Stories of War: The Bears
SCENE 1: The Beginning
EXT. The Trenches, Bear side - Day
Sunlight covered the field. Clouds loomed on the horizon. Vultures
roamed the skies waiting for the battle the begin.
GENTLE BREEZE WHISTLES THROUGH THE TRENCHES
Bears fill the trenches waiting for battle. Other bears can be heard in
the tents making what little food they have left & working on their
weapons.
The sound of a hammer clanging on metal roams the camp. A bear is
crafting weapons. A solider named Strickland walks up to the maker.
STRICKLAND:
“Will these be ready before the doves arrive?”
WEAPONS MAKER:
“Yes. I should have a few bayonets for your rifles by then”
STRICKLAND
“Good.”
The solider looked to the sky. Dark clouds loomed over head. Vultures
roamed the skies waiting for the battle to begin. The stench of bodies
filled the air.
STRICKLAND: (contin)
“Weather’s turning. We shouldn’t fight today.”
The weapons maker looked up to the Solider.
WEAPONS MAKER:
“We’ve fought on worse days. There’s nothing different about today.”
STRICKLAND:
“There’s always something different. Each day brings something new
even in war. I’m just worried about Robert. He’s leading his squadron
for the first time.”
WEAPONS MAKER:
“We need to stop the foxes. They stole our supplies and
we’re fighting to get it back. It’s a noble cause. Your son is one of
our best to take charge.”
STRICKLAND(scoffs)
“A noble cause. There’s nothing noble about bears dying for
a cause that most are too young to even remember how it began...Robert
doesn’t even remember it.”
The Soldier searches the battlefield as if looking for any recognizable
feature from the past. The weapons maker returned his attention to his
work.
STRICKLAND (to self)
“I’m sick of this.”
The soldier looks to the weapons maker and studies his face. Strickland
is looking for something. He’s cautious for some reason.
STRICKALND (to Weapons maker)
“You’re too young to remember this, but it didn’t use to be like
this. Things were peaceful. Finally at peace when the humans were gone.
It took time, but eventually everything returned to a balance. Until one
day, I stumbled upon a bear and fox talking to each other. I was far
away so I couldn’t tell what was being said, so I kept walking. When I
heard gunshots, I ran to the bear and fox. I didn’t see the battle, but
I found the bodies. The bodies of a fox and bear. It was difficult to
tell, who killed whom or if both were murdered by someone else. The news
of this spread and mutated into what we see today. The Doves took the
news across lands, they must’ve been watching me because I hadn’t seen
them by the bodies. I tried explaining that we couldn’t tell who started
it and who ended it, but no one listened. If they did listen, they
didn’t care....so then two sides start fighting a war over speculations
and gossip. Everything spread like wildfire. My good friend of 50 years,
a fox, was the only one who believed me. Arnold was his name.”
WEAPONS MAKER
(to himself)
“Robert was right. His dad loves giving speeches”
STRICKLAND (contin)
“Too many bears have died for this.”
WEAPONS MAKER- looks around the camp and spots a few younger soldiers
with Robert. He stands grabbing the carefully crafted weapons.
WEAPONS MAKER (to STRICKLAND)
“I’ll have your weapons ready before you head into battle.”
WEAPONS MAKER- Stood and left the soldier to talk to Robert and the
young soldiers.
Doves gathered at nearby tree. Waiting for the general.
STRICKLAND-He sees the doves in the tree above where the weapons maker
spoke with the young soldiers.
The dogs of war are loose.
SCENE 2: The Battle
EXT: BATTLEFIELD -AFTERNOON
We follow the Strickland as he trudges through the field. THe weapons
maker stopped Strickland to hand him his weapon.
The STRICKLAND walked with the young soldiers behind him. The battle
rages on in front of them.
STRICKLAND-Bullets zoom by as he takes cover. His adrenaline spikes. His
rage builds. He peers over the rocks and sees a fox hiding behind cover.
The young bear soldiers charged onward. Perpetuating the violence.
GENERAL BEAR (off screen)
“What are you doing?! FIRE!”
STRICKLAND- biting through his resentment, he looks once more at the
cowering fox across the field. His breathing calms. He looks over his
cover and takes aim the young fox. A clear shot at the unaware fox. His
finger lies on the trigger. That’s all it takes. A simple pull of a
trigger to change lives. To change the world. To change history. So much
power stored in this simple action. It’s too easy. He stares the young
fox still unaware of the danger he’s in. He growls that he can’t do
anything about to stop the violence.
The Young Fox sees Strickland with his rifle aimed at him.
STRICKLAND- takes aim at the Young Fox at the same time the Young Fox
aims at him. He pulls the trigger.
SUDDENLY, his gun exploded in his face and the Young Fox fires at
STRICKLAND striking him in his shoulder.
STRICKLAND- his body lay on the battlefield. Bleeding from his face and
shoulder, Soldier Bear quivers from his wounds.
With one last glance at his gun, he noticed someone had tampered with
it.
Before he could yell to Robert, a young bear who was medical aid dragged
him off the field out of sight out the bears and began to bury him.
Strickland writhed in pain. Tried squirming so the young bear could see
that he was still alive. But the young bear knew, he just didn’t care.
Before Strickland was buried, he uttered one last word.
STRICKLAND (dying breath)
“Alicia..”
Soon, STRICKLAND was erased from this earth. Buried 6ft under the
battlefield amongst the corpses of those he silenced.
ROBERT (Same moment)- fighting valiantly on the battlefield. Sees his
get hit with a bullet and scream with rage. He sees the medical bear run
to his father. His squadron searches the field and find the origin of
the bullet. They charge the field and fire at the young fox who shot
their comrade.
The young fox ducks behind cover and then runs towards a cottage off the
battlefield.
Robert’s Squadron give chase until an older fox soldier intercepts them.
They knew he was a veteran from his tattered clothing, experienced
fighting, and unwavering conviction to give it his all. That didn’t
matter. Robert’s Squadron was out for blood. They sought to tear this
fox apart for protecting the fox who shot Robert’s father.
Robert gave out his bellowing roar at the veteran fox. The fox stepped
back. Afraid, but he recognized that voice. As the other bears in
Robert’s Squadron tried attacking the fox directly, the veteran fox
outmaneuvered them.
The agility of the fox and lumbering movements of the bear kicked up a
dust storm that surrounded the four of them. The sunlight illuminated
the dust until the 4 of them were surrounded in a sheath of light.
The veteran fox still looked at Robert as the bears grew tired.
VETERAN FOX (sees name sticked on uniform)
“Robert? Robert Strickland?”
ROBERT: (growling)
“That will be the last name you hear!”
ROBERT-lunged towards the veteran fox with the grace of a fencer. The veteran fox barely leaped out of danger.
VETERAN FOX
“Robert! Wait! It’s me Arnold. I was friends with your father!”
ROBERT (growling)
“My father told me Arnold is dead! Why should I believe you?”
ARNOLD
“We were friends before the war. Played games every weekend.”
The bears surrounded Arnold. The dust continues to float around them
providing a veil of privacy. As Arnold tells his story, the bears calm
down.
ARNOLD (contin)
“You were only 2 or 3 when the war started. I’m sorry about your
mother. She-”
Arnold stops talking immediately.
ROBERT (solemnly)
“How did she die?”
ARNOLD
“Your father managed to save you, but he couldn’t save her.”
ROBERT
“He told me that she died when someone bombed my home.”
ARNOLD
“Your father tried to protect you from this war from the beginning.”
One of the bears hears glass shattering in the distance. He tries to
alert Robert, but Robert doesn’t pay attention.
ROBERT
“Who bombed my home? The Foxes?”
The other bear begins to hear it also. They notice doves flying towards
a cottage in the distance. They try to alert Robert.
ARNOLD
“No. A bear tried to murder you, your father, and your mother.”
SUDDENLY, a shot was heard and Arnold fell to the ground.
Robert bent down and tried to revive Arnold.
ARNOLD (dying breath)
“She’s alive.”
The other bears charged the cottage. They knew where the shot came from
and who took it. The same guy who shot at Robert’s father. Robert rushed
towards them.
SCENE 3: Home
INT: Cottage
BEARS-burst through the front door. Breathing heavily.
Robert’s Squadron begin to search the house. They split up. Robert & one
of his teammates search the first floor while the other searches the
second.
Robert slowly creeps through the house. He hears a clicking noise and
readies his weapon.
CLICK.
Robert sees the projection of images on the wall. It was his childhood.
CLICK.
Robert and his teammate walked into the living room. Both transfixed by
the joy and peaceful world that used to exist. For the first time, he
sees a bear, his mother, with all of her heavenly warmth. Just how his
father described her.
CLICK
It was alien world to both of them. No fighting in the slides, only joy.
CLICK.
Robert’s teammate heard the unlocking of a weapon and searches for it.
He finds the body of the dead bear on the ground.
Robert kneels beside the body of the slain bear. He turns the body over
and studies its face. He recognizes it. It‘s the same face in the
projected images.
CLICK.
It’s his mother. Tears stream down Robert’s face. He sees the fox
standing in front of him but he doesn’t care. He’s lost everyone.
The projector reached its last slide. A Blank Slide.
The white screen illuminated the room. Glowing brightly behind the
bears. Casting a bright light on the fox.
Robert looked through his tears at the fox. Just a kid. No older than
himself.
The young fox can barely see through the blinding white light. He looks
away.
Robert’s teammate draws his weapon, but realizes his chamber is empty.
He slowly places his weapon on the ground and prepares to lunge towards
the fox.
The young fox struggles to stare into the blinding light. The fox aims
at him.
Robert’s teammate lunges with his claws ready to slit the fox’s neck.
The young fox fires.
The bear tackles the young fox to the ground.
THE END.