AN: Focused on the shoot with small interactions. 🫡
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[Next Day] [8:00 AM] [Apartment Set]
By eight in the morning, the apartment set looked even colder than it had the day before.
The lights had been adjusted to give the room that early, sickly morning feel. The computer monitor still glowed faintly from the desk, the empty Mountain Dew bottles remained exactly where they had been left, and the pizza boxes near the chair had been reset into the same leaning tower of lonely decisions.
Jack sat on the couch in Columbus’s clothes, slumped awkwardly with his mouth slightly open and his head tilted to the left. A blanket had been tossed half over his lap, and his glasses sat crooked on his face.
Beside him, Penny waited in full zombie makeup.
The transformation was dramatic enough that most of the crew had done a double take when she first walked onto set.
Her skin had been painted pale and sickly beneath dark veins. Black-red blood streaked her mouth, chin, neck, and the front of her shirt. Her eyes had been made to look swollen and wrong, with cloudy contact lenses that gave her stare a terrifying, empty focus. The makeup team had added wet shine around her mouth to make the infection look fresh.
Penny had looked in the mirror after the final touch-up and whispered, “I’m never eating breakfast again.”
Jack laughed, saying, "You look terrifying."
"I know, right?" Penny said, turning her head and checking her cheeks. "I'm a zombie. Rawrrr!" She turned toward Jack and made a claw gesture with her right hand. "How was it?"
"A bit more depth and show your black teeth," Jack said as he took out his phone.
Penny opened her mouth and showed him her blackened zombie teeth and made another, "Rawrrr!" With another claw gesture, but with both hands this time.
"Nice. Do the gurgling sound as if your throat is full of blood," He said.
Jack took a small video of her making different faces and gestures.
"Send me the videos," She said with a large smile.
They had a little fun moment.
Now she sat beside Jack on the couch, leaning slightly toward him, waiting for the camera to roll.
"You ready?" Jack asked.
Penny just nodded since her mouth was full of gooey blueberry syrup that would act as blood and drool.
Christopher stood behind the monitor with Phil beside him. Emma watched from a chair near the edge of the set, holding a coffee. Richard stood a little farther back with his arms crossed, interested but quiet.
The assistant director raised her hand.
“Quiet on set.”
The stage fell silent.
“Roll sound.”
“Sound speeds.”
“Roll camera.”
“Camera speeds.”
The slate snapped in front of the lens.
“Scene 28, 406 zombie reveal, take one.”
Christopher leaned toward the monitor.
“Action.”
..
For a few seconds, nothing moved.
Columbus slept deeply on the couch, completely unaware that the world had changed beside him. His mouth hung open just enough to make him look painfully defenseless.
Then he twitched.
His shoulders shifted.
His head rolled slightly before he blinked awake, confused and heavy with sleep. He looked straight ahead, trying to remember where he was, then slowly pieced it together.
Couch.
Apartment.
Girl.
Right.
A tiny smile began to form on his face as he turned toward where 406 should have been sleeping peacefully beside him.
Instead, Penny was sitting a foot from his face.
Zombie 406 stared at him with bulging, blood-smeared curiosity. Her head tilted slightly, almost like a dog hearing a strange sound. Then her mouth stretched into a grin that looked less human than hungry.
Jack’s entire body locked.
His eyes went wide behind the glasses.
“Ghaaaaa!”
He launched backward off the couch so violently that he nearly took the blanket with him. He hit the floor on his back, scrambled on his elbows, and kicked one leg uselessly against the side table.
“Oh my God!” Columbus shouted, breathless and horrified. “Are you alright?!”
Zombie 406 stayed on the couch.
For one awful second, she just watched him.
Then Penny sniffed the air slowly.
Her shoulders rose as if she had just caught the smell of something delicious. She opened her mouth like she might answer him.
Instead, she made a thick, wet hiss from the back of her throat as black blood dribbled down her mouth.
“Hhhkkkrrrraaaahhh.”
Then she sprang forward.
“Ahhh!”
Columbus stumbled to his feet and backed away as fast as he could. Penny lunged after him with terrifying speed, arms reaching, mouth open, blood shining under the cold light.
Jack turned and sprinted into the tiny dining area.
Penny followed right behind him.
Columbus grabbed one of the prop dining chairs and shoved it backward into her path. Then another. The first chair skidded across the floor, and the second tipped sideways with a wooden scrape.
Zombie 406 crashed into them.
Her legs tangled in the chair legs, and she slipped hard onto one knee before catching herself with both hands. The movement looked messy and violent enough that the stunt coordinator leaned forward, ready to call cut if she had landed badly.
But Penny stayed in character.
She snapped her head up toward Columbus and hissed again.
Jack, already halfway into the kitchen, grabbed the blender from the counter with both hands and lifted it over his head like it was a sacred weapon.
“Stay back!” Columbus shouted, voice cracking. “I don’t wanna hurt you!”
The top of the blender slipped loose and clattered to the floor.
Jack looked down at it for half a second.
Even through the scene, Emma had to press her lips together to keep from laughing.
Zombie 406 did not care about the blender lid.
She got to her feet and bum-rushed him.
Columbus panicked instantly. The idea of actually hitting his neighbor, even his terrifying infected neighbor, was too much for him. He made a strangled noise, ditched the blender onto the counter, and ran.
Christopher let the camera chase Jack’s retreat for another second before calling, “Cut!”
Penny stopped immediately, bending forward with both hands on her knees as Jack turned around near the kitchen doorway, breathing hard.
“That was good,” Christopher said from behind the monitor. “Really good energy.”
Penny lifted one hand, still bent over. “Thanks.”
Then she coughed.
Jack’s expression changed immediately. “You okay?”
Penny nodded quickly, then coughed again and waved toward her throat. “Yeah, yeah. I just went a little too zombie.”
A crew member hurried over with a bottle of water. Penny took it gratefully and drank several long gulps while the makeup artist checked the blood around her mouth. "I drank the syrup. It's safe, right?"
"Yep," Christopher nodded. "Just blueberry syrup."
"Okay. We're gonna run the scene again. The first take was good, but it was a bit faster. Let's go a bit slower this time. No need to rush," Phil announced.
The crew reset the apartment.
The chairs were put back in place. The blender lid was returned to its loose starting position. The blanket went back onto the couch, and makeup touched up the blood on Penny’s chin and neck. Jack returned to his sleeping position, mouth open, head tilted, looking once again like a man whose biggest danger should have been poor posture.
Penny rolled her shoulders, took one more careful breath, and sat beside him.
The assistant director called the set quiet again.
“Roll sound.”
“Sound speeds.”
“Roll camera.”
“Camera speeds.”
The slate snapped.
“Scene twenty-eight, 406 zombie reveal, take two.”
Christopher watched the monitor.
“Action.”
..
Columbus stirred awake.
He blinked, confused and slow, then turned toward 406 with the sleepy hope of a man expecting a romantic miracle.
Instead, he found death sitting beside him.
Zombie 406 stared at him from inches away, blood smeared across her face, eyes wide and wrong. Her grin appeared slowly this time, almost curious before it became cruel.
“Ghaaaaa!”
Columbus flew backward off the couch, hit the floor, and scrambled away.
“Oh my God! Are you alright?!”
Penny sniffed the air again, but this time the sound came lower and quieter. It was still unsettling, but cleaner. Her mouth opened, her body tensed, and instead of forcing the noise from her throat, she let out a sharp, animal hiss.
Then she launched herself at him with zombie sound and drooling blood.
“Ahhh!”
Columbus ran.
He shoved the dining chairs into her path, one after the other. Zombie 406 tangled in them, slipped, recovered, and snapped her gaze back to him with hungry focus.
She staggered into the kitchen.
Columbus grabbed the blender and held it over his head.
“Stay back! I don’t wanna hurt you!”
The blender lid fell perfectly.
It hit the floor with a ridiculous little plastic bounce.
Jack stared at it in pure Columbus horror, as if even the blender had betrayed him.
Zombie 406 charged.
Columbus ditched the blender and bolted out of frame.
Christopher kept the camera rolling half a second longer as Penny slammed into the kitchen counter, reached after him, and snarled toward the space where he had disappeared.
Then Christopher called, “Cut!”
The set went quiet.
Phil looked at the monitor.
Emma leaned closer to watch the playback.
Jack came back into the frame, breathing hard but smiling.
Penny stayed in place, hands braced on the counter, waiting for the verdict.
Christopher replayed the moment where Columbus woke up and saw her face. Then the fall. Then the chair gag. Then the blender lid.
A slow smile appeared on his face.
“That’s the one,” he said. “We’ve got the reveal.”
Penny’s whole body loosened at once. “Oh, thank God.”
Jack walked over and held up a hand. Penny slapped it with a relieved laugh.
“I know I already said this before, but you were terrifying. Great job,” he said.
Penny smiled through the zombie makeup. “That is the nicest thing anyone’s said to me while I looked this disgusting.”
Phil checked the shot list and turned toward the crew. “Alright, reset for the chase continuation. Same energy, same pace. And somebody get Penny more water before she turns into an actual zombie.”
Penny took the bottle from the crew member again and raised it slightly.
“Hydrated zombie,” she said.
Jack nodded seriously. “Very professional.”
Christopher pointed toward the monitor. “Let’s keep moving.”
The next scene was prepped quickly.
The slate snapped...
"Action."
...
406 is right behind Columbus when he reaches the bedroom and tries to slam the door shut. She sticks out her foot as if she’s about to slide into third base and tries to stop it.
Jack, as practiced before, moved the door slowly and made it look like the door was hitting her ankle. During the editing, they'll add the effects. The door smashed 406’s ankle, bending her foot sideways with a sickening crack. She falls to the ground, screaming, clutching her now diagonally attached foot.
"Cut!" Christopher announced. Then he made a hand sign. "Hurry up."
Two guys from the effects team rushed in with a fake broken foot and strapped it to Penny's right leg and strapped the upper part of her leg with green cloth.
The shoot resumed again...
Jack and Penny got into the characters again...
...
Columbus yelled, "Shit! Sorry!"
Nice as he may be, Columbus tries to slam the door shut again. 406 lunges and gets her arms and shoulders through.
This time, the door has no chance of closing. The broken ankle has HOBBLED her, but she’s still coming...
Columbus can't retreat anywhere but the closet or the bathroom. He chooses the bathroom, dashing, reaching it.
Unfortunately, he slips on the wet, MOUNTAIN-DEW-COVERED SHIRT from earlier. He crashes to the floor, pulling the shower curtain out of its rings to try to break his fall. There was soft padding around the area to prevent injury.
Now she’s reached his feet, biting, clawing. He kicks frantically and haphazardly, but she's got him by the ankle. He opens the cabinet under the sink for a weapon.
He pulled out tissue, cotton Balls, toilet paper, and he threw them all at the zombie. Columbus rolls his eyes. His arsenal is exclusively soft and fluffy.
406 rises up to jump on Columbus, and he just manages to pull the shower curtain over himself. She lands on top of him, and now they're wrestling, grabbing, punching, with only the curtain in between them.
It was a tough shot, but they managed to get it in a single take.
Columbus falls back to the tile, whaking his head. Now he and the zombie are literally face to face, as if kissing, but with the shower curtain still between them.
406’s bloody features press gruesomely against the plastic. Columbus uses the moment to reach up and wrap the curtain around the back of her head, trying to cut off her air.
...
"Cut!" Christopher announced.
They took a brief break. The struggling scene was really demanding, and Penny needed air after pressing her face on the plastic for so long.
"Wow! Okay," Penny said as she sat down while huffing.
"You alright?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm good," Penny waved her arm.
"We'll take ten minutes break," Christopher announced. Then he walked up to Penny and Jack and asked, "You two aren't hurt, right?"
"Nah, we're good," Jack said with a nod as he stood up from the floor.
"Okay, great. We aren't gonna do a second take for the scene since it was really good. So, take a little breather and good job you two," He praised both of them with a smile.
...
[After the break, the shoot resumed...]
406’s bloody features press gruesomely against the plastic. Columbus uses the moment to reach up and wrap the curtain around the back of her head, trying to cut off her air.
She gasps, wheezes, chokes, and at last starts to go limp. He thought it was about to be over...
...until she chewed through the plastic, which allowed her to take a deep, raspy breath. "Ahhhh!" Her gangrenous tongue protrudes through the hole, almost licking Columbus on the mouth...
Columbus gropes under the sink again, grabs an aerosol can of disinfectant, aims it into her mouth, and fires. It was just a can of water.
406 chokes and rolls off Columbus. He gains his feet, slips back against the toilet, and knocks the fake porcelain lid on the back of the toilet basin askew.
This gives him an idea. He grabs the heavy lid and steps over 406, swatting her hand with it as he runs from the room.
Columbus shuts the bathroom door behind him, and the bedroom door behind him after that.
406 rises to her feet again. She tries to bend her broken foot into place, cracking it from one odd angle to another. No luck, now it’s just as twisted in the other direction.
406 gives up on her foot and opens the bathroom door. Then she limps to the bedroom door and opens it, too.
"Hheeekkkk!" Penny made her zombie sound with claw hands.
Columbus is standing in the living room, chest heaving.
"Please listen to me, 406. Listen. If you're in there. You're just sick. Stop. Don't..."
But 406's expression is one of pure, blinded hate. She throws back her head and howls with rage. The sound is beyond scary, like that of a trapped, infuriated animal. She run-drags herself toward Columbus.
"Forgive me," He said under her breath with a little sad expression.
With all his might, he belts her in the head with the lid. At the exact moment of jarring impact, Christopher 'FREEZE FRAME' on a still shot of Columbus connecting perfectly, violently with 406’s temple.
COLUMBUS (V.O.) in the background.
'You tell yourself over and over, this... this... did not just happen. It did not. It did not. It did not. It couldn't have. It couldn't have.'
"And... Cut!" Christopher announced.
...
The next scene was already at play. Both directors wanted to maintain the energy and mood to keep the scene consistent.
"Alright, Jack. Emotion time, do you need some direction?" Phil asked.
"Nah, I got it," Jack said with a quick nod.
The slate came down...
"Action."
The camera has been moved near the bathroom sink again. It was focused on Jack's face to capture his emotions after the terrifying encounter, and the fact that he killed the only girl he liked, and brushed her hair, and who kissed him on his cheeks after a nice hug. It was painful for him.
Jack showed all those emotions perfectly as usual.
He's washing his hands feverishly in the sink. He's hyperventilating. He's spasming with panting and groans.
He‘s sitting still against his bathroom wall and trembling from shock and fear.
COLUMBUS (V.O.) played in the background.
'But it did. In the face of every sane thing that came before it, and all I'd come to know and expect about the world... it did.'
...
[Next scene] [Living room]
Penny's body has been replaced with a bloody dummy.
Colombus, with a phone to his ear, still hearing the not-in-service tone. He sets down the receiver. In tears, he carries his shower curtain into the living room.
He stands over 406's dead body, chokes back the smell, then starts to wrap her in the shower curtain, duck-taping the edges. As he goes to move her arm, something makes him stop.
COLUMBUS (V.O.) in the background.
'A ‘zombie’ isn't a dead person who's come back to life. It's someone who's been infected with the plague of the 21st century - a raging fever where your brain inflames, leaving you violent, hateful... some insist evil. @Zombieism's carried in bodily fluid.'
Near 406’s wrist is a severe bite mark that bears the unmistakable imprint of human teeth. Columbus examines the bite mark, his mind racing with the implications.
COLUMBUS (V.O.): 'These fluids are highly contagious and fast-acting when they mix with your fluids. So if you're thinking of going tongue-to-tonsil with your suddenly lesscute neighbor...'
A moment of pause.
'...try something more innocent.'
Columbus sadly brushes 406 dummy's hair over her ear, then resumes wrapping her up.
COLUMBUS (V.O.): 'Mom and Dad would have to wait.'
...
"Cut."
...
'How the heck does he show those emotional expressions? Maybe I'll ask him and get some tips. And my part is over. Hope they keep my scene and not cut it at the last moment, saying it didn't make it in the final cut,' Penny thought as she watched from the background. 'Well, atleast I got 15k for the role.'