They Page #17

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She

peers inside. A dull flickering light flashes within.

Julia

takes a calming breath. She moves into the hole.

INT. CRAWL SPACE - CONTINUOUS

A:

narrow and claustrophobic space. Julia squirms through the confined space,

pulling herself towards the flashing light.

INT. CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS

Julia

pulls herself through another opening and finds herself standing in the

threshold of a corridor. Both the walls and floor are constructed of crude

metal grates and long pipes. Anything could be hiding within. Waiting.

She

moves slowly into the corridor, a STROBE LIGHT flickering around her. She

gropes towards another opening.

The

sound of her TERRIFIED BREATHING is slowly replaced by the RHYTHMIC HUMMING OF

MACHINES.

INT. STAIRWELL - CONTINUOUS

Steam

rises from the pipes. Bathing the stairwell in mist.

The

fluorescent lights above are glimmering in the darkness. Julia stands at the

top of the stairwell. She can't even see the bottom of the steps.

Carefully,

she starts moving down. Her hand gripping the metal railing.

The

HUMMING OF MACHINES grows louder ...

Her

foot accidentally kicks a few pieces of metal on the steps. A light CLINKING as

the metal scatters down ahead of her.

The

HUMMING OF MACHINES is closer now. Just beyond the sheathing clouds of blue and

white mist.

The

metal railing is suddenly replaced by HUMAN BONES.

Julia

pulls her hand away from the railing. Looks skyward and discovers more BONES

are being used to brace the ceiling along with metal beams.

She

stops. Shutting her eyes in fear. Starts to lose control.

From

somewhere within, she manages to steady herself. Keeps going through the

awaiting steam curtain at the bottom.

INT. MAIN HALLWAYS - CONTINUOUS

The

steam parts to reveal a dark space. Cold and damp.

Julia

moves into the main hallway, stumbling through a hallway that can best be

described as a living nightmare. Mammoth pipes and human skin has been

fashioned together into a wall, pulsating with the HEARTBEAT OF MACHINES that

saturates the entire hallway.

Steam

jets into the hallway intermittently from the pipes. Creating great clouds.

Julia

is beyond horrified. Her face registers a numbness. Complete and total

astonishment.

Human

bones and body parts have been so expertly fashioned into the corridor that

it's impossible to distinguish where the organic ends and the mechanical

begins.

She

enters another corridor. Her face is struck by a JET OF HISSING STEAM.

She

presses onward. Slipping past the skulls and littered metal on the floor.

Another

BLAST OF STEAM.

Something

leaps out of the middle of it.

Julia

whirls back around a corner, pressing flat against the wall as a BLACK SHAPE

moves through the steam. Unidentifiable features. Movements that suggest nothing

by chaos and madness.

The

SHAPE HISSES and CROAKS in the hallway.

Julia

waits. She doesn't even breathe. The HISSING stops.

She

gradually turns to peek back into the hallway where the thing once stood.

CLOSE:

ON JULIA'S EYES

as

she looks around the corner. The shape has disappeared.

Carefully

she keeps going forward. Drenched in water and sweat. Slipping through the

steam clouds that mask another entrance.

INT. LAIR - NIGHT

A:

massive room where empty human skins are dangling from hooks, complete and preserved

from head to toe. The skins sway and rock gently in the draft. Thousands of

them.

Julia

moves towards the center of the room.

A:

large OPERATING TABLE awaits. But the surface of the table is sunken like a

water basin. Next to the table is a pedestal littered with BLOODY INSTRUMENTS.

Cutting tools. Knives. Curved hooks.

Julia

notices that Paul's torn clothes are resting at the foot of the table. Shirt

shredded to a rag. Sneakers orphaned nearby. Jeans spattered with blood.

Her

breathing quickens. Her heart POUNDING.

She

reaches the foot of the table. Paul is lying within the basin, completely naked

and partially covered with LITTERED BODY PARTS. Organs and entrails.

The

basin is filled with water and blood. An immobile form is resting next to him.

Julia

moves quickly. She tries to wake him up.

JULIA:

Paul.

Paul, wake up.

He

stirs. His nose crinkles slightly.

JULIA:

(cont'd)

Wake

up.

She

grabs him and lifts him up. He starts COUGHING.

JULIA:

(cont'd)

You've

gotta hurry.

(then)

Here

...

Julia

grabs his jeans. She helps him slide down from the basin and he pulls them on.

A:

skinned HAND grabs hers. Julia yelps a SCREAM.

The

other form -- a thing in the

basin -- rises and turns. Slicked with blood. Empty sockets where the eyes

should be. Mouth falling open. A horror that shouldn't be alive.

Julia

SCREAMS again.

Her

free hand grabs a HOOK from the pedestal and swings the blade into the thing's

neck. Blood fountains up.

The

thing begins SHRIEKING.

With

Paul leaning on her for support, Julia rapidly heads for the door.

INT. MAIN HALLWAYS - CONTINUOUS

Julia

navigates her way through the hallways. Moving blindly through sudden JETS OF

STEAM, the sound of MACHINES around them. Paul leans on her, his eyes remaining

closed, COUGHING and stumbling.

JULIA'S

POV:

Racing

through the halls. The steam clouds suddenly EXPLODING into her view.

INT. STAIRWELL - CONTINUOUS

Julia

reaches the stairwell and helps Paul climb the steps. She looks back over her

shoulder. Nothing behind them.

INT. CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS

Julia

stops at the corridor opening. The strobe light FLASHES within. Clicking.

The

corridor looks empty. Nothing but pipes and shadows.

JULIA:

We're

almost there.

Julia

turns to Paul and finds a face with glaring yellow eyes and metal teeth. He

stares back at her.

A:

moment of sheer horror. Julia reels back into the corridor. Pressed flat

against the wall. Sliding towards the crawl space opening.

Paul

starts advancing into the corridor. Grinning with teeth that flash with every

click of the strobe light.

She

keeps sliding away ...

He

grabs his chest and RIPS IT OPEN, tearing the covering skin apart as he would a

shirt. A menagerie of human bones and metal are revealed behind it.

Julia

tries to scream. Eyes wide. She can't make a sound.

Paul

tears the skin covering his chest wider. Pulling it away. Stripping himself

clean.

Julia

reaches the crawl space. Sliding down.

The

last pieces Paul's skin are torn off. The thing that had been pretending to be

Paul stands in his place.

Only

brief glimpses are allowed by the strobe light. An abysm of immemorial lunacy

consisting of fashioned human parts and twisted metal. A human heart beating

within exposed ribs. Bones combined with pulleys and rods. The face of a skull.

A contradiction of all matter and cosmic order.

Julia

slips back into the crawl space. Still trying to scream.

INT. CRAWL SPACE - NIGHT

Julia

drags herself through the crawl space. Moving quickly. Panicked.

INT. SUBWAY TUNNEL - NIGHT

Julia

squeezes herself through the exposed hole. She kicks to her feet and tears off

into the tunnel.

INT. SUBWAY TUNNEL - STATION OPENING - NIGHT

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