Unwell Season 4/Episode 6- The Nerve

by Bilal Dardai

Extra Credit assignments

Exploring/Digging

You shouldn't have touched me

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We'll be going on our regularly scheduled mid-season break after this episode- with Unwell S4/ep7 landing on July 6, 2022. Don't worry though- we'll have interstitial episodes coming out on our usual release schedule!

Content Advisories for this episode can be found here.

Support Unwell and HartLife NFP on Patreon at www.patreon.com/hartlifenfp

This episode features: Joshua K. Harris as Rudy, Michael Turrentine as Wes, Pat King as Chester, Tara Schile as Sophia.

Written by Bilal Dardai, sound design by Alexander Danner, directed by Jeffrey Nils Gardner, theme music composed by Stephen Poon, recording engineer Mel Ruder, associate producer Ani Enghdahl, Theme performed by Stephen Poon, Lauren Kelly, Gunnar Jebsen, Travis Elfers, Mel Ruder, and Betsey Palmer, Unwell lead sound designer Eli Hamada McIlveen, Executive Producers Eleanor Hyde and Jeffrey Nils Gardner, by HartLife NFP.

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WATER DRIPPING IN THE DRAINAGE

PIPES INTO A SMALL, BUT STEADY

STREAM OF WATER. FOR A MOMENT, THE

DISTANT SOUND OF THE BOTTLING

WORKS. THE SOUND TRAVELS DOWN THE

PIPE, SPLASHING AGAINST THE SIDES,

MAKING A TURN OR TWO. THERE IS A

BRIEF BEAT OF SILENCE AS THE

WATER SEEMS TO LEAP A GAP IN THE

PIPE BEFORE CONTINUING ON. THE

WATER CONTINUES TO FLOW AS THE

SOUND EMERGES FROM A DRAIN UPON

THE SURFACE STREET NEAR TOWN HALL.

RUDY CAN BE HEARD QUIETLY TALKING

TO HIMSELF. LATE EVENING IN MT.

ABSALOM, RELATIVELY WARM FOR

WINTER.

RUDY: ...but the truth is that we don’t know when

a white dwarf disappears. If it disappears.

It still hasn’t happened yet that we can

observe. Maybe it won’t burn out until the

rest of the universe does. Can you imagine

that? Something so alive that it might never

finish dying. (BEAT) Thanks for agreeing to

accompany me tonight, Spencer. I know that

sitting with me outside town hall isn’t what

you’d call a typical extra-credit

assignment. I would have accepted an essay.

(BEAT) There’s something I want you to

remember. About astronomy. Spencer, there’s

a lot about astronomy that’s bullshit. I’m

not talking about the science. Well, sure,

some of it, but eventually the bullshit

parts of the science get corrected when we

learn more. I’m talking about the bullshit

of being an astronomer. All the paperwork,

the grant proposals and the

publish-or-perish. The politics, the, some

moldy piece of bread in a polyester suit

taking his five minutes on C-SPAN to rant

about why NASA should get its budget cut in

half next year. That bullshit is what I

mean. What I’m trying to tell you, Spencer,

is: Don’t get discouraged by that. Because

the sky is still the sky, and you can always

look at it from anywhere on the surface of

the Earth. It doesn’t care who watches it,

or how they watch it, or how much funding

they have, or what they interpret about what

they see. That’s what you hold onto when the

bullshit feels like it’s too much. Nobody

can stop you from looking up. (BEAT) All of

that, that thing I just said, that’s, um,

assuming you’re going to keep going with

this. I should probably have asked if you

were a psych major or something.

FOOTSTEPS ON PAVEMENT APPROACHING

DURING THE END OF RUDY’S

MONOLOGUE.

WES: (DEEPENING HIS VOICE) Mighty cold night to

be outside, isn’t it?

RUDY: Oh, I dunno, after the past few weeks it’s

nice to have a little 40-degree heat

waaaaa...Wes? Wes, is that you?

WES: Hi, Rudy.

RUDY: Oh my gosh! Wes! It’s you! I heard you were

back but...hi! Can I give you a hug? I mean,

is it even possible? But also do I have your

permission. May I give you a hug, and can I

give you a hug?

WES: Yes, and yes.

RUDY EMBRACES WES.

RUDY: You’re warm. Were you always warm?

WES: I don’t know, Rudy.

RUDY: Was that a rude question?

WES: It’s alright. There’s a lot about this,

about me being...what I am, that’s not

clear to me either. I don’t feel

cold right now. But I don’t know if what I’m

feeling is warmth, even if you feel it

coming from me. Does that make sense?

RUDY: I suppose it has to.

WES: You’re waiting for Chester.

RUDY: Yes. He and I need to talk.

WES: Then...what’s the crowbar for?

RUDY: Protection.

WES: From the wolves?

RUDY: Just in case. There were a few up by the

observatory, but they seemed...well, they

didn’t eat me. Still, you never know with

wolves. Why are you here?

WES: I’ve been taking walks after Dot goes to

sleep. Checking on the town, that sort of

thing. In case there’s anything I can do to

help. I haven’t seen any wolves here

tonight. There were a few nights ago, but

they must be somewhere else. They’re

different. I’m noticing that. (BEAT) Rudy,

are you all right?

RUDY: Me? I’m fine.

WES: Dot told me the two of you had a fight.

RUDY: I said a few things I regret. Dot said a few

things I deserved.

WES: Do you want me to talk to her?

RUDY: That’s not necessary, thank you.

WES: I’ve been worried about you. So has Norah.

RUDY: You’ve seen Norah?

WES: She’s been with us at Fenwood.

RUDY: That’s a relief. I thought...I don’t know

what I thought.

WES: She’s figuring herself out. Like I was.

Which it sounds like you are, too.

RUDY: Work in progress, that’s me.

WES: I heard you talking to Spencer. He was the

one who worked at the waffle house?

RUDY: He quit that job. Long hours, low pay.

WES: We know you’ve been staying at the

observatory again. Norah thought you might

be feeling a bit isolated.

RUDY: Me? No. I’m used to working solitary. Always

have been. (BEAT) It was nice to have

someone besides my own brain to bounce my

thoughts off of, I admit. That’s never been

something I expected, though. Alone’s not

the same thing as lonely. You can tell her

that.

WES: She can come see you.

RUDY: I’d like that. But it’s entirely up to her.

(BEAT) What did you mean by different?

WES: What?

RUDY: A moment ago, you said the wolves were

“different.” Different than what?

WES: I don’t believe they’re...natural. They

might be a bit more like Norah and I. That

is, not exactly like Norah and I. But even

Norah and I aren’t exactly alike, either.

RUDY: Ghosts? You think the wolves are ghosts?

WES: To be honest with you, it doesn’t seem like

Norah or I are ghosts, either. Not in the

way people usually think about ghosts,

anyway.

RUDY: I don’t understand, Wes.

WES: I keep thinking about this thing...this

saying, you know, that I must have heard

somewhere? From a teacher, or...it’s, they

said, how nobody’s dead until the last

person who remembered them is gone? I’ve

been wondering if that’s what I am.

RUDY: That’s...that can’t be right. You’re

trying to tell me you’re...memories? Whose?

WES: I’m not...

RUDY: I’m sorry, Wes, but that doesn’t make sense.

You were alive, and you died, and it’s

because it’s here. Because it’s Mt. Absalom.

“The dominion of unquelled souls.” So you

came back.

WES: But I’m not me, Rudy! That’s what I’m trying

to tell you. There was Theodore Wesley and

there’s me and we aren’t the same.

RUDY: Is there even anybody still alive in Mt.

Absalom who could remember you? What about

Norah? What about Silas?

WES: What about Lily?

RUDY: What? What happened to Lily? I saw her just

a few--

WES: --she’s fine. But something happened. At

Fenwood. There’s a little girl.

RUDY: Amy. I met her. Well, I saw her.

WES: Amy? No. That’s...Lily. That’s Lily when she

was that age.

RUDY: She told me...

WES: We need to stop lying to each other. It’s

not helping anyone.

RUDY: There’s a ghost of Lily?

WES: Not a ghost, Rudy.

RUDY: But...

WES: And not really a memory, either. More like

an echo of a memory. An idea of us that

kinda keeps...happening.

RUDY: Like if you rang, um, like a church bell

inside a, a canyon or...and that would mean.

Wes, that would mean you don’t come from

anywhere beyond this life.

WES: I know.

RUDY: It would mean you’re mostly made of what

somebody else used to remember about you.

WES: I think that’s right.

RUDY: (BARELY ABLE TO HIDE HOW UPSET HE IS) And

that means...she can’t...she wouldn’t be

able to answer...it wouldn’t be real. It

would just be what I...no. Oh no. No, no,

no.

WES: She?

RUDY: Nev...never mind.

WES: Rudy, please talk to me.

RUDY: Does Norah know?

WES: We’ve talked about it.

RUDY: How did she take it?

WES: Like you’d expect.

RUDY: Like a scientist.

WES: Like the scientist she is. I don’t think you

or Abbie would have taken it the same way.

RUDY: No. We probably wouldn’t. Are you okay, Wes?

With not being a ghost, I mean?

WES: It doesn’t matter what I am. As long as I’m

able to help. (BEAT) The lights just went

out in Chester’s office.

RUDY: Okay. Thank you for talking with me, Wes. I

do appreciate it.

WES: You still seem upset.

RUDY: It’s...it’s personal. I’ll tell you later.

WES: I’ll talk to Dot.

RUDY: You don’t have to do that for me.

WES: It’s for me, Rudy.

THE DOOR OF TOWN HALL OPENS,

DISTANTLY.

RUDY: You should go. Please take care of yourself.

And everyone else.

WES: I will. You too.

WES VANISHES. RUDY STANDS AND

WALKS TO CHESTER.

RUDY: Chester. Hey.

CHESTER: Rudy. Surprised to see you here.

RUDY: Burning the midnight oil, I see. The 9pm

oil, anyway.

CHESTER: (SIGHS) Nobody tells you how much paperwork

occurs in a crisis. Twice as much when you

start asking for help from Julian. And twice

as slow when you have to keep emailing

things to your boss for his signature.

RUDY: I’m surprised the Mayor’s not back yet.

CHESTER: He assures me he will be. “But I’m sure

you’ve got the situation well in hand,

Chet.” Anyway. Why are you out here? Were

you waiting for me or just admiring the

stars?

RUDY: Both. But mostly the first thing. We need to

talk.

CHESTER: You and me personally, or you and me as

Delphic members?

RUDY: The second thing. I’m concerned about Hazel.

RUDY’S WORDS SINK INTO THE NEARBY

STREET DRAIN AND FOLLOW THE WATER

A DISTANCE AWAY. THE DISTANT SOUND

OF THE BOTTLING WORKS GROWS CLOSER

AS THE WATER SPLASHES AGAINST THE

INSIDE OF THE PIPES. THE SOUND

LEAPS ANOTHER GAP IN THE WATER AND

EMERGES FROM ANOTHER STREET DRAIN.

THE SOUND OF WES REAPPEARING AND

WALKING ALONG THE SIDEWALK. AN

INCONSISTENT HAMMERING AGAINST

SHEET METAL CAN BE HEARD NEARBY.

WES: Hello? Is somebody there?

THE HAMMERING STOPS.

SOPHIA: Hello?

WES: What are you doing?

SOPHIA: It is funny you should ask that. (HAMMER ON

SHEET METAL, ONCE) There. That should do it.

I was just about to shut everything down for

the night and all of a sudden, I hear this

weird little clicking sound coming from the

labeler. “Clk-clk-CLK-click!” I open it up,

everything seems fine, give the gears a

little oil, start it up again, presto the

clicking’s gone but now there’s a sort of

“whiiiine!” from conveyor number six? I fix

that, something sounds off about the fluid

reservoir, fix that, long story short! Here

I am pounding a loose piece of sheet metal

back in place on the CO2 exhaust, which

finally ought to do it.

WES: Where am I?

SOPHIA: I’m sorry, I assumed you knew. Celeriac

Bottling Works. I’m Sophia.

WES: Wes. The bottling works. Of course. I’ve

never seen it at night.

SOPHIA: Not much to look at. Although from what I

hear, in its heyday? We’d have shifts

running all through the night, and a large

neon sign, all green, announcing to the

whole world: “Here it is! The celery soda

fountain!” They took that down awhile back.

Used too much power. Also, what with the

dark sky ordinance...

WES: Oh, sure. (BEAT) My dad, he worked in a

place like this one.

SOPHIA: A bottling plant? I certainly hope it wasn’t

any of our competitors.

WES: You have competitors?

SOPHIA: Good answer, my friend! Did your father ever

take you inside where he worked?

WES: Once or twice. It was a long time ago.

SOPHIA: Why don’t you come on in with me? I’m going

to cross my fingers and run one more cycle,

and if nothing else is creaking or clanking

then I can finally shut it down and go home

for the night. What do you say?

WES: That sounds like fun, Sophia.

SOPHIA: And it is!

THE SOUND SINKS BACK INTO THE

DRAIN AND TRAVELS BACK TO TOWN

HALL. RUDY AND CHESTER ARE IN THE

MIDST OF A SIMMERING ARGUMENT.

CHESTER: Rudy, this is not something we should be

discussing. Especially not in public like

this.

RUDY: No? Then where? I’m talking to you outside

of Town Hall because I know it’s one place

she doesn’t think she has to watch.

CHESTER: ...because I’m here.

RUDY: Exactly. And all I am asking is that you

hear me out. And don’t act like you haven’t

been thinking it yourself, I can tell that

you’ve been less than satisfied with Hazel’s

leadership.

CHESTER: “Less than satisfied,” sure, but that’s no

reason to--

RUDY: --how much less does it need to be?

CHESTER: When Hazel makes decisions that I find

questionable, I have options to, to adjust

them.

RUDY: To undermine her.

CHESTER: That’s not the word I used.

RUDY: But that’s what you do, isn’t it? When it’s

necessary?

CHESTER: Only when it’s necessary!

RUDY: Hazel has been acting strangely and you know

it. More secretive. Like if the rest of the

Order knew what she was thinking they’d

never stand for it. I’m asking you to help

me find out what that is.

CHESTER: You’re asking me for a, a, mutiny. What

makes you think I could pull that off even

if I wanted to?

RUDY: You’re a Warren. You’re Chester Warren.

(BEAT) Everything happening in this town

right now...The Order has all of these

texts and speculations, but this is the

first time this has ever happened. It’s all

untested hypothesis. If you’re wrong, you

have to adjust your thinking. You know how

to do that. Hazel is...locked in. You try to

tell her that maybe she needs to see

something differently and...

CHESTER: Did you? Did you say that to Hazel?

RUDY: We’re looking at this all wrong, Chester!

CHESTER: You did, didn’t you. Rudy...

RUDY: I have known people like her. Do you

understand? People who acted like she is

acting right now, people who were so sure

that what they were doing was the only way,

that only he knew how to lead us...

CHESTER: He?

RUDY: ...her. She. Hazel. I meant Hazel. She’s

started to remind me of everything you made

me read about Silas.

CHESTER: Please do not tell me you said that to her.

RUDY: Yeah, that was not one of my better moments.

CHESTER: (SIGHS) Here’s what’s going to happen now,

Rudy. I’m going to go to Hazel and tell her

that you have been under a lot of stress

lately and being surrounded by wolves didn’t

make that any easier. I’m going to tell her

that you were trying to be helpful and that

you overstepped both your propriety and your

authority, which you regret. I am not going

to tell her that you attempted to enlist me

in a conspiracy to overthrow her. (BEAT) The

lore of the Delphic Order is not an

“untested hypothesis,” Rudy. It is an

article of faith. The Revelator committed

his crimes as written, the people of Mt.

Absalom banished him as written, the deeper

wells flowed and filled and dried up as

written. We follow its reading as written,

even in the face of contradiction, or we do

not in any way resemble an Order. Is that

clear?

RUDY: What is she planning, Chester? Do you even

know?

CHESTER: Don’t do that. I know this trap. If I tell

you I know something then I confirm there’s

something to know. If I tell you I don’t

know something you’ll still assume there’s

something to know, just that I don’t know

it. Either way you’re going to keep poking

and prodding instead of doing the thing you

should be doing, which is trusting Hazel and

I to have a handle on it.

RUDY: ...so Hazel did tell you.

CHESTER: Leave it alone, Rudy. I’m going home now. My

offer to have you stay with us still stands.

RUDY: (CRESTFALLEN) No. Thank you. Have a good

night, Chester. I’m going to sit out here

for a bit and admire the stars.

CHESTER: Good night, Rudy.

THE SOUND SINKS BACK INTO THE

DRAIN AND TRAVELS BACK THROUGH THE

PIPES INTO THE BOTTLING WORKS.

SOPHIA AND WES WALK AROUND THE

FACTORY FLOOR.

SOPHIA: Does it look familiar?

WES: Sorry?

SOPHIA: Like the plant you said your dad worked at?

WES: Oh. A little bit.

SOPHIA: You should come back when everyone’s here. A

factory’s not its machinery, after all. It’s

the people running the machinery. Speaking

of which...

A LARGE POWER BUTTON BEING

PRESSED.

SOPHIA: No whammies no whammies no whammies.

THE MACHINERY TURNING ON AT ONCE.

EVERYTHING SOUNDS LIKE IT’S

RUNNING SMOOTHLY.

SOPHIA: Sounds good to me. Do you hear anything

unusual?

WES: How would I...?

SOPHIA: Right, how would you? Well. Let’s just let

the cycle run for a few minutes and make

sure it’s back in mint condition.

THE MACHINERY RUNS FOR A MOMENT.

SOPHIA: Huh. Mint. I wonder if we ever tried that.

WES: You did. Sometime in the late 40s.

SOPHIA: What was that?

WES: Nothing.

THE SOUND OF THE MACHINERY TRAVELS BACK

THROUGH THE PIPES AND THROUGH THE

SURFACE DRAINS. RUDY WORKS AT A BACK

DOOR OF TOWN HALL WITH THE CROWBAR

WHILE TALKING UNDER HIS BREATH TO

“SPENCER.”

RUDY: (GRUNTING WITH THE EFFORT) ...and that’s the

other trick you need to master, Spencer.

That when you run into a wall...or the

locked back door of a civic building...you

should have the wherewithal to know when to

admit defeat...or...when to...

THE DOOR BREAKS OPEN.

RUDY: ...break it open with a crowbar. Say for

example: If you’ve overheard that the

town hall’s security system hasn’t been

functioning for a few months and repairs

haven’t been a priority. That’s what you

call a “gimme.”

RUDY ENTERS THE BUILDING AND QUIETLY

CLOSES THE DOOR BEHIND HIM. AS HE

SPEAKS, HE WALKS DOWN THE HALLWAY, TO A

BASEMENT DOOR, AND DOWN A FLIGHT OF

STAIRS.

RUDY: Yes. Double extra-credit for this, Spencer.

I thought that went without saying. (BEAT)

Why? That’s an exceptional question,

Spencer. I want to be clear about something.

I am not hostile to the concept of faith.

But I have limits to how much I’m willing to

accept on faith alone. Which is why you and

I are going to see if there’s really a

dried-up well under town hall like everybody

in the Order seems to believe there is.

Follow me. (BEAT) No, obviously there are

tons of things you have to accept without

being able to see them. I mean, it’s not

like we can get close enough to observe the

properties of a gravitational

singularity with our own two eyes. Here.

A KNOCK AT A WOODEN DOOR, WHICH

RUDY CAREFULLY OPENS. HE TAPS AT

THE FLOOR WITH HIS CROWBAR.

RUDY: But astrophysics is different, remember? All

we have to do is hope the universe is

consistent, and that whatever we observe

in our immediate proximity can be

extrapolated far beyond anything we’ll ever

be able to see. And the reason we can have

that faith, Spencer? Is that there are no

people involved.

HE TAPS AT A SPOT ON THE FLOOR

THAT SOUNDS DIFFERENT, HOLLOWER.

RUDY: Yep. This sounds familiar.

RUDY WINDS BACK AND TAKES A MIGHTY

SWING AT THE CONCRETE FLOOR WITH

THE CROWBAR. THE SOUND OF THE IRON

STRIKING THE FLOOR REVERBERATES

AND SUDDENLY TRAVELS, LIKE A BOLT

OF LIGHTNING, ACROSS TOWN. WE HEAR

THE MACHINES OF THE BOTTLING WORKS

COMING CLOSER, AND THE CLANG OF

THE CROWBAR ECHOES THROUGH THE

FACTORY.

WES: Did you hear something?

SOPHIA: What? Which machine?

WES: Not one of the machines.