Pitch Black Page #15

EXT. CANYON RIM - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

As predators launch from the rim.

EXT. THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

First come the hatchlings, streaming right into their faces --

then veering away at the last second, repulsed by light. Next

come FERAL SOUNDS overhead.

RIDDICK:

Don't look.

Thin blue liquid spatters them.

RIDDICK:

Do not look up.

More spattering. Fry looks up -- and stumbles when she beholds...

A ceiling of predators. At the cusp of light, they dive and

weave and dart, slashing each other in a rabid desire to SOUND

OUT the humans below. It's like looking into a bucket of angry

eels.

RIDDICK:

Keep going, keep going, keep going,

keep going!

His voice whips them like the Devil's coxswain. Chastened, Fry

keeps her eyes down and speed up.

More blue blood showers down -- followed by entrails dropping

out of the sky. Could this be Hell itself?

IMAM:

(a muttered mantra)

"So dark the clouds around my way

I cannot see,

But through the darkness I believe

God leadeth me.

I gladly place my hand in His when

all is dim,

And, closing my weary eyes, lean

hard on him...."

Now WHOLE CORPSES ARE CRASHING DOWN around them, victims

of in-fighting. Fry and Imam start slaloming through the ghastly

mess.

Pilgrim #1 passes too close to a corpse: A blade slices his leg,

drawing blood. He keeps his mouth shut.

EXT. CHOKE-POINT - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

The passage narrows into a choke-point. Fry sees it first.

FRY:

Riddick? RIDDICK?

Ahead, a clot of dead predators blocks the canyon.

AUDREY:

What? What is it?

RIDDICK:

It's a f***ing staircase! Go over it!

GO OVER IT!

Steeling themselves, they start climbing.

But Audrey, on all fours, has to discover the corpses with her

hands. Then, taking exception at being walked on...

One "corpse" snaps at her. Audrey recoils sideways...

And tumbles down the mound of corpses. She's exposed.

PREDATORS' POV:
Rapid-fire images of Audrey. Flashes from 10

different predators.

FRY:

Audrey!

Audrey shakes out of it and scrambles for the shield just as...

A predator kamikazes onto the shield, its bone-blades piercing

the metal...

And nearly skewering Audrey beneath.

Caught in torchlight, steaming, the PREDATOR HOWLS as it tries

to rip free of the shield.

Beneath, Audrey hangs on and takes a thrashing.

The predator tears clear, spins, pounces blindly at...

Riddick, standing at light's edge. Stunningly, he catches the

beast under its scythe blades, blunting the attack. The predator

CLICKS MADLY at him.

PREDATOR'S POV:
Of Riddick's face.

The predator rears back its head, ready to bisect Riddick with

its skull-blade.

Switchblade fast, Riddick drops a hand...

...yanks his shiv...

...and sweeps it over the belly of the beast. HOWLING, the

predator falls, disemboweled.

REACTION SHOTS of Fry and Imam. Stunned.

RIDDICK:

Didn't know who he was f***in' with.

They regroup. Imam's head swivels back and forth: They're one

person short.

IMAM:

Suleiman!

RIDDICK:

Get the girl back under. Keep going.

IMAM:

SULEIMAN!

RIDDICK:

KEEP GOING OR I WILL!

Suddenly Pilgrim #1 reappears, thrust back into the light by

unseen forces. He's still alive -- but shouldn't be. He makes

a feeble attempt to grab onto Imam, to anyone, but he's gone

again before they can even react, jerked out of the light. Out

of existence.

EXT. THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

They flail on. And now, finally...finally....

The canyon widens, opening up like some door to Heaven. The

WORST SOUNDS fall behind. We can see it in their sweat-sheened

faces:
The faintest hope that maybe they've survived the Seventh

Circle of Hell. But then...

The TORCHES SPIT AND SPUTTER.

Audrey hears PATTERING on the metal shield.

Blood falls anew.

One torch dies -- yet somehow comes back to life.

Imam upturns a hand, checking the liquid for color. But this

blood has no hue.

FRY:

Oh, no. No, no, no....

IMAM:

Rain.

EXT. THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

RAIN MONTAGE:
Water rilling, running, flowing over rocks and

ground.

EXT. THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

Caught in a downpour, the survivors slog to a stop. One torch

goes out -- and won't relight.

RIDDICK:

So where the hell's God now, huh?

(no answer from Imam)

I'll tell you where! He's up there

PISSING ON ME!

FRY:

Riddick? How close?

Riddick sheds goggles to look ahead. We don't know what he

sees -- nor what he's thinking.

FRY:

Tell me the settlement is right there!

RIDDICK, PLEASE!

RIDDICK:

We can't make it.

HOLD on Fry's anguished face, rendered in dying torchlight.

Somewhere behind, the AWFUL SOUNDS RETURN.

RIDDICK:

Here...hide here....

He's found a crevice in the canyon wall.

RIDDICK:

Inside...inside....

EXT. CREVICE - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

They crawl into the fissure. The second torch dies behind them.

EXT. THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

There's just one light left now -- the one Riddick wears on his

back. By its glow, we watch him lift the shield, muscle it over

to the crevice...

EXT. CREVICE - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

...and slide it over the opening. A black beat.

AUDREY:

(a beat)

Why's he still out there?

Fry's not sure. Is he protecting them? Or entombing them?

EXT. MUDDY RISE - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

Working like Sisyphus, Riddick hauls the cells up a muddy rise.

He stops at the top, peers through the rain.

RIDDICK'S POV:
Of the settlement.

Riddick disappears over the rise. The four cells follow,

slithering through the mud like a serpent's tail.

EXT. CREVICE - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

AUDREY:

He's not coming back, is he?

Fry checks Imam's face. Did Riddick say anything to you?" Imam

wags his head. A bleak beat -- before Fry realizes she can see

his face.

FRY:

There's light in here.

It's a soft glow from above. Imam climbs higher to discover

small blue-white lights clinging to rocks. He plucks a few.

FRY:

What are they?

CLOSE on the lights in Imam's palm. They writhe with life.

IMAM:

Larva....

AUDREY:

Glow worms....

FRY:

(mind racing)

How many bottles we got? Empty ones?

INT. SKIFF - NIGHT

Riddick boards the dark craft.

Connects the power cells to the battery bay.

Watches the ship come to life.

EXT. CREVICE - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

CLOSE on a liquor bottle. It's half full of glow-worms.

AUDREY:

More, more, we need more....

They climb higher. Little by little, the bottle brightens their

world.

EXT. SKIFF - NIGHT

Drenched in light, Riddick stands in the hatchway of the skiff,

looking out into dark rain. Is he struggling with a decision?

Or just savoring the safe harbor? Then very deliberately...

Riddick smashes his handlight on the hull. He steps inside and

closes the hatch behind him.

EXT. MUDDY RISE - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

Something claws its way up the rise. Standing, we see that it's

Fry, a bottle of glow-worms strung around her neck. Ahead she

spies...

The settlement. Silhouetted by engine-light.

EXT. SKIFF - NIGHT

As the skiffs ENGINES WARM UP.

INT. SKIFF - NIGHT

As Riddick dabbles with flight controls.

EXT. SETTLEMENT - NIGHT

As Fry, running, splashes past buildings.

EXT. CREVICE - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

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