Pitch Black Page #6

JOHNS:

Same crap, different planet, huh?

EXT. SETTLEMENT - DAY

Sucking on their breathers, Fry and the Chrislams make it back to

the ship. They find Johns beating Riddick like a chained dog.

JOHNS:

...I don't play that...I don't play that

so just try again. C'mon, Riddick, tell

me a better lie....

FRY:

Ease up, ease up. JOHNS! Just tell me

what....

She hauls him off -- only to have Shazza start punching Riddick.

SHAZZA:

What'd you do with 'im? You bloody sick

animal you, what'dja do with me Zeke?

EXT. GRAVE SITE - SPIRED HILLS - DAY

Fry and Johns stand over the grave. It's a gory mess -- but no

sign of Zeke. Johns has Riddick's confiscated shiv.

FRY:

He used that?

JOHNS:

Sir Shiv-a-lot. He likes to cut.

FRY:

So why isn't it all bloody?

JOHNS:

I assume he licked it clean.

INT. MAIN CABIN - CRASH SHIP - DAY

Riddick is back in chains, face pulpy from the beating, listening

to SOTTO VOCE VOICES outside. Fry enters, looks at him hard.

FRY:

So where is he?

Riddick turns away, revealing a broken goggle-lens. The eye

beneath is closed: For some reason, he won't look at her.

FRY:

Tell me about the sounds. You told them

you heard something right before....

(no response)

If you don't talk to me, Johns'll take

another crack at it -- at your skull.

RIDDICK:

'Mean the whispers?

FRY:

What whispers?

RIDDICK:

The ones tellin' me to go for the sweet

spot -- just to the left of the spine,

fourth lumbar down. The abdominal aorta.

What a gusher. Had a cup on his belt,

so I used it to catch a little run-off.

Metallic taste to it, human blood.

Coppery. But if you cut it with

peppermint schnapps, that goes away.

Course, that's more for winter.

Summertime, I take mine straight.

Fry stares. Riddick gets a black satisfaction from his role as

Boogeyman:
If fear is the only kind of respect he can get,

Riddick is going to grab some with both hands.

FRY:

Why don't we try the truth now?

A head-shaking beat, then:

RIDDICK:

All you people are so scared of me --

an' most days, I'd take that as a

compliment -- but it ain't me you gotta

worry about now.

FRY:

Show me your eyes.

Again he turns away. She strips the goggles off. He sits with

lids shut tight, anticipating the pain.

FRY:

Show me, Riddick.

Imagine a virgin undressing in front of someone for the first

time. That's how Riddick opens his eyes, startling us: No

irises, just huge black-pool pupils. And from deep within, a

jewel-like eyeshine. His eyes are as beautiful and unsettling as

those of a starved jaguar.

FRY:

You did this? To yourself?

RIDDICK:

Slam doctor. Well, we called him "doctor."

FRY:

Heard about it. Just never seen it.

RIDDICK:

Fairly f***in' ironic, wouldn't you say?

Slamlight's so dim that you go and get

your eyeballs taken out and shined up --

then you wind up here. Three ass-kick

suns.

(replacing goggles)

Maybe I did do a few people. But not this

one. No ma'am, not this time.

FRY:

Then where is he? He's not in the hole.

We looked.

RIDDICK:

Look deeper.

He CLICKS HIS TONGUE at her.

EXT. CRASH SHIP - DAY

Chain looped over one shoulder, Fry heads back to the grave site.

Johns, Imam, Shazza, and Audrey keep pace as...

JOHNS:

I know what happened -- he went off on the

guy, buried him on the hill somewhere, and

now he's trying to --

FRY:

Let's just be sure.

JOHNS:

I am sure. Look, murders aside, Riddick

belongs in the A**hole Hall of Fame. He

loves the jaw-jackin', loves making you

afraid, 'cuz that's all he has. And

you're playing right into --

FRY:

We're gonna find the body, Johns. Christ,

you're a cop. Why am I tellin' you this?

We gotta go down and find it.

JOHNS:

Well, don't ask me to.

FRY:

Thought you didn't believe his story.

JOHNS:

I don't. But that ground looked none too

stable, and I don't want anyone --

AUDREY:

If you're afraid, I'll go.

He shoots Audrey a scowl.

FRY:

Nobody else is going down but me, okay?

JOHNS:

(pulling her aside)

Hey. Bein' ballsy with your life now

doesn't change what came before -- it's

just stupid.

FRY:

What, you think I'm doin' this to prove

something?

JOHNS:

You said it, not me. Let's just not let

one bad call lead to another.

FRY:

Thanks for the tip, Johns.

"Now get outta my way."

EXT. GRAVE - DAY

Chain hooked to her web belt, Fry drops into the grave. She

peers into the burrow...looks back up at the halo of faces above

her...then slithers out of sight.

INT. BURROW - DAY

Letting her eyes adjust, Fry pats around lightly. Quickly she

finds Zeke's handlight, tries it. Broken.

EXT. GRAVE-SITE - SPIRED HILLS - DAY

CLOSE on the chain slithering through hands, playing out as Fry

moves deeper underground.

INT. UPHILL TUNNEL - DAY

Fry makes an uphill turn. Sees a spray of light ahead. Worms

forward to reach...

INT. THE LAIR - DAY

Another chamber, wide and just large enough to stand in. Shafts

of daylight bore down into the room. More old bones litter the

floor. Fry moves into one shaft and looks up at...

An earthen funnel. The inside of a spire.

FRY:

They're hollow....

CLICK-CLICK.

Fry slow-turns toward the sound.

CLICK-CLICK-CLICK.

There's something here, something just beyond the cusp of light.

Something unfolding.

An icy hand grips her heart. Soundlessly, Fry backtracks her

chain, but...

Something shadows across the exit. It stops her cold.

Her hand finds something new. She angles it to the light. It's

one of Zeke's boots -- with a bit of Zeke still in it.

CLICKITY-CLICKITY-CLICKITY....

The whole chamber is coming alive around her, shadows unfurling,

skulking the perimeter, circling.

Something impales the boot out of her hand, reclaiming it. It

was faster than a lightning-strike.

A paralyzed beat before...

Fry makes her move, rolling back into the shaft of daylight and

springing straight up into...

INT. SPIRE - DAY

The spire. Bracing against the walls, Fry tries to "walk" her

way up -- but her chain goes taut. Did it catch on something?

Or did something catch it? Fry starts pounding the earthen walls.

FRY:

Here! I'm in HERE, HERE, HERE!

EXT. GRAVE-SITE - SPIRED HILLS - DAY

IMAM:

Did you hear....

They drop down and suspend their heads over the bloody grave,

listening. Nothing now.

INT. SPIRE - DAY

FRY:

I'm over here in the --

Something tugs on her chain.

FRY:

Oh, God....

CLOSE on her feet. Kicking hard at the walls, trying to gouge

out footholds.

A stronger tug. Fry loses altitude, slipping closer to...

The MADLY CLICKING LAIR below.

She tries to jettison her belt -- but can't brace herself up and

undo the belt. Suddenly...

Something explodes near her head. Daylight appears, followed by

faces, human faces. They're breaking through the spire with the

pick-ax. Hands reach inside...

EXT. SPIRED HILLS - DAY

...and birth her into daylight. Overlapping:

JOHNS:

We got you...it's okay, it's okay...we got

you now....

IMAM:

The child heard you before any of us could

even....

SHAZZA:

Did you find him? You find Zeke?

FRY:

(half insane)

...wasn't Riddick...it was...it was...

goddamn, that was stupid....but wasn't

Riddick. Somethin' else down there that

got Zeke and nearly got --

Rate this script:4.0 / 1 vote