Burt / Raydon Labs / Foreshadowing...

Ok, So here is a half baked theory I was floating around in Season 1. Season 2 is complete and we got some more key pieces of info and with season 3 on the way I thought I would throw it out again.

What we "know"...
Burt had an RPG and rockets in the safe
Latch cracked open the safe
Burt, got to his store after it had been ransacked and safe cracked and looted
The mallers got the RPGs and used it on the Tower
Burt took one look at a badge on a "smart zombie" and said sommething like yup, that is a level 3 ID from Raydon Labs. You have to be pretty smart to get one of those.

What has always bothered me is that the prison is by the coast.
Locked and Loaded is inland on the other side of the valley.
The Mallers hideout is back on the coast.

Between the prison and Locked and Loaded is ground zero, right were the outbreak started.

So, the outbreak started and must have gotten to a serious boil for Scratch to walk into the prison and break everyone out. I do not care how loud she can scream or how well she was armed. You just do not flounce into a Maximum Security Prison and say Booo or even trick or treat and free everybody. If 90% of the guards run away it could be done, but it would still take a lot of time. If there is a riot outside, my guess is the prison would go to lockdown on the inside compounding the problems.

So, where is Burt?

Burt is a survivalist. He was fully geared for Y2K and the stuff was still set and ready to go. LA is literally imploding and Burt sleeps through it? Stores are being looted in the riot and Burt figures that there is no way anyone would be interested in guns at a time like this? Burt is obviously pretty busy doing something. What?


Raydon Labs. To be that familiar with the badge, my guess is he is, well, familiar with Raydon Labs. Maybe Burt was part of security for Raydon Labs. Maybe retired, works as a merc, as an advisor, something. So, he is a little tied up with Ground Zero and Raydon Labs trying to contain the outbreak in Raydon Labs before it breaks the containment of Raydon labs.

Or, we can go darker. Burt says something like. Look at the stars, now that there are a lot less of us things are going to change. The next day he sure does have fun shooting zombies and even says so. Just like Nam allover again.

We know that this outbreak was occurring all over the US and Internationally. That is a conspiracy and requires many actors. Security and IT would have to be pretty damn dumb to have a system that releases the contaigen all over the world by a single accident. These things were probably locked down with security akin to Nukes.

So, accident is probably out. Conspiracy is a good bet. If there is one thing we have learned is that for the purposes of good story-telling the laws of probability are pretty much thrown out. Things are llinked much closer than they first appear. 5+ million in LA, a group of ~40 survivors is the son of a member of another set of 500 survivors in Anahiem. Mean while, Hope escapes and hooks up with the group down south while her mother goes to directly to jail and does not collect $200. But, she does meet Datu.

Etc.

So, I am sure there are a lot more of these that have not been played.

I'm pretty sure Burt was protecting his store, a bunch of Zeds pop in and he was forced to hide in the bathroom. After locking himself in, and not being able to leave because of the fact that the Zeds waited for him, Scratch und Latch bust in, kill the Zeds (Or they left for new prey), crack the safe and make off with a bunch of shiny new weapons.

Nice theory though, also I can't be sure at all of what Burt did before the outbreak, so it is plausible. Then again, if there's a biological-experimental centre near where you live or work it wouldn't hurt to do a little research to quell your fears.

Yea, could be anything.

A couple of other things I thought of this morning listenting to Lady and the Tink. Burt says that Sauls place is the ritz compared to where he lives. I think I remember someone in real life saying there is low rent neighborhood about where ground zero was. So, you are right, maybe he did live near by.

I wonder what raydon labs focus is and wether its based on real locations

I still think Burt s connected to Raydon Labs. It will be found in einglewoods neighborhood right near ground zero and is home. Burt was delayed getting to his own store because he was delayed trying to contain one aspect of the initial outbreak.

Interestingly, einglewoods labs is a real life skin care products company and we know how much KC likes to put breadcrumbs in the names. For example all the survivors in the tower were also survivors of the Tianic. It's all about the weave.

Throw in one additional question. Burt introduced us to the concept of the "Smart One", and offered the concept that the intelligence of a zombie is dependent on their intelligence before they were bit. That always struck me as a big logical leap, based on his story of having spent the whole outbreak locked in the bathroom. Maybe he does have some knowledge he hasn't shared yet.

As for Radon Labs, I've long thought that it would figure into the story again before the story ends.

I never heard of this raydon labs/burt connection.. There must be more behind this.. You remeber which episode he mentions this?

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Originally Posted by Bakkie-Pleur

I never heard of this raydon labs/burt connection.. There must be more behind this.. You remeber which episode he mentions this?

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there's not a stated connection. Around the time Saul and Angel find Burt they kill a smart one and he noticed the Raydon lab tag on the dead zombie. It's a theory that Burt knows more about Raydon labs than he's mentioned.

Well there is a connection... He must have heard of raydon labs before if he recognizes it. But him living in the area that of course says nothing at all. He could just have driven by the building every day...

Burt says something like see that, that's a level three I.D. From Raydon Labs. You have to be really smart to get one of those. The way I figure it, the smarter you are in life, the smarter you are in death. End paraphrase. He is talking about a biter that climbed up the fire escape or similar to ambush Saul and Angel on the roof.

That is a hell of a lot more knowledge about Raydon Labs and what constitutes which security level than just something in passing about a dead zombie on the roof.

We know Burt lives in a really rundown neighborhood. He calls Saul's apartment the Ritz compare to where he ( Burt ) lives. Einglewoods fits that nicely in real life right? Even the name Raydon Labs fits with KC's style. A gas. What's in ground zero? A gas that is not stopped by the classic activated charcoal chemical filters.

Maybe Burt knows a bit more about Radon Labs because ...
either a) Shirley once worked there; she died of cancer if my memories about her death are right; maybe there is a link between her death and her work; and probably she told Burt about what she did in Radon Labs and how some things in Radon Labs worked or were organized;
or/and b) some of Burt's regular customers worked at Radon Labs and they got into some chatter about this and that; and maybe it was through such chatter that Burt put together some pieces, so now he has a basic understanding of some stuff regarding the laboratiers - like for example the various ranks of the scientific or security personell and stuff ...

Best wishes!
Liam

Burt did seem to have a little bit more knowledge or experience in identifying the "Smart Ones" exactly how much observation could he really do from his store?

I think that Burt had a Ranch in Black Rock Mesa before Raydon labs moved in an the government forced him to move. I am just trying to work in a Half Life reference.

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Originally Posted by LiamKerrington

Maybe Burt knows a bit more about Radon Labs because ...
either a) Shirley once worked there; she died of cancer if my memories about her death are right; maybe there is a link between her death and her work; and probably she told Burt about what she did in Radon Labs and how some things in Radon Labs worked or were organized;
or/and b) some of Burt's regular customers worked at Radon Labs and they got into some chatter about this and that; and maybe it was through such chatter that Burt put together some pieces, so now he has a basic understanding of some stuff regarding the laboratiers - like for example the various ranks of the scientific or security personell and stuff ...

Best wishes!
Liam

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It could also be why he had an RPG in his vault. Maybe the customer who it was for worked there. It wasn't in the "room vault" because the buyer was coming soon maybe the buyer knew this was going to happen.

Ok, going back to this...

Burt recognizes a level 3 ID from Raydon Labs and knows that you have to be pretty smart to get one of those. Episode 42-2 struck me that Burt recognizes Austin McKibbon from a photo in the notes as one of the Beheomoths. Maybe Burt is just awesome with faces. He did get a good look at it while playing toro toro bull fighter. But, it is my experience that it is hard to recognize someone out of context.

The drugs used to Make the special zombies may have come from Raydon Labs. Does Burt's familiarity with the lvl 3 ID also give him insights into the work being done there? Does it provide that little extra context to help him recognize the human he (special zombie) once was?

Didn't Burt say that Shirley bought something off of Raydon to try help with the cancer? Or did i make that up.....

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Originally Posted by Gooer

Didn't Burt say that Shirley bought something off of Raydon to try help with the cancer? Or did i make that up.....

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I believe it was speculated on the forum, but I do not remember anything in the show linking Burt's wife Raydon Labs.

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Originally Posted by Grognaurd

I believe it was speculated on the forum, but I do not remember anything in the show linking Burt's wife Raydon Labs.

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That's probably where i heard it. Makes more sense

It does seem like Burt knows alot.... Burts wife died of cancer, didn't Tanya say that the zombies or special ones had tumors/cancers? Could Burts wife have been undergoing treatments at Raydon Labs? Keratin is used in alot of cancer studies and research....this site--> CLICK talks alot about, granted its over my head and i dont understand the majority of it.... But it would explain how he knows what a Level 3 ID card looks like, and has some knowledge of Raydon labs. Maybe Shirley had some experimental treatments that helped lead to the start of all of this.

Ok this could all be settled if we were privy to the information in Burt's journal. Michael and Angel's first instructions were that everyone write down what they were doing and where they were when it all went down right?

If Burt was to hide something, he probably would not write it down. He is more of a straight shooter. (ouch) in addition, the rescue of Burt occurs before Michael gave the order to keep journals. We even get a Michael voice over narration that these events were reconstructed.

Yea, just another of my conspiracy theories. Makes as much sense as my mixed metafores...

What is the sound of one palm tree falling in the woods if the only one there to hear it is a bear crapping?