After losing her parents in an attempt to reach quarantine a teenage girl takes refuge in a hidden valley. She is discovered by a man that attacks her taking what she has, plunging her into a fight for her life against him and the approaching winter.

SYNOPSIS:

Sara is in her late teens; she stands on a balcony looking out over a dead city. She mourns the city and the safety it once held for her. Sara and her parents are the sole inhabitants of a city destroyed by a pandemic. Mum is suffering from a degenerative lung disease that is forcing them to head for quarantine before winter sets in. Sara looks after her Mum while Dad scavenges in the city.

On the first day of the trip they are forced to abandon their car. They start walking hoping to find a replacement vehicle. They come across a deserted town littered with bodies. They find evidence of a survivor. They investigate and are ambushed by the infected man. Dad attempts to get away but is forced to shoot. The infected man is killed. Sara is horrified.

Late in the afternoon they find another town. Due to their previous encounter and Mum’s health, Dad goes in alone. In the town Dad is infected and dies the next day. Sara and Mum are devastated. Due to the risk of infection they cannot touch him. They are forced to leave his body where it lies.

Sara and Mum continue heading west. Their progress is slow due to Mum’s failing health. The following day they discover an abandon caravan in a valley. Searching the location Sara sees the previous owner hanging from a tree. Sara cuts him down. Still sad from having to leave Dad’s body where it laid, they carefully and respectfully place the hanged man’s body in a nearby river. Amongst the items in the caravan there is a crossbow. Sara attempts hunting with little success. She loses a rabbit to a pack of wild dogs. They decide to stay and wait out winter in the valley. Sara makes a “smiley face” sign telling people they are in the valley. It reads “People, Here, Safe”. She puts it up on the road above the valley.

The hanged man had a journal, in which he describes the failure of quarantine. Hearing this news Mum loses all hope; she blames herself for Dad’s death. She knows it is only a matter of time. She believes she is just using up food and water and reducing Sara’s chances of survival. Mum commits suicide.

Sara falls into a depression believing she may be the last person on earth. This is when Don discovers her. Don does not trust Sara.

Don tells Sara about uninfected communities, towns that have survived. Don has the information stored in a Satellite GPS. Sara is keen to leave. Don wants to trade this information for Dad’s gun. Don and Sara argue over the gun. Sara grabs Don’s Satellite GPS triggering a struggle. Sara unintentionally shoots Don with her crossbow. She flees the caravan wearing only pants and a t-shirt.

Wounded, Don shoots at Sara as she escapes into the forest. By taking the GPS Sara has trapped Don in the valley. He needs the GPS to navigate the infected towns and recover items he has hidden during his travels.

Sara is freezing and has cut her feet fleeing from Don. Regardless Sara uses Don’s GPS to try and leave the valley.

Don traps her forcing her back into the Valley. The following morning Don ambushes Sara down by the river, where she drops her crossbow. She escapes and takes this opportunity to break into the caravan and get some clothes and supplies. Don has taken everything; she finds nothing of use. Sara is cornered; Don and Sara grapple, Don’s wounds reduce his fighting ability and Sara manages to escape. Don chases her into the forest where she hides. He tells Sara to bring back his GPS. She tells him to drop the gun. He realises the direction of her voice and gives chase. Unable to catch her Don heads back to the caravan.

As night falls Sara builds a lean-to as protection from the cold. Desperately hungry Sara eats wild mushrooms. Poisoned, she passes out. Don finds her thinking she has died from the disease. He heads back to the caravan concerned for his own health.

Sara recovers the following morning. She attempts to leave again before the battery in the GPS dies. Sara retrieves two arrows stuck in a tree from her practice. While leaving Sara trips one of Don’s traps. Don hears it. He rushes to Sara’s lean-to, she has gone. The battery dies, Sara returns to the valley rather than risk the open wilderness.

Don finds Sara sneaking back into the valley and chases her; a wild dog attacks Don, Sara escapes. Sick, Sara limps back to the caravan. Hiding Sara sees Don is burning her things. He reads Mum’s suicide note taunting Sara. A defeated Sara retrieves Don’s GPS from its hiding place. Sara returns, everything is burning and Don is gone.

In the morning Sara returns to survey the damage. Sick and defeated the arrows drop from Sara’s hand as she limps towards to smoking remains of her caravan. Don has left her crossbow hanging from the remaining doorframe, but no arrows. Sara is transfixed by the devastation. Don appears from the trees. He manages to get close before Sara realises he is approaching. Sara tries to run but can only limp away, Don easily catches her. They struggle; Sara manages to hit Don with her crossbow.

She heads into the forest, she recovers her arrows and hides. Don casually walks down in the direction Sara headed. He is unaware she has arrows. Don says that he is going to wait her out. He is going to wait for the winter or starvation to get her. He is going to get his GPS once the dogs finish picking her bones.

Sara knows he is unrelenting; she has no choice. An arrow smacks Don in the throat then a second in the chest. Don falls to the ground.

Sara runs down and picks up the gun. Don’s body shifts under its own weight, she pulls the trigger as a reflex, click (empty). Sara drops the gun devastated that she has killed an unarmed man (echoing back to the actions of her Dad, which she was horrified by).

She finds Don’s backpack and goes through it looking for clothes. While preparing to leave she sees pictures of his family pre-apocalypse. She goes back and puts Don in the river and leaves the valley.

As Sara passes the “smiley face” sign she pulls out a pen and changes the words. She has crossed out “Here” and added and “Un”. It now reads “People Unsafe”.

We stay focused on Sara’s back as she walks off towards the first town.

THE VALLEY