Where Death Rides Through – Episode 1 – A Town Smelling of Blood

Below we present the complete text of “A Town Smelling of Blood”, episode 1 of our new Weird Western serial; Where Death Passes Through. This is a brand new (unpublished) series (featuring Jim Wilkes, Annie Deems, Sally Turner, and Speeding Elk). If you would like to see these new stories advance from being drafts into polished publications then please consider supporting us by purchasing one or more of our previously published titles (they’re only $25.99 (AUD), great value for a whole night of entertainment for 6 – 8 people). Every sale directly funds the production of new stories.

WHERE DEATH RIDES THROUGH

EPISODE #1 – A TOWN SMELLING OF BLOOD

by Philip Craig Robotham

Cover Illustration by Miyukiko

Unedited Draft

Copyright 2016 Philip Craig Robotham

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Edition.

This play is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) International license. This play may not be commercially reproduced, performed, or sold. Non-commercial production, performance, and reproduction are allowed under this license so long as attribution is maintained. No derivative content or use is allowed. It can be freely shared in its current form (without change) under this license. If you would like to purchase one or more copies of this work (for your own personal non-commercial use, or to help financially support the author) then please return to https://www.weirdworlstudios.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Serial #3: Where Death Rides Through

Jim Wilkes, former Sherriff of Liberty Gulch, wakes up to find he is dead, murdered by Mayor Dan Wilson, a skin-walker that has escaped from the spirit world. He, along with Annie Deemes, Sally Turner, and Speeding Elk, are now spirit walkers returned to the world of the living by the powerful magic of Speeding Elk’s tribe. They must band together to track down the mayor and put an end to his attempts to tear open the barrier between this world and the dark realm from which the thing inside him originates. On dinosaur mounts obtained from a lost valley they pursue the mayor as he leaves a trail of carnage in his wake. Can they close the distance in time to thwart Wilson’s evil schemes? Tune in and thrill to the excitement of “Where Death Likes to Ride” and find out for yourself.

Episodes in the Host Your Own “Old Time Radio Drama” series are designed to provide a fun dinner party experience for 6–8 participants. Read along, taking on the role of one or more of the characters in the story, and listen as the exciting drama unfolds. This is the theater of the mind, where the special effects are only limited by your imagination, and your participation will build a memory that you’ll treasure for years to come.

A TOWN SMELLING OF BLOOD

CAST LIST

NARRATOR: The Narrator

JIM WILKES: Dead Sheriff of Liberty Gulch

ANNIE DEEMES: Dead Crack-Shot

SPEEDING ELK: Dead Indian

SALLY TURNER: Dead Gambler

WOMAN #1: Terrified townsfolk

MAN #1: Terrified townsfolk

MAN #2: Terrified townsfolk

ACT 1

SCENE 1: EXT – THE DESERT – DAY (JIM, ANNIE, SPEEDING ELK, SALLY)

1. MUSIC: OPENING THEME – LET IT FINISH.
2. SOUND: (WALLA) DESERT WIND, TRAMP AND STOMP OF DINOSAUR MOUNTS – LET IT FINISH.
3. JIM WILKES: He’s certainly not in any hurry is he Annie?
4. ANNIE DEEMES: Nope. Those wagon tracks are going slow and steady. I don’t think he’s modified his direction even once.
5. JIM: Even with these dinosaurs we’re riding it’s taking us a while to catch up.
6. ANNIE: You think he knows we’re here?
7. JIM: I cain’t be certain. He’s got abilities we couldn’t even guess at. Could be he knows and keeps leaving these bodies behind to slow us down.
8. ANNIE: Well, whether he knows or not, it’s another delay for us.
9. JIM: Yeah, but we cain’t leave ‘em lying here to rot.
10. ANNIE: Who do you think they were this time?
11. JIM: Hard to tell. Another wagon load o’ settlers mebbe?
12. ANNIE: Speeding Elk won’t be happy about another delay.
13. JIM: I aint happy about it either, but we ain’t gonna leave these people like carrion beside the road.
14. ANNIE: Why do you think he’s killing ‘em like this? He could just turn ‘em into his minions?
15. JIM: You’re asking me? For all I know that monster inside him is getting hungry and this is it’s idea of a decent feed.
16. ANNIE: Dang! Who’d’ve thought any o’ this was on the horizon for all o’ us, say, even six months ago?
17. JIM: Back when you was running the General store in Liberty, Sally was still a gambler, Speeding Elk was a scout for his people, and I was still Jim Wilkes, Sheriff and U.S Marshall?
18. ANNIE: (WHISTFUL) Them were the days.
19. JIM: They certainly beat being dead and on the trail of liberty’s shape-changing demon mayor. (BEAT) Come on, we’re gonna need the help of Sally and Speeding Elk if we’re gonna get this mess cleaned up ‘afore nightfall.
20. SOUND: SOUND OF TWO, TWO-LEGGED DINOSAURS TURNING AND FADING AWAY – FADE OUT.
21. MUSIC: (BRIDGE) NEUTRAL SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 2: EXT. BY SOME FRESH BURIAL MOUNDS. NIGHT FALL (JIM, ANNIE, SALLY, SPEEDING ELK).

22. SOUND: (WALLA) WIND, OCCASIONAL SQUAWK OF A BIRD OF PREY.
23. JIM, ANNIE, AND SALLY TURNER: (SINGING TOGETHER FADE IN AND CONCLUDING) … I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.
24. JIM: Well, I guess that does it. How much light have we got left?
25. SALLY: Maybe 20 minutes.
26. ANNIE: Maybe less with them mountains over in the west.
27. JIM: I figured as much. We’ll have to stop here for the night.
28. SPEEDING ELK: (ANGRY AND ACCUSING) Another delay.
29. JIM: What?
30. SPEEDING ELK: This could have been prevented if we were here sooner.
31. JIM: If you’ve got something on your mind Speeding Elk, it’d be best to get it out in the open?
32. SPEEDING ELK: Three times we have stopped to bury those the skinwalker has murdered along the way. Three times we have been delayed. If we had left them where we found them we would have caught up with him by now.
33. ANNIE: Are you blaming Jim, for this? These flats are as barren as they come. How was anyone supposed to know there’d even be one party out here for that monster to come across, let alone three.
34. JIM: (SIGHS) It’s alright, Annie. Speeding Elk has a point. It was my decision to stop and bury the dead. The delays are my doing. If we hadn’t lost time burying the dead at each site it’s possible we might’ve got here soon enough to prevent this. It was my call, and I’m going to have to live with that.
35. SPEEDING ELK: And now we delay again.
36. JIM: But I won’t wear that. We may not get tired any longer but those monster’s we’ve been riding do. They don’t like travelling at night and they has to be rested.
37. SPEEDING ELK: (GRUNTS) Hmmpf. I am going to wait in the dirt.
38. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
39. ANNIE: It don’t matter much how many times I see one of us sink into the ground like it’s nothing but air, it still amazes the heck outta me.
40. SALLY: Don’t mind Speeding Elk. He’s missing his people something awful. No sooner was he accepted back into the tribe than he was off following this trail with us. He wants to go home is all and every delay is another dagger through his heart.
41. JIM: I know it. But I cain’t change the past and I’m not leaving the bodies of folk to become food for coyotes and buzzards. (BEAT) We’ll head on at first light.
42. ANNIE: You think he’s stopping at all?
43. JIM: Nope! He’s pulling that wagon on his own. Nothing to rest except himself, and, like us, he don’t need the rest. Our only advantage is that he’s moving slow and we’re moving quick (even if we do have to rest those giant lizards we’re riding each night). We may not be movin’ as fast as’d suit Speeding Elk but we’re gaining on our quarry all the same.
44. SALLY: Glad to hear it. I for one would like this to be over sooner rather’n later. G’night.
45. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
46. ANNIE: And there it goes again… (BEAT) Assuming we survive this Jim, d’you have any idea what happens to us after we beat the mayor?
47. JIM: Putting aside whether a dead body can be said to survive anything? The answer’s no. I’ve no idea whether, after all this is over, we go back to being dead or whether the tribe that brought us back has other things in mind, or whether we’ll be able to try and fit back into society for an extra fifty years or so.
48. ANNIE: I thought as much. It’s something to think about ain’t it?
49. JIM: I guess. I try not to think about it much at all actually.
50. ANNIE: Then you should. I’ve been trying to think about just walking away for days. Every time I do I get seized by a desire for revenge on that demonic thing we’re chasing that seems to blot out all reason.
51. JIM: What are you saying?
52. ANNIE: I don’t think we’ve got any choice in this chase we’re on. I think that when they brought us back from the dead, Speeding Elk’s tribe did something that makes it impossible for us to choose anything else but the mission.
53. JIM: You think we’re slaves?
54. ANNIE: Maybe. It bears some thinking about anyway. Try not to let it get driven from your mind and I’ll speak with you again tomorrow.
55. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
56. JIM: Well that’s the last save me. Could we be slaves? I guess anything’s possible. Whatever the compulsion, we’ve got a job to do and we’re dang well gonna do it!
57. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
58. SOUND: (BRIDGE) NEUTRAL SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 3: (EXT) ON THE TRAIL – MORNING (JIM, SPEEDING ELK, SALLY, ANNIE).

59. SOUND: (WALLA) BIRDSONG, JANGLE OF SADDLES, TWO LEGGED WALK OF DINOSAUR MOUNTS – ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
60. JIM: That could be a problem.
61. SPEEDING ELK: Mmmm.
62. SALLY: What? What is it?
63. JIM: I’d have thought even a green-horn like you, Sally, would be able to read this kind of trail sign. A group of about fifteen horses have joined up with our quarry.
64. SALLY: (BLUFFING) Well yeah. Anyone can see that.
65. ANNIE: (UNIMPRESSED) Yeah right! What’s it mean Jim?
66. JIM: Speeding Elk?
67. SPEEDING ELK: They met here and no fight occurred (so they are probably allies). They were indian mounts (but not of the People) unshod and tired. They had obviously travelled some distance. They spoke for a little and then continued on together. It looks as though they were expected.
68. SALLY: Impressive! So what do we do with that info?
69. JIM: Nothing yet. We just follow the trail a way’s further.
70. ANNIE: I’m gonna head on up the rise and take a look-see while you discuss it.
71. SPEEDING ELK: Something else is wrong here.
72. JIM: Hmmm?
73. SPEEDING ELK: Too much bird strike and too many kinds of bird.
74. SALLY: Ewww!
75. JIM: What do you mean?
76. SALLY: He means bird poop, ya idjit.
77. JIM: No, I mean what’s so unnatural about it?
78. SPEEDING ELK: Look at the ground. It was as if a great flock of birds was here. But there are many types; eagles, hawks, buzzards. Many birds of prey and almost all do not fly in groups. They would never be found together for a natural cause.
79. JIM: Well, right now that doesn’t tell us a whole lot more’n that something strange is up. Best to keep an eye out.
80. ANNIE: (FROM A DISTANCE) Hey, you need to see this.
81. SOUND: SHORT DINOSAUR GALLOP UP RISE – LET IT FINISH.
82. JIM: What is it?
83. SALLY: Well damn! Will you lookit that?
84. ANNIE: These tracks lead straight down and across the plain to that town.
85. SALLY: I ain’t never seen a town with its own weather before. Those are some mean storm clouds hovering over it. How come that cloud’s just sitting there?
86. SPEEDING ELK: That’s not a cloud.
87. JIM: Hmmm?
88. SPEEDING ELK: Those are birds… and they are swooping on every building in the town.
89. SOUND: (BRIDGE) OMINOUS SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

ACT 2

SCENE 4: EXT. – APPROCHING THE TOWN OF WHISTLER – MID MORNING.
(JIM, SALLY, ANNIE, SPEEDING ELK, WOMAN #1).

90. SOUND: (WALLA) BREEZE IN GUSTS, CLOMP OF DINOSAUR FEET – ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
91. SALLY: Looks like the town’s called Whistler. What’ll we do? Go around, d’ya think?
92. SPEEDING ELK: We can avoid this easily. It would save time.
93. ANNIE: There could be people in that town!
94. SPEEDING ELK: Not our problem.
95. JIM: I agree with Annie. If there are people in that town, they need our help… and whatever else this is, it’s got something to do with our quarry. The tracks lead right through the middle of it.
96. SPEEDING ELK: It’s a trap… and another delay.
97. SALLY: You don’t have to come with us, Speeding Elk. What if it was one of your villages?
98. SPEEDING ELK: I come. I come. But you are wrong. This will not end well… and my people are waiting for us to catch the skin-walker, not waste time rescuing white-eyes.
99. JIM: Noted. Let’s go.
100. SOUND: (WALLA) SQUAWK AND SCREECH OF WHEELING BIRDS OVERHEAD – FADE UP, ESTABLISH, AND UNDER.
101. ANNIE: The birds are on every rooftop.
102. SALLY: And the way they’s looking at us gives me the willikens.
103. JIM: Well they seem wary enough of our mounts. I guess riding on dinosaurs has its advantages.
104. ANNIE: I cain’t see any people.
105. SALLY: Whoops! You spoke too soon. That’s a body on those stairs. I’m guessing it’s a woman but I caint tell for all them buzzards picking at it.
106. JIM: I’ll clear ‘em.
107. SOUND: GUNSHOT AND SOUND OF BIRDS TAKING FLIGHT.
108. JIM: Yep, it’s a woman all right.
109. SPEEDING ELK: Looks like everyone dead. (HOPEFULLY) We can move on.
110. ANNIE: The cloud seems to be focused on one building in particular, over there.
111. JIM: That’d be the church by the look.
112. WOMAN #1: (VERY DISTANT) Help! Oh please! Help us!
113. SALLY: Looks like you spoke to soon, Speeding Elk. There’s at least someone still alive.
114. SOUND: FADE IN FLURRY OF WINGS AND STACATTO RATTLE OF BEAKS STRIKING THE WOOD OF THE CHURCH.
115. ANNIE: Well, how’re we gonna get through that lot?
116. JIM: The people inside have boarded up all the doors and windows. There ain’t no getting in that way. D’ya think they’ve got a cellar?
117. ANNIE: Only one way to find out. Let’s tie up the lizards and see.
118. SOUND: SOUND OF JANGLE AS DINOSAURS TIED TO HITCHING POSTS. INCREASED BIRD NOISE AS MORE BIRDS TAKE FLIGHT.
119. SALLY: They’s eager to get at us, now we’re down off the monsters. How far d’ya think we’ll get before the birds attack in earnest?
120. JIM: Not far. But any dirt’ll do so we may as well get under the street right here.
121. SOUND: FOUR OVELAPPING CHIMES – LET IT FINISH.
122. SOUND: FADE OUT WALLA.
123. MUSIC: (BRIDGE) NEUTRAL SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 5: INT: INSIDE THE CHURCH BASEMENT – MOMENTS LATER (SALLY, ANNIE, JIM, SPEEDING ELK, MAN #1, MAN #2, WOMAN #1).

124. SALLY: [CUE] (COUGHING AND SPITTING) Ugh. That’s disgusting.
125. ANNIE: Forget to close your mouth again, did you?
126. SALLY: Aw, shut up! I ain’t never gonna git used to sliding through dirt like that.
127. JIM: I know what you mean. But still, we’re here.
128. SPEEDING ELK: I don’t hear much.
129. JIM: I reckon it’ll get loud again once we’re up outta this basement.
130. SPEEDING ELK: And what do you think this’ll accomplish. We are not able to take the people back out with us.
131. JIM: True. But we can, hopefully, get some information that might help us figure out what’s going on.
132. ANNIE: (MOCKING) Alright fearless leader. After you.
133. SOUND: FOUR PEOPLE WALKING UP STAIRS. DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES – LET IT FINISH – AND FADE IN (WALLA) BIRDS STRIKING THE WOODEN CHURCH (MUFFLED BECAUSE HEARD FROM THE INSIDE).
134. MAN #1: (SHOCKED AND SCARED) Who the hell are… they got an injun with ‘em. Kill ‘im.
135. SOUND: GUNSHOTS (AROUND SEVEN) – LET IT FINISH.
136. JIM: (TO HIS COMPANIONS) Get down! (SHOUTING) Damnit! Stop with the firing already. We ain’t yer damned enemies!
137. (TO SPEEDING ELK) You alright?
138. SPEEDING ELK: These little holes I hardly notice.
139. JIM: Heh! (BEAT – TO STRANGERS) I’m going to come out now. We’re armed but we ain’t gonna draw down on anyone who don’t draw down on us. Got it?
140. MAN #1: Alright, but you come out slow.
141. JIM: Here I am. I just want to talk. Who’s in charge here?
142. MAN #2: I guess I am. The name’s Tom Fellowes.
143. JIM: I’m Jim Wilkes. I was the Sheriff over in Liberty Gulch.
144. MAN #2: That’s a fair ways from here.
145. JIM: Ahuh. Me and my posse have been tracking a man who murdered our whole town. He would have come right through here.
146. MAN #2: Did he bring the birds to your people too?
147. JIM: No, he didn’t. This is something new.
148. MAN #1: Ask ‘em how they got in here. We got all the doors and windows barred.
149. JIM: You wouldn’t believe me.
150. WOMAN #1: They’s ghosts. I saw em riding into town on lizards and they just kind of faded into the ground.
151. MAN #2: Don’t mind her. That’s lizzie and everyone round these parts knows she’s as crazy as a bed bug.
152. WOMAN #1: I ain’t crazy at all. I done warned ye that some’t was a-coming. None o’ yer listened.
153. JIM: Tell us what happened here?
154. MAN #2: You don’t seem terribly concerned for your injun friend. We must’ve put a good few bullets into him. We’ve got a few bandages and such if he’s not beyond help.
155. MAN #1: That’s fer our people Tom.
156. MAN #2: Hush now!
157. MAN #1: (MUTTERS TO HIMSELF AND FALLS SILENT)
158. JIM: Our friend’s fine. I’d be grateful if you’d let us all come out from that doorway though.
159. MAN #2: Bring ‘em on out. Just no-one make any sudden movements.
160. SOUND: FOOTSTEPS COMING INTO ROOM… SOME UNEASY SHUFFLING – LET IT FINISH.
161. JIM: Well, like I asked before, what happened here?
162. MAN #2: The feller you been following must’ve hit town about middle of the afternoon yesterday.
163. ANNIE: Was he alone?
164. MAN #2: Ahuh. At least at first. He was pulling a wagon all on his own, no horses and laughing like a loon. When he got to the middle of town he called out, like he was talking to someone we couldn’t see, and then he just stood there waiting, with a smug grin on his face.
165. MAN #1: Lizzie came tearing out o’ the post-office yelling at everyone to get off the streets. Trouble is she’s always seeing things’s aint there.
166. WOMAN #1: That ain’t so!
167. MAN #1: ‘tis too. That’s why no-one paid you any mind.
168. MAN #2: And then we heard the sound. It was a great roaring noise like a huge wind and we could see the clouds rolling towards us from all directions.
169. MAN #1: Only they wasn’t clouds. They was birds.
170. MAN #2: Everyone panicked. People was running everywhere and birds were attacking everyone and everything except that stranger. He just stood there laughing. A lot of people made it to the saloon… those as weren’t killed right off anyways. We was cut off and got ourselves into the church building.
171. MAN #1: That didn’t stop ‘em trying to get us though. The birds were smashing windows and killing ‘emselves to get inside. We’ve boarded up every place we could find they was starting to get in.
172. JIM: What happened to the stranger?
173. MAN #2: He just stood there laughing for a while. Then he seemed to wave at someone and began dragging that wagon o’ his outta here… one step at a time. That was when we heard the injuns…
174. MAN #1: It’s why we thought your friend was one of ‘em. They came riding into town from the direction of the silver mine. The birds didn’t bother them none.
175. MAN #2: One of them seemed to be in charge and had them surround the saloon. He started chanting something and poor Lizzie seemed to have a fit.
176. WOMAN #1: It weren’t no fit. I was putting up a protective barrier.
177. SALLY: You what?
178. WOMAN #1: I put up a barrier. That injun was a medicine man. He was trying to put everyone in town to sleep. I put up a barrier to stop him getting us.
179. MAN #1: Hmmpf!
180. SALLY: Did it work?
181. WOMAN #1: Yeah, it worked, though there’s none here as’ll believe it. Folks started coming out of all the buildings they was hiding in, almost like they was asleep on their feet. (BITTERLY) All except us, that is. The injuns just herded ‘em up and headed ‘em towards the mine. They went as docile as sheep and the birds didn’t attack ‘em no more either.
182. ANNIE: And you’ve all been here since? All night and much’ve today?
183. MAN #2: That’s about the sum of it. Now how about you answer some of our questions. How’d you get in here?
184. JIM: (IGNORING THE QUESTION) We need to go. Speeding Elk, are these birds here because of the visitor or the medicine man.
185. SPEEDING ELK: Hmmm. More likely the medicine man.
186. JIM: Then we need to take care of the medicine man if we’re to get the townsfolk back.
187. SPEEDING ELK: No! We are only a day behind the skin walker now. We must go on.
188. JIM: Speeding Elk, we can’t just leave these people.
189. SPEEDING ELK: They tried to kill me because of my skin. Does that count for nothing?
190. JIM: I won’t deny they’re scared and stupid… but it doesn’t mean we should leave them to their fate.
191. SPEEDING ELK:(DISGUSTED) White eyes! You are all the same. (SPITS ON GROUND).
192. SALLY: (SAD AND PLACATING) Speeding Elk! Don’t. We cain’t do it without you.
193. SPEEDING ELK: Why should we do it at all?
194. JIM: Because we’re not him! We’re not monsters like that thing we’re chasing. I won’t leave these folks to their fate.
195. SPEEDING ELK: And if they were my people instead of yours?
196. ANNIE: (GENTLY) Do you even need to ask?
197. SPEEDING ELK: (SIGHS IN DEFEAT) Let’s go.
198. JIM: (TO THE FOLK SHELTERING IN THE ROOM) Alright, you need to stay here while we try to recover the folk in the mine.
199. MAN #2: Now hold on. You can’t just leave us here.
200. JIM: Actually we don’t have any choice. We cain’t take you with us.
201. MAN #2: But…
202. WOMAN #1: It’s true. They cain’t take us. We have to let ‘em go and hope they can do what they’re planning.
203. MAN #2: How’ll we know if they succeed.
204. WOMAN #1: The birds’ll leave. (TO JIM) It’s the medicine man you have to deal with. Be careful, he’s probably fairly tired from keeping this spell going this long, but that don’t mean he doesn’t have other things up his sleeve.
205. JIM: Thanks. We’re going.
206. SOUND: (BRIDGE) NEUTRAL SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.
     
207. MUSIC: CLOSING THEME AND CREDITS

CASTING SHEETS — MAJOR CHARACTERS

JIM WILKES: I was the Sheriff of Liberty Gulch. I’ve been a lawman fer a long time. Liberty was meant to be a change – a chance to relax after my time as a U.S. Marshall. It don’t look like I’ll be doing much relaxing though. The town has been destroyed. Its people are dead, and now, I’m undead and hell-bent on being revenged upon the thing that wears the face of Dan Wilson, the mayor of Liberty Gulch.

ANNIE DEEMES: I used to run the local store. I’m a woman alone in a tough town and I hold my own. A few months back I was shot and killed, but I’m still here, raised to a pseudo-life by the powerful magic of a local Indian tribe. I was murdered by the Mayor and I was then brought back by Crow’s Shadow to seek revenge upon the man that did it.

SPEEDING ELK: I am a tracker and hunter for my people. Murdered by white men, I have been brought back by Crow’s Shadow to serve my people in seeking their revenge upon the mayor of Liberty Gulch.

SALLY TURNER: I am a drifter and gambler. I’ve had to make a quick exit from many a town over the years, but, until recently, my luck kept me one step ahead of the game. I say “until recently” because my luck ran out in Liberty Gulch. I was murdered by the mayor and brought back by Crow’s Shadow to seek revenge upon the man that killed me.

CASTING SHEETS — MINOR CHARACTERS

NARRATOR: Hello, I am your narrator. I introduce the cold stormy nights on which our stories take place, the dark alleys, and darker personalities who inhabit the lonely city. It is my job to set the scene and establish the serious tone of suspense and intrigue that will carry the story forward. It is also my job to remind listeners of what came before in a calm, trustworthy voice and ensure that everyone is oriented to where we are and where we are going.

TOWNSFOLK: We’re deadly afeared.  We was just a normal town before that crazy man arrived dragging his wagon behind him.  Then the birds come and started killing everyone, and the injuns took over the mine.  We’s all been hiding out where we can, in basements and crawl-spaces.  But we can’t go on like this forever and the birds ain’t showing any sign o’ wantin’ to leave.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Philip Craig Robotham grew up in a house full of books and has held numerous jobs as a teacher, computer programmer, graphic and web designer, an e-learning consultant and, most recently, writer. He currently lives in Sydney, Australia with his wife and two sons. When he was younger and fitter he enjoyed martial arts, but in recent years his hobbies have tended towards more sedate fare (board games, movies, books, and role-playing games).

He is extremely grateful for the encouragement he receives from his biggest fans — his wife and two boys — all of whom read and enjoy his scripts and in general make his life worth living.

You can contact the author regarding performance rights (or simply to say hello) through his website: https://weirdworldstudios.com.

Don’t forget to check out the free sample portions of our titles at https://weirdworldstudios.com/product-category/our-products/.

This post and all its content is copyright © 2013 Philip Craig Robotham and has been released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. This play cannot be reproduced, shared, or performed commercially without the written permission of the author. The production of derivative content, merchandise, or creative works and materials is expressly forbidden under this agreement. However you may share, reproduce, and perform this play freely so long as authorship is acknowledged, no money changes hands, and the play is not modified in any way.

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