The Randy and Michael connection

[IamPaul]

I have a helping thought to the theory that Randy is 'helping out' Michael and the others. There is one other instance where a Zombie 'Helped Out' the Tower. At the end of season 1 when Tommy turns, he could have easily killed everyone in the hallway and tower. Instead he runs for the stairwell and dives into the flames, killing himself. It is mentioned a lot how smart Tommy is all throughout season 1. Maybe he was able to make choices as a zombie. Thoughts?

[Witch_Doctor]

Yep, he didn't aimlessly attack as a mindless zombie would. He at least evaded the survivors like the smart ones.

[LiamKerrington]

Tommy could have become a Smart One and could have made a decision in favor of those he "liked". But he could also have still been in the process of turning into a zombie leaving some of his conscious. We will never know.
But I like the idea of zombs who remain enough knowledge and/ or conscience to act in favor of humans - for whatever reason. And considering different discussions about Randy on this forum this is not too far fetched - not even regarding Tommy.

[Grognaurd]

An interesting idea about Tommy, but he also ripped down the fire door, putting the group in even greater danger. Maybe that was accidental, but his actions can also be thought of doing the maximum amount of damage. We just really do not know and that is the beauty of KC's writing.

[Hanniekuma]

Tommy could have become a Smart One and could have made a decision in favor of those he "liked". But he could also have still been in the process of turning into a zombie leaving some of his conscious. We will never know.
But I like the idea of zombs who remain enough knowledge and/ or conscience to act in favor of humans - for whatever reason. And considering different discussions about Randy on this forum this is not too far fetched - not even regarding Tommy.

I just recently finished Justin Cronin's The Passage and your comment reminded me of a particular idea expressed in the book that everyone goes " home" or to what is familiar. Also the "hope" that no matter what happens, there will be a part of us that remains human.

I can't wait to see how the Randy story unfolds!

[LiamKerrington]

I can't wait to see how the Randy story unfolds!

Yeah, me, too. Although I must admit that I did not catch up with the whole Randy-story as early as so many others here did. It gets more and more intersting; and the massive variety of different (tinfoil-)theories about him is amazing.

[Witch_Doctor]

I'm curious if Micheal will withhold info about the game spotter photo from CJ to prevent her from finding out about the dangerous chase he did. If so, then CJ might not see the video anytime soon. That would keep her from recognizing Randy and sending the investigation into full steam.

[Storm]

Well, what we know about Randy, Raydon Labs, and Michael's arm so far:
1. In chapter 3 Burt kills a smart zombie on the roof of his shop. This zombie turns out to have a level 3 security badge from Raydon Labs attached to it's belt.
2. CJ had a techie at her tower named Randy, who were sent to the waterworks when the water supplies were low, or something like that. This was told by Sean in chapter 27.
3. Michael broke his arm at the waterworks in chapter 9, and was off screen for about two chapters, untill he arrives at the arena with Saul and Burt.
4. In chapter Michael tells Puck that he was reaching through a doorway, but gets interrupted by Pegs before he can reveal more.
5. While he's asleep at the colony after his arm got fixed by Tanya, he, according to Hope in chapter 19, mentioned a guy named Randy a few times.
6. In chapter 23 Tanya's being dragged away by a zombie with long hair and beard. When Michael shoots at it it turns around, and he recognises him and shouts out the name "Randy".
7. In chapter 35, around the end, Victor spots a zombie with a brown shirt, long hair, and a beard. He's got markings on his face as well. We don't know whether or not this is randy, but to me it seems likely.
8. In chapter 39 Randy's seen on one of the spotters, carrying a bag containing to glass bottles. In the bottles is some kind of liquid with a strong, metalic smell. The letters Fo can be seen on the lable, along with the logo of Raydon Labs. Randy drops this bag when he's jumping the fence at the end of the alley that Michael's chasing him through.

If I've missed anything, just say so... I probably have. :D

[Grognaurd]

Nice, I would just add that Burt knows that the biter had to be pretty damn smart to get the level 3 ID. That is more background knowledge than just reading the name off of the tag.

[7oddisdead]

Aaand most everything we have heard about burts life pre outbreak has been weapons related....hmmm.

[Grognaurd]

That same scene he also says now that there are so few of us things are going to change or something like that. My gut feeling is he was talking about environmental impact. I gotta go back and check that out again some time soon.

[Witch_Doctor]

Also, Micheal seems willing to discuss his arm (At least to Puck) but is still evasive about Randy.

[Storm]

Nice, I would just add that Burt knows that the biter had to be pretty damn smart to get the level 3 ID. That is more background knowledge than just reading the name off of the tag.

That's true. :) Thanks for reminding me of that.


Also, Micheal seems willing to discuss his arm (At least to Puck) but is still evasive about Randy.


Yeah, those two seem to be kinda close. Michael listens to Puck when he ... tells him to get his brain cells together after chasing Randy. And as far as I know, Michael doesn't like nicknames, though Puck can freely call him Mike and what ever. I'm probably wrong on both, but still. :)

[Elisa]

That same scene he also says now that there are so few of us things are going to change or something like that. My gut feeling is he was talking about environmental impact. I gotta go back and check that out again some time soon.

I kinda agree after listening to the WA fancast and hearing the tinfoil ideas on the chemicals in the bottle and Tanya getting all jazzed about blood count or blood. I just think Randy might be trying to help the human survivors and give them away to beat the zeds. Maybe some kinda chemical can mess up the zed's blood. Okay sounding like a tin foil goof ball now.

[Duffusmonkey]

Nope! If Randy was trying to help them he wouldn't have led Michael into a trap, BUT the trap was so weak maybe he knew Michael would survive...

I want to believe that Ink worked at Raydon labs but with all of his tattoos I doubt that he would have passed a psychological examine to get top secret security clearance. I think that Raydon labs got permission to use Ink as a human ginnie pig...

I alos think that Ink is wearing a bullet proof vest. Often criminals are so hated that they are in danger of being killed by victims or their families, are put in bullet proof vest during transportation. I think Ink was wearing a suit because he just got out of court and he was wearing a bullet proof vest for his own protection when the outbreak occurred.

[Vlarken]

I alos think that Ink is wearing a bullet proof vest. Often criminals are so hated that they are in danger of being killed by victims or their families, are put in bullet proof vest during transportation. I think Ink was wearing a suit because he just got out of court and he was wearing a bullet proof vest for his own protection when the outbreak occurred.

I'm more along the lines of thinking that Ink is such an Überzombie that body shots, and even possibly headshots won't hurt him. If he has the knowledge to perform all these genetic modifications to make his soldiers so strong, why should he be unable to do the same to himself?

[Grognaurd]

Biters 2.0 are pretty near bullet proof and figured out how to rip open the Bradley's and the tanks. Ink might be bullet proof. Usually when convicts or suspects are give armor it is worn outside of the clothing isnt it? Maybe Ink had really high priced lawyers and he got special treatment. I do not know. I always felt Kelly was going to give us more info on Ink.

[Witch_Doctor]

Biters 2.0 are pretty near bullet proof and figured out how to rip open the Bradley's and the tanks. Ink might be bullet proof. Usually when convicts or suspects are give armor it is worn outside of the clothing isnt it? Maybe Ink had really high priced lawyers and he got special treatment. I do not know. I always felt Kelly was going to give us more info on Ink.

Same here with Kelly. I was expecting the Small-World aspect of the show to play up a possible connection to Ink and provide some insight. I also wonder about the zombie physique. What makes them physically different? They seem stronger and faster in general, and the special ones have greater abilities. I almost forgot about this in light of the strength of the inklings.

Randy is shown to have heightened strength and speed. When Tanya does her experiments I am always surprised that the brain is never discussed. After all, they become brutish berserks. It seems that their change in physical strength is secondary in relevance to what cognitive change that they under go. I wonder at times if the change in their brains allows them to push past the psychological barriers to physical limitations.

[Witch_Doctor]

I'm still at a lost as to how this could have been a trap.
Randy is spotted on a camera photo.
Michael & Puck track him down an ally.
They give chase.
Randy drops the bag and escapes.
Puck is trapped behind the fence and is attacked by zombies.

My questions are...
Wouldn't Randy have to know about the cameras, what they are and when they were going to be checked?
If the soldiers were on a schedule then wouldn't that schedule have been thrown off by the discovery of the behemoth and subsequent detour to to the attack on the Lady in Redshirt?
This seems to be CJ level planning. Remember, these zombies are still messed up in the head. Are they smart and evil or clever brain damaged cannibals?

What seems to be even more important, yet over looked by Michael, is that they found him in the ally. Was that his destination? What is it about the ally that's important? Was is his destination? A short cut? Or perhaps, following the trap scenario, did he dodge into there because he new he was being followed?

[7oddisdead]

I'm still at a lost as to how this could have been a trap.
Randy is spotted on a camera photo.
Michael & Puck track him down an ally.
They give chase.
Randy drops the bag and escapes.
Puck is trapped behind the fence and is attacked by zombies.

My questions are...
Wouldn't Randy have to know about the cameras, what they are and when they were going to be checked?
If the soldiers were on a schedule then wouldn't that schedule have been thrown off by the discovery of the behemoth and subsequent detour to to the attack on the Lady in Redshirt?
This seems to be CJ level planning. Remember, these zombies are still messed up in the head. Are they smart and evil or clever brain damaged cannibals?

What seems to be even more important, yet over looked by Michael, is that they found him in the ally. Was that his destination? What is it about the ally that's important? Was is his destination? A short cut? Or perhaps, following the trap scenario, did he dodge into there because he new he was being followed?

it seems highly unlikely that Randy could know/should know he was being followed. So its probly the case.

keep in mind ink could recognize/use the keypad. I'm pretty sure random cameras in boxes are still random cameras....in boxes...its not THAT far from possible.

who the hell knows, hopefully we find out in about 10 hours.

[Witch_Doctor]

it seems highly unlikely that Randy could know/should know he was being followed. So its probly the case.

keep in mind ink could recognize/use the keypad. I'm pretty sure random cameras in boxes are still random cameras....in boxes...its not THAT far from possible.

who the hell knows, hopefully we find out in about 10 hours.

It reminds me of the comment that Lizzy made about Ink never turning to face the cameras like he knew he was being watched when he was in the Tower's lobby. (Interestingly enough, it also seemed like Snatch & Latch were casing the lobby too.)

8 more hours.

[Storm]

They seem stronger and faster in general, and the special ones have greater abilities. I almost forgot about this in light of the strength of the inklings.

Randy is shown to have heightened strength and speed.
Which is also the reason I think he got turned by a Little one. We know they were around at that time since Angel and Riley hear one at the arena while hiding in the pile of bodies. That'd probably explain why he's also still intelligent. It still doesn't explain how the Little ones came to be, though. :)

[scbubba]

It reminds me of the comment that Lizzy made about Ink never turning to face the cameras like he knew he was being watched when he was in the Tower's lobby. (Interestingly enough, it also seemed like Snatch & Latch were casing the lobby too.)

8 more hours.

I think that Ink and Randy, or Randy alone if they are not a team, had many months to observe Team Human and what they are doing. And if it's CJ's planning, then it's probably got a pretty regular pattern of which days and which cameras are handled. So, assuming we have some smarts in some of dem zombie heads, it isn't to far afield to think Randy set something up and was waiting for them to hit that area for cameras.

Listening to the episode yet again, I think the truck with Jay at the helm gets attacked at the same time that Michael is trying to chase Randy and Puck is fighting of some zombies too. Seems to much for coincidence for me. Although I guess it could be plausible that Randy had a group of regulars that were "his" and serendipity (and some work from the author) put Michael and co at the very right place at the very right time...

5 more hours. :yay:

[Grognaurd]

it seems highly unlikely that Randy could know/should know he was being followed. So its probly the case.

keep in mind ink could recognize/use the keypad. I'm pretty sure random cameras in boxes are still random cameras....in boxes...its not THAT far from possible.

who the hell knows, hopefully we find out in about 10 hours.

How does Michael know to stop at that alley? Fifteen minutes is a hell of a head start in an urban maze. Michael seems to smell the funk a lot better than Puck. There does seem to be a difference between biters 1.0 and 2.0. Puck has had limited "exposure" to biters 1.0

Ink: strange. He had trouble with the keypad in season 1. Seems to be a cognitive function and dexterity. In season 2, he catches an arrow, big upgrade. In Season 3, he opens the gate to the colony and I bet that it is much more complicated than a cheezy number pad. Again, a significant upgrade.

[Witch_Doctor]

Listening to the episode yet again, I think the truck with Jay at the helm gets attacked at the same time that Michael is trying to chase Randy and Puck is fighting of some zombies too. Seems to much for coincidence for me. Although I guess it could be plausible that Randy had a group of regulars that were "his" and serendipity (and some work from the author) put Michael and co at the very right place at the very right time...

5 more hours. :yay:

I don't think the truck was attacked. It sounds like Randy appeared from the ally and the crew fired at him. Someone tells Micheal that 'he went that way' and he was moving really fast.

[scbubba]

I don't think the truck was attacked. It sounds like Randy appeared from the ally and the crew fired at him. Someone tells Micheal that 'he went that way' and he was moving really fast.

I thought I heard the M-2 firing and the guys in the truck yelling "Contact!" as Michael was coming back around. Maybe they were firing at Randy as he whizzed by... Not sure.

[scbubba]

How does Michael know to stop at that alley? Fifteen minutes is a hell of a head start in an urban maze. Michael seems to smell the funk a lot better than Puck. There does seem to be a difference between biters 1.0 and 2.0. Puck has had limited "exposure" to biters 1.0

Ink: strange. He had trouble with the keypad in season 1. Seems to be a cognitive function and dexterity. In season 2, he catches an arrow, big upgrade. In Season 3, he opens the gate to the colony and I bet that it is much more complicated than a cheezy number pad. Again, a significant upgrade.

This is assuming that those are all the same individual. Perhaps they are 2 or more very similar beings with different abilities. The Little Ones were only differentiated by the characters thanks to the numbers (well, except to old One Arm of course). We assume they all had identical abilities (physical or mental) but we don't really know.

Kc has been playing this one close to the vest and has, IIRC, explicitly avoided identifying Pinstripe suit guy in the tower, rooftop watcher guy from the ambush in the rain, Dunbar attacker guy, Arena guy, Hospital arrow catcher guy, and Colony gate opening guy as being one in the same. And the several characters that have seen him have used different descriptions of him with some common references.

We the listeners and theorizers have put them all into the same persona. But who knows.....

[Storm]

This is assuming that those are all the same individual. Perhaps they are 2 or more very similar beings with different abilities. The Little Ones were only differentiated by the characters thanks to the numbers (well, except to old One Arm of course). We assume they all had identical abilities (physical or mental) but we don't really know.

Kc has been playing this one close to the vest and has, IIRC, explicitly avoided identifying Pinstripe suit guy in the tower, rooftop watcher guy from the ambush in the rain, Dunbar attacker guy, Arena guy, Hospital arrow catcher guy, and Colony gate opening guy as being one in the same. And the several characters that have seen him have used different descriptions of him with some common references.

We the listeners and theorizers have put them all into the same persona. But who knows.....

Well, even the characters themselves seem to think of him as one and the same, at least it sounds like that at the end of S3.
Besides, when he opens the gate Saul spots him and refers to him as something like "the one in the pinstribed suit with the markings on his face"... Could this be Kc's way of telling us that TOWTM and the fucker in the suit are the same person since he seem to mix two of his names here?

[scbubba]

Well, even the characters themselves seem to think of him as one and the same, at least it sounds like that at the end of S3.
Besides, when he opens the gate Saul spots him and refers to him as something like "the one in the pinstribed suit with the markings on his face"... Could this be Kc's way of telling us that TOWTM and the fucker in the suit are the same person since he seem to mix two of his names here?

It's definitely a possibility that this is all one individual and that's Kc saying it. But it's still a vague area. I feel like the pinstriped suit guy that was in the Tower seemed different from the guy who attacked Dunbar and the guy in the Hospital. Almost like the Tower guy was an early attempt at "making" a special zombie that has mental capabilities beyond the other specials of the time (i.e., behemoths, runners, and jumpers).

[Footbutt]

When Michael recalls the incident involving Tanya and Randy, he is quoted as this: <br />
<br />
&quot;They were massed together and moved as one, in a way we had never seen before. In the lead of all of them,...

[Witch_Doctor]

I'm not sure if this matters to anyone on this thread, but I seem to remember a few people wondering how Burt knew to find Michael at the water works. As it turns out, Michael had access to a CB radio. In Chapter 12/1 when Micheal says that he had the radio set to a channel other than 18, he backs it up by saying it is the channel he spoke to Saul on and the same channel he used to call Burt to get him at the water works.

Well, for me at least, the mystery is solved. Not sure if it was info anyone else was missing.

OK, bye

[kent17]

I'm not sure if this matters to anyone on this thread, but I seem to remember a few people wondering how Burt knew to find Michael at the water works. As it turns out, Michael had access to a CB radio. In Chapter 12/1 when Micheal says that he had the radio set to a channel other than 18, he backs it up by saying it is the channel he spoke to Saul on and the same channel he used to call Burt to get him at the water works.

Well, for me at least, the mystery is solved. Not sure if it was info anyone else was missing.


I had missed/forgotten and always wondered how he got out. Now we just need to know what Burt found when he got there? ...

Lets hope everyone can stop interrupting Michael when he tells us...:mad: or maybe Randy can tell us, I don't care I just want to know

And besides we should hear the zombies side of the story "I was just out looking for some lunch when a these people started freaking out and shooting at me. What was I supposed to do? Zombies have to eat too you know"