Horde Mentality (LTF)

"Horde Mentality" is the eighth episode of the second season of Xx_Diictodon_xX's Live to Fight, and the fourteenth episode of the series overall. It aired December 1st, 2017.

Summary
Surrounded on both sides by the Living and the dead, Fisher sees no escape in sight. Not ready to admit defeat, he attempts to retreat with everybody he can before it’s too late, while Evan and Brianna must search for supplies to keep the college up and running.

Plot Synopsis
Fletcher begins reading the names, starting with Wyatt Lee, Douglas, and a civilian named Amelia. Douglas’ family cry out for him as he steps forward. Fisher glances at Lee, who whispers to him to find a way to detonate the bomb. Fisher says that he is part of the resistance, and his name will be called shortly. Lee says that he’d better find a way to do it, before being forced forward and to get on his knees.

Sean, standing nearby, overhears the conversation and tells Fisher that his daughter can do it, because she has never been to a meeting, as Fletcher calls out the names Walter, Caitlin King, and Clayton. King nervously glances at Fisher, and Fisher nods at her, signaling that he’s got it under control. King leaves Arthur’s side, following the civilian and the soldier as they walk to the center of the crowd.

Fisher turns back to Sean, telling him that he has to leave and tell Autumn quickly before his name is called. Sean nods, running off quickly. Fletcher calls out Isaiah, Sandy, and then Jackson Fisher. Fisher looks up at the mention of his name, and Fletcher turns to him, a smile forming on his face.

Fisher walks forward, kneeling next to Douglas, who turns to Fisher, fear plastered on his face. Fisher assures him that his family won’t be named, because they never attended a meeting, but Douglas isn’t worried about that. Douglas tells him that he’s scared that they’ll see him get killed.

Meanwhile, Sean quickly finds Autumn standing at the outskirts of the crowd. He quickly tells her about the bomb, including where it is and how long she’ll have to wait once she sets it; 3 minutes. Autumn asks if he’ll be dead by then, but Sean tells her that if she hurries, nobody will be. Autumn nods, running along.

The bomb turns out to be next to the front gates. She quickly sets it, following her father’s instructions, as she notices a horde of walkers approaching in the distance. She steps back, knowing that there’s nothing she can do to reverse the bomb, so she runs back. By this point, her father and two soldiers are now in the line of people waiting to be executed. Her and her father’s eyes meet and she nods, indicating that she’s set it.

Sean seems visibly relieved as the final two names are called; Daniel and Desmond Collins. Then Fletcher menacingly circles the line for a moment, looking at his victims, before stopping in front of Douglas. He tells him that he saw him with a family just a day ago; a wife and a son.

Douglas tells him unconvincingly that she isn’t his wife. Fletcher scoffs, saying that it doesn’t matter; he wants them to kneel next to Douglas so he can kill them as well. Douglas is shocked, unable to respond as Fletcher commands Chapman to drag up the two of them. As Chapman approaches them, however, Samantha steps in front of them, telling him he can’t. Chapman turns and asks if she’s Douglas’ daughter, and when she doesn’t respond, he just drags the three of them up and sits them down.

Fletcher raises his pistol, telling the group that he’s ready to begin. He takes one glance at Lee before telling him that he’s first, and raises the gun and shoots him in the head. Some of the civilians in line scream, and Fletcher frustratedly reminds them that they’re the ones that got themselves in the position they’re in in the first place.

Standing in the crowd are Cabrera, Troy, and Carmen. Carmen is in complete shock, and Troy asks what what the hell is going on. Cabrera says he had no idea he would come back to this, and he steps away, telling them that it’s better not to watch it.

Troy angrily asks if there’s anything he can do to stop it, and Cabrera tells him to look around; Fletcher would kill him in an instant, and almost every soldier in the crowd supports him. Cabrera then turns back and watches as Fletcher kills the civilian to the right of the line. Troy gulps, holding Carmen close to him, before reluctantly following Cabrera away.

Fletcher continues down the line, killing a soldier and a civilian, before reaching Gavin, the rightmost of the Lloyd-Harris family. He cringes, telling Douglas that he wishes that the first person in his family that he kills isn’t his child, but he continues to say that “shit is what shit is; pretty damn depressing.” He then proceeds to shoot the child.

Douglas suddenly jumps up, bowling into the soldier as he roars out in grief. Fletcher is caught off guard for a moment as he falls over. The gun falls from his hands as he struggles to get the stronger man off of him, but it’s soon that he has the upper hand, sitting on top of Douglas as he starts punching him in the face. After he’s satisfied, he stands up, grabs the gun, and aims it at him.

Samantha roars out for him to stop, and he turns to her with a smile, telling her that it has to be done. She sobs uncontrollably as he approaches her and bends down to eye level with her crouched form. He reassures her that he will save her for last, before she suddenly spits in his face. He jumps back, wiping it away, before glaring at her. “Fine, we’ll have it your way,” he hisses, aiming the gun back at Douglas.

Before he can shoot, through, the bomb next to the gate goes off.

Elsewhere, Evan sits on the curb next to the college. He stands up as a walker approaches him, and he quickly stabs it. He turns as he hears someone approaching to see Brianna a few feet away. She takes a seat on the curb and he sits down next to her.

She asks him if he thinks Mark, Samantha, Troy, and Carmen have made it to the military base yet, and he says that they should have by now. Brianna nods, then tells him that she’s going out for some supplies if he wants to come with. He says that he doesn’t see why not, so the two quickly head inside to get ready, where they find Liam and Robin eating pancakes for breakfast, as Beth makes more.

Brianna tells them that they’re going out on a supply run as Evan grabs what they need, and Beth tells her it’s about time, for they are running out of pancake mix. Robin sarcastically says, mouth full of food, that it’s the end of the world because of that, and Liam and her begin laughing.

Beth rolls her eyes, and soon Evan and Brianna are ready to go. Brianna enlists Liam to help them move a car from the entrance of the parking lot. Once done, Brianna and Evan leave, helping Liam move the car back in place beforehand.

At the base, Fletcher glances around, yelling at soldiers to figure out what happened. His soldiers run around, and for a moment it’s chaos. Fisher and King’s eyes connect for a moment, before the two nod in understanding. Suddenly, the two are on their feet, Fisher attacking Fletcher as King helps the civilians and traumatized soldiers to their feet. Samantha refuses her help, though, as she is still staring blankly at the limp body of Gavin.

Adele, on her hands and knees, crawls to her dead son and holds him in her arms. A beaten up Douglas stands by her as she weeps. Sean, meanwhile, runs to Autumn, assuring that she’s safe. She also stares at Gavin’s limp body, shocked that Fletcher would go so far as to murder a child. She tells him this, and Sean assures her that after today, Fletcher will be dead.

Fisher beats Fletcher to the ground, but he fights back. The two scrabble on the ground as they try to gain the upper hand in their fist-fight, but the two momentarily stop as a soldier yells out that there are walkers seeping in through the gates, cracked open due to the bomb. Fletcher takes this moment to gain the advantage, rolling over so he’s above Fisher and begins punching him.

Meanwhile, Cabrera, Troy, and Carmen reach the soldier’s housing just as they notice the walkers, which are already at the housing. One grabs a soldier as he runs past, biting into his neck. The three take one look before turning and going back. Before they even make another yard, somebody suddenly grabs Cabrera and turns him around. It turns out to be Jordan.

He yells at Cabrera to tell him what Mark told him when they first met. Cabrera asks if he seriously wants to go over this right now, and Jordan pulls out a gun and aims it at Cabrera. Troy and Carmen can only stand by as Jordan quickly takes out the gun in Cabrera’s holster and throwing it aside before he can grab it.

Jordan says for him to tell him the truth, so Cabrera does, saying that Mark told him that Jordan had killed the soldier and the student. Jordan seems shaky as he presses the gun to Cabrera’s forehead, and the soldier notices this. He tells him that he doesn’t have to do this; that it doesn’t matter that he killed the two, but Jordan says that it does.

Cabrera stares back at Jordan, waiting for him to pull the trigger, before suddenly reaching out and grabbing the gun from Jordan’s hands. Jordan seems surprised for a moment, before regaining his senses and jumping for the gun on the ground. Cabrera kicks it away, stepping on Jordan’s back to keep him on the ground.

The walkers are almost upon them, so Cabrera tells him that he needs to be sure he can trust him. Jordan begins sobbing, telling Cabrera that he didn’t mean to kill them; he was scared and didn’t know what to do. Cabrera says that he believes him, but he only slightly lowers the gun. He asks Jordan if he can be trusted, and Jordan slowly nods, getting up to his knees.

“Then come on,” Cabrera says as he pulls Jordan up, and they begin running back to the center of the base, the walkers very close behind.

Elsewhere, Brianna and Evan walk down the street, still talking, this time about their lives before the outbreak, before they come across a truck. The lights are on and the door is open, but it seems nobody is inside. They approach it, looking inside. Evan starts grabbing what’s in it, but Brianna tells him to stop, saying that somebody could be nearby.

As she says this, somebody walks out of the nearest building, slinging a backpack off of his shoulders, and stops when he sees the two of them. He backs away slowly, seeing their guns, but Brianna lowers hers to the ground, assuring him that they’re trustworthy, and telling Evan to do the same.

The man approaches the two of them, still seeming wary. He puts his backpack in his truck, asking if they’re in a relationship, and the two glance at each other. After a moment, they both say no. The man then asks where they’re from, and Evan tells him truthfully; the college. Brianna tells him that they have room, if he wants to go there. The man glances at the two of them, considering this, before telling he’d like to see it first.

The two don’t see why not, and Brianna asks if he can give them a ride. After he says yes, the three get in and head off toward the college.

Meanwhile, at the base, Fletcher continues to punch Fisher, before somebody suddenly kicks him off and shoots him in the stomach. He gasps in pain and Fisher looks up to see Samantha glaring with deep anger at Fletcher, a gun clutched in her hands. Douglas looks up from where he sits next to Adele and is shocked when he sees what Samantha has done.

Fisher backs away, now noticing the walkers are very close. Turning back Douglas, he tells him that they need to get out of there while they still can. Douglas nods, grabbing Samantha, but she pulls away from him, gun still aimed at Fletcher. He stares back up at her, a humored look on his face, though clouded by the pain. He tells her that she wouldn’t kill him. She shakes her head. “You just killed my brother, asshole,” she hisses at him, “There’s no way in hell that I’m not shooting you.”

Fletcher only stares back up at her, unable to respond. Douglas begs his daughter to leave him, but Samantha shakes her head, counting down from three under her breath before she shoots him. She backs away, lowering the gun so her father can grab it and embrace her. She starts crying into her father’s shoulder, before Fisher has to ruin the moment by forcing them to leave.

Adele refuses to leave her dead son’s body, so Douglas picks him up and the four are quickly off. Fisher grabs King as he passes her, and she encourages a few civilians and the remaining soldiers to follow her, and Arthur sticks to her side like glue.

Fisher says that they need to get to the transport vehicles so they can drive out. On the way there, they meet up with Sean and Autumn, and then shortly Cabrera, Troy, Carmen, and Jordan.

As they reach the vehicles, Autumn quickly announces that Owen is missing. Sean tells her that he doesn’t matter. Autumn stares at her father as he gets in a vehicle, before looking out at the vast horde of walkers. She sees many people being eaten and bitten by the walkers, and a few soldiers shooting at them, including Chapman, who is soon bitten by one that gets too close.

She then notices Owen out of the corner of her eyes as he dashes for the vehicles. She calls out for him, raising her hands in the air. He seems not to notice her, and keeps running. Suddenly, a walker crawling across the ground grabs onto him and he falls to the ground. She screams, starting to run to him.

Owen is bitten in the ankle by the walker as he struggles to escape, and he soon gets out of the walker’s grip and gets to his feet, limping toward the vehicles now.

Sean stops Autumn by grabbing her, telling her that they need to leave. Everybody else is in a vehicle, and they need to get in as well. Autumn refuses, but her father drags her to a vehicle and she is forced to get in. She looks out of the back of the vehicle as Owen suddenly trips because of his bitten ankle. Autumn watches in horror as the first walker falls on him, and then the second, and their eyes connect just as they start ripping into him.

She looks away as the cars begin pulling off and she starts sobbing. Her father tries to comfort her, but she pushes him away, mad at him because he held her back when she could have saved him. Sean frowns, pulling away from her, and stays silent from then on.

At the front of the convoy, including five cars, are Fisher, Cabrera, Troy, and Carmen. Cabrera jokes that “I guess we aren’t in the US Army any longer.” Fisher turns to him and smiles slightly, before looking back at the road. Troy gets the soldiers’ attention and tells them that they came from the college, along with Mark and Samantha. Fisher asks if there’s anybody else there, and Troy says that they had to leave a few behind to get Jordan.

Fisher nods, saying that a few more people that he knows could be there. Troy lists off the names, and Fisher says he recognizes Evan. Cabrera suggests they go there, and Fisher agrees.

Meanwhile, Brianna, Evan, and the man, who introduces himself as Alex, pull up to the college. Brianna and Evan get out to move the car at the entrance, and once Alex has driven the car inside, they close it. Alex gets out, and after grabbing some stuff from his car, the three head inside. They’re greeted by Liam, Robin, and Beth, who notice Alex immediately.

Alex looks around at what the five have built, before saying that he’d like to stay there.

Other Cast

 * Daniel
 * Beth
 * Robin
 * Mason English
 * Desmond Collins
 * Alex
 * Walter
 * Clayton
 * Sandy
 * Amelia
 * Isaiah
 * Estelle Bailey

Deaths

 * Wyatt Lee
 * Walter
 * Estelle Bailey
 * Isaiah
 * Gavin Lloyd-Harris
 * Chapman (Alive)
 * Owen Stephens (Alive)

Trivia
TBA