I will have to listen again, but I do not think The Tower came down like we saw on that terrible day a decade ago. My memmory is that Saul or Victor says the wall tore away. I think the results are more like the Oklahoma Bombing. One wall collapses leaving most of the other three walls intact.

Assumption: Mr. Whiskers was in the tower. If it was a total implosion survival rate is real low. But, collapse one side and there are a lot more survivors; Angel, Mr. Whiskers, Maybe Louis possibly even a random redshirt or two.

Burt, I have been a fan of the hand break theory. I just have not posted it. Line snaps and he...

1)If the remainder of line is short enough, he squeezes the hell out of the hand break. He hits the wall like a wrecking ball and falls / slides down the building unconscious. The hand break's natural position is open. So, once Burt blacks out, it could open up and Michael would not notice much resistance.

2) If the Line is too long, he crash lands hard and skids some the line and hand break are worthless.

3)If it is the GoldieLocks Line he skids across the ground or whatever slowing him down significantly. He gets some pendulum action and does not hit too hard.

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Stepping out of plot arguments, I am confident that Burt is alive. As I listen to the Podcast, I think I am supposed to be Michael, blending what is written in the journals, his own recall of the events if he was there and hearsay in a debriefing or gossip. When I hear something "in character" like a narration, I believe that it is ment to represent what is actually written in the journal. But, I might be wrong.

Once Michael gets back from the Colony, the rest of the season is only ~48 to 72 hours I think. Not a lot of time for Burt to write in the journal. In fact, from the Narration of the RPG / Hummvee to the broken zip in is a few minutes. I really do not think he wrote it all down and told Hope to take it just in case he does not make it.

Angel or a redshirt survives. We hear events leading up to the Maller attack. Angel is speaking to Stephen who is opperating the camera. We have Stephen's corpse. These events are transcribed or Michael will not be able to know of them.

Last, I "know" Burt is still alive, because that lil cu** Scratch will have stolen Shirly and we will have the Scratch and Burt Battle. There has been several back and forths between the two that serve as foreshadowing. Not the least of which is, "Dibs, on your shiny pistol. That's out here..."