DYATLOV What does the dosimeter say?
AKIMOV
3.6 roentgen. But that's as high as the meter--
Dyatlov waves him off.
DYATLOV
3.6 — not great, not terrible.
Toptunov looks at Akimov. Scared. And once again, Akimov comforts him... his mantra...
AKIMOV We did everything right.
117 EXT. REACTOR #4 BUILDING - CONTINUOUS 117
SIRENS BLARE.
POV through the windshield of a fire engine as it approaches the reactor building. A few fire engines are already there, lights flashing.
Firefighters are rushing... connecting fire engines to the power plant water supply...
We follow VASILY out of the truck. He and his fellow firefighters are dressed the same. Boots and jackets and helmets... but no gloves. And underneath the jackets... white t-shirts.
He looks at the building. From here, he can see the spot fires up on the roof. But there's a MASSIVE plume of smoke billowing up from somewhere inside the building.
And fainter now, but still there, the trace of that impossible blue light...
Now that he's close to it, Vasily realizes this is much bigger, and much worse, than it seemed from afar.
MISHA (O.S.)
Vasily...
Vasily looks over at MISHA, 23, another firefighter. Misha is standing next to a pile of the BLACK RUBBLE. There are strange SMOOTH GROOVES running through it. It almost looks like bits of SCULPTURE.
MISHA What is this?
Misha picks up a piece of the rubble with his bare hand.
MISHA
It's warm.
VASILY
I don't know. Don't fuck around with it. Let's just get these hooked up.
Misha tosses the rubble aside.
Vasily begins pulling connection hoses from the side of the engine. As he pulls, the smoke wafts by him, and he SPITS.
VASILY You taste metal?
MISHA Yeah. What is that?
VASILY (worried) I don't know. The valves, Misha! Let's go!
As Vasily pulls the hoses, MISHA starts opening a water supply valve with a wrench.
Misha takes his hand off the wrench-- the hand he held the warm rubble with-- and SHAKES it in the air.
It hurts.
It hurts more than it should.
118 INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE CONTROL ROOM - CONTINUOUS 118
Gorbachenko and the Building 4 Worker emerge from smoke, stumbling ahead as best they can, still carrying SHASHENOK around their shoulders.
GORBACHENKO
Someone!
Another PLANT WORKER heads over to sub in for Gorbachenko.
Relieved of his burden, Gorbachenko immediately falls to his hands and knees and begins VOMITING.
As he wretches, he winces in pain... his right hand hurts. And his chest. He pulls his uniform shirt open to reveaclass="underline"
ON GORBACHENKO'S CHEST, there's a strip of FAINT RED, and then below in BRIGHT RED, a round shape and four smaller RED OVALS.
An arm. A palm. Fingertips.
A BURN MARK in the shape of Shashenok's HAND.
119 INT. REACTOR #4 BUILDING - BOWELS - CONTINUOUS 119
PROSKURYAKOV and KUDRYAVTSEV enter a long corridor. As they move down the seemingly endless hallway, they see:
A FIGURE in the distance, moving slowly toward them, carrying something large over his shoulder.
They walk toward each other, meeting in the middle of this strange purgatory, and now Proskuryakov and Kudryavtsev see the figure is YUVCHENKO. And he has a limp, bloody VIKTOR slung over his shoulder. Oh god. They stare, unsure of what to say. Finally:
YUVCHENKO What do you need?
Oh. Right.
PROSKURYAKOV We have to get into the reactor hall to lower the control rods. But the door is jammed in.
YUVCHENKO I don't think there are control rods. I don't think there's a core.
PROSKURYAKOV No, you're mistaken. Akimov said.
Yuvchenko considers. Then lowers Viktor to the ground. Rests him against the wall.
PROSKURYAKOV Does he need a doctor?
YUVCHENKO
No.
120 INT. REACTOR BUILDING - LEVEL 36 - MOMENTS LATER 120
Yuvchenko leads the two trainees down a dark, SPARKING hall. They're SWEATING. Tremendous heat up here. Smoke.
They're close to the fire.
PROSKURYAKOV
Up there.
Ahead: a LARGE METAL DOOR, covered in DUST, bent slightly toward them, as if punched by a huge fist.
Yuvchenko turns to the trainees.
YUVCHENKO Are you sure?
PROSKURYAKOV
Akimov--
Yuvchenko puts his hand up. Doesn't matter. If they're right, they need to go in. And if they're wrong...
YUVCHENKO I'll hold it open. Move quickly.
They nod. Yuvchenko tests the door. It barely gives.
Yuvchenko presses the side of his body against the door, plants his powerful legs, and with a grunt:
PUSHES the door open - just wide enough for the trainees to pass through.
The door's weight is pushing back... Yuvchenko's brute strength is the only thing keeping it propped open.
YUVCHENKO
Go go go-- The trainees SQUEEZE through into:
121 INT. MAIN REACTOR HALL - CONTINUOUS 121
The trainees enter the UPPER LEVEL of the hall, on a catwalk high above the reactor pit.
They stare in utter shock at:
THE UPPER BIOLOGICAL SHIELD - a massive 1,000 ton, 45 foot diameter STEEL circle.
It's the cover of the reactor core. Except it's not covering the core anymore. It's been blown nearly UPRIGHT, like the lifted-up top of a soup can.
And spidering out from its exposed underside, hundreds of TWISTED FUEL CHANNELS, like bristles on the end of a brush.
And underneath that, like a bomb crater in the floor:
THE OPEN REACTOR PIT - burning graphite, torn fuel rods.
Their minds cannot comprehend.
They are staring into a wide-open nuclear reactor.
One of them finally gasps in a breath. Already feeling a wave of nausea. He looks at the other trainee. The man's face is dark brown. An instant nuclear tan.
And the way the other trainee is staring back at him, he knows he looks the same.
They STUMBLE BACKWARD...
122 INT. REACTOR BUILDING - LEVEL 36 - CONTINUOUS 122
Yuvchenko grits his teeth... digging in... and then:
THE TRAINEES run back out of the room. They don't stop. They just run.
Yuvchenko lets the door finally CLOSE. Shouts after them.
YUVCHENKO
Hey!
No answer. And then: pain. Intense, searing pain.
He lifts his uniform shirt. His shoulder... bright red.
He lowers the waist of his trousers. His hip, BURNED to the flesh below the skin. The movement of the cloth against it nearly makes him pass out...
He looks back at the door.
IN THE DUST - the pattern of where his body had been pressed against the door.
Shoulder. Hip. Lower leg.
He backs away in horror, then HOBBLES off, his burnt leg barely working... shouting into the dark after the trainees-- as if they could help him now.
YUVCHENKO
HEY!
123 EXT. REACTOR #4 BUILDING - CONTINUOUS 123
The night is lit up by the flashing lights of emergency vehicles. Dozens of firefighters are already at work getting water on the fire they can see.
FROM O.S. - a man SCREAMS in agony. Vasily stops and turns to see:
MISHA - on the ground, screaming, held in place by their commanding officer, PRAVIK, 24.
A MEDIC has begun to slowly REMOVE the GLOVE from Misha's hand. With every inch, Misha howls in pain.
Pravik sees Vasily.
PRAVIK
Ignatenko! Get on his hose!
Vasily runs a few feet to the pump truck Misha was stationed on. He picks the hose up from the ground. He's joined by a truck pump operator, TITENOK, 24--
—who quickly opens the valves on the truck. Vasily begins spraying a BLAST of water into a burning pile of rubble.