Stay Woke
Chapter 1
(second draft)

Written by "Randall" (killeverythingcomic.tumblr.com)



==
PAGE 1

Panel 1.  Marvin and Shawna, black American teenagers, both 16 years old.  Marvin is holding a plastic shopping bag in one hand full of snacks and other food they just stole from an all-night convenience store.  They’re running around the side of a Chinese restaurant, going towards the back.  Marvin is leading, Shawna behind him.  In the distance, across the storefronts, are red and blue police lights, from the pursuing cop cars.  It’s night.  Marvin is dressed in a dark gray hoodie and jeans, his hair shaved down short but not to the skin.  Shawna is wearing a tight t-shirt and tight short shorts of some kind (boy shorts, biker shorts?), her hair is tied back tight into a frizzy blown out pony tail.


Panel 2.  Marvin is perched on top of the edge of a concrete-brick enclosure that houses the restaurant’s dumpsters.  Marvin is reaching down to help Shawna up, as he quietly calls for her, his other hand holding onto the inside edge of the concrete wall, with the shopping bag sitting along the wall behind him.  The enclosure’s gate is closed for the night.

MARVIN:
Shawna, up here.


Panel 3.  Inside the concrete enclosure, behind the dumpster properly, Shawna crouches as she pulls a large cup of single-serving cereal out of the plastic shopping bag.  Over her, Marvin is dropping down from the wall.



==
PAGE 2

Panel 1.  Shawna has the foil lid of the cereal cup peeled open, as she stuffs the dry cereal into her mouth.  Marvin is cracking open a tall can of energy drink with one hand, as he pulls out a beef jerky stick.


Panel 2.  The garbage of the expended food containers sticks out of the top of the now empty plastic shopping bag, as Marvin and Shawna lay against the corner of the enclosure, Shawna somewhat laying over Marvin’s shoulder and chest, Marvin’s arm over her, protectively, though almost more like a big brother than boyfriend and girlfriend.

SHAWNA:
I wish we didn’t have to steal to eat.

MARVIN:
We can’t just starve, though.


Panel 2.  Shawna sitting up, to talk to Marvin, but he doesn’t look pleased, as he sits up as well.

SHAWNA:
It’s not that…

SHAWNA:  [CONTINUED]
If we could do something real.  Not have to steal for food.

MARVIN:
There is no real for us anymore.  The cops are on our ass right now.  I told you what they did to Kev, and he was trying to protect me, cuz of what I am…

MARVIN:  [CONTINUED]
What me and you are, our powers.

MARVIN:  [CONTINUED]
We’ll be lucky if they only throw us in jail.  They’d probably just shoot us.


Panel 3.  Marvin sits back against the wall corner.

MARVIN:
And there’s already enough of us in jail or in the ground.  They make business out of getting rid of us.


Panel 4.  Shawna looks disappointed, her eyes glancing downwards, to the ground.

SHAWNA:
Can’t believe they shot Kevin just cuz we have powers.  I knew him since… since you were a baby.


Panel 5.  Shawna leans back against Marvin’s chest, for both of them to rest, trying to be relaxed.

MARVIN:
Hey, I knew you since you were a baby too.

MARVIN:
But, yeah, Kev… they wanted to use him to catch us.  That’s what happens when one of us tries to tell ‘em no.  They just shoot us.  They don’t care.  They just think we’re, like, a buncha animals.

MARVIN:  [CONTINUED]
Now Kev’s gone… I ain’t letting them do that to us.  Sleep for a bit, and then we’re gonna go back to runnin’.



==
PAGE 3


Panel 1.  Police cars cruise down streets, blasting alleyways with door-mounted spotlights.


Panel 2.  From inside the enclosure, they can see the back corners of the upper level of the restaurant (rising high enough in the air, a second story or a very high ceiling perhaps, so that it can be seen from inside the enclosure), the red and blue flashing lights across it.


Panel 3.  Shawna still laying on Marvin’s chest, but she looks at her hands, holding them up slightly.

SHAWNA:
Marvin, what if I…

MARVIN:
Prolly shouldn’t.  If we start throwin’ them what we really got, we’ll probably have the army on us.


Panel 4.  They rest together by the dumpster, closing their eyes, Marvin holding her in his arms.


Panel 5.  The police cars seen distant in the roads as they drive on.



==
PAGE 4

Panel 1.  Shawna gently climbing down the side of the dumpster enclosure, with Marvin simply jumping down.

SHAWNA:
You think… the guy at the store is okay?

MARVIN:
I just made his head ring, he’ll get over it.


Panel 2.  The two of them walking across the front lawns of homes down a street.  Marvin looks a little pleased with himself.

SHAWNA:
You didn’t want me to use my powers, but you used yours on him.

MARVIN:
He didn’t get to see what I really got.  He’s lucky I didn’t use everything on him.  I could’a sent him through the wall instead of just into it.

MARVIN:  [CONTINUED]
‘Sides, it kept him away from the alarm long enough.  Helped me get the register open too.


Panel 3.  They’re alongside a major avenue now, nine lanes.  The two of them continue walking just off the sidewalks, away from the road, in case they need to run or take cover.  Abandoned old stores, boarded up fast food restaurants, along the edge of town.  Neon signs and street lights.

SHAWNA:
When should I try to use my powers?  What if they’re about to catch us?

MARVIN:
Only if they really got us cornered.  If we got no other choice, then go ahead, zap away or whatever.

SHAWNA:
Well… it’s supposed to be, um… tele… kinetic.

MARVIN:
Yeah, well whatever it is, don’t blow it all if we’re in a little trouble, but if they really got us, you telekinetic them.

MARVIN:  [CONTINUED]
I think that’s a motel ahead.



==
PAGE 5

Panel 1.  The motel front, a cheap dingy light-up sign, lit with faded blues and pinks, bubbly letters that say “SOFT REST MOTOR LODGE,” the sign looks like it’s from the early ‘60s.  The motel is two stories, parking out front, stairs along the sides of each small building, maybe 20 rooms total.  The “front desk” is a small room, lit up, where we can see a few people inside, including Marvin and Shawna, and the lady behind the desk, an older woman, though at this distance it’s probably not too evident yet.


Panel 2.  Inside the front desk room.  The old lady behind the desk is visible, her silver hair in broad curls, as if she wears curlers when not working.  She looks accommodating and pleasant, as she writes into the guest book.  Shawna is trying to look nice and pleasant herself, but Marvin is placid, a bit serious.  Marvin is just busy handing over the cash.

NICE OLD LADY:
And what names wouldja like me to put down on your room?

MARVIN:
Uh… Mr. Smith.  Will Smith.  And she’s Jada Smith.  She’s my sister.

NICE OLD LADY:
Aw, family vacation?  Sounds like fun.


Panel 3.  The nice old lady gives a pleasant as she hands Marvin the keys.

NICE OLD LADY:
Room 11.  It’s on the second floor of the first building.

MARVIN:
Awright.


Panel 4.  Marvin walks out, but Shawna stays for a second to smile back to the nice old lady.  The nice old lady smiles back pleasantly.

SHAWNA:
Thank you.



==
PAGE 6

Panel 1.  Marvin and Shawna entering their motel room.  It’s clean, but aside from a bed, one end table, and an 18 inch digital TV set from the 1990s, the room has no extra space than one small bathroom.

SHAWNA:
She seemed nice.

MARVIN:
That’s just how they act to our faces.  Don’t believe that shit.  When you turn your back, that’s when they turn on ya.

MARVIN:  [CONTINUED]
We gotta leave before check out in the morning, she’ll probably try to have cops waiting for us.


Panel 2.  Shawna sitting on the bed, Marvin laying back on the bed as well.  Again, they seem more like siblings than lovers here.

SHAWNA:
Would she really?

MARVIN:
Happens all the time, to any black people.  They don’t want us in their world.  Not blacks, and especially not blacks like us, with these powers.  If they caught us, they’d cut us open just to see how we work.  Been doing it to us for a thousand years.


Panel 3.  Marvin turns his head to look at Shawna.

MARVIN:
You know, we used to have our own kingdoms.  Our people were making the whole world.  White people didn’t want us to do that.


Panel 4.  Shawna looks a little puzzled, lost in thought.


Panel 5.  Shawna speaks up, or tries to.

SHAWNA:
Then why…



==
PAGE 7

Panel 1.  Shawna goes quiet again.


Panel 2.  Marvin asks.

MARVIN:
What?


Panel 3.  Shawna is too shy, her thoughts not collected enough.  She sulks a bit, in defeat.

SHAWNA:
I dunno.  It just seems… too weird… for the world to be like this.  Never mind.


Panel 4.  Marvin looks at her for a moment.


Panel 5.  Marvin just looks back to the ceiling again.

MARVIN:
Like being born in prison.

MARVIN:  [CONTINUED]
It’s time we busted out.



==
PAGE 8

Panel 1.  The front desk room again, the nice old lady watching door 11 through her window.  The light in their window is on.


Panel 2.  The light in the window turns off.


Panel 3.  We see the nice old lady’s face, this time she looks a little more sinister, she’s up to something.


Panel 4.  She sits at her desk, fingers together like Gendo Ikari, planning something.


Panel 5.  She has a sinister smirk on her face as she picks up the phone and begins dialing.



==
PAGE 9

Panel 1.  A close up of her mouth speaking into the receiver of her phone.

PHONE:
Cherry Hill Police Department.

NICE OLD LADY:
Yes, this is Margaret Shandie at the Soft Rest Motor Lodge, and a couple’a spades checked in a few minutes ago.  I think your department should help clean up our town, don’t you?


Panel 2.  Close up still, she grins even more evilly.

PHONE:
We certainly do.  We’ll send a couple cars right away.  Don’t worry, we know the routine.  We’ll keep things quiet, until we get your dark little intruders far enough away, then we can get nice and loud with them.

NICE OLD LADY:
Good, good.  If only I wasn’t on the clock, I’d like to watch you take care of these little—


Panel 3.  The nice old lady is shocked, as she hears Marvin’s voice, as he stands behind her in the shadow, his hoodie up, though the reader should still be able to clearly tell that it’s him.

MARVIN:
I knew it.


Panel 4.  Marvin shoves her out of her chair to the floor, his left hand making contact with her face, with his other arm pushing the phone away, so the phone flies off the desk and towards the ground.


Panel 5.  The old woman on the floor, looking scuffed, she scowls at him, her mouth and nose bloodied a bit, as Marvin stands over her, getting ready to leave.

MARVIN:
I knew you were just like all the others, acting nice until we’re not around.  Don’t bother calling the cops, they won’t find us.



==
PAGE 10

Panel 1.  Marvin enters their motel room again, flicking the light on, which wakes Shawna with a jolt.

MARVIN:
We gotta go.

SHAWNA:
What happened?  They found us?


Panel 2.  Marvin gives her a stern angry look, though misdirected anger, not exactly meant for Shawna.

MARVIN:
Exactly what I said was gonna happen, that old bitch was ratting us out.  Cops on the way.  C’mon, let’s get out.  We’ll find some place to sleep.


Panel 3.  A close up from Shawna’s point of view, a small spatter of blood on the left shoulder of Marvin’s hoodie.


Panel 4.  Poor Shawna looking shocked as the violence of the situation is dawning on her.



==
PAGE 11

Panel 1.  On the streets again.  Shawna is using her powers mildly to hold open a sheet of plywood over a window of a boarded up fast food restaurant, as Marvin squeezes his way through.  She holds her hands towards the plywood, and some sort of energy wavers around the edge that’s pulling away.


Panel 2.  Marvin peeking out through a tiny gap in the closed.  Shawna explains for a moment.

SHAWNA:
Hold on.  I wanna try something.  Just wait for me inside.


Panel 3.  Shawna stands on a square of spare discarded plywood in the parking lot next to the boarded up place.  She holds her hands out, trying to focus, while staring down.


Panel 4.  The plywood begins floating.  Shawna looks a little pleased and nervous, excited.


Panel 5.  Shawna concentrating hard, her face a bit sweaty, her brow furrowed, as she uses the platform to lift herself up along the side of the small building towards the roof.



==
PAGE 12

Panel 1.  Shawna throws her arms over the edge of the roof.


Panel 2.  The plywood she was standing on suddenly falling.


Panel 3.  The plywood lands against some overgrown grass.

SFX:  [THE PLYWOOD LANDING ON THE GRASS]
fluff


Panel 4.  Shawna looking a little desperate as her feet scrabble against the edge of the wall, she is having a bit of trouble pulling herself up to the roof.  One her feet up high.


Panel 5.  She finally pulls herself up higher, one foot over the top of the roof.



==
PAGE 13

Panel 1.  A hatch in the roof with a padlock over it, Shawna kneeling beside it, holding her hand out towards it, focusing.


Panel 2.  The padlock rattles.


Panel 3.  Shawna clenching her teeth, her eyes closed, as she holds her hand out, her fingers outstretched desperately.


Panel 4.  The metal loop top of the padlock cracks right off, the metal breaking.


Panel 5.  Shawna holding onto the edge of the hatch, her feet on a small ladder consisting of metal rungs along the wall leading down from the hatch.  She looks a little pleased.  Marvin, however, sitting in the empty interior, is not pleased.

MARVIN:
You gotta be careful.  What if someone saw you up there?



==
PAGE 14

Panel 1.  Shawna’s pride in herself is gone as she looks nervous again.

SHAWNA:
Oh, um… well, I didn’t see anyone looking.  I just wanted to try my powers.  I still don’t know how to use them.


Panel 2.  Shawna looks a bit happy.

SHAWNA:
I was able to float myself up to the roof just by standing on some of that wood out there!


Panel 3.  Marvin looks a little concerned, certainly not happy.


Panel 4.  Shawna looking worried again.

SHAWNA:
I… I can’t practice anywhere else, ‘cuz when we’re separated, I can’t get my powers to work.

SHAWNA:
I’m sorry.


Panel 5.  Marvin trying to ease her mind.

MARVIN:
S’alright.  C’mover here, gotta get some sleep.


Panel 6.  A small thin panel along the bottom of Shawna resting in Marvin’s arms again.



==
PAGE 15

Panel 1.  It’s morning, and the cops are discovering the body of the “nice old lady” at the front desk of the motel.  We don’t see her corpse exactly, but blood splattered onto the desk, some of the wall, and pooled on the floor where she’s dead.


Panel 2.  One police officer, and one medical examiner (a coroner basically) standing there, and behind them is a thin bald white man in a sharp black suit with a red tie.  Another crime scene investigator taking a photograph of the floor.

CRIME SCENE PHOTOGRAPHER:
Looks like the animal that did this left a paw print.  I can just about make out the brand of the shoe in blood right here.

MEDICAL EXAMINER:
Liver temp puts her TOD about 4:00 a.m., closer to 4:30.  Cause of death:  cerebral hemorrhage.  Looks like he grabbed her head with one hand and just squeezed until she bled into her brain.  Then a few unnecessary punches to her face for good measure.  Looks rage-motivated.


Panel 3.  The thin bald white man behind them speaks up, holding his identification, a wallet with a credential form under a plastic window.  He’s stereotypically creepy and suspicious, thin and gaunt and pale.  He’s James Dewitt, as he says here.

DEWITT:
I’d say that would take some suprahuman ability.

DEWITT:
Special Investigator Dewitt, with the Ultramundane Research Agency.  And this looks like this is under our jurisdiction now.


Panel 4.  The police officer talks with Dewitt.

POLICE OFFICER:
Oh, uh… well…

POLICE OFFICER:  [CONTINUED]
If it helps catch whoever did this.

DEWITT:
Don’t worry.  We have vast resources.

DEWITT:  [CONTINUED]
And hunting down people like this is exactly what our agency was made for.  We can still use your cooperation, to help cover more ground.



==
PAGE 16

Panel 1.  Marvin and Shawna inside the abandoned fast food joint, bright sunlight coming through the windows, lighting up dust motes.  The two of them yawn and stretch.

DEWITT:  [NARRATION]
We’re looking for two perpetrators, Marvin Lake and Shawna Lotter, both age 16.  They’re not good at covering their tracks, so they’ve left an easy trail to follow.


Panel 2.  Marvin and Shawna climbing out of the ceiling hatch to the roof, where we get a look of the small town around them, railroad tracks and grassy clearings in the background, with some occasional streets.

DEWITT:  [NARRATION]
The trick is getting ahead of where they’ll go next.


Panel 3.  The two of them looking out over the small town, the occasional tree alongside the roads, lots of houses and buildings stretching out before them.



==
PAGE 17

Panel 1.  Dewitt talking to the police officer again.

POLICE OFFICER:
Do we consider them armed and dangerous?  Shoot-on-sight?

DEWITT:
No.


Panel 2.  A somewhat sinister close up on Dewitt.

DEWITT:
I need them both alive.


Panel 3.  Police cars driving out as they mobilize for the manhunt.


Panel 4.  Other “men in black” with Dewitt’s agency talking into small mics in their jacket cuffs, like the Secret Service.



==
PAGE 18

Panel 1.  Marvin and Shawna outside a cheap liquor store, he puts his hoodie up.

MARVIN:
Okay, I’ll handle the guy at the counter.  What I want you to do is see if you can use that power ya got to pull something to eat off the shelves and throw it in some bags for us to run out with.

SHAWNA:
I… I don’t know if I can…


Panel 2.  Marvin tries to talk her into it, to give her some sense of determination.

MARVIN:
I know you can do this.  You’ve been practicing with other stuff.  It’s time for you to go all out.  Let’s see what you can do.


Panel 3.  The guy behind the counter is a 50 year old white guy, a bit grizzled.  The counter is blocked with a wall of plexiglass, entered through a door to the side.  There’s a small revolving door in the plexiglass for liquor and money to be exchanged through.


Panel 4.  Shawna tries to politely smile and wave to the man, but Marvin smashes through the door, caving it in, as he charges behind the counter quickly, unleashing some of his powers.

SHAWNA:
Hi—


Panel 5.  Marvin wraps his arms around the older man, restraining him, as he pulls him away, towards the counter door and out into the store.

MARVIN:
There’s bags back there, get ‘em quick and fill ‘em!

SHAWNA:
Uhhhh… right, okay!



==
PAGE 19

Panel 1.  Instead of going back there physically, Shawna just tries to pull the plastic bags off the rack with her telekinesis.  She holds her hands out towards the counter, still on the front side of the plexiglass.


Panel 2.  Plastic bags rip off the rack, as well as a few liquor bottles behind the counter being thrown off the shelf.  The plastic bags are surrounded by waves of some sort of colorful blue green energy, as should be anything else that Shawna is telekinetically manipulating.


Panel 3.  About ten plastic bags whip through the open doorway, where Marvin is now holding the old store clerk to the floor with his buffed out arms.  The bags hover near the shelves of snacks and chip bags.


Panel 4.  A close up on some snacks.  Especially a bag of “Cheese Rinds,” like cheesy pork rinds, and then “Blue Chips,” which are some sort of snack chip that’s blue.  They don’t look very good, pretty generic and cheap.


Panel 5.  Shawna looks worried, panicked, indecisive.



==
PAGE 20

Panel 1.  Marvin holding the clerk down.

MARVIN:
C’mon, what are ya waiting for!?


Panel 2.  Shawna notes some bags of “Corny Ranch,” basically Doritos.


Panel 3.  The Corny Ranch bags fly off the shelf, and moosh against the top edge of the plastic bags, but not going in just yet, the bags not being fully opened.

MARVIN:
Something to drink too!


Panel 4.  Sports drinks bust open a glass-front fridge door with enough force that the fridge itself tips forward, a bunch of the other drinks falling out onto the floor.  A few of the drinks manage to at least fly towards the bags that Shawna is telekinetically holding up.

MARVIN:
Go out the back!  I’ll handle this guy!


Panel 5.  Shawna holding several heavy full bags of snacks and drinks, as she telekinetically slams through the rear door of the store.



==
PAGE 21

Panel 1.  Shawna nervously steps away from the rear door towards the streets, looking back to see if Marvin is coming.


Panel 2.  Marvin runs out, joining her.

MARVIN:
Right, let’s go.

SHAWNA:
Is he gonna be okay?

MARVIN:
Don’t worry about him, just run.



==
PAGE 22

Panel 1.  A home for sale, with a driveway going to a small one-car garage in the back.  The focus here should be on the garage.

SHAWNA:  [OFF PANEL, FROM GARAGE]
You didn’t hurt him too bad, did you?


Panel 2.  Inside the garage, it’s empty and dark, cobwebs in the corners, the two of them sitting on the plain concrete floor.  They have some food out, a sports drink open for each of them, a couple open bags.  They entered through a walk-in side door, instead of the main garage door.  We can see the side door’s lock has been busted in, the knob fallen off and somewhat disassembled on the floor inside.  Perhaps a shaft of light poking in through the hole where the doorknob was?

MARVIN:
Nah, he should be alright.  The most I do is knock ‘em around a bit, to convince them not to follow us.

SHAWNA:
The cops can still track us from what we’re doin’, though.


Panel 3.  Marvin, with a handful of chips in one hand, and the other hand holding up some kind of Gatorade knockoff.

MARVIN:
I took another hundred bucks, back there.  With the food we have, we can keep going for another few days.  We get out of the state where they won’t be looking for us, and try to get a plane ticket to another country.  Maybe Africa.


Panel 4.  Shawna wants to say something, but she doesn’t want to be confrontational.

SHAWNA:
Africa’s not a…


Panel 5.  Marvin, with a mouthful of chips, looking a bit innocent.  Shawna gives up on continuing.

MARVIN:
What?

SHAWNA:
Nothing.  We can try it.  I’ll be with you.


Panel 6.  He closes in on her to try to comfort her, putting an arm over her shoulder.

MARVIN:
Hey, c’mere.  They can’t split us up.  You stick with me, and we’ll both be stronger.



==
PAGE 23

Panel 1.  Outside the liquor store, an ambulance carries the clerk out on a stretcher.  The clerk has an oxygen mask over his face and is strapped into the stretcher, unconscious, possibly in a coma.  Dewitt and the same medical examiner from earlier are outside.

MEDICAL EXAMINER:
The same type of injuries, but to a lesser degree.  I’m not sure if the intent was to kill him or just knock him out.  He’s out cold alright.  They just drilled a burr hole in his head to drain the bleeding.  No clue when he’ll be conscious again.

DEWITT:
Thanks for the report.  Security cameras confirmed Marvin and Shawna, working together on this one.


Panel 2.  Dewitt looking stern and serious, as he pulls out his smart phone to make a call.

DEWITT:
It’s time to escalate.



==
PAGE 24

Panel 1.  NOTE:  This page can be dropped entirely for a webcomic format, this page would be more suited for a separate-issue format.  A preview of the next issue.  Perhaps a splash page of multiple blended panels, so in this case, panel 1 is the first visual on display.  Marvin and Shawna are cornered by cop cars out in front of a house, perhaps a different house or perhaps the same one.

NARRATION:  [CAPTION]
How far can they get when the nation is after them?


Panel 2.  Shawna looking like she’s going to go super saiyan or something, as she’s gathering all of her tekekinetic strength, her fingers outstretched, magic power waves flowing everywhere.  Next to her is Marvin, fully hulked out and revealing his full strength as well.


Panel 3.  Helicopters filling the sky and spotlights shining down.

NARRATION:  [CAPTION]
Even with their powers, they can only run for so long.


END OF CHAPTER 1