Evolution/Episode 6

"Control Your Fate" is the sixth episode of season one and the sixth episode of Evolution overall. It was released on 28th May 2017.

Previously On...
(Enter different scenes of the previous episode to serve as flashbacks.)

Having survived the battle to escape Charleston's military base, it's survivors reached the Hayes family hotel and joined together as one group with the refugees there while they were given an opportunity of rest. In this time of rest, Nadia and Emmett used the time to dissect one of the dead "Eight Legged Freaks" only to discover that it was still alive which revealed shocking details while Edward continued to train the willing civilians and other members had their own personal things going on. Meanwhile, Daniel was charged with leading three others to scout Alien activity in Charleston which resulted in two of their members to be captured and placed in an Alien prison as tensions to rise between soldiers back at the hotel.

Synopsis
Having been captured and locked away in an Alien prison camp, Charlie and Butterfield find themselves still on the frontlines when they work with fellow prisoners to get themselves an escape. Meanwhile, with their military strength getting lower and lower, the soldiers of the Hayes hotel are tasked with retrieving better weaponry from the nearby military base as Emmett acquires the help of William in order to rescue a possible gamechanger.

Episode 6 - "Control Your Fate"
21st August 2049 - 23:57 - Hayes Hotel, America

The street was a mess, cars had both crashed and been abandoned along the road while both belongings and trash littered across the streets.Every resident of the street had left in a rush to save themselves or their families.

Everyone except for William and his own wife and daughter.

''Making his way down the road, William held the crossbow close to him. Keeping his eyes peeled on the road to make sure no sort of danger, alive or dead, jumped out at him and caught him off guard.''

''Willam had just exited from one of his neighbor’s house, they’d been what most people would call a crazy person. Preparing for an apocalyptic event that everyone believed would never happen.''

Guess everybody was wrong.

''He easily heard the creature growling before it even came into his sights. What had formerly been a human that was now just an empty shell in a rotting body, a Zombie, stood up from behind one of the cars, it’s arms reaching up as it hungrily made it’s way over to where William had come to stand still, a smirk on his face as he decided now would be a good time to test his aim.''

''He already knew how to use one, he used to go true hunting with his father but it had been a while since he had fired any type of gun. The last time he had was the last battle he had taken a part of before he was discharged.''

Putting the bolt in it’s place, William raised the crossbow again and aimed towards the Zombie as it continued to tumble towards him, it wasn’t tumbling much longer though as soon enough, William had fired and the bolt went straight through it’s head, killing it instantly with a shot to the brain.

''Now that it was dead, William allowed himself a moment of mourning. Walking up to it to get a closer look, William couldn’t even begin to try and discover who they had been. They were too torn up for him to see anything recognizable. It could have been one of his neighbors or maybe it had just been someone driving through.''

William took a moment to crouch down and close it’s eyes before he continued forward, on his way back home when he noticed something else that made him stop in his tracks.

''His house’s front door was wide open. It was supposed to be locked.''

Breaking into a sprint, William rushed towards his home, not caring to be aware of his surroundings now as he quickly ran up the stairs, the sight he was greeted by being the one thing that he was praying wouldn’t happen.

''Rebecca, his wife, was dead. Her corpse lying on the floor as a Zombie chewed on her once beautiful face, now just a mess. Not far away from his dead wife, another Zombie was standing at the cot that held his baby daughter, Natasha. Had held his daughter.''

''Now the only thing the cot was holding was blood as the Zombie standing near it chewed bits of meat that it held with its hands. William felt like his entire life was collapsing around him, he could barely keep himself standing as he backed up, only for his back to hit something, causing him to turn around and aim his crossbow upwards frantically, being greeted by the sight of something else he never wanted to see.''

''“It’s your fault” Natasha, his former girlfriend, someone he had fallen in love with after surviving months alone in the Zombie apocalypse, said in a barely understandable tone. The flesh on her body was ripped apart, her eyes completely white and her teeth bared at him as she looked ready to bite him “we’re all dead because you failed to protect us. Just like you always do…”''

“Just like you always will.”

''William woke up with a start, breathing hard as sweat dripped along his forehead. He had to take a few moments to look around, taking in every inch of his hotel room, looking down to see Bella laying on his chest as she still slept with a contented smile on her face and then to his beside where the heart pills and a glass of water were.''

Being quick but gentle, so he didn’t wake up his sleeping wife, William grabbed the container and shook out one of the pills, putting it into his mouth and then grabbing the glass of water to swallow them down with.

''Everything was fine, William reminded himself. His wife and daughter were alive. They were all as safe as they could be.''

''But was it enough? William’s doubt crept in.''

''He done his best to shake this doubt out of his mind and lay his head back down. However, just as he was laying his head down, he heard the sound of something he hadn’t heard in reality after the end of the Zombie apocalypse.''

The hungry growls of a Zombie.

William didn’t have any time to react before Bella lunged, her undead teeth going straight for his neck and digging in deep enough to rip his flesh there apart, William letting out a gurgled scream as his eyes met the white Zombie eyes of his wife.

Again, William woke up, even more sweat on his face this time as he again looked around his room, this time seeing that Bella wasn’t present at all which caused extreme panic to go through his for a moment until he reminded himself that she was on guard duty on the wall tonight and sighed, laying his head back down on the pillow.

They were okay, he reminded himself again.

William didn’t bother to try sleeping again, instead he actually took the pill before he quickly got dressed and made his way out of his room and into the hallway. It was still late in the night, most people were asleep so William made sure to be extra quiet as he made his way down the hallway to come to this floor’s assigned balcony, leaning on its railings as he looked and saw his wife safe and sound as she patrolled along the wall, rifle in her arms like a true soldier.

“You getting insomnia as well, boss?” Perceval joked from the corridor, chuckling as he made his way along while dusting “probably not the best time for it but each to his own.”

William couldn’t bother himself with giving a response, instead he just laid his head in his hands and sighed as he rubbed at his eyes.

They were safe, they were okay.

They were alive. --- *Cue Theme Music*

*A Mix Of Sad, Dramatic But Inspiring*

*Enter scenes of the Series in the background while pictures of the main characters pop up on screen with the cast names*

The first scene appearing was a completely destroyed city, all of its buildings laying in rubble as a large UFO hovered above the city, looking menacingly, as down on the streets below, a battle of survival being fought between the Humans and Aliens.

Starring...Ryan Robbins, Lindsey Morgan, Genesis Rodriguez...

The second scene appearing was heavy rain pouring down on the Hayes hotel's courtyard while a group of survivors stood together in a group around recent graves in the ground.

Danai Gurira, Devon Bostick, Eliza Taylor...

The third scene appearing was a group of survivors on a hill as they overlooked a city down the road, Aliens patrolling around the entrance as trucks drove past them and headed into the city.

Emilia Clarke, John Boyega, Moon Bloodgood...

The fourth scene appearing was a group of survivors, in a underground train station, bundled together in a circle, back to back, as they aimed their weapons towards the darkness where unknown creatures were hidden.

Dallas Roberts, Lauren Cohan, Luke Neal...

The fifth scene appearing was a battle between Humans and Aliens, the Aliens firing from the forest while the Human soldiers charged out of a military base as they fired their rifles.

Sean Murray, Colin Cunningham and Dale Dye...

The sixth and final scene appearing was the Hayes hotel as soldiers walked back and forth along its walls while on guard duty and refugees of the hotel grouped together in the courtyard, going about normal lives as the title "Evolution" appears above them. ---  22nd August 2049  - 00:10 - Washington D.C., America

The Alien prison camp was crowded. Too crowded.

Charlie could barely keep track of Annie as she made her way through the crowd and he followed her as Butterfield trailed behind. He wasn’t quite sure where they were heading or how he could help them all but he had nothing better to do so he just kept following her.

Around him there were Humans of all kind. From children to adults and there were too many for him to count, something that made him increasingly depressed to think about as he saw one trait shared among them all, sadness in their eyes.

“According to the folks around here that had survived the bombing of Washington, the Aliens set this up in the first day. They came prepared, heavily prepared” Annie was explaining to him from the front as she politely moved through people, others getting out of the way and looking at her expectedly, Charlie noting that those people looked sick “they’ve been dragging people like us from all around America ever since.”

“Only America?” Charlie curiously asked, using his curiosity to ignore the sadness that was spreading around them all and instead focus on Annie “no one being brought here from the rest of the world?”

Annie shook her head “no one that has said they are from another country. As far as we can assume, each country probably has their own Alien prison camp inside of it, if we are to think there is only one in each country.”

Charlie gave an agreeing nod but remained silent as he and Butterfield continued to follow her through the camp, there was no point in asking her questions as the little things that she did know, she would tell him anyway once they reached their destination.

This destination turned out to not be much further, although it wasn’t much. Just a few seats gathered around a fire barrel. A fire barrel that became clear to Charlie apparently being assigned to Annie and who else she choosed as many other prisoners were around the area but none came to close while Annie quickly took a seat and began to warm herself up as she gestured for Charlie and Butterfield to take up a seat and join her.

“So, why’d you bring us all the way here before telling us what I’m supposed to help with?” Charlie asked after a moment of silence but the only answer he got from Annie was her gesturing over to three people. An adult male and two girls, one being a teenager and the other being more younger.

“Okay you two, go find your brother and be safe” the man said to the two of them after he had noticed Charlie’s arrival out of the corner of his eye “do you remember what to do if the Aliens take more prisoners?”

“Be far away so they don’t pick us” both girls said at the same time, the man giving a nod and a smile as he leaned down to kiss the top of both their heads before waving them away, watching as they left the scene before he finally turned over to where Charlie was sitting and made his way over, holding out one of his hands in an offer to shake “sorry about the wait, gotta look out for my children. My name’s Wyatt. Nice to meet you Charlie, although I wish it would’ve been under better circumstances.”

Charlie nodded, shaking Wyatt’s hand and sharing a look with Butterfield that told Charlie it was his friend who told him his name before the two men sat back down at the fire barrel “so, I was told I can help us all get out of here?”

Wyatt gave a nod, reaching forward to warm up his hands, sharing a look with Annie for a moment before he turned his attention to Charlie “Annie has told you about the situation we’re in but we already have a plan but we weren’t able to execute that plan until you two arrived” he told Charlie, earning a confused look from Charlie as he looked between Wyatt and Annie while he questioned the statement.

“Why is that?”

“Because our plan involves using their radios. I had some experience with one of them before I got captured and they work nearly the exact same as us, including the same frequencies” Wyatt told him before taking a stand and pointing over to a building that Charlie could barely manage to see “we’ve been able to work out that building holds one of their radios and it’s not heavily guarded during the night. We planned to use it to contact any military presences outside but we didn’t know what frequencies to use, now with the arrival of you two, we do.”

“If Butterfield has already told you the frequences, what do you need me for?”

“We need you because you’re a soldier. A lot of people here are either too scared or too untrained for this and it’s not going to be a walk in the park. You’re a trained soldier, your aid will make this much easier.”

Charlie didn’t offer an answer straight away. Instead he hesitated for a few moments. His help? He was useless. First he got a bunch of people killed at the military base and then he got himself captured. He would offer no aid, only trouble but as he looked into the fire, he realized that he had no choice. They all needed to get out of here before the Aliens done what they wanted to them and people needed him.

With this thought in mind, Charlie forced himself to look up to Wyatt and give him a nod “so when do we do it?”

“The next night. We’ll make sure we’re all ready for it and then we’ll strike when they least expect it. Timing is going to be everything for this mission.”

Charlie nodded before he looked between Wyatt and Annie again "what should I do in the meantime?"

Annie smiled at that as she gestured around to everyone "greet people. It'll be good for them to know that there are more soldiers to help them other than Wyatt here."

With that task in mind, Charlie just hoped he didn't let them all down. ---  22nd August 2049  - 06:10 - Hayes Hotel, America

“So our plan is to head back to the military base? The base we nearly lost all our forces too the last time?” Berney asked with a hint of distrust in his voice, having been gathered in the military meeting room with the rest of the soldiers that resided in the hotel, excluding Edward who, since Vernon had taken command of their military forces due to his rank, was now putting his focus on training the civilians.

“We don’t have much of a choice, we need more weapons and ammo” Vernon told him, resisting the urge to sigh and having to remind himself that they had good reason to question these orders, even if it would be easier for him if they just followed what he commanded.

“But why the weapons?” Jamie spoke up from the other side of the meeting room, figuring he should’ve just kept quiet when he saw William and Bella, his mentors when he signed up, both giving him a look but he was curious “wouldn’t it be easier for us to just get the ammo? We have plenty of guns for our soldiers, right?”

“Edward is training the civilians to defend themselves” Dannisha answered, giving Vernon a bit of a break from repeated questions, as she moved into the middle of the gathered circle to get the attention on her “our last missions have all ended in losing soldiers” she brought up, avoiding the sad look from a silent Daniel “which shows it is likely we could all die and the civilians need to be prepared if that happens.”

Berney couldn’t stop a scoff from coming out of him which put all the attention on him and made him have to quickly come up with something “sounds like a load of shit to me. If we all get wiped out, civilians are fucked anyway. This is just a waste of our time” he voiced, earning a slight glare from Dannisha as she leaned over the table and addressed him.

“They should at least be given a chance!”

Just as Berney opened his mouth to voice more protest, a sign of something beginning to be shared among most of the soldiers, Daniel stood up from his seat, bringing all attention on him as he spoke “we’re soldiers in a war and we just received our orders so follow them” Daniel said, pausing for a moment to look at both Dannisha and Vernon for confirmation that the meeting was over before continuing “everyone dismissed, get ready for the mission.”

There was a pause among the gathered soldiers but once they received a nod from the actual two commanding officers, they all got up to file out of the room, Vernon calling out for Dannisha to remain behind for a moment and waiting for everyone to have exited the room before he sighed “as much as I hate to say this, I shouldn’t go out on this mission. We need proper commanding officers, now more than ever and I’m one of two left.”

Dannisha just nodded and offered him a soft smile before telling him “I’m more than capable of leading them, I’ll make sure to give you a full report when we return” which caused silence to fall on the two of them long enough for Dannisha to be about to excuse herself when Vernon changed the subject., one that confused her.

“So, what is wrong with Mr. Hayes?”

“Other than being an overconfident idiot? You’ll have to be more specific Sir.”

Vernon sighed “he wasn’t apart of your rescue mission, I digged around for a reason why and apparently he went out looking for his wife at the same time which is strange, even Edward follows the protocol on mission first. So, why?”

Dannisha paused for a moment before offering a shrug “I’m sorry Sir but I’m not sure. Perhaps Edward allowed him to go? Maybe hoping he would find Bella and Jamie since they are both quality soldiers.”

Vernon noticed this pause in her voice but he decided to shrug it off and lean back in his chair “well, whatever the reason, it paid off. You may leave to ready the mission” he told her, receiving a nod in response before she made her way out of the room, leaving Vernon to think to himself alone in the room.

When she had closed the room’s door behind her, Dannisha reached to rub at her eyes in slight frustration. She hadn’t been honest with her superior at all. She remembered the conversation she had listened in on before going on the mission, remembered Edward talking to William about him not being in a good condition for duty.

Dannisha eventually just let out a sigh and made her way down the corridor, she’d have to find out what was going on with William, but for now she had a mission to lead.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the hotel’s corridors, William was walking along in peaceful silence with Bella and Jamie until Jamie interrupted it with a sigh and stopped to address his two mentors “I’m sorry I spoke up in that meeting, I shouldn’t have. It wasn’t my place to question the orders given by my superiors.”

In response to this, both husband and wife shared an amused look with each other before Bella reached to gently place a hand on his shoulder “don’t feel guilty Jam, you didn’t do anything wrong” was what she told him, causing Jamie to look absolutely confused as he questioned this statement.

“But you looked mad at me?” he asked, earning a chuckle from William whom also shook his head and corrected him.

“We weren’t mad at you. It’s up to you what you do and don’t do in a meeting, it’s just that the more you speak up, the more you get noticed out of the pack. It’ll be easier for you to just go with the flow, like the two of us” he said, holding Bella’s hand and waving it to clarify he meant he and his wife.

Jamie gave a smile and a nod to the piece of advice he was given but he was unsure what else to say, giving Bella an opportunity to speak up again “I’m sorry to ask you this Jam but, can you give me and William a moment alone.”

“Sure thing. Have as many moments as you like” Jamie said with a grin before he continued his way down the corridor, alone this time, which left William to raise a curious eyebrow at his wife as he questioned what she was up too.

“Why do I get a feeling this isn’t going to be the fun type of alone, love?”

“I don’t want you to go on this mission” Bella told him bluntly, getting straight to the point and even raising her finger to his lips to silence him when he was about to protest “no. I can handle you going out on supply runs or little missions like that but I am NOT allowing you on a full military operation.”

William let out a sigh and bowed his head, already accepting he would be defeated by his wife in this argument “and how do you intend to convince the others of a reason I’m not going other than the truth.”

“I’ll have to tell them that you’ve suddenly fallen sick.”

“What is this? Avoiding school?”

Bella shook her head at her husband’s jokes and avoided looking at his grin as she leaned closer to him, raising their held hands to press between their chests as she looked him in the eyes “It’s the only excuse we have for now, just trust me, alright?”

William smiled at that question, leaning down to press a quick kiss to her lips before he whispered “I always trust you, love. Be safe.”

Bella smiled as well, giving him a nod and leaning up to give him her own quick kiss “Love yah” she told him before quickly jogging down the corridor in the same direction as Jamie, leaving William to call out that he loved her in return as she disappeared around the corner. ---  22nd August 2049  - 06:10 - Washington D.C., America

Finally, Charlie found himself with a moment to rest as he sat down on a slightly destroyed brick wall, reaching down to grab the bottle of water he had been given and taking a sip of it. For a while now both he and Butterfield had been going around greeting the fellow prisoners of this Alien prison camp and only now he had been able to catch his breath.

He couldn’t even begin to count the amount of people that had been brought here. They’d at least been the size of half a town here which made him seriously question the motives of the Aliens that were behind capturing them.

What were their intentions? When they first invaded, they seemed hell-bent on murder and destruction and now they were capturing them alive? Charlie felt like he should be relieved that, as far as he could tell, the Aliens hadn’t done as much damage on their population as he thought but he couldn’t shake the feeling that what they had intended was worse than death.

A reasonable thought to come to conclusion.

“Well, you seem rather lost in thought” Charlie heard someone telling him, nearly making him jump as he looked up to see a woman standing nearby, an amused look on her face as she looked him over “you don’t look like much of a soldier, well, at least the strong, heroic type that people are spreading around anyway.”

Charlie wasn’t really sure how to reply to that, being a bit caught off guard and when the woman noticed this she offered a sympathetic smile and nervously rubbed the back of her head “heh, sorry about that, my mouth goes ahead of my mind sometimes. Comes to be a problem when I’m trying to pick up chicks at the bar” she joked, waiting for a moment before she gestured to the spot on the wall next to him “may I?”

“Sure” Charlie said a little awkwardly, shifting over to make room for her as she made her way over and sat down next to him, both of them offering their hands to shake at the same time which made the situation a bit more awkward as Charlie introduced himself first “I’m Charlie. You are?”

“I’m Toria. Nice to meet you hero.”

“Toria...you’re the woman people keep mentioning, right? Sounds like you’ve done a lot to keep moral support high here. A great help for Annie.”

“Heh, yeah that’s me. I don’t really see myself as much of a help though. All I’m doing is giving a few speeches and offering an extra shoulder to cry on.”

“Sometimes that is all you need to be a great help.”

This statement made Toria remain silent as she thought about long enough for the two of them fell into an awkward silence, neither of them sure what to say next until Toria took it off-topic “you know I loved going outdoors, really inspired my art. Now I’m stuck outside all the time and it sucks. Pretty, Unbe-leaf-able, huh?” Charlie couldn’t resist giving her a look “really? A pun?”

“Oh come on, puns are punny.”

Charlie let out an overreacting disgusted sound as he rolled his eyes, Toria grinning as she gently bumped her shoulder against his “come on, enjoy them. It’s better to smile at a terrible pun than to be bothered by it.”

“I’ll smile when you give me a good one” Charlie said with a teasing glare, Toria touching her chest as if she was physically wounded by his words before turning her attention to their fellow prisoners as they went around on whatever business they were doing.

“Fine, fine. No need to PUNish me for trying to lighten the mood.”

“Oh my god.”

They both allowed themselves a little laugh, earning some curious looks from their fellow prisoners but no one questioned it and instead continued along their way, allowing them to laugh along until they stopped as they noticed Wyatt making his way over to them with a grin on his face “let me guess, Toria is already bombing you with her terrible puns, huh?”

“Excuse you, they are not terrible!” Toria protested in response, sticking her tongue out at him as if she was a child which caused Wyatt to chuckle before turning his attention to Charlie.

“You got some time to come with me? The rest of the team we’ve got for our little mission want to meet up with you and your friend.”

“Sure thing” Charlie replied, giving a nod as he hopped off the wall, looking up to Toria who remained perched on it “see you around?”

Toria gave him a smirk “sorry hero, you’re not my type. I’m Gay” she told him, earning a playful glare from Charlie before he turned back around to follow Wyatt to wherever he was going, leaving Toria to sit on the wall and look around with a grin on her face.

At first she was doubtful about the new found hope but maybe she was wrong to think that. ---  22nd August 2049  - 06:30 - Hayes Hotel, America

Edward allowed himself to grin as he watched the training civilians shoot their water at the set up targets. They were doing well, all of them were doing well, even including the people who had only just joined their training sessions today.

Currently, the old General was walking back and forth along the line of training civilians, observing each and every one of them. Right now, both Jeff and Han had shown great promise in their training and were even helping Edward in training the rest of them. Jeff was on one end, training one half, notable faces including Gabriella, Emily and Keegan while on the other end Han was training the more jokers part of the group, notable faces including Zackery, Nina and Spike.

He was proud of them all, in only a couple of days, the civilians were showing great progress. Of course he hoped they would never have to use what they had learned from him but it was good that they were able to if they had too.

Hearing someone approaching from behind him, Edward turned to look and found himself watching as Nancy finally arrived for their training session, a teasing smirk appearing on his face “you’re late Ms. Morales. What’s your excuse?”

“Sleep” she told him bluntly as she came to stand next to him, looking over the already training civilians before she let out a sigh as she reached up to rub her eyes “Damn do I need good coffee, just my luck that the only coffee this hotel has isn’t my type, huh?”

Edward chuckled at that as he too turned his attention back to the training civilians “once our soldiers are better equipped, we’ll be sending out frequent supply runs. Who knows, maybe if you civilians are ready, you’ll be going out on teams yourself.”

“That does sound like a good idea, give the soldiers some rest and let us do some work for a change” Nancy joked in return, pausing in thought after her statement before she looked back at him with a raised eyebrow, a look that was similarly returned by Edward as she questioned him “did you ask about our plan?”

“I did...Vernon agrees. It’s a good idea but we need to work out how we want to do it, otherwise we’re going to get overloaded with duties. I was able to convince him to allow the two of us to go out with a group to see if it is possible though.”

Nancy nodded, a genuine smile appearing to her face now “that’s good. So when do we leave?”

“We'll decide after our soldiers return from the base, depending on how their mission goes. I agreed with Vernon that if we can do this plan, it’s best to find out sooner rather than later so we can properly be prepared when we act it out.”

Again, Nancy nodded in agreement but just as she was opening her mouth to speak, the sounds of the humvees being started up could be heard, turning the attention of everyone outside to watch as Dannisha along with the rest of the military forces were getting ready to exit from the hotel, Jamie going ahead of the group to open up the gate while Nancy again turned her attention back to Edward “what’s going on?”

“Remember when I said getting our soldiers better equipped? They’re going back to military base in an effort to get whatever they can and bring it back.”

“That...sounds dangerous. Rather, too dangerous” Nancy voiced out in opinion but she only received silence as an answer from Edward but he did agree. It was dangerous but he knew it was needed and he knew as he watched Dannisha ready her fellow soldiers for the mission, he had to let them go and risk their lives, again.

A little late behind the rest of her fellow soldiers, Bella came jogging out of the hotel in her combat gear, like the rest of the soldiers, and made her way over to the vehicles, the sight of her making Dannisha pause in climbing into one of the humvees as she looked curiously at the late soldier “are you good?”

Bella gave a nod in response, taking a moment to catch her breath now that she was standing in front of Dannisha before she shifted around a bit, addressing the matter at hand “William is going to be unable to come along. He’s fallen sick suddenly, I had to take him over to medical, hence why I’m late.”

Bella had figured that there wouldn’t be much need to question her lie, at least not right now, perhaps if she kept on using it as a lie later but the look Dannisha had on her face made Bella realize that she wasn’t buying it even before Dannisha had pushed her way away from the humvee again and gently tugged Bella out of earshot and questioned her “what’s going on with him?”

“I don’t know what you-”

“No. You do and so do I” Dannisha interrupted her, trying to remain soft in her tone but she was also determined to learn what was going on “I know Edward doesn’t feel he’s in the best condition to do these missions. Whatever is wrong with him, we need to know.”

Bella was getting nervous now, shifting around the rifle in her grip. Dannisha was right, they did need to know but she also wasn’t about to throw her husband under the bus so after taking a breath, she looked her fellow soldier in the eyes with a determined look “with respect, now is not the time. You have a mission to lead and I have orders to follow.”

At first, Dannisha parted her lips to give protest but she then decided against it and let out a sigh, keeping her voice low and in warning “we’ll talk about this later” she said as if setting a rule in stone, Bella hesitating before she nodded and made her way into one of the humvees, joined by Dannisha herself soon after, leaving the humvee drivers to then drive them out of the hotel and past the gate with everyone accounted for in the vehicles.

As this went on, William was looking over the scene from his room’s balcony, an unknown look in his face as he watched the humvees exit from his hotel while Edward made his way over to close the gate after them, muttering “shit” to himself before there was several knocks on his door suddenly, William quickly perking himself back up in order to go answer it.

“Sorry to bother you Sir” Perceval said once the door was answered, stepping aside to reveal Emmett standing behind him “but this fine Gentleman here requested to see you” he told his boss, earning a grateful smile and nod from William which Perceval returned with his own nod before he made his leave from the area, making his way back down the corridor to continue his cleaning.

“So, what can I do for you, Emm?” William asked with a curious look but also a playful smirk, leaning against his doorframe with a raised eyebrow as he looked over his visitor.

“Uhh, I hate to bring this upon you, honestly” Emmett began, awkwardly shifting around on his feet as he looked down to his hands that were constantly rubbing against each other as if they need to always move “but I have a request to make of you. A possibly game-changing mission that I need your assistance for.”

“If it’s so game-changing, why not actually bring it up with the Chief of Staff. You know? The head of the military?”

Emmett paused, a pause that caused William to be really curious now before he replied “because it is also a top-secret project of mine. Something that he probably wouldn’t believe was worth it as it’s quite...well...unbelievable.”

“Try me.”

“I...I can’t. I can’t tell anyone until I get to the location and see if sh...it’s intact.”

“So, let me get this straight, you want me to go possibly against the rules of the Chief of Staff himself to retrieve this possible game-changing thing which you won’t tell me about because it’s possibly not intact?”

Emmett let out a sigh of defeat as he began backing away “you’re right. It sounds stupid now you say it like that, I should just-”

“Nah. Sounds fun as hell. When do we leave?” William interrupted, Emmett looking back up at his face to see a grin there, a grin that caused Emmett to be unable to stop himself from smiling as he gave his answer.

“As soon as you’re ready.” ---  22nd August 2049  - 06:30 - Washington D.C., America

“John, this is too dangerous. Let someone else do it!”

“There is no one else Lene, no one else is confident enough to do this.”

“Then let Wyatt do it himself with those new soldiers. You are not a soldier, you are a mechanic, a mechanic in training!”

Charlie, Wyatt and Butterfield could all hear the argument going on as Wyatt guided them to a private section of the Alien prison camp, the three of them walking around the corner to see a man and a woman arguing between themselves, Wyatt politely coughing to announce their arrival which resulted in an awkward scene as the two arguing friends realized they weren’t alone.

“Sorry about that Wyatt, Nolene just doesn’t want me to go out on the mission” the man told the three of them as he moved over to take a seat while Nolene placed her hands on her hips and glared over to him, apparently deciding to continue the argument.

“With good reason, Johnathan! You are not trained for this!” Nolene said out of anger, clearly trying to keep her voice as low as she could in order to not attract any attention over to them before she turned over to address Wyatt “tell him Wyatt, this isn’t for him to do!”

Wyatt let out a sigh, crossing his arms as he looked between the two before he shook her head towards her “I’m sorry Lene but we do need him. You are too vital with your superior mechanic experience and John is the next best thing we’ve got.”

Clearly this statement annoyed Nolene but as she looked between the other four gathered people, she eventually came to the conclusion that there was no hope in her cause and moved threateningly closer to Wyatt so she could whisper “he better make it back” before she pushed her way past him and left the area, an awkward silence passing through them all until Johnathan broke it.

“Don’t mind her. She’s not really bad, just lets her emotions get the best of her sometimes, a thing that happens to the best of us” Johnathan said before he stood up from his seat and walked over to both Charlie and Butterfield, shaking their hands as he nodded at them “name’s Johnathan Shelton, Wyatt’s told me all there is to know about you two right now.”

Both Charlie and Butterfield gave nods of acknowledgement while Charlie took a moment to look around the meeting spot before he looked back to Wyatt and Johnathan as he asked “so when will the other team members turn up?” although he didn’t like the answer that he received when he saw Wyatt and Johnathan share a look, causing Charlie to bow his head as he sighed “we’re all there is, right?”

“That is right. Apologises for making it seem like there was more but we need to in order to keep morales up around any who might be listening in. It’s better this way” Wyatt spoke up, reaching to give Charlie a pat on the shoulder before he gestured for everyone to sit down “the less of us there are, the more sneaky we can be. We also don’t need many anyway, just John here to deal with the radio and the three of us to escort him there.” he told their two newest team members, Charlie taking a moment to think of what he wanted to ask before he decided on it as he sat down.

“So what exactly is the plan? Once we’re inside.”

“We find the radio, hopefully work out how to use it and contact your people. After that, it’ll be up to your people, all we can do is be prepared for anything they may or may not do” Wyatt answered for him, leaning back to rest in his seat while he smiled sadly “if something goes wrong, it’s every man for themselves. Get back into the crowd, we’ve seen before that if a Human does something wrong but gets back in the crowd, they won’t bother to give chase.”

“Yeah but if we fail, we lose our only chance of doing this so let’s not fuck up, right Gentleman?” Johnathan tried to joke, adding a smile to his face, but he only caused another awkward silence to fall between them causing him to sigh as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a rubix cube, beginning to try and work it out, keeping his mind occupied as Wyatt tried to give Charlie a reassuring nod.

It didn’t help though. ---  22nd August 2049  - 07:00 - Hayes Hotel, America

Brian couldn’t bring himself to get up.

The blissful smile he had on his face, the relaxed and closed eyes and his comforted breathing showed that the bed he was laid on currently was too comfortable and the female presence lying to his side, her head on his chest didn’t bother him at all.

The silence that filled Brian’s room matched with the bits of sunlight making it through the window blinds made for a very peacefully quiet scene. That was until Victoria broke it by speaking up.

“I was thinking our musical group could take a break for today, we’ve been practicing a bit too much recently, what do you think?”

In response, Brian gave a very over exaggerated sigh “I think you’re starting to plan too much. Let us enjoy the moment and not worry about plans right now.”

“Hey! I can’t help but plan. I have to put my mind to work somehow while you’re boringly finishing off” she teased, a genuinely wounded look appearing on his face before she leaned up to press a soft kiss to his lips, kissing away any wounded feelings as the two fell into a moment together, arms wrapping around each other as if they were about to go for round two until Victoria parted her lips from his and smirked “so, what do you think of my idea?”

“What is this? Using sex to try and get me to agree with you?” he asked with a questioning look on his face, only getting a teasing look in return from the girl who was currently now sitting ontop of him which caused him to let out another over exaggerated sigh along with an additional roll of his eyes “finnnee. It’s a great idea, the greatest idea in existence. Do I get the boobies now?”

Victoria chuckled at that, running one of her fingers under his chin before she winked and got off of him, avoiding the heart crushed look he gave her “I’ll think about it while I’m taking a break in the bathroom, you know, since you thought I should take more breaks” she teased him, making her way through his room and heading towards the bathroom, leaving Brian to lay his head back on the pillow with a grin on his face.

“You know, it would be much easier for you to convince me to agree with you if you just let me try your makeup” Brian called out to her after a few moments, hearing a laugh from the bathroom just as the water from the tap started running and the toilet flushed, a short moment later, Victoria’s head poked through the doorway as the water stopped running.

“You know what?” Victoria began as she walked back out of the bathroom, teasingly making herself do a seductive walk along the way to the bed “if you last longer than me this time, I’ll let you have a go at my make-up” she challenged, all of the teasing look that had been in her eyes having left as she now looked determined to beat him at something. As usual, even the most simple of things turning into a competition between them both.

However, before Brian could meet her challenge, there was a sudden knock on the door and before Brian could even begin to get rid to answer it, since it was his room, Victoria had already pulled a jacket over her and answered it herself, hiding the bottom half of her body behind the door as she opened it and revealed a nervous looking Reyna to be standing there “oh, hey Rey-Rey, what can we do for you?”

Reyna took a bit longer than she probably should to reply to the question she was given, having turned her attention from Brian, who was still in bed and now hiding himself in the bed’s covers, to Victoria which caused her to be given a bit of an eyeful of the assets on her chest, a sight the jacket gave her and made her blush heavily as she forced herself to look at Victoria’s eyes, not quite helping when she could see a knowing look in them “I was...ah...wondering when the meeting was today? I don’t remember you saying last meeting…”

“Oh” Victoria responded, deciding not to tease her newest friend about the eyeful she had accidentally given her, instead giving her a polite smile “there actually won’t be a meeting today. I decided that we’ve made more than enough sessions back to back so we could take a day to rest.”

“Oh” Reyna replied the same as Victoria, except hers was more of a disappointed sounding one as she was unable to hide the feeling from her face quick enough before both of her friends noticed it, causing her to nervously shift around under Victoria’s caring gaze “I was...kinda hoping you could help me out some more today, I really don’t feel like I’m improving, at all.”

Victoria paused for a moment, pursing her lips as she thought for a moment before she turned to look at Brian with an over polite smile on her face “looks like we’ll have to put our competition on hold until later tonight” she said, teasingly putting on a disappointed voice as she collected her clothes and quickly began shoving them on.

“You’re only saying that ‘cause you know you’re going to lose” Brian said, laying his arms behind his head and smirking as he watched his best friend get dressed with ease before she blew him a kiss as she exited from the room.

“Sex you later, love!” she called to him before closing the door behind her, leaving Brian to be alone in his room once again, Brian himself deciding to use this moment to rest further and going back to sleep as best as he could with how she left him.

Meanwhile, back on the outside of the hotel, William was just exiting from the front, Emmett tagging along behind him with both men looking the complete opposite of each other as they prepared to leave, Emmett being nervous and William being ready for action as he headed over to his truck, although they did come to meet an obstacle in the form of Edward who walked over to them and looked at them questioningly.

“Where are you two going?”

“On a top secret mission that is totally breaking our set rules and probably needlessly dangerous but we’re still going anyway” William bluntly replied with a grin on his face, Emmett looking shocked at how he spoke while Edward just let out an annoyed sigh and reached up to rub at his eyes.

“Will...clearly you weren’t allowed on the actual military operation so why in the hell am I going to allow you to go out on...whatever this is with one of our smartest people?”

“Come on Eddie, don’t worry about it too much.”

“Alright, say that I’m going to let you go. You know the rules, four people. You are missing half of that number.”

For a moment, William wasn’t sure how to reply, taking up some time to look around before he grinned as his eyes landed on Nathan and Nico, both of them walking alongside each other as they talked not too far away, causing him to call out “hey, Nate! Bring your friend over here for a moment!” before turning back to look at his old General, seeing a doubting look on his face.

“What can we do for you?” Nathan asked as he and Nico made their way over, William moving to lay his arms over both of their shoulders as he looked between them and then winked over to Edward as he revealed his plan.

“Are you two up for a little road trip?” he asked them, receiving completely confused looks in return but he didn’t wait for a spoken answer as he began walking them over to his truck “see Eddie? We got four people” he told the General, opening all of his truck’s doors for his three companions to get in, looks of serious questioning on their face but William didn’t allow them to protest as he practically shoved each of them in the vehicle and closed the door behind them before he moved to open the gate.

“William Hayes! I did NOT give you permission to leave the premises of this hotel!”

“Sorry Eddie! I can’t hear you!” William said in response, quickly making his way over to his truck and getting in to start it up “I guess old age is finally catching up on me and I got hearing problems, haha!” he continued, now closing his door as he began to drive the truck away “seeyousoon, I’lltalktoyoulaterbyeloveyou!” being the last things he said in a quickened voice as he drove the truck away, giving Edward no more chances to protest.

Watching the truck drive away, Edward sighed to himself, unable to stop a small smile appearing to his face as he shook his head “goddamnit Will.” ---  22nd August 2049  - 07:40 - Charleston Military Base, America

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Can you not?”

“It’s impossible not to have a sudden feeling about something.”

Dannisha sighed as she lowered her binoculars and turned to look at Jamie who was by her side, the other eleven soldiers hidden away in the rest of the forest that surrounded the military base “I don’t mean for you to not feel. I mean for you to not say it out loud. Have you see the movies? If someone says that, it always goes wrong.”

“Alright, sorry, sorry” Jamie said defensively as he looked through the scope in his rifle, a moment of silence passing between the two of them again before Jamie smirked as he looked at her “I totally appreciate that reference to movies though” he said, earning a grin from Dannisha but before she could tell him to keep his mind on the job, Bella came crawling up to be on her other side.

“There’s nothing or nobody here. At least on the outside” Bella reported, Jamie quickly sensing the tension between the two woman as both of them kept their focus on the military base in front of them, not looking at each other at all “If there is anything inside, they’re probably ready for any kind of attack so we only get two choices. Either we risk it and go in or we call it off.”

“We can’t call it off. We need what’s inside.”

“IF there is anything inside.”

Jamie could only feel the tension growing between the two woman, silently debating to himself whether he should awkwardly move away to give them space or remain in his spot but before he could come to any decision, Dannisha had turned her attention to him as she muttered “tell them all that we’re moving in. Tell them to keep to cover and keep spread out.”

“Yes ma’am” Jamie said instantly, sharing an awkward glance with Bella before he got up into a squatting position and moved back further into the forest to tell the soldiers of the plan, leaving both women at the clearing in silence, both women clearly debating whether to bring up the subject again or not but also coming to the decision to not and instead focus on the mission.

A few moments later, Dannisha saw her soldiers were in position and so she gave them the signal to move in, quickly getting up onto her feet and moving forwards, keeping herself low along with her fellow soldiers as they moved forwards towards cover, quickly crouching down behind it when they can.

“No shooting so far, that’s something” Berney muttered near her, Dannisha considering telling him to not jinx them but she shrugged it off, waiting long enough so she, along with the others, could look for the next bit of cover they can hide behind before she made the signal again, sending all of them forward to the next line of cover.

Still no shooting at them. Something Dannisha knew she should be grateful for but it only gave her a really bad feeling as they again all looked for any cover they could hide behind, hoping that they wouldn’t need to use it as the military base’s actual building was very close to them now. There was a part of her that told her that she shouldn’t tell them to move forward, that they shouldn’t enter the military base but she ignored it, they needed what might be inside. What she was hoping was inside.

She waved her hand for them to move forward a third time.

The few seconds that it took them to move from their current cover to the military base seemed to last forever, every breath they took feeling like it was their last but nothing happened. No shots were fired at them, no explosions were set off. No one died and instead they all managed to make it inside, all of them quickly getting into defendable positions, awaiting their next orders from Dannisha.

Dannisha herself was determined now, quickly she nodded to them all, silently telling them to spread out in twos and begin searching the base as she made her way straight down the corridor, Daniel flanking behind her to provide her backup.

“I would say it is nice to not be getting spot at on a mission for a change” Daniel muttered under his breath, making sure to keep his voice low and his rifle pointed at any place an enemy of any form could come out of “but I get the feeling that, if the Aliens really have just completely abandoned this place, there is going to be nothing of worth left here.”

“Well, don’t give up just yet” Dannisha told him, offering him a soft smile before she nodded over to a closed door, putting her back to the wall on one side of it while Daniel done the same on the other side of it, the two soldiers mouthing a count down together before Daniel opened the door, Dannisha moving in first and going straight to the first cover she saw while Daniel did the same.

As it had this entire mission so far, it turned out that they didn’t need to. There were no enemies in the room and what was in the room with them brought big smiles to their faces as they peeked out over the boxes they had hidden behind.

Tons of weapons and ammo of all times were just cluttered around the room. They could see grenades, more rifles than they could ever need, rocket launchers. The list went on and on and they wouldn’t even begin to be able to count how many things were here. Instead they just turned to face each other with a shared laugh of relief.

Finally, they had been given a lucky break.

Immediately, Dannisha charged into the middle of the room to begin looking through all the weapons, reaching down to grab the handheld radio on her belt in order to tell the rest of their group where to go but Daniel, on the other hand, had his interest caught by something else instead.

The box he was hiding behind. It looked familiar.

He ran his hands along it as he tried to think of where he had seen it and that was when he noticed a word of some kind on it as if it was a shipping container and someone wanted to know the box's contents.

“Phoraxo”

As Daniel made this discovery, Berney was making his way through the base with his own chosen partner, having accidently left his handheld radio off which both of them failed to notice as they turned around the next corner, making their way to a set of big doors, both of them recognising it as the entrance to the garage.

“Careful around every corner, Dicer. Can’t be too sure what’s in here” Berney jokingly warned, earning a roll of the eyes from Dicer herself as they both kept their rifles aimed at the doors, ready for anything to come bursting through them.

“I know what I’m doing Berney. I’m not a child, just get ready to clear the room” Dicer told him in response, not caring for his jokes right now as she put her back to the wall on one side of the door, watching as Berney got in a similar position on the other side of the door before she mouthed a count down and then opened the door, the two of them charging into the room at the same time.

However, unlike Dannisha and Daniel, the two soldiers didn’t dive for cover. Instead they found themselves becoming frozen to the spot they had walked on like a deer caught in headlights, their minds unable to quickly process the sight that was in front of them.

The room was dark but still light enough for them to see everything completely.

Webs. The entire room was covered in large webs but that wasn’t even the worst sight. The worst sight was the large group of “Eight-Legged Freaks” that were scattered around their webs, all of them looking towards the new creatures that had just entered the room.

There was only one reaction they could have to this. Both Berney and Dicer screamed in pure fear as they aimed their rifles and began firing, the “Eight-Legged Freaks” quickly going to action and crawling through the webs in order to get to their new targets.

Berney managed to fight his fear enough to back out of the room but Dicer was still too fear struck to do anything but shoot, causing her to soon be overwhelmed and grabbed by multiple “Eight-Legged Freaks” at once, forcing Dicer to just scream, desperately reaching out for Berney’s help as she was dragged into the room.

It was too late, too late to save her.

Berney told himself this to make it slightly easier when he closed the door and forcefully kept it closed, trapping Dicer in the room with the creatures from hell. ---  22nd August 2049  - 07:40 - Charleston Outskirts, America

William hadn’t been able to figure out where they were going the entire time he had been driving his truck. As far as he knew, Emmett was guiding him to somewhere completely unknown to everyone but him and it didn’t help that the trip had been pretty awkward.

He wasn’t sure why but both Emmett and Nico had proven to be quite anti-social people, Emmett only talking to give directions while Nico remained completely quiet, apparently not having anything else better to do as he hadn’t even commented on being dragged along while Nathan’s attempts to get the other two talking only made the drive even more awkward.

“This is our stop” Emmett finally said, sending relief through everyone else in the truck as the ride to their destination had come to an end, William being especially grateful as he was coming close to beginning to ask the question of “where they there yet” repeatedly.

“Alright, well better hope it’s safe, let’s go” William said as he just got out of the car, grabbing onto his crossbow and getting it ready to fire at anything that moved and wasn’t Human while his three companions also exited from the car, William gesturing for Emmett to take the lead and guide them the rest of the way which he quickly did, making his way past the trees.

“I didn’t take you for an outdoor person like this Emm, what made you make up a place out here?” Nathan asked curiously, looking around the area with a smile at how peaceful it seemed, despite the invasion that was going on around them currently.

“I prefer keeping to myself, when the first post-apocalypse President hired me to become one of her head Engineers for future projects, I requested a working place of my own in a secluded place. This was it” Emmett replied, a little smile on his face now as he came to a stop, the other three of them watching as he reached down to open up a hatch, revealing stairs, William looking down them and seeing lights turn on from down at the bottom before he looked at Emmett questioningly.

“So, now that we’re here, are you going to tell us what it is we’ve come for?”

Emmett paused for a moment, looking between all three of them before he gave a slightly bigger smile as he answered with “my daughter” before moving to walk down the stairs, William sharing a confused look with Nathan and Nico before the three of them collectively decided to not question it and followed him down the steps.

“Daughter?! I’m home!” Emmett called out as he reached the bottom of the stairs, lights still coming on throughout the small bunker the four of them had just entered, before walking further inside “are you still active?”

“Not calling his daughter by her name and asking if she’s active? Feels weird” Nico muttered to William as Nathan closed the hatch after them, joining them just in time to witness as an adult woman stepped around from a corner to greet them with a smile on her face. Although she didn’t look like a normal adult woman.

Not only did her, apparently, skin-tight clothes look like they were actually her skin but her skin itself was…

“Blue” Nico commented out loud, looking at her with complete confusion, same reactions crossing William and Nathan’s faces, before he rubbed at his eyes and looked at Emmett “even weirder.”

“I do not see what is so weird about it” the woman said in a rather electronic voice as she moved her body as if giving her “father” a hug but not actually touching him. Both “father” and “daughter” seemed to still be happy with the result however as Emmett turned his attention back to his three traveling companions.

“This is going to be a bit of a big deal to take in but this is AID, AID standing for Artificial Intelligent Daughter” Emmett told them, letting the three of them process this information before he confirmed their suspicions with a big grin on his face “the first fully functioning, fully capable and fully thinking Artificial Intelligence success created by a Human in the history of Earth.”

None of the three of his companions knew how to react at first, all of them just staring with expressions that made it clear they were still processing this information. It was only after a few moments that Nathan managed to break the silence by saying “wow.”

“Wow?” William reacted as his brain finally caught up with the situation, leading to him looking around to everyone present in the room before he focused his attention on Emmett as he pointed towards AID “so let me guess, the President has had you creating just her, right? Why? With so many of her we could improve so much. So why?”

“Both the President at the time and my father decided that the world wasn’t ready for someone like me, especially in the wake of World War Three so my father worked on me down here, privately” AID answered the question before Emmett had the chance, a smile on her face as she looked between all the men in the room “For the past thirty years, Emmett has been dedicating his life to working on me and I have only recently been completed through our teamwork.”

“All of that time being worth it” Emmett added in, looking to his daughter with a smile which caused her to smile at him in return brightly, a sweet moment passing before Emmett awkwardly turned his attention back to his traveling companions once Nico had coughed to break him out of the moment “right, so I brought you here to bring her back to the hotel. As of right now, she’s bound to this bunker but I’ve nearly completed a device that can she can travel in. I’ll need the day, is that alright with all of you?”

Emmett’s three friends all looked to each other to question it but it didn’t take long for them all to come to the same conclusion, it would be in Humanity’s best interests so William was soon enough nodding as he chuckled “we’ll try to keep out of your way as you work.”

“I appreciate it. Make yourself at home, should be some food, this bunker has all you’ll need” Emmett told them as he nodded in acknowledgment before he moved over to his work station, Nico making his way over lay on a couch while Nathan sneakily used the opportunity of AID looking at her father to try and run his hand through her, only to get shocked with a small bit of electricity in response.

“What do you think you’re doing?” AID said, taken by surprise at the sudden movements dealt to her while Nathan took a moment to recover from the shock before he looked at her confused.

“Ah...sorry...I’ve seen it in all the Sci-Fi shows, people run their hands through the A.I. to test if it is human or not, I...kinda let impulse get over me.”

“And you thought that would be an excuse to just touch me? Does this look like a Sci-Fi show to you?”

“Honestly?” Nico asked from his position on the couch, his eyes closed as his head rested back on a pillow but there was a surprising smirk on his face, a smirk that no one had ever seen him do “we have been invaded by Aliens, there’s weird spider creatures that come back alive from the dead and now we’ve just been introduced to an Artificial Intelligence. Feels like a Sci-Fi show to me.”

This joke caused laughs to spread around the room while William moved over to stand next to Emmett which caused the Engineer to look up at him and see a smile on William’s face as he spoke “I know you’ve probably been told this a lot Emmett, but you’re a goddamn genius.”

Again, Emmett smiled. For the first time since the Aliens invaded, he felt genuinely happy again. ---  22nd August 2049  - 07:40 - Hayes Hotel, America

She sounded terrible. Still terrible. Reyna was grateful that her new friends hadn’t judged her harshly but she couldn’t help but feel bad for herself and them for having to put up with her attempts to use the guitar. In the few training sessions they had done, everyone had shown some great process, save for her. She just couldn’t do it. “I give up” Reyna said with a sigh, putting the guitar to her side while she kept her eyes away from looking at Victoria, unable to see that hopeful soft gaze anymore as it just made her feel worse “I just can’t play and anyway, you have Maggie to play the guitar now. Pretty sure you have plenty of people for the song already.” “The more the better, Rey-Rey” Victoria replied, that smile of hers never leaving her face while she reached to grab the guitar, easily playing it perfectly which caused Reyna’s guilt to get worse as Victoria continued speaking “we’re not training to be a perfect band Rey-Rey, this is just for fun and you need to remember that.” “It isn’t fun when I’m still terrible no matter how much I’m being taught. I’m just not cut out for it and you’ve already made it clear you think it would be a good idea for us to put on a show for everyone, I’m sure they wouldn’t want to listen to someone who’s terrible at playing a guitar.” “I don’t think that would matter and I’m not talking about the whole “it’s the thought that matters”, we’re in bad times right now. Someone not being perfect at playing a guitar is the least of everyone’s problems and a show would be a nice thing to take people’s mind off the bad things around them, whether it’s a good or a bad show.” Reyna sighed. Damn it this girl was good at talking you into things. Reyna wasn’t even sure what to say as she kept her eyes on her hands, rubbing them together as she thought about herself until her heart suddenly came ahead of her mind and she said “I just wish I can be more useful. Other than failing to play the guitar.” “You’re talking about helping in medical?” Reyna nodded, again pausing for a moment as her eyes seemed very aimed at her hands, as if she could see something past them. She then let out her breath and expanded on her answer by softly saying “I know she probably has it settled but I keep thinking that if she dies, we’re pretty fucked, a terrible thought I know but I have had some medical training, with her help, I could become a doctor like her but-” Reyna’s speech was cut off when she saw Victoria’s hand coming to lay on top of hers, Reyna finally looking up from her hands to see the kind gaze in her friend’s eyes as Victoria herself reached up to brush a hair back behind Reyna’s ear “ask her. I don’t know why you’re so hesitant but it’s a good idea. Worse case scenario is that she can’t train you but it’s at least a possibility. It’s at least worth a shot.” “I...I guess you’re right” Reyna conceded. She hadn’t really even been sure of herself why she hadn’t gone to Nadia already. Maybe she didn’t want to feel rude, maybe she felt like she would just get in the way. It didn’t matter though. Victoria was right, she should do it. These thoughts didn’t last much longer in Reyna’s head though as she found herself holding the guitar again after Victoria had handed it over. “I’m always right. Now let’s continue your training or do I need to give a few more inspiring words to convince you?” Victoria asked, the kind of smile on her face that made Reyna unable to do anything but smile in return. ---  22nd August 2049  - 07:50 - Charleston Military Base, America

They were all beginning to panic and for good reason. There had only been thirteen of them when they came on this mission and one of them was currently likely dead. Leaving twelve soldiers against an unknown number of Alien Spiders that acted more like land piranhas. All of them having come running as soon as they heard the screams and now all were, inside of the garage was a flood of death just waiting to get out. “So what the shit is the plan?” Jamie demanded as he along with the some of the soldiers pushed against the garage door, trying desperately to keep the creatures from forcing their way through but it was clearly an effort that would go to waste soon. “You reported that fire worked wonders on these creatures, right?” Dannisha said, turning her attention to Bella who nodded but kept focused on pushing a table towards the door with Daniel, another part of their desperate plan to keep the Aliens out “alright, Daniel I’m going to need you to run back to the weapons with Jamie and Berney to get flamethrowers, this base should have some stocked.” “Great, only the second week into a war and we’re already breaking the rule of not frying our enemies alive with a flamethrower” Daniel quipped, earning a glare from Dannisha which caused him to raise his hands in defense before he gestured for Jamie to follow him, quickly running away down the corridor with Jamie close behind him, Berney being a bit more hesitant but eventually getting himself together in order to follow as well. “Let’s better hope the flamethrowers aren’t conveniently misplaced or taken away, that seems to be our luck” Bella muttered as Dannisha moved over to fill Daniel’s position and help push the table along towards the door, too determined to survive rather than give a response to what was said. Now came the problem, if they turned the table up on it’s side then it would help to keep the door closed but in order to push it against the door, their fellow soldiers would have to move, giving the creatures the perfect moment to get through. “You must move exactly when I tell you too, exactly how I tell you” Dannisha told the soldiers as they all got ready to do as she ordered but also desperately held the door back. As they did, Dannisha and Bella kept pushing the table forward until it was in front of the door, the group growing tense as Dannisha and Bella got ready to lift the table before Dannisha shouted “to the side, now!” Quickly the soldiers moved to the side and Dannisha worked with Bella to lift the table but while the soldiers were able to still keep the door mostly closed, the creatures were able to push the door open enough for one of them to jump through, jumping straight onto Bella who screamed when she was taken by surprise, Dannisha forced to let the table go without Bella’s support to hold it up.

“Shit! Get that door closed, now!” Dannisha ordered as she immediately gripped her rifle in a way to use it as a bat, smacking at the creature on top of Bella until it got knocked off from the force, Bella having fortunately been able to hold it off of her with only a deep scratch suffered to her cheek but that wasn’t the worst part. Their fellow soldiers hadn’t managed to get the door closed in time. Now they were screaming as the creatures tore into their flesh, having swarmed through the door exactly like piranhas which left the only two remaining women with one option. Run. “Come on, get up!” Dannisha grunted as she grabbed Bella and helped her to her feet, the two women quickly moving into a run, no longer hearing any screaming behind them and instead just the sound of flesh being torn from bone, a quick peek behind her showing Bella that most of the creatures were fortunately focused on their meals but a few had given chase. At first it appeared their only option would be too run but after coming around the first corner, they found themselves lucky not to knock the flamethrower carriers to the ground as they had returned after finding their saving grace. A quick moment of understanding passing between them before Daniel led Jamie and Berney in confronting the chasing creatures, the three of them waiting until the creatures were in the perfect range before they lit them up, burning the creatures alive. “Next we attack that nest of theirs” Dannisha told the few surviving soldiers of their group, taking Berney’s flamethrower and giving him a nod “take Bella to get you two equipped with flamethrowers in case we need it, the three of us will see how much of the nest we can clear” Dannisha ordered, watching as Berney quickly ran off while Bella hesitated, her eyes locked on the dead aliens until Jamie nudged her shoulder a bit, breaking her trance and causing her to run after Berney without a word. “Better wish us luck” Daniel muttered but he got no response from his two remaining fellow soldiers as they made their way back through the corridors and towards the garage, it not taking long before they were met with the sight of the Aliens starting to make their nest larger, expanding it through the doors while what little remained of the dead soldiers could barely be seen under the webs. “This is justice” Jamie said out loud, something the other two silently agreed on as used their flamethrowers on the Aliens that had began making their way over to launch an attack, squeals of death filling their ears but having no effect on the three soldiers as they slowly moved forward with each burned creature, melting away the webs with ease and leaving nothing but the burnt corpses of the creatures that had created them. Dannisha felt like she should be worried for herself. All she felt was satisfaction as she watched these living creatures burn alive, watched the home they had worked to build burning up but she wasn’t worried for herself and she planned on never being worried. They deserved it. These Aliens had invaded their home, had killed more people than she’d like to find out. This was war and Dannisha knew, as she watched the webs burn down around her, the sight of her soldiers being torn apart under her command, she would do whatever it took to win it. It wasn’t long later that most of the web mess had been burned up and all of the Aliens were burning corpses left to rot. However one particular web stood out to all of them as Bella and Berney returned with extra flamethrowers to help finish the job. Hanging on the wall was a web cocoon in the shape of a Human and it didn’t take much for them to come to the conclusion that it had to belong to Dicer. Without anything being shared but sad looks, Dannisha nodded to Daniel and Jamie in order to have them cut her body free, the two soldiers going to work while Bella tried to offer a saddened Berney as much support as she could. However, just as Dannisha thought they had a moment to break and take a breath, Daniel and Jamie cut open the web cocoon and Dicer pushed herself out, gasping for breath and frantically looking for safety, the other five of them being unsure how to react at first, too shocked by what was going on, until Berney shook himself from his shock and hugged his friend, clearly relieved to see her still alive which seemed to calm Dicer down as she returned the hug, looking around at them questioningly. “What...what happened?” “We managed to kill them all” Daniel said flatly, looking between her and the cocoon she came out of before he voiced all of their thoughts “how they hell did you survive?” “I’m...I’m not sure. I thought they were going to just kill me, like they have been shown to but instead they...they wrapped me up in that cocoon thing. I don’t know why but they did. I was just trapped in there until you just got me out.” The other five soldiers in the room didn’t know how to react to this, only able to figure that Dicer had been lucky, for whatever reason. That didn’t matter for right now though, Dannisha knew they had to leave the base soon so she coughed to put all attention on her before she said “let’s just get everything we can packed into the humvees. We only leave what we have to, understand?” They all nodded so she gave them the order to begin scavenging. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any more surprises today. ---  22nd August 2049  - 22:10 - Washington D.C., America

Four people against who knew how many Alien prison guards. No pressure, Charlie thought to himself. Wyatt was upfront, leading the group of them through the gap in the wall that the Aliens had somehow missed. It wouldn’t have been big enough to get everyone out past the walls and it didn’t go far enough for a proper escape but it was enough to get them where they wanted. They all knew the plan, it was just a matter of executing it. “Alright, through here” Wyatt told them, keeping his voice hushed as he tried to push a loose piece of the wall to the side as quietly as he could and reveal a hole for them to crawl through but before any of them could, a sudden noise came from behind them, making them all go alert until it turned out to be a Human, neither Charlie or Butterfield recognising him but Wyatt seemed to as he spoke up again “Darian? What the hell are you doing here?” “I heard about your plan” Darian replied, having come to a stop in following them as he looked between all of them before turning his attention back to Wyatt “I wanted to help.” “No” was what Wyatt immediately said as he went back to confront Darian “son, you are not coming with us. It’s too dangerous and you are going back right now” Wyatt demanded, his son opening his mouth to protest but Johnathan ended up interrupting him. “Actually Wyatt, I’m sorry but it’s too risky for us if he goes back. We were lucky to get here without getting caught due to shift changes but if he goes back now, he’s fucked. We’re all fucked.” “I’m not putting my son in danger, John.” “This is bigger than just him and you know it. All you can do now is protect him. Now come on” Johnathan told Wyatt before he went through the hole in the wall, Charlie and Butterfield hesitating before they followed him through, leaving Wyatt to give his son a look of disappointment as he gestured him forward, Darian silently following his father’s orders. “Sticking to the plan?” Charlie asked quietly, Johnathan giving him a nod before gesturing for them to follow him as he crossed the street. If they weren’t too busy avoiding getting caught by the Aliens around them, they would have relished in the fact they were outside of the walls but the fact was they were still prisoners and this wasn’t over yet. Fortunately for them, their target building wasn’t far and they hadn’t had to avoid many Aliens on their way there. “This is it” Charlie muttered, slowly standing up to peak through the window, thankful to see that nobody was inside before he looked around, searching “I don’t see anything that could alert our presence. These are Aliens though, who knows what technology they have.” “Such a comforting thought” Wyatt muttered to himself as he made sure his son was in a fine spot before reaching into his pockets to get out his makeshift lockpick, having worked on perfecting it for this moment but before he could reach up to begin unlocking the door, Darian spoke up. “Wait, what if the lock has like a silent alarm to warn them on their side? It’s going to take too long to pick it.” “We don’t have much of a choice son.” “Why not through the window?” “It’s locked” Johnathan told him, still looking through the window in order to spot anything that may or may not be there before he turned to face the group “and unless if you want to get an infection through glass cuts, we haven’t got anything to open it.” Darian didn’t really have a response for that but just as Wyatt was about to pick lock the door, Darian again interrupted him by suddenly running off, riskily running over to a nearby car while the others had to stop Wyatt giving chase. A moment later, Darian returned with a broom in his hands. “Fortune favors the brave” Darian told them with a grin, everyone but Wyatt, who sighed, grinning in return as Johnathan took the broom and immediately smashed at the window, the group lucky to have been faced with a weak window. Johnathan just had to clear out the little pieces of dangerous glass that were risky to them while the rest of them waited to see if there was a reaction. “Either they’re not coming or they’re taking their sweet time” Charlie commented after a few tense moments, the rest of them nodding in agreement as Johnathan entered the small building through the window, quickly going to work on looking over the large Alien radio while Wyatt climbed in after to help him, Darian staying with Charlie and Butterfield to guard outside. “So how do you turn it on?” Johnathan asked, earning a smirk from Wyatt who got closer to the Alien radio and pushed a red button, turning on and making it ready to give the signal, Johnathan chuckled as he said “the one time you want to push the red button” before he got to work, finding it rather similar to their own radios in terms of the majority of the work. “I can’t help but be really curious on how their radios are so similar to ours” Wyatt wondered out loud, Johnathan giving a nod of agreement but deciding this would be a better debate for another time and focusing on working the radio, only taking a few moments to have it ready to broadcast, leaving him to grab the microphone and raise it to his mouth. “This is a country-wide broadcast to the Hayes Hotel’s military force. We have two of your soldiers trapped with us in an Alien prison camp build in the ruins of Washington D.C. and we are requesting help, as soon as you c-” Johnathan managed to get out but he was cut off when the radio’s power was suddenly cut off, both men looking out the window to see their friends being held at gunpoint just before the door was smashed down, revealing the one they had come to recognise as the big one of the Aliens standing there with what looked like a smirk on his face.

“Good for you in having got your message out Humans” the big one taunted as he closed the short distance between them, allowing two other Aliens to come in behind him “but that isn’t a long range radio. It’s a short one. Unless if you're “Hayes Hotel” friends are nearby, they aren’t hearing you” he said, pausing for a moment as he looked between the two before he pointed at Johnathan “take the smart one.” “No” Wyatt protested but as he moved to assault the Alien in any way he could, the big one just reached and grabbed him by the throat, holding him off the ground while his two fellow Aliens moved in and grabbed Johnathan, easily dragging him away to wherever they planned while the big one smirked at Wyatt, pulling him down so he could mutter. “I believe the Human expression is, you fucked up.” ---  22nd August 2049  - 22:10 - Hayes Hotel, America

Another day had gone by which Nadia was grateful for not being needed for her medical experience save for keeping an eye on an unconscious Ashley, even now looking up from her desk and over to where Ashley was sometimes before she looked back down to her desk, at the photo she had out as she poured more of her wine into the glass. In front of her was a picture of her family. The family that she missed. The family that she prayed were still out there, somewhere, still alive. Suddenly these thoughts were taken from her head as there was a few knocks on her door, Nadia quickly hiding away her drinking evidence as she called out “I’m coming” before standing up from her desk and moving to answer the door, casually checking Ashley’s temperature on the way past. “Hey” Reyna said with a smile once the door had been opened, the two females briefly looking over each other before Reyna nervously shifted as she nodded to inside of the room “do you mind if I come in? I wanted to talk to you about something.” “Of course. Is everything okay with your inhaler?” Nadia asked as she stood to the side, allowing Reyna to come in while the doctor was grateful to receive a nod from the teenager who walked in, taking a moment to look around the room before she looked at Nadia directly with a sigh. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you since yesterday, Victoria was going to bring me actually but I pretended to be too tired” Reyna admitted, letting out a breath and debating changing her mind, questioning whether she would just get in the way or prove useful but when she looked upon the unconscious Ashley, she reminded herself that this wasn’t about just herself and continued “I was doing medical training before all of this happened. I was hoping you could maybe continue this training with me so I could perhaps be useful to you in the medical department, provide you with an assistant.” Nadia could tell Reyna was hesitant about what she was suggesting but Nadia herself was thinking the complete opposite. This was perfect. They were in the middle of a war and as far as Nadia could tell she was the only doctor around that everyone could rely on and that sucked. Now, she had the chance to give people a second person to rely on. For herself to rely on. “Sounds great! Drink to celebrate?” Nadia said, allowing her excitement to get ahead of her as she went further in the room in order to get some new wine and glasses, fortunately in the right state of mind enough to not get the one at her desk, leaving an even more hesitant Reyna to move further into the room, looking around as she thought about how easy it had been for Nadia to accept the offer. Perhaps she really did need help? With Nadia going off to get wine and glasses, Reyna done a little exploring around the room, unable to keep her nose out as she looked around her possible future workplace until her eyes landed on the photo that Nadia had kept on her desk, curiosity over taking her as she called out to the doctor “who’s in the photo?” Hearing the question, Nadia popped her head back around the corner to look to the desk, Reyna thinking for a moment that she had overstepped but the doctor herself just smiled and appeared again before walking over to the desk and grabbing the photo “yeah, it is. That one’s my husband, Wyatt. He’s a soldier, probably out there right now trying to save people. Then there’s my son, Darian. He’s probably out there trying to be like his father and put himself in danger to save people and then there’s my two daughters. Alisha is the older one and Kate is the youngest. Them two are a bit more smarter and are probably keeping themselves out of danger.” Reyna wasn’t sure how to reply to this so she just politely smiled and nodded, about to offer the doctor a hopeful wish for her family before a voice that sounded like Vernon’s called out from outside, the two women immediately been drawn by it and looking out the window to see the gate being opened and five humvees to drive in one by one. From their end, the situation looked hopeful. Like everyone had returned safely but it didn’t take either Vernon or Edward long to notice a sad fact. Only six of their soldiers had returned, a fact that become clear to everyone when it was only those six soldiers that exited from the vehicles. “What happened?” Edward asked softly, looking between the six soldiers who had returned before he turned his gaze directly on Dannisha, a sad and silent expression being shared between Dannisha and her old General before she turned to gesture at the vehicles, changing the subject. “We managed to get all the weapons we take in the vehicles from the base. Turns out the Aliens left them there. Could be they saw no reason to take them, could be they used them for a trap, we’re not too sure.” Edward gave her a nod, deciding to wait for the report before he learned what happened and instead turned towards the civilians he had been training all day “all able hands, please help out in carrying the weapons” he asked of them, immediately getting responses he was grateful for but before any of them could do anything further, Vernon had turned his attention on Dannisha who seemed to just be mindlessly walking away. “Dannisha, what happened?” She paused in her walking but she didn’t turn, a moment going by before she muttered “what’s been happening this entire time. They died” and continued walking towards the hotel, everyone silently deciding to, instead of going after her, just get the weapons unpacked. ---  22nd August 2049  - 22:59 - Washington D.C., America

Wyatt wasn’t sure when he had been knocked out but the fact that he had been at some point became evidently clear when he was opening his eyes, his vision blurry for a moment until he blinked the blur away and found his face in close proximity to Maria Henderson who smiled down at him as she said “one benefit from the Alien’s stun. Getting some needed rest.” Normally Wyatt would at least chuckle but now all he could manage was a polite smile before he slowly got himself up, allowing his body to recover from the stun if it needed while he looked over to Maria who had gone to make him a drink, seeing her pause to pocket a picture of her son, Brian he thought he remembered but he shook this thought out of his head as he asked “are the others, okay?” “Darian and the soldiers are” Maria commented after a moment of hesitation, coming back over and handing him a water bottle before she continued “they were allowed back along with you but we’re unsure what is happening with John...they must’ve just taken him away. Why just him, we can’t work out.” Wyatt just nodded, accepting the bottle of water but not feeling in the mood to have a drink, about to ask how his family were doing before Annie walked into view, taking a moment to look him over before she smiled “I presume Maria has filled you in. Feeling fine?” “Yes and yes” Wyatt said, looking between both women and providing them with a smile before standing up fully now, flexing his muscles a bit as he continued questioning them “so what’s the next plan of action?” was the first question in line but when he saw both of them share a look, he let out a sigh “we do have a plan, yes?” Annie opened her mouth to reply but before she could, Charlie suddenly joined them, looking at the three of them frantically as he said “the Aliens are calling for all prisoners to gather near the main wall. I think we’re going to need to see this.” Wyatt shared a look with Annie and Maria before he nodded at Charlie and the three of them ran after Charlie as he brought them to the designated area, quickly finding themselves mixed in with the massive crowd of fellow prisoners, them all having been gathered for an unknown reason, Wyatt hoping that their gathering wouldn’t lead to anything too bad. However, the moment he looked up and saw the big Alien looking over them all, he knew he was hoping for too much. “You have been gathered for one reason” the big one began speaking, walking back and forth as his voice boomed to them all “earlier, some of your fellow prisoners tried to break the rules. I don’t know how many of you know about the traitors but we stopped them. We released most of them back to be with the rest of you but we kept one. We kept one to prove a point.” At that moment, Johnathan was forced forward by some of the Aliens, Wyatt seeing in the corner of his eye as Maria had to stop Nolene from charging out of anger while everyone else began to get worried and for good reason.

Johnathan clearly had a rope wrapped around his neck. A rope that Wyatt could only presume was connected to something out of their view. “Johnathan Shelton here broke our law tonight and tonight he will pay for it, in his death to show all of you the consequences of fighting us” the big one continued speaking, looking around at all the gathered prisoners before he turned to look at Johnathan with a cocky grin “any last words, Human?” A tense silence followed this question as Johnathan stared at the Alien definitely for a few moments before he finally turned his attention to his fellow prisoners as he stepped closer to the edge while addressing them “I know a lot of you are scared, scared that if you do anything that you will die, but I need to tell you this. Something that there is no easier way of telling you” he started, pausing to take a breath before he sighed “you will die if you do nothing and you will likely die if you do something. Both are not good options but one of them at least gives you a chance! You can’t just let yourselves be scared sleep for slaughter! You need to stand up for your lives, right now! Do not wait for them to push you off the ledge to your death! Fight for your lives!” “Enough, Human!” the big one commanded, moving forward with the clear intent to silence the beginnings of a riot but he was too late. “Don’t let them control your fate” was the last thing Johnathan said before he stepped off the ledge himself, not only the prisoners but the Aliens also becoming shocked as they watched Johnathan choke to death, his body resisting a bit but a defiant look in the Human’s eyes as in his last moments before he passed away, he saw the same defiance growing in the eyes of his fellow prisoners. The moment before his eyes closed forever, he saw his plan had become a success. The minute after Johnathan had died, it was an awkward silence. No one from either side of the wall being sure of what to do but then the situation changed and all the prisoners grouped together to start the riot that Johnathan had built up in them, immediately going into the effort to get whatever weapons they can in preparation to fight back, the big one’s fellow Aliens about to fire down at the ground until the big one himself held up his hand in a silent motion to stop them. “Someone send word to Count Onitk. Alert him on the situation at hand” the big one muttered, looking down at the rioting prisoners with a glare. He wanted to kill them. He wanted to kill them all but he couldn’t. They had a plan for the Humans. ---  22nd August 2049  - 23:00 - Hayes Hotel, America

Dannisha was tired after the stressful days she had gone through recently but she couldn’t sleep. Everytime she closed her eyes, even only briefly, all she could see was the faces of those that were dead. A lot of them dead under her leadership. She knew she’d fall asleep eventually, once her body was tired enough but it didn’t make standing out on her balcony, looking up at the stars any easier on her eyes. Fortunately Daniel had filled up the report for her but that had only relieved her of some stress for the rest of today and it was likely that tomorrow wouldn’t be any better. Soon enough, Dannisha let out a defeated sigh but just as she was about to take a seat, there was knocks on her door, Dannisha taking a moment to look at her son Nathan to make sure he hadn’t been awaken by the knocks before she went to answer it, reminding herself to question her son on the little trip he had gone throughout the day. “Hey, I-” Bella began after the room’s occupant answered the door but was interrupted when Dannisha raised her finger to her lips and shh’d her before joining her fellow soldier in the hallway and pulling the door mostly closed behind her. She then turned to look at the fellow soldier with a questioning look. “What is it?” “After today, I really needed to talk to you.” “Can’t it wait until tomorrow? I’m not in the best-” “No” Bella interrupted, her gaze defiant as she looked at Dannisha “I need to tell you this now, while I have the opportunity...while I’m able to force myself to say it” she told her superior, raising several questions in Dannisha’s mind now, Dannisha herself pausing before she gave a nod of consent to speak freely, receiving an answer to a question she had been curious about for a while now. “It’s about William. You wanted to know what’s wrong with him.... I didn’t want to tell anyone, I wanted him to tell people himself but I can’t risk waiting” Bella paused, looking around her nervously now, Dannisha about to reach out to offer support but Bella continued before she could “the problem that is affecting his duty is his heart condition. If he gets too worked up, he can get a heart attack but that’s not the main thing I’m worried about...he still suffers from his PTSD and now we’re in a war with Aliens and I could die at anytime… I’m worried he could snap. I… wanted to let him tell people but I don’t want something bad to happen to him if something bad happens to me.” Dannisha wasn’t quite sure how to react at this at first. When she was told about the heart problem, she figured it was a fair enough problem but when she was told the bigger problem, she could immediately tell what could go wrong. She even cursed herself for not recognising it, especially in a man like William. After a few, probably too long, moments of silence, Dannisha looked Bella in the eyes as she asked “is everything being handled to help him? Especially for his heart condition?” “Yes. I managed to get some pills off the doctor without revealing it too her. I’m sure she is suspicious but she hasn’t questioned it… what are you planning to do?” Again, Dannisha paused, thinking about it for a moment before she sighed “does anyone else know? Edward or Vernon?” “Edward knows everything. Me and him have both been trying to make sure William doesn’t go on too many missions. He doesn’t feel it’s getting any worse.” “And what do you think?” Bella took a few breaths, looking down to the ring on her hand before she shrugged “either way, you’re not going to stop him from fighting this war somehow. Especially with me out fighting. I just needed someone else to know and...you know him, your son has been a friend of our daughter for their whole lives. He’s a good man, he just hasn’t realized the whole world doesn’t rest on his shoulders.” Dannisha nodded in agreement to that statement before she reached up to rub Bella’s shoulder, offering a small smile as she softly said “he’ll be fine. We’ll make sure of it, thanks for telling me Bells.” Bella gave her own smile in return before the two leaned in to wrap their arms around each other and hug, letting all anger they had throughout the day at each other wash away as the two fierce woman let friendship overpower anger. It would be fine, Bella thought to herself. Humanity had gotten through the Zombie apocalypse and now they were going to get through an Alien invasion.

Significant Events Summary

 * Dannisha manages to lead the soldiers in successfully getting weaponry from the Charleston Military Base but the military force suffers heavy casualties.
 * Wyatt's prison resistance group manages to use the radio but are captured, with no evidence of their radio usage being a success, which leads to Johnathan being used as an example against the prisoners, an example that backfires and in turn leads to th prisoners starting a riot.

Cast
(The cast list is ordered by appearance in the episode)


 * Ryan Robbins as William Hayes
 * Minka Kelly as Rebecca Hayes
 * Meghan Ory as Natasha Bailey
 * Genesis Rodriguez as Bella Hayes
 * Peter Capaldi as Perceval Pearce
 * Sean Murray as Charlie Jenkins
 * Rashida Jones as Annie Alexander
 * Chris Shields as Jon Butterfield
 * Mike Colter as Wyatt Dominguez
 * Jessica Parker Kennedy as Alisha Dominguez
 * Dafne Keen as Kate Dominguez
 * Kirk Acevedo as Berney Herbert
 * Stephen Lang as Vernon Paxton
 * Connor Jessup as Jamie Henderson
 * Danai Gurira as Dannisha Sinclair
 * Luke Neal as Daniel Pratt
 * Hayley Atwell as Toria Stover
 * Dale Dye as Edward Grey
 * Peter Shinkoda as Jeff
 * Steven Yeun as Han Seong
 * Jenna Coleman as Gabriella Mercer


 * Amber Heard as Emily Henderson
 * Mpho Koaho as Keegan Porter
 * Elias Edraki as Zackery Jenkins
 * Jeananne Goossen as Nina Simms
 * Daniel Newman as Spike Byron
 * Lauren Cohan as Nancy Morales
 * Dallas Roberts as Emmett Bourne
 * Kerry Washington as Nolene Addison
 * Logan Miller as Johnathan Shelton
 * Devon Bostick as Brian Henderson
 * Lindsey Morgan as Victoria Hayes
 * Emilia Clarke as Reyna Bullard
 * John Boyega as Nathan Sinclair
 * Richard Harmon as Nico
 * Georgia Moffett as Dicer
 * Rhiannon Fish as AID
 * Christopher Larkin as Darian Dominguez
 * John DeSantis as The Big One
 * Moon Bloodgood as Nadia Dominguez
 * Megan Danso as Ashley Porter
 * AnnaSophia Robb as Maria Henderson

Deaths

 * Johnathan Shelton
 * Seven Unnamed Soldiers Of The Hayes Hotel Group
 * An Entire "Nest" Of Phoraxo

Trivia

 * The "episode representing image" for this episode would be the Alien prison prisoners gathered around in front of the wall while "the big one" began his speech.