I Am Legend
I cannot express how much the dog's death in this movie both saddened and enraged me.
Think "ending of Chinatown" for reference.
Anyway, take with leads 10-2, so I'll update a bit early.
1. Take him with you."He looks half starved," you say. "We gotta find some food for him."
Jesse nods and strokes the top of Max's head, who winces a bit but accepts it. "That's not all we've got to find. So are we getting out of here, or what?"
"Yeah," you say, giving the room a final look. "Let's get out of here."
The two of you head out the door. Max watches you from inside the room, eyes shining.
"Come on, Max," you say, getting out another small bit of jerky. "We're leaving now."
The dog's eyes fix on the food in your hand, and he lets out a soft whine, then turns to Brian's body. He sniffs once, then whines again, and licks a dangling hand.
With that Max turns back to you, and trots purposefully out of the room. You feed him the jerky, which he swallows in one bite. You shut and lock the door. The darkness enfolds you again.
You flick the lighter on and head down the hall. As you pass room 33, Max growls and bristles, but quickly moves by.
"What kind of dog is he, anyway?" Jesse asks.
"He's a Border Collie, I think," you reply. Max from ahead makes a noise in his throat, like he agrees with you. "They're supposed to be the smartest dogs in the world, or so I've heard."
"Really?" Jesse asks. "So, like sheep herding dogs? Why would one be in the city?"
"My family had a Border Collie when I was a kid. They make good pets. His name was Rex, just like the one in
Babe."
"Never seen it," Jesse says, glancing over her shoulder.
"You've never seen
Babe?"
"Isn't it a kids movie?"
"Yeah, kind of."
You two fall silent. Max walks slightly ahead of you in the hallway, his four legs making less noise than either of your two. You come to the end of the hall and to the fire escape. Max looks back at you expectantly.
"Uhm. You told me about... your eyes," Jesse says as you begin to open the door.
"Yeah?"
"When you regrew your missing one... they were two different colors," she says.
"Still are."
"Well, what about Max's eyes?"
You grunt as the old door finally opens. "I don't know. It's actually somewhat common in Border Collies. Though usually you don't see it in the black and whites."
Jesse shifts as you turn off the lighter, gray light from outside pouring in through the open doorway. The fire escape is directly outside.
"You said you couldn't 'feel' him. What did you mean by that?"
"I'll tell you later," you say, stepping out onto the metal. Across from you, another building. Below is an alley. "This alley must be opposite the other one."
Jesse steps out next to you. Max seems reluctant, sniffing the metal grating suspiciously.
"Come on, Max. It's OK," you say. He gingerly steps out onto the escape, and looks up at you, puzzled.
"It's for getting out in case of a fire. I know. It's kind of weird, huh boy?" you say, petting his head. His tail wags a little, then stops.
You head down the first set of steps to the second floor. Jesse follows, coaxing Max along, who slips on the steps but manages to catch himself. There isn't any more steps; you'll have to lower the ladder to get down.
"Max will have to jump," you say, hefting the ladder so it can fall. It clatters downwards and you wince. "Oops."
Jesse holds out her hands. "Give me the shotgun. I'll hold it while you climb, toss it down to you."
You nod and hand it to her. Swinging your legs over, you start to climb down the metal rungs to the ground. Less than ten feet from the ground, the ladder ends, and you fall the the rest of the way.
Jesse drops down the shotgun heads down, her rifle slung over her shoulder and back as usual.
You watch as she descends.
nice viewJesse finishes her climb and drops down. She lands next you and you help her up. "You alright?"
"Yeah, fine," she replies, brushing herself off.
The two of you look up at Max, who is pacing back and forth at the top of the ladder.
"Come on, Max! Jump!"
Max whines, looks down at you, whines again, then suddenly launches himself at you. You catch him and are knocked to the ground. Max scrambles away, limping slightly.
Jesse helps you up. "
You OK?" she asks.
You shake your head. "Fine."
Max comes back around toward you, still limping a bit. He barks, once.
"Shh!" you put a finger to your lips. "You alright, Max?" Max's eyes fix on your finger, and he wags his tail once, back and forth.
"I guess you are," you say, patting his head. "No barking, OK?"
Max makes a noise in his throat. You scratch behind one ear. Max turns and trots away from you, the limp gone.
"So, what now?" Jesse asks.
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1. Take the alley back to main street, continue heading north.
2. Take the alley the other direction.
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