FREE DOWNLOAD: "The Last Pale Light In The West"

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Season 01, Episode 06: "Unchained"

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Season 01, Episode 06: "Unchained"

*The scene opens with Jace closing his door and locking it. His breathing is heavy, and he is visibly shaken by the news of the outbreak. He turns away from the door only to be startled by his mother.*

"Jace, what is going on?"

"I don't know...just make sure all the doors are locked. Turn the news on. I need to lay down," he says, as he starts to turn away from her, heading down a hallway.

*Jace makes his way to his room. As Jace opens his door the view switches from behind him to his own point of view. We see everything from his eyes. He wanders around his room a bit, closing his blinds, looking around. The view is mostly of white walls, only partially covered by Vans Skateboard Posters, and a big Django Unchained movie poster in the corner parallel to his bed. Jace lays down, covers his face with his hands and sighs. He rolls over and plugs in the walkie. Jace turns the walkie on as it sits on the charger. He checks his phone and looks at the time. It is now 12:55pm. Jace lays back, grabs a pillow, grips it tight, as his breathing gets heavier, and his eyelids start to close, as we fade to black.*

*A gunshot rings out loudly, as Jace is startled. His eyes open, and we see the act of him getting up. The view goes from his eyes back to looking at him. He gets up, grabs a backpack, and makes sure he grabs the walkie and the charger and puts them in the bag.*



*Jace starts to collect other things from his room; a knife, an aluminum baseball bat, a few bandannas, a wrap, etc. Jace then walks out of his room, the view now on him from behind as he walks down that dark hallway. His mother looks at him, a worried look on her face. We can't hear anything anymore, as Jace's mother says something to him. Jace puts a hand on her shoulder and turns to the right, making his way to the front door. His mother tries to pull him back, but he unlocks the door and continues on. He unlocks his car with the remote control, gets in it and drives away.

He tries to use the walkie, realizing that the button is broken. He sighs and mouths the word 'fuck'. Jace continues to drive, as he is looking around, seeing the sights of walkers and people fighting on the streets, overturned cars, small fires, and people ransacking places for supplies. A montage starts of Jace's stops, making his way into gas stations, super markets, sporting good stores, collecting as many supplies as he can, filling his car up.

We get a shot of him leaving a gas station, his bat covered in blood. He closes the car door as we cut to another scene. Jace is now driving, blood on his grey shirt, wiping off sweat from his brow as he pulls up to another small store. Jace exits the car and immediately swings his bat. The scene cuts to a walker on the ground, his head bashed in, bleeding heavily, as we see Jace's legs, Jace walking towards the store as we see his silhouette swing away at another walker. Jace continues on his path, not stopping for anything. We cut to another scene, Jace is now sitting in his car, drinking Powerades and eating Pop Tarts, as he checks his phone. He tries to use it, apparently calling someone, but it's not working. He gets frustrated and throws his phone to the back seat, as we see his screen flashing 'Call Failed' with Art's name right above it.

Jace drives down an empty street, going at least 80. Jace stops at a gas station and begins to pump some gas into a few gallon jugs. Jace starts to stack them up in the back of his car, looking around, being alert, in case any walkers try to attack.

Jace then gets in his car and drives off. We see him heading down some familiar streets, as he pulls up in front of Art's house. He knocks on the door, no answer. He looks at the driveway and sees the skid-marks.

We cut to Jace pulling up in front of his house, seeing the door cracked open. He grips his baseball bat and walks in. He walks down the hallway, checking every room as he walks past. He goes into his room, looks around, grabs a few more things and walks out. Jace then heads down the hallway to the living room, where he finds his mother hanging from the ceiling.

She has a note taped to her chest reading, 'I'm sorry Jace. I wasn't strong enough.' Jace looks down, sighs, grips his bat, and starts to walk out the front door. Right before Jace exits the house he stops, lifts his head up and says, "Bye, Mom," and walks out the front door towards his car.*



*The scene quickly changes to Jace's face. His face is covered in blood and dirt, and we can hear him breathing heavily. As the scene begins to pull back we see that Jace is walking down a tattered and war-torn street. walkers are around him, feeding on corpses. Jace continues to walk down the road with a blank look on his face, as the angle continues to be on him. We can see his car in the background, doors closed, supplies intact. He grips the aluminum baseball bat tight, continuing on his path. Jace walks past a walker, feeding on what appears to be a little girl. Jace walks past, looking down at it, and continues on his path. The walker gets up and attacks Jace, only to be tripped up by Jace. Jace then swings his bat down at it's head, smashing it in with one hard swing. Jace continues on, as the angle starts to sway to the side. We start to notice other cars and walkers. The scene suddenly reveals that Jace is in a parking lot. We start to see smoke filling the air, as Jace's expression changes. The angle pulls back and we see Bass Pro Shop in flames. Art's black truck pulls out of the parking lot quickly, as Jace looks over at it.

"Jace, it's Art again. If you can hear me, we are going to Antioch. Walkie me as soon as you can." Jace pulls the walkie out of his pocket, and throws it at the burning Bass Pro Shop. Jace notices a man in a hooded sweatshirt looking at the burning building. The man looks at Jace then walks away. The expression on his face changing from worried to angry, as he grips his baseball bat and walks into the store.*


"The Last Pale Light In The West" by Ben Nichols

*A single tear runs down Jace's face, but he quickly wipes it off. He sees a walker feeding on an old man. The walker stands up and heads towards him. Jace grips the bat tight, grits his teeth, mutters, "Fuck you," and swings away. We see an angle of the walker falling down, it's head beaten in, as we see Jace's legs walking deeper into the store. We get a montage of Jace killing walkers as he screams. The scene changes to Jace standing in the burning store, breathing heavily, surrounded by the walkers that he has killed out of his fit of rage. He collapses, trying to catch his breath, baseball bat in hand as his body is sprawled across the corpses of the walkers. He looks to his left and notices something. Jace picks it up; it's a crossbow. Jace smiles, straps it to his back and walks down an isle, collecting arrows.

The scene cuts to Jace inside of the archery room. He is practicing with the crossbow. There is a walker against the archery wall, arrows through his arms and chest, holding him up against the wall. The walker snarls at Jace, trying to get free. The glass door behind Jace is shut, but we can see at least a dozen walkers pressed up against the glass, groaning, knocking on the glass, as Jace smiles, reloads, and shoots again, hitting the walker straight through the head.

The scene changes to see the walkers that were standing by the glass door of the archery room all slain, each one of them with arrow holes in their heads. The scene pulls out, and we see Jace collecting guns and ammo, putting them into his backpack. Jace then picks up a machete, smiling still, he tucks it into his belt and walks down the isle.

Jace starts to walk down another isle as he sees a big burly man, a single gunshot through his head. Jace sighs, steps over him, and picks up a hat that was on a rack next to him. He puts the hat on, tips his hat to the dead man, smiles, and walks towards another isle.

We see Jace leaving the store with a cart full of supplies as Bass Pro continues to burn down in the background. The scene cuts to see him driving off, the cart empty and knocked over. We see Jace from the side, smiling, rolling down his window and tossing out the walkie charger.

We see shot after shot of Jace going into houses, collecting what he can. The town seems to be abandoned now, as nothing is left but turned over and abandoned cars, half-eaten bodies, and walkers. Jace is walking down the road, as he walks past the cemetery. He looks over, seeing walkers in the lot. He grips his crossbow and hops the fence. Jace walks up to the first walker, takes aim, and shoots him clear through his skull. The scene cuts to Jace sitting on a tombstone drinking a beer as walker corpses are scattered across the lot. Jace has a smile on his face as he lays back, looking up at the sky, leaves rustling around him in the breeze. He takes another swig of his beer, and leaves around half of the bottle full right next to the tombstone. Jace gets up, dusts himself off, looks at the tombstone, and says, "Bye, Pops," as Jace walks away, the angle pulls out to see the name Joseph Olivine, as Jace hops the fence and walks back to his car.*



*The scene changes to Jace sitting in his car. He is looking down at the wheel, as he lifts his head and looks to his left. The angle pulls back to see his house. Jace walks in and sees his mother still hanging from the ceiling, now turned into a walker. He loads his crossbow, sighs, and says, "You were strong enough...just not for this. I'm sorry, Mom." Jace shoots an arrow through her head, killing her. He starts to pull on the arrow a bit, then hesitantly decides to leave it there. "I'm so sorry," Jace says, as he starts to walk down the hallway.*



*Jace makes his way to his room, collecting more supplies. He fills his backpack with more stuff, rummaging through drawers and his closet. Jace makes his way out of his room and down the hallway, he looks at his mother again, puts his hand on her, looks down and walks out of the house. Jace sits on the steps in front of his house. He looks up to the sky and says, "What the fuck do I do now? What the hell am I supposed to do? Huh?! They say you have a plan for everyone. Is this what's supposed to happen?!?" Jace covers his face, sighing. He fights back the tears as he lays back on the steps. He winces a little, reaching back into his pocket as his phone pokes him. He pulls his phone out and looks at it, realizing that he has a text that he hasn't read yet. Jace looks at a text message; one message from him reading "Where are you?", a reply saying, "I'm at the church on Union." He tries to reply, but the phone flashes "NO SERVICE." Jace grits his teeth, gets up, puts his phone back in his pocket, gets in his car and speeds off.

The scene quickly changes to Jace standing in front of the church. Jace slowly walks up the steps, as he hears walkers groaning. He turns and quickly shoots one through the head. He takes out his machete and kills another as a large group heads towards him. Jace kills them off one by one.

Jace, finally able to catch his breath sees another group of walkers heading at him from the other side of the church. Just as Jace prepares himself for this group of walkers the church doors open up and a hoard of walkers starts to head towards him. "Holy fuck..." Jace starts to fight them off, killing as many as he can by himself. He hits another one with the machete but it gets stuck in it's head as the walker falls down. "Shit!" Jace says, as he tries to reload his crossbow. He can't reload in time so he swings away with it, hitting one walker into another, then he quickly swings at another walker heading towards him. Jace starts getting pushed back as we see a walker putting his hands on Jace, opening his mouth and leaning in to bite Jace's shoulder. We hear a gunshot ring out as the walker falls back to the floor. Jace looks over to his left and sees an older gentleman, shooting at the walkers. The two now battling the hoard as we see even more survivors hitting walkers with bats, hammers, and knives.

"There are survivors in the church!" The older gentleman yells, as he shoots down even more walkers.

"I got it!" Jace says, pushing walkers away, smashing their heads in with his crossbow.

Jace busts into the church, running down the isles, shooting at any walkers that are around. He kicks a walker that's in his way and boot stomps it on a pew. He looks up and sees a group of survivors hiding in the confessional box, surrounded by walkers. He runs towards them and begins to fight the walkers off one by one. He shoots one through the head, the velocity of the arrow jerking the walker's head back as the arrow goes through another walker's head. Jace grabs the cup of holy water and throws it in the face of another walker. Nothing happens as Jace shrugs and says, "Worth the try," as he aims the crossbow and shoots through it's head. He hits another walker with the crossbow and he sets the crossbow down and takes out his knife. He stabs a walker through the head as it starts to take Jace down as it collapses. Jace tries to get the walker's arms off of him, but the death grip is too much as the walker dies from the stab wound. Another walker starts to approach, snarling at Jace as the walker opens her mouth, leaning in to bite Jace's neck. Jace starts to groan, trying his hardest to break free from the walker's death grip as he gets his left hand free. He pushes the walker away from him, his palm pushing against her neck as she continues to snarl. Jace loses his footing and the walker lunges in, mouth open ready to bite Jace, then suddenly an arrow goes through her head. The snarling walker falls down, revealing a girl standing with Jace's crossbow. Jace gets the other walker's death grip off of him and stands up.*



*Jace stands up, dusts himself off, and pulls the arrow out of the walker's head that nearly killed him. He puts his hat back on, looks at the girl with his crossbow, smiles, tips his hat and says, "Hey little troublemaker." The girl sets the crossbow down, smiles and says, "Hey big troublemaker. Took you long enough." The girl smiles as Jace walks over towards her. Jace wraps his arms around her, picks her up, spins her around, and then kisses her. A single tear running down Jace's cheek as the two embrace. The kiss is finally broken, and the two stare into each other's eyes as the rest of the survivors in the church start to surround them. We see the older gentleman walk up to Jace and hand him his machete. The scene ends with the view pulling away from the survivors, out of the church, seeing the carnage that these people just went through, as bodies scatter pews, empty isles, and the church steps.

The scene is quickly focused on the sunny day, as leaves start to fall off of trees, rustling in the breeze. The scene is switched to leaves rustling on the road, behind Art's truck. The scene changes into the inside of Art's truck, as Art is in the driver's seat, and Ash in the front passenger's seat.*

"Are you okay?" Art asks, as he looks over at Ash.

"Why do you always ask me that?" Ash asks, looking over at Art.

"I just want to make sure you're alright." Art says, taking his eyes off of the road for a second to look at Ash.

Ash starts to smile a little, taking a swig of her Powerade. "I'm fine. Thank you." Ash smiles, and looks at Art.

Art smiles back, saying, "You're almost home."

Ash looks into the back seats of the truck, as Zero and Katniss are curled and cuddled up. Ash continues to smile, takes another drink, looks at Art as her facial expression starts to change. "I know."

*Art looks at Ash, smiles, and looks back at the road, as the scene pulls out of the truck, to behind it, watching as the truck drives on down the road, leaves still being kicked up as the sun starts to set.*

Music From This Episode:

"The Last Pale Light In The West"

Ben Nichols

The Last Pale Light In The West EP

SPECIAL FREE DOWNLOAD: "The Beginning/28 Theme (Party Poison's Zombie Apocalyspe Remix)"

Download the special single from

Season 01, Episode 02: "Welcome To The End"

By clicking HERE

I've been asked a lot about the track from Episode 2, so I decided to make it an available download for all of you. Yes, it's John Murphy's "The Beginning" & "28 Theme" from the film 28 Days Later. I put the two tracks together with some sound effects and sound clips of "news reports" from the zombie apocalypse. Enjoy!

Season 01, Episode 05: "Lead Me Home"

*The scene opens up with Art's truck parked outside of a convenience store. We zoom up to the truck, Ash crying, laying on the floor as walkers start to approach the back windows. One walker, a female starts to push her bloody face against the glass, groaning, trying to get to Ash. Ash continues to cry, as Katniss starts to meow. Ash begins to cover herself with clothes that lay on the floor of the truck. The groans get louder and louder. Other walkers around the store start to take notice of the truck, as one starts to hobble over to join the other walker. Two walkers now on the driver's side of the truck begin to look through the window. One walker begins to drag her nails across the glass, as the other starts to pound on the window. The female walker begins to groan louder, pressing her bloody face even closer to the glass, blood dripping from her mouth, as the male walker is suddenly hit in the head with a baseball bat and falls to the floor. The female turns to look, only to suffer the same fate. Art swings away as Zero barks at oncoming walkers. More walkers start to approach the truck, and as each walker approaches, each one falls. Art grips the baseball bat in his hands and swings at their heads, knocking them down and destroying their brains. With his first kill under his belt Art now has no reservations about killing the undead. Art kills a few more walkers with his baseball bat, as Zero barks to alert him of any other oncoming walkers. After all is clear Art opens up the truck, throws the supplies in that he has collected from the convenience store, has Zero get in, and gets in himself, starts the truck, and at that very moment a walker sticks his upper body into the truck as Art tries to close the door. Art starts to hit the walker in the head with a Powerade bottle that he got from the store, until he reaches down and picks up the baseball bat, hitting the walker in the head with the handle. Art pushes the walker out of the truck, closes the door, and drives away, running over the walker's head with the back left tire of his truck, hitting and running over other walkers in the process.*



"I got Powerades and Poptarts," Art says, looking back at me, as if nothing just happened. He stares at me through the rear-view mirror, blood all over his shirt and face, as if expecting me to say something. I'm not sure if he wants me to thank him, or what. To be honest, I'm not very fond of him at this very moment. "So are you not going to talk to me for much longer, or what?"

Katniss meows, and I instantly grab her, holding her, covering myself in more clothes. I'm starving, but I'm too upset to eat right now. Art opens up a Poptart, feeding it to Zero as he pets him. "If you don't have any objections we have to make one more stop," Art says, looking in the rear-view mirror once again. "So...nothing? No objections? No thoughts at all?" I continue to look down at Katniss, too angry to even look at him. "Alright then," he says, feeding Zero the rest of the Poptart before grabbing a walkie talkie.

"Jace, do you copy? Jace, it's Art. Meet me at Bass Pro in 10 minutes." Art puts the walkie down, leaving it on as he looks back once again. We make eye contact for a second, then I look away. Art tosses me a box of Poptarts. "You're gonna need your energy. I can't leave you in the truck on this run, so you'll have to come with me."

We've hit up everything from clothes stores to gas stations, and every time I've stayed in the truck because Art was within shouting range. I never had to shout for him, he was always on top of it...but the idea of going out there, and inside of a building where there could be those things, those zombies, or walkers as Art likes to call them, I can't even begin to wrap my mind around it. Every time I see them I just think back to what happened to them, to my family, and how Art did what he did. I understand why he did it, but at the same time I don't know why he would come back for me.

"Are you going to eat up? I can't have you low on energy. We are running in, getting what we can, and running out. You need to be alert. You got that?" he asks, as if I'm some sort of child. I make a face as I open the Poptart, at that very second Katniss starts to nibble away at the exposed corner. Art turns around, focused on the road once again. "This run isn't going to be easy. We have to be alert, of everything. Not just the dead." At that very second a chill runs down my spine, because so far I have yet to see another living soul besides Art since he came and "rescued" me. I don't like the idea of going somewhere where there could be such potential danger, and I don't like the idea of being with Art and Jace, alone in this new world...but what other choice do I have? I guess I should be grateful, but I can't help but worry.



"We're here..." Art says, parking the truck, unlocking the doors and grabbing his baseball bat. I grab Katniss, looking at Art as he lowers the seat in order for me to get out. We start to make our way into the store, screams and gunshots filling the air. Art grabs a cart and looks back at me, "This has to be quick. Let's go. Whatever happens, if we get separated, keep running...no matter what."

My heart stops for a second, hoping to God that that won't be the case. We rush into the store, Art starts to fill the cart with supplies; camping stuff, guns, ammo, arrows, a crossbow. Zero stays on patrol, looking around. The store is in chaos, it's like a bad scene out of a movie, like it's Black Friday or something, but people are rushing, grabbing things, crying, screaming, dying. I look at isles across from us, seeing the dead feasting on the living. A man screaming as a walker bites through his neck, blood splattering all over the items on the shelves. Katniss meows in fear as I hold her close, trying to hold back the tears. I look behind us, seeing people fighting over weapons. I notice two guys pulling and tugging on a shotgun, as one slips, the gun goes off and shoots the other clear through the chest. He falls to the ground, eyes wide, coughing up blood as the other guy goes to him, crying, apologizing, as he takes the gun and runs. I can't begin to fathom the idea of people turning on each other, as my breathing starts to get heavy. I start to panic, reaching out, making sure that I'm within arms reach of Art. I turn around, trying to stay as close to Art as possible, but when I turn around I notice a gun pointed at Art's head.

"Drop the baseball bat, and step away from the cart and the girl."

At that moment I see a burly man, holding a gunshot to Art's head, demanding that Art put down his baseball bat. The man isn't shaking, he isn't nervous, he is focused on getting what he wants.

"It doesn't have to be this way, man," Art says, placing the baseball bat in the cart. Zero starts to bark at the man with the gun as the man points the gun at Zero.

"Get that dog to shut up, otherwise he's getting a bullet to the head!" The man begins to place his finger on the trigger as Art pulls Zero back by the red bandanna around his neck.

"Stay." Art pets Zero on the head, making him sit. Zero begins to whine, looking back at Art. "Take what you want, just leave us alone."

"I want the cart, the dog, and the girl," the man says, now pointing the gun back at Art. Zero begins to growl. Art pets the back of his neck, calming him down.

"I can't do that. You can have the supplies."

"I want the cart, the dog, and the girl. You can either hand them over, or I can shoot you and take what I want."



Art looks around the store, motioning to the man to look. "You really want to contribute to this? Are you going to be okay knowing that you killed an innocent man for a cart of supplies, his dog, and a girl?"

The man cocks his gun, making a clicking noise, stepping closer to Art, looking through the viewfinder. "Do you really want me to answer that question?"

Art continues to try to reason with the man, but he isn't having it. I don't remember much of what was said, all I remember was moving up, and holding Zero by his bandanna, because I knew at any moment Zero could lose it and attack, and I didn't want him to get hurt.

I looked over at Art, he appeared calm, but I could tell that he was nervous by the bead of sweat that dropped down his forehead. "This isn't worth it. We can make this work out best for the both of us."

"ALL I WANT IS YOUR CART, YOUR DOG, AND YOUR GIRL!" The man begins to shake in rage. "I'm getting pretty tired of telling you. I'm not afraid of spending a shell on your sorry ass."

Art takes a step up, as the man repositions the gun. "Put the gun down. We don't have to do this."

"I swear if you don't back up I will put a casing through your fucking head!"

"You do that and all these walkers will be coming after you. Is that going to be worth it then?" Art says, standing his ground.

"I'll take my chances." The man says, motioning Art to step back.

Art takes a step back, gulps, and nods. "So be it. I guess I'll take my chances as well."



Art then rushes the guy, tackling him to the floor as the gun drops, right in front of me. Zero begins to bark as I instinctively pull on his bandanna, keeping him out of it. Art and the man begin to scuffle on the floor. The man punches Art, trying to keep him off of him. Art reaches for the gun as the man continues to punch him in the face. Art looks at me in fear, as if he wants me to help, but I'm too afraid to move. The man gets the gun and gets up, pointing it at Art.

"You should have just walked away, punk." At that very moment a gunshot rings through the air, and I instinctively close my eyes. I open my eyes to see the man fall, shot through the head as he drops his shotgun. Art grabs the gun, gets up, looks at me and says, "We need to go." We start to run out of the store, cart, supplies, and pets with us, rushing out as fast as we can.



*The scene shows Art & Ash fleeing Bass Pro, as a shadowy figure steps out of one of the isles, smoke coming out of the barrel of a gun, as the figure looks over at the man, laying there, shot in the head. The shadowy figure cocks his gun, then starts to walk out of the store.*

*Art & Ash pack everything up into the truck. Ash and Katniss get in the back seats as Zero sits in the front passenger seat. Art pushes a walker off of him and holds the gun up and takes a shot, shooting the walker clean in the head. Art places the baseball bat and the shotgun on the floor in front of Zero's seat, and slams the door shut.*

"What the hell?!" Art says, staring back at me. "Why didn't you grab the gun?" I stare at him, not able to say anything. "We could have died back there, Ash! And you just stood there. I told you, you need to be alert. That was reckless as shit. You could be with that guy right now--"

"Instead of being yelled at by you?" I say, shocked that I was even able to speak those words. "Just shut up, Art. No one asked you to come back for me. No one told you to do any of this. You decided to do this all on your own. So quit yelling at me! We made it out, didn't we?! Now quit wasting time and let's get the hell out of here!"

"And where do you suggest we go?" Art asks. Just as he asks that question a big explosion takes place, setting Bass Pro on fire.

I look over at the store, watching the flames get bigger and hotter. "Take me to my father's," I say to Art, no eye contact being made at all as I continue to stare at the fire.

"Are you serious? That's like 60 miles away. You really think we are going to find anything there?" I start to get up, gathering some things, as Art looks on. "Ash, what are you doing? Sit down."

"If you won't take me I'll go there myself." I start to move towards the front passenger seat.

"No, no you won't." Art says, trying to keep me in the truck. I push his arm away and begin to unlock the door. "You really think you're gonna make it walking there? You really think there is something out there for you to find?"

"I have to go there. I was texting him before the signals all dropped. I promised I'd go." I look at Art, the expression on his face changing as he looks down, then to Zero.

"Alright. Sit down. We'll go," he says, not looking at me at all.


"Lead Me Home" by Jamie N Commons

Art turns the truck on and puts it in drive, as we start to drive away from the fiery scene. Art grabs the walkie, once again trying to reach Jace. "Jace, it's Art again. If you can hear me, we are going to Antioch. Walkie me as soon as you can."

Art looks around, I imagine to see if Jace is around. He sighs, and starts to drive faster. The truck starting to pick up speed as we start getting on the back roads. I want to hang on to hope, but I don't know what we'll find out there, or even if we'll find anything at all. All I know is that I made a promise, and I intend to keep it. At the very least, I'm not doing this alone. And even though I am very much angry at him, part of me is glad he came back. Even if we don't find anything there, at least we'll have each other...right?

*The scene ends with Ash grabbing a Poptart and eating it. Art looks at Ash through the rear-view mirror and smiles, his eye swelling up from the fight. We see the truck hitting the back roads, as we get a shot of Bass Pro burning. The shadowy figure is seen again from behind, watching as the store continues to burn, until he finally walks out of the shot.*

Music From This Episode:

"Lead Me Home"

Jamie N Commons

The Walking Dead (AMC's Original Soundtrack), Vol. 1

Season 01, Episode 04: "Everything Changes"

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:

 

"Serpents (Basement)"

Sharon Van Etten

Serpents (Basement) [From "The Walking Dead"] Single

Dedicated In Memory Of Liz