The Thing Page #20

DR. COPPER

Damn it, quit the bickering and give

me a hand. Wheel that fibrillator

over here.

Sanchez pushes over the portable fibrillator. Copper

climbs up on the table and straddles Norris' chest.

Unnoticed, Clark paws the contents of the instrument tray

behind his back.

DR. COPPER

Palmer, turn on that oxygen and hold

the mask over his face... Childs,

grab his shoulders.

They do so. Copper holds electrical prongs over Norris'

chest.

CHILDS:

(to MacReady,

threatening)

You're going to have to sleep

sometime.

DR. COPPER

Quiet down...

(to Sanchez)

... turn that thing on.

Sanchez depresses the "on" button.

DR. COPPER

Now hold him.

MACREADY:

I'm a real light sleeper, Childs...

DR. COPPER

Enough, MacReady!

Dr. Copper presses the prongs onto Norris' chest and

shoots a bolt of current. Norris' body heaves upward. A

slight crackling sound and an odd chirp through the oxygen

mask.

DR. COPPER

Again... More current this time,

Sanchez...

Buzzz. Several more jolts from the prongs. Clark's hand

has found a scalpel. He gently lifts it out, bringing it

to his side.

MACREADY:

And if anyone tries to wake me...

DR. COPPER

Damn you, MacReady!

Norris' body begins bounding up. More crackling and

popping. His chest begins to break up and spread. The

mask pops off -- a hideous mewing escaping from Norris'

distorted mouth.

The men jump back, incredulous. Dr. Copper scrambles off

his chest and flops to the floor.

SANCHEZ:

God... what...?

They watch on in stunned horror as The Thing that was

Norris begins to change, to spread awkwardly on the slab.

Its clothes tearing. A shoe splits in half and falls to

the floor, exposing the beginnings of a talon.

MacReady charges toward it, shooing the men off.

MACREADY:

Get out of the way!!

He unloads with a stream of flame. The body writhes in

pain, belching and hissing. The slab catches fire. It

struggles, lunges for the floor, straightens up, and moves

a few feet.

A black and yellow substance rips through its trousers and

squirts to the floor. Norris' body collapses on the

fibrillating machine in flames. Extinguishers are ripped

from the walls and put to work.

MacReady watches the smoking particles of ooze in

fascination, as they twitch and mew on the floor.

Within seconds the fire is out. The men stand around in

awe as they look upon The Thing that was once Norris.

MacReady continues to observe the small particles. Their

tiny squeals abating into silence.

INT. REC ROOM

MacReady, still carrying the industrial torch, has

maneuvered all the men into the room. He holds Garry's

.44. He has untaped the explosives from his chest and

laid them on the nearby table next to two more boxes of

dynamite.

CLARK:

What you got in mind, MacReady?

MACREADY:

A little test.

PALMER:

What kind of test?

MACREADY:

I'm sure a lot of you already know.

He tosses a ream of steel cable and some rope to Palmer.

MACREADY:

Palmer, you and Copper tie everyone

down. Real tight.

CHILDS:

What for?

MACREADY:

For your health.

GARRY:

(to others)

Let's rush him. He's not going to

blow us all up.

MACREADY:

Damn if I won't.

CHILDS:

(a beat)

You ain't tying me up.

MACREADY:

Then I'll have to kill you.

CHILDS:

Then kill me.

MacReady points the .44 at Childs' head.

MACREADY:

I mean it.

MacReady c*cks his gun. Childs holds his ground.

CHILDS:

I guess you do.

A beat. Clark springs for MacReady. Scalpel raised.

MacReady spins and fires three shots, point-blank, the

forces of the charges sending Clark flying backwards. The

others, themselves about to pounce, stop -- as MacReady

whirls the torch and gun back toward them.

CUT TO:

THE MEN:

being tied securely to couches and chairs.

MACREADY:

Tie up Clark, too.

PALMER:

(bemused)

He's dead.

MACREADY:

Norris looked pretty dead, himself.

Bullets don't kill these Things.

MacReady turns on a Bunsen burner while he cuts the rubber

covering off an electrical cord, exposing the copper wire.

All the while, he keeps his eye on the men.

CHILDS:

(muttering)

We should have jumped his ass.

MACREADY:

Now Copper, you tie Palmer up.

Copper starts to tie Palmer to the small couch next to

Childs and Garry.

MACREADY:

We're going to draw a little bit of

everybody's blood.

NAULS:

What are you going to do? Drink it?

MACREADY:

Watching Norris in there... gave me

the idea that maybe every part of

you bastards is a whole. Every

piece of you is self-sufficient, an

animal unto itself. When a man

bleeds it's just tissue. But blood

from one of you Things won't obey.

It's a newly formed individual with

a built-in desire to protect its own

life. When attacked, your blood

will try and survive -- and crawl

away from a hot needle say.

CUT TO:

SANCHEZ:

grimacing as Dr. Copper pinches a scalpel to his thumb and

collects a small portion of his blood in a dish.

All the men have been tied up. Palmer, Childs and Garry

on the small couch. The others, including the lifeless

corpse of Clark, in chairs.

Copper returns the plate to the table and sets it down in

line with the other plates of blood that he has collected.

The names of each man have been scribbled onto the plates.

MacReady slides the Doctor a fresh plate.

MACREADY:

Now you.

Copper cuts his thumb, his blood dribbles onto the plate.

He stands nervously for a beat.

MACREADY:

Slide it back here.

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