A Hero Needed Tonight Read online

  They stand there listening to the sounds of the hundreds of gallons of water crashing down from above. It is an impressive sight.

  LUKE

  'How did he do this? It's a work of art'.

  MAN BEHIND THEM

  'One of the seven wonders of the underground world'.

  They are taken aback by his sudden appearance. The man delivers a lengthy introduction in a foreign language they fail to comprehend a word of before introducing himself in English.

  KENSINGTON

  'Kensington Broderick. It's a pleasure to meet you'.

  He shakes their hands. Kensington wears a leather jacket and his hair is bleached blond. He stands with incredible posture.

  KENSINGTON

  'Our coach, Mickey McKay, extends his warmest welcome to you. He trusts that you are enjoying your time in his humble land'.

  LUKE

  'It's unlike anything I could ever have imagined. We have run out of hyperboles'.

  Kensington grins.

  KENSINGTON

  'If you would care to follow me I will lead you directly to Coach. He cannot wait to reunite with you'.

  SCENE: THEATRE

  Kensington leads them past the front entrance of a French Renaissance styled theatre. A retro styled flipping board presents times for shows.

  KENSINGTON

  'Perhaps not what you think this is. You will find few movie theatres down here. Performing arts on the other hand is a part of our psyche. More than a hundred plays a day by my estimate'.

  SCENE: ARENA

  They are standing in the upper bowl of an empty indoor sports arena. The arena looks like it would seat twenty thousand people at full capacity. In the centre of the arena an array of sandbag bunkers, wood pellet fences and barrels have been set up. It looks like a war zone.

  KENSINGTON

  'A short cut I often like to take. This is where we watch our national sport'.

  LUKE

  'Your national sport is guerrilla warfare'?

  KENSINGTON

  'You're close. It's indoor paintball'.

  LUKE (Incredulously)

  'Indoor Paintball'?

  AVA

  'Your national sport is Indoor Paintball'?

  KENSINGTON

  'An underrated sport on the surface world. What people fail to understand is that there is a surprising amount of skill and strategy involved and in terms of a spectator sport it is unrivalled in my opinion'.

  Luke folds down a seat and takes in the view.

  KENSINGTON

  'Mickey hopes one day to negotiate with the New York Knicks to play an NBA game down here against his beloved Detroit Pistons'.

  LUKE

  'The Knicks vs. the Pistons live from the sewer. I would like to see that'.

  SCENE: VIEWING TUNNEL

  Kensington leads them along a narrow, stretched glass viewing tunnel surrounded by water and marine life.

  KENSINGTON

  'We've had the privilege of seeing a Humpback Whale out there before'.

  AVA

  'Where are we exactly'?

  KENSINGTON

  'If my calculations are correct we are technically under the Connecticut state line right now'.

  Kensington guffaws at their shocked reaction.

  SCENE: UNDERGROUND BUNKER

  KENSINGTON

  'This is where Coach resides. You might be surprised to know that this used to be an underground war bunker of sorts. It was built in the heart of the Cold War in case the Soviets pushed the button. Of course it was abandoned when we found it'.

 

  Kensington opens a hatch which resembles a submarine door and throws it open to reveal an unsullied room. It resembles a five star penthouse suite. Mickey approaches them with his trademark grin in full view. He is strikingly dressed in an emerald green tie and dark suit. His bangs are perfectly positioned on his boyish face. In the background we see three scantily clad women.

  MICKY

  'I'm honoured...I'm honoured to be in your presence tonight'.

  Mickey bows courteously to Luke who is bewildered at the royal introduction.

  LUKE

  'It's good to see you again too'.

  MICKY

  'It has been many moons my friend. Many seasons have passed us by but my indebtedness to you has not dwindled in the slightest. It's because of your heroics that I'm standing before you tonight presenting you my masterpiece. A work of art that will stand as a living testament-if nothing else will- that in the dying days of humanity all was not lost. This man, Luke Fitzgerald, took a bullet for me. This man breathed life into me. I have risen from the ashes, all because of you'.

  Luke is overwhelmed by the introduction.

  LUKE

  'I was just doing my job'.

  Mickey rises up from his enduring bow and faces Ava.

  MICKY

  'I don't believe we have met. My name is Mickey McKay, people call me coach, but please feel free to use any word to address me'.

  AVA

  'I'm...I'm Ava'.

  Everyone in the room it seems is entranced by the man's presence. We can understand why tens of thousands of people have followed him into the sewers.

  MICKY

  'Such a beautiful name. A woman of great judgement I can tell. You have selected your partner wisely Ava. Luke is one of the few remaining beacons of light in this despicable world. I see you have met Kensington, my right hand man. He's been here since day one. He probably thought he was going insane when he ventured down here to the shit and the rats. He probably thought I was a couple of screws loose, but he came, and he stayed, and for that he has the utmost of respect from me'.

  LUKE

  'How did you do this Mickey? This has blown my mind. I mean you've created something special down here. People...people should know about this. This should be admired, not shunned'-

  AVA

  'How does no one know about this'?

  MICKY

  'That my dear, is the beauty of it. We wanted to breed a culture down here. A culture that stated that only those truly dispossessed from society, only those who have truly accepted the fact that this beautiful treasure we call life, this one time occurrence that we are privileged to experience has been moulded into a mundane existence shrouded in irrelevance and normalities. We only wanted people who had made the brave decision to unequivocally cut all ties to the damned world above and for that reason we propagated this place as hell itself. Let me ask you a question? Have you ever heard parents tell their children bedtime stories?

  AVA

  'Of course'.

  MICKY

  'Let me guess...The tale of Tiny Tommy'?

  AVA

  'My mom reads it to my younger brother'.

  Mickey lets out a cackle of laughter.

  MICKY

  'Tiny Tommy everyone! Tiny Tommy, who strolled into the underworld of New York to never come out again. Tiny Tommy, whose body later washed up in the Hudson. It's a good premise for a horror story-I'll give them that. And the movie, the movie freaked the shit out of me. It gave countless kids' nightmares and clearly it works. What about the reports too? There's always a story breaking about someone who has gone missing down here. It's like a modern day Bermuda Triangle of sorts. Well let me tell you something guys, we fabricated all of these stories and fed the lies. The leaching media were only too happy to report it, assisting us in building the image we purported to create. It's beautiful in itself screwing those horrible, God forsaken people over'.

  Mickey takes a deep breath, before launching into a rant.

  MICKEY

  'You see the reason we created this was because humans have been moulded into the worst thing in existence-lemmings. We follow the other lemmings in society living meaningless lives, believing everything our government tells us while we drool over the mainstream media and the lies they spin. Our children are turned into drones in our schooling systems that damper creativity and enforce rigidity to
lives that were once free. We die chasing the so called American dream shrouded in materiality and selfishness. We never open our minds, we never ask questions and we die believing we have lived rich lives when in reality our ships have only just left the docks. There are many great lands out there Luke, many great people to meet. There are only so many office managers one can fraternise with; only so many office walls one person can see. The sunset at the Antarctic, the Northern lights at the height of winter, the surrealism of being in the heart of the Southern ocean, the sound of the waves crashing in the deserted islands of the Pacific. Things people will never experience, things that are merely mental images confined to calendars and postcards that hang off their monotonous office walls'.

  Ava is hung on his every word.

  AVA

  'You've been to these places'?

  MICKEY

  'I've been to these places and more. I made a lot of money in my younger days but I don't have a cent to my name now and I could not be happier. The thing is: we lament prisoners and praise the institutions we throw them in when in reality our lives aren't too far apart. We're all prisoners to society you see? We're trapped in our mundane lives, in our damned jobs. Our laws and work schedules discipline us and weigh us down. Our careers are chains that restrict us, while our possessions charm us like some great spell attaching us to them, tying us down to such an extent that we can no longer imagine our lives without them. But that's how we live; it's how our parents lived and how those that came before them lived. Modern human society, it's in my opinion the greatest con of all time but yet it is all most will ever know. Money, it's the carrot that is leading us off the cliff into greed and wickedness. Money it's the thing that's propagated to everyone as the be all and end all, the grail we must yearn for, the grail we must dedicate our lives to attaining. I say burn the lot of it; we'd all be better off without it. I don't carry the US dollar, the Euro or anything else that can be traded. The only currency I carry cannot be stolen or lost through fault of my own or by economic downfall, for the currency I carry is life experiences, and I can tell you for that reason I must really be the richest man in the world'.

  LUKE

  'But how did you create all of this'?

  MICKEY

  'We have done something that no one in human history has ever achieved. We have for the benefit of the human race created the society that this great planet deserves. You see, the people in this kingdom are so great. It's been like this from day one; truly amazing people. It just goes to show you: that we can build all these facilities, set up this burgeoning economy, create a language from scratch, but at the end of the day the greatest asset is the people you surround yourself with'.

  Luke mind is working in overdrive.

  LUKE

  'But how? How did you construct all of this'?

  LUKE

  'On the surface world everyone was against me-the media, the politicians, the judges. One cannot operate surrounded by such negativity. This is proof of what humans can achieve when we come together with a shared and higher purpose'.

  LUKE

  'But?but'?

  MICKEY

  'Luke let me ask you something. Is it better to die a rich man who knows the four corners of his office he has spent his adult life, or is better to die a poor man who knows the four corners of this earth, overwhelmed in life experiences?

  LUKE

  'Clearly the latter'.

  MICKEY

  'You are clearly a smart man then. Listen, I don't want to come off as a preacher. All I ask is for you to objectively weight things up. Just promise me you will never get caught too deep in the rat race. The rat race is the most horrible manifestation of humanity in my opinion. To see lemmings following other lemmings on this continuous cycle of despair and hopelessness, it makes me sad. I see these people driven by commercialism and the honest belief that what they are doing is prosperous for both themselves and their families. It makes me sad. It makes me sad to see so many people brainwashed into believing that this could be their only existence, the only thing they'll ever know. It's a truly despairing though to just live for the weekend. The weekend, a time to go out and drown our sorrows, to convince ourselves that we are living, and then spending all day Sunday dreading the week to come. When we are on our death beds, in the final moments of our one time existence, you will find that your net worth is of little importance. We all have the same net worth when we die'.

  Trying to take everything in Luke has seemingly lost his articulateness.

  LUKE

  'But?but?not a soul above knows about this. You've bamboozled all of them'.

  AVA

  'They think you are dead'.

  MICKEY

  'Perhaps we should keep it this way. They aren't ready for us yet. They have nothing to offer us and while they ostensibly portray themselves as open minded people they are not ready yet to learn from us'.

  LUKE

  'But why don't they know'?

  MICKEY (grinning)

  'Think of us like advanced aliens. We have no reason to contact the surface world yet for they would not understand us. Our protest of the conditions of the inhumane world above will be noted one day'.

  LUKE

  'But you have a whole generation at your finger tips. The people here are so young. You have so much you could teach them'.

  MICKEY (grinning)

  'All in good time Luke. You are right though; the average age of people down here is twenty three years of age. The standard deviation tells us that most people fall within four years of that same average. We're young; it's what defines us. We aren't tarnished or corrupted from years in society. We are at our physical and intellectual peaks. We have the energy to do what those who came before us failed to do; we can change what our predecessors stood by and allowed so freely'.

  His grin suddenly fades.

  MICKY

  'Unfortunately I fear they may cleanse our young people soon. You surely must be aware of the best and possibly only way to get out of this economic horror show the surface world is experiencing'?

  Mickey doesn't give them a chance to answer.

  MICKY

  'War! War stimulates the economy, war can eliminate even the most horrific unemployment figures. War gives even the worst President a staggering approval rating, war reignites patriotism, war eliminates the problem of America's population being too young. War, Luke, makes the world turn round. There will be a war; that much is certain. Some underlying dispute will be found and manipulated. Many nations will be involved and with the economy going down the drain everyone will want in on the action. Only this time things will be different Luke, this time the end will come'.

  LUKE

  'You really think so Mickey'?

  MICKEY

  'I have tried my best but the end is near I fear. This war could be only weeks away. It will be a major war, involving all the big players. It will be a battle royale; the last man standing so to speak. It could rage for a hundred years, it could last but a night, but it will happen and when it does happen that will be it. Life as we know it will be over, the world will lie in ruins and no one will be around to see it anymore. Our shamed existence will be over, but Earth will digress, life will move on without us. Mother Nature doesn't need us you see; we need her. She is our mother, she breast fed us and cared for us, she nurtured us for decades but look what we've become. We grew up and betrayed her and that is our biggest mistake as a human race. The human race is in its final days Luke, spend your last days wisely my friend'.

  LUKE

  'I don't know what to say to that Mickey'?

  MICKEY

  'You don't have to say anything. It has been done by the way'.

  LUKE

  'What has been done'?

  MICKEY

  'My understanding was that you need to fly across the Atlantic tonight? I will have my people arrange it for you'.

  Luke's jaw drops. Ava lets off a shriek of excitement.


  LUKE

  'How did you? How did you know'?

  MICKEY

  'I have my ways. You should know that by now Luke. My brothers and sisters take care of me and I take care of them; that's why we thrive down here. If only the whole world followed our mantra then we wouldn't find ourselves on the grim reaper's doorstep'.

  LUKE

  'But Mickey... no one's getting out of here. The city's under lockdown'-

  MICKEY

  'Not everyone. There is one flight that must take off tonight'.

  AVA

  'But who is flying tonight'?

  MICKEY

  'You will see in due course. You haven't much time though my friends. You must return to the surface world promptly. Return to your hotels and pack. At one am my people will pick you up and take you out to a private airfield in New Jersey'.

  AVA

  'How can we ever thank you'?

  MICKEY

  'No thank you is required. This man saved my life. I could give him a billion dollars and I would still be indebted to him. Your boyfriend is a shining light in our fragile world shrouded in darkness. It makes me sad that you two must leave our blessed shores, you are my friends, and friends are always welcome here'.

  His sentence is cut short due to Luke embracing him a slightly comical bear hug which Ava promptly joins in. It's a true heart warming moment