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Season 1 Finale.
} The following events take place between the months of April and December 2030, and the 18th January, 2031 { > 25th December, 2030 < “Sophia?” Morgan groggily calls for, her voice breaking through restraints in a groan-like moan as she rolls over in bed, her arm draped over the empty side of the mattress where she’d expected her daughter to be. “Sophia?” Morgan repeats, opening her eyes at the empty spot on the bed, a moment to process the lack of her daughter’s presence required. “Sophia, honey?” Morgan calls again, pushing herself up to a seat in her bed, looking around the room, finding herself alone. “Sophia, honey, where did-?” Morgan begins again, looking to her window as flashing red and blue lights arrive on the scene, traveling the long dirt driveway before arriving at their destination. “Sophia… What did you do?” Morgan mutters to herself, throwing the covers off her person and hurrying down the stairs, the minimal moonlight that peers through the blinds allowing her to spot her daughter, curled up in a blanket beside the front door. “I’m sorry, mom” Sophie replies, curling further into a ball on the ground as the police exit their vehicles, a flurry of officers running for the front door. “How could you do this?” Morgan remarks, a tone holding more wrath than she’s ever allowed Sophie to hear, her hand reaching for the gun on her waistband and firing three shots through the window. In a moment of terror, Sophie bolts away from the wall and attempts to run further into the home, her mother’s order stopping her in place. “Don’t move!” Morgan shouts, another two shots being fired through the window before the gun is taken back toward Sophie, the young girl holding her hands up at her mother’s will. “I tried to give you everything!” Morgan groans, tears running down her face as her voice takes on a growl, her face shriveling as the acceptance of what her daughter has done settles in, “-how could you take it all away from me like this?” “Mom, we couldn’t get away with this for much longer” Sophie replies, admitting that she knew her mother would never allow things to go back to normal after her last attempt at leaving. “That’s bullshit- we were happy!” Morgan remarks, she and Sophie ducking upon return fire from the officers outside, another two shots being fired out at the unit from within. “Stop!” Morgan shouts, giving the officers their orders, ones that are met with similar demands, none of which she follows. “How could things have ever gone back to normal after this?” Sophie asks, challenging her mother to consider the options at their disposal, “how could we have ever viewed each other in the same way again?” Head tilted to the side, Sophie lets the tears and snot run from her face, her head shaking as a somber smile comes over her. “We could’ve done it! we found a way before!” Morgan replies, her tone now carried in a whisper-like reflection, “we would have done it again!” Ducking additional return fire, Morgan lets out another five bullets toward the officers, a second plea for them to stop leaving her lungs. Her arm trembling, Morgan sucks in a deep breath and looks into her daughter’s eyes, one final demand being made. “Turn around and close your eyes, honey” Morgan demands, her daughter breaking into tears, pleas cut short before they can even be properly made. “Turn around!” Morgan shouts, her daughter’s silent face hanging with the rest of her head, her slow turn suggesting the end of her time on this earth, “...and close your eyes.” Sucking down the last gulp of air, Sophie whimpers one more plea for her life, the sounds of what follows suggesting a dark answer. “Mom… please” Sophie tearfully begs, the shaking of the gun’s inner mechanisms rattling with the anxious aim of her mother’s arm, the trigger being noticeably rested upon. “I’m sorry, honey” Morgan remarks, the last word of that coming out with a hum, her eyes closing tightly as she squeezes down, an empty click answering her action. Eyes shooting open, Morgan looks to the gun, her daughter immediately taking notice of this empty follow-through, a quick second attempt at pulling the trigger coming up fruitless immediately thereafter. Her face shaking with rage, Sophie turns to look at her mother, the older woman immediately glancing away from the gun and toward her daughter, a shake of her head out of disbelief the only thing she can answer Sophie with. A deep breath escaping her lungs, Morgan and Sophie duck further return fire from the police outside, Morgan running to the kitchen with Sophie close behind, the knife she takes into her hand quickly being knocked away. “No!” Morgan shouts, she and Sophie battling for possession of the weapon in the moonlight-bathed kitchen, the knife clattering along the floor and into the living room. “Please!” Morgan shouts out of desperation, Sophie running toward the knife before she can even get upright, the control she has on the situation quickly fading. Ripping the knife up from the carpet floor, Sophie turns toward her mother and side-steps the oncoming woman, her mother toppling onto the ground. In firm control, Sophie kicks her mother in the side of the stomach, prompting the older woman to turn onto her back, the sight bringing an instinct over Sophie she could have never expected to have. “No!” Morgan shouts again, her daughter’s knees pressing down on both of her arms to keep them at her side, her face staring into her mother’s own. Her grip relentless, Sophie kneels atop her defenseless mother, audible shouts from beyond the home heard clearly Nowhere left to turn, nothing left to explain herself with, Morgan lets out a succession of three words as her final plea for release. “Let me go!” Morgan shouts, an animalistic howl sending the words through the air, Sophie’s eyes widening as if they were urged by the flip of a switch. With one deep breath, Sophie’s red hair blows away from her eyes and leaves the view of her mother completely undisturbed, the blade in her hand, held just beside her face, swinging down with merciless force. As if stabbing at a head of lettuce, Sophie listens to the blade sink into her mother’s chest with a hollow hum, the growl of a voice from the woman beneath her quieting instantly. Eyes wide, a light splatter of blood covering the bridge of her nose as she removes the knife, Sophie feels herself unable to stop, her vengeance unadulterated and uncontained. With her own resounding wail, Sophie brings the knife down again, removing it from her mother’s chest before swinging down once more, repeating the process as she watches the life slowly leave her mother’s eyes. Soon covered in blood, her hands and face stained red, Sophie pulls the knife from her mother’s chest cavity, holding it above her head before letting it fall to the ground, toppling to the side and falling onto the carpet just before the officers break through the front door. “Two people- both wounded!” an officer shouts into his radio, a fleet of law enforcement flooding into the home with their guns drawn, a smile emerging upon Sophie’s face, her red locks strewn about the floor, arms fallen to her sides as she stares wildly toward the sky. = Generation Alpha is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards = > 18th January, 2031 < Puffing her cheeks, Sophie lets a deep breath leave her lungs as the red light on the camera goes off, it's clear bulb facing her, both Andrew and Caden ready to consider this day one to put in the past. “So that’s it?” Caden quips, his shoulder shrugging, hands folded in his lap upon returning the clipboard to the girl sat before him, “that’s your story?” “That’s the story” Sophie replies, flashing the boy a weak smile, his eyes wandering to the depths of the room, unable to stare directly into those of Sophie’s own. “I think we’ve all had enough of this for one day” Andrew exclaims, patting Caden on the shoulder as he passes him, both arms wrapping around his daughter and pulling her into a hug. “Yup” Caden remarks, pushing himself out of his chair and walking up to the door, Sophie’s call for him the only thing keeping him from leaving. “Caden- come back!” Sophie exclaims, the boy stopping himself in the doorway, Andrew turning around to see Caden begrudgingly turning back, looking at the girl. Spreading her arms, Sophie waits for her friend to return to her, Andrew stepping aside to allow the kids to hug out their past traumas. Visually not interested in the embrace, Caden walks into Sophie’s arms and feigns the best hug he can, his voice carried like a whisper, hidden from Andrew’s ears. “Let’s go for a drive” Caden speaks into Sophie’s ears, the girl’s expression remaining unchanged as the embrace is broken apart. “Hey dad- can I drive back with Caden?” Sophie asks, her father, seeing no problem with this, easily agrees. Flashing the older man a smile, Sophie follows Caden to his vehicle, the pair climbing in without a word, silence pre-empting the drive. “Why did you wanna go on-” Sophie begins to ask, her question brushed aside and ignored by Caden, the boy interrupting her before she can finish. “Don’t speak yet” Caden replies, the girl’s unamused expression worn without a care of who sees it, the friendly expressions the pair have exchanged throughout the entire day giving way for something less welcoming and more ire-driven. Allowing the car to continue forward on its own, Caden breaks through the automatic guide by pulling his seatbelt over his chest, his hand easily gliding to and turning the key in the ignition, cutting the warning short. Following a brief countdown, the control of the car is given to Caden, Sophie sat in the passenger’s seat, without her seatbelt, watching on without a care, only pulling her restraints over when the car begins telling her to. Veering off the main road, Caden pulls onto the nearest exit, a vast sea of unused farmland surrounding them in every direction, their vehicle directed away from Jefferson City, now toward Illinois. As minutes pass, Caden finally slows the car to a roll, its speed continuing to decline without a question raised by his passenger, finally stopping just beside a large field, the spot of no particular interest to either occupant. “Where do you want to-” Sophie begins to ask, again cut short on her delivery by the driver, Caden telling her to follow him without a word until otherwise instructed to speak. With a grimace, Sophie opens her door and emerges from the vehicle, Caden carrying only one thing in his hand, a large, battery-powered light, as his feet direct him into the field. Remaining silent as told, Sophie follows the boy further into the open expanse, their feet refusing to stop until the moment Caden turns around, the light placed upon the ground between them, turned on to illuminate the sky. With an exhale, Caden turns toward Sophie, looking her in the eyes as the light between them brightens their faces, the only thing visible in the large field being themselves. “Where did I go wrong?” Sophie remarks, Caden shaking his head as if to tell her she has yet to be given permission to speak, the girl refusing to indulge his silent-wishes any longer. “I’m not an idiot, and you know me too well for this not to be obvious” Sophie replies, Caden’s face dropping, giving up on his efforts to quell her voice, letting her speak freely, “so what was it? You’ve clearly realized something by now.” Feet pressing into the snow, Caden tucks both hands into his pockets, his breath fluttering through the air as he nods, both through his mouth and nose. “The lack of ability to tell the date was a good start… I saw plenty of ways to figure out what month it was when I was there” Caden remarks, his first example already a fair one, “not to mention, of the multiple times I broke in… Not once did I see any cameras… The police didn’t find any either, so…” Her head hung, Sophie nods to herself, Caden continuing to speak, nothing he says adding onto the realization Sophie’s come to further than what already has been. “Pair that with the investigators finding no sign of a struggle, the bunker largely clear of DNA- the same with Morgan’s van… I figured it out a few hours ago” Caden concludes, nodding as Sophie looks at him with a guilty smirk, “you’re lying about everything.” Chuckling to herself, Sophie swipes her red-colored hair over her ears as she nods, genuinely pleased with how convincing she managed to be. “You’re damn right I am!” Sophie replies, breaking out into a laugh as Caden looks on with disgust, his nostrils flaring as Sophie takes in the sick joy of her supposed accomplishment. “How can you be happy about this? About any of this?” Caden asks, the girl changing her attitude, looking toward the boy with a puppy dog visage, pretending his reaction brings a tear to her eye. “I want the truth… No dicking around” Caden remarks, the girl bringing her over dramatic reactions to a minimum, “what actually happened? What the hell has been going on for the last nine months?” With her hands in her coat, Sophie lowers her head, giving into the question raised as the story begins for its start once more, the honest events of her year finally prevailing from the secretive confines the girl had sentenced them to. > 3rd April, 2030 < “Wh- What the fuck!?” Sophie shouts, curled in a ball against the wall of the bunker, Morgan sat in a chair directly ahead of her, her voice as soothing as she can muster it to be. “Honey, calm down… Please, calm down!” Morgan pleads, her daughter quickly hushing herself to a peep, her eyes squinting in an effort to get a better look at the woman. “Why do you look familiar?” Sophie asks, her mother beginning to let a smile peer through her lips. “I’m… I’m your-” Morgan begins, trying to find the courage to say what both girls are thinking, Sophie being the one to fully introduce her own mother to her. “Your my mom” Sophie blurts out, Morgan finding a smile breaking through her lips, a nod being offered in return to the girl, her eyes immediately retreating into empathy, “I’m so sorry to have done this, sweetheart!” Pushing herself up, Sophie holds the back of her head, stumbling into the wall as her mother races out of her chair to help keep her daughter still. “I gave you a worse shot than I thought I would, honey… I didn’t mean to” Morgan explains, flustered at how quickly she’s being forced to react to things, her anxiety causing a need for events to slow rather than speed up, “I just didn’t know what else to do.” “You kidnapped me?” Sophie replies, her mother staring into her eyes without anything to respond with, a few wordless gasps leaving her lungs. Finding her own footing, Sophie pulls away from her mother, looking toward the older woman with judgmental eyes, her head still clutching at the back of her skull. “I… I just sort of reacted” Morgan remarks, already aware of how poor that answer is, “it was a spur of the moment sort of thing, Sophia.” Lip quivering, Sophie walks through the bunker and out into the yard, Morgan following quickly behind her, making sure to stay close by. “You live here?” Sophie asks, looking around at the majestic scenery of the wide, lucious farmlands surrounding her in each direction, “like… this is your house?” “Yeah, I… Uh… I inherited it from your grandfather when he passed a few years ago” Morgan replies, her hands coupled together by her lap, “it was where I went to cure my addiction back when he was still around.” Turning to the woman, Sophie asks what her addiction happened to be, the foremost answer offered being ‘drugs.’ “I wasn’t in a good place to be anything for a long time, if I’m being honest” Morgan explains, making it clear that she was grateful to have brought Sophie into the world, “but I was in no place to be a mom at twenty… I wasn’t in any place to be anything until a couple years back.” Nodding, Sophie looks toward the large home, asking if there happens to be a second bedroom somewhere within, a question that Morgan briefly laughs at. “It’s a pretty big house… I’d expect at least a second bedroom if I’m looking at it from this angle” Morgan jokes, a brief chuckle escaping her lips as Sophie glances back to her, the amused reaction ending quickly. “Was that where you planned to keep me?” Sophie asks, her mother looking at her with a concerned look, head glancing down toward her folded hands, little to answer with. “You don’t really have a plan, do you?” Sophie questions again, her mother quickly looking back up to her, the answer offered in her following silence. With a nod, Sophie listens to Morgan begin to explain how the pair could go about their business and forget about how any of this happened, Sophie’s wide stare toward the home and silent reception the only thing Morgan is speaking to in that moment. “Don’t do that” Sophie remarks, Morgan stopping her plan in the tracks she’d laid for it, the older woman asking her daughter what she meant by those words. “I mean, don’t try to come up with a way to fix this” Sophie replies, a brief smirk in the corner of her mouth as she continues to look at the home prompting her to turn back to her mother, “we might not need to worry about that.” > 18th January, 2031 < “So you were the one that suggested you stay?” Caden inquires, Sophie’s silent nod giving him the answer, her following words only helping to tie up loose ends. “You see, I knew I wasn’t in any danger” Sophie explains, making it known that a mother would never just lose a connection with her child after a short while apart, “regardless of how or why they’d come back, that instinct to just ‘protect, protect, protect’ would kick in right away.” “So you used her… Why?” Caden asks, Sophie’s shrugged shoulders admitting that there is no clear answer for why she did it. “I’m tired of thinking about college, and finding work after school, and everything about the future” Sophie explains, her friend shaking his head as he rolls his eyes, refusing to find common ground with the girl he’d once considered his closest friend, “this was my ticket out… This was my way to forget about everything and anything… I got to be alive for the first time.” “Yeah, and you did it at the expense of everyone else” Caden remarks, Sophie’s enthused expression immediately settling down upon Caden’s rebuttal, “I mean, did you ever think- even for one second- about how any of this was affecting me?” Her face going cold, Sophie bites into her bottom lip, shaking her head at Caden before responding with just one word. “No” Sophie replies, Caden’s eyes moving away from anger and closer to hurt, not truly wanting to ask his next question. “Do you- now that you’ve heard about it first hand- even care?” Caden wonders aloud, his question answered with the same shameless head shake. “No” Sophie replies, the boy’s head dropping, eyes looking back up to the girl’s face, recognizing her lack of expression tell the story of something unspoken as of yet. “Are you happy about that?” Caden asks, the answer again, for a third consecutive time, being “no.” “I don’t know why, I truly… truly don’t… But I don’t care” Sophie remarks, her words coming off cold, less compassionate than anything she’s ever said to him, an outright admittance to her lack of regard for his feelings. “I think I want to, but I don’t know if I can” Sophie explains, a chill being sent down Caden’s spine, a truth neither had once been privy to now beginning to present itself. “Do you care about anyone?” Caden asks, the girl’s face remaining stoic, her expression unchanged before, no head shake or nod presenting itself this time around, only the answer. “No” Sophie replies, a defeated breath leaving Caden’s lungs, his heart sinking as the questions left in his mind begin to ask themselves through the power of his own voice. “Was it you that I saw on Halloween night with the fireworks?” Caden asks, finally receiving a single-worded answer different from the one he’d heard multiple times by that point. “Yes” Sophie remarks, the same tone as there had been in the answers previous, a nod coming off Caden. “And that notebook?” Caden asks, Sophie’s shrug preceding this answer. “Just something to use for a visual in court” Sophie replies, her story having not only been crafted as a way to garner sympathy, but as a way to future proof any legal repercussions. “And I assume it was you at the supermarket that Izzy convinced herself she saw?” Caden remarks, an impressed nod coming from the young girl. “Yeah, I was there that day… the second redhead was just a lucky break if nothing else” Sophie replies, Caden nodding again. “And Christmas night?” Caden asks, the holes in Sophie’s story filling, and the points of interest all making sense now aside from the final moments of her ‘capture.’ With a satisfied smirk, Sophie nods to herself silently, pressing her fingers together and giving the air a french kiss. “It was a real masterpiece” Sophie replies, smugly taking delight in her recollection. > 25th December, 2030 < In the middle of preparing dinner, Morgan races to her front door at the sound of knocking, a tall white man stood on her porch with an empty pepper grinder in his hand. “Can I help you?” Morgan asks, answering the man’s call for her presence with a cheerful tone. “I’m sorry to bother you on Christmas, I live a few miles out and I ran out of pepper” the man explains, quickly let into the home, following Morgan into the kitchen with a gracious look. “The store’s a way out, I figured it’d just be easier to stop here real quick and see if I can cut the trip short, y’know?” the man humors, a flattered Morgan assuring him that his presence is welcomed honestly. “I thank you for that” the man remarks, taking a full pepper mill from the woman’s hand, her words assuring him that she has plenty to go without a bottle. “Well I thank you greatly” the man replies, giving her a nod before approaching the front door, a set of footsteps climbing down from the second level, putting a worried face on Morgan. “Mom, is dinner almost ready!?” Sophie calls out, leaning over the banister and peering toward the kitchen, both Morgan and her neighbor-by-definition stopping to glance back at her. “I’m star… Oh” Sophie stops, the tall man squinting toward her with a modest smile, his head tilting to the side as if to question himself. Saved by the elapsing timer going off beside the stove, Morgan leads the man through the front door, quickly trying to shovel him as far away as she can, locking the door behind him the moment it shuts. Racing down the stairs, Sophie rushes over to the stove and turns the dial, the door being pulled open and the turkey removed from within. “Fuck! Do you think he noticed me!?” Sophie shouts, a panic setting in as Morgan looks toward her, arms stretched toward each side of the door, her back keeping it pressed shut. “I don’t know, honey… I don’t know” Morgan remarks, desperate to catch her breath as Sophie fans the smoke away from the kitchen, her mother nodding in her direction, “I think it was a close one.” > 18th January, 2031 < “So I guess it wasn’t just a ‘close one’?” Caden interjects, Sophie assuring him otherwise. “Apparently, he didn’t recognize me, he just thought I looked like another one of his neighbor’s daughters” Sophie explains, visually taking disappointment in not having given the moment more time to breath, annoyed she cut her stay with Morgan short by jumping too far too soon. “If only I had stayed the fuck upstairs- none of this would have happened!” Sophie argues to herself, holding blame against her own shoulders for something far different than what boils Caden’s blood, this visual disturbance in something other than her own disappearance enraging Caden, who keeps his composure well-contained. “So how did that night actually end?” Caden cuts in, refusing to let Sophie continue to flatter herself with the memory of her most devious scheme. Lowering her eyebrows, Sophie nods toward the boy, her lips puckered in an effort to hold back the smile she knows Caden has grown too aggravated to see any longer. > 25th December, 2030 < “Sophia?” Morgan calls out through a whisper, leaping off her pillow at the sight of Sophie trying to sneak out of her room, a weirdly shaped object held firmly in her hand. “What’s going on?” Morgan asks, reaching toward her nightstand to retrieve her glasses, the sight of the signal jammer completely powered down left for her to find, the open-drawer left there to taunt the woman, explaining what is happening without Sophie needing to do so herself. “Why?” Morgan asks, her daughter immediately bursting out of the room and running for the stairs as the den flashes with red and blue lights. “Sophia- no! Wait!” Morgan shouts, dashing out of bed after the young girl and chasing her into the living room of the home, calling for her to stop. Peering through the window, Sophie finds a fleet of officers emerging from their vehicles, her mother’s disbelief-stricken self entering the kitchen. Raising the gun to the window, Sophie fires three rounds outside, her mother quickly turning around the counter with a knife in her hand. “Don’t move!” Morgan shouts at Sophie, hoping to keep the young girl from getting herself shot in the midst of this chaotic scene. “Stop!” Morgan shouts at the officers the moment gunfire is returned, Sophie’s opportunity to further paint her mother in a poor light taken, an additional set of shots fired back. “Please, honey… You’re going to get yourself killed!” Morgan continues to plead, ducking away from another round of return cover, Sophie firing additional shots back as Morgan continues to plead for a halt to the gunfight. “There’s no way this ends without the two of us dying tonight, mom” Sophie replies, shaking her head as she presses her hand to the doorknob, “I can’t look my father in the eyes again- Not when he realizes what I did.’ “Stop, you’re gonna get hurt!” Morgan wails as gunfire persists, Sophie firing a final five shots at the officers outside, finally storming toward the door, her hand reaching out for the knob. “Turn around!” Morgan exclaims, her daughter inches away from presenting herself, armed and dangerous, to a swarm of police ready to shoot at anything that moves. “You’re out of bullets” Morgan explains, Sophie’s hand gently falling from the knob as she turns back, shaking the gun to hear nothing of use. “The clip holds twelve bullets, honey” Morgan explains, tears streaming down her face, Sophie’s head hung toward her, the last option at her disposal having been expended. “It’s over” Sophie mutters to herself, a defeated tone carried in her voice, as her mother places the knife down upon the kitchen counter. “Honey, we’ll get through this” Morgan exclaims, wrapping her arms around Sophie and pulling her close, her chin pressing against the top of her daughter’s head. At a loss for words, Sophie begins imagining just what kind of life she’d be facing once she leaves for home, the truth she’ll have to own up to rendering her completely ruined in the eyes of the world. In a sudden moment of clarity, Sophie’s eyes fall away from her future and return to her past, attention set solely on the discarded knife. A switch flipping in her head, Sophie shoves her mother away and grabs the blade with both hands, her foot lifting into the air and forcing her mother back, the older woman falling to the ground. “Sophie, no!” Morgan exclaims, both hands raised into the air as her daughter mounts, the weapon lifted horrifyingly above Sophie’s red hair. “Sophie, please!” Morgan continues, her daughter’s empty apologies being offered, the only way out unscathed presenting itself to the young girl at this moment. “Let me go!” Morgan shrieks, the blade swinging down with force before the final of the three words can even be uttered, her chest oozing blood before her lungs can empty. “I’m so sorry!” Sophie continues, lifting up and lunging forward with the blade over and over, covering her tracks with each incision she makes. Only when the final breaths leave her mothers lungs does Sophie snap out of her haze-like fog, the sound of the incoming officer's feet shuffling against the patio putting her back into the moment. Throwing herself off Morgan, Sophie collapses to the floor, a brief few seconds of silence filling the air before the large men swarm the home, breaking through the door with ease. Unable to hide her satisfaction, Sophie lets the brief inkling of a smile peer through her lips, the blood covering her face and hands keeping her warm amidst the midwinter chill. > 18th January, 2031 < “You killed her to cover your own tracks?” Caden remarks, Sophie’s shoulders shrugging with both hands still in her pockets, “you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do” she responds. Biting his bottom lip, Caden shakes his head, leaving the light behind as he walks past Sophie, the girl left standing with her light in the middle of the field. “Who are you gonna tell?” Sophie asks, her hand clutching onto something beneath the cover of her coat, an exhausted Caden replying in kind. With his head held toward the sky, Caden lets out a long breath before turning back, his face finding Sophie’s, both young adults keeping their hands tucked safely in their pockets. “Myself- every night- for the rest of my life” Caden replies, refusing to be the one to spill the beans of Sophie’s master plan. “You’re going to get discovered someday, and someone other than me is going to be the person that reveals everything” Caden continues, a smirk on his face, “but I’ll be there with a big smile on my face.” Lips puckered, Sophie looks away from Caden and nods to herself, the boy remaining stood there, recognizing the look on the girl’s face, her desire to ask him another question written all over. “Are we still friends?” Sophie asks, the boy watching her eyes lift back to her, his legs carrying him back to the car, their time apart over the last year having provided the young man with an already-comfortable distance. “I hope you rot in hell, Sophie” Caden remarks, the woman’s face scrunching with anger, Caden taking his turn to disregard her feelings the way his once-friend had with him, “never speak to me again.” Pulling away, Caden returns to his vehicle, Sophie still standing in the middle of the field beneath the cold, starry night, her face surrounded by light as Caden’s car speeds off, returning to the road. Fuming, Sophie turns back, watching the boy’s rear lights veer off into the distance, leaving her on her own, the way she had intended for it to be. Eye twitching, Sophie looks toward the sky and lets out a frustration-induced scream, howling into the chilly night. == Generation Alpha ==
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} The following events take place between June and December 2030 {
> June 2030 < “Ow, shit!” Izzy exclaims, colliding with the wall as she enters the sandwich shop, Caden having accidentally brushed shoulders with her. “I’m so sorry!” Caden abruptly exclaims, the woman looking toward her watch, accepting his apology before it can completely leave his lips. “Did I break it?” Caden asks, his focus switching onto the property wrapped around the girl’s wrist once he realizes she’s fine, Izzy assuring the boy he has little to worry about. “No, when I hit it against something, it takes itself off vibrate” Izzy replies, flipping through the options on her screen to return the device to its prior setting. “I’m fine, seriously” Izzy explains, looking up at Caden once she’d fixed her accessory, a smile coming over her face as she walks with him to the front counter. “So, I thought I was going crazy last week” Izzy explains, just beginning to tear into her smoked ham sub, Caden letting a smirk come over his face. “Oh yeah?” Caden remarks, Izzy using the tip of her thumb to wipe away any lettuce hanging from her mouth. “I followed Mr. Carrion to Sophie’s mom’s house last week” Izzy admits, the boy looking at her as if she were confessing to an armed robbery. “You what!?” Caden says beneath his breath, Izzy discussing it like it was nothing new. “I figured I’d keep a look out from a distance in case things went south” Izzy replies, placing her sandwich back into the paper wrap it came in, “anyway, she lives on some farm out in Gentry apparently.” Puzzled, Caden repeats the name of the city, Izzy’s confirmation preceding an in-depth explanation of the home. “It’s got this bunker beside it, a long-ass dirt road driveway” Izzy continues, shaking her head, picking her sandwich back up, “it’s a weird place.” Confused, Caden squints toward the girl, beginning to ask himself questions surrounding information he’s only now become privy to. “Why are you telling me this?” Caden asks, appreciative of being kept informed, but curious as to the information’s importance. “Because her mom lives in a weird fucking place” Izzy remarks, laughing mid-chew, stopping to swallow before concluding her point, “but I also didn’t stay for very long.” Still confused, Caden rolls with the punches, asking for the girl’s reasoning, surprised by what he hears. “I wanted to see if my signal was bad, which it was, but I didn’t know if it was because she had some jammer or because she lives in the middle of nowhere” Izzy explains, her head bouncing from one side to another as she explains her reasoning for visiting the local supermarket. “Wait, I’m confused. You thought there was no signal, so you left to go pick up fruit snacks and a bottle of Gatorade?” Caden replies, his humorous conclusions pre-empting the girl’s more disturbing confession. “I wanted to know if the whole part of town just had bad reception” Izzy explains, slowing her words down as she recalls finally making it to the parking lot, “I drove around for a few minutes, and then I saw someone that I thought looked like Sophie.” “Hold on, looked like Sophie, or you thought was Sophie?” Caden asks, a great difference between the two options presented. “I thought she was Sophie with bright red hair” Izzy remarks, Caden’s sudden hope depleting as soon as it had arrived, “I thought I was going crazy, but I needed to find out!” Disappointed in recalling what she perceives to be her failure, Izzy admits that she came up empty handed. “I got judged by some old white dude in the produce aisle just to startle some random redhead” Izzy concludes, shaking her head as she tosses her sandwich down, “total lost cause.” Having gone a few minutes without eating his food, Caden sits in his chair, both elbows pressed against the table, holding the sandwich up. “So, again… Why is this important?” Caden asks, again clarifying his appreciation for being kept up to date, “do you think her mother did this?” Shrugging, Izzy admits that she doesn’t know, the only proof she has being the home that the older woman lives her days in, coming up short in everything other than the home’s appearance. “I think it’s weird to have a farm when you don’t plant crops, especially when you have a bunker built above ground” Izzy explains, her head shaking as she makes her decision, “but I don’t really have any proof to point fingers at Sophie’s mom.” With a sigh, Caden gently leans forward, pressing his teeth to the soft bread and tearing off a piece of his sandwich, his eyes gazing at a far-corner of the room, contemplating what his own assumptions are. = Generation Alpha is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards = > July 2030 < “Thank you for driving her, Caden” Andrew exclaims, pulling Olivia away from his arms and setting her down on the floor, his hand held out to the boy, “you’ve been so much help over the last few months.” With a nod, Caden tucks his hands into his jean pockets and admits that he’s just coping with Sophie’s absence the way everyone else is. “Still, you’re doing more than I’d ever let myself ask of you” Andrew replies, his hand placed upon the boy’s shoulder, “you’re a good kid.” A meager smile, Caden gives Andrew a nod, staying quiet until the older man walks around his countertop, the conversation switching at Caden’s request. “Anything new on Sophie?” Caden asks, Andrew facing a cutting board with chopped red peppers whilst looking at the kid through the corner of her eyes, a gentle shake of his head. Meeting Andrew’s silence with his own, Caden nods to himself, Andrew quick to admit that the months are not easy to get through. “I don’t really sleep much anymore, and I haven’t let Olivia out of my sight in months” Andrew admits, Caden leaning over the counter, watching the man cut the vegetables, “I keep waiting by the phone hoping for answers.” Leaning back, Caden unfolds his arms and places his hands against the countertop, head tilted to the side as he contemplates to himself. “What kind of proof would work?” Caden asks, suddenly taking the discussion to a more hopeful path, Andrew’s surprise to the question brought on by his uncertainty. “If I need to be more specific- what kind of proof would help get Sophie back?” Caden clarifies, Andrew slowly setting down his knife, turning toward his daughter’s long-time friend and leaning against the platform beside him. “I’m not really sure honestly” Andrew remarks, refusing to look Caden in the eyes without giving him something more solid to hold onto for hope, “I suppose something to connect all these pieces we’ve got.” With a sarcastic laugh, Caden nods to himself, turning away from Andrew and returning to his original seat, the expression questioned. “Do we really even have pieces?” Caden asks, his face scrunched as his more pessimistic tone begins to show, “we have small details and little else.” Shaking his head, Andrew picks up the knife and returns to cutting the red chunks beneath him, refusing to give up on hope. “We know when she was taken, when she disappeared, where she was taken from” Andrew begins, rattling off these bits of information as if they make or break the case. “And yet, we have no suspects, no supposed location, and not to mention- no presumed status” Caden retorts, immediately catching the strong will of Andrew. “She’s presumed living- no reason to think otherwise” the father quickly interjects, the tip of the knife’s blade pointed at the Nurse’s only son, Caden not phased by the display, his hope still visibly disappearing. “Is there no reason to think otherwise?” Caden replies, challenging Sophie’s father on an account of his hope, the draining of his own making it difficult to see why others would keep their own intact. “She’s been gone for four months, the trail’s colder now than it had been before, and we haven’t even gotten as much as a sighting since she went missing” Caden quickly points out, Andrew’s father continuing to let him speak, “is there really no reason to think otherwise?” Placing the knife back onto the countertop, Andrew rests both hands against the cutting board, his eyes firmly placed upon Caden just as Olivia runs into the room. “Caden’s still here!” the small girl exclaims, pointing out the obvious, a gesture not even Caden can keep a defeated face on for, a feigned smile coming over as he kneels down, his hand raised. “High five!” Caden exclaims, Olivia slapping his hand with all her might as Andrew approaches them. “I’ll have your dinner ready in a jiffy, ‘Liv” Andrew explains, gently nudging her back the way she came, Caden slowly climbing back to his feet, pulling himself up with the hold of his chair. “I can’t lose hope with that one depending on me, Caden” Andrew explains, putting both hands on the boy’s shoulders, one on each side, “and with Sophie still out there, you can’t lose hope with her depending on you.” Tilting his head, Caden lets Andrew pat him on the back before walking off, not wishing to give the younger boy a chance to retort, his own hopes already made inexplicably clear. > August 2030 < “Why are you coming home so late?” George asks, Caden placing his car keys in a bowl beside the front door, the older man having patiently stayed up through the evening awaiting his son’s return. “I had to give a friend a ride” Caden remarks, George’s arms crossed, head tilted back as he nods at the statement. “You gave a friend a ride to Gentry?” George adds, his son’s face falling with the rest of his head, the obvious question raised from there. “What were you doing in Gentry, and what friend that lives nearly four hours away were you giving a ride to?” George replies, his son approaching him with his hands held out. “Don’t try to explain yourself, answer the damn question” George remarks, refusing to acknowledge anything but the truth. A frown on his face, Caden puckers his lips, walking past his father with the same response offered. “I was giving a friend a ride” Caden replies, his father’s hand reaching out just as he climbs the third stair, pulling him back by the arm. “What were you doing in Gentry?” George asks for a third time, his son looking him in the eyes for a moment before angrily ripping his arm away, a subtle growl hidden beneath his deep breath. “I was giving a friend a ride, dad” Caden remarks, turning away and walking back up the stairs, his father left behind in a loss for words. “You’re grounded!” George calls out, making it clear to leave his son with those final words before he can disappear around a corner. “I know” Caden shouts back, storming into his room and slamming the door shut as his father is left shaking his head out of disbelief in the foyer. “What the hell was all of that?” Rebecca asks, emerging from her shared bedroom to look down at George, the man still dressed in recreational attire, his face simmering with rage. “Caden drove all the way out to Gentry this afternoon” George replies, his wife halfway down the stairs before this information is relayed to her, feet stopping where they left off as her eyes widen. “Gentry?” Rebecca repeats, shaking her head as if to illustrate her confusion, “what the hell was our boy doing in Gentry?” Walking up to the front door, George takes Caden’s keys and tucks them into his pocket, his arms thrown out by his sides as his shoulders shrug. “He said he was ‘giving a friend a ride’, Reby” George remarks, obviously not buying the answer he was given, “I don’t know for sure what he was doing, but I can almost take a guess.” “You can?” Rebecca replies, honestly unable to say the same about herself, carrying her awoken legs to the couch to sit beside her husband, “what guess is that?” With a deep exhale, George looks his wife in the eyes and answers her question, “I think he was visiting Sophie’s mom”, Rebecca left more confused than she originally was. “Why would Caden be meeting up with Sophie’s mom?” Rebecca remarks, shaking her head at the notion, and wanting to disregard the assumption without reason to do so. “Because I think- maybe- he thinks she has an idea of where the girl went?” George replies, his own sentence structure lacking certainty, head pushed forward the longer he speaks, trying to make sense of the conclusion himself. “I don’t know… The kid hasn’t been the same since she’s gone and I think it’s really starting to get to him” George remarks, falling back into the embrace of his cushiony couch, his wife’s arm reaching over his neck and pulling him into a hug. > September 2030 < “It’s good to see you out of the house!” Izzy exclaims, a smile on her face as Caden enters the sandwich shop for the first time in weeks. “Nurse!” a man calls out from behind the counter, earning Caden’s attention in time to toss him a sandwich-filled bag. “It’s on the house!” the sandwich maker exclaims, a thumbs up sent into the air as Caden voices his appreciation. “Why did you get in trouble anyway?” Izzy asks, Caden remaining silent until he has the chance to sink his teeth into the sandwich, “you’ve been radio silent since then.” Enjoying the bite as it was intended to be experienced, Caden replies with his mouth full, all electronics having been confiscated upon the start of his punishment. “I drove out to Gentry and my dad caught me” Caden remarks, Izzy quick to look at him with wide eyes, her immediate response being to ask the boy to repeat himself. “I drove out to Gentry and my dad caught me” Caden responds, Izzy leaning her head down as if she were hiding from the sight of someone else, her voice lowering with her crown. “You drove out to fucking Gentry? Why the hell would you do that!?” Izzy asks, the boy across from her responding to her confusion with the same unamused tone she once gave to him. “I wanted to see what that woman was doing for myself” Caden replies, his voice carrying a whisper, much like Izzy’s own, “she wasn’t home, so I sort of did what I needed to do.” Attempting to speak, Izzy quickly shuts her mouth, pulling her head back and looking at the boy with a confused look, a simple shrug from her friend suggesting that, to Caden, this isn’t a big deal. “Please, for heaven’s sake, tell me you didn’t break into that woman’s home” Izzy remarks, Caden giving her a guilty smile, his shoulders shrugging, amused at the fact that, by technicality, he’s not saying anything. “Oh my god, you broke into that woman’s house!” Izzy grunts into her arm, looking out the window while unable to look Caden in the eyes without a flurry of mixed emotions coursing through her mind. “What else did you expect me to do?” Caden replies, Izzy quickly turning back to him with her answer, a rather reasonable one as far as she’s concerned, “not break into the woman’s house!” Clicking his tongue, Caden rolls his eyes, leaning back in his chair as Izzy begins to explain what would happen if he were caught. “I wasn’t caught, and that’s the point” Caden explains, both sandwiches returned to their paper shell, the conversation taking priority. Following a momentary silence, accompanied by the sounds of horns honking in the street just beside them, Izzy continues the dialogue. “Well?” Izzy asks, Caden looking at her for a moment, puzzled, responding with the same, “well?” Rolling her eyes, Izzy presses her hands to the table, leaning forward with her eyes kept on Caden, “well, what did you find?” Placing his lips together, Caden finds himself unable to keep his smile contained, it’s spread from one side to the other taking the place of words, which find themselves unneeded. > 31st October, 2030 < “It was a better idea to use my car for this” Izzy explains, her tires kicking up dirt as her headlights illuminate a large, metal bunker. “I will agree to that now, later, and any other time between and after that” Caden remarks, making a moment out of this point in time, taking his left hand away from his knee and placing it over the gear shift, where Izzy’s hand resides. Slowing her car to a stop, Izzy looks at Caden and smiles, the figure in the next seat over returning the expression as her hand gently puts the car into park. “There’s a soft spot in the front door that we can get at with something dull and flat” Caden explains, popping his door open and setting his feet upon the ground. Quick to follow, Izzy emerges from her vehicle and lightly pushes the door shut, keeping behind the boy in case something unforeseen were to occur. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s home” Caden says, glancing back at the woman, quick to point out the fault in that assumption. “She could be trying to make it look like she’s not home” Izzy replies, lowering closer to the ground, following the boy toward the front patio, “I’m just saying, if I had a house like this, I wouldn’t be wanting little kids to think I’m just sitting around all night passing out candy like they’re food stamps!” With a chuckle, Caden shakes his head, climbing the steps before approaching the front door, his fist tapping against the sleek surface and awaiting a response. “Why is it that you’re the older one, but I’m the one that has to walk ahead of you?” Caden quips, easing the tense situation with light-hearted banter, a gesture which Izzy quickly refutes. “I have an early birthday- that doesn’t mean I have to have an early death date” the girl jokingly remarks, a few seconds of further silence giving Caden the assurance he was looking for. Reaching into his back pocket, Caden retrieves a pressed butter knife, its smooth edges being slid between the door and its frame, running down the length of the wood as if it were cutting through jam, finally coming to a stop at the locking mechanism. Biting into his bottom lip, Caden adjusts his stance and bites down on his tongue, a few added inches of leverage allowing the singular pop from within the frame to grant Caden the access he was searching for. Twisting the doorknob, Caden holds the door open from Izzy, who appreciatively bows upon passing him, her dim flashlight immediately shining on the lower-positioned living room. “Her living room is like one of those sunken fire pits!” Izzy exclaims, finding that cool for some weird reason, her light immediately bouncing off the flat television screen. “You’re sure she doesn’t have security cameras?” Izzy whispers, which confuses Caden, who reminds her that they’re alone. “I spent an hour in here last time, I’m pretty sure she’d have come after me if she did” Caden replies, picking up picture frames and other decorations, inspecting them out of interest. “She doesn’t have any of Sophie when she was little anywhere” Caden points out, finding that odd for a woman who’s brought a child into the world, “you’d think she’d have a picture somewhere.” Shrugging, Izzy flashes her light into the kitchen whilst Caden makes his way upstairs, explaining it away as guilt. “She hasn’t been around Sophie for years, right?” Izzy wonders aloud, “we punished ourselves by sitting at the green for months- maybe she’s doing the same.” “Yeah, maybe” Caden remarks, finally making it to the top of the stairs, his light shining down both ends of the hallway, each door on the second level open for inspection. Taking a step toward the big room at the end of one hallway, Caden is surprised by the sound of crackling fireworks just a few yards away, freezing him where he last stepped. “What the fuck was that!?” Izzy calls out, running toward the window nearest-facing the source of the crackling sounds. As if he were just called for by an omniscient being, Caden lunges down the stairs, nearly crashing into the wall at the bottom as he joins Izzy beside the closest window. “You said no one was home!” Izzy points out the error in Caden’s ways being made unmistakably clear. “Now it’s time for us not to be home” the boy replies, Izzy quickly taking that declaration as a statement to hurry back to the car, the younger friend still stood by the window despite her ongoing-escape. “You coming!?” Izzy calls out, turning back to find Caden stood silently beside the window, not having moved since originally declaring the time to leave being in that very moment. “Caden!?” Izzy calls out through a whisper, again receiving no response. Taking it upon herself, Izzy dashes up to the boy’s side and grabs him by the arm, yanking him the way they entered. With an astonished look on his face, Caden glances back and forth between Izzy and the window, eventually giving into the girl’s demands, accompanying her on their escape. Leaping into the car, Caden catches his breath, watching the colorful explosions in the sky just above as Izzy pulls her car onto the main road, the quickest exit to return them to Jefferson City being the one she embarks upon. > November 2030 < “Hey George, I’m sorry to bother you” Andrew greets, standing on the Nurse’s doorstep by surprise, the father assuring the man that he’s of no bother. “Is there something I can help with?” George asks, both Rebecca and Caden emerging from the bowels of the home at the call of Andrew’s presence, overhearing the conversation from afar. “I just wanted to ask well in advance, because of plans and everything, if you’d like to spend Christmas with ‘Liv and I this year?” Andrew asks, surprising George. “Are you sure?” George asks again, Andrew quickly doubling down on his offer, mentioning that the Stewart’s had accepted the invitation earlier in the day as well. “I don’t want to make you think that you have to, I just wanted to offer the invitation” Andrew explains, his gesture quickly challenged by Caden, only one concern on his mind. “Can Izzy come?” Caden inquires, the question putting a smile on Andrew’s face. “She’s a wonderful girl, Caden… Of course she can come” Andrew remarks, the answer enough to convince the boy. “Alright, we accept” Caden replies, both George and Rebecca laughing at the ease in which he accepted the offer. “We spend Christmas, every single year, standing by the television watching movies” Caden recalls to his parents, an eyebrow raised, genuinely interested in whether or not his parents would like to continue that tradition or spend it with friends instead. “It looks like Caden’s made up his mind, so I guess we have to” George remarks, graciously accepting the offer at Caden’s behest, who responds with a thumbs up. “Alright, I’ll have dinner ready and everything!” Andrew exclaims, rubbing his hands together as he wishes the family a good night, returning to his home. “Well that was awfully nice of him” Rebecca exclaims, as certain of his reasonings as Caden and George, choosing to look past them. “We don’t do much for Christmas anyways” George replies, shrugging at the notion, “if he wants to not be alone with half of his kids for the holidays, who are we to say no?” > 25th December, 2030 < “Your house is a lot more impressive when I have more than just the kitchen to remember it by, Mr. Carrion” Izzy explains, a glass of soda in her hand as she stands in the archway between the living room and the kitchen. “I have plenty to be proud of, Izzy” Andrew remarks, patting the girl on the shoulder as his doorbell rings. “I got it!” the girl quickly exclaims, taking the hosting duties out of Andrew’s hands as she dashes to the front door. “Welcome to Christmas” Izzy joyfully blurts out, not really caring about the holiday, just happy to be spending it around the same people she’s been around for the better part of the last year. In a single moment, her enthusiastic expression fades into one of annoyance, the Stewart’s stood at the door with gifts in their hand, Logan the first person she lays eyes upon. “If you two could refrain from killing each other, that would be appreciated” Hugh mutters, tilting his head at Izzy, not minding her presence as much as he once had. “Welcome to the world, Logan… It’s different from your box, I promise” Izzy jabs, the boy giving her a sour face, gently nudged further into the home by his mother, who looks down at the soda in her hands. Looking further into the home, Anne takes the glass from Izzy’s hand and replaces it with a packaged glass of wine, wishing her a happy holiday. “You’re my favorite, now!” Izzy calls out, the joke being centered in honesty. “Can I at least be number two?” Caden asks soon after, pulling the girl in for a hug. “You’re giving her a run for her money” Izzy replies, her shorter frame making it impossible to rest her chin on the boy’s shoulder without standing on her tiptoes. Quickly losing her balance with the heavy shoes she wore out of the house, Izzy tumbles forward, both she and Caden tripping into the wall, slamming their arms into the doorframe, luckily catching themselves enough to save the wine from being spilled. “You alright?” Caden asks, an exaggerated face sported by his girlfriend, who fans her hand back and forth, her watch almost popping off as she does so. “Yeah, you just kinda landed on my hand, dork” Izzy remarks, quickly pulling back into a hug from the boy, who uses the festivities as an excuse to move inward, pressing his lips to Izzy’s own. “What was that for?” Izzy asks with a smile, Caden subtly shaking his head with his lip pressed between his teeth, “for Christmas.” With a nod, Izzy lets the answer fly, returning the gesture back, this time a more confident kiss shared just between the two. Almost on cue, Andrew’s voice begins to call out from the kitchen just a few feet away, both Izzy and Caden walking to the sound of it, the boy’s arm wrapped over the back of his girlfriend’s neck. “I just wanted to thank each one of you for everything this year. I don’t think I’d be able to get out of bed- having gotten sleep the night before or not- without you all” Andrew explains, a few glasses being lifted, a few others applauding, Logan stood by his father’s side, uncertain as to how to respond. “I just wanted to let you all know that, and you being here is so appreciated” Andrew concludes, “so, thank you again.” Lifting his own glass into the air, Andrew sets the tone of the evening, a silent and small gathering all following his lead, Izzy and her wine-holding self included. “You have two new messages” an automated voice exclaims from amongst the crowd, the source uncertain at first, all eyes traversing around the room in an effort to seek it out. “From Sophie ‘Geography/Political History’” the voice reads aloud, the small grouping of voices immediately falling silent, Izzy looking to her wrist to notice her watch’s voice speaking of its own volition, the device’s malfunction the least of her cares. “I’m in the green and waiting… Are you on your way?” the watch concludes, Izzy quickly looking at her arm, questions beginning to flutter through the room. “What’re you doing!?” George’s voice calls out, alarm bells having been raised the moment the missing girl’s name was mentioned. “It’s my watch! They’re texts!” Izzy blurts out, unsure herself as to what is happening, “I think they’re from Sophie but I don’t know what’s happening!” Panicked, Izzy rips off her watch and hands it to Andrew, the man having lowered himself from atop his chair and hurrying to her side, taking the watch into his own hand. “They’re just coming in- I swear!” Izzy exclaims, her fears put aside quickly, the man already aware of her lack of insight. “From Sophie ‘Geography/Political history’” the watch continues to blurt, the crowd patiently waiting to hear more. “Is that you in the beige van at the end of the street?” the second message reads, not a single voice lifting above the crowd that now stands with their eyes widened. “Beige van!?” George calls out, Andrew’s eyes darting over to his side of the room, both men looking at each other with a fearful expression, their legs carrying them to the same corner of the home as the crowd follows quickly thereafter. “Beige van, right!?” George repeats, the crowd following him as he follows the patriarch, a small end table in the back of the room suddenly becoming the hub of the party. “Beige fucking van” Andrew reads aloud, looking to George, both men coming to a realization. “What’s happening!?” Logan calls out, lost without a rope to hold onto, both men looking back to the small group gathered behind them. “Morgan took Sophie” Andrew murmurs, the words leaving his lips in a whisper, the man both too dazed and too angry to speak properly, a noticeable silence falling over the home. “Morgan…” Andrew whispers to himself again, trying to make sense of everything in real time, the sudden shock of the revelation that springs out of nowhere beginning to set in, his declaration bringing a spark of panic over the home. “Morgan took Sophie!” Andrew exclaims, finally finding his voice, the power kicking in when it mattered most, not much time passing before the Nurse father directs Hugh to contact his police service. “Tell ‘em Sophie’s mom took her- tell ‘em to tear every goddamn thing up in that house looking for her!” George shouts, the man already dialing the number of the private emergency line. “wWe’re getting her back!” George exclaims, turning the man toward him, his certain tone completely disregarded by the translation-lacking man. “Move! Out of my way!” Andrew grunts, pushing past George in an attempt to run out to his car, the man pulling his arm back, explaining that he can’t drive whilst under the influence. “I have to go!” Andrew shouts, frantic to leave the home despite George’s reluctance to let him, the alcohol in his system making another option impossible. “I’ll drive!” Izzy shouts, placing her glass of wine atop a bookshelf, George quick to point out her age. “You just turned sixteen, you can’t get behind the wheel of a manual!” George exclaims, Andrew finally settling down upon the offer from Izzy. “What’re you gonna do, Mr. Nurse!?-” Izzy calls back, already pushing herself through the front door, Caden pulled by her hand “-arrest me!?” Recognizing this dilemma, George rolls his eyes and groans toward the heavens, the girl’s illegal use of a car far outweighed by the desperate man slipping out of his reach. “Goddamnit, fine!” George exclaims, letting go of Andrew, the heavier man dashing through the front door and quickly following after the departing set of youth, George quick to follow. “Keep close to the phones!” Mr. Nurse shouts to the remainder of the party, leaving them behind to accompany Andrew, his own son, and the teenage driver through the backwoods of Missouri. == Generation Alpha == } The following events take place between June and December 2030, and the 18th of January, 2031 {
> 18th January, 2031 < “In December of 2030, you made a decision that would lead to your freedom” Caden explains, Sophie nodding in expectation of what question follows, “what, in the months that preceded, led you to make that decision?” With a smile, Sophie nods to herself, a smooth breath leaving her lungs, slipping through her lips. “I recognized a lie that snowballed” Sophie responds, Morgan’s false track of time having given Sophie slight clarity, “I didn’t believe anything without proof now.” Her full stay very awkward to describe, Sophie likens the willing half of the time spent with her mother to a bird that, even with its cage door open, remains within its confines most of the time. “I think there was a weird part of me that liked being somewhere different, not really sure of what was coming next” Sophie admits, reflecting on the stress she’d apply to herself in her schooling, “it was nice to not know what the future held while also being okay with it.” Leaning half of his body against the doorframe, Andrew asks his daughter why she’d put such stress on herself to begin with, a question Sophie had never given a second thought. “College is too costly, trade jobs are getting swept up in the thousands, and I’m nearly halfway through high school already” Sophie quips, truly of the belief that she’d never viewed school as anything less than a job that required perfection, “none of that mattered.” “You, in this ‘bird and open cage’ analogy, were the bird” Caden clarifies, his assumption quickly agreed to, “it’s not that you didn’t want to leave the cage, it’s that you didn’t see a reason to.” Finding it more difficult to agree on the second half of that statement, Sophie filters out the easy from the difficult. “I liked not having to worry about the future, but it’s not like I always thought I had a choice” Sophie explains, “sometimes I just forgot exactly what was going on.” Recalling multiple collections of weeks where she’d go without thinking of how to escape, Sophie makes it clear that she forgot the situation’s true gravity for large chunks of time. “Forgetting there was a future was easy. I didn’t really have a clue for the first time- and it felt natural” Sophie continues, looking toward the pair watching her, “then I’d suddenly remember ‘oh yeah, I was kidnapped’, and I’d go back to looking for clues for a few days.” “Your mind just- what? Blocked that part out?” Caden asks, watching Sophie squint back to him, nodding. “Yeah, I think so” she replies, biting into her bottom lip as the original question is recalled, its recollection bringing her to the main purpose behind her sit-down questionnaire. “I spent the summer and fall figuring out what was true, and what was false” Sophie adds on, finally getting to the climax of her story, “eventually, I’d find it.” = Generation Alpha is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards = > July 2030 < “Are you sure you’re okay?” Morgan asks, her makeup done and outfit prepared to leave the house, Sophie left beneath the covers, putting on a sickly voice. “Go to your appointment, I’ll be fine” Sophie remarks, a cold cloth over her face, her words doing little to ease Morgan’s spirits, the older woman continuing to loom over the room. “Seriously, I’ll be okay” Sophie doubles down, telling her mother to get herself taken care of, a gesture which finally convinces the matriarch. “Okay, you know where-” Morgan begins, cut off by her daughter’s insistence that all is fine. “Okay, I’ll be back in one hour” Morgan proclaims, closing Sophie’s door on her way out, the smile from her daughter satisfying her enough to let her proceed. Waiting a few minutes, Sophie peers her head over the ledge to her window, finding her mother’s beige mini-van pulling out of the garage and hitting the dirt road, leaving Sophie to her lonesome. Throwing her blanket off the bed, Sophie races from atop her mattress and hurries out of her room, feet carrying her like the wind down the long staircase. With a thud, Sophie’s feet make contact with the hardwood flooring, her body twisting toward the living room, hand quickly reaching for the router and ripping the cord from behind it, any recording devices transmitting her feed powering down with it. Walking into the kitchen, Sophie begins to rummage through the cabinets, different sets of plates and bowls occupying some cupboards whilst others host coffee mugs and other accessories. Coming up short in her efforts, Sophie glances around the home, the main level bathroom door being left wide open. Stepping into the cramped, tiled and sunlight-covered restroom, Sophie’s hands reach out for the cabinet, a little knob on the window pulled to reveal small, empty shelves. Stunted for a moment, Sophie’s mind places its focus upon her mother’s bedroom, the space also containing a personal bathroom solely for Morgan’s own use. Dashing up the stairs, Sophie power walks to her mother’s bedroom and reaches for the knob, a single twist finding reluctance, the room proving to be off limits, her lack of a key presenting a challenge. The floor beneath her sock-covered feet beginning to buzz, Sophie realizes her mother has quickly returned from her trip, the garage door slowly rising just one floor below. With a groan, Sophie runs back downstairs, her strut turning into a sickly drag, one hand pushing herself off every wall she stumbles into. “Why are you out of bed?” Morgan asks, quickly hurrying through the garage entrance, Sophie looking at her with a puzzled response. “I was going to make soup?” Sophie replies, answering her mother with the best acting she can manage, perplexed at the woman’s arrival whilst dazed by her condition. Morgan’s attention completely brushing Sophie aside, the woman’s first instinct upon returning being to hurry to the living room. “Did you unplug the router?” Morgan calls out, Sophie groggily following after her mother, half-heartedly apologizing for the accident. “I must have hit it on my way down, sorry” Sophie remarks, noticing something about the situation to be off, her worries immediately becoming what potentially looms over her every move. “That’s alright, honey” Morgan replies, quickly returning the cord to the slot in the back of the machine, her arm wrapping around her daughter’s neck as she brings herself down from the climactic rush of adrenaline, “I’ll get the soup going- you just get back to bed.” > September 2030 < “What was your childhood like growing up?” Sophie asks, sat on a log opposite her mother, a marshmallow on the end of a stick held over a raging bonfire. Puffing her cheeks, Morgan blows a stern breath through her parted lips, a cup of hot chocolate held in her hands, head shaking at the amount to recall. “It was a lot different than yours, I’ll say that much” Morgan remarks, a chuckle leaving her, not much better to offer than that. Despite the obvious lack of interest in recalling her past, Morgan’s early life is called back into question, Sophie’s unwillingness to let her need to know die prompting her mother into an uncomfortable recollection. “Well, my parents weren’t really parents growing up” Morgan begins, thinking to her earlier years and failing to remember many moments where her parents weren’t busy doing something other than being in her life, “it was weird being taken to school by the neighbors, honestly.” “My grandparents didn’t take you to school?” Sophie asks, a smile radiating from Morgan’s face as she shakes her head. “No, mom and dad worked in an office- They’d be gone before I’d even wake up” Morgan replies, vividly remembering one day in her past, the only such day where she remembers her parents being with her on a workday. “I had gotten pulled out of school really early in the morning ‘cause I lived in New York at the time” Morgan explains, biting her fingernail as she speaks, “we watched the planes hit the second tower, and everything else that came after that.” “Yup” Morgan jests, puckering her lips as she nods, almost letting out a chuckle, “they didn’t have time to be parents, and I didn’t really have time to be a kid.” Head hung, Sophie looks up to her mother, the older woman wiping her face with her finger, a sad look in her eyes. “I’m sorry” Sophie mutters aloud, the woman looking at her with a smile, putting up a strong face so as not to disappoint her daughter, “it’s not your fault.” The campgrounds silent for a moment, Sophie pulls the blanket over her tighter, feeling the warm cotton press against the sides of her face, the wind blowing her hair in all directions. “What about you?” Morgan asks, admitting that she can’t accept her daughter’s apologies for an absentee set of parents when she did the same to her, “how’ve the last twelve or so years been?” With a sigh, Sophie shakes her head, admitting that the answer has changed through the years. “I’ve been so focused on school for a while now- I haven’t really spent much time at home” Sophie explains, her hopes a great difference from the wants of other kids her age. “A bunch of my classmates work from home, so they don’t really leave the house a lot” Sophie explains, admitting to finding herself jealous of them at times, “but dad always wanted me to have an actual life.” With a chuckle, Morgan nods in agreement with her ex-husband, admitting that she would have wanted much the same. “He may have his reasons, but mine are pretty fair too” Morgan explains, the little time she spent in her youth before getting pregnant always residing fondly with her, “there’s nothing like having a group of friends you can rely on. It’s important.” With a shrug, Sophie agrees with her mother’s statement, another moment of quiet coming over the camp in the ironic seconds that follow. “Do you have any friends?” Morgan asks, the need to ask brought about by the fact that she’d been responsible for taking her daughter from them, the question itself laughed at by her offspring. “I have a couple friends… Mostly the kids that go to school in-person like me” Sophie replies, a smile coming over her a few moments later, one noticed by Morgan. “And who might it be that brought that smile on?” Morgan asks, a smirk coming from the corner of her mouth, Sophie’s cheeks beginning to blush pink. “I have a friend that lives next door… His name’s Caden” Sophie remarks, the mention of the boy’s name bringing a nod over her. “It’s not a relationship like that- don’t get carried away” Sophie clarifies, another smile coming over as she thinks back to her birthday earlier in the year, “he’s just a good person.” Fixing her hair, Morgan tells her daughter that she once said the same thing about Andrew when she was younger, having convinced herself that he was merely a good friend despite their relationship evolving as time went on. “Even when you’re young, you really notice when people look out for you” Morgan explains, clearing her throat as she takes another marshmallow from the bag, jabbing it onto the edge of her stick, “sometimes you end up getting really close to them.” Figuring she’d never convince her mother otherwise, Sophie allows Morgan to draw her own conclusions, her eyes struggling to stay open as the night fails to get any younger. “I’m gonna go to bed” Sophie says, leaving her seat at the log, blanket still covering her shoulders, Morgan’s smile partially fading, still remaining somewhat present. “I’ll be heading to bed in a couple minutes, too” the woman replies, not wanting her daughter to feel guilty for leaving her on her own. “Goodnight, honey” Morgan calls out, her daughter having already taken a few steps back to the house by that time. “Goodnight, mom” Sophie remarks, her head turned over her shoulder halfway through her walk back, the smile on Morgan’s face illuminated in the fire’s light. > 18th January, 2031 < “We spent a lot of nights like that” Sophie explains, one leg having returned to its state of resting over the other, hands folded in her lap once again, “it was the most normal I could feel, so we did it as much as possible.” With a smile, Sophie thinks fondly of those memories, thoughts that quickly fall by the wayside when her eyes recognize the room she’s sat within, the memories brought about through cold, lonely beginnings. “It was so easy to forget that I was a prisoner, because it started feeling like home” Sophie continues, Caden’s eyes closing, his pupils rolling around behind his eyelids, not pleased with the statements made, “but I kept having to remind myself that it wasn’t.” Opening his eyes again, Caden glances at his clipboard, no longer paying attention to the questions being asked, instead deciding to beat his own drum. “Tell me about halloween” Caden inquires, Sophie’s eyes quickly darting toward him, her eyebrows lowered in confusion. “Why halloween?” Sophie asks, recognizing the question to be completely original to Caden’s own moment in time. “I just want to hear about halloween” Caden replies, his arms coupling together, each hand wrapping around his arms, holding the crossed limbs against his chest. “Morgan and I stayed in and watched movies” Sophie remarks, her head tilting to the side, curious as to the boy’s reasoning, “why?” With puckered lips, Caden lets a breath leave his nose, shaking his head in refusal. “No reason” the young man replies, picking up the clipboard and reading the next question to himself, beginning to struggle with finding the courage to raise his own questions. “When did you-?” Caden begins to say aloud, Sophie interrupting him to ask a question of her own, a genuine intrigue being had over the contents of his question. “Why is halloween so important?” Sophie wonders aloud, Caden’s mouth freezing, the words he was using being let out like escaped whispers. With a deep breath, Caden lets the clipboard fall to his lap, looking back up at the girl with a confusingly distant smile. “Like I said, ‘no reason’” Caden remarks, eyes falling back onto the clipboard while Sophie reluctantly allows the boy to pass the question off, waiting for another time to ask. “When did you confront Morgan about the Huntington’s?” Caden asks, the answer quick, her responses being offered with a cold tone while her father stays out the interaction, noticing it to be unusual, deciding it not to be his place to interrupt. > 2nd December, 2030 < “Are you being honest with me?” Sophie asks, one leg kicked over the other, having taken Morgan’s seat in the living room, a manilla envelope sat in her lap. “What?” Morgan asks, caught by surprise at first, entering the home with a collection of grocery bags, all sat upon the kitchen counter, the woman expecting Sophie to have been asleep by the lack of light from the home’s interior on her drive up. “What are you talking about, honey?” Morgan asks, watching Sophie push herself out of the chair in the back of the living room, walking up to her mother with the envelope in her hand. “You’re not sick, that’s what I’m talking about” Sophie replies, tossing the folder onto an empty spot on the granite finish, her mother watching the envelope slide to a stop before looking toward her daughter, “you never have been.” Mouth agape, Morgan begins to speculate amongst herself how Sophie could have discovered the truth, a brief “how-?” leaving her lips before her daughter interrupts. “I told you never to lie to me again, and here we are” Sophie explains, her mother shaking her head with an apologetic look on her face, trying to calm her daughter down in silence, “but you’ve been lying to me this whole time.” “Honey, please listen to me” Morgan asks, watching her daughter turn to walk back to her room, a frantic tone in her voice, worried that the world she’d spent months building was all coming down with a thunderous collision. “No, mom! I’m done hearing you out!” Sophie shouts, turning back toward her mother, both hands held out by her sides, “what would have happened when you weren’t dead by next summer? How were you going to talk your way out of turning yourself in?” “I was hoping we’d be on better terms by then!” Morgan remarks with a somber reflection, watching her daughter walk away with her head shaking in disapproval. “Sophia, honey!” Morgan calls out, watching her daughter turn around the banister and begin walking up the stairs to her room, her hands quivering, body trembling anxiously as the end draws itself unexpectedly near. Her breathing beginning to grow varied, hurried in a way, Morgan begins to lose sight of her composure, the logical reasonings behind her actions being lost in a clouded uncertainty. In a moment much like the flipping of a switch, reasonability becomes replaced with necessity, a need to keep everything she’s known under control sparking a moment of action. Biting into her bottom lip, Morgan turns around and hurries for the banister, her legs turning to carry her into her locked bedroom. With the turn of a key, Morgan gains entry to her bedroom and quickly makes a dash for the closet, one reach behind a set of colorful sweaters affording her all she needs to alleviate the situation. “Stop packing!” Morgan shouts, turning toward Sophie’s bedroom to find her daughter stuffing clothes into a suitcase, her hands raised to her head as she finds herself at gunpoint. “Mom- what are you doing?” Sophie asks, her voice carrying worry, the fear for her life beginning to present itself as the primary reaction to this moment. “We have not gone through the last eight months just to lose it all like this!” Morgan says in a shout, tears running down her face, “you’re not going to throw it away like this, Sophia!” Each finger stretched as far away from one another, Sophie slowly approaches her mother with a soft voice, showing the woman empathy as a way to maintain survival. “Don’t come any closer!” Morgan shouts, her shaking arm steadying in a split second, the sight immediately prompting Sophie to begin expecting these moments to become her final moments. “Walk to the bunker” Morgan suddenly demands, her daughter’s expression showing a defeat that had been lost four months prior, a plea for her freedom being made once more. “Walk to the goddamn bunker, Sophia!” Morgan shouts, her stern and declarative voice presenting itself once again, the only option Sophie has being made resoundingly clear to her. Left without another option, Sophie shuts her eyes tightly and nods her head, showing herself through teary eyes, down the staircase and through the front door. “Please, don’t do this mom” Sophie pleads, the begging failing to resonate with the armed woman, Sophie’s actions being the catalyst for these events as far as she is concerned. Forced to unlock the bunker herself, Sophie flicks on the lights and allows the mostly-tarped room to be bathed in cold, white lights. “Walk to the back wall” Morgan orders, Sophie’s bare feet leaving the grass and returning to the concrete finish, her breaths sparse and gasp-like. After a few seconds, Sophie finds herself facing the back wall again, the door to the bunker slowly creeping shut, the latches on the outside locking back into place, the once familiar room now appearing as common as it once had. Sniffling, Sophie lets the tears fall the rest of the way as she reaches into her waistband, the near perfect-conditioned notebook resting between her pants and her lap. Placing the journal upon a tarped-over table, Sophie turns toward the bunker door, the silence that surrounds her in every direction bringing on a sudden burst of rage. Breaking out into a sprint, Sophie runs into the bunker door and begins slamming her fists against the metal backing, the room quickly being filled with a set of echo-carried collisions, Sophie’s pleas of “let me go!” the only thing keeping the chamber from sounding like a war zone verbatim. > 25th December, 2030 < “You’re going to have to earn my trust back” Morgan explains, sitting just before the bunker door, her gun resting atop her right leg, the only thing between Sophie and her snow-covered freedom. “I knew you wouldn’t have stayed if you knew I wasn’t sick” Morgan mutters, laughing at herself for falling for her daughter’s empty words, a poking of fun that Sophie quickly argues against. “It wasn’t you not being sick, it was you lying about it that set me off” Sophie explains, her face dirty from the lack of a shower, her imprisonment in the bunker over the last three weeks having redirected her toward the right path for the final time, her need to escape being the only thing held of high importance. “I guess we’ll see about that” Morgan replies, tucking her firearm into the pocket of her heavy fur coat, “you’re lucky it’s Christmas.” With a smile, Sophie pushes herself onto her feet, her notebook carried in her arms, pressed closely against her chest, “I won't let you down this time, mom.” Satisfied with her own ability to control the situation, Morgan nods to her daughter, shoving her own chair back into the corner of the room before leading herself back to the home. When her mother’s back turns toward her, Sophie’s smile turns into a frown, her eyes breeding hate as she follows along, biding her time before making her ultimate move. As the late evening progresses, Sophie finds herself still awake, her head above the covers of her own bed, the pain in her eyes presenting the desire of one to finally finish the work she began long ago. With a deep breath, Sophie throws the covers off her body, emerging from bed and walking up to her bedroom door, the shock collar that returned to her neck allowing a reprieve of Morgan’s fear toward a midnight escape. Walking down the hallway, Sophie stares at her mother’s bedroom door, the unimportant shade of white bathed in the moonlight that pierces through the windows of adjacent rooms, its presence calling for Sophie to approach it with her hand raised. In a moment, Sophie presses her knuckles to the door, resting the balls upon the soft wooden surface before lightly tapping against it, her only goal being to now wait for an answer from the other side. With a gentle squeak, the door opens to present a robe-dawning Morgan, awoken from her sleep to find her daughter looking at her with a sad expression. “What’s wrong, honey?” Morgan asks, her daughter stood in the hallway with her head slumped down, the sight bringing a confused loss for words upon Morgan. “Where do we go from here?” Sophie asks, looking up at her mother with tears streaming down her face, a depressed look accompanying the puppy dog eyes of hers. “What are you talking about, Sophia?” Morgan remarks, the weep from her daughter preceding a sudden embrace, Sophie wrapping her arms around her mom’s waist. “I’m sorry for getting mad at you, I just want things to go back to the way they were” Sophie pleads, leaving Morgan, unsure of how to react, to return her only daughter’s embrace. “Oh honey, we’ll get there in time” Morgan replies, her chin pressed against the top of Sophie’s head, a tear coming from her own eye, “we got there before, we’ll do it again.” “Yeah, I know” Sophie remarks, Morgan pulling away to look into her youth’s eyes, the young girl’s face tightly pressed between her mother’s hands, “no secrets this time, right?” With a smile, Morgan swipes Sophie’s hair over her ears, giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead, “no secrets this time” Morgan assures, returning to the embrace. “Can we-” Sophie begins, stopping herself amidst a coughing fit, her hand raised to her mouth, waving as she hunches over, gasping for air amidst the sudden attack. “Water- I need water” Sophie grunts, led to Morgan’s bed by the older woman in order to keep from toppling over to the floor, Morgan quickly dashing out of the room to the downstairs sink. Waiting for a split second, Sophie continues to cough into her hand, at one point forcing herself to gag on her own lack of saliva, finally giving her the opportunity she had been looking for. Continuing to feign her coughing fit, Sophie runs over to her mother’s nightstand, opening the first drawer she finds before finding herself stunned into silence. Forgetting to continue her coughing spell, Sophie’s face is covered in an onslaught of blinking green lights, the multi-pronged device sat right before her, completely unattended. With a moment of reflection, Sophie looks around the room, her mother’s bed and the home she’s grown close to for the last half of a year all being able to disappear with one flick of a switch. Running back toward the stairs, Morgan’s presence brings on a moment of decision, Sophie quickly looking away from the door and back to the machine, her finger resting on the one switch separating her from freedom. Taking in a deep breath, Sophie lets out an accomplished smile, her thumb pressing down on a single button, rendering the machine powerless, the lights all vanishing in the blink of an eye. Shoving the drawer shut, Sophie climbs back onto the bed and moves her hair in front of her face, feigning a few deep breaths as Morgan finally returns, a large glass of water in hand. “Thank you” Sophie says through a scratchy throat, lifting the glass behind her hanging hair and up to her mouth, lips pressing to the rim as the water flows down her throat. “Thank you” Sophie says again, pretending to catch her breath as she returns the glass to her mother’s hand, hair being pushed away from her face and back over her ears. With a smile, Sophie looks into her mother’s eyes, the older woman standing over her with the half-empty glass in her non-dominant hand, a third expression of appreciation, this one more satisfied than the rest, concluding their interaction. “Thank you.” == Generation Alpha == |
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