EC Portfolio #2

In "Squeeze Play," a young man grappling with the consequences of a secret pregnancy turns desperate—and deadly—when he murders the girl by throwing her from a roller coaster car, her screams echoing through the ride. As the horrified passengers alert the police, he flees, burying his incriminating clothes beneath the beach’s boardwalk before attempting to escape with a group of girls who lure him into the surf, leaving him to drown when their boyfriends arrive.

In the tense aftermath of a hard-fought push, two Chinese mortar crewmen set a final trap for the advancing American troops—only to find their ambush misdirected when the wrong men trigger it. "Air Burst" unfolds with quiet dread, as the weight of war’s unintended consequences settles on the battlefield.

In "Let's Play Poison!", a haunted teacher returns to his classroom seven years after a tragic incident left him broken and bitter, now viewing his students as less than human. When he discovers children playing a game of poison on the sidewalk—using names as if they were gravestones—he becomes obsessed, screaming at any child who dares to hopscotch. Then, a skull appears outside his window, haunting him night after night. As his fear spirals, he confronts the children one final time—only to fall into a hidden excavation ditch, buried beneath the very pavement where the game is played. In the days that follow, the sidewalk remains untouched, its name "M. Howard R.I.P." quietly marked, while the children keep playing.

In 5th century China, Emperor Yuan is both awed and alarmed when he learns a villager has crafted a flying machine—a large kite with working wings. Fearful that such a device could let enemies soar over the Great Wall and threaten the kingdom, he orders the inventor executed and the machine destroyed.

In "Old Soldiers Never Die!", a grizzled veteran named Pappy Davidson tries to guide a group of inexperienced U.S. replacements through the harsh realities of war, where every mistake can be fatal. As the young soldiers fall one by one, only Caruso seems to grasp the lessons—until the war ends and he seeks out Pappy to share the news, only to find the old soldier has died in the final battle.