Arcade

as we see their forms disappear in the smoke.

       DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. LEVEL ONE, PLAINS -- LATER

Nick and Alex pull to a stop.

A DOORWAY

stands in the plains, seemingly leading to nowhere.  Nick reaches out and
opens it.  It's just plains and empty space beyond...

...but hanging from the top of the doorway is a golden key.

    ALEX
  There...

She reaches up and pulls it down.

    NICK
  I don't get it.  This is supposed to be the
  end of the level, but it doesn't go anywhere.

Alex puts her hand through the doorway and her hand disappears.

    ALEX
  It only looks like it leads to nowhere.

Nick glances at his wrist display.

    NICK
  And we've still got time left.  This was a
  piece of cake.

    ALEX
  Yeah, that's what worries me.

She steps through the doorway and disappears.  Nick follows.

We hold on the empty doorway.  Hold for a moment, and then...

We hear a distant, high-pitched RINGING.  It's grating, seeping inside our
brains and mucking around in there.  On the horizon there is a quick FLASH
OF LIGHT.

Something is coming.

        CUT TO:

The words "LEVEL TWO -- DEADLANDS"

EXT.  LEVEL TWO, SALT FLATS -- DAY

Alex and Nick are cruising along salt flats.  Sporadic pools of water and
strange ROARING sounds in the mist.  So far so good. Nick glances at his
wrist display.  His "STRENGTH" only has a few blocks left.

    NICK
  Hey, my strength's low.  Look out for
  Fireflies.

    ALEX
  There...

She points North.  A small BALL OF LIGHT is streaking across the sky, just
above the watery plains.

Alex and Nick swerve towards it, gaining ground.  As they near it, Nick
swings out his hand, scooping the Firefly up. As soon as he touches it, it
bursts like a bubble.

    NICK
  Shit...

    ALEX
  Check your read-out.

Nick does.  His "STRENGTH" is back to normal again.

    NICK
  You're right.  It worked.

Nick and Alex slow their boards to a stop, stepping off them.

    ALEX
   (pointing)
  There's another...

She sweeps left and scoops the second Firefly out of the sky.  Off in the
distance we can hear that RINGING again, just at the edge of our vision.
Alex and Nick don't hear it yet.

Nick is glancing down at his schematic of Level Two.

    NICK
  According to this, the doorway should be
  somewhere around here...

THEIR P.O.V.

The salt flats have gradually diminished, replaced by more and more water.
Ahead of them, there's no longer anything solid to stand on...just water,
muck, and strange reeds poking through the mist.

Alex's wrist display begins to BEEP.  She glances down.

WRIST DISPLAY

Only one block of time remains and it's pulsing on and off. The RINGING is
a little louder now.

    ALEX
   (worried)
  Our time's up.

    NICK
  What?!  There's nothing here!

    ALEX
  Look around...

The two of them stumble through the water, not even sure of what they're
looking for.

    NICK
   (starting to panic)
  I don't see the doorway!

Alex and Nick's wrist displays are BEEPING like crazy now. The beeps come
closer and closer until they meld into one piercing high-pitched TONE.

JUST THEN,

the RINGING turns into the SHRIEK/SONIC BOOM of the Screamer.  A burst of
light on the horizon shatters the sky.

    NICK
  What the fuck is that?!

    ALEX
  Screamer.

ALEX

plunges into the marsh-like water, waist-high, and it's then that she sees
a glow emanating from beneath the water. She dives forward...

BENEATH THE SURFACE OF THE BRACKISH WATER

Alex swims towards the GLOW.  Ahead of her, the depths drop off sharply,
perhaps some hundred feet or so.

HER P.O.V.

She can just make out a doorway...down, down, down...

THE SURFACE

Alex bursts up from the water, gulping in breaths of air. Nick is nearby.

THE WORLD

is beginning is vibrate now, heralding the Screamer.  The SHRIEK is
unbearable.

    ALEX
  Nick!  It's beneath the water!  We have to
  swim!

Nick stumbles in up to his neck.  He can see the GLOW now too.

    NICK
   (incredulous)
  We can't reach that!

    ALEX
   (over the noise)
  We don't have a choice!

Alex dives beneath the surface again.

Nick glances back towards the horizon and gets one fleeting glimpse of...

THE SCREAMER

A nightmare creation rocketing in from the East... That's it for Nick.  He
dives, terrified.

UNDERWATER,

Nick follows Alex into the shadowy depths.  He swims madly, but the GLOW
seems impossibly far away.  Even under water, the Apocalyptic sound of the
Screamer can be heard.

NICK

peddles his arms and legs furiously.  Down, down, down...

He knows that they'll never have enough air to make it back to the
surface.

THE GLOW

is more clearly distinguished now.  It's a DOORWAY.  And set in its side
is a golden key.  Alex reaches it.  She grabs the key and turns to see how
far behind Nick is...

NICK

doubles his efforts, but his lungs are straining...

THE SCREAMER

has plunged into the water above, shooting towards Nick like a torpedo, a
swirling jet-stream of bubbles trailing around it.

Nick panics, and what little air he has left escapes him.

Alex is reaching for Nick...

Nick is blacking out, one last lunge at the doorway...

The Screamer is there now.  No time.

The words "LEVEL THREE -- THE BLUE DESERT" flash across the screen and
we...

        CUT TO:

EXT.  LEVEL THREE, DESERT -- DAY

Alex and Nick fall from the sky onto the dunes.  They lie there a moment,
gasping for breath.  They're an odd sight, two people soaked from head to
toe, dropped in the middle of a bone-dry desert...

...and a blue one at that.  There's an eerie stillness about this Level,
even the clouds above are frozen. Nothing lives here now, and nothing ever
will.

Nick coughs, sucking in air.

Alex rises halfway, pulling up her visor.  She stares at the golden key
which she clutches in her hand.  Her wet hair hangs about her face in
strings and she shivers.

    NICK
   (looking at the key)
  So that's what we almost died for?

    ALEX
  One of them, anyway...
   (beat)
  Did you see it?  The Screamer?

    NICK
   (looking away)
  I don't want to talk about it.

Nick glances at his wrist display.

DISPLAY

Even as he watches, the first of the ten "TIME ELAPSED" blocks blinks
away.

    NICK
   (exhausted)
  Christ...no time...

    ALEX
   (rising)
  There never is.

Nick heaves himself up into a standing position and looks around.  They
are on the top of a massive dune.

THEIR THRASHER BOARDS

now looks like snowboards.  It doesn't take Nick long to figure out what
to do.

    NICK
  We can take the dunes down like a ski slope.
  Pretend you're on a snowboard.

    ALEX
   (snapping down her visor)
  Never been on a snowboard.

Nick steps on the board and edges it over the crest of the dune.  He
begins to slide down, slowly picking up speed.

A SERIES OF SHOTS...

...as Alex and Nick negotiate the dunes.  They glide over the sand
gracefully, cutting back left and right to keep their speed down, sweeping
in wide arcs...

Under any other circumstances, they'd be having the time of their lives.
Alex has adjusted to the environment quickly, at ease of the
Thrasherboard.

LATER --