Okay, at the risk of making this too much about myself, after seeing Marek Okun's apparent teaser picture for the TLoU sequel, I've found myself how that scene could work out. It strikes me that the scene a good second teaser trailer for the second game, contrasting with the character establishment one in my previous blog post.
So... Let's get to meet badass!Ellie!
EXT: A RIVER IN THE COUNTRYSIDE
CAPTION: Tributary of the Yellowstone River
CAPTION: Jackson County, Wyoming
CAPTION: March 30th, 2038
((Fade))
ELLIE is sitting, cross-legged on a rock, just off the shore, strumming her guitar and reading a book in between her knees.
ELLIE begins to play Joel's Song For My Baby Girls from the stage epilogue of the first game. There follows a full music video of Ellie singing the song with lots of camera angles, lighting and visual atmosphere effects.
Then as the song fades...
AMPLIFIED VOICE
Halt! Stay where you are!
ELLIE looks up, startled but, perhaps, not entirely surprised
CUT TO:
Behind ELLIE on the river bank are nine FEDRA SOLDIERS in full armour. Behind them there are two HMMWV vehicles parked, one with a fifty-cal turret (like from Pittsburgh)
AMPLIFIED VOICE
By the order of the Commandant of the San Diego Quarantine Zone, all the residents of Jackson County are to submit to the legal authority of the Federal Disaster Recovery Authority!
ELLIE
((quiet)) Is that a fact?
AMPLIFIED VOICE
You will surrender and submit to processing by duly-appointed FEDRA officials!
ELLIE
((amused)) Yeah, great guys.
ELLIE puts down her guitar, closes her book and her hand touches her bow, which is on the rock beside her.
ELLIE
What if I say...?
ELLIE spins and fires an arrow from a low crouch, one leg outstretched to the side.
ELLIE
NO!
ELLIE launches herself sideways off the rock, nocking and firing another arrow as she does so.
CUT TO
One FEDRA SOLDIER is crumpling with an arrow sticking out of his throat; a second soldier goes down as an arrow punches through the eyepiece of their gas-mask.
SOLDER 1
Fuck! Waste the bitch!
CUT TO
Looking toward's ELLIE's rock, we see her hit the water; momemts later, the soldiers and the fifty-calibre open up and churn up the river water into a foam.
After about five seconds, the OFFICER in charge raises her hand and the shooting stops. The SOLDIERS change their magazines quickly.
OFFICER (female)
Verify Tango is down!
((Beat))
SOLDIER 1
No contact, Ma'am.
OFFICER
Hendricks, Montoya, Wright, check the water for a body.
SOLDIER 2
Yes, Ma'am!
Three SOLDIERS move forwards into the river water. There are some thick reeds in patches and they move towards them to search for ELLIE
CUT TO
SOLDIER 2 (Hendricks) is wading through hip-deep water through a thick patch of reeds.
HENDRICKS
Bitch has vanished!
HENDRICKS touches the side of his helmet
HENDRICKS
Montoya, Wright, see anything?
WRIGHT
((over radio)) Nothin' man! Not even a drop of blood!
HENDRICKS
What about you, Simon?
((beat))
HENDRICKS
Simon? Montoya? Com check, dammit!
CUT TO
Looking out into the river. A SOLDIER floats by, face down
HENDRICKS
Shit! Man d...!
CUT TO
Original POV of HENDRICKS. ELLIE rises vertically out of the water behind him, grabs him in a one-arm choke hold and rams her butterfly knife into the side of his throat.
CUT TO
Another patch of reeds, this on a little sand-bank. WRIGHT is touching the side of his helmet.
WRIGHT
Dave? Repeat that, I didn't get that!
((BEAT))
WRIGHT
Fuck! Lieutenant, this is Wright. I've lost contact with Hendricks and Montoya!
OFFICER
((over radio)) Copy that, Wright. Get back to the bank and keep your eyes open
WRIGHT
Yes ma'am!
Lowers hand from earpiece
WRIGHT
Don't need to tell me shit I already know, asshole!
There is a light thud
WRIGHT
Th' fuck?
CUT to WRIGHT'S POV
There is a rock sitting on the earth bank to one side
WRIGHT
What the hell? Where did that come from?
CUT TO:
Original shot of WRIGHT. He is leaning down, looking at the rock. ELLIE rises up behind him, reaching towards his neck with her butterfly knife open and ready...
Camera pas up; choked, panicked sounds and a sudden stabbing noise.
CUT TO:
SOLDIERS on river-bank.
OFFICER
Wright, come in! Wright, Montoya, Hendricks!
((beat))
OFFICER
Fuck it! Freeman, sweep the area!
The hatch on the top of the fifty-calibre turret on the HMMWV opens. A SOLDIER rises out with a pair of high-power binoculars and starts to scan back and forth.
CUT TO: FREEMAN'S POV
Through the binoculars, jumping from patch of reeds to patch of reeds along the river bank. Pause briefly on ELLIE's rock with her guitar and book still sitting there, untouched.
FREEMAN
No contact, Ma'am
Jump to a floating body of a SOLDIER, drifting in the current.
FREEMAN
Fuck it! Friendly down in the water to the right! Still no sign of the Tango... UHGH!
CUT TO:
The soldiers on the river-bank. An arrow is in the side of FREEMAN's neck as he sags down in the turret.
The DRIVER lunges out of the HMMWV, yanking out his pistol.
DRIVER
Contact right! Tango to the right dammit!!!
An arrow seemingly materialises in the centre of the DRIVER's face and he goes down.
The OFFICER and the three surviving SOLDIERS turn to the right and open fire, emptying another clip in the indicated direction. After a few seconds, their guns run dry and they hurriedly reload
OFFICER
Shit... gone again! Any of you see the Tango? Any confirmed hits? Even a confirmed miss?
SOLDER 1
((hysterical)) This ain't happenin', man! This ain't happenin'!
SOLDIER 4
Fuck! Fightin' those Fireflies is nothin' like this! It's a fuckin' nightmare!
SOLDIER 1
We gonna die, dude! We gonna...!
SOLDIER 3
There must be fuckin' dozens of them out there!
SOLDIER 1
Game over, dude! We need to evac, now!
OFFICER
Shut the fuck up, all of you! Get back-to-back! If you see anything so much as twitch, fill it with holes! Now cover me, I'm going to the Hummer to call for back-up!
The OFFICER turns and starts to jog towards the lead HMMWV
Something starts rolling along the ground towards the soldiers. SOLDIER 3 stops it with his foot
CUT TO: SOLDIER 3's POV
His foot is resting on a large can of baked beans with what look like nails sticking out in places.
SOLDIER 3
What the fuck is th...?
A gunshot zips in from out-of-frame and strikes the can. BOOM
CUT TO:
ELLIE, pictured from the waist down, walking along the riverbank as bits of SOLDIER rain from the sky. She coolly holsters her upgraded 9-millimetre pistol (barrel extension, over-barrel telescopic sight, under-barrel maglite and extended magazine). She stoops to pull an arrow out of a dead SOLDIER and nocks it on her bow.
The OFFICER is crawling towards the HMMWVs, bits of shrapnel in the back of her legs.
OFFICER
Oh shit! This ain't happenin' Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh... AARGH!
ELLIE puts a battered but servicable Converse on the woman's back and pushes her flat onto the ground.
ELLIE
((cooly mocking)) Now, I'd be the first to admit that I don't often listen when other people are talkin' and shit and I'm not really interested in what they say but I'm pretty sure I remember hearing my aunt tell you FEDRA assholes to not come back unless you have somethin' to trade.
OFFICER
You can't do this, bitch!
ELLIE
"Trade" - That means come back with stuff that we might want in exchange for our surplus resources. Not turn up wavin' around a lots of guns and makin' demands.
OFFICER
Fuck you! We're the government!"
ELLIE
Not our government, ass-licker! It takes more than a tattered old flag, cool uniforms, guns and fancy proclamations to make you a 'government'.
CUT TO: Looking up at ELLIE's face as she raises her bow to a firing position.
ELLIE
I think I picked that up in civics class back in the Boston QZ. 'Course that was a different time and place, wasn't it? FEDRA doesn't even bother to pretend to be actin' 'for the people' anymore!
OFFICER
Fuck you, bitch!
ELLIE
Nah, I'll pass; you're not my type.
ELLIE coldly releases her arrow. There is a loud THWACK followed by a groan and then silence
BLACK-OUT
LOGO: "THE LAST OF US II"
LOGO: "The Miracle Girl"
FADE
CAPTION: "Summer 2015"
CAPTION "#Believeinmiracles"