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Doom II (Part 4)
By Aragorn
INT. IO COMPLEX - ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING - LOBBY
Beautiful marble floors, emblazoned with the UAC crest, and sloping pillars are now splattered with drying guts and painted with blood pentagrams. The offices hold dead and mutilated bodies, some in the process of being tortured when they died. In one office a body is nailed to the wall, upside down. Thick blood smears the floor all over.
Entering the lobby, the Marines find themselves confronted by only one zombie. Arlene gasps and tears come to her eyes. Gallatin lifts his rifle, but Taggart pushes it back down.
TAGGART
Arlene, you take this one.
Wilhelm Dodd gapes at her without any sign of recognition. That is, unless the long stream of spittle running from his lip to the floor counts. Arlene points her shotgun at her lover. He shuffles forward a few steps, moaning.
ARLENE
I…I can't...
TAGGART
You have to.
Dodd reaches into the waistline of his slacks; draws a pistol. Slowly, shakily, aims it at her. Tears stream down Arlene’s face as she fumbles with the trigger.
TAGGART
Arlene.
BLAM! Dodd hits the floor, his head blasted wide open and thick blood and brain matter running out onto the floor. The others step away from Arlene as she tosses the shotgun to the floor and sits down beside the corpse, wracked with grief. She cries uncontrollably.
GALLATIN
(whispering) Who was he?
TAGGART
Somebody she knew.
INT. IO COMPLEX - ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING - OFFICE
The walls and desk are smeared in blood. Gallatin rips into a medikit, tossing gauze and surgical tape to Yoshida, who attends to Taggart's arm wound. Arlene, wiping tears from her eyes, unfolds a map of Io on top of the bloodied desk. She points to something on the map as Gallatin looks over her shoulder.
ARLENE
Mount Erebus.
GALLATIN
The volcano?
ARLENE
The inactive volcano. Highest point on this side of the moon. It's our best bet for getting onto that ship.
Taggart wasn't expecting her to recover so quickly. Indeed, he sees the pain in her eyes, but she shoots him a dirty look.
ARLENE
Getting onto that ship shouldn't be any trouble compared with what we're going up against.
TAGGART
I don't think you should go.
ARLENE
Lucky for me you're not in charge.
A door slams on another floor. Thudding is heard in the stairwell.
GALLATIN
We've got company. Private?
YOSHIDA
There are only a two of them.
ARLENE
I'm on it.
Shotgun in hand, she leaves the men behind.
INT. IO COMPLEX - ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING - CORRIDOR
Arlene creeps to the stair access and peers in. All clear. Something heavy shuffles in another office. There's a window allowing her to see inside:
A grumbling, greasy Mancubus slowly pans the room with its built-in flamethrowers. Arlene ducks down next to the wall below the window. She's locked and loaded but it's gonna take more than one shot to waste this guy.
Flynn crawls out of their office and waves to her. She motions for him to get back inside. He shakes his head. She flips him off. Taggart crawls away from her, taking shelter in another
doorway. Just in time, too.
A second Mancubus rounds the corner with fresh human blood dripping from its skin creases. It spots Arlene and lets out a loud grunt. Taggart vaults into the hallway and fills the demon with
lead from twin Berettas.
The window above Arlene's head explodes as the other Mancubus reacts violently. Taggart's Mancubus unleashes dual jets of flame to counter the Berettas. Arlene stands and fires through the window and the first Mancubus howls as the bullets hit their target.
Taggart's backhanded with a flamethrower arm, being slammed into the floor.
TAGGART
It wouldn't kill ya to pass on a human or two, lardass!
He blisters the fiend's blubbery knees with gunfire. It slams against the wall, raining plaster down on them both. Arlene blasts the first Mancubus in its tiny head. Fire spews from its arms in a cataclysmic death throe, flooding the hallway, forcing Arlene to the floor as the fire swooshes above her head by inches.
Taggart socks his Mancubus, but to no effect. It socks him right back and he bounces off the wall and finds his arm aflame.
TAGGART
Damnit!
Arlene leaps through a wall of fire and fills the demon's belly with shotgun blasts. It growls and aims at her. She uses the shotgun as a bat and hits the flamethrower aside, then smashes its beady eyes in, slams the weapons against its puckered mouth, and over its fat stupid face again and again and again and again until little more than a pulpy smear rests on the Mancubus' neck.
She turns and rushes to help Taggart, but she sees that his Mancubus is already dead, with Taggart covered in its gory blood.
TAGGART
(shrugging) Well, Yoshida did say there was only a couple.
EXT. ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING - NIGHT
On the other side of the building is a modest mining project, a few tunnel entrances in a small crater. Beyond that is the fearsome Mount Erebus, its dead volcanic cone nearly scraping the underside of the fiery Hellship.
GALLATIN
Tunnels, then?
ARLENE
Yep.
TAGGART
But first…
He trails off and walks over to a wrecked rover on the crater's lip and rummages through it.
TAGGART
Jackpot.
Taggart pulls out a pristine plasma rifle. Gallatin looks on enviously.
TAGGART
Well, I'm ready.
YOSHIDA
Corporal, duck!
Taggart does so and a second later a fireball slams into the rover, kicking it over the edge. The Grid Imp is coming out of the Admin building.
TAGGART
Hey, I know you!
He unleashes a torrent of blinding plasma blasts, punching Imp-sized holes in the building. The demon snarls one last time before it's buried under a mountain of rubble.
TAGGART
Shall we continue on?
INT. MINE TUNNELS
The Marines maneuver carefully past a bubbling lava vein.
GALLATIN
Is this what you call inactive?
ARLENE
Trust me Gallatin, the volcano's dead.
GALLATIN
Albert. Call me Albert.
TAGGART
It's hot as…eh, fuck it.
A few pebbles drop from the ceiling into the lava and melt away. Suddenly A Revenant lowers itself from the ceiling to block their path.
GALLATIN
I got 'em!
One shot from the rifle and the grinning skull is dust. However The gunshot rouses a chorus of evil cries and grunts emitting from dozens of places.
YOSHIDA
They're everywhere.
GALLATIN
Thanks Einstein, I picked up on that too.
ARLENE
We need to make for the surface. They can ambush us in here.
EXT. QUARRY - NIGHT
A churning pool of lava is ringed by decimated mining equipment and skinless corpses. It's right at the base of Mount Erebus.
TAGGART
Looks like it's all uphill from here.
The Hellship looms overhead, teeming with Lost Souls flying around it. Cacodemons and Pain Elementals are also doing their rounds around the exterior of the ship.
ARLENE
There's a tram that'll get us to the top.
TAGGART
Let’s hope it's still in one piece.
As they continue to walk, the shrieks of the demon army from inside the volcano are overwhelming, yet there don't seem to be any in sight.
EXT. QUARRY - TRAM - NIGHT - MINUTES LATER
Arlene throws open the tram door.
ARLENE
We're good!
A Hellknight roars from across the quarry. Everyone looks over and sees it exit the volcanic tunnels and marches straight towards them. It walks straight into the lava pool with its hateful stare locked on the crew. The lava doesn’t seem to faze it.
TAGGART
Fuck. Let's just ditch him!
YOSHIDA
No, I'll stay.
TAGGART
Are you kidding?
YOSHIDA
You were wrong, Corporal. (pause) They’re not here for you. They’re here for me.
The Hellknight gets closer.
GALLATIN
Private, it doesn't matter. You don't have to stay behind.
YOSHIDA
I've seen this, I'm sure of it. This is where I die.
He passes his pistol to Taggart and heads back toward the lava pool. Toward the Hellknight.
YOSHIDA
I'll buy you as much time as I can.
GALLATIN
Sweet Jesus.
TAGGART
Get in the tram. Now.
The Hellknight has stopped in the center of the lava pool. Molten lava boils around its waist, but it's focused solely on Yoshida. Yoshida begins wading into the pool. Flames crawl up his back and sides, but he just grits his teeth and bears it as the lava eats away at him. He remains focused solely on the Hellknight.
YOSHIDA
You won't have my soul today, demon.
Just as the Hellknight springs towards him, Yoshida willingly falls face first in the lava, allowing it to swallow him up. He hits it seconds before the Hellknight reaches him.
INT. TRAM
As the tram starts moving, The others watch in silence as Yoshida kills himself and the enraged Hellknight tears through the lava in search of the young man's spirit. It lets out another long bellow, this time in defeat.
GALLATIN
Just the three of us left.
EXT. MOUNT EREBUS - NIGHT
The Hellship's guard swarm of Lost Souls parts at the sight of the three humans atop the volcano. They are standing just outside the tram and Gallatin kneels, beginning taking them out with his sniper rifle.
TAGGART
Okay, now look Arlene…
ARLENE
(Cutting him off) Less talkin' and more rockin'.
Taggart nods, his emotions unreadable on his hard face. He pumps the plasma rifle and leaps up to grab a handhold on the bottom of the Hellship.
EXT. HELLSHIP - NIGHT
The hull is crawling with demons of all types, guardians of the monstrous open hatches. Eyes of red, yellow and green all suddenly shine bright blue in the face of the plasma rifle. Taggart hammers away at the hull, sending Imps and Pinky Demons spiraling into the atmosphere, annihilating clouds of Lost Souls.
Arlene climbs up and reaches the first hatch. She dumps several shotgun blasts into the darkness and dying creatures wail within from deep.
Gallatin brings up the rear as he stays on the volcano, sniping at the survivors of Taggart’s and Arlene’s attacks. Once he sees that Taggart and Arlene are inside the ship, he packs it up and runs. He jumps, catching the side of the ship and climbing inside after them.
INT. HELLSHIP
The corridor is built from bone and leathery skin. Huge evil eyes stare sightlessly down from the ceiling, offering dim light. A slobbering Pinky Demon rounds the corner and catches Arlene's
shotgun right in the middle of the head. Taggart passes her and fumbles with what appears to be a door.
TAGGART
What do they use for keys around here?
Gallatin meets up with them from around a corner, holding a gleaming blue skull.
GALLATIN
Try this. Found it on a hook back there.
Taggart slides the skull into a hole in the wall and the door slowly rumbles out of the way.
INT. CORRIDOR - MINUTES LATER
Taggart, Arlene, and Gallatin walk quickly down a corridor.
TAGGART
We've gotta find a way to bring this thing down before it has the chance to get to Earth.
GALLATIN
What does it use for fuel?
TAGGART
Like I'd know.
Something spatters on his hand and he looks up, ready to blast an Imp but instead finds a pipe dripping blood.
TAGGART
(To himself) Of course…Sadistic bastards.
INT. HELLSHIP - FUEL RESERVOIR - BRIDGE
A narrow rock bridge extends over a red rapids; millions of gallons of bubbling human blood.
GALLATIN
What do you suggest we do, Taggart?
TAGGART
How 'bout a good old-fashioned leak?
He fires plasma into the river. A geyser of gore shoots up, nearly knocking him from the bridge. As Taggart moves further out over the river, Arlene suddenly cries:
ARLENE
Flynn, one of them is here!
Another Hellknight is at the other end of the bridge.
TAGGART
Well bring it on, asshole.
He turns the plasma stream on the Hellknight, who walks right into it, gritting its fangs.
TAGGART
Yeah, you like that, bitch?
The Hellknight isn't slowing down. An orb of dark energy begins to gather in it’s claws.
ARLENE
Look out!
Gallatin raises the gun and finds the Hellknight in his scope.
GALLATIN
(quietly) Gotcha motherfucker.
The bullet punches right through the Hellknight's eye, a thick stream of pus oozing out as it screeches and loses its balance, relentlessly pummeled by the plasma. It topples over from the bridge, but it grabs the edge with one of it’s clawed hands.
GALLATIN
Oh no you don't!
He shoots the Hellknight in the wrist. It screams as half of its wrist is blown away. Gallatin shoots again and The wound is torn wider and wider as the creature's weight pulls it down, down, down...
The Hellknight plummets into the river, but not before firing a ball of crackling energy. Gallatin ducks and the shot hits the hull, creating a hole which begins sucking air out. Everyone holds on tight as the blood river begins to turn in on itself, forming a massive whirlpool.
TAGGART
We gotta go!
They race from the reservoir as it begins to crumble, the hole widening and widening and the whirlpool getting more violent.
INT. HELLSHIP - CORRIDOR
We stare out at Io's night sky through one of the enormous hatches. We see the Grid Imp climbing into the ship, smoke rising from its back, its eyes nearly welded shut. It howls at the screen.
INT. HELLSHIP - NURSERY
Taggart, Arlene, and Gallatin face a field of human bodies, all at varying degrees of mutilation, but all slightly alive. Each one is also in a different stage of mutating into different kinds of demons. All around the room are glowing blue orbs.
TAGGART
Something tells me we made a wrong turn back there.
ARLENE
What is this place?
GALLATIN
Take a guess.
ARLENE
There must be hundreds of thousands of them. More then there was here on Io. I think these are people from other worlds.
GALLATIN
They’re turning us into them. How are they able to do that?
TAGGART
It doesn’t matter. They're all gonna die in the crash. Let's move it!
ARLENE
Wait.
She kneels by one of the blue orbs, passing her hand over it; the ball shimmers. A faint cry echoes in her mind.
ARLENE
Souls. These are souls.
GALLATIN
For what?
ARLENE
To feed them when they mutate.
TAGGART
One of them’s mine.
ARLENE
Are you sure?
TAGGART
I can feel it.
He starts to step down a line of bodies. Gallatin tries to grab him, but Taggart jerks away.
TAGGART
Give me a minute.
GALLATIN
We have no time to waste, Taggart!
TAGGART
My soul's all that separates me from them! I need to find it!
There is a howl and one of the bodies slightly moves. They turn to stare as one of the further-along mutations finish and an Imp breaks free. Taggart splatters its guts.
The Grid Imp lets out a grieved cry from across the nursery and everyone whips around to see it. It generates a fireball in both hands and lobs them both at Taggart. They hit him and he’s He's blown into the wall, knocking a gigantically fat mutating body to the floor. The impact of it hitting the floor is enough to burst open its fragile skin, littering the floor with gore.
TAGGART
You two get out of here!
ARLENE
Not a chance!
Taggart fires a plasma burst over Arlene’s head. Gallatin grabs her by the arm.
GALLATIN
Sergeant!
Taggart rolls out of the path of another fireball. When he looks back up, his companions are gone. The Grid Imp is suddenly right in front of him and catches him with a surprise uppercut. Taggart careens off the wall, back into its grasp. The Imp tosses him across the room and right into the grasp of a newly-mutated Hellknight.
Taggart can’t move his arms, however the plasma gun is pointed behind him, digging into the stomach of the demon. His finger holds down on the trigger until the plasma blasts rip the Hellknight’s fresh body in half.
Screaming, the Grid Imp flings fireball after fireball at Taggart. He strafes across the room, returning fire, the both of them carelessly blasting mutating bodies to pieces left and right. When the plasma gun runs dry, Taggart swears and chucks it, delivering a flying kick to the Imp's chest.
TAGGART
You've already lost, Crispy!
The Imp responds with a fireball, followed by a punch to the stomach. Taggart's launched across the room and lands on a balcony overlooking the area. He shakes his head and moans, unable to stand. The Imp quickly scales the wall and climbs toward him.
Its fist becomes a blazing torch as it slams down toward Taggart’s head, however Taggart catches the fist, shoves it aside, and backhands the Imp with all his might. The Grid Imp lands on the floor below.
TAGGART
You’re all toast!
He leaps across from the balcony and the Grid Imp rolls aside just in time. They spar once more, trading punches and kicks as they move around the room. Taggart seizes the Imp by the back of the head and smashes its face into the wall, leaving a dent in the surface.
The Imp slashes at Taggart’s chest and kicks him across the chamber. He hits a soul-sphere and groans in pain. Then, his eyes light up madly and he grabs the sphere.
TAGGART
It's me. Holy Jesus God, this is me. MINE!
The Imp is fast approaching. Taggart hugs the sphere to his chest and it's absorbed into his being with a bright flash. The Grid Imp arrives just in time to take a powerhouse punch from a fully-recharged, fully-pissed-off Flynn Taggart.
The demon sails briefly over the nursery and slams hard into a wall. Suddenly the entire Hellship is rocked by tremors. It's going down.
INT. HELLSHIP - CORRIDOR
Taggart bolts from the Nursery and runs down the hall for the nearest hatch.
EXT. HELLSHIP - NIGHT
Feet pounding the floor like a raging god, Taggart reaches the hatch and throws himself out into the air. The Grid Imp leaps out after him, hissing.
However it's swallowed up by fire as the Hellship impacts against the side of the volcano and goes up in one great, glorious white explosion that scorches the heavens and grinds Hell's squealing minions into the ground.
DISSOLVE TO:
The smoke clears.
The storm breaks.
It's over.
Caked with dust, Arlene Sanders and Albert Gallatin crawl out from beneath the now-pancaked tram and survey what remains of Mount Erebus. Namely, nothing.
ARLENE
He did it.
GALLATIN
We did it.
Shouldering the sniper rifle, he gives her a grin and cranes his neck to watch debris hail from the sky. Gallatin and Arlene look on sadly.
GALLATIN
Semper Fi, Taggart.
ARLENE
Flynn...goodbye.
TAGGART
(O.S.)
We going somewhere?
He coughs up a wad of dirt and beats the mess from his pants, sauntering over to them.
TAGGART
I mean, come on. He was just a fuckin' Imp.
Arlene wants to both laugh and cry at the same time, but is trying to do neither. Instead she buries her face in Gallatin's chest.
GALLATIN
I think we've earned ourselves a weekend leave.
ARLENE
I hear Neptune is gorgeous this time of year.
TAGGART
Not for me, thanks.
GALLATIN
Huh? Why?
TAGGART
I've been M.I.A. for three fuckin’ years. If I even still have a job,
I'm gonna do it. (shakes Gallatin's hand) You two send me a postcard though, all right?
GALLATIN
We'll do that.
Arlene turns to Taggart.
ARLENE
Are you whole again?
TAGGART
Two hundred percent, baby. (pause) And I think there might even be a gal waiting for me back on Earth.
GALLATIN
Then you should go to her.
TAGGART
Yes, sir.
Giving them a crisp salute, Taggart strides into the swirling dust. He begins laughing at some idle thought, and the laughter continues long into the night, eventually fading somewhere between Io and the asteroid belt as we
ZOOM OUT
From the location, so that we’re in space. Io gets further away as we continue to zoom out.
THE END
10/31/2005 3:33:36 AM
(Updated: 10/31/2005 3:36:08 AM)
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