CAVE THIRD DRAFT Written by Paul Domanski

INT. THE CELL SLUG: Project Hhle - Day 7765... Five pale, drained faces, completely devoid of emotion, stare dead ahead. They are seated in simple wooden chairs, tied to each other and to the floor by rusty old chains. An ancient movie projector SPUTTERS and WHIRS from somewhere behind them, painting the wall in front with grainy images. A large projection of the word SAFE vibrates and grows. It swells until the white type fills the screen before suddenly being replaced by a dripping tap. Not one of the prisoners blink as the bounced-back projections dance across their faces. The projection has changed to show a close-up of a man and a woman kissing passionately. As the word LAUGH replaces the kissing couple, the faint JANGLE of keys in a lock comes from behind the prisoners. A GUARD wearing a gas-mask and carrying a bucket walks up to the front. He lifts a ladle from the bucket and empties some white gruel into the half-open mouth of the first prisoner before moving onto the next one. The projection now shows a close-up of a terrified man, his eyes darting from left to right, sweat streaking his face. It goes blank as if some frames were lost and then to a grainy animated scene depicting a silhouetted piper on a hilltop. The guard finishes feeding the last prisoner, consequently exiting through an iron gate and LOCKING it behind him. Hands at his sides, he stands outside the cell. FOOTSTEPS echo from the darkness of the passageway. Theyre coming towards the cell. Another GUARD, identical to the first, approaches and salutes his colleague who responds in kind before marching away down the passageway. ARIS HERTZOG, 23, removes his gas-mask as soon as the footsteps fall to silence.

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He stands in place. Disciplined. Stoic. Suddenly, a loud CLANG as the steel door of another cell close to Aris swings open. He quickly puts his gas-mask back on as a GUARD backs out of the open cell, dragging with him the corpse of a prisoner. The guard leaves the corpse in the corridor while he locks the cell, giving Aris time to examine the body. The eyes are wide-open and white: the same numb, emotionless glaze as the living prisoners. The guard locks the door and turns to Aris, a muffled CHUCKLE escaping his gas-mask. Aris averts his gaze in disgust and turns to face his cell. The word STAIN swells on the wall as the sound of the corpse being DRAGGED along the concrete fades down the corridor. Aris removes his gas-mask and wipes the cold sweat from his brow. He glances around furtively, takes the key from his belt and UNLOCKS the cell before walking towards his prisoners, watching as birds march along a telephone wire on the projection. He turns, moves towards the third prisoner and stares into his eyes. There seems to be little life behind them. Aris turns and begins to walk away when suddenly, he clutches his head as if having a severe migraine. FLASH: The prisoner he just examined SCREAMS in tortured agony for a brief moment. The vision subsides as swiftly as it came and Aris hurries back to the prisoner, only to be met by the same numb stare. Aris bends down and UNLOCKS the chains, before pulling the man from his chair. The prisoners legs have no life in them and Aris struggles to support his weight but perseveres and manages to halfdrag, half-carry him away from the wall and out of the cell. FADE TO:

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INT. CORRIDOR Prisoner NINETEEN, the man that Aris has decided to save, is a black man whose eyes would probably appear strong if not for the grey glaze over them. He seems to have at least some control of his legs now. Aris still has to support him but Nineteen stumbles along as if in some sort of dazed trance. CUT TO: EXT. CELL - DAY The iron door of the complex SWINGS open and Aris leads Nineteen outside. As he does so we track into Ninteens eyes until they fill the screen, color slowly replacing what was once vacuous white. We see through Nineteens eyes now. CUT TO: EXT. PARADISE - DAY The world slowly regains its color as Nineteens eyes adapt. We look upon a beautiful field of emerald-green grass that rolls into the distance. Trees with rich brown bark and glistening vermillion leaves dot the lush landscape. The sky is brilliant azure with cotton-trail clouds spattered across it like fluffy white paint. Aris runs along the vast field, the world appearing as if through the eyes of a child. The grass and trees seem more alive, the blue of the sky more soothing, the whisper of the WIND through the trees more enchanting. Nineteen lies down and the sky fills his view, clouds swirling and transforming before his very eyes. He sits up and looks down at his feet pressed against the soft green grass. He wiggles his toes and massages the ground with the balls of his feet before leaping up and beginning to run again. Nineteen reaches a waterfall, its GUSHING stream of white water glittering under the touch of a rainbow.

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The ROAR of the waterfall is deafening to Nineteen so he COVERS his ears with his hands, dampening the furious cacophony. He walks up to the glistening water and looks down into it to see himself smiling back broadly in the reflection. His hearing now adjusted, Nineteen slowly REMOVES his hands from his ears and feels his face as if for the first time. Stepping back from his smiling reflection, he lies down on the grass and falls into a deep, contented sleep. FADE TO: EXT. PARADISE? - NIGHT THUNDER erupts like an atom-bomb. Nineteen lurches up, wide awake and BREATHING heavily. He glances around in panic. Darkness surrounds him. His eyes slowly adjust to reveal a forest of tall, pale trees that reach for the sky like antennas to heaven. Silence... Something SCRAMBLES in the shadows as a splinter of lightning CRACKS the sky causing the eerie forest to briefly become illuminated. Nineteen leaps up from the ground and runs through the chaotic blur of LEAVES and white bark, his own frantic BREATHING filling his ears. He glances over his shoulder as he runs, turning back too late and CRASHING into a tree. FADE TO WHITE: INT. WHITE A hooded FIGURE wearing a black cloak stands against a backdrop of SILENT white. Nineteen slowly walks towards the figure. As if unable to help himself, he reaches for the figures hood and removes it.

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A deformed face of rotting white flesh stares back at him. He speaks one word with the voice of a young child: DEFORMED FACE Think. FADE TO: EXT. PARADISE - DAY Nineteen wakes up to the ROAR of the waterfall. The world is as it was albeit slightly drained of color. The grass doesnt glisten as it used to and the sky has become pale. We leave Nineteens eyes and see him for what he really is: a small, lone figure in a vast, unfamiliar world. Head bowed, he walks away. FADE TO: INT. THE CELL Aris stands outside the cell, gas-mask in hand, facing away from the prisoners. The projection on the wall shows a bee desperately attempting to enter a drink-can and failing repeatedly. BANG. BANG. BANG. The sound of someone bashing against the iron door echoes down the corridor. Aris reacts quickly, running down the passage towards the exit. He swings the door open to find Nineteen, his face dirty and his eyes streaked with tears. Aris, shocked to see Nineteen back, PUSHES him away in an attempt to give him his freedom. Nineteen FALLS to the ground but gets up quickly and stands dead still, staring at Aris. Aris shakes his head and pushes Nineteen away again but to no avail.

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Aris, relenting, drops his head and steps aside. Nineteen walks slowly but deliberately past Aris and down the corridor, into the darkness. Aris LOCKS the cell and puts his gas-mask on, a single tear running down his cheek. Inside, Nineteen stares at the wall where the projection now shows a merry-go-round spinning from above. Nineteens eyes, still filled with color, stand out brightly in contrast to the numb surroundings. The wall is emblazoned with the word FREE. We track into the projection until it fills the screen.

MATCH CUT TO: INT. CELL? We track out slowly as the word FREE fades away and is replaced by a question mark. As we move back from the wall, color pours into the world and we see that it is no longer part of a room but stands alone in a beautiful field. The prisoners are still seated in front of it but their chairs rest on grass now. While the other prisoners still stare numbly ahead at the screen, Nineteen looks around, his eyes wide, his face expressionless. The question mark on the wall is replaced by a small bird soaring through the clouds. Nineteen closes his eyes. FADE TO BLACK.

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