THE GORGE screenplay (6 page)

ACE

(to Bowie)

Keep on pumpin.’

Bowie, on his knees, resumes filling up the second raft.

CUT TO:

EXT.FOREST—CONTINUING

Farrengalli watches from the woods. From his POV, Ace is looking through the backpacks, strewing clothes and gear around. Ace prowls in Castle’s backpack, finds Samford’s toboggan.

Ace holds it up so Castle can see.

ACE

This your partner’s?

Castle says nothing. Ace tosses it on the fire, where it throws off oily smoke. Castle clenches his jaw. Farrengalli hears noises in the trees above and ducks low.

CUT TO:

EXT. CLEARING IN WOODS—CONTINUING

Ace dumps out one of the backpacks. Climbing gear spills out.

ACE

Climbing shit.

Ace pulls the cell phone out of Castle’s backpack, checks it. Clara holds Castle’s Glock as if it’s a snake.

ACE (CONT’D)

No fuckin’ bars. Deader’n a mule’s dick.

He tosses the phone down, pulls out a magnesium flashlight with headstrap, switches it on and nods approvingly. He sticks the Maglite in his belt, points his gun at Raintree and Dove.

ACE (CONT’D)

Take off them life jackets.

BOWIE

They can’t get on the water without jackets. It’s suicide.

ACE

They ain’t coming. You are.

DOVE

(to Clara)

You can’t leave us out here to die.

CLARA

I’ve got my own problems.

ACE

(to Dove)

Sorry, good-lookin’, but it’s hard to keep two women satisfied.

DOVE

Asshole.

Ace slams the backpack to the ground and storms up to Dove. He’s momentarily forgotten Bowie and Castle.

ACE

Goddamn it, don’t nobody around here know their place? You took the apple from the snake and fed it to the world. You’re to blame for all of this.

Raintree steps protectively in front of Dove.

ACE (CONT’D)

Nice move, Tonto. Now load these packs in the raft or I’ll blow a hole in both you and your squaw.

Raintree doesn’t budge or blink.

CLARA

(to Raintree)

Don’t get him riled up.

CASTLE

One more notch on his belt won’t matter, Raintree. He’s already facing a death sentence.

ACE

That’s where you’re wrong, Haircut. I’m facing eternal life.

Ace waves the gun, Raintree loads a couple of the packs into a raft. Ace and Clara snap on life vests.

BOWIE

(to Ace)

They’ll just slow you down. I know the river.

ACE

A hero man, huh? Well, let’s see how much faith you got. Take off your jacket.

Bowie hesitates, then removes his life jacket.

ACE (CONT’D)

Just in case you’re thinking of dunkin’ us.

As they start to leave camp, Bowie dragging the Muskrat, Ace pauses.

ACE (CONT’D)

Wait a sec. Wasn’t there two rafts, Clara?

Clara, weary and dragging, shrugs. Dove points at Castle.

DOVE

Didn’t you hear the shot? He sank it.

Ace grins at Castle.

ACE

Crackin’ under pressure, huh? Just wait ‘til the angels track you down.

Ace waves his gun and spreads his arms like a fired-up evangelist.

ACE (CONT’D)

I seen it. Hell will break open and the river will turn to fire. The lost and the wicked will drown in their own sin. The world will be washed in blood.

As Ace builds to a manic crescendo, Castle leaps for him, aiming for his knees. Ace calmly levels the Python and squeezes off a shot. The bullet slams into Castle’s shoulder and he plummets to the ground.

ACE (CONT’D)

Couldn’t wait for the angels, huh?

The suddenness of the attack leaves the others stunned. Ace waves Bowie toward the river, and Clara follows, sharing a glance with Dove first.

CUT TO:

EXT. GORGE LEDGE. TWILIGHT.

The creatures perch at the lip of the cave, the sunset red as blood behind the clouds. The rain falls in thin needles. The Samford-thing tests its wings, ragged clothes hanging from its body. From the dark cave comes the chaos of clicking claws, fluttering wings, and squeaks.

CUT TO:

EXT. CLEARING IN WOODS. SUNSET.

Rain. Castle sits propped against a tree, semi-conscious. His shirt is off. Raintree and Dove tend his wound, which is a big gash. Dove yanks off her shirt, leaving only her wet suit.

Dove tears her shirt into strips and winds the strips around Castle’s shoulder and chest. Farrengalli comes out of the woods.

FARRENGALLI

I lost you guys.

DOVE

Bullshit. Where were you?

RAINTREE

Never mind that now. Looks like the bullet went through clean.

DOVE

Might have shattered some ribs.

Castle moans. Raintree pulls his leather medicine bag from the crotch of his drysuit. He puts a pill to Castle’s mouth.

RAINTREE

Take it. Here, better take two.

Raintree feeds him another. Castle swallows with difficulty as Dove gives him a sip from a canteen.

FARRENGALLI

Man, that looks like oxycontin. Horse pills.

CASTLE

This is the part where I’m supposed to tell you to go on without me.

FARRENGALLI

He’s right, he’s vampire bait. You heard Bowie. Once they smell the blood...

RAINTREE

No way.

FARRENGALLI

(to Raintree)

Who made you chief?

DOVE

Bowie did. And he’s right. We need to stick together. Where’s the Muskrat?

Farrengalli nods into the woods.

FARRENGALLI

I left it out there with my pack.

RAINTREE

You have the other hand pump?

FARRENGALLI

Yeah. Like I was getting paid extra to haul all this shit.

RAINTREE

We’ll have to try the river.

DOVE

In the dark?

RAINTREE

Better the river than the woods. Those creatures track by radar.

FARRENGALLI

Bowie said the rapids fuck up their signals. They can’t tell us from fish.

DOVE

Will the kayak hold four of us?

CASTLE

There’s...one other option.

The cell phone lays near the fire, open, its tiny screen still glowing neon green. They all look up through the trees, to the moist and rocky peak of BabelTower.

FARRENGALLI

(to Raintree)

Your call, Chief.

CUT TO:

EXT. ON THE RIVER. DUSK.

Rain. Ace is in the back of the raft, Clara in the middle. Clara and Ace have Maglites strapped to their helmets. Bowie is in front, struggling to guide the Muskrat. He’s the only one paddling. The wounds on his arms are red and wet. The water is wild, frothy, and brown.

ACE

How much farther?

BOWIE

We’ll never make it in the dark.

Suddenly, the raft skids into a long shelf of rock, throwing the three to one side. Clara clutches the grab loop circling the bow. Bowie is the first to regain his balance. He spins and slams the paddle against Ace’s head.

Ace flops against the bow and his Python bounces into the middle of the raft. As Ace and Bowie struggle over her, Clara scoops up the gun.

The raft bounces and plunges down the rapids. Clara steadies herself. Bowie has his arm around Ace’s neck, choking.

ACE

Shoot the bastard.

Clara moves the gun back and forth, rocking with the rapids. Bowie gives her a look, awaiting her decision.

ACE

(choking)

Shoot!

CLARA

I can’t.

Bowie reaches for the gun. Ace bumps him while he’s off-balance, knocking Bowie over the side. Two of the backpacks tumble into the water.

Bowie hangs onto the grab loop with one hand, his body trailing into the water and knocking against river rocks. Ace bends his head and bites Bowie on the hand, trying to get him to let go.

The Muskrat pitches on a swell of water and Clara is thrown forward, dropping the gun into the pool of water in the kayak. Ace looks up with a bloody grin, rain running down his face.

Bowie snags the grab loop with his other hand. Ace fumbles the Glock from his waistband.

CLARA

Don’t kill him!

Ace points the gun at Bowie, who stares into Ace’s eyes, cold, grim. The Muskrat enters calmer water.

ACE

(to Bowie)

Let go.

BOWIE

You better shoot me. I’m not letting go.

ACE

Maybe I’ll leave you both.

Clara clutches her belly.

CLARA

You can’t leave us. Ever.

ACE

(to Bowie))

See your ass on Judgment Day.

As Ace levels the Glock at Bowie’s face, Clara thrusts upward into Ace. He pulls the trigger and the shot goes wild. The shot echoes like thunder. In the hush that follows...

CLARA

I meant, you can’t leave us. I’m pregnant.

Far upriver, in the clouds:
SKEEEEK
.

CUT TO:

EXT. BASE OF CLIFF. DUSK.

SFX: SKEEEK carries over. Raintree and Dove stare up the sheer rock face, ropes around their shoulders, belaying pitons and pick hammers stuck in their belts.

RAINTREE

Slippery when wet.

DOVE

We can die waiting or we can die climbing.

RAINTREE

Something’s up there.

DOVE

Great. More ancient Cherokee spirits?

Raintree launches himself up the rock face, free climbing.

RAINTREE

We’ll see.

CUT TO:

EXT. CLEARING IN WOODS. DUSK.

Farrengalli has Castle propped under the canopy, near the fire. Castle is semi-conscious, moans occasionally. Farrengalli checks the red bandage on Castle’s shoulder. The inflated Muskrat lies at the edge of the makeshift camp. It is turned over, and rain drums off of it.

FARRENGALLI

Only a crazy fucker would climb up where they are. We’re better off on the ground, buddy.

CASTLE

I got an idea.

FARRENGALLI

I know. We been there. Climb the cliff, call on the cell phone. And wait for the cavalry.

CASTLE

You fell for it, huh?

FARRENGALLI

What you talking about?

CASTLE

The raft. You and me. I want to catch that son of a bitch.

FARRENGALLI

I like half of that idea.

Farrengalli gets up and heads toward the Muskrat. Castle tries to rise, groans, he’s too weak. Farrengalli starts dragging the kayak toward the river.

CASTLE

You can’t leave me.

FARRENGALLI

I’ve heard that from 20 different women, and all of them were prettier than you.

He keeps on. Castles shouts at his back.

CASTLE

If they make it to the top...

Farrengalli pauses, not turning.

CASTLE (CONT’D)

Helicopters. News crews. Publicity. You want Raintree to have it all?

Farrengalli turns and lets the Muskrat drop to the ground.

FARRENGALLI

Catch you on the other side, Mulder.

CUT TO:

EXT. FACE OF BABELTOWER. DUSK.

Raintree is halfway up. He squats on a narrow ledge, pounds a climbing anchor into a rock crevice. He attaches a safety line and plays it down to Dove, who is on a ledge 10 feet below. The main line is looped through a second anchor, with Raintree holding the end.

RAINTREE

Anchors away.

Raintree holds tension on the main line. Dove begins her ascent. The main anchor slowly pulls free, then it pops. Dove screams as she takes a sudden drop.

The safety line stops her. She is swinging 15 feet below Raintree, dangling by the carabiner in her belt.

RAINTREE (CONT’D)

Hold the main!

He reels in the slack and wraps it around his arm. He braces his feet against a rock. Muscles bulging, he begins to draw her up. The line scrapes along the ledge, fraying. Dove scrabbles for a handhold.

DOVE

I can’t...get...any purchase.

RAINTREE

On three. Make like Spiderwoman and grab everything you can. One...

(braces himself)

Two…

(grimacing as rope tightens)

Three!

He yanks, the rope burning his wrist, he plays in another couple of feet, Dove finds a small crevice and propels herself upward. One of her hands reaches over the ledge.

Raintree secures the slack and reaches for her with his free hand. She is slippery with rain, grunting.

Dove throws her other hand over, finds a crevice, scrambles up and over, rolls flat against Raintree. They lay panting, face to face, looking at each other.

DOVE

Close.

RAINTREE

Too close.

Their lips move forward as if to kiss. The line grows taut. Below them:

FARRENGALLI (O.S.)

Hey, you guys, wait up.

CUT TO:

EXT. GORGE LEDGE. DUSK.

Samford-thing perches on the ledge, looking out over the river. Three of his fellow goregoyles soar over the gorge in the rain. Behind him, the Pete-thing crawls in the clumsy first stages of change.

Samford-thing sniffs the air. He opens his mouth, showing teeth, grinning, hungry, eyes dead. He launches himself from the ledge with a
SKEEEEEK
.

CUT TO:

EXT. ON THE RIVER. DUSK.

Ace, Clara, and Bowie huddle on the shore, Ace with the gun, Bowie a few feet away. The Muskrat bobs in the water, tied off to a fallen tree. Clara’s Maglite sweeps over the forest and river as she swivels her head.

ACE

Jesus Fucking Christ on a lollipop.

CLARA

I knew you’d be mad.

ACE

You ain’t keeping it.

Clara wraps her arms around her belly, protectively.

CLARA

God chose me for it.

Ace explodes in rage, slaps her. Bowie starts to respond but Ace threatens him with the gun.

ACE

(to Clara)

You ain’t good enough.

BOWIE

That make you feel good, Ace?

Ace turns his anger to Bowie.

ACE

If you hadn’t tried to play hero, we’d be to town by now.

BOWIE

Is it more fun to slap them than to blow them up?