WORTHLESS: THE BROKEN LEG
=========================

Published: December 29, 2024
Author: Daniel Conderman
Context: Recovered story treatment from Conderman.Group
Original URL: https://conderman.group/2024/12/coming-soon-conderman-group-presents-worthless/


OPENING
-------

Setting: Rugged wilderness after a small plane crash.

Characters:

  * Maxwell Harrington, a wealthy CEO with a badly broken leg.
  * Sofia Tran, a pragmatic and resourceful outdoor guide.
  * Robin Alavez, an injured but still mobile volunteer EMT.
  * A handful of other survivors with different skills, social positions,
    and injuries.


CONFLICT
--------

The survivors are miles from civilization, without a cell signal and with
minimal rations. Maxwell demands immediate help. He promises money, cars,
and job promotions if the others will carry him to safety or summon rescue.
Food, water, and medical supplies are dangerously low.

Maxwell tries throwing literal cash at people to fetch water and firewood.
He offers lifetime financial security to anyone who will drag him along.
Each escalating bribe reveals his desperation.

Sofia urges the group to conserve its strength, build shelter, and make a
distress signal. Some survivors consider Maxwell's promises, especially
those with families at home. Robin warns that carrying him over rough ground
could consume the time and strength everyone needs to live.


THE TURNING POINT
-----------------

At dusk, the survivors gather around a small fire. Maxwell, pale and
sweating, begs to be carried to a ranger station rumored to be a few miles
away. He brandishes a wad of cash:

  "I will triple your salary -- whatever you earn. Just get me there. I
  have more money than you can imagine!"

Sofia finally snaps:

  "Don't you get it? Your money is worthless out here! We can't buy our way
  out of a landslide or feed ourselves with dollar bills. You think you can
  still control us with paychecks and perks, but we're all stuck with the
  same fate -- and if we waste our last strength on you, we all die!"


AFTERMATH
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The group splits. Some cling to Maxwell's promises, hoping to collect later;
others side with Sofia and concentrate on a signal fire and safe water. A
risky trek or failed helicopter rescue leaves their plan exposed to storm,
wildfire, hypothermia, and compounding injuries.

Maxwell's broken leg makes him helpless, and his would-be carriers cannot
sustain the effort. The survivors are ultimately lost to the environment,
with no difference in outcome between the wealthy and working-class members
of the group.


THEMATIC NOTES
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Money becomes dead weight: Maxwell's bills drift away in the wind or soak in
the rain. Physical reality dissolves the old power structure. Collaboration,
skill, and selflessness matter more than status, though even those qualities
may not overcome the survivors' circumstances.

The word "worthless" is the dramatic pivot. It breaks the illusion of
monetary power and turns Maxwell's decline from arrogant mogul to desperate
beggar into a miniature version of the proposed anthology's larger theme.