INT STOREHOUSE - NIGHT

 

The room is dark save an orange light to the right of the screen.  There is a sound of toppling crates and a shriek as a foot-tall quill-covered creature weaves its way through a maze of crates that are shoulder-length apart. It’s bipedal with long talons and barbed legs. It has a jagged scaly mouth that is disproportionately large for its body. There is a furious grunt behind it and the toppling of more crates is heard as DUSKWALKER rams his way through a wall of wooden crates. He has a lantern, an axe with a spike on the back, and several knives strapped to his waist.

 

He scrambles over the crates after the beast, pulling out a knife to throw it at the creature, but it misses and strikes a box in front of it. It opens its mouth and a bulbous tongue extends up and over its muzzle towards Duskwalker. The tip of the tongue swells and a series of holes open up in the pink flesh to reveal dozens of black eyes. The silver quills on its back bristle and hum then it shoots knife sized quills out of its back at Duskwalker. He shields the eyeholes of his helmet with his arm and the silver quills spark off his armor, tearing up his surcoat and sticking in the seams of his arm guards. He brushes the quills off of him.

 

DUSKWALKER

Little bastard.

 

The creature now has a mostly bare back but as it scampers across the floor it’s skin begins to bubble. It hops back and forth on the crate walls as it turns a corner in the crate maze. Duskwalker pulls another knife out of his belt as he rounds the bend, but as he readies himself to throw, he is showered by a green spray. The creature is spewing a green liquid out of its back as quills grow out of the bubbling mass. The eyes on the bulbous tongue narrow as its back solidifies then its quills begin to vibrate again.

 

DUSKWALKER

Great.

 

Duskwalker grips the knife as he reaches to tear a crate from the stack behind him. He stops long enough to throw the crate at the creature just as it shoots off its quills. The quills pepper the crate, and it crashes to the boarded floor looking like a pin cushion. Duskwalker throws his knife, but it only grazes the creature as it scurries around another corner. The knife sticks to the floor with its blade dripping with purple blood. Duskwalker leaps over the crate and stumbles into the wall of crates on the tight turn as he tries to round the corner, causing them to crumble down behind him. He looks up the line of crates to see more green liquid sprayed on the boxes up ahead. He sees its tail disappear in an open doorway into a dark side room.

 

INT SIDE STORAGE ROOM - MOMENTS LATER

 

Duskwalker peers into the dark room to see rows of jar-filled shelves and barrels running throughout its interior. The room is very dusty, and there is a trail of purple blood droplets leading between the shelves. He steps inside and closes the door behind him. The room goes dark except for what is illuminated by the lantern on his belt. He grabs a barrel and drags it in front of the door. He looks down to the blood trail and pulls his axe out of his belt as he follows it.

While following the blood between the shelves, he glances about them. The shelves are filled with jars of preserved fruits and vegetables that are all covered in a thick layer of dust and there are bags of grain.

 

He continues on until he finds a back wall filled with crates, then he hears scurrying to his left. He grips his axe with both hands as he runs towards the sound. The light of his lantern reveals the back end of the room which is filled with a ring of barrels that are stacked higher than Duskwalker’s head. As he steps towards it, he sees that the purple blood is spattered atop wood that has been stained green and red. There are shapes scattered across the floor in the middle of the barrel ring, but they are hard to make out in the dark. As he gets closer, the shapes become clear.

 

Bones, chunks of flesh, and a severed and chewed up hand are on the floor. The body parts of three people are scattered about in various levels of dismemberment and decay. All of the bodies are covered in silver quills that reflect the light of Duskwalker’s lantern. His hands tighten on his axe as he steps into the mess. He sees movement out of the corner of his eye and whips his head to the back of the barrel ring where he sees the wounded creature cowering amongst a pile of bones and meat. Duskwalker raises his axe and lunges at the creature with a vicious swing.

 

It bolts with a shriek and Duskwalker misses, his axe sinking into a barrel that begins to leak wine. He hears the humming that comes from the creature’s quills, but it is louder and coming from several directions. He looks up just in time to see quills sailing towards him from the darkness on top of the barrel stacks. The quills spark off his armor then more come from his left.

 

He puts a boot on the barrel and tears his axe out of it causing wine to spill on the floor and mix with dried blood. He turns around as green spray hits the ceiling above the barrel stack in front of him as well as the ceiling to his left. The creature on the floor opens its mouth and lets out a long hiss.

 

One of these creatures jumps down from the barrels and joins its fellow on the floor while another jumps down on Duskwalker from the left. It clamps its gator-like mouth on his helmet then begins to tear at him with its claws. It’s talons dig into the chainmail of his armpit, and he lets out a pained cry as blood oozes out if it. He grabs it by its leg and tears it off him with the creature’s teeth leaving sparks as it’s torn off his helmet. He throws it to the ground and the others rush in. He kicks one back, but the one he had been chasing earlier, jumps up and rams into his chest, biting at his throat. He staggers back into the barrels and slips on the wine before falling to the floor with it atop him.

 

He grabs it in the side of its mouth and drops his axe. He pulls a knife out of his belt and begins to stab it in the back repeatedly. It lets go of his neck and tries to scramble away, but he holds it still and keeps stabbing it in a vicious fury. The other two creatures then bite onto him as well. One latches its jaws around his foot and the other bites onto the elbow of the arm he is grasping the first creature with, sinking its teeth into the gap in the plating of his arm.

 

Duskwalker growls in pain and lets go of the creature he has been stabbing as it pushes itself off of him. Its lurching movement tears the knife from his hand but leaves it stuck in the creature’s back. When the knife-bearing creature stumbles out of the way, the two others arch their backs and shoot their quills at the Duskwalker. The quills tear across him and shred his surcoat. The creatures then start thrashing their heads and pulling on the Duskwalker’s limbs as their backs begin to bubble. Duskwalker lunges at the one latched onto his arm with his free hand and his hand passes through the bubbling back. The creature lets go with a shriek, but Duskwalker grabs it with his other arm and begins to pull.

 

There is a horrible tearing noise as Duskwalker rips his arm out of the creature’s back and with it comes a silver spine in his grasp. The spine is covered in silver tubes that hold the sprouts of thin quills within them. The creature collapses in his arms and the bubbling of its back melts away into a cavity of purple meat. Duskwalker drops its body to the floor.

 

Green spray spews into the air as the one on his foot grows back their quills. He looks to his axe on the ground and picks it up off the floor. He lets out a roar as he brings the axe crashing down on the creature. The blade tears through it and cleaves the thing in half. Its bite loosens and he kicks its front half off his foot. He turns to see the last one stumbling out of the barrel ring towards the shelves.

 

Duskwalker pushes himself up and follows the creature to find it collapsed on the floor with the knife still stuck in its back. Its tongue stalk is out, it is dragging itself across the floor with little arms and its legs are limp and paralyzed. Duskwalker sees the quills bristle and shields his eyes but instead of getting bombarded, he hears clattering as the quills simply fall out of its back. He lowers his arm.

 

DUSKWALKER

So it needs its spine.

 

It whimpers and begins to drag itself away more frantically, the eyes on its tongue going wide. Duskwalker puts a boot on its tail and slashes off its tongue. It begins to writhe, but he flips the axe around and drives the spike of his axe into its head.

 

END COLD OPEN