The story begins with a business deal. Victor Sullivan is in the office of a mansion discussing a business deal with a man named Thomas Jameson.
Sullivan asks Jameson, “So…tell me more about this little trinket that you want us to acquire?”
Jameson casually answers, “It’s just that. A simple little trinket.”
Sullivan isn’t convinced. He’s seen more than one deal go left because they weren’t given all of the important information. So, he says, “Hey, you and I both know there aint nothin ever simple in this business. If it were simple, hell, you’d do it.”
Jameson says, “True.”
Sullivan says, “So what is it that you’re not telling me? What kind of surprises should we expect?”
Jameson says, “Well, it is in a cave…in the middle of a jungle. There’s nothing atypical about the jungle but the cave..the cave is…an unusual cave.”
Sullivan says, “In what way?”
Jameson says, “For starters, there are traps in the cave.”
Cut to:
INT. Cave – Day
Inside a cave, Nathan Drake and his brother Sam desperately try to escape a section of a maze that is closing in on them. You see, what had happened was, Nathan triggered a booby trap that changes the shape of the maze they wandered into. Some of the walls close in while others open up. Unfortunately, they’re stuck between two walls that are now closing in.
Sam is in the lead when he says, “Hurry up!” They’re nearing the end of the section when they jump and roll to safety.
An out of breath Nathan says, “Booby traps. I hate booby traps.”
Two walls open up, revealing the exit. Sam points towards it and says, “There it is. The exit! Let’s go!” Nathan and Sam run for the exit, turning left or right to avoid the closing walls and stay within the open ones. They turn down the section leading to the exit, but the walls start closing in on them.
Nathan says, “Crap!”
They’re running as fast as they can when Sam says, “It’s gonna be close!”
Nathan says, “Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!” They jump through the exit and slide across the ground on the other side, just as the walls jam open, leaving just enough space for them to safely walk through.
Sam says, “Ain’t that about a bitch.”
Cut to:
INT. Mansion Office – Day
Sullivan says, “You mean booby traps? Ahh hell that’s just part of the job. Tell me something I don’t know.”
Cut to:
INT. Cave – Day
As Sam and Nathan walk down a passage, they see a few centipedes with exceptionally long legs. They’re only about four inches long so they’re not concerned at first, but the further they walk the more appears on the floor, walls and ceiling. There are hundreds all over when they finally stop.
Concerned, Sam asks, “You sure this is the right way?”
Nathan equally concerned, “Pretty sure.” He pulls out the map, opens it, points to a spot on the map and says “This is where we’re at now and the trinket is here. If we continue along this passage, it should lead us directly to the trinket. It’s only about 100 meters.”
Sam points at the map and asks, “Why is it so small at the other end of this passage? Does it get more narrow?”
Nathan says, “Narrower? Yeah.”
Sam rolls his eyes and says, “Don’t be a smart ass.” He takes off his backpack and pulls out goggles and a T-shirt.
Nathan asks, “What are you doing?”
Sam says, “Getting something to cover our face with. These things are about to be all over us. In our mouths, our ears, our nose…”
Nathan looks down the passage and says, “It doesn’t look that bad.” But it really does. Sam ignores him and continues to cover himself.
Nathan says, “But if you insist.” He follows Sam’s lead and covers himself too.
As they continue down the passageway, the centipedes become more and more erratic.
Nathan asks, “Why are they acting like that?”
Confused, Sam asks, “Like what?” He flashes his light towards the ground and they scatter. Some run further down the passage but many run back towards them. They run up their legs and back, scaring both Nathan and Sam. They run in circles as they violently swat the centipedes away.
Finally rid of the centipedes, a visibly shaken Sam says, “Damn things.”
Nathan swats away another centipede and says, “They don’t like the- ow!” He swats at the back of his hand and there is a bug bite. Shocked, he says, “It bit me.”
Sam looks at the bite then at Nathan. Then they both look down the passage. Sam asks, “How long did you say this passage was?”
Nathan shakes his head and says, “It’s not that far, but it’s gonna be a rough trip with these flashlights.” Sam sighs in agreement. Nathan continues to say, “We can’t use these. We’re gonna have to turn them off.”
Shocked, Sam asks, “How are we going to know where we’re going if we can’t see anything?”
Nathan says, “We’ll have to feel our way along the sides of the wall.”
Sam says, “You can’t be serious. They’re all over the fucking walls.”
Nathan says, “If we go slowly, they may not even bother us.”
Sam says, “If we go slowly, it’ll take that much longer.”
Nathan asks, “You gotta better idea?”
Sam points the flashlight towards the center of the passage and sees thousands of centipedes scrambling over one another to get away from the light.
Conceding, Sam says, “This is gonna suck.”
Nathan says, “We’ll be fine. Trust me.”
Cut to:
INT. Mansion Office – Day
Jameson doubts Sullivan’s confidence and asks, “Are you sure? It’s rumored that there are strange animals living in those caves.”
Sullivan confidently says, “All we need is a flame thrower. Most animals will either run or burn when they see fire. Gets rid of them either way.”
Cut to:
INT. Cave – Day
Sam and Nathan slowly feel their way along the side of the passage. The centipedes crawl over their hands, back, neck and even through their hair.
Sam says, “We really should’ve brought that flame thrower.”
Nathan says, “Then we would’ve set the whole damn cave on fire.”
Sam says, “No, you would’ve set the whole damn cave on fire. I know how to use it. You’re the one who could never aim that thing.”
Defensively, Nathan says, “Aiming was never the issue.”
Sam says, “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Soyun Lee’s house burned down.”
They’re nearing the end of the hallway when a brightly colorful one crawls over Sam’s goggles. Sam calmly freaks out and whispers, “Shit.”
Concerned, Nathan says, “What is it?”
Sam whispers, “A colorful one just crawled over me.”
Nathan asks, “How colorful?”
Sam says, “Black body, yellow feet, red head.”
Nathan says, “Crap. Well, maybe there’s just one.”
Sam says, “Says the man who has two crawling on his back right now.”
Nathan says, “Well, get ’em off.”
Sam says, “Fuck that.”
Nathan says “Sam!”
Sam says, “Nope. Besides they’re eating the smaller ones from off your back.”
Nathan says, “Ew.”
Sam says, “Well, it’s better to be the plate than the meal.”
Nathan says, “I hate you.”
Cut to:
INT. Mansion Office – Day
Skeptical, Jameson says, ”But you can’t always use brute force as a solution.”
Sullivan says, ”I agree. The plan should be based on the situation. If a situation calls for brute force, we have a plan for it. If a situation calls for finesse and flair, we have a plan for that too. Either way, my point is- “
Jameson finishes his sentence and says, ”You have a plan.”
Sullivan says, ”Always.”
Cut to:
INT. Cave – Day
Nearing the end of the passage, it becomes so narrow that their backs are touching the other side. There is also a light beaming through and they are covered with erratic centipedes.
Sam asks, “How much further?”
Nathan says, “Just a few more steps. I can see light.”
Sam says, “Well that explains why they’re acting so crazy. Thought it might be one of the big ones tryna take em out.”
Nathan says, “Don’t even joke about that.” He sticks his hand through the mesh of centipedes into the light and they quickly leave his hand. As he slowly moves along, more of his body enters the light and more centipedes run off of him and back down the passage until finally, he is free from all centipedes. He slowly emerges from the passage into a room that has been carved out of the rock. Sam slowly emerges from the passage behind him.
Sam says, “That was bullshit! Why would anyone put those things there?
Nathan says, “They’re guardians.”
Sam says, “Nobody needs that many damn guardians!” Swatting away one last centipede from his arm. “Remind me to come back later so I can drown these mother fuckers in bug spray.”
Seemingly unbothered by their previous predicament, Nathan looks around the room and says, “Sam look at this.” it’s a smooth circular room with carvings in the walls.
Sam asks, “What’s all this?”
Nathan and Sam walk to the door on the other side of the room. It’s covered with small tablets attached to it in a block format. Each tablet has strange markings written on it. There is a light shining from the center of the door. That light is point towards the passage they just came from. Nathan reaches in his back pocket and pulls out his journal. He flips through the pages until he finds a drawing matching the strange markings.
Nathan says, “This is it. The key should behind this door.”
Sam says, “Ok…so, how do we get past it?”
Nathan says, “You see these markings?”
Sam says, “Yeah?”
Nathan says, “It’s part of a riddle. This says:”
Nathan points to the picture in his journal and says, “‘The beautiful light will guide your way’ and the 2nd half of the riddle says, ‘but bitter darkness will seal your fate’.”
Sam says, “Not much of a riddle.”
Nathan says, “Yeah…but look. The markings are almost identical to each other. It’s almost impossible to tell them apart.”
Sam says, “Ok, then how do you know that this way means ‘The light will show the way’ or whatever?”
Unsure of himself Nathan says, “It’s a feeling.”
Sam asks, “A feeling? What’s that supposed to do?”
Nathan says, “Well…” Nathan reaches out to touch one of the tablets on the wall “maybe if we just-“
When he touches a tablet, it triggers another booby trap. The behind them, the ground starts to fall away piece by piece.
Sam yells, “Oh shit! What did you do?”
Nathan says, “I didn’t do anything.”
Sam says, “Never mind that! Just solve the damn puzzle and get us out of here.”
Nathan slides the tablets around like a sliding block puzzle. He constantly looks back and forth from his journal for confirmation.
Sam says, “Nathan! Hurry up!”
Nathan says, “I’m going as fast as I can.”
Sam says, “I’m gonna try to get my grappling hook and try to attach it to something.” Sam opens his backpack and pulls out his grappling hook but there’s nothing to attach it to. The walls are too smooth. He takes a rock and tries to hammer the hook into the side of the wall, but that doesn’t work.
As the ground continues to fall away, Sam desperately says, “Nathan! We’re running out of time here!”
Nathan says, “Almost got it.”
Sam says, “Almost will still get us killed!”
The ground is falling away and nearly reaches their feet, when there’s a loud clicking sound.
Nathan says, “Got it!”
The front wall opens from the side and they both grab the inside of bottom of the door frame as the ground falls away beneath them.
Sam says, “Quick, climb up!”
They both climb up and scramble to the other side of the door.