The Last Contestant – Episode 4: “Four Nights At Buddy’s”
Opening Scene: Rudy’s Practice
(INT. Rudy’s backyard – Dusk)
Rudy punches and kicks at a makeshift training dummy made of pool noodles and duct tape. She’s focused, sweating, controlled. A firecracker pops in the distance—she flinches, stumbles.
Her fists tighten.
Rudy (quietly): “Still not over it…”
She takes out a notebook. Writes.
Narration (her voice): “Day 28 in Happy Town. Training progress: moderate. Flashbacks: occasional. Trust level: 4/10. The town still hides too many secrets… but so do I.”
Cut to: Text message being sent.
DAD [texting back]:
“I’m proud of you. And remember—don’t forget to tap on the desk at least 10 times today.. or else you’ll… ya’know.”
Scene 2: Princess Makes a Royal Announcement
(INT. Town Hall – Day)
Everyone gathers. Princess stands on a podium with fireworks inexplicably going off inside the building.
Princess (megaphone): “Effective immediately: Everyone over 18 must get a job! For economy! For responsibility! For tax write-offs I don’t fully understand!”
Stix: “I already have a job. It’s called being handsome. Later Newbs..”
Princess: “Denied. You’re a part-time menace at best. You’re now a farmer!! Get back to work, all of you!!!
She extends her arm to a ungodly level at Stix.
Princess: “NOW.”
Everyone in town groans.
Quibble (raising hand): “I’m skilled in sandwich whispering and cryptid negotiation.”
Princess (ignoring): “Unemployed folks report to me. I got just the place…”
She points at Rudy, Quibble (And Skully), Zora and Wade.
Princess: “Make money. Get happy! It’s like I’m your dad!”
Zora: “Oh yeah? In a box?”
Princess: “I’m… gonna pretend you didn’t say that!! Now..”
She twists and bends in a cartoony way.
Scene 3: Welcome to Buddy’s
(EXT. BUDDY’S FAMILY PIZZERIA – NIGHT 1)
Flickering neon. Torn mascot banners. One animatronic peeking out the window. Music box melody playing very slightly off-key.
Zora (flat): “Oh, great. This is totally not how people die in horror movies…”
Wade (as a puddle): “I’m leaking with dread.”
Princess (handing out uniforms): “Your job is simple: don’t let anything leave the building. Especially not the animatronics.”
Quibble: “…Wait. They move?”
Princess: “I didn’t say that. But I didn’t not say that.”
Zora: “Wha—but—that’s.. no—WHAAT??!!”
Scene 4: Night One Begins
(INT. Security Office – Night 1)
The group sits inside a dusty office with a dozen camera monitors. Labeled buttons read “LOCK DOOR,” “SHOCK,” “LAUGH TRACK,” and “FLAMETHROWER (DO NOT TOUCH).”
Rudy: “Everyone take a corner. We survive the night. Easy. I’ve worked these nights before..”
Wade: “Woah… Rudy seems like she’s done this before..”
Rudy: “Nah.. I used to be in war.. so I had to come up with a few… errr.. let’s keep going..!”
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Animatronic (on cam):
[Buddy the Bunny blinks.]
Zora: “Did it just blink?”
Camera Monitor: BUDDY IS GONE
Quibble: “WHO TOOK HIM?!”
Rudy: “HE TOOK HIMSELF!”
Cut to hallway—Buddy twitching unnaturally.
Buddy (glitching voice): “??HAAAPPYYYY BIRTHDAAAYY, NOOOO ONE…??”
Zora: “FUCK YOU BUDDYY—!!!”
4:00am
Rudy: “Ah, we can go home now..”
Quibble: “Neat!”
Scene 5: The Breakdown (Night 2)
(INT. Buddy’s – Night 2)
Everyone’s cracked.
Zora is making Molotovs with soda and rubbing alcohol.
Wade has sunk into a soda machine and refuses to come out.
Quibble is trying to reason with the animatronics like a marriage counselor.
Quibble: “Buddy, you’re not a monster. You just need therapy and maybe a battery change!”
Buddy lunges.
Quibble (running): “YOU NEED JESUS!”
He ran inside the office as Rudy kicked the animatronic through a wall. They close the door, now safe.
Quibble: “Woah… you’re… pretty..”
Rudy: “Huh?”
Quibble: “I uh!! Said.. that kick was amazing!”
Rudy: “Oh—thanks, I’ve been trained to learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu before.. I’ve also been in the army, so yeah, I use guns.. a lot… of… the time…”
Quibble: “I… I’m not good with feelings, but.. have you ever had someone to make you smile before?”
Rudy: “Well.. yeah.. of course I did! Heh… I’m just, sometimes afraid to speak up… and I’ve never been able to pay attention to things much or get outside the house—I meant.. uhh.. life’s been good! Always has been..!”
Quibble: “You know… I wasn’t always like this… I think.. and my name isn’t even Quibble, it’s— Oh hey! Buddy’s gone!”
Rudy: “Let’s do this..”
Scene 6: The Theater Room (Night 3)
(INT. Puppet Theater Room)
They enter a room filled with broken marionettes. One animatronic—Mr. Jingles—is frozen in a pose of permanent laughter. Until—
Rudy: “Wait… why is he—?”
Mr. Jingles: “HAAHAAHAHHHHH!!!”
Mr. Jingles ran across 5 kilometers in 0.05 seconds, breaking the sound barrier nearly 300 times over — a blur faster than thought, faster than thunder. The four of them ran back into the office, except Wade who hid in a small crack in the wall.
Wade: “OH HELL NAH”
Lights flicker red. Laughter echoes. Strings fly like nooses.
Zora (grabbing Rudy): “Nope. We’re not dying in the Sesame Street version of Saw—“
Zora: “Damn… so, who wants to kiss?”
Quibble: “LOOK GUYS!”
Rudy: “What is it, Quibble..?”
He turns around eating a death cap mushroom.
Quibble: “Nah… nevermind.”
Rudy: “Uh—“
Scene 7: Final Night
(INT. Control Room – Night 4)
The group is cornered. All animatronics active. Cameras dead. Electricity fluctuating.
Rudy (battle-ready): “Time to turn off the cameras… and fight like real characters in a novel.”
Standoff:
Rudy martial arts kicks a robot in slow-motion.
Zora stabs one with a lightning rod she made from old signs.
Quibble rides a pizza cart into one like a jousting knight.
Wade melts under the floor and short-circuits the entire building.
Wade (reforming): “Security detail… completed.”
The Animatronics start to grow angry, Mr. Jingles ran towards Zora, just for her to teleport out the way—making it burst through the thick brick wall.
Mr. Jingles: “AHHHHH—…”
Buddy was then torn apart by Rudy herself, Zora joined in—cracking the thick shell of its skin. Wade then finished the job by tossing it outside 81 kilometers.
They celebrate and spat on the remains of Buddy.
Zora: “AHAHAHAHAHA!!”
Quibble: “Ugh… now that we survived 4 nights at Buddy’s—I can remove my head!!”
he removes his head off his body and jumps into the puddle on the floor.
Rudy: “Wait—we can do that when..?”
Wade: “Anytime, duh.”
Scene 8: The Aftermath
(INT. Outside Buddy’s – Morning)
Princess arrives in a golf cart.
Princess: “You survived all four nights? Huh. I didn’t think you would.”
Rudy (bruised): “We nearly died… for what?”
Princess: “Well, technically, the building’s now haunted and insured. Win-win!”
Quibble: “I have PTSD. Pizza Traumatized Soul Disorder.”
Rudy: “That’s not funn—“
Zora (smiling): “We should totally do it again.”
Wade: “I’m filing a lawsuit… on behalf of my molecules!! Who the hell thought that was a good idea?!”
Princess: “Heheh… Me.”
Camera slowly zooms out.
Stix is back and successfully tricked a bunch of talented business men into buying his crops for a golden apple worth 3 trillion Earth Bucks! He’s so mischievous…
FINAL SHOT: Post-Credit Scene
(INT. Buddy’s Basement)
A lone animatronic eye blinks red.
Whispers: “Buddy’s… not done…”
