalk.
The person on the cell phone steps toward the street past a man who tends to his daughter lying motionless on the floor. The table where they sat is untouched, as is the food sitting on it, but her chair is missing, having been struck and torn away by the vehicle's front corner.
MAN
Shawna, baby, it's daddy.
He feels her neck for her pulse. When he doesn't find one, he moves his hand to her chest and lowers his ear to her mouth.
MAN
C'mon, baby, you gotta breathe for me.
The man realizes his daughter is dead.
MAN
Dear God, no.
He sits back, breathes deep, rubs his face, and looks at the vehicle. The driver sits unconscious and slumped against the window. The man jumps to his feet and tries to open the driver's door. The door is locked. He picks up the arm from a broken chair and pounds it against the driver's window in an attempt to smash his way into the locked vehicle.
MAN
(enraged)
You'll pay for this.
The window remains unharmed.
PERSON #4
He's dead or comatose or something.
The man turns on the person who addressed him.
MAN
If he ain't dead, he will be.
The man strikes the window again. People nearby warily move a safe distance away. Some record video of the man on their cell phones. No one intervenes. The man strikes the window again.
MAN
(enraged)
I'll make you pay.
A young girl sits in the vehicle's passenger seat, frightened, dazed, and bleeding from a scrape on her forehead caused by being struck by the airbag.
MAN
I'll tear you apart.
The girl SCREAMS. Emboldened by her terror, the man makes his way around the front of the vehicle to the passenger side.
MAN
I'll gut you like a pig.
Wreckage slows the man's progress. He trips once, grabs the fender, and pulls himself to his feet. Though many people watch him, none move to stop him.
CUT TO:
NOEMI drives the police car, accompanied by her partner. She peers ahead toward the accident scene.
NOEMI
Great. What is it about an accident scene that attracts all these jerks?
PARTNER
What do you think?
NOEMI
I think blood draws them like piranhas. What do you think?
PARTNER
I think it's the most excitement they'll see all year.
Noemi slows and steers the police car dangerously close to bystanders on the sidewalk.
NOEMI
Ready to crack some skulls?
PARTNER
(annoyed)
Easy, Worrell. This isn't a riot.
Noemi brakes hard, scattering bystanders fearful of being struck, and parks in front of the fast food restaurant. She turns off the siren.
NOEMI
It will be. Give it a couple minutes.
Her partner exits the police car and addresses the crowd.
PARTNER
(commanding)
Everyone move back.
The crowd ignores his command. He wades in and starts pushing individuals back.
PARTNER
You're blocking the ambulances.
BYSTANDER
Get your hands off me.
Noemi pushes through the crowd.
NOEMI
Out of my way.
Noemi ducks into the hole in the restaurant's facade. More SIRENS approach.
CUT TO:
As Noemi enters, the man reaches the passenger door and pulls at the door handle. The door is locked. The girl inside the vehicle continues to scream. Her seatbelt prevents her from moving away from the door. She claws at the seatbelt.
MAN
(enraged)
You'll pay.
The man hammers the broken chair against the passenger window. The girl screams again. Noemi halts when she sees the man attacking the vehicle.
NOEMI
(commanding)
LAPD. Drop your weapon. Step away.
Noemi reaches for her belt. The man continues his assault on the vehicle. The passenger window chips. The girl continues screaming. Noemi raises her weapon from its holster.
NOEMI
Drop it. I'll shoot.
The man looks at her for a second but barely notices her. He turns back to the vehicle and hammers the chair against the window again. Noemi takes one step toward him with her gun aimed at his torso.
NOEMI
Drop it.
The man turns toward her. When he sees the gun, he pauses. He glances at the broken chair he holds.
MAN
They killed her.
Noemi adjusts her aim to the center of the man's chest.
NOEMI
Drop it.
The man flings the broken chair at her. When it strikes her shoulder, she fires her gun into the man's chest with a loud BANG. He collapses silently. The broken chair bounces off her and clatters to the floor. Someone gasps; otherwise, the crowd falls silent except for the whimpering of those already injured.
NOEMI
(in shock)
What?
Noemi lowers her gun but does not return it to its holster. She stares at the man. Her partner and two other policemen enter the restaurant with their guns ready.
POLICEMAN #1
What happened?
NOEMI
(in shock)
I-
Noemi steps once toward the man she just shot.
NOEMI
(in shock)
I'm okay.
Cell phones held by people in the crowd track Noemi's movement as she steps closer to the man. She kneels and feels his neck for a pulse.
PARTNER
(commanding)
Get back. Give us room.
Her partner pushes a nearby person back. Noemi rises and looks at all the people who are staring at her. She gestures toward them, unaware this points the gun in their direction.
NOEMI
(dully)
Do what he said.
Many of the bystanders move back. Her partner steps to her and eases the gun from her hand.
