Episode 39 (E2)

"What Now?" is the ninth episode of Season 4 of KeepOnKeepingOn's Walking Dead: Edition Two. It is the 39th episode overall. It premiered on November 9, 2017.

Synopsis
"Things finally collapse as Craig makes a drastic decision."

Plot
Without even thinking, Ethan breaks away from Skylar to try and sprint after Craig, the man frantically running across the fields to one of the barns, a different one from the base of the Splintercell. Skylar follows them both as Madela watches them go. Craig enters the barn and Ethan follows, and he stops.

"What the...?" He blinks and looks around at the metallic interior.

"Yeah, this is the execution barn." Skylar says.

"But... this is where I woke up, when I first got here." Ethan mutters. "Was I... scheduled for execution?"

"Guys, get over here!" Craig shouts. "I found Lester!"

Ethan and Skylar hurriedly run through the hall and right into the back room. As soon as they enter, they stop and step back in horror. Skylar gasps.

Lester is slumped against the wall, badly beaten and struggling to even move, though he is most certainly alive. Craig crouches beside him.

"Lester, what the fuck happened?!" He tries to keep him sitting upright.

"... tr-tried... to save... your friends, C-Craig." Lester coughs up a bit of blood. "Dmitri... he beat... g-got..."

"... Lester?" Craig tries to shake him awake. "L-Lester, come on!"

"Craig, stop. Christ..." Ethan sighs. "Dmitri beat him to death. He's gone--"

Craig stands up and cuts him off by shooting Lester in the head with a pistol, mercifully putting him down. Then he storms past them. "Dmitri dies today."

They exit the barn and look around. Craig spots Rodrick holding a rifle and going behind one of the barns; the barn of the hideout.

"Fuck. Dmitri's probably about to execute them in the base so nobody knows." Craig glares. "We have to stop him, c'mon!"

They sprint towards the barn, crossing over the line of slaves and around tools and shackles. They reach the barn and round the corner, heading for the cellar door. Rodrick turns and sees them, bringing up his rifle.

"Hey, you can't be--!" He is cut off as Craig fires a bullet into his head. He collapses to the ground and the three run past him.

They round the next corner and see Valerie standing by the cellar door. She turns to see them and reaches for her rifle.

"Hold on, you can't be back--!" But she is cut off with another bullet to the head by Craig. She falls on top of the cellar door, but Craig pushes her body off.

"Jesus, Craig, you just killed them both..." Skylar mutters.

"Whatever it takes to save my friends. I'm not letting anyone else I care about die today." Craig says, yanking open the doors and sprinting down the stairs. "Bridget! Jean! Anton! I'M COMING!"

Skylar and Ethan follow him into the darkness.

They reach the bottom of the cellar and enter almost complete darkness, the only light being the sunlight coming in from the open doors above.

It's empty.

"They're... not here?" Ethan mutters.

"It's entirely empty..." Skylar nods.

Craig steps forward and looks around in silence and fear. "... then... where are they?"

A loud gunshot booms as half of Craig's head is destroyed by a spray of bullets. The man briefly coughs before he collapses a twitching, spasming mess, before he stops moving entirely.

Skylar and Ethan rush forward to his aid in shock before they hear a shotgun being cocked. They look to the entrance.

Dmitri.

He smirks, holding a double-barrel shotgun in his hands, training it on them. "Finally, I've got you..."

"You fucker." Ethan growls. "You killed an innocent man!"

"He killed my colleagues!" Dmitri spits.

"But you were gonna kill Craig's!" Skylar argues. "Just... he didn't have to die! Fuck you, Dmitri!"

Dmitri cocks his head back and grins. Aiming the shotgun at Skylar, he reaches for the trigger. "Say goodnight."

"You're bluffing." Ethan cuts him off, silencing the man. "You shot Craig and immediately trained that on us. But it can only hold two shells at a time. You never reloaded, so you can't shoot us."

For once, Dmitri looks mortified. After a moment, he hastily reaches for some ammunition from his pockets. Unamused, Ethan picks up Craig's pistol, aims, and fires a bullet into Dmitri's skull, killing the man once and for all.

Then he hurries to Skylar and takes her hand. "Are you okay...?"

After a moment, Skylar hugs him tightly. "Craig... didn't deserve to die."

"No, no he didn't." Ethan sighs. "We... we should go."

Skylar nods, and the two hurry up the stairs. They reach the top and round the corner, seeing a large number of Stable members approaching, led by Madela. Among them, Bridget, Jean, and Anton.

"What the hell is going on?!" Madela shouts.

"Holy shit, they're alive...!" Skylar breathes.

"Guys, are you okay? We hard a shit load of gunshots!" Jean hurries over.

"That guy, Lester, hid us in the barn's attic, so we wouldn't get executed." Anton says. "We heard they beat him to death."

"Where the fuck is Craig?" Bridget hurriedly asks, panicked. "Where is he?!"

Ethan stares, before he pulls up the pistol and trains it on Madela, silencing everyone.

"Dmitri killed Craig. Blew his head to pieces with a shotgun. And then I shot Dmitri." Ethan says. "Things around here are too fucked up. We lost so many people today because of poor leadership, ignorance, and blackmail. Lester was mauled, Rod and Val are dead, Craig was killed, and I ended this shit by shooting Dmitri. And this all started from a simple plot to kill you, Madela. And now, I could. I could fulfill Craig's wishes, and shoot you.

"But I'm not going to. Because you need to be a better leader. This isn't my place, Skylar's place, Bridget's, Jean's, or Anton's place. It's yours. It's your responsibility, Madela." He turns the pistol around and hands it to her, offering the handle.

"Lead us. No more slavery. No more murder. No more betrayal. Just survival."

Deaths

 * Lester
 * Rodrick
 * Valerie Lawpton
 * Craig
 * Dmitri Montoya

Trivia

 * Last appearance of Lester.
 * Last appearance of Rodrick.
 * Last appearance of Valerie Lawpton.
 * Last appearance of Craig.
 * Craig is the ninth main character to die.
 * Last appearance of Dmitri Montoya.
 * Dmitri is the tenth main character to die.