Inspiration. Influence. The drawing feeling that pulls the imagination from 0-500mph in an instantaneous surge of action: Metal against Metal. Speed against Speed and into a hidden formation of synchronization and connection. Welcome to THE GRID 1.0: THE WRECKAGE COURSE SCENE…
SMASH CUT FROM WHITE:
EXT. VOID TRANSITION — UNKNOWN
Not a place. This is a pause between places. White fractures into lines, then into geometry, then into motion. This is a transition.
INT. VANTHROS — CODY
Cody is alone, the comms are dead, no voices, no team. Just him and the system. A new interface blooms across the windscreen, cleaner, sharper, more clinical.
LAYER SHIFT CONFIRMED SOLO PHASE INITIATED OBJECTIVE SET
Cody leans forward slightly.
CODY
Where are the others?
A beat.
VANTHROS (V.O.)
Not applicable.
That lands wrong. Cody frowns.
EXT. WRECKAGE COURSE — DAY
The world slams into existence. A high-speed arterial roadway, three lanes wide cutting through industrial outskirts. Traffic flows at extreme speed, cars, vans, heavy trucks totally unaware or nonreactive. Ahead, a towering inclined ramp. 100 meters. Perfect alignment.
HUD expands…
COURSE: WRECKAGE MODE: SOLO NAVIGATION PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: MAXIMIZE DESTRUCTION OUTPUT TARGET SCORE: 8,000,000 POINTS
Secondary overlay locks in…
CHALLENGE: CALDON RIDGE — PLATINUM TROPHY REWARD: +8,000,000 POINTS
Cody stares at it.
CODY
You want me to cause this.
VANTHROS (V.O.)
Affirmative.
No hesitation from the system. Cody exhales slowly.
CODY
…Fine.
EXT. APPROACH — CONTINUOUS
He accelerates. Traffic density increases, vehicles weaving, braking, accelerating. No space. No margin.
INT. VANTHROS
Augmented overlays predict micro-collisions, angles, velocities, chain reactions. The system isn’t showing him how to avoid disaster, it’s showing him how to build it.
EXT. RAMP — CONTINUOUS
Cody aligns perfectly and hits the ramp at full speed.
LAUNCH.
The vehicle leaves the ground, almost suspended, as below, sit the three lanes of flowing targets.
INT. VANTHROS — MID-AIR
Time slows as targeting brackets snap onto specific vehicles… Fuel carriers and load-bearing trucks. Chain-reaction candidates. Cody adjusts pitch mid-flight.
CODY
There, that should be it.
EXT. IMPACT SEQUENCE
He lands into a moving vehicle… IMPACT as everything detonates outward. A cascade begins, one vehicle into another, truck into tanker. Secondary explosions, fuel ignites as shock-waves ripple down the roadway in an eerie dominoes way.
HUD explodes with data:
+1,500 – MULTIPLE IMPACT COMBOS +3,000 – ATTEMPTED ELIMINATION +10,000 – WIPE-OUT
Numbers stack, faster, larger as the entire roadway collapses into controlled chaos.
INT. VANTHROS — CONTINUOUS
Cody braces as debris rains down as the vehicle stabilizes, and then…
SELF DESTRUCT – AVAILABLE
Cody doesn’t hesitate this time, he presses it.
EXT. ROADWAY — CONTINUOUS
A massive detonation, larger than before, engulfs everything within range. Vehicles flip, shatter and disintegrate. The chain reaction reaches critical scale as silence follows. Smoke, fire, nothing moving. Then… Reconstruction begins. VANTHROS reforms around Cody perfect and untouched.
INT. VANTHROS
HUD stabilizes:
CALDON RIDGE – PLATINUM TROPHY ACHIEVED
+8,000,000 POINTS
TOTAL SCORE UPDATED
A calm voice follows…
VANTHROS (V.O.)
Congratulations, Cody.
Cody doesn’t celebrate, he looks at the destruction behind him.
CODY
(quiet)
This isn’t a race.
VANTHROS (V.O.)
Correction.
(beat)
VANTHROS (CONT’D)
This is progression.
That word again. Cody absorbs it, then… the world fractures, while white light surges, not violent but Inevitable.
SMASH TRANSITION:
EXT. PODIUM WORLD — DAY
Color, warmth and applause. A perfect, celebratory environment. Before him, three podiums occupied…
JOLENE.
SEBASTIAN.
JULIETTA.
A fourth stands empty waiting. Cody materializes, stepping into place. The crowd cheers, real people, real smiles. A trophy forms in his hands, gold, weighty. For a moment it feels real, too real. Cody looks around with a snap, something isn’t right. But it’s… close. Close enough to believe.
CODY
(under breath)
…What is this?
The applause grows louder, brighter, warmer, almost comforting. Then, a faint flicker that is barely visible. Something beneath it. Cody sees it, Just for a second and then, the light intensifies.
CUT TO WHITE.
Written under the intoxicating influence of Console and Experience, THE GRID 1.0 was first started back in the 90’s, when Speed, Skill and Endurance was key to those completing difficult odds and hair raising, if not heart-dropping impossible RACE COURSES… For Cody and his loyal fearless friends, the RACE FOR LIFE has already begun.
1999-2036 Copyright Marcus De Storm. All rights reserved.
