INT. SILO - DAY April lands on her stomach with a TREMENDOUS SLAP on the layer of ROTTEN GRAIN that fills this structure.
It is 140°F inside the steel silo. And there are MAGGOTS and WORMS everywhere.
April looks up to the broken platform.
She can almost reach it.
April tries to stand.
BUT HER ANKLES BEGIN TO SINK.
THE GRAIN IS LIKE QUICK SAND.
THE MORE SHE MOVES, THE DEEPER SHE DROWNS.
UNTIL HER ENTIRE BODY IS SUBMERGED.
AND WE CAN NO LONGER SEE HER FACE.
THE 80,000 BUSHEL GRAIN BIN DEVOURS APRIL ALIVE.
Five seconds. That is how quickly someone can become engulfed in flowing grain and unable to get out.
Thirty seconds. That is how quickly someone can be completely submerged in flowing grain and suffocate.
Zero. That is how many people can survive being buried under grain without air for a few minutes.
EXT. GRAVEL ROAD - AFTERNOON John sprints after the movement in the crops.
INT. SILO - AFTERNOON April’s body thrashes in the dark. Fleeting trickles of light come through as the grain stirs, but it’s mostly BLACK.
April takes huge desperate breaths. She tries to swim to the top. The grain wraps her body tighter with every movement.
44.
SOUNDS OF THE OUTSIDE WORLD START TO FADE AWAY A tiny shaft of light punches through just long enough for us to glimpse WORMS crawling into April’s hair and clothes.
...the least of her problems.
Because she’s starting to die. There’s no oxygen left to breathe. Her esophagus is only gulping down heavy grain.
All we hear now is the SOFT LULL OF ASPHYXIATION. It sounds like marbles grinding in a glass jar.
