The Ritual Page #3

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LUKE:
Is that meant to be a person?

PHIL:
What, with no head

and antlers for hands?

If I hear anything

coming down the stairs...

Don't. F***ing hell!

I'm going downstairs

to get that fire started.

You guys can stay up here if you want.

- Yep. Good idea.

- Come on.

LUKE:
Looked like that f***ing thing

in the tree.

HUTCH:
Could be idolising

a spirit or a deity.

Some kind of pagan or Nordic sh*t.

Like an offering or something.

Yeah, well, I almost offered up

a massive sh*t when I saw it.

- I thought they worshipped Odin.

- Well, that is Nordic.

Who knows what they're into out here?

Living here, in the middle of nowhere.

Sun goes down,

don't come up for six months.

You're bound to go f***ing mental

in the winter.

We should probably burn this place

down when we leave.

- F***ing well up for burning it down.

- (CHUCKLES)

Listen, though, I think that, um,

when we wake up tomorrow,

we should think about just going

back out the way we came.

We don't need to wilfully add

another day to the trip, do we?

- Let's just stick to the shortcut...

- My old scoutmaster used to say

"If the shortcut was a shortcut,

it would be called a route."

Why pretend you were in the Scouts?

You were never in the Scouts.

Where did I get the quote from, then?

Guys, right, we have a map,

we have a compass,

we have supplies.

So as long as we don't panic,

as long as we don't f*** ourselves

- we're gonna be absolutely okay.

- DOM:
No-one's f***ing anyone.

- Who knows? It could be a long night.

- No-one's f***ing anybody.

(CHUCKLES)

DOM:
We're in sleeping bags,

for crying out loud.

It could get messy.

I'll give any of you a grand to go

upstairs and sleep with that thing.

Absolutely no way.

- My wife would never forgive me.

- No, she wouldn't.

- Good night.

- Yeah, all right, okay.

Couple of hours, soon as it's light,

we'll get out.

(THUNDER RUMBLES)

(FAINT KNOCKING)

(FAINT GROWL)

(THUNDER RUMBLES)

(THUNDER CRASHING)

(STORM STOPS)

(WHISPERS) Hutch.

(GASPS)

(BOTTLES RATTLE)

(INHALES AND EXHALES DEEPLY)

(PANTING)

(EXHALES SHARPLY)

(SCREAMS)

- (HUTCH SCREAMS AND GASPS)

- Hutch?

Hutch?

Mate, wake up.

Mate. It's okay, it's okay, it's okay.

- Where the f*** am I?

- We're in that house.

We're in that f***ing house, okay?

Get up, okay? Get up.

Where's the... Where's my f***ing...

Jesus Christ.

I've pissed myself.

(SOBS) Gayle.

LUKE:
Dom?

DOM:
(WHIMPERS) Gayle!

- LUKE:
Dom.

- (WHIMPERS)

Dom!

- Gayle!

- Wake up. Mate, mate, it's okay.

(CRYING)

Get up, mate.

Wake up.

Where's Phil?

- Where the f***'s...

- (CREAKS FROM UPSTAIRS)

(DOOR CREAKS)

(UNDER HIS BREATH) Oh, f***.

Phil.

F***!

- Phil. Phil, what are you doing?

- (GROANS)

- Phil, what are you doing?

- (PHIL GROANS)

- It's okay.

- (HYPERVENTILATES)

It's okay. Mate, get up, okay?

What's this? What's this?

I don't know. I don't know, mate.

Get up, okay?

DOM:
Just grab everything.

Just shove it in the bags, let's go.

Can we f***ing hurry up, yeah?

I want to get out of here now!

DOM:
Oh, for f***'s sake.

- We shouldn't be here.

- LUKE:
It's a warning.

No, we don't know that.

We do not know that.

- It's a warning.

- F***!

Listen.

Hutch, we just go out

the way we came in, okay?

- We go north-east.

- HUTCH:
It's a knee-jerk plan.

- Guys.

- It's a bad plan.

- Mate.

- Hey!

Hey!

Is that a path?

No, Dom, south-west is this way, mate.

South-west can go and f*** itself.

You said we were

getting out of this forest yesterday.

The storm slowed us down.

What do you want?

So did the dead thing hanging

in the trees

and the spooky f***ing house!

Um, can we go?

We don't even know where that goes.

We could end up in Norway

for all we know.

Great! You know, I'm sick of this

off-road bollocks. Okay?

A path means civilisation.

Dom.

Marvellous.

So are we gonna talk about it, then,

or not?

Because I'd really like

to talk about it.

- I'd rather not, mate.

- You'd rather not?

I woke up stark bollock naked

in front of that thing,

praying to it, and I'd love someone

to explain it to me.

It was a nightmare, Phil.

What's commonly known as a nightmare.

- What happened to you, then, mate?

- We all did. We all had nightmares.

We got spooked and we had bad dreams.

- All right?

- Yeah. Leave it out, mate.

Hang on, mate. You were screaming

and shouting at the top of your voice.

You were shouting "Gayle!"

- Have you ever done that before?

- I said leave it out, Luke.

- Something made me do that.

- Press on.

Bad dreams or not, I'd never have done

that. Something was in that house.

For f***'s sake, Phil!

Listen to yourself, mate.

I'm a bit f***ing humiliated

about being found in my kegs

covered in piss.

All right?

I don't really wanna psychoanalyse it.

I don't wanna play f***ing

make-believe because, right now,

we have some real f***ing problems.

Like finding out which way

this f***ing path ends up.

Enough of the bullshit

ghost stories, okay?

You're starting to sound like

my daughters.

Outside I'd never

have done that, mate.

PHIL:
Something's not right here.

(ECHOING BREATH)

- Did you say south-west, yeah?

- Yes.

- Which way is south-west?

- That ridge up there.

- What, towards the light?

- Yeah. We're just tracking along it.

Five more minutes on this path

and I'm pulling rank.

You see these things? Man-made.

We're getting somewhere.

(HUTCH BREATHES HEAVILY)

- HUTCH:
Should we have a look?

- Absolutely not.

- Let's keep going.

- Yep.

We can still get out of here today.

LUKE:
Dom...

Dom, maybe we should think about this.

Dom.

Guys, I just need a minute.

My knee's killing me.

These are the wrong f***ing shoes.

Er, Dom, you might have to push

through the pain barrier a bit, mate.

- We can't keep going at this pace.

- Screw you.

I'm through the pain barrier.

I'm in bloody agony.

No. I think you're uncomfortable.

There's a difference.

Oh, I'm sorry,

I didn't realise you were a doctor.

Go give yourself a f***ing prostate

exam and leave me in peace, yeah?

Dom, come on, get up.

No.

Dom, I want out of these woods now.

Please get up.

This is f***ing ridiculous.

I'm gonna go to the top of that ridge,

see if I can see anything.

Yeah. Yeah, good idea, man.

- To the ridge, straight back.

- Got it.

- Don't go too far.

- Yeah, got it!

(PANTING)

F***!

(BREATHES HEAVILY)

(INHALES AND EXHALES DEEPLY)

- (INHALES)

- (TWIG SNAPS)

(ROARING)

(BRANCHES CRACKING)

LUKE:
Guys!

- Everything okay?

- There's something up there.

DOM:
What are you talking about?

- There's something in those woods.

- What do you mean?

- Something f***ing big.

- HUTCH:
Like an animal? What?

Can we not do this, please?

Can we all agree to not start

losing our f***ing sh*t in here?

- There is f***ing something up there.

- Shut up.

Okay, listen, I'm not trying

to f***ing freak you out

but I woke up last night

and there was some f***ing...

And look at this.

- What...

- What the f*** is that?

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