They Page #14

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A:

soft THUMPING in the hallway.

Deep and hollow. Terry spins around, the keys JINGLING in her hand.

Nothing

there. The hall appears to be empty and dark. One of the lights overhead is

flickering and buzzing softly,

providing scant illumination.

She

takes a step back ...

A:

soft TINKLING sound at her feet. Terry looks down to find a few pieces of METAL

littering the floor. Nuts and bolts. Rods. Alien in design.

Terry's

paranoia rises to a fever pitch. She turns the key in the lock. Opens the front

door.

INT. APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Terry shuts the door. Locks it. Switches on the

lights. Drops her KEYS and CELL PHONE on a coffee table.

She moves briskly into --

INT. APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT

An

open suitcase on the bed. Terry snatches up a PLANE TICKET and jams the ticket

folder into her purse. Slams the suitcase closed.

INT. APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS

Terry

leaves the bedroom, carrying the suitcase, and walks straight towards the front

door. She collects her keys and her cell phone from the table.

The lights in the apartment simultaneously go

out.

Terry

is caught entirely off guard. She spins around to face the living room.

Nobody's there. Nothing.

SOMETHING:

BANGS AT THE FRONT DOOR. A STEADY POUNDING. THE BANGING GOES ON FOR A FEW

SECONDS AND THEN STOPS DEAD.

Terry's

breathing quickens. She puts the suitcase down.

A:

crack of THUNDER reverberates outside.

Moving

with the cautious steps of a small child, she walks towards the front door.

Foot by foot. The only sound is her FRIGHTENED BREATHING. She arrives at the

peephole and looks out into the empty hall.

SOMETHING:

STARES BACK AT HER THROUGH THE PEEPHOLE.

Moving

right in front of the door. One of its yellow eyes piercing through ...

surrounded by midnight skin pierced with metal bolts and rods.

TERRY:

SCREAMS HER LUNGS OUT.

The

DOOR RATTLES like it's going to break off its hinges. Something SLAMS

REPEATEDLY against the wood.

Terry

tears through the apartment, feet POUNDING. She rushes into the bedroom.

The

front door in the living room BREAKS OPEN.

INT. APARTMENT - BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS

Terry

SLAMS the bedroom door and locks it. Backs away towards the bed, when ...

A:

HAND REACHES OUT FROM UNDER IT ...

Grabbing

hold of her ankle. Fused together from rotting flesh, human parts, and metal

pieces. Terry pitches forward, SCREAMING, falling to her hands and knees.

The

hand starts dragging her under the bed.

Terry

kicks and claws on the floor. Somehow manages to free herself from the hand's

grip. She goes for the window and pulls it open. Steps outside.

The

entire bed is OVERTURNED and tossed aside.

EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING - FIRE ESCAPE - NIGHT

Terry

is immediately drenched by the storm. The door within her bedroom can be heard

CRASHING OPEN, followed by a ROARING unlike anything on this earth.

Terry

rushes down the fire escape, FEET BANGING on the metal steps. But she stops

dead in her tracks when she notices --

SEVERAL:

FIGURES ...

Standing

in the alley far below. Looking up at her. Waiting.

A:

sound rises up behind her. THE SOUND OF FOOTSTEPS BANGING DOWN THE FIRE ESCAPE

IN PURSUIT.

TERRY:

(horrified)

Oh

God ...

Terry

desperately goes to a window. She pulls it open, stepping inside, THE BANGING

FOOTSTEPS RIGHT BEHIND HER.

INT. APARTMENT BUILDING - HALLWAY - NIGHT

The

apartment floor is being renovated. Plastic tarps cover the doors and windows.

Terry races through the hallway, SCREAMING WILDLY as she POUNDS on the doors.

TERRY:

HELP:

ME! PLEASE HELP!!!

Terry

rockets around the corner. She presses the elevator door button frantically.

The

sound of CROAKING and HISSING fills the hallway.

The

elevator doors slide open.

Terry

lunges into the elevator, hits for the lobby, then starts BEATING FRENZIEDLY on

the door close button.

Several

shadows appear in the hallway. Getting closer.

Terry

SCREAMS WILDLY and keeps pounding the button.

The

bizarre HISSING becomes a FRIGHTFUL ROAR just as ...

The

elevator doors pull shut. Closing on the unseen things in the hallway.

INT. ELEVATOR - NIGHT

The car starts going down. Floor lights blink above the door.

8 ... 7 ... 6 ...

Terry punches out 9-1-1 on the cell phone's keypad. Nothing comes through

the receiver. Only static.

TERRY:

Come

on ... come on ...

She

dials again.

4

... 3 ... 2 ...

More

static over the cell phone. Terry has started crying in anguish when the

elevator comes to an abrupt halt.

The

doors stay closed.

Terry

looks above the elevator doors. The floor light reads --

"B"

(Basement)

Terry

starts pressing for the lobby. The elevator won't move. She presses the

"door open" button, the alarm button, anything at all. Nothing

responds.

TERRY:

(cont'd)

HELP!

SOMEBODY! HELP ME!!!

Nothing.

Futile silence. She's about to try dialing on the cell phone again, when ...

WHUMP.

A heavy thudding sound above the elevator car roof. The light overhead flickers

like a candle. Terry gazes at the failing light, then tracks her eyes towards

the trap door in the roof.

A few more hollow THUMPS.

Terry

is petrified. She takes a step backward. The light flashes off and on again ...

creating a strobe light effect.

Behind

her, the elevator doors silently pull open.

Terry's

gaze is still focussed on the ceiling trap door. Behind her, the basement is

pitch black. She continues moving backwards towards the open elevator doors,

step after step, completely unaware ...

UNTIL:

SOMETHING LEAPS OUT OF THE DARK AND GRABS HER.

In

the moment it takes to draw a breath and scream, it's already over.

The

light goes out.

INT. APARTMENT BUILDING - UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - NIGHT

The

lobby is vacant and terribly still. The elevator doors remain closed, a few

THUMPING sounds coming from the shaft far below.

Then

nothing.

EXT. SAN FRANCISCO - STREET - NIGHT

The

sound of a PHONE LINE RINGING.

Julia

is sitting inside of the parked Range Rover, the cell phone pressed against her

ear.

MAN'S

VOICE:

(from phone)

Hello?

JULIA:

Hello

... is this Mr. Alba?

MAN:

Yes.

JULIA:

I'm

sorry to call you so late ...

MAN:

(overlapping)

Who

is this?

JULIA:

This

is Julia Levin. We met a few days ago at graduation. I'm a friend of Terry's.

Beat.

MAN:

Who?

JULIA:

Terry.

Your daughter?

More

silence.

JULIA:

(cont'd)

Hello?

MAN:

I:

don't have a daughter.

JULIA:

Excuse

me?

MAN:

You

must have the wrong number.

JULIA:

(beat)

No,

this is the right number ...

CLICK!

The MAN hangs up the phone on the other line.

JULIA:

(cont'd)

Hello?

Julia

stares at the cell phone in stunned confusion, until a sharp pain courses

through her hand. She FLINCHES and nearly drops the phone. Julia checks her

pricked finger.

The

WOUND HAS GROWN. An infected red spot with a open hole in the center. The skin

actually seems to be rotting around it, allowing the wound to expand like a

sinkhole.

INT. CORNER MARKET - NIGHT

A:

small box of aspirin are taken from the shelf.

Paul

tightens his fist around the box, shutting his eyes, fighting the excruciating

the pain in his head. He takes a deep breath and moves to the register.

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