An Episode of Not Quite Dead.

Episode Content Warnings

Please bear in mind that this show is a work of horror fiction and frequently places characters in situations which jeopardise their psychological and physical health. This episode contains:

– profanity

– references to sex

– depictions of violence (sounds of hitting, gushing blood, squeals of pain)

– depiction drinking blood, with sounds

– depictions of death, including immediate, on screen death

– depiction of a car crash – sounds of tyres squealing, explosions, shattered glass

– yelling, sounds of distress

– hospital/laboratory/medical setting

– sounds of medical equipment

– description of medical intervention

– extremely distressing scenes with descriptions of corpses

– sound of a character in extreme emotional distress

– major character death

Transcript

NEIGE
Alfie. Wake up.

ALFIE
Hmm?

NEIGE
We’re here.

ALFIE
Oh.

RUSTLING MOVEMENTS

ALFIE
Hang on, this is—

NEIGE
York. Your old home.

ALFIE
I thought you said—

NEIGE
I think you’re ready. If you’re recognised, I will glamour them. If you cannot do it yourself.

ALFIE
You think I could do that?

NEIGE
Oui. You’ve come very far, Alfie. Foolish as it was of you to tear out your tooth… otherwise you have shown remarkable strides towards self-actualisation.

ALFIE
Oh– oh my god, are you trying to compliment me?

NEIGE
I compliment you often.

ALFIE
Uh. No. You don’t?

NEIGE
Perhaps we have differing definitions of compliment.

ALFIE
Mate you spend measurable time criticising me on a daily basis. You said I’m a disaster.

NEIGE
Oui. But I have also said I am beginning to trust you.

ALFIE
Oh wow, someone book the bridal suite.

NEIGE
You are mocking me.

ALFIE
Oh, well spotted.

NEIGE
We do not have to hunt here.

ALFIE
What? No. It’s fine.

NEIGE
You do this when you want to deflect.

ALFIE
I do– I don’t– I’m not deflecting! What do I do when I– I’m not!!

NEIGE.
Mm. Okie.

ALFIE
You’re going to drive me insane you know.

NEIGE
At last, something we have in common.

ALFIE
What, you drive yourself mad, too?

NEIGE
Alfie!

ALFIE
Aha!

CAR DOOR OPENS. THE SOUNDS OF A BUSY STREET; CLUB MUSIC, CHATTER, PASSING CARS. ANOTHER CAR DOOR.

NEIGE
Alfie. Are you okay?

ALFIE
I– wasn’t– I didn’t—

NEIGE
There is a higher population of vampires here. And the half-mades from Bonham’s experiments.

ALFIE
It’s— fuck. It’s so much.

NEIGE
Can you handle it?

ALFIE
I can’t smell anything, Neige. This is like– fucking hell, it’s like being blind. I want to throw up.

NEIGE
Concentrate on a single strand, a single flavour in the wind. Try to pick something neutral. A tree, or a bird.

ALFIE BREATHES DEEPLY

NEIGE
What did you find?

ALFIE
A starling in a tree over there. Smells horrendous. Who knew birds stink so much?

NEIGE
Farmers, since the invention of agriculture. Focus on the bird. Can you hear its pulse?

ALFIE
I– oh! Yes. I can. So small, so fast? How odd.

NEIGE
Note the smell of its blood, how the heat of its body warms the oil on its feathers, makes it soft and supple. Do you smell?

ALFIE
Yeah.

NEIGE
Better?

ALFIE
Yeah. Thank you.

NEIGE
Where would you like to go?

ALFIE
Oh, you want me to choose?

NEIGE
Oui. It is your hometown, is it not? Where are its most delectable haunts?

ALFIE
Um. Let me see. I think probably there’s a good chance of us not getting noticed in Colloquium, which is where we hunted before we left the city, so that was smart of you to choose. But I don’t know. Maybe– hmm. Where is a good place that’s nice but I definitely won’t get recognised? God. Hmm. Neige, you’ve been hunting here sometimes, right? What places have you tried?

Neige?

Hello?

Oi, French boy, what is—

NEIGE
Nominally French, pre-French, I sound like this because I’ve been there a while, that’s all.

ALFIE
What are you–

NEIGE
Get in the car.

ALFIE
What? But you said–

NEIGE
Please, now, do as I say. We need to go.

ALFIE
Why? How have I already managed—

Oh.

Fuck.

VERY DISTANT SCREAM

ALFIE
(desperate)
Neige.

NEIGE
No.

ALFIE
We have to help her Neige!

NEIGE
No!

ALFIE
Well, fuck you!

RUNNING. THE MUSIC AND CHATTER GET LOUDER. THE DISTANT SCREAMS ARE SLIGHTLY LOUDER TOO. ALFIE BREATHES HEAVILY.

ALFIE
Breathe. Like the bats. Follow it like the bats.

MORE RUNNING

THE MUSIC GETS QUIETER. WE HEAR THE SOUND OF WATER. A GIRL IS MOANING IN PAIN.

ALFIE
GET FUCKED.

WET THWACK. A GURGLING, HISSING SOUND FOLLOWED BY SAD ALMOST-BLEATS. ANOTHER THWACK. ALFIE MAKES SOUNDS OF FURIOUS EFFORT. CONTINUED SOUNDS OF MEATY IMPACT.

NEIGE
Alfie! Alfie, stop!

ALFIE IS BREATHING VERY HEAVILY

ALFIE
(breathless)
The girl—

NEIGE
Breathing. We need to go.

ALFIE
No! The bite, it’s saliva– I got an infection. It’ll kill her!

NEIGE
We cannot stay here!

ALFIE

Why?

NEIGE
There are more down the riverbank. So many, so fresh, they must have been left here tonight.

ALFIE
(slightly dazed)
Left here.

NEIGE
Alfie. Don’t.

ALFIE BREATHES DEEPLY

ALFIE
Two men. Medical equipment, the smell of the half-mades. An ambulance. They’re headed out of town.

NEIGE
Alfie, I thought you wanted to save the girl!

ALFIE
ARGH! FUCK YOU.

ABRUPT RUSTLING SOUNDS. A GIRL MOANS IN PAIN.

ALFIE
C’mere, c’mere.

A WET SOUND.

NEIGE
Just giving her your blood will not save her. It’s like you said. There is an infection in her system. You will need to try to draw it out, but its spreading fast. You risk killing her just by trying to save her.

THE GIRL MOANS

ALFIE
But if I don’t try she definitely dies.

NEIGE
You’ll have to bite her neck, where the creature got her. You have to draw it out at the—

ALFIE
At the source, I know, I know.

NEIGE
This will hurt you.

ALFIE
I KNOW.

A WET SOUND. THE GIRL WHIMPERS IN PAIN.

NEIGE
It burns, doesn’t it? The taste of their rot? It numbs your tongue but sears it all at once.

ALFIE PULLS BACK WITH A HISS.

ALFIE
Shut up.

A WET SOUND. THE GIRL WHIMPERS AGAIN, AND ALFIE MOANS.

NEIGE
Careful; listen to her pulse, how weak it is. The infection is already at her heart, Alfie. You will have to drink deep and fast if you want to save her. Every moment it will burn you. Every second, you’re on fire, you’re digging yourself into a blood debt with every swallow, you know this–

ALFIE DRAWS BACK AND RETCHES. BLOOD SPLATTERS ON THE GROUND. ALFIE COUGHS.

NEIGE
It’s okay.

ALFIE
(thickly)
I thought I told you to shut up.

ANOTHER WET SOUND. THIS TIME THE GIRL DOES NOT WHIMPER. ALFIE PULLS BACK, PANTING.

ALFIE
No, no, come on.

NEIGE
Listen.

ALFIE
Do chest compressions! Keep her heart going! Please!

NEIGE
She’s gone, Alfie.

ALFIE
Why didn’t you help me?! Why did you just stand there, what is wrong with you, you fucking psychopath?!

NEIGE
It’s going to be okay.

FOOTSTEPS. FABRIC MOVES, BODIES SHOVE INTO EACH OTHER

NEIGE
Alfie, it’s okay.

ALFIE

You soulless fucking beast, you monster, you heartless– fuck you!

ALFIE SHOVES NEIGE BACK

NEIGE
You can hit me again if it will make you feel better.

ALFIE
You’re deranged. You’re actually fucking deranged.

FOOTSTEPS, RUNNING

NEIGE
(distant)
Alfie, wait!

THE MUSIC AND CHATTER GETS LOUDER AGAIN

NEIGE
(behind)
He’s fine, he fell by the river, I’m going to take him to– Alfie, wait!

THE MUSIC IS GETTING QUIET. MUCH CLOSER TO THE MICROPHONE, ALFIE’S HEAVY BREATHING.

NEIGE
(distant)
Alfie!

A CAR DOOR OPENS AND SLAMS SHUT. ALFIE CONTINUES TO BREATHE HEAVILY. THERE IS A CLICK.

NEIGE
(muffled by glass)
Alfie.

CAR ENGINE RUMBLES

NEIGE
Alfie let me in!

ALFIE
Fuck off, Neige.

KEYS JANGLE

NEIGE
What, so you’re just going to leave me here?

ALFIE REVS THE ENGINE

NEIGE
Let me in the car, people are staring at us.

ALFIE
What, am I making a scene, Neige? Am I embarrassing you?!

NEIGE
Yes! You are!

THE CAR’S ENGINE CONTINUES TO RUMBLE

NEIGE

Please, Alfie. I am begging you.

THE CAR’S ENGINE RUMBLES ON FOR A MOMENT. NEIGE OPENS THE DOOR AND THE SOUNDS OF THE STREET ARE BRIEFLY LOUDER FOR A MOMENT, BUT THEN THE DOOR SLAMS SHUT. THERE IS A BEAT OF QUIET. ALFIE DRIVES AWAY.

NEIGE
Don’t follow them.

ALFIE
Why not?

NEIGE
Please just trust me.

ALFIE
No, Neige. No.

NEIGE
I can explain.

ALFIE
(cutting across him)
Go right ahead.

NEIGE MAKES A SMALL SOUND OF FRUSTRATION

NEIGE
What do you know about Genghis Khan?

ALFIE
What.

NEIGE
Genghis Khan. What do you know about him?

ALFIE
Fucking nothing, Neige! What the fuck does this have to do with everything? You– you just– in the middle of hunting and you just. You casually drop on me that Casper asked you to kill him. What the fuck. And now you want me to tell you about Genghis Khan?!

ALFIE BREATHES HEAVILY

NEIGE
Genghis Khan was one of the most fearsome and effective rulers in the ancient world. Many great rulers are buried in grand tombs, immortalised in these shrines to their decaying remains. The pharaohs of Egypt built their entire legacy to house their corpses. But Genghis Khan did not want this for himself. He wanted to be buried in an unmarked grave, and this wish was honoured so thoroughly that with a lifetime of his death, no living humans knew the location of his remains.

ALFIE
So what?

NEIGE
By some accounts this is not true.

ALFIE
Great. I don’t care.

NEIGE
By some account the tomb was rediscovered thirty years after Khan’s death. They say when they buried his body, he wasn’t buried alone. They brought with them to the grave site a camel and her nursing calf. When they laid Genghis Khan’s body in the earth, they slit the camel calf’s throat and buried it alongside him. The mother camel would return to that spot every year, the place her baby was killed and buried, the only living thing with the knowledge of Genghis Khan’s grave, so that the family might be led back there if they ever needed to be.

ALFIE
What are you saying to me.

AN UNCOMFORTABLE SILENCE

ALFIE
Neige.

NEIGE
Please, Alfie. It’s a trap.

ALFIE
I don’t care.

NEIGE
Okay.

ALFIE
Shut up.

THE SOUND OF DRIVING

ALFIE
Ha. I see them!

NEIGE
Yes.

ALFIE
What are– why have they turned off their car lights–

TYRES SCREECH, THE DISTANT SOUND OF A MASSIVE CAR CRASH, METAL HITTING METAL, GLASS SHATTERING

BRAKES SLAM

ALFIE
Fuck! Fuck! What the fuck!

CAR ENGINE IDLES

ALFIE
Oh my god, oh my fucking god.

CAR DOOR OPENS. RUNNING ON TARMAC. THE SOUND OF A CAR ENGINE, AND SOMETHING IS BEEPING

ALFIE
HELLO! HELLO, DO YOU NEED HELP, HELLO

NEIGE
They’re dead, they’re all dead!

ALFIE
No, no– no!

NEIGE
Alfie, get down!

EXPLOSION; MORE SHATTERING GLASS.

ALFIE
Neige– are you– you’re not hurt.

NEIGE
No, are you?

ALFIE
No.

FIRE BURNS. GLASS CLINKS.

ALFIE
Shit. SHIT!

NEIGE
We need to go.

ALFIE
No–

NEIGE

You don’t understand. They will have alerted the others. They know we’re coming. If we don’t go now, there will be nothing left to find.

ALFIE
What?

NEIGE
Get up, Alfie. Now.

ALFIE

I don’t–

NEIGE
Get in the fucking car!

ALFIE
Okay!

FOOTSTEPS. THE CAR ENGINE IDLES. TWO DOORS SLAM. TYRES SCREECH.

ALFIE
Where are we going.

NEIGE
You know where we’re fucking going.

ALFIE
Why did they do that. They fucking killed themselves. Why?

NEIGE
To avoid being taken alive.

ALFIE

What?

NEIGE
I am assuming they are thinking we managed to keep at least one of the men who accosted me alive. They will have no idea how much we know. They will have been waiting for this, since that day. It is possible they will have destroyed much of the evidence already.

ALFIE
How long have– you’ve been planning this. You’ve been fucking planning this.

NEIGE
Yes, I have, and you have fucking shat the entire plan. Do you understand what you may have cost us? How dire these consequences will be?!

ALFIE
We should have gone sooner.

NEIGE
No, Alfie! We should have waited, we should have gone prepared, not flying by the seat of our pants. We should have known what we were walking into before we walked into it. And you have destroyed everything with your reckless behaviour. I cannot believe I thought you could be trusted with this. I cannot. I cannot.

ALFIE
How did they–

NEIGE
They know the fucking car, Alfie. As soon as they saw us behind them, they knew we were here.

ALFIE
Why didn’t you tell me, why didn’t you fucking—

NEIGE
You just demonstrated very adequately that in many circumstances you are unwilling to listen.

ALFIE
You should have stopped me!

NEIGE
How?!

ALFIE
I don’t know.

NEIGE
I am not– I won’t. Do that again.

ALFIE
What?

NEIGE
It doesn’t matter.

ALFIE
Fucking fine, maybe it doesn’t, who gives a shit! Why haven’t you told me anything about what’s going on, why is there so much you’re still keeping from me?!

NEIGE
BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT READY. You are behaving like AN INFANT. You deserve to learn how to be a vampire without this hanging over your fucking head because it means NOTHING. All it– you deserve time to be selfish and reckless and for it not to matter.

ALFIE
I– I don’t understand! What are you saying?! There is no time!

NEIGE
Not anymore there is not.

ALFIE
Neige–

NEIGE
I have tried to protect you, I have tried.

ALFIE
Neige.

NEIGE
I keep thinking of what Casper would have wanted, I keep– I think about what I want for myself. I think of– the vampires I see. The young vampires. I do not– I want you to be okay, you have to understand that my motivation has always been to make sure you get to be safe. Please understand this. I will always make sure I am safe, first, but you? Your safety is a close, close second. You have been entrusted to me. Do you understand this? You are my responsibility.

ALFIE
No, I’m not, I’m a–

NEIGE
You’re a grown man, I know! I know! And you should never have been forced to make the decisions you’ve been forced to make.

ALFIE
So? Life’s not fair is it.

NEIGE
Ah.

ALFIE
What?

NEIGE
You think we are alive.

ALFIE
Yeah. I do. I do think that.

NEIGE
At least I– at least I have done this for you. If nothing else. I’ve saved you from that hatred Casper always wore. If nothing else.

ALFIE
Neige. You’re kind of scaring me, now.

NEIGE
Desole. That is not my intent. I am afraid enough for both of us. I would like to avoid it spreading, if I can. I don’t suppose it’s worth asking you to wait out here?

ALFIE
Out where? We’re in the middle of nowhere.

NEIGE
No. We’re not.

ALFIE BREATHES DEEP

ALFIE
Oh. It’s faint, it’s well disguised– deliberately— that’s– dead things, deer, rabbits, cows, and– and people. But theres more under it, isn’t there? It’s hidden on purpose.

It’s Bonham’s lab, isn’t it?

NEIGE
Yes. It is.

ALFIE
So. What’s the plan.

NEIGE
The plan was to wait a few more months until I properly understood about how this facility works. I have been watching the river. You mentioned the remains of a vampire, there. I think they are deliberately setting up the half-mades now, but in the beginning, I think they were using the river to dispose of the bodies.

ALFIE
That’s why there were so many victims found in there.

NEIGE
Yes. And I don’t think they realised the half-mades they were disposing of were half-mades at all.

ALFIE
How could they not know? From what you said, it’s pretty immediately obvious.

NEIGE
Exactly.

ALFIE
It’s something to do with Bonham’s treatments, then. They’re a byproduct.

NEIGE
That is my thinking. And I have been wondering about why they would be releasing them at all, except– except I think that may be obvious.

ALFIE
Oh?

NEIGE
They want to see what they will do. If their behaviour is a half-made’s behaviour or not. If they were released by accident at first, but now they’re being monitored–

ALFIE
They’re not sure what they’ve made, here.

NEIGE
Exactement. Do you smell that, in the forest?

ALFIE
Trails. People running away.

NEIGE
They were ready for us.

ALFIE
We have to go. We have to find where they’re holding Casper.

(pause)

Neige, come on, we need to go! Now!

Unless– unless you think they’ve taken him and the others? I can’t smell that but–

NEIGE
No, you’re right. Come on.

DOOR OPENS

FOOTSTEPS IN GRASS

ALFIE
Where’s the– oh. It’s like a bunker door. It’s all underground?

NEIGE
That’s why it took Casper so long to find it, I assume. Otherwise every vampire from here to the ocean would be able to smell what they are doing here. The scale of this production, it’s not been seen for a long time.

ALFIE
You’ve seen something like this before?

NEIGE
Come on, Alfie. We may not be human now but we were human once. You cannot possibly imagine that Casper and Bonham were the only ones questioning the mechanics of it all, not when you yourself are so insatiably curious about it?

ALFIE
No. I suppose not.

The door isn’t even shut. Can you smell– water??

NEIGE
And smoke. Someone tried to set a fire here but didn’t turn off the fire suppression.

ALFIE
An– what– is that, that’s fucking– the air. It tastes wrong. And there’s like. Eight dead bats here.

NEIGE
In days past, there were caves humans knew to avoid. Legends would spring up about them. Birds who flew to close to the entrances died. The cave mouth was littered with bones and corpses. The people thought they were the entrances to the underworld.

ALFIE
Carbon monoxide. A gas leak?

NEIGE
Non. They wanted to destroy this place, they opened the taps.

ALFIE
It’s making the smells inside— they’re– it’s like they’re moving different, it’s harder to follow trails.

NEIGE
Lighter than air, isn’t it? It moves differently and interacts differently. I don’t see how there is a building left at all. Just a spark and this whole place will light up.

ALFIE
We can’t go now. Casper’s in there. I won’t leave him.

NEIGE
Alfie–

ALFIE
I won’t!

NEIGE
Okie.

THE DOOR CREAKS. THE SOUND OF WATER. A DISTANT RINGING BELL.

ALFIE
Oh, shit.

NEIGE
He was so close to escape.

ALFIE
Another few feet there would have been enough breathable air from the doorway. Poor fucker.

NEIGE
I would reserve your sympathies.

FOOTSTEPS

STRANGE, ANIMALISTIC RASPING. THE THUD OF FLESH AGAINST PLASTIC.

NEIGE
Alfie, come on.

ALFIE
Her hands– where are her–

NEIGE
Alfie.

FOOTSTEPS, ANOTHER DOOR CREAKS. PAPER CRUNCHES AND RUSTLES.

ALFIE
Oh– fuck.

NEIGE
This is where the fire was set. They tried to destroy their research.

ALFIE

These computers are ancient. I think the sprinklers have broken them. There’s no way these were able to get online.

This door, look. ‘Cold storage.’

A DOOR CREAKS. FOOTSTEPS. A SMALL GASP.

ALFIE
The smell in here is different. I think– yeah, the sign on the wall. Gas fire suppression. This is why the whole place hasn’t blown. Carbon dioxide, mixed with carbon monoxide. No wonder so many of them are dead. There are thousands of samples in here.

A TRAY SHAKES, HUNDREDS OF GLASS VIALS TINKLE.

ALFIE
They’re all numbered by subject.

FOOTSTEPS

ALFIE
Hmm. They were in the middle of something when they left. This is— oh. In this microscope. I think, I’m not sure but I think this is a slice of brain tissue.

NEIGE
(distantly)
Putain de merde!

ALFIE
You okay?

NEIGE
(distant)
Yes, it’s just dead rats.

FOOTSTEPS

ALFIE
They smell– sick. And, is that?

NEIGE
They were trying to cure them with the blood, but–

ALFIE
It’s been tampered with.

A LOUD, DISTANT SMASH

ALFIE
Shit.

RUNNING FOOTSTEPS. THE SOUND OF THE SPRINKLERS IS LOUDER AGAIN.

NEIGE
It’s okay. It was just this tray–

ALFIE
Oh my god– oh– fucking– Casper. Cas.

NEIGE
Alfie, wait–

RUNNING

ALFIE
Casper! Cas! Where are you!

FOOTSTEPS STOP ABRUPTLY. LITTLE GASP.

ALFIE
Cold storage two.

A DOOR HANDLE IS PUSHED. A SEAL BREAKS. A DOOR SWINGS OPEN.

ALFIE
The air is clean in here. That’s a secure seal.

THE SOUND OF A VENTILATOR AND A HEART MONITOR, AND A DISTANT, RHYTHMIC THUDDING.

ALFIE GAGS.

ALFIE
What– what–

FOOTSTEPS

ALFIE
Casper! Where are you!

MECHANICAL WHIRRING.

ALFIE
Huh. Another door. Haemapheresis suite.

MECHANICAL WHIRRING GETS LOUDER. FOOTSTEPS.

ALFIE
Oh– my god. My god. What the fuck. Hey. Can you hear me? Hello?

MECHANICAL WHIRRING

ALFIE BREATHES DEEPLY.

ALFIE
I’m so sorry they did this to you. I’m so sorry. These tubes, they’re draining your blood, and– let me–

SOUNDS OF MOVEMENT

NEIGE
She’s gone, Alfie..

ALFIE

Don’t just stand there, help me!

NEIGE
Can’t you smell it? She’s like the others on this suite. The back of her head is gone. You’re talking to a corpse.

ALFIE
Shit.

MECHANICAL WHIRRING

NEIGE
They left that door closed for a reason. When they set that fire, they wanted to destroy the paper work and leave these corpses for us to find. This is Bonham’s work. It’s a threat, don’t you see?

ALFIE
I don’t care, right now I’ve gotta– I need. We need to find Casper.

NEIGE
Alfie–

ALFIE
No, he’s here, I know he’s here. I can feel it. The feeling, the ties binding us, I feel it.

NEIGE
Alfie. Can’t you tell–

ALFIE
Shut up, Neige! Just let me do this.

NEIGE
Okay.

ALFIE
Casper! CAS! Where are you!

NEIGE
Use your senses, Alfie. Breathe deep.

ALFIE
Down the hall?

NEIGE
Yes. But–

ALFIE
CASPER!

RUNNING FOOTSTEPS

ALFIE
It– it’s a–

ALFIE GAGS

ALFIE
There are so many bodies. Casper? Where are you?

METAL DOORS CLANG, HINGES SQUEAK

NEIGE
Alfie. Please.

ALFIE
Shut up, Neige. He’s here, I know he’s here.

NEIGE
Yes, but, Alfie. Your senses–

ALFIE
SHUT UP!

NEIGE
D’accord, little one. As you wish.

METAL DOORS CLANG, HINGES SQUEAK

ALFIE
Casper?

A METAL TRAY RATTLES

ALFIE
Hey. Hey, Casper, Casper. I found you, I found you.

SILENCE

ALFIE
Cas. Hey. Cas. Hey Look at me, Casper.

NEIGE
Mon petit. Let him rest. Please.

ALFIE
You will shut up. You’ll shut up.

ALFIE BREATHES SHAKILY

ALFIE
Please, Cas. You’re okay. You’re in there. Casper. Come on, Cas. Please.

SILENCE

ALFIE
Casper, this isn’t funny anymore! Wake up!

SILENCE

ALFIE
Cas. Please. FUCK YOU, Casper! Wake up!

SILENCE

ALFIE SOBS OPENLY

ALFIE
No, no. No.

NEIGE
Mon petit–

ALFIE
No. We can’t. We can– you can fix it. You can fix him. Your blood. Ancient blood! You can fix him.

NEIGE
I can’t, mon petit, I’m so sorry.

ALFIE
We were too late. We should have come sooner.

NEIGE
Mon coeur, he has been dead since the day he called you.

ALFIE
No.

NEIGE
Breathe in, Alfie. His veins have not known blood for months.

ALFIE
You knew! You–! All this time, you knew he was dead and you didn’t tell me.

NEIGE
I did not know for certain.

ALFIE
But! But you knew.

NEIGE
I knew that Bonham would assume that if Casper came, I would follow. I knew he would be trying to tie up loose ends as soon as Casper arrived.

ALFIE
Why didn’t you tell me?

NEIGE
You are so new still, little one–

ALFIE
I am not a child.

NEIGE
No. You’re not.

ALFIE
You liar. You fucking liar. I hate you.

NEIGE
(extremely calmly)
Okay.

ALFIE
Why did you– why?

NEIGE
I wanted to keep you safe.

ALFIE
It doesn’t matter if I’m safe. It’s not about me!

NEIGE
Sweet little thing, you being safe is the only thing that matters. He had access to a phone, he could make one call. When he did, he called you and told you to run. If he wanted to save himself, he could have called me.

ALFIE
He’s an idiot!

NEIGE
At last, something we can agree on.

ALFIE SOBS

ALFIE
Oh, Cas, oh Cas. My darling. I’m sorry. Neige. Neige, we can’t leave him here.

NEIGE
I know. What do you want to do?

ALFIE
I want him to be okay.

NEIGE
Little love, this is as okay as he’s ever going to be again.

ALFIE CRIES QUIETLY

NEIGE
Sine igne, peius bestiis.

ALFIE SNIFFS

ALFIE
What?

NEIGE
Without the fire, they are worse off than the beasts. Where they failed, we will succeed. We will set this place ablaze, little one.

ALFIE
Wait.

NEIGE
What?

ALFIE
The files, all this research. We have to take it with us.

NEIGE
Mon râleur…

ALFIE
It’s what Casper would have wanted.

NEIGE
Oui, but Casper was an idiot.

ALFIE
Neige. Please.

NEIGE
Ah! Fine, fine! I will grab the boxes.

LONG PAUSE

NEIGE
Can you carry him?

ALFIE
I– yes. Yes. I can carry him.

LONG PAUSE

NEIGE
I’m sorry, little one.

ALFIE
I don’t forgive you.

NEIGE
I know.

[OUTRO TO CHOPIN’S NOCTURNE No.2 Op.62]