Volunteers: The Face of the Enemy" Dialogue Sample 1
SCENE: In a field hospital set up in an abandoned church, DOCTOR TALBOT confesses his frustration over the futility of their situation to NURSE ANDREWS, who reveals that a certain patient has yet to be treated.
INT. CORRIDOR – DAY
We open on a closed door on one of the rooms in another part of the church. Doctor Talbot bursts through the doorway dressed in his surgical apron which is stained with blood. He removes the bloodied gloves from his hands and pitches them in the waste bucket set just outside the door. Exhausted, he leans up against the wall and catches his breath for a moment. After a couple seconds, a pair of orderlies burst through the doors carrying their patient out.
Andrews steps up to Talbot.
ANDREWS
How did it go?
TALBOT
He’ll live, I suppose. May even get a medal for bravery. Then as a further reward he’ll be sent back out onto that field to get shot at again.
ANDREWS
You haven’t been acting like yourself all day today. What’s the matter?
TALBOT
I don’t know, Catherine. We heal their wounds only to send them back out onto the field for new ones. It just all seems so futile.
ANDREWS
I’ve never heard you talk this way before, Steven.
TALBOT
I’ve never felt this way before now. I became a doctor to try and preserve life. Not just repair bodies so they can go out and get broken again.
ANDREWS
Please don’t think that way, Steven. Everybody gets hurt at one point or another. It’s the reason we exist. And I’ve never known a more caring physician than you.
TALBOT
You think so? So many men have come through our doors in the past few months, their faces have all turned into one huge red blur. I’m beginning to think maybe I’ve lost those qualities you admire so much, Catherine.
ANDREWS
Not all of them, surely...
Talbot looks her square in the eye. His gaze demanding an explanation.
ANDREWS
Do you remember that Confederate boy?
Talbot nods.
TALBOT
God knows how he ever found his way here. Will he make it?
ANDREWS
I don’t know. He hasn’t been treated.
TALBOT
What are you saying?
ANDREWS
Most of the other doctors on hand haven’t lifted one finger to help him.
TALBOT
Damn it! I was afraid of that! I left orders that he was to receive treatment immediately.
ANDREWS
All I know is that he’s still lying on a cot up there in the infirmary. Probably bleeding to death.
An angered expression crosses Talbot’s face. He steps away from Andrews, heading for the infirmary.
