6 Episode 6: War is Here

Young Dex awakens one morning to his camp full of bodies, he sees nobody there, just some random people and walkers, but not his friends. he breaks down and assumes that they turned and wandered off, he was broken by this discovery. He falls asleep one night only to wake up to his friends being killed by walkers. He hopes that it is a dream but fails to wake himself up, he faces reality and stands up, he searches the camp for clues, only to find that it was raided. He sees that no guns were used but the yelling must have gotten walker attention, he wants to believe that they are alive but can't, he takes Mia's necklace from the ground and looks at it, he gets up after a few minutes and grabs his bag, he ends up on the road again, he follows the road for days, 22 days later he comes across a family who was traveling in the snow, he sees them and sees hope again.

He goes up to them and they don't do anything except offer him food and water, he downs the food quickly and the mother, Katie sees this and asks some questions. "What are you doing out here all alone?" Mike, the father, walks up to him and says, "You were with a group weren't you?" He looks up and sees Mel, their daughter, he doesn't see any threats within them, he studies the trio and they seem harmless enough. "I was with people, they helped me at the start, we were back in LA when it was bombed, they were the only friends I had left, now they're gone." Katie kneels down and says, "Come with us, we can keep you safe on our travels." Dex looks up and after that, Dex stuck with them for the time being.

Compound(Present):

Everyone stands still with guns drawn, Hailey takes a deep breath and gets the hidden message over the radio that the herd is near, she looks at the Raiders and then pulls the trigger. She kills a Raider and gunfire is exchanged, she is shot on the side and is hurt bad, but she keeps fighting, a man runs up and plants a grenade at the front gate. Everyone clears and the gate blows off. The survivors charge in, Dex and Jack use the explosion as a good chance to make a run for the science area, they make it and get inside. In the science building there are some Raiders, Dex and Jack kill them quickly, Dex runs to some guns and hands them over to Jack who then puts them in a cart they grabbed, they stash weapons and ammo. Dex sees the grenades and dynamite and with the help of Jack they take a bunch and begin planting them around the building. Dex and Jack go through each lab room, throwing dynamite in them, they throw at least 5 bundles per room and they extend a detonator through the hall and connect it all, once it is fully rigged, they run downstairs and are met by a small group. They are in a small standoff and a grenade blows near the building and while distracted they shoot and kill the Raiders, Dex and Jack take the detonator and lead it through the streets, "Hurry up Dex, these assholes are outnumbering us." Dex sees this and hurries, they eventually make it to the front gate and Hailey pulls her radio out, "Stay clear of the science building, I repeat stay clear."

Over at the workers section Sarah and her small group call the workers over, "HEY, OVER HERE, THE SCIENCE BUILDING IS ABOUT TO BLOW!!!" the workers go to the fence and Sarah begins to cut, as she lets the workers out, they are shot at, two people die and a worker's head is blown off. They all run into the woods where they can't be seen and they huddle together in safety, Sarah goes up to one and asks, "Where's Will? Average height, about your age..." She is stopped when the kid mentions that Will was held with the cleaning crew and that they were near the science building, shocked, she pulls her radio out, she sees as the herd busts the gate down and enter, she speaks into it saying, "DON'T DETONATE, WILL IS IN THERE!!" Dex hears this and looks at Hailey and says, "I'll get him Sarah, you stay with the workers and keep them safe." he tunes his radio out and goes to Hailey who was bleeding, the survivors advance inside and a threeway battle between the dead and the living begins. Hailey takes the detonator to the courtyard and some militia guard it and Dex kneels down to her and says, "If I'm not out in 30 minutes, blow it anyway." Hailey doesn't ask questions, she understands it and nods, she powers herself up and pulls her gun out and shoots Raiders and walkers to help Dex get to the building.

Inside the science building Dex rushes up the stairs and sees the library which is where the workers would be near, he runs into it and goes through the shelves, he kills a couple Raiders with his gun, he runs out of ammo and pulls his machete out, he hacks one down and keeps running. He dodges past some people and ends up where the workers are, he stands on a table and shouts for Will. A young boy walks up to Dex and he knows right away who it was, he asks Dex how he knew who he was, Dex looks at him and says, "I'm a close friend of Sarah's we have been preparing with Wilmington to liberate this place, Sarah is waiting for you just past the workers courtyard." Will gets a smile and says, "Sarah's alive... I thought..." Dex looks at him and says, "She fought like hell to get to you." he hears footsteps going to them, he picks a Raider rifle up and sees that it is fully loaded, he takes the clips off of the other rifles lying around, he turns to will and gives him a handgun and says, "Now go, get these people out and get them to safety, I'll hold them off... GO!" the door busts down and Dex is shot twice in the leg and side, Will runs out with the workers and they begin to head down the stairs. Dex pulls a table down and shouts, "Let's dance you assholes!." He gets up and shoots away at them.

Outside in the courtyard Hailey shoots the people going around, Jack looks at his watch and sees that it's almost time. Lamar sees that Hailey's group is getting overwhelmed and he runs over to help her, he and the big militia group shoot at Raiders, walkers begin to come by, Hailey orders them to fall back behind the fence, they enter the basketball court which sits in the middle and is a part of the fence that splits the place in two. They shoot at walkers piling up at the fence, Hailey sees that the fuse is unlit still and it's almost time and walkers are everywhere. Sarah sees the group of workers leaving the building, her group finish the remaining two snipers and help the remaining workers through, she looks at them and hears a voice by her, "You look like crap." She stops and sees Will, they cry as they hug it out, Will then says to her, "I thought You were..." Sarah stops him and says, "I know, I'm just happy that I found you." They walk up the hill and Sarah groups them all up and sets up camp there, she doesn't see Dex anywhere, she pulls her radio out and tries for Dex, Hailey and Jack were too, Lamar was trying to keep the defense holding up against the herd, the remaining Raiders and the Boss see that that the survivors are trapped, there are only about a dozen Raiders left, they abandon the place and take off, they use that as a chance to get out alive and restart somewhere new.

Back at the police station Jenna and Jim try really hard to keep the place together until the Boss and his Raiders eventually show up, they load their guns and prepare for a fight. Jenna and Jim get everyone to the second floor and they wait for the Raiders. The Boss orders his Raiders to bust the door down and they do it with ease, they encounter their first trap, but it's small and only kills one Raider. "Stay vigilant, the others are hiding, traps are everywhere, shoot on sight, move out." The Raiders split up and raid the police station, they go from cell to cell searching for the people there, they find a woman who was lying down in fear, one Raider looks her in the eye as he shoots her in between the eyes. The Boss orders them to head upstairs, Jenna and Jim hear the footsteps and see that the end is near.

The Boss stops though so they can double check the first floor while a few stay outside to keep watch. Jenna runs over to some children and look at them as she kneels down to them, "Look guys, I need you to close your eyes and keep them shut, okay. No matter what, don't open them, you won't feel a thing, just think about things that make you happy." She can't help but cry a bit, everyone there understands what will happen and they are beyond scared. People huddle up, and cry, Jenna and Jim grab hands and look to the roof and close their eyes slowly, they take deep breaths and before they know it the door gets kicked down and they hear gun shots and screams, then all goes silent, as if somebody had hit the mute button.

Back at the compound the radio goes off, it's Dex, he is sitting in the science room, he was bleeding out but won the fight, he faintly and weakly says into the radio, "This is it... This is how it ends... I need you to light the fuse, I can't move, I'll either bleed out or slow you all down." Sarah cuts him off already crying, "No... No Dex please don't do this... I can't lose anyone else, not you... Please." she begs, Dex sits there starting to tear up, "Sarah... from the day we met back at that hideout in Georgia, I knew that you had something special in you, you had what most others don't have... hope... Don't come in after me, save the others, I've done my part, this is where my story ends... Your story still continues, do the right thing and go." Sarah cries some more and says, "Ya know you never said yet if you wanted to live with us somewhere open and safe." Dex struggles to smile and says, "I'll be with you, I'll find you, I'll forever be a part of you... I won't physically be there with you but I'll still be there... Goodbye Sarah... It's been a hell of a journey." Sarah grips her radio tightly, Hailey, Jack and Lamar sit together, back to back, one radio out, Jack looks at it and says, "Sucks it had to be this way man, you were the closest thing to a good friend that I could relate to in a long time, I don't regret any moment with you..." Lamar continues with, "You are the reason I didn't become dead head food that day, you managed to get us through hell and back and I thank you for that man." Hailey takes the radio and gets up, she then looks at everyone and says, "I gotta light the fuse, I gotta do it." Lamar tries to get up and stop her but a teary Jack stops him, he then says to her, "Do what you have to, we'll watch over these people for you, just, stay alive long enough for one last drink." Hailey chuckles a bit and nods, she is beginning to feel weak from her bleeding, she opens the gate and the survivors lure the walkers away, she kneels over and lights the fuse.

When it's lit, she looks back at everyone, Lamar looks back at her feeling great sadness, she looks back at him and enters the building, she climbs the stairs and goes past the bodies and ends up by Dex who was also bleeding badly. She sits by him and then pulls the bottle of vodka from Dex's bag. They open it and trade off drinks, Dex turns the radio on and says, "About that last drink you asked for from her." Jack begins to sit, he takes a big sip of his whiskey as Dex drinks, he passes it to Hailey and they sit there, Sarah tries to get everyone to the basketball court to aid the others, they go over and begin to cut fence, the walkers get in at the same time, only Jack, Lamar, three others make it out of the chaos as people struggled to get out, they regroup with Sarah and her crew and sit on the hill and look at the science building. The fuse eventually burns to the first wave of dynamite and blows up, the chain reaction gets bigger and bigger and most of the building goes up in flames. Sarah hears the radio turn off from their end and cries a bit, Jack and Lamar are shocked, they all sit there for a while in sadness. Sarah looks at the explosion and quietly says to herself, "Goodbye..."

Lamar and Jack don't know what to say at all, Sarah sees the walkers going to them from the bottom of the hill. The few that remain stare at the fire for a bit longer, Will walks up slowly, and points out the walkers to Sarah. Sarah wipes her face off and stands up, "We need to go now, the police station needs us, we can mourn later, they wouldn't want us sitting around like this, she turns to the freed workers and says to them, "Your free to leave, take whatever you want and go, have a second chance at the life that was ripped from you." The freed people begin to pack up and head out, Will walks up to the small militia left as they watch the flames. They all eventually, slowly walk away as the walkers get closer, Sarah leads them away from the Compound. They go through the town cautiously, looking out for stragglers of raiders and walkers, Sarah notices that there isn't a signal that all is clear to proceed and she turns quickly. "Guns out now, stay alert" Will looks at her and asks what it was, Sarah doesn't respond and they all head slow and quiet to the police station. They eventually arrive to see the doors broken open, she quietly signals them to search the place, they quickly search the station, they sweep the entire first floor, Sarah sends a guy out to keep watch and the others slowly go upstairs. Sarah slowly opens the door and is surprised and horrified at what she saw, she turned and when Jack asked what happened, she just had no clue what to say.

Sarah leads them all in, "Oh my god..." Lamar walks up to the kids to see that they were huddled up, and the others were all all there and it didn't look like there was a fight. Jack picks up a gun and checks its clip, "I think they all knew it was going to happen." Sarah looks at the wall and sees a message in blood above someone who was gutted. "Shouldn't have screwed with us!" a man walked up and said, "These were my friends... Our friends, we gotta kill this asshole now! I refuse to let him get away with it." Sarah turns around and sees that she is pressured with all the decisions now, she looks at them all and says, "Look, I know you're all really scared right now and want revenge but trust me that'll get us nowhere... He wants us to go after him, he wants us to because the Compound wasn't the only place with raiders, they have a network, we'll bring it down slowly but not now. For now we need to go, get as far from here as possible, rest, mourn and then after that we take the fight to them, but not in this state. Look, we all lost something today but trust me, if we are to do this, then we'll do it right, I'll be damned if I allow myself to lose another friend today. He may have the firepower and the numbers, but we got each other, trust me, if we play our cards right, then we'll get him." Jack looks down and agrees, Lamar looks at the bodies and says, "Lets not leave them to the walkers, lets burn the corpses, its too much to bury." Sarah agrees and they all leave the place, Sarah, Lamar, Jack all have a molotov at a different angle, Sarah looks at the broken window and says, "We'll get 'em, don't worry Dex" She throws it, the others follow, as the place burns, they all walk away slowly to their uncertain future. A small, broken, saddened group, now left with no more options.

END