Grotalimon Script

[Fade in to see all of MAIN CHARACTER submerged in a bathtub besides his face.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "The first time I see one is at 5:30 in the morning. I'm soaking in a hot bath with the lights off, in hope that the simulated womb will mitigate some of the effects of sleep deprivation."

[MAIN CHARACTER's cat goes from one side of the bathroom door to the other, meowing.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "The damn cat can't decide which side of the door it wanted to be on, and since I don't live with anyone else, I simply left it ajar."

[A freakish, ugly monster type thing walks briefly by the door, and we see MAIN CHARACTER with an absolutely terrified look on his face.]
[MAIN CHARACTER runs from the bathroom with a towel around his waste and searches around the house with the following narration.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "I burst from the bathroom as fast as I can put on my towel. I can't be sure what I've just seen, or even that I have seen anything at all. Foremost on my mind is the possibility that I'd dreamt it."

[MAIN CHARACTER bends down and picks up the bloody collar of his supposedly dead cat, with a frightened look in his eyes.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "I search the whole house with no result. If indeed I had seen anything it was long gone. So, it seemed, was the cat."

[Black screen, then fade in to see MAIN CHARACTER in bed, facing away from the camera view.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "I spend most of the day recovering from the events of the morning. By the time I finally manage to fall asleep, the sun has gone down."

[Pan to see MAIN CHARACTER from the side he's facing, his left eye slightly open.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "I awake to a gentle, intermittent nudging. I try to protest, only to discover that I cannot speak. In fact, I am completely paralyzed."

[Pan to see a hideous bug with six legs and a needle sticking into MAIN CHARACTER's neck, sucking something out of him.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "I can't turn to see what is piercing my neck, although perhaps it is for the best."

[Black screen, then we see MAIN CHARACTER being dragged through the grass away from his house and down a hole, wrapped in sticky web on the bug's back.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "Whatever it put in my neck knocked me out, and when I wake up I see that I am glued to its back with some sort of sticky fiber. The blood rushes to my head as it descends into the earth. I pass out once again."

[Black screen, then we see MAIN CHARACTER (lying in the fetal position) and two other people (sitting) in front of a black pool of water in a rocky room with the hideous bugs standing in the shadows. The only light is pouring in through the hole MAIN CHARACTER was dragged through.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "I awaken to the warm sunlight pouring down the hole. The things guard us closely, though I see no means of escape. I take a moment to survey my surroundings and I see that there are others down here as well."

[The others silently socialize as MAIN CHARACTER rocks back and forth in the fetal position.]
[Black screen, then we see MAIN CHARACTER being torn apart by two of the bugs, screaming silently in pain.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "They wait until we sleep to begin feeding. The pain comes without warning, but is over quickly."

[The bugs dump MAIN CHARACTER into the pool of black water.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "The first time they ate me wasn't half as jarring as what immediately followed."

[MAIN CHARACTER surfaces from the black water and draws in a deep breath.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "The black water has some mysterious healing effect. Again and again they feed on me, and every time I wake up without any sign of injury."

[Black screen, then we see MAIN CHARACTER lying in the fetal position, hugging his hands around his legs, with thinning hair, teeth growing out of his shoulder, and an extra finger growing out of his right hand.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "It's not perfect, however. Every time it heals me, more mistakes appear. For one thing, my hair is falling out. There's also a new finger on my right hand, and some teeth growing out of my shoulder. The others are afraid of me; I can't say that I blame them... The poor fools don't realize that they'll become like me soon."

[Time passes, and we see MAIN CHARACTER has turned into a freakish alien monster with an eyeball growing out of his chest, and several spikes jutting out of his arms and from his head.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "I've changed so much, the bugs don't recognize me as human. When I leave, they don't try to stop me."

[MAIN CHARACTER walks silently through the cave, sees a light, and runs towards it.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "As I reach the edge of the cavern, a blinding light envelops me. I've made it to freedom!"

[We see the outside of one of many giant pillars in a white space with several bugs flying in the background.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "...Of a sort."

[MAIN CHARACTER gets onto a large, flying bug that somewhat resembles the others.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "Whatever they are, they don't mind when I hitch a ride."

[MAIN CHARACTER observes his environment, and swoops around the pillars.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "Split stone pillars punctuate an endless sea of white fog. I feel like a small bird navigating a petrified forest. The only living things I see are other bugs and some sort of floating creature."

[MAIN CHARACTER flies closer to the flying creature, which is a giant, dome-laden thing with long tentacles. It shoots a tentacle up and impales MAIN CHARACTER's flying bug, causing him to fall to his supposed death.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "Death... Finally."

[Black screen, then we see MAIN CHARACTER wake up. He sees a slightly less mutated Grotalimon staring down at him.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "...Or am I not to be so lucky?"

[MAIN CHARACTER and the Grotalimon walk through the caves of this new pillar, and they silently speak to one another along the way.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "As we make our way towards the core, he loosens my binds and begins to speak. I ask him first why the darkness in the distance has not returned; he tells me that it was never there to begin with, only an illusion to prevent prey from wandering too far from the black water."

[MAIN CHARACTER and the Grotalimon soon see a long wall in the distance.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "As a walled structure comes into view, I cry out. His glare silences me."

[Black screen, then we see MAIN CHARACTER and the Grotalimon walk through the door, and see a whole village of Grotalimon living in crudely-built tents.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration[: "I notice upon entry that the door is made of bones, and so are the tents save for a brittle layer of what looks like skin stretched over them."

[We see a Grotalimon grinding bones into dust in the background, at which MAIN CHARACTER stares.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "As if anticipating my questions, he holds up a small brick and explains that it's formed from a combination of ground bone dust and a glue made from boiled ligaments. His own remains and those of the others, fished out of the black jelly after the bugs have fed on their flesh."

[MAIN CHARACTER and the Grotalimon walk into the largest tent in the village, home to the leader of the Grotalimon, a hulking, many-armed, many-eyeballed shadow of a creature.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "I soon find myself in the presence of their leader, who has suffered more mutation than any of us. He speaks of the shafts to the surface world to which he can never return."

[Black screen, then we see MAIN CHARACTER staring up one of the shafts.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "Or rather, not with any permanence. Raids were actually quite frequent, though it seems only the bugs can open the tunnels."

[Black screen, then we see MAIN CHARACTER crawling steadily up the flesh-colored walls of the shaft.]

MAIN CHARACTER [Narration]: "I rest, prepare my mind, and begin to ascend."

[MAIN CHARACTER finally climbs out of the long shaft, and catches a glimpse of his house in the distance. With no delay, he rushes towards it.]
[Black screen, then we see MAIN CHARACTER sneaking through his house. He sees the cat, alive and well, and picks it up, attempting to pet it. It bites him, causing his hand to bleed, and MAIN CHARACTER winces slightly. He sees that he is kneeling in front of the open bathroom door, inside of which someone is resting in the bathtub. Without thinking, MAIN CHARACTER runs outside with the cat still in his bleeding hand, and stands, confused, in the field outside of his house.]
[Fade to black, with "THE END" in white letters. Roll credits.]