Feedback squeals
Ambient music
Wind blows
Woman: Ok, my people! Rise and shine. Get up, stripe.
Clang
hey. You awake yet?
Yeah, sure as shit ain't dreaming no more.
Woman: Company!
Something went down last night in her falls
a village about three miles east.
We've got reports of a food store broken into, shit stolen.
Locals think it's roaches.
Female soldier: Roaches!
We head out in five minutes. Let's go! She claps
hey, so, uh, it looks like you're getting your first real—live roach hunt, huh?
He chuckles
Indistinct chatter
indistinct radio chatter
Hey, new!
New!
It's stripe.
Here's a little tip just in case you get your first toe—to—toe
with one of them roaches today. — uh—huh?
When you see one right here
try not to shit your pants. It's only gonna piss them off.
I'll try. — try to ignore len.
His aim's so bad, he's the only guy on earth
who could shit his own pants and miss.
Fuck you, farm girl. — farm girl?
Yeah. Hunting's in my blood.
Some of us are naturals. — moving out!
Woo! Yeah!
Baby cries
chickens cluck
villagers chatter in Danish
whoa, whoa, whoa. Ok.
Device beeps — you can speak now.
Robotic voice interprets in Danish
he speaks Danish — device: It must have been roaches.
Roaches, you see them? You see?
He speaks Danish — / didn't see them.
I heard them. All the mess. It must have been them.
Want a cookie? — man speaks Danish
here you go. — they've been in the food.
He speaks Danish
we '/I have to destroy everything they left.
No one will eat it.
Woman: We can replace that, ok?
Device interprets
man speaks Danish
they destroyed the cooler. Broke it and took the parts.
The cooler? They stole parts from the cooler?
Device interprets
which way did they go? — device interprets
he speaks Danish
there were footprints in the dirt leading that way.
Parn heidekker. — device beeps
parn heidekker. — device beeps
heidekker? Is that a name? — device interprets
stop them coming.
Please, you must stop.
Ck.
I have child who is scared.
I will. I promise.
She whispers indistinctly
woman: Stripe!
Whispers continue
Ok. Our friend here thinks that the roaches
went in the direction of parn heidekker's place.
Local oddball, seems to be some kind of religious freak.
Anderson, haque, I want you to stay here and help them torch the food.
Keep them calm and reassured.
The rest of you, we're gonna drop in on heidekker.
Ask some questions, sniff around the place.
If there's roaches, we show we're ready for them. Let's go.
So mr heidekker is not exactly what you call a socialite or a mingler.
Seems like mental health issues.
He's got some interesting views on roaches, by all accounts.
I'm putting his info in your mass system now.
Been complaints lodged against him going months back.
Locals claim that he let roaches cross his land, left food out for them.
Could be just shit talk from the local villagers though so...
Yo, how many roaches we got left out here?
A couple of thousand? A couple of hundred, if that?
I mean, back home we had millions, man.
It only took two years to get shit back on track.
Out here you got rustic fucks throwing them scraps.
Man, no wonder it's taking so long to mop shit up.
But how can anyone be dumb enough to help a fucking roach?
Hell, yeah.
Portals front and rear.
Windows blacked out.
Chimney smoke. Someone's home.
Lennard, you use the boomer.
Rifle cocks and beeps
rifle cocks
Ok, mass check. Everyone got the layout?
Raiman: Check. — man: Check.
Check.
Medina: Aikin, balcon, coach, you check the outbuildings here.
Take 'em one at a time and slow.
Stripe, raiman, you come with me and lennard.
We go in here.
Len and I will talk to heidekker, you check the rest of the house.
Ck.
Optimal outcome, no shots fired.
Except on a roach. — Medina: Except on a roach.
Lock clicks
Medina: Morning, sir. — device interprets
there's no need for this. I speak your language.
Ok. — device beeps
what is it you want? — just to talk.
That's what we're doing.
It'd be a little more neighbourly if we did it inside.
Check the upstairs rooms.
Medina: Relax. I'm not your enemy.
Where are they?
Where are who?
You know, we got a whole bunch
of frightened, angry people in that village.
Roaches have been breaking into the food stores, stealing supplies.
You know anything about that?
No.
Medina: See, it's not just what they stole.
All that food left is gonna be destroyed.
No one's gonna eat it. — she whispers: Stripe.
Medina: Makes life harder for everyone.
Cross on the wall there. You got principles.
Think all life is sacred. And I get it.
I agree. All life is sacred so...
You even gotta protect the roaches. Right?
It's not their fault they're like that. They didn't ask for this.
I get it. We get it.
Thud — mm—hmm.
Thud — bird chirps
Medina: There's shit in their blood that made them that way.
The sickness they're carrying.
That doesn't care about the sanctity of life
or the pain about who else is gonna suffer.
We don't stop the roaches, then five, ten, twenty years from now
you're still gonna get kids born that way, and then they're gonna breed.
Bingo.
Medina: And so it goes on. That cycle of pain.
That sickness.
And it could have been avoided.
Fuckin' roach nest.
You check in there. I'll take the stairs.
Medina: Every roach you save today
you condemn god knows how many people to despair and misery tomorrow.
You can't still see them as human.
Understandable sentiment, granted, but it's misguided.
We gotta take them out if humankind is gonna carry on in this world.
That's just the hard truth.
Gotta make sacrifices.
Suspenseful music builds
Creatures snarl and hiss
device emits high pitched noise
gunfire — she gasps
the fuck?
Medina screams — creatures snarl
stripe grunts
snarling
creature screams — raiman grunts
creatu re screeches
help me out here! — heidekker grunts
creature snarls
device emits high pitched noise
Gunfire
fuck!
Stripe pants
creature snarls
Creature snarls
stripe struggles
stripe yells
creature shrieks
device emits high pitched noise
creatu re grunts
creature wails
Stripe pants
Stripe grunts
Device beeps and emits a high pitched noise
Raiman sings: ♪ try to shame me
heidekker speaks softly in foreign language
♪ and still I'll care for you
♪ you can run around
♪ even put me down — heidekker murmurs
♪ I'll still be there for you ♪
Medina: Rai.
Come on, we gotta listen to mr Sunday school
all the way back to base?
You can covgi' your ears.
Yeah, or, uh... I'll just hit permanent mute.
Medina: Lower your weapon.
Raiman: Roach lover counts as a kill, too, right?
Stripe: He's a civ, right?
You shoot a civ, that's gonna stay with you the rest of your life.
Yo, stripe, why don't you, uh, pull the stick out of your ass?
Because I'm fucking with him, not you.
I guess I had you both going, right?
Alright!
Let's torch the place.
High pitched noise
raiman: Hey, you ok, man?
Yeah.
Bird squawks
I heard you popped one in there. — two.
Wait, two?
I got another one, with my knife.
She laughs with your knife? Holy shit!
Pretty good, right? — yeah, you fucking Terminator.
Damn. First time out, he gets two.
Lennard: You lucky motherfucker, man.
Sweet dreams for this asshole.
Raiman: Gonna get a treat tonight.
Raiman: Woo—hoo! Woo!
I love you.
She breath es heavily
audio garbles
stripe murmurs
feedback soueals — audio garbles
Gunshot — whoa! Miss sharp shooter.
Gunfire sounds on shooting range
patronising fuck!
Ruthless! You're the grim reaper.
Yeah, well, no roach gets away next time.
Are you still sweating that?
Well, I grew up tracking deer. You never give up.
I don't like it when they get away.
Nice.
Yeah, if that fucker made it to the forest
he probably made it to the border, gone for good.
Yeah, it's alright for you.
You popped two of 'em.
It's been a while for me.
You know, the gal is getting twitchy.
Oh, come on, rai.
You sleep good?
Yeah, I slept ok.
What, that's all you're gonna give me?
Ok?
You know, if I got two in one go
I would want to come for like an hour!
Alright, shut up. Oh, man.
Rifle cocks — alright.
Ah! That's the way.
High pitched noise — gunshot
he grunts
raiman: Hey, you ok, man?
Yeah, think I'm tired is all. — uh—huh?
All right, so you did have a good night.
He scoffs
Medina: 39, 40, 41...
42... — indistinct chatter
43,44,45,46
47, 48, 49
50, 51, 52
53, 54, 55
56, 57, 58, 59...
High pitched noise
Medina: Strong and pure.
Strong and pure.
He groans
soldiers chant
hey, stripe, you ok? — yeah.
I mean, uh, I don't know.
I feel a little off.
I mean, I ain't sick or nothing. It's just, uh...
Report to the sick bay.
Man: Running diagnostic.
What do you see?
A cube.
Rotating? — yeah.
And now? — a tree.
Like an apple tree. — touch the apples for me.
Full marks.
So you say you had like a headache? — yeah, but just quick.
Nothing big, just...
Well, everything looks ok.
No sign of any malfunction or dropout with your mass implant.
And physically, you're in exemplary shape.
You've just seen combat, you can expect some sort of side effect.
There was this, uh... this thing...
With a light on it at the farmhouse.
A roach had it. — a roach had it?
Kind of like a flashlight. — flashlight?
Kinda.
I don't know.
Seriously, you're fine. Your mass is fine. Blood's fine. It's all fine.
Ok. Yeah.
Stripe sighs
maybe you should speak to arquette.
Who's arquette?
So, you must be 'koinanchey.'
koinange. Folks call me stripe.
Why would they call you that?
Couldn't pronounce koinange either, I guess.
He chuckles
that's funny. — thank you.
At ease, son. Sit down.
So you recently logged your first kills?
Two roaches? — uh—huh.
First time out. It's impressive.
Yeah, I guess.
So what happened?
What, with the kills? — mm—hmm.
Oh. I'm in this, uh, farmhouse.
There's this, like, hidden room or something.
We go in and there they are.
First one, I just... it was automatic. Just pop—pop, you know?
Right. Just like in training.
Yeah, just like that, yeah. Yeah.
And the second? — I mean, he was on the ground with me.
Arouette: He?
It was a he.
Hm.
So, this was close quarters then?
Yeah, he was on top of me. Struggling, I mean.
I couldn't reach my rifle so I had to stick him.
Uh, stick... stick it. With my knife.
And how did that... feel?
What, like...? — emotionally.
I didn't.
I mean, it was quick. It was self—protection.
I guess all I felt was, you know, relief.
Just relief? — uh—huh.
It's not unusual to experience other feelings, too.
A moment of euphoria even.
Yeah, I guess.
I don't know, I thought maybe I'd feel...
I don't know.
Something else?
Yeah, like... regret
something like that, but that just wasn't there.
Hm.
So you'd do it again?
Yeah, sure.
So... why are you here? — they chuckle
I don't know. I mean...
I had a few weird moments.
My mass looked like it was glitching out.
But your implants, I mean, they passed every diagnostic.
There is nothing wrong with that. — yeah, they said it's fine.
I don't know, I think I just...
Felt like something was up with it.
But there's not. — no.
They chuckle
you did a big thing.
You should be proud of yourself.
Ok?
It'll pass.
Let's get you a good sleep tonight, huh?
A real good sleep.
Fuck me.
She breath es heavily
She moans
She breath es heavily
High pitched noise
he murmurs
heavy breathing
sound garbles
heavy breathing
he gasps
Sound garbles — high pitched noise
he gasps
Dramatic synth music
Baby cries
indistinct chatter
way to go, fuck fingers. — he scoffs
ok, it seems heidekker didn't stay silent too long
once we got to work on him.
He's given up a location.
Some place the roaches have been scavenging.
Raiman: Well, alright.
Medina: It's a housing project that's been empty since the war.
It's not far from here.
So control wants us to do some recon before we go back to base.
Can we hurry it up here?
We ought to burn the whole forest down, huh?
Give those roaches nowhere to run.
Drone whirs
Ok, you see that?
Solar panel looks cleaner than the rest.
And there are some cables.
It's got to be roaches leeching power.
Why here?
High pitched noise
Christ knows.
All right.
Better dial it in.
He groans lightly
stripe groans
control. This is Medina.
Positive ID. Signs of activity here at the housing project location.
Sighted one solar panel.
Looks recently wiped clean and some caballing.
Medina: Roger so far. — he sniffs
You alright there? — I can smell the grass.
We can't usually smell nothing.
You ever noticed that? — no, I never noticed that.
Medina: Requesting course of action.
Didn't read. Please repeat.
Ok.
Control says we should fall back and await comm...
Gunfire — raiman: Shit!
Gunshot
Medina. — gunshot
gunshot — oh, fuck.
Medina.
Stripe, get back! She's dead. Come on!
Stripe whimpers
ok. Ready? Cover me.
Rai! Rai, come on.
Ok.
Drone whirs
oh, fucking roach got a rifle. Jesus Christ.
Fuck. Piece of shit.
Ok, stripe.
Stripe, come on! Get it together, dude!
He fired six shots. His rifle looks old, bolt action.
Should take him ten seconds to reload. — we go in?
We go in and take him out. You with me?
I'm with you. — let's go!
Gunfire — follow me!
Ready? Ok, three, two, one. Cover me.
High pitched noise
he groans
he breath es heavily
stripe groans
gunshot — come on, man! What the fuck?
She pants
What the fuck is this shit?
Let's go.
Raiman: Stripe!
He breath es heavily
door creaks
Girl screams — whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
It's ok. Hey. Hey. Hey.
Calm down. Calm down. Calm down.
It's ok. It's ok. I'm not gonna hurt you.
Look, I'm not gonna hurt you. Ok?
Go on, get out of here. Go on. — girl pants
it's not safe. There's roaches here.
Go on. Get.
Gunshot
rifle cocks
raiman: Come on!
Rai, what did you do? — raiman: Shut up! Come on!
What did you do, rai?
He breath es heavily
she pants
Gunshot
raiman: Got ya.
Creature snarls
groan
suspenseful music
creatures snarl — rai!
Gunfire
He breath es heavily
Woman gasps
She speaks Danish
stripe yells — run!
What the fuck are you doing?
You're killing them! — they're roaches! Ahh!
You're fucking killing them, rai! Fuck you!
I don't know what the fuck's wrong with you, man!
You got some blown shit!
Pull it together! — stripe grunts
gunshot — he groans
Stripe groans
You alright?
You gotta get out of here. Come on.
Come on!
She gasps
What the fuck?
Fuck!
You better run.
He groans
shh. Shh.
He groans
Wind blows
dramatic music
They gasp
he groans
Here.
I'm alright.
He pants
You see me as I am.
Of course I see you.
You don't see roach?
You ain't a roach.
Roaches is all...
Fucked up?
Roaches don't speak.
You just can't hear us.
The fuck are you talking about? — your implants. Your army implants.
The mass system?
They put it in your head to help you fight
and when it works, you see us as something other.
One of us, Luka, was making a... a machine.
Light flashes. Said it can interfere with the implant.
You're roaches?
But I've seen roaches.
I've seen them, they're fucking...
They're like, uh... — animals?
No, they're monsters. I've seen 'em.
The implant made you see this.
Stripe groans
fuck.
The villagers, huh?
The locals, they... They ain't army.
They got no mass in their heads.
They're scared of the roaches.
They hate the fucking things. — everybody hates us.
Well, what the fuck do they see? Huh?
The fucking civs, when they look at a roach, what do they see?
What you see now.
They hate all the same because it's what they've been told.
Rifle cocks
he pants
Birds squawk
ten years ago, it began.
Post—war.
First, the screening programme, the DNA checks
then the register, the emergency measures.
And soon everyone calls us creatures. Filthy creatures.
Every voice. The TV. The computer.
Say we have... We have sickness in us.
We have weakness. It's in our blood.
They say that our blood cannot go on.
That we cannot go on.
My name was catarina.
He was Alec.
Now we're just roach.
But now...
Now you see me.
Rai?
Rai, no! — gunfire
she gasps — gunfire
he pants
Tell me I shouldn't kill you.
None of it's true, rai. — what the fuck got you?
None of it's true.
Fuck you.
Get up. Back against the wall.
Get up!
You want me to come in there?
Arouette: It's alright.
I can just talk to him.
Door opens
Thank you, Bradley.
Door closes
Stripe.
We owe you an apology.
We didn't spot the fault in your mass.
I got you a coffee.
The device you found in the farmhouse, you mentioned it to the doctor.
Is this the thing?
We found it on that old block that you and raiman were searching.
Looks like they reverse engineered it from some of our drone parts and so on.
The light here transmits a code.
It's like a virus.
It Burrows into your mass, tries to shut it down from within.
I tell you, those roaches are getting more ingenious
than we give them credit for.
The whole thing is a lie.
I understand why you'd say that, yeah.
Roaches.
They look just like us.
Of course they do.
That's why they're so dangerous.
Humans.
You know, we give ourselves a bad rap
but we're genuinely empathetic as a species.
I mean, we don't actually really want to kill each other.
Which is a good thing.
Until your future depends on wiping out the enemy.
Come on, sit down.
He groans
I don't know how much history you studied in school.
Many years ago, I'm talking early 20th century
most soldiers didn't even fire their weapons.
Or if they did, they would just aim over the heads of the enemies.
They did it on purpose.
British army. World war I.
The brigadier, he'd walk the line with a stick
and he'd whack his men in order to get them to shoot.
Even in world war ii, in a firefight
only 15%, 20% of the men would pull the trigger.
The fate of the world at stake and only 15% open fired.
Now, what does that tell you?
It tells me that that war would have been over a whole lot quicker
had the military got its shit together.
So we adapted.
Better training. Better conditioning.
Then comes the Vietnam war
and the shooting percentage goes up to 85.
A lot of bullets flying.
The kills were still low.
Plus the guys who did get a kill
well, most of them came back all messed up in the head.
And that's pretty much how things stayed until mass came along.
You see, mass...
Well, that's the ultimate military weapon.
It helps you with your intel.
Your targeting. Your comms. Your conditioning.
It's a lot easier to pull the trigger when you're aiming at the bogeyman.
Hmm?
It's not just your eyes, though. Takes care of your other senses, too.
You don't hear the shrieks.
You don't smell the blood and the shit.
They're human beings.
Do you have any idea the amount of shit that's in their DNA?
Higher rates of cancer.
Muscular dystrophy. Ms. Sls. Substandard io.
Criminal tendencies. Sexual deviances.
It's all there.
The screening shows it.
Is that what you want for the next generation?
Don't feel bad about doing your job.
The villagers won't do it.
The folks back home won't do it.
They don't have mass.
Mass lets you do it.
You.
You're protecting the bloodline.
And that, my friend, is an honour.
There's no honour here.
It's just killing.
Lying and killing. — no one lied to you.
You knew all of this. All along.
What are you talking about?
You agreed to have your mass implant put in.
He scoffs — set up. Every soldier does.
We can't just embed it and feed you a dream.
Your mind would reject it.
You have to accept it. Willingly.
It's exactly what you did.
Man: So you see the terms and conditions there?
Yeah, that's like a whole essay, man.
Stripe: What is that?
That's your consent video. From when you signed up six months ago.
Man: Basically, it says you agree to mass imp/ant activation.
Huh?
I didn't do this. — yes, you did.
Man: Works kind of like hypnosis. — yeah, alright.
Man: Part of what you're agreeing to is not realising
you've been put in this state, if you follow me.
You won't recall this conversation.
Yo, that's kind of funny, man. — turn it off.
Man: So for you to register consent... — turn it off, man.
I'm gonna need your thumbprint there.
Right here? — man: Yes, please.
That's dope. — beeps
I didn't do that!
Beeps
I don't remember that! — just like the man said.
Beeps
I know you're upset. — fuck you!
Device beeps
what's happening? — we control what you see, stripe.
I can't see nothing. — because we control it.
Give me my fucking eyes back.
Let me lay out your options. — give me my fucking eyes back, man!
He grunts — let me lay out your options!
Option one, you agree to have your mass reset.
All the recollections of the past few days
including this conversation, erased.
No way.
Option two's incarceration.
I'd advise you to consider. — fuck you!
Mass is a friend.
Without it, you will remember everything that you did.
I ain't having this mass shit.
No more. No way.
Ok.
Well...
Maybe you should see what life would be like without it.
Device beeps
stripe: What's happening?
Where am I?
Heidekker's ranch. Three days ago.
Arouette: I have it all logged, stripe.
We can feed you everything that you did.
Hey, no, no, no.
Please! Please don't shoot. Please!
Please! — don't shoot!
Wait! Please! — no! No!
No. Make it stop.
No! Please. — no, please!
High pitched noise — make it stop!
Woman: Please! — gunfire
no! No!
Man gasps
woman screams — no!
He whimpers
man screams
fuck off! Stop it!
Man groans
no!
You will see and smell and feel it all.
Is this what you want?
On a loop? In a cell all alone?
He whimpers
device beeps
Arouette: We can make that go away.
This conversation goes away, too.
All of it.
But you gotta say the word.
Just say the word, stripe.
And it all goes away.
Just say the word.
Ambient music
Birds chirp