In December 2022, biology teacher and Iraq War veteran, Dan Forester, fails to get a job at a research center. While watching the World Cup at a Christmas party, soldiers from the year 2051 arrive to warn that humanity is on the brink of extinction due to alien invaders: the Whitespikes. In response, members of the world’s militaries are sent into the future, but less than 20% survive, initiating a world wide draft.
After a year of the draft and a growing anti-war movement, there is little hope about humanity’s survival. Dan receives a notice that he has been drafted and reports with other draftees to basic training.
The draftees are sent forward in time to Miami Beach but few survive, having been dropped in the incorrect location above the city. The draftees are ordered by Colonel Forester to rescue nearby lab personnel before the area is sterilized. The draftees discover the lab personnel dead but recovers their research. Dan radios to command about the situation, and is instructed to escape the area. Many of the draftees are killed with only a handful able to reach safety.
The survivors wake up in a military encampment in the Dominican Republic. Dan is asked to report to Colonel Forester, who is actually his grown daughter Muri. She requests him to accompany her on a mission to capture a female Whitespike, which are rarer than the male type Dan encountered earlier. Eventually they cage the female, only to find thousands of males descending on their position. As the helicopter with the caged female lifts off, the area becomes chaotic. Dan and Muri escape to a beach and radio for rescue. Dan is brought to the location of the Jumplink out in what is likely the Atlantic Ocean.
Dan and his daughter work on a toxin that can kill the captured female. They find a match for killing the race just as the aliens start to breach the safe haven. Dan is able to jump back to the past with the match with seconds to spare before he would be killed. Once in the past, he tries to give the toxin to the military so it can be sent back to the future, and learns that the Jumplink to the future is offline, having been destroyed by the Whitespikes.
Dan has the toxin that can destroy the Whitespikes, but does not know how he can use it. Brainstorming with his wife, he deduces that the Whitespikes did not arrive in 2048, but earlier. Further research leads him to theorize the Whitespikes are actually already on Earth, and that global warming causes their release when they thaw out and emerge from under the ice caps.
Dan leads a mission to Russia to prove the theory. He proves the theory after traveling inside of a glacier and finding an alien ship. The team debates telling the world about the problem, or killing them all right then and there. They decide to fix the problem. Once inside, they realize that the alien ship is not actually a Whitespikes ship, and that the Whitespikes were cargo for the deceased aliens. They proceed with injecting the dormant Whitespikes with the toxin; this kills the injected aliens but wakes all the remaining Whitespikes. The team successfully blows up the alien ship once they realize it is the only method of containment, but one female escapes. Dan and his father track down the female and are able to kill it in a frenetic battle to the death, preventing the future war from occurring.
* * *
(electricity crackling, rumbling)
♪ ♪
(people screaming)
(wind whistling)
(screaming continues)
(muffled screaming)
(people groaning, coughing)
(thunder rumbling)
(whirring)
(“Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses playing)
DAN: Look, I’m incredibly proud of my career in the military, and I did two combat tours, but, uh, I was never gonna be a career guy.
I found my passion in the Army Research Lab.
I used my GI Bill to, uh… to go to Cal State, and I’m currently teaching high school biology.
MAN (on phone): Okay, Dan. I-I think Arthur’s still reviewing the proposal.
That’s great, but I have some more data, and I’m nearby, so I-I want to bring a new proposal tonight.
Let me put you on hold.
(excited chatter, laughter)
(“Christmas Wrapping” playing)
Muri? Muri!
Okay, none of you are my child.
Has anyone seen Muri?
Coming!
Grab these. I have a mission.
Get those to the kitchen.
Yes, sir.
There you are. March.
Great party, Dan.
Oh, thank you. I appreciate…
Your place smells amazing.
Thank you.
SPORTSCASTER: Things are heating up in this final match of the World Cup.
Hey, Forester.
Sorry, guys. Gonna steal him for a second.
Hey. Sorry, guys.
We are out of Christmas napkins.
Okay, we have “I’m just here for the booze” or “Happy 70th birthday.”
Go “Happy 70th.”
Yeah.
Babe, I’m on hold right now.
They’re trying to track down Arthur.
Right now?
This is happening right now.
I am gonna punch you in your unfortunately very handsome face.
This is the call, though.
I’m in the final round.
This is real work in an actual lab.
It’s my dream.
Well, Muri’s dream is that you wa…
MURI: Hee-haw! that you watch the game with her.
Oh, hi.
Hee-haw!
Hee-haw! Hee-haw!
I promise I’ll be back before the end of the game.
Okay?
All right.
What’s this?
Um, that’s…
Your-your dad sent Muri a Christmas card.
Can we talk about it tomorrow?
Hmm.
Babe, we’ll talk about it.
(garbage can clunks)
Daniel. What?
We don’t have to talk.
He’s just trying to be a grandpa.
Well, I think he forfeited the right to meet his granddaughter when he abandoned your husband.
Hey.
No one’s eating my tuna Santa.
DAN: When I come back, I’m gonna have a new job, and I’m gonna eat all of your tuna Santa.
(laughs)
ARTHUR (on phone): Hey, Dan.
EMMY: Bye.
Arthur. Hey, man.
ARTHUR: I’m glad you called.
It’s a very competitive position.
Yes, sir.
And experience is everything.
Well, I have leadership experience.
I ran combat missions in Iraq.
Does that translate, though?
It sure comes in handy teaching high school.
Listen.
You’re a great candidate.
The only thing you’re missing is private sector experience.
MAN: Which we have to say is an important part of what we’re looking for.
No, guys, guys…
ARTHUR: And that’s why we had to make a tough choice.
We found someone else.
His background and education…
He’s just a better fit for us.
MAN: Sorry, Dan.
ARTHUR: Good luck.
Yeah.
Of course you’re not the guy.
(muttering): You are such an idiot.
(dog barking nearby)
Sorry.
♪ ♪
(muffled chatter, laughter)
What happened?
(grunts)
SPORTSCASTER: We are live in Qatar for the first World Cup held in…
You know who Selman Waksman is?
I do.
He discovered the vaccine for tuberculosis.
Really?
Do you know where he found it?
You tell me.
In the dirt with worms and poop.
(chuckling)
SPORTSCASTER: The extreme heat of our host city makes playing in the summertime all but impossible.
See these people… playing soccer up there?
They are the best in the world.
Can you believe that?
I want to be the best.
Yeah?
Like you are at science.
Like I am at science. (chuckles)
You know what it takes to be the best.
You got to say to yourself, “I will do… I-I will do…”
You have to think this.
“what nobody else is willing to do.”
Yeah. Right?
Mm-hmm.
I am meant to do something special with my life.
Everything’s gonna be okay, Dad.
Thank you, honey. That’s very sweet of you.
Although I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be me telling you that and not the other way around.
SPORTSCASTER: And here’s the corner kick.
This could be it. It’s coming…
And it’s knocked away by the goalie.
Oh, and it’s a bicycle kick!
Dad, watch.
SPORTSCASTER: Wait a minute!
He’s heading down the pitch.
He’s alone, only one defender behind him.
He’s driving towards it. It’s unbelievable!
Can he do it? Yes, he can!
(electrical buzzing, whirring)
(crowd cheering)
(air horns blaring)
(deep whooshing)
(explosive rumbling)
♪ ♪
(people screaming)
SPORTSCASTER: 50 to 60 armed men and women standing on the pitch.
SOLDIER: You’re tapped in.
HART: Good copy.
It’s okay.
(echoing over speakers): We are you, 30 years in the future.
It’s okay, sweetie.
HART: We are fighting a war.
Our enemy is not human.
And we are losing.
In 11 months’ time, all human beings in the future will be wiped from the face of the earth unless you help us.
We need you.
Our fathers, mothers and grandparents, we need you to fight beside us if we stand a chance at winning this war.
Is this a joke?
You… are our last hope.
12 months ago, we had no idea how those words would change everything about our daily lives.
Immediately, jump facilities were established around the globe to send the world’s military into the future and help fight the Whitespikes.
REPORTER 2: The first thousand soldiers are headed 28 years into the future.
WOMAN: Five, four, three…
We’ll be anxiously awaiting their return.
…two, one.
Seven days later, those hopes were dashed as only a handful of troops survived.
Since only 50% of the military are qualified to jump, civilians were needed to support the war effort, so the world’s leaders agreed to institute the first worldwide draft.
Yesterday, they were civilians.
We are you.
But today, they are soldiers.
REPORTER 1: But even with thousands of civilian soldiers being sent a week, the future global population is currently estimated to be less than 500,000.
And with a draftee survival rate of less than 20%, many people are asking: is it worth it?
The antiwar movement continues to gain momentum.
There are riots and protests happening all over the world.
What are we supposed to do? Just throw up our hands, say, “Sorry you’re dying”?
But why should we still be fighting a war that, as far as we’re concerned, hasn’t even happened?
DODD: These are our children and our grandchildren that are dying.
We can’t just stand by and allow them to be wiped off the face of the earth.
That’s why we need to draft more civilians.
We need people to fight, but we also need people to solve the problem.
We need to do everything we can to stop the aliens now.
This may be our last chance to save the human race.
MURI (in other room): Please don’t let them draft you.
Please don’t let them take you.
EMMY: I think you had a bad dream, honey.
MURI (crying): Don’t let them take you. Please don’t…
EMMY: It’s okay. Just breathe.
It’s okay.
(Muri crying, whimpering)
Just breathe. Deep breaths. Right, Daddy?
DAN: Yeah. In…
(inhales deeply)
Out. (exhales)
Yeah. Yeah.
Breathing brings what into your bloodstream?
Oxygen.
Oxygen. Very good.
You need oxygen.
Oxygen feeds your…?
Brain.
To your brain.
It’s too easy.
It’s too easy?
All right.
The process of respiration turns oxygen into what?
Um, carbon dioxide.
What’s carbon dioxide also called?
CO2.
Okay. Maybe you need… (sighs)
Maybe you need a physical challenge.
How about this?
Why don’t you try to squeeze me as hard as you can?
See if you can hurt me.
Mm.
(Muri growls playfully)
(mock groaning)
(Muri laughing)
No, no, not hard… not-not that hard.
If you open your books to page 47, talking about photosynthesis and the magic of chlorophyll.
It’s, uh…
It’s really interesting stuff, guys. It’s kind of…
(stammering): They say magic, you know, it’s not like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, but it’s magic, if you think about it.
The stuff we breathe out, a tree breathes in?
I know, you guys are speechless ’cause it’s… it’s so captivating.
All right, well… you want to talk about something else, let’s talk about something else.
What gets you excited?
Anybody. What do you want to talk about?
Anyone?
Really? Anyone.
Anyone in the class besides Martin?
Class, what does Martin want to talk about?
ALL: Ancient volcanoes.
Ancient volcanoes.
Volcanoes are nature’s fury, guys.
Yes, which you demonstrated graphically at the last science fair.
What’s the point?
What’s the point of what?
Anything.
School, grades, college… It’s all bullshit.
Yeah. We’ve seen the new number projections.
We lose, period.
The aliens kill us all.
Those are numbers from the year 2051.
That’s 30 years from now.
JAYDEN: So?
They’re taking thousands of people every week.
My uncle, Tina’s mom.
They’re gone, man.
DAN: Listen, guys.
I know it seems pretty bad.
But if there’s one thing that the world needs right now, it’s scientists.
We cannot stop innovating.
That’s how you solve a problem.
Science is important.
So we need to focus up.
(alert tone playing over phone)
PROTESTORS (chanting): Not our war! Not our war!
(siren whooping)
(chanting continues)
(helicopter whirring)
James Daniel Forester Junior.
Yes.
You go by James or Jim?
I go by Dan, middle name.
Birth certificate, passport?
Yeah.
Uh, the… it should be in there.
Uh, as-as well as my employment contract.
Can you have a seat, please?
Just, uh, over there.
Sure.
Thank you.
Remove your shirt, please.
Remove my shirt?
Mm.
Hey, what is this for?
(device whirring)
It’s just a test.
Little extra tight, probably, but that’s fine.
Oh, a seat belt. Okay.
Oh, is it a driving test?
(laughs)
OFFICER: It is not.
No? You don’t have jokes in the future?
Do you have any children, Mr. Forester?
Look up.
I have a daughter.
I don’t see her birth certificate.
OFFICER 2: It’s not there?
No.
You… I’m not… didn’t… I didn’t know you needed her birth certificate.
It’s not required. However, if you are to die in action…
SAM: Arms straight.
Your dependents will receive a pretax payment of $1 million.
I’d assume you’d want us to verify exactly who your family is.
Yeah. Well, hold on a second here.
You’re gonna feel a cold sensation.
What is this test? What are you testing?
(whirring)
(hisses in pain, exhales)
(whispering)
What are you whispering?
Mr. Forester… you’ve been elevated to Active-2 status.
What?
You meet all requirements for conscription.
Wh-What… what are the requirements for conscription?
A pulse?
(sighs)
It says, at 11:23 Eastern Time, October 13, 2030, you’ll be pronounced dead.
It-it says that I die in seven years?
Bite down.
How do I die?
We can’t share that information, sir.
But you know?
You’ll really want to bite down on this if you want to keep from severing your tongue.
Excuse me, sir. Excuse me. One more, one more…
Can you please comply and bite down, sir?
Get your hand out of my face, or I’ll bite your finger off.
(whirring)
Hold on a second.
Can we just slow this down for just a second?
H-Hold on, hold on, hold on.
(whirring grows louder)
Can we just slow down one second? I…
(groaning in pain)
(clunking)
(groaning continues)
(computer beeps)
(device powering down)
(muttering)
This device facilitates your jump to and from the future war.
It is synched to your unique biosignature and can only be removed when your tour of duty is complete.
The Jump-band allows us to track you anywhere on Earth.
Any attempt to evade the draft or tamper with the device will result in your imprisonment or your spouse or dependent of legal age taking your place.
You have 24 hours to get your personal affairs in order and report for basic training.
Do you have any questions?
You’re free to go.
♪ ♪
I see you were a squad leader in the Army Special Ops Command?
In Iraq?
Yeah, 15 years ago.
Thank you for your service.
Again.
EMMY: Who wants to tell me what they remember?
About your seven days.
Anyone?
Terry.
You want to tell us anything you remember?
The clicking.
God, I still can’t get the sound out of my head.
One starts it, and then the rest just chime in.
That’s when you realize… they’re never gonna stop.
Not until we’re all dead.
EMMY: Do you know how many of these guys come back?
30%… 30% of draftees return.
I talk to them every day, and they suffer so much post-trauma they can barely talk.
I mean, I-I can see why you don’t work in the recruiting department.
We’re gonna run.
Come here.
We’re gonna run.
This is what we’re doing.
You, me and Muri, we have to run.
We have 24 hours. I don’t know how to run from the government.
You know someone who does.
No.
We have to. Dan.
I’m not asking him for a goddamn thing.
Do not ask for yourself.
Ask for me. Ask for me, Dan.
Ask for Muri.
♪ ♪
Hello?
(gun clicks)
What, are you gonna shoot me?
I didn’t recognize you.
Must’ve been that metrosexual scruffle you got there.
I mean, grow a beard or don’t.
Oh, it’s my beard?
That’s the reason you don’t recognize me?
You got a new accessory, huh?
You, too.
Desert Eagle .50 cal.
That’s cool.
Yeah, it does the job.
The job of convincing the world you have a small dick?
Oh, what’s this?
You like that?
That’s like the big-boy version of that windup toy you drove in.
That yours?
Yep. Got a Bullitt Mustang parked around back, too.
Before your time, I guess.
Let me see it.
(whirring)
C-Series.
Second generation.
That’s sensor-calibrated to your pulse.
Fortunately… you came to the only guy for whom this is a piece of cake.
I wish you wouldn’t drink while you do this.
I wish Stevie Nicks would show up in her birthday suit with a jar of pickles and a bottle of baby oil.
What?
Yeah, don’t-don’t overthink it.
So, what made you come to me? I get a good Yelp review?
Come on. I know what you do here.
You have a master’s degree in engineering and a general disdain for the U.S. government, not to mention no visible means of income.
What do you mean?
I fix planes for this rich guy.
He’s got a C-130 out there.
Yeah, I’m sure that’s how you can afford a Jeep and that Desert Eagle, high roller.
(grunting, muttering)
Are you checking to see if I’m wearing a wire?
Yeah. The thought occurred to me.
(chuckles): Oh.
You come here, surprise visit, talking about my distrust of the federal government and my “no visible means of income.”
Yeah, that sounds like entrapment.
Is that entrapment?
Is that what that sounds like, Perry Mason?
Is that ’cause you binge-watch The Sopranos in your trailer?
You think I’m gonna get out of the draft if I give the government you?
There’s gonna be… some Feds are gonna come out of your Jeep.
Did you catch that, guys?
Send in Stevie Nicks.
Why else would you come here? Huh?
You never wanted my help a day in your life.
(slams table)
What did you just say to me?
There were years… decades…
(scoffs) That was all we wanted from you, was a little bit of help.
I could’ve used help… burying your wife.
Let me tell you something.
You have no idea what went on between your mother and me.
(scoffs)
When I got back from Nam,
I was in a very… dark place.
And I… I couldn’t find a way out.
I couldn’t get away from my anger and my violence.
I couldn’t control myself.
I couldn’t even recognize myself.
But I knew I was… (sighs) dangerous.
You’ve been mad at me your whole life ’cause I left you, but I’m telling you, it would’ve been worse for you and your mom if I’d have stayed.
No.
You didn’t leave for us.
You quit, because you’re a coward.
And you still are.
Stop sending Christmas cards to my house.
You’re never gonna know Muri.
You don’t get a second chance.
♪ ♪
(distorted, muffled chatter)
EMMY: allowed to take $400 out at once from the ATM, but if we get out of town…
What? Hi.
You okay?
I don’t know what’s gonna happen to me if I go, but you and I both know what will happen to all of us if I stay.
We’ll figure it out together.
I know how to do this.
It’s seven days. I’ll survive.
I’m a pretty tough guy.
You’re tough? The man who cries through every cold?
Yeah.
You have to tell her.
What you doing?
Looking for vaccines.
Oh. You find any?
Not really.
Digging’s hard.
Oh, see, it’s about, uh…
You’re doing the… It’s right what you’re doing with your foot… You got to give it the weight…
But then you got to use…
What’s this?
Leverage.
Leverage.
DAN: Son of a bitch.
(chuckling): You did that.
Oh, hey. Shit.
That’s supposed to be buried deeper than that.
I’ll give you ten dollars if you tell your mom that you cut that cable, not me.
20.
20?
All right.
Fist-bump on it.
There you go.
So, uh…
So, listen, Chickpea.
I got to go on a trip.
Be gone for about a week.
You got drafted.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Hey, hey, hey.
It’s okay.
Don’t worry.
I want you to know something.
I will be back.
Okay.
You know I love you, Chickpea.
♪ ♪
DODD: You people… you all have something in common.
Whatever your age, occupation, ethnicity or gender, whatever your background, you are now heroes.
You answered a call.
It was a cry for help across time.
It’s the voice of your children… and they need you.
The sacrifice that you make now is for them.
For the first time in human history, the armed forces from every nation are united against one enemy.
DIAZ: I’m Sergeant Diaz.
I am not your friend.
This is.
DODD: Seven days from now, when you are sent into that war…
Wrap it around tighter.
You won’t be fighting for your country.
Open the chamber, please.
You’ll be fighting for the world.
♪ ♪
SOLDIER: I need to see your weapon’s been cleared.
Throats and abdomens… That’s what you aim for.
On behalf of the Department of Defense… and a grateful nation…
(all gasp)
…we thank you for your service.
Lieutenant Hart.
Your tour of duty will be seven days.
That’s 168 hours.
At the end of your tour, if the Jump-band attached to your arm determines that you are still clinically alive…
Are there any doctors?
You will automatically be jumped back from wherever you are, and your tour of duty will be complete.
What you think you know about basic training does not apply.
You will not march, crawl or climb.
There will be no push-ups, no pull-ups, no obstacle courses.
(sighs) I was kind of looking forward to that.
HART: You will take what you are given and dress as quickly as you can.
Overly ventilated jeans, yoga pant fails, cargo shorts… All will be replaced.
See, I don’t get the criteria for, like, what goes and what stays.
Like, they took my shorts, they left the jacket, which is clearly, like, fashion over function.
My man over there is wearing a chef’s hat.
I mean, I didn’t get this… This isn’t military issue.
I bought this at Ross Dress for Less for like $30 ’cause I thought it was gonna be cold in the van.
Most of you will deploy with D-Force.
The rest will jump with R-Force.
The screen on your Jump-band indicates deployment.
Check it now.
(Jump-bands beeping)
Oh. I guess we’re together.
I’m Charlie.
Dan.
How are you?
Hey. R-Force.
DORIAN: You can braid each other’s hair later.
All right, stop talking.
Listen.
Totally. Uh, sorry.
I-I mean, when I’m nervous, I talk, and…
(stammering)
On a scale of one to ten, I’m like a 97 on the nervous scale.
Or maybe a… like a 98.
You look like a murderer.
No offense. Well…
I mean, you do, so…
Hey.
Hmm?
He will kill you before the aliens do.
I know. I called him a murderer.
T-Turn around, man.
I am. (stammers)
HART: Does anyone have any questions?
I missed all of that.
CHARLIE: You know that guy in the red shirt?
His name’s Dorian.
He’s one of the sole survivors of the first jump to Russia.
This is his third tour.
What?
CHARLIE: Yeah. You see that claw around his neck?
That is supposed to be from one of the first Whitespikes ever killed.
He’s flipping us off.
I think she’s flipping you off.
She? Oh.
That’s my bad.
What’d you do before all this?
Well, I was department chair at Georgia Tech.
Doctorate in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
Now I’m director of R and D at Wallace Technology.
We’re the fastest-growing geothermal energy company in the U.S.
Oh, wow.
Okay, so I have, like, a theory.
Mm-hmm.
Have you noticed how all of us…
Or at least most of us…
Are, like, over 40?
DAN: Yeah. You’re thinking that, in order for the time jump to occur, we have to be dead in the time we’re jumping to?
I mean, I imagine it’s to… to avoid some sort of paradox.
Which would lead me to believe that’s why the people training us are so young.
BOTH: They haven’t been born yet.
(chuckles) I think we’re gonna be best friends.
HART: Welcome to R-Force, also known as Research Force.
You’ll be joining your counterparts in 2051 at a fortified research facility.
Your function is to add your knowledge and skill set to theirs and prevent our extinction.
NORAH: Excuse me.
Why don’t we just jump back to earlier in the war?
The Jumplink doesn’t work that way.
Jumplink?
It’s the temporal displacement device housed in a fortified location in the middle of the ocean, and it’s what makes all your armbands work.
Time only flows in one direction.
It’s like a river.
The Jumplink placed two rafts on that river, 30 years apart.
Now, we can jump back and forth between them, but both rafts will always keep moving forward.
So, why can’t we just build more rafts?
The Jumplink tech is held together with chewing gum and chicken wire.
We’ve barely managed to make one very rudimentary wormhole.
If we weren’t in an extinction-level event, we’d still be jumping lab rats.
Now, we can jump you to 2051, and we can jump you back.
Period.
HART: Every six days, the Whitespikes disappear.
They crawl back into their nests.
We call it the Sabbath.
Their day of rest.
And that’s when we insert troops.
Okay, but why don’t we have pictures or video?
You know, it would help us to know what we’re up against.
The consensus was that if the public saw what they’d face when they reach the future, it would become virtually impossible to fill that hangar.
Okay, cool.
Next time someone asks that, you should probably just lie.
(group inhaling deeply)
Oh, come on, man.
WOMAN: Palms together. Take a breath in.
And then exhale.
(group exhaling)
Bring your hands through that center.
Close your eyes.
Small breath in and out.
(muttering)
I mean, out of all this stuff, you couldn’t put one thing of floss in here?
DAN: What’s up, man?
You doing all right?
Oh, no, yeah.
No, I’m-I’m good.
Going to war.
But you survived jellyfish season, so you can survive this.
The shirt.
Shirt.
(chuckles, mutters)
You know, actually, I didn’t.
My wife got this for me as a joke ’cause I got stung so many times.
I… I hate… I hate the beach.
I hate it.
My wife, of course, she loves it.
(chuckles)
We went this summer right before she… She, uh… she got sent out in the first wave.
I’m really sorry.
Yeah.
Uh, how about you, man?
You got a family?
(alarm blaring)
HART: All right, people!
Let’s go! This is not a drill!
Move your bodies! Let’s go!
This is not a drill!
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Let’s go! Let’s go!
Hey, hey, hey, hey. What’s going on?
I thought we had seven days.
The world doesn’t end on a schedule.
Uh, well, we’re not ready for any kind of deployment.
We don’t even know what we’re going on to do.
You’ll get your assignment in the LZ.
Stay on comms. You’ll be contacted as soon as you land.
DAN: Some of these guys are very green. Do they all need to go?
Why can’t some of them stay here and train some more?
The research facility is under attack.
It’s the last lab left studying the Whitespikes.
If it’s lost, the war is lost.
(indistinct shouting)
♪ ♪
MAN: Reach out in space! Let’s go!
ENGINEER (over P.A.): Commencing countdown protocol.
One minute to jump.
(whirring, electrical crackling)
DIAZ: Be prepared for a drop.
The Jumplink will drop you five to ten feet above the ground.
That should be fun.
30 seconds.
Weapons up.
Oh, here. Come on.
Take that, and just flip it around like that.
Makes sense.
DAN: And that’s your safety.
Okay. How do you know how to do all this stuff, man?
How are you so calm?
Long story.
What, are you, like, ex-military?
Yeah.
Kind of a short story, I guess.
20 seconds.
Tuck position.
Where are we going?
Miami Beach.
Of course it’d have to be a beach.
ENGINEER: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
Launch.
(rumbling)
(people screaming)
(whooshing)
Lieutenant, something’s wrong with the output coordinates.
Should we abort?
(deep whooshing)
(people screaming)
(wind whistling)
(explosive rumbling)
(screaming continues)
(muffled screaming)
(people screaming)
Dan! Dan!
(gasping)
(people groaning, coughing)
I got you. Come on.
♪ ♪
You got to get up. I got you.
(groaning)
(indistinct chatter)
(thunder rumbling)
(Whitespikes screeching in distance)
Welcome to Miami.
I’m just glad Will Smith isn’t alive to see this.
(distant shouting)
(clicking)
(whooshing)
(men grunt)
Well, I could’ve done without seeing that.
Well, if you think this is bad, you don’t want to see what happens next.
(rapid clicking)
(Whitespike screeching)
ROMEO COMMAND: Where are they?
Somebody find out what the hell went wrong.
Romeo Actual, this is Romeo Command.
Do you copy me? Can anybody hear me?
We need the comms up now. Come on.
Get me someone on this radio right now.
(over comms): Romeo Actual, this is Romeo Command.
Do you copy? Can anybody hear me?
Yeah. Command, this is Actual. We’re here.
Some of us.
ROMEO COMMAND: Identify yourself.
I’m-I’m Dan Forester.
Dan Forester.
Okay, Dan, listen up.
I got imagery up of your team, and I see that you’re a soldier, so I’m gonna be real with you.
Whitespikes have overrun the city, and we can’t stop them, so we’re gonna have to clean it.
Clean it?
A blanket bombardment has been ordered.
Get me an ETA on that right now.
On me.
They’re going to eradicate every living thing till there is nothing left.
(whistles, imitates explosion)
Wait. They’re gonna do that to here?
ROMEO COMMAND: I got one problem, Dan, and I’m gonna need your help.
Get me that map of the lab… now.
My research team is stranded in a lab by your location, and they are surrounded by the enemy, so you and your unit are now on a rescue mission.
And since you have experience running CSAR, I need you to get my team out of there.
You got it, Dan?
Copy that, Command. Listen, everybody.
We’re on a CSAR, all right?
It’s combat search and rescue.
Our destination is this research facility.
I need every able-bodied person on this rooftop to follow me!
(Whitespikes screeching, snarling)
♪ ♪
Okay.
We need someone on point. What’s your name?
Norah.
Norah?
What’s your name?
Norah.
Robert Cowan.
Cowan. Okay.
You guys hustle up there, look down the street, tell me what you see.
Okay? Go.
NORAH: Okay.
DAN (over comm): All right, guys, what are we looking at?
NORAH: Car on fire.
A scooter.
No aliens.
Copy that.
Let’s move.
(distant howling)
Romeo Command, we have multiple KIA.
Is there anyone left here alive?
Only the research team, I hope.
Everybody else was ordered to evacuate.
(Whitespikes screeching, clicking in distance)
DAN: Guys, situational awareness.
Eyes up, down, all around.
You’re wasting your time training them to be soldiers.
DAN: I’m not. Just trying to keep them alive, man.
Listen, you and your team seem to be the only people out here who know what the hell they’re doing.
I could really use your help.
You try to save your friends, you’re gonna get eaten.
We’re Team Not Eaten.
Did he just say they’d eat us?
Yes.
(distant clicking)
What was that?
DAN: Romeo Command, we’re approaching the research facility from the southeast corner.
All right, proceed to the lab on seven.
DAN: Copy that.
♪ ♪
ROMEO COMMAND: Dan, you should know the Whitespikes can smell blood from a mile away.
So be careful.
(Charlie gasps)
CHARLIE: Is that… is that one of them?
(knife stabs)
What is he doing?
He’s taking souvenirs.
CHARLIE: Uh, excuse me.
Uh, you can’t take that with you.
Shh.
This guy shushes me.
Dan. You got to see this.
What is that?
Command, we found your team.
No survivors.
All right, Dan, I’m gonna need you to head to the row of biomedical freezers along the south wall in the lab.
Dan, if they left bodies behind, they’re gonna come back.
So you need to move fast.
(over comms): The lab director’s office is on your left.
Get the hard drives.
Copy that. You got that?
I got it.
This office right here.
All data, all hard drives, everything.
Entering the lab. What are we looking for?
ROMEO COMMAND: I need all the biological material from lab one, and I need those blue ampoules from lab two.
On me. Lab two.
(Whitespike chittering in distance)
Oh, no. I see something.
NORAH: Where?
I don’t see anything.
Guys, something’s watching us.
What? Like Whitespikes?
Well, duh.
COWAN: It’s moving.
You-you don’t see it?
Colonel, they’re gonna start the bombing.
(indistinct radio chatter)
Where are these blue ampoules?
ROMEO COMMAND: Along the south wall.
How many we looking at?
12, Dan. I need all of them.
-Got ’em. -All right, ready the extraction team.
We need to get ’em out of there right now!
Yes, ma’am.
Watch team, fall back.
Shit.
Cowan?
I want you to rendezvous with me in the laboratory on the seventh floor. You understand?
Lab on seven. Copy.
(indistinct radio chatter)
Ladies and gentlemen, let’s move now! We got to go.
ROMEO COMMAND: These bombs are gonna drop in six minutes, and there’s nothing I can do about it,
so you need to move fast.
DAN: Let’s go!
We do not want to go out the front door.
I’m not sure if something’s out there or not.
Command, we need a new exit.
ROMEO COMMAND: Head to the loading dock at the back, and take the rear stairwell.
South stairwell. Copy that.
♪ ♪
(electrical crackling)
(distant chittering)
(electrical humming)
(electrical humming continues)
(whispers): Keep an eye out.
(panting)
(distant clicking)
(distant chittering)
(panting continues)
(rapid thumping)
Uh, guys?
(distant thumping)
(rapid clicking)
(clicking continues)
(deep, rapid breathing)
That’s them!
(grunts)
Contact above!
Fire!
(screeching)
Downstairs! Go now! Move!
(screeching)
(screams)
Come on!
(indistinct shouting)
(shrieking)
(screaming)
(pained grunt)
(roars)
Oh, shit.
Oh, shit!
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,
shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,
shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,
shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,
shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,
shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!
Go!
Oh, shit, shit!
Oh, shit!
Move, move, move! Move now! Go!
(indistinct shouting)
Go, go! Get out of here!
(screeches)
♪ ♪
(grunts)
(panting)
Necks or the bellies.
That’s the only lethal part on their body. Let’s go!
Let’s go!
(roaring)
(shrieks)
ROMEO COMMAND: Can anybody hear me?
Get those Humvees on site now!
You heard the colonel. We need transport now. Let’s go!
SOLDIER (over comms): Recon, Alpha… one minute.
We can’t afford to lose them.
Romeo Actual, the bombing’s gonna commence in three minutes.
You have got to get out of there.
PILOT: Bravo inbound. Time to target: 60 seconds.
MAN (over radio): Go weapons hot.
(indistinct radio chatter)
All right, Actual, you need to head left at the next intersection. You got Whitespikes closing in on you from the north and the south.
Uh, Command, we’re going right!
Okay, but you need to stay away from areas with red smoke.
♪ ♪
PILOT: Contact acquired.
Red smoke visible at two o’clock.
Form up on me.
(tires squealing)
(cheering, laughing)
Yes! Oh, my God!
COWAN: What the hell, man?
(roars)
Attack!
(screeching)
Contact rear!
(screeching)
DAN: Move!
Move!
PILOT: Approaching target.
Fox one, package inbound.
Bravo, on me. Danger close.
(chittering)
(snarls)
(screams)
(roaring, chittering)
Dan, get the hell out of there right now.
Yeah, no shit!
(screeches)
(roars)
Enemy’s swarming the target location.
Bravo team, let’s hit it again.
Move now!
Go!
Come on!
PILOT: 1-1-5, weapons free.
Bravo 2-8 on-site, fully armed.
There’s a shit ton of Spikes down there.
Friendlies on the ground, take cover.
Get out of there. Move now.
DAN: We’re working on it.
(screaming)
We got to go!
DAN: No, we can’t leave him.
PILOT: Final approach, package east.
T minus 30 seconds.
Colonel, they’re not gonna make it.
Dan, what is your status?
(yelling)
Let’s go!
(pained yelp)
ROMEO COMMAND: Dan, you are in the line of fire.
You have got to get out of there.
Goddamn it, Dan, get the hell out of there!
Working on it, Command.
Go!
Come on! Let’s go! Move!
Just go!
We got this!
(Whitespike screeches)
Go!
(screaming)
800 meters. Let’s take ’em down.
(screaming)
PILOT: Weapons free.
(muffled, indistinct chatter)
(high-pitched ringing)
(muffled chatter continues)
(groaning)
Hey. Charlie.
You okay?
(helicopters whirring)
Jesus.
(indistinct announcement over P.A.)
Where the hell are we?
Well, we’re not in Miami anymore, that’s for sure.
WOMAN (over P.A.): Additional personnel required for off-loading.
All personnel, clear the deck for incoming.
Come on.
DAN: Hey.
Where is everybody?
What do you think?
You should’ve kept going instead of jumping into that tunnel to save your friends.
We’re here to save people.
We got to try.
We’re on a mission.
That’s what we’re here to do.
But you didn’t.
Did you?
You’ll see.
Nothing we do here matters.
That’s where you’re wrong.
I don’t believe that one bit.
I don’t think you believe that, either.
You don’t know me.
If nothing matters, what are you doing here?
Three deployments.
Why you got that… souvenir around your neck?
It’s not a souvenir.
It’s a reminder.
Of what?
Reminds me of the one thing I learned the day I got drafted.
I’ll be dead in six months. Cancer.
So here’s what I’m gonna do.
I’m gonna keep living my life… the way I want to, and I’m gonna die the way I want to.
I’d rather die here than a slow death back home.
Dan Forester.
That’s me.
Command wants to see you.
You two, you’re gonna be redeployed.
Nope.
I’m dead, man. I can’t… You kidding me?
I can’t do this again.
DAN: Yes, you can.
I’m gonna get killed, or I’m gonna kill somebody else.
Yes, you can.
(Charlie sighs)
And you will.
Okay.
Yeah.
All right.
Take care of him.
OFFICER: Sir, we don’t have all day.
(exhales sharply) Okay. I can survive this.
(chuckles) No, you can’t.
Well, don’t laugh.
You don’t laugh if somebody says they’re gonna survive something.
ROMEO COMMAND: These have to make it to Deepswell in one piece.
Copy that.
Romeo Command?
I believe we’ve met already.
Dan Forester.
Yes, uh, thank you for recovering the ampoules.
My pleasure. Yeah.
And for trying to find my team.
I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry.
Colonel Forester.
I’m not a colonel.
Excuse me.
They’re starting in 20, Colonel.
Copy. Thank you.
Colonel Forester.
First Sergeant Dan Forester, Special Forces.
Uh, former, in a past life.
Forester. That’s funny.
Uh, you spell that… one “R”?
Just one “R.”
Me, too.
Wait, where…
Where your people from?
Same place that you’re from.
♪ ♪
Muri.
(chuckles): You’re my Muri Forester?
I’m Muri Forester.
Wow.
You got, uh…
Old?
(chuckles)
No, you look great. You, uh…
I mean, just…
(laughs): Compared to the last time I saw you, you…
Y-You…
I didn’t know if you were alive.
Don’t.
Okay.
Let’s take a walk.
♪ ♪
MAN: Colonel.
Colonel Forester… Gonna take me a minute to get used to that one.
I have a few different titles.
I guess when you’re down to less than 500,000 people on the planet, you wear a few hats.
I always figured you would’ve went into science.
I did.
R-Force is my creation. I’m the lead researcher.
Wow. Come on.
Yeah, I have a PhD in biotechnology with an emphasis in genomics and immunology.
Cal State?
MIT.
MIT?
(Muri chuckles)
(laughs): Well, I hope I was proud of you.
I am. I’m proud of you.
Look, you need to understand something.
This is the end.
Within the next few weeks, the human species will disappear from the face of the earth.
We are literally living on borrowed time.
So you should know that nothing about this for me is sentimental.
I didn’t in any way bring you here because I wanted to spend time with my father.
I brought you here for a reason.
Well, what’s the reason?
I’ll tell you when you need to know.
Yes, ma’am.
Do you want to see something really dangerous?
I feel like literally that’s all I’ve been doing since I got here, but okay.
What is that? That’s not what I saw in Miami.
No, the ones that you fought in Miami were the males.
This is a female.
She’s very aggressive and much more rare.
They typically nest underground, and the males are fiercely protective.
They would die to defend her.
All they seem to care about is the survival of the species.
Attention!
MURI: Carry on.
All right, listen up, everybody.
Greenwood, this is Dan Forester.
He’s gonna be joining us for the extraction.
He’s gonna need full armor.
The toxin kills the males just fine.
It makes quite a mess of them, actually.
But when we sent a team in to clean out the nests, we found dozens of dead males and her.
DAN: So the females survive the toxin.
And now you want to find out why it didn’t kill her?
In order to find out what can.
Vipers Two, Three and Four are ready to sedate and cage the female.
Greenwood and I will provide recon and air support.
Got it? Any questions?
No, ma’am.
MURI: Her physiology is the key to their extinction.
It’s kind of our last hope.
Last hope for what?
At finding something that will kill them all.
Okay. We’re in and out real quick. Let’s go.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
(Whitespikes shrieking)
DAN: They’re everywhere.
Yeah, one day, they were just here.
They were stealthy.
They landed somewhere remote, avoided all satellite imagery and radar.
They started tearing apart Russia.
Three years later, every major landmass…
North and South America, Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe… Are devoid of human life.
Three years. I mean, they must be reproducing so fast.
They have no use for prisoners or government, technology, money… nothing.
We are food.
And they are hungry.
(Whitespikes screeching, chittering)
Muri, when they gave me this… they said, uh… they said I’d die in seven years.
Yeah, last time I saw you was the day that you died.
It’s like seeing a ghost.
What happened?
What happened? Like…
how-how did you die?
No.
What happened before I died?
What happened to me?
Wh… You know, what happened to your mom?
I think the less that we say to each other, the better.
(indistinct radio chatter)
PILOT: Ranger Team One, Viper Five coming topside.
♪ ♪
MURI: Has the female been sedated?
RANGER: We’re throwing everything we can at her.
(over comm): Fire team has her cornered.
She’s in Cave One.
RANGER 2: We tranqed her pretty hard.
She’s fighting it, but she’s feeling it.
We could use some help getting her in the cage.
Roger. Rope.
(Whitespike growling)
(grunting)
Keep pulling!
(Whitespike snarling)
Got to fight.
(soldiers shouting indistinctly over comm)
(grunting)
(Whitespike growling, snarling)
Come on.
(Whitespike screeching over comm)
(growls)
(clicking)
(roaring)
(screaming)
(roars)
RANGER (over comm): Man down! Man down!
All right, take it down and give me cover.
We’re going in.
Yeah, I need a gun.
No, you’re staying in the helo. You’re up.
♪ ♪
(screaming)
(screaming)
RANGER: Go, go, go!
Someone get a harpoon on that tentacle!
(screaming)
R Team, incoming, Cave Two!
Fire in the hole!
(squeals)
(Ranger yells)
(screams)
(panicked gasping)
(grunting)
(shrieks)
(birds screeching)
MURI: Get ready.
I’m about to piss her off.
(roars)
Greenwood, now!
(yells, grunts)
Pull!
Pull her in the cage!
Do it now!
(Rangers grunting)
(growls, shrieks)
(growling)
RANGER (over comm): The colonel is down.
I repeat, the colonel is down!
Stay in the helo.
(Whitespike snarling)
(all grunting)
(snarling)
DAN: Hang on!
(shrieks)
Now!
(grunts)
Come on, pull!
(grunts)
(all grunting)
(buzzes)
(snarling)
(chittering)
We got her ass.
Viper One, get her out of here. We’ll get the next one.
(screeching)
Viper Four, enemy contact… Your three o’clock!
(Whitespikes shrieking)
Run!
Cover!
Go!
(Whitespikes squealing)
(grunts)
(groans)
(grunts, whimpers)
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
(flare pops)
You put yourself in danger.
I made a judgment call.
Yeah, you could’ve screwed up my mission.
I was trying to help.
That’s not what I asked you to do.
I need you to stay alive.
You were under attack.
I wasn’t gonna sit in a helo and listen to my daughter get eaten.
Sorry.
I’m still your dad.
You know, I used to want to be like you.
I wanted to be you.
I believed in you when nobody else did.
And then?
What? What happened?
Talking about a period of my life that I haven’t lived but you have.
Enlighten me. What happened?
You left us.
Bullshit. No, I didn’t.
Yeah, you left us.
That nearly killed Mom, you know.
She believed in you, too.
Just like I did.
I know for a fact I would never leave you.
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
When I was 12, you guys separated.
And then you told me that everything was gonna be okay.
And then, when I was 14, you divorced.
You… you just never… (sighs)
You never seemed happy with your life.
And then, on my 16th…
We got a call from the hospital.
You were in a car accident.
I was there in the ICU.
I heard your last heartbeat on the monitor.
(crying): I was there… when everyone rushed in and they pushed me away.
And I watched them shock you over and over again.
You know, Mom had tried to help me separate from you, but I, um… I couldn’t.
I didn’t want to, because I wanted you to see me.
I wanted you to hear me. I wanted you to… to fix it and… and save our family.
I didn’t want you to walk away.
And then you were gone.
(helicopter approaching)
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
PILOT: Deepswell-9, Viper Actual on approach.
WOMAN: Copy, Actual. Drone escort en route.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
(snarling)
(roars)
(monitor beeping)
DAN: Excuse me. I’m looking for Colonel Forester.
Thank you.
(Whitespike breathing deeply)
Good morning.
Morning.
How are you holding up?
Oh, I’m okay.
I’m good.
Want to give me a hand?
Yeah.
Yeah, uh…
What can I do?
Uh, just grab that controller and, uh, take her up for me.
(Dan groans softly)
It’s the top left switch.
Ugh. She stinks.
Yeah, she’s, um, secreting something like sweat.
(whirring)
(clunks)
(whirring stops)
You sure it’s safe to be that close?
No.
That’s why we sedated her.
Gave her 180 milligrams of hydromorphone.
Did you say 180 milligrams?
Per day?
MURI: Every hour.
You know, the female genetics aren’t that different from the males.
The toxin still affects them, but for some reason, her body is much better at detoxifying it.
So you just got to figure out what she’s using to attack the toxin.
You can design an enzyme inhibitor to neutralize it.
And then we can kill them all.
Oh, yeah.
MURI: The only problem is finding out what’s stopping the toxin.
It can be one of a thousand things.
We’ll need hundreds of variations… to make thousands of tests.
With any luck, we should have a working female toxin by the morning.
I scrounged up some dinner.
Have two options: veggie lasagna and… veggie lasagna.
That’s how you know you’re near the end.
Okay, let’s see how fast we can denature this thing.
Yeah.
MURI: It’s gonna run a thousand tests.
See if we can break down this sucker.
We can.
We can. This is gonna work.
You’re gonna save the world.
AUTOMATED VOICE: 37% bond.
That could be the inhibitor, right?
Yeah, it’s not a great bond.
It’s something, isn’t it?
It’s something.
It’s gonna have to be a lot stronger so that the female doesn’t break down that toxin, but it is a great start.
It’s a start.
I’ll give you that.
AUTOMATED VOICE: 49% bond.
The Miami Dolphins ever win the Super Bowl?
MURI: Do you really want to know?
DAN: Yeah.
AUTOMATED VOICE: 56% bond.
What year, specifically, and what was the spread?
(laughs)
AUTOMATED VOICE: 68% bond.
(Whitespike groaning)
Jesus.
Once you figure out this toxin, do you have a way of deploying it?
Well, I have a solution.
But, uh, you know, it’s not really worth talking about it until I know that this thing works for sure.
Understood. Yeah.
You got a lot of work to do. I’ll just… I’ll make dinner.
You know, there’s another Sabbath coming up tomorrow.
Yeah. I know.
That’s when I leave.
Right.
It’s a… a big day all around, I guess.
I want to help.
It’s okay. You know, it’s, um… just kind of a one-person job anyway.
Muri.
Your mom would be really proud of you right now.
I know I am.
Good night, Chickpea.
She never quits.
I came down here to see if she needed help.
I should’ve known.
Is that right?
You would know more than anyone, right?
Not really. (chuckles)
She was nine years old last time I saw her.
Stubborn, but…
GREENWOOD: She calls it “persistent.”
Now more than ever, she has to be.
What do you mean?
You know, one way or another, this war is… almost over.
♪ ♪
Ticktock.
AUTOMATED VOICE: 62% bond.
Now starting “R” sequence.
Range one through 37.
(door whooshes open)
DAN: How’s it going?
Going great.
I’ve discovered roughly 10,000 ways to not achieve sufficient potency.
Why don’t you take a break.
Let me try some of this.
No, I’m fine. I got it.
AUTOMATED VOICE: 52% bond.
Come on.
Muri.
You don’t have to do this on your own.
You know that?
You brought me here for a reason, you told me.
I know that I have some purpose.
Please.
Tell me how I’m gonna help you.
AUTOMATED VOICE: 30% bond.
Okay.
If this toxin works, I need you to take it back.
We can’t make it here.
We’re on borrowed time already.
You have the resources and the ability to mass-produce it in your time, and then you can stop this war from ever happening.
Muri, what are you asking me?
You’re asking me to save my future, but then what?
Leave you?
Here, to die?
I know.
(stammers, sighs)
I know what I’m asking you to do.
No, there’s got to be another way.
Believe me, I’ve thought of everything, and this is the only way.
I’m asking you to do what no one else is willing to do.
Why me?
Because you’re my father.
And there’s no one that I want to trust more.
All right, Muri.
Okay.
I’ll take the toxin back.
I’ll have it mass-produced.
But understand this: I am not going to leave you here to die.
I’m coming back for you.
And you and me, we’re gonna save this world.
Together.
(computer beeping)
AUTOMATED VOICE: 100% bond.
MURI: R-7.
Try R-7.
DAN: R-7.
(growls softly)
♪ ♪
(Whitespike roaring)
(alarm blaring)
DAN: Shit.
(snarling)
MAN (over P.A.): Incoming! Incoming!
(man continues indistinctly over P.A.)
Oh, shit! They breached the perimeter!
They’re surrounding us. Listen to me.
They’re destroying the perimeter defense.
(indistinct announcement over P.A.)
Oh, my God, the minefield.
(Whitespike growling)
They’re coming for her.
♪ ♪
(Whitespikes screeching)
I need to get this to safety right now.
No, we have to kill her.
No!
This is all the toxin we have. We cannot waste it.
Come on. Move! Go!
(Whitespike roaring)
AUTOMATED VOICE: Eight minutes to jump.
I need you to do exactly what I say when I say, how I say it. Do you understand?
You’re our mission now. I have to protect you.
I understand.
You have got to make it back.
I promise.
What about you?
MURI: We’re getting in the chopper.
You can make the jump from the air.
(over comm): Greenwood, I’m taking Dan to Viper One.
I’ll hold ’em off as long as I can.
MAN (over P.A.): All personnel, prepare for possible impact.
All personnel, prepare for possible impact.
(soldiers shouting)
(Whitespikes growling)
(heavy gunfire)
MURI: This is Colonel Forester. I have a working toxin.
I want my chopper on the pad ready to fly.
We’re on our way.
PILOT: I copy, Colonel.
This is Viper One standing by on Pad Two.
(roaring)
GREENWOOD (over comm): Colonel!
They’ve breached the bottom decks.
The only way to the helipad is up top, through the engine room.
MURI: Copy.
Start evac for all nonessentials.
Everybody else, listen up.
We need you at your defensive positions.
We have got to protect the Jumplink.
This toxin has got to go back on the next jump.
AUTOMATED VOICE: Seven minutes to jump.
(snarling)
(screeches)
Go, go, go! Be quick. Straight ahead, go.
(shrieks)
AUTOMATED VOICE: Six minutes to jump.
MURI: This is Forester.
We’re entering the engine room.
PILOT: Viper One copy.
(over comm): Be advised, we’ve got Spikes on-site, Colonel.
Watch your six.
(Whitespikes screeching)
(shrieks)
(Whitespikes screeching, snarling)
AUTOMATED VOICE: Five minutes to jump.
(squeals)
(gasps quietly)
(rapid clicking)
(Whitespike chittering)
(Whitespike chittering, growling)
(panting)
(shrieking)
Now!
(pained shrieking)
♪ ♪
(growls, roars)
AUTOMATED VOICE: Four minutes to jump.
Move! Move! This way!
We’re almost there!
(whooshing)
(yelps)
(groans)
(snarls)
Shit.
(Muri groaning)
(panting rapidly)
Hey, hey, hey. You all right?
I’m… I’m okay.
PILOT (over comm): This is Viper One.
I can’t stay here. Spikes are all over us.
(Muri gasps in pain)
Put your arm around me.
PILOT: Colonel, meet me at the helipad on Rig Two.
♪ ♪
AUTOMATED VOICE: Three minutes to jump.
PILOT: Mayday! Mayday! Viper One going down!
(Muri groaning)
I need you to move.
We got to get up. We got to move.
Come on. On three.
One… Hey.
(groans)
One, two, three.
(whimpers)
(yells in pain, sobs)
MURI: You got to leave me here.
DAN: Hey.
We’ll just sit here for a while.
Okay?
Yeah.
I’m sorry.
Hey.
I’m sorry I said all those things to you.
I shouldn’t have said them.
I was angry, and I didn’t mean to hurt you.
(sobbing softly)
It’s okay.
I’m so happy I got to see you like this…
How you were when I was a kid.
(trembling breaths)
This is how I remember you.
We can’t quit. We cannot quit right now.
We can’t do this right now.
(groans softly)
(Muri sobs)
(explosions booming)
You have to take this.
No. No, no, no, no, no.
I’m not leaving you.
No.
You got to leave me.
We were never going to make it.
You need to make sure this never happens.
Yeah.
I love you, Dad.
(chitters)
(snarls)
No.
(screaming)
(strained grunting)
DAN: Hang on!
AUTOMATED VOICE: 20 seconds until jump.
(grunts)
No. No.
(yells)
(grunting)
♪ ♪
(groaning)
(helicopter whirring)
HART (muffled): Forester. Forester.
(muffled, indistinct chatter)
Can you hear me?
(echoing): Forester.
The toxin.
What?
The green vial… where is it?
It-it’s in your hand.
We tried to get it from you, but you wouldn’t let us.
We need to mass-produce this and send it back.
It’ll kill ’em all.
The Jumplink just went off-line.
We can’t send anything back.
We can’t travel to the future.
It’s over.
DAN (softly): Oh, Muri.
WOMAN (over P.A.): Lieutenant Hart, please report to command now.
I’m sorry.
(over P.A.): Lieutenant Hart, please report to command.
DAN: I’m sorry.
Charlie.
You made it.
I hid.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
(giggling): Daddy!
I made this for you.
I made it the second that you left because I just knew you were gonna come home.
Yeah.
I got sparkles all over my room.
And then that was my handprint.
Like, we painted over top of my hand.
And look… look at all of the glitter.
Mommy helped me with the words.
Do you like it?
♪ ♪
(crickets chirping)
DAN: What I’m about to tell you is gonna be… it’s gonna sound crazy.
She was there.
Our little girl.
She’s smart. She’s a scientist.
I don’t… W-Wait, I’m confused.
You saw Muri?
(chuckles): Yeah.
You’re saying you literally physically saw our daughter?
We worked together.
On a toxin.
She figured it out.
She was gonna kill them all.
She was gonna save the world.
(chuckles)
(gasping breaths)
And, uh…
Hey, it’s okay.
Now I’ve got a solution and no way to use it.
So we got to figure it out.
We got to figure it out.
Hey.
We’re gonna figure this out together.
Okay.
What do we know? We know when and where they land, right?
The first attack is in late summer in, uh, northern Russia, 2048.
Okay.
So, what if there’s a whole army waiting for them when they get off their ships?
Yeah. But there were no ships.
There was no satellite footage of any rockets, nothing.
They searched everything. They couldn’t find it.
They had to have gotten here somehow.
Exactly. All we know is… they were just here.
Just because they attacked in 2048 doesn’t mean that’s when they got here.
What if they got here in ’47, ’46?
I mean, it’s the middle of nowhere, Russia.
We wouldn’t have found their ships.
Because we’re looking at the wrong year.
Holy shit.
I got to call somebody.
Who are you gonna tell them came up with the solution?
From me. I’m gonna definitely say that I came up with it.
I think it was your wife.
It’s all good. It’s all good.
REPORTER: With contact to the future now severed, governments have been unable to stop rioting and looting from spreading across the globe, as most now believe that, in 30 years, humanity will be wiped off the face of the earth.
Did you miss me?
First round is on me.
DAN: Yeah, no one’s gonna stop you, huh?
DORIAN: Mm-hmm.
DAN: Dorian.
There’s still a chance that we can stop this war from ever happening.
It doesn’t look like it.
Told you it was all for nothing.
It’s too late for heroes, Forester.
I’m not a hero.
I was trying to save my daughter.
If I got to save the world to save her, then I’m damn sure gonna do it.
(inhales deeply)
What kind of selfish dick doesn’t help a guy save his kid, right?
You still got that claw?
CHARLIE: Well, there is something here.
But it’s not sediment.
Or blood.
It’s ash. It’s volcanic ash.
And it’s not from Russia. It’s from China.
Or Korea. Somewhere in there.
How do you know that?
Oh, you want me to explain the chemical makeup of the sediment?
Fuck no.
So, how does Chinese volcanic ash end up on an island in northern Russia?
You know any volcano experts?
Am I in trouble?
Martin, the lives of every man, woman and child on this planet could be saved if we could just get the answer to one question, and it’s all about volcanoes.
I knew this would happen.
Oh, I would’ve killed for a moment like this in high school.
How would a creature who’s only ever stepped foot in northern Russia get volcanic ash from China or Korea under its claws?
Well, this would be weird, but… it would have to be from the Millennium Eruption.
The Millennium Eruption.
What the hell is that?
The Changbai volcano on the border of China and Korea erupted in 946 A.D. with the force of over a thousand nuclear bombs.
It blew ash over half the world, and today, you can still find that ash buried in ice.
Is there any way to pinpoint exactly where in Russia that ash would’ve landed?
(snaps fingers)
Laptop.
(students murmuring)
I love this kid.
Thanks.
Check this out.
This is the largest glacier in Russia.
Scientists doing deep drill experiments there found volcanic ash at a depth of 400 meters, a depth consistent with the average snowfall since the year 946 A.D.
But to get ash in the claws, I mean, they would have to dig through a thousand years of ice.
They didn’t dig down. They dug up.
That’s why there’s no sign of impact.
BOTH: They’ve been here the whole time.
Why wait a thousand years to dig out?
Martin, can you bring up an ice melt projection for Russia?
Yeah, polar ice melt, uh, Russia, 2023 to 2048.
MARTIN: There it is.
CHARLIE: They didn’t wait it out.
They thawed out.
We have to get to Russia.
(laughs): No. You’re not going to Russia.
But that’s where they are.
Well, we think.
No, we know. That has to be where they are.
Have any proof?
We have to go there to get the proof.
Listen, if we can go there now and kill them all, we prevent this from ever happening, you understand?
We’ve lost all contact with the future, Forester.
President just placed the armed forces on high alert.
They’re rioting at the border.
Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Mexico City, Istanbul, London.
NATO’s disbanded.
And-and you want me to use taxpayer money to fund a special covert mission into a hostile sovereign nation, led by a biology teacher?
Oh, also the head of R and D for a tech company.
Wallace Technology… we’re the Amazon of earth sciences.
I can tell I’m not convincing you at all. That’s…
Look, guys… the way things are going, we’ll be lucky if we don’t kill each other off long before the aliens get here.
Excuse me.
Well, I hate to say I told you so, but people just hate spending money on research.
I say we just go kill ’em ourselves. How about that, huh?
No, Russia’s closed its borders.
I mean, we need a plane and a pilot willing to commit an international felony, whatever that’s called.
There’s no way we can get there.
There may be a way.
So, how was the future?
Miami Dolphins still suck?
I need a plane.
And a pilot.
To fly undetected into Russian airspace so I can get a team of soldiers to the top of a glacier island in order to find… an alien spaceship.
Wow, you know, they say kids never come by unless they need something.
I need your help.
I’ll get my coat.
DAN: Thank you for coming.
Yeah. We made as much of the toxin as we could.
I hope it’s enough.
DAN: Me, too.
I worked with Colonel Forester.
She was your daughter, right?
Yeah.
It was an honor to have known her.
(engine whirring)
HART: And four.
♪ ♪
Our man brought the whole arsenal.
Yeah.
’Cause this time, I’m not gonna hide.
I’m gonna fight.
It’s not even loaded.
CHARLIE: It-it’s not loaded.
It’s a pressurized cabin.
Why would I load it in the cabin?
A bullet goes in the thing, and everybody’s sucked out.
HART: Dropping to 1,000 feet.
CHARLIE: Okay, guys, so we’re looking for, like, geothermic anomalies, okay?
Anything weird, like fissures, heat plumes or magnetic spikes.
(engines revving)
Let’s grid up and cover this part of the glacier by sundown.
HART: We’ll start with the southeastern quadrant.
(wind whistling)
♪ ♪
DAN: We’ll gain a good vantage point if we can get to the peak of the ice cap before sundown.
JAMES: Might as well be looking for an ice cube.
HART: Approaching the northwestern quadrant.
Looks rough up ahead. Watch your visibility.
Are your gauges acting up?
Yeah.
CHARLIE: Uh-huh. Yeah.
Feel that?
Yeah, it’s like something electrical.
Something.
DAN: Whoa. Look at that.
We sitting on a magnetic field or something?
CHARLIE: This is a giant block of ice.
Anything, like, magnetically charged would be at least a thousand feet down.
♪ ♪
(wind howling)
I think we found your ice cube.
HART: Going hot.
(small explosions rippling)
Is that it?
(loud booming)
(wind howling)
♪ ♪
(wind whistling)
♪ ♪
(water dripping)
(wind whistling)
JAMES: So you’re telling me all this is melting in 30 years?
Well, one degree is the difference between ice and water.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
DAN: Okay, well… at least we have proof.
We go in there, there’s a chance we don’t come out.
We can leave right now.
Go back with photographs, show everybody the world has a common enemy to fight.
Absolutely.
Go tell the U.N., and they can talk about it till we’re all dead.
Yeah. I mean, I hate to agree with Conspiracy Santa, but, you know, we get the world governments involved, it could turn into a nightmare.
Yeah.
I don’t have that kind of time.
Neither does Muri.
Feel like this is my opportunity to give her and give this world a second chance.
Second chances are really hard to come by.
So, what are we gonna do?
I guess we’re gonna cut that son of a bitch open and shoot anything that looks sideways at us.
DAN: Guys.
You’re secondary perimeter.
If we don’t come out and something else does, it cannot leave this cave.
You understand?
Roger that.
Good luck.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
Looks like we found our cockpit.
Those aren’t Whitespikes.
DAN: They most certainly are not.
They didn’t want to land here. This is a crash site.
Let’s move.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
HART: The Whitespikes.
They’re cargo.
Ready to breed, like cattle.
Or weapons.
Uh, planet-clearing weapons?
Yeah, but they crashed.
Who’s to say Earth was their target?
It doesn’t matter.
When we’re done with them, it’ll be like they were never here at all.
Let’s go.
(whooshes)
(Whitespikes squealing)
(shrieks)
She did it.
(Whitespikes moaning)
Ikemba!
Go! Get ’em! Dose ’em!
HART: Take the corner.
(roars)
(shrieking)
(grunts)
(indistinct shouting)
Charlie, James, we got Whitespikes on the move!
(Whitespike chittering)
JAMES: Shit.
I got the entrance covered.
Go! We’ll get the ones in the ship.
DORIAN: Give me that C-4. In case one of us gets in trouble, we got to blow this thing manually, all right?
No timers.
No, no, no, no.
Take this.
As a souvenir.
Go save your daughter.
(Whitespikes screeching)
(heavy gunfire)
HART: Let’s go!
JAMES: I go left. You go right.
CHARLIE: We got this. No one’s hiding today.
(gun clicks)
Whoops.
JAMES: Oops?
Uh-oh.
Shit. Charlie.
Charlie.
Charlie, I need you!
Charlie! Charlie!
(Charlie yelling)
Charlie!
(saw buzzing)
(screaming)
(chitters, roars)
Charlie? Dad?
(heavy gunfire)
DORIAN (over comm): I got contact!
Light ’em up!
They’re on the move!
Light ’em up! Fire!
(Whitespikes moaning)
(squealing)
HART (over comm): Holy shit.
There’s a whole colony down here.
We got to blow the ship!
(panting)
HART: I’ll hold them off.
(yells)
HART (over comm): Blow the ship!
If I’m gonna die…
(yells)
I’m gonna die my way!
(grunts)
Dad? Charlie?
You all right?
You okay?
I got one!
JAMES (chuckling): Yeah, you did.
He sliced it up like Julia Child.
One got away, though.
Big one. Red belly.
Oh, shit.
That’s the female.
We better go get her before she lays an egg or whatever the hell they do.
Come on, look at you. Your hands are shaking.
I’m fine.
No, you’re gonna be a liability out there.
I need you to stay here, stay with Charlie.
You don’t have to babysit me.
This is the one thing I’m good at.
DAN: Aim for the left ridge. Mind the horizon.
We only get one shot at this.
♪ ♪
JAMES: Dan.
I found something. I got tracks here.
(squeals)
DAN: Dad, she’s on the move.
Dad, Dad, do you copy?
(squeals)
(whoosh)
Surprise, dumbass.
(snarling)
(bullets whizzing)
(yells)
(groans)
Move!
Moving.
Yeah, she didn’t like that.
Get her!
(shrieking echoes)
(wind whistling)
Where the hell is she?
Goddamn it.
You stuck her, Dad.
Back-to-back.
JAMES: Got eyes on her?
DAN: No.
She’s bleeding, though.
JAMES: Maybe she’s down.
DAN: No, she ain’t down.
You stuck her, though. You got her, Dad.
(snarls, screeches)
(grunts, groans)
(grunts)
(Whitespike squealing)
(spikes whooshing)
(Whitespike squealing)
(yells, grunts)
(gasping, whimpering)
(shrieks)
♪ ♪
Come here.
JAMES: Hey.
(sniffing)
I’m sorry, son.
No.
No, no, no, Dad.
I’m sorry for… everything.
(yells)
(grunting)
(squealing)
(grunts)
(squealing)
(shrieks)
Die!
Die!
(shrieking)
♪ ♪
(panting)
Did you tell it to die?
Yeah.
It worked.
Why didn’t you tell it sooner?
(Charlie groans, sighs)
Yeah.
Let’s just take a little break.
(James chuckling)
♪ ♪
REPORTER: Some incredible images coming out of Russia today.
REPORTER 2: That’s right, Gabrielle.
An explosion rocked a glacier there, and top government sources are saying that it has something to do with the aliens and the future war.
As soon as I heard that the Whitespikes might already be here, my actions were swift and decisive.
A coalition of elite soldiers under my sole command eliminated the future alien threat.
And you know what?
I’d do it again.
(clattering outside)
Dad!
EMMY: I love you.
Hey.
You found them?
Yeah.
Yeah, we found ’em.
Hey.
Chickpea…
I’d like you to meet your grandpa.
♪ ♪
DAN: I never told her about our seven days together nor how, in a future that now will never happen, she changed me forever.
I’m never gonna leave her.
I’ll never leave this family.
Because my best future, it turned out, was always right in front of me.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
