Dystopia by Georgia Greenberg
scene: A lonely street. The sky is overcast, and the trees seem to wilt. A plastic bag blows past a girl, sitting on the sidewalk, looking down the street. It looks as though many cars used to go this way, but now there are none. The girl- dressed simply, in jeans, a tight t-shirt, and a knitted off-white cardigan- looks down the street. She can see all the way to the sun setting behind the skyscrapers.
music: Autnumnsong, by Tom Milsom
girl (voiceover): I read somewhere that there is no honor in a sick death. Back when I could read-
In her memory the audience sees a blurry spaceship fly accross the screen, lifting off what looks like a dying Earth. We hear a faint scream.
girl (voiceover): ...back when there were books to read, and people to read to.
She turns, and looks away from the sunset, back behind her, toward a large, dark building, and back to her feet. She sees a bird a couple feet away, pecking at something on the ground.
girl (voiceover): They also said the good die alone.
She reaches out to it.
girl (aloud): but you’re here, aren’t you, little guy?
It’s eyes turn yellow and crazed as it hisses at her before flying away. Unfazed, she watches it go, fading into a cloud.
girl (voiceover): pidgies always scared the crap out of mom. She says they never would’ve done anything like that back on Earth.
She looks back to where it lifted off from and is unsurprised to see that what it was pecking at was a cockroach. She smiles a little, and reaches out to it. It chips a little and hops into her palm.
girl (aloud): you are.
She looks up to the sky again, as if searching for something in the clouds, only to close her eyes as if she’s dead. The camera lingers on her as we hear what sounds like a plane fly overhead. Off-screen we hear a spaceship land, and feet hit the ground running. Men in combat uniform run all over the scene, motioning to each other and yelling. One of them scoops the girl up and carries her onto the ship. the camera follows them, and we see her faintly smile before the screen cuts to black.
****
scene: the girl is in a room crowded with other dirty-looking people. It’s musty and dark, and there are lots of crying babies.
music: Baltimore by Tom Milsom
No one is talking much. She stands, and immediately catches the eye of a slouching boy across the room, who holds up four fingers as if he’s asking a question. She nods, and he gives her a thumbs up to wish her luck, and quickly looks away as if it didn’t happen. She looks over her shoulder, sees and exit, and heads toward it. She knocks four times, and another boy, this time much younger, opens the door and enters the room without looking at her. She exits, and begins to walk down a corridor.
girl (voiceover): The first three times we tried to take down the Majors, we failed. We were caught, and silenced. Not again.
She flips over her arm to look at a tattoo of a little girl’s face. She touches it, and it lights up green, just as another combat-suitde man at the end of the hall sees her and shouts “HEY!” He signals to his collegues, but they’re too late. The girl blows up, like a bomb
