Us, The World and The Dead (SWB)

Synopsis
The survivors at The Trading Post debate whether they're safe while Mike leads a group to the post.

Plot
On the highway, a biter is seen devouring an animal, snarling as it sinks its teeth into it. Suddenly, a truck speeds past it, making it look towards the vehicle and begin to follow.

Inside the truck, Cal is driving with Mike in the passenger and Ashleigh in the middle, while Devil, Amber, Warren and Dahlia are in the bed. Amber is impatient, watching for any sign of a safe zone.

“How far is it?” Amber asks Dahlia and Warren, a frustrated tone clear in her voice.

“Not that far. It’s in the city, we’re almost there.” Warren replies.

Amber huffs, looking back to the road. She then hits the top of the truck. “Can’t you go faster?” She calls to Cal.

Warren is laying back, watching the scenery. “You know, you could be patient and just enjoy your surroundings.” He says to her before looking up to the sky. “I mean, look at this! No pollution in the air, no car horns. It’s just us and the world.”

“And the dead.” Amber says to him, sneering at him. “I’m not going to just pretend everything’s okay. I want to see my mother.”

Dahlia crosses her arms. “Hey, there’s no need to get angry.” She says calmly.

Amber sighs and looks back to the road, only wanting to focus on finding her mother.

Inside, Mike asks Cal, “Have you met this man before?”

Cal nods, eyes glued on the road. “A few times, yes. What my mom said about him is true. He’s a good leader, but something is off about him.”

Ashleigh looks to him. “What does that mean exactly? That’s the only way people describe him, yet they never say why he seems so off.”

The young man shakes his head. “Well… There used to be a few more people staying at the mansion. We went on a run there and ended up having to spend the night. In the morning, they claimed that one of ours, Sharon, went for a walk but didn’t come back. Gale told us she was attacked by the dead outside the gate but that didn’t make sense to us. She never left unless she had someone with her and even if she was alone, she wouldn’t have been taken out by the dead.”

“You think he had something to do with it?” Ashleigh asks. Cal just shrugs. Ashleigh frowns at him. “Cal… Do you know what happened to her?”

“Not a clue. But it doesn’t matter anymore. We have to find your friends.” He says, ending the conversation before speeding down the road.

Back at the mansion, everyone is recovering from the night before. Clair, Valentina and Mitch are cleaning the mess. Mitch is scrubbing blood from the floor.

Valentina drags one of the bodies to the front door. Mitch watches as she does, then looks to Clair. “What’re you going to do with them? The bodies, I mean.”

Clair doesn’t look up from scrubbing the floor. “You’ll see.” She states simply.

Upstairs, Rikki, Billie and Stevie are dragging the bodies towards the stairs while Maggie and Angel help scrub the floor.

As they work, Cleo steps down from the attic. “Hey, Rikki.” She begins, getting Rikki’s attention. “Could you come up here for a second?”

Rikki nods, following Cleo up the ladder. “See, Lo and I were cleaning up the blood up here when we found something.” Cleo explains as they walk to the other side of the attic, where Lola is waiting.

Lola picks up a sniper rifle off the floor and smirks. “You’ve had experience with these before, right?” She asks.

Rikki smirks, taking it and admiring it. “Yeah. One of my ex-boyfriends was into rifles and guns and such. Taught me everything I know.” She replies. She walks towards the window and opens it, then looking through the scope, smiling to herself. “Let’s see The Mob try and get to us now.”

Meanwhile, the others downstairs are still cleaning when Billie and the others hear something falling in the closet close to them, all three looking to each other.

Stevie stands and pulls out her knife, approaching the closet. She opens it quickly and is ready to attack when the man from last night screams, “Please, don’t kill me, take the others!” He is holding his arms over his face in fear.

Stevie recognizes the man and rolls her eyes. She looks back to Billie. “It’s just this guy.”

The man lowers his arms, seeing who it is. He stands up, stepping out of the closet, embarrassed.

“Who is he?” Maggie questions.

Stevie frowns. “Apparently a coward who would have sold us out.” She says before turning to the stairs as Clair and Mitch run up.

“Are you guys alright?” Mitch asks.

Clair sees Leonard and frowns. “Leonard, why’d you yell?”

Stevie crosses her arms. “He thought we were going to kill him. He yelled, ‘Take the others, not me.’” She says, sounding very irritated.

“I… I thought they were with The Mob.” Leonard says timidly.

“You mean you would have sold us all out?” Mitch asks defensively, stepping towards him, but Clair steps between them and places her hands on Mitch’s chest to push him back.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Clair says. “Please, he’s… He’s a loyal friend. I know he makes mistakes, but… Please… Don’t hurt him.”

Mitch glares at the man, still angry with him, but Billie steps forward and takes his hand. “Mitch, come on. Let’s go back downstairs.” Billie says. He tugs on his boyfriend’s hand, pulling him to the stairs.

Mitch sneers at Leonard before following Billie down the flight. "Fucking asshole..."

"Mitch, be quiet." Billie whispers angrily.

Clair looks to Stevie apologetically. “I’m sorry, really. He's a real big help." Stevie and Maggie both ignore and turn to walk down the stairs as well, Clair frowning before turning to Leonard.

"What were you doing up here?" She asks him.

Leonard points to a room at the end of the hallway. "I was making sure no one went in."

Clair nods, staring at the door before looking back to Leonard. "Well, in that case... Don't be so obvious. They don't trust us as is."

At The Trading Post, Spencer and Chase are sitting at their usual table with drinks in their hands. Chase looks to Spencer, noticing how stressed he looks.

“What are you thinking about?” Chase asks.

Spencer shakes his head. “Caroline still hasn’t returned and it’s been days. Monet’s disappeared. Everyone else is trapped here with that psychopath or missing.” Spencer mumbles.

“Okay. What are you going to do about it then?” Chase asks harshly, making Spencer look at him with confusion.

“Since we’ve been here, we have sat at this exact table and you’ve talked about how you want to find the others, but have yet to do anything about it. You have just been waiting for something to happen, for the others to just walk through those gates.” He stands up. “I think instead of sitting here and waiting for the others, we should get the fuck out of this place and find our friends ourselves.”

Spencer stares up at Chase for a moment before nodding, drinking the remainder of his drink. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

As Spencer stands, Nathan, Kenny, Lilly, Rochelle and Matthew approach. “Go where?” Rochelle asks.

“We’re leaving. We’re going to find the others.” Chase says with an accomplished smile.

“You’re just going to leave?” Kenny asks in disbelief.

“Kenny, the others have been missing for days now. Monet has disappeared and I think Gale had something to do with it. Gale isn’t worth any of this. This place isn't worth it.” Spencer says. Kenny sighs, nodding. “I know. But… I’d prefer being in here rather than out there.”

“I wouldn’t. Fuck this place.” Rochelle says, crossing her arms. “I’m coming with you guys.”

“Yeah, so am I.” Matthew says.

Nathan looks down to Lilly, who looks conflicted. “Lilly, you okay?” He asks.

She shakes her head. “I want to leave, but…” She looks to her missing leg. “I’d slow you all down.”

“No, you won’t. Lil, you can make it, we’ll make sure of that.” Nathan says with a smile, but Lilly doesn’t look at him. She is still unsure.

Nathan kneels down to her. “You’re strong, Lilly. I promise, you’ll make it.” Lilly smiles shyly, mumbling a thank you. Nathan looks to the others and says, “Everyone who’s going, go get your things. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”

As everyone begins to go, Nathan asks Chase, “Can you take Lilly with you? I need to talk to Spencer and Kenny.” He says. Chase nods, taking Lilly’s wheelchair.

Spencer, Kenny and Nathan all sit back down. Nathan looks worried and uncertain. “I… I’m not going with you guys.”

“What?” The younger boys question.

“Nathan, you can’t. You’re one of us, you’ve been one of us. Same with you, Kenny, you two are part of the group. We don’t leave each other behind.” Spencer says.

“I’m not going to force Kenny to leave. He wants to stay and I’m not letting him stay alone.” Nathan responds calmly, looking to Kenny. “The two of us can leave whenever we’re ready.”

Kenny smiles, thanking him. Spencer looks at them both. “Are you sure about this?”

Nathan nods. “Yeah.”

Spencer nods, looking upset. He then looks back up. “Do you know what happened to Gabriella?” He asks.

Nathan is surprised. “Wha… Gabriella Carson?” He asks. “How’d you know I even knew her?”

“Nathan, I remember you from Crestview my sophomore year. You were dating her sister. Do you know what happened to her?” Spencer asks.

Nathan nods, smiling slightly. “Yes. We were in a group but we were separated. She’s strong, though. I think her and her sister could still be alive.” He says.

Spencer stands, smiling to them. “Thank you. I wish you both the best.” He says.

“I hope to see you again.” Nathan says, standing as well. “Good luck out there.”

Spencer parts ways, going to meet with the others.

At the gates, Spencer and the others exit. “Aren’t you going to tell Gale?” David asks.

“Fuck Gale.” Spencer calls back, not looking back as they head to a van and pile inside. Chase drives the vehicle off, Gale watching as they leave before turning and going back towards his office.

Later at the baseball diamond, Wilson and Darren are circling the biter cages. Wilson suddenly sees Dianne approaching them from the locker rooms. She has a pistol with a silencer, but he doesn’t see it.

“Evening, Dianne.” He says, waving to her. He doesn’t pay her much attention.

Dianne doesn’t respond, just walks to one of the cages and pulls the latch. Wilson turns to the cages, seeing what she’s doing. “Dianne, stop!”

Dianne suddenly turns with the pistol, firing a round into his face. She then turns to Darren and shoots him in the chest.

She turns back to the biter cages and pulls it open, allowing the biters to stumble out. She quickly runs to the other cage and repeats the process. As the biters begin filling the diamond, Dianne is backing away from them, smiling darkly at them.

“Gale has to pay.” She says to herself as she walks back into the locker rooms. “He has to pay for what he did.”

Elsewhere, Mike’s group pulls up to a run down restaurant. The group looks at the building.

Amber looks unsure. “I don’t know, guys.” She says. “This place looks sketchy.”

“We need gas. We at least should search the place.” Ashleigh says as her, Mike and Cal get out of the vehicle. “Do you guys want to stay here?”

Amber stares at the rundown area with discomfort. The letters up top were dirty and falling apart. The sign is flat on the ground. “I’d rather.”

Cal and Ashleigh begin walking into the building, Cal opening the door for her. They both enter the dark building.

Mike is still with the others at the truck. “Alright, we’ll just be five minutes. Then we’ll get to the post and-”

Mike is interrupted by a gunshot inside, the entire group looking to the building in shock as they hear a voice yell, “Get down now!”

Wide eyed, Mike bolts to get inside the building. Amber shouts, “Mike, no!” He pushes open the door and disappears inside.

Amber, Devil, Dahlia and Warren stare in shock, waiting for something to happen. Another gunshot is heard making them all duck down.

Amber hops out of the truck bed and bolts to the side of the building, circling to the back.

At The Trading Post, Nathan and Kenny are walking through vendor square when they hear screaming from down in the locker rooms which makes everyone in the square stop what they’re doing. “Stay here. I’ll go see what’s going on.” Nathan says to Kenny.

Nathan begins walking towards the locker rooms. He grabs the door handle and opens it only to see biters stumbling towards it. He tries to close it, but two walkers lunge through, holding the door open. Nathan struggles, looking back. “Someone help!”

Kenny runs to help, Lisandra also running in from a small crowd. Most of the people begin attempt to escape or watch in horror.

“It’s not gonna hold!” Lisandra shouts to the others. The biters push through, one of them almost squeezing out of the door.

Nathan looks at the biter and realized they can’t hold them. “Run!” Nathan yells to Kenny and Lisandra. “Go, let’s go!”

The three of them push off the door and make a run for an exit.

As they approach the first exit, a crowd has formed around it, people trying desperately to escape. “It’s locked!” A man yells. Lisandra pushes the two younger boys. “There’s another exit over here, let’s go!”

The three of them run from the crowd. They get to the next gate. As they approach, they discover David had been shot in the head.

Lisandra looks up and sees Dianne outside the gate, helping Erik into a car. Lisandra goes to open it, but finds it’s locked.

She looks back to Dianne, betrayed by her. “Dianne!” She shouts, getting the other woman’s attention. “Dianne, what did you do?”

Dianne walks around the car to the driver’s door, buckling her seatbelt. She makes eye contact with Lisandra, who is still in shock over realizing Dianne had taken down The Trading Post. The woman drives away.

Kenny turns, seeing the biters have made it to the crowd and begun devouring people.

“Lisandra, let’s go!” Nathan yells. He grabs her arm and tugs her to run with him and Kenny, but they instantly stop.

Another group of biters coming their way. The three back up until they’re against the gate.

Co-Stars

 * Meaghan Caddy as Dianne
 * Dango Nguyen as Wilson
 * Jeremy Palko as Darren
 * Macsen Lintz as Erik
 * Edy Ganem as Valentina
 * Joe Keery as Cal Malloy
 * Michael Vartan as Leonard Demuro

Deaths

 * Wilson
 * Darren
 * David
 * Numerous Trading Post Survivors and Vendors

Trivia

 * Last appearance of Wilson.
 * Last appearance of Darren.
 * Last appearance of David.