DRY SPELL

An Original Screenplay

by

Melanie Anne Phillips

Chapter One: The Pit

EXT DESERT DAY

TITLES APPEAR over the following action: Sand swirls across the dunes, modeled like storm swells on a frozen sea. Near us, the smooth, white blanket gradually gives way to a sharp, rough surface of hard volcanic rock. Small pockets of sand, much like tide pools, line the bottoms of natural basins carved by the elements into the abrasive pumice. Here and again, the barren rock is broken by a number of natural lava tunnels whose depths are lost to us in a smothering blackness. Scattered among the dark pits are a number of small steam plumes, indicating an active geology beneath. A ridge of craggy mountains thrusting up along the horizon is shrouded in a dark mantle of thunderheads, occasionally haloed by sporadic lightning.

Slowly from behind the last ridge of sand before the rock, TWO FIGURES rise into view, almost as if pushed up from beneath. They are both carrying a substantial amount of equipment including scuba tanks - an image in contrast to their desert surroundings. They make their way without conversation to the crest of the final dune and proceed silently down its near side and onto the lava flow.

Reaching the first and largest of the tunnels, the first diver drops his gear, wiping the sweat from his brow.

BARNEY

This must be the place.

The second diver drops his gear near the other equipment.

JACK

Better check the aerial map. They all look alike to me.

Barney pulls a wrinkled photo survey map from his pack and studies it. The sheet is headlined with "Sites of Potential Significance". Topographic lines snake across craggy terrain. A number of the dark tunnel entrances are marked with code numbers. Several of these are circled in red.

Barney runs his finger over the map and looks up, comparing it to the surrounding landscape. His index finger comes to rest on a dark spot at the edge of the sand labeled, "U-35-C". Finally, he refolds the map along its well-worn creases.

BARNEY

Yup. This is it. U-35-C

Jack removes a ratty notebook from a pocket and leafs through the dog-eared pages, stopping at the first blank page. He pencils in the code designation.

JACK

U-35-Charlie. Grid?

BARNEY

Seven.

JACK

Sector?

BARNEY

Four.

JACK

Time?

Barney is already looking at his watch.

BARNEY

Two thirty five.

Jack closes the thin book and slips it back into his pocket.

JACK

All right. What've we got?

Barney shuffles through a stack of 3x5 cards strung together on a metal ring. He stops at the appropriate one and begins to read.

BARNEY

Site U-35-C. Located near the center of Crater Basin, an area suspected to have been taboo, this series of tunnels may provide samples of hex symbols involving the Rain Spirit. At best, actual
relics pertaining to the Ceremony Of The Dead may be obtained.

Barney returns the cards to his pack.

BARNEY

I'm the new kid on the block; what's the crater from?

JACK

Old meteorite impact. Some say it's what did in the tribe.

Barney peers into the dark pit, trying to fathom the depth.

BARNEY

How deep is the ground water around here?

JACK

It's already up to forty feet. Looks like we're going to get wet.

Barney shifts his gaze to the ridge of mountains, now indistinct behind a blurry veil of rain from a summer storm.

BARNEY

What about the runoff from the mountains?

JACK

With the spill-ways half open, it shouldn't get here for another couple of days.

BARNEY

We should be okay then...

JACK

Unless we mess up again. Katie'll have our heads.

Jack pulls out a coil of nylon rope and hands one end to Barney. Barney produces a metal piton and hammers it into the abrasive lava at the edge of the pit. Jack ties the other end to their gear.

JACK

Let 'er go.

Barney tosses the equipment pack over the edge into the darkness.

BARNEY

Gerronimo!

JACK

Funny.

The gear hits the water at the bottom, as evidenced from the splash that echoes up to the surface. Jack starts down the rope while Barney remains above.

INT SHAFT DAY

Swinging slowly from side to side, Jack carefully makes his way down the rope, eventually coming to ground in roughly four feet of water. Unclipping a waterproof flashlight from his belt, he darts the beam around the bottom of the shaft.

He finds himself in an uneven chamber some thirty feet in diameter, with a number of dark crevices that might very well be side tunnels. There is, however, nothing to present any obvious threat to his safety. He calls up to Barney.

JACK

Come on in; the water's freezing.

We see Barney looking down at us from the opening above.

BARNEY

Bitch, bitch, bitch.

EXT DESERT DAY

Barney gives a final testing tug on the rope, then lowers himself over the edge.

BARNEY

Firth floor: ladies lingerie.

INT SHAFT DAY

Satisfied that Barney is making his way down safely, Jack trudges with some difficulty through the water toward the nearest wall of the shaft. So far, there is no evidence of tribal presence at all. The hard lava absorbs the light into its surface like a sponge.

Meanwhile, Barney splashes down and cringes.

BARNEY

I thought deserts were supposed to be hot!

JACK (O.S.)

Not in the winter.

Barney shrugs his shoulders and begins untying the gear, which is floating on small, attached Styrofoam pontoons.

INT CREVICE DAY

Jack moves along the walls, obviously looking for something. After a moment, he locates a narrow vertical crevice in the rock face. Unable to fit through, he removes some of his gear, allowing it to float freely in the water. He also unclips his pistol, which is in a waterproofed case. Trying again, he manages to squeeze between the rough walls.

INT SIDE CHAMBER DAY

Jack makes his way into what appears to be nothing more than a small side chamber, some five feet in diameter. As he turns around, his light splashes onto a rock painting on the wall right next to his face. It is an image of a Thunderbird with its talons gripping an tribesman whose body and face are shriveled and contorted in fear. Startled, Jack LETS OUT A YELL that echoes throughout the shaft.

JACK

AAAugh!!!

INT SHAFT DAY

Startled by the sound, Barney YELLS as well.

BARNEY

AAAUGH!!!

Instantly, Barney begins shining his light around, looking for Jack.

BARNEY

What happened?! Are you okay?

INT SIDE CHAMBER DAY

Jack, obviously embarrassed, has gotten under control.

JACK

Yeah, I'm fine... just fine. (PAUSE) You okay?

INT SHAFT DAY

BARNEY

No. I'm scared shitless. What's going on?

INT SIDE CHAMBER DAY

Jack looks over the painting carefully.

JACK

Bring the camera, will ya?

INT SHAFT DAY

Barney still hasn't located Jack because of the echo.

BARNEY

Love to. Where are you?

Barney sees Jack's light glowing from the crevice.

BARNEY

All right. I got you. (LOWER) You son of a...

Barney pulls the camera, a Polaroid in an underwater housing, from one of the packs and wades over to the narrow passage. He stops at the entrance, gives an "oh, great" look, and squeezes inside.

INT SIDE CHAMBER DAY

Barney pulls through into the small chamber and offers the camera to Jack.

BARNEY

Camera. Now... what's...

Barney turns around and finds himself facing the same painting.

BARNEY

Sweet Jesus! What the hell is that!

JACK

Redemption with Doctor Kates... if we don't screw it up... Hold this, will ya?

Jack hands Barney the flash unit and adjust the camera settings.

JACK

Let's see... three feet at a fiftieth'd be...

He raises the camera to his eye and lines up the shot.

JACK

Okay. Smile!

The flash goes off, temporarily blinding both men. Jack rubs his eyes and peers closer at the garish apparition. This time we see that a number of tribesmen surround the Thunderbird, and are attacking it with flaming torches.

JACK

You're the expert on pictographs. What do you make of it?

BARNEY

Looks to me like they're trying to ward off the rain.

JACK

Yeah. That's what I got. Doesn't make a lot of sense in the desert, does it?

BARNEY

Doesn't make any sense at all.

Barney scans his light around the chamber, discovering that all the other walls are blank, providing no clue to this single painting.

BARNEY

You suppose there's anything else unusual under the water?

JACK

One way to find out.

Jack rinses his helmet in the cold water, then pulls it on and lowers himself into the water.

INT UNDERWATER TUNNEL DAY

Holding his breath, Jack scans his light around the chamber walls. There are no more paintings, but there is a small, submerged tunnel, just large enough for a man to enter. Jack swims over to the tunnel and shines his light inside. As far as he can see before the tunnel is lost in darkness, every inch of the walls is covered in ornate, intertwining pictographs.

INT SIDE CHAMBER DAY

Jack bubbles to the surface, nearly out of breath.

JACK

We better set up the equipment.

HARD CUT TO:

EXT DESERT DAY

We start in tight on a flat-screen video monitor, flushed with static and the SOUND of white noise. CAMERA PULLS BACK to reveal an impressive set up of miniaturized, sophisticated equipment, which is still not working properly, much to Barney's dismay. He hovers over the gear near the mouth of U-35-C, fiddling with knobs, dials, switches, and a laptop computer.

BARNEY

No. That's still no good. See if you can boost the gain on your end.

Jack's voice comes over the radio.

JACK (O.S.)

Okay... How's that?

Barney flips another switch and a milky red image comes into view.

BARNEY

Almost got it.

INT SIDE CHAMBER DAY

Jack stands in the middle of a variety of equipment, much of which has been fastened to tripods so as to be above the water level. He is working on the controls of his helmet camera. Barney's voice comes over the radio.

BARNEY (O.S.)

Try giving the gamma a tweak.

Jack turns a knob on the camera.

BARNEY (O.S.)

Yeah. That's fine.

EXT DESERT DAY

Barney makes a final adjustment and the image comes in clear. WE see the Thunderbird painting fill the monitor screen. Barney turns on the recorder.

BARNEY

Okay. Recorder's on. Give us a slate.

The image on the monitor swings around until Jack's face fills the screen.

JACK

Okay. This is Jack Shannon with Barney Peterson for Evelyn Kates Consulting. It's three fifty one on November 17. We're at U-35-Charlie, where we've discovered evidence of tribal habitation. We're going to check out a little underwater tunnel we've found; thought you might like to come along.

BARNEY

Jack's guests tonight will be....

JACK

All right. I can take a hint.

The image on the screen swishes wildly as...

INT SIDE CHAMBER DAY

Jack swings the helmet onto his head. He fastens the chin strap, checks the air gauge on his tank, and submerges.

INT TUNNEL DAY

Jack swims over to the tunnel entrance and peers inside with the light. The pictographs stare back at him.

JACK

Okay. I'm going in.

EXT DESERT DAY

The bright images dance across the monitor as the recorder captures it all.

BARNEY
(To himself)

Now that's what I call job security.

INT TUNNEL

Jack carefully makes his way down the narrow tunnel, but the pictographs are so delicate and water-logged that even the tremors of his passing cause huge flakes to peel off the walls and crumble as they float.

EXT DESERT DAY

The monitor shows a moving close shot of a number of the exquisite drawings. Each one represents the recurring theme of warding off the rain. Jack's hand reaches into frame and touches one. It falls to pieces and dissolves into increasingly murky water. Jack's voice comes over the radio.

JACK (O.S.)

I'm trying to get some samples of these, but they're just falling apart.

BARNEY

Jack Shannon: destroyer of priceless artifacts.

INT TUNNEL

The whole tunnel is now clouded with the suspended colors. It is difficult even to see Jack, aside from the light he is carrying.

JACK

It's no good. I'm going to move down the tunnel.

His light turns and heads farther into the darkness.

EXT DESERT DAY

Barney props his pack up like a pillow in front of the monitor and hauls out a comic book, "Bizarre Creatures from Outer Space".

JACK (O.S.)

I think the water's starting to get warmer.

INT TUNNEL

Suddenly, the pictographs end abruptly. A few feet beyond, a woven blanket blocks the passage. Jack stops in place and examines the design.

JACK

You getting this?

EXT DESERT DAY

Barney's attention is immediately riveted to the image on the screen.

JACK (O.S.)

Can you read it?

BARNEY

Yeah. It's a hex sign. It's supposed to damn your soul if you violate it.

JACK (O.S.)

Remember what Katie said: "Damn the hex signs, full speed ahead."

INT TUNNEL

Jack swims slowly up to the blanket and reaches to pull it back. As soon as he touches it, the fabric crumbles into bits that slowly settle to the tunnel floor. Jack trains his light on the area beyond the blanket, but is met with nothing but blackness.

JACK

The water's almost uncomfortably warm.

EXT DESERT DAY

Barney, seeing nothing on the dark screen, goes back to reading his comic book as Jack's voice comes over the speaker.

JACK (O.S.)

I don't mind telling you this is getting a little spooky....

The pages of the comic book show a dark scene in which a hideous monster bears down on a lone man.

BARNEY

You got that right.

JACK (O.S.)

I think I'm going to go in now....

We see by the image on the monitor that jack is moving toward the dark hole at the end of the tunnel.

INT INNER CHAMBER

No sooner has Jack entered the dark area, but he sees his light reflecting from above. He follows his bubbles and breaks the surface. He removes his helmet and treads water as he looks around with the light.

He is floating in a pools of water, bounded on all sides by a small ridge, two or three feet above water level. The ceiling, which is perhaps twenty feet above him, continues beyond the ridge to an area that can't be seen from his low level.

Jack looks around for a hand hold to enable him to hoist himself over the ridge. He spots a rock outcropping and swims over to it. Grabbing the jutting fragment, he manages to raise himself onto the top of the ridge. He looks up to see what is there and freezes.

EXT DESERT DAY

Jack's voice over the speaker.

JACK (O.S.)

You getting this?

Barney looks up from the comic book to glance at the monitor. His disinterest is replaced with disbelief as he grasps the image on the screen.

JACK (O.S.)

Barney?

BARNEY

Yeah... yeah, I see it.

We cut to the monitor. Like a huge soup bowl, a ten foot diameter depression has been carved, almost polished, into the hard volcanic rock in the center of the chamber. Several steam plumes hiss from the chamber floor around the bowl. Surrounding the depression are perhaps a dozen mummified tribesmen, chiefs by the look of their elaborate dress.

The corpses sit as if at a tribal meeting, staring lifelessly into the bowl. Intricate pictographs in a rainbow of colors cover literally every inch of the walls.

JACK (O.S.)

I'm going to move in a little closer.

The image on the monitor begins to shift.

INT INNER CHAMBER

Jack stands at the edge of the ridge and steps cautiously around the nearest corpses until he reaches an open area to one side of the bowl. Here, he stops for a brief look at a few of the pictographs. One shows what looks like an explosion of some sort. The Thunderbird painting from the outside chamber is repeated. There is an image of a screaming tribesman immersed in a bubble of water.

Shifting his attention, Jack kneels and examines one of the corpses, touching the dried flesh. The face just powders into dust on the chamber floor.

JACK

This is really strange.

BARNEY (O.S.)

You don't have to tell me that.

JACK

No. I mean this basin. The tribes around here weren't stone cutters. Even if they were, can you imagine trying to cut and polish pumice?

EXT DESERT DAY

BARNEY

I see your point. What the heck, Katie'll figure it out.

JACK (O.S.)

Yeah, I suppose.

The monitor stops on the center of the basin. There is some sort of clear, granulated crystalline material, maybe a gallon's worth, piled at the bottom.

BARNEY

What's that stuff in the bowl?

INT INNER CHAMBER

Jack fixes his gaze on the spot.

JACK

Wait a minute, I'll find out.

He starts toward the bowl intending to climb down, but as soon as he sets foot on the rock rim, he pulls back.

JACK

Whoa! That sucker is hot!

He looks around the chamber and sees a spear carried by one of the chiefs

JACK

Wait a minute.

He walks over and gives it a tug. The chief's hands fall off and crumble. Nevertheless, he has the spear. He walks back to the edge of the basin, leans over and prods the stuff at the bottom. It is completely fused together.

JACK

Son of a bitch. It's hard as a rock.

EXT DESERT DAY

BARNEY

Think you can chip off a piece?

JACK (O.S.)

Not from here. (PAUSE) Maybe if I dump some water on the rock it'll cool down long enough for me to get a chunk of it.

The monitor moves as Jack goes back to the pool and fills a sample bag with water.

INT INNER CHAMBER

Jack heads back to the basin and dumps the water onto the hot rock. Almost like an explosion, a blast of steam boils into the chamber. Jack throws himself away from the scalding air. No sooner has he hit ground when a series of earthquake-like shudders rock the chamber.

EXT DESERT DAY

Barney is knocked down by the force of the shaking as the monitor signal breaks up. As he rides out the rumbling, he looks incredulously at the new steam plumes rising from the ground around him. Jack's voice comes over the radio, though now it is partially broken up by static.

JACK (O.S.)

Bad idea... bad idea.

Barney grabs for the transmit switch.

BARNEY

You okay, Jack?! What's going on down there?

INT INNER CHAMBER

Clouds of steam are mushrooming not only around the basin, but throughout the chamber. Jack steadies himself and rises to his feet. From where he stands, he can't see into the basin, but he can see that the rock has begun to glow red-hot.

JACK

Yeah, I'm okay.

BARNEY (O.S.)

Speak to me.

JACK

I don't know what happened. I only poured a gallon of water and all hell broke loose. I don't see how that could've caused this.

BARNEY (O.S.)

It didn't.

JACK

What do you mean?

EXT DESERT DAY

Barney is looking toward the desert sand in the direction they came from. Water is flowing over the top of the ridge and down toward the lava tunnels. As it pours into a tunnel, another explosion rocks the area as steam shoots into the air.

BARNEY

The runoff from the storm. It's flowing into the pits.

INT INNER CHAMBER

BARNEY (O.S.)

You better get the hell out of there.

JACK

That bastard, Travis, must've closed the spillways. Katie's gonna be pissed.

BARNEY

Not as pissed as you're gonna be if you don't get up here fast.

JACK

Point well taken.

EXT DESERT DAY

JACK (O.S.)

Do I have time to get the sample?

BARNEY

Maybe, but don't stop for lunch.

JACK (O.S.)

Right.

Barney fiddles with the equipment, but can't get the image to come in.

BARNEY

Give me a running commentary, will ya? The monitor's on the fritz.

JACK (O.S.)

You got it.

INT INNER CHAMBER

Jack walks toward the basin cautiously, trying to find his way through the heavy steam. He stops at the edge and looks in. The stuff at the bottom is no longer there.

JACK

Damn. It's gone.

BARNEY (O.S.)

Must've vaporized.

JACK

Yeah.... I guess so. Okay, I'm coming up.

As he turns to leave the basin, we focus in on his feet. As soon as they are out of frame, a tickle of water begins to flow across the frame in the direction Jack left.

EXT DESERT DAY

Barney has his eye on the advancing water which is progressing slowly but inexorably toward them.

BARNEY

Time to pack it in, Jack.

JACK (O.S.)

On my way.

INT INNER CHAMBER

Jack secures his helmet and dives into the water, disappearing into its depths. At the water's edge the stream of water (hereinafter referred to as the WATER) puddles briefly, then flows into the pool.

INT TUNNEL

Jack swims past what remains of the woven blanket and on through the dark water, cloudy with suspended particles from the crumbling pictographs.

EXT DESERT DAY

Barney carefully watches the water advance. It pours into another one of the open holes, bursting into an explosive spray of steam.

BARNEY

How's it going?

JACK (O.S.)

I'm just leaving the tunnel.

BARNEY

Well hurry it up, will ya?

INT SIDE CHAMBER DAY

Jack pops to the surface and removes his helmet. He drops his air tank and squeezes through the narrow opening to the main shaft, while more explosions shake the rock around him.

INT TUNNEL

Back in the tunnel, only dimly illuminated by the spill of Jack's light in the side chamber, we can see something moving through the suspended paint. There is nothing directly visible, but there is a clear area of water, almost like a bubble without edges, that is moving down the tunnel, pushing the particles aside. It "flows" past us and toward the side chamber as the light is pulled away, plunging the tunnel into darkness.

INT SHAFT DAY

Jack ties the last know to secure the gear to the rope and hollers up to Barney.

JACK

Haul away.

EXT DESERT DAY

As Barney starts hoisting up the load, another pit explodes way too close to home. He looks over his shoulder and redoubles his efforts.

INT SIDE CHAMBER DAY

The "lump" of clear WATER bubbles to the surface, perhaps a little too high for a normal swell, almost as if it is looking around - getting its bearings, then flattens out as it submerges back into the murk.

INT SHAFT DAY

Jack looks up as Barney throws the rope back down.

BARNEY

Heads up.

The rope splashes into the water. Jack grabs wraps it around his hand to get a grip. He is about to start climbing up when the bubble of clear WATER surfaces near him, splits, and passes on either side of him. He starts.

JACK

What was that?

BARNEY

What?

JACK

I thought I felt something.

BARNEY

You wanna feel something? Hang around down there for a little longer.

Jack regrips the rope, lifts himself halfway out of the water toward the entrance of the pit, and is yanked down beneath the surface without warning.

EXT DESERT DAY

BARNEY

Jack!

Barney peers anxiously into the pit, then over his shoulder at the water that is almost upon them and then back into the pit.

INT SHAFT DAY

Jack bursts to the surface. For a moment, he is suspended, madly clawing at the WATER that unnaturally hangs in clumps to his body, flowing all over him and into his gaping mouth. Then, just as suddenly, his is borne beneath the surface once more.

EXT DESERT DAY

BARNEY

Jack!!!

Barney leaps at the rope and descends into the pit.

INT SHAFT DAY

Barney makes his way down halfway, then dives into the water. He surfaces, looking all around. He dives one more time and again surfaces, unable to find his partner. He turns in the chest-high water, unsure of what to do next. Suddenly, Jack pops to the surface again, his back toward us. Barney splashes across to the unmoving figure and turns him over. Jack's face and hands are completely shriveled as if all the liquid had been sucked from him. He looks exactly like the corpses and the painting of the tribesman in the bubble of water.

Barney starts and drops Jack back in the water. More explosions are heard from above. Barney makes his decision and turns toward the rope. He notices an odd swell of clear WATER moving toward him, through the debris. He backs toward the rope, then flails toward it as the WATER follows him.

He grabs the rope and climbs like a madman, his feet clearing the surface just before the WATER arrives at the bottom of the rope.

He gets several feet above the surface, gasping and grunting, when the WATER flows right up the rope after him. it is faster than he is. It catches up to his foot, then flows all over him, his mouth, his eyes. He struggles insanely, screaming, until his efforts loosen the piton holding the rope, which gives way. He grabs at it with both hands as he falls back into the pool. The force of his fall propels him beneath the surface. He doesn't come back up.

The surface calms. Suddenly, the surface churns up a storm, leaping wave-like toward the opening above. It is too high for the waves to reach.

EXT DESERT DAY

The advancing water has finally reached the edge of the pit. It flows over the video recorder and monitor, shorting them out. Notes on paper drift away. Finally, it flows over the edge, into the pit.

INT SHAFT DAY

The water comes down as a trickle, then a waterfall as the level above rises. Just as suddenly as the stormy waves began, they calm. A bulge forms at the bottom of the waterfall. Slowly, but deliberately, the bulge of WATER flows UP the waterfall toward the opening above.

INT INNER CHAMBER

The rising water in the pool begins to flow toward the bowl.

EXT DESERT DAY

The bulge of WATER makes its way over the lip of the pit and into a deeper pool, its passage evidenced by the floating notebook pages that are pushed out of the way.

INT INNER CHAMBER

The water crests the edge of the basin and splashes onto the red-hot rock.

EXT DESERT DAY

A huge steam explosion blasts from the mouth of the pit. Several feet away, the debris carried by the advancing water moves out of the way to reveal the WATER flowing against the current, back in the direction Jack and Barney had come from.

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER TWO:

"TRAVIS AND THE FLOOD"

Go to the "Dry Spell" Table of Contents


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