PITCH BLACK

     EXT. THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

     SLEW OF SHOTS: Fry and Imam on the move, dragging the shield
     fast. Audrey speed-crawling beneath. Pilgrim #1 tripping along
     behind the shield. And Riddick behind them all, face already
     tortured, pulling 200 pounds of stubborn-mule cargo -- yet
     somehow keeping pace. The torch flames, stretched by the wind,
     flank them in fire.

     EXT. CANYON RIM - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

     As predators launch from the rim.

     EXT. THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

     First come the hatchlings, streaming right into their faces --
     then veering away at the last second, repulsed by light. Next
     come FERAL SOUNDS overhead.

                              RIDDICK
               Don't look.

     Thin blue liquid spatters them.

                              RIDDICK
               Do not look up.

     More spattering. Fry looks up -- and stumbles when she beholds...

     A ceiling of predators. At the cusp of light, they dive and
     weave and dart, slashing each other in a rabid desire to SOUND
     OUT the humans below. It's like looking into a bucket of angry
     eels.

                              RIDDICK
               Keep going, keep going, keep going,
               keep going!

     His voice whips them like the Devil's coxswain. Chastened, Fry
     keeps her eyes down and speed up.

     More blue blood showers down -- followed by entrails dropping
     out of the sky. Could this be Hell itself?

                              IMAM
                         (a muttered mantra)
               "So dark the clouds around my way
                    I cannot see,
               But through the darkness I believe
                    God leadeth me.
               I gladly place my hand in His when
                    all is dim,
               And, closing my weary eyes, lean
                    hard on him...."

     Now WHOLE CORPSES ARE CRASHING DOWN around them, victims
     of in-fighting. Fry and Imam start slaloming through the ghastly
     mess.

     Pilgrim #1 passes too close to a corpse: A blade slices his leg,
     drawing blood. He keeps his mouth shut.

     EXT. CHOKE-POINT - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

     The passage narrows into a choke-point. Fry sees it first.

                              FRY
               Riddick? RIDDICK?

     Ahead, a clot of dead predators blocks the canyon.

                              AUDREY
               What? What is it?

                              RIDDICK
               It's a fucking staircase! Go over it!
               GO OVER IT!

     Steeling themselves, they start climbing.

     But Audrey, on all fours, has to discover the corpses with her
     hands. Then, taking exception at being walked on...

     One "corpse" snaps at her. Audrey recoils sideways...

     And tumbles down the mound of corpses. She's exposed.

     PREDATORS' POV: Rapid-fire images of Audrey. Flashes from 10
     different predators.

                              FRY
               Audrey!

     Audrey shakes out of it and scrambles for the shield just as...

     A predator kamikazes onto the shield, its bone-blades piercing
     the metal...

     And nearly skewering Audrey beneath.

     Caught in torchlight, steaming, the PREDATOR HOWLS as it tries
     to rip free of the shield.

     Beneath, Audrey hangs on and takes a thrashing.

     The predator tears clear, spins, pounces blindly at...

     Riddick, standing at light's edge. Stunningly, he catches the
     beast under its scythe blades, blunting the attack. The predator
     CLICKS MADLY at him.

     PREDATOR'S POV: Of Riddick's face.

     The predator rears back its head, ready to bisect Riddick with
     its skull-blade.

     Switchblade fast, Riddick drops a hand...

     ...yanks his shiv...

     ...and sweeps it over the belly of the beast. HOWLING, the
     predator falls, disemboweled.

     REACTION SHOTS of Fry and Imam. Stunned.

                              RIDDICK
               Didn't know who he was fuckin' with.

     They regroup. Imam's head swivels back and forth: They're one
     person short.

                              IMAM
               Suleiman!

                              RIDDICK
               Get the girl back under. Keep going.

                              IMAM
               SULEIMAN!

                              RIDDICK
               KEEP GOING OR I WILL!

     Suddenly Pilgrim #1 reappears, thrust back into the light by
     unseen forces. He's still alive -- but shouldn't be. He makes
     a feeble attempt to grab onto Imam, to anyone, but he's gone
     again before they can even react, jerked out of the light. Out
     of existence.

     EXT. THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

     They flail on. And now, finally...finally....

     The canyon widens, opening up like some door to Heaven. The
     WORST SOUNDS fall behind. We can see it in their sweat-sheened
     faces: The faintest hope that maybe they've survived the Seventh
     Circle of Hell. But then...

     The TORCHES SPIT AND SPUTTER.

     Audrey hears PATTERING on the metal shield.

     Blood falls anew.

     One torch dies -- yet somehow comes back to life.

     Imam upturns a hand, checking the liquid for color. But this
     blood has no hue.

                              FRY
               Oh, no. No, no, no....

                              IMAM
               Rain.

     EXT. THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

     RAIN MONTAGE: Water rilling, running, flowing over rocks and
     ground.

     EXT. THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

     Caught in a downpour, the survivors slog to a stop. One torch
     goes out -- and won't relight.

                              RIDDICK
               So where the hell's God now, huh?
                         (no answer from Imam)
               I'll tell you where! He's up there
               PISSING ON ME!

                              FRY
               Riddick? How close?

     Riddick sheds goggles to look ahead. We don't know what he
     sees -- nor what he's thinking.

                              FRY
               Tell me the settlement is right there!
               RIDDICK, PLEASE!

                              RIDDICK
               We can't make it.

     HOLD on Fry's anguished face, rendered in dying torchlight.
     Somewhere behind, the AWFUL SOUNDS RETURN.

                              RIDDICK
               Here...hide here....

     He's found a crevice in the canyon wall.

                              RIDDICK
               Inside...inside....

     EXT. CREVICE - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

     They crawl into the fissure. The second torch dies behind them.

     EXT. THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

     There's just one light left now -- the one Riddick wears on his
     back. By its glow, we watch him lift the shield, muscle it over
     to the crevice...

     EXT. CREVICE - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

     ...and slide it over the opening. A black beat.

                              AUDREY
                         (a beat)
               Why's he still out there?

     Fry's not sure. Is he protecting them? Or entombing them?

     EXT. MUDDY RISE - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

     Working like Sisyphus, Riddick hauls the cells up a muddy rise.
     He stops at the top, peers through the rain.

     RIDDICK'S POV: Of the settlement.

     Riddick disappears over the rise. The four cells follow,
     slithering through the mud like a serpent's tail.

     EXT. CREVICE - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

                              AUDREY
               He's not coming back, is he?

     Fry checks Imam's face. Did Riddick say anything to you?" Imam
     wags his head. A bleak beat -- before Fry realizes she can see
     his face.

                              FRY
               There's light in here.

     It's a soft glow from above. Imam climbs higher to discover
     small blue-white lights clinging to rocks. He plucks a few.

                              FRY
               What are they?

     CLOSE on the lights in Imam's palm. They writhe with life.

                              IMAM
               Larva....

                              AUDREY
               Glow worms....

                              FRY
                         (mind racing)
               How many bottles we got? Empty ones?

     INT. SKIFF - NIGHT

     Riddick boards the dark craft.

     Connects the power cells to the battery bay.

     Watches the ship come to life.

     EXT. CREVICE - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

     CLOSE on a liquor bottle. It's half full of glow-worms.

                              AUDREY
               More, more, we need more....

     They climb higher. Little by little, the bottle brightens their
     world.

     EXT. SKIFF - NIGHT

     Drenched in light, Riddick stands in the hatchway of the skiff,
     looking out into dark rain. Is he struggling with a decision?
     Or just savoring the safe harbor? Then very deliberately...

     Riddick smashes his handlight on the hull. He steps inside and
     closes the hatch behind him.

     EXT. MUDDY RISE - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT

     Something claws its way up the rise. Standing, we see that it's
     Fry, a bottle of glow-worms strung around her neck. Ahead she
     spies...

     The settlement. Silhouetted by engine-light.

     EXT. SKIFF - NIGHT

     As the skiffs ENGINES WARM UP.

     INT. SKIFF - NIGHT

     As Riddick dabbles with flight controls.

     EXT. SETTLEMENT - NIGHT

     As Fry, running, splashes past buildings.

     EXT. CREVICE - THE GAUNTLET - NIGHT