Season 2 Finale
“We’re in the clear for now!” Lazarus calls, his hand motioning for a militia-followed Jaime to release herself from the cover of the fauna-covered escape tunnel she now knows exists. His rifle in hand, Lazarus approaches a small home, entering its front gates and returning minutes later with a pair of keys in hand. “Get her out of the city” Lazarus directs, the keys to an older-model station wagon being thrown to one of his subordinates. “I’m not going anywhere!” Jaime replies, her demands to be returned to her home falling on the ears of a man without a car for her comfort, but rather, her safety. “With all due respect, the time for me to take orders from you are not right now” Lazarus replies, insisting the possibility of the mob finding her home address being too great to take the chance on. “We’ll pull everyone else in the house out to you until this all cools over” Lazarus continues, leading Jaime into the backseat. A militia member to her right and left, Jaime finds herself covered as if she were the president in the middle of a napalm rainstorm. The barrels of their automatic rifles poking her knee, Jaime watches Jordan climb into the front seat, directing the driver towards Mount Cedar-Sinai. “What happens now?” Jaime asks, her power over Los Angeles seemingly meaning nothing now that the militia has taken command of how the city is overseen. “We let the mob cool down for the next few days, maybe weeks” Jordan replies, his answer sounding more like a prediction, its statements existing without facts. “So we just let them kill each other and then come back and treat it all like nothing ever happened?” the woman replies, her boyfriend looking over his shoulder at her. “Yes” Jordan responds, his face returning to the road ahead as Jaime begin staring aimlessly around the car, wondering why that answer is anything close to okay. In another vehicle, Alex, Kennedy and Amelia are all taken out of the area, led to the hospital space whilst Chris and Julia lead the pack, nearly at the front gates by the time Jaime left. Hurried through the streets, the vehicles pass by residents of their community wandering the roadways aimlessly until they notice the vehicles, interest in their inhabitants peaking as the chase to catch up with them begins. Beating the mob to the front gates, the entry is sealed by a massive metal gate and the passengers of each vehicle find themselves entering the hospital lobby. Led to a back room, Jaime and her group, minus Chevy and Kayla, are left to themselves, Lazarus’ militia closing the doors behind them. Tensions having escalated from zero to one-hundred in near-record time, Jaime is left to stare at the people she’s been left with in amazement. The confusion and loss of direction matched in each other their faces, matched in every one of their hearts, they are left to share the same, withered expression with the woman. The core group she’s fought through the entire aftermath beside before her eyes in the small room, Jaime’s eyes eventually find their way to Jordan, slumped forward in his chair with his head between his legs. Almost like they’re on a similar wavelength, the man feels Jaime looking at him, his head essentially telling itself to look up. His pout, his exhaustion suggesting he’s had enough of these seismic shifts, Jordan lets his shoulders shrug, his head shaking to signify that he has as many answers for where to go from here as Jaime does. Certainty non-existent and everything she’s worked for threatened to the edge of disaster, Jaime collapses into a chair, her head dropping. = Dire 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 = Los Angeles remains split throughout the day, word of mouth, or lack there of, the only thing keeping thousands of Angelinos from being made aware of Jaime’s current location. Still, the gates of the medical center remain closed, hundreds of aware and angered Angelinos quickly beginning to build into greater numbers, awaiting the sight of the woman they believe to have wronged them. “Why is this happening?” Jaime asks, “why all of a sudden?” Her boyfriend now slumped backwards in his chair, Jordan informs her that they want their way or no one else can have theirs. “It’s been months, we’ve been doing this for months!” Jaime replies, “why is this only just happening?” The question without a clear answer, silence remains the most abundant element to be found within the walls, the preferred choice to just silently wait it out. Knowing what her responsibilities entail, Jaime finds herself quickly beginning to lose her composure, eventually pounding away on the locked door keeping her contained. “Let me out of here so I can put an end to all of this!” the woman shouts, the idea of being able to regain control of the mob feeling like a better option than regaining control of herself. Within a few seconds, Jordan pulls the woman away from the door, the woman giving in almost immediately, refusing to put up a fight. After a few moments, the door is opened, Julia informing Jordan that he is wanted by Lazarus in the main lobby. Doing as requested, Jordan tells Jaime to keep herself together until he gets back, which she answers by returning to Jordan’s seat and keeping it occupied for him. The room now down to four, Jaime glances towards Amelia, who holds her arms as if she were cold, the weird environment of being surrounded by an entire family she has no connection to making her slightly uncomfortable. “Sorry about your city” Jaime says, the genuine, yet humorous quote being the only thing to come to mind. “Not exactly my city, is it?” the girl asks, the irony of the question being directed at the city’s lead official being well-felt. | Broken glass snapping beneath her boots, Kayla leads Chevy and a small group of militia members through a rundown drugstore, the broken windows seen from the street not instilling them with much hope. “You don’t know what kind of people or what kind of animals are in here” Kayla whispers, a firearm raised in her hand as if she were expecting a murderer to leap out from cover and make an attempt on her life. Continuing to read off directions to the men behind her, Kayla feels a tapping on her shoulder originate from Chevy, who places a finger to his lip, suggesting she stay focused on what’s ahead. Once behind the counter, Kayla finds the shelving stripped bare, not even a half-empty bottle of aspirin left to take. “Not again” Kayla mutters, the gun falling to her hip as Chevy pats her on the back, directing the militia back the way they came. Day turning into night, the pair begin ascending the staircase of a beaten apartment complex, the smell of rotting bodies lining most of the halls. Their faces covered, the stench still finds its way into their noses, the fight to keep their lunch down gives them enough energy to keep moving forward. Finally reaching the roof, Kayla slams the door shut once the entirety of the group has followed her lead and locks it, the smell of fresh air finding greater appreciation than ever before. The light blue having turned to vibrant orange, which itself turned into dark blue, leading into the black night sky, all that illuminates the rooftop is a small fire heating a packaged dinner. “This is not what I thought the apocalypse would be” Chevy admits, tearing the plastic from his package with his teeth before adding some water and letting it boil, his statement finding similarities with everyone else he finds himself in the company of. “I thought we would’ve gotten zombies and shit” one of the militia mates states, another suggesting a meteor would have wiped most of the people out in an instant. “I didn’t think ‘instant pandemic, followed by oopsie’ would’ve won the bingo card” a third mate replies, the situation being poked fun at in order to keep the morale up. His arm wrapped around his girlfriend, Chevy begins staring at her, the smile on his face matching that of the first time he woke up to her. Unaware, Kayla continues the banter, listing off the other possibilities that could have befallen them, whilst Chevy remains fixated on her, grateful that she’s there, with him, in that moment. Eventually, the fun stops when a question is raised, one of the militia members leaping up from their seats and walking towards the rooftop’s concrete wall. “What is that?” the man asks, Chevy and Kayla walking up to join him in his curiosity. Though it mostly remains hidden by the treeline just ahead, a bright, mighty fire burns into the starry night sky, the smoke it brings with it billowing into oblivion. “Was it an accident?” one man asks, the size and visibility of the flames suggesting something massive to be burning in the skies. “Either something went wrong, or someone’s trying to draw attention to themselves” Chevy responds, the only two reasons behind such an attempt being laid out for interpretation. | Returning to the room hours later, Jordan walks up to Jaime and pulls her in for a hug, the relief on Jaime’s face when she notices the man to be more rejuvenated comforting the rest. “Lazarus wanted to run down our options, so that’s what we’ve been doing for the past few hours” Jordan explains, joking that the man is very stubborn about not letting Jaime back into the city until this all cools down. “So we came to the agreement that you should continue to govern from a little house a few miles out of Los Angeles” Jordan proclaims, the timespan remaining unclear. “They can’t take the risk of the hospital being run down now that people know you’re here” Jordan replies upon Jaime’s insistence that she govern from the building they already occupy. The agreement being made, Jordan tells his girlfriend that he will be with her at every step of the way. “I’ll be there, with you, we’ll have guards stationed and everything” Jordan continues, “everything will settle down and we’ll go back to the way it used to be.” His hands pressed to either side of her face, Jordan smiles and asks if she trusts him, which she quickly answers with a smile and a nod. Laying a kiss on her head, Jordan turns around to start getting everything into motion, Jaime’s smile turning into a concerned frown when his back is turned. With a deep breath, Jaime walks over to hug her mother and sister, the same hug being shared with Amelia before Lazarus enters the room. “We’re making accomodations for your family here in the building to keep them away from the mob’s reach” the man informs, the existence of a plan being more than enough to give Jaime hope that everything has the ability to return to normal. Within the hour, Alex and Kennedy are paired in one room, Amelia given another room next door. After settling in for a short while, Kennedy becomes restless, asking her mother permission to visit Amelia next door. When granted, Kennedy knocks on Amelia’s door and enters, seeing the girl in bed with a book in her hands. “You know you’re supposed to knock and then wait for the person to say ‘come in’, right?” Amelia asks, the girl shrugging before climbing beside her. “What are you reading?” Kennedy asks, the girl pulling the cover in Kennedy’s direction, the front of ‘My Side of the Mountain’ being read aloud. “What’s that about?” Kennedy asks, Amelia giving a rundown of what she thinks it’s supposed to be about. “I’ve never read it before, but it promised me an adventure, so I hope I won’t be disappointed!” Amelia replies, her laughter bringing out the laughter in Kennedy. “Is he winning?” Kennedy asks, Amelia chuckling at the remote concept of winning at surviving in the wilderness. “I’m at the part where he made a house inside a tree trunk” Amelia replies, “so clearly he’s living his best life.” Mentioning that he has a pet falcon as well, Amelia begins thinking aloud about how fun it would be to own a pet falcon, which derails the conversation entirely until she almost completely forgets about the book. Before long, two hours roll by and Alex walks into the room, the sight of her daughter still finding joy in a world that has changed the definition of life itself enough to put a smile on her face. “Oh shit!” Amelia exclaims, realizing how much time she lost track of, immediately apologizing for having kept Kennedy for so long. “Don’t worry about it” Alex replies, walking further into the room and taking a seat at the window. “My millionaire daughter is pretty much the mayor of a very angry Los Angeles now…” Alex states, a smile on her face when looking at Kennedy, “...at least one of my kids is having fun.” Noticing the disappointment Alex wears on her chest, Amelia reminds her that Jaime has done a great job. “You raised her well” Amelia comes to the conclusion of, Alex looking up to her with a frown in one corner of her face whilst she shakes her head. “She raised herself” Alex replies, the young girl just dropping her head. Directing her daughter towards the showers in order to get her ready for bed, Alex is left in the room with Amelia, the young girl putting a marker in her book and closing it, leaving it at her bedside. “Thank you for being there for Kennedy” Alex utters, the young girl turning towards her with a smile, “she’s a cool girl.” Walking towards the door, Alex stops and looks back to the young woman as she prepares for bed. “You’re a good role model” Alex declares, the statement putting a smile on Amelia’s face, who thanks Alex for her kind words. “It’s not just kind words” Alex replies, “you make this world a better place for people like my daughter… That’s just the truth.” Leaving the room, Alex lets the door close itself, the young girl left with the chip on her shoulder to figure out what comes next beginning to sprout a smile, her efforts finally noticed. Within that moment, as little as it was, the young girl begins to feel her mood turn around, a little good overcoming the feeling of being alone within an instant. | “I’m going to return to Los Angeles” Lazarus assures, making it clear that he will keep the residents under strict supervision. “I’ll have a team sent out shortly, just make it there before sunrise if you run into a flat tire or a roadblock” the man continues, handing Jordan the keys to a van stocked with supplies to last weeks. Shaking the man’s hand, Jordan thanks him for his efforts and splits off, the rear exit remaining the safer route. Julia and Chris just behind to send them off, Jaime and Jordan enter their final walk throughout Los Angeles for the time being, Jordan playing with the keys to keep from silence surrounding them at every angle. Inevitably, the keys slip out of his finger tips and fall to the ground, the man off-balance as he reaches down, sending him tumbling into a set of cafeteria doors just as the staircase comes into view. Apologizing, Jordan uses the bar of the door to support himself, his body weight being spared the collision with the tile floors. “I didn’t-” Jordan begins, laughter in his voice as the accident takes on the appearance of something worth laughing at himself over, only until shouts for his attention originate from inside. “What’s that?” Jordan asks, the doors already having been closed behind him as Chris scrambles to pick up the keys. “Just a schizo patient” Chris replies, his responsibility now resting with calming the patient down. “Jules, you escort them the rest of the way” Chris says, offering his sudden departing words before returning to the cafe, Julia escorting the pair the rest of the way. His smile vanishing, Chris bursts through the cafeteria doors with a scowl, anger encompassing his every motivation as he demands an answer to who was responsible for the outburst. In front of the man, large dog-sized cages line the walls and ground of the room, many stacked on top of each other. The kennels remain silent, no one answering for their deeds until one voice to Chris’ right owns up to the action. Redirecting himself, Chris approaches the kennel with a man slumped inside, his body positioned in such a way that he’s both standing and laying down. “Say that again” Chris orders, the man’s head tucked away from sight, aimed at the baron, concrete walls behind him. Slowly, the man faces Chris, disgust entrenching every nose scrunch and lip arch he makes. “It was me” Clayton says, his face bruised from a beating, his lip cut and his eye swollen. Enraged, Chris unlocks the cage and pulls the door out, ripping the man to the ground and beating on him further. The remaining prisoners silent, fearing the same outcome for them if they were to speak up, all watch the assault happen for themselves, the punches refusing to stop. “Say it again!” Chris shouts, the veins in his neck popping out as spit flies from his lips, Clayton’s collar in his clenched fists as the man struggles to keep down the blood. “I’m sorry” Clayton replies, a line of blood mixed with spit running from his mouth before Chris finally lets go. Kicking him whilst he’s down, Chris orders Clayton to crawl his way back into protection, the seconds that separate the order and the action feeling like minutes to those familiar with the sight. Once inside, the door slams shut, the metal rattling as the padlock is returned, Chris removing himself from the room and leaving his captives in the dark, only the light of an artificially-fogged window to afford them the luxury of their beaten fellow-prisoners misery. | “I know I’ve been saying it a lot tonight, but things will get better” Jordan says, cutting the silence as Jaime’s head remains pressed against the glass. “What was I supposed to do?” Jaime asks, genuinely interested in what Jordan’s approach would have been if put in the same position. “Should I have caved?” Jaime asks, running down every reason the residents would have had to act in the way they did. “I know it’s the whole western culture thing that anyone with the power to do whatever they want is automatically some evil dictator…” Jaime continues, “...But what else was I supposed to do?” Making suggestions, Jordan allows the girl every opportunity to argue against them. Giving in would have made her look weak, trying to negotiate would have made her look scared, putting her foot down resulted in already familiar ways. “Is there no way to win?” Jaime asks, her head turned towards Jordan, who keeps his eyes pressed to the road ahead. “Probably not” the man replies, admitting that he’s gradually come to understand why Django was such an ‘uptight bastard.’ “I’m not saying he was right in what he was doing” Jordan explains, “but I can see why you’d believe the career politician wasn’t born an egregious cunt straight out of the womb.” Chuckling, Jaime looks towards the man, who asks her what’s so funny about his statement. “I don’t usually hear you swear unless you’re mad” Jaime answers, the man beginning to laugh, the ride beginning to feel like just another late night drive like they used to share. After a few minutes of silence, Jaime’s head lifts from the window again, her face turned towards the man, the words she wishes to speak already on her mind. “Marry me” Jaime says, the man smiling, glancing towards her for a moment before doing a double take, eventually parking the car on the side of the empty highway. “Are you serious?” Jordan asks, the woman smiling from ear to ear, nodding excitedly as the man responds with a simple ‘okay, I will’. The car starting again, Jaime sits back into her seat as the drive continues, eagerly keeping her want to jump for joy at a minimum. After a few more minutes, Jordan pulls the car onto the off-ramp, a clearing in the trees made even more noticeable by a massive tower of fire in the distance. “You see that, right?” Jaime asks, the man pulling the car onto the side of the road again, both exiting the vehicle and staring in amazement. Much like the Grenfell Tower, a massive residential complex burns beneath the night sky almost a mile and a half away. Flames shooting through most of the windows, the building sends off a plume of smoke shooting through the sky, the lack of any other fires making this specific case intentional. “Why would someone do this?” Jordan wonders aloud, the sights horrifying regardless of whether or not the space is occupied. The sights shocking, it becomes too much to look away from, their eyes locked onto the picture for minutes. “Is this what’s gonna happen to Los Angeles?” Jaime asks, Jordan wanting to suggest otherwise, only for the ever-present sight to make it impossible to be certain. Quieted for the moment, Jaime remains glued to the structure, the thoughts of what people are capable of making her more worried than before she left. “We need to go back” Jaime exclaims, the man refusing, reminding her of the mob waiting for her and the point of leaving the city to start with. “If this can happen for apparently no fucking reason, who’s to say this won’t happen to L.A?” Jaime asks, the man asking what it could possibly matter. “If Los Angeles goes down, we just leave it behind and strike out on our own again” Jordan replies, “like we were going to do before we started playing god.” Her hand taking Jordan’s, Jaime tells him that everything about Los Angeles is bigger than the pair of them, or the group itself. “The second I stood up and made myself the leader, they became my group too” Jaime explains, “whatever happens to them is my burdon to live with.” Reciprocating the gesture, Jordan reminds Jaime that these are the same people currently rioting in the streets because she rightfully acknowledged how terribly selfish they are. “It doesn’t matter what they think of me, it matters that they’re my responsibility” Jaime replies, “and if this happens to Los Angeles, I’ll never forgive myself for running away and letting it happen.” Wanting to argue against it, Jordan takes the approach of trying to convince Jaime that the efforts would mean nothing. “They wanted to fuck over people just as tired as them, and they hate you for not letting them” Jordan replies, “that’s not someone worth feeling bad about.” “People can’t change, Jaime” the man concludes, “at least not those people.” Telling Jaime that they’ve become far too broken to redeem themselves in a world as chaotic as the one they find themselves in, Jordan pleads with her to let it go and hope for the best. “I can’t let something go when I’ve already sworn to do right by it” Jaime replies, Jordan’s head sinking, “I’m not a hypocrite.” Lifting his eyes, Jordan bites his lip and looks back to the building, only to glance back towards Los Angeles before returning his eyes to his soon-to-be wife. | The sky beginning to show the expectation of sunrise guiding them, Kayla and Chevy lead their fellow scavengers towards the raging inferno. The burning structure built from concrete, the skeleton refuses to collapse, instead allowing whatever once awaited life to greet it once more, to flood the interior with flames. At the base, the group stands back a few yards, burning debris still falling from the new holes, raining literal fire upon the earth below. “We’ve got lights” one of the survivors announces, pointing the pair at the very forefront of the journey towards a patch of land illuminated amongst a sea of darkness. By the moment the sun hits the sky in a mid-day heatwave, Chevy and Kayla lead the group to their unintended destination. Having waited for them and any others for months, a makeshift campsite from the remnants of an abandoned town hosts all forms of life just looking for somewhere to settle. “That fire you guys?” Chevy asks, he and Kayla walking ahead of the group, meeting a man washing clothes in the front lot of a rundown drug store. “It was” a second voice responds, a man dressed in a flannel shirt and blue jeans emerging from the store with a smile on his face. “You looking to settle in?” the man asks, his store being the first and only point of entry connected to a major road, every other side of the area surrounded by woodlands. “Just visiting” Chevy replies, looking past the man greeting them to find his shelves stocked with all the medication you’d expect a drug store to have. Shelves lined with anything from over-the-counter medication to cheap toys and candy, the store appears as friendly as the man that seems to own it, leaving hesitation within both Chevy and Kayla, knowing what this world does to humanity like that. | “Answer us!” the crowd chants, word having spread to the Angelinos that Jaime had departed the community, leaving only the militia behind to answer for what they believe to be her wrong doings. The doors to city hall remain shut, only armed guards atop the stairs, keeping the public from the slightest thought of making the first steps towards an ascent. With the roaring continuing, the lack of a response becomes more noticeably intentional, the scene playing out as it had before control of the city had been assumed. In the minds of the residents, they have returned to square one, wanting answers for what they believe themselves to be owed, no one to step up and give it to them. The chanting continues, the demand to be heard ensues, and suddenly, the doors of city hall open, revealing the inside to the public once more, surprised silence proceeding it all. Stood atop the steps, Jordan by her side, Jaime stands with the same megaphone she earned Django’s attention with in hand. “This isn’t hatred, I hope you already know that” Jaime begins, the crowd silent, as usual, itching to hear what she has to say. “If you wanna fight each other, get yourselves killed in the process just to get a few extra scraps, go ahead” Jaime continues, “you’re only gonna fuck yourselves over.” Making it clear that the world truly isn’t capable of keeping society afloat, Jaime states that everything has changed, and everyone has to change with it. “There’s a skyscraper burning a few miles out just because a bunch of people wanted to be assholes” Jaime persists, visibly baffled by it. “We’re lucky to have anything remotely close to a community” Jaime explains, “let alone food and water, protection, minimal electricity guaranteed to us.” Informing the public that there are groups of people huddled outside the city scavenging for extra things to keep the community afloat, Jaime states that this is no longer a world that can rely on entitlement and selfishness to get by. “The good don’t prosper, and the bad die out anyway, so it’s all pointless” Jaime proclaims, “why bother fighting when we can live in peace, free of charge, enjoying what we’ve got left?” The crowd still silent, Jaime reiterates that she didn’t say what she did the day prior out of hatred for them, it was instead what they had acted like. “I get it. America, the best nation in the world” Jaime continues, “but it doesn’t exist anymore. All we have left is this… right here.” Taking in a deep breath, Jaime makes it known to the general public that the deal only gets sweeter from here. “When the food we’re already growing starts getting ready, your rations increase, the same with purifying our water, the same with fixing our electrical grid” Jaime continues, moving down the list, “this is only the beginning. It gets better from here.” “Can we agree to live together?” Jaime asks, “in peace, with consideration for the people we share the time we have left with?” Silent, the mob returns to being a crowd, gathered at the steps of city hall, looking to one another with a mixture of hope and dread in their hearts. “You failed us!” a single person shouts near the front, the belief shared by only him as he approaches the bottom step, repeating the same phrase a second time. His right foot planted upon one step higher than his left, the man stuns those stood a few feet behind him when he pulls a gun from behind his shirt. Aimed towards the woman, the crowd becomes timid, a large amount of individuals aware of what’s about to happen shouting for the act to stop. Unable to shoot without firing into the crowd and having been unaware for the presence of Jaime, the militia are forced to ready their aim with their fingers away from the trigger. “Take the shot!” Lazarus shouts, not a single militia guard confident enough in their aim to do so. Within a split second, brave members of the crowd’s front line rushes towards the man with their arms reached out, a single shot fired before he can be brought down by the mob. Having accepted her fate resting in the split-second decision of one man, Jaime remains put, stood in place with readiness to answer for her rights and wrongs. Her eyes closed by the sound of the shot, time begins to stand still for a second, the red of the sunlight behind her eyelids turning a shadow-like dark, only to return to the same shade of red moments later, no sharp pain or blood running down any ounce of her body. Suddenly, her eyelids open, the bright sight of the mid-day sun returning as the crowd swarms the man, refusing to allow him another chance to pull the trigger. Her right hand squeezed, Jaime looks down to find the cause, Jordan on his knees with his left hand pressed to the ground. “We’ve got wounded!” one of the militia crewmates shout, rushing to the side of Jordan, Lazarus doing the same, Jaime slowly crouching down until she notices how tight his grip is. Being turned onto his back by Lazarus, Jordan looks towards Jaime, blood trickling out of his mouth as the middle his white t-shirt is quickly overcome with a rushing red wave. Still holding onto Jaime’s hand, Jordan struggles to speak, the blood pooling from his mouth as the shock still lingers within Jaime. Only the sound of something resembling her name breaks Jaime from the momentary daze, immediate panic flooding through her head as she drops to her knees. Begging for help, Jaime assists the militia crewmates in trying to stop the bleeding, the man having stood in front of her at the sight of the crowd’s movement, taking one slug to the stomach. “SOMEBODY FUCKING DO SOMETHING!” Jaime shouts, the crowd pressing their weight upon the gunman as the militia diverts their entire focus onto Jordan, his blood running down the stairs, one step at a time beneath the heat wave-inducing, mid-day sun.
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Still walking gingerly, his step sporting a noticeable limp, Chevy approaches the living room and takes his seat beside Kayla, the entire household gathered with their attention directed towards Jaime. “This isn’t just nothing anymore” Jordan insists, his hand waving a piece of paper wearing the folds from being slid through the front door. “Joke or not, now we’re talking about serious issues” the man continues, the paper being thrown onto the center table.
“Whether this is a joke or not, we need to take it seriously” Amelia interjects, “if there’s a group, somehow avoiding detection, plotting to overthrow you… Something needs to be done.” Her arms crossed, Jaime refuses to allow any such thing to take place, “if they don’t agree with me, they have that right.” Refusing, Jordan remains adamant that his girlfriend take a stand and put this issue to bed. “This isn’t just ‘we want you gone, we’ll vote you out!” Jordan responds, his voice loud and boisterous, “we’re in a place where murdering someone for their opinion isn’t unlikely!” Clearly concerned about this threat, Jaime remains mostly quiet, keeping her inner thoughts to herself as her gaze remains elsewhere. “Honey, this isn’t something that you can just let slide” Alex persists, “if you let this slide, even if this is a joke, it’ll open the door for more people to do the same.” “Maybe they should” Jaime replies, Jordan’s eyes immediately rolling as he gets up and walks away, his anxiety getting to the point of fearing an outburst that could lead to any damage. “They’re not forming a coup because they’re being oppressed, Jaime” Chevy responds, “they’re mad they’re not getting to gouge their faces anymore.” Kayla coming to the defense of Chevy’s point, the woman, whose brunette roots have begun overtaking the blonde in her hair, stands her ground. “They’re mad that they don’t get to be selfish assholes like they used to be” the woman argues, the group leaving the floor open to her, “and they’re blaming you for trying to make sure everyone stays alive.” Her attention directing itself to Kayla, Jaime asks the woman whether or not she believes them to have the right to that opinion. “Of course they have the right to be upset!” Kayla replies, “but in this world, they don’t have the right to be selfish cunts anymore!” “Especially when it’s a system that has yet to fail to keep them alive” Chris adds, his sister standing behind the bar as he occupies one of the many stools. “Maybe we’ve only known you for two months, but that’s been plenty of time to see results” Chris continues, “and the results are pretty clear to see as long as someone’s breathing.” Her focus drawn back to Kayla, Jaime listens to the woman tell her that there needs to be a finer line drawn between rights now. “This is a new world, there are new threats and there is less room for mistake” Kayla continues, “you can let them have an opinion, but you can’t let them feel like they’re entitled to anything.” Running down the laundry list of reasons they should be grateful rather than disturbed, Chevy tells Jaime that her tenure in charge has not failed anyone. “Just like Chris said, if they’re breathing… You haven’t failed them, and that’s what matters.” Adjusting herself, Jaime leans against her couch’s arm rest and directs her follow-up towards the entirety of the group, every all firmly rested upon her. “Does anyone remember how we got control of this place to begin with?” Jaime asks, a few heads dropping as others begin sagging their faces. “We staged a coup because we wanted to know why we were forced into whatever you wanna call this world” Jaime replies, “are we any better if we keep them from doing the same?” “Django’s government didn’t keep them alive” Chevy replies, distinctly outlining the difference between the pair, “he kept them silenced, and then he tried to wipe them out when it didn’t work.” From her bartender’s pocket, Julia tells Jaime that there are some difficult truths that need to be accept in worlds like these. “This is no place for democracy anymore” the woman remarks, “the only way these people stay alive is if they’re led by someone that knows what they’re doing.” Before the woman can reply, either in denial or acceptance, Chevy and Kayla both verbalize their opinions. “You know exactly what you’re doing, and you’re doing it well” Chevy says, Kayla adding, “the second you let that power go somewhere else, everything changes, and most likely not for better.” Returning to the room, Jordan tells Jaime that he’s going to have Lazarus set up a position for an announcement just around sunset, her views set to be made then. With a jog to the front door, Jordan takes his jacket and swings it over his shoulders, Jaime calling out for him to wait for a moment before he departs. Meeting the man, Jaime walks up to his chest, her arms wrapping around his back as he kisses her on the top of the head, and she responds by telling him to come back safely. “I’ll be back in a little while, don’t worry about me” Jordan replies, kissing her again before leaving the house. The door closing behind him, Jordan enters his car unaware of his girlfriend still standing in the place he left her, looking at the door and waiting to hear the vehicle pull away. “Are you alright?” Kayla asks, her question the only one verbalized despite being shared with the remainder of the group. “Yeah” Jaime responds, her voice emphasizing a more welcoming nature as worry sets in on her conscience. “I guess I have an announcement to prepare for” the woman continues, her head bowing to the group as she retires to her bedroom, leaving the room quiet, sharing each other’s concerns. = Dire 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 = “Why do you insist on going out there?” Kayla asks, her panting towards Chevy putting a smile on the man’s face, “I’ve already told you what to expect.” Turning around, the man puts his arm over his girlfriend’s shoulder and gives her a peck on the lips, assuring her that he needs to see it for himself in the event he’ll need to. “There’s so much out there that we don’t know about!” Chevy remarks, his smile easing the pain of him departing, “we could be the only ones in this mess!” “But you know we’re not!” Kayla replies, the man placing his hands on both sides of her face before humorously responding, “but we’ll never know for sure unless we find out ourselves!” Returning towards the packing of his bag, Chevy assures the blonde-brunette split that it will only be a week without him, giving her the greenlight to enjoy a few days without having to see his self-described ‘dumb face’ every morning. Without any words to follow, Kayla chooses to alter her approach, walking for her side of the room and retrieving a duffle bag before proceeding to fill it with whatever she deems necessary. “What are you doing?” Chevy asks, his head slanted back while his lips pucker, realizing what Kayla’s strategy has turned into. “If you’re going, then so am I!” Kayla replies, packing a few changes of clothes and whatever else may come in handy in a life-or-death situation. “I won’t stop you if that’s really what you want to do” Chevy replies, attempting to continue his statement until the woman turns around and walks into his arms. “I don’t need a break from you, Chev” Kayla replies, the man rolling his eyes as he admits to knowing how much of a handful he can be at times. “That’s what I love about you” Kayla responds, “and if you’re going out there, I’m going with you.” Pulling away, Chevy asks her to give him a decisive answer, a clear ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on if she’s truly willing to join his venture into the unknown. “Yes” Kayla replies, a smile spreading from ear to ear, “I think you forget that I was out there for two weeks before I even found you out there!” Returning to her bag, Kayla leaves a joyful Chevy, leaving him to continue his final preparations before venturing out into whatever lies ahead, just in the company of welcomed sights for a change. | Her bare feet lightly tapping along the terrace, Kennedy does laps around the house, starting at one gate and turning around at the second. Upon reaching lap seventy-eight, the girl pauses at the top of the pool’s staircase and looks down for the first time, her attention diverting from the puffy white clouds and the glistening, still-reflecting megatowers of central Los Angeles. “Are you okay?” Kennedy calls, her words floating down the stairs and into the ears of Amelia, who leans against the railing with her chin pressed to the cool metal tip. “I’m alright, Kennedy” Amelia replies, “don’t mind me.” Not one to ignore her more primitive instincts, Kennedy descends the staircase and joins the girl, the way she speaks clarifying that not everything is fine. “What’re you looking at?” Kennedy asks, the girl shrugging her shoulders, admitting that she’s not truly looking for anything in particular. Without anything from Amelia to go off of, Kennedy begins talking about what she was looking at, describing the clouds like they were cotton balls in a doctor’s office. Proceeding to describe the towers downtown like pens and pencils in a plastic cup, Kennedy notices Amelia giggle, her spirits very different to what they had been seconds prior. Having run out of sights to describe, Kennedy asks Amelia why she sounds sad, the girl denying any such emotions at first before Kennedy insists that something wasn’t pleasant at least. “Jaime always used to tell em she was happy, but I knew she wasn’t” Kennedy recalls, “her voice would be higher when she was happy, and she’d sound tired when she was sad.” “Why would she have to be sad?” Amelia asks, her head turning towards the storybook house with the jaw-dropping view, “she lives in a movie, and she’s the main character.” Head shaking, Kennedy tells Amelia that most main characters usually have problems like every other character around them. “They’re the main character because their problems are supposed to be the focus” Kennedy continues, Amelia taking interest in the conversation, “it makes them who they are.” “Okay, sure” Amelia remarks, accepting that she may have some issues with work or boyfriends, but reminding Kennedy that they’re not in a movie. “Everyone’s in a movie” Kennedy replies, Amelia beginning to squint as the conversation takes more loops and turns than a roller coaster at Six Flags. “We’re all the main character’s of our own stories, and we’re usually the other characters in our friends’ stories” Kennedy states, the outlook at least leaving an encouraging hope. “People have more problems than you’d think” Kennedy concludes, watching the young girl look towards her with the expression of someone really anxious to ask for more. “How do we know what happens at the end of our stories?” Amelia asks, watching Kennedy look towards her with a smile, the innocence behind it heartwarming, even in an environment as hate-harboring as the one symbolized in those megatowers just ahead. “When the story’s over!” Kennedy replies, her smile remaining as she turns around and leaves, the comfort in that analogy being left up for Amelia to take at her own pace. | “We ready to go?” Chevy calls out, the pleasant surprise from Julia and Chris when they see Kayla appear alongside leaves a light excitement in the air. Playful banter being exchanged, Chris informs Chevy that he’ll be the one leading the crew out of Los Angeles rather than being led, the sudden change of plans catching him off guard. “Well that’s an unexpected development!” Chevy proclaims, Chris apologizing for the sudden nature of it. “They wanted the main branch leaders back in case the threats turned into something more” Julia states, handing him a map drawn out with every route and break to take. “This is what the original leads wanted to follow, they broke it down to more specifics for you when the plans were changed” Julia says, asking Chevy if he wants someone else to be made the lead figure on the venture. “No, I think I should be-” Chevy begins, stopping himself and lowering the map from his face, looking back towards the pair and asking if he can put a good word in for someone. “Who do you have in mind?” Chris asks, walking towards the reception desk and aiming for the book of contacts until he and his sister notice the man’s gaze giving them the unspoken answer. Waiting silently for the conversation to play out in the way that it will, Kayla begins wondering why no further words are being shared, prompting her to look to her left to see Chevy staring right back at her. After a few confusing moments, the woman realizes exactly what he was insinuating, immediately asking if that’s truly what he wants. “You know the scene out there better than I do” Chevy replies, “if there’s anyone better for this than me, it would be you.” “I’m on board if she is” Julia replies, no moment to consider necessary when her mind was made up the second Chevy’s eyes wandered away from Chris and herself. “Don’t need to ask me twice” Chris replies, all three survivors around her in complete acceptance to give her control of the group. “If that’s what Chevy wants, I’m cool with it” Kayla replies, the excitement shared amongst the four only rising with the new direction sorted. Her mind travelling to other, perhaps more pressing thoughts, Kayla fails to notice the three others walking over to meet the group, eventually snapping out of her daydream and catching up. | Her arms pressed against the patio railing, Jaime gazes in wonder at the sights of the skyscrapers towering through the sky, penetrating the clouds. “You picked a lovely view” Alex calls, Jaime’s head turning to see her mother walking through her room to meet her. “You would never guess people were unhappy here just looking at it from afar” Alex adds, noting the lack of commercial flights zipping overhead and each individual home not breaking into the sky appearing like a little dot. “But most of all, it’s quiet” Alex continues, the smallest difference between the sight upon Jaime’s purchase of the property and its current state making the biggest difference. “I’d never seen it like that until after everything happened” Jaime admits, losing herself for a moment in the beauty, “I can’t really picture what it was like before all of this.” “That’s what happens when everything we look at suddenly goes black” Alex replies, “eventually you start looking at everything you took for granted before.” The small droplets of sweat resting comfortably on her forehead glistening in the sunlight, Jaime admits that she’s never sight-seen as often as she has since coming back home. “It’s hard to believe I went so long without this view” Jaime concludes, “it may be the only thing keeping me sane anymore.” Looking at her daughter, Alex repositions her body to face her offspring and asks why the story she keeps repeating to herself doesn’t have a happy ending. “Because it always starts and stops in the same places” Jaime replies, confessing to be unsure of why it chooses to pick up and leave off in the places that it does. “Do you leave any parts out?” Alex proceeds, her daughter’s smile disappearing, the weight of the answer being ‘yes’ attributing to her lack of progression. “I remember all of the parts that teach me what I need to learn, but I never recall the things that I learned the lessons for” Jaime returns, finally vocalizing her departure from a good half of the story being told. “Are they the parts about us?” Alex asks, her daughter immediately hanging her head, the answer clear without needing to be stated. “Then you should probably think about those more” Alex replies, “y’know, just to make up for the time you’ve lost.” Her hand brushing the hairs sticking to her daughter’s face away, Alex walks for the room before suddenly stopping, looking over her shoulder before returning to the girl. “Remember that night” Alex says, Jaime’s face beginning to sour until Alex simply offers it as a suggestion. “If you’re going to pick up on anything, you should pick up there” Alex directs, “this decision, whatever it’s going to be, should at least have intake from that night.” With that, Alex walks away, leaving her daughter against the railing once more, her brain drifting away into the darker thoughts she prefers not to conjure up. -> “I’m home!” Jaime calls out, her purse being tossed onto the kitchen table as she awaits an answer. “Hello!?” Jaime calls out, her shadow projecting itself onto the wall directly beside the staircase, surrounded by the yellow tint of the corridor lamp behind her. Hurrying down the stairs, her finger pressed to her lip, Alex instructs her daughter to keep her voice down. “Your father is asleep” Alex informs, the rush of her words an unfortunate normal to the woman, who whispers apologies until heavy feet cause the floorboards above to creek. “Who the fuck won’t shut up!?” the audible male voice shouts, the lack of an answer only further angering him as he reaches the stairs. “Don’t you know to shut the fuck up, Jaime!?” Robert gawks, his uneven steps bringing him further towards the worried mother and his nonchalant daughter. “Go to bed, dad” Jaime responds, the husk of a man refusing to do as told, reminding his daughter that she doesn’t tell him what to do. “If anyone gives orders around here, it’s me… not you” the man replies, the final word of that sentence carrying a spiteful vigor to it. “Touch her and you’ll never walk again” Jaime replies, her finger raised towards the man, who watches her walk off, her intention to stumble upon Kennedy’s room. The inside stained with black covering the portions not illuminated by the dark blue night sky, Jaime whispers her sister’s name, the response coming from a lower place than her bed. “Where are you?” Jaime whispers, adding comfort to her voice, treating her search in a playful manner as she reaches towards the floor. “Under my bed” Kennedy replies, the response confusing the woman, who lays herself on the floor and notices her sister’s face. “Why are you under your bed?” Jaime asks, not outright concerned, but instead, simply curious at first. “I don’t like when it’s just me, mom, and dad” Kennedy replies, watching her older sibling begin to frown, nodding as she admits that she doesn’t like it either. “They fight a lot when you’re at school, so I know how much it sucks” Jaime replies, telling the frightened girl that it all ends up alright in the end. “Dad goes to sleep, mommy follows him, and they stay that way until the morning as long as we don’t make noise” Jaime mutters, the process run down like a check list. “What happens when they fight and you’re not here?” Kennedy asks, the girl shrugging, telling her sister that she doesn’t know. “When I’m not here, I don’t know what goes on” Jaime replies, her sister letting out a sigh before crawling from beneath her sanctuary. Hopping onto the bed, Kennedy pats the seat next to her, welcoming her to spend a few minutes talking. “Do you want me to ask what happens when I’m not here?” Jaime questions, her sister looking up at her before looking away again. “They fight a lot more” Kennedy admits, her voice becoming somber as her head hangs low, lifted by her sister’s hand, the girl reminding her to be strong enough to keep her chin high. “Do they hit each other?” Jaime asks, already feeling guilt every time she walks through the door, knowing how Robert elects to spend the time unsupervised. “Dad hits mom” Kennedy replies, “a lot.” Her hands in her lap, Jaime tells Kennedy to be honest with her, not keeping anything secret. “Is that all he does?” Jaime asks, expecting a laundry list of chores, work and insults to be named off, her last expectation being the first thing insinuated by the youngest child. “He does… stuff” Kennedy replies, Jaime’s nose straightening after spending the majority of the conversation crinkled, her ears perking when Kennedy’s profound way of saying ‘stuff’ begins to paint the picture in her head. “What kind of stuff?” Jaime asks, her sister looking back up with confusion. After a few seconds, Kennedy begins trying to describe the events of a few nights prior, the acts Robert had forced upon Alex being drawn by someone unaware of what was truly happening. Without needing the specifics, Jaime puts together what Kennedy is trying to get at, pushing Kennedy’s hands down to put an end to the description. Hiding her boiling anger, Jaime flashes her sister a smile and tells her to stay upstairs, not getting out from underneath the bed until Jaime tells her to. With a nod, Kennedy drops to the floor and rolls into cover, her sister staring towards her bedroom door before beginning her return to the main foyer. Halfway down the stairs, Jaime is able to see into the kitchen, her father spewing one insult after another towards her mother, who remains trapped in the corner, unable to defend herself physically or verbally. Stepping through the inter-connecting archway, Jaime stops, her father’s back turned to her as he fails to even realize she’s there, waiting for him, staring him down like a hawk eyes its prey. “Back away from here, Robert” Jaime commands, the man turning around to stare at his daughter with contempt, her mother still backed into the corner as she was before. “Find what you were looking for?” Robert asks, finally walking away from Alex and brushing past Jaime, reaching for the refrigerator door and pulling out his prefered beer of choice. “Why are you staring at me like that?” Robert asks, his top lip arched on the left as he pops the cap off and takes his first swig. “What did I tell you in the hospital, Robert?” Jaime asks, clarifying her question to pertain to what she said after confessing to having him run off the road, not a care that her mother remains listening to be found. “I wasn’t fuckng around” Jaime follows, her walk taking her to the drawer, which she opens to retrieve a large, newly-sharpened knife from. “Jaime, put that down right now” Robert orders, his words falling on careless ears as the drawer slides shut, slamming against the larger setup as Jaime creeps forward. The condensation on the lid causing the bottle to slip, Robert backs away and hits the bottle on the corner of the wall, leaving the glass to shatter on the floor, the tile now covered in beer as Alex pleads for Jaime to stop and take a moment to realize what she’s doing. “I’m ending this” the woman replies, her boots leaving their imprint in the liquid as she follows the man towards the living room. “Get away from me you crazy bitch!” Robert shouts, his steps causing him to trip over the foot of the couch, his body collapsing to a heap on the floor as Jaime inches nearer. “I told you to get the fuck away from me!” Robert shouts, quickly throwing himself to his feet and racing for the backdoor, which he pushes open and escapes through. Not one to give up the chase, Jaime hurries her pace, walking through the back door and turning the corner, finding the man trapped between herself and the graves her had still yet to fill, blocking his way to the connecting gate. “Jaime, please” Robert pleads, his instincts to cowardly ask for forgiveness, the cleansing of all his wrong doings to be made as he drops to his knees with his hands cupped together. With a smirk, Jaime lowers the knife and hands it to her mother, telling her return indoors and wait for her to come back inside. With relief, Robert thanks her for her mercy, continuing to repeat ‘I knew I raised you well’ over and over again, believing the danger to be non-existent. The woman placing her hands on both sides of his head, Robert looks up to find his daughter’s knee swinging between his eyes, forcing him to bend backwards, his back mimicking the fold of an accordion. His hands clutching at his nose, Robert shouts at his daughter in muffled pouts, the expletives in them unclear, but most likely plentiful. Without a care for what the man has to say, Jaime walks towards the fence and removes a shovel from the dirt. “You’re not my father...” Jaime says, returning towards the man with the tool in hand, “...you don’t get the credit of thinking you raised me…” Lifting the head in the air, Jaime watches her father’s face look up, the broken nose illuminated in the moonlight as she finishes her monologue, “...and you’ll never hurt my family again.” With that statement, the woman swings the shovel like a baseball bat, knocking her father unconscious and watching his body tumble into the grave labeled for her. Taking the moment to catch her breath, Jaime concludes her night by throwing a few lumps of dirt into the grave, only a few portions of her father remaining visible to the naked eye. Returning, Jaime tells her mother to let the man sleep, dropping the shovel in the middle of the floor before walking upstairs, and reuniting with her sister. <- | “Thank you for joining me” Jaime begins, her words being uttered into whatever time the community has left from the stairs of city hall. “I know I called this meeting to address this ‘revolution’ i keep hearing so much about, so allow me to waste no further time” the woman continues, the crowd anxiously awaiting what she has to say. Her lips opening, her chin held high, Jaime remains speechless, the only thing coming out of her mouth is the air in her lungs. Suddenly, her mouth shuts, she remains speechless as the crowd silently await what is to be said. Her eyes navigating their way to her boyfriend a few steps below before scanning the areas where her family and Amelia reside, Jaime remains stood there, nothing to say except for the thoughts in her head. Suddenly, her mouth opens again, the new story she tells herself, teaching her the ways to oversee this community correctly do their part in her decision. “Tough shit” Jaime declares, the crowd’s anticipation turning into whispered anger and shared annoyance. “There may have been a time where you were given ‘rights’ and ‘freedoms’, but those times are over” Jaime proclaims, her stance evolving with the times, influencing itself off of the world that surrounds them. “This isn’t a ‘you’ thing, or a ‘me’ thing, this is something for all of us!” Jaime continues, “we do what we need to survive, and that is all.” Mostly silent, a few members beginning to mutter contempt for her under their collective breath, the crowd listens to Jaime run down her speech the way she’s given it countless times before. “This city used to be home to plenty of entitled people, the people that didn’t give a shit about how they treated others” Jaime persists, the crowd remaining surprised by her refusal to give into their demands, “that does not fly anymore, and it certainly doesn’t fly under my leadership.” Having hit the major points she wanted to strike upon, Jaime concludes the meeting, ordering every civilian to return to their homes and begin appreciating what they still have. Turning around, Jaime begins ascending the stairs, only to stop at the sound of an unfamiliar response from the crowd. “We the Angelinos!” the crowd chants, the sight of a colorful blue and yellow flag stitched together catching her eye. “Give us what we want or we’ll take it ourselves!” the small portion of the crowd chants, the remainder, unaware of exactly what’s going on, begins cheering in their favor. Suddenly, the silent crowd becomes the angry mob, standing at the bottom of the steps, chanting for change. Yesterday, Jaime reigned over Los Angeles as the polarizing leader, loved by some and hated by others. On this day, the tide changes, Jaime, her group and her militia outmatched in staggering numbers by the remainder of the population, demanding she bend her knee to their desires. Her arm pulled by Jordan, Jaime realizes how cratering the sight truly meant to her, draining her hope within an instant. Suddenly, Lazarus and the rest of her group pull her away, leading her back inside while the mob remains united by want, change or consequence for the lack there of. The air is thick, breathing problems only worsened in those that have it as they line up at the bottom of city hall’s white concrete steps. One after another, the residents of the fledgling, post-chaos Los Angeles restlessly await their turn to fill pitchers of water, and take home their rations of food for the week. “I don’t think this is going to turn out well” Alex mutters, her head low, expecting the people to eventually decide this government is worth less than it appears.
“It’s been four weeks” Jaime replies, her voice holding back worry she wishes to keep out of the group’s mind. “They’ll start getting used to the system and we’ll work out the kinks that come with it” Jaime proceeds, Jordan immediately reminding Jaime that they don’t have a surplus in stock to continue this process with. “We have a few weeks worth of water and, if we’re lucky, three months worth of food” Jordan continues, declaring the process unsustainable. “So we find more, we just go out and we see what we can come up with” Jaime replies, her hands pressing against the sides of her head when reminded of their presence outside Los Angeles. “Kayla and Amelia are gonna see what they can find out there” Jordan responds, “but we both know Kayla’s looking for Chevy before she’s looking for anything else.” Her head hung, Jaime grants permission for the person behind the knock at the door to gain themselves entry. As the door opens, the newly designated militia leader appears with a frown on his face. “Everything alright, Lazarus?” Jaime asks, the man shaking his head, telling Jaime that her presence is required outside. Upon taking her first steps out of the safety of the city hall’s interior, Jaime notices an argument breaking out between two groups at the front of the line. “You can’t take two pitchers!” one side shouts, the individual on the opposite end of the argument trying valiantly to defend his acts. “We don’t need this system! We’re Americans!” part of the group shouts, suggesting they all take down the government before it kills the lot of them like the previous regime. “How long have they been like that?” Jaime asks, Lazarus sucking in a deep breath before suggesting the time frame to have been roughly five minutes. “Someone tried filling up a second pitcher of water, and there weren’t many pleased about that” the man continues, Jaime instructing him to do whatever is necessary to break up the fighting. A nod, Lazarus instructs his militia to intervene, watching as his guards leave their stations to assist in the efforts. Running on adrenaline, one supporter of the camp against the second pitcher decides to take this as his opportunity to elicit change. Tensions already high, the man pushes himself off one of the many militia members squeezing their way between bodies and places his right hand on a gun. With a tug, the man becomes the possessor of a firearm and holds it in the air, firing it at the sky to cause immediate panic. His eyes spotting Jaime outside the doors of city hall, the man uses this moment as his own, lowering the barrel until it lines up in the woman’s direction. Suddenly, a shot is fired, and the man plummets to the ground, the bullet of a sub-machine gun ripping through one side of his head before bursting through the other as if it were traversing through a warm watermelon on a summer day. Screaming beginning to mount, the civilians begin to hurry away from the scene, taking cover behind whatever they can find strewn around the area in hopes that single shot would be the final. The remaining ‘anti-system’ members hoisting their hands above their heads at the militia’s gunpoint, Jaime watches the crowd disperse and the sights of whatever lingers behind them coming into sight. “Do you see that?” Jordan asks, his right hand still stretched over Jaime’s chest as the pair spot a group of wanderers approaching their direction. The fractured crowd standing together in pockets, they watch as these individuals approach the scene without fear or concern. “Let them through” Jaime says, her orders to Lazarus being followed as Amelia and Kayla lead Chevy, an unknown woman and an unknown man past the guards and up the city hall stairway. “Welcome back” Jaime mutters, her words failing to hide the joy of seeing her lost friend returned to his home. “I see this place must’ve missed me” Chevy replies, leaning in to hug Jaime before pulling Jordan in for a hug of his own. “I’m Julia, and this is my brother Chris” the unknown woman introduces, her hand extended to shake that of Jaime’s. “I’m from the Mount Cedar-Sinai building” the woman adds, “I think you and I could help each other.” Her eyes lifting, Jaime nods to the woman, her eyes momentarily glancing at the still-splintered crowd a few paces behind. “Let’s see about that” Jaime replies, her hopes for this system being operable feeling restored, a reasonable amount of worry accompanying what she hopes to be her hope-restoring idea. = Dire 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 = -> Four Weeks Earlier <- His eyes forcing themselves open past the solidified crumbs over his eyelids, Chevy takes a peak at the windows to the left of his bed before noticing the whispered arguing outside his door. His hands digging into the sheets of the hospital bed, Chevy forces his legs onto the ground before trying to stand, his attempt failing immediately, as he forces himself back onto the mattress. “Any chance I can get some crutches!?” Chevy calls out, his request immediately bringing an end to the discussion outside, being met with the response of two doctors entering his room. “You’re awake!” the female doctor exclaims, surprised as her male counterpart narrows his eyes, trying to gage exactly what kind of man they had brought within the walls of their building. “I don’t think I’m dreaming” Chevy replies, his fingers wandering his arms before pulling the needles away from the inside of his arm. “You shouldn’t do that!” the woman mutters, Chevy reminding her that he’s not on death’s doorstep. “The nurse told you not to take them out” Chris repeats, his tone making the reminder come across as an unspoken order, leaving Chevy to pull his hand away, leaving the needles remaining in place. “You didn’t come in here in very good shape” the woman says, walking for the closet and pulling a new pair of crutches for the man to use. “How did I get here?” Chevy asks, the male stating that a man brought him in just a few days prior. “I’d like to talk with him if you could let him know” Chevy replies, his face turning to the ground to watch the crutches touch the tile floor, unaware of the expression on both nurse’s faces taking a sour turn. “We’re not exactly sure how to tell you this” the woman begins, Chevy’s face immediately lifting towards the pair as they stand with a somber sight. “Your friend has passed away, unfortunately” the woman continues, watching the man nod to himself as he fixes his grip on the metal assistance to each of his sides. “Should I ask how that happened?” Chevy asks, the man taking it as his own responsibility to break down the details. “I think you should see it for yourself” the man replies, leading Chevy to the end of his floor’s hallway, an open elevator shaft already waiting for their arrival. “He made a wrong step and went down a few days ago” the woman says, Chevy leaning over the edge to notice the plummeting drop leading to certain death. “It’s where we discard of the dead now that there aren’t any crews to pick them up” Chris explains, apologizing for the sorrow information. “I didn’t know him well” Chevy replies, “but he saved my life, so that can’t be understated.” With a deep breath, Chevy asks how long it will be until he’s allowed to be discharged. Looking to each other, the man and woman begin exchanging looks as their way of communicating, prompting Chevy to break the weird moment by asking for their names. “I’m Julia” the woman replies, “this is my brother, Chris.” “Okay, Julia and Chris… In English, how long will it be until I’m allowed to be discharged?” Chevy reiterates, the man telling him that it will not be working out in that way. “You received care, so you now have a debt to pay off” Julia explains, Chevy’s eyes rolling as his head drops. “You’re not able to do physical labour, so we’ll have you recover for a few days while we get a list of things ready for you to complete” Chris furthers, Chevy’s eyebrow raising. “I didn’t come into this place on my own accord” Chevy explains, “I don’t owe you a goddamn thing.” His voice turning sour, Chris tells Chevy that his logic does not apply the way he wants it to. “You received a service, you will now pay back that debt” Chris demands, telling Chevy that any attempt to escape the burden of his debts will result in consequence. “Consequence?” Chevy replies, “we’ll see about that.” | -> One week later <- “I’m going after him” Kayla states, her intentions being made clear to the woman whose house she takes occupancy within. “Kay, you’ve got no idea what’s out there!” Jordan replies, watching the woman plant her hands onto her hips, telling him that the same applies to Chevy. “I’ve spent the past week looking for him out there, and it’s brought up nothing” Kayla concludes, her eyes locking onto Jaime as the stare is reciprocated, “he’s out there and I need to find him.” “Where would he even go?” Alex asks, her fingers dancing along the glass of vodka in her right hand, “where would you even start looking?” Her shoulders shrugging, Kayla admits that she hasn’t even given that thought. “Are you sure he’s even still alive?” Jordan asks, Kayla unable to respond before a mostly silent Kennedy tells the man to shut his mouth. “While we can be a little more respectful than that” Jaime says, her eyes turning to Kennedy, “he wasn’t in the pile of the dead.” “Are we sure we lined up every body?” Jordan asks, “even if we did, who’s to say someone didn’t just toss Chevy and not recognize him?” Hearing enough of the debate over whether or not he remains amongst the living, Kennedy walks up to Jordan and lifts her finger to him. “Chevy came to your rescue when that weird guy started firing at the dealership” Kennedy recalls, watching Jordan’s mouth slightly gape, “have some faith in him.” Without anything better to respond with, Jordan closes his mouth and nods, turning the conversation into one of where to start looking. Within hours, Kayla and Amelia prepare to depart Los Angeles for whatever remains outside it’s boundaries. “I know you’re gonna look for Chevy first, and you absolutely should” Jaime begins, “but if you see anything that could help keep using going in here, do what you can to get it?” Nodding, Kayla reminds Jaime that the unknown circumstances surrounding Chevy don’t completely erase the importance of their cause from her mind. “Love you, girl” Jaime returns, her arms wrapping around Kayla as the feeling is reciprocated. With another hug for Amelia, Jaime watches the women drive away from the home, what they can expect to find over the horizon as unclear as what their future within Los Angeles holds. | -> One Week Later <- “Thinking about jumping?” Chevy asks, his arm wiping away the sweat falling from his brow as he harvests the tomatos from the building’s roof top garden. His words aimed at Chris, the man resting his arms against the hot concrete barrier as he looks over the edge, peering down at the sights of whatever may appear below. “Do your work, Harrison” Chris replies, his head only tilting back for a moment as the words leave his mouth, his face returning to the scenery immediately after. “I am” Chevy replies, his simple retort being accompanied by a reminder that not all work must be done in silence. “Just because it doesn’t have to, doesn’t mean I don’t want it to” Chris replies, preferring to remain at peace with the view. “Do you have a problem with me?” Chevy asks, Chris’s eyes practically rolling in the back of the head as he turns around, his head leaning on his shoulder. “I have a problem with everyone” Chris responds, his head returning to the scene once again, “now do your work or you’ll be here longer.” Placing the remaining fruit in his hands into a large bucket of water, Chevy walks over to join Chris by the view, the man groaning almost immediately. “Don’t you want to get out of here and back to your friends, Harrison?” Chris asks, Chevy turning towards him and shrugging before pushing his eyes back to the town. “Holy shit, it’s beautiful from up here” Chevy mutters, Chris giving in and glancing back at the sights, doing his best to enjoy it in the company of another person. “Is it always this clear?” Chevy asks, Chris giving into the conversation, acknowledging that it tends to be hazy on most days, this one just happening to be clear enough to see for miles. “I heard the government was still in control down there” Chris mentions, “the last I heard of anything was a few weeks ago, though.” “You don’t wanna find out?” Chevy asks, Chris head shaking when the thought of coming across new people creeps into his mind. “We only got this place up and running because we needed a way to guarantee our survival” Chris explains, “you do someone a solid, they repay the favor.” His head tilted, Chevy asks the man what he would do if he ran into a community with as much power over the population as he does. “I don’t have power” Chris begin, immediately poking holes in the concept, “but if they had power the way you suggest they would, it’d be nice to make friends with them.” Returning to his bucket, Chevy takes out an apple and runs it under water, handing it to Chris, who accepts the gesture and begins allowing himself to show a slight amount of inner honesty. “I wouldn’t have opened the place up if it weren’t for her” Chris admits, his actions done in the best interest of his sister. “When life started hitting us when we were younger, we started looking out for each other before we did so for ourselves” Chris continues, “keeping on the good side of the living is a good way to stay alive.” With a smirk, Chevy looks to the man with humor in his tone. “So the hard ass routine is to keep me from making a move on your sister?” Chevy asks, his delivery bringing a modicum of laughter from the man in the middle of another bite. “Partially that, but then there’s not wanting to get close to someone that could do us any wrong” Chris replies, “civility is gone now, it’s best not to get too close to someone that could get shot in broad daylight for no reason.” In agreement, Chevy tells Chris that the supply of medicine can only go so far before it runs out. “What’s the plan when you don’t have enough to take care of anyone?” Chevy asks, “or god forbid someone gets caught stealing it?” “We take action” Chris replies, “do whatever we need to do to make it clear that it doesn’t fly around here.” Agreeing with Chris’ need to maintain safety, Chevy admits that he didn’t expect to respect him as a person when he first hopped out of bed. “I wouldn’t have blamed you” Chris replies, his head shaking in complete understanding of why, “but we’ve all got to do whatever we can to make sure the people we care about stay here, even if it means it’s without us.” | -> One day later <- Silent, their evening only described by the crackling sounds of their campfire, Kayla and Amelia take temporary residency in a tool shed behind an abandoned household. “We’ve covered all of this” Kayla points, her physical map being covered in lines drawn in red, black, blue and white ink and marker. “All we have left is the east, and then we turn back…” Kayla continues, her words becoming faint as she pauses for a moment before finishing her statement, “...and go home.” “Just because he’s not in this circle, doesn’t mean he’s not out here at all” Amelia replies, the visual disappointment on Kayla’s face noticeable by even the most clueless individual. “If you start losing hope now, and he’s still out there waiting for you to find him, you’ll leave him waiting” Amelia continues, telling Kayla not to give up even the slightest amount of hope. Within minutes, the calming pops of the campfire begin finding themselves fighting for audible supremacy when rustling begins dashing through the darkest corners of the yard. Calling out to the darkness, Kayla climbs to her feet and pulls a flashlight out, taking the responsibility of peering through the cabin door at whatever it may be hiding within the shadows. “Who’s out-” Kayla calls, her shoulders immediately feeling the weight of a large figure throw themselves forward, forcing Kayla off her feet before racing into the structure. Her fingers digging their way into the earth, Kayla throws herself back to her feet and races for the opening, her body immediately being tackled back inside by a second, much larger force. Struggling as she had before, Kayla feels the circumstance play out in a fashion feeling similar to another. Her mouth covered by a large hand, Kayla’s screams are muffled by the sound of a man ordering her to stay still and ‘accept it.’ With a morbid chuckle, the amused man squirms atop the girl as Amelia tries to fight for leverage, the first man forcing her into a slanted position in the tucked away corner. Accepting her own hands as the only ones able to bring about safety, Kayla reaches for the man’s back pocket and pulls out something folded. With some finger-bound trickery, she manages to reveal something sharp from within, her confidence in whatever it may be enough to pull it into the air and bury it through skin. The laughter turning into groans, Kayla twists the tool where it enters, the groans turning into howls of pain. Taking the screams for something else, the man atop Amelia begins laughing, turning his orders towards the girl beneath him into an ovation for the man behind him. Soon, the tool pulls itself out of the second man’s back, its second home bringing Kayla’s assailant to his demise as it finds comfort in the side of his head. Freeing herself, Kayla removes the corkscrew from the second man’s head and stares towards the first, her assailants blood still splattered across her face and chest. Her hand reaching out, Kayla removes the gun from the first man’s back waistband and fires a single round through his left eye, the brains spilling out of the back of his head, splattering across the wall. Pulling Amelia into her arms, Kayla whispers to her that it’s alright, and she’s not going to let anything happen to her. Her eyes staring at the fire, the blood from her face stains Amelia’s light blue shirt, her eyes turning cold when she glances back to the fresh corpses. | -> Six days later <- “Can I come in?” Chevy asks, Julia quickly wiping exhaustion from her face, her failure to notice her office door being left open giving Chevy a look at her persona-less appearance. “Is there something I can assist with?” Julia asks, watching the man pull a seat away from her desk and occupy it with clear intent. “What would you do if you met a community with similar power to you?” Chevy asks, his version of testing the waters beginning with a scan of Julia’s immediate reaction. “I’d try to stay away from them” Julia replies, her response immediately being questioned by the man. “I wouldn’t want to take the chances that someone could strong arm us out of everything we have, why?” Julia replies, refusing to give Chevy the opening to ask a follow-up question. “What if I could point you to some people that I know wouldn’t strong arm you?” Chevy asks, the woman’s expression remaining unchanged. “Why would I trust your word?” Julia asks, her arms crossing as the conversation has changed from responsibilities to business. “Who says you need to operate off my word?” Chevy replies, his arms mimicking those of Julia’s, crossing as the woman’s stare towards him begins to turn. The struggle to keep herself from smiling becoming overwhelming, Julia becomes the first to break, her teeth shattering through her lips as Chevy is soon to follow. As the laughter dies down, Chevy tells Julia that his offer of a legitimate community with such power does exist, and he wants to what she thinks of this arrangement. “I don’t know, Chevy” Julia replies, her eyes leaving the man as her hands sift through the various sheets of paper lining her desktop. “I don’t know if that’s a risk I’m willing to take” Julia adds, her uncertainty remaining the one thing between the completion of his responsibilities and a worthy future. “I’m not going to sit here and promise you that everything will go back to normal” Chevy admits, “but I will sit here and say this place, and all that it can offer, will die out if there’s nothing to preserve it.” Her head starting towards the ground, Julia and Chevy find themselves caught by surprise when Chris knocks on the door frame. “Am I interrupting something important?” chris asks, Chevy insisting that he should sit in on the conversation. The question already having been offered to him, Chris tells Julia that he’s on the side of starting and maintaining a peaceful, professional relationship with Chevy’s people. “If he is who he says they are, and they have obtained control of Los Angeles, this is a massive opportunity we’re wasting!” Chris pleads, telling Julia that there are times to be concerned. “If we can hold any level of influence over that kind of community, we’re set, with or without this place” Chris continues. “As long as you work with us, you’re one of us” Chevy adds in, Chris’ opinion on the man having done a complete change from the moment they first met. “I just wanna make sure we can see the other side of this” Chris concludes, watching his sister’s eyes travel from one side of the room to the other. As she begins preparing to say her piece, the sound of arguing from the lobby a few hallways away begins flooding throughout the first floor. “Stay behind me” Chevy orders, taking the lead as the first man through the door, Chris and Julia instinctively taking Chevy up on his offer, remaining shielded behind him. Navigating through each corridor, the man leads the pair closer and closer to the front of the building, the yelling becoming louder and louder the further they travel. Soon, the trio reach their final destination, the sights that stand before Chevy put a smile on his face immediately. Stood there with her finger raised to an armed guard, Kayla stands beside Amelia, her face lighting up when she sees Chevy turn the corner. The pair sharing a hug, Chevy introduces his two group members to who he hopes to be able to work with soon. A smile on her face, Julia tells Chevy that she’d like to hear more about this group in Los Angeles that he has, the warmth and loving reception from the people he loves most giving her confidence in his taste in people. | “From what I just saw out there, this isn’t exactly a very promising cause to be working for” Chevy acknowledges, reminding Jaime of the man that was just shot and killed over water mere minutes ago. “Have you realized that this is worse than what the mob was wanting Django’s head for?” Chevy asks, watching Jaime’s eyes drop as she begins accepting the fact that he held some truth in his final statements to her. “How much longer can we go without outside assistance?” Kayla asks, Alex quick to pitch the minimal information of ‘not much longer’ to keep Jaime grounded to earth. “How long will that medication last all of you?” Jordan asks, Julia coming to the conclusion that the worry should start in roughly one year and a half. “So let’s make a deal!” Chevy insists, “that’s what they came here for, so let’s get something going before the crowd turns into a mob again.” Her hand supporting her chin, Jaime asks Julia and Chris what they need more than anything else. After careful consideration, the pair agree that any amount of protection would be desired. “How much food would you be willing to trade for twenty militia members standing watch around the clock?” Jaime asks, the pair taking the legal pad from in front of her and writing down a number. “Any chance you can go higher if we get a team together to go out and look for whatever medicine could be further out in the state?” Jaime asks, her eyes staring towards Julia, designating her as the mouthpiece. “I’m sure we could work something out for that” Julia replies, watching Jaime stand from her seat and hold her hand out, telling her to return the following day with the written amount of food, promising her twenty militia members to return with. Once the night has fallen, Jaime sits by her mansion window, the sights of the city behind her tequila-filled glass mesmerize her too much to sleep. “I see you can’t sleep either” Chevy calls, his gentle footsteps accompanying him to the woman, taking a seat beside her and sharing her watch. “There’s gonna come a time where we miss getting the chance to sit down and look out at the stars” Chevy exclaims, Jaime’s simple ‘yes’ showing her disdain for that day. “You’re not blaming yourself for this whole mess, are you?” Chevy asks, the question coming from left field, though the importance behind it remains present knowing the person the question is directed towards. “Kind of, yeah” Jaime responds, the man retorting with his hand held out, lowering onto Jaime’s free hand. “Do me a favor” Chevy requests, making sure the woman’s eyes line up with his own before he asks, “don’t.” “How am I not supposed to feel like I’m responsible when all of this goes wrong?” the woman asks, every day being spent in fear that she’ll be responsible for the downfall of people that trust her. “Because it’s not your place to determine how people operate” Chevy replies, his eyes making sure not to leave Jaime’s, “it’s natural human nature to act in ways that some people don’t have a response to.” Her chin lowering despite eye contact being maintained, Jaime listens to Chevy take today’s killing as an example. “That person chose to strip a gun away from the closest thing to police we have, that’s something you just have to hope they won’t do” Chevy informs, “you have no control over whether or not he follows those hopes.” Taking away the glass, Chevy tells Jaime to switch to water to avoid giving herself any resemblance of a head ache in the morning. His hand brushing her shoulder, Chevy walks for his shared bedroom before Jaime calls out his name. “Do you think I’m gonna be anything like Django?” Jaime asks, the man she watches turn his head back towards her shaking his head with a smile. “Django never would have put his people over himself like you have” Chevy replies, telling Jaime to get some rest and prepare for another day tomorrow. Alone again, Jaime looks out over the city skyline, the story of Kate and herself replaying in her head as it has countless times before. “The people come first” Jaime whispers to herself, her arms crossing as she sinks into her chair, taking the moment to appreciate the view whilst she still has it. -> “Let’s see how we start off this chit chat” Jaime exclaims, entering Kate’s office and watching the woman walk to the chair behind her desk. Taking a seat, Jaime notices something off about this introduction, the manner in which Kate sits, her hands folded and her eyes pointed towards the table suggesting to the girl that today isn’t like others. “I have some news that I’d like to share with you first” Kate says, Jaime immediately placing her hands to either edge of her seat cushion.
“Why does it feel like you’re about to drop a bomb on me?” Jaime asks, her obvious concern noticeable, though a hint of humor inserted to ensure the mood remains lifted for the time being. “Would you like to guess?” Kate asks, watching Jaime through the part in the hair before her eyes as the girl begins to quickly pick up on signals and immediately read the nature of whatever is to come. “It’s nothing good” Jaime begins, “your hands are folded, you’re creating separation between us and you’re letting me pick the subject.” Piecing together the fact that the white noise-producing machine isn’t powered on and Kate remains silent as she awaits Jaime’s conclusion, the girl becomes disappointed, believing herself to have stumbled onto an accurate prediction. Her eyes sinking and her lips finding a spot between the ends of her left molars, Jaime takes in a deep breath and nods to herself. “I assume you’ve probably figured it out by now” Kate replies, remaining patient for Jaime to say it aloud herself as her lips pucker. “I’d rather you say it than me” Kate continues, watching Jaime look up at her. Without wasting another second, Jaime gets up from her chair and walks over to Kate, putting her arms around her and sharing a hug. Returning the gesture without question, the two eventually pull apart and Kate stares into Jaime’s eyes, her stare giving the girl permission to be at ease with her conclusion. “You’re leaving... aren’t you?” Jaime asks, Kate’s nod signalling the end of their time together as therapist and client. Refusing to allow tears to run, Jaime smiles and attempts to speak, only for her initial attempt to come up short as she gets choked up. “Damnit” Jaime replies, the room for talking without needing to cry capping at a single word, the single word accomplishing her attempt to verbalize her inner thoughts perfectly. “I know” Kate replies, her hands running up and down Jaime’s shoulders as she shares the disappointment in having to end this stage of their existence. “It was bound to happen eventually somehow” Kate replies, pulling Jaime in for another hug. <- “Jaime!” Kayla shouts, finally breaking through to the girl having lost herself in a daydream recollection. “Yeah, I’m here” Jaime replies, watching Kayla’s head cock back as she takes a seat at the opposite end of the desk formerly occupied by Wenton, now occupied by Jaime herself. “I’m glad to hear that” Kayla replies, “but you’ve got more pressing issues that me calling out your name.” “Anything new?” Jaime asks, Kayla informing her that they’ve been standing outside, awaiting clarification as they have for the last three days. “What do I say?” Jaime asks, her arms extending as she ponders over how to put the past few days into words. “The last thing you should be right now is another invisible leader” Kayla replies, pointing out the peaceful patience of the crowd as an example of their trust that she’ll do what’s right. “Just tell them the truth” Kayla continues, her hand patting Jaime on the shoulder, “it’s more than Django ever gave them.” Her leg crossed, Jaime puts her finger to her lip and gently bites on it, calling Kayla just before she can disappear. “Have you ever been to therapy?” Jaime asks, the question confusing Kayla, who answers with a ‘no.’ Figuring she’d rather not know the reason behind it, Kayla brushes off the question and leaves, allowing Jaime to consider her options on her own. = Dire 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 = -> “Nothing surprises me anymore” Chevy says, his hand gripping onto a foam coffee cup as Kayla gleefully walks by his side. “We just lose ourselves in the moment and never pick up where we left off” Chevy continues, pointing out how often we forget names and faces. “Can you remember your grandmothers phone number by heart?” Kayla asks, watching Chevy’s face drop in embarrassment. “Then you shouldn’t be one to complain!” Kayla amuses, running her shoulder into Chevy’s as the pair remain laughing about beneath the warm, California sun. “How about-” Chevy begins, stumbling over himself when he knocks into someone whilst turning the corner. “Oh shit, maan. I’m sorry about that!” Chevy exclaims, reaching down to help the man he bumped into pick up the items he caused to drop onto the shade-covered side walk. “Here, uh… Jordan?” Chevy begins, reading the name at the top of the green, college-ruled notebook in his hand. “Thanks” the man replies, patting Chevy on the back and telling him not to worry about it. Going about their separate ways, Chevy and Kayla return to their walk, continuing their conversation until later in the evening. “You’re a lot of fun” Chevy declares, watching Kayla’s face light up as he walks her to her apartment complex. “Thank you, I can say the same to you” Kayla replies, asking Chevy if he’d like to share the day with her again soon. “I’d like that a lot” the man replies, watching the woman thank him again for the date and disappear into her complex. His hands tucked into his pockets, Chevy nods to himself and walks himself back to his end of town. After a short number of months, the buzzer to Chevy’s apartment door beeps, pulling him from his writing as he notices just how dark the sky had become outside. Spending the night with Kayla, Chevy wakes up the following morning to see the woman, her body nude with the covers stretching over the small of her back. Awoken by the morning sun peering through his blinds and covering his eyes, Chevy pushes himself up by the elbows and glances towards Kayla. The comfort of having someone beside him calms the air, allowing him to pull the covers the rest of the way up and return his head to the pillow. As weeks turn into months, a year passes with the pair remaining close, only growing closer with each day. “I have something for you” Chevy says, the day turning into night as the Kayla awaits what she can only assume to be an anniversary gift. “Didn’t I say you were enough of a gift already?” Kayla asks, her smile turning into a flattered smirk as Chevy returns with a small box stretched out towards her. “I thought you’d like this almost as much” Chevy replies, watching the woman take the box and graciously untie the bow. “Holy shit, Chevy” Kayla remarks, pulling a key with a bird-shaped head from within and looking towards the elated man. “The first night you stayed over, I woke up, saw you and couldn’t stop smiling” Chevy responds, “I still remember exactly how I felt and now I wanna feel that every morning.” Getting up from her seat, Kayla walks into Chevy’s arms and places her hands to each side of his face, thanking him. <- “Wake the fuck up!” Clayton shouts, shaking Chevy’s head in his hands as the man lay semi-conscious, dirt covering every inch of his face as his arms lay at his sides. “Come on you son of a bitch” Clayton shouts, pulling Chevy up and dragging him out into the open. Gunfire still hurling through the air at a lesser pace than it used to, Clayton is forced to pull Chevy back into cover, laying behind some bushes whilst firing a few rounds back. With bullets pulling up grass a few feet away, Clayton returns fire towards a windowless house and manages to make contact. Watching a head poke back into view, Clayton fires another round off and puts the threat down. Starting to come back, Chevy groans as the pain begins getting to him, keeping enough strength to pull his arm over Clayton’s shoulder and try to lighten his body weight to ease the task of carrying him. “We’re getting there, Chevy” Clayton says, the only response coming from the wounded man is Kayla’s name. “We’re gonna get you some help, man” Clayton continues, assisting Chevy down a street on the outskirts of Los Angeles, the road sign indicating the close proximity of Mount Cedar-Sinai giving Clayton hope that it won’t be too late to keep the infection in Chevy’s body from being too advanced to overcome. | -> “We’ll still stay in contact, right?” Jaime asks, Kate not even needing a second to come to agreement. “I’d like to think this is just the end of our first chapter, and the start of a second… More casual chapter” Kate replies, the affirmation that she’ll be staying in Jaime’s life at least in one form putting a smile on the girl’s face. “I don’t even know who else I’d turn to” Jaime admits, acknowledging her appreciation for other friends, but not having any go-to in the way Kate is. “I’m not going anywhere” Kate replies, “I just won’t be in this chair anymore.” Nodding, Jaime thanks Kate for always being there for her. Being the final client of her day, Kate ends her final workday by walking out of the building alongside Jaime, running down plans to meet at the local tavern later that evening. “I’ll be there around eight?” Kate asks, Jaime insisting the time sounds good before taking a few steps in the direction of her truck. “Watch out!” a passer-by shouts, the road beside the therapy hall hosting a driver heading in the direction of oncoming traffic until the chilling sounds of twisting metal fills the air. Shouting profanities, Jaime and Kate turn away from their vehicles and towards the scene of the crash. The distracted driver of one car slamming at full-speed directly into the front of another creating reason to believe casualties are bound to be reported. Running towards the nearest vehicle, though both remain halted in the middle of the road, Jaime and Kate lean through the mangled driver’s window to find the first driver barely conscious. “This one’s alive!” Kate shouts, a group of nearby civilians rushing from their places along the area to aid those wounded. “I’ve got no pulse over here!” another man shouts from the opposite car, his hands covered in blood from his attempted check. “The door isn’t budging” Kate exclaims, one foot pressed against the car to aid in freeing the man trapped inside to no luck. “I’m gonna see if they’ve got something in the office!” Kate mutters, hurrying towards the entrance of the building now flooding with workers and clients alike from within having overhead the fiasco. Within seconds, shouting originates from the huddled crowds, the engine of a car growing closer as its tired begin skidding. <- “Jesus fucking christ, Jaime!” Kennedy shouts, her hands slamming on the desk as her mother tells her not to use such language. “People are still killing each other! Me cussing is the least of your problems!” Kennedy retorts, her mother very anxiously trying to brush away her original concern. “Honey, are you alright?” Alex asks, her hands running down the sides of Jaime’s face as she notices the woman’s skin growing pale. “Yeah, I’m fine” Jaime replies, pushing herself off her seat and walking for the front door. “You don’t look alright” Alex quips, her youngest and herself following after her eldest as the new leading lady of Los Angeles heads for the rooftop stairwell. “What are you doing?” Alex asks, her daughter insisting that she needs some air and to be alone. Refusing, Alex continues to persist, Kennedy following closely. Following through the doorway, Alex and Kennedy watch Jaime stand out into the middle of the roof and just take a seat in the open, her legs crossed beneath themselves. Watching her daughter just take a seat and stare out into the cloudless sky, Alex stands by herself as Kennedy soon follows after, taking a seat next to her sister. Appreciating the image, Alex walks up to the pair and takes a seat in between, staring out into the sky and joining the daydream as it unfolds. “What do you think about when you do this?” Alex asks, her question directed at Jaime despite her eyes locking onto the basin of light blue above. “The same thing I always do” Jaime replies, her voice growing tired, “the same story over, and over, and over again.” When questioned ‘what story’ by Kennedy, Jaime looks towards her younger sibling and smiles. “Just the story of how I got here” Jaime replies, “and when I finish it, I start all over again.” “How does it end?” Alex asks, “I mean, if you have to start it over again, and it never changes, you must’ve told yourself the ending somewhere along the lines?” Her face returning to the sky, though her head remaining angled towards her mother, Jaime admits that she never really thinks about it in that way. “When it’s over, I just get the feeling that it’s over and I do it all over again” Jaime replies, “not much rhyme or reason to it.” “Is it a happy story?” Kennedy asks, her big sister’s smile returning, though with less joy behind it. “It goes both ways” Jaime replies, immediately leaving the door open for Alex to ask whether the feeling of it being over is a good feeling or not. “Not lately, it hasn’t” Jaime replies, her head hung for a moment before she returns it to the sky. “Where does it start?” Kennedy asks, Jaime admitting that she hasn’t though much about that either. “I just kind of let it play out the way it plays out” Jaime continues, “there’s really not much more to it than that.” The three, sat beside one another, stare peacefully into the mid-day sky as the sun nears the point of turning the horizon orange. “I don’t mean to turn the conversation into something too depressing” Alex quips, watching Jaime’s face turns towards her, “but these people are waiting for you to run down what happens next, and I don’t think they want to wait much longer. “I know” Jaime replies, her lips puckering as her mother reminds her that it’s alright not knowing where to go next. “Sometimes things just happen, and you never really realize it until it either hits you out of nowhere or the abnormal just becomes normal” Alex continues, “it’s okay to be lost sometimes.” Her head nodding, Jaime replies with ‘I know’ again before pulling herself to her feet and walking for the entry into the stairwell. Kennedy descending first, Alex takes a moment to ask Jaime a question before following suit. “Is it a happy story?” Alex asks, her daughter’s eyelids covering most of her eyes as protection from the sunlight. “No” Jaime replies, the disappointment in her face at having to admit that only matched by the depression in her future, “no it isn’t.” | -> Emerging through the front door, Chevy places his keys atop a wooden stool tucked away in the corner and glances towards the couch. “You okay?” Chevy asks, noticing something off when he spots Kayla staring at the television with a pillow tucked in her arms, and the television being off. Calling his girlfriend’s name, Chevy watches the girl turn towards him, the mascara around her eyes ruined by a day’s worth of crying. One week later, Chevy accompanies Kayla to her father’s funeral, his hand holding hers, and her head resting against his shoulder. Months later, Kayla accompanies Chevy to the hospital bedside of his cancer-ridden brother, offering his good-bye’s as the final days inch near. Eight days later, Kayla accompanies Chevy to his brother’s funeral, their only remaining family no longer with them. “We still have each other” Kayla whispers, her mother having died many years prior, and Chevy’s single-mother having been killed in a car accident just after he turned nineteen. “Forever and always” Chevy replies, his head resting against Kayla’s, which nestles against his shoulder once more. As weeks turn into more months, the pair remain close, their final true pillars of trust in the world residing in each other. <- “Wake the fuck up!” Clayton shouts, his hand slamming against the side of Chevy’s head as the suffering Chevy is dragged through the front doors of Mount Cedar-Sinai. “I need some help over here!” Clayton shouts, a nurse rushing up to Chevy’s side and assisting him into a cleared wing of the building. The man, dropped onto a free bed, is wheeled into an open plot of the building with the question of where the wounds originated from being called into question. “He got into a fight out there a few days ago” Clayton replies, “fucked his leg up real bad.” Calling out his instructions, the care taker directs Clayton to the hospital lobby, telling him to join the guards in keeping watch. “I need Kayla” Chevy mutters, his words barely legible to the naked ear as the doctor tells him to keep his eyes open as much as he can. With his supplies brought to him, the doctor begins going to work, peeling off the infection with a knife as Chevy screams out in pain. “I know it hurts, man!” the doctor replies, “but you’ve gotta try to stay with me!” With the assisting nurse placing a wooden stick in Chevy’s mouth, the doctor returns to his work, slicing away whatever he deems necessary in the moment to save Chevy’s life. The pain becoming too much to bare, Chevy begins fading out, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he loses consciousness once more sending the staff into a hurried panic. | Mid-speech, Jaime apologizes for the time it took her to find the right things to say, making it clear that there was nothing that could be said to make up for what was lost. “I figured I’d start with telling you all the truth about how all of this came to be” Jaime continues, the crowd, noticeably smaller than it was in the days past, anxiously awaiting the answers they’ve been looking for. “The water was never poisonous for consumption, it was simply tampered with on order of federal officials” Jaime explains, “it was their misguided attempt at thinning the population to a more manageable level.” Explaining their idea that the water crisis was to be solved by decreasing the number of people in need of it, Jaime makes it clear that their solution completely misfired. “The chemicals used managed to expand in water until the government stopped pumping it in.” Jaime continues, “the second they stopped, the chemicals already in began mixing with the oxygen, which in turn, created a nation-wide cold front, mixed with a storm of acid rain.” Admitting that it was intentional, Jaime explains that the federal government no longer exists as most either died or went into hiding. “When the acid rain came, it dissolved the remaining acid particles in the water and essentially created the invisible effect of what we’ll see in twenty years or so.” Taking in a deep breath, Jaime explains that forms of plant life will slowly die off for the next twenty years due to the soil no longer being suitable, and the effects of breathing in the air will cause inactive cancer cells to activate in the coming years. “No matter which way you look at it, there’s no way we see another two decades together” Jaime concludes, the instant shock bringing the crowd to their hopeless knees. “There’s nothing that I can say that can change what that means for us” Jaime admits, “but in the coming days, we’ll put together guidelines to make sure that we can all survive the remaining time we have.” “That is all” Jaime concludes, the crowd’s silence ominous as the reason to fight each other or for survival completes depletes. “I’ll now ask the militia heads to join me in the conference room” Jaime continues, returning to the interior of city hall. “Should I still have spoken?” Jaime asks, stopping to look at her mother with her teeth pressing against her lips. Rather than answer, Alex pulls Jaime in for a hug and kisses her head, telling her how much she loves and is proud of her. “Thanks, mom” Jaime replies, her hand brushing her shoulder before she brings herself to walk in the direction of the conference rooms. As she walks past her office, Jaime stops in the hallway and takes a few steps back, entering her new den and closing the doors behind her. Directing herself to the window, Jaime stares off at the view and loses herself in the blue of the sky, readying herself for the end of the story. -> Running towards the nearest vehicle, though both remain halted in the middle of the road, Jaime and Kate lean through the mangled driver’s window to find the first driver barely conscious. “This one’s alive!” Kate shouts, a group of nearby civilians rushing from their places along the area to aid those wounded. “I’ve got no pulse over here!” another man shouts from the opposite car, his hands covered in blood from his attempted check. “The door isn’t budging” Kate exclaims, one foot pressed against the car to aid in freeing the man trapped inside to no luck. “I’m gonna see if they’ve got something in the office!” Kate mutters, hurrying towards the entrance of the building now flooding with workers and clients alike from within having overhead the fiasco. Within seconds, shouting originates from the huddled crowds, the engine of a car growing closer as its tired begin skidding “Kate, check for-” Jaime calls, her head turning towards the woman, only finding the end of a car zip away from the corner of her eye and a shriek of horrified screams from onlookers. Looking around, Jaime calls out Kate’s name again, watching people scattered throughout tuck their heads and mouths into their hands and shoulders, staring away. “Where’d-” Jaime starts, stopping herself in confusion as to what’s going on. “Where the fuck did you go?” Jaime calls, turning around to watch strong-stomached men and women approach the third vehicle. “I couldn’t stop in time!” the man shouts, removing himself from the front seat and walking to the front of his car, immediately throwing up the second he sees the sights before him. “What the fuck’s going on!?” Jaime shouts, her arms extended outwards as she begins approaching the third vehicle. “Don’t come over here!” one of the men shouts, urging Jaime to stay away as the others begins silently walking towards Jaime’s with their hands held out, acting as a shield. Police sirens blaring off in the distance, Jaime fights through each person and quickly approaches the car. “Seriously, don’t come any closer!” the man shouts, his attempt to hold the woman back falling short, Jaime walking to the front of the car in spite of his efforts. “K-” Jaime begins, the first letter not even coming out clearly, a few seconds spent on figuring out what she was looking at before she actually puts the pieces together. Finally, like a twisted puzzle, Jaime realizes the grim sights in front of her when she spots Kate’s glasses hanging halfway out of the car’s front grill. “Kate?” Jaime questions, her mouth slowly widening as she begins to place the final pieces into the correct spots. A lack of anything from words to thoughts, the emptied Jaime slowly backs away from the sight before breaking into a full sprint to her truck. Climbing into the driver’s seat and turning the keys in the ignition, Jaime pulls her truck out of the parking lot and turns onto the road, believing this could all just disappear and restart if she drives far enough away from it. Eyes wide, Jaime turns away from the scene, electing to take on the night as if nothing ever happened. <- | -> “Come over here and drink with us, loser!” one of the many recently-minted twenty-one year olds shouts to Jordan, holding a beer up towards the man stationed across the pub with a pencil in hand. “College isn’t one big drinking party!” Jordan replies, a smirk across his face coming when the group shouts ‘dweeb’ to friendly humor. “Join us when you’re done with math!” the slightly-buzzed student shouts, earning a salute from Jordan in return. “Not a big fan of party drinking?” the bartender asks, watching Jordan chuckle to himself. “Not a big fan of flunking out” the man replies, the bartender patting him on the back as he throws a towel over his own shoulder. “Hey, real quick, do you know that girl over there?” the bartender asks, pointing towards the opposite end of an empty bar counter towards a woman, staring blankly in a glass of cold beer pressed between her hands. “No, why?” Jordan asks, the bartender shrugging it off as nothing. “She came in like an hour ago and she’s just been sitting like that since” the bartender replies, “hasn’t touched her beer once.” Nodding, Jordan watches the bartender walk away before returning to his homework. Returning his gaze to the woman through the corner of his eye, Jordan begins finding it impossible to return to his work without acknowledging her, and chooses to approach her. “Miss?” Jordan asks, the woman turning her head to the side by about five inches, offering that as her acknowledgement of his existence. “Are… you alright?” Jordan asks, his noticeable concern for the woman obvious, watching as she turns her face towards his and swallows the spit building up in her already dry mouth. “Y-” the woman begins, her response quelled by her hidden sobs beginning to break through her sturdy mask. “I’m f-” the woman begins again, this time lifting her hand to her mouth as she begins to break down, her cheeks gone from pale to glistening with tears within seconds. Feeling the emotions running out of her like an explosion ready to go off, the woman takes her purse and dashes for the front door. “Hey!” the bartender shouts, calling for the girl already outside until Jordan insists he put her beer on his tap. Hurrying after the woman, Jordan enters an alleyway and calls her name. “I’m sorry!” the woman shouts back, “I can’t” as her dash slows to a trot. Easily catching up to the woman, Jordan places his hand on her shoulder just as she turns around, her eyes puffy and red. “I’m sorry” the woman insists again, the man instinctively pulling her in to no reluctance, the woman breaking down with her head against Jordan’s chest. “It’s alright” Jordan replies, understanding the great deal of trauma necessary to break down that quickly and to that extent, “you don’t have to explain.” <- “You okay?” Jordan asks, his girlfriend staring off into space as she realizes the mid-day sun to have turned into night. “Yeah” Jaime replies, rubbing her eyes as Jordan closes the door behind himself. “You look tired” Jordan jokes, Jaime flashing him a smile and walking into his arms. “I heard what you said out there earlier” Jordan states, his face pulling away from Jaime as he informs her that he’ll spend every day with her with as much love as the day before. “I love you” Jaime replies, Jordan responding in kind as they share a kiss and pull away. “I’ll meet you at home” Jaime instructs, Jordan giving her a kiss back before making for the front steps. Glancing back to her desk, Jaime runs her finger along the edges and takes her seat, her eyes returning to the night sky settling in over Los Angeles. “From the top” Jaime mutters to herself, the story she plays on repeat starting from the beginning all over again. “...And how does that make you feel, Jaime?” Through her front door, Jaime walks into a quiet home, her fellow survivors expected to be tucked into their beds as she wipes off her shoes. “Kennedy with you?” Alex asks, her voice making Jaime jump as the woman looks across the room, noticing her mother’s silhouette defined at the window, a glass of wine noticeable with it. “No, she went with Chevy, remember?” Jaime replies, placing her shoes on the rack and walking over to the woman, currently on her fifth glass.
“Should I be concerned?” Jaime asks, taking a seat beside the view of the city beside the woman. “No, I’m sure Chevy’s keeping her safe” Alex replies, her words holding a slight slur to them. “I see you’re coming around to him” the daughter replies, taking the glass from her mother’s hand and taking a sip of her own. “I’ve trusted him ever since he took on Eli for you” Alex replies, “I just didn’t want him to know it yet.” Bobbing her head, Jaime looks out at the city, watching the dying fire spread ash into the sky, the smoke finally encompassing more of the view than the orange glow itself. “It’s all going to shit” Alex perks up to say, returning the glass to her hand, “we’re not gonna make it long until something else goes bad.” Her head shaking from one side to the next, Jaime tells the woman not to think in such a way. “Everyone’s gonna stay in line and support each other until we get back to normal” Jaime replies, her mother immediately laughing it off. “Honey, you’re so smart but you’re so disillusioned” Alex replies, Jaime offended almost immediately, “we never cared about each other before this happened and we’re not going to now that we’re here.” “This is the kind of thing that will change that” Jaime replies, Alex laughing it off once again, struggling to sip the drink with each laugh. “We’re Americans” Alex replies, “the only people we look out for is ourselves.” Watching her mother continue to drink, Jaime begins to doubt the state of the group, beginning to come to the belief that they’re lacking the optimism necessary to make this process work. “Things can end well here” Jaime retorts, “refusing to believe that isn’t going to help anyone, it’s just writing something off for the sake of writing something off!” Turning to her daughter, Alex rests the glass on the windowsill and reminds her of what someone’s true nature is. “People like Chevy and Kayla are so rare that you notice what’s special about them immediately” Alex replies, “believing this is going to work isn’t optimism, it’s stupidity.” “Why?” Jaime replies, “why is it so hard to believe that after what these people went through, they wouldn’t fight for a future worth believing in.” Leaning forward, Alex whispers to her daughter to lower her voice. “These kinds of people don’t fight” Alex replies, “they’re the ones that put their own lives ahead of someone else’s just because they can, and then they’ll find whatever excuse they can to justify their decision.” “It’s all about saving face for these people” Alex concludes, Jaime assuring her mother that she’s wrong. “Why am I wrong?” Alex asks, “I’m giving you points that justify my stance, you’re just handing me some inspirational quotes you could’ve gotten off Facebook.” Biting her tongue with a smile of annoyance, Jaime takes the glass and downs the remaining wine before opening one of the many windows and throwing it over the side of the mountain. “I’ve worked with plenty of people that worked their asses off and did as told by a woman much younger than they were without question” Jaime returns, “there’s many more people with a good head on their shoulders than you’d think.” “Jaime, how many of those people do you think truly enjoyed taking orders from a girl half their age?” Alex replies, “secretly, I’m sure they’d much rather turn on you and take all the power for themselves.” Her look steadily focusing on the view of the city for a few seconds, Jaime turns around and tells her mother than no one in her own household batted an eyelash. “Dad may have certainly hated it, but for you and Kennedy…” Jaime begins, her mother immediately possessing a look turning sour quickly, “...I’m the only reason you two even made it out of there alive.” The words coming from her mouth, Jaime stares at her mother, refusing to give up the eye contact until her face is thrown in the opposite direction by a firm slap from the woman in front of her. “You should’ve left when you had the chance” Alex replies, standing from her seat and groggily stumbling towards her room. Her hand pressed against her cheek, Jaime rubs at the handprint and watches her mother hobble away. Her breathing turning heavy and long, Jaime keeps herself from losing control of her anger until she looks out into the midnight sky above Los Angeles, her anger being lost in translation when the adoration for the sight itself takes hold. = Dire 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 = His hands folded on his chest, Chevy aimlessly stares at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep as Kennedy and Amelia occupy the couches on either side of him. The floor beneath his body now warm, the man remains wide awake despite the belief of his two female counterparts to be exactly opposite. “Are you awake?” Kennedy whispers, watching Chevy’s eyes take their sights from the direction above to the girl beside him. “No, I’m sleeping with my eyes open” Chevy replies, the young girl giggling, prompting Chevy to match the response. “Are you scared?” Kennedy asks, “of what’s gonna happen now, I mean.” His head shaking, Chevy declines, instead telling Kennedy that it takes some good faith to get them through it all. With a guilty smile, “you can tell me the truth” Kennedy replies, watching Chevy’s eyes lose their good nature. “Yeah” the man replies, “yeah, I am.” Her head returning to her pillow, Kennedy keeps her eyes glued to Chevy as he tells her to keep her spirits high. “If we go into this thinking it’s all gonna end bad, it will” Chevy continues, “but if we hold out some hope, we’ll at least save ourselves from having to live in fear.” Tapping her shoulder, Chevy tells her to get some rest, knowing she has more questions to ask. His eyes closing in an attempt to gain the slightest amount of rest, Chevy’s attention is caught by a jumbled slur of commands off in the near distance. “Do you hear that?” Amelia asks, waking up from her sleep and tossing the blankets off of herself whilst Chevy hurries to the window. “What is it?” Kennedy asks as she tip-toes beside him, staring out at the street, where they originally see nothing. “Who’s that?” Kennedy asks just as Chevy gets prepared to return to bed, pointing out three men being led forward by a set of military workers. “I don’t know” Chevy replies, noticing how weird it is to see random men being led anywhere by the militia with the day-long ceasefire going on. “I’m gonna take a video and send it to Jaime” Chevy says, expecting to gift her a small bargaining chip in any future negotiations she may have. In the focus of the camera, Chevy documents the soldiers pointing the men forward, telling them to hurry as the figures talk back to them, reminding them of the ordered ceasefire. Glancing to each other, two members of the tagging crew pull blades from their gear and plunge them into the men, startling the third, who immediately finds his throat slashed as the original two are taken care of the rest of the way. Continuing to film, Chevy hands the camera to Amelia and leads Kennedy away from the sights, hiding her in a separate room and telling her not to move. Returning to Amelia, Chevy takes his phone back and immediately leads her away from the spot as the soldiers begin continuing their duty, kicking in doors to random houses in an attempt to clear out the south by force. “In here” Chevy directs, leading Amelia into a pantry and covering the doors with a bookshelf. Whispering for Kennedy, Chevy leads her into a bathroom, where he directs her into a cabinet space beneath the sink. “Don’t move a muscle, don’t say a word unless I tell you to” Chevy says, closing the doors and jumping into the bathtub as the door to their home is kicked in. Pressing his back up against the linoleum walls, Chevy keeps his hand draped over his gun, watching the moonlight bathe the bathroom in light well enough for him to see the outline of whatever rests behind the curtains. The boots stomping inside growing slow and methodical, Chevy begins assuming the process of searching for inhabitants in hiding places to be underway. Within moments of the door being kicked in, the door to the bathroom slowly glides across the floor and comes to a stop, pressing against the curtain as a large man cautiously walks in. The outline standing a few inches taller than Chevy himself, it remains frozen before Chevy’s eyes, turning towards the sink. His hand wrapping around the stock of the firearm, Chevy watches the man approach the mirror and take a look at his reflection. Before long, the sound of his mates giving off the ‘all-clear’ signals the man in front of the mirror to be the final soldier remaining in the house. Knowing this, Chevy retrieves his gun as the man turns away from the mirror and eyes the curtains themselves. His approach slow, the man leans up to the curtain, his nose pressing to the fabric itself as the man on the other side, armed with a regular handgun, holds the barrel with a steady hand directly at the soldier’s left eye. Standing straight, the soldier nods and walks away, leaving the bathroom as his boots finally make contact with the wooden front porch, allowing Chevy to remove himself from hiding. “Are you alright?” Chevy asks, taking Kennedy by the hand and helping her up as she nods. Assisting Amelia out of her hiding place, Chevy takes his phone out and realizes his phone had been recording the entire ordeal. Sending the video to Kennedy’s sister, Chevy leads the girls through the back of the house and around the side. Manually unlocking the car door, Chevy gently pulls it open and leads Kennedy into the passenger’s seat. Amelia entering next, Chevy finds himself alerted by the sound of a soldier calling out something unusual. Turning the key in the ignition, Chevy powers the vehicle on as the lone soldier prepares to open fire. Unable to climb into the backseat, Chevy tells the woman to remain in the driver’s seat as he runs around the back. His hand extending for the handle, the sensation of his tendons tearing as his hand moves in an unnatural way catches his focus before the man tackling him against the door manages to. Bullets beginning to fly, Chevy goes to the ground at the hands of the soldier from the bathroom having caught him off guard. “Drive!” Chevy shouts, holding his hand out to slam Amelia’s door shut a he struggles with the patrol. “Go!” Chevy follows, demanding Amelia do as told until she finally puts the vehicle into reverse and makes off for the hills. The soldier now bringing in backup, Chevy turns the man atop him towards his armed counterparts and allows his body to take the gunfire intended for him. Disarming the corpse, Chevy fires a few warning shots in the direction of the armed enforcements and hurries away, taking cover behind whatever he can as Amelia and Kennedy make their escape. | // “It’s not gonna happen” Jaime replies, “I’ve already made up my mind, that isn’t going to change.” Opposite the stubborn business owner, Kate hangs her head, the disappointment noticed by Jaime, effective in its use as a method of making Jaime feel bad. “What?” Jaime asks, her guilt only rivaled by her exhaustion of being told the countless reasons to move on and leave her family in the abusive, drunken dust. “He’s gonna do something eventually” Kate replies, “he’s not just going to let you walk over him like this, drunk or sober.” Assuring Kate that everything will be fine, the woman in a position of power refuses to take Jaime’s word as gospel. “He’s on a ventilator in the hospital, Kate” Jaime returns, “even if he wanted to do something, he can’t.” “And what happens when he gets back on his feet?” Kate asks, her words becoming hostile and her patience being tested far enough. “Here’s the issue, Jaime… He wants to beat you so badly but he knows that he can’t” Kate begins, walking around the table and telling the girl sat before her to stand up. “The second that he does, that trigger in his brain will go off and he’s not gonna stop” Kate continues, “he’s gonna take out all that frustration at once and he’s gonna fucking kill you.” The prediction feeling more like a case of deja vu, Jaime quiets down, her stance on the issue taking a backseat to the defense of truths kept away from Kate’s ears. “You don’t know that” Jaime replies, “he hasn’t beaten Kennedy, why do you think he’d beat me?” Her head tilting as she begins to show a crooked smile, Kate tells Jaime to get her head out of her ass and be real with herself for once. “What’s the difference between you and Kennedy?” Kate asks, “one’s a middle school student, and the other’s a fucking mogul with enough money to buy him eight times over!” Informing Jaime that the concept of being untouchable is just an illusion, Kate asks Jaime to describe what happens when that illusion is shattered. “When there’s no going back and you’re already done for, there’s no reason to stop” Kate concludes, “and you’ll get caught in it if you don’t get out now.” // Her name called three times, Jaime finally begins hearing her name beckoned for, and turns around to see Kayla walking towards her. “Sorry, you weren’t responding” Kayla replies, having begun approaching the woman until she finally responded. “What’s up?” Jaime asks, the woman asking if Chevy had come home with Kennedy and Amelia yet. “Not as far as I know” Jaime replies, the woman doing her best to brush off the slight worry by walking for the bar. “They’ll be back” Jaime says, watching Kayla nod. Returning her stare towards the city below, Jaime’s mind begins turning away, latching onto a question she keeps finding herself wanting an answer to. “Does Chevy believe in me?” Jaime asks, directing the question to the woman behind her as she’s mid-pour. “Of course he does” Kayla replies, topping off her glass and walking up to her fellow survivor, “he just doesn’t believe in the people you’re leading.” “That’s funny” Jaime replies, “my mother just said the same thing.” Handing Jaime the glass, Kayla admits that she holds no faith in the people she’s attempting to govern either, making it clear that belief in the people themselves is not the issue. “I don’t believe in those people either” Kayla admits, “but the question isn’t whether or not they can be trusted, it’s whether or not your influence is stronger than their response.” Admitting that she’s already realized that, Jaime responds by confessing that she won’t let herself get anywhere with them if she doesn’t believe in them. “If they can’t be saved, I won’t try to save them” Jaime continues, “it’s easier to blindly believe in them than to go into it pretending and hoping for the best.” Returning to the bar, Kayla grabs the glass of vodka and takes her glass back from Jaime, replacing it with the remainder of the bottle itself. “Good call” Jaime replies, drinking straight from the bottle and Kayla sips from the glass. “We’re gonna ge-” Jaime begins, stopped by the sound of sudden and immediate pounding at the front door. Each thunderous slam blasting through the home, Jaime reaches the handle and pulls the door open, Kennedy bursting through the doorway and running into Jaime’s arms as Amelia follows shortly thereafter. “What’s wrong? What happened?” Jaime asks, watching Amelia struggle to speak. “Where’s Chevy?” Kayla asks, realizing both girls have returned with two-thirds of the departed party. “We were attacked” Amelia mutters, her words coming in intervals whilst Jordan and Alex stumble into the living room. “What’s going on?” Jordan asks, watching the jumbled scene play out with dictating its pace. “What are you talking about, Amelia?” Jaime asks, Kennedy simply referencing a group of soldiers killing people in the streets. Her eyes locking onto Kayla, Jaime spots the same immediate concern present in the eyes of Kayla as they both begin to put these soldiers and city hall in the same group. “He sent you a video” Amelia replies, “they stabbed people and started breaking down doors!” “Where’s Chevy right now?” Kayla asks, Amelia admitting that she has no idea. “He got tackled by one of them and told us to start driving once they started shooting!” Amelia returns, Kayla’s concern turning into dread. Throwing Jordan her phone and telling him to search for the video, Jaime asks Amelia where all of this went down, the specific location being enough for Jaime to direct Kayla into the car. “This is fucking ridiculous” Jordan exclaims, Jaime unable to locate the film. “The cell tower’s down, of course you didn’t” Kayla replies, her shoes thudding against the ground with force as she climbs into the passenger’s seat. “Don’t leave this house” Jaime orders, pulling the vehicle out of her lot and leaving Jordan and the remainder of the group behind as the pair disappear beneath the hill. | His pant leg torn, the edges of the holes stained with blood from his road rash, Chevy hobbles through one backyard after another in search of any sign of trustworthy life. Drained and gasping for air, the man slams into the side of a rundown house and slowly slides down until his rear meets the grass. His breathing slowing as his energy slowly rebuilds, the wounded survivor listens carefully as the sounds of armed men conversing in his direction draws near. Pulling himself up, Chevy continues valiantly fighting on before the tug of an pulls him onto a railing-less patio by the throat, a second hand pulling him back over the mouth. “Just be still” the voice whispers, a blade appearing to Chevy’s right side and slowly lifting further into view. His fight having gone long ago, Chevy finds himself unable to break from his restraints, opting to just look forward and accept his fate. Seconds later, the blade raches over his face and buries itself in the throat of the oncoming guard, the blood spilling down the handle like liquid from a juicer. “Stay quiet” the voice whispers, releasing Chevy and reaching for the soldier’s gun before firing a single round into the eye of the second guard. Disappearing behind the corner, the man returns a minute later with the uniform of the soldier in his hands. Having yet to see Chevy’s current physical state, the man tosses the uniform to him and hands him a bottle of water, rubbing alcohol and a few bandages. “It’s not much, but get yourself patched up and follow me if you wanna make it out of here alive” the man says, Chevy not wasting a moment further after taking a few seconds to consider his options. His teeth pressing against a bar of metal, Chevy runs the alcohol over his burns and bandages it up as best as he can. Prying the bar from his mouth as if Chevy were a dog, the man tilts Chevy’s head up and runs water into his mouth, telling him to keep hydrated. “You got somewhere to be?” the man asks, Chevy muttering “my girl” and “up in the hills” through bated breaths. “You got a name?” the man proceeds to ask, Chevy’s eyes narrowing as he reaches for the uniform. “Do you?” Chevy asks, the man appreciating the desire for answers. “Clayton” the knife-wielding savior replies, Chevy offering his name as well. “Well then, Mr. Chevy” Clayton begins, pulling the soldier’s gear over his shoulders, “let’s get you back to your girl in the hills.” Unsure about whether or not to blindly trust the man, Chevy acknowledges his life remaining intact, and agrees to follow Clayton as long as the end goal remains in his favor. | “We shouldn’t have left them back there” Kayla quips, “we’re walking up to a man telling his soldiers to kill everything that walks, completely unarmed.” Her hands tightly clutching the steering wheel, Jaime tells Kayla that they are doing almost exactly as she stated, but without being unarmed. “Do you trust me?” Jaime asks, her eyes locking on the woman in the seat next to her, watching a nod arise from the woman as the car quickly swings into a front lot. Hurrying from her vehicle, Jaime slams her fists against the door of the militia leader and tells him to get his men ready for combat. Doing as instructed, the militia leader vanishes into the depths of the former fire station building and allows Jaime to return to her car. Continuing to drive with a purpose, Jaime finally appears at the front gates of city hall, her demand for the attention of mayor Wenton blaring through the megaphone in her hands. Despite being within the dead of night, Django trots out confidently still dressed in a full suit with armed guards hurrying to the gates along his sides. “You’re early” Django replies, his care not remaining with her reasoning nor her tone, but rather with her presence as a whole. “Where are your guards?” Jaime asks, watching Django’s head tilt as he plays unaware. “I’d assume those not guarding the perimeter would be asleep, Jaime” the man replies, his voice condescending. “What are their perimeters?” Jaime asks, further refusal to answer coming from Django’s lips. “Wherever they deem necessary, as per usual” the commander replies, brushing off Jaime’s notion that he doesn’t know where his men are. “I know where my men are, I know what their job is and I don’t see why you need to be here” Django replies, his tone falling from condescending to outright annoyed. “Either tell me why you’re here, or get back in your car and leave” Django continues, Jaime’s eyelids beginning to slightly twitch as she takes note of his hidden grin starting to slip out. “May we talk in private?” Jaime asks, Django immediately crossing his arms and refusing. “I don’t see why we have to, I also don’t see why we’re here” Django replies, “so tell me why you’re here or get lost.” “I’ll only ask one more time” Jaime returns, the twitch in her eye amusing Django, who fully understands what it represents, but pays it no care. “No, you will not. I will ask one more time” Django retorts, “tell me why we need to speak in private or there are going to be issues.” Her aggravation already boiling to the top, Jaime tells Django that there have already been issues, prompting him to shrug and turn away. His steps returning him to the building, Django tells the remaining guards to take care of business. With their guns lifting, the soldiers take aim, watching Jaime and Kayla rush behind their vehicles as the militia hurl molotov cocktails at the gates, lighting Django’s men ablaze. Their weapons firing bullets astray with their hands instinctively holding down the trigger, the guards roll around on the ground as chains fly over the top of the gates. Demanding the militia hurry, Jaime fires random shots towards the building’s doors as Django disappears within them. Kayla returning from the relocation of their getaway vehicle, the pair pull themselves as far away as they can as the trucks behind them begin bringing the gates down. The sound of metal twisting from their most-strained sources pulsating through the air as the supports buckle, allowing the massive tons of metal bars to collapse to the ground in a heap. Ringing against the asphalt with a violent groan, the fence topples in every direction and exposes the main hull of the building to the will of the people. Dashing up the stairs, Jaime and Kayla are closely followed by the militia, clearing the path ahead for a clean attempt at Django. Heaving insults back, Django fires blank rounds at whatever remains below in an attempt to scare the group off, the effects being minimized to almost nothing. As he reaches the top of the stairwell, Django unloads the rest of the clip at whatever he can spot below. Just behind Jaime, the militia leader topples over on the stairway, a bullet finding his neck, the blood within spilling out onto the stairs and dripping at whatever is below. Slamming the single exit behind him, Django climbs into a helicopter and soars away, watching from the air as Jaime and Kayla lead a leader-less militia to the perfect spot to witness his escape. His middle finger raised, Django’s flight disappears into the night sky as bullets remain flying throughout the city. “What do we do now?” Kayla asks, her hand hoisted over her brow as the wind from the propellers remains whipping towards the face of herself and Jaime. Her eyes travelling to the woman in question, Kayla watches Jaime step forward towards the helicopter without word, the only response coming moments later when she admits to having no idea. “We deal with whatever happens next” Jaime adds, looking back to Kayla and whichever militia members didn’t stay back to help their leader. “We look after each other” Jaime continues, looking towards Kayla, who nods in distress, still unknowing of whether or not Chevy or the remainder of the group are alright. “I think we’re all much more aware of how this is gonna play out than we’d like to be” Chevy says, trying to lessen the fears of the group as they watch protestors attempt to storm the walls. “Care to share with us exactly what you plan to do when those gates come down?” Jordan asks, the group placing their focus onto Jaime. “We’re gonna demand answers” Jaime replies, the vague response not doing anything to ease the survivor’s concerns.
“And what happens when they keep their mouth’s shut?” Chevy asks, Jaime unable to come up with anything before Kayla answers the follow up on her behalf. “That’s when we start taking heads” the woman replies, her boyfriend staring at her with disbelief, internally hoping she didn’t just declare what he believes her to have. “That’s our big reveal?” Chevy asks, “play nice or die?” “Do you have any better ideas?” Kayla asks, “start taking heads and the cowards that wanna live will start yapping like a dog!” His head shaking, Chevy said that he did have a plan, which was to go north and get out of Los Angeles before they found themselves too deep. “Too late” Jaime replies, her gaze turning from the mob to Chevy, who reminds her that the issue of being too late doesn’t fall on his shoulders. “I’m heading out” Chevy says, Kennedy and Amelia opting to do the same. “Where is there left to go?” Jaime asks, “the alarm’s are set on the house.” His shoulders shrugging, Chevy takes the keys to Jaime’s car from her and hands her the keys to his bike. “Somewhere without a few hundred guns pointed in my direction” Chevy replies, walking off before looking back to Kayla, asking if she’s tagging along. “Nah, I’m gonna stay out here for a bit” the woman replies, Chevy looking on with disappointment before accepting the stance and driving off. Pulling Jaime aside, Jordan tells her to convince him that they made the right call. “What exactly do you want me to show you?” Jaime asks, “what proof do you want?” With a sigh, Jordan simply replies with the hope that this doesn’t end with Jaime being executed by a rogue, good-for-nothing city-wide government. “We’ll have to wait for that one to show up then” Jaime replies, watching Jordan’s head hang low. “Do you believe in me?” Jaime asks, watching Jordan look up to her, confused at the thought of any answer other than ‘yes.’ “It isn’t you that I have to believe in” Jordan replies, “it’s them” he finishes, pointing at the rock-throwing mob. “Even if the government is overthrown, one wrong move and it’s you on the chopping block” Jordan concludes, walking past Jaime to return to the group. Driven to make sure nothing ends in a fury of flames and piles of corpses, Jaime scales a nearby statue, using her megaphone to regain the attention of the mob and those inside. “If those who govern us for the moment being have answers to give, we can negotiate” Jaime shouts, “if not, we tear down these walls and take prisoners!” With her demand shouted aloud, Jaime spots a convoy of trucks arriving with L.A natives armed to the teeth with large rifles. “The odds are evening in favor of the militia” Jaime continues shouting, “when we tear down that wall, I want those inside alive to stand trial!” With a roar of approval, the mob returns to their conquest, and Jaime declares that her side will not fire a single bullet until the government takes the first shot. Suddenly, the sound of the loudspeakers turning on captivate the audience as the sights begin to turn towards taking the appearance of bloodsport. “Attention residents of Los Angeles” Django proclaims, “the stay at home order is still in effect, those that do not comply will be subject to arrest.” Their idle threats serving as nothing more than fuel to keep their flames burning, Django’s regime watch on from within as the mob work faster. “It’s not going to work, Mayor Wenton” an average politician declares, walking into Django’s office to find him continuing to stare out the lone window in his office. “Shall I have someone relocate your belongings into the mayor’s office?” the man asks, Django immediately declining. “I like the view” Django replies, waving the man off as he continues glaring out the sight, watching fires in the distance continue to rise as buildings in every corner of the globe are burned amidst riots. “Nothing special about these bastards” Django mutters to himself, watching California burn in each direction, the fires destined to intertwine eventually. = Dire 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 = Stepping up the porch of one of the many homes in a random Los Angeles neighborhood sections, Chevy knocks a few times on the door, awaiting an answer. “Why are we here?” Kennedy asks, watching the man back away from the door and kick it in, sending splinters of wood toppling to the ground as he enters the doorway. “We’re here to stock up” Chevy replies, handing both Amelia and Kennedy a potato sack. “I don’t like being here anymore than either of you do” Chevy continues, “so when we’re forced to leave, let’s go with whatever we can carry.” Continuing down the line, Chevy avoids any homes with signs of life, kicking in vacant doors and taking whatever valuables the buildings may contain. “Smart move!” a man calls out from the opposite side of the street, watching Chevy and the girls walk up the porch to yet another house. “You’re expecting bad things too, huh?” the man asks, Chevy returning with a shrug. “No one’s here to miss it” Chevy replies, earning a chuckle out of the man, who tells him to get the little things. “Hygiene products, sun-powered stuff, sunscreen, whatever you can think of” the man shouts, “maybe you will or won’t need it, but they’d go for a pretty penny to the people that do!” “Thanks for the tip!” Chevy replies, despite his appreciation being genuine, his vocalization of it comes off as harsh and sarcastic. “Just don’t get out too late” the man replies, “the second those fancy suits need backup, the border tears open and gives you your chance.” Handing Amelia a blade and telling her to watch after Kennedy, Chevy walks over to the man across the street and asks where exactly he’d plan on going in that scenario. “I’ve got family up in Aberdeen” the man replies, “Once I get out of California, I’ll have fought through the worst of it.” Questioning what the man means by ‘worst’, Chevy reminds him that the people may come fewer, but the wildfires will be just as bad, if not worse. “Wildfires can’t shoot you” the man replies, short and sweet, the words stick with Chevy, who nods as the man gives him a pat on the shoulder. “Take care, kid” the man concludes, closing his car’s trunk and hopping into the passenger’s seat as Chevy returns to the girls. “What was that all about?” Amelia asks, watching Chevy blow a cold puff of air towards his forehead. “Just a man with a good point to make” Chevy replies, returning to his scavenging as if nothing had ever happened. | // “Mom!” Jaime shouts, walking through the front door of her home as the sky sets to it’s darkest shade of black. “I’m home!” Jaime shouts once more, peering into the kitchen to find a half-eaten bowl of mac-n-cheese left sat on the kitchen table. The house completely empty and dark, Jaime turns on the light on a small table just beside the couch, engulfing the room in a shade of warm yellow. “Anyone home?” Jaime calls out, the home at the very least always having a drunk Robert stammering around and a plastic-faced Alex somewhere close by. Aside from the kitchen lit a bright yellow and the prior-mentioned living room, the remainder of the home is drenched in as much darkness as that which clouds the sky outside. “Hello!?” Jaime calls out once again, the lack of response from any direction only adding to her immediate paranoia. “Hey sweetie” a strong male voice calls out from the top of the stairs, just barely poking out from the total darkness is a pair of wide, white eyes illuminated by the reflection of the lamp’s glow. “Have fun?” the voice calls out again, the figure to which it belongs to slowly walking down the stairs, a near-sober Robert sporting a wide smile as his boots clunk with each step. “Where is everyone?” Jaime asks, the scene amping her anxiety to previously unthought of levels. “They’re just out doing stuff” Robert replies, his menacing walk, slow and enforcing, only made worse by the sight of his red flannel buttoned-up shirt covered in the remnants of dry dirt. “What kind of stuff, dad?” Jaime asks, trying her best to hide away her fear, making sure to stand up straight and maintain eye contact with the man before her. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Robert asks, picking up on Jaime taking one step backwards each one step her takes forwards. “Give me a hug” the man says, holding his arms out as he walks past the lamp, the only light illuminating the front of his figure coming in the form of the moonlight peering through the patio door. “I’m not going to do that” Jaime replies, purposefully bumping into another small table in order to conspicuously pick up a decorative rock beneath the cover of clumsiness. “Come here” Robert continues, his pace slightly picking up as Jaime’s breathing becomes more erratic. Within seconds, Robert puts his arms around Jaime, pulling her in close for a hug as she keeps the rock hidden behind her back, held in her left hand as Robert’s head drapes over her right shoulder. “I missed this” Robert says, Jaime frozen in place, unsure of whether to be afraid of appreciative. “Let’s take a walk” Robert says, keeping his arm around her as he leads her to the patio door. The hinges wailing as the door is pulled open, Jaime follows Robert to the side of the home, where she finds three shallow graves dug beneath the cover of a large tree beside their home. “Do you see this?” Robert asks, looking at Jaime’s face within inches of his own, his smile appearing like something straight out of the Shining. “Why don’t you take a closer look” Robert continues, inching Jaime closer to the holes. “Do you see that?” the man asks, the shadow of both he and Jaime appearing stretched over the holes from the moonlight facing their backs. “Those are all of you” Robert continues, pointing out a picture of his wife and both of his daughters as he picks up on Jaime’s fear. “I want you to pay very close attention to these” Robert explains, gently removing the rock from Jaime’s hand and telling her to look at the graves as he makes his point known. “I’ll fill those graves before I let you even think about taking my family away from me” Robert proclaims, “do you understand me?” With no other option, Jaime silently nods as the man gently directs her face towards his. “You don’t own this house” Robert whispers, “and you don’t own me.” With a smirk, Robert pats Jaime on the cheek and gives her a peck on the head before returning to the home, leaving Jaime alone beneath the night sky. Looking back to the graves, Jaime’s eyes groggily wander back out to the home before she curls over to throw up, staining the dirt-covered grass with her dinner. Standing outside for nearly an hour, Jaime returns to the home in a daze, walking into the kitchen and pulling a butcher’s knife before aiming for the stairs. Beneath the cover of darkness, the only source of light comes from the lamp’s reflection in Jaime’s blade as she creeps up each step, one at a time. Losing the sight of her father as just that, Jaime refuses to walk away or subject herself to such torment again, intending to free both herself and her family from their leashes. At the end of the hallway, the knife-wielding girl stops at her parent’s bedroom door, noticing it cracked open a tiny bit. Holding her knife up, Jaime uses the very tip of the blade to slowly push the door open, the darkness of the hallway and the blackness of the bedroom remaining one in the same. Her boots leaving a lack of sound with support from the soft carpet beneath her feet, Jaime inches closer to Robert’s side of the bed and lazily stares at the man. The alarm clock beside his bed illuminating numbers in green, the same colored tint reflects off of the blade, a fancy pattern coming over Alex’s eyes. The man, with his mouth agape and one hand draped over the side of the bed, remains completely unaware of his demise staring at him via the hilt of a knife. With a few breaths, Jaime smiles to herself just as Alex begins shuffling in her bed. The mother, completely unaware of what’s going on, looks up at the room, noticing the lack of people before spotting the door exactly as Robert had left it. Back in the hallway, Jaime stares down the staircase and walks for it, stopping just as she reaches the bannister to notice Kennedy sat up in bed, switching her stare between Jaime and the knife in her hand. Her finger pressed to her lip, Jaime gives Kennedy the signal, the younger girl zipping her mouth shut and throwing away the key. With a smile and a wink, Jaime leaves Kennedy’s view, walking downstairs and allowing Kennedy to tuck herself into bed and close her eyes with comfort. // | Sat atop the car’s roof as if it were her throne, Jaime presses the megaphone to her lips and announces that the cavalry has arrived. Watching vehicles on her side pull up behind that of the armed militia, dozens of men armed with heavy tools and equipment march towards the gates. “Make room everyone!” Jaime shouts, proclaiming to those hidden within the sturdy walls of city hall that their clock is ticking. “Stop your men!” Django’s voice orders over the loudspeakers, Jaime pressing the megaphone to her lips to declare that they will not stop until those within are ready to talk. After a brief pause, the workers on the front lines halt their attack, waiting for Django to continue speaking. The silence from city hall’s end only furthers the anticipation for work to continue, eventually allowing enough time to pass for Jaime to call it an attempt and return to their progress. With a roar, the attack on the wall continues briefly until Django returns, his voice blasting through the center’s square, calling for Jaime to return to his office for negotiation. “You already had the chance to negotiate, and you decided to play the authority card” Jaime replies, “we’re not budging, so give us answers or watch your walls crumble.” Thinking it over for a moment, Django assures both Jaime and the mob that there are much more important things of need. “Answers for your conspiracies are much less of use than what we can offer you” Django says acknowledging his time running out, “let’s keep this from spilling blood.” Considering it for a moment, Jaime demands that a group of armed militia members accompany her inside, threatening to swipe the concept of negotiation straight off the table if he even thinks about refusing. “You may bring no more than nine” Django replies, Jaime turning to the militia leader and ordering for the best nine he has. “I can’t watch this” Jordan says, turning away from the sight of his girlfriend marching up the stairs to city hall once again. “She’s going to be alright” Kayla replies, remaining calm when Jordan snaps back at her, reminding Kayla that nothing about this situation is docile. Her hands pressing to his shoulders, Kayla has Jordan look her in the eyes when she repeats that Jaime will be fine. Afforded nothing else, Jordan growls and turns away, returning to the vehicles, where he keeps his back turned to the sight as he listens to the doors shut. | “I think we should go” Kennedy says, ripping through shelves and stocks of whatever the previous owners left behind as Chevy chuckles. “I do too” the man replies, tossing the girl an apple and telling her to eat as much fresh fruit as she can find. “The last thing we need is to keep ourselves as hydrated as we can in case shit hits the fan again” Chevy exclaims, “whatever fruits you can eat, well, eat ‘em.” “Why can’t we leave right now?” Kennedy asks, the question meant to be taken light-heartedly, but Chevy takes particular interest in the suggestion. “Because your sister and my girlfriend are still here” Chevy replies, plenty of reasons not to, but paying homage to the most obvious one. “Jaime’s never gonna leave” Kennedy replies, her voice holding plenty disappointment back as she follows it up with, “she’s in charge now, she’s not gonna leave them behind.” “I’m sure she would” Chevy replies, Kennedy immediately turning around and snapping at him, Amelia becoming fascinated with the passion behind the young girl’s words. “She should have left when dad started beating mom, but she didn’t because she wouldn’t leave us behind” Kenedy replies, trying to hold back tears, “those people are just a broken as we are!” “Your-” Chevy begins, surprised at the revelation he had been mostly unfamiliar to, “your dad beat-?” Before he could finish the question, Kennedy finishes it for him, informing the pair that she had the chance to leave her family behind, but she didn’t take it. “They’re not her family” Chevy replies, Kennedy immediately countering his point, “and for a long time, neither were we” Kennedy replies, Chevy easing up on the authority role in favor of a gentler approach. “She was gonna kill our dad” Kennedy goes on, the hand Chevy was stretching out towards the girl stopping mid-air. “I saw her with a knife in her hand one night coming from mom’s room” the girl replies, “he was our family too, and she would’ve killed him.” His eyes trailing from Kennedy to Amelia, Chevy notices the girl’s eyes just as wide as his own before he returns them to the younger girl. “I didn’t know that’ Chevy replies, “but it sounds like he was a bad man.” Nodding, Kennedy confirms Chevy’s suspicions, and going as far as to admit that she hoped she’d wake up to that sight the next morning. “Then he got into a car accident a few days later and I kind of just tried to forget about it” Kennedy continues, “it’s not like she has a choice, she just can’t leave broken things alone without trying to fix them.” On the verge of tears, Kennedy stands there with the sack of valuables in her hands as Chevy remains knelt in front of her. Losing her ability to hold back her emotions, Kennedy walks up to Chevy and hugs him, the man being unfamiliar with this kind of scenario, awkwardly returning the favor by putting his still-loose arm over her back. His second hand free, Chevy places it on the back of the girl’s head, patting it as if she were a dog. | // “Come on in” Alex says, waving for Jaime as she approaches the hospital bed her father currently resides in, unsure of his fate at the very moment. “How bad is it?” Jaime asks, peering around the curtain to see her dad hooked up to ventilators, unable to breath on his own, and unable to speak as a result of. “He’s gonna be in here for a little while” Alex replies, assuring Jaime that he’ll make a full recovery eventually with a fake look of certainty smeared all over her face. “Can I have a second alone with him?” Jaime asks, her mother nodding and taking Kennedy along with her. Being led by the hand, Kennedy looks back to Jaime as the older sibling watches her walk away, her sister pressing her finger to her lips to assure Jaime of her obedience. “Hey pop” Jaime says, wiping away a non-existent tear as a smile creeps over her face, the girl quick to brush it off. Taking a seat beside her father’s bed, Jaime asks him if he’s doing well, only to laugh when she recalls that he can’t speak. “It’s such a shame” the girl mocks, “how will I orchestrate counters to your empty threats now?” His eyes widening as his eyebrows lift, Robert watches his daughter mockingly hug his limp body before pulling her face inches within his. “I guess these things happen all the time” Jaime says, whispering to the man an order of words that send chills down his spine. “It’s especially scary for people who use the same routes every day” Jaime whispers, one eyebrow raised higher than the other, “it makes it so easy to plan these kind of things, too.” With a smile, Jaime runs her hand down her father’s cheek, telling him that they would almost never manage to place a culprit to those sort of plans, which is shameful in her eyes. “You don’t really think I’d let you threaten me in my own home, dig me a shallow grave and let you think you pulled one over on me, right?” Jaime asks, brushing her father’s hair back. “You were right about one thing, I don’t own you” the girl says, “I fucking control you.” Taking her seat, Jaime gives her father the script of how things are going to work when he returns to the house. “You’re going to avoid spilling this can of beans or you’ll find yourself taking a dip into the middle of the Pacific by lunch” Jaime concludes. Tilting his head towards her, Jaime looks the man in his frightened eyes, “and you will never” she pauses, getting close enough to whisper, “ever threaten me again.” Her knuckles holding her head up, Jaime asks, “do you understand me?” before watching her father struggle to nod in compliance. “Good” Jaime replies, calling her mother and sister in and pressing her finger to her lips, giving her father the same signal she gave Kennedy, only with a dead pair of eyes this time around. // | “Let’s make this quick” Jaime says, marching into Django’s office and taking a seat, “I don’t trust you any further than I can throw you.” Nodding, Django tells Jaime that he’s willing to split the entire city in half, keeping one side and gifting Jaime’s militia the other. “Why would we do that?” Jaime asks, Django slouching back in his chair, “because you claim to want to keep this from ending in blood being spilled and I agree with you.” “We outnumber you in men, and we nearly equal you in terms of firepower” Jaime replies, “we could spill very little blood and take it all for ourselves.” Nodding, Django agrees that things could take that turn, but they could also work to do whatever necessary to avoid that. “One way or another, if we go to war, one of us ends up with a rope tied around their neck, and I don’t want that happening” Django says, Jaime correcting the man that it only ends with him on the end of that rope. “One way or another, let’s not allow that to happen” Django says, his hands outwards, agreeing to leave Jaime’s militia to their own vices whilst he forms whatever he wishes to. “I want the north” Jaime replies, taking a long moment to consider the options. “Alright” Django replies, watching Jaime think about asking for something else in addition. “I want you to tell me what happened with the water” Jaime continues, Django refusing the idea, giving her the north in return for secrecy. “Do you even know what happened?” Jaime asks, Django placing his hands on his hips before quietly nodding. “Share it with me so I know what I’m signing up for and I’ll keep it quiet from the rest of the crowd” Jaime continues, Django hanging his head as Jaime informs him that the deal will be denied if he doesn’t. “I can’t trust you anymore than you trust me” Django replies, “give me a reason that shouldn’t be the case.” “If I open my mouth, I’ll tie the noose around my own damn neck and jump myself” Jaime replies, watching the dagger-like stare of Django persist. Walking through the bulk doors of city hall, Jaime walks down the stairs and through the gates once more, taking her place atop a rundown vehicle. “I know we all want answers” Jaime begins, “unfortunately we have as much of an idea about what happened here as they do.” Random portions of the crowd beginning to boo, Jaime tells the crowd that they’ve structured a deal that allows both parties to walk their separate ways and continue their lives as they please. “In exchange for the acceptance of their lack of insight to the cause of what happened, both of our sides have negotiated a ceasefire”, the crowd going silent once more. “We have decided to split Los Angeles in two” Jaime announces, “we take the north, they retain the south.” Having replaced their audible destain for confused inquiries to each other, the crowd listens as Jaime lists the line of demarkation at the gates of city hall. “Anything past these walls will be considered theirs, anything inside of them is ours” Jaime proclaims, “you have twenty-four hours to return to your homes and return.” “I’d rather make sure we can live our lives as we choose to than spill blood for answers that no one has” Jaime declares, announcing a ceremony for those that have been lost for tomorrow evening. Watching the crowd begin to dissipate, Jaime looks towards her group still huddled together beneath the shade of the trees as the white-hot sun peers through the leaves. Returning to the group with the support of the militia, Jaime tells the remainder to return to the house whilst she talks with the militia leader. “This is insane” Jordan says, refusing to just forget about the path they’ve taken. “A few days ago, we were getting chased down by a psycho that wanted you dead, and now you’re meeting with the militia leader to talk about who the fuck knows?” Jordan says, “what is happening here and why is it happening so fast?” “Jordan, we’ll talk-” Jaime begins, her boyfriend shrugging off the idea of talking about it at any other time. “You just became commander in chief of a city made up on lunatics!” Jordan shouts, “sorry if I’m concerned for your safety!” Taken aback by the cause of his concern, Jaime reiterates the idea of his necessity to be concerned about her. “Your job isn’t to be concerned about me!” Jaime shouts, Jordan shaking his head in refusal. “No darling, it is” Jordan replies, “and right now, you just made yourself public enemy number one if shit hits the fan, which it will.” Taking a breath, Jaime walks towards her boyfriend, stretching her hand out, only for Jordan to knock it away. “I’ll see you at home” Jordan retorts, leaving the woman behind in favor of the driver’s seat of Alex’s car. Watching Jordan storm away, Jaime feels Kayla’s hand rest upon her shoulder as the woman hugs her. “Get back safe, alright?” Kayla asks, Jaime nodding without a word as Kayla returns to the bike and Alex hugs her daughter goodbye. Driving off, the group leaves behind Jaime, who stands before a group of armed militia members, watching the vehicles ride away as the dawn of a new direction truly takes effect. “Tell me more about him” Kate requests, opening a new line of dialogue for Jaime to pick at as if she were stripping meat from the bone. “What else is there to know that I haven’t already told you?” Jaime asks, “he’s a nasty drunk that beats my family and can’t lay a finger on me.” Nodding, Kate asks Jaime to dig further, “think about what he is and figure out how that makes you feel inside.”
“I don’t know how I feel” Jaime replies, the usual escape of requesting another topic to think about not able to be utilized here. “If he could leave your life, would you want him to?” Kate asks, not satisfied when Jaime’s answer of “sure” leaves her lips, only offering her more questions. “What would your life be without him in the picture?” Kate continues, Jaime’s shoulders pushing forward whilst she admits to having not even the first idea. “It would be unimaginably different” Jaime replies, “I don’t know how to describe it, it just would be.” Her lips squeezing together, Kate replies, “okay” and goes quiet. “Oh shit” Jaime exclaims, “I don’t like what happens when you respond with only one word.” With a smirk, Kate asks Jaime if she’d thought anymore about their last encounter. “I did” Jaime replies, “I still think you’re wrong.” “You said ‘you think’, and not ‘you know’” Kate replies, “something, even a tiny bit, must’ve clicked.” Swallowing her pride, Jaime admits to Kate having an undeniable point in regards to Alex’s wishes for her. “I’m sure she’d rather see me go out and take on the world than stay stuck in the home and protect her from the big, bad jackass” Jaime replies, her eyes holding a high amount of disappointment when Kate asks why she insists on remaining in the home. “Because he’ll kill them” Jaime replies, her words leaving a sour taste in her own mouth, and putting an unusual amount of concern in Kate’s mind. Her eyes trailing off, Kate clears her throat and tells Jaime if she’s sure of this. “What do you mean? Of course I’m sure” Jaime replies, “do you think I’d be trying to protect them if I wasn’t?” Finding herself at the same conclusion as Jaime, Kate nods and insists the opposite. “If you think he’s that dangerous, I should call him in about this” Kate replies, Jaime remaining as insistent that she not as she was on day one. “As long as I’m in there, he can’t do a thing” Jaime replies, only for the woman opposite her position to remind her of their current topic. “You should be allowed to move on without having to feel like you’re your family’s keeper” Kate replies, “you shouldn’t have to subject yourself to this.” “I’m well aware of that, Kate” Jaime replies, her eyes beginning to form tears, “but he’s got friends in high places, and all he’d need to do to get out from behind bars is snap his fingers.” Her head dropping, Kate looks back to Jaime and asks what she can do, Jaime coming up with very few good answers. “I’ve got to do what I have to do” Jaime replies, “I’m sticking my neck out for my family because they can’t, and that’s how it’s gotta be.” Unwilling to allow Jaime to believe that this is the path she is forced to take, Kate storms from her seat and rounds her desk, taking a seat beside Jaime as the younger girl accepts her position. “That shouldn’t have to be your responsibility” Kate replies, Jaime looking at her with tears being brushed from her face. “Unfortunately it is” Jaime retorts, “and sometimes, we need to do things we shouldn’t in order for things to be alright.” Her eyes shutting tightly, Kate’s head drops as Jaime continues to tell herself that there is no alternative. “I’m not going to let things get out of hand” Jaime replies, “they can’t fight for themselves, so I am going to in order to keep them alive.” Her head lifting, Kate wipes away a tear from her own face as she nods, unable to do anything Jaime is unwilling to allow her to do, responding with a simple “okay” and leaving the conversation at that. = Dire 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 = The sun rising over the west coast puts an end to the harsh night prior, shedding light on a pair of survivors having a quiet conversation in the pool area. “I don’t like it anymore than you do” Jordan says, “but there’s no chance in hell a new government forms and this place doesn’t get rendered into nothing.” Unable to argue the future of Los Angeles as it currently stands, Chevy remains steady by the idea that escaping the city is still a possibility. “There’s no question that we’re fucked if we stay here and Jaime isn’t in charge” Chevy replies, “but we’re acting like escaping the city is more dangerous than Jaime creating a new government out of betrayed citizens with heavy automatic machine guns.” Going quiet, Jordan looks out at the continuing smoke billowing from downtown as Chevy reminds him that all Jaime has to do to earn a bullet in her head is to piss off the wrong people or step on the wrong toes. “I created a company that pissed off everyone from soccer mom’s to district-wide school boards” Jaime interrupts as she spots the two men below, “did you really think I wouldn’t hear you get out of bed?” Telling Jaime that there isn’t only one answer, Jordan begs her to rethink her plan. “Weren’t you the one arguing in favor of installing a leader to the mob?” Jaime asks, Jordan admitting the his feet have grown cold to the idea now that his girlfriend has become it’s posterchild. “We can still leave the city” Chevy says, “the last thing we need to be doing is playing a bad hand at the poker table with your life at stake.” Walking over to one of the pool chairs coated with the sunlight of a new day, Jaime lays down, asking the pair exactly what quality of life they think they’ll find outside Los Angeles. “This is the only place that still has some sort of government” Jaime adds in, “as far as we know, everywhere else is a free-for-all.” “As little as twenty-four hours ago, everything in here was a free-for-all too” Chevy replies, “and with or without you at the helm, it’s gonna be the same again very soon.” Taking her by the hand, Jordan tells Jaime to give her statement another thought before she approaches the group with it. “I’ve made up my mind, hun” Jaime replies, watching the dread in Jordan’s eyes as Chevy plants his hands on his hips. “There’s no time left to think about it” Jaime continues, “those fences can come down at any second, and we’d be left with an all out war.” Looking to Chevy, Jaime asks if she can trust him to wake up the group and have them meet in the living space of the home. His hands still planted on his hips, Chevy silently nods, walking off to do as instructed as Jordan looks to his love with the expression of a man trying to keep himself from dwelling on terrible thoughts. “It’s going to be alright” Jaime says, holding her boyfriend’s head in her hands as he gives her a feigned smile. “No” Jordan replies, “it’s not” before kissing her hand and returning to the home to assist Chevy. After nearly half an hour, Jaime takes the headcount in the lobby and informs them of the plan. “We’re going to make it as natural as we can” Jaime says, “we’ll go down there, put a well-spoken voice to this movement and try to come to a reasonable understanding.” “And we’re going to put you in front of a mob, front and center?” Alex asks, the assurance of her daughter forcing her to drop her head. “Isn’t that, y’know, dangerous?” Amelia asks, Jordan emphatically nodding as he replies with a hate-filled “Yes, yes it is.” With two sides arguing in favor and against placing Jaime at the pinnacle of potential destruction, voices begin flying around the room as tempers begin flaring. After a few quick failed attempts in succession to quell the arguing, Jaime lets her voice lift to an unfamiliar degree as the room responds by going silent. “What’s done is done, and what is decided has been decided” the center-figure replies, “the task now is not deciding whether or not to do it, it’s figuring out how we get it done.” Demanding that the group begin accepting what route to take next, Jaime orders them to get their things together and prepare to return to city hall. Doing as told, the group disperses, only Jordan being left behind, leaning over with his hands folded as Jaime stares at him, the man not returning the stare. Calling her boyfriend’s name, Jaime watches him respond by standing up and walking away, returning to their room to pack whatever they might need, leaving her stood before an empty living space, the only sounds resonating from the footsteps venturing throughout her home. | // Taking a break from his computer, Chevy stretches as the bright light emanating from computer bathes him in the only light anywhere in the room. Wiping away his eyes, the man glances at the corner of his screen, realizing the time to have been nearly midnight. “Holy shit” Chevy mutters, “boy has the time passed!” as he looks throughout his room, completely left in the dark aside from the blinding sight before his eyes. Suddenly a knocking at the door captures the man’s attention and curiosity. “Who the hell is here at midnight?” Chevy asks himself, walking to the door and opening it to reveal a welcomed sight. “Kayla?” Chevy asks with a smile, the woman peering in as she asks whether or not she’s interrupting something bringing genuine joy to his heart. “Not at all” Chevy says as he opens the door to allow her entry, “please come in.” Taking off her coat, Kayla places it over the back of a couch in the middle of the room as Chevy blinds himself with the operation of a light switch. “You good over there, Dracula?” Kayla asks, her amusement making Chevy laugh as he wipes his eyes. “I must’ve sorely overrated my eyes!” Chevy replies, the woman telling him to pull his hands away as she holds each side of his face. “Look at me” Kayla says, Chevy’s hands going limp as she fights to keep his eyelids open whilst the woman stares into them. “Your eyes are dilated as hell!” Kayla exclaims, Chevy’s laughter as she suggests the dark to have been his home for at least a few hours assuring her assumptions. “I’ve been at my desk all night” Chevy replies, stretching his arms out as the woman walks towards the computer. “I must’ve lost track of the time” the man continues, the woman looking at him with her eyebrows raised. “Oh, you think so?” Kayla replies, Chevy laughing as Kayla does the same, asking what he was writing about. “It’s a short story” Chevy replies, “nothing more than a little project I was spending a few minutes on.” With another glance, Kayla puls another admittance to having lost a few hours before looking back to the writing. Scrolling through the pages, Kayla asks exactly what he meant by a ‘short-story’ as she finds herself quickly approaching page one-hundred and eighteen. “Maybe it’s a bit longer than a short story” Chevy replies, leaning beside the woman as they sift through his work. “Any chance you can send this to me?” Kayla asks, Chevy being very hesitant in the moment as he reminds her that she still hasn’t told him why she’s here. “Why else would a girl casually come over to some guy’s house in the middle of the night?” Kayla asks, the look of realization dawning over the man humoring her. “So is that a ‘yes’?” Kayla asks, looking at the man with her best set of puppy-dog eyes as he gives in. Writing her email and phone number on a napkin, Kayla places it beside his computer and pulls off her shirt, tossing it to Chevy before model-walking her way into his bedroom. // | “You’re sure you want to do this?” Chevy asks, his question fluttering into Jaime’s ear as she puts her car in park and listens to the crowd raging for someone to take responsibility. “This is what I live for” Jaime replies, having learned how to master the art of hiding fear beneath a cloak of confidence. Taking in a deep breath, Jaime locks hands with Jordan before climbing out of her vehicle and joining forces with her group. Striding into the massive horde of boisterous survivors, Jaime directs the group to walk until towards the sounds of a hollering voice amplified by a megaphone. Finally reaching the source, Jaime asks the man to borrow the megaphone to deliver a message to those seeking shelter. “Why should I give you this?” the man asks, Jaime responding by telling him that she’s one of the few people left in the city that can possibly get the crowd their answers. “I don’t think I believe you” the man replies, Chevy stepping up to the plate almost immediately, towering over the man as he now demands he hand over the equipment. Annoyed, the man hands Chevy the piece, who hands it to Jaime and follows her to an abandoned car surrounded by the people. “Everyone, listen up!” Jaime shouts, the attempt to silence the crowd taking a few repeats, each request bringing further silence until she has the crowd’s undivided attention. “Most of you probably don’t know me, and I wanted it to stay that way for a long time” Jaime begins, stating her credentials. “My name is Jaime Morris, and I founded an app here that earned this city thousands of new jobs, and gave them hundreds of millions of tax dollars.” With the crowd staring towards her, Jaime takes initiative and lays out the fact that she’s here to make the truth known to everyone. “They’re not listening to you” Jaime directs to the crowd, “they think of you as an armed and dangerous militia with absolutely no willingness to cooperate.” Pausing for a moment, Jaime continues, “not anymore”, directing this statement to both the mob and those hiding within city hall’s chambers. “I want the politicians hiding out in that building to pay very close attention” Jaime follows, “you have left these people without answers they damn-well deserve for two days.” Making it clear to deputy mayor Wenton to listen up, Jaime tells those inside exactly how things are going to play out. “These people are not going to kill you because you have the answers that they want to hear” Jaime follows, “they want someone to take responsibility, and that person is and should be you.” The crowd now beginning to audibly applaud, Jaime makes it clear that the mob will not be unreasonable, but they will not be walked over again. “We’re willing to play nice if you give us a reason to” Jaime continues, “but make no mistake about it, we’re giving you the chance to show your faces before we take down these gates, which we have all the means necessary to do.” The applause growing, Jaime tells Wenton to walk onto the front steps of city hall with all the muscle he pleases and have a conversation with her on behalf of the residents of Los Angeles. “These people have been voiceless for the longest forty-eight hours of their lives” Jaime concludes, “and if they are going to remain voiceless in your eyes, then I will be their voice.” The applause continuing, the mob begins to chant in unison ‘show your face!’ until the massive, fancy metal doors open to reveal acting mayor Django Wenton, a crowd of armed guards surrounding him quickly thereafter. Taking a loudspeaker into his hands, Django Wenton orders for Jaime to approach the front gates directly at the bottom of the hall’s stairs. “If you’d like to have a conversation, we will do it in private” Wenton demands, the woman taking a brief moment to look towards her group below. Each with their own visible signs of distrust in this suggestion, they watch Jaime climb down from the vehicle and do as instructed. Held at gunpoint by the guards, the mob around Jaime disperse as the gates are cracked open to allow Jaime entry. Walking within, Jaime stands at the feet of Wenton as the crowd goes completely silent, the rustling of the leaves in the trees being able to ring throughout L.A as the only consistent sound. “Please approach” Wenton calls out, the request blaring through the loudspeakers as the crowd watches Jaime ascend the staircase. Finally facing Wenton, Jaime listens to the man instruct her to follow him inside as he turns around to lead her within. The crowd remaining silent as Jaime disappears into the depths of the hall, the large doors shut as things remain unchanged, each side now silently waiting for a conclusion. “I don’t like this one bit” Jordan mutters to himself, Chevy wrapping his arm around him and telling him to remain calm and think of good thoughts as the group joins the mob in patience. | // “Has your father ever laid a hand on you?” Kate asks, her hands gripping at the lip of her desk as Jaime shakes her head. “No, he’s only been this way for a few years” Jaime replies, “I got my first check from the app a few months before he started drinking more heavily.” Returning to her chair, Kate asks “have you ever hit him?” on her brief walk, Jaime shaking her head in refusal once more. “I haven’t needed to yet” Jaime replies, Kate finding interest in the ‘yet’ portion. “Do you think you’ll ever have to?” Kate follows, Jaime answering with a ‘yes’ after a brief moment of thinking it over. “What would bring you to do that?” Kate asks, Jaime taking longer than a brief moment to think about how to respond to that. “It’d have to be something big” Jaime replies, “something that affects both mom and Kennedy.” Wanting Jaime to throw suggestions out there, Kate asks her to vaguely mention possible things that would drive her to act in such a way. Thinking about what it would take, Jaime comes up empty handed, admitting that it would be up to that outcome presenting itself and how she reacts to it. Accepting that response, Kate turns the question into one only needing a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’, throwing out suggestions and asking Jaime if they would qualify. “What if he hit Kennedy?” Kate asks, Jaime not hesitating for even a moment before responding ‘yes.’ “That was a quick response” Kate replies, Jaime shrugging as she suggests that she was simply put on the spot minutes prior. “What if he hit you?” Kate asks, Jaime responding without hesitation once more in the same way. “He wouldn’t because he’d be signing his death warrant” Jaime adds in, “but the answer is ‘yes’ regardless.” “Alright” Kate replies, “what about if he hit your mother?” Her head hung, Jaime states that she would if Alex wouldn’t vouch for him each and every time. “You know powerful people” Kate replies, “you don’t think you can give him a beating and walk away without punishment?” A smile in the corner of her mouth, Jaime thanks the woman for thinking so highly of her. “I may be stubbornly independent” Jaime replies, “but I can’t match up with him physically.” “And yet you wouldn’t hesitate to send hands his way if he hurt you or your sister” Kate interjects, “and you’d do the same if your mother wasn’t under his thumb.” Her hands held out, Jaime tells Kate that people make dumb decisions when they’re angry, and she is no exception. “Are you ashamed of her?” Kate asks, the question catching the girl off-guard as she expected something more along the lines of further suggestions. “Are you ashamed of your mother?” Kate reiterates, watching the girl’s face drop into a state of uncertainty. “Yeah” Jaime replies, her response coming from her mouth sounding more like a whisper than a statement. “You think she stands by him too much and doesn’t let him get what’s coming to him?” Kate continues, Jaime nodding. “Do you think you’d do the same thing?” Kate asks, watching Jaime’s face lift as she assures her that she wouldn’t. “I wouldn’t let anyone take advantage of me like that” Jaime replies, “I’m not my mother.” Her eyes widening, Kate asks Jaime if she truly believes that, the girl beginning to feel offended by such a notion. “I’ll say it again, I am not my mother” Jaime repeats, Kate following that up by asking Jaime whether or not she loves her father. “No” Jaime replies, her answer coming quickly, but her mannerisms after the fact speaking to someone undecided. “Why not?” Kate asks, watching Jaime struggle to put together any reason other than his substance and physical abuse. “So you think the father he was before he started drinking was just for appearance?” Kate asks, Jaime shrugging as she doesn’t know what was and wasn’t. “I think you love him but you feel bad about it because of what he’s turned into” Kate replies, Jaime attempting to argue, only to find herself going silent. “He’s a bad person now, but that doesn’t change the person that he used to be” Kate continues, “do you think your mother is just holding onto a shitty drunk for no reason?” Without an answer, Jaime asks the woman what she’s trying to get at as her anxiety levels skyrocket. “I think your mother realizes that your father has a disease” Kate replies, “and I think she’s holding onto hope that he’ll change back to what he used to be someday.” “It’s not going to happen” Jaime replies, Kate following that statement up by asking Jaime whether or not she’d see someone she loves go through the worse and change, and hold onto hope that they’d go back to who they used to be. “I don’t know” Jaime replies, “I’d have to see it first.” Her arms crossed, Kate tells Jaime that she already has. “Have a conversation with him” Kate suggests, watching Jaime’s eyes lift towards hers as she defeatedly nods. // | “Please, have a seat” Wenton says, ordering his armed guards out of the room and leaving his office to just himself and Jaime. “What exactly are you trying to accomplish her, Ms. Morris?” Django asks, the woman warning him to not talk to her as if she were someone he can just walk over. “You’re a kid” Wenton replies, easily having thirty years of experience over the young woman, “why should I believe that you’re anything near my level of intelligence?” “Perhaps it’s those thousands of jobs and millions of dollars that I made this state” Jaime replies, “or because you’ve done nothing than stamp papers in comparison to what I’ve done.” Slighted, the man tells Jaime to watch her tone, only for the woman to brandish a hidden firearm and place it at the edge of the table. “Scream or call for help and I’ll have your brains against the wall” Jaime replies, “there’s a good reason not to overlook me.” The man now cautiously stood in place, Jaime tells him that another thing to know about her is that she’s not holding onto some delusion that this place will remain standing by the end of the week. “They want your head on a platter, and those gates are not reinforcements, they are delays for the inevitable” Jaime continues, “if you don’t give them the answers they want, your government is going down and I’ll serve as the face of whatever one they create after it.” “And you want me to take you seriously because you threaten me with a gun and a noose?” Django asks, “the only thing you have that they don’t is a sense of coherent literacy.” With a smile, Jaime paces around the room, the firearm now being swirled around in her hand as if it were a toy. “Django, do you want to hear one of the many differences between Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos?” Jaime asks, watching his eyes narrow. “I’ve got their phone numbers and you don’t” Jaime replies, “and if you still believe that you’ve got credibility to back that superiority complex of yours with me, you’re already dead.” Scoffing, Django tells Jaime that her connections mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, prompting the woman to extend her arms. “And what does?” Jaime replies, “unlawfully holding civilians hostage in their own homes against American law and hiding behind a few walls like they matter?” No longer answering, Django goes quiet, allowing Jaime to go off. “Am I not corrupt enough to be on your level?” Jaime asks, watching Django look towards her with anger-driven wide eyes. “What is it that makes you think you’re any better than me?” Jaime asks, “better yet, what makes you think you’re any cleaner than the mob outside your gates barking for your blood?” “You’re just as much of a vile piece of scum as everyone else” Jaime continues, “the only difference between you and them is that they didn’t allow this mess... you did.” Taking a deep breath before adjusting his suit, Django tells Jaime that she’s picking a fight she doesn’t have the firepower to win. “Is that right?” Jaime asks, suggesting she leave Django two more days to test that theory. “You’re keeping the truth from these people” Jaime continues, making sure Django stares her in the eyes as she says it, “and if you don’t give it to them, they’ll take it from you.” With a smile, Django walks towards his window, Jaime strategically standing directly behind him, making sure not to fall victim to any hidden sniper tactic. “Your youth betrays you” Django replies, “what you have in complexity, you lose to experience.” “Enlighten me, sensei” Jaime replies, the sarcasm in her tone fascinating Django, who turns around to watch her unnaturally position her body parallel to his own. “Clever” Django replies, “you’re smart, but you’re not wise” the man continues, returning towards his gaze as the crisp apartment complex a few thousand feet away. “You’re waging a war with stones in your hands against an army with nuclear capabilities” Django informs, “how is that smart?” “How is suggesting a building full of glad-handed ‘yes men’ would have the balls to go kamikaze on a nuclear-level anywhere near logical?” Jaime asks, Django laughing to himself. “Look all around you, Ms. Morris” Django replies, “logic went out the window the second bodies started hitting the floor.” Without a further question, Jaime follows it up with a simple ‘why’, leaving Django with the choice to come clean or keep his secrets locked tightly. Turning around, Django mimics zipping his mouth shut and throwing away the key. With a smug grin, Jaime reminds Django that the mob will not allow him to continue to operate the government the way he sees fit. “You’re gonna have to stop me, then” Django replies, gifting Jaime the same grin right back. “Best of luck, old man” Jaime replies, returning her pistol to her boot and walking through the door, ready to take her rightful position at the throne of control. Exiting the building, Jaime walks down the stairs as the murmured conversations of the crowd halt to a complete stop. Walking through the front gates, Jaime returns for the vacated vehicle, where she brushes off questions from her own group. Lifting the megaphone to her mouth, Jaime speaks loudly and boldly. “He won’t give us the answers we want, so we’re going to take them” Jaime shouts, “tear down that fucking gate!” With a roaring war cry, the crowd bolts for the fence, shaking it with great might as the armed guards stand ready to fight, though keeping their guns at their sides. Looking down, Jaime watches her group huddle near the car to avoid getting swept away by the incensed mob. “We’re gonna take it” Jaime says to the group, watching Chevy speak up above the crowd on the group’s behalf. “We heard” the man replies, his voice sporting disappointment as hell, once again, breaks loose in Los Angeles. Nearing the on-ramp out of Los Angeles, Jaime leads the group towards a hoped sanctuary, the only thing standing between them and the curious hospital building are whomever survived the initial day. “We should start slowing down” Chevy says from behind, directing Jaime to ease up her progress. “The last thing we need is to run into psycho’s finding their way in while we’re on our way out” Chevy adds on, the group noticeably slowing as the dead highway grows near.
“Jaime, I’d like to make it clear that I’m very much against just going up there blind” Alex says, “we know nothing about it other than it used to be a hospital.” Reminding her mother of the limited options, Jaime’s retort is halted slightly when the sound of popping resonates in the distance. “What was that?” Jordan asks, Chevy making it known that it wasn’t his bike, and Alex making it clear that she heard it just as they did. Suddenly, the shots are fired off in quick succession once again, not catching the group off guard this time around. “Is that coming ahead of us?” Jordan asks, leaning forward to look at the road ahead, most of it hidden beneath the cloudy night sky. “Turn your lights on real quick” Jordan instructs, watching Jaime alter the dial and allow the road ahead to be illuminated with a dashing flood of light. “Everyone stop!” Jaime shouts, her instructions coming so quickly that they almost beat the lights turning on themselves. Bringing her vehicle to a screeching halt, Chevy and Alex do the same to their own, finally noticing the convoy of military vehicles firing their guns directly upwards. “Oh goddamnit” Jordan mutters, the head general demanding that Jaime power her vehicle down, leaving the battery running. “Just follow my lead” Jaime says, Jordan looking towards her in confusion, worried at what she’s planning. “What exactly is your lead?” Chevy asks, watching the woman from rear window as she instructs him not to make a scene. “Easy enough, but I’ll ask again, what exactly is your lead?” Chevy asks, his question remaining unanswered as Jaime begins putting the pieces into motion. Doing as told to keep peace amongst the potentially hostile situation, Jaime holds her hands in the air and slowly opens her vehicle door, exiting with her hands still suspended in air. Doing the same, Jordan and Amelia follow suit, the remainder of the group following their lead shortly thereafter. “Are you aware that there’s a shelter in place order?” the general shouts, Jordan beginning to apologize, only for his apology to be cut off by Jaime, playing dumb to the concept. “No, we had no idea!” Jaime says, putting on a fake voice, apologizing for her lack of awareness. “And the rest of you?” the general asks, his sights taken from the remainder of the group and placed back on Jaime as she informs him that they’ve been on a road trip. “We heard everything going down and got caught in LA earlier” Jaime continues, “we got out as soon as we could to get away before things got worse!” Buying into her claims, the general takes a softer tone, approaching the group with a more apologetic posture. “Well the entire state is in the middle of a lockdown as of this afternoon” the general states, “no one is allowed in or out of the city until further notice.” Continuing, Jaime turns around to look at the rest of the group, winking at the lot of them before informing the general that they will attempt to take refuge in a family friend’s home in the hills of the city. His eyes showing the growing suspicion, the general tilts his head and looks towards the vehicle. “You do that quickly then” the general replies, allowing the group to return to their vehicles and redirect back into the city. Leading the pack once more, Jaime glances at her rear-view mirror and watches the general stare them down, taking a mental note before returning to his convoy as their vehicles power their own headlights on. “What the hell do we do now?” Kayla asks, the entire group waiting for Jaime’s next move. “Are you taking us up to the hills, Jaime?” Alex asks, her mind landing on exactly where Jaime intends to take them. “We’ll settle down at my place” Jaime says, refusing to give any response more direct than that. “You have a place out here?” Chevy asks, his incorporation into the group coming with such ease that he sometimes forgets the celebrity status of his group’s elected leader. “Just follow me” Jaime replies, taking the turn off the main road and onto the winding straits towards the richest subsection of the city. Glancing towards her boyfriend, Jaime offers a hurting smile towards him as he does the same in return. Placing his hand over hers, Jordan lets his thumb caress his girlfriend’s hand as it sits on the stick whilst they progress towards the sights of their pre-collapse lives. = Dire 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 = “Just find somewhere comfortable and set something up there” Jaime says, her lead taking the group through the door of her large, hillside home overlooking the collapse of Los Angeles. Tapping her daughter’s arm, Alex nods in the direction of a slot just off to the side of the doorway. “I thought you said you sold the place?” Alex whispers, Jaime asking her mother not to get too caught up in something that doesn’t matter anymore. “Why did you tell em you sold it?” Alex asks, shrugging off Jaime’s pleas for her mother not to look too far into it. “Do I really need to explain it to you, ma?” Jaime asks, her voice growing unnerved. “The second I left, shit got worse for you and Kennedy” Jaime proceeds, “the last thing I needed was to be unpacking my shit while planning either of your funerals!” Taken back by her daughter’s hesitance to be ignorant to their recent past, Alex hushes down, her refusal to add to Jaime’s workload being noticed by the girl, who swiftly apologizes for snapping. “Listen, I don’t know why you’ve been trying to contain yourself so much” Jaime replies, “and I don’t know how you got out of that house before we found you, but I need you to be Kennedy’s mother right now, alright?” Her head hanging low, Alex tells her daughter that she will do as told before walking off. Her arm extending outwards, Jaime pulls her mother back, assuring her that Robert wouldn’t be able to lay a hand on any of them with Chevy, Jordan and Kayla around. Hiding the truth about the father of her children, Alex quietly nods and walks away, leaving Jaime to watch her walk off, noticing the quick turnaround visible in her quick steps. “This one’s Jaime’s, so you can take that one” Jordan says, directing Chevy and Kayla to a room just across the hall. “Are you sure?” Chevy asks, noting the size difference between Jaime’s room and the other. “Of course I’m sure” Jordan laughs, “I’ve slept in this bed many times before, I think I’d know.” His hand swiping at the air, Chevy reiterates, confused as to why Jaime’s room is much smaller than the one he and Kayla get to use. “Jaime’s not big on a shit ton of space” Jordan replies, his smile a sparkling white, “but she sure fucking loves a view!” Having the pair follow him inside Jaime’s quarters, Jordan opens the terrace doors and points out at the devastated downtown area. “It was obviously much better looking when she bought the house” Jordan adds in, the laughter from Chevy and Kayla making them forget about the cause for the destruction for a few solitary moments. Their first steps on the terrace taking their breath away, Chevy and Kayla lean on the railing and look below, the drop off leading to a pile of rocks at the bottom of a grass-covered hill. “Not much of a traditional backyard, eh?” Chevy jokes, the trio caught by surprise when Amelia steps out from a second entry. “Woah” the woman exclaims, her breath finding itself victim of the same fate as Chevy and Kayla. “It’s pretty even when it’s burning down” Kayla mutters, her chin now resting on the railing as Kennedy enters, walking down a long staircase to a lower area. “Where’s she going?” Chevy asks, following Jordan as the entire group furthers their jealousy for Jaime at the sight of a massive poolside lot. “This is fucking nuts!” Kayla exclaims, refusing to think twice before pulling off her shirt and bottoms and diving into the pool itself. Following suit, Kennedy does the same as Jordan shrugs and follows soon after. “I see you all found the pool” Jaime says, glancing down at the group from a higher terrace above. “You should remind us how rich you are more often!” Chevy humors, watching the woman and her mother scale down the staircase and join them by the water. “I’ve set the alarm in case anyone tries to get in while we’re here” Jaime informs, “anytime someone leaves, let me know first.” “I don’t think any of them are going to want to leave” Jordan replies, finally finding some shared peace beneath the broken sky of Los Angeles. With the flick of a switch, Jaime powers on a set of lights and illuminates the lot, the lights in the pool powering on at the same time as the lights at each corner. “I’m both jealous and disturbed that we can see the riots from your balcony” Chevy adds in, watching the protesters gather at city hall from their far-off view. “It’s not getting any better is it?” Jaime calls, joining Chevy at the railing, watching the crowds try shaking the near-impenetrable iron fences. “And it’s not gonna get better until they see something resembling a government again, or-” Chevy pauses, not wanting to finish his sentence, only to ultimately choose to do so anyway, “-or they’re all dead.” “What if they formed their own?” Kayla asks, Chevy almost immediately beginning to brush it off, only to completely stop his explanation of why that’d be a bad idea as the group takes complete notice. “What? What were you gonna say?” Jaime asks, looking at the man as he stares blankly at the crowds near-miles away. “It’s definitely not impossible” Chevy replies, completely scrubbing his insistance of the opposite from existence. “If they wanted to completely revolt, all they really need is to kill the figure head of the state to get their point across” Chevy furthers, “if there’s no second-hand willing to take charge, they’ll assume control.” The pool growing to hold a deafening silence, Kayla makes it known that such a result would occur in a flurry of death. “If they get control, there’s no possible way any of this ends well” Jordan adds onto the point, making it clear what needs to be avoided. “I don’t think the government can outnumber the mob without the troops coming in from city limits” Chevy suggests, “if they break that fence, it’s all over for the Wenton mayorship.” With the daunting question of where to go with this new information now looming over their collective heads, the group begins throwing out the question of whether or not to stop it or assist it. “How would we ‘assist’ it?” Jordan asks, siding in the camp of halting it completely. “If there’s gonna be a complete uprising, maybe we put someone in charge of it” Amelia suggests, immediately raising the question of who that person would be. “I don’t know” Amelia replies, “but it would have to be someone powerful enough to get the crowd to be in favor of it.” His arms thrown out, Jordan asks for an example of someone completely unknown holding that level of immediate power. “There’s no one that can just say ‘hey, I’m in charge’ and have everyone just go along with it” Chevy furthers, Aemlia coming back with the suggestion that they get a celebrity. “What fuckin’ celebrity’s gonna come into this burning shit hole and take over?” Kayla questions, the collective eyes immediately shooting open and darting to the bannister. Every eye in the pool, as well as Chevy’s right beside her dart towards Jaime, who waves off the idea before it can be verbalized. “I’m not staging a fucking takeover!” Jaime shouts, immediately bolting for the staircase to run as far away from this line of conversation as she can. “It doesn’t need to be forceful!” Amelia shouts, watching Jaime disappear from view and return to her home as the remaining group goes quiet once more. | // “I’m heading out for an hour or two” Jaime says, descending the stairs and giving her mother a kiss on the cheek. “Don’t be too late” Alex replies, watching her daughter disappear through the front door, leaving the house in back up for chaos to take over. “Who’s slamming my door!?” an angered voice calls out from the top of the stairs, the heavy sound of boots hitting each step bringing Alex closer to the verge of panic. “It was just Jaime, honey” Alex replies, “she’s going out for a few minutes.” Stood near the bottom step, her mouth moving to create words whilst her body shuts down, Alex watches her husband climb down to the final step with her lip clutched between her teeth. Growling, Robert lifts his arms and shoves his wife back, letting her hit the wall and grab at the railing to regain her balance as he enters the kitchen. “C’mere!” Robert shouts, noticing his wife walking for the living room out of the corner of his eye as he grabs a fresh bottle of hard liquor. “Yes honey?” Alex asks, stopping in the doorway as her husband lifts his finger, pulling it towards himself. Leaning over the kitchen counter, Robert drinks straight from the bottle as he undoes his pants with his one free hand, looking at Alex and simply telling her “go.” “Didn’t you want me to make di-” Alex begins, startled into silence when the man quickly lunges towards her, wrapping his hand around her neck and pushing her against the refrigerator. “Did I tell you to make dinner?” Robert asks, angered when Alex replies with a nod. “Just now! I mean just now!” Robert shouts, watching Alex shake her head. “If I told you to do something now, I want it done now!” Robert shouts, “do the fucking rest later!” “Okay!” Alex shouts, her words struggling to retain their composure as the fear in her voice makes up for the tears she retains. “Don’t ever fucking talk back to me!” Robert shouts, his pants nearly beneath his knees as his wife clutches at his arms, hoping hell relieve the pressure sooner rather than later. Within seconds, Robert pulls Alex down and tears at the hole in his boxers, keeping the woman on her knees as Kennedy calls for her mother. “Get in your fuckin’ room!” Robert shouts, watching Kennedy appear in the arch of the kitchen, startled at the sound of her father’s angered holler. Only seeing her mothers face in her father’s crotch as she struggles to breath, Kennedy hurries for her room on demand, racing for her bedroom and hiding beneath her bed. The lack of noise allowing her to hear every one of her fathers groans, Kennedy wipes a tear from her eye as she remains staring blankly at the toy chest in front of her. Released from the clutches of the man skies above her, Alex gasps for air as Robert smacks her on the back of the head. “Make dinner shithead” the man orders, fixing his pants with one hand whilst gulping from the bottle with the other. Left on the floor, Alex wipes at her mouth and brushes the tears from her eyes. Dusting herself off, she places the synthetic appearance of everything being fine back upon her face and walks for the stove. // | “You alright?” Chevy asks, his stroll through the house taking him to a bar, where he finds Alex sipping vodka from a whiskey glass alone. “Yeah, I’m fine” Alex replies, “just winding down” as she holds her glass up. Taking the seat beside her, Chevy glances at himself in the mirror up ahead, making a passing joke about how much of a bad day it has been for his hair. “It’s not your best look” Alex replies, any further words dwelled by another sip from the glass. “Can I say something that may sound like an insult,but is in no way intended as one?” Alex asks, a chuckle and nod from Chevy opening the room for discussion. “You’re strange” Alex replies, the simple phrasing getting Chevy to let out another laugh, his response of “I’ve noticed” loosening any potential tension the initial statement may have carried. “Seriously though, what gave you this look?” Alex asks, pointing out the jeans and boots combination, paired with the cheap watch and baggy t-shirt. “We can’t all live in the suburbs and retreat to the hills, Mrs. Morris” Chevy replies, his mention of her legal title bringing her to hang her head for a moment before placing the well-kept expression back on. “It’s not the most professional look there’s every been” Chevy admits, “most people tend to be put off by it and think less of the people wearing it. I always found that more interesting than anything else about it.” Clarifying that she’s not against the look itself, Alex finds her statement brushed off by Chevy. “I never said you did” the man replies, “I just know how many friends you probably had that would’ve tried to avoid me at all costs.” “I didn’t have many friends” Alex replies, “so I can’t be certain which of them would’ve or wouldn’t have.” Surprised, Chevy tells Alex that the statement itself disappoints him. “I find you rather likeable, so the fact that you think no one else did enough is a travesty” the man replies, his smile flattering the woman. “I appreciate that thought” Alex replies, the man nodding as his fingers interlace with those of his opposite hand. “What did you do before all of this?” Alex asks, the question having wandered through her head since she met him, but the timing not having been right to ask it until now. “I was a freelance writer” the man replies, “I’d get a call to write about whatever the guys wanted and I’d do it.” Taking it to be her turn to nod, Alex implies that she wouldn’t have taken him to be much of a writer at all. “Why is that?” the man asks, intrigued by the notion of hearing Alex’s first thoughts of him. “You don’t look like much of a writer” Alex replies, the smile on Chevy returning. “You don’t seem like a traditional mom” Chevy replies, his retort intended as kind being taken in an insulting manner by the woman beside him. “Why not?” the woman asks, her tone taking a slight turn, but one obvious enough for Chevy to catch immediately. His hand waving, Chevy makes it clear that he meant that in no insulting manner. “I just think most mothers in your situation would be more worried about Jaime being the lead-figure of the group” the man concludes, Alex asking why she would have a problem with such a position. “I’m not saying you should” the man replies, feeling himself back into a corner, “I think she’s handling it well, I just know many people that would be worried about their kid filling that role regardless.” “They’d think it was too dangerous and they’d try to stop them from partaking in it” the man concludes, “it wouldn’t matter whether or not they were doing it well.” Calming herself down, Alex returns to her drink, the cold shoulder she offers Chevy giving him the signal to call it a night. As he walks out of the room, Alex calls out towards him, prompting him to turn around and take note of her words. “I don’t know why my daughter trusts you” Alex calls, the man having turned around now watching Alex meet his eyes. His smile now coming from a place of subsiding anger rather than genuine peace, Chevy nods and swallows whatever insults he would have wished to lunge Alex’s way. “If you’re so interested in being a ‘traditional mother’, maybe you should sit down and ask her yourself.” With that, Chevy walks out of the room, leaving Alex sulking alone once more, the smell of vodka in her breath becoming more present when her breathing becomes heavier. Returning to her original position, one arm draped over the countertop and the other clenched to her now empty drink, Alex lifts her head and looks forward. For a brief moment, the familiar sight of seeing her reflection in the mirror frightens her, forcing her to recall the events of the day prior. | “Alright, I’m jealous” Kate says, Jaime chuckling as she puffs from a vape behind the comfort of Kate’s desk. “Please, money ain’t worth the other shit I’ve got going on” Jaime replies, “I got enough dirt on my mind right now that the money is just an apology from god.” Nodding, Kate agrees, “regardless of what my role in your life is caused by, the fact that you’re moving back in with your family and still paying for the upkeep of the house is enough to make me conscious about my condo.” “Also, when the hell did you start vaping?” Kate tacks on, the girl just beyond her reach replying that it occurred when she quit smoking. “Okay, and when did you start smoking?” Kate restates, Jaime noting the first time she struck a cig to have been a few weeks prior. “Better to quit while ahead!” Jaime replies, her arrogant smirk preceded by a puff of smoke directly over her head. Within seconds, Kate powers on a fan directed right back at Jaime. Knowing it’s a battle she’ll lose, Jaime takes another puff and blows it towards Kate, immediately blinding herself with a thick white cloud of mango-flavored debris. “Alright, fine” Jaime says, surrendering by placing her pen on the chair beside her. Having admitted defeat, Jaime returns to the line of dialogue, telling Kate that her wealth is nothing to be jealous of when the baggage it comes with is taken into account. “And how did your mother take it?” Kate asks, watching the girl’s head drop as her lips pucker, the expression immediately giving Kate an answer. “You lied to her, didn’t you?” Kate asks, Jaime looking up with a shrug, replying, “Maybe.” Her elbows planted to her desk, Kate places her face into the palm of her hands as her head shakes. “If you were Pinocchio, your nose would stretch from this room to the next continent over” Kate says, Jaime’s head now hung in disappointment. “She’d be disappointed in you, too” Kate includes, Jaime’s head now popping back up, the confliction between whether or not that statement is true begins doing battle in her head. “I’d rather that than let my family get their asses beat by a beer-swirling bastard” Jaime replies, Kate shrugging, though the lack of outright agreeance becomes very noticeable by the girl on the other end. “What?” Jaime asks, knowing that there’s something else Kate has yet to say, peaking her interest. “I think she’d rather you escape” Kate replies, refusing to tell Jaime that her selfless act is as direct as she wishes it to be. “No” Jaime replies, firm by her belief, “she’d want me to help her and Kennedy from anymore damage.” “I don’t think she’d want safety for herself at the expense of your success” Kate furthers, the statement dropping a bomb on Jaime’s shoulders as the rain begins falling outside, dimming the natural light within the room. “I don’t care” Jaime replies, refusing to budge from her position, “she doesn’t deserve to suffer, and I’m the outlet that can keep that from happening.” Letting out a sigh, Kate sinks back into her chair, the annoyed Jaime asking what the add on will be this time around. “I thought we were making progress here” Kate replies, “I thought I was finally getting somewhere with the bigger picture.” Taken back by the notion, Jaime asks what Kate envisioned the ‘bigger picture’ being. “Your individual success” Kate replies, “no mother would want to get what they wish for at their children’s expense.” “This isn’t a sportscar in return for their newborn baby” Jaime replies, “this is protection from a violent cunt in return for their daughter not living in an overpriced mansion!” Refusing to allow herself to change course because apples are compared to oranges, Kate tries to influence Jaime to compare the two as an equal pair of oranges. “It’s not the mansion she cares that you have, Jaime” Kate replies, “it’s being able to move on from what she’s unable to.” “You have a ticket out of a terrible situation that you’ll be able to give to Kennedy when she grows up” Kate affirms, “she wouldn’t want you to give that up because of her.” Her head shaking vehemently, “I’m not giving it up because of her” Jaime replies, “I’m giving it up because of him.” Her eyebrows lowered as her mouth opens slightly, Kate stands from her chair as Jaime remains seated. Leaning over her desk, Kate makes it clear that the course doesn’t need to change if the way they look at it alters. “If that’s so, why are you trying to save her, instead of trying to change him?” Kate asks, the girl ahead opening her mouth to reply, ultimately thinking better of it, and electing to take that suggestion to heart, the possibility of leading change hitting home with her. Calling for the girl, Kayla walks into Jaime’s bedroom to find her staring into the mirror draped over the head of a wardrobe. Still lost in thinking about the past, Jaime hears her name called the second time around, her eyes fixating on Kayla as she walks into the room. “Hey, I’m sorry!” Jaime replies, her smile coming as an escape from daunting memory she found herself locked within. “Don’t worry about it” Kayla replies, “I just wanted to apologize about putting you on the spot.” Her head shaking, Jaime tells Kayla not to worry about it. “It’s getting late, we should all get some sleep” the home’s owner says, her shirt coming over her head as she pulls a raggedy old sweatshirt from her dresser. As Kayla walks towards the hallway, Jaime calls her back, prompting her to turn around and see the girl stood in her bra, the sweatshirt still folded in her hands. “Do you think it’s a good idea?” Jaime asks, “the whole thing about leading the mob to creating a functioning government?” Her head tilting to the side, the girl thinks it over briefly before admitting that she does. “The mob’s gonna take down the figure heads eventually” Kayla replies, “when that happens, they’ll need someone that can handle making decisions and actually speaking from the heart of something other than anger.” “And you think I can do that?” Jaime asks, watching the affirmation in Kayla’s words become more prominent in this response than the one prior. “You’re more likely to do that than anyone else here” Kayla replies, “Chevy and myself included.” Her head bobbing, Jaime asks out of genuine curiosity why Kayla’s so confident in her ability to lead, other than the defacto response of her being the default leader of the group. Leaning against the wall, Kayla tells Jaime that she’s made everything work like the pieces had been together for years. “We keep talking about trust every other hour because it’s such a strange concept to trust complete strangers to the extent we’ve done without it biting us in the ass” the girl replies, giving Jaime the credit for having made the first move. “Jordan saves us from getting run down, you trust us with Kennedy, we trust you to let you lead.” Fully in Jaime’s camp, Kayla tells the girl that there isn’t any group she wouldn’t trust her to take over. With a smile, Jaime nods to Kayla and returns to getting dressed as Kayla goes to leave once more. “I’ll do it” Jaime says, pausing Kayla from her exit as her adage pulls her back into the conversation. “You will?” Kayla asks, looking for clarification as Jaime smiles and nods. “Let’s make sure this shit is done the right way” Jaime replies, giving Kayla the greenlight to let Chevy and the rest of the group know. “I will” Kayla replies, smiling back at Jaime as she walks over to give Chevy the news. Finishing the remainder of her routine, Jaime returns to the mirror and takes another look at herself. “I’m gonna do it the right way” she mutters to her reflection, “I’m gonna change the narrative.” Storming from the home ahead of the group following after him, Chevy picks up his helmet and prepares to drive off, angered more than he’s ever been in his life. “We need answers!” Chevy shouts, the entire group paranoid and distressed, having to be reminded by Alex that they don’t know what the report said was true or not. “It was” Amelia says from the porch, watching the group all turn to face her in unison.
“I downed a glass earlier this morning” the girl continues, “I was waiting for everything to happen when you found me.” Looking towards each other in hopes someone would know how to respond to this revelation, the group begins wondering why the girl never mentioned anything. “I thought it was just happening slowly” Amelia replies, the fright in her voice beginning to shine through, “I didn’t want to get your hopes up for nothing.” “This has nothing to do with Amelia” Jaime responds, cutting through the groups shouts for further information to remind them that there’s no way to know exactly what to do next. “We know we can drink water again, and we know a whole shit ton of people are dead” Jaime furthers, “but the rest is still as fucked up as it was before.” The group quieting down, they begin spreading out, their hands over their heads or on their hips, pacing around in search of what comes next. “So what do you suggest we do?” Chevy asks, stating that his intentions were to drive down to city hall and start demanding answers. “Do you know how many people have died?” Chevy asks, Jaime admitting that she doesn’t, giving Chevy the go ahead to make it clear that that’s the point. “We don’t know how many are dead, we don’t know what they’re doing next, we don’t even know if there is a ‘they’ now!” Chevy concludes, suggesting the hall as the only place with answers. “Downtown LA is destroyed” Kayla acknowledges from the back, “if there’s someone giving the ‘all clear’ for that message to go out, there’s someone to give out answers for all of this.” Frustrated, Kennedy barks at the group, telling them not to be the same idiots that got themselves killed on day one. “There’s gonna be a riot in the streets!” Kennedy shouts, “if we sit around and wait for it, we’ll get caught right in the middle of it… again.” “The kid’s making a good point” Chevy states, “no one’s gonna just be alright with the government trying to reclaim order when they got everyone killed and treated it like nothing.” With a breath, Jaime looks towards Amelia and asks her if she’d be alright leaving the house for a little while to check out city hall. With a nod, Amelia gives Jaime all the confirmation she needs to direct everyone into their vehicles, setting their sights on uncovering answers. Jaime, Jordan and Amelia leading the group, Chevy and Kayla riding in the middle whilst Alex and Kennedy offer support behind, the group navigates back into the decimated center of town. After making the descent south and being forced to drive around burning office buildings and the debris of fallen towers, Jaime leads the group back onto the main roads. Once past the debris, Jaime leads the group towards their intended area, watching protestors in the thousands rushing through the street, adding to the number at the bottom of the steps of city hall. “This is a lot worse than I thought it was gonna be” Jaime says, her boyfriend spotting a group of rioters tipping over a water truck, leaving its contents to flood through the streets. “This whole place is going to shit” Jordan mutters, Amelia in the backseat just awestruck at the sights. Beckoned by Chevy from behind, Jaime watches the man point towards an empty plot of land in the middle of a park. “He wants me to pull into there?” Jaime asks herself, shrugging and doing so, leading the convoy into cover behind the trees as they park their car and regroup. “What’s up?” Jaime asks, exiting her vehicle as Chevy points towards the city hall building. “They prepared for this” Chevy says, pointing out the front stairway of the building. Barely visible behind the sea of civilians hungry for answers, a massive, reinforced fence lines the front stairs of the building, keeping the swarm of survivors stranded beneath the fading sun. “How much do you wanna bet they held off on that alert until after the fence was finished?” Jordan asks, the finger he uses to point at the building still sporting the blood of the assailants from earlier in the day. “I’d put every goddamn cent I own in the middle of the table” Chevy replies, placing his helmet in Kayla’s lap before walking towards the mob-surrounded building. Calling for the man to return, Jaime watches Chevy hurry off beneath the dark cover of the trees at his sides before ordering the remainder of the group to remain there. “An-swer us!” the crowd chants, the screaming dulling Jaime’s calls for Chevy beneath it as she begins losing sight of him amidst the chaos. Rushing through the people in hopes of stumbling upon Chevy on his way around, Jaime feels a tug on her arm pulling her back, allowing Chevy to run further away without the ability to catch up. “Where you goin’?” a random man asks, digging his nails into Jaime’s arm before the pain prompts the girl to slap him across the face. “You little bitch!” the man shouts, his hand caressing his cheek before it lifts into the air. Without hesitation, Jaime pulls a screwdriver out of her pocket and digs it into the man’s eye socket, causing a horrifying scream to resonate from the man’s mouth as she rips the tool out. Having freed her arm, Jaime disappears into the crowd as the man attempts to stop the bleeding, the mob immediately around him having seen this unfold, taking it as a chance to let out their frustrations, beating the man down and stomping on the back of his head. Continuing to chase after Chevy, Jaime finds herself alone in the middle of the mob, the lack of familiar faces around her making it feel like she wasn’t even in a familiar place. Suddenly, as she looks to turn around and leave, the loudspeaker system powers on, the mob silencing as they prepare for any response worthy of the damage that’s been done. “Good evening, may I have everyone’s attention please?” the voice calls out, only beginning to speak when the crowd quiets enough. “My name is Django Wenton, I am the current deputy mayor of Los Angeles, and am the current acting mayor of Los Angeles in relief of Halifax Thurbin.” The city now frighteningly quiet, the attention of every civilian able to do so is centralized on the sets of speakers throughout the area. “As of right now, a state of emergency has been put in order for all residents of Los Angeles, California” the acting mayor says, “and you are to return to your homes immediately.” “A stay at home order has been put in place, and anyone found violating this order will be subject to arrest. There are no exceptions” Wenton declares, the anger of the mob beginning to build once more, only to wait until the deputy mayor has finished speaking. “We will be addressing these concerns shortly” Wenton concludes, “our thoughts and prayers are with you and your loved ones in these very troubling times.” Shutting off, the loudspeaker’s system allows for all succeeding roars to be addressed, the roar eventually coming in the form of a singular voice made crystal clear via a megaphone. “Stand your guard!” the unfamiliar voice calls out, “they can’t arrest all of us!” With this battle cry, the crowd lifts into a roar once more, the shouting only amplifying from what it began as. Clawing her way out, Jaime returns to her group, watching the mob begin attempting to climb the fence’s sleek metal bars. “This isn’t going to end well” Jaime says, her arms extended outwards as Chevy rushes back to the group, his hurry from the mob doubling that of Jaime’s. “What’s wrong with you?” Jordan asks, watching Chevy wave for the group to return to their vehicles and get out of the area immediately. “We heard about the stay at home order, Chevy” Alex says, attempting to talk him out of his fear until Chevy retorts that this isn’t about the order. “They’re gonna start shooting” Chevy says, pulling his helmet on and demanding that Kayla get on the bike. “They can’t just shoot at us!” Alex replies, pleading for Chevy to stop scaring everyone. “Half the population of the country, if not more, are dead on the fucking ground and city hall is about to be overrun, do you think they’re gonna keep playing civilized if this shit keeps up?” Chevy asks, turning his bike on. “Listen, if you wanna stay down here… Best of luck to you” Chevy goes on, “but don’t say I never warned you.” Staring at the man more nervous than he’d been in the middle of yesterday’s firefight, Jaime and the group huddle back into their vehicles, following the lead of the man that had yet to betray their trust. Pulling off of the grass, the group return to formation and drives off, leaving behind the massive crowd in an attempt to save themselves another day. = Dire 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 = Returning to the house, Chevy and Kayla park their bike outside the front gates and immediately dash into the house, only further alarming the rest of the group, thrown off course by the collected couple’s out of character behavior. “Guys, wait the fuck up!” Jaime shouts, slamming her car door shut and racing into the house, watching Chevy and Kayla pick up bags and boxes, filling them with whatever they can get out of the home. “What the fuck are you doing!?” Jaime asks, catching a few boxes thrown to her by Chevy, who replies that they need to hit the road right now. “Can we please calm down for a minute and talk this through?” Jaime asks, the rest of the group finally following them into the home. “We can’t wait!” Chevy replies, exhausting himself as Kayla simply does as Chevy told her to whilst on the bike. “Chevy, please take a second to breathe” Jaime replies, her hand stretching out to his arm as she gently tugs him back, allowing Kayla to stand in front of him, pleading with him to stop for a minute. “What has you so up in arms?” Kayla asks, Jaime asking further why he’s in such a rush to leave. “It’s all going to hell” Chevy replies, his hand digging through his hair as he informs the group that they’re going to want to leave as soon as they can. “Everything’s falling apart” Chevy continues, “the mayor would get shot the second he showed his face, and until he shows his face, that mob is only gonna get bigger and angrier.” Trying to take a cautiously optimistic route, Jaime tells Chevy that there could be an answer worth trying to be peaceful that no one has yet, only for Chevy to snipe back, telling Jaime to think about the sort of excuse that could make losing hundreds of thousands of people alright. “Whatever the reason is, someone’s gonna need to be held accountable” Chevy says, “they’re gonna want that mayor’s head on a pike!” Rolling her eyes, Jaime acknowledges the danger they currently face, but refuses to suggest they could be in danger when the mayor is the mob’s target. “No, no, no… Listen to me” Chevy replies, “If the mayor isn’t punished, they’ll burn the whole city down so he has nothing to be the mayor of.” “That still doesn’t have anything to do with us” Jaime replies, failing to grasp the greater picture until Alex is forced to step in. “Honey, I think Chevy’s trying to say that the mayor is the threat we should be looking out for” her mother says, Jaime looking back for confirmation from Chevy. “They’ve already told us to go back to being sitting ducks” Chevy carries on, “if he can’t control anyone… He’ll just keep shooting until there’s no one left to oppose him.” “You’re saying the government can do whatever they want now?” Jordan asks, Chevy shaking his head in refusal. “There is no government anymore” the man concludes, “they’re just trying to get us to believe it long enough for them to disappear.” Speaking up, alex voices her concern over what other places are left like this, Kayla admitting that most, if not all cities would be just the same, if not worse based on what they saw before the internet went down. “There’s no way anyone will ever trust the government, big or small, ever again” Chevy replies, “as far as they’re concerned, riddling a crowd with bullets is damage control.” Wiping his face, Chevy tells Jaime that he’s not going to force her to leave, but he’s not going to change his mind about leaving either. “One way or another, shit is hitting the fan” Chevy concludes, “either we leave before we get caught up in it, or we stay and go down with it when it does.” Before she can respond, the voice of the final remaining legal tenant of the house gives her answer. “I’m going too” Amelia says, catching Jaime off guard as the girl makes her decision without a second thought. “If all of that’s going to happen, I’m not gonna stand around and wait for it to happen” Amelia replies, her reason for wanting to leave encouraging Kennedy to voice the same concerns, leaving Alex to be the party responsible for telling her to quiet down. Not one to listen, Kennedy shakes off her mother’s suggestion, placing her hat into the conversation in the favor of Chevy, who seems to have the majority of the camp behind him. Looking to her boyfriend, Jaime watches him stretch his arms out, “we already made the choice to head north” Jordan responds, “Chevy’s not crazy for thinking that all of this is gonna go sour. We’ve still got a reason to keep moving north.” Turning towards her mother, Jaime watches her nod in agreement. “I’ll be honest, I don’t like what I’m seeing out there” the woman replies, Kennedy stood by her side. “I don’t know what it is about him, but I haven’t seen a reason not to trust Chevy yet” Alex concludes, “if this is what he thinks is about to happen…” she pauses, looking towards Chevy, who nods. “...I belive him. And we should probably get out of here before it’s too late.” The entire group in favor of departing, Jaime turns around to look at the couple behind her, taking one final glance towards Kayla, who is in agreement with the rest. “Pack the food, whatever meds you’ve got here and whatever clothes we can find” Jaime directs, leading the grocery list throughout the home as the group disperses. Stood alone in the living room as the remainder of the house is combed through, Jaime picks up her box and starts going to work with the moon rising. | “When was the last time you took a risk?” Kate asks, her hands coupled as Jaime floats around the room, touching each side of the wall with her hands before continuing the pattern again. “Depends on what you classify as a risk” Jaime replies, “going outside is a risk for some people, and asking for another two-hundred thousand dollars on your annual salary is a risk for others.” “In whose world would asking for two-hundred thousand dollars not be a risk?” Kate asks, Jaime replying by asking if she’s ever heard of Bill Gates or Elon Musk. “Some people have risks that others would see as just another part of their life” Jaime continues, “so clarify exactly what you mean by a ‘risk’?” “When was the last time you felt badly about something, weren’t sure what was going to happen and did it anyway?” Kate furthers, stopping Jaime as she notices the wheels begin to sputter in her head again. “Just tell me something your instincts told you not to do that you did anyway” Kate concludes, clarifying her point enough for Jaime to be unable to twist it into a random philosophical detour. Thinking about it for a moment, Jaime answers with, “moving into my own place whilst everything at home was still going on.” Finally getting somewhere with her question, Kate hops onto the opportunity as it remains presenting itself. “What made you chose to move out despite what was happening at home?” the woman asks, watching her patient’s mood shift, the answer not having been something she’d given much thought to before. “You told me to” Jaime replies, Kate’s head shaking as she tells her to dig deeper than just that. “What more is there?” Jaime asks, “you told me that I should, so I did.” Leaning forward, Kate tells Jaime that she’s not one to follow Kate’s advice without issue. “Regardless of what I said, something in your head decided that I was right” Kate responds, “what was it that made you feel that I was telling you the truth?” “I don’t know, Kate” Jaime answers, “it wasn’t getting any better and there wasn’t really something I could do about it… So there was no point in trying.” With a smile, Kate digs a little further, “And something clicked when I told you that, what do you think convinced you?” Looking off to the side, Jaime shrugs, admitting that she simply listened to what Kate had to say and it managed to strike a chord the way few other things had. “You were right, I don’t need to know why” Jaime replies, “I need clarification that you were, and clearly… you were.” Her eyes dashing from Jaime to the surface of her desk, Kate pats the top and stands to her feet, walking towards the couch near Jaime’s chair and taking a seat. “Regardless of what I had to say, there was something inside of you that realized I was right and helped my point along” Kate continues, “I said the words, but you made the choice.” “So I’m suddenly my own therapist now?” Jaime asks, her slim white jacket falling over her left shoulder as she sports a sparkling grin. “I can’t exactly ask my brain to tell me what it was thinking, I just know what I heard and what I felt” the girl replies, her hands being thrown outwards as she asks Kate what more she can take from that. “What did you feel?” Kate asks, Jaime serving her the common eye roll at the generic, Family Feud-like therapy question. “I guess I felt…” Jaime begins, looking around the room for the adequate term, eventually landing on ‘supported.’ “I felt like what I had been telling myself for years was finally something that I wasn’t the only one thinking” Jaime responds, watching Kate’s face light up at the newly uncovered path. “So you’d thought about it before?” Kate asks, her question taking the form as just that, despite her already knowing the inevitable answer. “That’s why I asked what made you think I was right” Kate continues on, taking her place back in the seat behind the desk, “what made you begin thinking that?” Jolting her head to free the loose hairs dangling over her eyes, Jaime puckers her lips, thinking back to the first time she began feeling like her role was serving little good. “The time I came back from a pitch meeting and saw mom with a bruise on the side of her neck” Jaime replies, her puckered lips evening. “When was this?” Kate asks, Jaime admitting it to be nearly a year ago to the day. “I thought it was just a hickey at first so I didn’t bother asking about it” Jaime replies, “but then I saw some green and brown around the gray spots and started thinking something was up.” Her leg now crossing, the left over the right, Kate asks why this was so important to her. “Because something felt odd about it” Jaime replies, admitting to her mother being off. “She was walking around the room slowly” Jaime continues, “she kept talking to me from behind stuff… Like the wall between two rooms and other furniture things.” Eyes narrowing, Kate asks what felt odd about that moment. “She was hiding from me seeing her even though Helen Keller could’ve seen the bruise the second she got in the door, but she talked to me more than she had the months prior that night.” Feeling as though this interaction was completely backwards, Kate asks for more intricate details, asking about whether or not Jaime could remember the topics they discussed or the mood her mother was in. “It was just the simple things we always talked about” Jaime replies, “but it felt like she wanted to talk about them all over again.” Sitting back in her seat, Kate asks if there was anything else she could recall about the conversation. “I just know how it ended” Jaime replies, the suspense beginning to dawn on Kate as she had yet to hear this conversation in all of their prior meetings. “We were talking about Canada, and that’s when dad walked… Err- stumbled, into the room.” Her eyes opening as Jaime had rarely liked to discuss her father in great detail, Kate asks if she’d be willing to tell her how the conversation ended other than the easy description she had just given. “He was drunk” Jaime replies, “he had gotten pretty good at walking like he wasn’t, but he didn’t know how to keep himself from smelling like a package store.” With a chuckle, Jaime begins continuing until Kate interrupts her, asking if she’d tell her why she was ever afraid of her father. “No” Jaime says, the smirk on her face and the shaking of her head brushing him off as a joke, suggesting that anyone with half a mind would’ve called her crazy for not wanting to leave. “Everyone would’ve taken the first chance to get out of there when they could” Jaime responds, “I was the only one that had all the opportunity, but none of the desire.” The side of her head supported by her shoulder, Kate asks Jaime what kept her from being the frightened one. “I was the breadwinner” Jaime replies, “out of that entire household, out of literally every single person under that roof... I was the untouchable one.” “He knew he couldn’t touch you?” Kate asks, the smile on Jaime’s face giving her all the answer that she needed. “The second he put a hand on me, I had fourteen officers on speed dial that would whisk him away before he could crack open another cold one.” Her teeth showing in the corner of her mouth, Kate allows Jaime to continue, picking up the story from where her father cut the conversation short. “He waddled in while we talked about how easy it is to get a visa for an entire family, and he thought it was inherently a dig at him” Jaime replies, insisting that he got very mad. “He told me not to get any ideas because I was still his daughter” Jaime goes on, “told me I wasn’t as important as I thought I was.” “What did you tell him?” Kate asks, hearing about how Jaime popped one of his beers out and pulled the cap off without the assistance of a bottle opener. “I drank his beer right in his own face” Jaime replies, the smile spreading across her face without pause, “I told him to test that theory out.” “What did he do next?” Kate asks, Jaime telling her that he called her some random name and walked off, grabbed himself a beer and retired to his room for the night. “That was how it always went” Jaime went on, “he was all bark and no bite, at least, as long as you barked louder and bit harder.” “So what made you realize that things weren’t going to change just because you still lived there?” Kate asks, Jaime biting her lip as she swallows the truth. “No matter how much I’d threaten to unleash the law on him, mom would always come to his defense and say that she fell or something” Jaime replies, “I’d try to help her but she just can’t help herself, can she?” | “Are we ready?” Chevy asks, calling out to the home’s interior as the group hurries down the stairs and other crevasses of the home with bags and crates filled with supplies. Hurrying for the door, Chevy takes a head count, watching his girlfriend make up the final remaining number before rushing for his bike. “We head north and don’t stop until we reach snow, got it?” Jaime asks, pulling Chevy aside as he flashes a smile and paats her on the shoulder. “Let’s move out!” Jaime shouts, confidently strolling to her car as Jordan and Amelia pile in, her mothers vehicle and her own carrying whatever supplies they bring as their lights flash on. Brightening the surroundings, Jaime is caught off guard when Amelia hands both her and Jordan a battery-powered bluetooth ear piece. “We can communicate without laying into our horns” the girl says, watching Jaime’s phone light up. “Turn down your headlights” Chevy says, Jaime looking at his bike go dark from her rear-view mirror before her mother’s does the same. Following suit, Jaime pulls onto the street, leading the lineup forward as they prepare to find out what awaits them. Winding in and out of nauseating turns, the group climbs massive hills and navigates open wooded areas to dodge blocked streets before coming upon a sight that brings them to a pause. “What’s going on Jaime?” Chevy asks, the woman ahead stopping her car at the sight of something shining through the distance. “I think I see something through the trees” Jaime replies, noting a bright light dashing through the trees as if it were calling her name. “It’s probably a billboard” Kennedy replies from the rearmost vehicle, Jaime shooting down that suggesting where it began as the lights form words, not provide the words themselves. “What’s so important about this light?” Chevy asks, his question remaining unfinished by the time Jaime begins driving again, changing the course slightly to inspect the signage. “Jaime, you better not be wasting gas fetching after bullshit” Chevy says, revving his bike up before leading Alex forward. “Honey, what do you expect to do when you find out what it is?” Alex asks, watching the two vehicles slow to a halt as Jaime emerges from hers. “Jaime, what the hell?” Chevy asks, watching the girl walk a few feet in front of her car and set her sights on the undisturbed sights. Blinking in the distance is the header for the Mount Cedar Sinai Medical Center, the entire top row of windows being blacked out, the only lights emerging from tacky ‘Open’ signs. “What the fuck is this all about?” Chevy asks, the remaining group abandoning their vehicles to stand beside the pair now gazing at the sight. “It’s a hospital, so what?” Kennedy asks, “aren’t they always supposed to be open?” Agreeing, Chevy tacks on the important reminder that the signage wasn’t operating the day prior. “You can see this shit from the lowest part of downtown LA!” Chevy exclaims, “it wasn’t on at all last night!” Shrugging, Kayla suggests they had simply lost power and couldn’t turn the sign on. “If that were the case, the hospital would’ve been abandoned once a few minutes without guaranteed power lapsed” Chevy responds, “that hospital shouldn’t be occupied.” Reaching for straws, Alex suggests there was a procedure they weren’t aware of, only for Chevy to turn around, his arm stretched out, insisting that there’s nothing further to dig into than what he’s already said. “They wouldn’t have people in that hospital if the power went out for as long as it did” Chevy concludes, “that hospital should not be a hospital right now.” “So what is it?” Jordan asks, “why is it blinking like a fucking bar room?” Stated from the front of the pack, Jaime admits that it’s not supposed to be a hospital. “That signage might as well be an ‘open’ sign itself, because it is anything but a hospital and whoever’s in there wants everyone to know it.” “I’m so lost” Kennedy replies, Kayla admitting the same. “Let’s go see it for ourselves” Jaime suggests, returning to the front seat of her car as the rest of the group follows the same. Driving off into the night, the wandering survivors search for what remains in the ravaged remains of the state whilst Los Angeles burns to the ground behind them, the smoldering ash hoisting itself into the sky, it’s brilliant orange glow turning into a black nothingness with a snap. Season 2 Premiere
“It’s only gonna get harder the farther we go” Jaime states, “I can’t stop thinking that all we’re doing is delaying the inevitable.” Staring at the fabrics of the tent with little more than a white tank top and yoga pants on, Jaime fights the urge to consider an attempt to survive such odds a lost cause as Jordan wraps his arms around and pulls her close, kissing the back of her neck before handing her a button. “Keep sucking on it” Jordan directs, the idea that sucking on a button will keep their saliva forming, the best form of hydration they’ve yet to stumble across. “We’re gonna beat this” Jordan explains, “we’ve seen all the shit that there is to see, Jaime… We’re still here today, and we’ll still be here tomorrow.” Glancing behind her, Jaime smiles at Jordan and plops the button in her mouth after giving him a kiss. After a few minutes, the girl emerges from her tent and joins the rest of the group in the middle of their beaten campsite, ready to take on the world as the sun comes up. “Hey girly” Chevy says, greeting Jaime on her way out whilst handing Kayla a line of buttons all tied together. “Here” Chevy says, handing Jaime a button string of her own before handing one to Jordan as well, inquiring when it is they’ll be putting the camp in their rear view mirror. “Give it an hour” Jaime replies, “my mom and Kennedy are out at the river in hopes we can just boil whatever’s causing this out of the water.” Nodding, Chevy voices his hope for that being the answer, “there’s not much else I can think of that can put a fix to this.” Walking up to the duo, Kayla makes it clear that they should be proud of how far they’ve gotten regardless, especially coming from Los Angeles. “When shit hits the fan, it hits hard” the girl declares, “if you can make it past the chaos of day one, just making it to day two is a rowdy accomplishment.” Giving Chevy a peck on the lips, Kayla looks to pull Jaime aside and talk with her, only to seemingly be the only one to overhear the sound of leaves ruffling beneath feet. “Did you hear that?” Kayla asks, looking around as Jaime and Chevy both look at her, wondering what she’s talking about. “The leaves?” Kayla asks, “you guys didn’t just hears leave crumpling?” she asks to a “no” from both Jaime and Chevy. “I guess I must be going crazy or something” Kayla exclaims, continuing to walk over to Jaime before two voices demand their hands be lifted into the air. From off to the side, two men dressed in red flannel and beige overalls point hunting rifles at the small group, demanding they put their hands in the air once more. Rolling his eyes and biting his lip, Chevy is the first to comply, with Kayla and Jaime puzzlingly lifting their hands into the air, the early days of the chaos numbing them to the idea. “Is this a joke?” Kayla asks, her eyes narrowing as the two middle age men shout at her, asking whether or not this looks like a joke. Struggling to find an answer, Kayla’s attempt is halted when one of the men cracks her over the mouth with the barrel of his gun, dropping her to the ground. Shouting at the men, Chevy lunges at them, suffering the same fate from the second man as his girlfriend had, alarming the still-hidden Jordan, peering out through the opening in the tent. Watching the second man hold Chevy at gunpoint, Jordan watches the first climb on top of Kayla, aiming his gun at Jaime, all of which prompts him to scurry to the mattress and retrieve Jaime’s hidden blade. “Get off me!” Kayla shouts, trying to fight off the man, only for his greater strength and the whiplash of the shot she took to keep her from putting up a better fight. “Back up!” the man shouts at Jaime, keeping his gun pointed at her, forcing her to do as told as the distance between herself and the man is decent enough for him to redirect his eyes back onto Kayla. “Stop!” Chevy shouts, climbing to his knees before being taken down again with another shot to the head, the gun aimed at his back still keeping him from intervening. Creeping out of his tent, Jordan arms himself with the blade as the first man lowers his handle on the gun, struggling to undo the belt around his pants in an attempt to rape the dazed woman beneath him. Refusing to allow this to continue, Jordan hurries into action and plunges the blade into the man’s neck, causing blood to spurt out at first before it gradually starts pouring out like maple syrup from a tree. The struggle sounding the same as it had been, the second man thinks nothing of it, completely caught off guard when Jaime hurries over to the rifle, readies it and fires a round through the man’s chest. Watching the second assault collapse to the ground, Jaime lowers the gun and Chevy hurries over to Kayla, wiping her assailants blood away and helping her into Jaime’s tent. Dropping the gun to her side, Jaime looks over to Jordan as he watches the life leave the would-be rapists eyes, the handle of the knife still protruding from his jugular. Knowing why he took the man’s life, Jordan has no trouble pulling the blade from his throat and holding it confidently in his hands. Glancing at Jaime, the pair lock eyes and swallow the saliva forming in their mouths before nodding to each other. Somewhat proud of what they’d done, Jaime and Jordan glance back at the bodies of their victims, continuing to nod as they conscientiously remind themselves that they did something good. Exiting the tent, Chevy looks at both Jordan and Jaime and swiftly lifts his eyebrows, non-verbally saying “well, that’s that!” before walking back to his bike. = Dire 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 = “This is the way it’s gonna be” Jaime exclaims, her mother sat against a random tire propped up against a tree with her hand over her mouth, staring at the two fresh corpses. “Let’s not forget that we’ve done worse” Chevy adds in, trying to help Jaime’s cause, only for her mother to become angrier. “I’m sorry if I’d rather not accept that my daughter’s killed two people in twelve hours, Chevy” Alex shouts, still clinging onto the hope that violence doesn’t have to be the key solution. “It may not be something we want, but it can’t be something we outright refuse” Kayla adds in, placing her hat in Chevy and Jaime’s circle. Hanging her head, her arms pressed against her legs as her hands hang, Alex questions how the group can even manage to survive. “What are we going to do?” Alex asks, her shrinking hope beginning to act as the anchor holding the group back from keeping their chins high. “We just will” Jaime replies, “we’ve survived everything that came before this, and we’ll survive this too.” With the statement, Jaime looks at Jordan, who flashes her a smile as she responds with the same. Not satisfied with such extremes becoming common practice in order to survive, Alex ends the conversation entirely, piling whatever she can fit into the back of a rundown, but functioning car she and Kennedy found along the side of the road. Getting aggravated, Jaime walks over to her mother, asking her to stop pretending like this is something they like doing. “I’m no fan of it either!” Jaime shouts, her mother turning around to face her, “but if we’re gonna survive, we’re gonna have to take out the people that threaten to keep us from doing that.” Sucking in a breath, her mother silently turns around and slams the trunk door shut, calling for Kennedy, who had been told to wait in their tent. “Maybe I’m not prepared for whatever this new world is” Alex whispers to Jaime, admitting that it’ll take a while to get used to, “but I’m no fan of watching my daughter have to murder people to stay alive.” Opening the door for Kennedy, Alex watches her youngest daughter stop and point in the direction of the deceased men, telling her mother that they got what was coming to them. “Don’t talk like that!” Alex says, watching Kennedy roll her eyes and hop into the backseat as the door shuts behind her. “This is exactly what I don’t want” Alex retorts to Jaime, who tells her that she doesn’t have much of a choice. “Even if we find some kind of solution, there’s already been too much damage to come back from” Jaime replies, watching her mothers head slightly drop before she turns around and walks for the front seat of the car. “We should get going” Jaime says, returning to the group, who are more than ready to get on with whatever comes next. “Santa Clarita, right?” Chevy asks over, watching Jaime press on her best fake smile as she nods to the man, jokingly giving him the tipped-hat gesture. With a smile, Chevy hops onto the bike as Kayla follows suit, revving the engine as Jaime and Jordan hop into a truck similar to Jaime’s that was abandoned on the side of the road. Turning the key in the ignition, Jaime hears the emergency broadcast system persist, lowering the volume within seconds as her last remaining hope in the government to do their jobs had run dry. Putting her foot to the pedal, Jaime places her right hand on Jordan’s as her left clutches at the wheel, pulling ahead of Chevy’s bike and Alex’s sedan, and leaving the camping area behind for good. Strewn around are the bodies of the two murdered assailants and the weathered body of Eli showing the effects of the rainfall from the night before. Following Jaime, Chevy and Kayla are the second to depart whilst Alex follows behind, serving as cover for anyone possibly looking to run Chevy and Kayla down from behind. Eerily similar to most apocalyptic scenes from movies and television, downtown Los Angeles burns as the remaining outer skirts rest quietly, few souls left traversing them. | “You’re awfully chipper today” Kate proclaims, watching the jubilant Jaime’s leg bounce over the one pressed against the ground as she bobs her head. “This is quite the rare sight” Kate continues, “it’s a shame we don’t get to see it very often, but we’ll work on that!” Folding her hands, Kate kicks her left leg over her right, matching Jaime by bouncing her foot in the air as if she were playing the drums without a pair of sticks. “I finally closed in on a house yesterday” Jaime says, hiding a smile from her face as it continuously threatens to peak through like sunlight through a set of blinds. “That sounds exciting” Kate replies, “how much did you close on it for?” Taking her eyes off Kate, Jaime bites the corner of her lip comedically as she stares at the wall, quietly whispering a number as of yet unable to be heard by the woman on the opposite side of the desk. “I’m sorry, what was that?” Kate asks, noticing the obvious effort to conceal information perhaps slightly hypocritical on Jaime’s part, and making the call to pull the true figure out of the girl. “I said fur-milners” Jaime replies, still muffling the figure as Kate continues prodding at her, patiently waiting for the value of the home. “One more time?” Kate asks, watching Jaime turn back towards her with an embarrassed smile, her voice lifting to a near-shout. “Four million dollars!” Jaime replies, her smile still sported as her head hangs low, combatting her crossed arms as Kate’s smile only widens. “I thought you weren’t very big on ‘expensive taste’ last time I heard?” Kate asks, watching Jaime hold her hands out, ready to defend her reasoning for the purchase. “I work literally three turns away!” Jaime explains, “it’s in the hills, but I can literally see the building from my patio. It’s easier!” “Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of you!” Kate says, “a little ashamed of my tiny little condo now in comparison…” she mutters undead her breath. “...But very, very proud of you!” she continues, “and I’m glad you’re choosing to start making yourself the priority.” Her smile fading but still present, Jaime nods as her hands remain tucked, Kate noticing this and picking up on it as soon as she spots it out. “I know you want to see your family get better, but-” Kate says, stopped by Jaime, who reminds her that her mother is still being beaten by her father, and no one is doing anything about it. “I watch it happen every day, even if they don’t think I do” Jaime continues, “but I do… and I’m getting tired of it.” Stepping out of her chair, Kate walks to the front of the table and takes a seat on the edge, telling Jaime that there is a fine line she needs to be able to point out. “You’re wildly successful for your age, and there are going to be a lot of people that wanna take advantage of that” Kate begins, watching Jaime look up at her with her eyebrows curled up. “But you’ve made it in this world” Kate proclaims, “for better or for worse, you’ve done what so many people go through their entire lives hoping for and never getting.” Turning her eyes to the corner, Jaime looks away before Kate directs them back to her, telling her to pay close attention. “You can’t change our family no matter how hard you try, because it’s not your battle to fight” Kate continues, “so you need to look after yourself before they take you down with them.” Knowing the sharp blade waiting for her at both ends of a sword, Kate takes the approach of assuring Jaime that there must come a point where she puts her needs over the needs of her family, trying to keep her from dropping into whatever awaits with them when she doesn’t have to. “I just wanna see you succeed” Kate concludes, noticing the eyes drop as the most sensical choice sports itself as the least desired one. “I know it’s hard to hear, and I wish I wasn’t the one that had to say it to you” Kate furthers, “but they’re going to drag you down if you don’t get yourself out of there before it’s too late.” | “You alright?” Jordan asks, his girlfriend staring ahead with nothing further, allowing her hands to direct the vehicle as her mind floods with thoughts from the past. “You’re starting to worry me” Jordan admits, “I’ve seen you go out of it a few times now and it’s not exactly the most comforting thing to keep seeing.” Shaking off the prior thoughts, Jaime grins and thanks him for being there for her. “It’s nothing” Jaime replies, “I promise.” His sights looking over her face, arms, hands and feet all still, not trembling as they usually do, Jordan replies with a simple, “alright”, convincing himself to trust her on her word. Continuing to drive, the backroads beginning to intertwine with busier streets, Jaime and Jordan lead the charge into a semi-residential part of the city. “I’ve got the rifle in case we need it” Jordan reminds her, hoping his assertion gives her the confidence to traverse the streets without worry. Continuing to drive through the grid, Jaime and Jordan look around at the devastation left in the wake of the revolt’s aftermath, bodies lining the front yards of homes in each direction. On their bike, Chevy and Kayla look around, spotting victims of this spectacle lining the same streets as those deceased upon them by their own hand. “If ever there were gonna be a picture of what this shit caused” Chevy begins, sucking in a breath before finishing, “this would be it.” “Do you see that up ahead?” Jordan asks, pointing Jaime in the direction of something sat upon a welcoming front patio. “Are they dead or alive?” Jaime asks, the effects of the chaos bringing the question into the realm of necessity, the answer being clear when they pick their head up from their arms at the sound of the vehicle’s wheels. “What do we do?” Kayla asks, noticing Chevy locking his eyes on it before pulling away from the line of cars. Slowing at the sidewalk, Chevy prods his kickstand out as the rest of the group follows, slowing down before pulling into the driveway. Leading Kayla, Chevy walks to the slip between the gates and finds a younger girl, helplessly waiting for whatever comes next to happen as her parents lay dead in the middle of the living room. “Are you alright?” Chevy asks, figuring the dead parents would give him solid insight at least, but electing to take the shot in the dark anyways. Upon the obvious head shake, the girl asks for the man’s name. “I’m Chevy” the jacket-less man replies, “this is my girlfriend Kayla” he continues, pointing them out before introducing the rest of the group as they emerge from their vehicles. “Do you need our help with them?” Chevy asks, taking the little that he knows and twisting it into whatever offer he can make, at least hoping the girl wouldn’t want to share the home with her parent’s corpses. “Okay” the girl whimpers, standing up and leading the group into the home without second thought, prompting the group to look towards each other in question of what they do next. Taking it as being the reason for the interaction beginning, Chevy takes the responsibility of being the first man in, tapping Jordan on the arm to help him carry away the corpse of the girl’s father. “How did this happen?” Jaime asks, the girl walking over the kitchen table and having a seat. “I got home from school and they were just…” the girl begins, holding back the urge to cry as she recalls finding her mother and father dead in the middle of the room. “They weren’t poisoned” Kayla whispers to Alex, pointing out the lack of a rash anywhere along their faces or exposed limbs. Without word, the girl points at a gun left partially remaining in her father’s left hand, one bullet having been enough to take both individuals out at once. Returning to the home, Chevy and Jordan spot Kennedy picking the gun out of the father’s hand, Chevy rushing over to the girl and telling her to hand the weapon over. “I wasn’t going to use it!” Kennedy replies, her brows raised as she extends her arm outwards, giving Chevy the gun without hesitation. “I know! It’s just…” Chevy starts, pondering over where to go with it next before finishing off with, “...Not the kind of thing you should be worrying about right now.” Returning to their escort of the mother, Chevy and Jordan carry the body out as the abandoned girl twiddles her fingers, not thinking about surviving as much as she kicks herself for something more than just out of her control. “I don’t know why they would just leave me here” the girl admits, understanding that her seventeen year old self can manage to fend for herself, but unsure of why they’d leave without at least saying goodbye. “Maybe they didn’t want you to know” Jaime replies, her mother’s attention being grabbed as the struggles of family life have been the source of many troubling conversations between her eldest daughter and herself. “Maybe they were afraid of what you might think of them” Jaime continues, “or maybe they didn’t think you were coming back and couldn’t go on without you.” The girl sinking her head, not having called her family to check in after everything went down, feeling like she’s to blame for such an outcome happening. “Listen, you can’t blame yourself” Jaime responds, her hand placed on the girl’s shoulder as she inches closer to the ground. “You should never blame yourself for what’s out of your control” she furthers, “especially something you had no say in.” Placing her hand beneath the girl’s chin, Jaime lifts her head up to face her, and the tears begin slowly sliding down her face, shining her cheek up in a way that allows the sunlight to bounce off of it. “You need to be stronger than they were, because you need to fight for you now. Do you understand that?” Nodding, the girl tries to smile, unable to get her lips over her teeth from the conflicting pain and motivation colliding with each other as if her head was a battleground. No longer speaking, Jaime keeps her hand on the girl’s shoulder, smiling at her as the girl catches her breath, allowing the tears to subside and the broken gasps for air to let up. “It’s nice to meet you” Jaime says, skipping back to the part that she overlooked as the words felt right for the moment. Holding her hand out, “I’m Jaime” the woman says, shaking the girl’s hand as she replies, “I’m Amelia.” Finally, the girl lets out a faint smile that quickly fades, though not into a frown, which Jaime finds to be an accomplishment. | “You’re gonna change someone’s life someday” Kate says, returning to the opposite side of the desk and taking a seat. “I’m pretty sure I’ve already done that a few times now” Jaime replies, citing a statement made by the father of a girl who was killed in an accident days prior. “I’m talking about directly” Kate responds, “you’ll give someone a fighting chance in this world and everything they do will have only been possible because you gave them the chance to.” “How much of that will be to make up for all the damage I’ve already done?” Jaime asks, her point remaining somber, but still being a necessity to touch on. “Everyone does damage in one way or another, Jaime” Kate replies, noticing the hesitation in Jaime’s voice, not wanting to admit that the bad she’s done can be rectified by the good she still can do. “It’s just a matter of how directly we’re responsible.” “I can cut someone off on the road, they can get angry, keep that anger going and mow someone down because they blow through a stoplight” Kate says, “I have a hand in that.” Placing one leg over the other, Kate tells Jaime that there’s a fine line between killing someone with a knife and being the one that sold the knife to the killer. “On one side, the blood is on my hand. On the other, all I did was shake the hand of the killer before it was bloodied.” “There’s nothing that I can do to convince you that the blood isn’t on your hands” Kate continues, “but I can try to convince you that you’re not the one that owned the knife.” Shrugging her shoulders, Jaime tells Kate that she doesn’t feel that statement as being good enough. “I mean, we do terrible things every single day” Jaime replies, “we constantly deny responsibility, and what you’re saying is the same thing as shifting the blame onto someone else for what we did.” With a smile, Kate admits to Jaime that she wishes the world were as simple as that. “We exist on a planet, that exists in a solar system, which exists in a galaxy, that exists in a bigger galaxy and so on and so forth” Kate says, “the world isn’t meant to be that black and white.” Shaking her head, “this isn’t the world, this is me” Jaime replies, “In your analogy, I’m still at fault because I was the one that chose to sell knives, as I should be.” “If we did that, we’d all be responsible for so much death that the world wouldn’t have to take responsibility for anything” Kate replies, the comeback being unexpected, leaving Jaime without an immediate follow-up. “Should it have to?” Jaime asks, Katie tossing her arms at her side before looking back to Jaime. “That would depend on who you think should have to answer for what they’ve done” Kate answers, “to think you do and it doesn’t is kinda hypocritical of you.” Her mouth opening, it remains slight ajar for a few moments before shutting, Jaime turning the expression into a smirk as Kate does the same, knowing she got the better of this interaction. | The sky darkening outside, Chevy and Kayla begin growing anxious, with the man sporting a dirty white t-shirt opting to walk over to Jaime and ask why they’re still here. “We’re not just gonna leave her here” Jaime replies, watching Chevy tuck his hands into his pockets and nod. “I know that, and I get that… Why are we still here and when are we leaving?” Chevy follows, Jaime’s shoulders shrugging as the answer of ‘when Amelia wants to’ becomes the only answer. “So we’re just gonna wait for the orphan to sprout a smile and say ‘time to move on’?” Chevy asks, Jaime telling him to dull it down. “Let’s start with you not being a fucking prick, and let’s finish with a ‘yes’, that’s exactly what we’re gonna fucking do!” Jaime replies, Chevy’s head bouncing from side to side. “Jaime, we’re not waiting around for her to just choose to leave all of a sudden” Chevy responds, “we’ll fucking die here before she’s ready to go.” “We’ll have to die somewhere, tell me what the difference between here and somewhere else is” Jaime returns, countering Chevy’s fair argument with one of equal fairness of her own. Attempting to speak, Chevy suddenly stops, planting his hands onto his hips before hanging his head, “I’d just prefer to die actually fighting to live instead of sitting around and waiting for it to just, I don’t know, happen.” Putting her hand on the man’s shoulder, Jaime suddenly finds herself taken back by the sounds of someone shouting on the front lawn, directing their anger towards the other side of the street. Putting the moment on hold, the pair hurry to the front door, with Kennedy, Jordan, Kayla and Amelia joining them moments later to watch Alex walk across the street and knock a glass of water of the hand of an elderly man sitting on his patio, rocking back and forth in a chair. “Are you trying to die!?” Alex shouts, the man confirming her suspicions, stating that he doesn’t wish to live in a world where his family no longer is. “They killed themselves on the other end of the telephone! How am I supposed to live with that image seared into my brain?” the man shouts back, arguing with Alex on the worth of fighting to live another day, even at his old age, whilst the group hurries to contain Alex. “You’re no better than them trying!” Alex shouts, Chevy and Jordan pulling her back, only to be shoved away, Alex demanding they get their hands off of her. “I’ve been trying all goddamn day!” the man shouts, “ain’t nothing working’ yet!” Her hand stretched out towards him, Jaime asks what he had been trying for throughout the day, the man stating that he’d been trying to let the water kill him since the son rose up and nothing’s worked. “Are you sure about that?” Chevy asks, refusing to so easily believe that the man with a deathwish signed had failed to do in half a day what everyone else had done in less than an hour. “Of course I’m sure, kid!” the man shouts back, detailing how he kept taking a mental note of how high the sun was in the air until it fell out of view behind the set of houses at the end of the street. “All this fucking waiting!” the man shouts, throwing his hands in the air and waddling back into his home, shutting the door behind him and locking it from the people on his patio. Looking to each other, Chevy makes the first move, asking whether or not they’re gonna believe his story, ultimately finding no other choice but to do so. Suddenly, the sound of a gunshot on the other end of the door startles them, causing a panicked jump at the knowledge of what the man had just done. Many with their mouths covered, others with their mouths agape, the group stands on the patio looking at the front door, only to hear an alarming sound pierce through the silence. Within the home, the sound resonates the same way it was in Amelia’s home, forcing the group to rush back to their quarters on instinct. Running into the living room, the group watches a set of colored bars appear on the television, the signal promising a word from the government. “The system’s still going?” Jordan asks, reasoning that any reasonable person would have turned it off by now. “It wasn’t on just a minute ago!” Kennedy replies, shooting down the theory of it continuously running before Chevy points out the weird concept of a new alert being issued. “Everyone already got the old one, what’s the idea of sending out a new one?” Chevy asks, Jaime raising the idea that it was the same alert lopping until the message is read aloud. “Dear citizen’s of the United States of America, this is an important announcement. Do not turn adjust the system you are listening to this on” the alert starts out, prompting the group to take a seat wherever one is available. “As of the airing of this message, the request of halting the consumption of potable drinking water has been lifted. The United States government has deemed the threat to no longer be of concern, and apologize for the inconvenience.” Their mouths dropping, Chevy and Kayla standing up at the shocking turn of events, the group remains silent as the message continues. “These are grave times for our proud nation, and we thank those listening to this message for their bravery and service on behalf of your proud government. We thank you, and we wish you good will and harmony.” Like that, the message ends, seemingly taking the damage and horrendous effects of the event and burying it, suggesting that life is now allowed to return to normal. “Am I hallucinating?” Jaime asks, Jordan wrapping his arm around her as the room remains quiet, looking towards each other as if to ask “what the hell is going on?” One by one, the group sinks into their chosen seats and stares at whatever catches their eye, clueless as to what to do now. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2022
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