Face of Fire, Belly of Blood

Script for 23 pages

Page 1—Splash page

I’ll handle this in Photoshop. There’s nothing for you to draw.

An epigraph:

“Everything I write [is concerned with] the sense which I

feel, of a human and not very rational order struggling
inadequately to keep in check forces of great destruction.”
—Shirley Jackson

Page 2—4 panels

1/ Establishing shot of the basement of a fairly large home. Standing in the basement are RED,
our main character for the first phase of the story, and MALE HOMEOWNER, whose house this
is. Red is a white man, about 50, with a long, red (not that we’ll see it in black and white, but
just don’t make it dark!) beard, a receding hairline, and a prominent beer belly. He’s a plumber
and is wearing jeans and a workshirt with a name patch on it that says “Red”.

He’s staring intently at a selection of plumbing hardware grouped in one corner of the
basement. This is why he’s here. There’s a hot water heater, a hot water tank, and a water
filtration system consisting of a water tank, a barrel for salt, and a filter (something kind of like
this: https://activerain-
store.s3.amazonaws.com/image_store/uploads/6/6/2/5/6/ar13341625765266.jpg). The
expression on his face makes clear that he’s trying to figure out the solution to a problem.

Standing just behind Red is the MALE HOMEOWNER. He’s a white man, about 40, well to do,
wearing glasses and khakis and a tie. He looks a little bewildered by the whole situation. He’s
great with managing 401Ks or running non-profits or selling ad campaigns, but he’s in way over
his head when it comes to the hardware in his home.

MALE HOMEOWNER: Given the drought, we considered just putting up with it,
but the filtration system is brand new and …

RED: It’s good you called. If somethin’s wrong with the

softener, you wanna catch ‘er while she’s still in warranty.
What’s the water like?
MALE HOMEOWNER 2: It used to be rusty and kind of eggy smelling? Now it’s gray
and smells like dirt.

2/ The top has been taken off the water tank in the filtration system. RED is standing on a small
stepladder, peering down into it. He’s shining a heavy-duty flashlight into it.

RED (quietly): Hunh.

3/ We see what he sees: the water in the filtration tank. It’s shot through with veins of a gray,
inky liquid, but it’s not totally dark. Rather, it’s just mixed enough to make it impossible to see
much detail—except there is some kind of shape in bottom of the tank. We just can’t make out
what it is yet.

RED: Well, somethin’s in there, but the water’s too murky. I’ll
drain ‘er and we’ll see what’s what.

4/ RED is turning the valve to drain the tank. A hose is attached to a spigot at the base of the
water tank, running towards a drain in the basement floor.
Page 3—5 panels
1/ Same as Page 2, Panel 3, except the water level is dropping.

2/ Close in on the end of the hose from Page 2, Panel 4. Water trickling is out and emptying into
the drain. The water is gray and seems to have chunks of something small and soft in it.

3/ Same as Panel 1, but the water level is even lower and we can almost—almost!—make out
what it is that’s at the bottom of the tank.

4/ RED, looking down into the water tank, a surprised expression on his face.

RED: Well, shit.

5/ Big panel. At bottom of the tank, water logged and partially rotted away, is a pair of rats. Not
huge or supernatural. They’re just ordinary rats that somehow ended up in a water tank they
couldn’t get out of. But they’re a gruesome sight: wet and tufted fur, some of the meat on their
haunches rotted away, and both with bite marks on them that make clear that they turned on
each other before they died.

Page 4—4 panels

1/ Later that day. It’s early evening, the sun starting to go down but not yet there. Establishing
shot of a pickup truck driving on a 4-lane highway, a few other cars around. While not really
specified in the story, I imagine it taking place in California—somewhere between LA and San
Francisco. So, when thinking about the highways and houses and natural environment, use
central California—mountains, desert, forest, farms—as your model. Some good examples:
• https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pvUj2M-wRHQ/maxresdefault.jpg
• http://www.istockphoto.com/photo/santa-lucia-mountains-and-highway-1-
gm173844577-9444379?esource=SEO_GIS_CDN_Redirect

The dialog in this panel is coming from the truck, but we don’t see inside the truck until the
next panel.

RED: What the fuck, right?

RED 2: Yeah.

RED 3: Who knows? Got in at the factory, died before it was ever
filled up?

2/ Inside the pickup, RED is talking on speakerphone, his cellphone mounted to the dash of his
truck.

RED: TGIF, that’s what I say.

RED 2: I was gonna take the beast up to Sawtooth in the morning

and fish. Wanna come with?

3/ The pickup truck, driving into the setting sun.

RED: Drained it?

4/ Close in on the windshield of the truck. We’re outside, looking in. The light from the sun and
the shadow it creates inside the truck are playing an odd trick. The shadows fall across RED’s
face in a way that makes him appear to have thick black makeup smeared across his eyes and
his mouth in a sloppy and uneven way. This should feel reasonably natural (or as natural as
possible), but also odd and distinctive enough that the reader will recognize something
intentional here. There’s something spooky about the way the shadows lay across his face.

RED: There’s gotta be some water left.

Page 5—5 panels

1/ Red yatağının kenarında iç çamaşırlarıyla oturuyor. Yorgun ve bitkin görünüyor. Yatağının
yanındaki saate göre 3:40. Balığa çıkmak için kalkmış. Oda karanlık ve gölgeli. Daha ışık yok.
Zeminde, ayağının dibinde, Canavar diye bahsettiği yaratığı görüyoruz. Bir köpek. Baklınca
canavar ismi bir ironi olduğu anlaşılıyor. Küşük sevim bir köbek (türü white bichon, bi kaç
yaşında) Yerde oturuyor. Daha yeni uyanmış ve Red’e uykulu uykulu bakıyor.

2/ Red’In kamyonetini otobanda sürüyordur. Arkasında çektiği bir bir römork vardır. Römork
üzerinde iki kişilik aliminyum bir balıkçı teknesi var. Havalı bir şey değil ama hoş bir havası var.
Köpek orada.

Arkaplanda dağ sırtlarını ve doğmakta olan güneşin belirsiz parlamasını görüyoruz.

3/ Red ormanın içinden güneş doğarkan yoldadır. Tam yerinde ve yoğun parlamaktadır. Elleriyle
gözüne kalkan yapmak zorunda bile kalır. Buna ragmen ışık parmaklarının arasından
Elinin etrafına yansır

Odaklanması gereksiz bir panel gibi gelebilir ama hikaye için önemli bi panel. Hikaye boyunca
göreceğimiz üzere güneş- tam olarak nezaman ve nasıl parladığı- korku anlarında önemli rol
oynar. Güneşi ve ışıklarını tarif etmem önemli. O yüzden lütfen bu konuda cömert davran.

4/ Red kapısı açık, kapının önünde duruyor. Köpek ayağının dibinde. Şehir parkanın tekne salma
bölgesindeler. Başka araba ya da kamyon veya insan yok. İkisi de göle bakıyor. Ama onların
gördüğünü göremiyoruz. Red’in yüzündeki hayal kırıklığı ve siniri görüyoruz.

RED: Hasiktir!

5/ Ters çekim/ Şimdi onların gördüğünü görüyoruz. Sawtooth gölü kurumuş.

Ancak! Ve bu önemli: Bütün gölü hemen göstermeyelim. Kıyıdan kuru ve çamurlu bir kısmı
gösterip tamamen kuru olduğunu anlatılım. Bütün manzarayı diğer sayfaya saklayalım

RED (PANELDIŞI): BU DA NESİ?

Page 6—splash page

Red’in gördüklerini görüyoruz. Sawtooth gölü genişi dağların eteğinde, etrafı ağaçlarla çevrilmiş,
Güzel bi mekan. Yüzerek balık tutarak bir yaz günü geçrimek isteyeceğiniz bir yer. En güzel
Kalifornya ormanlarını düşün. Öyle bir şey.

Arkaplanda, dağ sırtları, güneş tepede ve daha henüz dağların tepesini aydılatmış.

Böyle bir şey gibi görünebilir:

• https://s-media-cache-
ak0.pinimg.com/originals/60/c9/ee/60c9ee612a0dc4ebdafde3f604ec32de.jpg
• http://www.oregonphotos.com/Resources/MtnLakes-short-Reflection187Kb.JPG
• http://seattlebackpackersmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Bench-Lake.jpg
Gölde neredeyse hiç su yok. Bölgede bi kaç yıldır kurutmalar olmuş ve her yerde su sevileyeri
düşük. Göl içme suyu sisteminin bir parçası ve su için kurutulmuş. Su yerine göl çıplak şekilde
karşımızda uzanıyor. Kıyıdan İlk 50 100 feette parça parça su gölcükleri varç ama çoğunlukla
çamur ve kurumakta olan kir pislik. Gitmiş su ortada bir sürü çöp bırakmıtşır. Plastikler, eski
tekerler, kurumuş ya, otlar bira kutuları ölü balıklar vesaire.. Ne istersen çizebilirsin buraya. Çok
uçmadğın sürece

Gölün ilerk kısımlarında- Belki 100 yard- daha fazla su var ama yüzecek vey a balık tutacak yok. 1
2 metrelik en fazla.

Ortaya çıkmış bir şey daha var. 50 metre içinde, çamurların içinden yükselmiş, bir
obelisk(dikilitaş) hafif eğik bir açıda Zemin de hafif kaymış.

Kaba gri bi taş ve antic görünüyor. Ham bir hali var. Garip köşeleri ve sağlamlığı var. Aşınmış ve
yumuşamış bir çok kenarı olmasna ragmen.

3 4 metre genişliğinde- baya geniş- 4 5 metre zeminden yükselmiş ama içinde de bi okadar
varmış gibi gözükmeli.

Taşın daha önemli kısmı tepesi. Tepeye doğru bi incelir. Bir oyma var. Oymadan fazlası-bir resim
oyulmuş- Kaba ham bir surat- ama bir insan suratı var- Daha çok bir hayvan suratı- Vahşi bir
köpek veya aç bir kurt- Saldırı için ksılmış gözler, geniş ağız, sıkılmış dişler öne çıkmış. Çizeceğin
zaman, görünüm için biraz deneme yapalım. Hikayenin devamında da göreceğimiz gibi,
karanlık, antic bir tanrını suratı. Bu suratın gayet korkunç olmasını istiyorum

Oyulmuş surat taşın tüm eninde yayılmamış ancak içinden göğü göreceğimiz kadar geniş.

Page 7—5 panels

1/ Tasvir çekimi(ortamı görüyor anlıyoruz) Red ve köpek gölün içindeler taştan 3 4 metre
ilersindeler. Taşa bakıyor taş da ona. Bu sahne profilden olsa iyi olur gibi geldi ama sana kalmış

RED (sessizce): Tanrım

2/ Taştaki surata yakın. Güneş sanki suratın arkasından doğuyormuş gibi parlıyor. Surattaki
kıvrımlara dalmış sanki canlı bir görünüm veriyor.

3/ Red’in suratına yakın. Sanki hipnoz olmuş gibi. Sanki vücudundan ayrılmış. Sadeca bakıyo.
Ağzı açık gözleri büyümüş. Suratın oluşturduğu gölgeler redin yüzüne dağılıyor.

4/ 2. Panel ile aynı. Ama güneş artık tamamen suratın ardında. Şimdi gün ışıkları deliklerden
parlıyor ve çok yoğun. Ve yüz canlanmış gibi gözüküyor .Ateş gibi. Hikayenin adı gibi. Etki
doğaüstü etkleyici ve korlkunç olmalı- güçlü ve korkunç antik bir tanrınn yüzü.
5/Red'e yakından bakıyoruz. Hala trans halinde. Kesgin gölgeler yüzüne düşüyor. Tanrının
kafasından süzülen gölgeler Redin gözleri ve ağzına mükemmel şekilde denk gelir. Sanki bir yerli
mask'ı gibi. Yüzünün gölgede kalmayan kısmı gayet aydınlık ama gölgeler aksine gayet koyu.
Yüzünü görmek mümkün ama parlak ışıktan ağzı ve gölgede olmayan diğer yerler kayboluyor
hafiften. Yüzü hayvani ve parlak-sanki yendedn doğuyor.

Page 8—5 panels

1/ Daha sonra, RED'in gözlerini kapamış

2/ Aynı sahne ama gözler faltaşı gibi.

RED: whauah!?

3/ Daha uzaktan görüyoruz. Red yatakodasında, yatağın üstüne uzanmış. İçine girmemiş ama.
Hala göldeki kıyafetlerle duruyor. Sanki akşamdan kalmaymış gibi düşün halini.

Odada, saat 2:18 gösteriyor, Güneş kapalı panjurlardan sızıyor.

4/ Red masanın üzerinde saatin yanındaki telefona uzanıyor.

5/ Telefon tuşkilidi ekranında. Günlerden pazar ve saat 2:18 i bize götermekte. 7. sayfanın
soundna beri koca bi gün geçmiş.

RED (sessizce, panelin dışından gelen ses): nasıl amnkym—?

Page 9—5 panels

1Red yatağının kenarında oturuyor. Hala yorgun ve kafası karışık, elini kafasının arkasına
götürmüş

RED: (sessizce): allah kahretsin

2/ Red'in gözünden görüyoruz. Eline bakıyoruz. Elini yüzüne yaklaştırmış ve üstünde,

parmaklarından bileğine kadar uzanan bişey var-kara bir balık, kuru ve nerdeyse çamur gibi
bişey.

RED: Hunh?

3/Red elini biraz uzaklaştırıp incelerler, Evde etrafına bakar,-köpeğin olmadığını farketmiştir

RED: Hey, kuçu?

RED 2: gel buraya.

4. It’s mid-to-late afternoon. Mekanı gösteren(establishing) bir açıdan Sawtooth gölü. Gölü
alabildiğine görmüyoruz. Bir ksımını görüyoruz ama çouğunlukla etrafındaki çalılık ve ağaçlara
odaklanmış durumdayız. İkindi vakti

5/ Yakından çalılıklara bakıyoruz. Bichon-bizim it- ölmüş. Sadece ölmekle kalmamış,

parçalanmış, kan gövdeyi götürmüş, bağırsaklar, parçalar çalılara ve etrafa dağılmış. Bu sahneyi
çok belli etmene gerek yok-hiçbi hayvanseveri rahatsız etmek istemem- Ama hayvanın nasıl bir
vahşete kurban gittiğini göstermek istiyorum. Bunu anlatabildikten sonra detaylara gerek yok.

Page 10—5 panels

1/ Bir su göletine bakıyoruz. Nereye baktığımız ve göletin nerde olduğunu çok hissettirmeyelim.
Sakin bir yüzey ama karanlık bulanık bir su. İçini görmek zor

SES (Paneldışından): <anlaşılmaz bir ses >

2/ . Geri çekilıyoruz ve Red'i birinin su tankının içine bakarken görüyoruz. Son gördüğümüzden
çok çok daha kötü bir halde gözüküyor. 6 7 KG vermiş gibi gözüküyor. Gözleri hafif pörtlemiş.
Elmacıkları seçilebiliyor. Sakalı karmaşık ve pis. Kısacası: bir hastalık yüzünden ölüyor gibi
görünüyyor.

3/. Aniden Red su tankına kusmaya başlar. Sıradan bir kusma değil ama. Baya sert, ve yoğun ve
şiddetli. Koyu karanlık ve izlemesi yorucu. İçindeki herşeyi çıkarıyor.

4/ Tanktaki suya ykaından bakıyoruz. Kusmuk yüzüyor ve batıyor. Bir çok farklı sıvı görülebilyor.
ama daha rahatsız edici olan et parçaları. Ve parçaların üzerinde köpekten kalan beyaz kürk
tutamlarını görebiliyoruz.

5/ Kabaca 2. panelle aynı denebilecek bir panel. Red sersemlemiş gözüküyor. Sakalında
kusmuğunun izleri var. Ama bunun dışında kustuğunu anlamak zor olurdu.

SES (kısık sesle panel dışından): Pardon ? Hey, bakar mısın – İyi misin acaba?

Page 11—5 panels

1/ RED suddenly snaps back to reality. We pull back more than we have so far to see that he’s in
a garage at a new house. He’s working on the plumbing, the water tank is off to one side of the
garage (which otherwise is filled with boxes and lawn tools and bikes, etc). Unlike in the house
from the opening scene, there is no water filtration system here, just the tank.

Red looks disoriented, unsure where he is, but at least he seems conscious again—unlike on the
previous page.
2/ Behind him, an ASIAN WOMAN—the homeowner—is standing in the doorway into the
house, looking at him with a concerned, confused expression. She thought he looked pretty
horrible when he got there, and now he’s staring into the water tank and not moving? Not
good.

The woman is in her early 50s, with glasses. She’s wearing the kind of business casual clothes
that look stylish and somewhat conservative, but secretly costs thousands. Maybe something
like these clothes: https://s-media-cache-
ak0.pinimg.com/originals/8d/32/6c/8d326c8d59b1f14cdf8763c067d730f0.jpg

ASIAN WOMAN: Is everything alright?

3/ RED looks back at her, a bit stunned by what’s going on, but also much too far gone to have
much of an expression. His face is dull and slack.

RED: Uh—yeah—um. Yes.

RED 2: Sorry.

RED 3: Finishin’ up.

4/ Close in on the water in the tank. It almost looks as though nothing odd has happened to it.
There are a few faint tendrils of vomit floating down into the darkness of the water, but all in
all, it looks pretty normal.

5/ A few minutes later, RED is walking out of the open garage door to his pickup truck, toolbox
in hand. He looks only a little better—basically, he’s still a mess. The ASIAN WOMAN stands
behind him in the garage, watching him go—she wants to make sure that this creepy guy is
really gone.

In this shot, we should get a decently good view of the house, which is a California McMansion
with an attached garage, in a very nice neighborhood.

Page 12—5 panels

1/ A water pitcher being filled from the tap in a sink. It’s a fancy pitcher, stylish and graceful,
expensive. Crucially, we can’t see the water in it. It looks expensive. The ASIAN WOMAN from
the last scene is filling the pitcher, but we can’t see that yet.

ASIAN MAN (OP): —total bloodbath. Stephen is hard on unprepared

founders, but this was savage. He wasn’t three slides in
before Stephen tore out his throat.
2/ Pull back to establish the scene. We’re in the McMansion from the last scene, in a breakfast
nook attached to the kitchen. Wealthy people live here. The nook is wide open and pleasant,
with stylish furniture, big windows looking out into a lush backyard garden. It’s all the open,
sunny cliches about California that are, sometimes, frustratingly true.

It’s morning. The ASIAN WOMAN is carrying the water pitcher to the table. At the table sits her
husband, an ASIAN MAN. He’s also in his 50s, balding, with a beard. There’s a nice spread of
fruit, muffins, and coffee on the table.

Crucially, the sun is traveling across the sky in the background.

ASIAN WOMAN: If he can’t intelligently discuss something as elemental as

his burn rate, what does he expect?

3/ The ASIAN WOMAN is pouring water into a clear drinking glass that her husband is holding
up to her.

We should still be able to see the sun here—throughout the scene, really—like a subtle threat
in the background. It will be ascending until, in another few panels, it reaches a crucial point in
its arc. I think the way this scene has to be staged—but tell me if you disagree—is that the
breakfast table is parallel to the window behind it, so that the couple sit in profile against it. I
think this is necessary to both track the movement of the sun, but also for what’s going to
happen with the sunlight on the next page. Like I said, though, let me know if you have a
different idea.

ASIAN MAN: Of course—thanks—

ASIAN MAN 2: —but it’s hard to see a 23-year-old not realize his
company’s getting ripped out from under him.

4/ The ASIAN WOMAN raises her water glass to her lips to drink, but notices something and
pauses before she does.

ASIAN WOMAN: That's the risk—

ASIAN WOMAN 2: Hey, do you see this?

5/ The couple hold up their water glasses to inspect the contents. In the water, there are
whispy, grayish red tendrils swirling, like oil moving through water. In at least one glass, there is
also a tiny bunch of white fur.

As they hold their glasses up, the sun is coming directly into location behind them, its beams
streaming into the breakfast nook.
ASIAN MAN (OP): What is—?

Page 13—5 panels

1/ Closer in as the beams of the sunlight stream through the window and refract through the
drinking glasses.

2/ I’m envisioning panels 2 and 3 as being equal width and on the same tier, but that’s not a
total requirement. If you can come up with a way to make them feel as though they’re
happening at the same time (since they are), feel free

In this panel, the light refracts through the drinking glass onto the face of the ASIAN MAN. The
light casts a weird shadow onto his face, making it seem that his mouth and eyes are being
smeared into a smudge running at a downward angle.

3/ The light refracts onto the face of the ASIAN WOMAN now. The shadows on her face look a
bit like streams of blood running from her nose and eyes and down her chin from her mouth.

4/ For a frozen moment, the couple sit at the table, staring at each other. They’ve both put
their glasses down.

5/ Then, suddenly, they spring into violent action. Their faces twisted with animal ferocity, the
husband and wife leap at each other, lusting for blood and ready for murder. The ASIAN MAN is
lunging across the table, his fingers bent into claws (not literally, of course). The ASIAN WOMAN
is grabbing a fork in one hand, a knife in the other. It’s a scene of such quick violence, such a
contrast from what had come before, that it’s shocking.

ASIAN MAN: Huurhhrrrr

Page 14—5 panels

1/ Big panel. It’s night time. We’re still in the breakfast nook, but the couple are nowhere to be
seen. In fact, all we can see is the wreckage of what transpired on the last page.

The table that was carefully set and decorated is now a mess. A knife is sticking out of the table,
where it’s been buried tip down. It seems to have some blood on it. Some glasses are broken,
other glasses—along with some plates—are missing. The chairs that had been at the table are
overturned and/or broken.

The pitcher of water from the last scene is on its side, with water slowly dripping out of it onto
the floor (which we can’t see yet).
2/ Focus on the floor of the nook, near the table. Along with broken glass and scattered food,
there’s a small puddle of water from the dripping pitcher. The water looks normal enough but
we know it’s not. Next to the water, edging into the panel, is a thick, dark pool of blood.

3/ Close in on the ASIAN MAN’s torso. His shirt has been cut to ribbons. So has his stomach
underneath. We may even see some hint of his internal organs peeking through.

4/ Close in on the fingers one of the ASIAN WOMAN’s hands. They’re broken, twisted in
terrible, disgusting directions. A few nails are broken and bent back, most of the way torn off.

5/ Big panel. Pull back and we can see both people now. They’re lying next to each other in the
huge, spreading pool of blood. They’re both dead, clearly victims of terrible violence. They’re
covered in blood, scratches, cuts, bruises. Their clothes are shredded. Mostly crucially, the
ASIAN WOMAN’s throat has been torn out—and it seems that her husband is responsible. He’s
lying next to her ruined throat, his mouth open, blood and flesh protruding from it.

Page 15—4 panels

1/ A COP is running a line of police tape across the doorway into the kitchen. Behind him, a few
crime scene technicians are surveying the scene.

COP (OP): Hey, you’ve gotta get back.

2/ Pull back and we see the COP and who he’s talking to. The Cop is standing between the
crime scene and a REPORTER. The Reporter is trying to see around the cop and figure out
what’s going on inside. The Reporter is a woman, late 20s, Latina, wearing a light jacket, a
button-down shirt and slacks. General business casual for a reporter.

REPORTER: I’m with the SENTINEL-OBSERVER.

COP: I’m with State Lodge of the FOP. Still gotta get back.

3/ THE REPORTER isn’t trying to see around the MALE COP anymore, but she still needs
information. She’s not ready to leave quite yet, which is annoying the Cop.

REPORTER: Double murder?

COP: Wait for the press release.

4/ THE REPORTER is standing in the driveway in front of the garage, looking up at the house as
the scene gets busier and busier around her. It’s still night, and there are cars and trucks all
around, TV crews with lights, etc. Just a general feeling of activity. The Reporter is writing
something in her notebook, but perks up when she hears something important.
Behind her, a pair of male cops—but not the one we saw earlier on this page—walk by, talking
quietly to each other.

Cop 1 (quietly): Did you her throat? He did that with his teeth?

Cop 2 (quietly): Next time my wife says she wants to kill me, I better take
her more serious.

Page 16—4 panels

1/ A few days later. We’re back in the woods around Sawtooth Lake. It’s early morning and the
sun is starting to come up over the mountains.

2/ THE REPORTER is there, in slightly more outdoorsy clothes than before, a headband holding
her hair back. She’s hiking a bit behind another person who’s just off panel, her notebook in her
hand and a digital camera slung over her shoulder.

REPORTER: —not really. I’m general assignment. Today, I’m writing

about … whatever this is. Last week, I covered that
husband-wife double murder.

3/ We see who she’s talking to. Walking ahead of her is THE ARCHEOLOGIST. He’s a black man
in his late 30s, glasses and big eyes behind them. He looks like he spends a lot of time outdoors
and in the woods, very sporty and self-assured, a backpack over his shoulders.

ARCHEOLOGIST: Was that pretty gruesome?

REPORTER: Couldn’t run most of the details, actually.

4/ THE ARCHEOLOGIST and REPORTER hiking through the woods. The Reporter is swatting at
some bugs, while the Archeologist continues talking, invigorated by the hike and by the story
he’s about to tell. This is the stuff he spends all his time on, he loves it and loves getting to talk
about it to anyone who will listen. Outside of the classroom, that’s not too many people.

ARCHEOLOGIST: If this is what I suspect it is, this story is pretty bloody, too.

REPORTER: Really?

ARCHEOLOGIST 2: I’m fairly certain that we’re going to find an ancient

ceremonial relic of the Huatalipec tribe.
Page 17—Splash page
The next couple of pages are going to be flashbacks, so I don’t think we need to use a strict
panel structure on them. Instead, feel free to compose some cool looking splash pages that get
across the history that’s being described. The pages should be a collage of images illustrating
the text from the pages. Just bear in mind that these pages have a lot of text and exposition, so
design accordingly.

On this page, some of the images we may see (you don’t need to use all of these. Feel free to
use the ones you like or add in your own, as long as they are in keeping with the text):

• All of these images are circa the early 1700s

• Men and women in tattered clothes, with rough beards (for the men only!), scars on
their faces, knives in their hands, looking for trouble
• Aztecs slinking away from a pyramid, sun doing down behind it
• A drained lake, where the receding water has revealed a giant pit of thousands of
human bones
• A mouth about to bite into a juicy—human looking—piece of meat
• A woman’s mouth, neck, and upper chest, drenched in blood. She’s smiling an angry,
ecstatic smile

ARCHEOLOGIST CAPTION:
You know the network of ponds east of Sawtooth? During
the last drought this severe—in the nineteen-teens—those
ponds dried up. The lakebeds were filled with thousands
and thousands of bones, mostly human. Those lakes were
charnel pits. That was the Huatalipecs’ doing.

ARCHEOLOGIST CAPTION 2:
They were more a cult than a tribe, actually. Only appear
in the historical record for 15 or 20 years. A collection of
misfits and criminals and outcasts: Yuroks expelled from
the local tribes, Mexica migrating up from Tenochtitlan, a
few stray conquistadors and bandits.

ARCHEOLOGIST CAPTION 3: They were a blood cult—human sacrifice and cannibalism.

Page 18—Splash page

Possible images for this page:

• A shot of the sun in space, an explosion of tremendous nuclear power erupting from it
 • A face, eyes huge and crazed and staring
• Rough-hewn stone daggers
• The Aztec god Nanahuatzin—some good background and reference here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanahuatzin
• The smoldering remains of a bonfire, with a few pieces of clothing and body parts and
garbage around it
• The sun rising over the mountains behind Sawtooth Lake, a bit higher than when we saw
it on page 15

ARCHEOLOGIST CAPTION: They worshipped Nanahuatzotllo. Weird word. Took

archeologists years to realize they’d invented their own
language.

ARCHEOLOGIST CAPTION 2: Nanahuatzotllo was their version of the Aztec

Nanahuatzin, a dog-faced sun god, whose name meant
“full of sores.”

ARCHEOLOGIST CAPTION 3: Nanahuatzotllo was also their word for “hunger.”

Nanahuatzin was a sun god. And a cannibal.

ARCHEOLOGIST CAPTION 4: The Huatalipec believed that the world would end when
Nanahuatzotllo—the sun—devoured the earth and stars
and moon. They thought symbolically re-enacting the
apocalypse would protect them.

ARCHEOLOGIST CAPTION 5: They called Nanahuatzotllo “Face of Fire.”

Page 19—Splash page

Possible images for this page:

• A person, head on fire, spinning around in agony

• Men using ancient tools to carve stone
• Men, using ropes and levers to raise an obelisk
• A man, naked, and covered in blood, worshipping before an obelisk
• The bared fangs and narrowed eyes of an angry wolf
• A man—short, skinny, malnourished, cheeks sunken—looking forlorn
• The sun over Sawtooth Lake, approaching its apex in the sky (but, crucially, not there
yet). There are some clouds in the sky
ARCHEOLOGIST CAPTION: They built stone obelisks and carved his face into them.
They positioned the obelisks so that the rising sun shined
through the eyes and mouth—a face of fire.

ARCHEOLOGIST CAPTION 2: They bathed in blood and stood before the obelisk. When
the sun shined through the face onto them, they entered a
blazing, berkserker trance. They killed and ate, channeling
Nanahuatzotllo’s voracious hunger until they dropped.

ARCHEOLOGIST CAPTION 4: There are big chunks missing from the historical record for
local tribes during while the Huatalipec were active. The
tribes must either have been on the run, or dead.

ARCHEOLOGIST CAPTION 3: And then—like that—they were gone. Twenty years

ravaging the area and then gone like a sneeze. The best
theory holds that their appetite wiped them out—they ate
every human in the area, and then every animal.

ARCHEOLOGIST CAPTION 5: When there was nothing else to eat, they turned on
themselves, ate until there was no one left.

Page 20—4 panels

1/ The ARCHEOLOGIST and THE REPORTER are standing in Sawtooth Lake, only a few dozen
yards away from the obelisk.

2/ The Archeologist is gazing up at it with curiosity and intellectual joy.

3/ The Reporter, on the other hand, is almost cowering in awe.

REPORTER (QUIETLY): oh.

4/ The sun is rising behind the obelisk, getting towards being in position behind the face. There
are more clouds in the sky now, but the sun is still high and bright.

Page 21—4 panels

1/ THE ARCHEOLOGIST, thrilled with this discovery. His face is lit up with excitement.

ARCHEOLOGIST: Look at this! This must be the largest obelisk to

 Nanahuatzotllo still extant!

2/ Close in on THE REPORTER. She’s in a daze, stupefied. And shadows are starting to be
projected onto her face through the obelisk.

REPORTER: Yes, the … larg ... est—

3/ The sun starting to come into position behind the face in the obelisk, rays shining through,
but not completely directly. It’s ominous, the beginning of a terrifying sight.

4/ Close in on THE REPORTER’s hands, curling and flexing, readying for violence.

5/ Same as Panel 2, but now the face created by the sun through the obelisk is almost entirely
aligned on THE REPORTER’s face. Into her eyes has come a sharpness and a hunger, her mouth
is slightly open, salivating a bit.

Page 22—5 panels

1/ Same as Panel 4, but suddenly there’s a much bigger shadow on her face than there should
be. This shadow doesn’t align to the face in the obelisk anymore.

2/ Close in on the face on the obelisk. We see what accounts for the odd shadow—the face is
partially covered with fresh, wet mud.

3/ THE ARCHEOLOGIST stands in the lakebed, his pants spattered with mud, a big handful of
wet mud in one hand, ready to be thrown.

4/ THE ARCHEOLOGIST stands back from THE REPORTER, wary, on guard.

ARCHEOLOGIST: Are you OK?

5/ THE REPORTER is dazed, almost like she has woken up from a deep sleep by a loud sound
and hasn’t yet gotten her bearings on where she is or what’s happening.

REPORTER: Hunh? Where—?

Page 23—4 panels

1/ Much later. Sawtooth Lake, the same shot we’ve seen of it before, but now something is
very different—it’s full of water again and we can’t see any of the obelisk anymore.

REPORTER CAPTION: I told my editor there was no story. Just a big, boring rock.

REPORTER CAPTION 2: I couldn’t write about it. People would go looking.

2/ A dam, with its gates opened, and huge amounts of water flowing through it.

REPORTER CAPTION: It started raining the next day and rained for most of the
week. Eventually, the Department of Water Resources
opened the dams above Sawtooth and the lake filled up.

3/ Close in on the water of Sawtooth Lake.

REPORTER CAPTION: But it’s just water.

REPORTER CAPTION 2: And there will be other droughts.

4/ Big panel. We’re under the water now, looking at the obelisk. It’s still there, submerged and
wet (maybe a fish swims through an eye or the mouth?). It’s not fiery, but the face is still there,
waiting. Waiting.

We should feel some quiet menace and dark implication in this panel. The world got lucky this
time, but next time—who knows?

THE END