Ready Player One Movie - Entering Cleveland

Note: my treatment of the Ready Player One movie opening was posted on 12/11/2017.

The battered, much-repaired electric bus slides into the terminal, cutting off the OASIS connection and turning on all interior lights.  WADE is momentarily startled, then pulls off his goggles and gloves, packing them away carefully.  Everyone is gathering their belongings and shuffling off the bus.  WADE is still sitting looking a little overwhelmed.  He is clutching everything he has: his OASIS gear in his old Star Trek lunchbox and a patched backpack.  WADE finds and opening, stands and shuffles off.

Cleveland, exterior bus terminal.  WADE is buffeted around, but finally makes his way to an autocab.  He closes the door and puts his thumb on the cab's computer screen.

WADE     [name of the apartment building]

The cab lurches off and WADE watches the city go by.  It is much cleaner-looking and more lived-in than his hometown.  This is a technological mecca: a new Silicon Valley.  The people, however, don't look great.  Homeless are begging, and the workers don't look much better.  There are automated street cleaners, but the people are haggard.  The city begins to look more decrepit as they get closer to WADE'S new apartment.

The autocab stops in front of what clearly used to be an old Hilton.  It has visible security features.  WADE enters the first door and must give retinal and fingerprint scans before entering the next.  The security display clearly says, "Bryce Lynch, Apt. 4211" and the interior door releases.  WADE enters the next door, which seals shut behind him.  The apartment building still has hints of the hotel lobby though it is quiet and empty and utilitarian.  WADE presses the button for an elevator, taking it up to the 42nd floor.  WADE exits the elevator cautiously.  He hears some yelling and explosion sounds (from a computer game or movie).  The hallway is deserted, dingy, and unadorned.  He finally makes it to his apartment at the end of the hall, scans himself again and enters, the door sliding shut behind him.

The apartment is a single, empty room, freshly painted white, with a single overhead strip light in the middle.  There is a kitchenette with a bar counter to the left, a narrow rectangular window across from the short entry hall, and, on the right, a wall of yellowed plastic.  The plastic wall houses a modular shower and toilet unit, a laundry unit, a monitor with small speaker, and a small closet.  The doors on this wall are flush and are touch-open.  The inside of the shower and toilet are stainless steel.

WADE still clutches his lunchbox and backpack, looking rather young.  He looks out the window and starts to breathe heavily, beginning to cry.  Scrubbing his eyes with the back of one sleeve, WADE sits on the floor in the middle of the room and puts on his gloves and OASIS visor, giving his passcode and making purposeful gestures.