Have you noticed this?

[HaveCrowBarWillTravel]

Yes, it is my impression that she Hit Locked and Loaded to get a few weapons. Than makes it to Eastern Bay to free her Brother (and the others of course) When I try to game it out, I can not get the zombies to hit Eastern Bay, have the mallers escape, have the mallers cross back across town hit Burt's safe before Burt and the Zombies get there. I think "The Weapon" taken from a safe mentioned later is not from Burt's same safe.

The way I see it, Scratch hits Locked and Loaded. Scratch crosses town in the infancy of the zombie outbreak and hits Eastern Bay just before the Zombies get there.

I am not following the rat idea. We know a shot came from the third floor. The person may not live there. No clue about the Guard Duty / Return of Saul. No clue about Angel

What I will point out is that Ammo was at a premium in the tower. There are not a people who would have access to common supply of the tower. Indicating to me that they had their own Stash.

It was days after the outbreak that Angel and Saul found Burt. The rate the infection spread, Eastern Bay was hit within the first day.
Scatch couldn't have hit Burt's shop solo. Too much was taken. Plus she didn't have ammo during their first encounter. Remember, that whomever got into his "Small" safe "KNEW" what they were doing. Same as the person who circumvented the alarm system at the tower. The person is a Professional.
My Rat theory isn't off the top of my head. It's right from a conversation Angel and Michael had. I'll get the exact epi and time hack, but like I said, it's from disc 6...crap, maybe it's 7. LOL.
Confirmed. Episode 6 part III. Time hack is 12:34. Right as Angel and Mike are talking about all the bodies being gone. Mike asks Angel who was on watch that night.


Arthur, at 17:56 in the same episode, Angel confirms (speculates) that the Mallers are the ones who've raided all the stores in the area.

[Grognaurd]

My assumption is that Burt is a hardcore survivalist. Zombie Outbreak, Explosions, automatic gunfire etc. I do not think there was much time before the start and Burt getting to his store. But, the store was robbed before he got there. Sure, a mob could hit Burt's store and steal a bunch of crap. But, I agree someone who knows what they are doing broke into the safe. A safe cracker is not commonly found in a mob. But, a career criminal could have safe cracking skills. Scratch is most likely a career criminal. How much ammo could she carry and how much did she consume breaking into the prison? Prisons are designed to keep people in and to keep people out. But throw in the wild card of a zombie outbreak and that could add enough chaos for a gunman to break in and then lead a break out.

Remember, there are not really a lot of guns in a prison. Guns provide range and the one thing that is not wanted is for the inmates to have range. The guards that stroll in the blocks are not armed like a police officer. "Civility" is kept because even if they kill a guard or two, they still do not have a ranged weapon to project power and the outer containment walls are not easily breached.

As for the skills for opening a safe yea, that person "gots Skills". But, the "alarm" system at Burt's is pretty dam simple. It is a simple break the electrical connection open the door, cut the wire and an alarm is sounded. I do not think it was anything sophisticated.

[HaveCrowBarWillTravel]

My assumption is that Burt is a hardcore survivalist. Zombie Outbreak, Explosions, automatic gunfire etc. I do not think there was much time before the start and Burt getting to his store. But, the store was robbed before he got there. Sure, a mob could hit Burt's store and steal a bunch of crap. But, I agree someone who knows what they are doing broke into the safe. A safe cracker is not commonly found in a mob. But, a career criminal could have safe cracking skills. Scratch is most likely a career criminal. How much ammo could she carry and how much did she consume breaking into the prison? Prisons are designed to keep people in and to keep people out. But throw in the wild card of a zombie outbreak and that could add enough chaos for a gunman to break in and then lead a break out.

Remember, there are not really a lot of guns in a prison. Guns provide range and the one thing that is not wanted is for the inmates to have range. The guards that stroll in the blocks are not armed like a police officer. "Civility" is kept because even if they kill a guard or two, they still do not have a ranged weapon to project power and the outer containment walls are not easily breached.

As for the skills for opening a safe yea, that person "gots Skills". But, the "alarm" system at Burt's is pretty dam simple. It is a simple break the electrical connection open the door, cut the wire and an alarm is sounded. I do not think it was anything sophisticated.

My apologies but i'm actually sort of lost as to the point your making about Scratch.

as far as the Prisons go, they do have armories. The guards don't carry fire arms in general population because they can be used against them. The prisoners have the numbers. The guards who do the perimeter sweeps are armed. Sometimes the guards are in static posts around the perimeter as well.
I know this because I have a kid I used to mentor who's works corrections at the prison in Jackson Michigan.

[Grognaurd]

Scratch broke IN TO the prison to break out Latch. The rest of the mallers come with. Scratch asks Latch if he could have done what she did to get her out. It is my belief that Scratch behaved as a cold blooded murderer to get Latch out. I think Latch is not as unstable as Scratch and may not have murder in his background.

If Scratch broke in to the prison, she probably used a fire arm. She could have gotten it from Burt's store. The story uses connection to make it more interesting. 10 million people in LA and a boy and his mom both survive 30 miles apart? Yes my pinning the safe cracking on Scratch is a stretch, but if someone else claims Burt's place was hit by the mallers, you have to get them before Burt gets there. Burt's store and the prison are on opposite sides of the LA (east / west) with ground zero in the middle and the infection wave hitting both within 30 or so minutes apart.

Last and more reaching Latch sound like the nickname for someone opens things. Later scratch gets gut and the nickname just follows. More recently we again here latch in association with a safe.

[HaveCrowBarWillTravel]

Scratch broke IN TO the prison to break out Latch. The rest of the mallers come with. Scratch asks Latch if he could have done what she did to get her out. It is my belief that Scratch behaved as a cold blooded murderer to get Latch out. I think Latch is not as unstable as Scratch and may not have murder in his background.

If Scratch broke in to the prison, she probably used a fire arm. She could have gotten it from Burt's store. The story uses connection to make it more interesting. 10 million people in LA and a boy and his mom both survive 30 miles apart? Yes my pinning the safe cracking on Scratch is a stretch, but if someone else claims Burt's place was hit by the mallers, you have to get them before Burt gets there. Burt's store and the prison are on opposite sides of the LA (east / west) with ground zero in the middle and the infection wave hitting both within 30 or so minutes apart.

Last and more reaching Latch sound like the nickname for someone opens things. Later scratch gets gut and the nickname just follows. More recently we again here latch in association with a safe.

Ah.. I follow you now..kinda. (Latch was locked up so couldn't open anything right?) We have opposite theories, but i'm tracking.
Did you listen to her when she said she actually saved "Everyone" in the prison?

We do know that the infection spread crazy fast. Remember, all the tower residents were gone or turned by the time Mike and crew got there. There wasn't a soul on the streets during their trip there either. That wasn't a very long time for life to go from sweet to crap.
The guards at the prison left them to their fates. I think Latch was already at the prison when the outbreak happened (My theory).
She was probably there on visitation. That's also the reason they have other female 'Mallers."
The outbreak happened in the morning, which is normally the start of visitation hours (depends on the prisons, but they hardly have them in the evenings), so at any given time you'd have family and friends visiting and thereby getting stuck if they didn't make it out in time.
I'm assuming Scratch said "F it!" and stayed to save her bro, then her crazy ass went around letting all the other bastards loose.
Durai was probably the Big Man On Campus already, so he kept control after they left.

[Grognaurd]

Yes, I agree that Scratch sprung Latch and the mallers. Conversations point to that. I can get Scratch to Lock and Loaded before Burt. But not the mallers. Maybe you are right. The rioters get the odds and ends on Day one. Burt gets to the store. The zombies get to the store. Burt goes to the bathroom. Burt passs out and the mallers pop the safe. Our theories are not very different. The difference is when is Lock and Loaded's safe cracked

As long as I am going off the deep end, what is the chance that Burt lives in einglewoods? Saul's neighborhood is the ritz compared to where Burt lives. If raydon labs is in that neighborhood it might explain why he knows what a level three clearance looks like.

[lectio]

I have to say...I am so pumped for the return of the Raydon Labs theory. I was all over that in the beginning - especially with the smart climber guy. There's still a Raydon Labs key card out there - on the top of Burt's roof. It's there! I swear it! It's there!

[HaveCrowBarWillTravel]

I have to admit that now that I have the discs to listen to, i've really noticed how much Riley has been hitting the bottle. That chick has been Fugged up a LOT!
I thought it was just the last couple of episodes, but nope! She's been tore up from the floor up, for a good number of early episodes during season 1.

[Grognaurd]

A few odds and ends cobbled together. Not a lot of time, so not my usual Wall of Text (WoT;pronounced What)

I am not claiminig Saul is the rat. I am just pointing out an observation. Scratch affirms Tardusts claim that they have not heard from the one already there in a while. It is just interesting that Saul could not speak with Mallers since the end of Chapter 1. He has been tied up for much of chapter 2. When he is in some privacy, one of the things he does is contact the mallers.

on the otherside, suppose Saul is a really slow turner. When Tommy turned he first became rather grumpy and confrontational. Saul is a little out there now.

Lizzy's puke seems to be way too stinky to be normal. How many times have we heard that? Even the next day at the arena over all the burning smells he complains that someone lost their lunch.

Scratch's entire personality shifts towards Lizzy once she finds out that Lizzy is sick. Odd. She goes from screaming about Lizzy killing her men to, are you sick? take the cuffs off.

Victor, WTF? Michael has called him a good fighter. Angel called him a big help. Victor says he is way better than Riley. But, what is the evidence? Michael saw him run to a safe house and get his partner killed in the process. Sure, he springs Michael and they run away in the dark. As my nephew would say Big Whop! In my opinion, Victor hasn't shown anything worth the accolades. He may be faster and a better aim than Burt, but we really have not seem Victor do anything

Jumpers
We saw them a few times in Chapter 1. We have not seen them in chapter 2. Skittles mentions he has not seen them. But, that could just be a plot device to remind the listener there are Jumpers. If there is one zombie threat to a Helicopter it would be aJumpersper. Of course, if they fly through downtown LA between tall buidings there could be some "suicidal" zombies jumping off the roof or through windows to fall down on the rotors and take the helicopter out.

Red Alert
We still have a building adjacent to The Tower that is filled with Red Shirts. No named characters are there. Target of opportunity for the writer...

Parking garage. When Tanya left she did not sut the gate. It was left open "about a foot" One of the wee ones or more could have gotten inside as the traditional biters create a distraction.

[MancheeLivesOn]

I'm going to question the longevity of the outbreak. Sure it's worldwide but there's only a limited food supply since and will only reduce their numbers with canabalism. They need to eat and sleep so they are indeed 'alive'. That being said they have no means towards a second generation aside from the Little Ones. They mentioned that all food expires in two years and with the dwindling supply of humans to feast on zombies will exhaust any food left to scavenge and cut the two year timer short. Plus winter is coming up and from what I can tell most of these zombies have no self preservation instinct. Zombies will freeze over the winter and all that's left are some of the smarter ones who holed up for the winter and any Little Ones they may create.

(Not all of this is fully thought out or coherent/in order but I figured I might try and spark an idea in someone.)