S2, E4 | S.S Euronam

Sat behind a cold, metal table within a concrete-walled room lacking any visibility to the outside, Ally patiently awaits the figure she was informed would be arriving shortly. Lacking any clocks or sunlight, the room keeps those that inhabit it within the dark, the harsh light directly above only affording visibility in the literal sense. Unphased, Ally remains calm, her hands coupled together atop the platform in front of her, not wanting to show any signs of hostility or secrecy.

After a few additional minutes, a man dressed in seaman attire finally enters the room, an automatic thermometer in hand. “I’m gonna check your temperature now” the man says, Ally unmoving and unresponsive, just patiently waiting for someone to share the space her eyes coldly sit upon. The machine ringing favorably, the man pops the cover from the tool into the trash and takes a seat opposite Ally, who immediately changes her demeanor.

“What did you see out there?” the man asks, Ally refusing to answer, first asking for the man’s name. “My name is Matt, I’m with the Euronam staff” the man replies, his response sounding scripted to the letter, as if he had performed it dozens of times, “I’ve been asked to ask you a few questions regarding your time on the mainland.” Unmoved, Ally remains docile, her hands folded atop the table whilst her eyes present the face of a woman not yet finished with questions of her own.

“Where’s Lou?” Ally asks, her question being left unanswered, Matt attempting to ask another question of his own until Ally repeats herself. “Where is Lou?” Ally asks again, Matt hiding a sigh from the woman, knowing what it will take to get to his line of questioning, opting to not waste the time they still have bickering. “I want to know where Lou is, tell me where Lou is” Ally replies a third time, Matt hanging his head as he notices the figurative corner he’s been backed into.

“Lou is in surgery” Matt replies, trying his best to keep the information as vague, yet assuring as he can. “He’s still in surgery?” Ally asks, challenging the man’s logic, Matt remaining poised and affirmative in his statement. “What is he in surgery for?” Ally asks, “no one will tell me what my boyfriend is in surgery for, and if you’re gonna ask me questions, I’m gonna get my answers first.”

Nodding, Matt closes the folder he brought with him, offering the sign to Ally that he’s ready to get her answers situated first. “Lou is having his arm amputated from above the left elbow down, the infection was too severe for any less” Matt replies, Ally visibly taken aback, but refusing to show any signs of weakness or concern. “Where is the rest of my group?” Ally proceeds, Matt suggesting that she wouldn’t be kept for questioning if the rest of her group wasn’t.

“Why should we trust you?” Ally asks, Matt smirking, the pen in his hand rocking back and forth in the soft palm of his hand. “You boarded the ship” the man replies, the woman opposite him finally taking her eyes away from him for the first time since he entered the room. “Now, if you don’t mind, we have some questions for you, too” Matt responds, slowly tilting his pen down and using the tip to open the folder once more, finally encouraged to begin his questioning upon the lack of rebuttal.

“You said you left the mall, started driving for the docks and then helped Lou back into the truck cab” Matt explains, “when was all of this?” Staring towards the loose papers contained within the folder, Ally responds. “Last night” the woman mutters, the man understanding that the appearance she’s taking on is nothing more than a front to not be tread upon. “I’m not looking to discourage you, Alison” Matt explains, the woman’s eyes finally stumbling upon him again.

“I simply want to know we haven’t let a group of maniacs and padded room-needers aboard the last ship still operating on the west coast” Matt explains, sliding a plastic cup of water towards the woman. Appreciative, Ally smiles, taking her index finger and knocking the flimsy cup over, the water spilling over the edge of the table and upon the floor. “I can’t trust you yet” Ally replies, “keep asking your questions.”

With a nod, Matt caps the pen, giving up on the notion that he’ll easily take some notes and call it a day. “That’s fair enough” the man admits, leaning back in his seat and crossing one leg over another. “You’ve said you loaded him back into the truck and started heading for the drydocks” Matt explains, “how about you tell me what happened after that.”

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

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Ally calls out, Jules promising the woman that he’s not only read the map correctly, but can recognize landmarks in the immediate area supporting his claim. “Why is no one here?” Theo asks, Jules and Ally both without an answer, only the scattered remnants of what used to be a camp. Pressing on the horn twice, Ally continues to drive around the camp, looking into each broken tent as it passes her window to find nothing.

“It’s abandoned” Elsie points out, noticing a portable stove top still powered on inside one of the empty tents, “it looks like they left this place in a hurry.” Her mouth agape without her having noticed, Ally starts fearing the worst, asking back to Elsie how long the stoves are meant to be powered before they run out of use. “No more than a few hours” the woman replies, Ally slowing the truck to a stop before pressing her forehead against the wheel.

“We didn’t miss it” Terry reassures Ally, the woman refusing to believe in the most optimistic point of view, declaring the exact opposite. “We spent too much time in that fucking horror show that we missed the motherfucking ship!” Ally declares, Jules turning the dial on the radio in hopes of hearing the incoming signal. Upon locating the correct station, the group hears the offerings of safety, the welcoming tones of the voice only working to fuel Ally’s anger.

In a moment of frustration, Ally slams her fist against the radio, cracking the transparent covering over the display. “Okay, you definitely did not need to break my radio” Jenn replies, Ally throwing her head back at the response. “Fuck off, Jenn” Ally replies, her hand reaching for the handle before throwing the door open and bolting from the seat. Walking to the back, Ally watches Theo and Terry collectively struggle to keep Lou down, the man refusing to sit and wait.

Letting the man make his own decisions, Terry and Theo let go of his arm, watching the man to push himself up with the one arm afforded to him. “Lou, you’re in no condition to do anything other than sit the fuck down and hope we didn’t miss anything” Terry determines, the man continuing to pathetically fail to even get to his knees. “I can’t sit around waiting for-” Lou replies, stopped when a wave of vomit rushes from his mouth and splatters against the pavement.

“-for some stupid fucking ship” Lou finishes, pushing himself out of the back and onto the ground, Ally the first woman to greet him upon his hopeless escape. “Lou, I want you to look at me” Ally asks, Jenn walking up behind her with a flashlight, the head of which shoots directly into Lou’s eyes. “What the fuck was that for!?” Lou asks, both arms lifted over his face to shield him, Jenn immediately noticing the speed at which his reaction came.

“He’s not in good shape, he shouldn’t have reacted that quickly” Jenn replies, the heightened senses not convincing the man himself. “You blinded me with a flashlight, what else do you want me to do!?” Lou asks, his shoulders draped over the truck’s end. “Dude, we’ve got nothing else to do anyway, there’s no reason to just run around and get yourself more fucked up” Theo replies, Lou continuing to push the notion of rest being needed away.

“If I sit down and play dead, I’ll start going quicker” Lou replies, the man terribly low on strength refusing to do anything other than assist the group in making themselves comfortable. “I want everyone looking around the camp for any food and water you can find” Lou exclaims, the majority of the remaining survivors left frustrated at the man’s continued stubbornness, “we don’t know how long we’ll be here, so let’s make sure we’ve got enough to last a few days.”

Staying behind with her boyfriend, Ally tries to convince Lou to not deplete the remaining strength he has, hoping he’ll listen to her if she pleads enough. “I think they’ve got other plans!” Halston calls out, pointing at the blinking lights in the sky a good distance away. “Are those the choppers from back at my place?” Terry asks, Ally hurrying Lou into the backseat, admitting that whilst she doesn’t know, she certainly doesn’t want to find out.

“Where are we going?” Jenn asks, Ally brushing off her concerns by parking the truck beneath a massive servicing crane, hiding it from the sights above and powering it off. “Everyone start piling in!” Ally demands, the remainder of the group turning off any light sources they can come across before returning to the vehicle. “Why can’t we trust these guys?” Lee asks, still confused at the vague nature of how Lou’s group operates.

“Something just doesn’t sit right with me” Ally replies, hiding the fact that it’s actually Lou’s lack of trust in the structures of aviation that she’s operating on. “They’re not out there to help us” the man says, fully conscious, but his words slurred as if he were anything but. “Are they the military?” Theo asks, Lou admitting that he has just as much knowledge on them as the rest of the group does.

“I still don’t understand why we’re afraid fo them” Lee admits, Lou telling the man that they’d be sending help to them if they had help to offer. “I think it probably is military” Lou replies, pushing himself back into his seat in order to remain upright, “I just don’t know how much of the military is truly left.”

“So what, they’re just flying aimlessly and shooting at any piles they find?” Jenn wonders, Lou refusing. “They come down to refuel, but then they just go back up again” Lou replies, “there’s now way they consistently fly in a pack of four.” Curious, Theo amusingly asks why Lou has latched onto that bit of information. “The military always prefers an odd number that’s not one” Lou explains, “for example, three choppers means one can help another downed bird without the third diverting.”

“It’s a tactic to sustain whatever their efforts are” Jenn replies, having stumbled upon her conclusion, a smiling Lou telling Jenn to make sure she’s the last to die. “If we all get wiped out, make sure you are left to tell the tale at least” Lou replies, Jenn’s eyebrows immediately dropping. “You’re the only person that realizes these things quick enough for it to be of use” Lou replies, “if we missed the ship and I don’t make it, I want you using that brain of yours to keep everyone safe.”

“You’re not dying, bro” Terry replies, sat beside the man having made peace with whatever happens next. Looking back to the gross combination of colors having spread across his wound, Lou glances back to Terry, a frown on the group’s current leader telling all there is to tell. “Yeah, I am” Lou replies, a tear running down his girlfriend’s face as the truck goes numb, the whirring sounds of the choppers passing overhead serving as the soundtrack of a somber group.

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“We just waited there” Theo admits, his hands folded in his lap as his leg taps against the ground, the man opposite him sat with a folder in front of him and a pen in his left hand. “Did Lou tell you he was going to die?” the man asks, the shiny badge on his shirt collar reading the name “Drew”, the light above reflecting across the surface and spotting itself on the cold wall behind the man interrogated.

“He told all of us” Jules replies to the question, sat alone in a cold room all of his own, the man opposite him sporting the nametag of “Harris.” Sternly, Harris leans forward, telling Jules to be honest with him, and making it known that repercussions can be made if honesty is left out. Feeling threatened, Jules tells the man to stop challenging his composure, and instead, get to his question.

“Did you kill the crowd we found floating around the docks?” another man with the nametag “Lonnie” asks, Jenn’s eyebrow lifting as if the man had asked her whether or not aliens existed. “What makes you think a small group of nine teenagers could wipe out a crowd of fifty people?” Jenn asks, clarifying, “not undead, I’m talking about living, fighting, people.”

“What kind of force do you think we have?” Halston asks, leaning over the table with her right index finger planted against the table. “I’m not accusing you, I’m simply asking of your innocence” a man with the nametag “Luke” replies. “Fine, I’ll answer the question again” Halston replies, her reply coming with a brief pause between each word, “We didn’t kill those fucking people.”

“Would you call yourself a killer?” a man with the nametag reading “Connor” asks, sat back in his seat with a smirk. “I think I’d call myself a bro” Terry replies, head against his hand, elbow pressed against the table, “but if your pasty-ass is gonna keep pushing this ‘did you do it’ shit, I think I’d call myself anything I damn well please.” The grin disappearing, Connor remains pressed against the back of his chair, brushing off the one-off question that follows.

“What kinda dopey-ass parents name their kid ‘Connor’ anyway?” Terry asks, “make sense you’d be white as hell.”

“How long have you known the people in your group?” a man with the name “Aiden” asks, the woman opposite him giving him a cold stare, her answers brief. “A few days” Elsie replies, a look of interest coming from the man opposite her. “And you speak as if you know them so well?” Aiden proceeds, the woman stating that Theo vouched for them.

“Why would you just take Theo on his word?” a man with the nameplate reading “Chris” asks, Lee responding the same way Elsie would to the same question. “Because we trust Theo, and Theo trusts Lou” Lee concludes, leaving Chris with just one more question.

“How can you all be so young, and still follow the lead of a man with as much experience as all of you unquestioned?” Matt asks, the same question repeated verbatim by every one of his counterparts.

Without hesitation, Ally responds in equal verbatim with every other one of her fellow survivors, offering the stamp of approval the ship needed to understand who the brains behind the group is.

“We trust Lou.”

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“How do you think it all happened?” Halston asks, the car having been completely silent for far too long to be comfortable. “I think we fucked up somewhere” Theo replies, his refusal to believe the government to do anything without ulterior motives fueling his belief they quietly slipped up. “They probably made an attempt at something and it backfired” Theo continues, “tried to contain it and fucking up some more ‘cause they’re incompetant. Just shut up and let it happen.”

“I can get on board with that theory” lou jokes, his finger placed into the air with a smile on his face, his eyes closed as if he were half-asleep. “If the military had any involvement, good or bad… This is all probably bioterrorism” Ally replies, “someone that caused far more chaos than even they anticipated. One massive Chicago bottlecap tampering gone horribly wrong.”

“How did you guys manage all this time?” Lou asks, Theo admitting that it was much less than a favorable start. “We were all camping out in the woods for a weekend with some pretty shit equipment” Theo jokes, “came back into town and it was obvious that something was off.” Arm draped against the back of the truck, Lee admits that they didn’t realize anything was wrong until they started noticing the helicopters.

“Once you saw cars left everywhere and helicopters pretty much replacing birds, we figured we should go back to the campsite and stay there for a while” Elsie replies, Theo finally asking how everyone else survived. “There were a few more of us back then” Terry replies, “lost one on the first day from a bite, lost another who had an accident, lost the last one that kept us all going.”

“So you saw the dead?” Lee asks, Halston humorously responding that they were forced out by the dead. “We had to cut our losses, started driving out to Terry’s place, then had to cut through the woods where we found you guys” Ally concludes, her head looking back over the headrest of her seat, “that’s our story.”

The conversation dying off for a moment, the group begins to notice something unusual, the sound of whirring helicopters slowly fading off into the distance as if it were a sign. Having noticed this, the group departs their vehicles, slowly emerging from cover to watch the fleet in the sky departing the scene, leaving the group to their vices until help arrives.

Her eyes having instinctively looked back towards what the helicopters were flying away from, Jenn begins to call out for the attention of her group. “I think we might be alright” Jenn exclaims, the countless hours of waiting finally coming to an end as a massive ship slowly comes into view against the backdrop of a warm, orange sunset.

An uneasy feeling being left in his stomach, Theo takes the group’s attention back to himself, raising the fair question being left unanswered. “If the ships hadn’t come yet, where did all of the people go?” the man asks, the joy of the crowd beginning to fade as Theo starts walking off, deciding to quickly survey the area as the ship blares its horn for the survivors to hear.

“Wait up!” Terry calls out, admitting that his mistrust of the man doesn’t equate to wanting him to stumble into some terrible fate just before help arrives. “I appreciate it” Theo replies, Terry shaking his head, not wanting this to be the start of some common ground, replies with a simple, “shut up.”

Continuing to aimlessly walk around in the pursuit of answers, Terry stumbles across a sight in the corner of his eye that interests him. Noticing the man to have caught something, Theo follows Terry, approaching the ledge of the docks and looking out into the water, the picture of what is left behind causing their jaws to drop. “We’ve got bodies!” Terry shouts, the group having overheard the declaration and hurried over at the immediate mention.

Upon meeting Theo and Terry at the waterfront, the group finds the countless pool of bodies floating atop the water, scattered throughout the seas from the relative calm waves. “Who did this?” Jenn asks aloud, the dock being completely clear of anything that could endanger the lives of at least fifty people. “Let’s just make our innocence known before we board and not risk the only safety we’ve got” Elsie replies, the group returning to the loading dock with caution.

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Led from the interrogation room, Ally follows Matt across the ship, passing my spacious areas and narrow corridors. Soon, the burning daylight in the sky that once presented itself for the first time since the group boarded disappears behind the artificial structures, the passageway becoming increasingly dimmer until the only source of light is a set of unsteady, flickering tube lights hanging from the ceiling.

“Someone will be knocking on your door later this evening to welcome you to whatever you choose for this boat to be” Matt replies, Ally looking at him as if to ask if this is all over. “You said you had nothing to do with the bodies lining the shores” Matt replies, turning the knob and pushing the door open to reveal a room filled with all eight survivors, “we believe you.”

“I want to see Lou” Ally replies, Jules assuring her they already tried and failed at that request before her. “I’m his girlfriend and I want to see him” Ally replies, doubling down on her request, which is again denied. “He’s still in surgery” Matt responds, “we can’t exactly allow anyone other than qualified staff to be present in the midst of a surgical procedure.”

“I don’t care what I can and can’t do” Ally replies, stubbornly refusing to enter her cabin without her request being granted, “I have the right to see my boyfriend, so I’d expect to be taken there right now.” Growing agitated, Matt looks the girl and speaks with a calmer voice than before, breaking the scene down for her. “When the union went down, the idea of you having rights died” Matt responds, an evil declaration chilling the group, “if we say get in the cabin, get in the fucking cabin.”

Left without any option that doesn’t directly force her group off on the next stop, Ally gives, storming into the room and slamming the door on Matt, the cramped group awaiting the greeting. “I have a bad feeling we made the wrong choice” Halston exclaims, Jenn immediately refusing to believe in such a line of dialogue. “It will all have been worth it once Lou gets up and walking” Jenn replies, “we can figure out what to do after that when we get there.”

“Let’s hope he does start getting up and walking around” Theo replies, “the last thing we need is to have done all of this for nothing.” Refusing to take the pessimistic route now that they’ve made it abord, Ally reminds Theo that they gave Lou a fighting chance, which is more than he had before. “Now we wait” Jenn exclaims, resting her head on the backboard of the chair she sits the wrong way in, awaiting their official welcoming party.

As the hours turn into half a day, the resting group begins slowly joining each other in concluding their sleep, Ally the only one having not closed her eyes once with such intentions. “No knock?” Terry asks as he wipes his eyes, a “nope” coming from Ally’s lips, the woman remaining sat upright against the wall, her eyes never once leaving the door.

“I didn’t get much sleep last night, either” Jenn replies, a dark red line beneath her chin from the weight of her head pressing against the chair. “At least we have a view” Jules quips, the cabin low enough on the ship to nearly touch the ocean’s surface, every other second forcing a massive wave to engulf the circumference of the sights before settling for a nother brief moment.

“Not ominous at all” Terry replies, sitting up and continuing to wait before a knock at the door finally gets the group moving again. Those awake leaping to their feet, others still asleep finally begin to wake up,  Ally beating all others to the door. “Good morning” Drew greets, Theo rolling his eyes and muttering “uh, it’s you” under his breath. “Yes, it is me” Drew replies, requesting the group follow him out of the depressingly cramped cabin.

Given the tour, the group is informed that they are being relocated to a more preferable sector of the ship, and being split up. “You can bunk together if you’d prefer, and it’d probably go a long way for your status on the ship.. Helping us and all” Drew informs, looking through the crowd for potential volunteers. “Terry and I will!” Theo cheers gleefully, the humor in his voice being met with quick refusal

“This dude’s lying, don’t trust this bro” Terry shouts back, “I’ll room with Jules, but keep this bro away from me!” Shrugging, Theo offers to room with both Elsie and Lee. “You finally finding the chance to plot against us?” Jules asks, Theo suggesting sharing the same bathroom hole in the woods makes rooming together less bad in hindsight. “I’ll sleep with Jenn” Halston offers, Terry amusingly suggesting that everyone already knew that.

Taking her moment to play into the joke, Halston adds to the offer, “I’ll also room with her” to the laughter of the majority of the group. “Any other takers?” Drew calls out, Ally the first to respond, her obvious offer pressing the limits the man’s patience can offer. “Speaking of rooming with Lou, I’d like to see him” Ally continues, Drew refusing, having to improvise an answer that only further worries the woman.

“He’s in surgery, you can see him later” Drew replies, attempting to move on until the group as a collective begins to question him on that statement. “bro, get your facts straight” Terry demands, “you and all of us know damn well an amputation doesn’t take a whole fucking day. What’s going on?” The crowd turning on Drew, the man is forced to admit the truth, explaining that the medical wing is off limits from anyone without signs of an illness or harm.

“We keep the infected in that wing, and we dump their bodies overboard when they die” Drew responds, “we don’t let anyone in there because we don’t know if there’s a chance you can catch the virus by contact.” Approaching the front of the group, Terry looks Drew in the eyes and tells him to swear that he’s not lying. Doing as told, Drew recites the request, leaving Terry to turn around and hide away a wink. “Fine, let’s go” Terry replies, tapping Ally’s hand.

As Drew turns back, Terry winks at Ally, who nods at the man, fully aware that her worried sentiment is shared. Finally told that they will be tasked with jobs, the group is left to their new cabins, each room filled with multiple beds, some to be removed at a later date. Drew having walk away, Ally directs everyone into her room, the door closing behind them.

“I don’t believe that for a second” Terry begins, “if they were so cautious about people touching the bodies, they wouldn’t be letting anyone on the fucking boat to start with!” The point agreed upon, the group begins to fear the worst. “I don’t know what they’re doing in there, but I don’t like Lou’s chances right now, even if they really did just fix him up and leave him in bed” Jenn explains.

“We need to figure out what’s going on” Lee explains, “I’ve been given clean-up, so I’m pretty sure they’ll have me wipe up some vomit and such… Maybe I can use that somehow?” In agreement that any plan will need to be made with caution, the group begins to dissipate, wanting to settle in for the night before any further planning commences.

“Hold on!” Ally calls out, the group stopping in the doorway and turning back, staring at the woman as she reminds everyone that Lou isn’t in charge. “Even if it’s temporary, he wanted us to make one thing certain” Ally continues, the group all turning towards Jenn, who stands amidst the group. “Jenn’s in charge right now” Ally concludes, the woman shaking her head in refusal, Ally refusing to give her any other choice.

“Lou wanted you to be in charge if he couldn’t do it” Ally replies, “the way I see it, I’m going to make sure Lou gets what he wants.” Still in refusal, Jenn approaches Ally, assuring her that she is not the same leader as Lou, and things beneath her can only get worse than what Lou can do. “Lou’s a fucking folk hero, Jenn” Ally replies, reminding the core that they would have never survived the schoolyard without him, “you’re not supposed to be another Lou. You’re whatever Lou saw in you.”

“I’m not the leader” Jenn replies, her head shaking in stubborn refusal until Ally tells her the opposite. “Lou said you were the leader when something like this happened” Ally replies, “so I say you’re the fucking leader.” Swallowing the anxiety that comes with the imagined title, Jenn glances back towards the group, who all suggest the same as Ally.

Biting her lip, Jenn watches the group disperse, turning towards Ally, who smiles. “Lou knows his shit, which is why we made him the leader” Ally replies, “so if he says you should be the leader, I’m not gonna argue with him.” Her heart full despite her mind racing, Jenn hugs Ally, thanking her for getting them to the boat. “Now that we’re on this thing, figure out how to safely get us off it” Ally responds, tapping the woman’s shoulder as she walks away, leaving Ally to hope for Lou’s return.