Chapter 48 - WARNING SPOILERS FROM THE FINALE!

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Originally Posted by awkwardalex

Oh don't give me that I've been busy all season and not here, but I still LOVE to give you hell. You can always stay. Who else will argue that she killed Angel with kindness?

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Pfft. "Busy," she says. You only came back for the finale! But at least you're back. :love:

Despite me not knowing how to download, the ending was great.

Left me with a warm fuzzy feeling.

KC, the Cast and Crew...y'all are amazing.

I eagerly look forward to Tales of We're Alive. Will it still be out of this site?

It was tough watching the entire cast on stage listen to it. Especially Shirley(Tanya). Was a rough scene for everyone to hear Michael tell her what happened.

Hello out there,

wow, what an effort, I really appreciate what the whole crew of We're Alive has achieved over the years. It was a pleasure to listen to the podcast. If I am entitled to describe my view on the final - which was a roller-caster ride pretty much indeed - I would like to emphasize that its of course very subjective.

In my opinion, delivered a wonderful conclusion for the most part. The death of Saul was one of these very moments of WA. It had this momentum when the odds shifted into a more and more unfavorable direction for all of the three: Michael, Victor and "late" but not last Saul. What a scene! What a fine example of writing and extraordinary writing skills. Remarkably done.

That said, I must state that I did not like the whole Dunbar arc, I even disliked it. To put it bluntly, I guess I will never become a fan of CJ. To me, the scene reminded - please be kind to me! - of the typical Star Trek Voyager episode of the week - the shields are down, the ship is shot to pieces but think, think, think! (I am exaggerating) and with the help of a Wal-Mart arsenal in reach of CJ - it felt unfortunately rather anti-climatic.

Scratch and both of her muscle buddies seemed to be surrounded by an aura of incompetence. I think they would have even failed in killing the Waltons in this scene. That was all you could do, Scratch, really? When I listened to the final in bed yesterday, it never occurred to me that Scratch would even be able to harm anyone.

With leads me to another thing. Frankly, Scratch had to die. Most of us knew it, though some tried to deny it until the very end. Well, I would have preferred Scratch to have died from the injuries caused by falling. A clear slate death. It happens. At least someone could have simply shot her for Christ's sake. What Burt did was just wrong. It just felt as watching the Dutch film The Vanishing for the second time - which was pure horror as well. And everybody else of the group lived happily ever after? Hm.

In contrast to this, I really enjoyed the epilogue as hell. It was again top notch storytelling. The fact that Mr Whiskers and Riley's liver survived that long was very surprising indeed. :)
So, what is to say in the end? Damn, I liked to waste any minute of my life by listening to the show - and I would do it again, again, again...

Now, please do not stone me to death. :)

(Although I do not agree with some things, you have written, YABC, I hit "like" for your posting, 'cause it is a seemingly thought-through opinion ...)

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Originally Posted by LiamKerrington

(Although I do not agree with some things, you have written, YABC, I hit "like" for your posting, 'cause it is a seemingly thought-through opinion ...)

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We're Alive would not be the show we like most if there had not been divergent opinions on what happens in each and every episode. But the way, pal, I "liked" you, too. You did not see that coming, right?

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Originally Posted by YetAnotherBloodyCheek

We're Alive would not be the show we like most if there would be not divergent opinions on what happens in each and every episode. But the way, pal, I "liked" you, too. You did not see that coming, right?

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Exactly. :D

Roughly 45 hours of Awesome (not including intros, extros, commercials)! That's We're Alive!!!!!!!!

BTW, will we get our Skittles-Tale?

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Originally Posted by TacticalJHP

I eagerly look forward to Tales of We're Alive. Will it still be out of this site?

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Yes, they'll be here, but Tales of We're Alive will be sold and not free. It'll be cheap, and WA - A story of survival will always be free as a podcast, unless some weird mega-contract requires us to pull it.

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Originally Posted by Snake Liquid

Another thought, I would have liked to see at least some recognition of Michael for saving the Colony and all the people living there. Without him none of that would exist. He was the one that went on the hunt for information and after Ink. CJ wasn't even originally going to let him but he was persistent to the point of almost going alone before she relented. If he hadn't, Ink would have kept breeding new creatures and eventually everyone would be dead or in miserable seclusion. His plan with KODI and taking the fight to Ink is what allowed this new world to grow and build.

No love for the guy! Gahhhh! I love ya Michael!

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That's a good question to ask in the Q and A. The shortest answer: Michael turned down whatever leadership role offered.

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Originally Posted by clem131

Technical note: Michael speaking to Tanya on the phone after Saul dies: it is very difficult to listen to. Is it supposed to be that low in volume? Like we are overhearing over the phone? Because the first part of the conversation with CJ we can hear just fine.

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It's very intentional. You get to have a glimpse of the conversation, but not all of it. It's almost a private moment, and we take the perspective of the people around Tanya and Michael, and not them directly.

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Originally Posted by YetAnotherBloodyCheek

That said, I must state that I did not like the whole Dunbar arc, I even disliked it. To put it bluntly, I guess I will never become a fan of CJ. To me, the scene reminded - please be kind to me! - of the typical Star Trek Voyager episode of the week - the shields are down, the ship is shot to pieces but think, think, think! (I am exaggerating) and with the help of a Wal-Mart arsenal in reach of CJ - it felt unfortunately rather anti-climatic.

Scratch and both of her muscle buddies seemed to be surrounded by an aura of incompetence. I think they would have even failed in killing the Waltons in this scene. That was all you could do, Scratch, really? When I listened to the final in bed yesterday, it never occurred to me that Scratch would even be able to harm anyone.
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Now, please do not stone me to death. :)

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Naw, no stones needed. I love how everyone can express freely what they feel about the finale.


In all seriousness, I'm really looking forward to the Q and A next Tuesday where you can ask these questions that are lingering. I'm trying not to answer them here right now just for that purpose.

It is plain obvious but I would like to point out that: WA's finale was so much more fulfilling than the final episode of LOST.

- One final question for Kc: Was Victor able to retrieve the missing DVD from Buffy The Vampire Slayer in the period of 14 years?

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Originally Posted by YetAnotherBloodyCheek

It is plain obvious but I would like to point out that: WA's finale was so much more fulfilling than the final episode of LOST.

- One final question for Kc: Was Victor able to retrieve the missing DVD from Buffy The Vampire Slayer in the period of 14 years?

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That's not saying much... ;)

Oh, and the DVD has been found. There's a DVD library at the colony. They have 3 copies.

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Originally Posted by Kc

That's not saying much... ;)

Oh, and the DVD has been found. There's a DVD library at the colony. They have 3 copies.

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Yes, finally! Thank you. :)

Last past for today goes out to Burt. (I intentionally will misquote Dirty Dancing here)

Burt, nobody puts Scratch in a coffin.

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Originally Posted by Kc

That's not saying much... ;)

Oh, and the DVD has been found. There's a DVD library at the colony. They have 3 copies.

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So did they "accidentally" lost the last eps. I can see Vic doing that :D

Who makes the code A1, B2??? Who does that?!?!? Only someone that is trying to help both teams thats who!!!!

Never trust CJ!!! Rules to live by!!!!

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Originally Posted by Gnex

Who makes the code A1, B2??? Who does that?!?!? Only someone that is trying to help both teams thats who!!!!

Never trust CJ!!! Rules to live by!!!!

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http://youtu.be/a6iW-8xPw3k

I see so much anti-CJness going around. Come on guys! Her drawback was always execution. She executed her plan to get Pegs out of the building perfectly. It's that stinkin' Pegs who screwed up and didn't cover her face right!

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Originally Posted by EatMyShorts

Burt seems like the kind of guy to keep quiet about what he did, so no one else might know about it.

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Was thinking that might be it too, and was going to write it, but i deleted it for some reason......

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Originally Posted by Kc

That's not saying much... ;)

Oh, and the DVD has been found. There's a DVD library at the colony. They have 3 copies.

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Haha, glad that's been cleared up.

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Originally Posted by Gnex

Who makes the code A1, B2??? Who does that?!?!? Only someone that is trying to help both teams thats who!!!!

Never trust CJ!!! Rules to live by!!!!

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*facepalm* oh Gnex......

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Originally Posted by Gnex

Who makes the code A1, B2??? Who does that?!?!? Only someone that is trying to help both teams thats who!!!!

Never trust CJ!!! Rules to live by!!!!

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A1,B2 Wow, it seem CJ has sunken your battleship.

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Originally Posted by UndeadSweeper

A1,B2 Wow, it seem CJ has sunken your battleship.

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First thought when she told Kelly the combination:

Attachment 3202

If I recall correctly, 1A2B is one of the self destruct codes for the enterprise in the original Star Trek series. i doubt this was a reference to it, but that's where my mind immediately went.

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Originally Posted by Osiris

No use now. All but one of mine turned out to be totally wrong. Hell of an ending though.

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I kind of count your prediction that Scratch survives to the end to be correct. She made it past the final battle. Good Job, Sir.

OK, so I didn't change this at all. :britt:

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Originally Posted by Witch_Doctor

Going through the old chapters and editing my predictions so I would have been right all along.

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Originally Posted by Witch_Doctor

Since the first clear images of Ink were posted, we have been captivated by the symbols. Voodoo, Chemical, Egyptian, Chinese, Alchemy, Old Norse,... the list goes on. We have speculated and debated about their meanings, their origins and their purpose in the story. Is Ink an occultist, a mad scientist or some other type of mystical puppet master? Yet there were scores of questions and ideas that seemed to be in conflict with each other. But two elements go hand & hand, they are inseparable; Ink and the Symbols. Ink get's his name by way of the symbols covering his skin. The symbols seemed to be the secret to his plans. But what are his plans?

Ever since it was revealed that Ink was using symbols to manipulate the zombies, we have debated how could it be that zombies could be controlled by them. Is there a zombie language? Are these zombie-glyphs? How can they understand different symbols from a cross section of cultures from a long span of history? How can the zombies understand them and humans can't? Is there something mystical going on? Surely, looking at an ancient rune, a Voodoo veve, or the Eye of Horace can't possibly have a control over a real flesh and blood human suffering from some sort of naturally-caused cognitive disorder. They can't even reason, how can they possibly understand these symbols? It seemed that the only way the symbols could possibly have an affect on the zombies is by way of some supernatural effect. And boy oh boy, did we let K.C. have it. How dare he wind up this story by introducing hocus pocus, mumbo jumbo? Don't know how you're gonna pull a logical explanation out of yer butt! Looky here folks, deus ex machina is a comin' our way!

But throughout the whole story there were clues to something else.

• The outbreak is world-wide. Starts along geologically active places. Ink has no control over that.
• Zombie-making haze coming from deep underground.
• Zombie bodies decompose and release the haze (Gas).
• It seems that something buried deep underground that could produce the gas might very well be incredibly ancient.
• The soldiers discover a zombie Rosetta Stone and we learn that Ink placed symbols all over the place like a gang member with a can of spray paint. Along with Datu, we learn that this is how he controls the zombies.
• In the jail, we see different symbols over different doors. One stands out. The rainbow-fan symbol. We later learn from Datu that this somehow 'feels like stop', and with Tanya's help, we learn that it is the reason why there was one cell where the door was not busted in. The zombies would not go in there.
• Datu encounters another symbol beckoning him to enter. The symbols don't say anything, they just cause a feeling.
• The zombies are like animals. They even nest like ants. They are controlled by instincts and their senses, not unlike animals in heat.
• Some zombies seemed to form cliques.
• Many of the symbols are described as symbols we can look up. Symbols that we might even know about. Some people on the forum even figured out that the common meaning behind these symbols is that of protection, long before Tanya revealed it.
• Google the Rainbow-Fan symbol and see what you get. Nothing comes up. It's not a recognizable symbol from a recognizable human history. Almost like KC just made it up.
• We learn, again with Tanya's help, that Ink feared death and most likely had himself tattooed with protection symbols in a desperate attempt to save himself from a lethal injection needle.
• Ink seems to have conducted TWO experiments in the jail. One to create the behemoths, another to determine which symbol does what.

Where am I going with this? How can an ancient symbol control people suffering from some sort of cognitive disease? Where would such a symbol come from?
Perhaps the stop and enter symbols are ancient symbols of protection from some very ancient unnamed culture. Ink may have found them in a catalog of similar symbols, using any and all in a willy-nilly fashion. In order to look for the origin of such a symbol from the PAST in the We're Alive Universe, lets look into the FUTURE in the We're Alive Universe.

• Ink is dead, and so are his minion of zombies under his control. His clique. The only realistic way for Ink to counter the effect of the stop symbol is to create new zombies immune to it. Perhaps breeding smart ones who show resistance to it. (Like humans who show resistance to the infection.) So, with the death of Ink, Michael and Tanya's fear is abated and CJ's plan of marking everything can prevail.
• With Ink gone, the remaining zombies can't learn to avoid the effects of the markings.
• The human survivors mark themselves, their effects, their habitats, their roadways and everything else with the SYMBOL OF PROTECTION. Just like it was done some untold time in the past when this last happened. In time, the origin of the symbols are lost. All that remains is the notion that it protects.

And just how does such a symbol protect from the deranged, crazed, animal-brained former humans? Well, as animals with highly diminished cognitive functions, these creatures are instinctual. They act like insects. They follow the leader. They go under ground. Perhaps what we call 'symbols' are, to them, natural markers. Bi-valued even. Stop-Come, Front-Back, First-Last. Perhaps an earlier version of these creatures, in the ancient past, formed chains or links or trails, all leading underground. DEEP UNDERGROUND, like Tanya said. Deeper than anyone bothered to dig. There, they died, decomposed, and turned into gas.

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Bravo, KC. And to the cast and crew as well.

Utterly amazing. Breathtaking and bittersweet, leaving us with just enough to want more. I mean we ALL want more, which is why we are here on the forums. But you get what I'm saying. Thank you so much for your hard work and dedication. I hope one day someone with the ability to award you something recognizes your immense talent and gives you all the awards. ALL OF THE THEM.

And I definitely plan to buy every single "Tales from We're Alive"

And this may be the gamer in me speaking but I really want to play as Nicholas progressing through training and venturing out into the post-apocalyptic world to discover the truths our favorite characters were unable to. The "new" special kind, whatever may have happened to skittles, the charred remains of Boulder. Is it just me or does that not sound fucking awesome?

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Originally Posted by Witch_Doctor

I kind of count your prediction that Scratch survives to the end to be correct. She made it past the final battle. Good Job, Sir.

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She may of lived through the battle, but i wouldn't class "buried alive" to be surviving. Haha :P

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Originally Posted by Gooer

She may of lived through the battle, but i wouldn't class "buried alive" to be surviving. Haha :P

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A fitting end for such a fine individual.... :nik:

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Originally Posted by Gooer

She may of lived through the battle, but i wouldn't class "buried alive" to be surviving. Haha :P

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Imagine ...

Scratch sitting in the box, receiving enough air to breath for a couple of days. Starvation kicks in.

But before she dies, some zombs dig from beneath to her position. They free her, bite her, and make her a new super-zomb ...

And then she, again, tries to kick someone's arse - like Burt's and Pegs' ...

Best wishes!
Liam

Thank you KC and crew for an amazing story told in an old school way like radio. You have earned my 5 bucks. I would have paid more. :nik: I really can't say enough about the cast and crew who did an amazing job over the years. My hat is off for all of you! Thank you again!

Also one last thing KC and I'm sure you have been told this before. If anyone ever buys the story from you make sure you have stipulations in there that they arent allowed to change the story. Nothing worse than someone trying to make a already great story into something that it's not.

Congrats! I look forward to your future work.

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Originally Posted by LiamKerrington

Imagine ...

Scratch sitting in the box, receiving enough air to breath for a couple of days. Starvation kicks in.

But before she dies, some zombs dig from beneath to her position. They free her, bite her, and make her a new super-zomb ...

And then she, again, tries to kick someone's arse - like Burt's and Pegs' ...

Best wishes!
Liam

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Burt Did say he was going to come back everyday.. I am sure to 1. Make sure she remains where she is and 2. To torture her further and listen to her beg.

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Originally Posted by Merlin1274

Burt Did say he was going to come back everyday.. I am sure to 1. Make sure she remains where she is and 2. To torture her further and listen to her beg.

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a) The coffin was underneath rubble und concrete, so Burt had no visual on Scratch anymore,
b) Burt destroyed the radio and thus was not able to check on Scratch by listening to either her voice or her breathing.

So, yes: Burt would check the grave. But by no means was he able to see, what was going on underneath the grave, unless he dug a tunnel to it himself ...

Did not recall the part where he destroyed the Radio..

Burt told her he would check on her everyday then smashed the radio. I think giving her the expectation of being able to tell time and negotiate a way out was one more level of horror he was inflicting. A very nasty way to go for a very nasty person.

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Originally Posted by Merlin1274

Did not recall the part where he destroyed the Radio..

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I "recognized" or "understood" the destruction of the radio not earlier than in my third listening of chapter #48 ... During the first two listening I was just curious about the sound, but I did not conclude anything from it ...

Hi, I am such a sick weirdo, but as I have already started the WA soundtrack thread some time ago, my mind reminded me of the one and only appropriate soundtrack for the situation Scratch was left in at the present day story of We're Alive.

Pay close attention to the lyrics. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sq8VDXlWQk

Still denying it.

Attachment 3203

Still denying...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8y9US7ajWo

Next season on We're Alive..... Nicholas heads off to Hogwarts!!! :omgomg:

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Originally Posted by Gnex

Next season on We're Alive..... Nicholas heads off to Hogwarts!!! :omgomg:

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Nay, Hogwarts already has a Nicholas.

http://www.executedtoday.com/images/...dless_Nick.jpg