Alien Nation Page #20

INT. WAREHOUSE - APPROACHING STAIRS - NIGHT

Jetson moves among the dark nooks and crannies, comes to a

set of stairs leading to an upper floor. The top of the

stairs is pitch black. Jetson adjusts his grip on the

shotgun, slowly starts up the stairs.

INT. WAREHOUSE - AT FISH NETS - NIGHT

Sykes comes to rack upon rack of drying fish nets, hanging

from the ceiling. He has no alternate route -- he begins

pushing through them.

SYKES' POV - MOVING THROUGH FISH NETS

Because of the dimness, he can't see much beyond each rack

of nets immediately before him. He keeps wading through

-- it's like a house of mirrors, he can't tell now much

farther he has to go to get out of the nets, and the

deeper in he gets, the harder it would be to go back the

way he came. He pushes past one particular rack of nets

and looming out of the darkness ahead of him is--

-- a terrifying face!

ON SYKES:

He stumbles back, gets tangled in the nets, brings up the

Casull, is about to fire when... he sees what the face is.

It's the maiden's figurehead from the bow of an old ship.

The wood is worm-eaten and decayed, creating a hideous

visage. Sykes stands there a moment, trying to jump-start

his heart again.

INT. SECOND FLOOR LANDING - NIGHT

Jetson moves along the rickety planks. He comes to a

door. He eases it open, enters.

INT. SECOND FLOOR ROOM - NIGHT

Jetson moves into the shadowy confines. He hears an

incessant drip from a sink faucet in the corner. He moves

to it. Turns the spigot, stopping the drip. Other drips

are HEARD from a dozen other hidden recesses all around

him. He glances up at the filthy mirror attached to the

wall above the sink. Suddenly he sees the movement of

something behind him. He spins with the shotgun. A huge

shadow moves along the wall. He pivots the shotgun again

-- toward the source of the shadow.

It's a length of black tarp, torn and flapping from the

ceiling. Jetson lets out a deep breath.

INT. STORAGE ROOM - NIGHT

ANGLE down a short passageway to an intersecting hallway.

A strand of something hangs in FRAME in OUT OF FOCUS F.G.

It makes an indistinct, rhythmic CLINKING SOUND. Sykes

moves along the intersecting hallway. The CLINKING SOUND

catches his attention. He stops, listens, then starts

down the passageway, toward us.

He comes forward into the storage room, having to get very

close to the strand of something before he sees what it

is. It's a double strand of chain, CLINKING gently

against itself. Sykes reaches out, steadies the chain,

silencing it. He considers. It could've been a natural

occurrence... or something could have brushed against it,

setting it in motion. He tightens his grip on the Casull,

backing away from the chain. He senses something behind

him and spins. Nothing there. He relaxes. However--

Behind him now, in SOFT FOCUS, we glimpse movement at the

other end of the short passageway. It is a figure, moving

slowly forward down the passageway, back-lit by the

hallway light behind it, its shadow filling the passageway

as it approaches Sykes. It stops, inside the room now,

directly behind Sykes. Close enough to reach out and

touch him. It is an alien silhouette, but larger, more

powerful.

Suddenly, Sykes senses something is there. He turns,

slowly, and--

SHOCK CUT - HARCOURT

as he steps from the shadows -- just like he did the last

time Sykes saw him on the abandoned drawbridge. Only this

time it is a horribly transformed Harcourt. His eyes are

red-rimmed and piggish. His head is lumpen, his skin

thick and hard. His neck muscles are corded -- giving him

a kind of hellish cobra's cowl. There is still

intelligence behind the eyes -- but it is a feral

intelligence now.

HARCOURT:

(his voice a guttural

rumble)

Looking for me, Sergeant?

Sykes stumbles back several steps, wildly brings up the

Casull, and fires. The powerful Casull round catches

Harcourt in the shoulder, jerking him back.

EXT. WORK SHED AREA - NIGHT

Jetson, in another area of the docks, hears the echoing

blast of the Casull. He gauges as best he can the

direction it came from and takes off running.

INT. STORAGE ROOM - NIGHT

Harcourt recovers from the jolt of the bullet impact. The

cloth of his disheveled shirt is shredded and powder-

burned, but the bullet couldn't pierce his plated skin.

Harcourt smiles with grotesquely altered teeth, starts

toward Sykes.

Scared shitless, Sykes rapid-fires. One of his shots

misses, shattering a crate beside Harcourt's head. The

remaining shots strike Harcourt full on. Harcourt is

jerked by the impact of the bullets each time, SNARLING in

anger -- but none of the hits stop him. The Casull is

empty and Harcourt keeps coming.

Sykes stumbles back, but Harcourt is on him in a flash.

Harcourt grabs Sykes' arm holding the gun, yanks hard. We

HEAR the POP as the shoulder dislocates. Sykes HOLLERS,

and the gun jumps out of his hand.

INT. WAREHOUSE - GUARD'S AREA - NIGHT

Jetson races in, shotgun ready. The last of Sykes' shots

are still ECHOING. Jetson looks around, frustrated,

unable to tell exactly where they are coming from. He

sees the likely path and charges that way.

EXT. DOCK - AT STAIRS - NIGHT

On the CUT, Sykes' body is already tumbling down these

rickety stairs attached to the side of the warehouse,

having been thrown ruthlessly from above. As Sykes' body

sprawls on the dock, the massive figure of Harcourt

appears at the top of the stairs.

Sykes, scraped and bruised, struggles to his feet.

Harcourt moves down the stairs, then vaults over the

railing the last fifteen feet. Harcourt lurches forward

and, with a taloned grip on Sykes' shoulders, propels him

down the docks.

EXT. STREET NEAR DOCKS - NIGHT

The first two arriving black-and-whites skid to stops at

the coroner's wagon. The Officers leap out, flagging

other arriving units to continue on toward the warehouses.

EXT. DOCKS - NIGHT

Sykes is on his feet, but his knees buckle, and he almost

collapses again. Harcourt comes at him. Then Sykes sees

it--

-- a fishing boat chugging along past the end of one of

the jetties. Sykes makes a break for it.

EXT. WAREHOUSE - AT STAIRS - NIGHT

Jetson charges out at the top of the rickety stairs,

frantically scanning for any sign of Sykes. Then, in the

distance, he spots the two figures running along the jetty

-- Sykes being chased by the re-formed Harcourt. Jetson

gives the water surrounding the docks an apprehensive

look, then gathers up his courage, and races down the

stairs to help Sykes.

EXT. JETTY - NIGHT

Sykes lumbers along the narrow jetty. The fishing boat is

already passing the end of the jetty. Harcourt is fast

behind Sykes as he reaches the end of the jetty and vaults

off toward the stern of the boat -- landing on the fishing

net piled on the rear deck. He yells in pain as his ankle

twists under his weight.

EXT. FISHING BOAT - NIGHT

Sykes lies there, holding his arm, breathing hard,

relieved that he has escaped.

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