DOOM OPEN ON a vast sea of boiling lava, churning and spitting up into the dark sky. Smoke chokes the air, blotting out any light from above, the underside of acrid toxic clouds tinged orange from the glow of the sea. As we PULL BACK we now see that this is molten metal in a huge vat - we are in the midst of a refinery with heavily armored workers milling about. The logo of UAC - the Union Aerospace Corporation - is stamped onto every console, every suit, every door. Despite the omnipresent company name, the workers appear to be military. PULL BACK further, through an infinitesimally-tiny crack in the wall, and out of the refinery... EXT. PHOBOS The larger of Mars's two moons is dotted with factories and labs all over its pockmarked surface. Most of the buildings reside in one large crater. SUPERIMPOSE CAPTION: "Stickney Crater - Phobos moon". CUT TO: INT. HANGAR Several military transports are being prepped for takeoff. Pilots hurry to their stations. A proud-looking officer walks through the chaos, the classic military leader prototype - silver hair, strong chin, chest adorned with medals. This is COMMANDER KEEN and the pale look on his face betrays his brave posturing. He's being pursued by a fidgety man in glasses and a white labcoat, a man who shouts Keen's name and flaps his scientific clipboard angrily - DR. BILL RITCH. Keen pretends not to hear him. He passes by an armored Marine who captures Ritch's attention. RITCH (to Marine) Soldier! Detain him immediately! The Marine raises one cocky eyebrow and stares the doctor down. He's a broad-shouldered, badass-looking motherfucker, his face painted with sweat, grime and good ol' American brand testosterone. A descendant of Henry Rollins. CORPORAL FLYNN TAGGART hears the doctor's orders and doesn't move a muscle. RITCH I said STOP the commander, soldier! TAGGART I don't take orders from lab rats, Doc. RITCH I am the project leader at this facility! You work for me! TAGGART I work for the United States Marine Corps. RITCH The United States Marine Corps works for UAC!! Commander Keen has stopped to observe the confrontation. He backtracks to their position. COMMANDER KEEN Quit harassing my men, Ritch. RITCH I want you on that transport in five minutes, Commander! COMMANDER KEEN I'm not going to Deimos. RITCH (incredulous) This is a landmark event in human history and just like that you're going to turn your back on it? COMMANDER KEEN We signed on to provide security for your team. Now my men have been used for everything from washing windows to taking out the garbage. I will suffer those indignities but I will NOT stand by while you use my boys in your experiments! TAGGART Whoa, what's going on here? RITCH None of your concern, grunt, get back to work. (to Keen) General McGee has approved this test. And he wants you on Deimos. COMMANDER KEEN General McGee can kiss my red white and blue ass! He tears a handful of medals from his uniform and storms off. RITCH Commander! Taggart whistles and turns back to whatever manual labor he's performing. Ritch narrows his eyes and grabs the Marine's arm. RITCH I know who you are. You're the sergeant who got busted down to corporal after he punched out his superior officer. Taggart turns with a square-jawed smile. TAGGART I didn't punch him out. I broke his wrist. He holds his smile. Ritch slowly withdraws his hand. Just then, a sniveling little prick of a man, LT. WEEMS, walks over. Taggart grimaces and salutes the man. Weems returns the gesture. TAGGART Salute's a little off there, Weems. How's the wrist? LT. WEEMS Taggart, you're on waste disposal duty tonight. TAGGART Again, huh? Why am I not surprised? LT. WEEMS Maybe because you're getting what you deserve...Corporal. RITCH This one doesn't seem to have much respect for authority. LT. WEEMS That's all right. He's still good for something. Now Taggart, get down to the refinery and start hauling sludge. Weems smiles and walks off. Ritch gives Taggart one last, lingering look and heads to his transport. CUT TO: INT. REFINERY A Bruce Campbell-ish guy with a baseball cap and about half of the required armor is pushing a cart loaded with toxic waste barrels. Glowing green slime jostles about in the uncovered containers. Taggart walks into the disposal chamber and nods to his fellow soldier. TAGGART Guess who's back? DACOTE Ha! Imagine that. A younger grunt, SHIELD, enters lugging his own cart. SHIELD Hey Dacote! DACOTE Yo. SHIELD Whadda those letters on your hat mean? Dacote turns the baseball cap, which reads "AEOS", toward Shield. Taggart grins. SHIELD "Aerospace Engineering Officer..."? DACOTE "Ass End Of Space", pal. Now bring those barrels over here before they explode. SHIELD Ha ha ha, explode. Neither Dacote nor Taggart laugh. Shield hustles his cart over to a huge vat laid into the earth. TAGGART Might as well get my hands dirty. He crouches beside a barrel and lifts it up with monstrous strength. Shield watches in awe as Taggart dumps the entire thing into the vat. SHIELD So are we gonna get growths or anything from messing with this stuff? TAGGART You seen Dacote's chin? DACOTE Ha, nice. Look at your head. TAGGART Don't worry Shield, if this were lethal the Corps wouldn't be throwing it out. SHIELD Man, this is worse than KP. CUT TO: INT. PHOBOS LAB - COMMAND CONTROL A very pristine, state-of-the-art laboratory is filled with labcoats and military brass. Seated at the central console, beautiful DR. LORELEI CHEN coordinates the day's goings-on. Bald-headed Sergeant GOFORTH is surrounded by doctors who are putting various bits of monitoring equipment on his armor and limbs. Commander Keen watches uneasily from behind Chen's seat. COMMANDER KEEN What is all that, Doctor Chen? LORELEI CHEN It's necessary to monitor his vitals. COMMANDER KEEN Level with me here. What are his chances? LORELEI CHEN I don't really know, that's why we're running this test. Thinking that was maybe a bit harsh, she turns and smiles. LORELEI CHEN But I think he'll be just fine. The front wall separates into dozens of sections, like a Tetris board coming apart - and a huge archway covered in WARNING labels rumbles out. The other sections of the wall, which have split off & pistoned forth, lock onto the arch like fingers to secure its place. Sergeant Goforth looks up with a mixture of fear and wonder. LORELEI CHEN This is the Gateway, Sergeant. CUT TO: EXT. MARS - SPACE We revolve around the Red Planet, moving from Phobos to its smaller brother, Deimos. CUT TO: INT. DEIMOS LAB - COMMAND CONTROL Dr. Ritch enters a much different atmosphere. Armed Marines surround the Deimos Gateway. The scientists here look nervous. One of them points to the soldiers. TECHNICIAN What are they for? RITCH Peace of mind. Are we ready? TECHNICIAN Uploading coordinates as we speak. Um, where's Commander Keen? RITCH Commander Keen decided that he'd rather be court-martialed than witness history. Ritch turns to the others (many of whom keep working and ignore him) to make a grand speech. RITCH For months we've been teleporting barrels and vehicles between the moons of Mars. Today, we take an unprecedented step that will ensure Mankind's dominion over the physics of the very cosmos. Indeed, over God. He gets a few funny looks. Ritch is unhindered. RITCH (CONT'D) Today we will be receiving a human subject from the Phobos moon! Polite applause. Lieutenant Weems takes his place beside the doctor. CUT TO: INT. PHOBOS LAB - COMMAND CONTROL A technician hands Sgt. Goforth a pump shotgun. GOFORTH What's this for? TECHNICIAN We want to simulate an actual combat scenario. LORELEI CHEN Be careful, that's loaded. GOFORTH Yeah, I'll do my best. He slings the gun over his shoulder and turns to the archway. Bands of blue energy leap across the gate, crisscrossing until a solid wall of light has formed inside the arch. LORELEI CHEN Everyone to their stations! Commander Keen gives Sgt. Goforth a firm salute. COMMANDER KEEN I'm proud of you, son. GOFORTH Thank you sir. The technicians back off as the sergeant stands before the Gateway. He steps into the light. CUT TO: INT. DEIMOS LAB - COMMAND CONTROL The Deimos Gateway casts a similar glow upon the faces of the expectant scientists & their Marine escort. RITCH Status. TECHNICIAN In transit, sir. The Gateway crackles, fluctuates. A combat boot steps out, met with a unanimous gasp. Then Goforth comes out, looking exactly as he did when he went in, maybe a little shaky, but intact and alive. RITCH Shut down the Gateway. He smiles from ear-to-ear and heads down to congratulate the sergeant. Goforth drops the shotgun from his shoulder. The Marines tense. RITCH Sergeant? Goforth coughs and doubles over. RITCH Sergeant? Are you... The unfortunate Marine looks back up with eyes glowing red. One of his fellow soldiers steps forward to offer a hand. Goforth offers a shotgun blast to his stomach. Everyone watches in horrified bewilderment as the shot Marine careens over a computer console. Hitting the floor, a web of guts sprays out from beneath him, splattering the face of a stunned Dr. Ritch. Lt. Weems's jaw flaps, but no sound comes out. The other soldiers gape at their superior. LT. WEEMS K-K-KILL HIM!!! Goforth roars and takes out the nearest grunt with a headshot. The rest open up on him. He flies back into the Gateway under a blistering barrage of limb-chewing gunfire. RITCH SHUT IT DOWN!! A FLAMING SKULL shoots out of the light like a missile, straight into Weems's chest! The lieutenant says something inaudible and looks down at the smoldering thing, like a great big burning marshmallow, only eating through his armor and devouring his heart. RITCH Jesus! Pandemonium erupts. More of the flaming skulls - now screaming in horrid delight - pour out of the Gateway and attack the humans. These Lost Souls tear into the limbs and torsos of their victims with rabid glee as panicked bursts of gunfire send others to their pathetic deaths. Ritch drops behind a console, watching as the legs of a seated technician jerk spastically. He looks up in hopes of seeing a friendly face - but a ghoulish grin bathed in fire returns the stare. In the center of the melee, a severely-wounded soldier stands up, blood spreading rapidly across his midsection. Another Marine watches as his side splits open, and his entrails slop out. The soldier doesn't fall. Instead, his eyes glaze over and he shoots his comrade. The blue light of the gateway shifts abruptly to crimson, painting red those surfaces which weren't already covered in gore. A sobbing Ritch crawls toward the exit. A female tech drops in front of him with her face eaten away. She grabs his arm and shrieks. One last brave Marine climbs on top of a console and rains lead down on the Lost Souls and undead soldiers. They sweep up in a wave to overwhelm him. With his demise, the room falls silent, save for a series of low grunting noises, the sounds of feet shuffling through debris and innards, the dead without purpose milling around in their own filth. Ritch pries his arm free of the deceased technician and heads for the exit on his elbows. A huge, clawed, brown foot comes down to block his escape. RITCH Oh dear. CUT TO: INT. PHOBOS LAB - COMMAND CONTROL Dr. Chen stares at her computer monitor in confusion. COMMANDER KEEN Well? Did it work? LORELEI CHEN I...it's gone. COMMANDER KEEN What's gone? What do you mean? LORELEI CHEN Deimos. It's gone. COMMANDER KEEN That's impossible! She swivels away from the console and shows him her monitor. LORELEI CHEN It's disappeared from the starmap. COMMANDER KEEN Give me a satellite image! He points to a tech who brings up the image on a large flatscreen for all to see. Indeed, the smaller moon has ceased to be. COMMANDER KEEN How? (looking at Chen) Why?! The Phobos Gateway turns blood-red. COMMANDER KEEN Marines!! The scant few officers in the room draw their sidearms. COMMANDER KEEN (to Chen) I'd get out of here if I were you. LORELEI CHEN I'm not going anywhere. They both turn to face the crimson light. CUT TO: INT. REFINERY Taggart sits back with a yawn, and Dacote presses a can of beer into his hand. DACOTE You got tomorrow off? TAGGART Yeah. DACOTE Asshole. TAGGART Hey, if Weems had his way I'd be living in that sludge. DACOTE I swear that guy's heartless. Shield frowns as his radio headset crackles. SHIELD Come again? Hello? This is PFC Shield! Taggart and Dacote smirk and, glancing at one another, start chugging their beers as fast as they can. SHIELD My headset's on the fritz. TAGGART What else is new? He crumples his beer can and tosses it aside - Dacote is no more than halfway through his. TAGGART You owe me a dollar. DACOTE Dammit. Taggart grabs his headset from his belt and slips it on. TAGGART Let's see what's going on. Maybe there's a puke stain that needs cleaned up. He switches on his radio - and recoils as a staticky scream tears into his brain. RADIO VOICE ALL MARINES TO PHOBOS LAB IMMEDIATELY! GET THE FUCK DOWN HERE! JESUS H. CHRI- - The transmission ends. SHIELD Your headset work? TAGGART We gotta get going. DACOTE What's up? TAGGART Something at the lab. Doesn't sound good. He draws his standard-issue Beretta (a retro classic) and nods to the others. DACOTE You're kidding, right? TAGGART You know how shitty my sense of humor is. Dacote grabs his gun. CUT TO: EXT. PHOBOS LAB It's always night on Phobos. A small Jeep-like rover pulls up to the closed gate, and the three Marines get out, wearing full armor and combat helmets. TAGGART Looks like we gotta let ourselves in. The lab compound is eerily quiet. Taggart grabs the gate and slides it open. DACOTE O-kaaaay. TAGGART Can you raise anyone on your radio? DACOTE Nope. SHIELD I don't like this. TAGGART Really? I think it's fucking great. He crouches and scampers across the soil, ducking behind a crate, then running to another rover. There are several vehicles, in fact, parked around the compound in haphazard fashion, and countless footprints crisscrossing each other in the dirt. But no people. TAGGART Anybody out there? Dacote joins him. DACOTE I have a feeling we got here too late. TAGGART This place is deserted, man. Doesn't make sense. DACOTE They could be inside. TAGGART With all their radios turned off? Dacote shrugs and un-Velcros a pocket on his thigh armor. He pulls out a thin, silvery bill. TAGGART What's this? DACOTE That dollar I owe ya. TAGGART Don't. DACOTE We gotta go in there, and I don't think we're gonna like it. Taggart snatches the dollar and stuffs it back into Dacote's pocket. Shield finally makes his way to the rover. TAGGART Let's lock 'n' load. They creep around the vehicle and plant themselves on either side of an entrance. DACOTE Should we knock? TAGGART Eh, why the hell not? He steps back, shoots the door twice and delivers a punishing kick that blows it off its hinges. INT. PHOBOS LAB - CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS Flickering lights. Blood-splattered walls. Not a soul in sight. TAGGART Shit. SHIELD Hey, I think I've got somebody! They all reach to their helmets to adjust their radios. A guttural sound comes over the airwaves. SHIELD Hello? TAGGART Kid. Zip it. He scans the hall, his Beretta following his gaze all the way. Dacote slips past him and checks a nearby door. DACOTE Unlocked. TAGGART Go for it. Dacote punches a keypad and the door retracts into the ceiling. INT. MINILAB - CONTINUOUS There are no working lights at all in the small room. They can make out cabinets flung open and equipment smashed on the floor. Dacote pops out a flashlight, slaps it a few times and assesses the damage. DACOTE We ain't cleaning this up. SHIELD (O.S.) Ordover! TAGGART Huh? Taggart backs into the hall and sees Shield waving to an injured PFC. SHIELD It's Ordover! Hey man! Ordover glances up and shoots Shield in the chest. TAGGART Shield!! The young Marine turns to Taggart with a confused smile. Then he crumples. TAGGART Shiiiiiiiiiit!! Ordover draws a bead on him. Taggart puts one right between his eyes. Ordover stumbles, a bit, and resumes his firing position. TAGGART Eh? He empties his entire clip into the zombified private. Ordover drops. DACOTE The hell?? TAGGART Did you see his eyes? DACOTE What? TAGGART HIS EYES!! DACOTE NO!! There's a grunt from the shadows. Two more undead step into the corridor; one holds a pistol, and the other an axe. TAGGART Gimme a clip. DACOTE Don't got one. TAGGART Hell. He turns and rips open a locker mounted on the wall. Among other power tools is a small chainsaw. DACOTE Nice. (to zombies) Fellas? Let's call it a night, huh? The undead advance. Dacote drops into a marksman's stance and pops off a few rounds into the one with the gun. Headshot, headshot, headshot. Blood streams down the PFC's face. Its only reaction is to raise its pistol. DACOTE Flynn...! The chainsaw roars to life just as the axe zombie lunges forward. The saw's whirring teeth meet the axe blade in a shower of sparks, and both combatants lean into their weapons, coming face to ugly face. Dacote nails the gun zombie in the kneecap. It sags, grabs onto the wall for support, and keeps coming. Taggart pushes the axe aside and tears into the zombie's meat. Its eyes widen and it grabs his arm, trying to pull the saw out. Taggart ain't having that. DACOTE I'm out!! The axe comes at Taggart's head; he throws an arm out to block it and the saw turns in the undead's bowels, spewing putrid innards all over the corporal. TAGGART Hang on!! The saw kicks off of the zombie's spine and goes up into his ribs. It's a real fucking mess. Taggart spits its own guts into its face and pulls back his fist. TAGGART Try this on for size! WHAM! A wrecking-ball haymaker crashes into the PFC's evil face, and his entire upper half tears free at the waist. He snatches the axe out of the air and plants it just behind the gun zombie's ear. DACOTE 'Bout time. TAGGART You owe me two dollars. The zombie lazily rolls one eye and shoots Dacote through the throat. TAGGART NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! He yanks the axe out and hacks the miserable bastard to pieces, spraying himself with blood and bone, screaming as he beats its brain matter into mush. The zombie slides down the wall and comes to rest on the floor, beside Dacote. Taggart crouches and touches his friend's arm. Gone. TAGGART I'm sorry man... Words cannot describe his grief, nor his rage, so he takes the zombie's pistol, along with the chainsaw, and heads deeper into the base. CUT TO: INT. WORK AREA Shattered fluorescent lights hang precariously from the ceiling, a few of them offering momentary glimpses of overturned shelves and splintered desks. Rows and rows of blood-streaked cubicles stretch across the arena-like room, and Taggart stays close to the wall, looking for any sign of life or unlife. He steps around a swinging light fixture and sees a shadow bobbing at his rear. Taggart ducks just in time to avoid being laid out by the butt of a shotgun. A sergeant has crept up behind him, and quickly flips the shotgun into a firing position. Taggart rolls aside as the light explodes. The sergeant growls and pumps the gun. Taggart rises, puts two bullets in the sergeant's head and while the zombie is "distracted", swings the chainsaw in a sweeping arc. The undead's head bounces into a cubicle. The victor claims the shotgun, putting the pistol into a compartment on his armor. TAGGART Any more of ya out there?? HUH?! A few moans come at him from various directions. The swinging lights catch a few shadows in motion. TAGGART C'mon...come to papa... What steps into the light is the last thing he expected: IMPS - brown, leathery skin studded with bone spurs, glowing demonic eyes, and huge claws which brim with living fire. He actually hesitates a half-second before blowing the first one away. It skids back on its heels, spitting blood. If it bleeds... Another one comes at him from the side. Taggart pivots and delivers a decimating blow just beneath its chain. Shattered bone scatters like pebbles across the floor. He readies the chainsaw as another one comes at him. A fourth Imp slashes his back! TAGGART Aaaaah!! He drops to his knees and shoots the fourth one. The third stops, just outside the chainsaw's range, and his fiery claws form a huge ball of flame. TAGGART Shit! The fireball hits him right in the breastplate. He smashes through a cubicle wall, which collapses on top of him; he kicks it into the air and lets loose another shotgun blast. The Imp goes down. He creeps over to one of the nasty corpses and peers at its closed eyes. TAGGART What the fuck are you? CU - a tiny fireball begins spawning in its palm. There's an orange gleam in the corner of Taggart's eye. He smiles grimly...and blows the Imp's hand off. TAGGART Aliens. Fucking aliens. I can't believe this. Grabbing the dead sergeant's leg, he hauls the corpse over and fishes through the pockets for ammo. A few shells, nothing more. TAGGART Looks like we're on a tight budget, Flynn. Gonna wanna to hang on to these. He winces and pries off his torso armor. He can't see the four black slashes across his back, but he can sure as hell feel them. TAGGART Infirmary. An inhuman roar echoes through the room. Whatever it is, it isn't far away. Taggart gathers his shit and gets going. CUT TO: INT. INFIRMARY PAN OVER an array of discarded syringes, gauze, and empty stimpacks - first-aid kits - spread over a countertop. Taggart is squatted down behind the counter, tending to a few scrapes. TAGGART All right. Got me a few stimpacks, I'll be fine. How many of these fuckers can there be? An instrument clatters on the floor. He grabs the shotgun and listens intently. A heavy object drags across the floor. Then silence. TAGGART Speak! No response. Taggart stands up and stares right into the glistening pink face of a porcine DEMON! TAGGART WHOA!! He backpedals into the wall and fires. Misses. The Demon leaps onto the counter, its eyes yellow and soulless. It snorts at its next meal. Then it lunges - Taggart rams the shotgun down its throat, stopping its huge fangs just inches from his fingers. TAGGART Taste this, pinky! The back of the Demon's wide head blows open like a geyser, showering the infirmary with gore. It falls on Taggart, pinning him to the floor. TAGGART Get offa me! He rolls the thing aside and wipes himself off. Then he hears more snorting. TAGGART Great great great. Strapping his armor back on, he crawls out from the behind the counter and looks to the doorway. There's a growl, then a muffled explosion. Could it be another Marine? He hurries into the hall- - Only to find an Imp and Demon fighting in the corridor! The Imp's arm is caught in the Demon's slobbery maw, and it's slamming fireball after fireball into one charred eyeball as the Demon tears at its gut. The Imp shoves its entire fist into the Demon's eye socket. Fire blows out the thing's ass, and it falls into a dead sitting position. TAGGART Hey. The Imp looks up in surprise. TAGGART I play winner. He brings the chainsaw out. CUT TO: INT. ANOTHER CORRIDOR Taggart moves very slowly, whispering to himself. TAGGART So these things don't all get along, huh? Helluvan army I'm dealing with here. How did these goons manage to wipe out our boys? The COMMAND CONTROL sign up ahead, adorned with the UAC logo, catches his eye. TAGGART Okay. Here we go. He takes a few breaths, psyching himself up, and enters. INT. COMMAND CONTROL - CONTINUOUS The lab has become an abattoir rivaling the Deimos massacre. Bodies are strewn everywhere - more accurately, body parts. Long skewers made of bone are jammed into the consoles and walls. Marines are impaled on them. There's no time to mourn. Taggart sweeps the area, all the while eyeing the red Gateway, still active, pulsating at the other end of the room. TAGGART What have we been doing here at Phobos base? He wipes the blood from a monitor and checks the readout. TAGGART A gateway? To where? LORELEI CHEN (O.S.) Deimos. He turns and gets a shard of metal jabbed into his neck, stopping just short of piercing the carotid artery. Lorelei Chen is drenched with gore and not in a mood to fuck around. LORELEI CHEN You human? TAGGART Yeah, I'm human. LORELEI CHEN How do I know? TAGGART Because you're still breathing, sweetie. He slaps her arm away. TAGGART Is this room secure? LORELEI CHEN I think so. TAGGART It either is or it isn't. Any other survivors? LORELEI CHEN Just one. She points to a darkened corner. Taggart warily makes his way forward. TAGGART Commander... COMMANDER KEEN You might want to think about falling back. Keen's body is riddled with stab wounds. It looks like he was a chewtoy for a pack of Demons. Taggart removes his helmet & kneels beside his superior, nothing to do but to watch him die. TAGGART I'm the last one, sir. COMMANDER KEEN Ah. He coughs up some bile and sighs. COMMANDER KEEN De...destroy... TAGGART The Gateway? COMMANDER KEEN No...no son. You destroy the Gateway, UAC will build another one. And whatever's they are...they'll be waiting. (beat) Destroy THEM. Taggart nods solemnly. COMMANDER KEEN (O.S.) Here. He gives the corporal a red keycard. COMMANDER KEEN On...Deimos...there's a weapon. But you'll need two other keys...yellow and blue. TAGGART Where are they sir? COMMANDER KEEN The other project leaders have them... He's wracked with a series of painful coughs. Blood trickles from each of his wounds. Taggart cradles the commander with Dr. Chen looking on. COMMANDER KEEN Get the weapon. Kill 'em all, Corporal. Give those sons of bitches what for. TAGGART I will, sir. The commander nods, forces a smile, and dies. TAGGART A weapon on Deimos. LORELEI CHEN There is no weapon. TAGGART What? LORELEI CHEN There is no Deimos. It's gone. TAGGART The fuck are you talking about? You heard the man! LORELEI CHEN I'm telling you, Deimos has vanished! Taggart glares at her, then at the Gateway. TAGGART Where does that thing lead? LORELEI CHEN Well...Deimos... TAGGART Then I'm going to fucking Deimos. He sticks the chainsaw onto his utility belt and pumps the shotgun. LORELEI CHEN What about me? TAGGART We're getting you out of here. C'mon. CUT TO: INT. HANGAR The hangar is largely undisturbed. Either no one thought to try & flee, or no one had the chance. Taggart pulls Chen along behind a row of fuel tanks. LORELEI CHEN (whispering) We'll never make it out of here without drawing their attention! TAGGART I know. That's why I'm going to cover you. LORELEI CHEN What? He turns and speaks slowly, pantomiming his words. TAGGART You. Get in ship. Fly away. I stay and shoot monsters. LORELEI CHEN I'm not leaving you. TAGGART I have my orders, Doc. He points to a tiny transport across the way. TAGGART (CONT'D) That's your ride. No point in arguing, Chen follows him. TAGGART Hug the wall. His eyes dart from space to space. Is it really going to be this easy? Nah. Something shrieks across the hangar, and two pinpoints of light quickly expand to become twin rockets hurtling toward Taggart & Chen. TAGGART DOWN!! He shoves her under a transport and ducks just as the rockets speed by. They crash into the fuel tanks. BAROOM!!! The entire rear wall of the hangar is blistered by the explosion. Taggart spins through the air into the hull of a dropship. TAGGART Unnh... The REVENANT reveals itself - a lanky armored skeleton with two shoulder-mounted bazookas. It screams again as its empty eye sockets fix themselves on the Marine. TAGGART Holy jeez! It fires both barrels! He throws the chainsaw out, and one rocket swerves to hit it. He barely dodges the other one, which takes out a transport. TAGGART Get to the ship, Doc! Chen scrambles out from her hiding place and sprints. The Revenant spies her, crouches to fire. TAGGART Hey tiny! The Revenant looks back to him. He aims for one of the bazookas, fires. The bazooka explodes on the monster's shoulder. It cartwheels into a cargo ship, bounces to the floor. Gets right back up with an angered howl. Chen is halfway across the hangar. Taggart starts in the opposite direction. TAGGART C'mon!! The Revenant fires its remaining rocket, and Taggart slides under a dropship, coming out the other side just before it blows up. He repeats the move again, another transport blown to bits. The Revenant is on his heels, taking out ship after ship in a domino display of fireballs and flying debris. Charred steel ricochets off the walls and carves ugly wounds into the floor as Taggart rolls frantically from shelter to shelter, hurdling over each flaming obstacle. Chen pulls open the hatch of her transport. It opens six inches, then catches and won't budge. LORELEI CHEN No! The Revenant hears her and changes course! Taggart tags it with a shotgun blast. TAGGART We're not through here! Another rocket heads his way. Chen wedges her shoulder beneath the hatch and pushes with all her might. LORELEI CHEN PLEASE!! She doesn't notice the Imp clambering over the top of the ship. Taggart does. TAGGART Doc! He races toward her. The Revenant scrambles over a burning heap and follows. Chen closes her eyes and heaves her entire body. The hatch pops open - smacking the Imp in the face and sending it flying. LORELEI CHEN Huh? She looks over her shoulder to see Taggart and the Revenant coming. LORELEI CHEN What are you doing?! The Revenant fires. It's going to hit Taggart. Chen leaps off of the side of the transport, tackling him- - The rocket crashes into the ship- - The ensuing fireball engulfs the shell-shocked Imp. And the Revenant lets out one last incredulous scream before it's decapitated by the hatch. Chen and Taggart lie in a stunned embrace on the floor. TAGGART What. The. Fuck. LORELEI CHEN You tell me. He shakes her off. TAGGART One of those things was coming for you! LORELEI CHEN And you led the other one right to me! TAGGART Yeah- -and then you- - (throws his arms in the air) Well, that was your ship! Shaking his head in disdain, Taggart coughs on the encroaching smoke. TAGGART We've gotta move. LORELEI CHEN Where?! TAGGART Back to Command Control! Look, you help me and I promise I'll get you out of here once I've done what I need to do. All right? She crosses her arms and steps away from him. TAGGART Go with me or go alone! CUT TO: INT. CORRIDOR The pair make their way back from whence they came. LORELEI CHEN I want a gun. Taggart gives her the zombie's pistol. She looks enviously at his shotgun. He scowls. TAGGART You wanna take point? LORELEI CHEN Fair enough. They've reached Command Control; Chen enters a code to open the door. INT. COMMAND CONTROL The Gateway continues to cast its ominous glow over the lab. Taggart pulls the headset off of a dead soldier. TAGGART Here. LORELEI CHEN What's this for? TAGGART So we can keep in touch, honey. LORELEI CHEN You're really going. She drops the attitude. Taggart isn't about to do the same. He scavenges the human remains for ammo. TAGGART Yeah, I'm really going. You stay here and stabilize the Gateway or whatever it is they pay you to do. LORELEI CHEN You realize that you may never come back... TAGGART Do you really think that hasn't crossed my mind at all today? Satisfied with his haul, he slips on his helmet and faces the pulsating gate. Chen reluctantly puts on the headset. TAGGART Test. LORELEI CHEN I hear you. TAGGART Talk to you soon, then. LORELEI CHEN I hope so. Without turning, he speaks to her. TAGGART Name's Flynn Taggart. LORELEI CHEN Chen. Lorelei. TAGGART Look...sorry about the hangar. It was my fault. I was trying to help. LORELEI CHEN I know you were. He reaches tentatively toward the shimmering red wall. His fingertips pierce it. He shudders. LORELEI CHEN You all right? TAGGART Ask me again in five minutes. He takes a deep breath and goes for it. CUT TO: THE RIFT TAGGART'S POV: We fly at hyperspeed through a dazzling sea of red light with white lightning crackling all throughout, an interdimensional pathway shifting and tearing and being reborn a million times a second, the fabric of the very cosmos. We fly through it and then come out on the other side. CUT TO: INT. DEIMOS LAB - COMMAND CONTROL Taggart flies out of the Gateway and rolls under a console. The floor is caked with burnt guts. That's the first thing he notices. The next is the Gateway itself; the arch is now covered in gore, etched with arcane symbols, dripping intestinal fluid in huge puddles on the floor. Red and blue lights flash from all sides as computers work overtime to maintain the infernal portal. A long mechanical leg peeks over the top of the arch. It's followed by another, and another...and another...and another. An eight-legged cybernetic monstrosity with a gnashing head that looks like raw meat - an ARACHNOTRON - perches atop the Gateway and squeals. Taggart backs out of view as other Arachnotrons climb onto the arch. TAGGART They're taking it apart... CHEN (HEADSET) What? TAGGART I'm here Doc. Keep quiet. He ventures another peek at the lab. Arachnotrons scuttle across the ceiling, hauling wires and sheets of metal in their pincers. Undead PFCs stand guard against the walls. He looks in the other direction and sees a pile of bloody skulls. An Imp walks by, kicking one past him. Beyond those skulls is a clear path to the exit. He eases himself out. The Imp is picking up a steel beam, its back to Taggart. Trying to keep his eyes on all of the busy creatures, he sidesteps toward the exit. The sound of his leg plowing into the pile of skulls is like a china cabinet falling on its face at a fucking funeral. He freezes in place, grimacing as every single monstrosity in the room turns toward him. TAGGART Fuck you guys. Taggart races toward the exit - an Imp appears in it - he makes a sharp left and a leap into an open ventilation duct! INT. SHAFT The corporal sails into the ductwork, careening off the walls and plummeting into a diagonal shaft which is soon lit by fireballs. Yep, the Imp is after him and having quite a time itself, somersaulting off the ceiling, tossing flames in every direction. Taggart swivels on his back so that he's facing the horrid creature and fires the shotgun between his legs. The blast catches the Imp's shoulder and grinds its face against the wall; still it keeps coming. TAGGART HAVING FUN YET?! The Imp lobs a ball straight at him. He manages to roll aside, returns the favor. INT. SEWER TUNNEL - CONTINUOUS Taggart smashes through a grate and lands in filthy brown water up to his waist. It fills his eyes and mouth and he flails madly, spitting and coughing. The Imp slams into his back. They both go under. Taggart surfaces with demon in hand and slugs the ugly fucker in the mouth. TAGGART Have a drink on me! He dunks its head. The Imp's arms flail wildly, each blooming fireball extinguished with a splash. Finally it stops struggling. His joints bruised & aching, Taggart pulls himself onto a concrete ledge and rips a syringe from a stimpack on his belt. TAGGART Ah, military-issue painkillers. Sugar water straight to my heart. Thanks Congress. Chucking the syringe, he rests against the wall, getting a good look at his surroundings. The sewer tunnels are enormous, with walls and ledges of mossy brick & rivers of vile waste carved into the floor. TAGGART Okay. First things first, I gotta find those yellow and blue keys. Project leaders... He starts slogging thorough the water. TAGGART Chen, ya hear me? CHEN (HEADSET) Loud and clear. What was all that? TAGGART Just washing up. Listen Doc, who are the other project leaders? CHEN (HEADSET) Well, there's Doctor Ritch...and Lieutenant Weems. TAGGART Weems. Figures. (beat) You know anything about the layout of the sewage system? CHEN (HEADSET) I might be able to download an automap into your helmet. TAGGART That'll work. The water bubbles at his back; Taggart spins and sees the dead Imp surfacing. TAGGART Ha ha. CHEN (HEADSET) Here it comes. TAGGART'S POV: The inside of his visor is lit up with a digitized image of the labyrinth that is the sewage system. CHEN (HEADSET) The south pumping station is right below Deimos Command. TAGGART (V.O.) Then that's where I am. INT. SEWER TUNNEL He snaps the visor up. TAGGART Exit is straight ahead, first shithole on my right. CHEN (HEADSET) Good luck. TAGGART Taggart out. He resumes his slogging. CUT TO: INT. ANOTHER TUNNEL Driftwood and oily pools sweep past Taggart's legs. There seems to be an obstruction up ahead. Several Marines lie in various states of mutilated decay before an enormous gray mass clogging the tunnel: a bulbous, rank thing like a huge turd. TAGGART Chen. CHEN (HEADSET) Yeah? TAGGART How old is that friggin' automap? CHEN (HEADSET) I don't know, why? TAGGART Because there's something blocking the tunnel, and it looks like I wasn't the first poor bastard to get cornered down here. He spies one Marine cradling a double-barrelled "super" shotgun. TAGGART Hello there. Grabbing the weapon and dropping the pump shotgun into his other hand, he turns to face whatever horror claimed the lives of these troops. Unbeknownst to Taggart, the turd pulsates. A gash opens in its crown, revealing a huge yellow eye. Below the eye appears an even bigger mouth. Taggart frowns and whirls around. The thing clams up. TAGGART Huh? A roar from down the tunnel. A chaingun-wielding sergeant! Taggart submerges as a torrent of gunfire sprays the water. Bits of brick and steel fly out from the walls. The turd thing lets out a yelp as it's struck. The red-eyed gunner advances on Taggart's position as belt after belt of ammo is sucked greedily into the whirring chaingun. He's tearing the tunnel apart and our hero is nowhere to be seen. Taggart launches himself out of the water and empties both barrels of the super shotgun. The sergeant's chest opens up like an instant autopsy, and he staggers, but quickly regains his footing. But in that split second, the chaingun has spun down, and it's just enough time for Taggart to slap two shells into his weapon and spit them into the gunner's face with a thunderclap. He snaps up the chaingun before it hits the water. Score. Taggart nudges the corpse away and admires his prize. The turd-thing opens its yellow eye. TAGGART What the fuck did these guys eat? It spits a flaming skull at him! Taggart dives and the skull skips over the water, makes a shrieking U-turn. The Lost Soul's gruesome mother, the PAIN ELEMENTAL, answers its shriek by belching out several more Souls which instantly home in on Taggart. He bats one aside with the chaingun and feeds a shell to another. The Elemental squirms and births more & more of the screaming fireballs. They swarm around Taggart, nipping at his limbs, squawking at one another. They're going to eat him alive. He drops the chaingun - a Soul swallows his fist! With a mighty roar he punches the skull right into one of its siblings - the collision results in a deafening explosion. The others scatter in fright. TAGGART YEAH!! They prepare to make a second run at him. He revs up the chaingun. TAGGART Bring it. They come at him as one yowling wall of fire, and the chaingun cuts into the ranks in a series of blinding bursts, sending Souls off-course into one another, into the wall, into the water with loud sizzles. The Pain Elemental belches at his rear. He lobs the super shotgun over his shoulder and gives her a taste. The Elemental twists in agony - and a stream of water sprays out from behind it. TAGGART Well well well. The Elemental opens her maw, and a bright red newborn skull appears in her fiery belly. Taggart points the chaingun straight at it. TAGGART Swallow this. The Elemental is deflated with a wet fart, smoke spewing from its blubbery lips; and the water that it was blocking comes surging forth, sweeping Taggart off his feet and extinguishing the remaining Lost Souls. The Marine bounces off the ceiling and is ground against the tunnel floor in the space of one second. He's being battered more by the water than anything the demons can throw at him. Down the tunnel, around the corner, speeding past rotting soldiers and jutting stalactites made of blood. Taggart grabs one of the ruddy spurs and holds on for dear life. The water eventually calms, goes down. He's got a foot or so of breathing room. A chattering skull floats by. CHEN (HEADSET) Taggart! TAGGART Present. CHEN (HEADSET) I found an alternate route that'll take you outside. TAGGART Hey, thanks. You're a lifesaver. CUT TO: INT. MAINTENANCE SHAFT Taggart is staring up a ladder which makes for a good hundred foot climb. On his right and left are radiation suits hanging from hooks. TAGGART Where does this lead, exactly? CHEN (HEADSET) Toxic disposal. TAGGART Don't that beat all. He grabs one of the hoods and pulls it over his helmet. With the chainsaw and shotguns strapped to his back, Taggart slowly & awkwardly ascends the ladder. Glowing green sludge drizzles on his hood. He shakes it off and keeps going. The top of the shaft is capped by a huge hatch. Grabbing the handle, Taggart braces his legs against the wall and twists. The handle groans, bends, and gives way, flakes of rust and toxic grime falling away. A good heave and the hatch flies open. EXT. DEIMOS BASE - HELL Taggart is surrounded by barrels as far as the eye can see; barrels brimming with unstable waste, all packed together in a fenced-in pen. As unappealing a sight as that is, it's nothing compared to the terrain beyond. The skies are blood-red and churning with something dark and cloudy, but not clouds at all; something alive. Jagged black mountains rivaling Earth's highest peaks stab into the stratosphere. Beneath the sky's blanket of writhing horrors, pyres burn at regular intervals, and great heaping piles of baking guts can be seen through the shimmering heat. Imps stalk across the barren wasteland, casting fireballs at humans who wriggle like worms on wooden stakes. CHEN (HEADSET) Taggart? What do you see? TAGGART ...Hell. He squeezes between rows of barrels, pulling off the radiation hood and flipping up his visor. A stinging heat accompanied by the odor of aeons-old decay blasts his face. Mars's moon has been assimilated into the bowels of the netherworld. So has the base itself: the entire compound is covered in gore and bizarre configurations of bone. TAGGART Deimos is in Hell. They're not aliens, they're fucking demons. I'm in fucking Hell. CUT TO: INT. PHOBOS LAB - COMMAND CONTROL Chen looks at up at the crimson Gateway but refuses to accept his description. CHEN Listen to what you're saying... Even as she tries to find the right words to counter Taggart's revelation, her eyes wander from corpse to mutilated corpse in the lab. A halved PFC twitches on the floor and reaches out for her, his eyes pink & empty. CHEN Taggart, you've got to get out of there. CUT TO: EXT. DEIMOS BASE - HELL An unholy roar calls the corporal's attention to a pile of rocks just outside the pen. A horned monstrosity with cloven hooves and a bulldog's fanged jaw - a BARON OF HELL - points straight at him. TAGGART Hold that thought! He drops his visor. The Baron unleashes a green fireball from its hands. Taggart knocks every barrel out of his path and tears toward the fence as the fireball slams into the waste dump, setting off a brilliant chain reaction of pounding explosions. The earth trembles beneath Taggart's feet as he scrambles. The wall of fire behind him is swelling at an exponential rate and he'll be ash in mere seconds. He leaps - slams into the fence - the fire hits him. Taggart is kicked into the air like a puny rag doll. He screams all the way down. ...And down, hitting a rocky slope and sliding into what can only be a river of blood. Taggart surfaces and flings the grue from his arms, hauling his ass onto shore and dumping every sidearm onto the ground. Slamming shells into the super. Pumping the single-barrel while feeding an ammo belt into the chaingun. He aims up the slope and waits. A series of cries echo across the wasteland. They increase in both number and proximity. The Baron's coming and he's bringing a few friends. TAGGART If there's a Devil then there's a God. And if you can hear me, old man, there's just one thing I wanna say. The Baron appears on the hilltop with a contingent of Imps. Taggart hefts the chaingun in this fucking badass pose. TAGGART Rock 'n' roll. He charges up the slippery slope with guns blazing. The Baron roars and sends his troops down. The chaingun chews their knees out, sending the Imps somersaulting past Taggart; he pummels the Baron with shotgun blasts, eliciting an accordion-like howl of pain. Taggart falls to his knees in the rocks and crosses his arms, taking out an Imp with each gun and watching them sail into the river. The Baron clutches its spewing intestines and fires at him. TAGGART Eat American lead, scumbag!! The next shot shears off one of the Baron's horns. It loses hold of its guts and watches them spill out. Still the Baron refuses to die. It slides towards Taggart on its hands and knees. Soon they're face to face. The six-chambered chaingun nuzzles the creature's blood streaked jaw. It mutters something incomprehensible in its evil tongue. TAGGART Go to here. He vaporizes the fucker. Taggart raises his arms in a victory cry that shakes the heavens of Hell. Then he stomps up the hill and back towards Deimos Base. There's a crashed rover leaning against a boulder. He throws the door open and sees the fried sergeant inside. More importantly, he sees a rocket launcher. Taggart straps on the bazooka and heads back inside. CUT TO: INT. DEIMOS BASE - PROCESSING PLANT The plant machinery is silent. Enormous pistons and assembly platforms lie still. Taggart weaves through the equipment without a sound. Crouching beside a generator, he peers into the darkness. Not one damn sound. TAGGART I think someone's expecting me. He turns his gaze upward, into the network of catwalks overlooking the plant...dozens of red eyes glare back at him. Taggart flips the bazooka on its butt and launches a rocket into their midst. The fireball illuminates a staggering host of Demons and Imps, who immediately spread out across the plant with a cacophony of squeals. Several of the blasted Imps are crawling straight down along the sides of the machines. Taggart peppers them with chaingun fire. Too damn dark. He fires another rocket, this time into the mouth of a huge processor. It goes up like a volcano. The monsters squint & snarl at the light. Taggart takes the opportunity to pick off as many as he can in a 360-degree attack, then goes on one knee and reloads the bazooka. A Demon roars at him from across the plant floor, lifting a shimmering blue orb to its lips. It devours the sphere, whatever it is... And then the Demon fades from view. It's gone invisible. A Spectre. TAGGART Oh shit. The Imps fall back as more Demons stuff the orbs down their throats and become shadow. He's been duped. He can hear the snorts of the loathsome creatures closing in on all sides. Taggart hefts the chaingun. Out of ammo. TAGGART Aw c'mon! A red stripe appears across his back, and he cries out in pain. Another Demon smacks him across the face. They snort excitedly. TAGGART Fuck YOU!!! Hurling the chaingun, he watches as an invisible foot stomps it to pieces. Then - there - a red slash in mid-air. A bloody claw. He blows the Demon wide open, sending the invisibility sphere through its spine and dropping the miserable pig to the floor. More grunts and snorts, the shuffling of feet. But now more of them are visible, splattered with their brother's blood. Taggart gleefully opens fire. As each Demon is revealed in a righteous blast of gore, even more are exposed. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! One leaps at him, catches a faceful of shotgun pellets and somersaults into a vat. He brings out the bazooka. It's stopped by a still-invisible Demon. Taggart shrugs, punches the trigger and watches the creature fly away, showering the rest with its innards. TAGGART See what happens when ya play dirty, bastards?! There's no left alive to hear him. As darkness returns to the defunct plant, Taggart winces and looks at spots of human blood on his fingers. He pulls out a stimpack. All the machinery roars to life, firing blinding lights straight into his face as engines kick up with deafening groans and platforms begin descending all around him. The plant floor is reconfiguring into one narrow, zigzagging walkway with nothing on either side but a bottomless abyss. The enormous machines - now suspended in mid-air from the upper catwalks - illuminate a single pillar which is rising from the blackness. Upon which is crouched, in the fetal position, a white, almost translucent being. The pillar stops at Taggart's level, about fifty feet away from him across the abyss. The glistening creature rises and stares him down. Its torso is connected to its humanoid legs by a thick rope of tissue and bone extending from beneath a broad ribcage. Black, glassy eyes above a fanged mouth regard Taggart with something not unlike curiosity. It doesn't look like it gets out much. Then, splaying its wicked foot-long claws, it lets out a deep chortle and gathers fire in its hands. Taggart raises the bazooka before him to block the fireball. But when the creature throws its hands out, roars, and claps them together, instead of a fireball hurtling at him, Taggart finds himself instantaneously BATHED IN FLAME. He screams and topples from the walkway, grabbing onto the edge just in the nick of time and dangling helplessly as the magical flames ebb and die on his armor. The super & regular shotguns are strapped to his back, but the rocket launcher is gone. He glances down and sees it resting on a ledge carved out of the walkway, illuminated by a single torch. TAGGART I'm gonna need that. The fearsome ARCH-VILE summons another flame. Taggart crawls hand-over-hand away from the creature, around a corner and out of its view. A fireball expands in the air next to him and quickly dissipates. TAGGART Fucker can't see me. There's a handhold a few feet down. He grabs it, slips, barely recovers. He's got to get down to that launcher. ON THE WALKWAY The Arch-Vile suddenly leaps from its pillar onto the walkway, next to the corpse of a Demon. It splays its claws over the dead thing...and scattered bits of bone & flesh fly back together in a surreal reversal of the Demon's demise, resurrecting it. Taggart drops to another handhold, gashing his palm. A stream of spittle runs down his visor. TAGGART Eh? He looks up and sees the Demon. Another appears beside it. TAGGART BullSHIT. We see the Arch-Vile reviving every creature on the walkway, and they begin milling impatiently over Taggart's position. TAGGART Still playing dirty! He's right above the ledge. Taggart drops. His boot strikes the bazooka and sends it over! The Marine grasps the strap with two fingers and holds on for his life. The creatures scream at the thought of losing their meal. TAGGART Don't worry boys, I won't let you go hungry. He rolls onto his back and fires the launcher! A half-dozen Demons are suddenly headless and plummeting into the abyss, out of the reach of the Arch-Vile. It only laughs, stretching upward, resurrecting the Imps who were shot on the catwalks. Fireballs begin streaking toward Taggart. He presses himself flush against the wall. CHEN (HEADSET) What's going on?? TAGGART I'm in Hell, take a wild fucking guess! He's pinned down with nowhere to go but...well, down. The Arch-Vile's laugh echoes through the abyss. TAGGART Here goes nothing. He leaps out, twisting his body to avoid the fireballs and dropping into the dark. ZOOM OUT from the Arch-Vile's enraged glare. CUT TO: INT. ABYSS Apparently it isn't bottomless after all. Not the best news of the day, as Taggart finds when he crashes through a stalagmite and into the rocky floor. Dragging himself beneath an outcropping of rock, he goes for that stimpack. TAGGART Fucking resurrecting son of a bitch. I'm gonna kill that guy. CHEN (HEADSET) You still alive? TAGGART Barely. I don't know where the hell I am now. But I need to find Ritch and Weems so I can get those keys. CHEN (HEADSET) If anywhere, they'd be back at Deimos Command, with the Gateway. TAGGART You mean where I fucking started? Jeez Doc, anything else? CHEN (HEADSET) Phobos Gateway's energy levels are fluctuating. I don't know what's going on or how much longer it'll hold. TAGGART How about my dog? Is my dog dead? CUT TO: INT. PHOBOS LAB - COMMAND CONTROL Chen sighs, watching the Gateway's crimson light flicker. CHEN I'm doing the best I can. TAGGART (HEADSET) ...Yeah, I know. Just see if you can get me an automap. CHEN I'm on it. Something heavy falls against the lab door. She grabs the pistol and aims it with a shaky hand. Nothing happens. She returns to the computer. CHEN I'll let you know when I've got something. TAGGART (HEADSET) Taggart out. CUT TO: INT. CORRIDOR A couple of zombie PFCs are rummaging through the guts of a dead officer. Taggart drops out of a ceiling ventilation duct with a war whoop and levels the bazooka at their gaping faces. TAGGART Look alive, ladies! He sends them screaming into oblivion. CUT TO: INT. DEIMOS LAB - COMMAND CONTROL Taggart reenters the slaughterhouse ready for a fight, and stops dead in his tracks. TAGGART Doc. CHEN (HEADSET) What is it? TAGGART The Deimos Gateway is gone. CHEN (HEADSET) That might explain the instability on my end. TAGGART It might also explain me being FUCKED. CHEN (HEADSET) If Deimos Gateway were no longer functioning at all, Phobos wouldn't be either. They must have moved it. TAGGART That's right, those spiders were disassembling the damned thing. So where in Hell did they take it? He nudges a bludgeoned corpse and offers a half-hearted salute. TAGGART Lieutenant Weems, sir. He checks Weems's uniform and produces a blue keycard. TAGGART One down, one to go. CUT TO: INT. PHOBOS LAB - COMMAND CONTROL Another muffled thump from the hallway. Chen pulls off her headset and maneuvers slowly toward the door. TAGGART (HEADSET) Chen, Ritch isn't here. Any ideas? Doc? She reaches tentatively for the keypad to open the door, then draws her hand back. Something is scratching frantically on the other side. INT. DEIMOS LAB - COMMAND CONTROL TAGGART Doc, where ya at? He hears a faint scream over the headset. TAGGART Chen!! Snorts, grunts - the gleeful sounds of Imps - can be heard. Then nothing. TAGGART Chen, where are you?? Fuck! He races out of the lab- - And is immediately thrown back in by a lightning bolt. What follows Taggart is a huge ball of raw meat, drenched in blood, crisscrossed with a web of blue nerves and firing streams of electricity from its fanged mouth: A CACODEMON. Taggart throws off his smoking breastplate and rolls behind a console. TAGGART YEEEHAW He vaults over the console with the shotgun in one hand and the super in the other, unleashing three barrelfuls of pulverizing wrath at the Cacodemon. The creature growls and spits an arc of lightning that flips Taggart in mid-air and sends him cartwheeling into the wall. By the time he's back on his feet, three simultaneous blasts of energy are licking across the walls and floor to strike him, kicking his entire body into the ceiling. Tendrils of lightning curl around Taggart's limbs and throw him across the lab. The Cacodemon chuckles as it plays with the Marine, tossing him to and fro, raking his body over shattered control panels and slapping it against steel columns. Sparks explode from the computers upon each impact, singing Taggart's helmet. WHAM! WHAM! From wall to wall he bounces, each time thinking that he'll be allowed to touch the floor before the Cacodemon's electrified tongue snaps him up again. TAGGART Just eat me, you fucking meatloaf!...EAT ME!!! The creature grins and lobs him straight up. Positions itself to take him down in one gulp. Taggart, of course, primes the launcher as he drops into the monster's throat. It explodes in a glorious rainbow of gore, painting the bland laboratory walls in streaks of green, red and blue. Taggart slides through a pile of stomach(s) and comes to rest in the middle of the room. He pulls off his smashed and cracked helmet, discards it, spots the mangled remains of the bazooka nearby. TAGGART Just me and the boomsticks again. As it should be. He tries to get up and passes out in a faceful of goo. CUT TO: EXT. "DETENTION CENTER" Somewhere in the depths of Mars's canyons - which are now hosts to the boiling blood rivers of Hell - there lies a field of twitching, pleading Marines impaled on stakes. Several bodies are hung from the undersides of cliffs. Lorelei Chen is carried on the back of a grumbling Demon past the Devil's living trophies. The soldiers reach out with blood-caked fingers, desperate for release. CHEN Put me DOWN!!! The Demon happily complies, spilling her over a bone fence into a corral filled with dying scientists. CHEN Oh God... She recognizes all of her colleagues; some of them only by their eyes. RITCH Welcome, Doctor Chen. CHEN Ritch?! Half of his skull has been stripped of its flesh; he grins horrifyingly at her, slumped against an ivory post. CHEN What have they done to all of you? RITCH Just picking our brains a bit. Even these primates have proper respect for my genius. CHEN Bill. Do you realize where you are? RITCH Oh yes, I know more than you could ever imagine. CHEN They brought me through the Gateway. It's been moved... RITCH I know. CHEN But why? RITCH In preparation for the invasion. CHEN WHAT invasion? RITCH There's a third Gateway, Lorelei. CHEN ...What do you mean? RITCH UAC was keeping it under wraps. Only a select few of us knew. And now THEY know. CHEN Bill...where's the gate? RITCH Where do you think? He smiles wider, several capillaries bursting and staining his teeth red. CHEN This isn't possible. RITCH A little late for such sentiments, wouldn't you agree? CHEN Isn't there any way to stop this?! RITCH If I knew of a way, they know it by now. Chen sighs in exasperation, tears filling her eyes. She slumps down beside Ritch. RITCH He'll be coming for you soon. CHEN Who? RITCH The Spider... CUT TO: EXT. CANYON - HELL An Imp stands atop a ridge looking down into one of the canyons. It surveys the nightmare landscape and smiles a little. Taggart seizes it in both arms and snaps its neck in half. Dumping the corpse into the chasm, he searches for a less fatal way down. A familiar shriek draws his attention to a small gray orb floating in the canyon - a Pain Elemental, spitting out a patrol of Lost Souls. TAGGART Going down, shithead. He draws the boomsticks and steps off the edge. The Pain Elemental burps a little and forces another flaming skull from between its lips. Taggart slams into the top of it, discharging both weapons and sending the deflated beast into the canyon. He lands at the bottom on a gentle, entrail-spewing blanket of demonic flesh. Taggart rolls off of the corpse and checks the sky for Lost Souls. They seem to have found more important things to do. TAGGART Hmm, what's this? The corporal ducks behind to rock to watch a procession of Demons carrying scientists down into the canyon. TAGGART Bingo. CUT TO: INT. ALCOVE A recessed area of the canyon seems to be the site of an Imp party. A few fires blaze as the foul monsters pick through the objects they lifted from the bases. One lifts up a huge plasma rifle and waves it in the face of the others, who shriek and scatter. Turning with an animal laugh, the Imp sees Taggart standing by and freezes. TAGGART Hey there. He blows the cretin away and grabs the plasma rifle. The other Imps snarl and begin summoning fireballs. TAGGART Let's just skip to the part where I kill your asses. WIDE - The firing squad of Imps is cut down by a rapid-fire stream of energy that blisters the rock behind them. TAGGART Sweet. Creeping out of the alcove into the main canyon, he stops at a precipice overlooking the detention center. TAGGART All right Ritch, you'd better be in one or two pieces. He starts down, dropping to a narrow ledge, and sees a contingency of Demons tearing across the canyon floor, menacing the corralled technicians. Beyond them, Arachnotrons marching back and forth on the perimeter. TAGGART I don't have enough ammo to take all these fuckers on! But there, at the edge of the camp, a pile of pulsating orbs...invisibility spheres... Moments later, Taggart is at the bottom and crawling on his belly towards the pile, being guarded by a pair of Demons. Getting closer he sees something rather disconcerting: squirming, wormlike things within the orbs. These spheres are more like eggs. TAGGART Aw, jeez. He reaches out and takes one in his hand. It's slimy, stinky, absolutely fucking disgusting and his only chance of infiltrating this camp. Taggart jams it down his throat with both hands, eyes watering, neck straining as he tries to keep the damned thing down. His nauseated struggle goes unnoticed by the Demons. Slowly but surely, Taggart, armor and all, fades out of sight. One of the Demons flares its enormous nostrils and turns. Its head explodes. The other Demon cocks its noggin and grunts. BLAM The rest of Hell's minions are alerted. They scramble towards the bodies, only to be hit themselves by plasma rounds from some mysterious source. Demon after Demon goes down a charred wreck. The Arachnotrons gather and begin firing their OWN plasma guns, blasting the remaining Demons apart. The green plasma light reflects off of Taggart's invisible body as he rolls under one beam and jumps another. The spiders begin to close in. Taggart blasts one right in his raw head and watches the gray matter fly. The others aren't slowed a bit. He tags another one, dodges plasma, gets another. TAGGART WHOOOOOOO!! How do YOU like it?!? There's one spider left and it stops, chittering. Taggart carefully takes aim between its beady bug eyes. Taggart, by the way, is visible again. He sees his arm extended before him and frowns. TAGGART Eh A gunshot signals the exit of the Arachnotron's brains through its forehead, and it crumples into a ball of metal and flesh. Chen lowers her pistol and smiles. CHEN They forgot to frisk me. TAGGART Holy shit you're alive. CHEN You sound surprised, Corporal. TAGGART Nah, just relieved. He tosses her the super shotgun. TAGGART Here, you get the big one. She smiles and breaks the stock over her thigh. CHEN Shells? CUT TO: EXT. SCIENTISTS' PEN Ritch laughs at nothing in particular and nudges a dead tech at his feet. RITCH Don't you think? The stripped skull is unresponsive. Ritch giggles. Taggart leans over the bone fence to rifle through the scientist's jacket. RITCH Well, if it isn't Gomer Pyle himself. I would've thought you'd be dead by now. TAGGART Maybe I am. He snaps up the yellow keycard. RITCH That's mine. TAGGART Eat shit. RITCH The Spider... Ritch stares off into space. Taggart scoffs. TAGGART Been there, done that. No, he ain't. THE SPIDER MASTERMIND, ten times the size of its children, comes over the ridge with a 12-barrelled chaingun riveted to its cybernetic underbelly. It lets out a bellow that shakes the entire canyon. Taggart shoves Chen out of the way as the Spider fires. Ritch's body is mulch in half a second. The bone fence explodes; Taggart is propelled behind a boulder which is quickly reduced to sand. He lets off a puny burst of plasma fire before seeking shelter in an alcove. TAGGART STAY DOWN CHEN!!! The Spider hammers the earth in its unrelenting pursuit. Taggart shoots and manages to hit its face; barely makes a blemish. Not even its fucking eyes will rupture. It can't be stopped. Each round from the chaingun reshapes the environment with a deafening KRA-KOW!!! TAGGART Dammit. He tenderly kisses the plasma rifle, then smashes it against the rock wall. It begins to sputter and rattle. TAGGART Government-issue, baby. Taggart hurls the rifle beneath the Mastermind. It explodes brilliantly, gutting the chaingun and sending the Spider to its eight knees. But only for a moment - even without the gun the Spider is still a formidable foe, and proves it by kicking Taggart a good fifty feet. A couple of ribs are cracked (and a couple more upon landing), and Taggart isn't getting up. The Spider advances to crush him like a...well, you know. There's a smoking splinter of bone lying just out of Taggart's reach. He strains his fingertips to touch it... Chen screams from her hiding place. CHEN OVER HERE YOU ASSHOLE!!! The Spider turns with a squeal, searching for her. She rises from behind a rock and waves her arms. CHEN HELLOOOO!!! TAGGART Chen NO!! His anger gives him that last iota of strength needed to grab the bone sliver. But the Spider is heading away from him, STOMP STOMP STOMP towards an increasingly-uncomfortable Lorelei Chen. Taggart forces himself onto his knees. TAGGART I KILLED YOUR KIDS YOU FUCKING CUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNTTTT The earth stops quaking. Rusty gears grind as the Spider makes a half-turn to glare at the Marine. TAGGART Come SUCK MY DICK you eight-legged WHORE! The Spider Mastermind ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRSSS!!! And She thunders toward him with murder in her enormous glassy eyes. Taggart falls on his back at the last possible second as the fiend crouches to devour him- - Chen screams in horror. The Spider sags and falls still. Then its abdomen moves a bit. Is it recovering? Will it rise to reveal a flattened Corporal Flynn Taggart? Its back pulsates. Bruises. Bleeds. RIPS apart. Taggart saws his way through the bitch with the bone splinter and spits a mouthful of black blood onto the ground. CHEN Flynn! TAGGART That's right. He slides down its greasy back and saunters over to Chen. She stops short of embracing him. TAGGART You know where the gate is? CHEN Yes. TAGGART You wanna get out of here? CHEN Yes. He looks at the three keys in his hands. TAGGART Then there's just one more thing I've gotta do. They walk away from the mammoth corpse, which is already drawing flies. A pale white foot steps into the frame. CUT TO: INT. DEIMOS LAB - CORRIDOR As Taggart inserts the keycards into a panel beside a huge door, he listens to Chen's account. CHEN And he said there's a third Gateway. They're reconfiguring the Deimos gate so they can go there. TAGGART No kidding. And where is this third Gateway? CHEN Earth. The door slowly retracts. They both brace for demons. None. TAGGART So they're going to deploy their armies straight from Hell into Anytown U.S.A., huh? Not on my fucking watch. They step through the door and several lights clap on, illuminating a podium in the center of the chamber. TAGGART That is one Big Fucking Gun. The BFG 9000 sits on the podium under a shaft of light like a messiah of ultimate gut-shredding destruction. Even Chen has to admire the tree-trunk diameter of its glistening titanium barrel. TAGGART I mean, HOLY SHIT. There's no trigger, just a hole in the back wide enough for a Marine's fist. He slips his arm in, feels a series of clamps come down snugly on it. CHEN What the hell did they make this for? TAGGART It's the U.S. Military, Doc. He removes the BFG from the podium. It's shockingly light on his arm, a mere extension of himself. CHEN Don't point that at me. TAGGART I'm a professional. An Imp shrieks from the doorway. Chen dives as Taggart points at the creature. A gigantic, coruscating ball of green luminescence exits the barrel...and keeps expanding...and expanding... The Imp is liquefied upon impact. The ball goes out in a supernova flash. A few more grunts sound from the hallway. Taggart and Chen peer out. Several more Imps, some not even near the doorway, lie baked on the floor. TAGGART This gun is awesome. CHEN All right, you got your weapon. Now what? TAGGART We need to destroy that gate. CHEN Okay. They start down the corridor, and she grabs his elbow. CHEN Wait - how do we get back home? TAGGART Just like before. You get safe, I stay behind and frag the baddies. CHEN Flynn, NO. TAGGART This isn't open to discussion. CHEN Why, because I'm a woman? TAGGART No, because I'm a man. CHEN Listen to me. I'm not gonna be your cute little goddamn sidekick while you martyr yourself for the good of humankind. If you're going to die fighting these things then I'm going to die alongside you. TAGGART Are you serious? CHEN Taggart, I was a Marine for nine years before I left for UAC. A lieutenant. He sucks in his breath through an "ooohhhhhh" face. CHEN What do you say? Slowly, stubbornly, a smile fights its way onto his face. He hefts the BFG and looks ahead. TAGGART Let's raise some Hell. CUT TO: EXT. CANYON A cadre of zombies and Imps glances at something offscreen. A second later, a blinding green flash tears them to pieces. TAGGART This thing's got five shots left in it. CHEN Think that'll be enough? TAGGART It has to be. CHEN Right here. She points to a steel plate lying on the ground. A pentagram is etched into it. TAGGART What is this? CHEN Teleporter. TAGGART Are you really ready for this, Doc? CHEN Ready as you are. He nods, and together they step onto the plate - and vanish. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. THE GATE - HELL Erected in a huge red valley, the archway has been increased in size, and is still crawling with Arachnotrons. Its crimson field is surrounded by legions of the undead, Imps, Demons, and huge blobs of fat with cannons for arms - MANCUBI. In a cave hidden from view, Taggart and Chen materialize. A zombie sergeant gawks at them. Taggart punches him to death with the BFG. Chen has both shotguns and belts of shells. Still, she looks a little light. Taggart stays in front of her with the BFG. TAGGART Okay. Here's how it goes. You get up on that ridge and provide cover fire while I mop up the freaks down below. If you can destabilize the Gateway, and we make it through before the thing falls apart, great. (beat) If not, we've gotta stay here and make sure that the job gets done. She nods solemnly. They separate. Taggart watches her climb up the hill, then sneaks out himself. Behind the Gateway looms a monstrous creature the size of a skyscraper - a goat-headed thing impaled on countless skewers which hold it in place. It barely moves, just enough for Taggart to know that it's alive. The other demons mill about in front of it. This is the GATEKEEPER. TAGGART That ain't a red cape and a pitchfork but it gets the job done. He takes aim at Hell's army, glances up to see if Chen has taken her position. A rumbly sound like indigestion echoes through the valley. A Mancubus has spotted him - and instantly, every red-eyed stare turns his way. The Gatekeeper sags its head, a distorted voice coming from an unseen mouth. GATEKEEPER OREMOR NHOJ EMLLIK TSUM'UOY EMAG EHT NIWOT TAGGART Whatever, asshole! He fires the BFG. The energy field expands to the size of a Mack truck before it hits the demon front, splattering several dozen zombies. The rest charge. Fireballs are raining down from every angle. Taggart somersaults to a new position and fires another shot. Chen leans over the ridge's summit and begins firing both guns. It barely dents the army but it does distract them long enough for Taggart to get off another nice shot. The Gatekeeper seems to look directly at Chen. Its forehead has been flayed, layers of skin pinned back to reveal a throbbing brain. From the brain comes flying a bronze cube with skulls etched into its sides. The army stops, all turning to stare at the flying cube. A few fireballs piddle out at Taggart's feet. TAGGART What the... The soulcube comes down a hundred yards behind him. It vents a huge cloud of acrid smoke. The smoke begins to congeal, to take a solid form. A large form. A horned form with cybernetic hooves, a grotesquely-muscular torso and one hell of a missile launcher mounted on its wrist. THE CYBERDEMON Roars and fires as soon as it spots Taggart. The demon army scrambles for cover. Taggart manages to take a step and a half before the first impact throws him. Subsequent explosions keep him airborne as an impossible number of missiles are hurtled into the valley floor. The guts of zombies and Imps streak through the air; a Mancubus attempts to fire on the Cyberdemon and is burned away like a wicker man. The Cyberdemon turns its wicked glare to the top of the ridge. Chen rises and fires on it. Taggart can't even find the strength to yell at her. He grabs a handful of earth and tries to get up; no dice. TAGGART God damn you- -! He rolls over and uses his other arm to lift up the BFG. He fires. The force sends him sliding back through the dirt. The BFG cuts into the Cyberdemon's thigh, and several Mancubi explode like fatty Roman candles; but the behemoth stays standing. Chen ducks just before the ridge explodes. TAGGART NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Taggart turns to the Gateway with a bitter stare. TAGGART Forgive me. He aims at the arch. Just then, a squeal cuts through the smoky skies and catches not only his attention but that of the Cyberdemon. The Spider Mastermind comes over the ridge, chaingun blazing. Any demons still standing are now not. On its back is the hideous resurrector, the Arch-Vile - laughing in its deep voice and searching the valley for Flynn Taggart. A few chaingun rounds ping off of the Cyberdemon's leg. It curls its lip and fires a missile down the Spider's throat. TAGGART Ha HAAAAAA!!! The Arch-Vile slams headfirst into the dirt. Taggart turns back to the Gateway. CHEN (O.S.) WAIT!! Chen tumbles down the slope, shotguns in hand. She hits the bottom and pops the Cyberdemon in the belly. CHEN Draw his fire!! TAGGART Sure, why the hell not He launches a BFG round into the Cyberdemon's side. It shrieks, fire racing up its back, and discharges a missile into the earth at its feet. A cloud of dirt momentarily obscures the monster. TAGGART Yeah... He shakes the BFG. Nothing happens. TAGGART No... He's out of ammo. Chen reaches the base of the gate and tears open a panel covered in scar tissue. The wiring inside is all the same; she gets to work. The Cyberdemon shakes itself clean and regards Taggart with utter contempt. TAGGART Put the gun down, pussy. Its answer is to place the barrel of the launcher scant inches from his face. His entire head could fit into the fucking thing. TAGGART You forgot somebody. Behind the Cyberdemon, the Arch-Vile splays its claws over the decimated remains of the Spider Mastermind - and they reform! Cyberdemon takes a brutal hit to the spine and doubles over. Taggart struggles to his feet, limps toward the gate. Flames race over his armor, and a thunderclap throws him back down. The Arch-Vile is coming for him. Taggart rises with an all-American battle cry and slugs the pasty fucker in the face with the BFG. A backhand sends the demon sprawling and the Marine leaps onto it, hammering it with the cannon. TAGGART Resurrect yourself motherfucker!! Chen glances past the arch and sees the Gatekeeper looking curiously at her. Its brain begins to throb again. CHEN Oh, no. Don't. She rips out a handful of wires. CHEN C'MON YOU PIECE OF SHIT!! The Arch-Vile slashes Taggart's exposed chest and kicks him off. Now it's the demon's turn to beat the crap out of him. TAGGART Where'd you (punched) learn to fight- - (kicked) Heaven? He's seized by the throat. CHEN I've got it!! The Gateway begins to tremble. The Cyberdemon lifts the Spider Mastermind off the ground by one leg and fires missile after missile into its belly. The end. Taggart, slowly suffocating in the Arch-Vile's grasp, fumbles for a stimpack on his belt. Draws out a syringe. The Cyberdemon spots them and takes aim. TAGGART You're gonna need this. He jabs the needle THROUGH the Arch-Vile's pliant wrist. It throws him to the ground in a rage, grabbing the wound...then hears the missile launcher firing. KA-BOOM It's curtains for Arch-Vile. Taggart crawls to the quaking Gateway. Chen grabs his arms and hauls him toward the light. The Cyberdemon launches a final missile. It's coming straight for them- - They pass through the Gateway- - And the whole thing EXPLODES just before the missile can follow them, bringing down Hell's last hope for an Earthly apocalypse. The blast wave shatters the Cyberdemon's body. The Gatekeeper's bony face is riddled with flying shards of metal. FADE OUT. FADE IN: INT. EARTH LAB - COMMAND CONTROL Chen and Taggart lie unconscious on the floor of a pristine, well-lit lab in perfect condition. There's no one else there, yet the Gateway is operational, and Chen rolls on her back to stare at the red light. Taggart sits up and touches her face. TAGGART Nice job, Lieutenant. CHEN Thank you...Sergeant. He starts to lean in. CHEN We need to take this gate down. TAGGART Jeez. He grabs the super shotgun from the floor and shoots the center of the archway. It falls apart in two halves, wiping the crimson light out of existence. CHEN An unmanned Gateway functioning in the middle of the night...seems odd. Taggart rolls his eyes and gets up. TAGGART Anyone home? (shrugs) Maybe it's automated. Something drip-drips on the floor nearby. Chen approaches a console... There's a dead technician lying on the other side. Blood everywhere. Blood beyond. More bodies. CHEN Flynn, who killed them? He walks past the mutilated techs until he comes to a crispy corpse plastered on the wall. TAGGART Goddamn the luck of that guy. CHEN Who? TAGGART The fucking missile blew him through the gate. He's here. CHEN Who?! TAGGART That fuckin' white-ass maggot son of a bitch! Tearing the BFG off, Taggart grabs the shotguns from Chen. TAGGART He's mine. CHEN I'm calling Marine Command. TAGGART Good, they can clean up the mess I'm about to make. CUT TO: EXT. UAC LABORATORY - NIGHT Taggart runs out onto a quiet downtown street. The UAC building is very lovely, surrounded by thick bushes and full trees. The entire city is a picturesque scene with a touch of futuristic flair. All in all, too good to be true. Down at the corner, a sleek city bus makes its stop. A second later, every single window is instantaneously splattered with blood. TAGGART Fuck! The bus peels away from the curb, smashing over a light pole. Taggart chases madly after it, firing his boomsticks. CUT TO: EXT. ANOTHER CITY STREET - NIGHT Taggart rounds the corner, looking like a madman with his tattered USMC threads and smoking guns. A couple of cops leaning against their patrol car see him and bug out. COP 1 What the fuck? They draw their pistols. COP 2 Hold it RIGHT THERE!! TAGGART I'm on official government business! COP 1 Yeah the fuck right! He shoots the car. The hood pops off and then the entire thing is rolled onto its back by the ensuing explosion. The cops hit the deck as Taggart pounds the pavement in pursuit of the bus. CUT TO: EXT. CITY CEMETERY - NIGHT It's a big cemetery in the center of town. Very nice, well kept, expansive with rolling hills and hanging trees. VERY FUCKING BIG. The bus lies at an angle inside the smashed gates. Taggart thuds to a stop, wheezing, and stares into the graveyard. TAGGART You're...fucking...shitting...me. The Arch-Vile's laugh can be heard. Taggart's got no time to waste; he goes in. There's nothing to follow but a few bits of broken glass. He dodges behind tombstones, rolls past mausoleums, going deeper and deeper into the cemetery. Someone's behind him - he spins and is faced by a classic ZOMBIE in funeral attire, his jaw hanging at an angle, shriveled eyes wiggling in his skull. ZOMBIE Maaaaaaaaaa TAGGART Forget it. He blows the guy's head off. More are coming through the trees. TAGGART Bring it on!! He pounds the zombie onslaught with everything he's got, taking off limbs, heads, chunks of gravestones and anything else unfortunate enough to be within eyesight. Still they keep coming. The super shotgun's empty. He smashes its butt into a zombie's teeth. TAGGART Keep 'em coming, maggot! The Arch-Vile drops out of a tree and slaps Taggart through the concrete door of a vault! INT. VAULT - CONTINUOUS Taggart just about snaps his back as he folds over a coffin and hits the rear wall. The Arch-Vile chortles. The corporal tries to get to his feet for the umpteenth time, but he's taken too hard of a hit. He slides back down, his eyelids flicker. The Arch-Vile raises its arms over the coffin and chants an unholy rite...Something rattles inside. Taggart grabs the lid and hauls himself up, placing the shotgun against the Arch-Vile's chest. It slaps the gun aside and skewers him through the throat with its claws. Taggart gapes at the horrid creature, flapping his mouth, nothing but blood coming out. It smiles back. Withdraws the claws. Taggart stumbles, leans on the shotgun for support, groans. Falls. Gets back up. TAGGART You finished the job when you threw me in here, fucknuts. Thanks for bringing me back. He stuffs the shotgun right down the stunned fucker's throat and blows his skull to bits. Taggart sighs, a bit of blood spurting from his neck, and reloads the shotgun. CUT TO: EXT. CITY CEMETERY - NIGHT Chen runs up to the gates alone, with only her pistol. Her face is blanched at the sight of countless re-dead zombies. A shotgun blast rings out. Then Taggart appears on a hilltop, slinging the boomstick over his shoulder and strolling down to her. CHEN Flynn, you... (sees his throat) Oh God. TAGGART Yeah. A hand flies to her mouth. Then the tears come. He's too wrecked himself to roll his eyes at her. CHEN No. TAGGART Yes. This time, yes. CHEN I won't leave you. TAGGART Then I have to leave you. He looks down the empty street with another ragged sigh. TAGGART (CONT'D) I've been given a choice, I think. CHEN A...choice? TAGGART Between Heaven and...well, you know. Somebody up there likes what I do. And they don't like it when the ones downstairs try to bend the rules. CHEN What are you saying? TAGGART I'm going back. He pumps the shotgun. TAGGART (CONT'D) We'll see each other someday, Lorelei. Maybe I'll be a sergeant again, who the hell knows. But you can't live out your life with someone who isn't alive. Shrugging, Taggart rests the shotgun on his shoulder again and touches her face. CHEN You never got that kiss. He smiles sadly and brushes his lips against hers. TAGGART I'll see ya Doc. CHEN Flynn...it's Hell. TAGGART Hell's a state of mind, sweetheart. With a cocksure grin, he starts off down the street. CRANE UP AND AWAY as Chen watches him go. CUT ABRUPTLY TO: Taggart on a mountaintop in Hell, backhanding an Imp and feeding a shotgun shell to a slavering Demon. There are hundreds more surging up the mountainside. He smiles and beckons to them. A Cyberdemon roars from the base of the mountain. It fires a missile directly into the camera. CUT TO BLACK. DOOM