MIMIC Directed by Guillermo del Toro Written by Guillermo del Toro & Matthew Robbins, based on the short story by Donald A. Wollheim FEMALE REPORTER An eight-year-old boy from Manhattan was delivered dead on arrival today. PETER The Centers for Disease Control. MALE REPORTER Are we dealing with an epidemic? PETER Whatever the carrier, we know that it's not the water. We don't believe that it's airborne. CHILDREN One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine- ***A HOSPITAL IN MANHATTAN PETER Strickler's Disease was first diagnosed two years ago. We're no better off now. I needed you to see this for yourself, Dr. Tyler. It's the same at every hospital in the city. For the lucky ones, it's a lifetime in leg braces. Most of these kids won't make it. We need your help. ***PRESS CONFERENCE PETER Strickler's Disease came to New York like a thief in the night, threatening to steal an entire generation of our children from before our eyes. MALE REPORTER (ON TV) Dr. Peter Mann, Deputy Director of the Centers for Disease Control- PETER The killer was cunning. It was deadly. Neither a cure nor a vaccine could be found. We at the CDC had to contain it before it could spread beyond Manhattan Island. So we went after its carrier: the common cockroach. Or rather she did. Dr. Susan Tyler is the reason that there hasn't been a new case of Strickler's in this city for six months. Dr. Susan Tyler. FEMALE REPORTER (ON TV) Dr. Susan Tyler, Professor of Entomology at the New York State University- SUSAN Thank you, Peter. I don't think I need to tell you New Yorkers just how resilient the common cockroach is. Since it has proven to be virtually immune to chemical control, we had to find a new avenue of attack. So, with the aid of genetics labs across the country, we recombined termite and mantis DNA to create a biological counteragent, a new species to be our six-legged ally in wiping out the roach population. We call it the Judas breed. ***MANN APARTMENT SUSAN (ON TV) Once in contact with the Judas secretions, the common roaches were infected with an enzyme which cause their metabolism to go into overdrive. PETER Come on, Susan! You're missing it. SUSAN (ON TV) No matter how much the common roaches ate, every last member of the nest starved to death within a matter of hours. PETER I hope someone's taping this. PETER (ON TV) The announcement's been a long time coming, ladies and gentlemen. The Strickler's outbreak has officially been contained. The epidemic is over. PETER Hey, Susan. Honey. PETER (ON TV) Any other questions? REPORTER (ON TV) Dr. Mann, what did this victory mean to you personally? PETER (ON TV) It means that I can move on to other projects with the-uh- PETER Our fifteen minutes are gone. PETER (ON TV) And personally -um- it's where I met my wife. PETER What is this? Is this some kind of Catholic guilt thing? SUSAN We don't even know what the impact is of what we did. PETER The impact is that a lot of kids will be running around next year because of you. A lot of kids. SUSAN Hey! PETER Maybe we get lucky. Maybe a couple of them'll be ours someday. SUSAN Oh, a couple, huh? PETER Mm-hmm. SUSAN Oh, okay. We're not rushing things. PETER I didn't want to overtax you. It's been a hard year. SUSAN It's been a great year. ***MANNY'S APARTMENT CHUY Oxfords. Seven and a half. Black. Leather soles. Funny, funny shoes. Funny, funny shoes. Funny, funny shoes. Funny, funny shoes. Funny- ***FLOPHOUSE (OUTSIDE) PETER CDC A POLICEMAN CDC? JOSH Hey, Boss, welcome to disease land. PETER Tuck it in. JOSH All right. All right. PETER Are you sure this is yellow fever? JOSH What, are you ignoring your pages now? PETER Listen, I- JOSH Okay, these two cops saw the broken scaffold and then the paint mess here. And then they looked through that cellar window. Go ahead. Take a look. PETER Jesus! JOSH Pleasant, isn't it? Couldn't let 'em out until you gave me the okay, so- ***FLOPHOUSE (INSIDE) JOSH Roughly, there were three dozen people trapped in here. We got bacterial samples reading off the scale, though nothing's airborne. We got a Reverend Harry Ping. A preacher, if you can imagine that. He ran this place. Well, there's no sign of him. Oh, have you had lunch? PETER Uh-huh. JOSH Try to keep it down when you see this, okay? Piece of shit on the ceiling, hmm? Figure that one out. MIGUEL Here you go, Josh. PETER The subway? JOSH You know what? I-I- This is what I love about my job. I get to travel, see the world, and meet new exotic cultures. It's- It's all bacterial, but hey, what the fuck, right? Thanks a lot, Miguel. PETER Board up every exit. If this leads to the subways, I don't want anything to spread. Quarantine everything. ***MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY SUSAN What's going on, Remy? REMY Oh, I'm just commemorating my sad moments. So, we're at this great restaurant. I'm thinking, finally, a fucking gentleman. I go to the ladies' room. I come back. I catch the schmuck slipping a half-ounce of sedatives into my drink. SUSAN What a pervert. REMY This city is full of perverts. You don't know who anybody is anymore. Jesus, I look like shit. SUSAN Hey, guys. RICKY You're the bug lady, right? DAVIS We're here to deal. ***SUSAN'S OFFICE SUSAN When you pick them up, you should pick 'em up by this front vein on the wing 'cause it's the strongest part of the wing. See, that way you don't break it. Now, let's see what else you have in here. Ah, look. What do we have here? RICKY Swallowtail? SUSAN Excellent. RICKY How come you like bugs so much? SUSAN Just imagine that you're one of them. RICKY What, eating furniture and stuff? That's gotta suck. SUSAN No, no, no. Don't judge them too quickly. These guys were building castles while dinosaurs were still wimpy little lizards. Now, say you're him. He's what we call a soldier. Now, there is no way that you would ever quit fighting, no matter how badly injured you were. It would be a battle to the death. But most insects don't kill, unless their territory is invaded. You'd just stun your prey up here. And then you drag it all the way down through here to there, into what is kind of like a pantry. RICKY Will he eat it alive? SUSAN Yeah. They're not really squeamish about those kind of things. This is the nest. It's the heart of the colony. The big enchilada. RICKY Why? SUSAN Well, if anything were to happen to the nest, the entire colony would die out. RICKY I'd just bail and start my own. SUSAN Well, you couldn't do that. See that big guy there? Next to the queen? Wait. Look over there. He's the king. And out of all the nest, he's the only fertile male. RICKY He got a good deal. SUSAN Yeah. It's a simple structure designed for their survival. It's perfectly balanced and it's very beautiful. DAVIS Whatever peels your banana, lady. So, you wanna buy the butterflies, or what? SUSAN You know what? You guys have done a really good job. So, how about five bucks? RICKY That's your best? DAVIS I'm gonna show her the weird bug. RICKY Costs a dollar just to look. DAVIS It's a really great bug. Got it on the subway. We kind of broke it a little. SUSAN Okay. My best offer. Ten bucks for everything plus a specimen jar, some tweezers and some mounts. DAVIS Deal. RICKY Are you crazy? This is the best. This is our meal ticket. DAVIS Come on. Bug's almost dead anyway. RICKY It's yours. REMY You gave 'em ten bucks. SUSAN They're from Alphabet City. There's much worse things they could be selling. REMY Oh, no. Your papers. Help me get the window. Susan, push! SUSAN Oh, come on. REMY Oh, I hate this window. Okay, on three. One, two, three. ***FLOPHOUSE (OUTSIDE) CAPTAIN (ON RADIO) Who the hell do you think you are, putting my two officers on quarantine? PETER Listen to me, Captain. Those two, they go home, they kiss their wives, they kiss their kids, and I'm the one with a full-blown epidemic. MANNY Come on, Chuy. We have to make dinner. CHUY Dinner. CAPTAIN (ON RADIO) I don't care. PETER Well, I do care! Jesus. God, I hate cops. They make the worst coffee. CHUY Shiny wire. JOSH Still giving you a hard time? PETER As always. MANNY Don't stare. People look back if you stare. It's not polite. PETER I can't believe this. JOSH What? PETER I spend an hour in the field. I get a week-end's worth of crap. JOSH Oh, speaking of that. That turd that I took to the lab? I found these in it. PETER What are they? JOSH Buttons. PETER Buttons? JOSH Maybe they needed fiber. ***AN ALLEY OUTSIDE THE MUSEUM REMY Sorry. ***SUSAN'S OFFICE SUSAN Wow. Oh, my God. You're just a baby. Oh, my God. SUSAN (ON TAPE RECORDER) The transfer of recombinant genetic material from termites and mantis into Judas breed will allow rapid enzymatic change-[fast forwarding] -insuring 100% sterility in all Judas females-[fast forwarding]-utilization of a suicide gene-[fast forwading] -leading to a life expectancy of 120 to 180 days- ***MANNY'S APARTMENT MANNY Not too little and not too much. You rub it in. Around and around. Like this. Let the leather take it. CHUY Funny shoes. Aieee. Mr. Funny Shoes. MANNY No one is there. It's empty. Chuy, listen to me. They have Jesus on the cross, but that is not a holy place. ***MANN APARTMENT PETER Can you call me back tonight? Thanks, Officer. Cops are on it. SUSAN Good. PETER Well, they said- Can you do me a favor and hold off working at night for a while? SUSAN I can't do that. I was actually thinking I had to get back. PETER Susan, someone broke into your office, okay? I'm sorry about you losing a specimen, but let's try and get our priorities straight, okay? SUSAN This is not just a specimen, Peter. I did a pH test and there are only two species that match what I found. Now, one of them is a leaf-cutter ant in the Amazon. The other one we released here three years ago. PETER You said- Y-Y-You said the one we released only had a life span of six months. SUSAN We engineered them to be sterile adults. The Judases were not supposed to last past one generation. PETER So what happened? SUSAN The one I examined today was a baby. They were designed to die. They are breeding. ***DELANCEY STREET STATION - PLATFORM MANNY I shine them good. Chuy, Black Lincoln. Chuy? Black Lincoln. This one. Chuy, pay attention, please. PETER This is where you found the bug? DAVIS Yeah, man. But they changed the lock. REMY Are you sure you haven't seen one of those? RICKY No. What is it? SUSAN It's an Ootheca. It's kind of a fancy name for an egg-case. There's probably more, like, weird bugs inside of it. RICKY No way. I see one of those, I puke. PETER Here you go. Here. RICKY Hold on. Is there money to be made on this egg thing? SUSAN Sorry. REMY Dealing days are over. Vamonos. RICKY Those egg things look nasty. REMY Thought you liked finding nasty things. RICKY Well, what if we go find there things. She'll pay us, right? REMY Is that all you think about? ***INSIDE THE LOCKER ROOM PETER Come on. This bug, what does it look like? SUSAN Did you hear that? How deep does this go? PETER Let's see. Let's take a look. SUSAN D'you see anything? PETER Not yet. Shit. I dropped it. I can't reach it. SUSAN Let me try. My hands are smaller. PETER Just leave it. SUSAN Well, no. Wait. I think I'm almost there. ***SUBWAY TRACKS RICKY How much d'you think the bug lady'll give us for this egg thing? DAVIS At least a twenty spot. RICKY Jesus! Fucking moles! WOMAN Hey! Got any change? DAVIS Get a job, scag. MAN#1 Hey, kid! Get the hell off the tracks! WOMAN Hey, how about a quarter? MAN#1 Get off my tracks! MAN#2 That's where he is. Long John. MAN#1 Hey! Slow down, hot shot! DAVIS Don't be talking to the moles. They messed up. RICKY Hey, moles! Eat my Long John! ***DELANCEY STREET STATION - PLATFORM PETER Look, I've already told you this is CDC business. LEONARD And I'm telling you that those lockers are MTA business. SUSAN Okay, we'll- We'll pay for the lock that we broke, Officer. I mean, whatever we can do- LEONARD Lady, who am I talking to now? You or him? PETER You're talking to me, okay? You're talking to me. All we wanna see is- LEONARD See what? That's the old maintenance bridge, buddy. PETER This insect that we are looking for- LEONARD Look, man. Your lady wants a bug or its eggs or whatever she wants, that's fine by me. But it's like Swiss cheese down there. Tunnels in, tunnels out, old tracks. You go messing around, break your neck, and it's my ass on the line. CHUY Lace-up shoes. Black. Nine West. MANNY Chuy, finish your sandwich. It's good. It's chicken. CHUY Penny loafers. Eleven. Double E. SUSAN Hey. He's really good at that. MANNY Oh, yes. He imitates anything. SUSAN Doesn't he go to school? MANNY He doesn't need school. He's special. SUSAN What're you making there? Is that a superhero? CHUY Mr. Funny Shoes. MANNY He knows everything about shoes. PETER Hey, I'm talking to you. LEONARD Well, you're talking at me, partner! You come back with the proper permits. Maybe we'll have a conversation. PETER Great. We'll do lunch. LEONARD Yeah, I look forward to it. Uptown. SUSAN What happened? PETER Napoleon is alive and well and working for the MTA. SUSAN We have to get down there. PETER He wants a permit? I'll give him a real special one. ***SUBWAY RICKY Ew! DAVIS Ah, what's that? Is that the egg thing? Give me a hand. Oh man, that smells. RICKY I can hear the bugs inside. DAVIS Come on. Cut it. She's gonna give us at least forty bucks. RICKY What's up? DAVIS I think there's a guy down there. RICKY Oh, shit. Oh, shit! It's got me! Help! Oh, God, please! Please, help me! ***MUSEUM - EXHIBIT ROOM WALTER A philosopher named Hobbes once wrote that, "Life, by its very nature, is nasty, brutish, and short." An ant would put it more succinctly: Can I eat it or will it eat me? It's this kind of simplicity that governs the phylum Insecta. SUSAN Hello? PETER (ON THE PHONE) It's me. I got the permits. SUSAN You did? PETER (ON THE PHONE) We're going down first thing tomorrow. SUSAN Okay, that's great. Listen, honey, I- I gotta go right now. I'll call you later. WALTER ---or of cellular phones- SUSAN Okay. WALTER -as my distinguished colleague can telll you. ***MUSEUM - LIBRARY WALTER So your little Frankenstein has got the better of you? SUSAN I was hoping you could tell me. I really need to find some answers, Walter. WALTER Dear Susan, is it answers you want from me, or is it absolution? SUSAN You still think making the Judases was wrong? WALTER Three years ago, I would've called it unforgivable. But I have two grand children who are alive today probably because of you. It would be a tad hypocritical for me to pass judgement. SUSAN That's not an answer, Walter. WALTER It's not an easy question. But, as to the Judases, I think it's likely some survived. Evolution has a way of keeping things alive. SUSAN But they all died in the lab. WALTER Yes, Susan. But you let them out into the world. The world's a much bigger lab. ***FLOPHOUSE - THE CHAPEL CHUY Funny Shoes. ***MANN APARTMENT PETER Yeah. REMY (ON THE PHONE) Hi, Peter. It's Remy. PETER Yeah, hi. REMY (ON THE PHONE) Is Susan there? I need to talk to her. PETER How you doin'? REMY Fine. PETER Huh? REMY It's really important. PETER Yeah, sure. What are you doing? What do you got there? SUSAN Where? PETER Right down there. In your hand. SUSAN Nothing. PETER Oh, are we testing it? SUSAN Maybe. PETER Are we testing it? SUSAN Uh-huh. Maybe. I don't know. Could be. PETER It's Remy. SUSAN Oh, good. Okay. So give me the phone. PETER Come on. Come here. SUSAN Give me the phone. PETER Are we testing it? SUSAN Yes. PETER Can you hold on, Remy? SUSAN Hey, what's up? They found what? REMY (ON THE PHONE) At the water filtration plant. PETER What's going on? SUSAN Okay, I'll be there in- in about twenty minutes. REMY (ON THE PHONE) Okay. Bye. SUSAN Okay. Bye. PETER How long you got? SUSAN Patience. PETER We'll just try again. Try again. SUSAN You know, sometimes these things can be wrong. That's okay. I gotta go, okay? Bye, babe. PETER Susan, we got the subway thing today. SUSAN Yeah, I know. I- I'm just gonna have to meet you there when I'm done. PETER Wait. When you're done from what? ***WATER FILTRATION PLANT JEREMY Uh- boots, toys, uh, beer bottles, body parts, cocaine-filled condoms, uh, little baby alligators. Shit, you wouldn't believe the stuff I'd seen. Yep. They flush 'em down. We fish 'em out. But this thing. We didn't know what this was. We were thinking about throwing it away, but then I remembered Remy. REMY Jeremy plays bass in my band. SUSAN Ah. JEREMY Anyway. So, uh- Yep. I remember Remy says to me, "If it's got more than four legs, it's not a mammal." It's a lobster, right? ***MANNY'S APARTMENT MANNY My father saw me stay in bed, he'd go get the pitcher of cold water, and whoosh! I tell you, that's some alarm clock. ***ENTRANCE TO SUBWAY TRACKS JOSH How big did you say these bugs are? LEONARD Come on. Hurry up. You know, my shift's almost over. I need my beauty sleep. PETER Oh man, if I'm blowing off my Saturday, then so are you. JOSH Yeah. It looks like somebody requested you for overtime. PETER Come on. Hurry up. Let's find these things. We've got a long way to go. LEONARD All right. Watch your step there. We've got burrows going down seven stories here. JOSH No shit. LEONARD Oh, yeah. It's five stories down, partner. You fall, I don't wanna come back and pick you up. Okay, it's all yours. Go ahead. ***MANNY'S APARTMENT AN OFFICER (ON THE PHONE) It's forty-eight hours anyway. MANNY I can't wait that long. AN OFFICER (ON THE PHONE) It's forty-eight hours. Now, listen. You got something to write with? MANNY Yes, yes. I write it. AN OFFICER (ON THE PHONE) You gotta write this down. Come on. Here's the case number. It's two-seven- MANNY Wait a sec. Two, seven. Yes, two-seven- AN OFFICER (ON THE PHONE) Eight-three. MANNY Eight-three. AN OFFICER (ON THE PHONE) All right. You got that? MANNY What does this mean, case number? AN OFFICER (ON THE PHONE) It means I deal with you in forty-eight hours, okay? MANNY Mr. Funny Shoes. ***FLOPHOUSE MANNY Chuy! ***DR. GATES'S OFFICE REMY Hi, Doc. Susan sent you some homework. ***FLOPHOUSE (BASEMENT) MANNY Chuy? Chuy? Chuy? Chuy? ***SUBWAY TRACKS JOSH People actually do live down here? LEONARD Yeah, man. The mole people. This section was pretty popular all the way to Fulton Street. Tweeked-out crackheads, dopeheads, shitheads, mental cases. Then suddenly, poof! All gone. Rumors got started. Someone found a couple of stiffs. Yeah, they make up some crap about a killer. Overcoat Slim, Long John. Now, down here is the land of talk. The wildest version goes the farthest. ***DR. GATES'S OFFICE WALTER Hold it right here. You got it? I see- What's this? Look! The organs are perfectly formed. They were functional. I'm guessing here and, of course, they don't have a- uh, a complete specimen, but- REMY What do you think it is? WALTER This thing is not just some random mutation. It's a highly evolved soldier caste, formidable killer. It couldn't have developed in a vacuum. It's part of a colony. ***SUBWAY - VAULTED AREA LEONARD This way. This way. JOSH Should have stayed at the office. How much longer do we have to go? PETER Keep looking around. It's the size of your palm. LEONARD Aw, man. Take a whiff. JOSH God, it smells like acid. PETER No, it's ammonia. LEONARD Hey, guys. PETER Huh? LEONARD There's some weird shit here. PETER What kind of weird shit? LEONARD Lots of it. PETER God! JOSH Man! Go ahead and ask him. Ask. PETER What the- You've seen anything like this before? LEONARD Why're you asking me if I've ever seen some shit like this before? Do I look like I've seen some shit like this before? Hell, no, I ain't never seen no shit like this before! Who the fuck would wanna climb up these walls and hang one of these? Must've been a big elephant-ass motherfucker. I don't know who the fuck- ***DELANCEY STREET STATION -PLATFORM MAN ON P.A. The Delancey Street Station will be closing in five minutes. Please find alternate routes to your destination. SUSAN Oh, come on, Peter. Hurry up. Um, do you have the time? Sir, the time? ***SUBWAY - VAULTED AREA JOSH Oh. You know, my father always wanted me to become a dentist. I said, "No way. I'm not gonna spend my life looking into people's open mouths." What could be worse than that, right? LEONARD Oh, man. I've never been this deep. This is the old Armory Station. Hey, they built it around the turn of the century. It's been closed for decades. PETER Yeah, I guess we covered everything. LEONARD Hey, look. You got your shit. I'm happy for you. Let's get the hell outta here, huh? PETER Hey, Josh. I want a full team in here by 6:00 tonight. JOSH All right. LEONARD Oh shit. What the fuck? PETER No, don't! Look what the fuck you did, man! LEONARD You see the size of that thing? JOSH Peter, are you all right? PETER It's okay, Josh. It's okay. I think I'm okay. LEONARD Get the hell off me. PETER Yeah, I think he's okay, too. JOSH How am I gonna get you back up? PETER I don't know. See a way up? JOSH No. PETER Shit. LEONARD There is no way up. Oh, man, that gonna work! PETER Do you know a better way up? LEONARD Hey, show that to the station manager. Tell him Leonard said he's gonna have his bubble-but if he don't have someone down here in ten- JOSH Wait a second. I can't find my way back alone. LEONARD Look, look, look. Just go back the same way we came. JOSH Wait, wait. All right. LEONARD Take the first tunnel to the left, then go to the fourth, right? Then right, right, left, right? JOSH Left, fourth- Peter, can I just stay here and help you guys back up? PETER Toss the glow-stick down and just go, Josh. Please. LEONARD Just keep headin' up. You're gonna get there. Hurry! JOSH All right, all right! I got it. ***DEEP IN TUNNEL SUSAN Help me! Help! Please, help! Help! Please! Help! Please! Please! Somebody, please help me! ***SUBWAY - REMAIN OF OLD STATION LEONARD (SINGING) There were four brothers- PETER Piece of shit. LEONARD This is really weird. We should've seen some track bunnies by now. PETER What are they? LEONARD Track bunnies. Rats. They're usually around. PETER They're big? LEONARD You're damn right. (SINGING) Yeah,yeah. Got a telegram this mornin' saying my wife was dead. I dropped what I was doin'. Whoa. I cried till my eyes was red. You know I love that woman. And now she's gone. PETER Could you just knock it off, please? Knock it off. LEONARD Hey, I sing when I'm nervous. PETER Yeah. Turn these lights back on. LEONARD What? PETER You said the cables are still alive. LEONARD Oh, man. PETER Maybe we can rewire them. LEONARD There you go again. PETER What? LEONARD How are you gonna rewire all of this? You need a whole crew down here to do that. PETER What is your problem, man? Do you need a memo everytime you take a shit? LEONARD Oh, don't go there. PETER Hmm? LEONARD You better be careful how you speak to people. PETER Josh? LEONARD He won't be comin' from there. Manny, what the hell are you doin' here? MANNY Hurry. The lady needs help. ***TUNNELS - PIPE GALLERY TO SUBWAY CAR PETER Hey, honey, we're coming! SUSAN Oh, Jesus, please hurry! Please. Come on! Oh, no! It's coming! LEONARD What the fuck is that? Come on. Get her, man! Get her! What the fuck is that? What the fuck- PETER Go! LEONARD Look there! There! There! The car! The car! Close the door! Close the fuckin' door! What the fuck was that? Come on. Here. Here, here, here! PETER Just wait a minute! LEONARD Fuck it! You wait a minute! I wanna make sure! SUSAN It's not dead. LEONARD Yeah, well, it's gonna be! Very soon, lady! PETER There it is. LEONARD Drag it out. PETER There it is! LEONARD Drag it out! You better tell me what the hell's goin' on around here. ***INSIDE SUBWAY CAR LEONARD Oh, man. PETER Okay, Leonard. Okay. It's gonna be fine. You'll be fine. Okay. You just stay calm. Okay, there we go. Everything's gonna be okay. LEONARD Ah, Christ. PETER Josh will be here soon. He'll bring us some help. LEONARD You're dreamin', man. You're dreamin'. If your boy was comin' back, he'd have been here by now. They got his ass, man. They ate his ass, man. PETER We don't know that. We don't know that. LEONARD And if you think there's not another one of those things out there, what has been puttin' that shit all over the walls? PETER Listen, Leonard. If you keep on screaming like that, we're gonna meet the rest of its family. LEONARD Manny? Manny, be careful. MANNY It- It's dead. LEONARD No, no, no. I emptied two clips into that thing and it kept comin'. SUSAN Wait, wait a second. Help me turn it over. Peter, these are lungs. LEONARD What the hell is she talkin' about? PETER Biology 101. You know, insects don't have lungs. That's what limits their size. SUSAN The secretions are the same. LEONARD Oh, God. SUSAN When I increased the Judas's metabolism, I must have sped up its breeding cycle. I mean, we're talking tens, hundreds of thousands of generations. I mean, who knows how many mutations. PETER Listen, I- I just don't fuckin' get this. How could the- How could the Judas evolve into this? SUSAN Think generations, not years, okay? It took only 40,000 generations for apes to turn into humans. PETER So? SUSAN We changed its DNA, Peter. I mean, we don't know what we did! LEONARD Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute! Hold on! If that thing has been around, how come- how come nobody's ever seen it? SUSAN I think we have. ***INSIDE SUBWAY-CAR SUSAN Sometimes an insect will evolve to mimic its predator. A fly can look like a spider. A caterpillar can look like a snake. The Judas evolved to mimic its predator: us. PETER Nobody up there knows about this? SUSAN Nobody would. Not until it's too late. These things can imitate us. They can infiltrate us and breed a legion before anyone would even notice. MANNY How- How could you do this? How could you do this? You- You take a centipede and you- you make it like a man. A man who's not a man. He's a- PETER Manny! MANNY He's a thing- PETER Manny! MANNY -that steals my child! LEONARD Manny, you tell her, 'cause she don't give a goddamn. PETER Hey, hey, hey! LEONARD Your kid's gone. PETER Hey, shut up! LEONARD My leg's chewed up all over! PETER Shut up, will ya? Shut the fuck up! LEONARD And they're both talking about insects with lungs! PETER Shut up! LEONARD Oh, shit! They're everywhere! PETER Manny, get over here! SUSAN It's the blood! The smell of the blood is driving them crazy. LEONARD Oh, shit! SUSAN We have to cover the scent! Manny, give me your razor. Give me your razor! Here, take it! Rub it on the windows! Anywhere where there's cracks. MANNY What for? SUSAN Just do it! PETER What? LEONARD Oh! What the- Ah! What is it? SUSAN Scent glands. Insects use them to identify themselves. Here. Rub it all over yourself. They won't attack you if they think you're one of them. PETER Manny! SUSAN It worked. ***INSIDE SUBWAY-CAR MANNY Do you mind if- PETER Go ahead. LEONARD Manny, give me your lighter. Look, this is where we are. Now, these tunnels may lead to the surface. MANNY Yes. LEONARD If we can get this car moving, we might be able to make it. MANNY What- What do you mean, might? LEONARD I mean, probably. PETER But even if they do, th- this thing's been down here rotting for half a century. How do you know it'll move? LEONARD Listen to me. Listen. This car is a CR-17 from Coney Island. Believe me, it was made to last. Now, Manny, there's a track relay switch in this room here. You switch the tracks. That'll get us going. MANNY Yes. I'll try. I'll try. LEONARD Do. There's a fuse box down the tracks. If I can rewire it, I can juice up the whole system. PETER Leonard, man. Look at yourself, I- SUSAN I'll do it. Hey, if you talk me through it, I'll go out there. LEONARD All you've gotta do is- PETER No, no, no, no. I'll go. I'll go. SUSAN Why? I know much more about what's out there than you do. PETER You're right. You understand the creature and, uh, Leonard knows the subway, so- So this is the way it's gotta be. Whatever happens, it's Manny and me. SUSAN Why? PETER You two have gotta stay on this car. You gotta get back up. You gotta undo this. So I'll go. (to Manny) We'll go. MANNY Yes. ***INSIDE SUBWAY-CAR SUSAN I have to put this on you now. They mimic us. We mimic them. LEONARD Ah, Peter. Peter. Peter, look. You'll find two wires: one green, the other blue. PETER Okay. LEONARD Man, this- this shit can't be sanitary. Take it off. PETER No, man. Leave it on. Leave it on. SUSAN Don't touch it. Try not to sweat. They sense chemical changes. PETER Oh, okay. Okay. I'll- I'll try not to sweat. ***SWITCHROOM MANNY Chuy! ***INSIDE SUBWAY-CAR LEONARD Susan, he's in. He just need to find the switch. SUSAN Good. ***BY THE TRACKS PETER Green. Blue. Green, blue. Green, blue. Shit. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. ***SWITCH ROOM MANNY Chuy! Chuy! Chuy, it's me. ***INSIDE SUBWAY CAR LEONARD Come on, Manny. What's takin' you so long? SUSAN Do these subway tracks lead to the regular train tunnels at Grand Central and Penn Station? LEONARD Yeah, yeah. SUSAN Well, they'll use them to migrate out of the city. After that, they'll set up colonies anywhere they can. ***INSIDE SUBWAY CAR SUSAN Now, every specimen we've seen has been female because a male would be a lighter color and it would have no wings. And if they are holding true to the Judas's spawning pattern, the nest will have only one fertile male. Now, if we could catch that male and kill him, then the females won't be able to breed and the whole generation could die out. LEONARD Where the hell is the male? ***SWITCH ROOM MANNY Chuy. Chuy. Chuy, come here. Come here. Come here. CHUY Friends. MANNY Come here, please. ***INSIDE SUBWAY CAR LEONARD Oh, goddamn it! He must be in trouble. He must be in trouble. SUSAN Sh, sh. Wait. Listen. LEONARD Oh, Jesus! SUSAN I'm goin' out there. You stay here. LEONARD Listen. If the car starts, I'll meet you at the end of the platform. SUSAN Chuy? ***INSIDE SUBWAY CAR LEONARD Oh, my God. ***SWITCH ROOM SUSAN Oh, Manny. Chuy. ***INSIDE SUBWAY CAR LEONARD Yes! Yes! CR-17 from Coney Island! Goddamn it! Goddamn! PETER Leonard. LEONARD Get away! Go away! I'm bleeding. PETER I found a way out, on a dumbwaiter. LEONARD Go away. Peter, I'm bleeding. Go away! I can't stop it. I can't stop it. They'll be here soon. PETER Where's my wife? LEONARD Go away. PETER Where's Susan? Where's Susan? LEONARD She went to get Manny. ***SWITCH ROOM PETER Susan. Shh. They haven't seen us yet. Don't move. ***INSIDE SUBWAY CAR LEONARD Peter, go! ***SWITCH ROOM LEONARD (singing from a far) At an old general station- SUSAN Oh, my God. LEONARD (singing) Please send a train. SUSAN Leonard? ***SUBWAY TRACKS LEONARD (singins) You see my health is failin' me. And I ain't got too much time. ***DUMBWAITER SUSAN Come on, Chuy. PETER Hurry. SUSAN All right, come on in. That's all right. That's a good boy. C'mon. PETER Chuy. SUSAN No, it's all right. Shh, stop. Stop it. It's okay. It's okay. C'mon. All right, Peter. Come on. Get in. Get in, Peter. Come on. Chuy, shh! Stop it! Stop it! Shh! Get in, get in, get in. Peter, what are you doing? PETER I gotta stop them here. SUSAN Oh, no. Peter, don't do this! Peter! No! No! Oh, Jesus! Don't! No! Chuy! Chuy! Stop it. Stop it! Shh! Train. Oh! We're here! Help! ***DUMBWAITER SUSAN Watch it. Go on. Go on. Get out! Hurry! Go! Aah! Fuck you! ***SUBWAY TRACKS SUSAN Chuy? Chuy? Chuy? Oh, God. It's the male. No! You will not hurt him! No! Turn around! Turn around! Come on. Come on. Come on. ***OUTSIDE STATION FEMALE REPORTER Police and emergency crews continue to work in the aftermath of tonight's explosions on the lower East Side. WALTER We swept the area twice. It's burned. Nothing could have survived down there. SUSAN What about one of us? WALTER I'm sorry, Susan. I really am. CHUY Shiny wire. Mountain boots. Ten. Brown. =THE END=