Episode 51 (E2)

"Remember" is the first and debut episode of Season 6 of KeepOnKeepingOn's Walking Dead: Edition Two, and the first episode of the second arc. It is the 51st episode overall. It premiered on January 4, 2018.

Synopsis
"Two years have passed. The survivors continue their journey on the road, maintaining hope that they will find shelter."

Plot
The autumn wind blows, red, orange, and yellow leaves swaying. A large, beige half-pipe that extends from a large, abandoned chemical drainage pipe runs straight down through a forest. Once serving as a pipe used for water and chemicals in the emergence of a flash flood or a nuclear epidemic, it is now filled with waste and decaying corpses.

A faint growl is herd as a single walker clambers from the darkness in the inner pipe, crawling out into the dull gray daylight, clawing as dry blood stains its decaying maw.

A small hatchet is sliced into its head, killing it.

Twenty-year-old Ethan Langer removes the hatchet and stomps hard on the already dead walker, before he spits on it.

He turns and is almost taken by surprise by another walker that stumbles out of the pipe on its legs, waddling after him. But a near silent shot in the air sends a bullet into the head of the infected, killing it.

Unfazed, Ethan turns and sees nineteen-year-old Michael Middleton. Mike holds a BB gun, and he lowers it as he slides into the pipe. Ethan turns back and starts scavenging the bodies.

"We're going on two years of this routine." Mike sighs. "Can you just talk to me? About anything? I've known you for years and this is the biggest slump I've seen you in."

"You act like you don't know." Ethan checks a wallet on the walker. "Fuck, identity shit? That's useless. Nobody needs credit cards anymore... a room card key... is this seriously a restaurant punch card?"

"I know what happened. We all do. It's been two years but... it feels like yesterday." Mike says. He walks over and kneels by Ethan, who continuously ignores the subject and pockets the wallet. "You were the only one there. You... had to see him go. But you've barely talked about it. And I doubt you've come to terms with it. You haven't eaten well, you don't sleep well... it's been two years but this routine is so morbidly timeless. It's like you're fucking with us Ethan, when we just want to help. When we want you to rest and be okay."

Ethan softly glares at him and gently shakes his head. "Mike, I haven't slept well in years. I'm never gonna get over watching my best friend get his brains blown out right in front of me."

"Hey, hey." Mike calmly places a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I'm not gonna fight you. Nobody is. We all miss Jake a shitload. I know you loved him."

"Watching the closest person to you just... die..." Ethan sighs and looks down. "Can we just get back to the group? The more I think about Jake, the more I'm gonna wanna blow my own brains out. And I don't think anyone needs that."

"You've always managed well with being a leader, don't let the stress break you now." Mike stands up and offers a hand. Ethan stares before he slowly accepts, being pulled to his feet.

As they crawl out of the pipe, a nearby walker reaches for them but a spiked soccer cleat steps right on its head, crushing the skull. The two look up and see twenty-year-old Trace Oxford standing over them.

He smirks. "Are we really gonna burn daylight in a chemical pipe?"

"No, fuck that noise." Ethan runs a hand through his hair as he and Mike fully get back up on the main ground, heading back through the trees with Trace. "We just... gotta keep moving. Walking for an eternity sucks but it's our only choice. Until we find shelter."

"You're still holding onto hope, more than the rest of us." Mike comments.

"I have to." Ethan glances back at him. "Jake would've done the same."

They return to the small group, the remaining eight people, who are waiting on a small autumnal trail, an old forest road covered by leaves and dirt. The cracked, dusty tar indicates it was once a back-way for cars, but has since been abandoned by the world, probably long before the end times.

Amy turns from talking to her father and wanders right over to Trace, embracing him as they share a kiss. "Your cleats are fucking stupid."

Trace chuckles and kicks at the tar, holding her by the waist. "They get the job done."

"Take them off, you dumbass." Amy teases, smirking.

"I'll do that when I die." Trace replies, kissing her again. "Which is thankfully never gonna happen."

Amy laughs softly and shakes her head as Dwight approaches. "Hope for the new world comes in the strangest forms."

"You still dissing us?" Trace jokes, earning a chuckle from Dwight. "I'm only keeping my proposal in my pocket cause I know you'll behead me the moment I take the knee."

Dwight pats his back. "I'm fifty-nine, I want to go out smiling. Seeing my daughter become the woman I've raised her to be is all I want."

"Don't talk like you're about to spontaneously combust." Amy rolls her eyes, looking to Trace. "Did you guys find anything worthwhile?"

"I found Ethan in his typical trance." Trace responds neutrally. "Other than that, nothing of value."

"Ah, well, it's snack time. Grab your rations from Carol and then we head out." Amy says, biting into an apple and nodding with a smirk before she and Dwight head off to pack some of their things.

Thirteen-year-old Matthew Peabody is loading ammunition into guns, along with fourteen-year-old Sarah Oxford. The two share light banter as they fill pistol magazines. Carol walks over and offers them each apple halves, which they graciously accept. Eighteen-year-old Stefan Little looks out through the treeline with binoculars, checking in all directions, down the road and back, to make sure no walker herds are coming their way.

Ethan watches the group mingling and nods to himself before he turns to see eighteen-year-old Zachary Bennett. The two keep eye contact for a time before Zach speaks.

"It's been two years and I still can't forgive you."

"Don't give me this shit again." Ethan sighs, holding up a hand. "I had nothing to do with Jake dying. I never saw it coming. I couldn't have stopped it."

"You were the only one there, am I not allowed to be upset that my friend died? That it could've been prevented, and it wasn't?" Zach argues.

"The fucking Governor shot him!" Ethan says loudly, gaining the attention of the others. "That stupid war traumatized us all, okay? We're all suffering, every fucking day! But is that what you want to choose to remember? When you can easily forget it all and look to the future."

"Fucking hypocrite, you still aren't over it." Zach says.

"Maybe cause unlike everyone here, I'm the only one who got his fucking brains all over my face!"

"Okay, break it up!" Twenty-two-year-old Skylar Spalding steps between them, glaring at the two. "Two years of bickering does not survivors make. Are you really gonna argue because someone got killed by a man who is still out there, somewhere, causing havoc?"

"He wasn't paying attention, he could've fucking saved him!" Zach shouts.

"I was trying to keep him from dying from a panic attack first!" Ethan retaliates.

"That's enough!" Skylar draws two pistols and aims them at the two, glaring between them. "Both of you idiots shut the fuck up before we draw walkers. We lost our leader and we suffer the consequences. Fighting and bickering and being sad does literally nothing for us. Yes, we miss him, but if we can't get past that, we'll die. Or worse, we'll start killing each other. Are we really going to stoop to that low of a level?!"

Silence.

Zach huffs and walks away with a glare. Ethan sighs and leans against a tree, running a hand down his face as he yawns and stares towards the ground. Skylar stares at him with disapproval, but her gaze softens as she approaches.

"Don't let anyone get to you. We're all still suffering. A couple years doesn't make up for all that we've lost, all we've endured." She says, lightly punching him in the arm. "C'mon. We gotta gear up and keep going."

Ethan glances at her before he nods, grabbing a backpack nearby and slinging it over his shoulder. "Alright everyone, finish up, pack your things... we gotta get a move on. We're burning daylight."

Soft mumbles are heard as the group hurries around to gather their supplies, before they continue down the road. Stefan groans as he walks with Zach.

"It goes without saying but my legs ache..."

"No shit, all of our legs hurt." Zach scoffs. "C'mon man. We've dealt with worse."

"And we've had better." Stefan eyes him, noticing his glare. "Hey, don't shoot those at me. We're not enemies. None of us are."

Zach sighs. "That stupid war, losing the manor, all of that shit sucked and I'll never not be traumatized or on edge about it."

"That goes for everyone. It's all anyone ever talks or thinks about." Stefan shakes his head. "Trust issues are higher than ever, to the point where we barely trust each other. But that's not how things should be. Not now, not ever."

Zach falls silent, the group turning down the path into the woods, after reaching the end of a curve where a stream can be seen past the thin treeline. Birds chirp in the woods and the sound of rushing water can be heard behind the eleven survivors. As they continue through the woods, Trace glances to his left multiple times before he stops, holding up his hand.

"Hey hey hey, hold up, hold up." The group stops as he squints, trying to get a good look at something. "What the..."

"What do you see, bro?" Sarah walks over to him, using her binoculars. "It's all trees and... whoa."

"What, what's the big deal?" Ethan asks. "What are you guys seeing?"

"Look." Trace smirks and points, well through the treeline, to a near hidden structure. "It's a cabin, dude."

"A cabin? Like... a place we can finally stop at to rest?" Matthew beams, almost wanting to run off to the building.

"Hold on, hold on." Carol says. "It could be dangerous, it could be full of walkers. Or worse; people."

"Which is why we stay together, and approach slowly from behind." Ethan says to the group, almost smiling. "This could be our chance. Plus, it's near a stream. We can fish... if the cabin is big enough, this could be a shelter for a while."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Amy smirks, starting to walk to it. "It's time to get a move on. Haul ass and get hyped, or you're sleeping outside tonight."

Trace chuckles as he follows. "Well aren't you bossy?"

The group exchanges excited murmurs as they near the cabin, killing a few straggling walkers along the way. The moment they reach the outer rim of the exterior, the survivors finally realize the apparent size of the cabin. It looks to be two stories, with an entrance in front and back, and a porch spanning the entire perimeter of the building.

"Holy shit, it's bigger than I thought it'd be..." Trace looks up at it in awe.

"We found it... we found a place we can stay." Skylar smiles at Ethan. "We could actually live here."

Ethan nods, before he motions for the others to wait and be quiet. He slowly approaches the cabin and presses his head against the wall, before his eyes widen. Walking back over to the worried group, he sighs.

"Good news, there's no way any people are in there... at least, not anymore."

"And... the bad news is...?" Mike asks.

"Bad news is, it sounds like it's overflowing with walkers." Ethan crosses his arms. "If we want to live here... we're gonna have to make an effort in clearing it out."

"Then Trace and I will do it." Amy says quickly.

Trace is caught off guard. "Wait, huh? We will?"

"Even if the cabin is pretty big, it's too cramped of a space for the eleven of us to try and fight at once." Amy explains. "Trace and I will start slow on each side of the cabin, to separate the walkers into groups, before we move in to take out the rest."

Ethan nods and gives a thumbs up. "That's actually a great plan. You two be careful, we'll station at each end of the cabin in case either of you need backup."

"Sounds good, c'mon Trace." Amy starts walking up to the first entry. "You get the other side, okay?"

Trace sighs and begrudgingly walks around the building, half the group following, whilst the other half sticks with Amy.

The couple ready themselves, gripping survival knives in hand, the door handles in the other.

They pull the doors open and storm inside.

The first thing Trace notices is he enters a kitchen lit only by the sunlight. The second thing he notices is three walkers shambling his way. He stabs one in the head, pushing it right into the other two. They fall to the ground, and he jumps up and lands on both their skulls, crushing them with his cleats.

Amy enters a living room near a stairwell and a fireplace. She catches sight of four walkers, two crawling. Stepping on the head of one crawler, she immediately stabs one of the upright ones in the head, pushing it back into the other one. As she walks over to finish the job, she stomps on the head of the second crawler, then kneels down to stab the final walker in the skull.

Trace comes in through a hallway door in the back left corner, looking around. "Was that... really it?"

"No, listen." Amy halts him, and they hear more growling coming from above. "... they're on the second floor."

"Oh shit..." Trace mutters. "They have the high ground now, Anakin."

Amy stares at him. "Seriously? A stupid movie reference? Why? Why now?"

Trace chuckles and shakes his head. "We gotta be extra careful now. Try not to make any noise going up the stairs."

Outside the cabin, the survivors still wait idly by when Matthew spots something beyond a few of the trees. He gets up and picks up his pistol, spotting walkers.

"Guys, look!" He points. "There's a shed, and those walkers are going crazy, trying to get into it!"

"A shed...?" Ethan takes out his hatchet. "Shit, someone must be trapped inside there. C'mon, we gotta help."

The group reconnects on the side of the cabin as the nine run to the shed, a large number of walkers swarming the tiny structure. Mike fires his BB gun at several walkers, the silent, simple, but deadly weapon doing them in. Ethan's hatchet does well to take out a handful of the remainder, as Dwight uses a walking stick to stab crawlers in the head, and Skylar swings a machete at a few of the more chubby, bulkier undeads.

By the time the last walker falls, the group pants and wipes sweat away, feeling successful. Ethan hurries over and uses his hatchet to chop the wooden block barricade on the door to the shed. Once it falls to the ground in two pieces, he yanks open the shed doors with a loud creak.

An elderly man inside shields his eyes from the light. "P-Please, just... fine, take whatever you want, kill me, leave with him! Just finish me off..."

"... what? No, we're not bandits." Ethan says, offering a hand to the man, who hesitantly takes it. Ethan pulls him to his feet and lets him out of the shed. "We saw the cabin and found this shed swarmed by walkers. A few of our people are clearing it out. Is this your cabin?"

The man looks around at the survivors, somewhat stunned. "I-I... um, yes. This is my family's cabin. My name is Larry. Who are you people? And what do you mean... clearing it out?"

"How could you not know?" Ethan tilts his head. "There are walkers filling that whole cabin. We figured you escaped to the shed to try to hide from the herd."

"... yes." Larry seems slightly unsure, trying to process the situation. "... oh dear god, no. They've filled the cabin?"

"Yes... why-- wait, what's wrong?" Ethan follows Larry as he storms over to the cabin, looking up at it in fear.

"My daughter and my grandson are in there."

"Nothing?" Trace and Amy reach the small hallway at the top of the second floor, surprised by the lack of walkers. However, the growling is now louder than ever.

"No, not nothing. We got lucky that they weren't in this hall directly. But... they've gotta be in these rooms." Amy says, listening in on one of the doors.

Trace puts his ear against another door and it nudges. "Oh shit..." He whispers.

"What?" Amy hurries over.

"This door is open a little. All the walkers are in this room. I just know it." Trace readies his knife. "Ready?"

"Always." Amy readies her knife. "Whatever we find in there... Christ, whatever is attracting these things better not be fucked up."

"Everything is fucked up these days." Trace says. "Now... be ready... and... go!"

He shoves open the door. They see three walkers banging on a closet door, and four others devouring... something. After they quickly process the situation, the two realize the walkers have noticed their presence. They shamble from the closet door, one even crawling from the corpse it was devouring. Trace puts Amy behind him as they back into the small hallway. He steps forward and stomps on the crawler, as a walker latches onto him. He grunts and shoves it to the side, hurling it down the stairs. It lands on its head on the way down, a crack and a squish being heard as it stops moving, the force being enough to crush the skull and destroy the brain.

The remaining two walkers go for Amy, though she stabs one in the head as Trace grabs the other, slamming its head into a wall and stabbing the skull, just to be sure. They return to the bed room and quickly dispose of the other three, stabbing the skulls and pulling them away. But the sight before them made them reel back in disgust.

"Oh shit...! Aw fuck..." Trace stumbles back and shields his eyes from the sight and his nose from the smell.

Amy grimaces and tries not to look. "Sh-She's... she's been torn in two."

A blond haired young woman is laying there, dead, recently devoured by the undead, as shown by her lack of a pale complexion, and her fresh wounds. However, the two see that her eyes are closed and she has a small smile on her face, as if she were trying to look peaceful, calm, and happy, even in death.

Amy looks at her sadly. "If we got here earlier, we could've saved this woman. We really could've..."

"Nobody deserves this..." Trace shakes his head, taking Amy's hand and looking at her. "We have to put her down. It's the right thing to do."

"I've got this, then." Amy nods in sadness, taking her knife and kneeling by the body. She stares at the woman's peaceful expression, as if she had accepted her death. "She... reminds me of my mom, in a way."

Trace doesn't respond, though he listens and understands Amy's feelings. The girl breathes, readying her knife, before she plunges it into the woman's skull, preventing her from reanimating. She pulls out her knife and stands up, sheathing it.

"That was the last of the walkers." Trace says, looking to the closet door. "They were going crazy over that door, wonder if that's where they were keeping food?"

"Who knows." Amy shakes her head. "Regardless, we should let the others know we--"

They stop, and hear a soft cry coming from the closet. They stare with wide eyes as the cry continues.

Trace and Amy look at each other, before they slowly approach the closet, and pull it open.

"O-Oh... oh my fucking god." Amy steps back, placing a hand over her mouth.

Trace stares in disbelief. "Is... is it really?"

"It's..." Amy almost smiles, tears welling in her eyes. "... it's a baby boy."

"No wonder the walkers were going crazy..." Trace says sadly. "That woman... she died protecting her kid."

Amy quickly reaches into the closet. Indeed, there is a baby boy, crying softly in a small crib. She picks him up and smiles, tears still in her eyes, as she gently holds him. "Hey, little guy... hey, it's okay. It's okay, it's okay... nobody's gonna hurt you, okay?"

The baby calms down slightly, Trace rubbing his head and back. "Look, on the crib... there's a name."

Amy checks the name engraved in the crib, and also sees it written on the chest of the baby's shirt. "Charles... that's a nice name."

"We can call him Charlie." Trace smiles. "We... we have to tell the others. We need to take care of this kid."

"Wait, we as in the group? Or..." Amy looks at him. "We as in... us?"

Trace simply smirks at her as he begins to walk out of the room. Amy follows, not pressing him further. She shields baby Charlie from having to see any of the walkers as they exit the cabin.

"Guys, we cleared out the walkers... but you won't believe what--" Trace stops, seeing the new elderly man. "Wait, who's this?"

"Trace, Amy, you're both okay!" Dwight sighs in relief, hugging them. "This is Larry, he owns the cabin... is that a baby?"

That gets the group's attention. Even Larry is wide-eyed. "Oh my god... Charles is... alive?"

"... wait, he's yours?" Trace asks. Amy is the only one to notice the hurt in his eyes. Did he want to adopt the kid?

Larry nods and smiles, holding out his hands. Amy carefully hands him over, as Larry cradles Charlie. "Charles... my god, you're okay... and what about his mother?"

Trace slowly looks down. "... we found Charlie in a closet upstairs. Turns out, his mother put him in there to save him. She died protecting him."

Larry's smile fades as he slowly looks down, hurt and loss starting to overtake his gaze. "... my darling Alisha. You... you saved your boy, but... you didn't deserve to go."

"We prevented her from turning." Amy says. "She... won't suffer. We promise."

Larry nods, before he looks up at the group. "I... I can't thank you enough. I may have lost my daughter, but... she died saving my grandson. And you saved me, saved him, and saved my home. How can I ever repay you?"

"Well... we were hoping this would be a place to stay." Ethan says. "Sorry, we don't want to intrude."

"Done." Larry looks over the group, eyeing each of them with a smile. "I don't have much, or I'm not sure what I have left... but you may stay here as long as you'd like."

"You mean that? We know you probably need time to grieve..." Carol says, eyeing the cabin.

"Nonsense... bad things should never happen to good people. And I can tell you're well worn." Larry nods. "I will help you all clear out the bodies. You don't need to stay on the road any longer."

"... really?" Ethan asks. "We can... call this our home?"

Larry smiles. "You saved my life, I'll save yours."

Ethan smiles slightly and he and Larry shake hands. The group, relieved, starts to head inside, ready to clear out the walkers and settle into the cabin.

"Log date end. Week 27 of notebook D."

A man on the treeline reads to himself, watching through binoculars from a distance before he smiles and writes something down on a notepad. Then he takes out a tape recorder and flicks it on.

"I never thought I'd ever find any more people-- living people, no less. It brings me joy to see people... but I need to continue to learn about them. I've found them today, and I've followed them for an hour. When it all comes down to it, when I know what they're like... I'll approach them. And then I'll make the offer."

He chuckles to himself, writing something else down in his book.

"Golly, the thought of helping others, making things better, finding hope... realizing what this is all for... what it all means for me, for them, for us as human beings... it gets me excited. David Tesner, signing out."

Deaths

 * Alisha (Alive, Confirmed Fate; Before Reanimation)

Trivia

 * First appearance of Larry.
 * First appearance of Charles.
 * First appearance of David Tesner.
 * First (and last) appearance of Alisha.
 * This episode is set two years after the previous episode, marking the first instance of a timeskip in the series.
 * The theme of this episode is spent 'reintroducing' the main cast, as they have now grown, and because this serves as the start of the next portion of the series.