[FADE IN: OASIS PLAINS, OKLAHOMA. A team of construction workers are working on building a luxury home complex. The scene focuses on two employees from Oklahoma Gas and Power, TRAVIS WEAVER and DUSTIN BURWASH.]
TRAVIS: Man, these are some phat houses, huh? I’d like to live here.
DUSTIN: Yeah, too bad you can’t afford it.
TRAVIS: Yeah, you’re right. This neighborhood’ll be damn expensive when it’s done.
[DUSTIN stops working. Curious, he goes over to a patch of ground and puts his hand on it, almost as if he can feel it moving.]
TRAVIS: No, this place is perfect. [He smacks a bug on the side of his neck.] Except for the mosquitoes. [Off-screen, he can hear DUSTIN screaming for help. He turns and sees that DUSTIN has fallen into a hole in the ground.] Dustin? [He rushed over to the hole.]
DUSTIN: Help me, I’m trapped! I broke my ankle!
TRAVIS: All right, I’ll get a rope! [He leaves. Inside the hole, DUSTIN is clutching his bloody ankle, breathing heavily. He looks around nervously and sees that there are thousands of beetles inside the walls of the hole. Several of them have landed on his hand, and he frantically brushes them off.]
DUSTIN: Oh, God. [Outside the hole, TRAVIS runs to a nearby truck and opens it. Back inside the hole, tons of beetles are beginning to cover DUSTIN’S body. They gather in groups on his clothing and skin.] Travis, help!
TRAVIS: Hang on! [TRAVIS gets a rope from the truck. Inside the hole, DUSTIN is almost entirely covered in beetles.]
DUSTIN: Travis, help! [He continues to scream as beetles crawl inside his ears and nose.]
TRAVIS: It’s okay, Dustin! It’s okay! [He runs back to the hole with supplies.] Dustin? Dustin, I’m here! [He looks into the hole with a flashlight, horrified.] Oh, God. [Inside the hole, DUSTIN is dead. He is bleeding heavily from the ears, nose, and eyes. The screen goes black.]
[FADE IN: EXT. OKLAHOMA BAR. SAM is reading a newspaper article about Dustin. A minute later, DEAN comes outside, laughing and waving a wad of cash in the air.]
SAM: You know, we could get day jobs once in a while.
DEAN: Hunting’s our day job. And the pay is crap.
SAM: Yeah, but hustling pool? Credit card scams? It’s not the most honest thing in the world, Dean.
DEAN: Well, let’s see honest. [He holds out one hand.] Fun and easy. [He holds out the other, and gestures that “fun and easy” outweighs “honest”.] It’s no contest. Besides, we’re good at it. It’s what we were raised to do.
SAM: Yeah, well, how we were raised was jacked.
DEAN: Yeah, says you. We got a new gig or what?
SAM: Maybe. Oasis Plains, Oklahoma –- not far from here. A gas company employee, Dustin Burwash, supposedly died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob.
DEAN: Huh?
SAM: Human mad cow disease.
DEAN: Mad cow. Wasn’t that on Oprah?
SAM: You watch Oprah? [DEAN, embarrassed, can’t think of anything to say.]
DEAN: [changing topic] So this guy eats a bad burger. Why is it our kind of thing?
SAM: Mad cow disease causes massive brain degeneration. It takes months, even years, for the damage to appear. But this guy, Dustin? Sounds like his brain disintegrated in about an hour. Maybe less.
DEAN: Okay, that’s weird.
SAM: Yeah. Now, it could be a disease. Or it could be somethin’ much nastier.
DEAN: All right. Oklahoma. [They get in the car.] Man. Work, work, work. No time to spend my money. [They drive away.]
[CUT TO: EXT – OKLAHOMA GAS & POWER COMPANY BUILDING. DEAN and SAM get out of the car and approach TRAVIS.]
SAM: Travis Weaver?
TRAVIS: Yeah, that’s right.
DEAN: Are you the Travis who worked with Uncle Dusty?
TRAVIS: Dustin never mentioned nephews.
DEAN: Really? Well, he sure mentioned you. He said you were the greatest.
SAM: Yeah.
TRAVIS: [smiling] Oh, he did? Huh.
DEAN: Listen, we wanted to ask you…what exactly happened out there?
TRAVIS: I’m not sure. He fell in a sinkhole, I went to the truck to get some rope, and, uh…by the time I got back…
DEAN: What did you see?
TRAVIS: Nothin’. Just Dustin.
SAM: No wounds or anything?
TRAVIS: Well, he was bleeding…from his eyes and his ears, his nose. But that’s it.
DEAN: So you think it could be this whole mad cow thing?
TRAVIS: I don’t know. That’s what the doctors are sayin’.
SAM: But if it was, he would’ve acted strange beforehand, like dementia, loss of motor control. You ever notice anything like that?
TRAVIS: No. No way. But then again, if it wasn’t some disease, what the hell was it?
DEAN: That’s a good question.
SAM: You know, can you tell us where this happened?
TRAVIS: Yeah.
[A while later, DEAN and SAM arrive at the scene of DUSTIN’S death. The sinkhole is surrounded by police tape.]
DEAN: Huh. What do you think?
SAM: I don’t know. But if that guy, Travis, was right, it happened pretty damn fast. [They duck under the police tape and look into the hole with a flashlight.]
DEAN: So, what? Some sort of creature chewed on his brain?
SAM: No, there’d be an entry wound. Sounds like this thing worked from the inside.
DEAN: Huh. Looks like there’s only room for one. You wanna flip a coin?
SAM: Dean, we have no idea what’s down there. [DEAN picks up a nearby coil of rope.]
DEAN: All right, I’ll go if you’re scared. You scared?
SAM: Flip the damn coin. [DEAN chuckles and takes a coin out of his pocket.]
DEAN: All right, call it in the air…chicken. [He flips the coin, and SAM catches it in midair.]
SAM: I’m going.
DEAN: I said I’d go.
SAM: I’m going.
DEAN: All right. [SAM begins tying the rope around his waist.]
SAM: Don’t drop me.
[CUT TO: INT. IMPALA. While DEAN drives, SAM is examining a dead beetle in his hand.]
DEAN: So you found some beetles. In a hole, in the ground. That’s shocking, Sam.
SAM: There were no tunnels, no tracks. No evidence of any other kind of creature down there. You know, some beetles do eat meat. Now, it’s usually dead meat, but—
DEAN: How many did you find down there?
SAM: Ten.
DEAN: It’d take a whole lot more than that to eat out some dude’s brain.
SAM: Well, maybe there were more.
DEAN: I don’t know, it sounds like a stretch to me.
SAM: Well, we need more information on the area, the neighborhood. Whether something like this has ever happened before. [As they drive through town, they pass a sign for an open house, decorated with red balloons.] What?
DEAN: I know a good place to start. [Another sign reads, “Models Open. New Buyers’ BBQ Today!”] I’m kinda hungry for a little barbeque, how ‘bout you? [SAM gives him a knowing look.] What, we can’t talk to the locals?
SAM: And the free food’s got nothin’ to do with it?
DEAN: Of course not. I’m a professional.
SAM: Right. [They pull over and get out of the car. They begin walking down the street to the open house.]
DEAN: Growin’ up in a place like this would freak me out.
SAM: Why?
DEAN: Well, manicured lawns, “How was your day, honey?” –- I’d blow my brains out.
SAM: There’s nothing wrong with “normal”.
DEAN: I’d take our family over normal any day. [They approach the house and knock on the door. The homeowner, LARRY PIKE, answers.]
LARRY: Welcome.
DEAN: This the barbeque?
LARRY: Yeah, not the best weather, but…I’m Larry Pike, the developer here. And you are…?
DEAN: Dean. This is Sam. [They shake hands.]
LARRY: Sam, Dean, good to meet you. So, you two are interested in Oasis Plains?
DEAN: Yes, sir.
LARRY: Let me just say –- we accept homeowners of any race, religion, color, or…sexual orientation. [SAM and DEAN realize what he is trying to say.]
DEAN: We’re brothers. [LARRY seems slightly embarrassed.]
SAM: Our father is getting on in years, and we’re just lookin’ for a place for him.
LARRY: Great, great. Well, seniors are welcome, too. Come on in. [LARRY takes them outside to the backyard. There are lots of people walking around, chatting and eating.]
SAM: You said you were the developer?
LARRY: Eighteen months ago, I was walking this valley with my survey team. There was nothing here but scrub brush and squirrels. And you know what, we built such a nice place to live that I actually bought into it myself. This is our house. We’re the first family in Oasis Plains. [They walk over to his wife.] This is my wife, Joanie.
JOANIE: Hi there.
DEAN: Hi. [They shake hands.]
JOANIE: Hi, nice to meet you.
LARRY: Sam and Dean.
SAM: [shaking her hand] Sam.
JOANIE: Pleasure.
LARRY: Tell them how much you love the place, honey. And lie if you have to because I need to sell some houses.
JOANIE: Right. [They laugh.]
LARRY: Boys, will you excuse me? [He leaves.]
JOANIE: Don’t let his salesman routine scare you. This really is a great place to live. [A very energetic woman, LYNDA BLOOME, approaches them. Her black hair is pulled back in a tight bun.]
LYNDA: Hi, I’m Lynda Bloome, head of sales.
JOANIE: And Lynda was second to move in. She’s a very noisy neighbor, though. [She leaves.]
LYNDA: [laughing] She’s kidding, of course. I take it you two are interested in becoming homeowners.
DEAN: Well…
SAM: Y-yeah, well…
LYNDA: Well, let me just say that we accept homeowners of any race, religion, color, or…sexual orientation. [DEAN chuckles.]
DEAN: Right. Um…I’m gonna go talk to Larry. [to SAM] Okay, honey? [He walks away, smacking SAM on his ass. SAM and LYNDA share an awkward silence.]
[Inside the house, LARRY and DEAN come downstairs, finishing a tour.]
LARRY: You’ve got three choices –- carpet, hardwood, and tile. [DEAN notices a jar full of bugs on a nearby table.]
DEAN: Whoa. Someone likes bugs.
LARRY: My son –- he’s into insects. He’s very…inquisitive.
[Outside, LYNDA is still talking to SAM.]
LYNDA: Who can say “no” to a steam shower? I use mine everyday.
SAM: [uninterested] Sounds great. [While LYNDA continues talking, SAM notices a tarantula crawling towards her hand, which is resting on a table. A few feet away, LARRY’s son, MATT, is watching excitedly.] Excuse me. [He pushes LYNDA out of the way and picks up the spider, bringing it over to MATT.] Is this yours?
MATT: [taking it from him] You gonna tell my dad?
SAM: I don’t know. Who’s your dad?
MATT: [scoffs] Yeah, Larry usually skips me in the family introductions.
SAM: Ouch. First name basis with the old man –- sounds pretty grim.
MATT: Well, I’m not exactly brochure material.
SAM: Well, hang in there. It gets better, all right? I promise.
MATT: When?
LARRY: Matthew. [They turn to see LARRY and DEAN walking towards them.] I am so sorry about my son and his…pet.
SAM: It’s no bother.
LARRY: Excuse us. [He walks away with MATT.]
SAM: Remind you of somebody? [DEAN looks over at LARRY, who is yelling at MATT. He looks back at SAM, confused.] Dad?
DEAN: Dad never treated us like that.
SAM: Well, Dad never treated you like that. You were perfect. He was all over my case. You don’t remember?
DEAN: Well, maybe he had to raise his voice, but sometimes, you were out of line.
SAM: [scoffs] Right. Right, like when I said I’d rather play soccer than learn bowhunting.
DEAN: Bowhunting’s an important skill.
SAM: [rolling his eyes] Whatever. How was your tour?
DEAN: Oh, it was excellent. I’m ready to buy. [SAM laughs.] So you might be onto somethin’. Looks like Dustin Burwash wasn’t the first strange death around here.
SAM: What happened?
DEAN: About a year ago, before they broke ground, one of Larry’s surveyors dropped dead while on the job. Get this—severe allergic reaction to bee stings.
SAM: More bugs.
DEAN: [nodding] More Bugs.
[CUT TO: INT. IMPALA. While SAM drives through the neighborhood, DEAN looks through their father’s journal.]
DEAN: You know, I’ve heard of killer bees, but killer beetles? What is it that could make different bugs attack?
SAM: Well, hauntings sometimes include bug manifestations.
DEAN: Yeah, but I didn’t see any evidence of ghost activity.
SAM: Yeah, me neither.
DEAN: Maybe they’re being controlled somehow. You know, by something or someone.
SAM: You mean, like Willard?
DEAN: Yeah, bugs instead of rats.
SAM: There are cases of psychic connections between people and animals –- elementals, telepaths.
DEAN: Yeah, that whole Timmy-Lassie thing. [He thinks for a second and realizes something.] Larry’s kid –- he’s got bugs for pets.
SAM: Matt?
DEAN: Yeah.
SAM: He did try to scare the realtor with a tarantula.
DEAN: You think he’s our Willard?
SAM: I don’t know. Anything’s possible, I guess.
DEAN: Ooh, hey. Pull over here. [SAM pulls into the empty driveway of one of the Oasis Plains homes.]
SAM: What are we doing here?
DEAN: [getting out of the car] It’s too late to talk to anybody else.
SAM: We’re gonna squat in an empty house?
DEAN: I wanna try the steam shower. Come on. [SAM doesn’t move.] Come on! [Reluctantly, SAM pulls the car into the garage, and DEAN closes it.]
[CUT TO: INT. BLOOME RESIDENCE. LYNDA BLOOME enters her bedroom, turning on the light. She turns on the television and takes her hair out of the bun.]
WOMAN ON TV: Atoka Valley County began mandatory insecticide spraying across a wide swath of the district today. Authorities say the decision to spray was made because of several recent cases of West Nile virus, coupled with a dramatic increase in the mosquito population of some areas. [As she is watching the news, a large spider crawls out of LYNDA’S hair and onto her face. She gasps and swipes it away. She turns off the television, frightened.]
[A few moments later, LYNDA is in the shower. While she is washing her hair, a very big spider crawls out from behind the showerhead. In a matter of seconds, hundreds of enormous spiders begin crawling out from the tiles. LYNDA opens her eyes and screams. She breaks through the glass of the shower doors and tries to run away. The camera pans over to her. A trail of blood leads from the bathtub to the bedroom floor. LYNDA is lying there, dead, as several smaller spiders run across her body. The screen goes black.]
[FADE IN: INT. OASIS PLAINS HOME. MORNING. SAM approaches the bathroom door, where the shower can be heard running. He knocks.]
SAM: You ever comin’ out of there?
DEAN: [OS] What?
SAM: Dean, a police call came in on the scanner.
DEAN: Hold on.
SAM: Someone was found dead three blocks from here. Come on. [The bathroom door opens. DEAN is standing there, in the steam-filled room, with a towel on his head.]
DEAN: This shower is awesome.
SAM: [rolling his eyes] Come on. [He walks away.]
[CUT TO: EXT. BLOOME RESIDENCE. DEAN and SAM pull up and get out of the car. They approach LARRY, who is finishing talking to someone on the phone. LYNDA’S body is being carried out in a body bag on a stretcher.]
LARRY: Hello. You’re, uh, back early.
DEAN: Yeah, we just drove in, wanted to take another look at the neighborhood.
SAM: What’s goin’ on?
LARRY: You guys met, uh…Lynda Bloome at the barbeque?
SAM: The realtor.
LARRY: Well, she, uh…passed away last night. [The boys are shocked.]
DEAN: What happened?
LARRY: I’m still tryin’ to find out. Identified the body for the police. Look, I-I’m sorry, this isn’t a good time now.
SAM: It’s okay.
LARRY: Excuse me. [He leaves them.]
DEAN: You know what we have to do, right?
SAM: Yeah. Get in that house.
DEAN: See if we got a bug problem.
[A few minutes later, they climb over the fence, up the side of the house, and through LYNDA’S bedroom window. The outline of her dead body is drawn on the carpet.]
DEAN: This looks like the place. [They walk over to another part of the room. DEAN picks up a towel, and drops it when he sees it is covered in dead spiders.] Spiders. From Spider Boy?
SAM: Matt – maybe.
[CUT TO: ROAD. DEAN and SAM pull up at the curb. Across the street, MATT gets off a school bus and begins walking.]
DEAN: Isn’t his house that way? [He points in the opposite direction.]
SAM: Yup.
DEAN: So where’s he goin’? [They get out of the car and begin following MATT. They find him in the woods, examining a grasshopper.]
SAM: Hey, Matt. Remember me?
MATT: What are you doin’ out here?
DEAN: Well, we wanna talk to you.
MATT: You’re not here to buy a house, are you? [DEAN shakes his head.] W-wait. You’re not serial killers? [SAM and DEAN laugh.]
SAM: No, no. No, I think you’re safe.
DEAN: So, Matt…you sure know a lot about insects.
MATT: So?
DEAN: Did you hear what happened to Lynda, the realtor?
MATT: I hear she died this morning.
DEAN: Mm, that’s right. Spider bites.
SAM: Matt…you tried to scare her with a spider.
MATT: Wait. You think I had something to do with that?
DEAN: You tell us.
MATT: That tarantula was a joke. Anyway, that wouldn’t explain the bee attack or the gas company guy.
SAM: You know about those?
MATT: There is somethin’ going on here. I don’t know what…but something’s happening with the insects. Let me show you something. [He picks up his backpack and beings walking with them to another area.]
SAM: So, if you knew about all this bug stuff, why not tell your dad? Maybe he could clear everybody out.
MATT: Believe me, I’ve tried. But, uh, Larry doesn’t listen to me.
SAM: Why not?
MATT: Mostly? He’s too disappointed in his freak son.
SAM: [scoffs] I hear you.
DEAN: You do? [SAM turns and gives him a look.]
SAM: Matt, how old are you?
MATT: Sixteen.
SAM: Well, don’t sweat it, because in two years, something great’s gonna happen.
MATT: What?
SAM: College. You’ll be able to get out of that house and away from your dad.
DEAN: What kind of advice is that? Kid should stick with his family. [SAM sighs and glares at him.]
SAM: How much further, Matt?
MATT: We’re close. [SAM glares at DEAN one more time before he continues walking.]
[A few moments later, they reach a large clearing. The sounds of hundreds of different insects can be heard among the trees.]
MATT: I’ve been keeping track of insect populations. It’s, um, part of an AP science class.
DEAN: You two are like peas in a pod. [SAM ignores him.]
SAM: What’s been happening?
MATT: A lot. I mean, from bees to earthworms, beetles…you name it. It’s like they’re congregating here.
DEAN: Why?
MATT: I don’t know.
SAM: What’s that? [He points to a dark patch of grass a few feet away. Curious, they walk over to it and discover hundreds of worms. DEAN steps on some of them, and they fall into the ground, creating a hole. He crouches down and uses a stick to poke around in the hole.]
DEAN: There’s somethin’ down there.
[He puts the stick down and puts his hand into the hole. With a disgusted expression, he feels something inside the hole. He brings his hand back up, and the three boys look horrified. Covered in dirt and worms, is a human skull. The screen goes black.]
[FADE IN: EXT. DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY. SAM and Dean pull up outside the local university and get out of the car. They take the box of bones out from the backseat and head towards the building.]
SAM: So, a bunch of skeletons in an unmarked grave.
DEAN: Yeah. Maybe this is a haunting. Pissed off spirits? Some unfinished business?
SAM: Yeah, maybe. Question is, why bugs? And why now?
DEAN: That’s two questions. [SAM ignores him.] Yeah, so with that kid back there…why’d you tell him to just ditch his family like that?
SAM: Just, uh…I know what the kid’s goin’ through.
DEAN: How ‘bout tellin’ him to respect his old man, how’s that for advice?
SAM: Dean, come on. [They stop walking.] This isn’t about his old man. You think I didn’t respect Dad. That’s what this is about.
DEAN: Just forget it, all right? Sorry I brought it up.
SAM: I respected him. But no matter what I did, it was never good enough.
DEAN: So what are you sayin’? That Dad was disappointed in you?
SAM: Was? Is. Always has been.
DEAN: Why would you think that?
SAM: Because I didn’t wanna bowhunt or hustle pool –- because I wanted to go to school and live my life, which, to our whacked-out family, made me the freak.
DEAN: Yeah, you were kind of like the blonde chick in The Munsters.
SAM: Dean, you know what most dads are when their kids score a full ride? Proud. Most dads don’t toss their kids out of the house.
DEAN: I remember that fight. In fact, I seem to recall a few choice phrases comin’ out of your mouth.
SAM: You know, truth is, when we finally do find Dad…I don’t know if he’s even gonna wanna see me.
DEAN: Sam, Dad was never disappointed in you. Never. He was scared.
SAM: What are you talkin’ about?
DEAN: He was afraid of what could’ve happened to you if he wasn’t around. But even when you two weren’t talkin’…he used to swing by Stanford whenever he could. [SAM’S smirk fades.] Keep an eye on you. Make sure you were safe.
SAM: What?
DEAN: Yeah.
SAM: Why didn’t you tell me any of that?
DEAN: Well, it’s a two-way street, dude. You could’ve picked up the phone. [SAM stares at him sadly.] Come on, we’re gonna be late for our appointment. [He walks away.]
[CUT TO: INT. COLLEGE CLASSROOM. SAM and DEAN are talking with the professor.]
PROFESSOR: So, you two are students?
SAM: Yeah. Yeah, uh, we’re in your class –- Anthro 101?
PROFESSOR: Oh, yeah.
DEAN: So, what about the bones, Professor?
PROFESSOR: This is quite an interesting find you’ve made. I’d say they’re 170 years old, give or take. The timeframe and the geography heavily suggest Native American.
SAM: Were there any tribes or reservations on that land?
PROFESSOR: Not according to the historical record. But the, uh, relocation of native peoples was quite common at that time.
SAM: Right. Well, are there any local legends? Oral histories about the area?
PROFESSOR: Well…you know, there’s a Euchee tribe in Sapulpa. It’s about sixty miles from here. Someone out there might know the truth.
DEAN: All right.
[CUT TO: ROAD. DEAN and SAM are driving through Sapulpa. They stop and ask a Native American man for directions. Once he directs them where to go, they thank him and drive away.]
[CUT TO: OKLAHOMA DINER. SAM and DEAN enter and find another Native American man playing cards at a table.]
SAM: Joe White Tree? [The man nods.] We’d like to ask you a few questions, if that’s all right.
DEAN: We’re students from the university.
JOE: No, you’re not. You’re lying. [DEAN seems taken aback.]
DEAN: Well, truth is—
JOE: You know who starts sentence with “truth is”? Liars. [DEAN exchanges a look with SAM.]
SAM: Have you heard of Oasis Plains? It’s a housing development near the Atoka Valley.
JOE: [to Dean] I like him. He’s not a liar. [DEAN looks angry.] I know the area.
SAM: What can you tell us about the history there?
JOE: Why do you wanna know?
SAM: Something…something bad is happening in Oasis Plains. We think it might have something to do with some old bones we found down there –- Native American bones.
JOE: I’ll tell you what my grandfather told me, what his grandfather told him. Two hundred years ago, a band of my ancestors lived in that valley. One day, the American cavalry came to relocate them. They were resistant, the cavalry impatient. As my grandfather put it, on the night the moon and the sun share the sky as equals, the cavalry first raided our village. They murdered, raped. The next day, the cavalry came again, and the next, and the next. And on the sixth night, the cavalry came one last time. And by the time the sun rose, every man, woman, and child still in the village was dead. They say on the sixth night, as the chief of the village lay dying, he whispered to the heavens that no white man would ever tarnish this land again. Nature would rise up and protect the valley. And it would bring as many days of misery and death to the white man as the cavalry had brought upon his people.
DEAN: Insects. Sounds like nature to me. Six days.
JOE: And on the night of the sixth day, none would survive. [SAM and DEAN exchange a look.]
[CUT TO: EXT. DINER. SAM and DEAN are walking back to the car.]
SAM: When did the gas company man die?
DEAN: Uh, let’s see, we got here Tuesday, so, Friday the twentieth.
SAM: March twentieth? [DEAN nods.] That’s the spring equinox.
DEAN: The night the sun and the moon share the sky as equals.
SAM: So, every year about this time, anybody in Oasis Plains is in danger. Larry built this neighborhood on cursed land.
DEAN: And on the sixth night –- that’s tonight.
SAM: If we don’t do something, Larry’s family will be dead by sunrise. So how do we break the curse?
DEAN: You don’t break a curse. You get out of its way. We’ve gotta get those people out now. [They get in the car and drive away.]
[CUT TO: EXT. PIKE RESIDENCE. MATT is in the backyard with a flashlight. He hears a noise coming from the ground. He crouches down by a patch of ground and moves a rock. Suddenly, tons of cockroaches come crawling out from under the dirt. MATT runs away, and the screen goes black.]
[FADE IN: INT. IMPALA. DEAN is driving while talking on the phone with LARRY.]
DEAN: Yes, Mr. Pike, there’s a mainline gas leak in your neighborhood.
LARRY: [in his kitchen] God, really? And how big?
DEAN: Well, it’s fairly extensive. I don’t want to alarm you, but we need your family out of the vicinity for at least twelve hours or so, just to be safe.
LARRY: And who is this, again?
DEAN: Travis Weaver. I work for Oklahoma Gas and Power.
LARRY: Uh-huh. Well, the problem is, I know Travis. He’s worked with us for a year, so who is this?
DEAN: Uh…[Panicked, he hangs up.]
SAM: Give me the phone. [He takes the phone from DEAN and dials a number. At the Pike residence, MATT answers his cell phone.]
MATT: Hello?
SAM: Matt, it’s Sam.
MATT: Sam, my backyard is crawling with cockroaches.
SAM: Matt, just listen. You have to get your family out of that house right now, okay?
MATT: What, why?
SAM: Because something’s coming.
MATT: More bugs?
SAM: Yeah, a lot more.
MATT: My dad doesn’t listen in the best of circumstances, what am I supposed to tell him?
SAM: You’ve gotta make him listen, okay?
DEAN: Give me the phone, give me the phone. [He grabs the phone from SAM.] Matt, under no circumstances are you to tell the truth, they’ll just think you’re nuts.
MATT: But he’s my—
DEAN: Tell him you have a sharp pain in your right side and you’ve gotta go to the hospital, okay?
MATT: Yeah. Yeah, okay. [He hangs up, and so does DEAN.]
DEAN: Make him listen? What are you thinkin’?
[A while later, they pull up outside LARRY’S house. LARRY looks out the window and, seeing their car, goes outside.]
DEAN: Damn it, they’re still here. Come on. [They get out of the car, joined by MATT.]
LARRY: Get off my property before I call the cops.
SAM: Mr. Pike, listen.
MATT: Dad, they’re just tryin’ to help.
LARRY: Get in the house!
MATT: [to Sam and Dean] I’m sorry. I told him the truth.
DEAN: We had a plan, Matt, what happened to the plan?
SAM: Look, it’s 12:00 AM. They are coming any minute now. You need to get your family and go, before it’s too late.
LARRY: Yeah, you mean before the biblical swarm.
DEAN: Larry, what do you think really happened to that realtor, huh? And the gas company guy? You don’t think somethin’ weird’s goin’ on here?
LARRY: Look, I don’t know who you are, but you’re crazy. You come near my boy or my family again, and we’re gonna have a problem.
DEAN: Well, I hate to be a downer, but we’ve got a problem right now.
MATT: Dad, they’re right, okay? We’re in danger.
LARRY: Matt, get inside! Now!
MATT: No! Why won’t you listen to me?!
LARRY: Because this is crazy! It doesn’t make any sense!
SAM: Look, this land is cursed! People have died here. Now, are you gonna really take that risk with your family?
DEAN: Wait. [They all go silent.] You hear it? [From somewhere nearby, a very loud buzzing noise can be heard. It continues to get louder.]
LARRY: What the hell? [The fluorescent bug light on the porch begins to overheat, killing several bugs at a time.]
DEAN: All right, it’s time to go. Larry, get your wife.
MATT: Guys. [All of them look up to the sky. Millions of bugs begin flying towards the house, blanketing the sky.]
LARRY: Oh my God.
SAM: We’ll never make it.
DEAN: Everybody in the house. Everybody in the house, go! [They rush inside the house and lock the door.]
SAM: Okay, is there anybody else in the neighborhood?
LARRY: No, it’s just us. [JOANIE enters.]
JOANIE: Honey, what’s happening? What’s that noise?
LARRY: Call 911. [She doesn’t move.] Joanie!
JOANIE: Okay. [She picks up the phone and dials.]
DEAN: I need towels.
LARRY: Uh, in the closet.
SAM: [to Matt] Okay, we’ve gotta lock this place up, come on –- doors, windows, fireplace, everything, okay? [They go upstairs.]
JOANIE: Phones are dead.
DEAN: They must have chewed through the phone lines. [He beings putting towels at the base of the front door when the power goes out.] And the power lines.
LARRY: I need my cell. [He picks up his cell phone.] No signal.
DEAN: You won’t get one. They’re blanketing the house. [Millions of bugs begin collecting on the doors and windows, covering the entire building. The five of them watch, waiting.]
LARRY: So what do we do now?
SAM: We try to outlast it. Hopefully, the curse will end at sunrise.
LARRY: Hopefully?
[In the kitchen, DEAN searches the cabinets. He finds a can of bug spray and returns to the living room.]
JOANIE: Bug spray?
DEAN: Trust me. [They hear a creaking noise coming from somewhere around the fireplace.]
MATT: What is that?
SAM: The flue.
DEAN: All right, I think everybody needs to get upstairs. [Suddenly, hundreds of thousands of bugs come into the living room, swarming all around them. They scream and try to protect themselves. DEAN uses a lighter with the can of bug spray to make it flare up. The flame wards some of the bugs away.] All right, everybody upstairs! Now! Go, go, go! [He goes upstairs with them into the attic, and SAM closes the door.]
[After a moment of being in the attic, sawdust begins to fall from the ceiling. The buzz of the bees gets louder.]
JOANIE: Oh, God, what’s that?
DEAN: Something’s eating through the wood.
MATT: Termites.
DEAN: All right, everybody get back. Get back, get back, get back!
[The three Pikes move as far into the corner of the attic as they can. A second later, the bugs chew a hole through the ceiling and swarm around the room. SAM and DEAN frantically try to patch up the hole in the ceiling, but this only works for a minute. Soon, two more holes are chewed, and while DEAN tries to ward them off with bug spray, nothing seems to work. The five of them stand in the corner, trying desperately to swat the bugs away for a few minutes. Then, suddenly, the sun rises. Miraculously, the bugs start to leave through the hole in the ceiling. Confused, SAM and DEAN go to see what happened. Through the hole, they can see the bugs in the sky, near the sun, in one enormous colony. The five of them continue watching, relieved.]
[CUT TO: EXT. PIKE RESIDENCE. MORNING. DEAN and SAM approach LARRY, who is placing boxes into a moving van.]
DEAN: What, no goodbye?
LARRY: Good timing. Another hour and we’d have been gone. [He shakes both their hands.]
SAM: For good?
LARRY: Yeah. The development’s been put on hold while the government investigates those bones you found. But I’m gonna make damn sure no one lives here again.
SAM: You don’t seem too upset about it.
LARRY: Well, this has been the biggest financial disaster of my career, but…[He looks over at MATT, who is carrying a box to the garbage]…somehow, I really don’t care. [They share a smile. SAM walks over to MATT, who is throwing away all his insect paraphernalia.]
SAM: What’s this?
MATT: I don’t know. They kind of weird me out now. [They both laugh.]
SAM: Yeah, I should hope so.
[A few minutes later, SAM joins DEAN by the car. They watch LARRY and MATT, who are now getting along very well.]
SAM: I wanna find Dad.
DEAN: Yeah, me too.
SAM: Yeah, but I just…I want to apologize to him.
DEAN: For what?
SAM: All the things I said to him. He was just doin’ the best he could.
DEAN: Well, don’t worry, we’ll find him. And then you’ll apologize. And then within five minutes, you guys will be at each other’s throats. [SAM laughs.]
SAM: Yeah, probably. [They sit in silence for a few seconds.] Let’s hit the road.
DEAN: Let’s. [They get in the car, giving one last wave to LARRY and MATT, and drive away. The screen fades to black.]
END
Ecrit par Luinel.