I don't know if it was the rush of adrenaline, the fear of dying before I could see her again, the fear of her dying before I could see her again, or just plain stupid love, but I knew I needed to get to her...as fast as I could.
*The scene opens with Art's truck screeching to a halt in front of Ash's house. Leaves are everywhere, with walkers a good ten yards away in each direction. Ash's neighbors are seen trying to fight them off, while others aren't as lucky, fallen as their former neighbors and loved ones feast on their lifeless bodies. Art locks up the truck, taking Zero with him.*
I don't know what I expected to see when I got there. The sight of her neighbors fighting off zombies both successfully and unsuccessfully sent a chill down my spine. I knocked on the door, only to hear Ash's screams.
"Ash!" is all I could mutter, realizing that if I yelled any louder the walkers would hear me, making this mission a lot more complicated than I needed it to be. With my baseball bat in hand I started to swing away at the doorknob. A few good swings and a few pieces of metal falling to the ground later and I was in the house in a heartbeat.
"Ash, where are you?" I whispered, trying to find her. Zero was way ahead of me, pushing the door to her room open, scratching at the closet door. I slid the door open to find Ash cowering, crying. I check her for bites or scratches, seeing none. "Let's get out of here," I say, turning around only to have Ash pull me back. Not a word is said, she just looks me in the eyes, then looks out her window. Her stepfather, now a walker, lurking outside of her window. Then I hear a noise inside of the house. Ash's whimpers grow louder as she covers her face. I get up and start to walk out towards the hallway.
"Don't..." is all Ash can say. My baseball bat gripped in my hand, as I start to realize what is going on. I hear tiny dragged footsteps coming towards me from the kitchen. The sound of footsteps on tile, then on wood, dragging along with the distinct sound of walkers breathing. But this time it was different. It wasn't as deep, or as loud; it was paced, and quiet, and meek.
I walked back into the room, closed the blinds so that Ash wouldn't have to see the turned form of her stepfather. I petted Zero, "Stay...both of you," I say, as I look at both Zero and Ash. I slowly closed the door behind me and walked into the hallway.
I knew what was coming, but I didn't want to believe it. I wanted there to be a mistake, or for them to be alright, but as the sunlight shined through the blinds, revealing the dead faces of the two in the kitchen, I realized that what I thought might happen was true.
It was Ash's siblings, a boy and a girl. Bite marks lined their small arms and necks. They had turned, and I knew at that moment that if I hadn't had shown up Ash may have suffered the same fate. The two looked at me, with their lifeless eyes, as I tried to hold my composure. All I could think about were the times I was over here, playing with them. Battleship, watching Spiderman, taking them to the park. I wanted so badly to go back to those times, but unfortunately now, in this world, everything changes. I could hear Zero whining, scratching at the door, as their tiny feet inched them closer to me. My bottom lip quivered as I knew what I had to do next.
I gripped my baseball bat a little tighter, a tear running down my face. "God, forgive me for what I'm about to do." As soon as I muttered those words I could hear Ash scream from her room, a very loud "NOOOOOOO!" as her closet door closed. I took a step forward, baseball bat in hand, wiped the tear from my face, and swung away.
"Serpents (Basement)" by Sharon Van Etten
*The scene quickly changes to Ash's room, Ash in her closet, covering her ears as she screams and cries. The zombie of her stepfather breaks through the window, making his way into the room. He gets his the upper half of his body into the room before Zero starts barking, then jumps and attacks him. Art rushes back in and beats him over the head with his baseball bat as Ash slowly opens the closet door. Ash rushes up to Art and tries to get him to stop, blood splattering all over the both of them. Ash finally pulls Art off of her stepfather, and falls down to the ground crying. Ash's cat, Katniss, walks into the room, Ash grabs the cat and holds her, still crying.*
"We have to go, Ash," is all I can figure to say. "I'm sorry, but we have to go." I look at Zero and motion for him to leave the room. I walk up to Ash and pick her up, holding her hand as we leave the room. "Don't look," I tell her, as we run past the corpses of her once siblings. Ash looks down, seeing their bodies laying on the wooden floor, as she begins to cry. She pulls away from me, and goes to her siblings, holding each of them and crying. "We have to go," I say again, grabbing her hand and pulling her away as gently as possible.
*The scene changes to see Ash, Art, Zero, and Ash's cat, Katniss, getting into the truck, closing the doors and driving away. Ash sits in the back seats of the truck, holding her cat, crying. Zero sits in the front passenger seat, as Art places the baseball bat in front of him. Ash looks at the bat, then back at the house, letting out a loud scream as the two drive away. Ash, covered in the blood of her family, continues to cry and holds Katniss close. Art wipes the blood off of his face, tears running down his eyes as he looks in the rear view mirror to see Ash, as Art thinks these next words in his head:
"I want to believe that it was love that made me do it...but I'm not so sure. All I know is that I needed to see her again. I know I can't do this alone, and now neither can she. We are stuck together. Whatever happened in our past doesn't matter now, because everything has changed. Now it's about where we go from here, and I haven't the faintest idea what the fuck to do now, except to do the one thing I said I was going to do."
*The scene ends with the truck driving away down the road, as the scene pans out to see the truck heading towards Bass Pro Shop.*
Music From This Episode:
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"Serpents (Basement)"
Sharon Van Etten
Serpents (Basement) [From "The Walking Dead"] Single
Dedicated In Memory Of Liz
Dedicated In Memory Of Liz
"In the house in a hearbeat" loved the 28 Days Later reference. I knew I would catch more of these.
ReplyDeleteI'm not too big on this being dedicated to Liz, but I get the symbolic gesture. Everything changes. So I guess it's appropriate.
Her siblings, were they a boy and a girl on purpose to play with symbolism, a reference to the first episode maybe? I don't know if that was an accident or if you are going to play with that later on.
Overall I see why no one really commented on this. This was a short episode, probably not the best one, but I do like it and I do see the necessity for it. I think this episode could have been longer. Kind of fade the scene to black and show Art and Ash getting used to each other. I think Episode 5 picked up a lot of the slack that this episode left, but otherwise I liked it.
Art's first kills being kids though? I get the reference to the inhumanity of our society at this point. It does feel a little controversial. Especially when you are doing this in the first season. From a reader's standpoint, it was done as classy as it could be. But also, just way too short. We want more.