“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.
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“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. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2022
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