PETER
The Centers for Disease Control.
A REPORTER
Are we dealing with an epidemic?
PETER
Whatever the carrier, we know it's not the water. We don't
believe that it's airborne.
**********
PETER
Strickler's Disease was first diagnosed two years ago. We're no
better off now. I needed you to see this for yourself, Dr. Tyler.
It's the same at every hospital in the city. For the lucky ones
it's a lifetime in leg braces. Most of these kids won't make it.
We need your help.
**********
PETER
Strickler's Disease came to New York like a thief in the night,
threatening to steal an entire generation of our children from
before our eyes. The killer was cunning. It was deadly. Neither a
cure nor a vaccine could be found. We at the CDC had to contain
it before it could spread beyond Manhattan Island. So we went
after its carrier, the common cockroach. Or rather she did. Dr.
Susan Tyler is the reason that there hasn't been a new case of
Strickler's in this city for six months. Dr. Susan Tyler.
**********
PETER
Come on, Susan. You're missing it. I hope someone's taping this.
[This announcement's been a long time coming, ladies and
gentlemen. The Strickler's outbreak has officially been
contained. The epidemic is over.] Hey, Susan. Honey. [Any other
questions?]
A REPORTER (ON TV)
What this victory mean to you personally?
PETER
[It means that I can move on to other projects with the, uh-] Our
fifteen minutes are gone. [And personally, um, it's where I met
my wife.] What is this? Is this some kind of Catholic guilt
thing?
SUSAN
We don't even know what the impact is of what we did.
PETER
The impact is that a lot of kids will be running around next year
because of you. Lots of kids.
SUSAN
Hey!
PETER
Maybe we get lucky. Maybe a couple of them'll be ours someday.
SUSAN
Oh, a couple, huh?
PETER
Mm-hmm.
SUSAN
Oh, okay. We're not rushing things.
PETER
I didn't want to overtax you. It's been a hard year.
SUSAN
It's been a great year.
**********
PETER
CDC.
AN OFFICER
CDC?
JOSH
Hey, Boss, welcome to disease land.
PETER
Tuck it in.
JOSH
All right. All right.
PETER
Are you sure this is yellow fever?
JOSH
What, are you ignoring your pages now?
PETER
Listen, I..
JOSH
Okay. These two cops saw the broken scaffold and then the paint
mess here. And then they looked through that cellar window. Go
ahead, take a look.
PETER
Jesus.
JOSH
Pleasant, isn't it? Couldn't let them out until you gave me the
"OK". So... Roughly there were three dozen people
trapped in here. We got bacterial samples reading off the scale,
though nothing's airborne. We got a Reverend Henry Ping. A
preacher, if you can imagine that. He ran this place. Well,
there's no sign of him. Oh, have you had lunch?
PETER
Uh-huh.
JOSH
Try to keep it down when you see this, okay? Piece of s**t on the
ceiling, hmm? Figure that one out.
PETER
The subway?
JOSH
You know what? This is what I love about my job. I get to travel,
see the world, and meet new exotic culture. It's all bacterial,
but, hey, what the f**k, right? Thanks a lot, Miguel.
PETER
Board up every exit. If this leads to the subways, I don't want
anything to spread. Quarantine everything.
**********
CAPTAIN
Who the hell do you think you are, putting my two officers on
quarantine?
PETER
Listen to me, Captain. These two, they go home, they kiss their
wives, they kiss their kids, and I'm the one with a full-blown
epidemic-
MANNY
Come on, Chuy. We have to make dinner.
CHUY
Dinner.
CAPTAIN
I don't care.
PETER
Well, I do care! Jesus. God, I hate cops. They make the worst
coffee.
CHUY
Shiny wire.
JOSH
Still giving you a hard time?
PETER
As always.
MANNY
Don't stare. People look back if you stare. It's not polite.
PETER
I can't believe this.
JOSH
What?
PETER
I spend an hour in the field. I get a week-end's worth of crap.
JOSH
Oh, speaking of that. That turd that I took to the lab? I found
these in it.
PETER
What are they?
JOSH
Buttons.
PETER
Buttons?
JOSH
Maybe they needed fiber.
**********
PETER
Can you call me back tonight? Thanks, Officer. Cops are on it.
SUSAN
Good.
PETER
Well, they said... Can you do me a favor and hold off working at
night for a while?
SUSAN
I can't do that. I was actually thinking I had to get back there.
PETER
Susan, someone broke into your office, okay? I'm sorry about you
losing a specimen, but let's try and get our priorities straight,
okay?
SUSAN
This is not just a specimen, Peter. I did a pH test and there are
only two species that match what I found. Now, one of them is a
leaf-cutter ant in the Amazon. The other one we released here
three years ago.
PETER
You said- Y-Y-You said the one we released only had a life span
of six months.
SUSAN
We engineered them to be sterile adults. The Judases were not
supposed to last past one generation.
PETER
So what happened?
SUSAN
The one I examined today was a baby. They were designed to die.
They are breeding.
**********
PETER
This is where you found the bug?
DAVIS
Yeah, man. But they changed the lock.
REMY
You are sure you haven't seen one of those?
RICKY
No. What is it?
SUSAN
It's an Ootheca. It's kind of a fancy name for an eggcase.
There's probably more, like, weird bugs inside of it.
RICKY
No way. I see one of those, I puke.
PETER
Here you go. Here.
**********
PETER
Come on. This bug, what does it look like?
SUSAN
Do you hear that? How deep does this go?
PETER
Let's see. Let's take a look.
SUSAN
D'you see anything?
PETER
Not yet. S**t. I dropped it. I can't reach it.
SUSAN
Let me try. My hands are smaller.
PETER
Just leave it.
SUSAN
Well, no. Wait. I think I'm almost there.
**********
PETER
Look, I've already told you this is CDC business.
LEONARD
And I'm telling you that those lockers are MTA business.
SUSAN
Okay, we'll- We'll pay for the lock that we broke, Officer. I
mean, whatever we can do-
LEONARD
Lady, who am I talking to now? You or him?
PETER
You're talking to me, okay? You're talking to me. All we wanna
see is...
LEONARD
See what? That's the old maintanance bridge, buddy.
PETER
This insect that we are looking for...
LEONARD
Look, man. Your lady want a bug or its eggs or whatever she
wants, that's fine by me. But it's like Swiss cheese down there.
Tunnels in, tunnels out, old tracks. You go messing around, break
your neck, and it's my a** on the line.
**********
PETER
Hey! I'm talking to you!
LEONARD
Well, you're talking at me, partner. You come back with the
proper permits. Maybe we'll have a conversation.
PETER
Great! We'll do lunch!
LEONARD
Yeah. I look forward to it. Up town!
SUSAN
What happened?
PETER
Napeoleon is alive and well and working for the MTA.
SUSAN
We have to get down there.
PETER
He wants a permit? I'll give him a real special one.
**********
SUSAN
Hello?
PETER
It's me. I got the permits.
SUSAN
You did?
PETER
We're going down first thing tomorrow.
SUSAN
Okay, that's great. Listen, honey, I gotta go right now. I'll
call you later. Okay.
**********
PETER
Yeah?
REMY
Hi Peter. It's Remy.
PETER
Yeah. Hi.
REMY
Is Susan there? I need to talk to her.
PETER
How you doin'?
REMY
Fine.
PETER
Huh?
REMY
It's really important.
PETER
Yeah, sure. What are you doing? What do you got there?
SUSAN
Where?
PETER
Right down there. In your hand.
SUSAN
Nothing.
PETER
Oh, are we testing it?
SUSAN
Maybe.
PETER
Are we testing it?
SUSAN
Uh-huh. Maybe. I don't know. Could be.
PETER
It's Remy
SUSAN
Oh, good. Okay. So give me the phone.
PETER
Come on. Come here.
SUSAN
Give me the phone.
PETER
Are we testing it?
SUSAN
Yes.
PETER
Can you hold on, Remy?
SUSAN
Hey, what's up? They found what?
PETER
What's going on?
SUSAN
Okay, I'll be there in about twenty minutes. Okay. Bye.
PETER
How long you got?
SUSAN
Patience.
PETER
We'll just try again. Try again.
SUSAN
You know, sometimes these things can be wrong. That's okay. I
gotta go, okay? Bye, babe.
PETER
Susan, we got the subway thing today.
SUSAN
Yeah, I know. I'm just gonna have to meet you there when I'm
done.
PETER
Wait. When you're done from what?
**********
JOSH
How big did you say these bugs are?
LEONARD
Come on. Hurry up. You know, my shift's almost over. I need my
beauty sleep.
PETER
Oh man, if I'm blowing off my Saturday, then so are you.
JOSH
Yeah. It looks like somebody requested you for overtime.
PETER
Come on. Hurry up. Let's find these things. We've a long way to
go.
**********
JOSH
How much longer do we have to go?
PETER
Keep looking around. It's the size of your palm.
LEONARD
Aw, man. Take a whiff.
JOSH
God, it smells like acid.
PETER
No, it's ammonia.
LEONARD
Hey, guys.
PETER
Huh?
LEONARD
There's some weird s**t here.
PETER
What kind of weird s**t?
LEONARD
Lots of it.
JOSH
Man! Go ahead and ask him. Ask.
PETER
What the- Have you seen anything like this before?
LEONARD
Why're you asking me if I've ever seen some s**t like this
before? Do I look like if I've ever seen some s**t like this
before? Hell, no, I ain't never seen no s**t like this before.
Who the f**k would wanna climb up these walls and hang one of
these? Must've been a big elephant a**. I don't know. Who the
f***...
**********
JOSH
You know, my father always wanted me to become a dentist. I said,
'No way. I'm not gonna spend my life looking into people's open
mouths.' What could be worse than that, right?
LEONARD
Oh man, I've never been this deep. This is the old Armory
station. Hey, they built it around the turn of the century. It's
been closed for decades.
PETER
Yeah, I guess we covered everything.
LEONARD
Hey, look. You got your s**t. I'm happy for you. Let's get the
hell outta here, huh?
PETER
Hey, Josh. I want a full team in here by 6:00 tonight.
JOSH
All right.
LEONARD
Oh, s**t!
PETER
No! Don't!
LEONARD
What the f**k..?!?
PETER
Look what the f**k you did, man!
LEONARD
You see the size of that thing?
JOSH
Peter, are you all right?
PETER
It's okay, Josh. It's okay. I think I'm okay.
LEONARD
Get the hell off me!
PETER
Yeah. I think he's okay, too.
JOSH
How am I gonna get you back up?
PETER
I don't know. See a way up?
JOSH
No.
PETER
S**t.
LEONARD
There is no way up. Oh, man, that's gonna work!
PETER
Do you know a better way up?!?
LEONARD
Hey, show that to the station manager. Tell him Leonard said he's
gonna have his bubble-butt if he don't have someone down here in
ten-
JOSH
Wait a second. I can't find my way back alone.
LEONARD
Look, look, look. Just go back the same way we came.
JOSH
Wait. Wait. All right.
LEONARD
Take the first tunnel to the left. Then go the fourth, right?
Then right- right- left, right?
JOSH
Left, fourth... Peter, can't I just stay here and help you guys
back up?
PETER
Toss the glow-sticks down and just go, Josh. Please.
**********
LEONARD
This is really weird. We should've seen some track bunnies by
now.
PETER
What are they?
LEONARD
Track bunnies. Rats. They're usually around.
PETER
They're big?
LEONARD
You're damn right. Yeah yeah got a telegram this morning
[continue singing]...
PETER
Could you just knock it off, please? Knock it off!
LEONARD
Hey, I sing when I'm nervous.
PETER
Yeah. Turn these lights back on.
LEONARD
What?
PETER
You said the cables are still alive. Maybe we can rewire them.
LEONARD
There you go again.
PETER
What?
LEONARD
How are you gonna rewire all of this? You need a whole crew down
here to do that.
PETER
What is your problem, man? You need a memo everytime you take a
s**t?
LEONARD
Oh, don't go there.
PETER
Hmm?
LEONARD
You better be careful how you speak to people.
PETER
Josh?
LEONARD
He wouldn't be comin' from there. Manny! What the hell are you
doin' here?
MANNY
Hurry. The lady needs help.
PETER
Hey, honey, we're coming.
**********
LEONARD
What the f**k was that? Come on here. Here! Here, here, here!
PETER
Just wait a minute!
LEONARD
F**k it! You wait a minute! I wanna make sure!
SUSAN
It's not dead.
LEONARD
Yeah. Well, it's gonna be! Very soon, lady.
PETER
There it is.
LEONARD
Drag it out!
PETER
There it is!
LEONARD
Drag it out!
**********
PETER
Okay, Leonard. Okay. It's gonna be fine. You'll be fine. Okay.
You just stay calm. Okay, there we go. Everything's gonna be
okay. Josh will be here soon. He'll bring us some help.
LEONARD
You're dreamin', man. You're dreamin'. If your boy was comin'
back, he'd have been here by now. They got his a**, man. They ate
his a**, man.
PETER
We don't know that. We don't know that.
LEONARD
And if you think there's not another one of those out there, what
has been puttin' that shit all over the walls?
PETER
Listen, Leonard. If you keep on screaming like that, we're gonna
meet the rest of its family.
**********
SUSAN
Wait. Wait a second. Help me turn it over. Peter, these are
lungs.
LEONARD
What the hell is she talkin' about?
PETER
Biology 101.You know, insects don't have lungs. That's what
limits their size.
SUSAN
The secretions are the same. When I increased the Judas's
metabolism, I must have sped up its breeding cycle. I mean, we're
talking tens, hundreds of thousands of generations. I mean, who
knows how many mutations.
PETER
Listen, I- I just don't f***in' get this. How could the- how
could the Judas evolve into this?
SUSAN
Think generations, not years, okay? It took only 40,000
generations for apes to turn into humans.
PETER
So?
SUSAN
We changed its DNA, Peter. I mean, we don't know what we did!
LEONARD
Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Hold on. If that
thing has been around, how come- how come nobody's ever seen it?
SUSAN
I think we have. Sometimes an insect will evolve to mimic its
predator. A fly can look like a spider. A caterpillar can look
like a snake. The Judas evolved to mimic its predator: us.
PETER
Nobody up there knows about this?
SUSAN
Nobody would. Not until it's too late. These things can imitate
us. They can infiltrate us and breed a legion before anyone would
ever notice.
MANNY
How? How could you do this? How could you do this? You take a
centipede and you make it like a man. A man who's not a man. He's
a-
PETER
Manny!
MANNY
He's a thing!
PETER
Manny!
LEONARD
Manny, you tell her. 'Cause she don't give a goddamn..
PETER
Hey! Hey!
LEONARD
Your kids gone.
PETER
Hey, shut up!
LEONARD
My leg's chewed up all over.
PETER
Shut up, will ya? Shut the f*** up!
LEONARD
And they're both talking about insects with lungs!
PETER
Shut up!
**********
MANNY
Do you mind if..?
PETER
Go ahead.
LEONARD
Manny, give me your lighter. Look, this is where we are. Now,
these tunnels may lead to the surface.
MANNY
Yes.
LEONARD
If we can get this car moving, we might be able to make it.
MANNY
What- What d'you mean, might?
LEONARD
I mean, probably.
PETER
But even if they do, th- this thing's been down here rotting for
half a century. How do you know it'll move?
LEONARD
Listen to me. Listen. This car is a CR-17 from Coney Island.
Believe me, it was made to last. Now, Manny, there's a track
relay switch in this room here. You switch the tracks. That'll
get us going.
MANNY
Yes, I''ll try. I'll try.
LEONARD
Do. There's a fuse-box down the tracks. If I can rewire it, I can
juice up the whole system.
PETER
Leonard, man. Look at yourself. I-
SUSAN
I'll do it. Hey, if you talk me through it, I'll go out there.
LEONARD
All you've gotta do is..
PETER
No, no, no, no. I'll go. I'll go.
SUSAN
Why? I know much more about what's out there than you do.
PETER
You're right. You understand the creature and, uh, Leonard knows
the subways. So- So this is the way it's gotta be. Whatever
happens, it's Manny and me.
SUSAN
Why?
PETER
You two have gotta stay on this car. You gotta get back up. You
gotta undo this. So I'll go. We'll go.
**********
LEONARD
Peter. Peter, look. You'll find two wires: one green, the other
blue.
PETER
Okay.
LEONARD
Man, thi- This s**t can't be sanitary. Take it off.
PETER
No, man. Leave it on. Leave it on.
**********
SUSAN
Don't touch it. Try not to sweat. They sense chemical changes.
PETER
Oh, okay. Okay. I'll- I'll try not to sweat.
**********
PETER
Green. Blue. Green, blue. Green, blue. S**t.
Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh. Oh, s**t. Oh, s**t. Oh, s**t. Oh, s**t.
**********
PETER
Leonard!
LEONARD
Get away. Go away. I'm bleeding.
PETER
I found a way out, on a dumbwaiter.
LEONARD
Go away. Peter, I'm bleeding. Go away. I can't stop it. I can't
stop it. They'll be here soon.
PETER
Where's my wife?
LEONARD
Go away.
PETER
Where's Susan? Where's Susan?
LEONARD
She went to get Manny.
**********
PETER
Susan! Shh. They haven't seen us yet. Don't move.
**********
SUSAN
Come on, Chuy.
PETER
Hurry!
SUSAN
Alright. C'mon in. That's alright. That's a good boy. C'mon.
PETER
Chuy.
SUSAN
No. Alright. Shhh. Stop. Stop. It's okay. It's okay. C'mon.
Alright. Peter, c'mon, get in. Get in, Peter, come on. Chuy. Shh.
Stop it. Stop it. Shh. Peter what are you doing?
PETER
I gotta stop them here.
SUSAN
Oh no, Peter! Don't do this! Peter! No!
**********
Directed by Guillermo del Toro.
Written by Guillermo del Toro & Matthew Robbins, based on "Mimic" short story by Donald A. Wollheim.