approaches.
JOHN
Seriously. It’s been eight weeks since the last one. You’ve gotta have, like, eight or nine letters for me in there, right?
Noodles digs into the mailbag... and pulls out a SINGLE LETTER.
JOHN
Is this the only one? This can’t be the only one.
But Noodles looks away. It is. He hands it over to John.
It’s a familiar sight. It’s got Savannah’s handwriting on it. It’s in her normal clean, white envelope.
But it brings John no comfort. Instead, this lone letter scares him to death.
148 EXT. HILL -- LATER
John sits, far enough away from the others to have privacy.
Carefully, he opens the envelope. Unfolds both sheets of paper inside. This one begins as they always do. Dear John...
He takes a deep breath. And then he reads the rest.
ON JOHN’S HANDS -- as they start to shake.
ON JOHN’S FACE -- as every muscle tenses.
ON JOHN’S EYES -- as he does not cry.
ON JOHN -- sitting perfectly still on this crate, reading and rereading this letter, all alone on the horizon.
149 INT. BASE CAMP -- CAPTAIN STONE’S TENT
John ransacks Stone’s desk until he finds the satellite phone. He takes it, starts pacing the room like an animal in a cage, going over in his mind what he’s going to say.
Then he begins to dial. He knows all the numbers by heart, and there are a lot. But he stops before he hits the last one.
His finger hovers over the button... and he just can’t bring himself to push it. No matter how hard he tries.
So instead, he kicks a trash can across the room.
150 INT. BARRACKS -- MAIN ROOM
John barrels in, a man on a mission. Noodles nods hello as he walks by their poker game, but John’s too focused to notice.
He pours all the stuff from his footlocker onto the ground.
151 EXT. BARRACKS -- DAY
John takes all 112 of Savannah’s letters and dumps them out loose on the ground. What had been a carefully organized chronological stack is now just a messy pile.
John pulls out the flint and magnesium block from his pocket and starts to shave the magnesium off over the letters.
NOODLES
Need a lighter?
Noodles has appeared behind him, but John just shakes his head, focused only on the flint now. A spark catches the magnesium and the letters ignite. John watches the fire spread.
NOODLES
You wanna talk about it?
John looks away. Knows he’s being completely transparent right now, and hates himself for it.
JOHN
Not much to talk about. She found somebody else. Somebody who’s there, and not here.
NOODLES
You know who it is?
JOHN
She didn’t say. But I have a pretty good idea.
The anger flashes in John’s eyes again.
NOODLES
Don’t worry, man, you’ll get her back. As soon as you go home, she’ll come running -- you know it’s true.
John stares into the fire, wearily shakes his head.
JOHN
No. It’s not.
Noodles...
Noodles. They’re already engaged. Okay?
NOODLES
Trust me, man, this is what--
I know what I’m talking ab--
That stops him cold. He pauses, unsure what to say.
NOODLES
I...Jesus. I’m sorry, John.
John doesn’t respond. Instead, he takes out Savannah’s breakup letter and drops it onto the flame, watches it turn into ashes along with the 112 letters that preceded it.
152 EXT. CITY STREET (NEAR CEMENT PLANT) -- THE NEXT DAY
A mini-convoy navigates through the streets. The team is split into two, and John’s in the front humvee. Rooster is in the middle of a rant, but John tunes him out from his bubble, focused only on the road ahead of him.
ROOSTER
All I’m sayin is, they recruit us, train us for five years, tell us we’re their goddamned best and brightest, and then a war breaks out and they send us to the backass end of the frickin country. Now what sense does that make?
BERRY
Look around you, man. It aint like we’re patrolling the Kansas State Fair, you know.
Indeed, up the road is a deserted cement plant, and a fire smolders nearby. It’s not
JOHN
Seriously. It’s been eight weeks since the last one. You’ve gotta have, like, eight or nine letters for me in there, right?
Noodles digs into the mailbag... and pulls out a SINGLE LETTER.
JOHN
Is this the only one? This can’t be the only one.
But Noodles looks away. It is. He hands it over to John.
It’s a familiar sight. It’s got Savannah’s handwriting on it. It’s in her normal clean, white envelope.
But it brings John no comfort. Instead, this lone letter scares him to death.
148 EXT. HILL -- LATER
John sits, far enough away from the others to have privacy.
Carefully, he opens the envelope. Unfolds both sheets of paper inside. This one begins as they always do. Dear John...
He takes a deep breath. And then he reads the rest.
ON JOHN’S HANDS -- as they start to shake.
ON JOHN’S FACE -- as every muscle tenses.
ON JOHN’S EYES -- as he does not cry.
ON JOHN -- sitting perfectly still on this crate, reading and rereading this letter, all alone on the horizon.
149 INT. BASE CAMP -- CAPTAIN STONE’S TENT
John ransacks Stone’s desk until he finds the satellite phone. He takes it, starts pacing the room like an animal in a cage, going over in his mind what he’s going to say.
Then he begins to dial. He knows all the numbers by heart, and there are a lot. But he stops before he hits the last one.
His finger hovers over the button... and he just can’t bring himself to push it. No matter how hard he tries.
So instead, he kicks a trash can across the room.
150 INT. BARRACKS -- MAIN ROOM
John barrels in, a man on a mission. Noodles nods hello as he walks by their poker game, but John’s too focused to notice.
He pours all the stuff from his footlocker onto the ground.
151 EXT. BARRACKS -- DAY
John takes all 112 of Savannah’s letters and dumps them out loose on the ground. What had been a carefully organized chronological stack is now just a messy pile.
John pulls out the flint and magnesium block from his pocket and starts to shave the magnesium off over the letters.
NOODLES
Need a lighter?
Noodles has appeared behind him, but John just shakes his head, focused only on the flint now. A spark catches the magnesium and the letters ignite. John watches the fire spread.
NOODLES
You wanna talk about it?
John looks away. Knows he’s being completely transparent right now, and hates himself for it.
JOHN
Not much to talk about. She found somebody else. Somebody who’s there, and not here.
NOODLES
You know who it is?
JOHN
She didn’t say. But I have a pretty good idea.
The anger flashes in John’s eyes again.
NOODLES
Don’t worry, man, you’ll get her back. As soon as you go home, she’ll come running -- you know it’s true.
John stares into the fire, wearily shakes his head.
JOHN
No. It’s not.
Noodles...
Noodles. They’re already engaged. Okay?
NOODLES
Trust me, man, this is what--
I know what I’m talking ab--
That stops him cold. He pauses, unsure what to say.
NOODLES
I...Jesus. I’m sorry, John.
John doesn’t respond. Instead, he takes out Savannah’s breakup letter and drops it onto the flame, watches it turn into ashes along with the 112 letters that preceded it.
152 EXT. CITY STREET (NEAR CEMENT PLANT) -- THE NEXT DAY
A mini-convoy navigates through the streets. The team is split into two, and John’s in the front humvee. Rooster is in the middle of a rant, but John tunes him out from his bubble, focused only on the road ahead of him.
ROOSTER
All I’m sayin is, they recruit us, train us for five years, tell us we’re their goddamned best and brightest, and then a war breaks out and they send us to the backass end of the frickin country. Now what sense does that make?
BERRY
Look around you, man. It aint like we’re patrolling the Kansas State Fair, you know.
Indeed, up the road is a deserted cement plant, and a fire smolders nearby. It’s not
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