Elevation (2024) | Transcript

Elevation (2024)
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Sci-Fi
Director: George Nolfi
Writers: John Glenn, Jacob Roman, Kenny Ryan
Stars: Anthony Mackie, Morena Baccarin, Maddie Hasson

Synopsis: A single father and two courageous women venture beyond the safety of their homes, braving a world teeming with monstrous creatures, in a desperate bid to save the life of a young boy.

* * *

REPORTER: The sinkholes appeared with no warning in every country in the world.

REPORTER 2: Complete chaos at this hour on the streets of every major city on the planet.

REPORTER 3: They’re exploding from the ground.

It seems like, with no warning, they’re exploding from the ground.

REPORTER 4: Scientists say the creatures that emerged from the sinkholes may have been hibernating for thousands of years.

REPORTER 5: Their bullets merely hinder the creatures but don’t stop them.

REPORTER 6: Many nations have called in the military.

REPORTER 7:…thousands dead, no end in sight.

REPORTER 8: People who live at high altitudes are reporting that they’ve seen the Reapers stop cold at 8,000 feet.

MAN: This is Nederland, Colorado.

Most of our town is destroyed, but everything above 8,000 feet is completely untouched.

REPORTER 9: Global lifeline appears to be 8,000 feet.

Authorities are urging survivors to stay above that elevation.

MAN 2:8,000 feet is the global lifeline.

If you can get to high ground, go there now.

(birds chirping)

(animal bellowing)

(footfalls approaching)

(rocks clatter)

(kids chattering playfully)

(sighs)

(rocks clatter)

(gasps)

(wings fluttering, birds cawing)

(chittering nearby)

(galloping footfalls)

♪ ♪

(galloping footfalls continue)

(Reaper growls)

(grunts)

(footfalls retreating)

(panting)

(tree branches snapping)

(birds cawing)

(panting continues)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(indistinct chatter)

(dog barking)

MAN (outside): Hey, Hunter.

Everything okay?

Hunter?

I just… just wanted to see other people.

And you said most of the monsters are sleeping again.

You’re on oxygen every night.

What if your lungs seized up when you were running away?

I’m sorry, Dad.

I can’t lose you.

I can’t.

I need you to understand that.

(rustling)

(exhales quietly)

(gunshot)

(deer groans)

(thud)

(chuckles) This one’s heavy.

Yeah.

KATIE: Hold on.

You got it?

(grunting): Yeah.

KATIE (sighs): Hey, what happened this morning?

WILL: He went across The Line to get a better view of the Red Rock settlement.

Well, he’s the only kid up here.

He’s lonely.

He’s alive.

Some of us need more than that, Will.

I mean, we may be safe up here, but this mountaintop is like a prison to him.

He didn’t just go there to see Red Rock.

(fire crackling)

WILL (voice-over): The Line crosses

Elba Fire Road near there.

It’s the last place he saw his mother.

(takes deep breath)

♪ ♪

(wind chimes clinking)

(typing)

(stops typing)

(resumes typing)

(high-pitched, sustained tone)

(computer beeps)

(bell dings)

(tone stops)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

MAN (inside): Crow’s Nest Refuge reports

they sent a party of five below The Line

to forage for essentials.

Nobody’s come back so far,

but they’re still holding out hope.

They asked us to send somebody out to the pinnacle

to look for any signs they’re still out there.

WOMAN: What road did they take?

MAN: Sugarloaf Run in the upper valley.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(bird screeching in distance)

(insects chirping)

(gunshot outside)

(drops razor on table)

(fire crackling)

WILL (voice-over): I get it.

You trust Nina. But this is a suicide mission.

It’s not your job to save the world.

(gasps)

(panting)

(machine whirring and beeping)

(Hunter coughing, gasping)

Okay, buddy.

I’m here. I’m here.

Take it easy.

All right. Deep breaths.

(whirring and beeping stop)

(oxygen flowing)

Nice and easy. Deep breaths.

(breathing deeply)

Deep breaths.

Nice and easy.

There you go.

Nice and easy.

Oh, I love you, man.

(sighs)

♪ ♪

(inhales sharply)

(sighs)

So, the hay keeps the potato warm

as it grows out of the ground.

When it gets cold, you put the hay over it,

keep the frost off the ground, keep the potato warm.

All right?

Now, it’s about timing, all right?

When you let it go…

You have to let it go at the right moment.

Let go of the string.

There you go.

WILL (voice-over): It’s Hunter’s birthday.

Mm. And you want my last box of mac and cheese?

I have these to trade.

It’s not much, but…

It’s enough.

HUNTER (voice-over): No way!

How’d you get this?

WILL: Come on.

You know I got connections, man.

Happy birthday.

Dad, why don’t you use the radio anymore?

Oh. We have flags to signal the other refuges if we need to.

But it’s not the same as talking to them.

It’s hard enough to make enough electricity

for the things we absolutely need,

like your machine.

Especially in the winter,

with the days being so short.

You’re gonna leave, aren’t you?

(Will sighs)

That was your last filter.

We need more.

You get sick again…

Then I won’t get sick.

No, it doesn’t work like that.

When?

I’m going to be okay.

(wind blowing)

I got ’em from Charlie.

I’m pretty sure he’s trying to sleep with me.

He’s 80.

Well, after three years up here,

I’m considering it.

Where’s Hunter?

Sleeping.

It’s Friday night, you know.

Is it?

Mm-hmm.

If this was before, what would you be doing?

I’d probably be at the 19th hole with my father-in-law.

(Katie chuckling)

I’m sorry, I never pictured you as the country club type, Will.

(both laughing)

I wasn’t.

But Tara’s family loved it.

I hated it.

And now I miss it.

(gunshot)

Goddamn it.

(Katie chuckles softly)

(machine whirring and beeping)

(Hunter gasping)

We’re out of filters, so I’m-a have to give you a shot.

(insects chirping)

(knocking)

(door opens)

Hello, Nina.

How are you?

How’s the drinking?

Keeps me from killing myself.

How’s yours?

Keeps me from killing you.

I’m leaving tomorrow.

For Boulder.

Well, that’s probably the last thing I expected you to say.

I don’t have a choice.

You’ll die.

They can’t be killed.

You believed that, you wouldn’t still have

this pirate flag on your wall.

I found a safe way there.

There is no safe way.

I know every map.

Every route. Two days’ walk.

Impossible to stay above The Line the whole time.

Hunter’s machine.

The last filter burnt out.

The hospital in Boulder will have a crate of ’em.

But if I don’t go, Hunter dies.

The place was probably looted.

No one had time to loot.

You’re gonna have to go below The Line

at least a dozen times.

You can’t survive a dozen

encounters with those things.

You survived.

That was luck.

Luck is not a strategy.

Luck won’t help you.

You’re the only person who fought them and lived.

You’ve studied them for years.

That’ll help me.

So what? “Do me a favor, Nina.

Let’s go. Let’s die together.”

But last year, you thought you found a way to kill them

if you could get back to your old lab.

That’s why Tara went with you.

I have a way to Boulder.

It’s mapped out. We only go below The Line twice.

Twice?

That’s not possible.

It is.

Calway Mine.

It goes through the mountain.

A mine?

A fucking mine, Will?

That’s your plan?

That’s a death trap by definition.

My company did a big job there.

I walked every inch.

I know those tunnels.

You don’t know anything.

You’re desperate.

Desperate people get killed.

8:00 a.m.

Cathedral Point Overlook.

Who says I’m going?

Everything you’ve done up here since day one says that.

Shooting at that goddamn Reaper scale every night.

All you think about is killing one of these things,

and you need something from down there to do it.

You owe me this much.

For Tara.

Will.

Boulder is 2,000 feet below The Line.

Even if you make it there,

they’ll be there waiting for you.

It only takes one of them.

I know.

(door creaks open)

(door closes)

♪ ♪

(soft clinking)

(clicking)

(clicking)

TARA (voice-over, whispering): Nina.

Nina, it’s getting closer.

(man shouting indistinctly in voice-over)

TARA: Nina!

(thump)

MAN: It’s coming this way!

MAN 2: Stay to the right!

TARA: I can’t hold my breath any longer.

MAN: Shoot! Shoot!

(rapid gunfire)

(man yells)

TARA: No, please.

MAN 2: We’re going down!

MAN 3: Oh, God! Oh, God!

TARA: Please.

(screaming)

TARA: I-I can’t…

(Tara wailing)

(Reaper chittering)

(men screaming)

(Reaper snarling)

(slashing)

(Tara screams)

Thanks.

HANNAH: No problem.

WILL: I have to go tomorrow.

He’s got four days, five at the most.

HANNAH: I’ll stay here with him.

TIM: Changed the zero to 200 yards,

so you’ll be able to engage ’em from further out.

Oh.

AP rounds.

These are from my own personal stash.

Slow ’em down a bit more than a regular 556.

Good luck out there.

Thanks.

(door opens)

(door closes)

Were you planning on telling me?

Huh?

You just gonna run off and get yourself killed

without saying a word, like Tara?

(Will scoffs softly)

I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.

Yeah, it was.

Hey, Tim?

TIM: Yeah.

My gear?

WILL: Katie, what are you doing?

KATIE: Going with you.

WILL: No, you’re not.

Not asking permission, Will. You can’t go out there alone.

You need a partner to watch your back.

Right. Nina’s going with me.

Oh, I’m definitely going now.

(sighs) The town needs you up here.

And I need to see what’s down there.

Why? What’s the point?

We’re rats on a sinking ship, and we need to find a way off.

No, we don’t. We can survive up here forever.

Everyone except Hunter.

(scoffs)

I don’t want to live like this forever, Will.

And we both know Hunter doesn’t, either.

Well, it’s not his decision to make.

Not at eight years old.

We’re gonna have to fight them eventually, Will.

It might as well be today.

(door opens)

(sighs softly)

(door closes)

We don’t need your help.

You don’t need anyone’s help, do you, Nina?

You ever seen one coming for you?

Up close.

Not just a flickering light in the distance.

The way they tear people apart.

Bullets bounce off them like nothing.

Unless you hit them square in the face,

and even then, it just gives you a few seconds to run.

We’re gonna die out there.

But you first.

♪ ♪

I won’t be gone long.

That’s what Mom said.

I’m coming back.

Promise.

WILL (voice-over): We hit Alta Vista Ski Area,

we might even use the ski lift.

KATIE: With what power?

WILL: They have backup generators.

KATIE: Which won’t work

after sitting idle for 992 days.

WILL: If the batteries aren’t drained, I’ll get it running.

(bird calling)

♪ ♪

KATIE: So, what’s in Boulder, Nina?

My old lab.

I thought you were a professor at Caltech.

Researcher.

Can’t teach kids. They’re too stupid.

Caltech students are too dumb for you?

So what’s that make us, then?

Not Caltech students, Katie.

(sighs)

You could be nice.

At least try.

What’s wrong with not giving a shit?

KATIE: How do we know there isn’t one

hibernating down there?

NINA: I’m not picking anything up.

WILL: I guess that’s not a compass, is it?

No.

Did you find a way to track ’em?

Uh, bioelectromagnetism.

They generate their own magnetic fields.

Stronger than ours.

Stronger than any animal on Earth.

When they’re within a half mile,

the needle is drawn to them.

KATIE: So, it’s two miles to the ski area?

One mile if we cut through the forest.

♪ ♪

Nina, you’re the expert.

Any idea why they don’t go above 8,000 feet?

Mostly, I’m just hoping they don’t change their minds.

Anything on that?

Nothing yet. It’s quiet for now.

♪ ♪

Might be something we could use.

All right. Still clear on the tracker.

Needle moves, you say so.

WILL: Got some ammo here.

A few flares.

(metallic clunk)

Jackpot.

Huh?

You know how to use that?

It’s designed for an 18-year-old

just out of basic training.

I’m pretty sure I can figure it out.

No need.

So you’ve done this before?

I’m from Texas, Will.

Well, I’m from Louisiana.

It doesn’t mean my dad taught me

how to use a grenade launcher.

Nina! How’s it going?

Nina, can we please go?

Will you two just shut up?

I’m looking at a Reaper scale.

(scoffs)

If she wants to stay, just let her.

Just let her. We don’t need her anyway.

Actually, you do. Unlike you, I’m not dead weight.

Um, fuck you, Nina.

(chuckles)

We both know who you’re trying to fuck, Katie,

and it’s not me.

(Katie scoffs)

It’s your best friend’s husband.

You know what?

Who you got killed.

Do you remember that? (grunts)

Shit. Stop it.

(grunts)

KATIE: You bitch.

(laughs)

I don’t like you, Nina.

I never have.

I don’t blame you, Katie.

I’m fine. I’m fine.

♪ ♪

(horses neighing)

Where’d they all come from?

Three years without us.

(neighing continues)

(animals bellowing)

Hold up. I need a minute.

Top of the mountain’s 8,000 feet.

Ten, 15-minute hike, we’re safe.

Or I can try to get the chairlift working.

We’d have to be faster than that.

They’re here.

(branches snapping)

(Reaper chittering)

Down there.

Run!

We’ll never make it to The Line.

KATIE: We have to!

It’s too far!

We have to try the lift.

KATIE: What if the battery’s dead?

She’s right!

(Reaper screeching in distance)

Cover me!

Okay.

(Reaper chittering)

(panting softly)

(branch snaps)

(Reaper bellowing)

Come on, Will.

Come on, baby. Come on.

(button clicking)

(snarling)

(faint chittering)

(distant bellowing)

(heavy footfalls thudding)

Oh, shit. Come on.

(panting)

(branches rustling)

♪ ♪

(heavy footfalls thudding)

Fuck.

(Reaper screeching)

(Katie grunts)

Come on, come on.

(grunts)

(grenade whizzing through air)

♪ ♪

(roars)

(motor starts)

Hit the switch!

(machinery whirring)

(Will grunts)

(gunfire)

(screeching)

Seventy-eight hundred feet.

(gunfire continues)

(screeches)

(Nina yelps)

You have to jump!

NINA: Come on, Katie!

WILL: Go, go, go! Jump!

NINA: Come on!

(gasping)

(clicks empty)

Shit, I’m out.

(screeching)

Don’t let go!

I got you. I promise.

We’re almost there.

♪ ♪

(clangs)

(yelps)

NINA: Hang on!

Eight thousand!

We made it. We made it.

(grunts)

(Will yells)

WILL: Run! Run! Run!

♪ ♪

(galloping footfalls)

(screeching)

WILL: Come on, Katie!

(chittering)

(hissing)

(all breathing heavily)

(screeching fades in distance)

Y’all okay?

Yeah.

Yeah.

(Will sighs)

(insects chirping, animal howling)

(glasses clinking)

18-year-old, single malt.

Those grenades did nothing.

To one more night alive.

(exhales)

It is different.

Seeing them up close. (sniffles)

We’re not meant to share the planet with those things.

Maybe the Jesus freaks were right.

Maybe the Reapers are judgment for mankind’s sins.

For eating God’s apple, then clear-cutting

the Garden of Eden with the knowledge it gave us.

I don’t buy that.

So what do you buy?

KATIE: They’re Earth’s new apex predators.

And we’re prey.

So how do we take our place back?

They came out of nowhere, all at once.

No one’s had a chance to study them.

You study something long enough,

you can figure out how to kill it.

If it doesn’t kill you first.

A lot more of us are gonna die.

But one day, we’re gonna beat them.

Three years, day and night, researching them.

Something had to stand out.

What they did when they first came out of the ground.

Which was?

Wipe out 95% of the world’s population in a month.

They didn’t stop to eat or sleep.

They just didn’t stop.

I don’t follow.

Predators kill to eat.

The Reapers kill to kill.

And they only killed us.

It’s like it’s all they wanted, was just to get rid of us.

I don’t think there’s some master plan, Nina.

Simply what you said.

They’re predators and we’re prey.

I didn’t say that. Katie did.

So what are you saying?

Nothing. It’s just a question.

But I want an answer.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

TARA (voice-over): What if Nina’s right?

What if she has found a way to kill those things?

WILL (voice-over): I don’t believe her.

Why not?

She wants it too badly.

What does that mean?

You know what I mean.

If anyone could figure it out, it’s her.

She’s a physicist.

Yeah, with a Messiah complex.

Baby, that’s all physicists. They make a living

unlocking God’s secrets.

I get it. You trust her.

But this is a suicide mission.

It’s not your job to save the world.

What is my job?

To stay alive.

You would have said something different when we first met.

That’s before you almost died in childbirth

and we had a one-pound infant clinging to life in the NICU.

This is for Hunter.

No, it’s not.

Not for Nina.

This is about her wanting to be

the first person to kill a Reaper.

And she’ll die to do it.

She’s not suicidal, Will.

She’s after immortality.

Why can’t you see that?

She doesn’t have a family.

She’s never had a family. She ca…

It’s just a matter of time before he runs out of filters.

That’s a year from now, at least.

And the Reapers will still be down there.

So what’s the difference?

Another year together.

(voice-over): That’s the difference.

(sighs)

NINA: When we come out, it’ll be close to dark.

Can’t hit the city at night.

WILL: There’s a ranger station on the other side.

We can stay there until daybreak.

What’s the plan in there?

This is level nine.

The ladder will take us down to level eight.

We take eight across the mountain, 2.2 miles.

We exit at 8,023 feet, on the other side,

12 miles west of Boulder.

Anything below level eight is under The Line.

We exit at 8,023 feet?

That’s right.

How exact is that?

Very.

How do you know these tunnels are perfectly straight?

That they don’t bow somewhere in the middle?

That would take us below The Line.

Or did you not think about that?

Oh, you son of a bitch.

Easy.

We’re going below The Line, aren’t we?

Will?

For how long?

231 yards.

(laughs) What?

Both ends of the tunnel are above 8,000 feet, so…

So, nothing! These tunnels are not hermetically sealed.

How do you know there aren’t any fissures

that lead to the lower levels of the mine?

You should have told us this before we left the refuge.

It’s 231 yards.

And besides, your tracker will tell us

if one of them is within a half a mile.

No, it won’t.

It just did.

Above ground.

It’s not gonna work under a mile of rock.

It’s 45 seconds. Why are you so worried?

They come from underground, Will.

They’re built for it. We’re not.

They can see in the dark.

They detect the smallest amount of CO2, which we exhale

and will build up pretty fucking fast

inside a fucking mine.

Fuck.

You swear a lot.

Fuck you, Katie.

(laughs, sniffles)

That’s good.

(sighs) Let’s go.

(bats chirping)

(water dripping)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(sighs)

What’s wrong?

See my earlier comment about the tracker

not working underneath a mountain.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

No.

No.

No, no, no, no, no.

No! No!

(grunting)

(panting)

KATIE: It’s welded shut?

What now?

Climb down to level seven.

That’s below The Line, Will.

Yeah.

For how long?

About a thousand yards.

A thousand yards?

That’s ten football fields.

I mean, how-how steep are these cliffs

that we’re trying to avoid?

They’re impassable.

So either we climb down or we go back.

And I’m not going back.

♪ ♪

Either of you guys afraid of heights?

No, I’m afraid of monsters.

(bat screeches)

(Katie gasps)

(squeaking)

(panting)

(Nina sighs)

(Katie panting)

(Katie clears throat, sniffles)

So, what do we do when we get to the bottom?

We just start sprinting?

No, we can’t sprint across.

We’ll just exhaust ourselves and make too much noise.

Worse than that… we’ll quadruple our CO2 output,

which they can track from a mile away. That’s what that light is

at the end of the tentacles.

They track us like giant mosquitoes.

Great. (sighs)

So, slow and steady.

Are we ready?

No.

Just need a minute to ponder my own death.

You’re funnier than I realized.

Thanks.

You’re smarter than I realized.

So, where were you when they showed up?

(groans)

Well, the night before the Reapers appeared…

(sniffles)

…my boyfriend and I had gotten into an argument.

And he took a swing at me and broke my nose.

What?

Yeah.

What’d you do?

I hit him with a frying pan

and stole his car and drove it to Nederland.

That’s fair.

(sighs) Anyway, next morning,

I heard everything happening over the radio,

so I just went straight up the fire road till the end

and found the refuge.

Life’s a bitch sometimes.

Yep.

And then giant murder bugs hatch from the ground,

and it’s amazing how quick nostalgia sets in.

(sighs) You should be a motivational speaker.

Can we get down this ladder, please?

♪ ♪

(splashing)

This way.

(rustling)

(bats squeaking)

Hey. Hey, hey, hey.

I think there’s something back there.

NINA: I don’t see anything.

KATIE: I heard something.

Or maybe I’m just being crazy.

Wait.

Cover your light.

What?

Please do it.

Is that…?

(Reaper chittering)

WILL: Move!

♪ ♪

(panting)

Duck!

(grenade whizzing)

(explosion)

(Will grunts)

(Reaper hissing)

(all panting)

(Reaper growling)

(Reaper chittering)

WILL: Go, go, go, go!

Oh, shit.

Will! Will! In here!

It ends.

WILL: Go, go, go!

Will, it’s a dead end. Shit.

Over here! Come on!

(grunts) Turn off your headlamps.

They can still track us through the CO2.

So what do we do?

(quietly): Don’t breathe.

(Reaper chittering)

(trilling)

(trilling continues)

(trilling continues)

(Reaper growling softly)

(Reaper bleating)

(gasping, panting)

(Reaper bellowing)

There’s a way out!

Go, go, go!

Go, go, go, go, go!

(trilling)

WILL: Hurry!

(grunts)

(Katie whimpers)

WILL: Go!

(grunting)

(Reaper growling)

(gasps) Will!

Will, Will, Will, come on.

Come on.

Come on!

Come on, run!

NINA: Katie, wait for us! Katie!

KATIE: There’s an exit!

WILL: Katie!

(Reaper chittering)

NINA: Katie!

(chittering continues)

(whooshing)

(grunts)

(groaning, gasping)

(screams, grunts)

Katie, no!

(groaning)

Will!

(screaming)

No.

(whimpers)

(grunting)

She’s gone.

(Nina whimpering)

She’s gone.

(crying): Oh, my God.

It led right back into the tunnel we came through.

(panting)

What was she thinking?

(Reaper chittering)

(heavy footfalls)

It’s coming back.

What’s that?

What?

(Reaper chittering)

Oh, my God. It’s a ladder.

Will, come on!

(heavy, lumbering footfalls)

(Reaper screeching)

(Nina panting)

(Reaper screeching)

(creaking)

♪ ♪

(both panting)

(Nina whimpers)

Katie.

(Nina whimpers)

You still believe in God?

I’m stubborn.

What’d you ask for?

Revenge.

(Nina sniffles, cries)

♪ ♪

(bleating nearby)

♪ ♪

(bleating continues)

(bleating)

♪ ♪

Looks okay. You think it’ll start?

If there’s a fresh battery inside.

Tires are kind of ratty, but it’ll do.

(grunts)

(door bangs open)

(cabinet door squeaks shut)

(sighs)

(insects chirping)

I must have made a thousand boxes of this stuff.

Every night, Tara would ask Hunter

what did he want for dinner, and every night…

mac and cheese.

It’s the casein, the milk protein in cheese.

It’s like an opioid, as addictive as morphine.

(scoffs)

Sorry.

I really liked Tara.

Seems like that was the last person you liked, Nina.

Katie grew on me.

Guess I got her killed, too.

I should have never brought us in those mines.

Would have been easier scaling the mountain

with no equipment.

NINA: You want to make her death matter?

Don’t feel guilt.

Feel anger.

I don’t feel anything anymore.

That’s too bad.

Anger’s a terrible thing to waste.

You would know.

(laughs) So would you.

I don’t hate you, Nina.

(scoffs)

Yeah, you do.

I would.

What’s in your old lab?

Periclase.

Cubic version of magnesium oxide.

Okay.

The Reapers’ scales… they’re impenetrable.

I think it’s because they’re electrically charged.

A defense mechanism, I think.

You think?

If I’m right, a projectile, a bullet,

bonded with periclase, it hits them,

and theoretically, it creates a momentary

million-volt differential, and boom.

Uncontrollable internal combustion.

A magic bullet?

That’s what you’ve been working on all this time?

Literally a magic bullet?

It’s not magic. It’s science.

It’s a guess.

It’s a hypothesis.

With a healthy dose of wishful thinking.

Tara believed me.

Tara would believe anything she thought could save Hunter.

You knew that,

talked her into going and got them all killed.

My wife, our friends.

I told her not to go.

I told her listening to you was suicide.

And yet, here you are.

With me, standing on that same ledge.

(animals bellowing)

(bird screeching)

♪ ♪

Here we go.

(horses neighing)

(horses neighing)

(neighing)

♪ ♪

(grunts)

(door bangs open)

Jesus.

Fifth floor.

This way.

(footfalls continue ascending stairs)

(Nina gasps softly)

(Nina sighs)

Don’t look.

I have to.

(wind whistling)

Where are they?

There should be cases of ’em in here.

(distant squeak, creaking)

Was that…?

Can’t tell.

Nothing on the tracker.

Where else could they be?

Uh, the OR.

(distant clattering)

That’s one, no question.

♪ ♪

(distant clattering)

WILL (whispering): Here.

(footfalls, clattering nearby)

Come on, Will, we got to go.

I know.

(clattering continues)

Shit. It’s close.

I’m looking. I’m looking.

I got ’em!

All right, come on.

Come on, come on, come on!

Okay.

(grunting)

(Reaper bellowing)

(grunting and groaning)

(Nina screams)

(Reaper screeching)

WILL: Come on.

(grunts)

(Reaper squealing)

Jesus fucking Christ!

(Reaper screeches)

♪ ♪

(Reaper screeching)

Holy fuck!

(whimpering)

(grunting)

(Reaper squealing)

Go. Go.

Here! In here.

Now we’re trapped.

No, we’re not.

(gas hissing)

(clattering)

Stairs.

What are you doing?

I’m right behind you.

(panting)

(creaking)

(Reaper chittering)

(roaring)

(electrical crackling)

(liquid dripping)

(grunts)

(panting)

(grunts)

I thought I told you to run.

And I didn’t listen.

Is it dead?

It’s not moving.

Yeah, but…

Right. We should get the hell out of here.

NINA: The lab is close.

There’s no time.

I still need periclase.

The magnesium oxide.

I have Hunter to think about.

This is about more than just your son.

There’s no such thing as more than my son.

How much time did you just buy yourself?

Six months? A year? Then you’re right back here again.

Or we can prove that they can be killed,

and when we fly that flag over the refuge,

everyone else stuck on those mountaintops will know it.

The whole world will come and fight with us.

The odds may be stacked against us, but I’m with Katie.

We can’t live like this forever.

Sooner or later, we have to fight them.

But I need your help.

I can’t do this alone.

Shit.

Let’s go.

(engine starts)

(tires squealing, engine revving)

♪ ♪

(door opens)

(panting)

Scale.

(bag unzipping)

Nothing on the tracker.

I’m gonna need five minutes.

I’ll keep watch.

NINA: Thank God.

(glass clinking)

(liquid pouring)

I never knew you had a family.

Well, I did.

You never said a word.

No.

Let’s let this dry, see what happens.

Gonna take a few minutes.

Figured you might want this.

♪ ♪

I was here when it happened.

It was a Saturday, but…

but my team was close to a breakthrough,

using cobalt to increase the electron flow in batteries.

Makes ’em three times more efficient.

That’s what I was thinking about when the world ended.

Batteries.

Billy, my seven-year-old, had a soccer game that day.

You ever seen kids that age play soccer?

How they all just converge on the ball at once?

(crying): The worst part is, I chose not to go to that game.

(clears throat, sniffles)

(clears throat) My husband had been traveling for two weeks,

and he came back.

I was…

I was tired of being a mom.

But there’s nothing you could have done.

I could have held him in my arms one last time.

I’m sure you’ve had the same thought about Tara.

I never should have encouraged her to come with me.

I was overconfident.

I thought I’d figured out a way to hold them off,

and I was wrong.

If it’s any consolation, I hate myself more

than you could possibly hate me.

I only blame you because it’s easier than blaming myself.

I knew she was going to go,

even after I tried to stop her.

And I let it happen.

You can’t blame yourself.

Neither of us can.

What’s the point?

All right.

(Nina sighs)

You tried, Nina.

You did everything you could.

Go home, Will.

(sniffles) Go save your son.

He’s running out of time.

What about you?

I’m gonna stay.

There are other things I can try.

Look, I’m not leaving you here. We’re in this together.

And you got me here.

But it didn’t work, and I’m not leaving

until it does or until they kill me first.

Nina…

Look,

my car is still in the lot outside.

If I get this right, I won’t need your help to get back.

I’ll be on the road right behind you.

If I don’t…

there’s no point in you dying here with me.

Go.

Go be with Hunter.

♪ ♪

(sighs)

(engine revving, tires squealing)

(gun cocks)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(gasps softly)

(clattering nearby)

(gasps)

(heavy footfalls approaching)

(gun cocks)

(Reaper roaring)

(tire pops, squeals)

(insects chirping)

(Reaper chittering)

(metallic creaking)

(chittering continues)

(grunts softly)

♪ ♪

(Reaper chittering)

Oh, shit. Oh, shit!

(grunting)

(panting, grunting)

(Reaper chittering)

(grunting)

(yells)

(Reaper chittering)

Shit.

(grunting)

(Reaper screeching)

(bird cawing)

(Reaper screeches, roars)

(grunting)

(panting)

(Reaper chittering)

(grunting and panting continue)

(Reaper chittering)

(Reaper growls, screeches)

Oh, shit.

(Reaper screeches)

(panting)

Oh, shit. (yells)

(squealing)

(chitters, squeals)

(whimpers)

(growling)

(gun cocks)

(Will grunts)

(Reaper screeches)

(explosive whooshing)

(panting)

(Reapers screeching)

(explosive whooshing)

(growls, roars)

(bullets whizzing)

(explosive whooshing)

(Reaper squeals)

(groans)

(Will panting)

Son of a bitch. (chuckles)

(electrical crackling)

They’re machines.

They hunt us, but they don’t eat us.

They don’t sleep. They don’t breathe.

They don’t go an inch above 8,000 feet.

That’s not a living creature.

That’s programming.

By who?

Good shot.

Thanks.

WILL: Why 8,000 feet?

NINA: I have no idea.

(Will sighs)

WILL: Is your car still running?

NINA: Radiator blew half a mile back.

God, it felt amazing to kill those fuckers.

WILL: Going to feel even better when you raise that pirate flag

and tell the world we have a way to beat ’em.

♪ ♪

Dad!

(laughing)

Told you I was coming back.

I missed you so much.

Come on.

♪ ♪

WOMAN: Oh, you see it? They did it!

(bell clanging)

(radio crackling)

MAN (over radio): Crow’s Nest, this is Red Rock.

Are you seeing what we’re seeing?

WOMAN (over radio): We have line of sight…

MAN 2 (over radio): Yes. Confirmed.

We have clear line of sight.

MAN 3: Copy that. This is…

WILL (over radio): This is Lost Gulch Refuge.

(voice-over): Three years ago,

the world we knew disappeared overnight.

We lost our homes,

our communities

and most of the people we loved.

We still don’t know why above 8,000 feet we were safe.

But we don’t have to play by those rules anymore.

The Reapers tried to take our planet.

They thought we’d die up here in these mountains.

Well, we’re still here.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Sooner or later, we had to fight them.

Might as well be today.

♪ ♪

(rapid gunfire)

(Reaper squeals)

(explosive whooshing)

(people hollering)

(heavy gunfire)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(music fades)