THE GORGE screenplay (4 page)

FARRENGALLI

What you say, Keemosabee?

RAINTREE

I was communing with nature. In silence.

FARRENGALLI

It’s only fuckin’ natural, right?

Farrengalli pulls out a silver flask, takes a gulp, holds it to Raintree.

RAINTREE

I’m on a vision quest. I have to keep my head clear.

FARRENGALLI

Oh, like where you push yourself to the limit until you go batty?

RAINTREE

A little more spiritual than that.

FARRENGALLI

(drinks)

Whatever. This Bowie guy—is he for real?

RAINTREE

He lost his wife in a skiing accident. Avalanche took her. He’s been making suicide runs like this ever since.

FARRENGALLI

Women, man. They fuck with your head one way or another.

RAINTREE

I have to keep my head clear.

Raintree heads through the woods. Farrengalli takes one more serious gulp and wipes his lips. He chases after Raintree.

FARRENGALLI

Yo, Raintree? How do you get an agent?

CUT TO:

EXT.FOREST. DAY.

Castle jogs through the woods, carrying his Glock, sweating, moving parallel to the river. He panics, drops to his knees, waves the gun at the treetops.

Wind pushes the leaves. He spins with the gun aimed, then relaxes. He tries the two-way radio, shakes it. Dead.

CASTLE

(into radio)

Base, this is Castle. Bama Bomber is confirmed. My partner got plucked off the ground by a flying nightmare and I think I’m going batshit crazy. Got it?

(pauses, smiles)

Good. Over and out.

He flings the radio into the trees and continues.

CUT TO:

EXT.RIVER. DAY.

Ace and Clara are in the canoe, Ace doing most of the paddling. Clara looks like she has motion sickness. They are in a calm, rocky stretch but the water moves deceptively fast. Low rumble of water.

ACE

You hear that?

CLARA

What?

ACE

Like a thousand trumpets knocking down Jericho.

CLARA

Might be the wind.

Ace stands up unsteadily, the canoe rocking. Ahead, the river seems to disappear. The roar grows, the current speeds up.

ACE

Shit! Waterfall.

Ace grabs the backpack and jumps out of the canoe, nearly tipping it. As he swims for shore, Clara is frozen, staring ahead, realizing Ace has ditched her.

Clara looks at the paddle, then tosses it overboard. She rolls into the water and kicks toward shore. She is a strong swimmer and beats Ace, waits as he struggles onto shore just as the canoe is swept over the edge.

CLARA

What do we do now?

ACE

Wait for the next ride.

CLARA

Story of my life.

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST TRAIL. DAY.

Pete wrestles with the trail map while Jenny swats at mosquitoes. Her mascara has run, her hair is in tangles, she limps on blistered feet.

JENNY

Go north, he says.

PETE

Can’t be much farther.

JENNY

Atlantic City.

PETE

Shut it.

JENNY

I’m thirsty.

PETE

Look, we—

SKEEK
. Branches crack overhead, the creature swoops down so fast Pete doesn’t know what hit him. Slam—a streak of red geysers across Jenny’s blouse.

The creature is gone and Pete stands there, wobbling.

JENNY

Pete?

Pete grins and takes a step, then his neck opens up. Jenny opens her mouth to scream but the creature has returned and its claws pierce her back. She is carried aloft.

From her POV, unbalanced, dizzy, looking down, two more creatures swoop from the treetops to descend on Pete. Then her POV from up, up, she’s breathing hard, the creature beating leathery wings, emitting small skeeks, Jenny is crying, scared.

Eyes roll up, she gets a glimpse of the creature’s wrinkled flesh. It looks down and its gray face is terrible and vaguely human, a grin full of wet red fangs. She looks down.

POV below her, the gorge is big and beautiful, the Appalachian mountains are a glory of autumn color—blood drips into her eyes.

CUT TO:

EXT. RIVERBANK. DAY.

In a clearing at the bottom of the falls, Ace and Clara make a camp. Clara is in bra and panties, their clothes hanging on a branch to dry. Ace, in dirty underwear, pulls his Bible from a sealed plastic bag.

ACE

Saved my bible and my bomb. It’s a sign.

CLARA

Why did you leave me in the canoe?

ACE

It was in the Lord’s hands.

CLARA

The Lord wanted me to drown?

ACE

Sometimes it ain’t that simple.

(waves bible)

Take this here book. Some of it's plain, but other things you got to figure out. Sometimes good looks like evil, and sometimes words mean something else besides what they say.

CLARA

Anything left to eat?

Ace roots in the backpack and takes her an apple, grinning, eyeing her body.

ACE

Just like Eve and the serpent.

(leers)

The cold makes your nipples hard.

He reaches down and squeezes one.

CLARA

Ow. That hurts.

ACE

You like it hurt. That’s why you’re with me.

He fumbles with his fly and moves on top of her. She pushes at his shoulders, struggles against his weight.

CLARA

I don’t feel like it.

ACE

Don’t matter what you feel like.

As he wallows on top of her, she stares past, sees one of the creatures swooping over the river like a kingfisher—it’s gone so fast she can’t be sure of what she’s seen. She bucks and moans, trying to get free.

CLARA

Oh, my god.

ACE

(grins)

That good, huh?

CLARA

Angel. I saw an angel.

ACE

You’ll see a choir of ‘em before I’m done.

He moves on top of her and she takes it, unmoving, unblinking.

CUT TO:

EXT.FOREST ALONG RIVER. DAY.

Castle, tired, clothes damp with sweat, moves through the woods.

SKEEK
—the shriek comes from upriver. He wields his Glock, moves to the bushes along the river, and looks out. He sees nothing but the churning water.

CUT TO:

EXT.RIVER. DAY.

Bowie’s raft is once again trailing—Bowie in front, Travis in the middle, C.A. in the rear. The shriek is barely audible over the rushing water but as it grows louder, Bowie looks up just in time to—

SKEEK
—the winged creature swoops down and plows into C.A.’s back, sending a red splash across Travis’s and Bowie’s shoulders. Bowie spins, sees the creature latched onto C.A. The kayak spins wildly as Travis screams and tries to wriggle over the side.

Bowie tries to beat the creature loose, but its claws are sunk into C.A.’s life jacket, fangs ripping a hole in his neck.

C.A.

Get it off me!

Bowie swings the paddle, the creature ducks, but the blow smacks it square in the head. The paddle shatters. Bowie crawls into the water and jabs at the creature with the broken shaft.

The jagged tip spears the creature in the back and it emits a
SKEEK
of pain, then lowers its lips again to C.A.’s wound. The kayak is pulling away from Bowie.

BOWIE

(to Travis)

Brake! Hard left!

Travis panics as C.A. is bent forward by the creature’s assault. He wriggles over the side and slides into the water.

Bowie grabs the rope that loops the perimeter of the kayak. He braces and tries to hold the kayak in place, but the current’s too strong.

C.A. slumps forward and suddenly the creature’s chest explodes like a rotten watermelon. The roar of a shot echoes off the cliffs as the creature falls backwards into the river.

CUT TO:

EXT. RIVERBANK. DAY.

Castle stands on the sandy shore, in a two-fisted pistol stance, legs spread.

CASTLE

(to Bowie)

Stand clear!

CUT TO:

EXT.RIVER. DAY.

A second shot. The creature goes under, leaving a slick trail of chum. C.A.flops face first into the kayak. Bowie shoves the kayak toward shore. Travis bobs in the water, losing his footing, his life jacket keeping him afloat.

When the kayak reaches shore, Castle is there to meet it. Bowie checks C.A.’s neck for a pulse and shakes his head—nothing.

CASTLE

I hit it.

BOWIE

You’ve seen it before?

Castle waves to indicate the rocks above.

CASTLE

Something from the gorge. We can fish it out of the river and figure out what it is.

Travis reaches shore as Bowie and Castle drag C.A.’s body out of the kayak.

TRAVIS

What the hell was that?

Before anyone can answer, the surface of the river explodes with movement—the creature, leaking gray fluid from its wound, flies wobbly over the river and toward the distant trees. Castle tries to aim but the thing is gone.

BOWIE

It flew away. You blew a hole in its heart and it still fucking flew away.

CASTLE

Whatever it is, I don’t think it has a heart.

They all look at C.A. as his torn neck seeps blood.

CUT TO:

EXT.CAVE. DAY.

Samford’s eyes open. They are milky. He blinks and squints. Light leaks onto him from the mouth of the cave.

He runs a leathery hand up to the wound in his neck. He grins and his teeth are sharp—he is changing.

One of the creatures flies into the cave, dragging Jenny into darkness. Several of the creatures emerge from the shadows and come to feed. Samford licks his lips, sniffs the air, and rolls off the flat stone, heading for her body.

The creature that just attacked C.A. glides unsteadily into the cave and roosts, gargoyle-like, on a stone, leaking gray fluid from its wounds.

CUT TO:

EXT. RIVERBANK. DAY.

The crew in the second Muskrat has returned. Raintree, Dove, and Farrengalli stand over C.A.’s body along with a shaken Travis, Castle, and Bowie.

FARRENGALLI

You’re telling us this hillbilly gargoyle flew down from the sky and chomped Golden Boy’s neck?

(nods to Castle)

And Fox Mulder here drilled it a new asshole but it didn’t die?

TRAVIS

I figured a broken bone was the worst that could happen.

BOWIE

(to Castle)

You were ready for it.

CASTLE

Training.

BOWIE

Bullshit. You were on it like radar.

CASTLE

You wouldn’t have believed me. I don’t believe it myself.

The expedition team begins talking over each other, near panic. Raintree is silent, a little away from the group, scanning the sky and the ridges.

FARRENGALLI

Just what the fuck was it?

DOVE

You say it flew?

TRAVIS

Like a bat. It chomped his neck like a vampire—

FARRENGALLI

It’s daylight, man. Vampires don’t come out in the day.

BOWIE

Besides the fact that vampires aren’t real.

FARRENGALLI

(pointing to C.A.’s corpse)

Well, it sure wasn’t Count Chocula that did this.

Dove kneels by C.A.’s body and examines the wound.

BOWIE

Careful, it might be contagious. 

FARRENGALLI

Great. Vampire herpes. What’s next?

CASTLE

Next is I’m taking one of your rafts.

BOWIE

No way. We can’t walk out of here, especially with whatever that was flying around out there.

CASTLE

I have a job to do.

(wields gun)

And if the badge isn’t loud enough, the gun might be.

FARRENGALLI

(to Castle)

Man, if you’re heading downstream, I’m with you.

Dove and Travis look to Bowie, who looks at Raintree. Dove digs in C.A.’s pack, pulls out a thin blue blanket, and drapes it over his corpse.

RAINTREE

I saw it upriver. I thought it was the Raven Mocker. Cherokee shapeshifter.

FARRENGALLI

Spare us the redskin voodoo shit.

CASTLE

One of them carried off my partner.

TRAVIS

One
of them? You mean there’s more?

Farrengalli grabs one of the Muskrats and drags it toward the water.

FARRENGALLI

Surf’s up, shitheads. I’m outta here.

Castle draws back the Glock’s chamber with a CLACK. Farrengalli freezes.

CASTLE

That’s government property now.

TRAVIS

You can’t do that. This is America.

CASTLE

This is America.

BOWIE

Look, we all go or nobody goes.

DOVE

What about C.A.?

CASTLE

Worry about the living.

FARRENGALLI

I’m more worried about the living dead.

CUT TO:

EXT.RIVER. DAY.

The two Muskrats work downstream. Raintree’s kayak is in the lead. Bowie’s is moving unsteadily, with the untrained Castle working a paddle. The others keep checking the skies above. Clouds are gathering.

CLOSE on Raintree’s kayak—Farrengalli in the rear, paddling with jittery eyes. Dove is in the middle, paddling sleekly. They shout over the Class 2 rapids, rough but not dangerous water.

FARRENGALLI

Whatcha think, Chief?

RAINTREE

(looks up, a raindrop hits his cheek)

I think we’re going to get wet.

FARRENGALLI

I mean about the monsters.

DOVE

I wish I’d been there with my camera.

FARRENGALLI

You’re one ballsy chick, I’ll say that for you.

DOVE

Shut up and paddle.

FARRENGALLI

You’re as bossy as that Fed back there.

DOVE

We don’t take orders from him.

In the second kayak, Castle stares dead ahead. His eyes are marbles.

FARRENGALLI

His asshole is so tight he might pop a cork. Let’s put some water between us and them creatures, whatever they are.

RAINTREE

It’s not that easy. The falls are coming up, then BabelTower.