AntZ

                         WEAVER
               Yes he is.

     Weaver steps out of the crowd.

                         Z
               Weaver!

     Weaver runs up to Z and hugs him, starting to cry.

                         WORKERS
               Hey...it is Z...listen to what he
               says! [etc].

                         WEAVER
               Z...I'm so sorry!  I --

                         Z
               Don't worry about it, pal.

     Nearby, Bala and the Queen hug.  The Queen looks over at Z.

                         QUEEN
                      (distastefully)
               Oh...it's that social-climbing worker
               again -- what does he want?

                         Z
                      (in response)
               To save you all!  Now we've got to go!

                                              CUT TO:

     EXT. ANT MOUND - DAY

     Outside of the colony, where Formica, surrounded by the army,
     gives a signal to Mandible by drawing his finger across his
     throat...

                         MANDIBLE
                      (talking into his
                       antenna)
               Let 'er rip!

     INT. SKYLIGHT APEX - DAY

     AT THE TOP OF THE TUNNEL, the commando starts chiseling away
     furiously at the wall...and nothing but dust falls down.  The
     commando looks at the dust as it falls down, down the long
     tunnel...he looks up at the dry wall...Hmmm...

     Then...

     THE WALL BURSTS OPEN.

     And a TORRENT starts pouring out -- swallowing the terrified
     commando as if he were a crumb and heading down the tunnel
     like a freight train, ripping up the walls as it goes...

     INT. EARLY MEGA-TUNNEL - DAY

     Everyone turns to hear the rumbling sound coming down the
     tunnel --

                         AZTECA
               Listen!

                         WORKER #1
               He's right!!!

     From here, we can see deep into the tunnel, at the point
     where it levels out...and the torrent can be seen rushing
     down at them...

                         Z
               LET'S MOVE IT!

     All of a sudden there's panic as every ant tries to scramble
     away from the oncoming water...in the confusion, the Queen's
     bearers drop her and scramble over her.

                         QUEEN
               You there!  Stop!  I say!

     The Queen turns, and for a brief moment is silhouetted
     against the white-capped torrent of water...

     ...and then she picks her abdomen up like a skirt and high
     tails it away from the torrent, running so fast that she
     passes some of her bearers on the way...

     And then the torrent spits out of the mouth of the
     Megatunnel, quickly filling up the chamber and branching into
     all of its side tunnels, as we see:

     A group of workers RUNNING up a side tunnel and getting
     consumed by a wave, which crashes down on them like a hand
     slapping a table...

     Another group, the members of which are getting swallowed up
     one by one; one of the ants runs up on the ceiling of the
     tunnel and keeps on going, upside-down...it works for a while
     but eventually he, too is swallowed up...

     -- In the Nursery, nurses are evacuating stacks of crying ant
     babies...

     In one of the larger access-tunnels, down which thousands of
     workers are fleeing, a group of ants turns and decides to
     make a stand for it -- they link up in a mass and form a
     LIVING DAM.  It holds for a while but then BURSTS scattering
     and smashing ants along the sides of the tunnel before eating
     them up...

     And we...

                                              CUT TO:

     INT. TOWN CENTER - DAY

     The huge main chamber of the colony, where most of the
     workers -- as well as Z, Bala, Weaver, Azteca, and the
     Queen -- have run to.

     The chamber is rapidly flooding from all sides.  Water flows
     out of every escape tunnel the workers try...and the crowd is
     becoming more and more closely packed together as the waters
     rise around them.

                         AZTECA
               There's no way out!

                         QUEEN
               We're all going to drown!!!

                         BALA
               Z...what can we do?

     Z clenches his fist...he feels utterly powerless...then he
     shouts...

                         Z
               Dig!

     The workers turn to look at him questioningly.

                         Z
               We've got to dig a trench around us!

     -- But one of the workers raises his hands.

                         WORKER #1
               Uh...we don't dig any more.  We're
               individuals.

                         WORKER #2
               Yeah.  We're too important to dig.
               You taught us that, Z.  You hate
               digging!

                         Z
                      (at his wits end)
               Yeah, but I hate drowning more!  Now
               dig!

                         WEAVER
               You heard the ant -- DIG!!!

     The workers start to dig a circular moat around themselves,
     passing the dirt back into the middle of what remains of the
     dry ground.

     -- But they seems to be making little headway against the
     water as it continues to rush in...

     The ant labor we saw up to now were nothing compared to
     this.   As the moat gets deeper, the pile grows higher and
     higher...Weaver is digging up huge chunks of earth...nearby,
     Azteca is digging like crazy too...Z runs around, directing
     traffic and encouraging the workers...

                         Z
               That's it!  Pass the dirt back to the
               center!  Go on!

     Nearby the Queen stands there, looking squeamish.

                         Z
               Your highness...time to get your
               hands dirty!

     Gingerly, the Queen reaches out for a clod of dirt...and
     passes it along.  Next thing you know, she's practically
     crushed by a huge load thrown up by Weaver.

     The water keeps rushing in...but now we notice that...

     ...the pile of dirt in the middle of the "island" created by
     the digging of the moat is growing higher and higher,
     reaching up towards the ceiling of the chamber...

     ...And the water is getting swallowed up by the moat,
     swirling around angrily.

     Now Z looks up, and sees that with a little more effort they
     can reach the top --

                         Z
               We need to form a scaffolding around
               this mound -- let's DO IT!

     The workers start to cluster around the mound, covering it,
     forming a tight network of living bodies around the mound up
     towards the ceiling...

                         Z
               Now climb!

     The ants start to scale the scaffolding, up towards the top
     of the chamber...it's a swarming mass of ants, hauling each
     other up, giving each other legs up, climbing ever and ever
     higher towards the top...

     Where they start to dig through the very ceiling...

     ...as, at the bottom of the mound, Z starts to organize the
     hauling away of the Queen, as though she were a big cargo
     container...

                         Z
               Okay boys -- take her up!

     Z slaps the Queen on the butt, and she's winched away on a
     cable composed entirely of ants linked arm in arm like those
     plastic toy monkeys...

     EXT. ANT MOUND - DAY

     ...And Azteca's head pokes through the ground...she hauls
     herself up, and hundreds of ants pour up from the ground,
     widening the hole...

     INT. TOWN CENTER - DAY

     The water is rising...but almost all of the ants have
     escaped...Z clambers up the mound, as the scaffolding of ants
     rolls up from the bottom....

     And the rushing water finally wears down the earthen core of
     the structure.  As Z hauls himself through the hole in the
     ceiling.

     The entire structure collapses into the angry waters below,
     which seem furious to have missed their prey...

     EXT. ANT MOUND - DAY

                         WORKER
               He did it!  Z!  Z!  Z!  Z!  Z!

     The "Z" cheer goes up, with everyone joining in.  But the
     jubilation is short-lived, for, appearing on the ridge,
     surrounding the workers, is FORMICA'S ARMY, circling the mass
     of workers, backing them in towards the roiling water behind
     them.  Formica himself appears in the front lines, with
     Carpenter and Mandible at his side.

                         FORMICA
               Z.  I should have known.  All that
               work, all that preparation, come to
               nothing.  All because of one stinking
               ant.

     He steps forward to address the surrounded, trapped workers.

                         FORMICA
               ALRIGHT.  WHICH ONE OF YOU IS Z?

     The workers, trembling but silent, cower inside the unbroken
     circle of soldiers.

                         FORMICA
               WHAT ARE YOU, DEAF?  I ASKED YOU,
               WHERE'S Z?

     Formica laughs, shaking his head.

                         FORMICA
               Folks, you may have survived that
               flood, but there's no way you're
               gonna escape from me.  I'll make you
               a deal.  Hand over the rebel leader
               Z, and you survive.

     This sends a ripple of murmurs through the workers.