Pitch Black Page #4

JOHNS:

(hands her scope)

Tell me it's not a mirage.

SCOPE POV:
Beyond a distant rise, strange branches.

FRY:

Trees?

EXT. CRASH SHIP - DAY

Paris has taken over as look-out atop the ship. He deals with

the heat by erecting a "misting" umbrella: He fills a reservoir

with liquor, dials up a regulator. Umbrella spars shoot bursts

of cooling alcohol vapor. Paris luxuriates in it.

ZEKE (O.S.)

Comfy up there?

Zeke appears below. He loads a scrap-metal sled with tarp,

cable, pick-ax.

PARIS:

Amazing how you can do without the

essentials of life -- so long as you have

the luxuries.

ZEKE:

Well, just keep your bloody-f***in' eyes

open. Don't want that ratbag sneakin' up

on me bloody-f***in' arse.

He drags the sled toward the spired hills. Keeping one eye on

Zeke, Paris eases into a chair, lays the war-pick across his lap,

pours himself a spot of sherry. As he sips, a blade touches his

throat.

AUDREY:

He'd probably get you right here, right

under the jaw. And you'd never hear him

coming. That's how good Riddick is.

Paris eases the hunting boomerang away.

PARIS:

Now did you run away from your parents?

Or did they run away from you?

EXT. BONEYARD OVERLOOK - DAY

The scouting party approaches a rise. The trees loom just beyond.

PILGRIMS:

Allahu Akbar...Allahu Akbar....

The young pilgrims break into a excited run, anticipating an

oasis. But Fry hangs back, taking a harder look at the trees.

They don't move in the wind.

The pilgrims scramble up the rise -- and go motionless. Fry,

Johns and Imam catch up to behold...

The "trees" are actually the dorsal bones of a titanic skeleton,

tinted green by lichen. Beyond is a sea of bleached animal

bones. Impossibly, the bones seem to MOAN IN PAIN. All told,

it's like Hell overflowed right here.

FRY:

Is this whole planet dead?

A pilgrim questions Imam IN ARABIC.

IMAM:

He asks what could have killed so many

great things...

EXT. BONEYARD - DAY

Moving into the boneyard:

IMAM:

Some...communal graveyard, perhaps...

like the elephants of Earth....

Fry touches one of the towering bones. It shows cut-marks --

almost as if the bone was hacked by a sword. "Graveyard? Or

killing field?"

JOHNS:

Long time ago. Whatever happened.

EXT. SKULL - BONEYARD - DAY

Pilgrim #1 reaches a huge skull laced with baleen-like combing.

Wind hitting the comb makes a LOW HARMONIC MOANING. By

moving a hand over the comb, the pilgrim can "play" DIRGELIKE

MUSIC. Wanting to show off the trick:

PILGRIM #1

Ah....

He looks for Pilgrim #3 but can't spot him. And when he turns

back to the skull -- a face is staring through the combing. But

it's only...

INT. SKULL - BONEYARD - DAY

Pilgrim #3, inside the skull. Johns enters and chases him out.

About to leave, Johns notices...

Bone-chippings piled on the ground. It could be nothing, but

still...

Johns double-checks shadows, probing with the muzzle of his

shotgun. Satisfied, Johns exits. Now BOOM UP to reveal...

Riddick. Hidden in a sinus cavity.

EXT. SKULL - BONEYARD - DAY

Trailing the others, Fry pauses to change out the O2 on her

breather.

INT. SKULL - BONEYARD - DAY

Riddick drops to the ground. His arms and hands are now pierced

with shards of boneyard ivory -- fashionable little body talons.

Spotting a shadow on the combing, he draws closer. And sees Fry.

Alone.

EXT. SKULL - BONEYARD - DAY

Johns doubles back to Fry. He takes a hit of scotch, offers her

some.

FRY:

Probably makes it worse. Dehydrates you

even more.

JOHNS:

Probably right.

They drink anyway. Moving out of the sun, Fry leans up against

the combing. It brings her within arm's length of...

INT. SKULL - BONEYARD - DAY

Riddick. He pulls a bone-shiv, freshly chiseled.

JOHNS (O.S.)

You know, I woulda played road dog for

these guys. You could've stayed back.

Pro'bly should've -- because, you know,

if we don't find water....

"We may not make it back."

FRY (O.S.)

No, no, I wanted to get away.

JOHNS (O.S.)

So I noticed. Never seen a "captain"

quite so ready to leave her ship.

Just as Riddick eases his blade toward Fry's neck...

EXT. SKULL - BONEYARD - DAY

She steps away.

FRY:

Better keep moving....

JOHNS:

What'd Owens mean? 'Bout not touching

the switch?

Fry searches his eyes, wondering if she can trust him -- and

again she leans back on the combing. We can actually see Riddick

now. They could too, if they would just TURN THE F*** AROUND!

JOHNS (CONT'D)

Hey. You can tell me, Carolyn.

FRY:

Promise me. Swear to me you won't --

JOHNS:

You see anybody else here? Just between

you and me.

FRY:

During the landing...when things were

at their worst...Owens was at his best.

He's the one who wouldn't let the pilot

dump the passenger cabin.

Johns blinks, stunned. "Are you shittin' me?"

INT. SKULL - BONEYARD - DAY

Trying again, Riddick reaches out with his shiv -- and deftly

slices off some of Fry's hair. A locket. A souvenir. That's

all he wanted.

FRY (O.S.)

So now you know.

JOHNS (O.S.)

F***. Guess I'm more glad to be here than

I thought.

Riddick watches them move off -- then looks at the scotch bottle,

left behind. It's still got one good swallow.

EXT. START OF GAUNTLET - DAY

Leaving the boneyard, the scouting party reaches a cleft in the

hills. Ahead is a canyon.

JOHNS:

Hold up.

He jumps onto a rock, puts the scope to an eye.

JOHNS (CONT'D)

Didn't bite.

FRY:

What?

JOHNS:

Thought he might be coolin' it in the

boneyard -- could either double-back to

the ship or slip in behind us. So I left

the bottle out as bait.

SCOPE POV:
PANNING the boneyard. FINDING the bottle. It's

still got that one swallow.

JOHNS (CONT'D)

But nah. Didn't bite.

EXT. BONEYARD - DAY

CLOSER on the bottle. Only we see that the scotch has been

emptied -- and replaced with sand.

EXT. GRAVE SITE - SPIRED HILLS - DAY

Working under the shade of a tarp, Zeke digs a communal grave.

Three wrapped corpses wait nearby. He keeps a sight-line on...

The crash ship. Shazza waves. Zeke waves back.

EXT. RIBCAGE - THE GAUNTLET - DAY

The scouting party transits a narrowing canyon. Lined with rib

bones, it makes us feel like we're in the belly of some beast.

Fry squints at the ridgetops. More of those spires are visible

on the canyon rims, looming like silent sentinels. "What are

they? Just mineral deposits?"

PILGRIM #1

Captain...captain....

The Chrislams have found what appears to be a small desert plant.

Leathery petals are spread wide, revealing a round stringy core.

ARABIC DISCUSSION. Desert fruit? Is it edible?

FRY:

Wait, wait, wait....

Fry takes the "plant," pushes the "petals" back down over the

core. They all stare. It's a baseball.

IMAM:

We are not alone here, yes?

They look ahead, wondering what awaits them. But Johns is

looking back.

JOHNS:

Never thought we were.

EXT. SETTLEMENT - DAY

HIGH ANGLE:
An old WEATHER COCK CREAKS in the wind. Fry,

Johns, and the Chrislams enter FRAME far below.

PILGRIM #1

Assalamoo ahlaykum!

The GREETING ECHOES through the settlement, built from stacked

shipping containers. Tattered sun-shades flap in the wind. A

rusty bike lies on the ground.

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