Charlie: No more talk, Steve. You're going to talk us into a grave! You'd let whatever's out there walk right over us, wouldn't you? Well, some of us won't!
(He swings the gun around to point it toward the sidewalk. The dark figure continues to walk toward them. CHARLIE slowly raises the gun. As the figure gets closer, he pulls the trigger. The sound explodes in the stillness. The figure lets out a small cry, falls forward first onto his knees, and then on his face. DON, CHARLIE, and STEVE run over to him. STEVE is there first and turns the man over. The crowd gathers around them.)
Steve (slowly looks up): It's Pete Van Horn.
Don (in a hushed voice): Pete Van Horn! He was just going to go over to the next block to see if the power was on.
Woman: You killed him, Charlie. You shot him dead!
Charlie (looks around at the circle of faces, his eyes frightened): But. . . but I didn't know who he was. I certainly didn't know who he was. He comes walkin' out of the darkness—how am I supposed to know who he was? (He grabs STEVE.) Steve—you know why I shot! How was I supposed to know he wasn't a monster or something?
(He grabs DON.) We're all scared of the same thing. I was just tryin'to. . . tryin'to protect my home, that's all! (He looks down wildly at the body.) I didn't know it was somebody we knew! I didn't know...