102 Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.
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- TEASER -
FADE IN:
INT. SHELTER
Several PEOPLE dressed in little more than rags are huddled
together for warmth in an old, slightly unpleasant shelter.
Mothers have their arms gripped tightly around their
children's shoulders, whispering comforting words into their
ears to little effect.
CLUNK!
Something heavy hits the metal roof, startling the people.
So we're clear, everyone's whispering.
WOMAN #1
(quickly, panicking)
What was that?
CHILD
(shaking)
They're here.
People start to panic even more, some try to stand, making
their way to the door to escape before being dragged back.
WOMAN #2
They'll hear you!
The shelter falls silent again. Most just stare up at the
ceiling, fear filling their expressions as the clunking
continues. Whatever it is, it's circling above until -
Silence. It just stops. Someone breathes a sigh of relief.
CHILD
Is it gone?
An Earth shattering ROAR suggests otherwise as the metal
ceiling is torn open, allowing a SHADOWFORM to drop through.
A demon without form, the Shadowform is like a living shadow.
It weaves through the humans as they try to escape, but
someone doesn't move.
A man with black hair, dressed in a long black coat. He
stands still, right in the middle of the room without
flinching, his fists clenched.
Meet JOSHUA BLAKE, early forties and unlike the rest of the
people here, he's not even remotely afraid.
JOSHUA
Excuse me.
The shadow form stops circling around one petrified looking
TEENAGE REDHEAD.
JOSHUA (CONT'D)
Look, this is really embarrassing,
but I've been trying to show my
kids what daddy does for a living -
He motions to two small children with blond hair who are
quite plainly not his.
JOSHUA (CONT'D)
I really don't want to disappoint.
Would you mind?
Something sounding oddly like a low, raspy CHUCKLE comes from
within the Shadowform.
Redhead gets one last gasp out before the shadowform crosses
over her neck, leaving behind a deep bloody gash. She's dead
in a moment.
She doesn't fall, and her blood stops flowing after less than
a second, at precisely the same time the shadowform
disappears.
For a moment, nothing happens. Then, her no longer completely
attached head snaps down, looking right at Joshua, her eyes
black.
JOSHUA (CONT'D)
Oh, crap.
(beat, to people)
Get out!
They don't have to be told twice, they flood to the door,
opening it, and escape into the night.
Now alone Joshua and the possessed Redhead circle each other,
Joshua draws his coat to one side and draws an old fashioned
REVOLVER.
JOSHUA (CONT'D)
Know what this is?
SHADOWFORM/REDHEAD
(raspy)
Ineffective.
JOSHUA
(beat)
Good answer. Very witty. Wrong, but
witty.
He shoots without a beat, a bullet hitting the girl right in
the head. If she wasn't dead before, she is now.
Unfortunately, the Shadowform was right, it didn't do a
thing.
SHADOWFORM/REDHEAD
(amused)
Pathetic.
JOSHUA
That's the problem with you demons.
See, you're good when it comes to
stalking, killing, but when it
comes to anything more than hack
and slash. You're...
(beat, mimicking)
Pathetic.
Its interest piqued, the shadowform raises its eyebrows.
JOSHUA (CONT'D)
In that shot, currently lodged in
your skull, is a combination of
chemicals and wiccan herbs. Now,
all I have to do is say the magic
word.
He grins as the Shadowform's eyes widen, realising all too
late what's happened.
JOSHUA (CONT'D)
(emotionless)
Fiat lux.
Light ERUPTS from the hole in the girl's forehead, and it
spreads through her body, glowing under her skin. It bleeds
into her veins, then out from them, illuminating her and the
space around her.
The Shadowform SCREAMS, the sound almost unbearably shrill,
but it's over in a second.
Joshua shields his eyes until the light starts to die down.
JOSHUA (CONT'D)
(loudly)
My God those things can scream!
The girls' dead body drops to the ground, at peace. The
blood starts to pour from her wounds.
Joshua walks towards her, kneeling beside her, just about
avoiding the pool forming beside her. With genuine regret, he
places his hand on her still features, closing her eyes.
Without a word, he stands, and walks off into the night
outside.
EXT. UNKNOWN - CONTINUOUS
The darkness is near total, only the moonlight allowing us to
make out Joshua's face.
From out here we can hear the people from the shelter running
away from the now very dead danger they were facing.
He turns, looking in the other direction, revealing the city
of LOS ANGELES, but not as we know it.
There's barely anything left of it. Buildings destroyed and
fires blazing. Even from here we can hear the roars of
hundreds of Shadowforms and the screams of their victims.
We PAN RIGHT a little so that we can see Joshua, hands in
pockets. He's not looking as cocky now, he looks hopeless,
defeated.
A BLUE LIGHT scars the skyline, lightning crackling along it,
down from it towards the city below.
CUT TO:
EXT. LOS ANGELES STREET - NIGHT
Several fires blaze in old trash cans around here. Two
homeless men, CARL and DAVID, are hanging around.
Carl, the older of the two with thinning brown hair looks up.
CARL
Storms coming.
DAVID
(bored)
There's always a storm coming.
Carl smiles at the younger man's apathy.
CARL
Look on the bright side -
(beat)
We're still here, aren't we?
A BLAST of lighting hits the ground, barely a meter away from
him, sending him straight into a wall!
Ignoring the blast, David runs to his friend and taps him
lightly on the cheek. After a couple of hits Carl COUGHS,
laughing it off.
CARL (CONT'D)
(grins)
Spoke to soon huh?
DAVID
I told you you're a jinx Carl.
(hopeful)
At least we're not millionaires.
Nothing happens. Carl shakes his head
CARL
The clichés never work.
With a smile, they both look over to where the lightning hit
the ground, a sizable crater seems to have formed.
CARL (CONT'D)
What is that?
Struggling to his feet, Carl staggers to the spot he narrowly
avoided death. He looks into the crater, and as the smoke
clears, we make something out.
DAVID
What the hell?
It's a woman. It's GWEN!
BLACK OUT.
- END OF TEASER -
- ACT ONE -
FADE IN:
EXT. LOS ANGELES STREETS - NIGHT
Another street in the hellish version of Los Angeles we've
found ourselves in. This one is, if anything, worse than
the last.
Demons wander around freely and there's not a human to be
found anywhere.
We follow one, a slightly orange skinned beast twice the
size of a grizzly bear. The spines on its back could slice
a man open with ease, and its teeth aren't quite what you'd
call welcoming.
It stops, sniffs the air, and turns around.
No sooner has it done so, a shimmer of electricity runs
down the air from nowhere in particular.
A gust of wind picks up and a PORTAL begins to open. Bright
blue and white light glows from the inside, swirling around
like water until TWO PEOPLE emerge from it.
They come rolling to a halt, and we quickly see that it's
ALEX and MARIA!
Alex gets to his feet and takes a look around. His eyes
widen and he reaches for a sword, but he doesn't seem to
have it with him.
We notice his hands, the knuckles still cut and bloodied
from his fight with Drake.
ALEX
Bollocks.
He looks down at Maria. She rolls over and places her hands
over her face.
MARIA
Okay, that plan wasn't great.
Plan "A" was better, "run away"
was much better.
She gets up and dusts herself down. It's only then that she
looks around, seeing where she is, and the many, many
demons now paying very close attention to her and Alex.
MARIA (CONT'D)
Oh come on.
She too reaches for a weapon but doesn't see one. She looks
over to Alex, he shrugs.
ALEX
We must have left them behind.
MARIA
Behind where? Where are we?
Another shrug.
MARIA (CONT'D)
Well you're a bundle of helpful.
ALEX
Maybe we should talk about this
when we've got less of an
audience?
Maria notices something behind Alex.
MARIA
Good idea. So, I go left, you go
right?
ALEX
Why would we do that?
She rolls her eyes and nods towards two particularly
brutish WARRIOR DEMONS, dressed in full armor.
Alex takes a moment, but a low GROWL from one of the nearby
demons makes him loose his train of thought.
ALEX (CONT'D)
Run.
MARIA
Good plan.
They take off, the demons immediately giving chace. They
run down the cracked and broken road, Alex LEAPING over a
fallen streetlight before turning quickly into an alleyway.
An alleyway gives them a quick change of direction, and
forces the demons into a bottleneck.
Maria takes the lead, using her slayer athletics to jump
high enough to reach a ladder from an emergency escape.
Once she's up she lowers it so Alex can follow.
No sooner is he at the top, the closest demon, a thin,
grey, SLIMEY DEMON is closing in on him, reaching out for
his shoe.
The demon misses by an inch, and as a reward, Alex puts his
heel to the demon's face, crushing its skull against the
ladder, providing us with a satisfying SQUELCH.
The dead demon drops, knocking off a couple more demons,
buying our duo a little time.
They reach a window into an apartment.
MARIA (CONT'D)
Think they'll mind?
Alex looks around at the inhospitable environment.
ALEX
I'm not arsed to be honest.
She drives into the window with her shoulder and goes
straight through, rolling into the apartment on the other
side. Alex quickly follows, noticing that the demons aren't
that far off.
INT. APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS
The dark room is filled with dust, objects lying around as
though they were left where they fell. Someone left in a
hurry.
MARIA
Come on!
Alex looks around, she notices that he's not moving and
drags him. He brushes her hand off and turns to face her
with a devlish grin.
ALEX
Quickly!
He points to a pipe in the ceiling, she looks confused for
a second, then figures it out. With a grin of her own, she
runs over to the pipe and bends it with all her might.
After a second, it snaps, and gas starts to leak.
ALEX (CONT'D)
Perfect!
He reaches into his coat and pulls out a metal LIGHTER. He
flicks it open, revealing the flame.
Outside, the demons are getting closer. He drops the
lighter and he and Maria take off again.
INT. APARTMENT BLOCK CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS
They sprint down the abandoned corridor, heading down the
stairs.
ALEX
Quickly!
MARIA
I'm on that.
She sprints off, leaving him to catch up with her. He
reaches the bottom of the stairs, and turns to run down yet
another flight.
INT. APARTMENT - SAME TIME
The hissing of the gas is inaudible over the sound of the
demons as they climb through the window. One of the warrior
demons from before comes charging THROUGH the wall!
He reaches the doorway, but it's too late.
ANGLE ON LIGHTER
It flickers.
CUT TO:
EXT. APARTMENT BLOCK - SAME TIME
Maria gets out just in time to see the massive EXPLOSION!
It's deafening, the roaring flames extend half way to the
opposite apartment block, taking out all of the windows.
Rubble flies onto the streets and a moment later we, and
Maria, hear a COUGHING. Alex stumbles out from the
building. He's a little dirty, but not too bad.
ALEX
Thanks for leaving me.
MARIA
Any time.
She flashes a playful grin.
ALEX
We need to find out what's going
on.
He looks around, the city is in a terrible state, worse
than they'd realised. The whole neighborhood is abandoned,
burning.
MARIA
Where's Gwen? Whistler?
ALEX
I don't know, they weren't with
us...
CUT TO:
INT. WAREHOUSE - FLASHBACK
The sphere of electricity around Gwen begins to shrink,
falling back into Gwen herself. In SLOW MO we CIRCLE AROUND
Gwen as she begins to crackle with power.
We ZOOM IN on her closed eyes, and they snap open,
completely white!
We ZOOM OUT just as time resumes NORMAL SPEED, the power
explodes from Gwen. The vampires it hits are sent flying
through the air, sparks running up and down their bodies
until they start to burn up, turning to ash.
Maria and Alex shield their eyes, preparing for their
inevitable fates and we:
WHITE OUT.
EXT. APARTMENT BLOCK - AS BEFORE
Alex blinks, memories coming back to him.
ALEX
She destroyed it.
He looks around, taking in the massive scale of the
destruction.
ALEX (CONT'D)
All of it.
MARIA
She can't.
ALEX
(grim)
She did.
MARIA
And what about us? Why are we
here? Why didn't she kill us?
ALEX
I don't know.
(beat)
Come on, we have to move.
She doesn't budge, shocked that Gwen could possibly be the
cause of all this.
He notices, grabs her by the arm and tries to move her,
though she's too strong for him to actually do anything.
ALEX (CONT'D)
(orders)
Move!
She looks startled, nods, and follows him in the direction
of a nearby alleyway.
MARIA
We should go back to the house,
find Whistler and find out what
the hell is going on.
ALEX
Agreed. We should probably keep
out of -
At the other side of the alleyway, a small group steps out
of the shadows. They're armed with everything from swords
to shotguns, and they don't look pleased to see our heroes.
ALEX (CONT'D)
Trouble.
As Alex and Maria back away, we:
CUT TO:
EXT. LOS ANGELES STREETS - NIGHT
Back with the unconscious Gwen. Carl and David approach
with caution. David steps into the crater, he takes a
single step, and the ground gives way under his weight.
He slips, falling towards Gwen. He stops, barely keeping
his balance and only just managing not to touch her.
CARL
Be careful, people don't tend to
fall from the sky.
David merely rolls his eyes. Gwen GROANS as she starts to
regain consciousness.
DAVID
Miss? Miss are you alright?
No answer.
DAVID (CONT'D)
Miss?
He leans forward, placing his hand on her shoulder. A BLAST
of electricity knocks him off his feet and out of the
crater, right into the wall of a nearby building.
Carl turns, runs to his friend. There's blood, lots of it.
He's not getting up this time.
Gwen stands, starts to climb out of the crater with her
head in her hands. She's groggy and and swaying slightly.
Carl marches towards her, tears in his eyes, his teeth
bared. His face is a picture of fury.
CARL
(grief stricken)
What did you do?
GWEN
(huh?)
What did I do to what?
CARL
Don't you -
He's breathing fast, close to hyperventilating. His dead
friend is evidence enough of the danger he's in but he's
beyond caring.
He points to Dave.
CARL (CONT'D)
You killed him.
GWEN
What? No I -
She looks, squinting. She can barely stand and close to
passing out, but even she can see it. Dave's fingers where
he touched her... They're charred.
GWEN (CONT'D)
Oh God. Oh, no!
She runs past Carl and kneels in front of Dave. She places
her hand on his chest and SPARKS fly into his chest. A do
it-yourself defibrillator, but it's pointless.
CARL
Get away from him!
She BACKHANDS him, giving him a strong enough shock to
floor him.
She turns back to Dave, trying again and again but nothing
happens. She places her hand on the back of his head, pulls
it away again, and stares at the blood, mouth agape. She
stands, horrified.
GWEN
No. No, I didn't.
CARL
(groggy)
You did.
She looks around, Carl weilding iron bar from one of the
nearby ruined buildings.
CARL (CONT'D)
You killed him you demon bitch.
GWEN
(desperate)
I'm not a demon! Please, it was
an accident!
CARL
Too bad.
He swings, and she has no choice. She grabs the pipe, he
can't swing it fast enough for her to miss. Bolts of
electricity travel up it, and into him.
The nearby street lamps glow brighter and brighter, feeding
off the power she's pumping into the air. They take in too
much and SHATTER leaving just the lights a little way away
to see by.
Gwen stops her attack, but it's too late. Carl's now extra
crispy form crumples.
Sobbing, shaking, she falls to her knees. For a moment her
sobs are all we hear, but then there's something else. A
husky breathing.
Gwen looks up, around. Nothing. She looks to where Carl
fell. He's gone! Over where David's lifeless body sat, he's
gone too!
She gets up, looks around, wipes the tears. She's action
Gwen now, scared and alone she may be, but she's alert and
ready for whatever's out there. Hopefully.
GWEN
(half confident, half
terrified)
Where are you?
CARL/SHADOWFORM
(husky)
You killed him you bitch.
GWEN
No!
CARL/SHADOWFORM
Yes, killed me too!
GWEN
What are you?
CARL/SHADOWFORM
Was human. Now -
Something hits Gwen on the back of the head, hard. She
stumbles, but somehow manages to stay conscious long enough
to see what it is.
The broken forms of Carl and David stand there, and even in
this darkness, we can see it. Their eyes, they're
completely black!
Gwen's eyes flutter, that blow did some damage but she's
holding on for the moment. She looks confused.
GWEN
What are you?
CARL/SHADOWFORM
Your executioners.
DAVID/SHADOWFORM
We'll tear you apart.
CARL/SHADOWFORM
Now, let's not be hasty.
He looks her up and down, his tongue licking where his lips
used to be, up until Gwen fried them out of existence.
CARL/SHADOWFORM
This form won't hold for long,
the body is too damaged. But
her...
(beat)
Her body I could use.
GWEN
(backing away)
Look, I'm flattered and all but -
She walks into something. Looks down, and cracks a grin.
She looks back up, doing her best to look afraid.
GWEN (CONT'D)
But...
(beat)
Sorry, I'm going to have to know
what I'm getting into here. What
are you boys?
DAVID/SHADOWFORM
I believe you humans call us -
CARL/SHADOWFORM
Shadowforms.
GWEN
Shadowforms? Good. So you, what,
take over bodies? What happens
when you're done with them?
The possessed men share a knowing chuckle.
DAVID/SHADOWFORM
It doesn't matter.
CARL/SHADOWFORM
The people we take control of
don't tend to mind.
GWEN
Oh, and why's that?
DAVID/SHADOWFORM
We can only possess -
CARL/SHADOWFORM
The dead.
She nods, makes sense.
GWEN
So, you're going to kill me,
right?
They both nod, advance a little more, Gwen takes a step
back, but doesn't go too far.
CARL/SHADOWFORM
That's the plan.
GWEN
Good. Well, not good. See, much
as it pains me to admit it, I
like being alive. So I don't
honestly see a way this can end
with us all being happy parties
here, can you?
CARL/SHADOWFORM
I don't think that'll be a
problem.
GWEN
No?
(beat)
Me neither.
She ducks down, reaching for what it was on the ground, the
iron bar! She quickly channels her powers through it,
turning it into a glowing baton.
GWEN (CONT'D)
So.
(beat)
Who's first?
The Shadowforms hesitate, it's all she needs. She charges,
swinging hard at Carl's head, he goes down and stays there.
Next, David. He avoids her first strike to the chest by
arcing his back, but in doing so he leaves himself open.
Gwen punches him with her free hand, and he falls to his
hands and knees.
A simple swing from over her head, straight to his back,
finishes the job nicely.
She breathes a sigh of relief, but it's apparently a little
premature, as Carl is already getting back to his feet, and
David's not far off either.
GWEN (CONT'D)
Oh, come on!
She swings again at the recovering David, but just in the
nick of time, her powers fail her, and the bar becomes just
a regular bar again. It hits him hard, but the damage is
minimal.
GWEN (CONT'D)
Crap!
CARL/SHADOWFORM
(chuckles)
Now then, little girl, where were
we?
He approaches her, and she's got nowhere to run, no powers,
and that head wound isn't helping matters. She collapses.
GWEN'S POV:
We see Carl's disfigured, blurry form for a moment. Voices,
not too far away, but muffled. Finally a small EXPLOSION
forces us to:
WHITE OUT.
- END OF ACT ONE -
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Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.