OK, so a million years ago, I wrote some middling comic books set in the Warrior Nun universe. (Yeah, the same Warrior Nun that eventually ended up on Netflix, and no they didn’t use any of my stuff and no I didn’t get any money.)

Anyway, there was a character called Shotgun Mary, who was a former Warrior Nun who now went around killing demons with her holy shotgun instead of a holy sword. My editor was looking for short stories to fill an anthology, so I wrote up this little script. I kinda liked it, but it never got used…

SHOTGUN MARY

 in

 “FIVE MINUTES”

PAGE ONE: We set the scene, throwing the reader into a bizarre and incomprehensible situation right off the bat. This page consists of three panels. Panel 1 is a large panel, taking up 2/3 of the page from top to bottom. The second two panels are equally-sized, along the bottom of the page.

Shotgun Mary is in a threadbare room. The floors are naked wood, dusty and ill-kept. This is the living room area of an apartment in a bad part of town, part of an apartment complex that has been neglected and forsaken for years. The furniture is patched and sagging. On the floor are two dead bodies—a man and a woman. Both died from shotgun blasts. The man’s chest is a gaping cavity, trailing viscera and blood. The woman’s head is a single wound, bleeding profusely from a variety of holes made by the close-range shotgun blast. The entire head seems scraped and blasted raw.

Mary herself is in the center of the room. She is in what looks similar to a push-up position, with her legs stretched and her body straight at an angle to the floor. In her right hand, she holds a wicked knife. She has the handle of the knife firmly planted on the floor. The point of the knife is perhaps half an inch from her throat. Mary’s left hand is palm-down on the floor, steadying her in her precarious position. Her whole body trembles and she is sweating. Her teeth are clenched tightly and her eyes are closed as if she is warding off a frightening vision. We get the impression that the slightest move could send her collapsing onto the blade.

TOP CAPTION: Stop fighting. Stop fight—MARY: You better—MIDDLE CAPTION: Let me in. I’ll do it any—MARY: You’d better not—BOTTOM CAPTION: —do it anyway, you know I will—

Now close up on Mary’s face. She concentrates mightily, focusing all of her mental energy on one task.

TOP CAPTION: Come on, Mary, make it easy.BOTTOM CAPTION: Maybe we can make a deal. Would you like that?

Now Mary’s concentration breaks. She screams, filled with anger and rage.

TOP CAPTION: A deal, yes. We’ll—MARY: Shut up! Shut up! I won’t let—!

PAGE TWO: This page is a flashback page. All panels should have rounded corners.

Mary is sitting in a seedy diner, smoking a cigarette. Across the table from her is a priest, Father MacMahon. MacMahon is nervous, fidgeting. He is obviously uncomfortable being here with Mary. Mary, for her part, is calm and cool as always.

MACMAHON: You came quickly. More quickly than I had expected.MARY: The email address you used is one I check pretty frequently.

Mary stubs out her cigarette in the ashtray.

MARY: Plus I was only a hundred or so miles away.

MacMahon leans in close, almost whispering.

MACMAHON: I don’t mind telling you that I feel a bit nervous doing this. Going outside channels, I mean.

Mary sneers.

MARY: Look, if you play this by the book, no one wins and you know it as well as I do.MARY: Resources are scarce, Father. And with the regulations the Church has got in place…MARY: It would take weeks for them just to confirm that there’s something worth looking in to. And then it would be another month before anyone got around to sending a Magic Priest or even a Warrior Nun to check things out.MARY: By then, the game would be over.

MacMahon nods slowly. He knows that she’s right but he still feels dirty circumventing Church procedures.

MACMAHON: Yes, I know. That’s why I notified you.MACMAHON: It’s a—

MacMahon breaks off as the waitress comes over and puts a cup of coffee down in front of Mary. He fidgets as the waitress slaps down a check, relaxing only after she’s left.

MACMAHON: No one has been seen going in or out for weeks. Some of my parishoners have heard some mighty strange things. But since it’s the Projects, no one seems to care.MARY: And?

MacMahon slides a folded piece of paper across the table.

MACMAHON: There’s the address. God be with you.

PAGE THREE: Back to the apartment and the present.

Mary is in the same position as before.

MARY: Shut up! I won’t let—!MIDDLE CAPTION: Oh, but you will…BOTTOM CAPTION: You will…

Mary’s eyes snap shut again. She scowls with intense concentration.

MARY: I’ll do it. I don’t care. I’ll do it.MIDDLE CAPTION: You won’t. Not you. You’ve fought too long to give up now.MARY: It’s not surrender. It’s victory.We see the scene from above now—the bodies, the apartment, Mary in the bizarre position in the middle of it all.MARY: Victory over you. Get it?MIDDLE CAPTION: Mary, what did I ever do to you?MARY: Nothing. But what you did to the people in this building sucks.MARY: And I’m not going to forget about it.

Now close in on the knife, which is trembling mere centimeters from Mary’s exposed throat.

TOP CAPTION: What makes you think you’ll have a chance?MIDDLE CAPTION: What makes you think I’ll let you?MARY: You haven’t won yet.

Back to Mary’s face. Beads of sweat are collecting on her forehead.

MIDDLE CAPTION: But it’s only a matter of time…

PAGE FOUR: This page is a flashback page. All panels should have rounded corners.

Mary pulls up to the building on her motorcycle. It’s dusk, and the sky is purplish-pink through the haze of smog. The street is dirty, cluttered with garbage. Rusted cars line the street. A wind stirs Mary’s hair as she takes in the building.

MARY: Uh-huh.

She looks down at the piece of paper, now unfolded in her hand.

MARY: This is it.

Mary dismounts her motorcycle. She pushes a button on the chassis and a monitor lights up, reading “DEFENSIVE MODE.”

Mary climbs the steps to the building carefully, wary of her surroundings. Then, cautiously, she pushes the door open and enters the lobby.

Mary immediately recoils, a look of shock and disgust on her face! She draws her sawed-off shotgun immediately.

We swing around behind Mary so that we can see what she is looking at. There in the lobby, on the wall, is a teenaged boy, nailed in an upside-down crucifix. Dried blood covers the wall behind and beneath the body.

MARY: Oh, sweet God…

Mary steps over to the first door and pushes it open with the barrel of the shotgun.

MARY: Hello? I’m a friend of Father MacMahon’s. I—

As Mary enters the room, a man lunges at her! Swinging a knife, he attacks her, a mad glare in his eyes.

MARY: No! Don’t—

But the man is beyond listening. As he slashes down, Mary brings up her shotgun and shoots him in the chest at point-blank range.

The man goes down, twitches. Mary crouches down near him, examining the body.

MARY: What on Earth—

PAGE FIVE: This page is a flashback page. All panels should have rounded corners.

Suddenly a woman comes running from an open doorway, a broken bottle in her hand. She leaps at Mary, who spins and instantly fires the other barrel, unloading shot into the woman’s face.

MARY: Have they all gone—

As Mary watches, a putrid steam begins to rise from the woman’s body, yellow and grisly gray. Mary’s eyes widen as comprehension begins to settle in.

MARY: Oh, no—!

Mary fires at the coalescing cloud, but nothing comes of it.

Suddenly, the cloud stretches through the apartment and settles on Mary, enveloping her. Her shotgun clatters to the floor as her hands go to her own throat. We get a close-up panel of her choking, her eyes watering.

MARY: No!

And then she reaches down for the knife strapped to her leg.

TOP CAPTION: You are…Mary. You are mine…MARY: No! Get—

The steam dissipates, even as Mary flings herself onto the floor in the position we found her in on Page 1…

PAGE SIX: Back to the present.

Mary is still in the same position.

MARY: Should have known—MARY: Should have known you were an occupier…MIDDLE CAPTION: I’ve had my sport with everyone in this building, Mary. Possessed and slaughtered them all.MIDDLE CAPTION: You’ll be next.

Mary groans. We have a close-up of her left arm, which is trembling. She can’t hold herself up much longer.

MARY: Not a chance.MARY: You’re inside me, but if I feel you begin to take control…MARY: If you try to control me in the least…MARY: All I have to do is relax my arm.Back to Mary’s face, which is set into a determined expression.MARY: I fall and die. You lose.MIDDLE CAPTION: You wouldn’t.MARY: To stop you? I would.

Tight close up now. Mary’s throat. The point of the knife is just sinking into her throat, just enough to draw blood.

TOP CAPTION: You’re bluffing!MARY: Try me.MIDDLE CAPTION: You’re bluffing!

Same scene. The point of the knife is a millimeter into the flesh of Mary’s throat. Blood is running down the steel of knife and dripping off panel onto the floor.

TOP CAPTION: I don’t believe—MARY: Oh, ye of little faith—

PAGE SEVEN:

We pull back to see Mary’s entire body. The disgusting cloud of steam is rising from it.

TOP CAPTION: NOOOOO!!MARY: go—go—

Now the cloud coalesces into a filthy demonic form, only partly finished.

DEMON: You’re crazed—

Mary brings her knees down, lifting her torso so that she is away from the knife. Blood is running down her neck.

MARY: No.

Mary reaches for the revolver at her side.

MARY: Just dedicated.

Mary fires four times.

MARY: Eat blessed silver!

We see the bullets strike the demon and he screams one last time before exploding in flames. Mary shields her eyes against the blast.

PAGE EIGHT:

Mary rises from the floor, dusts herself off. She pulls a handkerchief from a pocket and ties it around her throat.

Just then, she hears a baby cry.

Mary walks into the next room. In a crib is a tiny, innocent baby.

MARY: He didn’t get everyone, did he, sweetheart?

Mary picks up the baby and holds it close.

MARY: I know some people who’ll take good care of you.

We have a panel of Mary looking quickly at her watch, and then we cut to Mary walking down the steps outside the building, the baby in her arms.

TOP CAPTION: Evil quelled.MIDDLE CAPTION: Innocent life saved.BOTTOM CAPTION: Elapsed time: five minutes.

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