"It Begins" |
---|
Chapter 1 Cover |
---|
Chapter Number | 1 |
---|
Number of Parts | 3 |
---|
Written by | Kc Wayland |
---|
Cover Artist | Kc Wayland |
---|
Audio Editor | Kc Wayland
Shane Salk |
---|
Episode Details |
---|
Part 1 Air Date | 5/4/09 |
---|
Runtime | 19:11 |
---|
Part 2 Air Date | 5/11/09 |
---|
Runtime | 13:30 |
---|
Part 3 Air Date | 5/18/09 |
---|
Runtime | 17:42 |
---|
Extras |
---|
Places in Episode | The Tower
Army Reserve Center |
---|
Part 1
Soldiers Sergeant
Michael Cross, Lieutenant Angel Tenudo, and Specialist Saul Tink are thrown head-first into a "zombie" apocalypse. It doesn't take long before they realize they are alone and need to find somewhere safe to stay.
Part 2
Michael, Angel, and Saul leave the
Army Reserve Center and find Riley and Pegs on the roof of a flower shop. Together, they move forward to secure their new stronghold; The Tower.
Part 3
The survivors find Datu, the maintenance guy for The Tower. After regrouping, they move upstairs and clear the building, room by room, securing their stronghold and making it safe.
Part 1
The Story of Survival begins from the narrative of Sergeant Michael Cross, a 27-year-old college student who pulled off 3 tours overseas. He explains a bit about his life, what he's done, and what happened that changed everything entirely. On May 8th of 2009, Michael walks down the hallway of his college in L.A., when he is stopped by a female student asking about the test that day and if he wanted to go to the party later that night. Michael gets very awkward at the thought and turns down the offer very matter-of-factly.
They enter their classroom where the students are starting to take their test. In the distance, an explosion sounds off, and both Michael and the college girl notice it and get spooked. The teacher denies it and assumes it to be construction, but Michael gets up right away and heads outside where a large student body has gathered around a television in the hall. On the news broadcast playing is a live feed of rioters attacking men, women, and children in the streets, as well as the police force that arrive soon after.
Michael gets a ring on his phone and picks it up to hear from Lieutenant Angel Tenudo, the commanding officer of his unit. He instructs him to get over to the Army Reserve Center in
Bell ASAP. Michael runs out the door and gets into his car. Not long after, he finds himself stuck in traffic with an angry man honking behind him. Just as soon as the traffic jam breaks, Michael sees a group of rioters approaching the honker's car. He watches in horror as the things tear him out of the windshield and rip him apart like wild dogs. He slams on the pedal immediately after, getting as far away from them as possible.
He arrives at the Reserve Base, where he meets up with Angel. They start talking about the situation they have found themselves in. Angel seems to have no idea what's going on, while Michael thinks whatever is going on is something more than just some crazed people. Specialist Saul Tink arrives, and both Angel and Saul start to bicker. Saul calls what they saw zombies. Angel believes that the rioters may have came from the mental hospital via a breakout, but Michael and Saul think otherwise. After Saul gets a bit too confrontational, he is pulled aside by Michael who tells him that no matter what, even if Angel is wrong, the chain of command still applies, even now.
Angel states that he can't seem to get a response from anyone else in the unit. Michael suggests getting into the arms room and obtaining some weapons in case something bad happens. Angel puts his foot down, saying that it would trigger an
alarm and could get the soldiers into serious trouble. Michael suggests ignoring the alarm using bolt cutters to open the cages. Angel persists, but Michael says that he is trying to help Angel with leadership but he's not accepting the advice. The vault door is opened and the alarm is armed. Saul uses the cutters to open the cages they need for their guns. Just as they head outside, the alarm sounds off.
Hundreds of those things suddenly approach the base. The soldiers panic and watch as they tear down the fences and get inside the compound. Michael orders everyone to get into the vault and lock themselves inside. The things outside pound on the door as the soldiers plan their next moves. Angel is in shock and blames Michael for their problems. He states that the things came directly to the base because of the sound of the alarm. Angel also reveals that one of things that came over the fence looked exactly like their base commander. They suddenly realize just how desperate their situation is.
Michael says that they need to prepare for what's next. Saul calls the things zombies once again, and this time Michael isn't as opposed to the thought. He states that they don't know enough about the things to make any assumptions. After recapping what they know about the zombies, they discuss what their next steps are. They settle on Angel's girlfriend's apartment building; The Tower. They load up several weapons and magazines of ammunition, and prepare to head out.
Part 2
The soldiers open the door of the arms vault to reveal the world, which has seemingly gone dead. No one is around, but the zombies are obviously close by. As Michael, Saul, and Angel make their way over to the motor pool where they will GTFO with a
Hummer, they are spotted by their confirmed-zombie commander. They hightail it over to the Hummer and get the truck started as more zombies appear in the area. As they drive off, Saul smashes the Hummer into their dead commander and bursts through the gate and into civilization... or what's left of it.
As they traverse the city, it becomes clear that whatever this was had wiped out the majority of the population of L.A., and maybe even more. The soldiers continue the press on, even without any idea as to what they will do when they reach their safe haven. They start to talk about their family situation. Michael says his family lives in North California, and Angel's girlfriend is his only family he appears to want to talk about. Saul's mom lives near Anaheim. Suddenly, the Hummer comes to a stop as Michael spots someone up on the roof of a nearby building.
Two survivors, Pegs and Riley, appear and jump onto the Hummer roof as zombies start to come from the surrounding area. Angel takes them down with the mounted turret, but more come and the Hummer pushes on towards the direction of The Tower. The soldiers give Pegs and Riley a brief explanation of what's happening, but refuse to continue with small talk beyond that point on. Michael returns to narration and describes the landscape as basically being a desolate wasteland. He also talks fondly of Pegs and Riley, and the scene cuts to Angel instructing the new arrivals on how to use a set of Berettas they have.
While Riley willfully agrees to use a gun, Pegs is quite reluctant and while at first it seems she is just nervous about how good she will be with a firearm, it becomes more clear that something else had happened to her. Michael shifts the conversation over to the new survivors. Pegs and Riley give a recap of what happened when the world went bad, describing the massacre that took place. Michael tells them that once they get their home base secured, they will need to recount every single detail that they can remember to the soldiers for intel purposes.
The Hummer arrives at the foot of The Tower and prepares to park. They enter the parking garage and find a man who was attacked by zombies when he tried to flee. Michael pulls the girls aside as Saul uses his knife to make sure the man doesn't get back up. After checking all of the cars in the garage, the head up to the lobby, where it becomes obviously hard to contain. Michael tells Saul to leave his bloody knife downstairs as they have no idea how transmit of the zombie plague is caused yet. As they head into the main entrance of their new "stronghold", Michael orders Saul to get a set of chains from the Hummer to lock the front door and secure it while he checks the elevators.
However, suddenly, pounding comes from within the elevator's interior. The soldiers are put on edge. Saul returns with the lock and chains as he discovers that everyone is freaked by the noise. Angel and Saul move to secure the front door, and Michael gets Saul to hand over his knife that he disobediently cleaned off and took upstairs with him. Michael takes the knife and uses it to pry the elevator door as Angel covers it. The doors open, and the episode ends.
Part 3
The elevator doors open and the body of a man named Datu falls out. He is in slight shock and reveals he was trapped inside the elevator when the power went out. He recognizes the uniforms of the soldiers and believes that they are going someplace safe, letting slip that there was a rumour of an evacuation site nearby. The soldiers confirm that no one was there and Datu assumes this to mean they died. However, he still is set on heading out and going somewhere safe. When they reveal they are actually heading upstairs instead, Datu has a panic attack and attempts to escape the building.
Riley comes over and consoles him, explaining that the soldiers need his help to clear the building and make it safe for all of them, as well as any others left alive. Datu agrees to help and comes back over to Michael and the others. They discuss how to solve the power issue. Datu says that something big blew out the main breaker, and that they have to isolate the source before flipping back on the rest of the building's power. They head upstairs to take care of the task.
After a couple floors, Angel and Michael land on the 3rd floor where Angel's girlfriend
Cindy lives. Inside her apartment, they find a zombified Mr. Larth, and also a zombified Cindy with broken legs. Angel makes the call for her execution and starts crying soon after, prompting Michael to storm off and light a cigarette by himself. Riley sneaks up on him and lights it for him, telling him that there is something bothering him deep down. Michael gets mad at her help and claims her to just be using "quick-fix flirtation". Riley lets out an insane laugh that should easily warrant a trip to a mental institution.
Saul runs up, assuming someone was screaming in the apartment. After figuring out what happened, Saul states that Angel is back on his feet and the soldiers begin to climb floors once again. This time, on the 4th floor, they are greeted by an awful smell that Saul seems to vaguely recognize. Michael, Saul, and Datu track the source of the smell to a bathroom where a man taking a bath reached up and ripped an entire section of wiring out of his wall. Saul relates the smell to Suicide Gate, a gate that was hit by numerous carbombs, leaving a lingering smell of burning flesh.
With the power outage source isolated, Datu and Saul head down to the basement while everyone else stays upstairs. Everyone starts placing stakes on their rooms and begins planning to make the building their own. The lights flicker on and The Tower suddenly feels a whole lot safer. Pegs suddenly feels useless, as she can't use a gun or do anything else handy at the current moment. After Michael phones-a-friend with Angel about possible jobs for Pegs, who is a florist, Riley chimes in with the garden on the roof suggestion.
Michael agrees with the plan, but Pegs believes it will only take a few days before they are rescued and that there is no point in growing any food. Michael says it's best to be safe than sorry anyways. Angel says they'll need to get organized soon. Datu and Saul return and the survivors prepare to continue clearing each of the floors that remain. Michael begins to narrate once again, and explains that they found no survivors in their search, but found a couple more zombies along the way. When they finally reached the top floor, he says that he was ready for anything. But he was wrong.
- The original "air dates" of Chapter 1 were:
- Part 1 - 5/4/2009
- Part 2 - 5/11/2009
- Part 3 - 5/19/2009
" |
"I didn't fear death or what might be there if today was my last day. But that was then and this is now." - Michael in 1 - It Begins | " |
" |
"The group of them moved past my car to the man honking behind me. their bodies were littered with scars and bruises and their eyes were glazed over. " - Michael | " |
" |
"They weren't attacking him, they were eating him. " - Saul | " |
" |
"Hey, look who it is!" *thud*
"Did you really have to run over the commander?"
"Uhm... He was in the way"
"You swerved to hit him!"
- exchange between Saul and Angel | " |
" |
"Hell, if you hadn't given me a weapon I probably would have stolen one" - Riley | " |
" |
"Where are your tanks and shit? I mean you are the US Army right?" - Datu | " |
" |
"You know it might be cute to think that you hold some inspired wisdom that can cure all wounds but you don't know anything about me, and no quick-fix flirtation is gonna heal any open wound" - Michael
Riley laughs hysterically
"Hey, hey can you tell me what's so funny? You know you make it hard to keep a straight face."- Michael
"No, not that, it's just - flirtatious - seriously? You're not my type, I'm flattered though" - Riley
"You know you have an infectious laugh? Anyone ever tell you that?" - Michael
...
Running foot steps
"What's wrong? I thought I heard somebody screaming here!" - Saul
"Uh no, that would have been Riley's laugh." - Michael
...
"Especially now that Riley's warned them in their own language, they probably understood all that shit" - Michael
"What? I like her laugh!" - Pegs | " |
" |
"Pegs and I would do damn near anything for you after you picked us up. Uh wait, I just made us sound like prostitutes." - Riley
"Well I thought that was implied" - Michael | " |
Bookmarks