GLUKHOV What is it up to?
MINER (INTERCOM)
Fifty.
Glukhov hangs his head in frustration. Then sees:
GLUKHOV Hey. HEY, you!
PIKALOV, issuing commands to his radiometrists, looks over to see: this short, angry miner MARCHING toward him.
GLUKHOV
We need fans. Thirty or forty.
PIKALOV For what purpose?
GLUKHOV
What do you mean? What purpose? To dig your fucking tunnel, what else?
One of Pikalov's men reacts, angrily, but Glukhov jabs his finger in the air at the soldier.
GLUKHOV Who's talking to you? Who?
Pikalov raises a hand. Gets in between them.
PIKALOV
Comrades--
GLUKHOV (back to Pikalov) It's 50 degrees down there. We can't breathe with the masks, we can't breathe without the masks. It's an oven. We need ventilation.
PIKALOV
Fans will put dust in the air. The dust will go in your lungs.
GLUKHOV
I've been filling my lungs with dust for twenty years.
PIKALOV
Not this dust. I'm sorry. But for your own good— no fans.
Pikalov and his men walk away, leaving a frustrated Glukhov.
We LOWER DOWN - INTO THE EARTH itself... until we come to:
330 INT. THE TUNNEL - NOW 330
A cramped shaft, dimly lit by bulb strung along swales of electrical cord.
Five miners are jammed against each other like rats in a nest, stooped over in the low tunnel, PICKING and SHOVELING into the earth as fast as they can manage.
The heat is intense. Rippling the air in spots. They drip sweat, but they keep working.
Gritting teeth. Muscles burning. And even without fans, the DUST swirls around them... it SHIMMERS in front of the lights... and we can literally see them inhaling it...
A miner swings his PICK right at us, and we cut to:
331 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY 331
LEONID TOPTUNOV, the young control room engineer, lies in a bed. Most of his hair is gone. Bits of his mustache remain in small patches. His body looks just as bad as Ignatenko's. Discolored. Swollen. Thousand yard stare.
He barely glances as KHOMYUK enters the room. Then back to the thousand yard stare.
She moves the chair back a few feet from his bed to maintain a safer distance, and sits. Still in full protection, mask covering her mouth. Notebook open in her lap. Pen poised.
She hesitates. Difficult to interrogate someone who is dying in front of your eyes. But no choice.
KHOMYUK
My name is Ulana Khomyuk. I am a nuclear physicist working with the Chernobyl Commission. I want you to tell me everything that happened the night of the accident. Is that all right?
TOPTUNOV (hurts to speak) Yes. I want to tell.
KHOMYUK (reluctantly) Alright. Your official title was--
TOPTUNOV (a strange pride) My name is Leonid Fedorovych Toptunov. I am the Senior Reactor Control Chief Engineer at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
She stops writing. Surprised.
KHOMYUK
Senior engineer? How old are you? He slowly turns his head to face her.
TOPTUNOV
I'm 25.
And now BLOOD begins leaking from his nostrils. Steady rivulets... coming out too easily. Coming out too thin.
Khomyuk crosses to the bedside table, picks up some cotton gauze, leans over Toptunov, and presses it gently to his nose.
They're looking straight at each other.
Her face covered by a mask. His face covered by the gauze. Nothing revealed but eyes gazing into eyes.
332 EXT. HOSPITAL HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS 332
The long hallway - then a BLOND MAN steps into view. 30's, mustache. Rolling a sucking candy around in his mouth. He looks around. Oddly out of place, and yet zero emotion.
Just a dead look. It should be quite clear what he is.
He steps out of the way as ORDERLIES come by, wheeling a GURNEY - with VASILY, the dark lenses shielding his eyes from the light. Lyudmilla follows right behind.
We move WITH THEM, leaving the Blond Man behind.
VASILY (scared) Lyusya...?
LYUDMILLA
I'm here.
They round a corner, and move toward a single room at the end of the hallway. Double doors.
VETROVA emerges from the room. Visible behind her, in the center of the room, we see heavy, CLEAR PLASTIC SHEETING dangling in overlapping strips from the ceiling.
As the orderlies bring Vasily into the room, Vetrova STOPS Lyudmilla from following. Shocked to even see her.
VETROVA
Have you been here this whole time?
LYUDMILLA No one said I should leave.
VETROVA
I did. Thirty minutes, I said!
LYUDMILLA (anger)
Well where have you been? When he's in pain? When his sores stick to his gown? When he soils himself five times a night-- I've been taking care of him. Where have you been?
Vetrova draws on every ounce of calm she has.
VETROVA
I have been in the north and west wing where there are dozens of patients from Chernobyl, exactly like him. It isn't safe for you here.
LYUDMILLA He's my husband.
VETROVA
Not anymore. He's something else now. Do you understand? He's dangerous to you.
Lyudmilla doesn't understand. Or pretends not to?
LYUDMILLA
He's burned.
Vetrova can only shake her head. Tired. No, exhausted.
VETROVA
Go home.
All the fight leaves Lyudmilla, and she regresses to an almost child-like desperation and fear.
LYUDMILLA Please. It won't be much longer.
(can barely say it) I don't want him to die alone.
Vetrova closes her eyes. Angry at herself for this. Angry that this is happening at all. Then:
VETROVA
Stay on the other side of the plastic. Or I will have you removed by security.
Before Lyudmilla can respond, Vetrova WALKS AWAY. Then the orderlies exit the room and move past her as well.
Her husband is now in there alone.
333 INT. ISOLATION ROOM - CONTINUOUS 333
We're on Vasily's side of the TRANSPARENT CURTAIN. Through the plastic, we see the DOOR open.
Lyudmilla approaches. Then stops just on the other side of the plastic.
VASILY
Lyusya?
A pause, then LYUDMILLA pushes through PLASTIC. On our side now. On Vasily's side. Stands right next to him.
LYUDMILLA Yes, my love.
VASILY
Is it day?
LYUDMILLA No, it's nighttime now.
VASILY (confused) I think I had a dream. But it's gone.
LYUDMILLA
Vasya.
(beat)
We're going to have a baby.
He doesn't respond. Perhaps too delirious to understand. But then... his HAND lifts slightly off the bed. Trembling. The SKIN sloughing off. He's reaching for her.
He heard. He knows.
And she gently reaches back to take his hand in hers.
334 INT. MOBILE OFFICE - CHERNOBYL COMMAND - NIGHT 334
A plate with boiled chicken and beets. Untouched. A bottle of iodine pills. A full glass of water. A stack of maps. Books. Notepads. Blueprints.
Legasov writes a LIST. Four pages in already. Hand cramping. He puts his pen down, takes his glasses off. Rubs his eyes.
Picks up the glass of water. Then puts it down. His hand is TREMBLING. He stares at it, then:
THE DOOR OPENS - and Shcherbina enters. Ebullient. A bottle of VODKA in his hand. He smiles at Legasov.
SHCHERBINA The fire is out.
He plunks the bottle down. Unscrews the cap, and tosses it. It lands in the corner with a plink.
SHCHERBINA It's out, Valera! And the miners are making incredible progress. They say the whole job will be finished in four weeks. Four, can you believe it?
He takes Legasov's WATER GLASS, empties it into the waste basket, and starts pouring vodka.
But Legasov just stares blankly at his list.
Shcherbina puts the vodka bottle down. Sighs. Just wants to find some small joy, even now. Even knowing what he knows.