Two Hundred Miles (Episode 4)

EPISODE 4 —

"TWO HUNDRED MILES"

Josh's screenplay · corrected 2026-09-17

PROJECT LUMEN

Revised screenplay draft - mission logic updated

1

COLD OPEN - UWG RESPONSE OPERATIONS - MORNING

The attack on Harmony is still fresh. The trail left by the seven Aruunai is recoverable, but every

hour matters.

This is not a war mobilization. The U.W.G. needs a team that can move immediately, follow the

trail, determine where the seven came from, and report what lies west.

Thirteen personnel prepare to depart: three available Elite - JONATHAN VAEL, REI MORI and

JALEN TAYLOR and ten trained U.W.G. soldiers.

Three Elite are assumed to be more than enough for a tracking mission. The soldiers provide

security, logistics and field support.

Jonathan reviews the route information. Rei checks sensors and investigative equipment. Jalen

finishes loading his gear.

JALEN

So we're following them.

JONATHAN

We're following the trail.

JALEN

Difference?

JONATHAN

We're not going west to fight a war.

Rei closes a case of equipment.

REI

We find where they came from. We find out whether there are more. Then we come home.

Jonathan looks over the thirteen people assembled.

He has field authority. If the mission changes - if they continue or retreat - the call is his.

JONATHANMove.

The thirteen leave Harmony behind

WEEK ONE - WESTERN ROUTE - DAY

The team follows fragments of the route reconstructed from the seven Aruunai. Development thins

quickly.

Rei crouches over old evidence along the trail. Jalen watches.

JALEN

Seven?

REI

At least.

2

JALEN

"At least" isn't seven.

REI

Correct.

JONATHAN

How old?

REI

Old enough that I'm not giving you a number.

JONATHAN

Good.

JALEN

You two are fun.

They continue west.

CAMP - NIGHT

The soldiers eat, check equipment and talk quietly. This is already becoming routine.

Rei reviews readings alone. Jonathan approaches.JONATHAN

Anything?

REI

No.

JONATHAN

That's good.

REI

Is it?

JONATHAN

Tonight? Yes.

WEEK TWO - RIVER CROSSING - DAY

The expedition crosses difficult water. One soldier loses footing; another catches him. A little

laughter breaks the monotony.

JALEN

They did this starving?

REI

We don't know when they stopped eating.

JALEN

You saw the survivor.

REI

3

I saw them after they reached Harmony.

Jalen looks west. The question hangs there: how did seven exhausted people cross all of this in

the opposite direction?

RIDGELINE - EVENING

A soldier looks back toward the east.

SOLDIER

Can't see it anymore.

SOLDIER 2Harmony?

SOLDIER

Yeah.

There is no skyline. Only distance.

JALEN

Keep walking.

WEEK THREE - TEMPORARY CAMP - MORNING

Rain. Wet equipment. A collapsed shelter. Jalen eats something questionable beneath a tarp.

JALEN

Commander. Breakfast?

JONATHAN

What is that?

JALEN

Breakfast.

JONATHAN

That wasn't my question.

Rei passes.

REI

Don't eat it.

JALEN

See? This is why morale is low.

One of the soldiers laughs. For a moment, they're simply people on a long assignment.

WESTERN TRAIL - DAY

Rei raises a hand. Everyone stops. She finds another remnant of passage.

REI

We're still on them.

JALEN

4

How?JONATHAN

Doesn't matter yet.

JALEN

It matters to me.

JONATHAN

Then stay alive long enough to ask them.

WEEK FIVE - HIGH GROUND - SUNSET

The landscape is beautiful, untamed and unfamiliar. Weeks outside Harmony show on everyone.

SOLDIER

Sir? You think there are more?

JONATHAN

That's why we're here.

SOLDIER

That's not what I asked.

Jonathan gives him a small look.

JONATHAN

No.

SOLDIER

You do that a lot?

JONATHAN

What?

SOLDIER

Answer the question you're supposed to answer.

JONATHAN

Occupational hazard.

CAMP - NIGHT

Rei is awake over data again.

JONATHAN

You're going to sleep.

REIEventually.

JONATHAN

Now.

REI

That's not eventually.

5

Jonathan stares. Rei closes the display.

REI

Fine.

WEEK SEVEN - UNKNOWN WESTERN REGION - MORNING

The team is quieter now. Rei stops over an odd reading.

JALEN

What?

REI

Nothing.

JALEN

That's usually good.

REI

Usually.

JONATHAN

What do you have?

REI

Nothing I can defend yet.

JONATHAN

Then don't defend it yet.

They continue.

UNKNOWN WESTERN REGION - AFTERNOON

Open terrain. Good visibility. Thirteen people moving through a place where an approaching force

should be visible.Two soldiers talk quietly.

CRACK.

One drops instantly.

JONATHAN

DOWN!

JALEN

He's down!

JONATHAN

Direction?

REI

Scanning.

Training takes over. Jalen reaches the fallen soldier. Rei scans. Jonathan searches the horizon.

6

JONATHAN

Direction!

REI

I don't have one.

Jalen checks the body. His expression answers the question.

JONATHAN

Formation.

They reposition. Weapons ready. Eyes everywhere. Nothing.

Thirty seconds.

CRACK.

A second soldier is thrown sideways.

JONATHAN

MOVE!

Rei turns slowly, scanning everything.

REI

JonathanJONATHANI know.

ATTACK ZONE - MOMENTS LATER

The second soldier dies. Jonathan orders a move north. The team shifts.

CRACK. A third person goes down.

JALEN

WHERE?!

REI

I don't know.

That answer frightens Jalen more than anything else.

JONATHAN

Reform!

The remaining soldiers tighten around the three Elite.

SOLDIER

Sir, what are weJONATHAN

Eyes. Out.

Rei studies the first impact, the second, the third, and the expedition's own movement.

ATTACK ZONE - CONTINUOUS

7

cover.

JONATHAN

HOLD!

They hold their fire. The animal disappears.

CRACK. Fourth casualty.

A soldier moves to help.

JONATHAN

NO!

Too late. Another strike.

Fifth.

Minutes stretch. A burst of movement in the distance makes everyone turn. An animal breaksJonathan drags the helper back.

JONATHAN

STAY WITH ME!

Panic begins spreading through the regulars.

JONATHAN

LOOK AT ME!

They do.

JONATHAN

Nobody runs. Nobody chases anything. You move when I move. You stop when I stop.

He looks across them.

JONATHAN

We leave together.

REI'S READ

Rei overlays the sequence: first strike, their response; second strike, reposition; third; fourth; fifth.

REI

Jonathan.

JONATHAN

What?

REI

It's responding.

JONATHAN

What is?

REI

I don't know.

8

JONATHAN

Then what do you mean?

REI

We spread. It changed. We moved north. It changed. We tightened. It changed.JONATHAN

It's tracking the formation.

REI

Maybe.

JALEN

Maybe?

REI

That's all I have.

POSSIBLE ORIGIN

Jonathan's visor flickers. Tiny. Almost nothing. His eyes lock.

JONATHAN

Contact.

JALEN

Where?

Jonathan raises his weapon toward a distant point where nothing is visibly present.

REI

JonathanJONATHAN

I have a possible origin.

REI

Possible?

People are dying. It is the first actionable information he has received.

Jonathan fires one disciplined return shot.

The distant earth erupts.

Everyone watches.

No body. No movement. No hit confirmation. No visible reaction.

JALEN

Anything?

Jonathan scans.

JONATHAN

No.9

CRACK.

Six.

The soldier nearest Rei drops.

JONATHAN

MOVE!

CONTROLLED WITHDRAWAL

They begin pulling away from the immediate position. Jonathan stays exposed longer than

anyone else.

JALEN

JONATHAN!

JONATHAN

GO!

CRACK.

Seventh.

Jalen starts toward the fallen soldier. Jonathan grabs him.

JONATHAN

They're gone.

JALEN

You don't know that!

JONATHAN

They're gone!

Another strike tears into the terrain.

REI

Jonathan. We need to leave.

Six remain: Jonathan, Rei, Jalen and three soldiers.

Jonathan looks west. The answers they came for are somewhere ahead.

JONATHAN

Can you give me a target?REI

No.

JONATHAN

Can you tell me how many?

REI

No.

JONATHAN

Can you tell me where?

10

REI

No.

CRACK.

Eighth.

The third remaining soldier falls.

Five remain.

Jonathan looks at the two surviving soldiers. One shakes. The other bleeds.

This is the decision he was sent to make if the mission changed.

JONATHAN

Mission's over.

JALEN

JonathanJONATHAN

We're withdrawing.

Nobody argues.

JONATHAN

Rei, route. Jalen, take the rear with me.

He turns to the two soldiers.

JONATHAN

Stay between us.

One looks back toward the dead.JONATHAN

We can't take them.

The soldier's face twists.

JONATHAN

I know. Move.

WESTERN TERRAIN - LATER

The five retreat. Rei leads. Jonathan and Jalen guard the rear and flanks.

Eventually Rei raises a hand.

JALEN

What?

REI

I think it stopped.

JONATHAN

Think?

11

REI

That's the best word I have.

JONATHAN

Then we keep moving.

CAMP - NIGHT

No fire. The two soldiers sleep from exhaustion. Jonathan cleans blood from his hands. It isn't his.

JALEN

We should've seen something. Anything.

Jonathan says nothing.

JALEN

Eight people.

Jonathan stops.

JONATHAN

I know.Across camp, Rei reviews the attack again.

JONATHAN

Sleep.

REI

No.

He sits beside her.

JONATHAN

What are you looking for?

REI

A mistake. Ours.

JONATHAN

And?

REI

I've found several.

Jonathan almost smiles.

REI

None explain it.

She cycles through the formation changes, then Jonathan's return fire.

REI

It didn't care.

JONATHAN

You said it was responding.

12

REI

It was.

JONATHAN

Those aren't the same thing.

REI

I know.Jonathan stares into the dark.

JONATHAN

Do you think it wanted us dead?

Rei considers.

REI

I don't know what it wanted.

She looks at him.

REI

That's what bothers me.

RETURN EAST - DAYS LATER

Five figures move east. One soldier limps. Jalen helps when needed. Rei repeatedly checks

behind them.

Jonathan doesn't tell her to stop.

UWG SUPPORT POSITION - DAY

UWG personnel see the five returning and rush forward.

Medical personnel take the two regulars.

The home Elite are not part of this field mission; the news reaches them through the returning

operation.

Jonathan, Rei and Jalen are alive. Eight soldiers are not.

No formal debrief happens here. That belongs later.

HARMONY - NIGHT

Restaurants. Transit. Children. Arguments. Laughter. Tournament advertisements.

Most of Harmony has no idea what happened in the west.

THREE-AND-A-HALF-MINUTE HOUSE TRAINING SEQUENCE

Time has moved while the expedition was away.

AURELIS: Lyrian and Solara are cleaner together. Seraphina presses them. Jace watches.

JACE

Again.

BRANNOCH: Kellan hits the ground hard beside Chalktusk, gets back up and grins.

KELLAN13

Again.

RUUN: Kest and Frostmane correct a failed movement and repeat it cleanly. Iria and Redstep

work nearby. Edrin watches.

VERIDIAN: awareness, information, timing. Cael pauses mid-drill, as if he felt something.

BRANNOCH (cont.): Soraya briefly touches the eye pin. Mica notices. Soraya catches him

looking.

SORAYA

What?

MICA

Nothing.

She knows better. Training resumes.

NAMARIS: order and control. Osei stands at the center with Tavian, Esme and Lucan around him.

INSTRUCTOR

Again.

OSEI

Of course.

His polite smile disappears the instant no one can see his face.

Across all five Houses: repetition, exhaustion, food, sleep, morning, night, morning, night. The

candidates are no longer the fighters introduced at the announcement.

THREE MONTHS UNTIL THE ROUND OF SIXTEEN

THE PRELIMINARY DRAW - TOMORROW

UWG HEADQUARTERS - MORNING

Jonathan stands before the lights of Harmony. Rei approaches carrying the completed field report.

JONATHAN

Finished?

REI

As much as it can be.

JONATHAN

Meaning?REI

I wrote down what I know.

A beat.

REI

It's shorter than what I don't.

Jalen approaches.

JALEN

They're waiting.

Jonathan looks once more toward Harmony.

14

CONFERENCE ROOM

The seven Elite who were not on the field mission are already seated: Darius, Malik, Ariana,

Adrian, Lysandra, Valeria and Saniyah.

Jalen enters. Rei. Jonathan.

At the head of the table is an empty chair.

ARCHIE WILSON enters and sits.

He opens the field report.

Eight names are printed on the first page.

Archie reads them silently.

He closes the report and looks around the room.

ARCHIE

We'll start with the facts.

CUT TO BLACK.

END EPISODE 4 -

"TWO HUNDRED MILES"

NEXT: EPISODE 5 -

"EIGHT NAMES"