REPORT: SURVIVAL
FILE #: 402

A man named Junior takes Lyle and Miss Parker to a transport box where Jarod would stay for days at a time. Junior says that he was paid to bring Jarod food – water & bread- and to chain him up. Mr. Lyle and Miss Parker are puzzled by the chaining up part. Junior informs them that Jarod also had him zap him with a car battery a few times. Miss Parker and Lyle climb up that ladder after Junior. Junior reaches the hatch to the transport first and he says “Jarod? Is that you? I didn’t know you were still here.” Miss Parker takes out her gun and runs to the opening calling Jarod. When she looks inside Junior laughs… he tricked them. They both climb into the transport and are looking around. There is a button on the wall that says, “Do Not Push.” & a Level that says, “Do Not Pull.” Lyle goes to push the button and Miss Parker stops him saying that it is Jarod’s handwriting and he is trying to tell them something so they should leave the button alone. When Miss Parker turns her back on Lyle, he pushes the button and the hatch closes locking them inside. Miss Parker lashes out at Lyle but then calls to Junior for help… they both hear… Good-bye Miss Parker, and Mr. Lyle… Miss Parker says that they never told Junior their names.

At Fort Blain, POW Training, Isolation Chamber….Two soldiers are headed towards an isolation chamber where they have left an officer for three days during a heat wave. They open the hatch saying that they will have to scrap him out… Jarod stands up out of the shadows saying that it won’t be necessary that he is fine, but he could use a shower. He climbs the ladder and walks away from the chamber. A female soldier who introduces herself as Molly Kimble says that it is strange that he spent three day in a place where a man (Chief Scott Rion) hung himself… he tells her that he had to get into “his” place. She asked where he learned that, and he tells her that he picked it up as a child. Kimble tells Jarod that Col. Dance is “Pissed” because Jarod has kept him waiting… Jarod don’t know what that means, and she tries to explain by saying… you know “Ticked Off.” But he still doesn’t understand. She explains that they mean mad. He says that he should be mad he has only kept him waiting 72 hrs. 13 mins.

Col. Dance introduces Captain Sanders who was part of Chief Rion’s platoon. Dance says that Jarod’s file is impressive. They talk about his file and all his accomplishments and Jarod tells them that he has seen Rambo 37 times. Dance wants to know Jarod’s rank and Jarod tells him that it is easier not to use it that way he can have seniority if needed. But he says if it makes Dance feel better, he will call him sir. Sanders and Kimble go to leave, and Sanders gives Kimble and strange look.

Once they are alone Dance tells Stevens (Jarod) that he is not happy that they are investigating this further. Rion broke and it is their job to see if that will happen. Dance says that Rion snapped. Jarod ask enough to mutilate and hang himself. Dance says he said he snapped. Dance tells Jarod that the whole investigation is a waste of time. Jarod says that Rion’s parents are convinced that it was not a suicide. Jarod says that he will find the truth.

Sydney is doing and study with a bunch of people when Broots walks in and is puzzled but goes straight to talking about Jarod. He says that he doesn’t get the shipping invoice because it seems to obvious… like he wanted Miss Parker and Lyle to investigate it. Sydney thinks that maybe Jarod did want them to go there. Sydney asks what they found and Broots tells him Army stuff, books, manuals, a worn-out copy of Rambo and other items. Sydney wants to let Miss Parker know all this stuff and Broots says that that is the problem no one has heard from them and he can’t get a hold of Miss Parker on her phone.

Miss Parker is trying to use her phone, but she is unable to get a signal. Lyle says to screw the signal. He takes out his gun and tries to shoot the lock, but it ricochets off the walls and they both duck. Miss Parker then goes over to Lyle and asks why he doesn’t just point it at her head. Lyle goes and sits down and discovers that Jarod left Army rations. He says that Jarod is as big of a jerk as he thought and shows Miss Parker. But when he pulls the pack out of the box it sets off a video Jarod prepared for them. -Jarod says that it is important to know family and how they will survive. He tells them that he whipped up a yummy meal for them. – Lyle says that he takes it back he is a jerk. Lyle then opens the package and sees… BBQed Grasshoppers. Lyle eats one saying that they taste like licorice. Lyle then asks Miss Parker what she will do to survive. She takes a grasshopper and is pretending that it is delicious… but she bits into something hard and when she spits it out, she realizes it was a key. She says it is another piece to “Wolfgang Puke’s Puzzle”. Then she asks what will happen next and gets the answer as the transport compartment is loaded onto a truck for transport.

Kimble and Jarod are in the car on the way to the training camp and Jarod says that she should have her bars by know with are record. She says that it is a biology thing. Jarod says that “It’s not easy to be a woman it a man’s army.” She says that Chief Rion would tell her that. She also offers that they were close, and he treated her with respect. Molly Kimble asks if Rion called his parents before he started POW training. Jarod say that he is the snoop and he is the one that is supposed to be asking the questions. Molly apologizes saying that Rion told her that he was going to report a misconduct of one of the officers after training. Jarod says that he guesses that Rion didn’t report it. Molly says, “Guess not.” She also warns that Sergeant Reed will be as helpful as Colonel Dance.

Reed is training one of his men (Sealy). Sealy is tied and Reed is using water to try to entice Sealy to give in to the pressures of being a POW. The other team members are rooting for Sealy not to give in. Jarod and Molly pull in and watch and Sealy refuses to give into Reed. Then they say it is over and Sealy has passed. Reed looks up and sees “Mr. CID” and tells him to step into his office… which is a tent. They talk about Rion and Reed says all he can figure the boy was afraid of the dark and he let his mind get the best of him. Jarod wonders if that was enough to mutilated and hang himself and Reed says that he didn’t get the chance to ask Rion. Reed then tells him that if he is going to arrest him to just do it. Jarod says that he won’t… today.

Jarod is at the cemetery watching Rion’s parents as they morn their son’s death. Jarod opens his red notebook and looks at the article… “Special Forces Officer Rion Takes Own Life”, “Military Refuses to Give Burial with Honor”, & “Parent Allege Military Cover-up”. Jarod then reads the last letter that Rion sent his parents.

At the Centre, Broots is concerned about Miss Parker’s absence and is telling Sydney all about it. Sydney is also worried and has Broots look deeper into the shipping manifest that Jarod left behind for them. He also suggests going through the survival items left at Jarod’s last lair and wants Broots to find out anything he can that may relate to them.

Jarod is watching a DSA of him as a child trying to uncover why some POW’s survive and some do not. Jarod sets up a simulation that mimics the way that Scott Rion died. After finished he then looks at the pictures of the scene that were taken after the discovery of Scott Rion’s death. Jarod notices something but before we can see what it is Lt. Kimble arrives to tell Jarod that she has found Sanders and the rest of the unit. She tells him that they finished the POW Training and are now out to the south range for some sort of initiation. He is willing to go out there, but she tells him that he will never find them in a 50square foot radius if they don’t want to be found… but when she turns to look at Jarod he is gone.

Jarod tracks the unit down just in time to see “the initiation”. They are being branded with the unit symbol. Jarod pops in and they ask how he found them, and Jarod tells them that he followed their footprints, but they insist that they left none… but Jarod tells them that someone with a size shoe did. Sanders and Jarod exchange words over the initiation and Rion’s suicide. Sanders tells Jarod that they often covered for Rion because of personal problems. They say that they never reported the problems because they wanted him to make it through camp. Jarod is not buying it.

In the shipping container, Lyle and Miss Parker cold, hungry and thirsty. Lyle is at a stove trying to light it for heat and to sterilize the water Jarod left for them. Miss Parker notices a battery and wires and they use them to start the fire. Miss Parker then finds old newspapers to fuel the fire but some talk about a man suspected of killing some female college students, and Lyle’s picture is on it. Lyle finds that he needs duct tape to seal a hole in the stoves pipe… or the smoke will fill the container. He looks around and finds that Jarod left him a roll. Miss Parker then reads that they girls were bound with duct tape. Lyle starts saying how Jarod has underestimated him and that he isn’t as smart or clever as he is. Miss Parker says, “few people are” and hands him the newspapers. Lyle looks at them and then silently tosses them onto the fire.

Lyle is telling Miss Parker that he has had trouble putting the murders of those two girls behind him. She isn’t buying his act, but he continues to tell her more. He says that that night he stopped by to see them and their door was opened… he went inside and found their bodies. The police suspected him for a while until they found the duct tape that was used on the girls, in the trunk of one of the girl’s ex-boyfriend’s car. Lyle says then he was cleared. Miss Parker tells him that maybe the guilty party planet the tape on an innocent man to …. survive. Lyle tells Miss Parker that Jarod is trying to put then in a situation where they won’t trust one another. He tells her that she must trust him. Miss Parker climbs up to sit high and discovers that there is a little box hidden up there. She notices that a small key would open it. She pulls the key from her pocket and opens the box. Inside is a watch that once belonged to her mother. Engraved on the back is “Catherine Parker”. Lyle asks what the watch is about, and she tells him “survival”.

On base, Jarod runs across information is Sanders files saying that he is project leader to ‘Abyss’. Jarod notes this and then heads out. He runs into Kimble and she offers to give Jarod a ride home. She gets into her car and tries turning the key, but it won’t start it is just clicking. Jarod knows something is wrong… and then he sees that there are wires where they don’t belong. He pulls her out of the car telling her to run. She does as he says and behind them her car explodes into a fireball.

Jarod finds Sealy, a demolition specialist on the team. Jarod tells him that someone tried to kill Lt. Kimble and him. Sealy says that if he had set the charges that Jarod wouldn’t be there talking with him. Sealy tells Jarod that he was outside the isolation chamber the night Rion died. They all heard his screams but were ordered not to let him out or he would be kicked out of training. Sealy says that when Rion fell silent he thought he had passed out that they didn’t find out he killed himself until the following morning.

At the Centre, Broots tells Sydney that the Sweeper Team didn’t find Miss Parker and Lyle in Texas, but they interviewed and bum that had showed Miss Parker and Lyle a shipping container that Jarod had turned into a POW camp. Broots says that the only thing that he can be sure of is that the shipping container is headed east. Sydney thinks that Jarod may have spent time and a POW Training facility and Broots thinks that he might still be there.

Jarod watches the “survival simulation” from when he was a child and sees that he determined that the biggest factor in surviving is the mind… if the captor takes the hope from his prisoner then the prisoner has not will to survive and they lose grip on reality.

Someone is creeping around outside of Jarod’s quarters and then enter. The person is creeping up on what looks to be a sleeping Jarod under his covers… but from behind Jarod jumps down surprising the intruder…. Lt. Molly Kimble. Jarod tells her “Lucy you gots some splaning to do.” She tells Jarod that she came to see what was in Scott Rion’s files because she must know what happened the night he died. Jarod asks her to tell him about her and Captain Sanders…. he sees the way that he looks at her. Kimble breaks down and tells Jarod that Sanders had been making inappropriate advances for a while…. but on night after leaving a bar she was attacked from behind. The man was trying to get her into the car… she fought him because she knew what would happen… but he was slowly getting the upper hand… when Scott and pulled the man off her. Scott and she faced Sanders and Rion told Sanders that he was going to report the whole thing. Sanders said that Rion had forgotten the first rule… the unit always comes first. But Rion died before her told anyone… and she feels guilty about it.

Jarod tells her that Scott did commit suicide, but it wasn’t by choice. Kimble doesn’t understand and Jarod proceeds to explain it to her. Jarod says that he looks at the psych file for Rion and it didn’t suggest that Rion would snap especially on his last day of training. Jarod then tells her that Rion didn’t mutilate himself. He was drugged and he knew it and was trying to tell them who had done it. He proceeds to tell her about the project that Sander’s is heading up and project… but he doesn’t tell her the name of the project. Instead he shows her the picture of Scott’s wounds. When they turn the pictures upside down… the cuts in Scott’s abdomen spell out “Abyss”. Kimble asks what Jarod is going to do with this information… and he tells her that he is going to give Sander’s and taste of his own medicine.

Lyle gives Miss Parker and cup of sterilized water to drink. She is hesitant but she drinks the water. Lyle then reads the writing on the wall… “Tick Tock”. Lyle says that Jarod wanted Miss Parker to find the watch because it meant something to her. Miss Parker tells him that it belonged to mom (she won it in and swimming competition) and that daddy gave it to her on her 12th birthday. Miss Parker says that she used to use it to time herself when she would tread water… when her and daddy went to the lake. Then one days she went out on the skiff and it began to take on water…. she didn’t make it back before it sank. It was too far to swim and she was left to tread water until daddy came to save her. She says that she wanted to give up so many times, but the ticking of the watch reminded her that Mother would have wanted her to hold on. So, she treaded water and sure enough daddy rescued her. She tells Lyle that she lost the watch a long time ago… Lyle says that it looks as if someone found it. Just then the truck that was shipping them stops and Lyle says, “What now?”

On base, we see Jarod changing Sander’s orders… specifically the date of his upcoming solo survival exercise to start immediately. Jarod has the Captain’s survival pack and he is putting a substance that he cooked up into all the food… the resealing them.

Broots comes running into Sydney’s office saying that he found the container and he won’t believe where. Meanwhile, Lyle and Miss Parker are waiting to see what will happen to them this time. Suddenly, Miss Parker hears Broots calling her from the outside and she tell him to get them out. Broots says that Jarod’s instructions outside say that to open the door pull the lever that is marked… “Do Not Pull.” on the inside. Miss Parker is frustrated and pulls the lever… the door opens, and Lyle and she realize that Jarod shipped them back to the Centre!!!! Lyle says that he is going to kill Jarod when he catches him. They then tell Miss Parker and Lyle that they have track Jarod down… they want to know where and Broots tells them… to an Army Survival Camp in Texas… right next door to the container yard where they started.

At the camp, Jarod watches as Sergeant Sanders tells his team that the three-day solo training has been moved up and that they will all be signed separate quadrants. Jarod follows Sanders and watches him the first night, as he eats the food that Jarod put the Abyss drug in. As he finishes his food the drug starts to take effect and he passes put…. but not before Sanders reads the word Abyss at the bottom of the applesauce container … Jarod put it there.

Sanders awakes inside of the same POW Training box that Rion died in. Sander’s tells Jarod that this stunt is going to cost him his commission… but Jarod tells him that it can’t cause he doesn’t have one and he isn’t even in the army! Convinced that Jarod gave him the “Abyss drug” Sander tells Jarod that it was he who gave Scott Rion the drug… that lead to his death. Jarod leaves him in the container telling him that he deserves to be left there…. but outside of the box Jarod tells Kimble that the special mix he cooked up will wear off in a few hours.

Later, Col. Dance tells Lt. Molly Kimble that the Sander’s is going to be court martialed and will get 20 to life in Leavenworth for his actions. Kimble leaves his office and runs into Jarod in the hall… she tells Jarod thank you and the news about Sanders. Jarod says that he is happy that everything worked out and Scott Rion will get the Military burial he was denied. As they speak Jarod sees Miss Parker and Lyle enter at the other end of the hall… he tells Kimble that he must leave and takes off before Miss Parker and Lyle see him.

Jarod calls Miss Parker at home to tell her that aside from the chipped tooth she seems to have survived being locked up with Lyle. He tells her that everything that she needed was inside of the container… and that survival comes down to knowing your friends from your enemies. She asks if he is saying that Lyle is the enemy and Jarod is her friends… he says, “Maybe. And you have to be willing to do whatever it takes to survive… you can be sure that Lyle will.”

We then see Scott Rion’s military burial with honors and his flag being handed over to his mother. It is a sad scene, but Jarod looks on happy that he could right a wrong. He turns and walks through the cemetery…. and the credits role….