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Doom (Part 3)
By Aragorn
INT. PHOBOS - ABYSS
Apparently it isn't bottomless after all. Not the best news of the day, as Taggart finds when he crashes into the rocky floor. Dragging himself beneath an outcropping of rock, he goes for that stimpack.
TAGGART
Fucking resurrecting son of a bitch. I'm gonna kill that guy.
CHEN
(V.O.)
You still alive?
TAGGART
Barely. I don't know where the hell I am now. But I need to find Ritch and Weems so I can get those keys.
CHEN
(V.O.)
They should be back at Deimos Command, with the Gateway.
TAGGART
You mean where I fucking started? Jeez Doc, anything else you’ve failed to mention?
CHEN
(V.O.)
It seems the energy levels of the Gateway over here are fluctuating. I don't know what's going on or how much longer it'll hold.
TAGGART
(sarcastic) How about my dog? Is my dog dead?
INT. MARS CITY - DELTA LABS - COMMAND CONTROL
Dr. Chen sighs, watching the Gateway's crimson light flicker.
CHEN
I'm doing the best I can.
TAGGART
(V.O.)
Just see if you can get me an automap.
CHEN
I'm on it.
Something heavy hits against the lab door. Dr. Chen quickly grabs the pistol and aims it at the door with a shaky hand. Nothing else happens. After a minute she cautiously returns to the computer.
CHEN
I'll let you know when I've got something.
INT. PHOBOS COMPLEX - CORRIDOR
A couple of zombie PFCs are rummaging through the guts of a dead officer. Taggart drops out of a ceiling ventilation duct with a war whoop and levels the rocket launcher at their gaping faces.
TAGGART
Look alive, ladies!
He sends them screaming into oblivion.
INT. DEIMOS COMPLEX - LABS - COMMAND CONTROL
Taggart reenters the slaughterhouse ready for a fight, and stops dead in his tracks.
TAGGART
Doc?
CHEN
(V.O.)
What is it?
TAGGART
The Deimos Gateway is gone.
CHEN
(V.O.)
That might explain the instability on my end.
TAGGART
It might also explain me being fucked.
CHEN
(V.O.)
If the Deimos Gateway was no longer functioning at all, the one here on Mars wouldn't be either. They must have moved it someplace.
TAGGART
That's right, those spider guys were disassembling the damned thing when I dropped in. So where in Hell did they take it?
Taggart nudges a bludgeoned corpse and offers a half-hearted salute.
TAGGART
Lieutenant Weems, sir.
He checks Weems' uniform and takes out a blue keycard.
TAGGART
One down, one to go.
INT. MARS CITY - DELTA LABS - COMMAND CONTROL
Another muffled thump from the hallway. Chen pulls off her headset and maneuvers slowly toward the door.
TAGGART
(V.O.)
Ritch isn't here. Any ideas? (pause) Doc?
Chen reaches slowly for the keypad to open the door, then draws her hand back. Something is scratching frantically on the other side.
INT. DEIMOS COMPLEX - LABS - COMMAND CONTROL
TAGGART
Doc, where ya at?
He hears a female’s scream over the headset.
TAGGART
Chen!
Snorts, grunts - the sounds of a Pinky Demon - can be heard. Then silence, followed only by static.
TAGGART
Fuck!
Taggart races out of the lab, but is immediately thrown back in by a lightning bolt. What follows Taggart is a huge ball of raw red meat, drenched in blood, with dozens of small beady eyes lignin it’s head, and a portion of its brain exposed at the top. Below its giant mouth, is a small webbed section, hanging down. Its mouth begins to glow and once again, it shoots a lightning streak from its mouth. This is CACODEMON.
Taggart throws off his smoking breastplate and rolls behind a console. A few seconds later, he vaults over the console with the shotgun in one hand and the double shotgun in the other, unleashing three barrelfuls of pulverizing wrath at the Cacodemon. The creature growls and spits an arc of lightning that flips Taggart in mid-air and sends him flying back into the wall.
By the time he's back on his feet, three simultaneous blasts of energy are licking across the walls and floor to strike him, kicking his entire body into the ceiling. Tendrils of lightning curl around Taggart's limbs and throw him across the lab.
The Cacodemon chuckles as it plays with the Marine, tossing him to and fro, raking his body over shattered control panels and slapping it against steel columns. Sparks explode from the computers upon each impact, singeing Taggart's helmet.
WHAM! WHAM! From wall to wall he bounces, each time thinking that he'll be allowed to touch the floor before the Cacodemon's lightning snaps him up again.
TAGGART
Just eat me, you fucking meatloaf!
The creature lobs him straight up and positions itself to take him down in one gulp. Taggart, of course, primes the launcher as he drops into the monster's throat. Seconds after he is swallowed whole, the Cacodemon explodes in a glorious rainbow of gore, painting the bland laboratory walls in streaks of blood and flesh.
Taggart slides through a pile of stomach and comes to rest in the middle of the room. He pulls off his smashed and cracked helmet, discards it, and spots the mangled remains of the rocket launcher nearby. It’ll be of no further use.
TAGGART
(weakly) Looks like it’s just me and the boomsticks again.
He tries to get up, but passes out in a faceful of gore.
EXT. HELL - CANYON
Somewhere in the depths Hell’s canyons - which are hosts to many rivers of blood and lava - there lies a field of twitching, pleading Marines and UAC workers impaled on stakes and several other bodies are hanging from the undersides of cliffs.
Lorelei Chen is being carried in the arms of an Imp, past the Devil's living trophies. The humans that are still alive reach out with blood-caked fingers, desperate for release.
CHEN
Put me down!
The Imp happily complies, throwing her over a fence made of white bone, into a pen filled with dying scientists.
CHEN
Oh God...
She recognizes all of her colleagues; some of them only by their eyes as the rest of their bodies are mangled.
RITCH
(V.O.)
Welcome, Doctor Chen.
CHEN
Bill?
Chen turns around and spots Dr. Ritch. Half of his skull has been stripped of its flesh and he grins horrifyingly at her, slumped against an ivory post.
CHEN
What have they done to all of you?
RITCH
Just picking our brains a bit. Even these primates have proper respect for my genius.
CHEN
Bill, do you realize where you are?
RITCH
Oh yes, I know more than you could ever imagine.
CHEN
They brought me through the Gateway. It's been moved...
RITCH
I know.
CHEN
(to herself, ignoring Dr. Ritch) But why?
RITCH
In preparation for the invasion.
CHEN
What invasion?
RITCH
There's a third Gateway, Lorelei.
CHEN
What do you mean? Where?
RITCH
UAC was keeping it under wraps. Only a select few of us knew. And now they know.
CHEN
Bill...where's the Gate?
RITCH
Where do you think?
As it dawns on Dr. Chen where the third portal is located, Dr. Ritch smiles wider, several boils bursting and running blood down his face.
CHEN
That isn't possible.
RITCH
A little late for such sentiments, wouldn't you agree?
CHEN
Isn't there any way to stop this?
RITCH
If I knew of a way, they know it by now.
Chen sighs in frustration, tears filling her eyes. She slumps down beside Ritch.
RITCH
He'll be coming for you soon.
CHEN
Who?
RITCH
The Spider...
EXT. HELL - CANYON
An Imp stands atop a ridge looking down into one of the canyons. It surveys the nightmare landscape and smiles a little.
Taggart appears from behind it and seizes it in both arms and snaps its neck in half. Dumping the corpse into the chasm, he searches for a less fatal way down. A familiar shriek draws his attention to a giant floating brown ball floating in the canyon - a Pain Elemental, spitting out a
patrol of Lost Souls.
TAGGART
You’re going down.
He draws the shotguns and smiles wearily as he waits for it to get nearer and jumps off the edge.
The Pain Elemental burps a little and forces another flaming skull from between its lips. Taggart slams into the top of it, discharging both weapons and sending the deflated beast down into the canyon.
Taggart falls with the body and lands at the bottom of the canyon, on a gentle, entrail-spewing blanket of demonic flesh. He rolls off of the corpse and checks the sky for Lost Souls it had spit out. They seem to have found more important things to do.
TAGGART
Hmm, what's this?
Taggart ducks behind a rock to watch a procession of Imps carrying scientists down into the canyon.
TAGGART
Bingo.
EXT. HELL - ALCOVE
A recessed area of the canyon seems to be the site of an Imp party. A few fires blaze as the foul monsters pick through the objects they lifted from the bases. One lifts up a huge plasma rifle and waves it in the face of the others, who shriek and scatter. Turning with an animal laugh, the Imp sees Taggart standing by and freezes.
TAGGART
Hey there.
He blows the creature away and grabs picks up the fallen plasma rifle. The other Imps snarl and begin summoning fireballs.
TAGGART
Let's just skip to the part where I kill your asses.
WIDE SHOT - The firing squad of Imps is cut down by a rapid-fire stream of energy that exits the Plasma Gun.
TAGGART
Sweet.
Creeping out of the alcove into the main canyon, he stops at a precipice overlooking the ‘detention center’ of scientists.
TAGGART
All right Ritch, you'd better be in one or two pieces.
He starts down, dropping to a narrow ledge, and sees a pack of Pinky Demons tearing across the canyon floor, menacing the captured technicians. Beyond them, are Trites and the similar TICKS marching back and forth on the perimeter. Ticks look like Trites, only their heads are upside right and they have longer legs.
TAGGART
I don't have enough ammo to take all these fuckers on.
EXT. HELL - CANYON
Moments later, Taggart is at the bottom and crawling on his belly towards a pair of Pinky Demons that seem to be standing like guard dogs. One of the Pinky Demons sniffs the air, but before it can turn to look at Taggart, he blasts it with a steady stream of Plasma. The other Pinky Demon growls as it turns its head, but it shares a similar fate to it’s partner, but not before it can get off a roar.
The rest of Hell's minions are alerted. They scramble towards Taggart, only to be hit themselves by plasma rounds. However, the Trites and Ticks are so plentiful and move so quickly, that many move around the plasma blasts and begin to close in.
Taggart blasts one right in the head and watches the gray matter fly. However, the others aren't slowed a bit. He tags another one, then another.
TAGGART
Whoooo! How do you like it?
There's one Tick left and it stops, chittering loudly. Taggart carefully takes aim between its beady bug eyes. A gunshot, not from Taggart, signals the exit of the Tick’s brains through its forehead, and it crumples into a ball of dead flesh.
From behind it, Dr. Chen lowers her pistol and smiles.
CHEN
They forgot to frisk me.
TAGGART
Holy shit you're alive!
CHEN
You sound surprised, Corporal.
TAGGART
Nah, just relieved.
He tosses her the double shotgun.
TAGGART
Here, you get the big one.
She smiles and opens the stock.
CHEN
Shells?
EXT. MARS - SCIENTIST PEN
Dr. Ritch laughs at nothing in particular and nudges a dead tech at his feet.
RITCH
Don't you think?
The stripped skull is unresponsive. Ritch giggles. Taggart leans a hand through the bone fence to rifle through the Ritch's jacket.
RITCH
Well, if it isn't Gomer Pyle himself. I would've thought you'd be dead by now.
TAGGART
Maybe I am.
He snaps up the yellow keycard from a pocket.
RITCH
That's mine.
TAGGART
Eat shit.
RITCH
(suddenly fearful) The Spider...
Ritch stares off into space, eyes wide. Taggart scoffs.
TAGGART
Been there, done that.
No he hasn’t. A VAGARY, twenty times the size of its children, comes over the ridge with a 12-barrelled chaingun in it’s hands. It has the body of a giant spider, but where the head would be, is then a human female body long arms and a bald head that is host to dozens of eyes and sharp teeth.
Taggart shoves Chen out of the way as the Vagary fires. Ritch's body is mulch in half a second. The bone fence explodes; Taggart is propelled behind a boulder which is quickly reduced to sand. He lets off a puny burst of plasma fire before seeking shelter in a nearby alcove.
TAGGART
Stay down, Doc!
The Vagary hammers the earth in its unrelenting pursuit. Taggart shoots and manages to hit its face; barely making a blemish. Not even its eyes will rupture. It can't be stopped. Each round from the chaingun reshapes the environment with a deafening noise
TAGGART
Damn it.
He tenderly kisses the plasma rifle, then smashes it against the rock wall. It begins to sputter and rattle.
TAGGART
Government-issue, baby.
Taggart hurls the rifle at the Vagary’s face and it explodes brilliantly, destroying the chaingun and sending the giant spider to its eight knees. But only for a moment - even without the gun, the Vagary is still a formidable foe, and proves it by kicking Taggart a good fifty feet through the air.
A couple of ribs are cracked and Taggart isn't getting up. The Vagary advances to crush him. However, there's a smoking splinter of bone lying just out of Taggart's reach. He strains his fingertips to touch it...
Chen suddenly screams from her hiding place.
CHEN
Over here you asshole!
The Vagary turns with a squeal, searching for her. She rises from behind a rock and waves her arms.
CHEN
Hello! I’m right here!
TAGGART
Chen, no!
His anger gives him that last iota of strength needed to grab the bone sliver. But the Vagary is already heading away from him, STOMP STOMP STOMP towards an increasingly-uncomfortable
Lorelei Chen.
Taggart forces himself onto his knees.
TAGGART
I killed your babies, you fucking cunt!
The earth stops quaking. The Vagary makes a half-turn to glare at the Taggart. It is not happy.
TAGGART
(quietly) Come suck my dick, you eight-legged whore.
The Vagary roars in anger and thunders toward Taggart with murder in her enormous glassy eyes. Taggart falls onto his back at the last possible second as the creature crouches to devour him.
Dr. Chen screams in horror, but the Vagary sags and falls still. All is quiet and Taggart is nowhere to be seen. Tears come to Chen’s eyes, but then she sees the creature’s abdomen move a bit. Is it recovering? Will it rise to reveal a flattened Corporal Flynn Taggart?
Its back pulsates. Bruises. Bleeds. Rips apart. Taggart saws his way through the Vagary with the bone splinter and spits a mouthful of black blood onto the ground.
CHEN
Flynn!
TAGGART
That's right. Who’s laughing now?
He slides down its greasy back and saunters over to Chen. She stops short of embracing him.
TAGGART
You know where the Gate is?
CHEN
Yes.
TAGGART
You wanna get out of here?
CHEN
(smiles) Yes.
He looks at the three keys in his hands. Red, Blue, and Yellow.
TAGGART
Then there's just one more thing I've gotta do.
As they walk away from the mammoth corpse, a pale white foot steps into frame.
INT. DEIMOS COMPLEX - CORRIDOR
As Taggart inserts the keycards into a panel beside a huge door, he listens to Chen's account.
CHEN
And he said there's a third Gateway. They're reconfiguring the Deimos gate so they can go there.
TAGGART
Where is this third Gateway?
CHEN
(pauses) Earth.
The door slowly retracts into the wall and they both brace for an onslaught of hidden demons. However, there are none.
TAGGART
So they're going to deploy their armies straight from Hell into Anytown U.S.A, huh? (Chen nods) Not on my fucking watch.
They step through the door and several lights clap on, illuminating a podium in the center of the chamber.
TAGGART
That is one Big…Fucking…Gun.
The BFG 9000 sits on the podium under a shaft of light like a messiah of ultimate gut-shredding destruction. Even Chen has to admire the tree-trunk diameter of its glistening titanium barrel.
TAGGART
I mean, Holy Shit.
There's no trigger, just a hole in the back wide enough for a Marine's fist. Taggart slips his arm in, feels a series of clamps come down snugly on it. He feels his finger secure around a button-like trigger.
CHEN
What the hell did they make this for?
TAGGART
It's the U.S. Military, Doc.
He removes the BFG from the podium. It's shockingly light on his arm, a mere extension of himself.
CHEN
Don't point that at me.
TAGGART
Hey, I'm a professional.
An Imp shrieks from the doorway. Chen dives as Taggart whips around and accidentally fires. A gigantic, coruscating ball of green luminescence exits the barrel...and keeps expanding...and expanding...
The Imp is liquefied upon impact. The ball goes out in a supernova flash. A few more hisses sound from the hallway. Taggart and Chen peer out. Several more Imps, some not even near the doorway, lie baked on the floor, sizzling.
TAGGART
Ok, this gun is awesome.
CHEN
All right, you got your weapon. Now what?
TAGGART
We need to destroy that gate.
As they start down the corridor, Chen grabs Taggart’s elbow.
CHEN
Then how do we get home?
TAGGART
Just like before. You get safe, I stay behind and frag the baddies.
CHEN
Flynn, No.
TAGGART
This isn't open to discussion.
CHEN
Why, because I'm a woman?
TAGGART
No, because I'm a man.
CHEN
Listen to me, I'm not gonna be your cute little goddamn sidekick while you martyr yourself for the good of humankind. If you're going to die fighting these things then I'm going to die alongside you.
TAGGART
(thinking she’s insane) Are you serious?
CHEN
I was a Marine for nine years before I left for UAC. A
lieutenant.
Taggart sucks in his breath through an "ooohhhhhh" face.
CHEN
What do you say?
Slowly, stubbornly, a smile fights its way onto Taggart’s face. He hefts the BFG and looks ahead.
TAGGART
Let's raise some Hell.
8/24/2005 3:04:50 AM
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