A bright desert day, with a noonday sun so hot you can hear it sizzle. The only feature is an old stone well. A cowboy is propped against it, his hat covering his face. Brendan lays unconscious a few yards away.BRENDAN
Wha...?
He shakes the cobwebs from his mind and notices the cowboy.BRENDAN
Who are you?
COWBOY
Just some guy.
BRENDAN
No name?
COWBOY
Not much use for names out here.
BRENDAN
There is now. I'm Brendan. Where the hell am I?
The cowboy stands, unfolding slowly, showing his face for the first time; a face burdened by every memory he's ever had. A mnemonic Atlas, pinned beneath the world.COWBOY
Welcome to the West, kid. You can call me Shane.
BRENDAN
Well, it's nice to meet you, Shane. This might sound strange, but do you know how I got here?
SHANE
Same way everyone does. You rode into the sunset.
BRENDAN
Okay. So which way's east?
Shane laughs.SHANE
They're
all east, kid.
BRENDAN
How am I supposed to get back, then?
SHANE
No such thing as going back, in my experience, and out here, there's only one way forward.
Shane points at the well.BRENDAN
Down there?
Shane nods.BRENDAN
What's down there?
SHANE
A graveyard. The End of Days.
BRENDAN
I think I'll stay up here.
Shane doesn't respond, and Brendan has nothing to say. It makes for an awkward silence.BRENDAN
So what's there to do here?
SHANE
Wait.
BRENDAN
Wait?
SHANE
Wait until you forget. Until you're forgotten. Until whatever's chasing you gives up and goes home.
A long pause.SHANE
Until you go down the well.
BRENDAN
Shane?
SHANE
Mm?
BRENDAN
You wouldn't happen to know anyone named Ezekiel, would you?
A sad smile spreads across Shane's face.SHANE
Yeah. I did.
BRENDAN
Well, it's probably not the same guy, and I don't even know what the hell it means, it's likely nothing...
Brendan cues up his recorder and hits play.EZEKIEL
(recording)
–is Ezekiel, by the way. I just wanted to tell you–this probably won't make any sense. Probably won't matter. But if it does, please, just tell him that I'm sorry. That I'm sorry I remember, and it won't be much longer.
Brendan hits stop.BRENDAN
That make any sense to you?
SHANE
Yeah. Thanks.
Another long silence. Brendan kicks stones and picks at the sand, bored witless. Shane just sits.BRENDAN
So, unless I want to stay right here, I gotta go down that well, right?
SHANE
Mmm-hm.
BRENDAN
'Cause everyone goes down it eventually, right?
SHANE
That's right.
BRENDAN
So why haven't you?
SHANE
I've got my reasons.
BRENDAN
Good ones?
Shane chuckles softly.SHANE
No.
Shane looks up, then walks away from the well.BRENDAN
Going somewhere?
SHANE
You'll want to step away from the well.
BRENDAN
Why?
SHANE
It's almost sundown.
BRENDAN
Are you kidding? It's high noon! There's–
There's a roar and a brilliant flash as something streaks down the well. It is night.BRENDAN
What was that?!
SHANE
Sundown.
Brendan looks down the well.BRENDAN
End of Days. Clever.
SHANE
I've got lots of time on my hands.
BRENDAN
So how does it get back east?
SHANE
It doesn't.
BRENDAN
But if this is where the sun sets, how does it rise?
SHANE
The sun?
BRENDAN
Yeah.
SHANE
You know what a day of sunlight costs? One life. One sun. Can't nothing burn like that too long. Things that go down don't come back up.
Brendan stares at him incredulously.BRENDAN
Man, you're full of shit.
SHANE
(wheeling on Brendan)
What, you think every son's the same? They're not.
Shane advances on Brendan, grabbing his shirt.SHANE
Some don't burn as brightly as their brothers. In the eyes of their father, some don't shine at all.
Brendan retreats from Shane's shouts, hits the lip of the well and stumbles backwards. Shane realizes what he's done, and as Brendan falls, Shane lunges forward. For a moment they hang suspended, but Brendan slips from Shane's grasp and plummets down the well.SHANE
ZEKE!!!!
Shane drops to his knees at the side of the well.SHANE
Zeke....
