Chapter 7

The screenplay that Amanda Mickelson had in her hands had shocked her, but it had also intrigued her as well. The dystopian fantasy was the darkest script she had ever read or even heard about by far. Given the direction of the movie industry since the Great Famine, that was saying a lot.

She had read a lot of scripts in the last few years, and some of the ‘modern day horror classics’, which were nothing more than old sexploitation films in new shiny packages, were simply pointless wastes of time. Her agent helped her parse them, and she picked good projects to work on with her help.

But this was something else. The Darkness Of Mankind was the kind of project that would certainly extract her from the stereotype she had been typecast in since her Disney movie days. She’d had a few serious adult roles, but nothing that made her stand apart from those days.

She was just worried about the subject matter impacting her in a negative way. It dealt with some pretty gruesome stuff –terminations (killings) ordered for random female citizens not accused of any crime, government-regulated cannibalism, and other things that were all meant to stave off a famine coming to the fictional people of the USA and the world in the story.

The first time she read through it, especially the scene where the lead character was killed, cut up, and roasted over a massive cooking grill for a neighborhood block party, gave her goosebumps and made her wet. She had no idea why her body had responded that way, but a conversation with her therapist (in general terms so she didn’t violate the NDA that had accompanied the script, not an unusual occurance these days) had explained the fight-or-flight instinct and the concept of arousal non-concordance in all humans that made her feel that way.

Amanda had turned twenty-two a few months back, and she knew she had a naïve view of the world. She had grown up on the sets of the various movies and television shows on which she had been an actor since she was discovered at seven. Such a limited world view had stunted her growth, emotionally.

It was a topic that she had spent many hours talking through with her therapist, something she had been under court order to do for two years when she was sixteen from an incident when she had been arrested for drunk driving. Luckily, she had not injured a single soul, but the fallout had been bad enough. She’d lost her show, and had spent a year in Betty Ford, the Home for Wayward Actors, as some of the denizens of the expensive facility had called it.

But she’d found when she was no longer required to go that she missed it, and the support it gave her. So, she found another therapist that was more appropriate for an actor that had just turned eighteen, and she had quickly bonded with the woman who became her closest supporter. They weren’t friends. It was a strictly professional, but very close, working relationship.

She had put a lot of hard work into rehabilitating her image and getting her career back on track. Giving up alcohol had been much easier for than the staff at the clinic had expected. They were convinced that she was in denial, and her claiming that it was ‘only that one time’ was more of the same – a refusal to admit she had a problem. The problem was, it actually was her first time drinking anything at all when she decided she was sober enough to drive herself away from the party in search of more booze and some food to wash it down, as she’d told the officer that had pulled her over.

Once her friends had been interviewed and had all expressed their shock that their strait-laced friend had even had one drink, let alone enough to get that plastered, it began to come out that she was a deeply sheltered young woman who had slipped her mother’s close control long enough to get to a party and break loose.

Since that horrible day six years ago, after her stint in rehab and a lot of community service, along with a hefty fine, she had done the impossible. She had resumed her career. Three movies and a short-run television series (cancelled due to budget cuts which had nothing to do with her performance on or off screen) had come and gone, and she was viewed as someone who could be depended on to work hard and give solid, good, nuanced performances that were close to earning her some trophies. And most importantly, she would not cause any off-screen issues for a studio to have to clean up.

She knew she was beautiful. There were a hundred magazine articles and tens of thousands of web pages that proclaimed her to be one of the most beautiful females on the planet. At five foot seven inches tall and just over one hundred thirty pounds, with flawless skin and complexion, natural blonde hair, emerald-green eyes, a slight olive color to her skin from an Italian ancestor a few generations back, and perfect facial structure, she was, as one of the cruder websites said, the ultimate male fantasy. And, that same website had gone on to say that if she were to be filmed au natural, or even more, actually having hardcore sex with a handsome male partner, “would be the ultimate deposit in the bank of spank” (something that was very common in the modern era; many mainstream actors had been doing for a decade now what would have once been considered career-ending – explicit, unsimulated sex scenes, which was quite accepted after all the years of things getting more explicit every year).

But it took more than beauty to make it in Hollywood. She was a hard worker, a dedicated craftswoman who honed her craft constantly, taking any acting classes she could get, going to any seminar she could find, studying any interviews with other actors and directors, always trying to pick up skills and ideas on how she could be better at what she chose to do for a living.

Acting was an empty, shallow profession, though. Long since estranged from the few remaining members of her family because of her past, she was all alone in her work, while still looking out for something that she hadn’t had yet – a solid relationship with a worthwhile guy she could call her own. Not that the skewed male/female birth ratio helped that. She was part of the generation that only saw one in twenty babies being born male.

Now she was waiting with her agent and her lawyer to speak with the representative of the people funding the project, and hopefully convince them that she was perfect for the part.

Sharra just shook her head. She had no idea that she would be meeting with Amanda Mickelson. The young starlet had been through some tough times of her own making a few years ago and had pulled herself together admirably afterwards. Now, she was one of the most sought-after actors in her age range for certain types of roles. She wondered if this was going to work at all, given what she had to work with. She was certain that the material alone was going to be the turn-off for the young woman known mostly for light, fluffy material that was about as far from whatever this was going to be called when it hit the screen. And that was also another unknown – whether it going to be on the big screen, or as a made-for-television movie.

Given that the director they had managed to get for this, Gilda Rasmussen, was known for her normally hard-edged, more challenging works, this was certainly going to be an R-rated feature (or higher), or TV-MA on the small screen. A lot was going to be decided by how much the FCC was going to let them show.

Gilda had been read into the entire purpose behind the project, and the reasons for it. She had initially strenuously objected to being involved, but that had changed when she was able to read through the science and projections the population specialists had put together for President Melville. Like everyone else, she had been appalled by the idea of forced termination for population growth control. But even the same knowledge everyone else in the country had access to, she knew that something was going to happen in the future, and it wasn’t going to be good.

The problems with crop yields were well known and discussed frequently in the news, as was the government’s actions to step in and cap price increases. The choice was between allowing the open market and the forces of supply and demand to set pricing or moving to a stronger level of direct regulation of pricing and rationing. The supply and demand approach tended to price goods out of reach for as much as half the population. That worked with goods and services that were not critical to life and health, but food was a different proposition altogether.

Gilda Rasmussen was an incredibly intelligent person, with a tested IQ that clearly identified her as a genius. She was also logical, practical and pragmatic, and that made her someone who was not to be underestimated. After her initial Friday visit with Sharra, who to her shock and discomfort found herself running the entire movie project pretty much by herself at first, Gilda had gone away troubled and angry. But the following Monday, she had shown up at their next meeting focused and determined to find a way to avoid killing seventeen percent of all eighteen-year-old girls on their birthday. If that meant one percent were converted for regulated cannibalism, damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead.

Gilda was expectedly planning to show a CGI-version of the termination the character that Mickelson was up to play. CGI could make it look almost exactly like they killed Kara, the name of the character, and cut up her body after gutting her corpse. No CGI was perfect. There was something about it that still twigged the subconscious mind, letting it know that something wasn’t quite right, wasn’t quite real, about the scene in front of them.

Gilda had viewed the very clear, very high-resolution video recording of the termination of Yin Xiulan, and while she was appalled after seeing it to learn that it really happened and was not CGI, she was beginning to understand the importance of what she was being asked to do. It probably had never happened that a fictional movie was being used to introduce something as horrific as the organized, legalized, and regulated killing and eating of people for the purpose of population control and as a food source.

Gilda had been adamant that she would have nothing to do with the feature when the initial presentation to try to bring her into the project had included the real reason why it was being done in the first place. But she was signed to the non-disclosure agreement, and they had told her the real reason why they were doing this, complete with someone from the Department of Justice explain what would happen if they didn’t do it.

In the end, the Academy Award-winning director had signed on, but with the demand that they ‘do it right’, and not make a mess of another propaganda film. Otherwise, it would be, in her words, ‘another fucked up political shit-show and a complete waste of everyone’s time that would make things as bad as they could possibly be.’ So, she had demanded a lot of latitude to do it the best way she could, in order to really sell the message. And they gave it to her, but with final veto on everything she did, including casting decisions.

Conversations quickly moved to filling in the holes that would be needed, such as casting the right people in the various roles. There were nine characters that would have significant dialog that needed good actors to portray. There were also another seventy-five or so lesser roles to fill, including those without speaking parts.

But the most significant role was to be the lead, Kara. Gilda had told them her dream actor for that role was Amanda Mickelson. She had wanted to work with Amanda in the past, but nothing had ever presented her with the opportunity. Still, she was hopeful she could convince the talented, young, up and coming actor that her contribution would be greatly appreciated.

Now Sharra turned to look at Gilda as they were about to enter the private conference room, and Gilda turned to look at her with a smile as they were about to reach the door.

“Do you think we can get her onboard?”

“We’ll have to see,” came the reply from the multiple award-winning director. “It’s anyone’s guess at this point. Otherwise, there is a list of good actors that could do it as long as you can imagine. We’ll find someone, Sharra. It’s just a matter of time. Which, I know, is in very short supply. I want to have filming and editing wrapped up within nine months, much less if we can pull it off. It helps that your boss is plowing the way to get everything setup and ready for us. I have it on good information that people have moved heaven and earth on this, and casting is pretty much done except for a few at the top.”

“Good. Shall we?”

The door opened, and Amanda almost choked when Gilda Frickin’ Rasmussen walked in. She shot a wide-eyed glance at her agent, who was almost as shocked as her client. Then they both turned back and steeled themselves. ‘This was going to be a challenge’, Amanda thought to herself.

“Glad you could make it here, Ms. Mickelson. For the sake of manners, I am Gilda Rasmussen, and I will be directing and producing this project. This is Sharra Anderson. She represents the people funding the project, and as such, she is involved in everything. But don’t let that scare you away. I’ve worked with her since I was approached, and she is not another Hollywood Head Case. She’s good people.”

Sharra had the decency to blush at the praise, but she nodded a greeting to the young star. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Mickelson. I so enjoy your work.”

“Thank you! I’m happy to meet you. And it’s truly an honor to meet you, Ms. Rasmussen. Wow, it’s so cool that you are running this project.” Amanda laughed lightly.

“Well, the honor is all mine, Ms. Mickelson. You are an exceedingly talented young star, and you will definitely be raking in every kind of award available within the decade, I expect.” Gilda smiled, hoping that she could pull this off. She was perfect, she decided. Even more beautiful in person, with a personality that just shined like the sun.

“Oh, call me Amanda, please. And thank you. I work very hard to do well on screen and to not be a problem off screen. It’s important we all are on the same page, especially in a project that is as dark as this one.”

“Amanda, call me Gilda. And I am sure that Sharra will be okay with first names as well.”

“Of course,” Sharra interjected.

“Now, on to business. When I accepted this project, I started putting together a dream cast list for this. We have most of the roles filled, with a couple of exceptions. The lead is still not set, which is the role you would fill if you come on board, as well as a couple of others with lots of dialog. But we are pretty set, otherwise. For the Kara role, though, you were at the top of my list. We need someone who comes across as the girl next door, someone everyone can relate to. You are all that in spades.

“Do you have any comments or questions about the role or the project?”

Amanda outwardly steeled herself, but inside, her little girl-side was screaming and jumping up and down. ‘Careful, girl. You don’t wanna to scare them off. Focus!’ she said silently.

“It’s a very dark subject matter. I mean, government-regulated and forced cannibalism? Whoa. That is very ... I don’t know that there are words for that. Still, there are some precedents. Soylent Green is the most similar and relevant, I think. That was, well, I don’t think you can say it was very well received. Lots of people were upset and offended by that. If this goes where I think it will go, many more will be upset. I think you will have to make sure that the lead character, the first of millions, as the script says, is very relatable to the viewers. Go for the painful but ultimately acceptable angle, right? Am I that person? I don’t think I’m the right one to answer that. You won’t know unless and until you put me up on screen and show it to everyone. But I certainly want to find out. I want this role.”

Amanda sat back, shocked inside that she had talked so much. She felt that she was babbling, as she did when she was anxious. Her therapist had helped her with methods to control it somewhat, and it helped. She employed one of those methods now, to try to help herself out, by sitting back and folding her hands in her lap with a smile.

“I am glad you said that. The role is yours, pending on getting all the details worked out. You certainly have the acting skills and experience to take the role where it needs to go. But we need to provide you with some more information before you go further. This may cause you to back out, but I won’t have you get into this with your eyes closed. Before we can do that, though you and your people need to sign some non-disclosure agreements, and everyone needs to understand the penalties for violating them.”

Amanda looked at her agent in confusion, then at her lawyer. Neither of them had ever experienced this either, as was evidenced by the looked she got back.

“If you sign the NDAs, you will be read in fully on what is going on. If you decide that this is something you do not want to be a part of, we will certainly understand, and part ways with you, no hard feelings. I would be honored to work with you in the future on other projects, if it works out for both of us, even if this one is not that project. But you can’t talk about this if you walk away.”

Sharra handed over the documents to the lawyer to look over, then sat back. She and Gilda had discussed this, and both had decided that it was too important to try to hide the situation from the stars of the film. If one of them found out later why this was being done and was unhappy enough to want out of the project, the delays would be catastrophic. That was why they weren’t telling Amanda and her people the names of the other cast members yet. Some had signed the NDAs, then walked away when the truth was presented to them.

The lawyer looked it over and handed copies to Amanda and her agent.

“Looks good. Whomever put this together knew what they’re doing. Violating the directives in this would cause you significant consequences. But that is neither here nor there if you just keep this in confidence. There is nothing in there that will keep you from walking away from the project later. That will be in the services contract later, I am sure. I am comfortable with you signing, if you want to go forward.”

Amanda nodded. It was unusual, but she still felt this was the role of a lifetime, with a dream director. “I’m in. Elle?”

Amanda’s agent looked at the legal document in front of her. “I am not one to sign these. I get the need, of course, but I feel that these are too restrictive on what I do. I need to be able to represent my client’s best interests, and this is a roadblock to that. Will my not signing this cause a problem for my client?”

Sharra shook her head. They had discussed what to do if one of the other members of Amanda’s party didn’t sign. It was decided that the non-signer would be escorted to the entry door of the building, and she would be kept waiting there until the discussions were completed. It would make things more complicated, though, especially for Amanda to not have everyone inside the circle.

“You should reconsider. This will be a difficult project. She will need every bit of her support around her. And not signing this will not prevent you from doing your usual exceptional work for your client. Signing only means you will just not be able to discuss this with anyone until some months after release of the project to the public. Then you will be able to say whatever you want.”

Elle thought about it, and Amanda reached over and put her hand on top of her agent and friend’s hand.

“It will make it easier for me to have you inside on this.”

Elle was about to refuse, but something in Amanda’s eyes changed her mind, and she nodded.

Signatures were collected on the appropriate forms, with everything notarized, since Sharra had that capability, then the forms were put back in the folder they had come from, which was slid back into Sharra’s shoulder bag.

“Okay, a new introduction for me. I am Sharra Anderson with the US Marshal’s service, on special assignment to the President of the United States for special tasking.” She pulled her badge and credentials out from her bag and passed the wallet they were in over to the lawyer, who frowned and looked them over, before nodding and handing them back.

“The information you are about to be provided is classified top secret, code word compartmentalized. Everything I have said from the moment you signed the NDAs is covered by that NDA, and you will keep it to yourselves and not reveal it to anyone for any reason, including that everything about this project is classified.

“You are being trusted with this information because we need to work with you. But the consequences to you for leaking this information to anyone not authorized specifically to know the information will include, at a minimum, twenty years in a federal prison. If you wish to remove yourself from the room and to not be read into the information that I am about to provide, you are free to do so. However, you will still be under the terms of the NDA, and you will be expected to keep this a secret. Do any of you wish to end the discussion and leave the room at this time?”

Amanda shook her head, but her mind was racing. She had a suspicion about why the government was involved but wanted to wait until she heard it from Sharra and Gilda.

Likewise, Corinne, Amanda’s lawyer, shook her head. She had a responsibility to her client, and she would stay no matter what.

Amanda was convinced that Elle would run, but she stayed. “Hell, why not. In for a penny, in for a pound.”

“Okay, thank you, ladies. The truth is, we are facing a famine of what some would call biblical proportions in about fifteen to twenty years. If we don’t do something, something drastic, a huge number of people will die, and not just in our country. There will be a lot of deaths everywhere when the world goes to war for whatever resources are left.

“Climate change has reduced the food supply and will continue to do so. Diseases like what has savaged our livestock in this country will continue to get worse. We barely have enough food to feed our population enough to stave off the worst effects of starvation with our current population.

“And yet, the male/female birth rate disparity requires that every female capable of doing so get pregnant as we try to add males to the population. That will cause the population to grow out of control in the coming years.

“There really are only three options. One, do nothing. The projections are that half the world’s population will die of starvation within thirty years, and the rest will end up in a world without civilization. Think dystopia, but worse than anything you can imagine. Terminator movies, zombie movies, but worse because we will all be living, and dying, in it. Overall estimates of the loss of human life look to be somewhere around ninety-three percent.

“Two, we can euthanize seventeen percent of the entire child-bearing female population in the next two years, then continue to do so on as each successive generation reaches their eighteenth birthday in an effort to cut the population curve way back, all the while encouraging every female in the country to get pregnant to try to find as many boy babies as we can to keep the gene pool from becoming interbred.”

Sharra paused as the first two options and the results of them sunk in.

Amanda was trying to get her head around it, but it was difficult. Killing off people to prevent a greater disaster? That was ... words failed her. Then she realized where this all was going. It was the basis of the screenplay, after all.

“So, the third option is to go with regulated cannibalism, right? That way we are adding to the food supply while reducing the number of mouths to feed, the number of mothers, the numbers of future generations? The script referred to blunting the population curve. Is this really what the President’s people think will save the world? We are only one nation. How do we get India and China onboard? That’s where the most people are.”

“China is ... already on board. They actually presented this to our ambassador to the UK. China has said they will find a way to compel India into this, even if they have to invade and do it themselves. Most of Europe is making noises that they will do this as well. They really don’t have any choice. None of us do. Russia is making noises about option two, but the Russian mindset is much different than the rest of the world. If you’re not suffering, you’re not a real Russian, apparently.” Sharra made a sour face. Russia was a pariah since the early 2020s and their ill-fated adventure into Ukraine, where their military forces and technology turned out to be about as effective as a screen door on a submarine.

Amanda spoke up again. “Okay, I can understand that. Well, everything except Russia. They are seriously going to round up millions of people and just kill them? Then kill millions more on their eighteenth birthdays? What, are they going to just haul a truck around, grab girls from their birthday parties, shoot them, toss their dead bodies in the back, and go next door? Lather, rinse, repeat?” She shook her head. “That’ll go over well.”

Sharra tried not to laugh, but it was a challenge. “Good point.”

“Yeah, I can see it. If the data is real, and the situation is real, this is the only real option to do something about it. I have to wonder, if the threat is that significant, if one percent of eligible girls and women per year is enough to stave off starvation. It sounds low.”

“It may be low. If that is the case, the numbers will be adjusted upwards. The thing is, we know that getting selectee numbers up to the one percent threshold will be a challenge, logistically. And we know that the biggest hurdle will be getting people adjusted to consuming ... the new food source.”

“That’s where this movie comes in, I bet. You are going to try to normalize it this way by showing it in a movie as the only viable option, first.”

“Yes, you are correct.”

Amanda thought about it, and decided this was a worthy project, in spite of how uneasy it made her. The thought of eating meat from another human was truly icky. Being pragmatic herself, though, a trait she picked up in therapy those years ago where she learned to face hard truths and not run away from them, made it hard to turn away from the reality staring down at humanity.

“I’m in. When do we start? What are the time pressures on this?”

“Well, first your lawyer needs to look over the contract, and get everything squared away in that area. Once that is signed, we can continue things at that point.”

“Pretty standard industry wording?” Corinne asked.

“Yes, but with some additional wording because you are entering into a contract with the Federal government.”

“Understandable. Shoot it over to my email and I will look it over. You have that on file already.”

“Got it. That will be coming to you in the next hour.”

“Amanda, welcome to the team.” Gilda stood and extended her hand across the table, and Amanda stood and shook it, a big smile on her face.

“I suppose awards hardware is probably not a consideration on this one, right? Different goals?”

Gilda laughed as the handshake ended.

“Yeah, you could say that, although we are going to do the best we can to sell the story the right way. It has to be done right or we make things worse. Every opportunity to do things the right way will be attempted. People will be giving their all in this one. Your work ethic will fit right in. Don’t think you need to take everything on yourself, though. Everyone will have their role to fill.”

“Works for me.”

The meeting broke up, and Amanda was chewing something over in her mind as they walked back to their limousine.

“Everything alright, Amanda? You look pretty preoccupied.” Elle asked, concern for her young client clearly written on her face.

“Oh, I’m good. Just thinking about the project. It will be interesting.”

“Agreed. This will be a first. I doubt anyone has ever tried something like this. Just make sure that if things are getting to be too much, you make time for yourself to talk with your therapist. She has done a world of good with you, and I don’t want this to harm you.”

Amanda wrapped up her agent in a quick one-armed hug before ducking into the open door the chauffer held open for her. The agent and the lawyer followed, and soon enough they were headed back home as the A-list celebrity, and one of the most beautiful women in the world, tried to figure out what was causing the frisson of uncomfortable feelings and sensations that were running through the back of her mind like dark shadows in the corner of your eye.

It was only three days later that Sharra got a call from Corinne, Amanda’s lawyer, telling her that the legal paperwork was signed and filed, and the lead actor was locked in.

Five days later, the last of the other roles was filled, and within a week, filming began on the massive sound stage rented and secured for the project. Set construction had been ongoing for months, so everything was ready long before casting was complete. All that was left was getting work in the can, so to speak.