S5, E5 | The Mass Exodus

“Will it start a fire?” a concerned resident of the camp inquires, presenting their question to the sickly man who stands off to the side and on his own, his eyes sliding toward her direction and away from the billowing smoke. “I don’t k-” Val attempts to reply, shaking his head toward the denizen who asks, only to be interrupted by the further questioning from a man just beside her. 

“What about the dead? How long will it be until the creepers that are headed toward that thing come for us?” he wonders aloud, watching as Val’s eyes meet his own, lips parting without offering a reply to accompany the continued shake of his head. “Screw the dead! I wanna know how long it’ll be until the people who kept shooting at each other start coming for us!” a second woman proclaims, her higher-pitched voice sparking a collective worry over those she stands beside.

“I don’t know, I don’t-” Val murmurs, overwhelmed by the mass onslaught of the community’s residents that draw nearer, gradually stepping back so as to create distance between them and himself. “Where are we going to go!? It’s not safe here!” a third woman proclaims, catching the ears of the soul who’d sparked this line of questioning, who turns back from beside the outspoken gentleman to voice her agreement.

“You’re right! We need to start moving!” she assures, gestured to step down from her hurry to flee from the illness-laden leader, who extends both hands toward her with the hopes that she’d calm. “We can’t stay out in the open like this! It’s not safe and we don’t have enough protection!” a second man from within the mass gathering proclaims, prompting Val to roll his eyes with grief, beginning to worry that the massive panic that’s captured the collective crowd is beyond control.

“Everyone, just calm-” the man pleads, only to be kept from finishing as the people erupt into a momentary, yet effective, projection of refusal. “We’re not calming down, Val! We need to get out of here!” the first man shouts back, taking his place at the front of the frenzied mob as a responsibility to voice its shared decision. Turning the community away from their varied presentations of horror and onto a less-pleasant, yet, unified front, the man begins a wave of agreement.

Watching from off to the side at the people that aren’t theirs to contain, Sebastian and the combined forces of both American and Canadian survivors watch on as the sickly leader struggles to gather his bearings. “Everyone, hold on for a second! This is not the time to gang up on Val, alright!?” Bruno proclaims, stepping up to his friend’s side as the man clearly struggles to process the verbal displeasure that battles with the effects of the flu he’s been afflicted with.

“Do you want us to wait until there’s nowhere to go, Bruno!?” the first man reasonably questions aloud, backed by the populous’ collective agreement as they shout in his favour. Only able to reply with “no”, the large frame of Val’s aid is kept from speaking any further as the community’s leader stumbles backward, falling into the snow as he loses his balance beneath the weight of the intense resistance his people put up.

Dropping to a knee to assist his friend, Bruno’s shifted focus and the curiously sick state that their leader resides in prompts the compound’s tenants to grow even louder in their dissatisfaction, allowed to continue doing so before assistance finally arrives. Having seen enough of the uncivil uproar for one evening, Sebastian grits his teeth and steps forward with balled fists, channelling the anger that projects his voice further than it otherwise would reach.

“Everyone, shut your fucking mouths!” he howls, projecting his tone upon the sea of humanity that now finds a new figure to direct their disgruntlement toward. As capable as they know the man to be, the combined forces only having arrived at the camp days prior look on with surprise as the white-haired survivor takes the centre of attention, addressing those that don’t fall beneath his lead as if they did.

“If you wanna walk out into the mouth of hell tonight, be my guest!” Sebastian barks, throwing his hand into the direction that the flames had ripped through the sky in, wearing a visage of pure impatience and irritation. “No one knows what the hell’s going on down there, but if you want to volunteer to put your life on the line and find out... Go ahead!” he continues, a still-rabid community setting their displeasure toward him.

Wearing a disgusted face, the man who’d taken advantage of the ‘fight or flight’ reaction of the compound begins to step forward, his rage driven toward the unfamiliar Canadian with a tested temper. “You don’t get to tell us what to do!” the man exclaims, marching toward the unphased and unmoving man that now earns his full attention. Out of concern, Courtney begins stepping forward to approach her boyfriend, worried that the confrontation may turn physical.

“Go back to your friends and stay the fuck out of our-!” the unnamed, anger-fueled survivor commands, throwing his palm in the direction of the onlooking group of North Americans before losing his balance beneath the obstruction that catches him by the ankle. Slamming into the compact snow before angrily turning onto his back in an effort of picking himself up, the bitter member of the community is forced to show his hands in surrender as a pointed tip holds itself between his eyes.

“Threaten my friend again, and I’ll do the same thing to you that I did to those savages you’re so afraid of” Lou warns, standing with perfect posture as he looks into the eyes of the paranoid resident, his grasp on the rebar weapon allowing a perfect centring of its end toward the man’s face. “That’s... enough!” Val hurries to shout, trying to catch his breath as he’s helped to his feet, offering the slightest assistance from the beast of a man he relies on more than anyone else.

“Stand down, Lou” Courtney assures, interlocking her fingers with Sebastian’s own whilst pulling him away, the service of both men in question to the outburst having been paid. “I’ve never forced anyone to stay here that didn’t want to!” Val bellows aloud, directing his sights toward the frenzied residents of the community whilst the silver slayer retreats, the shoulder of his shortened arm hosting the hand that Ally rests upon it.

“If you want to leave... just leave” the man sighs defeatedly, shaking his head as it falls whilst watched on from anyone within earshot, the proposition raised bringing a hush over the community. Having sat up from the place in which Lou had held him at the point of his staff, the man who’d sparked this raucous reaction of hostility now sets his focus upon those he’d served as the voice of just seconds prior, their brief glances toward each other making the temptation levied clear.

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

“It’s on us. We shouldn’t have held out long enough for the sun to go down” Darnell remarks, refusing the dismissal of blame onto anyone other than themselves, “we thought we could get lucky and we didn’t. It happens.” Shining her flashlight upon the snow that appears softer than it lets on, Josie keeps her eyes as frozen upon the ground as the wintery mixture is, keeping to herself as the air grows colder.

“We’re still coming back to camp without anything to show for it” Christina responds, shaking her head with displeasure as she leads the charge, planting within the ground footprints that the others try and fit their shoes into the shape of. “It won’t go over well, but we’ll handle it” Elsie reassures, continuing to play the optimist as her ears keep toward the conversation being had, her eyes, however, remaining elsewhere.

“We’ve still caught enough over the last few days to hold ourselves over for tonight. We’ll just make sure our hunt tomorrow is more fruitful” Darnell doubles down, presenting a claim that brings more comfort over their pale skinned track-setter than she’d entered the discussion with. Finding the air to have gone silent as the words that were made to be shared have expended themselves, Elsie’s only focus now resides upon her friend, who she watches the journey of with a close eye.

“How much longer do you think we’ll be in the camp for?” the blonde woman wonders aloud, not wanting to continue journeying through the forest in silence regardless of how close to their destination they’ve become. “For as long as it takes our groups to get along or be run off” Christina responds, gently laying her boot prints into the snow to ensure a graceful and well-balanced step, “knowing the luck we’ve been having, it’ll probably be the latter.”

“I’d say it’s less luck that’ll run us off than it is the fireball that just went up a few hours ago” Darnell corrects, a proclamation that the woman ahead of him nods in agreement with. “Let’s pick up the pace then. We don’t wanna walk in there and find the place overrun” Josie declares, finally adding something to the conversation for the first time in multiple kilometres.

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“Are you sure you’re alright with this, boss?” Bruno wonders aloud, standing beside his seated, hunched-forward friend as the members of their community begin to walk off, one after another disappearing into the forest with hopes that their chances of survival elsewhere will be better. “I’m not keeping... anyone here... that doesn’t want... to be here” Val doubles down, his health having clearly seen better days than the ones he currently fights through his ailment in.

“I get that boss, but...” Bruno reiterates, watching as countless residents stack warm layers of clothing upon themselves and pack bags with whatever belongings they’re willing to travel, “...they’re all leaving.” Doing his best to fight for each breath that grows harder to come by, Val pulls himself upward in order to lock eyes with the tall reinforcement he’s counted on since their initial meeting, shaking his head with lips pressed together.

“That’s their call” the man responds, his voice sounding weak and the energy that he replies with appearing frail. “They’re still your people. We’ve known most of them since we crossed the border. We’ve fought wars together, and now...” Bruno proceeds, looking toward the community’s leader with a questioning glare, “...you’re just watching them leave?”

Pulling breaths between his clenched teeth, Val looks toward the puffy accumulation of snow that scatters their makeshift campground, able to make out its slightly-blue tint through the moonlight that shines upon it from overhead. “I’d rather watch them leave... then watch them die” the man confesses, making a claim that prompts Bruno to look away, staring into the woodlands that most of his peers continue journeying into.

“That’s all that’s happened. They just... keep... dying” Val sighs, struggling with his fight of sparing those he cares for from certain death to such an extent that he gives up entirely. “The border... the towns... the artists... we just keep... dying...” the man confesses, closing his eyes as he leans back, pressing his head against the uncomfortable restraint of the seat that he’s been forced to take refuge in, “for once... I’d just like us... to sleep... in peace...”

His words failing to get anywhere with his friend, Bruno looks on with sorrow at the man who tilts his head back in an attempt at falling into a soft and soothing slumber, choosing not to fight him any further than he has. With a frown, the giant of a survivor takes a seat within the compact snow and crosses his large legs, coming down to the resting level of his compound’s leader whilst waiting into the night for whatever change is bound for them to occur.

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“I’m gonna go get some things in order. Make sure we have everything we need in case we have to make a move fast” Ally remarks, taking her boyfriend’s chin within his hands before pressing a kiss to the side of his face. “I’ll go see what I can get out of Sebastian and the others. Maybe there’s a plan in the works we haven’t gotten to touch on” Lou responds, offering his girlfriend a quick embrace as they pull away, rubbing her lower back as they part ways, “I won’t be too far.”

“You’ll know where to find me” Ally replies, stepping away from the well-travelled stalwart before making toward her tent, preparing for the time to leave that she knows is just over the horizon. Left to his own vices, Lou hangs his head for a moment as his eyes take toward his friends’ side of the camp. With a slight liveliness in his face, the energy that his visage had presented falls in one, single moment once his stare collides with the woman he’d entered a quiet interaction with earlier.

Suddenly wrought with the same look of guilt that had taken shape hours prior, Lou begins a slow and arduous march toward his protege, incapable of expecting a sudden eruption to save him from having to face this conversation head-on. “Hey, buddy” Marta comments, beginning the process of tearing down the tent that she and her father had occupied since arriving at camp whilst the older man pays a visit to the same people her mentor had intended to reach.

“Hi” he replies with an obvious lack of comfort, drawing closer to the woman that wears a small knapsack over her shoulder, “do you need, uh...?” Unable to finish his question, Lou watches his protege’s head turn toward him and flash a smile, appreciating the offer whilst shaking her head. “I’ve got this. Thanks, though” Marta responds, quickly returning her eyes toward the task at hand, dismantling the structure with care and caution.

As uncomfortable as he is, the silence that falls over the pair brings a need over Lou to fill it, though he struggles to come up with something of value to offer in doing so. “Your heart belongs to Ally, not me... remember?” Marta questions instead, locking eyes with the man for a moment whilst shedding the nylon coverage held up by posts and hooks.

“I don’t have to like it ‘cause that doesn’t matter. You’re not inclined to love me back, and you’re not inclined to walk on eggshells just to keep me from being upset” she continues, stating a case that doesn’t please the man anymore than it pleases her. “I don’t mean to hurt you, Marta” Lou restates, a conclusion he’s both offered before and one that remains as true as when it was once spoken.

“I don’t want to have this conversation, Lou. What’s done is done, what’s been said has been said, and what will be is what will be” Marta rejoinders, shaking her head as she remains hard at work whilst holding up her end of the discussion. “Instead of constantly bringing it up, let’s just agree to pretend like I’m not a slave to my heart and go back to being friends” the woman explains, reaching a conclusion she can only hope to find common ground in.

Looking on with disappointment, Lou feels that same guilt within him that he’d suffered with the prior night, its momentary dismissal for the first minute or so of their conversation now proving to have been just a temporary lapse. “I can’t expect you to be okay with that, Marta” the man concedes, watching as a smile lights up her face, another dismissive sway of her head from one side to the other being given.

“Goddamnit, Lou. Can’t you just give me this one thing?” Marta bites back, speaking with more composure than her question would suggest, stopping the man’s comments in their tracks. “I’ve already told you this before. I can’t lose what we have” the woman explains, pulling free an entire side of the bivouac that she allows to freely fall to the ground, “things may be weird between us now, but we’ll get past all of that eventually. When we do, let’s, please, go back to how things used to be?”

Opening his mouth to speak, Lou finds himself failing to convince himself that the retort he’d wanted to make is worth uttering, instead leaving him in a fleeting, statue-esque stand still. “Are you sure that’s what you want?” he finally wonders aloud, watching the woman let free a sigh of relief as she approaches the remaining half of her temporary residence, wearing a prideful grin that gives her mentor the slightest amount of solace.

“Yes. Yes, yes, yes... one million times yes” Marta says with a pleased face, extending the fist she balls her fingers into, “all I want is for us to be okay. Ally, or no Ally. Our group, or no group. I just want you and I to be okay.” Relaxing in the place that he stands, Lou settles with the woman’s claims and takes them at the value she wishes for them to be received, his hand gently guiding her hand down before walking up to hug her.

Going along with the embrace, Marta lifts her chin onto the man’s shoulder before patting him on the back. “Alright, bud. You’ve got no more excuses now. Pretty much everyone on Ally’s side of the camp is gone” the woman concedes, delicately pushing the man toward their group’s remnants, “when Elsie and Josie get back, it’ll only be so long before daylight hits. When that comes, I’m pretty sure we’ll be heading out for the road. Now go figure out where we’ll be laying our roots down.”

“Okay, okay! I will! Geez!” the man amusedly replies, sharing a laugh that, for the first time since they’d encountered those they share the camp with, feels normal to have with each other. Shining her pearly whites, Marta turns away from the one-armed figure before putting her sights on the opposite side of the bivouac, listening as her friend’s footsteps grow further away.

Watching as her breath fogs the air ahead of her, the young woman’s face loses the light that it had presented just seconds prior as it begins to descend back into the glum state it’s occupied for the prior few days. Losing her smile as the act she’d put up falls, Marta’s eyes become sad and her mouth forms a slight frown, one that speaks volumes to how she truly feels as opposed to what she wishes her friend to see.

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“What the fuck is this thing?” Jules queries, approaching the jacketed survivor that kneels before a discarded metal bin, the toolbox she digs through taking more of her attention than the question asked of her. “Huh?” Sonya wonders aloud, looking back as she scavenges whatever she can from the loot left behind by those who’d decided to try their fortunes elsewhere within the Canadian landscape.

“This stick you’ve built here” Jules replies, picking up the weapon that had been crafted by the medical student’s hand, taking notice of the sharpened tip before anything else. “You just answered your own question... It’s a stick” Sonya replies, turning her back to the friendly American in an effort of resuming her inspection of the tin’s contents.

“It’s not just a stick anymore, is it?” Jules responds, gently swaying the device from one side to the other, hearing the various objects within the box his fellow survivor rummages through as they clash together. “I sharpened the tip into a spear” Sonya replies, quickly retrieving an almost-finished roll of electrical tape and pair of rusty screws, “then I started asking around to see if people had any shit they didn’t need. Someone gave me some nails, so I hammered them into it.”

“And what’s the wire for?” Jules questions, baffled by the contraption that his friend had created for herself, aware of what it’s purpose is for, but not sure of why it’s fitted with so many different features. “When I don’t want to hold it. I asked Marta for the wire she copped off the woman over there and turned it into a strap” Sonya replies, fitting the small and seemingly innocuous objects she’d lifted from the abandoned belongings into a pocket on her own knapsack.

“So, you’ve made a spear that you can use as a baseball bat with nails. And when you’re tired of holding it, you can throw it over your shoulder?” Jules queries, slowly rolling through the weapon’s features as if confused by them. “You told me to modify my stuff so it’s easier. Now I have a weapon that’ll save me time” the woman concludes, reclaiming the object from the man who’s more than pleased to part with it.

“I can stab the dead, I can puncture them with nails, and I can carry shit without leaving this thing behind” Sonya concludes, giving the man a nod as she passes by, his wide-eyed expression presenting her with a surprise. “It may not be the most normal thing you’ve ever seen, but it’ll be efficient” she assures, carrying on with her look-through of the camp as Jules watches on, holding back an amused and bewildered chuckle from the humour she leaves him with.

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Neatly folding a sweater that she stuffs into her bag, Ally prepares her belongings for whatever venture she’s bound to find herself in, her spirits having lowered from where they would normally rest. Though it had faced the fears of being discovered by adversaries that are nothing less than brutal, the community that she’d become part of now finds itself nearly non-existent, the compound that had hosted it now doing so simply with the expectation of being abandoned.

“Ally!” Christina calls out, emerging with the others from their long journey through the burning daylight and thick of evening, seeking out the first familiar face she can find. “Guys! They’re back!” the woman proclaims, setting her bag to the side before walking for those that have returned, their empty hands the farthest thing from consideration in the moment.

“What the hell happened to this place!? Where’d everybody go!?” Josie questions aloud, the next to wander through the treeline whilst Darnell and Elsie follow suit. “They’re gone” Marta answers from afar, the next-closest resident within the range in which they speak. “What do you mean ‘they’re gone’?” the lone male hiker rejoinders, finding the task of accurately deciphering the comment to be impossible, “where the hell did they go?”

“The explosion spooked them off. They wanted to leave and Val let them” Ally answers, greeting what remains of the community’s members whilst Marta welcomes back the members of her own group. “Why did he let them go?” Josie quickly wonders aloud, keeping her voice low enough for only Elsie and the only Simard daughter to hear.

“I’m not sure. He said he’d never forced them to stay so he wasn’t going to now” Marta answers, shaking her head at a loss of what else to say, “just Val, Bruno, and the woman over there- Dawn- decided to stay.”

“We didn’t catch anything while we were out there. Is anyone going to care about that or can we just drop it?” Elsie inquires, taking over the lead of the discussion as Josie steps past, redirecting her sights toward the tent she knows her group to occupy. “I’m pretty sure we’ll be leaving this place when the sun rises. Unless we start going hungry in the next few hours, I don’t think anyone’s gonna give a shit” Marta replies, politely exchanging a nod to the blonde woman as she continues past.

“Josie, wait up!” Elsie calls out, leaving Adrian’s daughter to continue readying herself to leave whilst catching up to the woman who journeys forward. Stepping out of their bivouac, Adrian and Courtney emerge from within whilst Jules and Sonya approach the returning group from opposite sides of the camp. “What the hell was that thing? We turned around and headed right back for camp once we heard the explosion” Josie remarks, addressing the men that exit to greet them.

“We’re not sure. All we know is that there’d been people out in town shooting at each other for hours. Then we saw the explosion and the gunfire stopped” Courtney replies, taking the lead for the man who explains everything that followed. “The other campers got pissed and said we should leave. Val said they could leave if they wanted to, and so they did” Adrian explains, throwing on the coat he’d shed when entering the group’s tent, “that must’ve been an hour ago at this point.”

“So, where do we go now?” Jules wonders aloud, beating Sonya to the group by a few mere seconds, wasting no time when within a reasonable distance to raise the question. “The others are still trying to figure that out. Most of the ideas we’ve got just lead us right to where the bombs went off” Courtney answers, her bottom lip quivering as the cold air takes its toll.

“What about the ones that don’t?” Elsie queries, tucking her fingers into the back pockets of her dry, yet cold, denim jeans. “There’s only two really. Lou saw a ski lodge some ways up the mountain and figured we could shelter there for a bit. That’s probably our best of those choices” Adrian responds, looking past the newly-reunited hikers as his daughter draws closer.

“What’s the other one?” Marta asks aloud, following the tracks that the tomahawk-wielding duo had left for her smaller feet to fit into. “Well, to put it mildly... A long shot” her father answers, briefly looking toward Sonya as the woman finally catches up, “Bruno mentioned something about a track a few hours walk west. He said it was the one the train service used to reach the prairie provinces.”

“Can you Americanise that for us, please?” Elsie politely requests, drawing a light chuckle and side-eye from her closest friend of the bunch. “The prairie provinces are Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. We’re in B.C, so the closest one to us is Alberta...” Courtney answers, her reply being granted the approving nod of the Simard daughter’s father, “...that’s where Mrs. Lou Jack’s family has their cabin in Calgary.”

“So we’re settling on that? Calgary is where we’re putting all the chips on the table?” Josie reiterates, wanting assurance from those that look around toward each other, none of the souls that surround them willing to suggest anything else. “At this rate, I don’t think we know for certain that there’s anything still standing for us to get to other than Calgary” Adrian replies, seemingly providing the core group with the deciding point of their journey.

“Our biggest issue has been trying to figure out how we’re gonna get there. If those tracks can take us through the mountains, they might be our best, and most straight-forward, shot” the man concludes, a point that fails to find disagreement from those in attendance. “It’ll take longer, though” Sonya murmurs, needing a few seconds before finding a fault with the plan laid out, only for her point to be interrupted by the foursome that close in from behind.

“Have we decided on where we’re going next?” Ally wonders aloud, her hands swinging by her sides as Darnell and Christina follow, Dawn’s feet trailing not too far behind. “First thing’s first... We’re going to the ski lodge” Sebastian proclaims, matching the approach of what remains from their woodland community as he exits from the tent, followed after by whomever remains.

“Lou brought up a good point. Now that most of the camp’s left, we won’t need as many cars. It’s a more viable option” the Canadian’s leader remarks, joined alongside Terry whilst the man he speaks of follows not too far behind. “We’re low on most things truth be told, but food is the most important one” Sebastian doubles down with a shrug, “he says the ski lodge looks less ransacked than most of the places in town. It’ll be worth checking it for food and a ride or two.”

“What about gas?” Darnell wonders aloud, presenting those responsible for making the call with one of the issues they’re tasked with addressing. “We’ll syphon. We’ll stop whenever we find a car or a few dozen of them and take what we can get” Terry answers, a reply that the majority of the coupled-together survivors seem to be fine enough with, “what we’re hoping is that we can save some time along the way. If we’re lucky, we might be able to drive our cars along the tracks for a good bit.”

“I’m assuming we’ll get out and start walking when we can’t?” Christina questions, receiving the assurance in her conclusion in the face of the man directly opposite Elsie. “Hopefully the tracks will be good enough to ride for the first few hundred kilometres” Sebastian explains, immediately taking his eyes toward the Americans that stand directly in front of them, “that would be the first half of the whole trip in American-measurements, you yankees.”

“Sounds like a plan, you fuckin’ canuck” a humoured and purposefully straight-faced Josie replies, smugly grinning toward the Canadian leader as she steps past him. “Someone go tell our giant and his friend with the flu about the plan, please?” Terry greets, shrugging in the direction of the former community’s leaders, waiting for someone to pick up the mantle he cares not to.

“You hear that, Val!? It’s the ski lodge and then Calga-!” Ally begins to blurt out, shouting aloud toward the light-skinned survivor as he pulls back, having hunched over the ground before violently whipping his head toward the direction of the call out. Falling silent, the brunette that makes up one of the few remaining survivors of the compound watches as her sickly friend spins around, taking notice of her voice before hurriedly lifting himself off the ground.

“Yo, yo, yo!” Jules shouts, gradually making his way from one exclamation to the other as Val takes off sprinting toward them like a feral animal, growling like a beast that would naturally call the wilderness home. “Yo, what the fuck is this shit!?” he finishes, making his exclamation as Lou instinctively pulls away from the survivors that had flocked together, running toward Val with his rebar staff in tow.

Hurrying to aid in their friend’s efforts, the majority of the camp’s remaining inhabitants brandish their respective weapons, ready to provide a clean up in the unlikely event that their one-armed stalwart can’t finish the job on his own. Looking into the glassy, milky eyes of the flu-ridden commander that sprints after him, Lou aims his pointed spear and plants his foot in the ground, throwing the weapon forward and driving it through the monster’s skull with a disgustingly squishing sound.

Running at speeds too fast to be controlled, Lou’s efforts leave him to launch forward and drag along the ground, kicking up snow and mud as he slowly slides to a complete stop. Mortified by what they’ve seen, the few inhabitants of the camp who’d stayed behind whilst others had followed the silver slayer’s lead now take after the direction of the sudden awe.

With widened eyes, Val’s corpse comes to a rest in a crumbled mess, thrown back by the force in which the rebar weapon had split through his skull’s fragmented bone. “Lou! Lou, you good!?” Jules proclaims, the first to make it toward his friend’s aid and hurry to help him up, dusting the man off of the wintery slush that has stained his clothing. “I’m good! I’m good!” the damp-clothed fighter responds, quickly assuring his friends of his enduring good health.

With their warrior’s safety taken notice of, the running survivors turn their sights to the soul that he’d just disposed of, watching as Sebastian, the first to approach the body, presses his boot against Val’s head and rips the rebar staff from within. Wincing at the sound of crunching bone and spongy brain matter, the survivors that follow watch as the body falls limp upon the ground, presenting them with a face frozen in the moment it was killed.

“How the fuck did this happen!?” Terry calls out, looking at the face of the hispanic survivor that sits atop an increasing pool of blood that stains the snow it rests upon. “Bruno!” Darnell calls out, hurrying past the scene of their leader’s body and toward the behemoth of a man that rests a few dozen metres away. “When the fuck did he turn!? How the fuck didn’t we know!?” Elsie exclaims, looking at Val’s corpse as it presents her with evidence beyond a doubt that he’d died and come back.

“He’s dead!” Christina exclaims, watching as Darnell drops to his knees and begins violently shaking Bruno’s body, which resides in the same deceased state as their leader’s does. “Did no one notice or did someone just not decide to say anything!?” Dawn questions aloud, standing halfway between the two bodies that now leak blood onto the snow-covered, British Columbia soil, presenting suspicions without pointing fingers in any direction.

“You saw all of us over there just a second ago... No one noticed” Sonya quickly rebuttals, offering a reply that prompts the woman who’d raised the question to look away, accepting of the claim that’s made. Catching up to his peers, Lou nods toward Sebastian as he reclaims his staff from the man, inspecting Val’s body for a moment before looking in the direction of Bruno’s, standing before the backdrop of the billowing smoke as it continues emanating from in town well into the night.

== RISE and REVOLT ==