Hot LZ, Hot LZ!
Thirty seconds, I can get them out! No!
I can land it.
Get out of there Gunnerson!
15 seconds, cover my six!
Gunnerson pull up, pull up, hot LZ, hot LZ.
Got a lot of snow up on Overland pass...
Uh, probably need to shut it down.
It's a cold one out here, I'd stay inside
and get nice and toasty if I were you.
We got a semi overturned over here on mile marker 18
uh, heavy blizzard conditions, uh bitter cold.
Uh, but can we get some help out here
on about mile marker 18 on this overturned semi?
Roger that, we'll get that.
I just got a distress call here
coming from the area, Brooks Range,
about 20 miles northwest of Coldfoot.
Seems to be a party of four.
I don't know what they're doing
out there in these conditions.
- I'm gonna try and get a search and rescue team out there
as soon as the weather clears.
Think we'll have about three hours daylight today.
- I'm just reaching out there to see if anybody,
what the weather's like where you're at
if there's a chance you can get airborne or on skis.
Dr. Stevenson's office.
- Yeah, this is Bruce Gunnerson.
Is Dr. Stevenson available?
He's actually out of the office today.
It's his day off.
Is there a message I can leave for him
or is there something I can help you with
here in the office?
- I just, I really need to talk to him.
Is there any way he can call me?
Um, like I said, it's his day off today.
How serious of an issue are you having?
- I just need to talk to someone.
Okay, tell you what.
I will try and reach him and let him know that you called
and I'll see if he can touch base with you
sometime later today.
- Okay.
Okay, bye-bye now.
On that distress call?
Is there anyway I can hear the message?
Uh, let me cue that up for you, one second.
We are in need of emergency help.
If you can hear this, we're are stranded
approximately 20 miles northwest of Coldfoot.
We are in the Brooks Range. There are four of us.
We are on foot.
In blizzard conditions. Our satellite phone is unreliable.
We have injuries.
We are being hunted right now.
Did he say they are being hunted?
Is that what I heard?
Affirmative.
- This is Gunnerson.
I've been listening in.
The voice on the distress call,
I think I know who it is.
A couple years back, I met him at the local cafe.
Brazilian guy, traveling with a blonde girl from Texas.
That's very interesting, Bruce.
I'll be in touch with you for more details.
How's the weather up there?
- Heavy snowfall here.
Can you send me the last known coordinates
of their position?
Will do Bruce.
Don't do anything crazy though, we'll get somebody,
we'll get a search and rescue team up
when the weather clears.
- I'm going to bring it down 200 feet, take a look.
Copy that.
- I can't see anything from up here.
I'm gonna turn this thing around.
- Do you mind if we join you?
- Is this far from home?
- Texas for me, a little further for him.
- Brazil.
- You spent time in Brazil?
- About three years.
Usual tourist traps.
I'm a pilot.
My name's Bruce.
- Alison.
Call me Ally.
- Juan Carlos.
- Been here long?
- We flew in with the daylight this afternoon.
- I'll be right back.
- So what's the occasion?
Eloping?
Honeymoon?
- I'm single.
- That's not what I asked.
- Carlos and I are colleagues, we work together.
- I'd assume you guys work in psychology.
- Actually, I am an accountant.
- I would never guess that.
- Why is that?
- 'Cause you're way too interesting.
- I find in settings like this,
in total isolation,
that passing strangers are more likely to open up
and be honest with each other.
- Well,
I for one don't consider you a stranger.
You're officially a friend.
Congratulations.
- I'll drink to that.
- I find that people
who travel to out of way places such as this
tend to be looking for something greater
than their ordinary lives.
A little bit lonely?
- Pretty good.
I would guess that someone who chooses to live and work
in such isolation is running away from something.
And isn't a little bit lonely,
but very lonely.
- Do I get another turn?
- No.
But do tell me,
how does one actually live in such isolation?
- Card games.
Lots and lots of card games.
- Well, when in Rome.
Ah, there's no way you just beat me.
- I play a lot.
- Okay.
I have to ask you a serious question.
I was going to ask you when we first sat down,
but I thought you would eventually bring it up.
So I realize we've got this one-room cabin thing
going on here,
but why are we sitting on the floor?
- When I first rented this place,
there wasn't any furniture.
- You couldn't get a card table,
a folding chair, a pillow?
Bruce, I'm looking around and I don't even see a pillow.
How do you even manage?
- You know, there's a rare freedom
knowing that I can pick up everything that I own
and walk out that door at any moment
and go anywhere in the world at the drop of a hat,
leaving nothing behind.
Military teaches you that.
- Did you serve?
- 10 years.
I flew helicopters.
Let me ask you a serious question.
Why are you really here?
You aren't here on a bucket list trip,
and certainly not with the Brazilian accountant colleague.
- I am an accountant.
But you're right, I'm not on a bucket list trip.
In fact, I prefer not to be anywhere near here.
About three years ago, my father went missing
in this area on a research trip.
Carlos is actually a colleague of my father's.
And we are here for the second time since he went missing,
searching for answers.
Now, if that doesn't dampen the mood.
- No, I'm sorry to hear that.
Why now?
It seems it would make more sense
to be up here in the summer, not in the winter.
- It's complicated.
- I can help.
I have a plane.
I know people.
- It's getting late.
- You don't have to go.
Let me help you.
- Look Bruce, I appreciate your kindness, your hospitality.
You're a great person, Bruce, really.
But I have to go.
- Easy, easy.
You're the one that made the distress call?
Where are the others?
Hey.
You're all right.
- We heard a plane, came out to look for it.
- Visibility was limited.
I was headed back.
Hit the treetops.
- You crashed?
So we have no way out?
- Not until the weather clears,
but they'll know where we are.
- We're not gonna make it.
- We'll make it.
- There is something out here stalking us.
- Where are the others?
This way.
- This is the plane we heard, he crashed.
He's alone.
Is Alison with you?
- We are woefully under prepared, Bruce.
Woefully unprepared.
- The weather is clearing, they know where we are.
They will find us.
- Oh, they'll find us?
Yes, they'll find us.
- What are you doing out here?
- That is the question, isn't it?
Have you ever heard a theory of the inner earth?
Its origins go back to almost every culture and civilization
from the beginning of man.
The ancient Greeks, the Angami Naga Tribes of India,
the Native Americans, the Brazilian Indians
on the Parima River,
and countless other cultures all speak of the inner earth
where their ancestors emerged.
An interior world with a sun at the core.
Did you know that the furthest humans have dug
down the earth is only seven miles.
It took 20 years.
You realize it's 4,000 miles to the core.
That's an awful lot of space inside
that no human has ever seen.
No picture, nothing.
- Is that what Alison's father was researching?
- Ah, she told you of him.
Dr. Hollister was a colleague of mine.
He was like Indiana Jones himself.
His theory was called the Arctic Hollow.
He spent his life looking for these hollows.
Then one day in this very area, five years ago,
he disappeared without a trace.
He was very close to his daughter.
She refused to believe he was gone.
The only explanation that satisfied her
was that he finally found a way in.
His theory was that the inner world and the outer world
were connected by this thing he called the In-between,
a dark and foreboding region
inhabited by a species not of this world,
who cannot tolerate the inner and outer sun.
Perhaps brought here intentionally
or unintentionally by a more advanced alien species
that lives inside the inner earth.
- Why here?
- The Arctic region, during this time of year,
provides them with nearly constant darkness,
in which they can burrow to the surface of the outer earth.
Here they can hunt for long hours.
I know what you're thinking, Bruce,
that we're crazy, that this is madness.
Even I was skeptical.
But tonight,
tonight we found the Arctic Hollow.
And our excitement soon turned into a nightmare.
This In-between, these alien creatures?
They are real.
- The distress call said there were four of you.
- That's correct.
Three of us made it out of the cave.
Only two of us made it back to the base camp.
I broke my leg running down that mountain.
The only reason we survived,
it's because the sun came up.
And as you can see, the sun's gone down.
They will find us.
It's just a matter of time.
Bruce, tell me one thing,
why did you risk a life in this weather, and darkness?
- I recognized your voice.
I thought Alison might be with you.
- Did you see her?
- While we ran out of the cave,
she ran deeper into the cave.
- Where's the cave?
- Bruce, she's gone.
Save yourself, take Taylor and try to get off this mountain.
- Take me to the cave.
- Can you believe we are pacifists?
These openings, these hollows,
they don't stay open for long.
These creatures will collapse them
and there'll be no escaping when they do.
Here, take my headlight.
- Let's go.
- Bruce?
Taylor?
- Alison?
Ally?
Alison?
Ally?
Why does it have to be so small.
Have to get on my knees, huh.
Alison?
Bruce.
- Ally.
- Shh, this way.
- Look, we have to find another way out.
They collapsed the entrance.
- What are you even doing down here?
Did Carlos get out?
- Carlos has a broken leg.
Taylor's little shooken up though.
- There was another one?
- He didn't make it.
- So you know why we're here.
- Why didn't you get out when you had the chance?
- My dad, he's here somewhere.
We have to go down. We can't go up.
- Wherever those things are, we go the opposite direction.
Not this again.
- We won't fit through there.
- There's only one way to find out.
I can't do that again.
We have to keep going.
- Let's go.
Get back.
- I see an opening.
I can't feel the ground, it drops off into an abyss.
I can't see the bottom.
- It's our only choice.
Get in. - I can't!
Get in!
Bruce!
- You all right?
Come on, we gotta keep moving,
gotta get outta here.
How long have we been walking?
- About three hours.
You need to rest?
- My headlamp is getting dimmer.
I'm gonna have to replace the batteries soon.
- You have batteries?
- I've got a few packs.
Should last us a few days.
- Well, that's a bit of good news.
- You're a good person, Bruce.
- Uh-oh.
- What?
- Last time you said I was a good person,
I never saw you again.
- I was afraid.
- Of what?
- That if I told you the truth,
you'd see how crazy I was.
I'm sorry I walked away like that.
But it's not easy to explain all of this.
- When you said it was complicated, you weren't kidding.
- We're coming to a dead end.
I see an opening!
It's another one of those tunnels.
It goes up.
There's no way we could climb it.
- We may not have a choice.
- There's got to be another one nearby that we can go down.
- We can't keep going down.
I need to rest.
- Oh.
- You Okay?
- Yeah.
Oh.
- How about you?
Yeah.
You don't really believe
there's another world down here, do you?
- When I was a little girl
I used to follow my dad everywhere.
I was fascinated by his ideas, his theories.
I believed all of 'em.
I would always ask him to take me on adventures.
But as I got older I started to see him
as other people saw him,
crazy, eccentric, always following theories
that didn't make sense.
So I resented it for 25 years.
We were still close.
We talked to each other every day,
especially after my mom died.
We were the only family that we had.
Then he went missing five years ago
and I was forced to revisit all of his work that I resented.
And I'm sure that there's a part of me
that just doesn't believe that he's gone.
But then there's this feeling
that he's waiting for me to join him.
His work, his maps, his theories,
everything has led me this far.
I think my dad is waiting for me.
A daughter can have hope, right?
- Yeah, you can have hope.
Here we go again.
There has to be a way out.
Another tunnel, something.
The only other option
is to climb that other tunnel.
There's no way we can climb it.
Well then find another option.
This way.
It's narrow, but it goes down.
- I can't fit in there.
- Get in there. - You go.
- Get in there. - I'm not gonna fit.
- Get in there, you will fit.
You get in there.
You go first, not I'm gonna fit in there.
- You get in there, let's go.
I'll hold them off.
You get in first.
I'm not gonna fit in there.
I'll shove you in there until you fit, now go.
You go first.
They're coming down the tunnel.
We don't have time for this.
Get in there. I'll push you through.
- Push me. - Go. I am pushing.
Go, you have to go, go.
They're coming, give me your gun.
- Here, take it.
I thought you were a pacifist.
- You thought wrong!
- Can I have my gun?
We're out of ammo.
We need to keep moving.
They follow us down that tunnel,
and we don't have any ammo,
I don't want to be here.
We've been descending for several hours.
Between the slide tunnels and all this walking,
there's no telling how far down we've gone.
Wait.
Hear that?
That sounds like water.
- Let's find it.
I can see the river, wow!
- I'd like to keep following it, but I don't like the noise.
It prevents us from hearing those things.
I agree.
Let's keep moving.
I'm starting to cramp up.
You can do this.
Push through it.
Give me your hand.
Oh jeez, I'm wearing down.
Looks like we're entering a giant cavern.
Stay on the path.
It drops down quite a bit.
It's kind of steep too, walk slowly.
Say your dad was right,
how far down would we have to go, all the way to the core?
Not the core,
just maybe 20 to 30 miles down.
Just above the earth's mantle.
The theory is that there's pockets,
areas that are engineered to sustain life.
When was the last time you slept anyways?
Probably 48 hours.
- I say we sleep.
This is as good a place as any.
Why don't you sleep first?
- You sure?
- You've been up longer than me.
Here, you can use my bag as a pillow.
And here you thought I didn't have a pillow.
Shh, let's go.
- How long did I sleep? - About two hours.
- You should have woken me up sooner
and gotten some sleep yourself.
It's all right.
Keep moving.
Looks like it's dropping off into another dead end.
No, it can't be a dead end.
If we climb here, I'll bet we find another passage.
- There's nothing up there. It's just a ledge.
We need to backtrack.
- There has to be a way through.
- Ally, there doesn't have to be.
The reality is this is probably the end of the road.
- No, there has got to be another passage.
- Ally, face the reality here.
It's hopeless, we're too far down to get out anyway.
I'm going to take a break.
- Bruce, why did you risk your life for me?
- Nobody gets left behind.
My whole life I was left behind.
Never had a real true friend.
I was easy pickings for the Army Recruitment Program.
I did three tours in Afghanistan.
I saw combat in the Middle East.
As a pilot, I saved a lot of people,
soldiers, civilians.
But you don't remember those memories.
You only remember the ones that you didn't save.
Those memories haunt you forever.
I wasn't gonna let you be one of those memories.
- Bruce, I'm glad you're here.
I want you to know something.
I love you.
- Nobody's ever said that to me.
- Then I'll say it again.
I love you, Bruce.
I refuse to stop believing.
I see it.
I see an opening.
And over here I see a way to get there.
Lift me up.
I see daylight.
- What? - Yes, come on.
I see daylight, hurry.
Watch your step.
- Halleljua
I see green foliage, it doesn't make sense.
Bruce, this isn't Alaska.
- Well, whatever it is, it's better than here.
Run to the light! - Bruce.
- Just run to the light.
Come on, I'm here, bring it on!
You want a piece of this?
Come at me!
Come at me.
Bring it on!
Bruce.
Nobody gets left behind.
I think it's just stunned, let's get outta here.
Hey Ally?
- What? - Whatever we find out there,
I just want you to know that I love you.
Who's that?
- It's my dad.