Annihilation (2018) Movie Script
What did you eat?
You had rations for two weeks.
You were inside for nearly four months.
I don't remember eating.
How long did you think you were inside?
Days.
Maybe weeks.
What happened to Josie Radek?
-I don't know.
Thorensen? Dead.
Ventress?
I don't know.
Then what do you know?
This is a cell.
Like all cells,
it is born from an existing cell.
And by extension,
all cells were ultimately born
from one cell.
A single organism alone on planet Earth,
perhaps alone in the universe.
About four billion years ago...
one became two, two became four.
Then eight, 16, 32.
The rhythm of the dividing pair...
which becomes the structure
of every microbe,
blade of grass, sea creature,
land creature...
and human.
The structure of everything that lives...
and everything that dies.
As students of medicine,
as the doctors of tomorrow,
this is where you come in.
The cell we're looking at is from a tumor.
Female patient, early 30s,
taken from the cervix.
Over the course of the next term,
we will be closely examining cancer cells
in vitro
and discussing autophagic activity.
Hey, Katie.
I read theJohn Sulston paper
last night.
I still feel like
I'm not working hard enough.
I'm behind the other students.
-They find everything easier.
You aren't, and they don't.
-Lena!
Dan.
I've been looking for you at lunch,
but you never seem to be around.
I've been catching up on some writing.
All work and no play, it sounds...
not healthy.
I wanted to ask,
Sarah and I have a few people over.
A garden party while the weather holds.
Actually, I do have plans.
I think it'll be fun.
Thanks, Dan, I really appreciate it,
but I'm going to paint our bedr--
The bedroom.
It's been a year, Lena.
You're allowed to come to a barbecue.
It is not a betrayal
or an insult to his memory.
I'm gonna paint the bedroom.
["Helplessly Hoping"
by Crosby, Stills & Nash playing]
Helplessly hoping
Her harlequin hovers nearby
Awaiting a word
Gasping at glimpses
Of gentle, true spirit
He runs, wishing he could fly
Only to trip
At the sound of goodbye
Wordlessly watching
He waits by the window and wonders
At the empty place inside
Heartlessly helping himself
To her bad dreams
He worries, did he hear a goodbye
Or even
Hello?
They are one person
They are two alone
They are three together
They are for each other
Stand by the stairway
- You'll see something certain
-Oh, God.
- To tell you
- Confusion has its cost
-Oh, my God. Oh, my God!
Oh!
Love isn't lying
- It's loose in a lady
- Who lingers
-Oh, my God. I thought you were gone.
Saying she is lost
-Forever.
- And choking
On hello
Kane?
They are one person
They are two alone
They are three together
No one knew anything about your unit.
I contacted everyone.
Everyone I could.
The other partners knew
just as little as me.
Was it covert?
Mm... Maybe.
What does that mean, "maybe"?
Okay, yeah, it was covert.
Yeah, I think so.
Pakistan again?
I-- I don't know where it was, or...
what it was.
How is that possible?
Was it warm?
Was there snow?
Did the people there speak Portuguese,
or Swahili, or Pashto?
How long have you been back?
I don't know.
How'd you get back?
What base did you fly into?
-I don't know.
You must be able to tell me something.
You vanished off the face of the earth
for 12 months.
I deserve a better explanation
than no explanation.
Does it matter?
Kane...
how did you get home?
Hmm?
I was outside.
Outside the house?
No.
No, I was outside the room.
The room with the bed.
The door was open, and...
I saw you.
I recognized you.
Your face.
I don't feel very well.
Stay with me, baby.
-I'm right here with you.
Male, 31, hemorrhage, in seizure.
Stay with me, baby. I love you.
Baby, look at me. Can you do something?!
You call for a police escort?
Hey, easy, easy!
Out of the truck, now!
What are you doing?
Out!
Don't shoot!
Out! Move!
Out, out, out!
What's going on?
What are you doing?
You can't move him!
Let him go! Let him go!
Let him go!
You must be feeling dreadful.
It's a hangover
from the sedative you were given.
Come on, sit down.
Who are you?
My name is Dr. Ventress.
I'm a psychologist.
Why am I talking to a psychologist?
Am I in a psychiatric hospital?
-No.
Then what?
Where am I?
Where's my husband?
You served in the military
for seven years.
I'm a professor from JohnsHopkins.
I want to know what the fuck
I'm doing here.
Your research area is the genetically
programmed life cycle of a cell.
Where is my husband?
Yeah,
I'd like to talk about Sergeant Kane.
When did he arrive back home?
-I want to see a lawyer.
-You're not gonna be able to.
Did he explain how he got back?
-No.
-Did he contact you at any point
while he was away?
No.
What did he tell you
about his mission when he returned?
-Nothing.
Did he ever mention where he was going,
what he was doing?
He never said, I never asked.
But you made regular requests
for information from his unit CO.
Until six months ago,
and then you stopped.
Why was that
Time to move on?
It's not easy to move on.
I didn't.
I'm done answering questions.
It's your turn.
Your husband's here.
He's extremely ill.
Multiple organ failure.
Massive internal bleeding.
He must have been exposed
to some sort of radiation,
some kind of virus.
You have to tell me where he was,
what he was doing.
I could actually help him.
A religious event.
An extraterrestrial event.
A higher dimension.
We have many theories,
few facts.
It started around three years ago.
Blackwater National Park reported
that a lighthouse was surrounded
by something they termed "a shimmer."
One of the wardens went in to investigate.
Never returned.
The event was classified.
Since then, we've approached by land,
by sea,
sent in drones, animals,
and teams of people.
But nothing comes back.
And the boundary's getting bigger.
It's expanding.
So far, it's eating
into barely populated swampland,
which, you know, we evacuated
under the pretext of a chemical spill,
but... that won't last much longer.
In a few months, the area will have grown
to where we are right now.
And then we're talking cities...
states... and so on.
You said nothing comes back.
But something has.
Yes.
He's dying.
Yes.
We need to come to an agreement
about what to do with you.
You're not going to let me go home?
Is that what you want
No.
I want to be with him.
You're not talking to me.
Sorry.
Zoned out.
Thinking about the next mission?
No.
I was just looking at the moon.
It's always so weird seeing it like that
in the daylight.
Like God made a mistake.
-Left the hall lights on.
God doesn't make mistakes. That's...
somewhat key
to the whole "being a god" thing.
Pretty sure he does.
You know he's listening right now,
don't you?
You take a cell,
circumvent the Hayflick limit,
you can prevent senescence.
I was about to make the exact same point.
It means the cell doesn't grow old,
it becomes immortal.
Keeps dividing, doesn't die.
They say aging is a natural process,
but it's actually a fault in our genes.
I get really turned on
when you patronize me. It's really hot.
Without it,
I could keep looking like this forever.
Oh, okay.
-Well, that could constitute a mistake.
You didn't tell me
where you're heading this time.
I know there's something strange
about this mission.
Why?
The silence around it
is louder than usual.
Kind of angling for a clue here.
So...?
We'll be under the same hemisphere.
What does that tell me?
It tells you that if you step outside
and you look up...
we'll be looking at the same stars.
-Holy fucking shit.
You think that's what I do
while you're away?
-You think I'm out in the garden,
pining, looking up at the sky?
Shut up. All right.
-Oh, to think my beloved Kane...
-Okay. Uh-huh.
-...is looking at the selfsame moon.
Stop it.
Oh,
my distant celestial friend...
No. No.
...please care for my brave soldier.
Jesus. You know what?
You are disrespectful,
seriously, not only to your former
comrades in the armed forces,
-but also to the president.
-You forgot the flag.
Oh, I'm getting--
I'm getting to the motherfucking flag.
Oh, my hero.
-Screw you.
-Okay.
She's all by herself.
Don't you think we should make friends?
Well, obviously you should.
Yep, I'll do it.
Hey. Hey.
-No, not at all.
Cool. Phew.
You know, I always see you here alone.
It's...
I'm guessing you probably feel weird
or awkward.
Somewhat, I guess.
Don't. Seriously, don't.
The people here put themselves to sleep
in the fetal position
making cooing noises.
It's freaky, you know.
-I'm Anya.
-Lena.
-Nice to meet you.
-You, too.
Um, why don't you come and meet my crew?
Come make friends. Come on.
Ladies, meet Lena.
Hi nice to meet you.
Yeah, that's Cassie Sheppard,
and Josie Radek.
Hi. Nice to meet you.
-Hi.
Do you want to have a seat?
-Thank you.
-So, first day at the Southern Reach.
-Yes.
-Ah!
-Thank you.
-You're welcome.
You all been here long?
Um, yeah, right from the start.
I'm a geomorphologist.
I've been testing the magnetic fields
around the boundary,
which is like using confetti
to test a hurricane.
Uh, and I've been here... ten months.
Wow, ten months.
Paramedic from Chicago.
Tried to join an NGO,
but my application got flagged,
so Southern Reach got me.
Only two months.I'm a physicist.
I came straight from my Cambridge postdoc.
She's very smart.
What's your story, Lena?
Uh, I'm from Johns Hopkins, biologist.
-Oh, there you go.
-Told you she was smart.
What?
We had a bet on your profession,
and Josie had biologist, of course.
-I had law enforcement.
-I had you as single.
Jesus. Do you have to hit
on everyone, like all the time?
Fuck that. Under the circumstances,
I think I'm allowed to roll the dice
a few more times.
Under what circumstances?
Well, yeah, um, crazy as it seems...
Crazy as it is.
...we are headed that way.
-Six days and counting.
-Four.
Ventress.
Mmm. Team leader.
-All women.
-Scientists.
The previous teams
have been largely military, so, yeah.
What do you think happened to them?
Well, there are two theories
of what went wrong in the Shimmer.
One, something kills them.
Two, they go crazy and kill each other.
There was one military guy
who made it out.
Yeah. A sergeant.
Yeah, but you heard
about the state that he was in.
Kane...
I know why you went in.
I am so sorry.
And I know what I have to do.
So you didn't tell them
about your connection to Sergeant Kane?
I thought it would complicate things.
What?
What would it complicate?
Why are you going into the Shimmer?
The mission statement is to reach
the supposed source of the Shimmer,
the lighthouse,
enter and acquire data, and return.
But I don't think that
that's your mission statement.
No.
I've been watching the phenomenon
for a while now.
I profile the volunteers.
I pick the teams.
They enter, I watch.
I watch it grow closer.
There's only so long one can do that.
But you need to know what's inside?
Yes, I do.
So do I.
So that's the complication.
You want to come with us.
I can't do anything for him here.
Soldier-scientist.
You can fight.
You can learn.
You can save him.
You requested to join the mission.
You knew all other missions had failed
and the only survivor
was barely surviving.
That was a brave choice.
I owed him.
I'm only trying to understand
what drove you.
I owed him...
so I went in.
And then we get some real meals.
Spaghetti.
Here's Radek's vegetable crackers.
Wow, cornbread. That's not so bad.
Oh, you're finally awake.
You gotta give me a second.
I'm a little disoriented.
Join the club.
You don't remember
setting up camp, do you?
I don't remember anything...
after we reached the tree line.
None of us do.
And we did a food inventory.
From the depletion, we've been out here
for at least three or four days.
That's not possible.
That's what I said.
Guys, I've been checking
my comms and nav equipment.
They boot up fine,
no problem with the electronics,
and the camera is working,
but anything that sends a signal
out of the Shimmer... is down.
Even though we've probably got
about 20 satellites above us right now,
and... check this out.
So we've got no compass,
no comms, no coordinates...
and no landmarks.
Well, we know we're in the state park.
We head south, we hit the ocean,
then we can just follow the shoreline
until we hit the perimeter wall. Right?
-Come on, Josie, you know this.
Hour hand at the sun.
Split the difference
between the hour hand and 12, south.
Good.
We're oriented.
We weren't really expecting
the comms equipment to work, were we?
There's been three years of expeditions
and three years of radio silence.
Let's pack up and get moving.
We've already lost a lot of the day.
Oh, I'm gonna check this out.
Get us out of this damn swamp.
All right.
Let's check out the hut.
Looks like someone's
about to have a wedding. These are very strange.
Why?
Well, they're all so different.
To look at them, you wouldn't say
that they're the same species.
But they're growing
from the same branch structure...
so it has to be the same species.
It's the same plant.
It's like they're stuck
in a continuous mutation.
A pathology?
Yeah, well...
you'd sure as hell call it a pathology
if you saw this in a human.
Jackpot.
Sheppard! Mode of transportation.
Anything interesting in there?
No. It's been long abandoned,
maybe even before--
Radek?
Radek!
-Radek!
It's got my bag!
Radek!
Something's got my bag!
Oh, no!
It's got my bag!
Help me with her!
What's going on?
Hey, grab my shoulder!
Get her. Come on.
I got her.
Okay
I got her. Okay.
You're good, you're good.
It's okay.
Let's sit you down.
Help me with her bag.
Okay, just breathe.
It's okay. You're just fine.
-Something in the water.
-Get up, get up. Go.
Oh, shit! Get back.
Sheppard! Sheppard, watch out!
-Holy fuck!
Whoa.
It's exactly the same as the flowers.
Look at the teeth.
Concentric rows.
Something here is making giant waves
in the gene pool.
Sharks have teeth like that, don't they?
Do you think it's a crossbreed?
You can't crossbreed
between different species.
Lena, this is getting heavy.
The mutations were subtle at first.
More extreme as we grew closer
to the lighthouse.
Corruptions of form.
Duplicates of form.
Duplicates?
Echoes.
Is it possible these were hallucinations?
I wondered that myself.
But they were shared among all of us.
It was dreamlike.
Nightmarish.
Not always.
Sometimes it was beautiful.
Ow.
You hurt?
It's just a bruise.
Must have gotten that from the gator.
Yeah.
So, where'd you learn to shoot?
I was in the military
before I was an academic.
Marines?
Army. Seven years.
Feels like a lifetime ago now.
Yeah.
All other lives feel like a lifetime ago.
We were kids, I was married.
Which do you carry around your neck?
A husband or a child?
Husband.
He was in the army, too. That's...
That's how we met.
"Was" in the army
KIA.
I'm sorry to hear that.
Guess there had to be something.
What do you mean?
Volunteering for... this.
It's not exactly something you do
if your life is in... perfect harmony.
We're all damaged goods here.
Anya is sober...
therefore an addict.
Josie wears long sleeves
'cause she doesn't want you
to see the scars on her forearms.
She's tried to kill herself?
No, I think the opposite,
trying to feel alive.
Ventress?
Yeah. As far as anyone knows...
no friends, no family,
no partner, no children.
No concession in her at all.
-I also lost someone.
Not a husband, though, um...
A daughter. Leukemia.
God, I'm sorry.
In a way, it's two bereavements.
My... beautiful girl...
and the person I once was.
Hey, hey!
We got something here.
This used to be the headquarters
of the Southern Reach.
Before the Shimmer swallowed it.
More mutations.
They're everywhere.
Malignant.
Like tumors.
Is that the old mess hall?
Yeah.
Let's billet there. Come on.
There's beds and bags.
You think people are here?
Were here.
Yeah, I'm gonna go with the past tense.
Damn.
Oh.
Oh, shit.
This shit is heavy. Can't carry this.
Lena, what you got going on?
Guys, check this out.
"Peyton, Mayer...
Kane, Shelley."
Those were the soldiers
on the last expedition.
Looks like they were using this room
as their base of operations.
Why are some of the names crossed out?
Let's not jump to conclusions.
-I don't know, maybe we should.
-Yeah.
Yep. This is the mess hall.
Yep.
I think that the times by the names
are a guard rota, so...
if they were guarding the perimeter,
we should.
Copy that.
Yep.
This might be able to tell us something.
"For those that follow."
I believe that means us.
Memory card.
I should be able to play this.
It's working.
All right?
-Okay.
Okay.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.
Okay. Okay.
Yeah?
Okay.
Shit.
What is he doing?
Stop. Stop. Stop, stop, stop.
Hold him. Hold him down.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
There. There.
Okay, so we know what happened
to the last group. They went insane.
-Was something alive inside that man.
-No.
-That was a trick of the light.
What?
I've been a paramedic for 10 years.
I've scraped people off the road.
You see some weird shit.
That was a trick of the light.
His insides were moving.
No, it was shock.
-That was a shock response.
Watch it again.
No, I'm not gonna watch it again!
That was not intestines.
It was a worm--
Okay, then you watch it, Sheppard!
Where are you going?
-Just ahead.
What is it?
I don't know.
-I don't want to stay here tonight.
-We don't have a choice.
Please.
-Come on.
It's too late in the day
for us to move on.
Come on, let's go outside.
Oh, that's nice of you.
Why aren't you here?
I gotta leave a day early.
What?
Wait, today?
-Right now.
-Oh, shit.
But we had a whole day planned.
-We were gonna drive to the country--
-No, we can't.
-We can't.
Now means right now.
Yeah.
What is it?
I do...
love you...
Lena.
I love you, too.
Hey.
The mystery unraveling?
Something's unraveling.
I think you're doing okay.
It's good Josie's getting some rest.
Yeah.
With the help of a little sedative.
How about you
Some.
I'm at least as freaked as Josie.
I'm just hiding it better.
I should check on Ventress.
Yep.
What're you doing up?
Not supposed to relieve me until 3:00.
I'm done sleeping for the night.
Okay.
Come look at this.
Okay, this is where we are...
and that's the lighthouse.
Southwest is Ville Perdu.
It's a small community we evacuated
two years ago.
I think we should head there tomorrow,
and then head out for the coast
the following morning.
Good.
You okay?
I was gonna say, when...
you didn't tell the team
about your connection to Kane,
I wasn't sure if that was a good idea.
But after seeing that footage...
yeah.
I'm not sure how they would have reacted
to you.
Why did my husband volunteer
for a suicide mission?
Is that what you think we're doing?
-You must have profiled him,
you must have assessed him.
He must have said something.
So you're asking me as a psychologist.
Yeah.
Then, as a psychologist...
I'd say you're confusing suicide
with self-destruction.
Almost none of us commit suicide...
and almost all of us self-destruct.
In some way, in some part of our lives.
We drink, or we smoke.
We destabilize the good job.
Or the happy marriage.
These aren't decisions, they're...
They're impulses.
In fact, you're probably better equipped
to explain this than I am.
You're a biologist.
Isn't self
Programmed into each cell?
What was that?
-Don't know.
Josie, wake up.
Wake up, Josie, come on.
Wake up. Something's happening.
-No.
What happened? I heard a noise.
Oh.
What?
Something's come through the fence.
-It's ripped open like a fucking zipper.
Can't see.
-Yeah, neither can I.
Sheppard!
Sheppard!
-Fuck!
Sheppard was next to me.
Something took her.
-Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck! Sheppard!
Oh, shit!
Help! Help me!
Shepp... Sheppard!
Sheppard!
We have to go back.
-We have to go back now.
She's right.
Right
We've been attacked twice.
We lost one of our own.
We have evidence the previous team
went nuts and chopped each other up.
I really don't know how much more right
she has to be.
We haven't reached the lighthouse.
We still don't understand the cause
or the nature of the Shimmer.
We have data, observations, photographs.
She has hella footage.
All of which makes the phenomenon
less explicable, not more.
I'm gonna get to the lighthouse,
and I'm fine going on my own.
You just need to decide...
whether you're coming with me or not.
It's like she hasn't noticed
that Sheppard is dead.
She's crazy.
She's a crazy old bitch.
You know,
and thanks for the fucking backup, Lena.
-I didn't realize there were sides.
Yeah.
Yeah, there are sides.
Okay, then I agree with you.
We should go back.
Good. Okay, great. There we go. Okay?
-So the three of us can--
Hold on a minute.
We should go back, yes.
But it took us, what,
six days to get here?
And the coast is two days away.
And as Sheppard said...
when we get to the coast,
we can follow it until the perimeter wall.
You're saying we get out
by going deeper?
-Yeah, if you like, yeah.
No, I don't fucking "like."
This isn't some bullshit tactic
to get us to the lighthouse, is it?
This is not about the lighthouse, okay?
I believe that the coast
is the best route out.
Okay?
You lied to them.
I didn't know what going back meant.
Why it would be safer than going forward.
You didn't know, but you made
a decision to continue as if you did.
Ventress made the decision.
Ventress had cancer.
She was never coming back.
You knew she was sick.
I had guessed.
And you wanted to continue.
Yes. I did.
She could still be alive.
It's highly doubtful.
We need to know.
Go. Fine.
I'm coming with you.
I'll go alone.
Did you find her?
Yeah.
She's dead.
You okay?
Fine. Just... leave me the fuck alone.
We'll camp here tonight.
It's another two hours' walk up the coast.
They've grown this way.
That doesn't make any sense.
I think it does.
At first I thought the radio waves
were blocked by the Shimmer,
and that's why no one inside
could communicate with base or GPS,
but the light waves aren't blocked,
they're refracted, and...
...it's the same with the radios.
The signals aren't gone.
They're scrambled.
That leaf in your hand...
know what you'd get if you sequenced it?
-Human Hox genes.
Hox
They're the genes that define
the body plan, the physical structure.
And the plants have human body plan.
Arms attached to shoulders. Legs to hips.
It's literally not possible. It's literally what's happening.
The Shimmer is a prism,
but it refracts everything.
Not just light and radio waves.
Animal DNA, plant DNA...
all DNA.
What do you mean, "all DNA"?
She's talking about our DNA.
She's talking about us.
All right... I guess this is a bedroom.
Let's secure doors and windows.
This was a mistake.
Okay.
You spend more time
away from your husband than with him.
You can't talk to him about work,
and he won't talk to you about his.
And there is a clear physical
and intellectual connection between us.
-You forgot your wife.
I love my wife.
She's blameless in this.
Come on, Lena.
What's really going on here?
You think that something
may have happened to him?
Or you think he knows.
That's it, isn't it?
You think somehow he's found out
about our affair.
Has he found out?
Yes.
You should go.
-No, Lena, I--
-Dan...
I'm not interested in talking...
or in anything you have to say.
Just get dressed and get out.
You know, it's not me you hate,
it's yourself.
No, Dan, it's you, too.
It's never gonna happen again. You lying bitch!
-No.
You don't get to ask
that fucking question. You answer it!
Brother. Boyfriend.
Husband.
Husband.
Why didn't you tell us?
-You knew. Obviously.
-Okay.
There are two theories
of what went wrong.
One is that something in here killed them.
Two... is that they went crazy
and they killed each other.
Josie nearly got killed by an alligator,
and Cass did get killed by a bear.
So, yes, theory one, it fits.
But...
I didn't actually see a bear.
And neither did Josie.
The only people who saw
were Lena and Ventress.
So nothing's confirmed.
Everything's on their word.
-Everything's on Lena's word.
And what we know now...
what we know,
is that Lena... is a liar.
-Shut the fuck up!
Lena... you're a liar.
Did you kill Cass?
Did you lose your shit?
Or do you think I've lost my shit
and we're gonna fuck each other up?
That's theory two.
Oh, God.
When I look at my hands...
and my fingerprints...
I can see them moving.
I can't.
If I let you go,
and you tie me to a chair
and cut me open...
are my insides gonna move
like my fingerprints?
But... I'm not the one tied to a chair.
-You are.
Help me!
Help me!
Help me!
Oh, Cass?
-You said she was dead.
Cass! Cass, I'm coming!
Cass, is that you
Help me! Help me!
Help!
Don't react.
Mmm.
Me!
Help!
Me!
No! No!
No!
Me!
Help... me...
What are you doing?
-I'm leaving.
Now?
-It's not even light yet.
-I don't have time to wait.
We are disintegrating.
Our bodies as fast as our minds.
Can't you feel it?
It's like the onset of dementia.
If I don't reach the lighthouse soon...
the person that started this journey
won't be the person that ends it.
I want to be the one that ends it.
We should go, Josie.
How long was your husband in the Shimmer?
It's hard to say exactly.
Theoretically, as long as a year.
That's a long time to be inside
and remain intact.
I'm not so sure he was intact.
I'm right...
-Yeah.
I checked my blood last night.
It's... in me.
It will be in all of us.
It was so strange hearing...
Sheppard's voice in the mouth
of that creature last night.
I think as she was dying,
part of her mind became...
part of the creature that was killing her.
Imagine dying frightened and in pain,
and having that as the only part of you
which survives.
I wouldn't like that at all. Ventress wants to face it.
You want to fight it.
But I don't think I want
either of those things.
Josie. Josie.
Josie!
One by one, all gone, except you.
How do you explain that?
Is it something I need to explain?
Yes, you do.
I had to come back.
I'm not sure any of them did.
Stand by the stairway
You'll see something certain
To tell you
Confusion has its cost
- Love isn't lying
-Hey.
It's loose in a lady who lingers
Hey.
Saying she is lost
I thought I was a man.
I had a life.
People called me Kane. And now I'm not so sure.
If I wasn't Kane, what was I?
Was I you
My flesh moves...
like liquid.
My mind is...
just cut loose.
I can't bear it.
I can't bear it.
I can't bear it.
You ever seen a phosphorus grenade go off?
They're kind of bright.
Shield your eyes.
If you ever get out of here,
you find Lena.
I will.
No.
Five, four, three, two...
No, no, no. No.
Oh. Oh, God. Oh, my God.
No.
It's the last phase.
Vanished into havoc.
Unfathomable mind...
...and now beacon.
Now sea.
Lena.
We spoke.
What was it we said?
That I needed to know
what was inside the lighthouse.
That moment's passed.
It's inside me now.
What's... inside you?
It's not like us.
It's unlike us.
I don't know what it wants.
Or if it wants.
But it will grow...
until it encompasses everything.
Our bodies and our minds
will be fragmented
into their smallest parts until...
not one part remains.
Annihilation.
No, no, no. No!
So it was alien.
Can you describe its form?
No.
Was it carbon
I don't know.
What did it want?
I don't think it wanted anything.
But it... it attacked you.
It mirrored me.
I attacked it.
I'm not sure it even knew I was there.
It came here for a reason.
It was mutating our environment,
it was destroying everything.
It wasn't destroying. It was changing everything.
It was making something new.
Making what?
I don't know.
A team reached the lighthouse
a few hours ago.
Everything is ash.
If what you encountered was once alive...
it seems it's now dead.
Now will you tell me what happened
to my husband?
When the Shimmer disappeared,
his blood pressure stabilized
and his pulse rate started to rise.
A few hours later, he was not only awake,
he was lucid.
He's still in isolation, obviously.
So am I.
You aren't Kane...
are you?
I don't think so.
Are you Lena?
You had rations for two weeks.
You were inside for nearly four months.
I don't remember eating.
How long did you think you were inside?
Days.
Maybe weeks.
What happened to Josie Radek?
-I don't know.
Thorensen? Dead.
Ventress?
I don't know.
Then what do you know?
This is a cell.
Like all cells,
it is born from an existing cell.
And by extension,
all cells were ultimately born
from one cell.
A single organism alone on planet Earth,
perhaps alone in the universe.
About four billion years ago...
one became two, two became four.
Then eight, 16, 32.
The rhythm of the dividing pair...
which becomes the structure
of every microbe,
blade of grass, sea creature,
land creature...
and human.
The structure of everything that lives...
and everything that dies.
As students of medicine,
as the doctors of tomorrow,
this is where you come in.
The cell we're looking at is from a tumor.
Female patient, early 30s,
taken from the cervix.
Over the course of the next term,
we will be closely examining cancer cells
in vitro
and discussing autophagic activity.
Hey, Katie.
I read theJohn Sulston paper
last night.
I still feel like
I'm not working hard enough.
I'm behind the other students.
-They find everything easier.
You aren't, and they don't.
-Lena!
Dan.
I've been looking for you at lunch,
but you never seem to be around.
I've been catching up on some writing.
All work and no play, it sounds...
not healthy.
I wanted to ask,
Sarah and I have a few people over.
A garden party while the weather holds.
Actually, I do have plans.
I think it'll be fun.
Thanks, Dan, I really appreciate it,
but I'm going to paint our bedr--
The bedroom.
It's been a year, Lena.
You're allowed to come to a barbecue.
It is not a betrayal
or an insult to his memory.
I'm gonna paint the bedroom.
["Helplessly Hoping"
by Crosby, Stills & Nash playing]
Helplessly hoping
Her harlequin hovers nearby
Awaiting a word
Gasping at glimpses
Of gentle, true spirit
He runs, wishing he could fly
Only to trip
At the sound of goodbye
Wordlessly watching
He waits by the window and wonders
At the empty place inside
Heartlessly helping himself
To her bad dreams
He worries, did he hear a goodbye
Or even
Hello?
They are one person
They are two alone
They are three together
They are for each other
Stand by the stairway
- You'll see something certain
-Oh, God.
- To tell you
- Confusion has its cost
-Oh, my God. Oh, my God!
Oh!
Love isn't lying
- It's loose in a lady
- Who lingers
-Oh, my God. I thought you were gone.
Saying she is lost
-Forever.
- And choking
On hello
Kane?
They are one person
They are two alone
They are three together
No one knew anything about your unit.
I contacted everyone.
Everyone I could.
The other partners knew
just as little as me.
Was it covert?
Mm... Maybe.
What does that mean, "maybe"?
Okay, yeah, it was covert.
Yeah, I think so.
Pakistan again?
I-- I don't know where it was, or...
what it was.
How is that possible?
Was it warm?
Was there snow?
Did the people there speak Portuguese,
or Swahili, or Pashto?
How long have you been back?
I don't know.
How'd you get back?
What base did you fly into?
-I don't know.
You must be able to tell me something.
You vanished off the face of the earth
for 12 months.
I deserve a better explanation
than no explanation.
Does it matter?
Kane...
how did you get home?
Hmm?
I was outside.
Outside the house?
No.
No, I was outside the room.
The room with the bed.
The door was open, and...
I saw you.
I recognized you.
Your face.
I don't feel very well.
Stay with me, baby.
-I'm right here with you.
Male, 31, hemorrhage, in seizure.
Stay with me, baby. I love you.
Baby, look at me. Can you do something?!
You call for a police escort?
Hey, easy, easy!
Out of the truck, now!
What are you doing?
Out!
Don't shoot!
Out! Move!
Out, out, out!
What's going on?
What are you doing?
You can't move him!
Let him go! Let him go!
Let him go!
You must be feeling dreadful.
It's a hangover
from the sedative you were given.
Come on, sit down.
Who are you?
My name is Dr. Ventress.
I'm a psychologist.
Why am I talking to a psychologist?
Am I in a psychiatric hospital?
-No.
Then what?
Where am I?
Where's my husband?
You served in the military
for seven years.
I'm a professor from JohnsHopkins.
I want to know what the fuck
I'm doing here.
Your research area is the genetically
programmed life cycle of a cell.
Where is my husband?
Yeah,
I'd like to talk about Sergeant Kane.
When did he arrive back home?
-I want to see a lawyer.
-You're not gonna be able to.
Did he explain how he got back?
-No.
-Did he contact you at any point
while he was away?
No.
What did he tell you
about his mission when he returned?
-Nothing.
Did he ever mention where he was going,
what he was doing?
He never said, I never asked.
But you made regular requests
for information from his unit CO.
Until six months ago,
and then you stopped.
Why was that
Time to move on?
It's not easy to move on.
I didn't.
I'm done answering questions.
It's your turn.
Your husband's here.
He's extremely ill.
Multiple organ failure.
Massive internal bleeding.
He must have been exposed
to some sort of radiation,
some kind of virus.
You have to tell me where he was,
what he was doing.
I could actually help him.
A religious event.
An extraterrestrial event.
A higher dimension.
We have many theories,
few facts.
It started around three years ago.
Blackwater National Park reported
that a lighthouse was surrounded
by something they termed "a shimmer."
One of the wardens went in to investigate.
Never returned.
The event was classified.
Since then, we've approached by land,
by sea,
sent in drones, animals,
and teams of people.
But nothing comes back.
And the boundary's getting bigger.
It's expanding.
So far, it's eating
into barely populated swampland,
which, you know, we evacuated
under the pretext of a chemical spill,
but... that won't last much longer.
In a few months, the area will have grown
to where we are right now.
And then we're talking cities...
states... and so on.
You said nothing comes back.
But something has.
Yes.
He's dying.
Yes.
We need to come to an agreement
about what to do with you.
You're not going to let me go home?
Is that what you want
No.
I want to be with him.
You're not talking to me.
Sorry.
Zoned out.
Thinking about the next mission?
No.
I was just looking at the moon.
It's always so weird seeing it like that
in the daylight.
Like God made a mistake.
-Left the hall lights on.
God doesn't make mistakes. That's...
somewhat key
to the whole "being a god" thing.
Pretty sure he does.
You know he's listening right now,
don't you?
You take a cell,
circumvent the Hayflick limit,
you can prevent senescence.
I was about to make the exact same point.
It means the cell doesn't grow old,
it becomes immortal.
Keeps dividing, doesn't die.
They say aging is a natural process,
but it's actually a fault in our genes.
I get really turned on
when you patronize me. It's really hot.
Without it,
I could keep looking like this forever.
Oh, okay.
-Well, that could constitute a mistake.
You didn't tell me
where you're heading this time.
I know there's something strange
about this mission.
Why?
The silence around it
is louder than usual.
Kind of angling for a clue here.
So...?
We'll be under the same hemisphere.
What does that tell me?
It tells you that if you step outside
and you look up...
we'll be looking at the same stars.
-Holy fucking shit.
You think that's what I do
while you're away?
-You think I'm out in the garden,
pining, looking up at the sky?
Shut up. All right.
-Oh, to think my beloved Kane...
-Okay. Uh-huh.
-...is looking at the selfsame moon.
Stop it.
Oh,
my distant celestial friend...
No. No.
...please care for my brave soldier.
Jesus. You know what?
You are disrespectful,
seriously, not only to your former
comrades in the armed forces,
-but also to the president.
-You forgot the flag.
Oh, I'm getting--
I'm getting to the motherfucking flag.
Oh, my hero.
-Screw you.
-Okay.
She's all by herself.
Don't you think we should make friends?
Well, obviously you should.
Yep, I'll do it.
Hey. Hey.
-No, not at all.
Cool. Phew.
You know, I always see you here alone.
It's...
I'm guessing you probably feel weird
or awkward.
Somewhat, I guess.
Don't. Seriously, don't.
The people here put themselves to sleep
in the fetal position
making cooing noises.
It's freaky, you know.
-I'm Anya.
-Lena.
-Nice to meet you.
-You, too.
Um, why don't you come and meet my crew?
Come make friends. Come on.
Ladies, meet Lena.
Hi nice to meet you.
Yeah, that's Cassie Sheppard,
and Josie Radek.
Hi. Nice to meet you.
-Hi.
Do you want to have a seat?
-Thank you.
-So, first day at the Southern Reach.
-Yes.
-Ah!
-Thank you.
-You're welcome.
You all been here long?
Um, yeah, right from the start.
I'm a geomorphologist.
I've been testing the magnetic fields
around the boundary,
which is like using confetti
to test a hurricane.
Uh, and I've been here... ten months.
Wow, ten months.
Paramedic from Chicago.
Tried to join an NGO,
but my application got flagged,
so Southern Reach got me.
Only two months.I'm a physicist.
I came straight from my Cambridge postdoc.
She's very smart.
What's your story, Lena?
Uh, I'm from Johns Hopkins, biologist.
-Oh, there you go.
-Told you she was smart.
What?
We had a bet on your profession,
and Josie had biologist, of course.
-I had law enforcement.
-I had you as single.
Jesus. Do you have to hit
on everyone, like all the time?
Fuck that. Under the circumstances,
I think I'm allowed to roll the dice
a few more times.
Under what circumstances?
Well, yeah, um, crazy as it seems...
Crazy as it is.
...we are headed that way.
-Six days and counting.
-Four.
Ventress.
Mmm. Team leader.
-All women.
-Scientists.
The previous teams
have been largely military, so, yeah.
What do you think happened to them?
Well, there are two theories
of what went wrong in the Shimmer.
One, something kills them.
Two, they go crazy and kill each other.
There was one military guy
who made it out.
Yeah. A sergeant.
Yeah, but you heard
about the state that he was in.
Kane...
I know why you went in.
I am so sorry.
And I know what I have to do.
So you didn't tell them
about your connection to Sergeant Kane?
I thought it would complicate things.
What?
What would it complicate?
Why are you going into the Shimmer?
The mission statement is to reach
the supposed source of the Shimmer,
the lighthouse,
enter and acquire data, and return.
But I don't think that
that's your mission statement.
No.
I've been watching the phenomenon
for a while now.
I profile the volunteers.
I pick the teams.
They enter, I watch.
I watch it grow closer.
There's only so long one can do that.
But you need to know what's inside?
Yes, I do.
So do I.
So that's the complication.
You want to come with us.
I can't do anything for him here.
Soldier-scientist.
You can fight.
You can learn.
You can save him.
You requested to join the mission.
You knew all other missions had failed
and the only survivor
was barely surviving.
That was a brave choice.
I owed him.
I'm only trying to understand
what drove you.
I owed him...
so I went in.
And then we get some real meals.
Spaghetti.
Here's Radek's vegetable crackers.
Wow, cornbread. That's not so bad.
Oh, you're finally awake.
You gotta give me a second.
I'm a little disoriented.
Join the club.
You don't remember
setting up camp, do you?
I don't remember anything...
after we reached the tree line.
None of us do.
And we did a food inventory.
From the depletion, we've been out here
for at least three or four days.
That's not possible.
That's what I said.
Guys, I've been checking
my comms and nav equipment.
They boot up fine,
no problem with the electronics,
and the camera is working,
but anything that sends a signal
out of the Shimmer... is down.
Even though we've probably got
about 20 satellites above us right now,
and... check this out.
So we've got no compass,
no comms, no coordinates...
and no landmarks.
Well, we know we're in the state park.
We head south, we hit the ocean,
then we can just follow the shoreline
until we hit the perimeter wall. Right?
-Come on, Josie, you know this.
Hour hand at the sun.
Split the difference
between the hour hand and 12, south.
Good.
We're oriented.
We weren't really expecting
the comms equipment to work, were we?
There's been three years of expeditions
and three years of radio silence.
Let's pack up and get moving.
We've already lost a lot of the day.
Oh, I'm gonna check this out.
Get us out of this damn swamp.
All right.
Let's check out the hut.
Looks like someone's
about to have a wedding. These are very strange.
Why?
Well, they're all so different.
To look at them, you wouldn't say
that they're the same species.
But they're growing
from the same branch structure...
so it has to be the same species.
It's the same plant.
It's like they're stuck
in a continuous mutation.
A pathology?
Yeah, well...
you'd sure as hell call it a pathology
if you saw this in a human.
Jackpot.
Sheppard! Mode of transportation.
Anything interesting in there?
No. It's been long abandoned,
maybe even before--
Radek?
Radek!
-Radek!
It's got my bag!
Radek!
Something's got my bag!
Oh, no!
It's got my bag!
Help me with her!
What's going on?
Hey, grab my shoulder!
Get her. Come on.
I got her.
Okay
I got her. Okay.
You're good, you're good.
It's okay.
Let's sit you down.
Help me with her bag.
Okay, just breathe.
It's okay. You're just fine.
-Something in the water.
-Get up, get up. Go.
Oh, shit! Get back.
Sheppard! Sheppard, watch out!
-Holy fuck!
Whoa.
It's exactly the same as the flowers.
Look at the teeth.
Concentric rows.
Something here is making giant waves
in the gene pool.
Sharks have teeth like that, don't they?
Do you think it's a crossbreed?
You can't crossbreed
between different species.
Lena, this is getting heavy.
The mutations were subtle at first.
More extreme as we grew closer
to the lighthouse.
Corruptions of form.
Duplicates of form.
Duplicates?
Echoes.
Is it possible these were hallucinations?
I wondered that myself.
But they were shared among all of us.
It was dreamlike.
Nightmarish.
Not always.
Sometimes it was beautiful.
Ow.
You hurt?
It's just a bruise.
Must have gotten that from the gator.
Yeah.
So, where'd you learn to shoot?
I was in the military
before I was an academic.
Marines?
Army. Seven years.
Feels like a lifetime ago now.
Yeah.
All other lives feel like a lifetime ago.
We were kids, I was married.
Which do you carry around your neck?
A husband or a child?
Husband.
He was in the army, too. That's...
That's how we met.
"Was" in the army
KIA.
I'm sorry to hear that.
Guess there had to be something.
What do you mean?
Volunteering for... this.
It's not exactly something you do
if your life is in... perfect harmony.
We're all damaged goods here.
Anya is sober...
therefore an addict.
Josie wears long sleeves
'cause she doesn't want you
to see the scars on her forearms.
She's tried to kill herself?
No, I think the opposite,
trying to feel alive.
Ventress?
Yeah. As far as anyone knows...
no friends, no family,
no partner, no children.
No concession in her at all.
-I also lost someone.
Not a husband, though, um...
A daughter. Leukemia.
God, I'm sorry.
In a way, it's two bereavements.
My... beautiful girl...
and the person I once was.
Hey, hey!
We got something here.
This used to be the headquarters
of the Southern Reach.
Before the Shimmer swallowed it.
More mutations.
They're everywhere.
Malignant.
Like tumors.
Is that the old mess hall?
Yeah.
Let's billet there. Come on.
There's beds and bags.
You think people are here?
Were here.
Yeah, I'm gonna go with the past tense.
Damn.
Oh.
Oh, shit.
This shit is heavy. Can't carry this.
Lena, what you got going on?
Guys, check this out.
"Peyton, Mayer...
Kane, Shelley."
Those were the soldiers
on the last expedition.
Looks like they were using this room
as their base of operations.
Why are some of the names crossed out?
Let's not jump to conclusions.
-I don't know, maybe we should.
-Yeah.
Yep. This is the mess hall.
Yep.
I think that the times by the names
are a guard rota, so...
if they were guarding the perimeter,
we should.
Copy that.
Yep.
This might be able to tell us something.
"For those that follow."
I believe that means us.
Memory card.
I should be able to play this.
It's working.
All right?
-Okay.
Okay.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.
Okay. Okay.
Yeah?
Okay.
Shit.
What is he doing?
Stop. Stop. Stop, stop, stop.
Hold him. Hold him down.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
There. There.
Okay, so we know what happened
to the last group. They went insane.
-Was something alive inside that man.
-No.
-That was a trick of the light.
What?
I've been a paramedic for 10 years.
I've scraped people off the road.
You see some weird shit.
That was a trick of the light.
His insides were moving.
No, it was shock.
-That was a shock response.
Watch it again.
No, I'm not gonna watch it again!
That was not intestines.
It was a worm--
Okay, then you watch it, Sheppard!
Where are you going?
-Just ahead.
What is it?
I don't know.
-I don't want to stay here tonight.
-We don't have a choice.
Please.
-Come on.
It's too late in the day
for us to move on.
Come on, let's go outside.
Oh, that's nice of you.
Why aren't you here?
I gotta leave a day early.
What?
Wait, today?
-Right now.
-Oh, shit.
But we had a whole day planned.
-We were gonna drive to the country--
-No, we can't.
-We can't.
Now means right now.
Yeah.
What is it?
I do...
love you...
Lena.
I love you, too.
Hey.
The mystery unraveling?
Something's unraveling.
I think you're doing okay.
It's good Josie's getting some rest.
Yeah.
With the help of a little sedative.
How about you
Some.
I'm at least as freaked as Josie.
I'm just hiding it better.
I should check on Ventress.
Yep.
What're you doing up?
Not supposed to relieve me until 3:00.
I'm done sleeping for the night.
Okay.
Come look at this.
Okay, this is where we are...
and that's the lighthouse.
Southwest is Ville Perdu.
It's a small community we evacuated
two years ago.
I think we should head there tomorrow,
and then head out for the coast
the following morning.
Good.
You okay?
I was gonna say, when...
you didn't tell the team
about your connection to Kane,
I wasn't sure if that was a good idea.
But after seeing that footage...
yeah.
I'm not sure how they would have reacted
to you.
Why did my husband volunteer
for a suicide mission?
Is that what you think we're doing?
-You must have profiled him,
you must have assessed him.
He must have said something.
So you're asking me as a psychologist.
Yeah.
Then, as a psychologist...
I'd say you're confusing suicide
with self-destruction.
Almost none of us commit suicide...
and almost all of us self-destruct.
In some way, in some part of our lives.
We drink, or we smoke.
We destabilize the good job.
Or the happy marriage.
These aren't decisions, they're...
They're impulses.
In fact, you're probably better equipped
to explain this than I am.
You're a biologist.
Isn't self
Programmed into each cell?
What was that?
-Don't know.
Josie, wake up.
Wake up, Josie, come on.
Wake up. Something's happening.
-No.
What happened? I heard a noise.
Oh.
What?
Something's come through the fence.
-It's ripped open like a fucking zipper.
Can't see.
-Yeah, neither can I.
Sheppard!
Sheppard!
-Fuck!
Sheppard was next to me.
Something took her.
-Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck! Sheppard!
Oh, shit!
Help! Help me!
Shepp... Sheppard!
Sheppard!
We have to go back.
-We have to go back now.
She's right.
Right
We've been attacked twice.
We lost one of our own.
We have evidence the previous team
went nuts and chopped each other up.
I really don't know how much more right
she has to be.
We haven't reached the lighthouse.
We still don't understand the cause
or the nature of the Shimmer.
We have data, observations, photographs.
She has hella footage.
All of which makes the phenomenon
less explicable, not more.
I'm gonna get to the lighthouse,
and I'm fine going on my own.
You just need to decide...
whether you're coming with me or not.
It's like she hasn't noticed
that Sheppard is dead.
She's crazy.
She's a crazy old bitch.
You know,
and thanks for the fucking backup, Lena.
-I didn't realize there were sides.
Yeah.
Yeah, there are sides.
Okay, then I agree with you.
We should go back.
Good. Okay, great. There we go. Okay?
-So the three of us can--
Hold on a minute.
We should go back, yes.
But it took us, what,
six days to get here?
And the coast is two days away.
And as Sheppard said...
when we get to the coast,
we can follow it until the perimeter wall.
You're saying we get out
by going deeper?
-Yeah, if you like, yeah.
No, I don't fucking "like."
This isn't some bullshit tactic
to get us to the lighthouse, is it?
This is not about the lighthouse, okay?
I believe that the coast
is the best route out.
Okay?
You lied to them.
I didn't know what going back meant.
Why it would be safer than going forward.
You didn't know, but you made
a decision to continue as if you did.
Ventress made the decision.
Ventress had cancer.
She was never coming back.
You knew she was sick.
I had guessed.
And you wanted to continue.
Yes. I did.
She could still be alive.
It's highly doubtful.
We need to know.
Go. Fine.
I'm coming with you.
I'll go alone.
Did you find her?
Yeah.
She's dead.
You okay?
Fine. Just... leave me the fuck alone.
We'll camp here tonight.
It's another two hours' walk up the coast.
They've grown this way.
That doesn't make any sense.
I think it does.
At first I thought the radio waves
were blocked by the Shimmer,
and that's why no one inside
could communicate with base or GPS,
but the light waves aren't blocked,
they're refracted, and...
...it's the same with the radios.
The signals aren't gone.
They're scrambled.
That leaf in your hand...
know what you'd get if you sequenced it?
-Human Hox genes.
Hox
They're the genes that define
the body plan, the physical structure.
And the plants have human body plan.
Arms attached to shoulders. Legs to hips.
It's literally not possible. It's literally what's happening.
The Shimmer is a prism,
but it refracts everything.
Not just light and radio waves.
Animal DNA, plant DNA...
all DNA.
What do you mean, "all DNA"?
She's talking about our DNA.
She's talking about us.
All right... I guess this is a bedroom.
Let's secure doors and windows.
This was a mistake.
Okay.
You spend more time
away from your husband than with him.
You can't talk to him about work,
and he won't talk to you about his.
And there is a clear physical
and intellectual connection between us.
-You forgot your wife.
I love my wife.
She's blameless in this.
Come on, Lena.
What's really going on here?
You think that something
may have happened to him?
Or you think he knows.
That's it, isn't it?
You think somehow he's found out
about our affair.
Has he found out?
Yes.
You should go.
-No, Lena, I--
-Dan...
I'm not interested in talking...
or in anything you have to say.
Just get dressed and get out.
You know, it's not me you hate,
it's yourself.
No, Dan, it's you, too.
It's never gonna happen again. You lying bitch!
-No.
You don't get to ask
that fucking question. You answer it!
Brother. Boyfriend.
Husband.
Husband.
Why didn't you tell us?
-You knew. Obviously.
-Okay.
There are two theories
of what went wrong.
One is that something in here killed them.
Two... is that they went crazy
and they killed each other.
Josie nearly got killed by an alligator,
and Cass did get killed by a bear.
So, yes, theory one, it fits.
But...
I didn't actually see a bear.
And neither did Josie.
The only people who saw
were Lena and Ventress.
So nothing's confirmed.
Everything's on their word.
-Everything's on Lena's word.
And what we know now...
what we know,
is that Lena... is a liar.
-Shut the fuck up!
Lena... you're a liar.
Did you kill Cass?
Did you lose your shit?
Or do you think I've lost my shit
and we're gonna fuck each other up?
That's theory two.
Oh, God.
When I look at my hands...
and my fingerprints...
I can see them moving.
I can't.
If I let you go,
and you tie me to a chair
and cut me open...
are my insides gonna move
like my fingerprints?
But... I'm not the one tied to a chair.
-You are.
Help me!
Help me!
Help me!
Oh, Cass?
-You said she was dead.
Cass! Cass, I'm coming!
Cass, is that you
Help me! Help me!
Help!
Don't react.
Mmm.
Me!
Help!
Me!
No! No!
No!
Me!
Help... me...
What are you doing?
-I'm leaving.
Now?
-It's not even light yet.
-I don't have time to wait.
We are disintegrating.
Our bodies as fast as our minds.
Can't you feel it?
It's like the onset of dementia.
If I don't reach the lighthouse soon...
the person that started this journey
won't be the person that ends it.
I want to be the one that ends it.
We should go, Josie.
How long was your husband in the Shimmer?
It's hard to say exactly.
Theoretically, as long as a year.
That's a long time to be inside
and remain intact.
I'm not so sure he was intact.
I'm right...
-Yeah.
I checked my blood last night.
It's... in me.
It will be in all of us.
It was so strange hearing...
Sheppard's voice in the mouth
of that creature last night.
I think as she was dying,
part of her mind became...
part of the creature that was killing her.
Imagine dying frightened and in pain,
and having that as the only part of you
which survives.
I wouldn't like that at all. Ventress wants to face it.
You want to fight it.
But I don't think I want
either of those things.
Josie. Josie.
Josie!
One by one, all gone, except you.
How do you explain that?
Is it something I need to explain?
Yes, you do.
I had to come back.
I'm not sure any of them did.
Stand by the stairway
You'll see something certain
To tell you
Confusion has its cost
- Love isn't lying
-Hey.
It's loose in a lady who lingers
Hey.
Saying she is lost
I thought I was a man.
I had a life.
People called me Kane. And now I'm not so sure.
If I wasn't Kane, what was I?
Was I you
My flesh moves...
like liquid.
My mind is...
just cut loose.
I can't bear it.
I can't bear it.
I can't bear it.
You ever seen a phosphorus grenade go off?
They're kind of bright.
Shield your eyes.
If you ever get out of here,
you find Lena.
I will.
No.
Five, four, three, two...
No, no, no. No.
Oh. Oh, God. Oh, my God.
No.
It's the last phase.
Vanished into havoc.
Unfathomable mind...
...and now beacon.
Now sea.
Lena.
We spoke.
What was it we said?
That I needed to know
what was inside the lighthouse.
That moment's passed.
It's inside me now.
What's... inside you?
It's not like us.
It's unlike us.
I don't know what it wants.
Or if it wants.
But it will grow...
until it encompasses everything.
Our bodies and our minds
will be fragmented
into their smallest parts until...
not one part remains.
Annihilation.
No, no, no. No!
So it was alien.
Can you describe its form?
No.
Was it carbon
I don't know.
What did it want?
I don't think it wanted anything.
But it... it attacked you.
It mirrored me.
I attacked it.
I'm not sure it even knew I was there.
It came here for a reason.
It was mutating our environment,
it was destroying everything.
It wasn't destroying. It was changing everything.
It was making something new.
Making what?
I don't know.
A team reached the lighthouse
a few hours ago.
Everything is ash.
If what you encountered was once alive...
it seems it's now dead.
Now will you tell me what happened
to my husband?
When the Shimmer disappeared,
his blood pressure stabilized
and his pulse rate started to rise.
A few hours later, he was not only awake,
he was lucid.
He's still in isolation, obviously.
So am I.
You aren't Kane...
are you?
I don't think so.
Are you Lena?