A Single Shot 2013

In the aftermath of his wife’s departure with their son, John Moon (played by) finds himself mired in a despairing existence on the rural West Virginia farm that has been in his family for generations. The once-thriving property was sold off by his father before he passed away, leaving John to scrape by and survive on scraps. His days are filled with the quiet desperation of hunting deer to feed himself, a grim reminder of his fallen circumstances.

It’s against this backdrop of poverty and isolation that John’s world is forever altered when, while illegally stalking prey on Nature Conservancy land, he accidentally takes the life of a young woman. As he struggles to come to terms with his actions, he stumbles upon a mysterious box containing $100,000 in an abandoned van where the girl was hiding. In a desperate attempt to cover his tracks, John conceals her body in a shipping container.

In the days that follow, John’s thoughts turn to reconciliation with his estranged wife. He reaches out to a local attorney, leaving him several hundred dollars as a token of good faith in hopes of negotiating their son’s return home. However, this gesture only serves to pique the lawyer’s interest and raise further suspicions.

As John visits his son at his wife’s apartment, he interrupts a compromising situation between the babysitter and a recently released convict who has returned home. The air is thick with tension as John exits, only to be confronted by a stranger who takes umbrage with his gaze.

John returns to his trailer, where he finds it in disarray, apparently ransacked by someone searching for the mysterious windfall. The dead girl’s body lies on his bed, accompanied by a chilling note that seems to be from beyond the grave. His wife arrives soon after, seeking to retrieve her belongings, but John refuses her entry, still reeling from the aftermath of his actions.

Desperate for answers, John pays a visit to the attorney, brandishing a pistol in an attempt to force him into revealing what he knows. However, all he learns is that his wife was growing increasingly concerned about the source of John’s newfound wealth and desires to speak with him.

As the days pass, John’s trailer becomes the focal point of a series of ominous events. A rock wrapped in a threatening note is hurled through his window, followed by the senseless killing of his loyal dog. It becomes clear that someone is targeting John and his family, leaving him no choice but to suspect the recently released convict who has been taunting him.

John’s investigation leads him to the motel room where he believes the ex-con might be hiding. However, his visit is interrupted by the stranger from outside the diner, who queries the ex-con about whether they’ve “gotten the money back.” The tension escalates as the ex-con reveals that the woman who had the money has since passed away, prompting the stranger to unleash a brutal vengeance upon the ex-con. John watches in horror as the man’s life is extinguished, but he manages to avoid detection and makes his escape.

As John returns home, he can’t shake the feeling that he is being watched, and the darkness that has consumed his world seems only to be growing more intense.

As John savored the warm gesture of a friendly local girl (perhaps Emily) who had brought him sustenance, the tranquil atmosphere was shattered by the blaring radio in his trailer. His instincts piqued, John ventured inside to investigate, his hand instinctively reaching for the reassuring grip of his pistol. The sudden scream that pierced the air outside only hastened his return, where he was met with a stark reality: the stranger had taken control of the unsuspecting girl. With no choice but to surrender his arsenal, John watched in horror as the stranger’s callous nature was revealed, the cold calculation behind their words chilling him to the bone. As the captive’s pleading eyes locked onto his, John knew he was forced to comply with the stranger’s demands, despite the anguish etched on his own face.

The stranger’s parting shot was a gruesome one: a brutal disfigurement that left John’s right index finger and thumb mangled and useless. With his capacity for self-defense significantly impaired, John retreated to his truck and retrieved a scoped rifle, a potent symbol of his unyielding determination to reclaim control. Despite the toll taken by his injuries, John’s resolve remained unwavering as he faced off against his tormentor in a battle that would ultimately prove fatal for the stranger.

As John tended to the aftermath of the violence, he took the shaken girl (Emily) to town and returned to the trailer, where a morbid discovery awaited him: a shed containing a freezer whose contents were all too familiar – the lifeless form of the dead woman. With a heavy heart, John dragged her body up the hill, digging a grave with shaking hands, his own vitality waning as he struggled against the loss of blood.

In a poignant moment of desperation, John pulled the girl’s (Emily) lifeless form into the hole beside him, only to look up and find himself face-to-face with a majestic deer, its gentle gaze a cruel reminder that even in death, some things remained untouched by humanity’s darkness.