• The Metro Inn, EXT. - Night

    Salem is crouched calmly in a huddle with her squad mates DOG, VIOLET, SARA and Four Grunts. The rain is coming down hard and a thunderstorm is in full force. The team is formulating a plan to get inside The Metro Inn


    VIOLET
    "We go in with the thunder. DOG, you set the charge and we will breach on your mark"

    GRUNT #1
    They will be waiting for us, now! We can't just walk in through the front door, can we?
    SARA walks away from the group and sneaks her way up to the buildings windows. A loud CRASH from the lightning takes her by surprise.

    SALEM
    *chuckles shortly, shaking her head. Then looks at GRUNT #1*
    No, the thermals on the choppers showed all the activity going on upstairs. The KRELL are trying to open a gate.


    DOG
    Yeah, so what are we waiting for?!

    Sara is already at the walls of the old, 30 story building, looking inside the Foyer through the windows. SARA HURDLES over the railing of the staircase leading to the door and slowly pushes the door open with her foot.


    Sara
    PSST! Its open guys, let's get in here before they are being followed!
    Sara quickly slipped inside and finds a place to lay low, waiting for the rest.

    Violet
    God D**** her.
    ---------------------------------------------------------

    The Metro Inn, INT. - Foyer

    The building is built in a fashion to simulate old 2020 architectures. Silver and chrome trim corkscrews up black marble pillars. The front desk is full of holes and blood smeared on the wall behind it.
    SALEM enters last, following DOG as the team checks the room for threats. SALEM goes straight to the front desk, spotting a wounded employee.


    SALEM
    *Shouting*
    VIOLET! I found someone. She is alive!

    Wounded Night Clerk
    *Grunting, whining and coughing*
    God help me, please!

    SARA
    *Quietly to SALEM*
    Don't bother talking to her. She can't hear you. The KRELL used a banger on her. I can't find her leg anywhere… She must have been lunch.
    (Bangers render humans mostly deaf and blind through light and sound. They are small canisters similar to flash bangs.)
    VIOLET takes DOG and GRUNT#1 to check out all the rooms on the ground floor

    GRUNT #3
    (To GRUNT #4 and GRUNT #1)
    We need to try and stop the bleeding, get her to the T.O.P.
    GRUNT #3
    *wraps the woman's severed leg and attempts to calm her down. SALEM administers a coagulant from her first aid pack*
    (To SALEM)
    Help me pick her up!

    JUMP TO: METRO INN, DINING and ballroom halls

    The sounds of SALEM preparing the woman to go echo though the halls as VIOLET is checking doors and finds the service elevator but it won't operate so DOG PULLS the massive elevator doors apart to open the shaft. Violet Looks in, peeking up and down. There is no cable in the shaft and can't see a car.

    SARA (Voice Over)
    Here, I will take this one. You need to get upstairs before they open a gate!

    CUT TO: METRO INN, FOYER.

    SARA picks up the night clerk humming softly, hoping to soothe the suffering as she helps the GRUNTS carry the woman out.
    VIOLET returns with the rest of the team after securing the ground floor. DOG is already heading up the stairs to the second floor. SALEM starts to follow.

    VIOLET
    Kitchen, dining room and ball room are all closed there were no bodies, no blood and no survivors. If we are lucky everyone is still asleep in their rooms and the KRELL won't get trigger happy on civilians. Elevators are busted and the Service Elevator could be stuck at the top floor.

    SALEM
    We need to hurry this isn't going to end well if they get that gate open.

    DOG
    *starts to rush up the stars, his gear rattling with his hustle*
    No s****, SALEM.
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    METRO INN, 10th floor – Hallway & Rooms 1004 thru 1008

    The KRELL COMMANDER drops the body of a young woman to his feet, he and his squad have finished clearing out the rooms required to set up the GATE in room 1004


    KRELL TECH#1
    *Drops the massive equipment crate containing parts to the GATE, he is assisted by KRELL TECH#2 to open the crate. Slowly the techs assemble a large, steel and iron circle.*
    KRELL GRUNT#1
    *Rips apart the legs to a wooden coffee table in room 1005 and uses the whole thing to break holes into the wall separating 1004 and 1005.*
    Screaming is heard through the hallway as the other rooms are broken into and cleared of their occupants. Loud bursts of gunfire rattle windows and wake the neighbors.


    METRO INN, 10th floor – Room 1008

    Business man GUEST
    *Tears his door open and yells*
    WHAT THE H**** IS GOING ON OUT HERE?
    *He looks down the hall to a KRELL OFFICER throwing a body into the hall.*
    Oh God!
    The KRELL OFFICER Unleashes several pounding rounds of gunfire into the man's back as he turns to retreat back into the room.
    He falls flat to his face, dead in seconds and bleeding in front of his room.

    Business Man's Wife
    *SCREAMS AND PANICS*
    OH GOD, RICKY! RICKY!
    The woman slams the door and fueled by adrenaline shoves a bed, chairs and the table In front of the door.
    She can hear the massive KRELL boots kicking the door.
    it won't last long.


    METRO INN, 10th floor – Room 1004

    The KRELL TECHS are still working the GATE with its ring now completed they had to hot wire the power cells into each of the room's electrical systems without setting off a breaker or cutting power to the floor. They ripped open the walls and yanked at wire clusters to affix them to their power cells. One cell in each room ensured they could route all the energy to the GATE.

    KRELL COMMANDER
    *Orders his men to hurry in an alien dialect as he watches the hallways. He knows SALEM and VIOLET will catch up to them soon.*

    -----------------------------------------------------------

    METRO INN, EMERGENCY STAIRWAY – 8th Floor

    SALEM, VIOLET, DOG and GRUNT#1 are nearly to the 10th floor when a hysterical woman comes charging down the stairs, and screams for help when she spots the team.
    Woman
    *crying and panting, trying to breathe*
    You are here to help?! They are killing everyone! St-sta-stacking the bodies in the hall but My sister! You have to
    VIOLET takes the woman and works her best to calm her down.
    Viloet
    (Quietly, calm)
    Where are they, where do they have your sister? Wha-
    ]The woman's hysterics continue, she stumbles and stammers her way through words.
    Violet
    (*Louder*)
    WHERE do they have her, What floor are they on!
    *Shakes the woman once*
    Listen to me!
    DOG Continues up the stairs.
    Woman
    *Crying harder, but more clear*
    The… The tenth floor! *SOB* They are on the tenth floor.
    Salem
    *takes the woman's hand to get her out of the way, moving her to the back of the group.*
    Look, you need to go down stairs. Go out the front door, there's a truck and some good people out there. They will take care of you, okay. HURRY!
    (to dog: Yelling up the stairwell)
    10th FLOOR, its THE TENTH!
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    METRO INN, 10th Floor – GATE

    The GATE Rips open, a red surge of lightning TEARS through the room. The burst of energy is heard across the entire floor. SALEM and her team can hear it clearly.
    Windows shatter and the electrical grid is FRIED, power dies moments later. The power cells now started and charging the GATE. The KRELL COMANDER waits, the gate must stabilize if he wants his forces to get back to their planet alive. They wait in a room away from the GATE and its VIOLENT surges.
    The gate rips everything in the room apart. The TV is destroyed and walls are vaporized
    .


    METRO INN, 10th FLOOR – HALLWAY

    GRUNT #1
    What was that? Was that the GATE?
    SALEM
    Bloody H****! They have already got it started!
    Dog
    * PUNCHES the wall in anger. It Cracks under his force.*
    D**** IT. We need to move!


    VIOLET RUSHES down the hallway, followed by the rest but they are stopped, quickly. KRELL Fire out of the doors and broken down walls of the rooms ahead. The massive rounds glow and WHIZZ past.
    SALEM
    *Dives into a room on her right, staying low*
    DOG
    * KICKS a door in and Throws Grunt #1 into the room.*
    *Pulls up his machine gun and gives VIOLET Covering fire*
    VIOLET
    *Crouches down, next to a ice machine*
    *Takes her combat shotgun and fires blind around the machine.*

    Viloet (Hall)
    (*YELLING*)
    SALEM! Get around them!
    DOG (1006)
    * takes cover in the room he opened, GRUNT #1 kicks open the door connected to the next room.*
    SALEM (1010)
    (*YELLING*)
    Yah! I'll see what I can do!
    *Stands, rushes to the door and kicks it, but it stays closed.*
    *Takes a breaching charge from her hip and hangs it on the knob.*
    *Steps FAR back and blows the charge*
    *BLAM the door splinters and falls apart, smoke and grit cloud the way. Salem rushes into the next room.*

    Grunt #1 (1005)
    *Taking cover behind a bed, firing through holes in the wall to ROOM 1004, the red glow of the GATE clearly visible.*
    (*YELLING*)
    I CAN SEE IT, I SEE THE GATE! THEY ARE GOING THROUGH!
    KRELL COMMANDER
    *Hears GRUNT#1, Shouts to his units then throws a bright red, softball sized canister through a hole in the wall.*
    GRUNT #1
    H****!
    SPLASH! The canister pops open and chemicals SPEW out in every direction before catching fire!
    ALL of ROOM 1006 is blazing, the fire alarm immediately triggers.
    GRUNT #1 Runs out of the room into the hall like a Torch.
    VIOLET Shoots him once, with her sidearm to ease his suffering.
    SALEM
    *looks out the door to room 1004, across the hall.*
    *Salem watches the KRELL COMMANDER step through last, looking back just once to see SALEM as he drops a large explosive pack on the floor. Then he is gone*

    SALEM
    (*Yells*)
    NO!
    *Salem runs across the hall, and past the GATE to pick up the bomb*
    * SALEM throws the bomb with all her weight out of the side of the building, through a massive hole the GATE made.*
    *SALEM Relaxes for just a second*
    *BOOM! The bomb explodes knocking her back and shaking the whole building.*
    *SALEM is knocked into the gate and like that she is gone*

    VIOLET
    WHAT THE H**** WAS THAT?
    DOG puts one last echoing shot in a surviving KRELL as he walks to ROOM 1004.
    DOG
    Where the h**** is SALEM?


    alien planet, GATE exit – DAY

    It only took a second to travel through the gate, but when you came out the other side you felt as if it took hours. SALEM falls flat on her back, singed and coughing her ears are ringing and now her eyes burning from the sun.



    SALEM Rolls over to vomit, it wasn't uncommon to feel so ill after going through the GATES. When she stops she gets up on her knees and looks to the KRELL COMMANDER, looking down.
    Salem
    *sighs, looks down and giggles just once.*
    Bloody h-.

    KRELL COMMANDER
    *Lifts his leg, laughs, his alien voice raspy and high pitched.*

    *Kicks with a strong force to the side of SALEM's head, knocking her out cold. CRACK, WHAM Salem falls into her own vomit.*


    ALIEN PLANET, KRELL PRISON TOWER – 6 hours later

    Salem looks out of the glass window of her empty cell, she is miles above the rocky terrain below. The fall would kill her.

    SALEM (Voice over)
    And that's how I got here.
    Fade Out:
    The End