RULES OF THE HOLLOW
865 Words
Season One – Episode 2: “Rules of the Hollow”
(Expanded screenplay, ~2,000 words target)
FADE IN:
INT. DINER – NIGHT
The survivors sit in silence, the windows boarded, the sound of whispers just outside. Shadows shift against the walls.
ELLEN (50s, sharp-eyed survivor) paces with her shotgun.
ELLEN
You’re alive because you stayed put. Don’t confuse that with luck.
MARA (30s, paramedic) studies Ellen. JALEN (40s, ex-soldier) leans against the counter, arms crossed. IVY (17, runaway) fiddles with the kitchen knife she stole.
JALEN
What the hell are they?
ELLEN
(smiles bitterly)
What we call ‘em doesn’t matter. They’ll smile at you, sing to you, even look like someone you lost. And if you let them in—
She slams her hand on the counter. Everyone jumps.
ELLEN (cont’d)
—you’re meat.
The group exchanges unsettled looks.
IVY
So… what, we just stay locked up forever?
Ellen sighs, loading shells into her shotgun.
ELLEN
No. You live by the rules. And pray you don’t forget them.
MONTAGE – “THE RULES”
Ellen walks the newcomers through survival steps:
• Rule One: Never go out after sundown. (They hammer wood across doors and windows.)
• Rule Two: Don’t answer the voices. (Ellen yanks Mara back from the door as her father’s voice calls again.)
• Rule Three: Don’t trust your memory after midnight. (Ellen points to notes scrawled on the walls: “IT IS STILL NIGHT.” “YOU ARE ALIVE.”)
INT. DINER – LATER NIGHT
The survivors huddle. MARA quietly checks a man’s wound — a local, bitten but alive.
MARA
(to Ellen)
He needs proper supplies. Bandages, antibiotics—
ELLEN
He needs not to bleed on the floor.
Mara glares, defiant.
MARA
If I don’t treat him, he dies. If he dies, that’s on you.
Ellen studies her, then grudgingly nods.
INT. DINER – BACK ROOM – NIGHT
Mara tends the wounded man. IVY slips in, curious.
IVY
Why bother? He’s just another stranger.
MARA
So am I.
Ivy stares at her, caught off guard.
EXT. MAIN STREET – DAWN
The survivors peek through the cracks as the first light breaks. The smiling creatures are gone. Only silence remains.
The group steps outside, shaky but alive.
The town looks almost… normal.
JALEN
(to Mara, low)
If this is their game, we need to know the board.
Mara nods.
EXT. EBON HOLLOW – GENERAL STORE – DAY
The survivors cautiously enter. Shelves lined with dusty goods, cans decades old.
IVY
Great. Expired beans. Maybe the monsters’ll kill us before food poisoning.
Suddenly — a CRASH upstairs.
The group freezes.
Jalen signals for silence, gun at the ready (a pistol Ellen finally let him have).
He moves toward the stairs—
INT. GENERAL STORE – UPSTAIRS – DAY
They find a man rummaging through cabinets. His face gaunt, eyes darting. JONAH (30s, jittery, desperate).
He spins, startled.
JONAH
Wait, wait—don’t shoot! I thought I was alone.
The group lowers weapons slightly.
MARA
We all thought that.
Jonah looks at them with relief… and dread.
JONAH
You don’t know the half of it.
EXT. MAIN STREET – DAY
Jonah walks with them, explaining:
JONAH
There were more of us. Families, kids. We thought… if we just listened to the rules…
He stops, voice cracking.
JONAH (cont’d)
One night, a girl thought she heard her sister crying. She opened the door.
FLASH CUT – The girl’s scream as smiling shadows pour in.
Jonah looks away, haunted.
INT. DINER – NIGHT
The group is back inside as the sun falls. Everyone boards windows, nervous.
Suddenly — BANG, BANG on the door.
A GIRL’S VOICE cries out.
GIRL (O.S.)
Please! Let me in! They’re coming! Please, I’m just a kid!
The survivors freeze. Ellen shakes her head.
ELLEN
Don’t. It’s not real.
But Jonah’s face twists in guilt.
JONAH
It sounds like her… it sounds like Emily—
He lunges for the door. Mara grabs him.
MARA
No!
Jonah shoves her off and unlatches it.
INT. DINER – CONTINUOUS
The door flies open. The “girl” stands there — smiling too wide.
Behind her, dozens of pale figures pour in.
Chaos. Screams.
Ellen blasts her shotgun, dropping two creatures. Jalen fires his pistol. Mara drags Ivy back toward the kitchen.
Jonah is pulled into the crowd. His scream cuts short.
The creatures tear him apart with eerie calm, still smiling.
INT. DINER – KITCHEN – NIGHT
Mara and Ivy bar the door, breathing hard.
IVY
(terrified)
We’re all gonna die here.
Mara grips her knife, blood on her face.
MARA
Not if I can help it.
The shadows press against the door, whispering Ivy’s name.
EXT. DINER – DAWN
The survivors stagger outside, bloody but alive. Jonah is gone.
Mara looks around at the boarded houses, the empty streets, the smiling faces she sees only in her mind.
MARA (V.O.)
The rules keep us alive. But for how long?
The bell tolls. Backward.
FADE OUT.
END OF EPISODE 2.
⚡ Episode 2 brings:
• The Rules of Ebon Hollow revealed.
• First true on-screen death (Jonah).
• Confirms the creatures lure with voices, but once you break the rules, you’re doomed.
- Writer
