12
INT FACILITY HAZARD COMPLEX
DISSOLVE INTO WIDE SHOT OF HAZARD COMPLEX GREEN ROOM
The trainees are standing in the "Green Room" outside the entrance to the facility's hazard course. ALICIA paces back and forth as she explains procedures to the group.
ALICIA
You're three days into Alpha Phase, and so far you're all still here. I'm sure you're all proud of yourselves for making it this far. That may change.
ALICIA paces up and down the row of recruits, who are now watching her intently and uneasily.
ALICIA
You've been on the Hazard Course twice before, firing at the target popups with practice rounds. Today's gonna be a little different.
ALICIA turns and picks up one of a handful of identical pistols (H&K USP Tactical) from a table between her and the Hazard Course airlock. She cradles it carefully as she resumes pacing.
ALICIA
You've taken on our popup targets on the Course. You've fired these on the range. Today, we're bringing those experiences together and you're going to be firing live ammo in there.
KAT
(nervously)
So... it's gonna be just like normal, only louder, right?
ALICIA
(ignoring her)
I know we've thrown a lot at you all so far, but I'm confident you remember enough not to embarrass yourselves too badly in there. Don't forget your usual safety rules, keep your heads up, and make your shots count. Are we clear?
The recruits give varying levels of acknowledgment.
ALICIA
(surveying the recruits)
Now then, who's up first?
ALICIA makes a show of looking around before her glance settles on KAT. The cryptography expert tenses as the headmistress smiles.
ALICIA
Ms. Shanahan? I believe you said it'd be "just like normal"?
KAT pales slightly and takes a step back. GRACE puts a hand on her arm reassuringly.
ALICIA
(smiling)
It's target practice, Kat. Step right up.
KAT reluctantly complies, retrieving a weapon and a pair of magazines from the table. She looks back at the others anxiously; GRACE smiles faintly and DAVE offers an encouraging nod.
ALICIA
Load your weapon inside the airlock; I'll notify you when the inner door is about to open.
KAT nods uneasily as the outer door of the airlock slides open and she steps inside. She jumps a little as it closes behind her. KAT hurriedly loads a magazine into the pistol - nearly dropping it in her anxiety - and then checks the safeties and takes a few deep breaths to steady herself. In the windowless and monitorless Green Room, no sounds can be heard from within as ALICIA presses an intercom button.
ALICIA
Commencing exercise; stand by for inner door.
The door opens and KAT steps out into a mostly open space with featureless light-grey floor and wall tiles. She pauses for a moment, taken aback by the emptiness of the obstacle course, then looks around hoping to spot a target.
KAT
(nervously, to herself)
Well, this isn't so bad...
With the hiss of pneumatic pistons, a cardboard target resembling an ordinary human gunman pops up from the floor on a metal arm. KAT pivots, brings the gun up, and squeezes off two shots in rapid succession. The first misses high and to the right, but the second strikes the target near where the solar plexus should be. The target falls back to the floor and KAT relaxes slightly. Another target pops out from around a nearby corner; this time both of KAT's shots find their mark. Meanwhile, the recruits in the green room only overhear muffled reports of the shots and still can't see anything.
DAVE
(quietly)
I'm sure she's doing just fine...
On the Hazard Course, KAT looks around, waiting for the next target to pop up. Nothing happens for a long moment. KAT lowers her gun slightly as her eyes dart around the room nervously.
KAT
(to the air)
Is... is that it? Guys? Can anyone hear me? Was that everything?
KAT sniffs the air, becoming aware of a peculiar and powerfully unpleasant odor. She waves a hand in front of her face and looks around, confused and more than a little worried.
KAT
(with increasing anxiety)
What's... what is that? Hello?
Ragged, uneven sounds of labored breathing can now be heard from somewhere out of sight. The gun in KAT's hands snaps back up, but now the muzzle trembles slightly. A moment later, from around a corner to the far left, a shape shambles out toward the center of the room. The body of what was once a middle-aged man, still dressed in worn khakis and a torn polo shirt but with a sickly pale, mottled complexion and a profusion of gashes and wounds all over - chief among which is a hideous, jagged but unbloodied bite mark on the right shoulder. The creature's head pivots as though following a scent and its eyes - glazed and vacant with dust-scratched and shriveled corneas - lock onto KAT, whose own eyes immediately widen in utter terror.
KAT
(a quivering mixture of horrified disbelief)
W... what the... no. No, no, no no no...
KAT stumbles backward until she hits the nearest wall, nearly falling to the floor on rubber legs.
KAT
(increasingly hysterical)
S- Somebody? Someone stop the test!
The necrotic takes an unsteady, shuffling step in KAT's direction. From its mouth lined with broken, filthy teeth emerges a low, wordless groan. KAT inches away along the wall she's against as rasping, terrified sobs begin to escape her lips. The necrotic inches closer as KAT approaches a corner and begins to shriek hysterically. In the Green Room, her screaming can now be faintly heard even through the walls, and the various recruits' faces show their immediate and visceral responses.
HAYDEN
What the hell was that?
GRACE
What's happening in there?
The gun clatters to the floor as KAT, fleeing like a wild animal, rushes around the necrotic to the opposite wall of the Hazard Course.
KAT
(wildly hysterical)
Stop the test! I want out!
KAT, screaming and crying at the top of her lungs now, begins pounding on the walls.
KAT
Let me out! LET ME OUT! PLEASE!
SABRINA
What's going on?
ALICIA doesn't answer. SABRINA takes a step forward.
SABRINA
(forcefully)
Ms. Almodovar, what is going on?
KAT continues shrieking and pounding on the wall.
KAT
Please, please let me out!
DAVE
Stop this! Let her out of there!
While the others listen to the horrifying sounds emanating from the room, AARÓN - loaded weapon already in hand - rushes to the outer airlock door and tries to figure out how to open it. He looks over his shoulder at ALICIA intently. ALICIA doesn't flinch.
KAT
(almost unintelligible)
Somebody, please!
Suddenly, a seam appears in the featureless wall to the left of where she stands as the door of another airlock hisses open. PARTLOW rushes in and grabs KAT bodily in his arms as the necrotic comes to a stop at the end of a previously concealed steel cable. Taking a step toward the open door, the agent slings KAT into the waiting arms of JANACEK outside before turning slowly and drawing his own sidearm. Glaring at the mindless aberration, PARTLOW squeezes off a single shot, which strikes the necrotic cleanly between the eyes. It slumps to the floor as PARTLOW steps through the airlock and past a handful of cleanup technicians carrying a body bag and various other implements. KAT lies on the floor sobbing and acreaming as JANACEK tries vainly to calm her. PARTLOW's jaw tightens as he surveys the scene.
CUT TO COMMERCIAL
