Arcade Page #5

A PHOTO:

of Alex and her MOTHER sits by her bed, neglected and collecting dust.

We'll see her later.

CANDLES:

or what's left of them, have dripped and spread across her night table.

ALEX:

sits at the foot of her bed, facing her television. Slowly, she draws on

the CyberGloves, testing her fingers. Next, she pulls on the goggles.

Instead of a control panel, the home version has a control box, complete

with joy-stick and a mini "ESCAPE" button.

Alex fingers the "START" button on top of the joy-stick.

THE SCREEN:

goes black, black with intermittent sparks. And the BREATHING begins.

ARCADE'S FACE

appears in the black, a pin-point at first, spinning round and round and

growing larger. It comes to a rest, eyes glowing.

ARCADE:

(malevolent)

HELLO, ALEX.

Alex jumps back, dropping the control box. ARCADE continues to BREATHE.

ALEX:

How ...

A thing BEAM OF LIGHT shoots from the ARCADE terminal, playing over Alex's

face.

ARCADE:

KISS REALITY GOODBYE.

ON SCREEN:

ARCADE'S face spins away, to be replaced by a pixel-rendered image of

Alex, dressed in battle gear.

Video Alex sets her thrasher on the ground and mounts it.

ALEX:

(both frightened and

fascinated)

Where's Greg?

And from the screen...

ARCADE:

IN HERE, OF COURSE.

ON SCREEN,

the vortex of light EXPLODES around video Alex, twisting reality. And

Alex is spinning round and round, plummeting towards...

THE CIRCUIT GRID

beneath her, a world of geometric shapes and light and... The words:

"LEVEL ONE" flash across the screen and we...

CUT TO:

EXT. LEVEL ONE, THE PLAINS -- DAY

Alex SLAMS into the ground, splashing up water and smoke alike.

We are inside ARCADE now, experiencing what Alex experiences.

THE PLAINS --

In many respects it looks like Earth. Land, water, sky... Yet certain

things are off. Small things, like the color of light, a sluggish

smoke-filled RED, or the occasional FLICKER OF LIGHTNING which races

beneath the cloud cover above.

ALEX:

pulls herself up from the muck, brushing dirt and water from her face.

She coughs, totally disoriented. Looks around.

Looks at herself. She's wearing...

BATTLE GEAR:

This is the real thing, as opposed to the cartoon version we saw Nick

wearing when he played the game before. It's a cross between a

skateboarder's protective guardpads and full-blown armor. A helmet rests

on her head, with a visor raised up.

Alex glances down and sees a thrasher board resting next to her. (Note:

Depending on the terrain of each level, the thrasher board will adjust

itself...working as a skateboard, snowboard, or hover board).

ON ALEX'S RIGHT CYBERGLOVE

is an LED display. In the upper left-hand corner it says "LEVEL ONE". To

the right, two pulsing bars of light labeled "TIME ELAPSED" and

"STRENGTH".

At this very moment, the "TIME ELAPSED" bar is just shrinking away to

nothing.

BLINK! Now it's gone.

No rest for the weary.

A SHRIEK/SONIC BOOM

is immediately heard on the horizon, and it's the most god-awful noise

we've ever heard. It fills up the world.

ALEX:

jerks her head up, terrified.

ALEX:

(to herself, remembering)

Screamer.

All around her, the world begins to vibrate...

SOMETHING:

is rushing towards her now at an unbelievable speed. The SHRIEK/SONIC

BOOM is deafening. The world is shaking apart.

And suddenly the thing is upon her!

Alex SCREAMS.

CUT TO:

INT. ALEX'S ROOM - NIGHT

Alex flies back from the t.v. screen, violently ripping the goggles and

CyberGloves off. But the SHRIEK is continuing and then she realizes

that...

The phone is RINGING.

Alex stops shaking. The phone continues to RING. She's back in her room.

Everything's fine. Normal.

She glances at the game.

ON SCREEN:

we see the black again, black with sparks racing past. Benign.

Alex reaches over and picks up the phone, all the while keeping her eyes

glued to the screen.

ALEX:

(dry-mouthed)

Hello?

NICK (O.S.)

(filtered)

Hey, kid.

Alex clutches the phone, still shaking.

ALEX:

Nick...

NICK (O.S.)

(filtered)

Have you played the game yet? It's

incredible! I was just...

ALEX:

(cutting him off)

Listen to me! Greg never came home. I think

the game has something to do with it.

NICK (O.S.)

(filtered)

What the hell are you talking about?

Alex continues to watch the television screen, almost mesmerized by the

flickering sparks. Her eyes begin to glaze over...

NICK (O.S.)

(filtered)

You there? Hello?

Alex snaps out of it, tearing her gaze from the screen

ALEX:

I have to talk to you.

NICK (O.S.)

(filtered)

We are talking...

ALEX:

No, in person. Now.

NICK (O.S.)

(filtered)

It's twelve-thirty!

ALEX:

I'm coming over.

Alex quickly hangs up the phone and moves back to the television. She

reaches for the control box and hits the "OFF" switch.

Nothing happens. Sparks continue to shoot across the screen.

Alex tries it again. Same result.

ALEX:

Sh*t...

Again and again she hits the button, but nothing is happening.

Alex reaches behind the t.v., grabs hold of the electrical cords, and

YANKS.

The f***ing cord won't come out!

And then she hears it, an ELECTRONIC WHISPER, both seductive and horrific.

ARCADE:

ALEX...

With all her might, Alex pulls on the cords. POP! They fling out of the

t.v. and the screen goes dead.

Alex sits back against the wall for a moment, catching her breath and

trying to calm the rising hysteria within her.

ALEX:

(to herself)

Okay...don't think about it...

(deep breath)

Okay.

Alex stands up, grabbing her coat off the bed.

INT. MANNING HOUSE, LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT

Alex comes down the stairs, heading for the front door. Only she stops for

a moment...noticing the LIGHT.

ON THE COUCH,

her father is once again bathed in the blue light of the television.

STATIC WHISPERS, the same as before, are coming from the set.

Alex looks at her father. He hasn't moved. And yet, the t.v. is on once

again.

THE SCREEN:

Blue static. Unexceptional. And a face? Someone in the static?

Alex draws closer to the screen. She can hear SOMETHING now, other than

static whispers. Sounds kind of like a VOICE...

THE SCREEN:

A definite, ghostly FACE is there. It turns, looks at Alex (us) and it's

Greg.

GREG:

(on screen, strange)

Alex...

Alex jerks and SNAPS off the t.v., spooked as hell. She stands in the

darkness and all but runs out of the house.

CUT TO:

EXT. MANNING HOUSE - NIGHT

Alex races to the Skylark and fumbles with the keys. Finally she gets it

right, guns the gas, and rips out of the driveway.

A STREETLIGHT:

above is FLICKERING wildly. Sputtering, HUMMING, casting strange shadows

across the street.

CUT TO:

EXT. NICK DRAKE'S HOUSE - NIGHT

Alex has climbed up to the roof, using a wood pile stacked beside the

house as a boost. Now she creeps towards a second-story window.

Behind her on the street (and this should be subtle, folks), another

STREETLIGHT is flickering.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes