Eight Legged Freaks Page #6

INT. JOSHUA’S HOUSE -DAY

Mike stops short in the doorway. An off-hook TELEPHONE

BEEPS incessantly. WIND MOANS through shattered windows.

Furniture is tipped over. Mike moves through the chaos.

MIKE:

Hello? Joshua? Charlie?

The spider tanks are shattered. No trace of their

occupants. Mike pulls out his Cassiopeia PDA and starts

recording.

MIKE:

(into PDA)

Captain’s log. Stardate...

Stops recording, PLAYS it BACK, listens to HIS VOICE.

MIKE:

Cool!

(records again)

The house is deserted. No sign of

Joshua Taft or his bird. The

spider tanks are shattered. There

is broken glass everywhere.

Mike moves toward the back door of the cabin. It swings

open and shut in the WIND.

EXT. JOSHUA’S HOUSE (DESERT) -BACK YARD -DAY

Mike comes out and notices hundreds of coin-sized

footprints. He follows these tracks to a cluster of

wooden barricades labeled: "McCORMICK AND SONS MINING

COMPANY." Mike peers toward a vertical mine shaft behind

the barriers.

(CONTINUED)

32.

CONTINUED:

MIKE:

(into PDA)

Animal tracks. Definitely too big

to be spiders. Could be rats.

Mike slips past the barricades. Following the tracks to

the edge of the abyss. He can’t see anything. It’s too

dark.

Mike turns away and returns to the yard. Never

realizing...

Several feet down the shaft. Hidden under a rock... the

shriveled and desiccated corpse of Joshua Taft. It hangs

from the side of the shaft in thick sticky webbing.

Grisly.

Suddenly the corpse is tugged loose and dragged deeper

into the shaft by some unseen creature.

EXT. MINE SHAFT -DAY

Chris’s pickup is parked outside another mine shaft.

INT. MINE TUNNEL -DAY

Chris works with his pick-axe. He pauses, listening to a

DISTURBING NOISE somewhere down the tunnel. A growl? A

roar? Chris isn’t so sure. And then a new sound... a

SCREECHING. The noise grows LOUDER. Something’s coming.

Chris shines his light into the darkness. Trying to see

what’s causing the unsettling crescendo...

Suddenly dozens of RATS burst from the darkness.

EXT. MINE SHAFT -DAY

Chris runs out the mouth of the tunnel. The rat stampede

is on his tail. He leaps into the back of his pickup.

The manic rodents continue off into the desert.

Chris looks back toward the gaping mouth of the tunnel.

CHRIS:

What am I, the Pied Piper...

33.

EXT. MAIN STREET (TOWN) -BARBER SHOP -DAY

Mike rides his bike. Floyd the barber stands out front

chatting with an elderly couple. They hold a dog’s leash

in their hand.

FLOYD:

I’m sorry. I haven’t seen him.

EXT. MAIN STREET (TOWN) -DAY

Mike rides on. He notices a guy taping a flyer to a lamp

post. Mike glances over. It’s a sign for a missing dog.

EXT. MAIN STREET (TOWN) -POLICE STATION -DAY

Mike arrives at the local police station. Several cars

are parked out front. The door is ajar. Locals are

crowded inside. Mike lets his bike crash as he enters.

INT. POLICE STATION -DAY

Sam is behind her desk. The place is swarming with

locals.

SAM:

Quiet! Quiet please!

The mob is not listening.

BEVERLY:

They were clogging up my house!

EMMA:

I want to know what killed Zeke!

TRAVIS:

He was a good dog! He wouldn’t

just get up and go!

Deputy Pete whistles at top volume. Everybody shuts up.

SAM:

I had spiders at my house too. We

need an exterminator not a

sheriff.

TRAVIS:

What about my dog?

(CONTINUED)

34.

CONTINUED:

SAM:

I don’t know, Travis. We’re gonna

keep an eye out. But we’re not

gettin’ anywhere like this. You

should go back out there and look

for your animals. If they haven’t

shown up by tonight. I’ll call

Fish and Game. Okay?

Pete ushers the grumbling mob out of the office. Mike

avoids the crush and manages to stay inside.

MIKE:

Mom! Mom! All Josh’s spiders are

gone!

SAM:

I can’t do this right now, Mike!

Everyone’s having pest problems!

MIKE:

But Joshua is gone!

SAM:

Maybe he’s out looking for his

spiders?

MIKE:

Mom, I’m serious! You’re not

listening!

SAM:

Mike... I’ve got missing pets.

Spiders in the plumbing. Rats and

mice coming out of basements. And

your sister’s about to end up on a

milk carton. I can’t have you

losing...

The PHONE RINGS. Sam answers it.

SAM:

Hello? Wade... wait a second...

your ostriches?

OFF Mike’s look.

EXT. WADE’S RANCH -DIRT DRIVEWAY -DAY

Prosperity is clearly visible just a mile away. The

police car drives down a long road lined with fences.

35.

EXT. WADE’S RANCH -RANCH HOUSE -DAY

Wade’s new Hummer is in the driveway. A CATTLE DOG BARKS

as Wade leads Sam and Mike around the side of the house.

WADE:

Came out to feed my birds this

morning.

SAM:

Coyotes?

WADE:

Hell no!

The trio steps to the fence. Only three mangy ostriches

are there to greet them.

WADE:

My flock had fifty birds! Where’d

they go, dammit! Who the hell

steals fifty birds that can’t even

fly!?

SAM:

All this happened last night?

WADE:

I guess. And we didn’t hear a

thing.

Sam gestures toward the BARKING DOG.

SAM:

What about him?

WADE:

Not a peep.

Mike notices some ostrich feathers on the ground. He

heads over for a closer look.

The DOG watches his progress. BARKING excitedly.

Sam talks to Wade.

SAM:

How’s the ostrich business?

WADE:

Not so good lately.

SAM:

You’ve got that new Hummer. You

must be makin’ enough to pay for

it.

(CONTINUED)

36.

CONTINUED:

WADE:

(annoyed)

You like it? I’ll take you for a

ride.

SAM:

These birds are insured. Right?

WADE:

I didn’t kill my birds, Sam. Is

that what you think?

Mike looks back to see his mom confronting Wade.

WADE:

(in the distance)

... reject... absolutely not...

Mike scrutinizes what appear to be more of those tracks

that he found at Joshua’s. But this time they are

larger:

MIKE:

(into PDA)

I’ve found more tracks. Even

larger now.

Mike follows the trail toward another mine entrance.

This one is plugged with concrete. The tracks don’tgo

there. They stop at what appears to be a normal patch of

ground. Several ostrich feathers are scattered nearby.

Mike takes a closer look. Something doesn’t seem right.

An odd demarcation in the soil. His fingers trace the

edge of a thin film of material. It is a lid of sorts.

A sheath of sticky webbing coated with dirt. Mike is

able to lift it.

Mike peers into a deep dark burrow three feet wide.

INT. UNDERGROUND BURROW -DAY

Twenty feet down the shaft. A shape moves.

TRAPDOOR SPIDER POV -MIKE

A MULTI-EYED SPIDER’S VIEW of Mike at the top of the

burrow.

EXT. WADE’S RANCH -OSTRICH PEN -DAY

Mike squints into the burrow but can’t see anything.

37.

INT. UNDERGROUND BURROW -DAY

A dark shape inches up the burrow toward Mike.

EXT. WADE’S RANCH -OSTRICH PEN -DAY

Mike is oblivious as he peers into the dark.

EXT. WADE’S RANCH -RANCH HOUSE -DAY

The BARKING CATTLE DOG SNAPS its TETHER and charges Mike.

Sam and Wade see this and run after it.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes