Lyudmilla watches him nervously.
LYUDMILLA You're not on call tonight.
He hustles to get his boots on.
VASILY
They're bringing everyone in. Military and civil. Pripyat, Polesskoe. Even Kiev. It's a big one.
LYUDMILLA It doesn't look right. The color.
VASILY
Pravik thinks they're shining floodlights or something.
LYUDMILLA But are there chemicals?
He pulls on his jacket.
VASILY
Chemicals? No, the problem's the roof. It's covered in tar. It's going to burn all night and stink like hell. But that's the worst of it.
She opens her mouth to say something, but he takes her face in his hands. Gives her a kiss.
VASILY
113
Go to sleep. It'll be over before you wake.
112 OMITTED 112
113 OMITTED114 INT. INSIDE REACTOR BUILDING #4 - SAME TIME 114
Dark hallway. Smoke. Sparks shower down from severed electric lines arcing into flooding water. Steam hissing.
PEREVOZCHENKO lurches into view.
We LEAD him through the twisted, mangled maze. A disaster area of debris, collapsed ceilings, spurting steam...
But he pushes through until he gets to an OPEN DOOR - and we follow him in to:
DOSIMETRY - NIKOLAI GORBACHENKO is cowering under his desk. SPARKS exploding down from a hole in the ceiling.
GORBACHENKO
Is it war?
Perevozchenko searches frantically through the debris.
PEREVOZCHENKO Where's the dosimeter?
GORBACHENKO Here... here...
Gorbachenko crawls out and hands Perevozchenko a brown leather case with the DOSIMETER. We hear something heavy COLLAPSING above them. Gorbachenko flinches.
GORBACHENKO Are they bombing?
Perevozchenko doesn't answer. Just stares at the dosimeter in disbelief.
PEREVOZCHENKO What the fuck is this? 3.6 roentgen?
GORBACHENKO That's as high as it goes. The good one's locked in a safe. I don't have the key--
(sees) Valera— your face...
Perevozchenko's face has DARKENED. A reddish brown TAN. He doesn't know. Doesn't care.
He throws the useless dosimeter aside and grabs Gorbachenko, lifting him to his feet.
PEREVOZCHENKO I'm going to find Khodemchuk. You get Shashenok. He's in 604. Go. Go!
Perevozchenko wanders DOWN A TUNNEL away from us and we swing around to Gorbachenko, who is terrified.
Now WE FOLLOW GORBACHENKO as he heads up a steep staircase into DARKNESS - coming around on him so we're leading him, watching his face as it's illuminated by sparks and the orange flicker of SPOT FIRES...
A MAN LURCHES OUT OF THE DARKNESS into Gorbachenko and VOMITS BLOOD in a violent ejection, spattering Gorbachenko's white uniform with red.
GORBACHENKO
Shit!
The man stumbles away from us, and we WHIP around to PROSKURYAKOV and KUDRYAVTSEV, the trainees, running down the stairs at us.
PROSKURYAKOV We need to get to the reactor hall. The lift's destroyed.
GORBACHENKO (points)
Across to the stairs. That way.
The trainees run off in that direction. Gorbachenko yells after them...
GORBACHENKO Why are you going there?
No answer. They're gone. Then he sees: a METAL DOOR ahead. The number 604 stencilled in the concrete beside it.
We follow him in to the DEVASTATED ROOM - debris everywhere, and in a puddle of water, under a fallen BEAM--
Oh god. SHASHENOK - pinned. Bloody foam bubbling from his mouth. But breathing.
A FIGURE STUMBLES BY in the doorway. Gorbachenko sees.
GORBACHENKO
HEY!
A BUILDING 4 WORKER STUMBLES BACK - trickle of blood down the side of his face. DUST in his hair.
GORBACHENKO
Help me.
The Building 4 Worker joins Gorbachenko. They ROLL the beam off Shashenok, then PULL HIM UP by his arms...
They support him from under each armpit, his arms around their necks. Gorbachenko presses Shashenok's RIGHT HAND tight to his chest to keep him steady, and as they MOVE:
--we LEAVE THEM and DROP DOWN through a HOLE in the floor, past a cross-section of torn up plumbing and wires, and arrive one floor below in the complex to find:
PEREVOZCHENKO - his face even DARKER now - skin beginning to swell - wading through more floodwater and debris, including CHUNKS of BLACK MATERIAL...
From somewhere, the steady sound of BANG, BANG, BANG - metal on metal...
Perevozchenko climbs upstairs out of the water and:
BANG - a bent metal DOOR pops open, and a new face - YUVCHENKO, emerges holding a fire extinguisher.
PEREVOZCHENKO Have you seen Khodemchuk?
YUVCHENKO No-- where's Viktor?
Perevozchenko starts to shake his head "I don't know" - then vomit cascades out from his mouth, his nose. Yuvchenko backs away in fright, drops the extinguisher and--
—now WE FOLLOW YUVCHENKO, 25 years-old, 6'5", powerful and athletic, as he RUNS deeper into the complex, jumping over LIVE WIRES and debris, as fast as he can... until he sees—
YUVCHENKO VIKTOR? VIKTOR?
--a body next to a large PUMP. Yuvchenko runs over to:
VIKTOR DEGTYARENKO, 31 - burned and covered in blood... we can barely make out a face at all beyond the whites of his eyes.
He's trembling. Seizing.
YUVCHENKO Can you stand?
VIKTOR Kh-- dem-ch-- Khdem--
Viktor stops trying to make his mouth work. His eyes roll to the left - toward a BLASTED OPEN WALL.
Yuvchenko stands up, and we FOLLOW as he walks slowly through the opening into:
THE PUMP ROOM - in ruins. Massive chunks of concrete embedded in the enormous machinery.
From underneath one massive column, a steady trickle of blood. We can't see Khodemchuk under there.
But we know he's dead.
One section of wall - three foot thick concrete and rebar - rocks back and forth as if it were rubber.
We follow Yuvchenko's eyes to: A PUDDLE OF WATER on the ground, coming from a broken pipe.
In the reflection of the shimmering water - strange WHITE DOTS...
We come up and around on Yuvchenko and look down on him as he lifts his head - stunned beyond words--
And we TURN to see what he sees. An enormous, impossible hole in the ceiling of the building.
And the stars shining down.
115 INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE CONTROL ROOM - MOMENTS LATER 115
CLOSE ON - DYATLOV - walking back toward Control Room 4. His face as stoic as ever. Granite jaw. Unblinking eyes.
He stops at the sound of SIRENS approaching from outside... a lot of them... and growing louder...
Then he resumes walking. No change in expression.
116 INT. CONTROL ROOM - REACTOR #4 116
Akimov is at the panel. Toptunov is dialing a phone.
TOPTUNOV
No answer. The internal lines are down.
AKIMOV
Keep trying. Try all of them. Dyatlov enters.
DYATLOV
I dropped the control rods from the other panel.
AKIMOV They're still up.
DYATLOV
What?
AKIMOV
They're only a third in, I don't know why-- I already sent the trainees to the reactor hall to lower them by hand.
DYATLOV (frustrated) What about the pumps?
TOPTUNOV
I can't get through to Khodemchuk. The phones are down.
DYATLOV
Fuck the phones and fuck Khodemchuk. Are the pumps on or not?
AKIMOV
Stolyarchuk?
STOLYARCHUK, looks up like a deer in the headlights. Doesn't want Dyatlov's eyes on him.
STOLYARCHUK My panel's not working. I tried calling for the electricians but--
DYATLOV
I don't give a shit about the panel! I need water in my reactor core. Get down there and make sure those pumps are on.
Stolyarchuk looks at Akimov, but Akimov won't look back. No one will challenge this. Kirschenbaum wants to say something, but the words stick in his throat.
DYATLOV
Now.
Cowed, Stolyarchuk scurries out of the control room. Dyatlov turns back to Akimov.