Author: KA Byrnes

Kin

LEFTOVER NINE

Henry’s final moment from the previous episode replays.

ONE

Three Months Later. We’re in snow country. A man carrying rabbit carcasses strides up to a self-sufficient cabin. We don’t see his face until he enters and exchanges a glance with this wife, who sits by the fire. Her eyes move sideways, and Joel steps from behind the room’s center post with his gun drawn.

The couple goes through some hilarious schtick, the kind only longtime partners have, and the man sits. Joel is looking for Tommy. Ellie, from the loft, asks to come down. Husband and wife exchange another speaking look.

TWO

Joel asks for their location on a map and how to travel west. “Go east,” the man says. Past the river are a lot of dead bodies, only some of them infected. Joel and Ellie head out, having no choice but to continue on. 

(This was a jewel of a scene that ended way too soon. Give Graham Greene and Elaine Miles their own show. I’d watch them all day.)

THREE

As they leave, Joel has what appears to be a panic attack, although it could be angina. 

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It’s published!

Acting the Enneagram is now available at amazon. You may have noticed I’ve become more interested in how a character’s Enneagram impacts the overall success of the story.

In this book I go over the basics of Personality Typing for the Enneagram using movie characters and posts from the blog. I add some never-before-seen Storytelling Enneagram breakdowns for an assortment of movies, and then I mash the two sections together.

Going forward look for me to try more of this weaving of Enneagrams in my posts and in future books. I’m convinced this is the best way to write, create, and critique film and television stories. Besides, it’s fun!

Endure and Survive

ONE

Fireworks. People chanting and celebrating in the street. FEDRA is defeated, its officers shot, and the Resistance owns the city. (This is a flashback.) Henry and Sam hide from the searchlights and communicate with sign language.

TWO

A jail enclosure filled with people. Kathleen, Perry guarding her, enters and sits. These are the FEDRA snitches. With her sweet, girlish voice, Kathleen promises them a trial (where they’ll be found guilty) and some time served if they tell her where Henry is. When she threatens to shoot them, someone implicates the doctor. Kathleen insists Perry go door-to-door until Henry’s found. And the snitches, even the one who talked, should be shot and burned.

Henry and Sam enter a building. Random gunfire can be heard outside. They find the attic hidey-hole where the doctor waits. (Kathleen shoots him at the beginning of the previous episode.) Henry calculates they have enough supplies for 11 days. In that time they need to figure out an escape route. 

THREE

To calm Sam, Henry comes to see what he’s drawing on his Magic Slate Paper Saver. (Yes, I had to google the official name of this well-known toy.) It’s Super Sam, wearing a heroic mask. Henry gives him a bag of crayons so he can decorate the brick walls.

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Please Hold To My Hand

ONE

Ellie practices with her handgun in front of a decrepit bathroom mirror. Partly she’s watching herself look cool, but she also unloads the magazine and inspects the weapon, learning it. She reloads it and slides it into her backpack.

TWO

Outside, they’re at an overgrown gas station with cars parked nearby. Joel siphons the tanks. She’s talkative and curious, he’s curt and taciturn. From her backpack she pulls out a paperback: No Pun Intended, Volume Too. (His face is priceless as she reads the jokes with joyful comedic timing.)

THREE

As they drive down an interstate, Ellie passes him a Hank Williams cassette from her backpack. She’s sitting in the backseat. Reaching under the front, she finds a men’s magazine and starts exclaiming about the centerfold. (Remember, this was Bill’s truck.) Laughing at how flustered she’s made Joel, she tosses the magazine out the window.

Continue reading “Please Hold To My Hand”