Children (SWB)

"Children" is the fifth episode of Season 5 of Survivors We Become. It is also the 43rd episode overall.

Synopsis
Some news arrives to the survivors.

Plot
It’s night. The survivors are all inside aside from some guards scattered at different parts of the fence.

The doors to the cafeteria swing open, Rikki stepping out of the school. She walks past Asher as he flirts with Rebecca, rolling her eyes as she hears their voices. She continues on, making a beeline towards Jim.

The man was pacing as he kept his eyes on the road. Seeing Rikki approach, he stops where he is.

”Is Lorenzo out here?” Rikki asks.

”He went outside,” Jim points to the fence, Rikki following his gaze to the edge of the woods outside the fence. Jim turns his head back to Rikki, lowering his hand. ”Are you all as reckless as him?”

”Pardon?” Rikki turns to face him, raising an eyebrow at his words. ”We’re not reckless.”

”Your friend is. I told him not to go outside the fence and he ignored my orders. What does that sound like to you?” Jim tilts his head. "Cuz to me, that's reckless."

Rikki nods. ”I understand what you mean. Lorenzo is stealthy. He likes to stick to the shadows."

”Well get him back inside. We stay inside the fence for a reason.” Jim turns away from her.

Rikki begins to open the fence, leaving the school grounds and wandering into the woods. ”Lorenzo.” She whispers. ”Come back inside. Jim's bitching about it.” Rikki listens to the silence throughout the woods, her eyes scanning the area for her friend.

Suddenly something pushes into her lower back. ”How the tables have turned.”

She recognizes the voice instantly. ”Fuck you.” Rikki snaps unexpectedly only for the man to push the crossbow harder against her back.

”Don’t get smart,” the man barks. Rikki turns back to sneer at him without another word. “Smart girl. Take me to Spencer or I’ll--”

The man is then hit over the head with a tree branch, collapsing to the ground. Rikki turns around to look down at the unconscious man before turning to her savior. With a sigh of relief, Lorenzo drops the tree branch and turns to Rikki.

Rikki nods to him. “Thanks. Coulda came in sooner, but--”

Lorenzo turns towards the man on the ground. “Just help me get him inside, Rikki.”

As he begins to regain consciousness, Dewey quickly realizes he is tied to a chair. And he’s not alone.

“He’s waking up.” He hears Mike say to Spencer.

Dewey blinks, his eyes adjusting before he takes a look around. Spencer, Mike, Karen, Amber, Rikki, Chase, Cal, Clair, Rebecca, Cathy, Billie, Mitch, Lisandra and Kenny are all gathered around.

“So this is the fucker that killed Rochelle and Matthew.” Mitch mutters.

“He took Kenny and I a few weeks ago, too. And killed Nathan.” Lisandra crosses her arms with a glare.

A look of confusion crosses Billie’s face. With a nudge to Amber’s arm, he whispers, “Wait, who’s Nathan?”

Spencer steps forward. “Why are you here?”

“I was in the neighborhood, I thought I'd stop by for a housewarming party,” Dewey replies with a shrug, a smug look on his face.

Spencer just stares back at him. “You’re not funny.”

Dewey shrugs again. “I’m not trying to be.”

“Then answer my question. Why are you here?” Spencer asks.

Dewey sighs, looking around. “Is this all of you? Your entire group?”

Spencer takes a step forward. “Answer my-”

Dewey looks to Spencer. “Alright.” He says loudly with annoyance. “But I want to talk to you in particular.”

Spencer crosses his arms. “Why?”

Dewey looks over the faces of the others, making eye contact with every one of the survivors. “I’m not telling you until they leave.” Spencer opens his mouth to protest but Dewey turns his head to him next. “Trust me, you won’t want them to hear this.”

Spencer turns around. “Mike, Becca, Amber, Tobias, Billie and Karen, stay in here with me. Clair and Cathy, take everyone else outside.”

Everyone starts to leave aside from the seven survivors, but Rikki also joins them. “I’m staying, too.”

Spencer doesn’t argue with her, instead just nods and turns to face Dewey. “Alright. What do you want me to know?”

“The past few nights since you’ve been settling in, I’ve discovered that you’re already catching the eyes of a couple of communities.” Dewey says. “Don’t worry. The place I found is run by good people -- they’ll give you better treatment than the settlement did. I eavesdropped and apparently they are considering an alliance.”

Karen smiles at this, turning to Spencer. “I told you. There’s still good people out there.”

“Don’t start celebrating yet. They mentioned something about the dead starting to carry weapons, too.”

“The dead can’t even open doors, let alone carry a weapon.” Amber says.

Dewey nods. “That’s what I thought, too. Clearly these people saw something strange going on out there.”

Karen raises a hand to her cheek as she listens to them. “... dead that carry weapons…”

“Whatever it is, we can’t go involving ourselves. Not right now.” Tobias says to the group.

“These people could need help.” Amber says to her boyfriend.

“We just got here! Can’t we just take a few days to settle down?”

“I don’t like to settle. I need to have some adventure in my life.” Amber crosses her arms. “Karen, these people could be useful to us, right? Shouldn't we take a risk if it involves us getting help?”

The blond lady is lost in thought. “Karen!” Amber shouts, snapping the lady back to focus.

“Hm? Oh, yes… an alliance would be useful, especially since we're rebuilding.” Karen nods. She looks to Dewey. “You can take us there, right?”

“I can point you in the right direction. But there’s no way I’m sticking with you to find out what the deal with the dead army is.” Dewey says. He looks at Spencer. “I’m not risking my life for you or your group. I just wanted to give you a warning.”

Spencer scoffs. “You think you have a choice?” He turns away from the captive and faces the others. “Alright, who’s going to go?”

Karen raises a hand. “This is my camp. If anyone is speaking on behalf of this place, it's me. And I’d like to choose who comes with me, if you don’t mind.”

The boy nods. “Of course.”

“I’d like you, Rebecca and Rikki to come with me. I also want Jim, Tara and Morris to come.” Karen says.

Becca nods. “Sounds good. When should we leave?”

“As soon as possible. Tell everyone to get ready to go. We’ll meet by the truck.” Spencer replies.

“Hm… that’s a lot of protection for a murderer.” Marnie glares at the guards standing in front of the room holding Maria.

Persey tugs her, making her walk forward. “Stop provoking people.”

Trace turns his head, giving the two an apologetic glance. “Pick your battles wisely, Marnie. You’re trash talking will be the death of you.”

Marnie turns to her friends. “How can you two accept that a murderer is being protected? These people are batshit!”

“Watch your mouth.” A woman known as Margot Wicket says as she steps in front of them with two men standing behind her.

Marnie squints at her, confused. “And you are?”

“My name is Margot Wicket. And you’re scavengers.” The woman replies.

From behind her, a bearded man with a menacing stare speaks up. “You think you and your friends can just stroll on in and just make yourselves at home? And we’re hearing that you wanna overthrow us already.”

The woman turns to him, opening her mouth to say something but the other man starts stepping forward, Trace pushing the other two behind him defensively. “I’d like to see them try.”

“Cool it, you goons!” Marnie spits. She tries to push past Trace, but him and the other girl manage to hold the brunette back.

Margot holds her arms out. “Terrence, Harrison… shut up.” She lowers her arms, crossing them in front of her as she looks the trio up and down. “You think you can just come in here and take this place from us? We won’t go down without a fight.”

Marnie scoffs, the other two pushing her further down the hall. “You were just trapped by walkers until we came around! I’d love to see you fucking try and fight us! We’d rip you to shreds!”

“Will you shut it already?” Persey hisses at her best friend.

The three adults watch as the three teenagers finally turn and go the opposite direction. Terrence scoffs, turning around. “Fuckin’ kids.”

The other man follows Terrence, leaving Margot. She grumbles to herself before turning, following them and glaring at the back of their heads as she does. “I said I’d do the talking.”

Harrison shrugs, turning around. “Well you should have spoken louder. You're not very threatening.” He faces front again and continues strolling down the hall. “You and Maria both think that just because you say you’re in charge, it makes it so. Yet you don’t do anything to prove yourselves.”

The woman stops where she is, mouth left gaping at the man’s words. She can’t come up with a comeback. She knew he was right.

However, she also knew that she had a plan to change that.

“You all are being stupid children!” Cathy pushes past Spencer, Rebecca and Mike. The four of them are in one of the classrooms together.

“Cathy, we’re offering to go--” Rebecca says to her friend, but the older woman turns to Rebecca.

“I can’t even believe after how long we were separated from them, you’re so willing to split away again and again, Becca!” Cathy says to her before turning to the raven haired boy. “You, Amber, Billie, Kenny and Mitch... you’re the only kids I have left. You realize that, right? Out of the 60 or so students that survived that crash, there’s only five of you left. Wh-what happens if you die out there? What am I supposed to do? Countdown the days until you’re all gone?”

Spencer walks towards her. “Cathy…”

Mike steps forward. “They’re not children, Cathy. Not anymore.”

Cathy looks up at Mike with glassy eyes. “They’re our children, Mike.” The woman ducks her head down and rushes out of the classroom with a hand covering her face. The three remaining in the class look to one another.

Spencer looks down uncomfortably, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “Can you make sure she’s okay while we’re gone?”

Mike shrugs. “I can try. But, Spencer, she has a point… you’re our kids. After everything we’ve been through… please stay safe out there.” Mike says softly before going inside himself.

Spencer watches as the door shuts behind him, only breaking his focus when Rebecca speaks up. “Oh, my God…”

“What?” Spencer turns to her.

She gestures a hand to the area. “All of… that! This world has completely torn them apart and taken everything they had away from them… It’s just... heartbreaking to think about how Zelma and Connor were both the only family they had left.”

Spencer nods, turning back to the door. Both are silent as they get lost in their thoughts. “You have my back out there… right?” Spencer turns to her.

Rebecca’s lips curve into a soft smile, throwing an arm over his shoulder. “Always.” She says softly with a smile which he returns.

A large fire is lit in the center of a camp where large walls have been built. Several guard towers stand around the wall, at least one man or woman in each.

A man walks through the camp with a focused look on his face as he passes by all the huts. As he storms through the camp, a woman comes to his side and walks alongside him.

“Ingrid.” Jed says nonchalantly.

“Jed. How ya doin’ t’night?” Ingrid greets. Neither make eye contact, just walk with the other at their side.

“‘M the same as always. I’m still trying to get Murray’s permission to go form an alliance with that group, but he refuses to see me.” Jed replies.

Ingrid chuckles, looking up to her comrade. “You must be crazy to think he’ll agree to that alliance. He barely trusts his own wife.”

The man cracks a smile, looking down to Ingrid. “Well with that attitude…”

The two come to a stop in the path, turning to one another. “Murray’s a dick, Jed. Forget about those sorry bastards. They’ll probably end up roamer bait regardless.” They start walking again. “Besides, we still have to figure out what the runners got attacked by out there.”

“The kid said it was roamers with weapons. Axes, swords, spears…” Jed explains.

“I’ve never seen a walker hold a weapon, have you?” Ingrid turns to him. He shakes his head with his eyes staying forward. “Exactly. Something else is going on.”

“And what do you think it is?” Jed asks.

Ingrid shrugs. “I’m not sure that I want to find out.”

With the two fading back into silence as they walk. Suddenly, a whistle is heard from behind them and the two instantly bolt towards the front gate where a crowd has started forming. The two push through them all, trying to get inside the circle.

As they get to the front, they find a few guards standing over a mutilated corpse of a young boy. One guard, Pat, looks over to Jed. “It’s one of the boys from the supply run.”

Ingrid kneels down, turning him over to see the large cuts and slash marks in his body. “He was just laying here?”

Pat shakes his head. “I saw a roamer... or I think it was a roamer”

“How don’t you know what a roamer looks like by now?” Jed barks.

“It was carrying him!” Pat yells back.

Ingrid turns to look at Jed, who looks right back with the same worried expression on their faces. Something was very wrong.

Deaths

 * Unnamed supply runner.

Co-Stars

 * Carlos Aviles as Harrison
 * Andrew Lincoln as Jim Andrews
 * Jake Picking as Pat
 * Brenton Thwaits as Asher Romans
 * Gillian Vigman as Margot Wicket
 * Charles Walton as Terrence

Trivia

 * First appearance of Margot Wicket.
 * First appearance of Harrison.
 * First appearance of Terrence.
 * First appearance of Ingrid.
 * First appearance of Pat.