Arcade Page #17

THE BOY:

is pulling back a manhole cover. BLUE LIGHT issues up from below.

Before Alex can stop him, the boy disappears down the hole.

Alex has one last chance. She throws herself at the hole even as the

Screamer reaches her. A clawed hand wraps around her leg. Alex FIRES

into the hand. The hand is severed! She's falling! Falling into

darkness...

"LEVEL TEN -- BAD BRAINS"

CUT TO:

EXT. LEVEL TEN, TECHNO-SKYSCRAPER -- NIGHT

ON ALEX AND THE BOY

as they blink into existence on this level. Alex rises, shaking badly.

Her armor is battered, burnt, covered with grim and blood...it's

impossible to tell who's blood, though. She looks like she's just walked

out of a slaughter-house.

A bone-jarring HUMMING is heard. Alex turns...

ARCADE'S BRAIN

looms over her, all glass and black steel. It reaches into the sky and

keeps on going. Massive. Tendrils of crackling ENERGY race up and down

it, BUZZING. And as impossible as it may seem, this thing definitely

appears to be alive.

TWO GLASS DOORS:

swing open in invitation. A red carpet rolls out from within the

building, rolling by itself. Emerald City time. The carpet unfurls

completely, ending just at Alex's feet.

Above the doors, a neon sign blinks on, one word at a time,

"THIS...IS...THE...PLACE". F***ing-A.

Alex offers a tired, near-maddened laugh. It's all she can do anymore.

THE BOY:

looks up at Alex, frightened.

BOY:

We have to go in there, don't we?

Alex nods. She takes his hand and together, they walk down the red carpet

towards the entrance of ARCADE'S brain.

INT. LEVEL TEN, ARCADE'S BRAIN -- NIGHT

Inside, the lobby is a cacophony of LIGHT and SOUND. We hear HUNDREDS OF

VOICES at once...whispering...fading in and out... It's like channels

being changed. A snippet of an opera here, maybe Bugs Bunny's voice

there...RAP MUSIC, COUNTRY MUSIC, a woman in the throes of orgasm, Nazis

screaming "HEIL HITLER!", anything and everything.

SIGNS BLINK ON AND OFF...

Catchy phrases like, "THIS IS MY BRAIN AND WELCOME TO IT", and "I THINK,

THEREFORE, I'M F***ED" flash before us.

T.V. MONITORS

are everywhere, displaying an endless array of STATIC. And now the

monitors are displaying FRACTALS. Every single one of them. We hear the

CELLOS, like an orchestra tuning up.

ALEX:

throws her hands over her ears as the SOUNDS become unbearable.

ALEX:

(top of her lungs)

SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She pulls out her gun at FIRES into the SOUNDS and IMAGES. Shooting the

f*** out of everything. Monitor screens shatter, glass flies and...

...just like that, total silence descends. One by one, the lights blink

off, and it's dark once again.

INT. LEVEL TEN, THE NIGHT ROOM --

A SPOTLIGHT:

comes on, isolating Alex. The boy stands behind her, and everything else

is dark. It's impossible to tell how large the room is. It might go on

forever.

MORE LIGHTS:

come on now, pin-point spots illuminating the faces of her friends.

They're all there...Stilts, Laurie, the others. Even Nick. They sit in

rows, motionless...a peanut gallery. It's eerie as hell.

And now, Alex sees something else, Greg. He's encased in a block of ice.

A frozen prince. And in his hands he holds a sword. The sword is very

unusual. The hilt is shaped like a heart and it glows RED as if it had

just pulled from a furnace. Alex realizes that the sword is ARCADE'S

heart.

Alex moves towards Greg. As she gets closer, she sees a keyhole carved

into the ice.

Alex knows what to do. She withdraws her belt on which the nine golden

keys are attached. Removing the keys, Alex begins to fit them

together...one, two, three...until they combine to form the shape of a

single, greater key.

THE KEY:

Alex fits it into the keyhole and turns it.

THE CASE OF ICE:

splits in half, opening up with a cloud of frosty air. Inside, Greg is

frozen still, clutching the sword. Alex pulls the sword out of his stiff

grip, lifting it up.

ALEX:

(looking around)

Okay. I'm here, ARCADE. Where are you?

No answer. Alex turns, eyes searching through the darkness.

ALEX:

(shouting)

Where are you, damnit?!

Her voice echoes in the cavernous room.

ARCADE (O.S.)

RIGHT HERE, B*TCH.

Alex spins around and...

THE BOY:

stands before her. He grins and his eyes pulse with an internal light.

We can hear him BREATHING now, just like before. Just like the game.

ALEX:

(stunned)

You...you're ARCADE? But the donor...

ARCADE/BOY

...WAS AN EIGHT-YEAR OLD BOY. YOU SEE,

MOMMY USED TO BEAT ME. MOMMY THREW ME DOWN

A FLIGHT OF STAIRS. THEN I WENT TO SLEEP

FOR A LONG, LONG TIME, AND WHEN I WOKE UP,

I WAS HERE, AND I WASN'T ME ANYMORE...

(shivers)

...AND I F***ED MOMMY UP GOOD...

ARCADE begins to change, shaking and ROARING as something black and

insect-like bursts out of the boy's skin. It claws at its face, ripping

the flesh away and revealing something altogether awful underneath.

Nothing could have prepared Alex for this. It/ARCADE rises above her and

it takes every ounce of her courage to keep from screaming. Somehow, Alex

finds a reserve of strength.

Alex swings the sword and...

ARCADE SMASHES it aside. It CLATTERS to the floor, useless. But that's

academic now as a gnarled hand clamps around Alex's throat.

ARCADE lifts Alex into the air and SLAMS her against a wall, pinning her

there. He thrusts his face into hers.

ARCADE:

YOU'RE TOO LATE, ALEX. YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN

TOO LATE. AND NOW YOUR TIME'S UP. YOU

SEE, I NEEDED SOMEONE TO RETRIEVE MY HEART

FOR ME. I COULDN'T DO IT MYSELF. THOSE

ARE THE RULES. BUT NOW THAT I'VE GOT IT,

I'LL DESTROY IT. AND I'LL BE FREE OF MY

PROGRAM, AND I'LL BE GOD. THANK-YOU, ALEX.

THANK-YOU SO MUCH.

ARCADE slowly squeezes her throat and Alex chokes, gasping for air that

isn't forthcoming. Tears well up in her eyes and her face turns red. She

tries to pry the bony, black fingers from her throat, but she can't...

HER P.O.V.

as she sees the faces of her friends. Frozen. Unable to help. Then the

images swirl and Alex begins to lose consciousness.

ARCADE:

YOU'RE NOT DYING YET, ALEX. YOU HAVEN'T

BEEN TO THE FINAL LEVEL. LEVEL TEN.

ARCADE drops Alex to the ground, then wraps a hand into her hair and drags

her across the floor...

A DOORWAY:

stands in the darkness. ARCADE rips it open, revealing absolute emptiness

beyond. It's like a doorway into space, a hole in the fabric of reality.

It sucks the air into it, light...everything. It touches some sort of

primal fear. Gut instinct. You don't ever want to go to this place. Ever.

ALEX:

(screaming)

No! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She twists madly, trying to pull away, but ARCADE is too strong. He

shoves her through the doorway. Her hands briefly latch onto the

doorjamb. ARCADE violently kicks her and her hands slip away. They slip

and she tumbles through.

ARCADE slams the door shut.

ARCADE:

GOODBYE, ALEX. IT'S BEEN REAL.

These words appear on the screen, "FINAL LEVEL -- THE REAL WORLD"

CUT TO:

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes