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Doom 3 Hell on Earth [Part 3]
By Aragorn
EXT. JERUSALEM - REFUGEE CAMP - DAY
A wind-swept desert wasteland. Conflict in this region has never settled down, and we are presented with the familiar sight of war-torn refugees huddled in crude shanties.
Taggart and Father Kelly are traveling in a lunar-rover conversion customized for the harsh terrain of this former city. A sandstorm beats on the roof as they ride along.
FATHER KELLY
Look at these people. Almost as if they'd be better off dead.
TAGGART
Death's overrated, Father. Now tell me what we're looking for.
FATHER KELLY
The Temple of Shaitan was buried in an earthquake in 1910. Looters in the 22nd century dug a system of tunnels leading down to the temple.
TAGGART
You think Augie stuck the mega sphere in the temple?
FATHER KELLY
We won't know until we get there.
A U.S. soldier hails the rover, and Taggart pulls over.
TAGGART
What's your name, son?
SOLDIER
PFC Bitterman, sir.
TAGGART
Name's Major Taggart. Trying to locate a Temple of Shaitan.
BITTERMAN
You mean the new UAC project?
Taggart and Father Kelly exchange glances.
EXT. TEMPLE ENTRANCE - DAY
Several UAC vehicles form a perimeter around a fenced tunnel entrance. Taggart watches the activity from a distance, through a pair of binoculars.
TAGGART
Bastards beat us to it.
FATHER KELLY
They must have recovered the texts from the library.
TAGGART
Take a look at this.
Handing Father Kelly the binoculars, Taggart points him toward a spot near the tunnel entrance. There is a Pinky Demon attached to a chain, walking back and forth.
TAGGART
There's a Pinky Demon on the end of that leash. They're not taking any chances.
FATHER KELLY
So what do we do?
Taggart opens the tailgate of the rover and pulls out two long cases.
TAGGART
We go the fuck down there.
EXT. TEMPLE ENTRANCE - DAY - MINUTES LATER
Walking through the blowing sand, the sentinel Pinky Demon looks left to right, snorts, and digs a claw into the earth. Taggart slips up behind it and presses the double shotgun to its head.
INT. UNDERGROUND TUNNEL
Taggart leads the way down the sloping passage to the buried temple. The tunnel opens up into an enormous Temple Hall, which is teeming with UAC Mercenaries. Taggart and Father Kelly take cover behind a pillar and observe the action.
There is a gaping chasm in the middle of the hall, preventing access to the rest of the temple. As they watch, a Merc produces a teleporter cube from his trench coat. He then attaches the cube to something like a harpoon gun. The Merc fires the cube across the chasm and upon impact, it
unfolds into a flat pentagram.
A second teleporter is laid out at the Mercs' feet. One by one, they step onto it and are sent across the chasm in a flash of green light.
FATHER KELLY
Unbelievable.
The last Merc to cross is Janella Sabando. Once she is across, Taggart and Father Kelly walk out from behind the pillar.
TAGGART
After you, Padre.
As they approach the pentagram, Father Kelly crosses himself at the sight of the infernal symbol. Then he steps onto it. The priest suddenly appears on the other side, staggering in shock
from the teleporter. Taggart steps onto the device and joins him on the other side.
INT. TEMPLE - WORSHIP ROOM
Huge inverted crosses have been carved into the walls. They glow with an eerie red light, casting it upon the awed faces of the Mercs.
SABANDO
Where are we?
She looks back at one of the trench coated Mercs, but that’s when we realize that the figure is not a Merc, but an Imp in a trenchcoat, keeping all but two of its eyes closed. It is the same Imp from London. It only scowls before resuming its patrol of the room.
INT. TEMPLE - HALLWAY
Father Kelly grimaces at a mummified corpse.
TAGGART
Where's the sphere, Father?
FATHER KELLY
I…I don't know. We'll have to search the temple.
TAGGART
Wrong answer.
FATHER KELLY
I'm sorry but I didn't build the damn place!
TAGGART
Woah, settle down there, pal.
INT. TEMPLE - WORSHIP ROOM
The Imp hurls the lid off of a stone sarcophagus. A cloud of dust drives the Mercs back as the Imp fishes through the coffin's contents. It soon pulls out a large, rifle-like construct made entirely of flesh and bone. A Hell-spawned weapon - the Unmaker.
SABANDO
What's that for?
Before she could get an answer however, something shifts. The Temple itself shifts. It's a subtle movement, but enough to shake the spiders and rocks from the ceiling. Then again. And Again...
Footsteps.
The wall at the far end of the chamber begins to break apart and re-assemble itself into an opening, much like a Tetris game on reverse. The new opening begins to glow with an unholy light and the Imp slides the Unmaker onto its wrist.
MERCENARY
(fearful) I think we woke something up…
SABANDO
Fall back!
Taggart and Father Kelly enter from the other side of the room. Father Kelly gasps at all the inverted crosses, but then they hear the thudding as well. Handing Father Kelly the double shotgun, Taggart goes for the chaingun.
TAGGART
I knew this was too damn easy.
Sabando hears Taggart and turns, spotting them.
SABANDO
Taggart!
TAGGART
Aim for its weapon, Padre’.
FATHER KELLY
What are you talking about?!
The temple's guardian, a towering CYBERDEMON thunders into the chamber, immediately launching three missiles into the floor. CHOOM! CHOOM! CHOOM! Mercenaries are blasted to
bits.
Taggart unleashes the chaingun. It slaps the Cyberdemon's metallic hide like hundreds of tiny gnats. The behemoth ignores it, turning its evil glare on the Mercs at its feet.
SABANDO
Kill it!
The Imp ducks behind a column and watches the onslaught. It's a massacre. For every missile launched by the demon, three or four Mercs are pulverized. The glow of the inverted crosses intensifies.
The Imp throws itself into the middle of the chamber, as an inky black jet shoots from the Unmaker. The energy hits the Cyberdemon in the chest and it roars in pain.
TAGGART
Fuck, I want that.
FATHER KELLY
Look out!
The priest tackles the Marine to the floor just as a missile speeds past them and on down the hallway. Sabando rolls out of the way of a crumbling column. All of her men are toast and the Imp is the only one putting up a fight. She retreats.
TAGGART
Back down the hall! The big guy can't follow us through there!
They retreat as well; the Nightmare Imp is left alone to pound the monster with dark energy. Two missiles pitch the Imp into a sarcophagus. The Cyberdemon brings down every pillar in the Imp's vicinity, creating a huge dust storm as the debris hits against the floor. Then it heads for the smaller hallway.
INT. TEMPLE - HALLWAY
An apocalyptic rumbling causes Taggart and Father Kelly to stumble. They turn back to look and see that the Cyberdemon is trying to cram itself into the hall. It lets out a thundering screeching roar.
TAGGART
Fuck!
He turns and fills its face with lead. The demon fires back and is swallowed by dirt as its missile hits against the wall.
TAGGART
Move! Now!
INT. TEMPLE HALL
Father Kelly runs and leaps without hesitation onto the teleporter. He's across the chasm in a millisecond. Taggart is close behind, but just before he reaches the pentagram, another explosion knocks him off his feet.
The Cyberdemon roars as it tears out of the hallway. Taggart crawls onto the teleporter just before its massive hoof comes smashing down.
Across the chasm, Father Kelly reels under the force of several missile impacts. The behemoth isn't about to let them leave. Taggart looks back at the Cyberdemon, standing on either side
of the teleporter, about to fire the killing shot.
TAGGART
Got ya, asshole.
He leaps back onto their side's teleporter, appearing in the same space occupied by the Cyberdemon, and telefragging it in a geyser of spewing entrails as the Cyberdemon ceases to exist.
When the red mist clears, Father Kelly sees Taggart teleporting back with a bloody smile.
TAGGART
Well, looks like no one gets the mega-sphere. That’s good enough for me.
FATHER KELLY
I'm starting to think that it wasn't here after all.
TAGGART
You're shittin’ me.
FATHER KELLY
I found this back in that room...
He pulls out a small, thin stone with an evil satanic symbol carved on it.
FATHER KELLY
It's just like the one from the library.
TAGGART
You mean that guy was guarding a fucking paperweight?
FATHER KELLY
These runestones may be the key to locating the mega-sphere.
TAGGART
That was a fucking CYBERDEMON! They don't get any bigger than that! He was the boss! It's over, Padre!
FATHER KELLY
No, it isn't.
He brushes some entrails off of his robes and heads into the tunnel that leads back to the surface.
TAGGART
Fine. (beat) Fine!
INT. TEMPLE - WORSHIP ROOM
The Unmaker punches through a pile of rubble, still attached to the Imp's arm.
EXT. UAC CAMP - NIGHT
Sabando's remaining men, numbering about half a dozen, are loading up while she speaks into a sat-phone.
SABANDO
We lost the main Imp. (pause) It doesn't matter, we still have soulcubes. (pause) Taggart? Don't worry about Taggart. He’s being taken care of.
INT. REFUGEE CAMP - TARP - NIGHT
Taggart and Father Kelly huddle under the relative shelter of a wind battered tarpaulin.
EXT. REFUGEE CAMP - TARP - NIGHT
Just outside the back of the tarp, a cube is dropped and it unfolds into a teleporter.
INT. REFUGEE CAMP - TARP - NIGHT
Neither man notices the green flash through the tarp as they huddle close to an electric heater. Neither notices the hovering shadow, outlined by flames, that draws nearer to the tarp.
EXT. REFUGEE CAMP - TARP - NIGHT
Outside of the tarp, we see a Lost Soul. However this skull's flame is bright blue, and its eyes glow with malevolence as it speeds toward the tarp.
INT. REFUGEE CAMP - TARP - NIGHT
The heater stutters and dies out. Taggart lets out a string of curses and leans over to hit it. Behind him, the Lost Soul passes through the tarp like a ghost, shooting over Taggart's head and straight into Father Kelly's chest, disappearing from view.
The priest gasps and falls back.
TAGGART
You okay?
Father Kelly opens his mouth, but there's no sound - then a peaceful
look comes over him. He sits up.
TAGGART
This thing's shot.
Father Kelly grabs the double shotgun just as Taggart looks back at him.
TAGGART
What's wrong, Padre? Is UAC here?
That’s when he sees the murder in Father Kelly's eyes a split-second before the gun
fires. Taggart vaults out of the makeshift tent, kicking up a volley of sand as he scrambles for cover. Father Kelly walks calmly after him.
BLAM! A stack of crates blows up right next to Taggart's face. He pitches through another tent, scattering its occupants.
TAGGART
The fuck are you doing, Father?!
BLAM! BLAM! Scrap metal flies off the wall of a shanty. Taggart rolls under a rover and looks for a weapon. Nothing within reach. One of the tires is split by a gunshot. He makes a break for
It, with Father Kelly right on his tail.
Taggart stumbles over the crest of a sand dune and falls right into a bonfire. Sparks fly in the faces of the terrified onlookers. The Marine rolls frantically to escape the flames, just as Father Kelly scales the dune and takes aim.
TAGGART
No!!
Click.
Empty. Father discards the shotgun and continues down the hill. Taggart is quick to put the bonfire between himself and the possessed priest. Father Kelly smiles. It’s not his smile, but that of the gleeful Lost Soul.
FATHER KELLY
(multiple voices) Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming...
TAGGART
You got one in you…
He whips out a pistol and pops Father Kelly in the forehead. The Lost Soul comes screaming out of Father Kelly, snared by the bullet, and hurled back into the netherworld. The priest falls
facedown in the sand.
Taggart jumps the bonfire and rolls Father Kelly over. There's no head wound where he was shot.
TAGGART
Thank Christ.
Father Kelly stirs and rubs the sand from his eyes.
FATHER KELLY
Flynn! I'm sorry, I…
TAGGART
(cutting him off) It's okay, Padre. I get it.
FATHER KELLY
It was like a nightmare. I was IN Hell, in my own body!
TAGGART
I said I get it.
FATHER KELLY
No, listen to me! I saw...I was in a room, a dark room, lit by a
single candle. There was a man in robes. A monk!
Taggart raises an eyebrow.
TAGGART
No shit?
FATHER KELLY
It was Brother Augustine. (beat) I know where we need to go.
EXT. FLATBED - DAY
Snow swirls around Taggart, Kelly and a host of other bedraggled men wrapped in blankets, all seated together on the back of a truck. They're rumbling down a mountain road in the middle of nowhere.
TAGGART
(teeth chattering) S-S-S-Siberia?
FATHER KELLY
Hell frozen over.
TAGGART
Ha Ha, very funny.
FATHER KELLY
I'm certain that Augustine brought the mega-sphere here. I saw him sitting in the tower of a monastery...these mountains were in the background.
PASSENGER
(thick Russian accent) You mean Mekar Apka?
FATHER KELLY
What's that?
PASSENGER
They built an army base there during the Eighth War. It's all gone to shit now though.
TAGGART
It got HBO?
The Russian laughs and elbows a half-asleep buddy.
FATHER KELLY
How far is ir?
PASSENGER
About one hundred, one hundred twenty kilometers.
FATHER KELLY
(to Taggart) We'll be there in no time!
Taggart tries to scowl, but his face is too frozen.
EXT. MEKAR APKA - DAY
Leaking barrels of toxic waste form a ring around a clutch of abandoned buildings. In the background is the stone monastery, or rather what's left of it: entire walls are eroded away by the encroaching snow. A lone tower still stands above the ruins.
Taggart and Father Kelly tromp into the army base, faces plastered with snow and ice.
FATHER KELLY
Can you feel it, Flynn?
TAGGART
I can't feel shit.
The wind picks up and Taggart eyes the waste barrels uneasily.
FATHER KELLY
Do you hear that?
TAGGART
Hear what?
A UAC helicopter rises over the treetops, sailing overhead. They can only watch in dismay as it settles into the middle of the base. Soon enough, Sabando and her men empty out of it, followed by Roland Trague.
ROLAND TRAGUE
Major Taggart! Pleasure to see you again.
Taggart draws his pistol. He's got seven rifles trained on him in half a second.
ROLAND TRAGUE
The last thing I want is a bloodbath.
TAGGART
Fuck you.
ROLAND TRAGUE
I'm still a businessman, Major. And I have a meeting to get to, so why don't we all head up together?
He gestures toward the monastery.
INT. TAVERN
Tons of Russian men are packed into the small log tavern, warming their tired bones with ale and laughter. A small man in a trench coat enters, pushing through the crowd and irritating more than a few patrons. The man heads up the staircase in the center of the room.
Halfway up, he stops and turns. It's the Imp from before and it reveals the Unmaker. A hush falls over the tavern as the Russians see the demon. Some stare, slack-jawed, while others roll up their sleeves and head for the stairs.
The Imp fires.
The inky black beam cuts through the crowd like a Reaper's scythe, severing men in two, tossing their dismembered remains over the bar, blasting tables and chairs to bits. There's a drunken rush for the door, and screaming patrons are crammed into one corner for the Imp to pick off.
A Russian leaps down the stairs and tackles the Imp. They slam together into the banister and pitch over it onto a table. The Imp sits up, slamming a fiery fist into the man's face. Charred brains spew the crowd.
Another man charges forward with a chair. The Unmaker splits the chair and the man in one stroke; the Imp compliments the kill with a fireball that sets the bar aflame. The demon pivots, shoves the bone-weapon straight through the chest of a victim and blasts several more.
Before long, the walls are painted red with blood and black smoke fills the air. Wisps of dark energy are pulled from the mutilated bodies into the Unmaker. Souls - ammunition for the Hellish gun.
The Imp kicks the door open and walks back out.
INT. MONASTERY - FRONT HALL
Trague paces the large chamber, admiring the architecture. Taggart and Father Kelly are led after him at gunpoint.
ROLAND TRAGUE
This is history, Major. This monastery. You read about it in our
great books, you hear about it from our great teachers. And here it is. (beat) But this place is crumbing. Books will become dust and our teachers will become hosts to worms and maggots and this piece of history will be forgotten.
FATHER KELLY
Why do you want the mega-sphere??
Trague explodes with laughter.
ROLAND TRAGUE
I don't!
FATHER KELLY
I...I don't understand...
ROLAND TRAGUE
Hell wants the mega-sphere and we're more than happy to hand it
over, in exchange for a few small concessions.
TAGGART
Such as?
ROLAND TRAGUE
Letting us continue Gateway development without sending their
armies to butcher us. Allowing the human race to expand across the universe without losing our souls in the process. Hell is willing to leave us alone! Forever!
TAGGART
Don't you get the feeling that you're being royally fucked over? Just a little?
ROLAND TRAGUE
If there's one thing I know how to do, it's how to make a deal.
This will be just another page in our history, lost and forgotten a millennia from now.
FATHER KELLY
You can't let them have the mega-sphere!
ROLAND TRAGUE
You weren't supposed to be here, Taggart. But since you are, I think we'll hand you over as well.
TAGGART
You better be ready to rock 'n' roll, asshole.
ROLAND TRAGUE
Father Kelly, you come with me. Let's find that sphere.
The priest is hustled off by two of the Mercs. That leaves Taggart with Sabando and four of her men.
2/12/2006 3:15:17 AM
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