The Shooter – Rewritten
As a massive fan of Zombie fiction and also someone who is tasked with a writing assignment, I’ve decided to rewrite a given script and change it’s setting while retaining its original flavour. Here is my rewritten “The Shooter”.
This story is set in a post-apocalyptic version of a modern city where a viral plague has either killed or transformed a majority of the population into mindless flesh-eating creatures (zombies). It has been some time after the initial outbreak and the survivors have banded together and built small settlements with high-walls and basic infrastructure. These settlements are heavily defended and protected by teams of survivors who occasionally forage and scavenge for usable materials outside the walls. The story focuses on one such settlement, New Glenmary, that was built upon the ruins of a shopping-complex.
The story focuses on Jake, the former Warden of the settlement and leader of his team of Sentinels who serve as the protectors of the settlement and its standing army. After an incident in which Raiders weakened their defenses, a large number of zombies managed to break through and kill an entire section of the colony, Jake was distraught when he realized that not only had he failed in his duty but his family had been part of those killed in the attack. In the aftermath, with nothing left to live for, Jake decided to leave the colony in better hands and wander the ruins of Glenmary alone seeking oblivion.
Unknown to Jake, the Raiders were negotiating with Dead-Eye Jane, the leader of a Dagger team who made regular forays into the ruins in search for materials and salvage. She was ruthless and cunning and felt that decisions and authority should be given only to those that risked their lives in the ruins. Her dissatisfaction turned into hate over time and she put her plans into action. The incident with the breach was orchestrated by her in order to throw New Glenmary into disarray before disbanding the existing council that governed the settlement. With Jake out of the way, she easily swept aside all detractors and established herself as the leader of New Glenmary.
Against all odds, Jake returns after living a year in the ruins surviving alone and sees the suffering brought about by Jane’s leadership. Those who spoke out against her were killed outright or sold into slavery to Raider parties that would occasionally visit. No one was safe and many fell prey to Jane’s ‘Daggers’ who could take whatever they wanted and do anything they wished as long as it was not against the will of Dead-Eye Jane. Feeling guilt over abandoning the survivors to this tyrant, Jake swears on his family’s graves to do everything in his power to make things right again.
Jake quietly integrates back into New Glenmary and reestablishes contact with his old comrades in the Sentinels who survived Jane’s initial manhunt. Many survivors were on the brink of revolt but lacked the leadership to do so. Jake fanned these flames by inciting the populace and made quick raids on weapon caches, quietly arming the people of New Glenmary. His old second-in-command Mike, who lost an arm to the cruelty of the Daggers aided in the organization and training of the rebels.
Things came to head when a Dagger who was forcing himself upon a female survivor, found a shiv in his ribs instead. This forced the Daggers to sound an alarm to spread out and search the settlement. This prompted Jake and the rebels to spring into action and signaled the attack on Jane’s Daggers. Though well-armed, the Daggers were outnumbered and the fury of the survivors were unleashed upon them in bloody close-combat. None of the Daggers survived that night and the screaming continued on late into the night as an oppressed population claimed retribution for any wrongs beset upon them.
Jake finally faced off with Jane in her self-styled palace in the upper levels of the mall. In the ensuing battle, Jane’s other eye was shot out by Jake and with blood streaming down her face, she fell into a pit that held a few pet zombies that had their teeth filed off. Jane had used the pit to slowly silence any dissenters in the settlement by sentencing them to a slow and arduous death being slowly gnawed apart by the undead. Blinded and groping about, the ever-vengeful Jane never pleaded for mercy as Jake stumbled out of the palace with a wound she had inflicted upon him during the battle. Jake never turned back even as the screaming started.
The battle was over and the settlement was saved. The old ways were reestablished and New Glenmary was rebuilt and fortified. Eventually the virus burned out and New Glenmary became one of the larger settlements responsible for the rebuilding of civilization. Under Jake’s leadership, connection was established with neighboring settlements and the Raiders were summarily hunted down and scattered.