Evolution/Episode 7

"Not Too Bad" is the seventh episode of season one and the seventh episode of Evolution overall. It is unfinished as Evolution was scrapped during the creation.

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

Having been captured by the Aliens, Charlie and Butterfield found themselves locked in an Alien prison camp along with other Human prisoners whom quickly got the two soldiers to team up with them in order to get a message for help out through an Alien radio, only for their plan to seemingly fail and prisoner Johnathan to be executed as punishment, a punishment that backfired for the Aliens and caused a riot among the Humans while, as this went on, Dannisha was placed in charge of leading another mission to Charleston's military base to get the hotel's soldiers better equipped which was successful but also caused them to suffer heavy casualties against the spider threat. Meanwhile, William and a group escorted Emmett to his hidden bunker in order to retrieve AID, an actually functional AI.

Synopsis
In the aftermath of Johnathan's suicide, the prisoners held captive by their Alien invaders start to riot in order to get their freedom while the Hayes Hotel's group's leaders are left to handle the few soldiers they have left when Rick Washington returns to offer a proposition. Meanwhile, Edward and Nancy lead a team into Charleston after getting the go ahead for their plan and Reyna gets her first test when she is charged with care of Ashley.

Episode 7 - "Not Too Bad"
22nd August 2037 - 23:17 - Washington D.C., America

Alarms were blaring throughout the prison camp, Alien soldiers sprinting around with their weapons ready for combat but none of them fired, instead they all simply remained ready for their orders, orders they would soon received one their leader, the biggest one among them, got back from its conversation with their General. Kneeling down in front of an Alien computer, the big one kept its head down out of respect as the computer itself came to life and in front of it, a hologram of sorts appearing before the big one, the hologram taking the appearance of the General it had contacted, the General itself holding a look of annoyance on its face as it stared down at the big one. “This better be important Lieutenant.” “I have bad news, General. The Humans have started rioting in the camp, all of them and I’m afraid if we were to try and round them all up, we would be killing some of th-” “You CANNOT kill them.” “I know, General.” “Then why do you not stun them?” “Our Engineers reported that too many stuns done on the Human body will cause their bodies to be unusable in our experiments. We have used far too many stuns already which is why I am contacting you in order to ask what the next step should be?” “This is your problem Lieutenant. You were placed in charge of this camp and you must keep it controlled. Although, I will be sending some support your way soon but if I learn that more than a quarter of these prisoners have been killed, there will be punishment.” The big one couldn’t hold back its growl as it looked up from the floor and stood up on the same level as the hologram portrayal of the General “Count Onikt, I must protest that you must offer more help than just-” “DO NOT. SPEAK TO ME. AS IF YOU. ARE ON. MY LEVEL” the General’s voice came unrealistically booming through the projection, the big one flinching a little but remaining collected as the General sent a terrifying glare towards it “I have made you aware that I am currently looking for the location of the Humans I have found out have been causing trouble. I am too preoccupied and you have taken up long enough of my time.” “You...you haven’t discovered their location yet?” “Of course not. They are hidden somewhere in the nature and you know that it would be too dangerous to hunt throughout it.” “General, you can’t just let the-”

“Weento” the General said, its voice calm but also dangerously warning as its face became indifferent, the big one being taken off guard by the use of its name as the General continued “you should remember your place and do your job.

“Yes General” Weento sighed and with that response, the General reached to something that could not be seen in the hologram and disappeared some after, leaving Weento alone in the room as it had to get control of its anger before moving towards the computer again, pressing a button and raising the speaker to its lips “this is a prison-wide announcement. The Humans are to be left alone and allowed to do whatever they want as long as they remain within the walls. Any humans caught outside the walls are to be captured and kept locked up in a separate area, if possible, capture without harm.” With that announcement having been made, the Lieutenant placed the speaker down again and sighed as it made an exit from the building they had stored their computer in and moved back towards the main section of the prison. Failing to notice Anthony and Logan who had been hiding behind the building, having been able to hear everything that had been said during the conversation. The two sharing a nod and a silent agreement on one fact. They needed to tell their friends, back at the hotel, what was going on. --- *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, Emilia Clarke, Moon Bloodgood...

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.

Devon Bostick, Hayden Panettiere, John Boyega...

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.

Lauren Cohan, Luke Neal, Sean Murray...

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.

Dallas Roberts, 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 2037  - 23:17 - Hayes Hotel, America

AID wasn’t quite sure what she was feeling, if she should even be feeling at all. As much as her father was a great engineer, one of the greatest in the world, even he couldn’t program feelings but as she looked up at all the people gathered around her while she herself was forced to project from a watch, created by her father, in a more smaller version of usual self, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of nervousness. From the first president post-apocalypse to the current president standing before her now, AID had been one of the most kept secret but biggest developments for America and now she was completed and being judged after nineteen years of being worked on, all the assets being put to help Emmett create her finally coming to be made worth. Being nervous? That was an understatement. “So one of its main traits is to think like a Human but on an improved level? How improved exactly?” Jeanne asked as she, along with the others, had just been looking the AI over until she finally turned her attention to Emmett who nervously stood the side, her question turning everyone else’s attention over to him as well. “She” Emmett corrected a little awkwardly, rubbing his chin while AID offered him a soft smile to his correction, before he continued “and the best I can estimate is she can think at the rate of a group of people except as if that group of people was connected, if you imagine a group of people, each person looking at a different problem while working together effortlessly and without not a single bit of conflict as well as the additional quicker brain power, that would be AID.” “I hate to admit it Emmett but I’m a bit disappointed. It isn’t too hard to find a group of people who can work together effortlessly. Might take a little longer than your AI here but the point still stands” Vernon stated as he looked away from Emmett to look back at the AI, a look of indifference on his face that gave AID the feeling he felt she was a waste of time. Something that seemed to being passed around the room. “The idea behind it is for us to create multiple of her. The more of her, the more quicker and proper the problems presented get solved” Emmett protested still, looking between them all while Edward, who had been quietly examining AID until now finally spoke up from his seat. “A reasonable idea but you’ve spent nineteen years on this one AI. It would take quite a while to get anywhere if it takes the same amount of time to create each one…” “It won’t. It took me nineteen years to create her because it was a process to work out how to create her. Now I have, now I know what to do and what we need” Emmett retorted, pausing for a moment before he sighed and looked over to Jeanne pleadingly “all I need is the correct resources to be provided to me.” At first Jeanne didn’t reply, instead she looked between AID and her creator before she too sighed and lowered her head a bit “I’m sorry but not only can we get the right resources at this moment but it isn’t looking to be worth it. It cost a lot, you know how hard it was for me to get you the resources without revealing what was going on. I guess the best thing we can do right now is just see how it goes, if it is worth it to create another. I think that-” “I think that the lot of you are ungrateful” William spoke up suddenly, having been laying back on his chair with his feet up on the table, tilting his head to look around at them all as he continued to speak “Emmett singlehandedly built you an AI that will help us, whether it is a big or small amount of help, and not a single one of you have thanked him. Instead you just degrade his work.” Vernon couldn’t hold back his annoyed sigh as he put his fists on the table of the meeting room and leaded down to glare over at William “why are you even invited to this meeting? You are just a squad leader.” William shrugged, reached to grab his mug and take a sip from the liquid inside of it before he smirked over to the Chief of Staff “because I am the owner of this hotel and all business such as this going on within it should be conducted with me present.” “Well as the Chief of Staff, I declare you banned from these meetings.” “Well as the owner of this hotel, I declare you kicked out.” “Enough” Jeanne interrupted before their argument could go any further, letting out a sigh as she reached up to rub her eyes a bit before looking back over to Emmett “William is right. I’m sorry and thank you for what you have done. We’re just...desperate. With only sixty-three of us in this hotel and only seven of us being actual soldiers to go out on missions...we’re in a bad situation here.” “If I may Ma’am” AID suddenly spoke up, drawing all the attention to her, a thing that caused her to shift around awkwardly a bit before she looked around at them all “I could offer my aid and look through my databases for any little location that would be perfect for a Human to seek sanctuary in as well as help keep track of all supplies in inventory. Two minor tasks but with me doing it, not only would it be quicker, but it would mean a Human, who could be useful elsewhere, can do just that.” A silent pause fell among them in the room for a moment as they thought about the idea that had been presented to them before Edward grinned and clapped his hands together “that sounds like a wonderful idea. I could have someone update her with all supplies tomorrow and then in order for supplies to be used, they’d have to make sure AID is aware of it either before or after they are used.” Nods of agreement passed around the entire group, some of the tenseness being relieved from the room as Jeanne smiled “then it has been decided. Dismissed” she told them all and immediately the majority of them began to make their way out of the room, Jeanne waiting behind a bit to give an approving nod to Emmett before she took exited from the room, leaving Emmett alone with his creation, the two of them waiting until Jeanne had closed the door behind her before they looked to each other and both did a thumbs up. ---  22nd August 2037  - 24:00 - Washington D.C., America

The crowd of prisoners, that had been forced together by their Alien invaders, was complete chaos. Fortunately Annie had observed no infighting between them as they quickly got together whatever makeshift weapons that they could while at the corner of her eye she could see that Maria was doing her best to keep the little children, including Wyatt’s own youngest daughter, Kate, calm along with Wyatt’s eldest daughter, Alisha. As Annie turned her attention to look atop the walls, she could see that the Aliens were still patrolling as if a riot wasn’t in the process of going on and as she narrowed her eyes in thought, Wyatt came to stand by her side as he spoke to her “so either these Aliens are super cocky or they’ve been issued orders to not fight us, I’ll assume.” “Likely the latter. No matter your strength, you won’t get far being a cocky shit” Annie told him, keeping her gaze on the rest of the prisoners, Wyatt giving a silent nod of agreement as he too looked at all their fellow prisoners, seeing Charlie and Butterfield in the distance, working to make sure everyone remained calm before he eventually turned to look at Annie curiously. “You don’t look like you’ve got yourself armed?” Wyatt asked which caused Annie to look at him out of the corner of her eyes and smirk, gesturing for him to follow her before she walked over to the largest rubble in their prison camp, Wyatt following her with a confused look on his face as they came to a stop in front of it “what’s up?” “Sit down” she just told him before she sat down in front of the rubble, Wyatt deciding to just go along with it and sat down next to her, the two of them seemingly just sitting awkwardly there until Maria suddenly came over with the children who all gathered around the two, hiding them from sight. “Kate is quite the artist Wyatt. You should be impressed” Maria said as if it was just a normal date of Wyatt picking up his daughter from school but before Wyatt could question it, Annie was quietly pushing a part of the rubble aside, revealing a hole large enough for someone even his size to crawl through, Alisha giving Wyatt a nod for Wyatt to go through said hole as Annie already began to crawl through it. “What the hell is going on” Wyatt questioned quietly as the two of them crawled through, seeing behind him that Maria and the children remained in their spots, it not taking long before Wyatt was through the hole and on the other side with Annie, finding himself to be standing at the top of some stairs. “Remember what I said about being cocky?” Annie asked, that smirk never leaving her face as she gestured for him to follow her down the stairs “while you were out, most of the Aliens left with you and I had the few remaining ones be distracted while I worked with others to dig through that rubble, I knew something was down here.” “An exit?” Annie shook her head “sadly not. However, if you couldn’t tell, this is a basement.”

“So?” She chuckled, waiting until they reached the bottom of the stairs and Wyatt could see the basement for himself before she said “a basement that clearly belonged to a gun addict.” “Clearly…” Wyatt could only say in response as he looked to all of the guns that were just scattered around, guns of all sorts that obviously weren’t exactly military but they’d do the job with a good shot either way which caused him to grin “I guess our Alien buddies never knew a treasure room was just underneath us.” Annie nodded in agreement, looking around at all the weapons before she turned to look at him “so what do you think is the best plan of action?” “Well, obviously we don’t want to get our guns out right away. That’d likely change their minds about not attacking us” Wyatt said as he began walking around the room, looking all the weapons over before he looked over to Annie “we need to pass word around, tell someone who wll tell someone. A whisper game to make it less suspicious.” “Chinese whispers? What are we? Kindergarteners?” Annie joked, chuckles passing between the both of them before Annie gestured at him “now come on, help me get these weapons set up closer to the hole so they’re ready for combat.” “Heh, yes ma’am" he said with a playful salute. ---  23rd August 2037  - 09:00 - Hayes Hotel, America

Brian wasn’t sure what time it was when he heard repeated knocks on his door but from the light that forced its way through his windows, he could tell it must’ve been past time to wake up which made himself grin as he looked up at the ceiling above him. Typical him, even in an Alien invasion wouldn’t stop him from being lazy. The knocks kept going and they were only a couple at a time before they paused for a moment which told him that whoever was at his door, it wasn’t the one typically assigned to waking people up. “Who is it?” “It’s Alexandra.” “Give me a sec.” “I’ve given you about ten minutes so far.” Brian chuckled at that comment before he got out of his bed, looking around for any clothes to put on his bare body and quickly gathering the first things he could find, his new favorite skirt being one of them, until he was finally ready to open the door, smiling at the girl he was greeted by “Hey, what can I do for you this early?” Alexandra just remained silent for a moment, clutching a bag to her chest as she looked him up and down, her eyes lingering on his skirt longer than the rest of his body, before she just pushed her way inside of the room, leaving a very confused Brian to close the door again as he looked at her “you okay, Ale-?” “Why do you sin so much?” Alexandra asked, interrupting him mid-question as she glared right over at him, Brian just getting even more confused as he watched Alexandra get annoyed at his silent response and pull out her bible from the bag she was carrying “you’re so kind and caring but you commit acts that are against God. How does that make sense?” “...because I’m a nice person?” Brian suggested in response, his mind slowly coming to take into account all of the questions that were being raised by this sudden encounter, his eyes going between her face and the bible in her hands before his eyes finally stopped on her face as he asked a question in return “since when were you a christian?” “Ugh” Alexandra said with a roll of her eyes, beginning to walk back and forth across his room as she tapped the bible in her hands before pointing an accusing finger at him “both of my parents told me that sinners are not to be trusted. That they are are evil and treacherous and always lying yet you seem so naturally kind. That doesn’t make any sense!” “Are you sure you just didn’t misunderstand your parents and that they actually meant sinners as in murderers and the such? Not average people like me? Because, I don’t want to insult them, but I know a few people like me and they’re practically angels. My mother being one of them.” “Why would they not include heathens such as you as sinners? Your entire life is against the bible!” she protested, coming to a stop in her pacing now as she continued to glare at him before she waved her hand “it doesn’t matter. I don’t care about you or what you are. I’ve come here to tell you to leave me alone. Since I came here, you’ve been trying to trick me into giving up on my faith, you and that Vicky with your meetings but no more! My faith will remain strong.” Despite the assault he was under, Brian’s expression remained soft and calm as he offered a gentle smile “I can assure you I’m not trying to do such a thing but if that is your wish, then so be it, although I would suggest that next time you see your parents, you ask for clarification since it is a wrong judgement to make.” That response made Alexandra pause completely, Brian wondering what he had said wrong as the glare disappeared from her face and she fell to sit on his bed, bowing her head to look down at the bible silently for long enough that Brian was about to question if she was alright before she muttered “my parents are dead. They distracted the Aliens long enough for me to escape...the Aliens just slaughtered them...slaughtered them because they weren’t the right blood type or something.” The expression on Brian’s face got even softer as he made his way across the room and sat on the bed next to her, gently reaching to hold one of her hands, something she didn’t bother to react to while he let out a sigh “I’m sorry to hear that Alex, I truly am. No one deserves to die to these Aliens but, while I respect your faith, with them gone you can’t simply push people like me aside. There are a lot of people out there that would be considered sinners by the bible’s standards and if you push us all aside, you’ll end up like your parents and I know they wouldn’t want that of you.” “How would you know? You never met them.” “I know because they gave their lives so you could get away which clearly shows that they love you and anyone who loves you would want you to stay alive to live your life” Brian told her, gently stroking the back of her hand with his thumb before he sighed “but as I said, if separating yourself from everyone else is what you want, then it is up to you to make that decision.” Again, Alexandra didn’t answer right away. Instead she remained silent and simply looked down to her bible before she eventually looked up to Brian with a few tears building in her eyes “I don’t know what I want. You were the first of...your type that I met. I grew up in one of the Salem towns, brought up to believe in nothing but our religion...and now I’m amongst mostly heathens. How am I supposed to know what to do?” Brian gave her a smile before he wrapped in his arms around and pulled her into a hug which she accepted, leaning down to whisper softly in her ear “you listen to your heart. Let it guide your way.”

"You know, you're not too bad for a heathen." ---  23rd August 2037  - 09:00 - Washington D.C., America

Their plan was coming together nicely. Wyatt observed as every prisoner went around their day like they had been so far but were still armed. It had been decided that they would all wait for the perfect time to strike now that the news of them having guns on their side had been passed around. Looking up to the top of the walls, Wyatt could only grin as he noticed the Aliens were completely confused, causing him to speak his mind when he thought Annie had stepped up behind him “they have no idea what is coming for them tonight.” “Is that really the best idea?” Nolene spoke up causing a surprised Wyatt to turn and face her, seeing a fierce glare on her face as she continued “last time you resisted in the night, my best friend was killed.” Wyatt let out a sigh as he turned to properly face her “Lene, I’m sorry. I didn’t want anyone to die and I still don’t but if we are to get out of here, we need to fight. This needs to happen.” “Then I hope for your family’s sake, our God can forgive you for the blood on your hands” Nolene told him "but you're wrong. God always has a plan for us, he’ll protect the true believers. It’s just a shame that you coerced Johnathan to betraying that belief.” Wyatt couldn’t help but try to control his anger through tensing his fists “I didn’t do anything. John decided on his own to help out people rather than believe in some God. He made a noble sacrifice for his people against Aliens. What has your God done?!” “I’m alive because I believe” Nolene told him, looking him up and down with a face of disgust before she turned to walk away “the true believers here will not fight as we know God will save us while you burn for your sins.” Quickly cooling himself down, Wyatt made a move to go after her when he found a hand on his shoulder which led to him to turn and find himself face to face with Maria who offered him a slight smile as she spoke “let her go. She has made her choice. Come over and see what your daughter has drawn instead...for real this time” she added the last bit when she could see Wyatt’s questioning look. “You know, they say you can’t save everyone” Wyatt thought out loud as he began walking beside Maria towards where the children had gathered “and despite that, I always try my best which makes it worse when the person I’m trying to save doesn’t want to be.” “Heh, you sound like someone I know.” “Well, I hope to meet him someday.” Maria chuckled at that, the two of them coming to a stop not far from the children “I’m sure you will at some point. Knowing Will, he’s probably out there fighting the Aliens with his bare hands if he has too” she joked before gesturing over to the kids “go on. Spend some time with them, they’ll love it.” Wyatt nodded, reaching to give Maria’s shoulder a thankful pat before he walked away from her, being greeted by his two daughters with the youngest one eagerly showing off her latest drawing as Maria just watched them for a moment before pulling out a picture from her pocket, a picture of her son Brian looking absolutely fabulous in a dress which brought a sad smile to her face. “I hope you’re okay, Bri. You haven’t got enough mean bones in your body to survive this on your own." ---  23rd August 2037  - 09:30 - Hayes Hotel, America

“You know we really need to just do this more often. Sitting on top of a wall, together, in the calm morning. It’s quite romantic.” “You do realize we’re on guard in case any Aliens come here, right?” “Look, I’m just trying to be romantic. This as best as it gets.” “Okay Romeo” Bella said with a soft laugh, turning her attention back away from her husband who sat beside her and instead looking towards the trees, her arms cradling the rifle in her hands as the smile never faded from her face “you could just take me on a date.” “Hah, I don’t think any of our leaders would appreciate me disappearing for a date.” “Since when did you follow the rules?” “Since you married me and kept me on a leash” William teasingly answered, the couple turning their heads to face each other as they laughed, a moment of pause then passing between them before they both leaned in, their lips about to touch in a kiss before they were interrupted by Victoria making a playful disgusted noise from behind them. “Ewww” Victoria remarked with a smirk on her face before she climbed onto the wall next to them, her father’s crossbow slung over her shoulder as she sat next to Bella. “Aww, you're sitting next to her and not me?” “You smell” Victoria told him in retort, earning a laugh from her mother as William done an over dramatic gasp and threw his arms up into the air, both woman rolling their eyes at how much of an idiot their man was before Bella turned her attention fully on her daughter. “So what are you doing out here little miss? Aren’t you still in bed with your boyfriend at this time?” “He’s not my boyfriend mom, I’m too young for that. He’s just a best friend with benefits” Victoria corrected her, bringing her father’s crossbow around to hold it in her arms instead while William stuck his tongue out at Bella as if to mock her for being wrong, Bella just sticking her tongue out in retort as Victoria continued “and I came out to practice with daddy’s crossbow. Prove I’m better than him.” “Oh?” William replied with some great interest now, both father and daughter offering the other a look of challenge before William grinned and pointed over to a particular tree “over on that tree there, there is a small hole in the middle of it, can you see it?” Victoria had to narrow her eyes and look very closely but eventually she saw it “you want me to hit it?” “That’s if you think you can. I’d hate to have an arrow wasted. You know, during the zombie apocalypse, I started it with a few arrows and never had to make any new ones, they each lasted me so long, I nearly cried when I lost each one.” “So did you lose them all?” Victoria asked, her interest also peaked due to her father about to share a story of his days in the apocalypse, as she aimed towards the tree, being careful as she wanted to make sure she fit her target. “No, I still have one, the last one I had. I used it when we reached the safe-zone that had been built in Charleston” William said, looking up to the sky with a smile on his face as he thought about the memory “we had reached the gates but they were closed. We were getting surrounded and the others wanted to leave, through the gates I saw two figures, Edward and Dannisha, so I shot the arrow through the gates with a message attached to it. They got it and were able to get us in the safe-zone in-.” “So, as usual, William saved us. Blah, blah, blah. Let me see you shoot the tree and prove you’re a better shot” Bella interrupted her husband, sticking her tongue out at him again while William playfully sulked, Victoria letting out a little laugh as she nodded just before firing, all three of them watching as the arrow flew through the air and hit the spot William had dared her too. “Booyah, who’s the best? I’m the best. Get rekt, dad!” Victoria teased, sharing a fist bump with her mother while William rolled his eyes. However just as he was opening his mouth to protest that he could do better, another voice, originating from the woods that she had shot towards, interrupted him. “Nice shooting Tex” Katherine called out from the woods, laughs being shared among Washington’s gang while the man himself, Rick, stood in front of them all, sending a smile over to the three Hayes family members with Bella and Victoria looking completely confused and William letting out a sigh as he replied. “What do you want, Washington?” “Is celebrity status, enough money to drown in and a super hot wife on the table?” Rick replied with a grin as he walked over, the four other members of his gang following up behind him “in all seriousness, I have come to you because we have discovered the opportunity to get a enough supplies for two groups so I thought I’d offer the opportunity to you as well, since we worked so well together last time.” “Wait, so are these the people you got the supplies from the hospital with?” Victoria asked, tilting her head to turn to look at her father before her attention was turned back to Washington’s group when Katherine had walked over to hand Victoria her arrow back, Katherine giving a wink before she went back to stand back with the others while Victoria continued her train of thought “the ones who kidnapped you?” “What?” Bella immediately reacted, awkwardness filling the area which soon got even worse when two new people joined the conversation, standing at the gate not too far away and looking through it to where Washington’s gang was standing, Dannisha being the first to speak up between her and Edward. “Great. It’s you people.” “What are they doing here, Will?” Edward asked as the Washington gang reacted with hurt expressions to how Dannisha reacted to them, William thinking about his answer for a moment before he sighed. “They said they have found an opportunity to get a lot of supplies, enough for two groups, they wanted to offer us the chance to join them.” “Yeah and that opportunity is going to be gone by the end of the day so if you don’t mind, we’d like an answer soon” Rick spoke up, looking between the five members of the Hayes hotel group that had gathered around, looking down to his watch briefly before he let out a sigh “it should be an easy answer guys and gals, so who of your group is coming with us?” “We shouldn’t trust these people, sir” Dannisha told Edward, turning to look at the old General who let out a sigh, unsure how to react to this, especially since he wasn’t even supposed to be the one who made these decisions. However, William spoke up before he could come up with a response. “Me and my girls can go, Eddie. You can spare us and the three of us can consider it a little family trip” William told them, earning an excited look from Victoria while Bella was very doubtful about it but knew she should just go along with it anyway, nods of agreement coming from his wife and daughter while a sigh of acceptance came from Edward. “It’s not like I have a choice, is it?” “You’re catching on” William said with a grin, sending a wink over to the old General before he gestured to his friends’s weapons, Dannisha and Edward sharing a doubting look before they handed over weapons, Edward’s pistol being given to Victoria while William received Dannisha’s rifle, Victoria giving Dannisha her father’s crossbow for safe keeping before the three Hayes family members hopped over the wall. “We’ll return them safe and sound, promise” Rick spoke up from the other side of the wall, grins spreading throughout his gang members as well as on his own face which didn’t put any of the Hayes Hotel’s current residents’s minds at rest but the three Hayes family members still went along with it, waving their goodbyes to their friends as they walked into the forest with their apparent allies. While this went on, Reyna watched from the window of the hotel’s assigned medical room, having watched the entire interaction with curiosity before her interest was interrupted when Nadia returned into the room, looking at Reyna with confusion as she asked “what’s got your interest?”

“Something at the gates made the Hayes family go outside the wall, doesn’t look too big of a deal though.” “Then it’s not worth getting distracted from your duties” Nadia said with a teasing grin before she walked over to where Reyna was standing and looked over all of the boxes “hmm, looks like you’ve done a marvelous job at inventory, good. I’dve hated for you to fail step one.” “That wasn’t even a challenge” Reyna said with a roll of her eyes before she saw a look from her superior and stuttered out a “ma’am” along with the rest of her sentence. “Nadia, please. I don’t want to feel old” Nadia commented in retort as she walked away from the boxes in order to look over a still unconscious Ashley, a look of worry briefly passing over her face before she distracted herself by turning back to look at Reyna “and we’ll see if you still feel that way when you have to remember every single medicine we have in our boxes and where they are off the top of your head.” Reyna had to admit to herself that did sound a bit hard but she tried to not let that show as she walked over to join Nadia, looking down at Ashley as she brought a hand up to stroke through the unconscious soldier’s hair “she’s been unconscious for three days...do you think...she’s going to wake up?” Nadia paused to think about her answer, completely unsure about their situation but before she could form words to answer, both doctor and assistant saw a change down below them, the flutter of Ashley’s eyes before they finally opened and looked up to Reyna, a smile forming on Ashley’s lips as she spoke as if it was a total normal day “damn, hello beautiful. What did I do to wake up next to you?” A blush rose to Reyna’s cheeks but a shared look of confusion also passed between both her and Nadia as they looked over the now conscious Ashley who kept that smile on her face as she adjusted her head slightly to lay on the hand that had been stroking her hair but it was that moment that her eyes also landed on Nadia and she also became confused as she recognised who Nadia was “wait, you’re here too Doc?” she asked out loud before she started looking around, now taking in the room she was in “this ain’t my bedroom, why am I in medical?” “Let’s take this slow so we don’t overwhelm you” Nadia spoke up finally, looking over Ashley as she offered a soft smile “you went on a mission to rescue the President. The mission succeeded but during said mission you suffered a wound and fell unconscious” Nadia told her patient, waiting until a decent amount of time for Ashley to take this piece of information into pass before she carried on explaining “you’ve been unconscious for three days.” To their surprise, Ashley let out a soft sigh of relief as she looked between the doctor and her assistant “thank god, I thought you was going to say I’d been unconscious for years. So what wound did I suffer, will it leave a good scar?” Ashley asked, probably a bit too enthusiastically which didn’t last when the covers she was under was moved slightly so she could see the wrappings on her leg and the doctor explained what was under it.

“You suffered a shot to your leg from one of the Aliens’s lasers. It took out a chunk of it and left a cauterized hole. You are suffering no infections but I doubt that it will be safe for you to stand on, we’re going to have to leave you in a wheelchair for now.” “Well that sucks” Ashley commented after a moment of silence before she had a smile return to her face as she looked between the two of them “I don’t really like being the bottom, makes me feel lazy, guess I’ll have to get used to it” she commented, sending a wink over to Reyna who blushed further, Nadia chuckling to herself before she interrupted the moment. “Your brother has been wanting to hear news, shall I fetch him for you?” “Nah” Ashley replied, turning to look over to the doctor with a grin “I want to surprise him. Have we got a wheelchair available for me?” “I’ll go look for one now” Nadia commented with a smile before she moved to exit the room, pausing when she passed by Reyna to comment “looks like you’ve got your first patient” before leaving the two alone, Reyna shifting around while Ashley just grinned at her. “Hear that beautiful? Sounds like a date to me!” ---  23rd August 2037  - 09:30 - Washington D.C., America

“This is going to be dangerous.”

“Isn’t everything we do dangerous?”

“Fair point”

Anthony let out a chuckle, seeing Logan smirk as well after Logan had made a point, the two men hiding at the edges of the forest just outside of the Alien prison camp. They had managed to get out fine but now they faced a problem as the Aliens had found William’s truck which made Anthony turn his attention back to the big man “I know Will is going to kill us if we lose the truck but I’d rather he kill me than them.”

“And what if there is something in that truck that leads them back to the hotel?” Logan asked, his eyes remaining on the group of Aliens that looked over the truck before letting out a sigh “we’re lucky that they haven’t searched it yet. We need to do something, now.”

“What would you sugge-” Anthony began but Logan quickly quieted him as they both watched as the same Alien they had seen before, Weento, walked towards the group of Aliens, looking what they could best tell was frustrated as it began to look over the vehicle as well.

“You called me out for this? It is an old Human vehicle. Someone probably drove here and ran the other way, nothing to care about” Weento told them as it kicked the side of the truck before moving to head back inside, gesturing for them to follow it as it said “word had reached me that the Humans are planning to fight. We need to ready ourselves.”

Anthony and Logan remained quiet as they watched the Aliens disappeared back into the prison before they let out the breaths they had been holding, Anthony being the first to speak up between the two of them “we should go, now.”

“You go, tell the others what is going on, I need to go back in the prison” Logan replied, moving out of the forest now and heading towards the truck, Anthony having to recover from his surprise first before he followed him, both men coming to crouch behind the truck.

“Why the hell do you need to go back in?!”

“Because whoever is in that prison will have a better chance to get out if they wait for support from Eddie’s military, they’ll all be fucked if they go through with whatever they plan before that support arrives.”

“Still, why do you need to join them in being a prisoner?”

“Because one of us has to warn them and I’m not letting it be the person with a family to find” Logan told Anthony which made Anthony sigh but before he could give any further argument, Logan placed the truck keys in his hand “I’ll be fine, you just make sure you get back to the hotel.”

“I hope you will be” was the only thing Anthony could get out, saying it more to himself, as he watched his friend head back towards the prison, the same way that the Aliens had both come and gone, until he shook himself from his sad feeling and got into the truck, quickly starting it up as he nervously looked towards the prison, hoping no Aliens would notice his exit as he quickly drove back down the road and away from the area.

Logan made sure to watch as the truck left and quickly disappeared from sight, leaving Logan with only his job to do now.

Hoping he would indeed be fine as this was a rather idiotic idea. ---  23rd August 2037  - 10:00 - Hayes Hotel, America

Nancy was excited. Very excited.

She had received word that she and Edward were being allowed to finally do their plans so as she walked through the corridors, geared up and ready to finally do something useful, she had a light smile on her face.

That was until she came around the next corner and caught sight of the President herself staring at the wall which caught her off-guard. She had known the President was present in the hotel so she wasn’t surprised by that, instead Nancy was confused as to why the President seemed to be staring blankly at a wall. That was until Nancy noticed she was looking at the wall that everyone was losing for the missing and lost, about to turn around and give the President her peace but it was too late when her presence was soon noticed.

“Oh, I’m sorry” Jeanne said nervously as she backed away from the wall, looking between it and Nancy “I hope I wasn’t in the way of your visit here…”

“No, no, you’re fine ma’am” Nancy told her, forced into this interaction now as she gestured to the wall “I was just passing through and noticed you here, alone, and wondered if anything was wrong.”

Jeanne offered a soft but sad smile at that comment, turning to face the wall directly again as her eyes looked over each and every one of the pictures “There is plenty wrong and nothing I can do about it. It’s not a good day to be a President who can’t do anything for your country.”

“I wouldn’t say you can’t do anything ma’am. You’ve proven yourself to be a good President, better than the last ones, especially the one that got us in that World War Three mess. Little things that you do around here can be big things for some, give people a wave as you go past, offer them a talking. Hell, give ‘em a big speech, they always love that, trust me, I’ve covered wars you know? If all that fails, you could just get all the perverts together and pop your babes out, that’ll have them eager for duty.”

Jeanne scoffed at that, rolling her eyes but still having a little smirk on her lips at that last comment from the reporter “this isn’t World War Two darling, we’re not making sexy pin-ups in order to boost morale.”

Nancy playfully pouted at that as she looked the President up and down “aww but I know if I saw a pin-up of you, I’d have been fully trained and ready to take on the entire Alien army in that second.”

Jeanne allowed herself to flush at that comment but before she could offer a response, she noticed two people walking past down the other end of the corridor, one that was in a wheelchair and she recognised as the wounded soldier, quickly excusing herself from Nancy by telling her that they would flirt later before running up the corridor to catch up with whom had caught her eye, leaving Nancy to continue on her own way.

“Excuse me!” Jeanne called out to the two figures, causing the pair of them to stop and turn to look at Jeanne confused until they realized who she was and stood more to attention as Jeanne finally caught up with them “I’m sorry, I don’t want to take too much of your time up but...you’re the soldier who was wounded in that mission, right?”

“That’s me, name’s Ash” Ashley told her President before gesturing to the girl who had been moving the wheelchair with a grin on her face that was keeping Jeanne really confused “this is Reyna, we’re going on a date.”

Reyna herself blushed heavily at that comment, turning her face to look the over way as she mumbled “it’s not a date. We’re taking you to see your brother.”

“Pfft, get him a boyfriend and he’ll be fine with a double date” Ashley commented with a smirk before she turned her attention back to Jeanne who was standing there awkwardly, waiting for it to be her turn to speak up again “so what can I do for you, ma’am?”

“I was looking to thank you, for your service. It was a-”

“I’d like to stop you there ma’am. There’s no need to thank me, it's what we’re trained to do and I’m sure you’re going to be a great help to us all, you’ll no more to do than me, all I know is to point and shoot the bad guys then come home to kiss the girls. It was worth it, we all know it.”

Jeanne opened her mouth but she didn’t quite know what to say, something that Ashley noticed and smiled as she reached to give the President’s arm a supporting patting “you’ll do fine, just remember you are a Human like the rest of us. Now, if I may be excused, I have a brother to see” she added as politely as she could, earning a nod from the President which left Reyna to take her away, continuing their way down the corridor.

Slowly a smile creeped along Jeanne’s face as what Ashley had said to her set in and that she was right. Jeanne was only a Human and here she was expecting herself to be perfect and do everything correct.

With this new outlook on her situation, she started making her way back to her room in order to plan to how to boost some morale around the hotel. ---  23rd August 2037  - 10:00 - Charleston Outskirts College, America

They were finally coming to the edge of the forest now, Rick at the front of their group as he lead them to their destination while William wasn’t far behind him, being the most sneakiest and hunting of them all, something that impressed the other members of Rick’s group considering his age.

Of course, being in this position of the group, William was the first after Rick to see where they were going and he was soon met with confusion as he looked over the same college that Rick’s group had taken him before, except this time they weren’t blindfolded and Rick’s group looked to be sneaking up to it as if they no longer occupied it, leaving William and his family to do the same.

“To keep the story short, since we don’t have a lot of time” Rick began as he crouched next to William and his family members while the rest of his group hung back a bit “the rest of our group backstabbed us. They got pissed about how our last deal with you turned out for us and kicked us out, now normally I’d just let bygones be bygones but, these guys are assholes. We know their planning to raid that hotel of yours so, I thought you’d want to raid them first.”

“And I’m supposed to trust that you’re not actually the backstabbers and all this is just a trick to have more people to use as cannon fodder for your plans?” William asked bluntly with a doubtful look on his face as he looked over to Rick whom glared a bit but kept himself cooled as he offered his response.

“You’re a smart man, Will. You don’t trust any of us. However, we both know that in a world like this, there’s going to be raids against fellow Humans sooner or later. You’re best to deal with it now” Rick told him before suddenly moving forward, gesturing for the rest of his group to follow him as William could hear Katherine and Rick mentioning how it looked like their plan had worked.

“I don’t trust these people at all” Bella commented as both her and Victoria came up to be next to William, watching Rick’s gang heading towards the college rather slowly “but I think we should still check this out. We know what people like this are capable of love, we just need to keep this lot at the front of our guns.”

William nodded in agreement, although hesitantly, as he looked nervously towards Victoria, clearly not wanting to put her in danger but she just gave him a confident grin and told him “I’ll be fine” before getting up and moving towards the college, making sure Rick’s gang didn’t get into the building and set up a trap while her parents just silently watched her go for a moment.

“She’s a big girl now Will, you know she’s more than capable of taking care of herself.”

“Doesn’t mean she should be in situations like this.”

Bella offered him a soft smile at that as she said “come on love, we both know this is going to get worse before it gets better so its best she gets used to these situations now rather than later” before delivering a kiss to his cheek and getting up to follow her daughter, leaving William alone as he let out a breath to calm himself down.

He just didn’t like the bad feeling he was getting.

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


 * John DeSantis as Weento
 * Doug Jones as Count Onitk
 * Lawrence Gilliard Jr. as Anthony Alexander
 * Brad Kelly as Logan Goodman
 * Rhiannon Fish as AID
 * Olivia Munn as Jeanne Winters
 * Dallas Roberts as Emmett Bourne
 * Stephen Lang as Vernon Paxton
 * Dale Dye as Edward Grey
 * Ryan Robbins as William Hayes
 * Rashida Jones as Annie Alexander
 * AnnaSophia Robb as Maria Henderson
 * Sanai Victoria as Kate Dominguez
 * Jessica Parker Kennedy as Alisha Dominguez
 * Mike Colter as Wyatt Dominguez
 * Sean Murray as Charlie Jenkins
 * Chris Shields as Jon Butterfield


 * Devon Bostick as Brian Henderson
 * Hayden Panettiere as Alexandra Ryder
 * Sarah Wayne Callies as Nolene Addison
 * Genesis Rodriguez as Bella Hayes
 * Lindsey Morgan as Victoria Hayes
 * Ellen Hollman as Katherine Hunter
 * Colin Cunningham as Rick Washington
 * Andrew Lee Potts as Lucius Hunter
 * Drew Powell as Brad Perkins
 * Brett Dalton as Mikayla Mullin
 * Danai Gurira as Dannisha Sinclair
 * Dale Dye as Edward Grey
 * Emilia Clarke as Reyna Bullard
 * Moon Bloodgood as Nadia Dominguez
 * Megan Danso as Ashley Porter
 * Lauren Cohan as Nancy Morales

Trivia

 * The "episode representing image" for this episode would be William, Victoria and Bella sitting along the Hayes Hotel's wall as Victoria takes aim with her father's crossbow.
 * Until the writing of this episode, it was undecided who the two figures seen by William in issue 119 of The Dead World were but the author's decision for them to have been Dannisha and Edward had them added into a sixth part of The Dead World.