Homing by Hunter Rising
2. FADE IN: INT. PIGEON LOFT ROOM - MORNING A COMPASS idly swings back and forth on a string. The needle wobbles back and forth, not settling on any direction. TITLE CARD: HOMING TRUCK OUT Two worn POLAROIDS hang from nails on either side of the compass. Each photo has an ELDERLY PIGEON wearing a SPY CAMERA on their chest. TWO MEDALS hang beside them. A NEST sits in front of the photographs with one EGG sitting inside. The egg begins to SHAKE slightly, rustling the nest beneath it. A small CRACK appears in the shell. Hearing the shell break, MOTHER'S head pops up over the edge of the nest. She walks to the nest to watch her chick hatch. The EGG moves more violently as the CRACK EXPANDS, making a circle near the base of the egg. A final shake and two legs burst out from the bottom. Mother COOS happily. CHARLIE has begun hatching. The egg ROLLS over and Charlie STANDS up, the shell still covering his body except his legs. Mother takes a few steps back from the nest, cooing softly to call him over. Charlie takes its FIRST STEPS out of the nest. Mother continues to COO, and Charlie walks towards her. When he is close to her, he hesitates and changes direction. He walks into the WALL and falls backward. The egg cracks fully and Charlie is now fully hatched. Mother walks over to him, and nestles against him. DISSOLVE TO: INT. CHARLIE'S ROOM - DAY Charlie, now grown six weeks older, watches from his room as older birds are being taken out to race. He watches their OWNER put the birds in baskets and take them out of the loft with wide eyes. Older birds zoom into the loft and land. Charlie is
absolutely awestruck and coos at his mother. She is perched by the Polaroids on the wall. Charlie walks over and coos at her again, but she is resting. Charlie looks at the two Polaroids of his father and grandfather, and then looks over his shoulder at the pigeons racing into the loft. A smile grows on his face as he looks up to them. A HAND appears and grabs Charlie. 3. INT. BASKET - CONTINUOUS Charlie is placed in a BASKET with other birds. He and the others are excited to begin training. One bird, MAX, barely glances towards Charlie. He only stares straight ahead, completely focused. Charlie tries to approach Max and get him excited, but Max PECKS at Charlie. Outside the basket, a TRUCK ENGINE revs. INSERT - TRUCK driving down a city road. Charlie, along with the other birds, start to grow nervous. Max looks at them and rolls his eyes. The truck engine stops. The owner picks up the basket from the bed of the truck and places it on the ground. The birds ready themselves to fly as the HATCH OPENS. Charlie squints in the bright light as the other birds flap ahead of him. Charlie is left behind. He starts to fly. EXT. FIELD - CONTINUOUS Charlie sees the silhouettes of the other birds and does his best to follow them, but they soon disappear. He keeps flying in the direction he believes they are going. He flies for a short time and second guesses himself and changes direction. He flies in place, looking in each direction as he tries to determine where to fly next. He decides on one direction and flies. TREETOPS Charlie starts and stops flying, each time in a different direction. He is very much lost.
4. INT. LOFT ENTRANCE - MOMENTS LATER Max flies into the loft first and checks behind him. The other birds come in one after another, except for Charlie. Max shakes his head and laughs as he returns to his room. INT. PIGEON LOFT ENTRANCE - SUNDOWN The main room of the loft is empty as the sun begins to set. The distant sound of flapping wings get closer to the entrance. Charlie finally arrives back at the loft, at least an hour later than the rest of the birds. He breathes heavily as he rests his head against a wall and closes his eyes. Charlie hears flapping wings and an AGGRESSIVE COO and opens his eyes. Max stands in front of him, smirking. He stands upright, holding his head high above Charlie and looks down on him. Max approaches Charlie, backing him into the corner. Charlie is pressed against the wall. Max meets Charlie's eye level and locks his gaze. He JERKS his head forward as if to attack, and Charlie flinches. Max coos reminiscent of a laugh. CHARLIE'S ROOM Mother peeks around the wall as Max taunts Charlie, concern crossing her face. She looks towards the back wall, focuses on the POLAROIDS and the COMPASS, and then looks back towards her son. MAIN ROOM Max flaps his wings, sending dust up into Charlie's face. Charlie wheezes as Max flies back to his loft, still laughing. Charlie shakes off the dust and flies up to his room. INSIDE CHARLIE'S ROOM Charlie shakes the last bit of dust from his head as he walks through his room. His focus is on his pile of straw and sleep, not what else is in the room. He pads down and settles with his head facing the wall. He closes his eyes to sleep.
Mother approaches Charlie from behind and puts the COMPASS around his neck. He wakes, and looks at the compass face in front of him, the needle whirling around before settling on north. Charlie turns to Mother. She coos softly and cocks her head towards the POLAROIDS, then back towards the compass. Charlie looks at the POLAROIDS of his father and grandfather and smiles. He nuzzles up with his mother. 5. EXT. TREETOPS - DAY Many pigeons race across the treetops in a huge flock. The sound of flapping wings grows in volume and fades as they pass by. After a few moments of silence, a single bird flapping its wings is heard. Charlie flies by, holding his COMPASS with his foot. He looks back and forth between it and whats in front of him. INT. LOFT ENTRANCE - LATER The last of the pigeons return to the loft. Mother watches from their room, looking for Charlie but she does not find him. The loft floor begins to clear out. Just then, Charlie enters and lands on the newly empty floor. The compass glints in the sunlight and he smiles up towards Mother. MONTAGE - IN TRAINING/LOFT ENTRANCE A) Charlie is still near the back of the group, but he is ahead of some of the other birds. He holds the compass tightly with his foot and checks it occasionally. B) The birds are entering the loft. Charlie enters ahead of the last ten birds. C) Back to training. Charlie is in the middle of the flock and passes a few pigeons. He is still focusing mainly on his compass. D) Entering the loft. Charlie finishes at a reasonable time and celebrates with his mother. E) Max is flying in front of the flock. He looks behind him and sees that Charlie is only a couple birds behind. For the first time, the cockiness on his face turns to fear of losing. END OF MONTAGE
6. INT. LOFT ENTRANCE - LATER Max enters the loft, but Charlie is right behind him. Max is clearly upset as he tries to shake off the thought. He flies back to his room and looks down at Charlie. INSERT - CHARLIE'S COMPASS Swinging in SLOW-MOTION back and forth while Charlie is celebrating. Max's eyes widen as a SMIRK crosses his face once again. EXT. OUTSIDE TOWN - MORNING OF RACE A TRUCK pulling a PIGEON TRANSPORT TRAILER drives down a dirt road, kicking up dust. INSIDE PIGEON TRAILER Charlie stands nervously in his cage. He looks down at his compass as to make sure it's still around his neck. He looks to his side to see Max STARING INTENTLY at him. The TRUCK ENGINE dies and they stop moving. It is time for the race to begin. Charlie backs up to the rear of his cage and waits patiently. INT./EXT. TRAILER - MOMENTS LATER Charlie and Max are watching one another. While Charlie is on the edge of being a wreck, Max is calm and collected. The SIDES of the trailer begin to rise, painstakingly slow. The metal CREAKS as it rises. It reaches the BOTTOM ROW of cages. Birds EXPLODE OUT from the side of the trailer. Charlie watches as they fly out. He lets out a deep breath. The sides raise up further, creating an opening for the row beneath Charlie and Max. The birds below rush out of the trailer. Max focuses straight ahead. OTS: IN CHARLIE'S CAGE The trailer side opens slowly, lighting up Charlie's cage. When the side door opens halfway, Charlie begins to RUN
towards the OPENING. When he reaches the end of the cage, he TAKES OFF. 7. TREETOPS Max is flying as fast as he can without any focus on what's going on behind him. He is overtaking the birds that were let out before him and taking an early lead. Charlie is behind a ways, how he always starts, but keeps consulting his compass and gaining rank. MONTAGE - VARIOUS A) EXT. FIELD -- MORNING -- Multiple birds fly over in SLOW MOTION, just silhouettes in the rising sun. B) EXT. HILLTOP -- MIDDAY -- Max flies by, followed by a few other birds. Charlie flies close behind them C) EXT. THE CITY -- AFTERNOON -- Charlie passes birds, checking the compass as he pulls ahead of them. END OF MONTAGE EXT. CITY - MOMENTS LATER Charlie is in second place and gaining on Max. He holds on tightly to the compass. Max looks back over his shoulder and sees Charlie approaching. As soon as the birds are side by side, Max HITS Charlie with his body. Charlie loses his balance and focus, DROPPING the compass. The compass tumbles through the air, Charlie too stunned to chase after it. STREET BELOW - STORM DRAIN The compass hits the ground, cracking the glass as it drops into a storm drain. BACK TO SCENE Charlie is devastated. He looks back and forth between where the compass fell and Max getting farther ahead of him. Other birds are starting to catch up to him. Seeing this, he tries to shake it off and push back towards the lead.
Charlie starts to question where he's going, the nerves getting to him. He hears GENTLE COOS to his side. He turns to see his FATHER and GRANDFATHER flying next to him, directing him where to go. They gesture with their heads to push forward. A TREE passes in between them and his father and grandfather disappear. Charlie, still nervous, yet now determined, nods and pushes forward. Charlie weaves between trees, gaining speed. He sees Max close by and keeps moving. When he gets just behind Max, Charlie coos loudly and surprises him. Max looks over his shoulder to see Charlie is right on his tail. Max senses he is going to lose. Out of anger, but mostly out of fear, Max attempts to slam into Charlie again. Charlie catches a glimpse of Max just in time to BACKFLIP out of the way. Max becomes disoriented and loses his equilibrium, sending him towards the ground. Charlie looks back and quickly smiles before pulling ahead. 8. INT. LOFT ENTRANCE - MOMENTS LATER A group of pigeons is surrounding the entrance to the outside, looking at who will arrive back first. Charlie's mother is near the front of the group. They coo amongst themselves. The sound of flapping wings appears and the flock hushes. A bird in the distance appears, but no one is able to recognize who it is. Charlie's mother doesn't see the compass around the bird's neck and grows discouraged. She holds her head down low. Other pigeons nudge Charlie's mother, making her look up again. This time, she realizes it is in fact Charlie arriving first. She's ecstatic. Charlie lands in the loft, smiling and out of breath. His mom pushes to the front of the crowd and celebrates with him. Meanwhile, other birds finish behind them. After about ten more birds arrive, Max lands inside the loft, breathing heavily and a look of disappointment on his face. He sees Charlie celebrating. He takes in a sharp inhale and flies into his loft. INT. CHARLIE'S ROOM - LATER Charlie is sitting on the pile of straw in the corner of his room. He's bittersweet since he won the race, but lost his
family's compass. His mother is by his side, doing her best to comfort him. A door CREAKS and they turn towards the entrance of their room. Heavy footsteps make their way closer, floorboards squeaking underneath them. Their owner's body stops at the entrance of their room. He holds a TROPHY in his hands. The owner slides the trophy into Charlie's room. Charlie stands and walks towards his new trophy. The owner PATS him on the head. Charlie turns back towards his mother and smiles. 9. LATER Charlie adjusts the trophy with his body and takes a step back. He's smiling as he looks at the bird on top. He walks away. The trophy now sits between the photographs of his father and grandfather, exactly where the compass used to be. FADE TO BLACK. THE END