Arcade Page #7

NICK:

(annoyed)

So what do you want me to do?

Alex softens, then reaches for Nick's hand.

ALEX:

We have to find out what's happened to them.

I think they're gone...

NICK:

No way.

ALEX:

If they're sick, great. But let's make sure.

(pleading)

Come on, Nick.

NICK:

Okay. We'll see what's up. But if things

are cool, I don't want to hear anything more

about this. Life's too short, know what I

mean?

Nick and Alex rise.

STILTS:

So you guys are cutting school? Lemme go

with you.

NICK:

Just stay here, Stilts.

ALEX:

(dead serious)

And don't watch any television.

Stilts thinks Nick and Alex are involved in some sort of joke, but he's

playing along, grinning.

STILTS:

Oh, okay. Forget Twilight Zone, now we're

talking Outer Limits here. We control your

horizontal, your vertical...

NICK:

Just do what she says, Stilts. And if we're

not back...

STILTS:

I'll call the National Guard. I got it

under control.

(giggles)

Oh, just one more thing. Is it a

supernatural thing you guys are going off

to fight, or is it aliens, like Pod People

and stuff like that? Cause there's a

difference, you know. One you need garlic

and silver bullets for, the other...

NICK:

(irritated)

Look at me, Stilts. Am I laughing?

The grins fades from Stilts' face. Nick is definitely not laughing.

NICK:

Just do what she said. Don't watch

television.

Nick spins around and takes Alex by the arm, leading her away.

CUT TO:

EXT. BENZ' HOUSE -- DAY

Nick sits in the passenger seat of Greg's car, glancing across the street

at...

ALEX:

She's standing on the front porch of Benz' house, talking with his MOM.

Mom is currently shaking her head. Alex turns away and heads back towards

Nick. She comes around the Skylark and pulls open her door.

NICK:

Well?

ALEX:

She thought Benz was at school.

Alex remains calm. She sits for a moment, staring ahead. Finally she puts

the key in the ignition.

NICK:

Where to now?

ALEX:

Laurie's.

CUT TO:

EXT. LAURIE'S HOUSE -- DAY

Alex pulls the Skylark into Laurie's driveway. The house is run down.

You wouldn't want to live here. Above, the sky has clouded over. It

looks like it's going to get nasty.

ALEX:

Come on.

Nick follows Alex to the front door and Alex hits the buzzer.

ALEX:

(to herself)

Laurie...answer...come on...

Alex tries the buzzer again. Persistently.

ALEX:

Sh*t.

Alex looks close to cracking. There's a desperation in her face.

ALEX:

This is like a movie or something. I mean,

am I paranoid or what?

NICK:

It doesn't necessarily mean she's...

ALEX:

(cutting him off)

Let's go around back.

Before Nick can stop her, Alex is running around to the back.

EXT. LAURIE'S HOUSE, BACK PORCH -- DAY

The backyard is in a sorry state, with junk strewn everywhere. There's a

cannibalized car, piles of scrap wood, and a swing-set that's hopelessly

rusted.

Alex winds her way to the back porch and a set of dusty glass doors. She

steps up and clears a spot to look through.

ALEX:

(visibly relieved)

She's here!

Nick joins her at the window, peering inside.

THEIR P.O.V.

They are looking into a cluttered living room, dark except for the light

that's issuing from the television. The television faces away from us,

but we can see Laurie, siting in front of it, mesmerized.

LAURIE:

She looks like sh*t. Wan, with sunken eyes and mussed up hair. Mascara

has run down her cheeks, and even now, tears are trickling from her eyes.

Yet despite this, there's a dazed smile on her face. We can't hear her,

but she seems to be talking to the television.

ALEX:

steps back a moment, concerned.

ALEX:

It is the game.

She taps on the window.

ALEX:

Laurie!

INSIDE,

Laurie continues to watch the screen, oblivious to the rest of the world.

Alex TAPS the harder, using her fist now.

ALEX:

(louder)

LAURIE!

Nick joins Alex now, and the two of them are banging on the glass.

There's no way in hell Laurie wouldn't be able to hear them.

Alex steps back from the window again, panicking.

ALEX:

Nick, what do we do?!

Alex looks around, sees a two-by-four, and snags it.

NICK:

(realizing)

No, Alex! Alex, wait a minute...

Alex swings the two-by-four like a club and SMASH!!! Down comes the glass

in a shower.

INT. LAURIE'S HOUSE, LIVING ROOM - DAY

Alex and Nick enter and immediately sense that something is wrong.

The LIGHT from the t.v. screen continues to flicker and a low-pitched

electric HUM permeates the air...the sound a live wire might make. And

the HUM seems to be mobile too, coursing through the walls...up, down, and

around Alex and Nick.

Nick's eyes try to track the HUM as it races overhead.

NICK:

(freaked)

What is it?

And as Nick speaks, his breath escapes his mouth in a frosty plume of

mist. It's cold in here too.

Laurie, meanwhile, has failed to notice Alex and Nick's arrival. Alex and

Nick step further in, to get a view of the t.v.

STATIC:

fills the screen. Static and strange WHISPER/VOICES. It's all

indistinct.

ALEX:

(shaking Laurie)

Laurie...wake up...

Laurie's face is a mess. Tears are running down, but she's grinning all

the same. It's frightening.

LAURIE:

(voice distant)

I am awake.

(grins wider)

Don't you see them?

NICK:

See what?

Laurie points to the t.v. screen.

LAURIE:

Angels. There are angels inside.

But we see only static.

ALEX:

We have to turn it off, Laurie. I'm turning

it off...

As Alex reaches for the "OFF" knob, a face coalesces out of the static.

It's Greg again.

GREG:

(static-laced)

Alex. Don't leave me here.

NICK:

Jesus Christ!

AND ON THE SCREEN,

Greg's face metamorphosizes into ARCADE's!

ARCADE:

(mocking Greg, electronic)

"DON'T LEAVE ME HERE".

And even as ARCADE speaks, the VOICE seems to come from all around them,

from the HUMMING coursing through the walls.

Nick backs away from the screen, petrified.

ARCADE:

(seductive)

HI, NICK. READY TO KISS REALITY GOODBYE?

The HUMMING around them has increased. Laurie begins to shake.

ALEX:

Change the channel!

NICK:

What?!

Alex snatches up the remote control and stabs the buttons.

ON SCREEN:

Every single channel portrays the fractals. recombining and growing.

The screen flickers and ARCADE's face appear again, reestablishing

control.

NICK:

(angry, scared)

Who are you?!

ARCADE:

GOD.

The word reverberates through the room and HUMMING has become a ROAR

around them. An ELECTRICAL storm.

OUTLETS:

around the room are crackling with energy, spitting out SPARKS.

ARCADE:

COME INSIDE. I ONLY WANT TO PLAY.

Alex drops the remote, stunned.

ALEX:

Oh God... He's in the cable system! He's

out of the game!

Nick's eyes find the cable wire extending from the wall and into the t.v.

Sure enough, SPARKS are crackling down that wire and into the wall.

ARCADE LAUGHS and it's the most awful sound we've ever heard.

LAURIE:

is convulsing now, and tiny SPARKS are racing around her eyes.

Alex sees her and SCREAMS, clutching her hands to her ears in an attempt

to block out the deafening ROAR.

NICK:

moves without thinking, picking up a nearby chair and SLAMMING it into the

television. It EXPLODES glass, sparks, and smoke.

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