S1, E7 | Divine Intervention

Blade in hand and turning the corner from the confines of his lifeless tomb, a questionable man lurks through the doorway of Lou and Ally’s quarters and stares down a preoccupied Lou, blade readied. Watching the man ruffle through jackets strewn about the floor, the man with the holy cross dangling from his neckwear quietly closes the distance. Lifting his weapon into the air, everything stops for a moment as a voice asks “what the hell?” through the eerie silence. Behind both the blade-wielding man and her victim-in-waiting boyfriend, Ally looks on at both turn to face her, noticing the man with the blade as the priest that had overseen the mass on the day of the outbreak.

Caught off guard by the sight before him, Lou reaches for his hammer and ducks a desperate lunge from the priest, tripping him to the floor before kicking the blade from his hand and lifting the hammer into the air, stopped only by the insistence of Ally. “Stop! Don’t kill him!” Ally shouts, only to be met with resistance from Lou as he assures her the world no longer has a place for religious devotion. “Not that! He can help us!” Ally pleas, met with more reluctance. “What can a killer priest help us with?” Lou asks, only to finally find himself sold on the concept with one further response. “He might have some answers” Ally returns, catching Lou’s intrigue and finally convincing him to play nice.

Tied to a chair and cleared of all weaponry, the priest fiends himself in the center of the cafeteria, surrounded by the group of survivors all anxiously awaiting any answers he has to give. “This is ludicrous, you’re committing a felony!” the priest argues, amusing Lou as the man walks up to him and takes a seat in front of him. “For a start, you made an attempt on my life, you’d be prison bate before you could say ‘amen’, going onto number two, if this is what your god deems as acceptable, I prefer Satanism.”

Rolling his eyes and taking immense disrespect from the response, the priest allows Lou to continue making his points. “And finally, there is no such thing as felony. Everything’s gone!” Lou concludes with humor, laughing at the priest for believing anything different. “I could kill you right now and simply move onto making lunch for the people here that actually deserve to be fed. So if I were you, I’d hold off on the tone with me.”

Aggravated into silence, the priest looks away and refuses to further acknowledge Lou, pretending as though he doesn’t exist. “Fine, if you’re not going to answer to the man you wanted to kill, how about the woman who stopped you” Ally says, taking over for Lou and taking a seat at one of the tables next to the priest. “You’re not adults, you’re children!” the priest exclaims, laughing off the notion that they’re in control of the narrative.

As the priest continues his humorous trail, laughing at each person he notices, Vinny walks up and pulls out the priest’s blade, slicing off the tip of his left index finger whilst the holy father’s laughter turns into screams of pain. Unable to last any longer, Vinny covers the priests mouth, muffling the sounds, looking the priest in his eyes and lifting the blade to his cheek. “If that’s what you choose to believe, you’re better off looking at us as savages” Vinny replies, placing the tip of the finger in his mouth and spitting it back into the face of the priest as the group watches on unwavered.

“You little devils wont get away with this!” the priest shouts, boiling with rage but unable to place it anywhere other than his words. “What is it you think we’re trying to get away with?” Lou asks, finally catching the priests attention as the narrative finally falls within their control. “This world!” the priest remarks, “If it’s as broken already as you perceive it to be, you’re not long for it!”

Growing annoyed with the assurance that they’re dead to rights, Jenn gets up from her seat and makes for the cafe. “If we’re gonna do this tonight, I need coffee. Any takers?” the woman asks, watching every hand in the room other than the priests burst into the air like a rocket. “Coming up!” Jenn says with enthusiasm as the priest continues laughing. “What is it with you guys? Why do you think you’re all grown up? Think you dictate how the world will operate from here on out?” the priest asks, a genuine question finally being asked.

Clenching his fists and alleviating the anger that comes with the backstory, Lou skips no pleasantries. “I’m not going to ask you to look at us any differently than you had before everything went to shit, but I will inform you of one thing… We’ve already seen more loss and experienced more hurt in the past few days than many of these pompous, privileged, spoiled parents to their spoiled brats ever had. If there are places in this world, we have earned ours. So it will be within your best interest to remember that if there is anyone determining your place in this world, it is us... Because we hold rank over you. Now answer our questions or we will allow you a one-way ticket to meet your maker, have I made myself perfectly clear?”

Even some members of his group caught off-guard by the straightforward heart worn on his sleeve, Lou watches the priest drop his head in acceptance of at least the situation as it stands. “What do you wish to know?” the priest asks, waiting for Lou or anyone else to let their questions be asked as Jenn comes through with coffee for everyone. “Let’s start with what happened to the kids” Lou replies, waiting for the priests answer.

“They were spared the horrors of the rapture” the priest replies, earning an immediate eye roll from most of the group. “So you killed them?” Halston asks, allowing the priest to correct her statement, “I saved them.”

“You believe that those kids… Those children, were saved? What if their salvation was heading through the thick of it, not being spared from it?” Lou asks, only for the priest to tilt his head back and groan, humored at the suggestion. “Come on… Do you really expect me to believe that you’re happy ‘surviving’ in this world?” the priest asks, only for Lou’s simple response of, “We’re alive” to humor him even further.

“No. You’re already dead... you’re just waiting on your turn in line” the priest argues, prompting Lou to stare at him, trying to maintain his composure. “You’re not alive here. This isn’t surviving, this is suffering being masked as survival. Just because you’re alive here, doesn’t mean the world is worth living in.”

Attempting to get up and walk away, Lou is drawn back in by the priests call for his name. “Lou, is it? Let me ask you a question, Lou… Have you ever taken a life?” the priest asks, stopping Lou in his tracks as the rest of the group watches on in anticipation. “I have not… At least not as many as you’ve taken” Lou replies, keeping his back turned to the priest.

“Well, live long enough in this world and I’m sure you will. Just remember, the lives you take are actually the lives you save. I’ve saved hundreds of lives, and I’m sure you’ll get the same privilege as I have some day.”

Without having to see it, Lou can feel the chill-inducing smile being directed towards him, the priest audibly taking enjoyment in the knowledge of his role in this world. Opening his mouth to respond, Lou thinks against it and takes a sip of his coffee before walking out of the cafeteria and leaving the priest to use his words to entertain himself.

= RISE and REVOLT is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series from Season 1 onwards belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media =

“This is bullshit!” Greg shouts, screaming into the empty hallway without caring if anyone hears. Reaching through the open slot, he tries opening the door from the outside with no luck, only aggravating himself further. “Can you please calm down?” Charli, the only one sitting on her cot, asks towards the man, growing angrier every second.

“Shut up, Charli! You got us into this mess!” Greg shouts, flipping his sister off as she looks away whilst Monica coddles him. “Just relax, we’ll get out of this” Monica replies, calming her son down as Charli watches on, disappointed. Finally, a round of knocking at the door catches the alert of the family, who watch Halston walk through the door and slide a box of food over towards the center of the room, stuffed with any other necessities.

“Wait!” Monica shouts as Halston attempts to leave, walking up to her before stopping in her tracks as the gun at Halston’s side targets her as precautionary. Taking a breath and taking a few steps back in solidarity, and watching Halston ease her hold on the gun. “Is there anything we can help you with? Even if you need to hold us at gunpoint for us to do so?” Monica asks, her voice resonating with the sound of a woman, conquered by the events at hand. “Not as of right now, at least as far as I know…” Halston begins, stopping for a moment to watch the woman nod in compliance, looking disappointed, and prompting Halston to add, “But I’ll ask around. See if anything pops up.”

With that, the woman’s eyes brighten ever so slightly once again as the two return to their opposite sides of the room. Closing the door and locking it shut, Halston walks off into the end of the hallway and barely overhears the sounds of an aggravated Greg scolding her for trying to place nice. Leaving the argument for them to handle, Halston ignores whatever words are said and walks off to the parking lot.

Catching the first glimpse of sunrise, Halston walks over the car lot, watching Jenn drain any car that isn’t Halston or Wyatt’s own, filling cannisters to the brim with gasoline. “Planning on making a break for it?” Halston asks, getting a rise out of Jenn as she looks over to her with a lifted eyebrow. “Not with all the gasoline I’ve had to spit out getting it” Jenn replies, laughing to herself and getting the last few drops from a beaten down Grand Am.

“No, I figured we’d either need the gas to get out of here at worst scenario…” the woman says, taking a seat beside a truck and readying the process once more. “... Or need a fire starter at best!” Jenn concludes, sucking on a thin plastic tube until taking a burst of gasoline in her mouth and spitting it onto the floor as if it were toothpaste. “Nice” Halston remarks, making light of the concept of having to steal gas to survive.

After a few seconds of silence, Halston goes to walk away before being called back by Jenn, who leaves the tubing in the canister and walks to the woman, looking at her and anxiously thinking about whether or not to ask her a question. “What’s up, Jenn?” Halston asks, watching the woman trail her eyes towards her and take a moment to collect herself.

“Did he feel bad about it?” Jenn asks, watching the woman look down in shame. Without hearing the response, Jenn nods her head and goes to walk back to the truck, only for Halston’s reply to bring her to a stop. “He felt awkward… Like he knew he shouldn’t have done it, but he didn’t want to make the situation any worse.”

Upon hearing this, Jenn smiles in the corner of her mouth, pain still present as she nods and returns to work, allowing Halston to return to the school. Approaching the steps back towards the main lot, Halston takes a second to look back at Jenn as she returns to her job as if nothing ever happened. Still feeling guilt, even if Jenn doesn’t seem to care about it as much as she did that it existed to begin with, Halston walks away with her head hanging low, letting Jenn get back to work.

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“I don’t want to have to keep wasting my time asking you this” Ally says, staring down the priest as the man restrained to the chair refuses to look at her. “Why did you try to kill Lou?” Ally asks, earning no response from the prisoner, staring away from the group as everyone around slowly loses their composure, one thread after another. “Where is Lou? This guy isn’t talking and I’m not sitting around being ignored by a murderer I could have more fun killing” Vinny says, walking over to the kitchen an vanishing behind the walls.

Audibly rustling through an assortment of different metals, Vinny returns with a large butcher’s knife readied, earning a brief moment of fear from the composed and deranged captive. “I’m going to ask you one more time, father” Vinny says, holding the knife to the priest’s throat and daring him to continue with the silent treatment. “Why did you try to kill Lou?” Vinny asks, slowly adding pressure on the blade to remind the priest that there will be no silence left to be had if he continues to waste time.

“Vinny, stand down” Lou says, returning to the cafeteria and walking over to the two, standing in front of the two as Vinny refuses to give up his position. “Vinny” Lou calls again, taking a few seconds before Vinny finally removes the knife from the man’s throat and returns to his station, allowing Lou to take his seat back. Finally turning back to face Lou, a response not shared with anyone else surrounding him.

“He’s why” the priest says, catching Lou off guard, knowing the group’s leader expected a continuation of silence. Referring to Vinny, the priest tells Lou that the laws of nature are applicable to everyone, regardless of whether they know it or not. “Those children would have turned out just like him. Violent and despondent, ready to kill for the thrill of it. He’s not saving anyone, he’s filling his own greed. He’s just further along than you are, but you’ll all fall victim to it eventually!” the priest says, his enthusiasm gone by this point and replaced with assurance.

“I know you think you’re doing a good thing, but this cataclysmic event holds no room for good or bad anymore, just what’s necessary…” The priest begins, looking at Lou, and noticing his intrigue in what he has to say next. “...That kind of world slices through our humanity like butter, and it’s no world worth the effort of living in.”

Head dropping to the floor, Lou makes it his turn to sit in silence, allowing the priest to think whatever he pleases in that time. Watching the man seated to the fore of himself, waiting for what he has to say next, somewhat expecting it to be telling of his immediate future. “Would you have killed all of us?” Lou asks, surprising the priest, taking a line of conversation he had yet to expect. “There must have been something you noticed that kept you from killing yourself as well, unless you’re selfish and just thought your job wasn’t done to give yourself some direction. So would you have killed all of us?”

Taking a moment to think it over, the priest stares off at the group around him, watching them intently locked on, looking for the answer that could have held control over the further existence of their lives. “Most likely” the priest replies, prompting a sea of heads dropping down, including Lou’s own. “So why didn’t you kill yourself? At the mass, there must have been something that kept you from it” Lou argues, watching the priest shake his head with confidence. “Suicide is a sin” the priest replies, earning a chuckle from Lou, staring at the man the kind of way you would a misbehaving child.

“And homicide of any sorts is not?” Lou asks, saddening the priest, who mutters his response again. “I saved them” the priest says, watching Lou shift his mouth to the side and walk away shaking his head, stopping at the double doors before turning back to the priest and responding a final time before walking free. “You can dress it up whichever way you want, father. You murdered over four hundred people, and I’m sure the afterlife will not take kindly to your excuses as well as we have.”

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As the day reaches its official midway point, and Ally finds herself navigating the simple layout of the school before coming to a rest near the cafeteria by the sound of a piano echoing throughout the belly of the building’s interior. Drawn to the sounds of the single-handed symphony, Ally is led to a spacious, modern art gallery beneath a skylight just behind the music room, overlooking the main yard of the school. Behind the piano, Vinny recites Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day”, unknowing of the woman’s presence, continuing to play as she leans against a wall and admires the beauty of the wonderful music penetrating into the broken world.

“Sounds great, Vinny” Ally says following the songs conclusion, putting a smile on Vinny’s usually contained face. “Oh, thanks. I knew people would hear it, I just didn’t think anyone actually come down. You know, just letting the music kid do his thing?” Vinny responds, laughing to himself as Ally walks up and takes a seat on the bench next to him.

“Perfect Day?” Ally asks, watching the man nod with an eyebrow raised. “Fitting for a world with anything but, huh?” the pianist replies, making light of the world around whilst returning to his comfort, one the beauty of which remains untouched, protected by the joys left. “You play?” Vinny asks, watching the woman humorously shake her head no, the rapidity of which speaking enough.

“Tiki torch fan?” Ally asks, pointing to a tiki torch next to the piano, unlit. “No one sleeps around here as far as I know, so I’ll come down and play when it’s dark out. It certainly helps” the man replies, more positive than he has been since the world came to intermission, genuinely happy to be back where the world still makes sense to him. “Well, even if you don’t like the world, at least it still has a piano waiting for you” Ally replies, looking to Vinny, still smiling.

“This world will never make sense to me. I don’t think I’ll ever make sense to it, either. But I also know that I’m lucky to have something like this to make me feel at home again.”

With that, Vinny goes to return to his craft, only for the sound of gunfire deep inside the school to ring throughout the entire building in such a way that the beauty of music, nor the humanity of a happy conversation can mask. Rushing from their seat and hurrying down the hall, Vinny and Ally stumble into Lou, who rushes with his gun at his side, hurrying towards the basement. “What the hell was that?” Ally asks, not receiving much of an answer from Lou, only acknowledging that he heard it just as they did.

“Who’s with the family?” Ally asks, bringing a realization onto her boyfriend. “Terry’s down there” Lou replies, adding in a crucial piece of information to go with it, “He’s got one of the guns!”

Turning the corner to face the top of the staircase, and flanked by Ally and Vinny as Jenn rushes through the backdoor just as they pass it, Lou leaps down the flight of stairs and lands at the bottom, hurrying without a care for his own safety into the basement corridor, where he finds Terry, bleeding against a set of lockers opposite an open classroom door.

“What happened?” Lou asks, ripping off a piece of Terry’s sleeve and wrapping it around his shoulder. “The fuckers jumped me!” Terry shouts, grunting in pain as Lou tends to a bullet wound with a clean exit path, trying to stop the bleeding as best as he can. Soon, Halston and Jules meet up with them, figuring out what happened fairly quickly.

“Halston, Jules, I need you two to keep pressure on this wrap and get Terry back to the cafeteria, don’t let anyone in until they knock. We’ll knock six times if we’re alone, and we’ll knock nine times if something’s wrong. Go!” Lou shouts, “Everyone else with me!” hurrying off down the hallway.

Getting to the top of the stairs, Lou and his group rush past the lecture room debris, checking inside every room and through every door. “If you find them, you give them one warning. They’re armed, be careful!” Lou shouts, coming to the end of one hallway to find a pair of feet vanishing behind a wall at the end of another. Without saying a word, Lou leads the charge downwards, making the chase and reaching the end of the hallway, finally getting the family in sight.

“Stop!” Lou shouts, watching Vinny pop off a warning shot to no use, eventually watching the family disappear back towards the main foyer, leading them in a circle. Finally reaching the front of the school once more, Lou and his group take aim at the family, now noticing a reluctant Monica and Charli standing beside an armed Greg, who plants one hand on the wooden plank keeping the gym doors closed.

“Not another move or I’’ll flood this place!” Greg shouts, brushing off his mothers hand as she tries to persuade him to surrender. “No! They’re gonna let us go or I’ll kill all of them!” Greg orders, telling his mother to stop persisting and let things play out. “Greg, step away from the door!” Lou demands, he and Vinny holding their firearms at Greg and creating space between the two to make a double-shot unlikely.

“Greg, step away from the door right now or we will shoot” Lou shouts, watching the stubborn child refuse to give up his ground. “I’ll kill you first!” Greg responds, only to be met with the truth. “You’ll fire one shot and we’ll have you buried before you can pull the trigger twice, Greg. Stand down, this is your last warning!” Lou demands, looking over to Vinny as he takes a stance and readies to fire if necessary.

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“I’ve got to pee, mom!” Greg argues, walking to the door and knocking, requesting to use the bathroom. “Hey, you!” Greg shouts, amusing Terry as he sits on one of the cheap plastic chairs beside the door. “What do you want, kid?” Terry asks, picking whatever he can get out of his teeth. “I need to go to the bathroom” Greg replies, prompting the guard to roll his eyes and reluctantly unlock the door. “Go” Terry says, stepping aside for the boy to walk into the bathroom before following him in and standing against the door. “Is that necessary?” Greg asks, noticing the humor his overseer takes from this. “With a little brat like you? Yup” Terry replies, further annoying Greg as he unzips his pants and uses the urinal.

“Did you like school” Greg asks, the attempt at conversation annoying Terry, who goes along with it, simply for it being a better option than the sound of piss. “Not as much as you must have” Terry replies, confusing Greg. “Why do you think I liked school?” Greg asks, noticing Terry’s laughter to himself from the mirror behind him.

“I’m a black dude in a private school. You think there’s a whole bunch like me?” Terry asks, watching Greg turn his head away from the mirror. “You know why black dudes always become friends with each other? ‘Cause we’re pretty much always outnumbered. It’s like finding the dude on the same team as you in a crowd of different jerseys. It’s nice to know you’re not alone” Terry replies, earning a slight amount of sympathy from the kid.

“You’re white. Anywhere you go, there’s a bunch of other people like you. You’re all the other jerseys, you’ve never gotta go far to find your teammates. Nd you never really need them, either. It’s easier for you, so no matter how much you may hate school… You like it more than I do” Terry concludes, leaning up against the door and picking his teeth again.

“I’m sorry” Greg replies, the sound of genuinity in his voice surprising Terry. “Yeah, sure… Whatever” Terry replies, playing it off like he doesn’t care, but visibly not having expected the reply. “Just finish up” Terry says, listening to the urinal flush and rumble once most of the water has been drained. Turning towards the door, Terry stops him almost immediately, asking him if he’s ever heard of washing his hands.

Without a response, Terry stares at the kid, at first wondering if he’s actually trying to figure out what it meant, only to realize one of the kid’s hands behind his back. Without hesitation, Terry pulls his gun and attempts to take aim, only for the hidden scalpel behind Greg’s back to swing towards Terry’s head, forcing him to duck as the blade breaks on the door.

Knocking the gun out of Terry’s hand, Greg ducks a punch and watches the newly-disarmed man bury his fist into the concrete wall, occupying him long enough for Greg to get the gun and fire one shot off, taking Terry to the ground with just a line of blood across the back wall to show for it. Seizing his moment, the boy takes the keys off the man and frees his family, demanding that they follow him.

Stunned at the sight of her child holding a gun and sporting a streak of blood on his shirt, Monica begrudgingly takes Charli and stands beside her as they run off, following Greg’s lead. “Hurry!” Greg calls, realizing the almost out-of-body run being expended by the rest of his family. “They’ll kill us if they find us, we’ve got to move!” Greg shouts, stepping behind his family and shoving them forward, issuing them no other choice but to hurry the pace. After a few corners have been turned, the family ignores their warning to stop and ducks behind a wall as a shot fires into the brick wall.

“The gym!” Greg shouts, leading his family to the door and grabbing onto the wooden plank between the handles with his gun drawn at the group. “Not another move or I’’ll flood this place!” Greg shouts, brushing off his mothers hand as she tries to persuade him to surrender. “No! They’re gonna let us go or I’ll kill all of them!” Greg orders, telling his mother to stop persisting and let things play out. “Greg, step away from the door!” Lou demands, he and Vinny holding their firearms at Greg and creating space between the two to make a double-shot unlikely.

“Greg, step away from the door right now or we will shoot” Lou shouts, watching the stubborn child refuse to give up his ground. “I’ll kill you first!” Greg responds, only to be met with the truth. “You’ll fire one shot and we’ll have you buried before you can pull the trigger twice, Greg. Stand down, this is your last warning!” Lou demands, looking over to Vinny as he takes a stance and readies to fire if necessary.

“Even if you shoot me once, I’ll still be able to pull this blocker out. I’ll kill everyone here if you don’t let us leave!” Greg demands, watching Lou and Vinny taking aim, immediately bringing the feeling of dread over Monica, who rushes in front of Vinny and begs them to lower their weapons. “Please, don’t shoot! He’s just scared!” Monica argues, coming to the aid of her son, much to Greg’s displeasure.

“Mom, st-” Greg begins to say, only to be hit over the head with a rock thrown from his side. Once staggered, Halston runs in and tackles the boy to the ground, struggling to get the gun away from him, as the remainder of the group hurries to catch up. Noticing his attempt falling apart, Greg knocks the woman’s hand away and pulls his gun over to her head, preparing to shoot and placing his finger to the trigger until the sensation of an animal-like bite into his neck jolts his hand and sends his arm upwards, firing one shot next to his ear, temporarily deafening him.

Weakened enough, Halston slams his hand into the ground and knocks the gun from his grasp, turning him over onto his stomach and holding his hands back as the boy is left helpless to do anything other than watch, incapable of hearing his sister collapse to the floor as blood flows from the new bullet hole in her trachea.

Screaming in horror, though unable to be heard from her son, Monica catches her daughter and follows her to the ground, using her free hand to try and plug the hole to no avail, only dousing herself in her own daughters blood as the girl uses her hands to plead for help, unable to speak over the blood she chokes on, with her motions growing weaker and weaker until they finally come to a halt, and the girl bleeds out in front of a captivated and horrified group.

Halting his struggle on the ground, Greg watches the inaudible shrieking in horror played out through Monica’s expressions, clutching to her daughter and violently shaking her in hopes of miraculously bringing her back. In a pool of her own blood, Charli drops to the ground as her head drops to the side, locking her lifeless eyes with a deaf Greg, who stammers over any reaction before letting out a scream of horror he can’t even tell the pitch of.