[INT. MAGNUS INSTITUTE, ARCHIVES, COFFIN ROOM]
[TAPE CLICKS ON.]
[The Archivist sighs.]
ARCHIVIST: (under his breath) Alright.
[He hits play on a different tape.]
DAISY (ON TAPE): > […] Was a coffin. An old, wooden coffin. Rough, unvarnished. I could see splinters where the nails had been hammered in badly. Wrapped all around it was a thick metal chain ending in a heavy padlock. That weird moaning was coming from inside it. It was the only sound that cut through pounding rain.
[The Archivist clicks Daisy’s tape off, and ejects it from the player. We hear him put a fresh tape into what must be a player/recorder. He clicks it on. He takes a long, shaky breath, steeling himself for whatever is to come.]
ARCHIVIST: Hello, Melanie. I.. know I said we’d wait until Basira was back, b, but I, I don’t… (heavy sigh) I-I’m sorry. I, I-I know she won’t - (sigh) She’d want to do it a different way. But I know what I’m doing; this time I do. I, I hope. I have her voice. I think that should be enough to find her, and, and I’m leaving my - (can’t say it) I’ll leave it with the tape. I should be able to find my back to it. I think. (pause) Wish me luck.
ARCHIVIST: …Although, I suppose if you’re hearing this, then I.. I didn’t have any. I don’t know. I, I’m - (slight pause) I’m scared? (dry laugh) When does the fear go away? (pause) A-Anyway, I’m sorry.
ARCHIVIST: You too, Basira, if you’re hearing this. (pause) I know you’d - stop me. You’d be right to, but - but if this goes wrong, all you lose is - (abrupt) I’m not risking anyone else. And I know - (pause) I-I think. I can get her out.
[He clicks the tape off.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): Right. You’re coming with me.
[He sighs.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): Let’s do this one properly.
[We hear a static begin to rise; it’s from the coffin.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): No need for that. I’m willing.
[The static fades away as immediately as it came.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): Right.
[He lifts the padlock, and the chain rattles as he pulls it off and they fall to the floor. Then we hear the ominous rattling creak as he pulls open the lid of the coffin.]
[He clicks on a torch.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): (slightly shaky) Stone steps. Roughly hewn. (slight pause) They, uh… They keep going. (brave face) Well. No point in waiting.
[We can hear his breath shake slightly as he steps into the echoing coffin. The lid closes above him almost immediately with a hollow thump.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): Christ.
[He takes a deep, shaky breath, as well as a few steps.]
[TAPE CLICKS OFF.]
[INT. COFFIN]
[TAPE CLICKS ON.]
[When the Archivist speaks, his voice sounds strained, as if he’s under some sort of intense pressure. We hear his clothes rustle as he moves.]
ARCHIVIST: I’m not sure how long it’s been. The steps ended, eventually. There’s passages, but - it’s very, uh… It’s close. I’m having some trouble, but. I’m going the right way. I know it. I just - I-I just need to keep moving. When I stop, it -
[He grunts, takes another step.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): (even more strained) It starts to - p-press on me.
[More rustling.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): Just keep going.
[TAPE CLICKS OFF.]
[TAPE CLICKS ON.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): I-I can’t stand. Anymore. I - It’s - It’s not a passage. Not anymore. It’s a tunnel.
[The rustling noises get louder for a second.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): Barely that. But I’m - I’m definitely getting closer. (strained) If I can just -
[The rustling increases in volume and intensity as the Archivist makes a few sounds of exertion. Finally, he makes it through whatever tight space had been holding him back, and he lets out a noise of relief.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): My torch is broken. I didn’t even drop it. It - It got caught against the wall, and -
[More rustling.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): Crushed. God, I - (inhale) I don’t even know how long I’ve been here.
[TAPE CLICKS OFF.]
[TAPE CLICKS ON.]
[The Archivist’s voice is much closer and definitely raspier.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): I - heard someone. He was begging off of me to save him. Said he couldn’t breathe. (slight pause, gasp) I can barely breathe. I couldn’t find him. But I am - (strained) not here for him. I don’t know him. I can’t - I can’t see anything here. For all this place closes around me, I-I feel a drift. Like nothing can get through the dirt and the muck and -
[He loses himself to the moving for a second.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): I still have Daisy’s tape. And I still think I’m going the right way. When I move at all.
[The rustling gets louder and the motion more jerky.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): Feels like every inch costs me another scrape, o-or bruise. (inhale, his voice sounds more normal) I’d hoped I was beyond that, but apparently not. And -
[He lets out a very pained sound.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): The air is heavy. Soil and dust. I am - very thirsty. But I know I won’t die of it. (moving again) I won’t die of anything down here. Not ever. Not if I - can’t find my way out. When I first came down, I could feel it, the - the part of myself I left outside, but - (inhale) But it’s been getting fainter and now… I’ll try not to think about it. Don’t - Don’t want to stretch my mind, to try and see, in case it’s not there at all. I can’t afford to think about it. Not now.
[TAPE CLICKS OFF.]
[TAPE CLICKS ON.]
[We are immediately greeted with the Archivist’s cry of pain.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): I-I think - (more cries) Oh god. I-I-I think I’m-I’m stuck.
[TAPE CLICKS OFF.]
[TAPE CLICKS ON.]
[He’s still stuck. We can tell by the extremely labored cries of pain. But then he stops. He’s cut off by - a roll of thunder?]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): Wha-What?
[The droning rumbling continues, and as the Archivist takes several shaky breaths of surprise, it gets louder.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): (whisper) Oh no. N -
[There’s a crack, and what sounds like a landslide, if you could find a landslide inside a coffin. The Archivist yells, makes several strangled sounds, followed by many more sounds of pain.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): Daisy! J - DAISY!
[More sounds of struggle.]
DAISY: (from far away) Jon!
[TAPE CLICKS OFF.]
[TAPE CLICKS ON.]
ARCHIVIST: Daisy, can you reach me?
DAISY: (is this a dream?) I can’t. Can’t see you.
ARCHIVIST: Follow my voice.
DAISY: Is that? - I, I can’t -
[Pained sound from the Archivist.]
ARCHIVIST: Ah -
DAISY: You - You’re real. You’re real.
ARCHIVIST: Yes. (pain) I’m here, Daisy.
DAISY: (still hazy) Daisy. Yeah. Daisy. That’s me.
[She lets out a short, mirthless laugh.]
ARCHIVIST: Are you alright?
DAISY: I, I, I can’t move; I - I can’t - And I can’t - breathe, and -
[She starts breathing heavier.]
ARCHIVIST: Oh, god.
DAISY: Just - alone. I, I think. I think. I hear, uh, this, sometimes - singing. When it’s we - when it’s wet. Or scratching, trying to get out - But I don’t - I don’t - (struggling to get the words out) I don’t think there’s - there’s anyone - there. (continues struggling) It’s just - It’s just - me. Til now.
ARCHIVIST: Are you… Are you okay?
DAISY: No.
ARCHIVIST: Sorry. Obviously. No, I just meant - Y, You sound- okay.
DAISY: Do I?
ARCHIVIST: I thought you might’ve been - taken over. By the Hunt.
DAISY: What?
ARCHIVIST: The Hunt. You’re a Hunter.
DAISY: (strained) Yeah - I guess I was. But- not here.
ARCHIVIST: No.
DAISY: N-no. I- I can’t f-feel my blood. I could always feel it- I can’t, It can’t reach me here. (struggles) Where are we?
ARCHIVIST: The coffin. We’re in the coffin. I-It leads to… Well, it’s got a lot of names. Choke. The Buried. (pain) Too-Close-I-Cannot-Breathe.
DAISY: Yeah. Sounds - sounds right.
ARCHIVIST: Come on. (pain) Let’s get you out of here.
DAISY: Can’t - can’t move. Even - if I - if I could. There’s no way out.
ARCHIVIST: It’s okay, I’ve uh - I’ve got a plan.
DAISY: I-Is this like all your other plans?
ARCHIVIST: It’s fine; I just - I just need to - to find it.
DAISY: What?
ARCHIVIST: Come on. Come on, where are you?
DAISY: Jon?
ARCHIVIST: Come on.
[A large, low rumbling begins. The Archivist breath turns ragged. There’s a static.]
DAISY: Jon?
ARCHIVIST: I know.
DAISY: Th-The way out?
ARCHIVIST: No. I know where we are. There isn’t no out, not here. This is- This is forever deep below creation. Where the weight of existence bears down. This is The Buried, and we are alive. There isn’t even an up. Oh god. (pain) What have I done?
[Silence, but for Daisy’s breathing.]
DAISY: N-Not alone, though.
ARCHIVIST: (barely a whisper) No. No, not alone.
[More silence.]
DAISY: Jon?
ARCHIVIST: (immediately) Still here.
DAISY: Good, I - (swallows) Good. I- I- I- I want to talk.
ARCHIVIST: Okay, um. What do you want to talk about?
DAISY: D - I, I don’t care, I- I- I just, I just want someone to hear me.
ARCHIVIST: Well, I’m not going anywhere.
[Daisy’s breathing approaches a panicked laugh, and she’s not able to get out more than a few syllables.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): Daisy?
DAISY: I, I want to, but it’s - difficult.
ARCHIVIST: Would it help if I - a-ask?
DAISY: Y-Yeah, yes, alright. Do your… thing.
ARCHIVIST: (pain) Right. (he clears his throat) Uh…
[His trademark static begins to build.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): How are you feeling?
DAISY: Scared. I, I’m, I’m, s-scared. I’ve been scared the whole time here. Not just when it- when it’s - cr-crushing, w-when it f-fills your - your mouth with- with di-dirt. (pause)
DAISY: It knows when to stop. W-When to e-ease back, so you don’t - don’t lose it, or grow numb. L-Leaves you terrified for when it s-starts again, and when it does, y-you’re, you’re s-scared it’ll - (sniff) never - never stop.
DAISY: (on the brink of crying) I thought- thought I’d (breath) I’d ne-never see the sky again, never - (close to breaking) never s-see Basira - (she composes herself)
DAISY: But - But - But now - you - you’ve got out of, of, of other stuff like this; maybe, maybe you’ll get out of this, and, and then take me with you. (heavy breathing) But I don’t know what I’ll be out, outside. (pause)
DAISY: The-The Hunt, it can’t reach me here. I’m s-scared, but - mm - (straining sound) But I - I feel more - feel more me… than I have for years. Maybe all my life. The Hunt was me - (strain) But I don’t - I don’t think I liked it. I think it just made me - need it. (strain) I hurt. A lot of people. And some who - who I shouldn’t have. (effort)
DAISY: Did you ever hear the story Elias told me? About what I - did. How I am. He - He didn’t get a detail wrong. The Hunt. Hunger was in me all my life. Telling me who to chase. How to hurt them. (heavy breathing) I never needed to think. Who I was outside of that.
DAISY: But down here, where I-I can’t hear the - blood, anymore. I, I don’t - I don’t know who I am without, without the chase. I just know that I - I don’t like who I was, back outside. I don’t want to be her again. I want - to be - better. (breathing) Mmm - (more breathing)
DAISY: Y-You know what I thought, when I woke up here? I thought this was hell. I wa- I was dead, and I was in hell. And I - (sob) I knew I deserved it. (strain)
DAISY: I don’t want t-to b,be a s-sadistic predator again. I-I don’t want to hobble around like some - pathetic wounded prey here. I don’t know which would be worse. But I’m sc-scared now. That I won’t ever get the choice.
ARCHIVIST: (pain) One thing I’ve learned, Daisy, is that we all get a choice. Even if it doesn’t feel like one.
[Pause.]
DAISY: I was gonna kill you. You know that, right?
[The Archivist laughs, as much as he can, current situation considered.]
ARCHIVIST: I mean, I definitely got that impression when you (pain) dragged me into the woods for an execution.
[Another sound of pain.]
DAISY: No. (heh) No. After the mission. I was planning to kill you.
ARCHIVIST: I… I did not know that.
DAISY: I realized - you were in my dreams. R-R-Reliving - this. T-The coffin. You were there.
ARCHIVIST: Yes.
DAISY: Didn’t think it was real. Not really. Just my mind putting you there, because I hated you, but no. One night, you turn up in a new shirt. Didn’t fit you. Not your style.
DAISY: (shaky breath) I-I didn’t think much of it, just a-a dream. Then you come back from the States, and guess what you’re wearing.
ARCHIVIST: Oh.
DAISY: (overlapping) Realized what was happening then. Realized you weren’t human. Needed to die, as soon as it was safe. Never mind Elias, and his… insurance.
ARCHIVIST: And now?
DAISY: Don’t know. I- I miss dreaming. You don’t sleep, down here.
ARCHIVIST: Daisy - you should know, I-I’m -
ARCHIVIST: (he chooses his words carefully)
ARCHIVIST: I-If I wasn’t human before, I’m, uh - I’m even less now.
[In the background, the rumbling sound of the Buried is driving back up in full force.]
DAISY: Yeah. Well. At the moment, I don’t care.
ARCHIVIST: And if we get out?
DAISY: But we can’t get out.
ARCHIVIST: No.
[The Archivist cries out again as the wrath of the Buried comes back full force. Daisy does not yell, but her breaths get even more laboured, and she strains out a few syllables.]
DAISY: I’m s - I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Jon. I’m sorry.
[TAPE CLICKS OFF.]
[TAPE CLICKS ON.]
[The Archivist lets out a breath of surprise.]
ARCHIVIST: D-Daisy!
DAISY: Uh - I’m, I’m here.
ARCHIVIST: I- I can-
[The Archivist’s own static begins to rise.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): It’s - It - It’s closer.
DAISY: What is?
ARCHIVIST: M-My, My, My anchor, my - the, oh,
[The bass (static) drops in.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): a rib; I can f - I can feel - I know the way.
[Various gasping noises that may also be ‘wh-‘s from Daisy. The Archivist begins to move.]
DAISY: W-What? H-How?
ARCHIVIST: I don’t - (strain) It’s like - (strain) My mind link is - stronger.
[More straining and grunting as they move. The static grows louder, heavier.]
DAISY: (breathing heavy) Slow down. I-I can’t -
ARCHIVIST: Don’t let go. (effort) Come on. We’re close. This way.
[They continue.]
ARCHIVIST (CONT’D): Here, come on - push!
[They both groan loudly as they heave against the coffin lid, pushing it open. As they do, and the Archivist sighs in relief? Contentment? numerous voices overlap in the background, seemingly all talking at once, speaking over each other as if they’re in a very large crowd.]
DAISY: Wh - We’re out! We’re really out! I can’t believe-
ARCHIVIST: Umm…
DAISY: What? What is it?
ARCHIVIST: Tape recorders. [Good lord,] must be dozens of them.
[The door opens.]
BASIRA: Jon, you stupid idiot! What did you think?
DAISY: (soft) Hi.
BASIRA: Oh my god.