The Wastelands

SHELDON WARNER is running for his life. Behind him, are four humans infected with a virus that turns them into cannibals. He barely escapes, and records his thoughts on a GoPro that he keeps with him at all times. After what seems like hours of driving along a parched desert highway, he runs out of gas not far from a small deserted motel just off of the exit. There she meets FAITH, a young woman who first saves his skin, then sticks a rifle in his face. When things calm, She informs him that she is making her way across the desert to her home, where she prays that her husband is still alive. After narrowly escaping a group of infects, they decide that it is best to stick together, and so begins their hellish trip across the wastelands. Their first stop is at an old gas station where they try to refuel and are stuck up by JACOB, a drifter who tries to take their car. The tense standoff ends with Faith nearly blowing the gas station and them to pieces. When things calm, Faith decides not to leave Jacob to a horrible fate in the desert, despite Sheldon’s warranted mistrust. Jacob, grateful that he was not left behind, aids them in their quest to get to Faith’s home. While they are salvaging what they can from a van left in the road. They hear the roar of jet engines from above. Soon after there is a blinding flash of light and a violent blast of wind that flips their car and knocks everyone unconscious. They wake to see a monstrous mushroom cloud in the distance, where Los Angeles used to be. Having no choice but to push on, they travel into the night , but are attacked by a mutated form of the infected, widely known as “Raiders”, who attempt to destroy their car, leaving them with no way to escape. They are saved by a burly mountain-man named REINER, who gives them provisions and dress their wounds. He warns them not to go into the valley, as there is a legion of infected lying in wait. He also tells them that the dead are forming an army and that they operate as hive minds, controlled by mutant infects with melded brains he calls “Warmongers”. Against Reiner’s warning, Faith, Sheldon and Jacob go into the valley, which is barren. They get Faith home, where she locates her husband, KYLE who is still alive and well. The joyous moment is short-lived, as the legion appears from over the hill and is making a beeline toward the house. Rather than run, they decide to make a stand. And during the final, bloody fight, Kyle and Jacob are killed, but not before Jacob tosses a pipe bomb into the mass, clearing a path for Faith and Sheldon to escape. Faith and Sheldon make it to the car, but they are overwhelmed by the infected. Jacob returns as an infect, but with the little humanity he has left, he uses a second pipe bomb to blow himself and one of the warmongers to pieces. Faith and Sheldon survive the ordeal and see Reiner waiting for them atop his trailer. They step on the gas and make their way to him. In their back seat, a slobbering, pus-covered raider rears it’s head… The Wastelands is a simple tale of survival in a world where the last facets of humanity struggle to exist against an undead but evolving enemy. Wrote the script with a low budget in mind. There are 5 main characters, and some extras, gore effects and some special effects would be needed. There are 4 locations: a gas station, a motel, a trailer and a house.