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Zoe Ohrbach and Brian Snyder are Silicon Valley techies struggling through a pandemic of a new variant of Mad Cow affecting deer, moose, elk, etc. Despite warnings, people continue hunting and eating toxic venison. It was only a matter of time before the disease jumped to humans—a zoonotic “spillover.” Like all prion diseases, it is incurable, untreatable and unpreventable. The new disease, called “Acquired Prion Sociopathy Syndrome (APSS) causes first psychopathy and, inevitably, death. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/20/chronic-wasting-disease-spread-zombie-deer-global-us-aoe Adapted from my novel, Twisted Fate, showcased online pre-publication: https://thewritelaunch.com/2019/09/twisted-fate/

Synopsis

The story cold opens in a flashback with young BRIAN SNYDER, 17, and his beloved uncle, BEN, deer hunting in Wyoming. Brian brings down a strange-acting deer. “Prob’ly a broken leg,” nods Ben. “It’s a mercy.” They dismember the carcass for venison stew. CUT TO PRESENT DAY Brian, a handsome 27, stands at the drizzly funeral of Ben, who has died of a mysterious illness. A rising Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Brian is chasing venture capital to start his own “unicorn.” At a trade show in Las Vegas, he meets Zoe, a marketing writer from a broken LA home, whose boss talked her into dressing up like a showgirl and stalking the floor in 5-inch heels, luring “A leads” to her company’s booth. Brian and Zoe are infatuated from the start. He charms her into leaving the trade show for a motel. Back in Silicon Valley they move in together. But in the background, the disease had been silently spreading. A rise in crime causes a queasy fear to grip the country. Psychopaths proliferate. In a dystopian montage, society crumbles: infection spirals, crime spikes, and the stock market topples, Companies are looted and closed. Jobs disappear. People live on the streets, in tents, in their cars, predating in gangs. With testing mandatory, Positives are taken into custody by the Gestapo-like, militarized “US Health Services” and imprisoned on work farms and Gulags. The rich go to ground in billionaire bunkers. To their horror, Brian tests positive and is microchipped. The couple hide out in their now-deserted condominium complex, storing up food, a gun, dope, water, mementos. Determined to protect Brian, Zoe hears of a sanctuary for “psychs” deep in the Mojave. When military vehicles torch their complex at 3 a.m., the couple take off and flee to the Mojave through a landscape of homelessness, squatting and crime. Their car runs out on a long-abandoned road in “The Devil’s Triangle.” They cache their belongings and set out to walk the remaining 15 miles to “Destination Hope.” When a car containing two young men offers a lift, they are at first grateful, but are later brutally attacked and beaten. Zoe awakens tied up with ligatures in their car. Brian shoots one attacker dead and wounds the other. The wounded man, Seth, claims to be an evolutionary biologist, unaware of his assistant’s infected state. He pleads for his life. Zoe convinces Brian to put him in the car and take off. Seth grows infatuated with Zoe, to Brian’s fury, On arrival, they learn that “Destination Hope” is actually a secret government lab conducting radical, “Unit 731” experiments. Brian and Zoe find themselves prisoners of their creepy hosts and the unsurvivable Mojave. Zoe watches for an escape opportunity and pretends to accept the researchers' goals. She begins a romance with Seth to avoid suspicion, but she is attracted to him. Confined in the complex, Brian, with the help of a Mexican security guard, breaks out, steals a car and escapes. Zoe must choose to stay or go. She chooses Brian, and they escape into the desert. But Brian stops the car after 15 miles and accuses her of cheating. She realizes that she will never be safe with him. Struggling against his urge to kill her, he pushes Zoe out of the car and drives off. Alone now, she begins the trek to Destination Hope in the blazing desert. Will she make it?

Script Excerpt

Written by:

Linda Boroff

Contact Author

Format:

Screenplay

Genres:

Thriller Sci-Fi Romance

Starring Roles For:

a young Colin Farrell type
Elle Fanning
50ish man, avuncular but dangerous

In the Vein Of:

A Year of Living Dangerously
Andromeda Strain
The Day After Tomorrow

Posted:

02/28/2020

Updated:

11/28/2025

Author Bio:

Linda Boroff Film and Fiction Bio With References 650-996-2750 I graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in English. My coming-of-age short story published in Cornell University's literary magazine, Epoch, was optioned to Sony and director Brad Furman. I'm represented for literary, film and TV by agents Sandstone Artists—Tammy Hunt and Jamie Bradley Below is a link to my short stories published in Cornell University, Dartmouth, McSweeney’s, The Guardian, Gawker, and many other publications.

https://lindaboroffauthor.com/the-writing-life/

Linda Boroff Website: https://lindaboroffauthor.com/

Below are links to my two novels and two novellas. My dystopian novel, Twisted Fate, a sci-fi medical thriller, was published in paperback in 2022. A pre-publication sample was showcased online in The Write Launch. My Young Adult novel, The Dressmaker’s Daughter, about a 16-year-old partisan in WWII Romania, was also published in 2022 by Santa Monica Press. My supernatural suspense novella, The Remnant, came out in 2024.

I wrote the produced feature thriller Fashion Victim, about serial killer Andrew Cunanan’s nationwide murder spree, ending with the assassination of Gianni Versace. It played in theatres and was reviewed in the NY Times. L.A. Times review of Fashion Victim by Kevin Thomas “…written by Linda Boroff and directed by Ben Waller, is a straightforward, well-paced, resourcefully made account of Andrew Cunanan’s 1997 serial killing spree that culminated with his fatal shooting of Gianni Versace. Low budget but accurate and well constructed insight into a modern mystery." **** I collaborated with producer Don Murphy (Transformers, Natural Born Killers) in writing the biopic Fast Fade about tragic film noir actress Barbara Payton. The script is ranked in the top 7% in Coverfly and has won a number of awards. Working with Tammy Hunt at Sandstone Artists, I am developing the limited miniseries Duty to Warn with writing partner Ellen Furman (she wrote The Infiltrator with Bryan Cranston and a new movie with Shirley Maclaine) on the 1969 stalking murder of Berkeley student Tanya Tarasoff, resulting in a landmark Supreme Court ruling on doctor-patient confidentiality. I have been hired though Sandstone Artists to adapt the thriller novel Scalpel’s Cut into a TV pilot. This is the first of a series of three high-action medical mysteries written by noted surgeon Dr. Richard Brown.

Testimonials, Coverage and Reviews Winner: Fellowship to St. Petersburg (Russia) seminar: Thank you for participating in the SLS/St. Petersburg annual literary contest. We were impressed by the strength and quality of your short story and would like to offer you a fellowship for the program tuition. We genuinely enjoyed your quietly powerful story at once direct and complex; beautifully achieved and thoroughly satisfying. All Best, SUMMER LITERARY SEMINARS Mikhail Iossel sls executive director (story was anthologized and published online at The Piltdown Review.) My novella, A Season of Turbulence, was just accepted for 30th anniversary anthology of Eclectica Magazine

Editorial acceptance for my novella A Season of Turbulence published online in Eclectica “Boroff's rhythmic language echoes the hard-boiled spirit of Chandler or Hammett. Overall, it's a strong story with brilliant dialogue, and an intimate knowledge of the attitudes and environs of Alaska. I highly recommend publication. Review of novella, A Season of Turbulence “Author Linda Boroff expertly braids well-developed plot, vivid setting, and exceptional lyricism by using utterly raw prose to echo the raw landscape.”—— Emily Wick writing in Prick of the Spindle **** As a journalist, I write true crime scripts like Redwood Tomb. It is adapted from my short story, “Saturday Night Off,” about a Santa Cruz homicide. ***** Comments on my new script, Redwood Tomb Peter Fuhrman, Cinematographer/DP 971-275-6264 www.peterfuhrman.com You're a talented writer Linda! I mean that. I've read dozens of screenplays from well known to unknown, and you have a talent. I also happen to love true crime stories. Anne Fair ACF Canyavotsaba We thoroughly enjoyed reading Redwood Tomb. It sustains interest throughout, and the dialogue and character development are excellent. We did read the brief scene you added at the end and agree that it is a very effective close.

Partial List of Writing Awards

Selected for inclusion by magazine “Eclectica” for its 30-year anthology of best writing First prize: The Writers Place Competition Current top 7% Coverfly ranking: Fast Fade Second Place: American Gem competition Top Ten Finalist: Bruce Geller Memorial Screenplay Competition Finalist: Eric Hoffer fiction competition (anthologized in Best New Writing 2011) Semifinalist: Table Read My Screenplay competition — Hollywood 2024 Semifinalist: Table Read My Screenplay competition — Park City (Sundance) 2024 Semifinalist: Creative Screenwriting Unique Voices Competition Semifinalist: Creative World Awards Short story anthologized in Modern Shorts: Fiction Attic Press

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