ACT 1
1945.
The soft orchestra of warfare fills the air. Guns, bombs, planes, each almost indistinguishable, yet the choir of carnage would be incomplete one without the other.
A single, DEAFENING gunshot tears through the air.
Three soldiers donning the uniforms of the Waffen SS; Fritz, Marcel and Wilhelm, the latter of which is holding a small telegram, stare in perplexed shock at the corpse of SS Captain Rudolph Dietrich, who has just committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. The body lays centre-stage in the middle of a small, makeshift campsite.
Pause.
FRITZ: Well this is your bloody fault.
WILHELM: How is this my fault?
FRITZ: You told him Hitler's dead.
WILHELM: But he is dead.
FRITZ: He wasn't dead until you told him he was dead.
WILHELM: What was I supposed to do?
FRITZ: Tell us, not him.
WILHELM: His last words were "Tell me, is Hitler dead?"
Wilhelm reveals the contents of the telegram, which reads "Hitler Dead" in big red letters.
WILHELM: He is.
MARCEL: Maybe he's not dead.
FRITZ: Exactly, that may not be a credible source.
MARCEL: No not Hitler, him.
FRITZ: Are you joking? Look at him, he's dead.
MARCEL: And what makes you the expert?
FRITZ: I've seen enough people with their head blown off to know, when your head's been blown off, that your fucking head, has been fucking blown off!
MARCEL: Yeah, but he's wearing a uniform.
FRITZ: I can see that.
MARCEL: How many dead people have you seen, wearing uniforms?
FRITZ: It doesn't matter, a dead person looks the exact same as any other dead person.
MARCEL: Well I've seen dead people in uniforms, German uniforms, and let me tell you, they don't look like that.
FRITZ: These dead Germans in uniforms, tell me, did you see them before, or after you swapped sides?
MARCEL: I swapped sides-!
FRITZ: You swapped sides because we were marching through your Paris before you even knew what a German looked like, let alone a dead one!
MARCEL: I know what dead Germans look like, trust me. And let me tell you, he-
Fritz turns Captain Dietrich's body over with his foot, his face a bloody, lifeless mess.
FRITZ: Is dead.
Fritz turns the Captain's body back over.
FRITZ: Christ, why they let frogs like you into the SS anyway is beyond me.
MARCEL: Frogs like me were doing your job of defending Germany from the Allies.
FRITZ: Bloody great job you did in that!
YOU ARE READING
Flight of the Maybug (Script)
Historical FictionHitler is dead and SS Captain Rudolph Dietrich has just committed suicide. Now, the surviving members of his ragtag squad, hell-bent in their desire to escape and surrender to western forces, must negotiate the wasteland of their own selfish wants i...
