A Bad Crowd (SWB)

Synopsis
Angel faces against a familiar face while Mike's group settles in at the mansion.

Plot
From the previous episode, Mike and the other survivors follow Clair inside the gates. They continue up the path towards the mansion, where on the porch, a young boy is sitting with a book. His parents are behind him on two chairs, watching Mike's group.

Lorenzo opens the front door, letting Clair lead the others inside. Clair leads them into the dining room, where a woman is placing down plates. She looks up to see them and smiles before leaving back to the kitchen. Clair turns to them all. “Please, take a seat.”

The survivors all sit down as a young man comes in the room. “Mom, Valentina and I need an extra set of hands, can you help?” He asks. Clair smiles, giving him a small nod. She looks over the survivors. “I’ll be just a minute.”

Clair and her son leave the room, the others watching as they do. Stevie looks to the rest of her group. “She just allowed a bunch of strangers into her house.” She whispers to the others.

“At least it got us off the road.” Rikki says, grabbing the glass of water in front of her.

“We should all be grateful we get to sit down and eat for once. Everyone, just be calm about this.” Mike says. “I’ll talk to her to try to figure her out.”

They all go quiet again as Clair, the young man and woman return with trays of food, setting them at the center of the table. Clair smiles at the survivors, who just stare blankly at her.

“What?” Clair asks, her smile falling. “Is everything okay? Valentina can make something else-”

“No, no! The food’s fine,” Mike begins. “We were just wondering why you let us in.”

“We appreciate it, really.” Mitch adds. “But with everything that’s happened, there are bandits, murderers… Why would you just let us in?”

“See, I believe in showing hospitality to those who need it. When I heard Lorenzo yelling at you and I saw you all, I knew you needed it. You’re not the first people I’ve helped. I actually have a family staying with us right now.”

Stevie smiles politely. “That’s very kind of you. But don’t you think it’s a bit dangerous to let anyone in? What if you let in a group that tries to kill you?”

Clair chuckles. “Oh, sweetheart, I already have.” She says with the smile still on her face. The other survivors look surprised at her response.

“We let in a group of people that decided they wanted to take this place. We may look weak and stupid for letting just anyone in, but people can’t take advantage of us. No one can cross us. And if they do try to, they die.” Clair explains, still grinning.

There is a silence as Mike looks over his group. “Oh.” He says, breaking the silence. “Well, Mrs. Malloy, you don’t have to worry about us. We can just be on our way-”

“Nonsense!” A man’s voice echoes from the stairway. Everyone looks to see a young man walking down the stairs. “You won’t be any trouble.”

The man approaches behind Lorenzo, Thomas and Clair, standing with them. “So, who are the newcomers?” He asks.

Mike stands, holding out his hand. “Mike Danvers. This is my group.” Mike greets, shaking his hand.

“My name’s Jefferson. Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you all. Clair, I’m going to do a perimeter check.” The man says before leaving.

Clair looks to the table. “Oh, you haven’t touched the food yet. Please, eat up, you all look like you’re starving.” She says.

The survivors begin to eat.

In a small, dimly lit room, Caroline is pacing back and forth while Dahlia is searching for a way out. Angel, meanwhile, is sitting in the corner.

Dahlia is going through boxes on one of the shelves. Angel sees and asks, “What are you even looking for?”

“Something to get us out of here.” Dahlia replies before pulling out a screwdriver. She places it on the floor beside her before searching through again.

“Even if we get out of here, we still have those people to fight off. It isn’t worth it.” Angel says.

Caroline looks to her. “Why do you say that?” She asks, kneeling down her.

Angel sighs, looking at the door then to Caroline. “I knew these people before.” She says sadly.

Dahlia stops looking through the box and looks at her in disbelief. “You knew them?”

“I didn’t know all of them, but Marco and Daniel, yes.” Angel says. “Devil and I… I told Ashleigh that we did some bad things… These were the people we did bad things with.”

Caroline scoots closer, sitting beside the girl. “What did you do, Angel?”

Angel closes her eyes and takes a breath, trying not to cry.

In a flashback, Angel is seen laying on a couch, her head in Devil’s lap. Devil is smoking a joint and hands it to Angel, who accepts.

At a small table, Marco, Daniel and a man named Tony are all talking, rolls of money are on the table. Marco is drinking a beer before calling for Devil.

Angel sits up so Devil can go. Devil sits with the others.

“Remember James?” Marco says, counting the money before him. “Well, he hasn’t paid us for the yayo we gave him and it’s been three weeks. I need you to go over there for me and get the money.”

“And if he doesn’t have it?” Devil asks.

Marco slides the pistol on the table to Devil. “I think you know what to do if he doesn’t have it.”

Angel stands and she grabs Devil’s arm. “Sorry, he can’t.” She says, pulling him away. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Angel, please-” Devil mumbles, trying to get her away.

“This is man’s work, chica.” Marco says to her, making her frown.

“I don’t care. Devil isn’t doing your dirty work, Marco.” She says before pulling Devil again, but Tony stands and grabs her by the waist and lifting her up. Angel begins shouting in protest, kicking to escape. Tony takes her outside the building into the alleyway.

“Oh, fuck you, Tony!” She shouts when he places her down. She begins hitting the man, but he shoves her back against an old couch.

Angel crosses her arms, angry that Devil is still inside.

“You can’t just cross Marco like that.” Tony says to her.

“I can do whatever I want, you little bitch.” Angel snaps.

Tony looks at her with disbelief. “I’m a little bitch?”

“Yeah, you’re Marco’s little bitch. You’re always at his dick, always doing what he wants.” Angel says, shaking her head. “God, you’re such a pathetic crotch dog.”

“You shut your mouth.” Tony says defensively. Angel rolls her eyes. “Oh, am I hurting your feeling, Tony? I am so very sorry.”

Tony steps towards her. “I’m not Marco’s bitch.” He looks her over. “In fact… I’ll prove to you that I’m no one’s bitch.”

Before Angel can say anything, Tony’s hands wrap around her throat and push her against the couch. He begins getting on top of her, Angel frantically trying to push him off. Tony begins reaching down to his pants but is pulled off her.

Angel takes a breath and sees Devil shoving Tony away. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Devil shouts. Tony steps to Angel again. “I’m not done teaching this fucking whore a lesson.”

Devil suddenly throws a punch at Tony, his fist colliding with his jaw. The man recovers fast and charges Devil, throwing him against the wall of the building. Angel screams for them to stop as Devil is pushed down.

Tony punches him in the face twice, then grabs him roughly. “I’m going to beat the shit out of you,” He says before delivering another punch. “Then I’m going to fuck your girl and make you watch.”

He is about to punch again when Angel runs up behind him with a brick and raises it above her head. She lets out a scream before hitting him in the back of the head with as much force as she can gather. Tony falls off Devil, who immediately sits up. Angel helps him stand, the two embracing. Angel sobs into his chest.

Devil looks at Tony and breaks their hug to kneel beside him. Devil pushes him over and the two both realize he’s dead. Angel’s eyes go wide, her hands begin to shake.

Devil grabs her hand and pulls her away, the two of them running down the alleyway.

Presently, Angel is crying after telling the other two of her story. Caroline and Dahlia look to one another, then to her.

“A-Angel, is it?” Dahlia says, standing. “You did the right thing there. He was hurting you and your boyfriend, you can’t feel bad about it.”

“I don’t regret it.” Angel says, trying to collect herself. “But his friends are here and they’re holding me captive. They could think Devil did it and could be killing him for what I did!”

Caroline shushes her, trying to make sure no one tries coming to them. “If you’re concerned about that, then we need to get out of here and save him.”

“All I found was a screwdriver, so we’re going to have to work with that.” Dahlia says, handing the screwdriver to Angel. The three begin scanning over the room when Dahlia gets an idea.

“Caroline, help me push this thing over.” She says as she grabs the shelves. Caroline gets on the other side and they both prepare to push. “Angel, when this thing falls, scream like you’ve been crushed under it.”

The two women push it forward and it falls to the ground with a loud crash, Angel letting out a pained scream. Dahlia runs to the door. “Help us! Please, help!” She begins shouting, Caroline joining in.

Dahlia hears footsteps approaching them and looks to Angel, telling her, “Get the screwdriver ready.”

The three hide behind the door as it opens and G enters. “Shit, what the hell happened he-”

Angel jumps out and shoves him against the wall, stabbing him in the chest, then shoving him aside. The three of them run out of the room to find the others.

As they run, they hear some people calling for help and Caroline stops. Dahlia and Angel look to her. “What are you doing?” Angel asks.

“We can’t just leave all these people here to die.” Caroline says before running to one of the doors and opening it, a group of people inside. “Come on, get out of here!” She says.

Dahlia and Angel both run to two more doors and release anyone inside.

Caroline smiles as three woman run out, the man of the group walking up to her. “Thank you so much.” He says.

“Mike, come on!” The blond woman calls. The man runs after his group. The women open the last door and find Warren, Devil and two unknown men.

“Thank God!” Dahlia says with a smile. The two others run off but are shot down, the group all watching in horror as Marco, Daniel and Ty walk towards them with guns aimed.

“Well, look what we have here.” Marco says. “Are you all really trying to get away so quickly?”

“I don’t suppose you have any other plans?” Caroline asks Dahlia, who shakes her head.

“You all fucked up.” Marco says. “Do you know who we are? What we do to people that cross us? We are The Mob. And Angel and Devil should know not to cross me regardless.”

Marco points the gun at Devil. “So how about we just-”

Gunfire makes everyone drop to the floor, Caroline looking behind them to the source.

The man and a brunette girl is shooting at Marco’s group. The girl waves her arm. “Come on, come with us!”

Caroline runs, the others following. The man and woman run with them, all of them managing to make it to the exit, where the other two women are waiting. They all bolt to the woods.

At the mansion, Clair is cleaning up the table, humming to herself when Mike comes in. “Let me help.” He offers, grabbing a few plates. She smiles at him. “Thank you, Mike.”

The two continue cleaning and stacking plates. “How long have you been with your group?” She asks.

“Some of them, since the beginning. They’re my students.” Mike says.

Clair looks at him. “What did you teach?” She asks.

“I was a coach.” He replies. He stacks another plate. “We were on a field trip for the senior class. It was a camping trip, everyone was so excited. But there was something else going on.”

“The virus?” Clair asks.

Mike shakes his head. “Not just that. See, this man had seen it all coming. He had a man pretend to be our bus driver and had his son and a few others watch us to make sure we ended up at his camp. We never made it. The bus had crashed and we had lost a lot of students in the woods.” Mike explains.

“I remember the first time I saw one of them turn. Mitch, Billie and a few other students went with me to find some help. We met this woman who was in an accident and we tried to help her husband. He was dead. He turned into one of those things and ate his wife’s face. We went back to the camp, but by the time we got there, a big group of ‘em had arrived at the site. I watched a lot of students die that day.”

Clair looks saddened and horrified. “I’m so sorry you had to see that. So sad… All those kids.”

“It’s awful. When you’re a teacher, the students think you hate them all. And for some of those students, I did. But they’re kids. They’re our kids. So when they die, it hurts us. I’ve watched these kids risk their lives and almost die. So for you to let us in and allow us to be safe behind your walls means a lot.”

Clair smiles at him. “It’s no problem at all, Mike. Like I said, it’s the right thing to do.”

Elsewhere, Jefferson is roaming the outside walls when Lorenzo pops out of the hedges. Jefferson doesn’t flinch, just rolls his eyes. “Do you have to do that to every person that passes you?”

“Only the ones I don’t trust.” Lorenzo replies, staring Jefferson down. Jefferson raises an eyebrow. “Me? You don’t trust me?”

“Of course not!” Lorenzo says. “Where do you go at night, hm? I’m always hiding in the hedges and I always see you leaving this place at night.”

Jefferson crosses his arms. “I take walks to clear my mind. Is that so wrong?”

Before Lorenzo can continue, Ashleigh appears. “Hey! You’re Lorenzo, right?”

Jefferson keeps walking on, Lorenzo glaring at him as he does. He then looks back to Ashleigh. “Yeah, what do you want?”

“I don’t want to be a freeloader or anything, so I was wondering if I could help you keep watch.” Ashleigh says.

Lorenzo stares at her blankly, making her uncomfortable. “Is that a no?” She asks.

“No, no, you can, I just… No one’s offered to join me with this.” He says. She shrugs. “Well, it must be tiring for just one person to watch around the clock, so I was thinking we could take shifts.”

Lorenzo is about to say something when they hear voices in the woods. Lorenzo groans. “Oh, God, more people.”

The group emerges from the woods and Ashleigh gasps, staring at the familiar faces. “Oh, my God! Caroline, Angel?!”

Lorenzo groans again. “There’s more of you?!”

Co-Stars

 * Kyle Gallner as Daniel
 * Corey Hawkins as Ty
 * Anthony Guajardo as G
 * Catherine Dent as Jen
 * Michael Wayne Foster as Walt
 * Jeremiah Clayton as Carter
 * Edy Ganem as Valentina
 * Joe Keery as Cal Malloy
 * Noel Gugliemi as Tony
 * Emma Bell as Tina Andrews
 * Danielle Campbell as Abbie Andrews
 * Madelaine Petsch as Tori Hill

Deaths

 * Tony (Flashback)
 * G

Trivia

 * First appearance of Jen.
 * First appearance of Walt.
 * First appearance of Carter.
 * First appearance of Valentina.
 * First appearance of Cal Malloy.
 * First appearance of Jefferson.
 * First appearance of Mike Andrews.
 * First appearance of Abbie Andrews.
 * First appearance of Tina Andrews.
 * First appearance of Tori Hill.
 * First (and last) appearance of Tony. (Flashback)
 * Last appearance of G.
 * This episode marks the 25th appearance of Mike Danvers.
 * This episode marks the 25th appearance of Mitch Harris.
 * This episode marks the 25th appearance of Stevie Leigh.
 * This episode marks the 25th appearance of Tobias McLemore.
 * This episode marks the 25th appearance of Angel Torres.
 * This is the first episode of Season 4 to not feature Spencer or Gale.