Fear the Walking Dead - Season 5 Rewrite - Episode 11

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Episode 11 – Unity

Plot: As Madison tries to get to know her new recruits, Strand and Farah face an unexpected danger.

Synopsis:

When the episode begins, it'll be the morning of the next day in Bloomfield. Madison and Alicia will be up early, watching as John, June, and Tobias are prepping to return to the San Juan River Community. Both Alicia and Madison will thank the couple for their assistance yesterday and they reply that they're happy to help. The young Clark will talk to Tobias some then John and June will give Alicia some final words about training with her gun and keeping safe. Before leaving, Madison informs the two that she’ll send the two newcomers their way soon if all goes well. After that and some other words, all three will depart with some of the supplies they found and some fuel pumped out from the refinery.

With their friends gone, Madison declares she needs to fully talk to Martha and Paul to get to know them. Alicia will inquire about what Madison thinks of these people so far. Madison relay what John and June told her the night before, how they see the two as capable survivors. But Alicia stops her mid-way through and asks what SHE thinks of them. Still walking, Madison ponders for a second and says that they seem tough. But anybody can be now because those left that weren’t unlucky or stupid are the survivors now. Alicia will smile then recall, “Like that guy who said he used to be a puppeteer.” Both will have a small laugh before Alicia says that he’s been doing well in the crop fields. And they worked well with clearing the dead when Farah was setting up the wind chime traps.

We’ll see soon after that both newcomers have awoken and in the background we can see there were people keeping watch on them throughout the night. As Madison finds both new survivors and directs then to an office that they can talk in, she'll thank the guards for watching them. When she asks how they were, one of them tells how Paul was thrashing some in his sleep like he was having a nightmare, but nothing else from either of them. It's clear that Madison, despite being less hostile, has not fully let go of her cautious nature. Here Madison and Alicia split, with the younger Clark going off to train with her prosthetic. As Alicia heads off, she'll pass by Strand and Farah, who she greets with a smile and a wave. As she watches them walk past her, we the audience will notice a glint on a hill in the north. We'll linger on the glint before cutting to the intro.

After the intro, we go to Madison, who is walking down the school hallway with Martha and Paul behind her. Soon they reach for the former Captain's office and she sits behind it while watching the two pull up chairs. Her posture straightens as she sits down, putting on an air of a command like Captain Peter did when she first met him. She’s done this a couple times before since taking over, inspecting potential survivors who could join their communities. Every one of them so far have been people who needed a place to stay, a home, and had potential to be upstanding members of the communities. To show this, we’ll have a clipboard with a list of people (names, dates of arrival, age, occupation, etc) on it and Madison flipping to a blank page. When she gets to a blank page, she’ll pick up a pencil and look up at Martha and Paul.

Here the interrogation begins, with Madison asking questions towards the two that will include: Where they're from (Paul – Georgia, Martha – Texas), age, and what they did before (Paul – metal smith(?), Martha – English teacher). She’ll then ask both about their journeys from their locations, how they survived for so long, the kinds of people they met, and what they can offer. Both potential recruits go into their stories separately: Paul’s story will talk about how he was with some survivors for a lot of the start, but when that fell, he and another escaped and were on their own together until some months ago when he met Martha. There is a bit of something off about it, like the memory of his lost companion is still haunting him. Martha’s story talks about how she and her husband fled the city of Brady and during the ride to a supposed safe zone they got into a car crash. Her husband was severely injured, but she couldn’t move him to the hospital without killing him. Unfortunately, any person who passed by ignored her pleas for help and her husband died. She was on her own ever since and travelled northwest out of the heat and packed roads until she met Paul. Noting it down, Madison asks about their other companion, the one besides Matt that they were trying to find. They tell her his name was Greg and they met him in New Mexico, they guess around Tucumacari.

Madison will look at them both with serious eyes and asks them who they’ve had to kill to survive. Both will stunned by her directness and she’ll explain how she was told both of them (as well as Matt) were ready to fight her friends when they first met and more than ready to kill the infected. There is a sternness in her voice as she continues that she and her people have fought people, live people, and that the living are more than willing to take what they want if they see an opportunity. She’ll admit she’s done this and is doing so now to keep her people safe. This talk also gives the two an indirect question: “Are either of you going to cause me or my people trouble?” After a long pause, Martha will lean forward a bit and tell Madison that she and Paul have seen things… They saw three people kill themselves over a can of spaghetti, they saw a whole town under attack from another group of humans while under attack by the dead, they seen many, many people do stupid and selfish things that got them killed and others. They know that humans are the danger now and that only together can humanity survive. That’s what she is hoping to see in this place.

Another pause happens here as Madison continues to stare at the two. We can see glimpses though that Madison is impressed by Martha’s words. She’ll write down more on her paper, then tell them that she’ll assign them jobs before the end of today and for now their weapons will be left in storage. Offering her hand out, she’ll shake both Martha and Paul’s hands and welcome them to Bloomfield. Continuing, she’ll inform them that they might need to move to the riverside community about 20 miles away east up the river. Paul nods and says they’re eager for a place to stay. Madison will then say that if they find Greg, she’ll need to interview him as well. For now though, she’ll have them head down to the river to fetch water.

Cutting away to the wall, we’ll see a couple people on watch. As they’re looking out into the North, they’ll notice something moving a ways off. Pulling out pair on binoculars, one of them looks out and after a long pause he’ll pull them away and tell the other guard to get Farah. A small jump will happen, skipping to Farah and Strand on the wall with the guards, all of them looking down at a couple of infected clawing at the metal. Both our named characters will look up to see another one about to join the others below and Strand will express how Madison went up there not too long ago to clear the pit. Farah will acknowledge this, but say it has been a while since they actually needed to check on repairing it. Strand will tell one of the guards to give him his walkie and he’ll use it to contact Madison. He’ll inform her about the situation and ask if the machine was acting up at all when she was clearing the pit. Madison will reply that no, nothing was wrong at all. Strand will respond that he and Farah and a few others will go up to check on the trap in a bit and they’ll need to take a few people with them. Madison will acknowledge this on her end and the walkie will click off.

Both Farah and Strand will get down from the ramparts and begin to walk around and gather a couple people for their trip, informing them to meet near the north gates. After collecting some people, Strand will take those they picked and lead them to the north gate while Farah goes to pick up her tools. As she starts grabbing her gear, Alicia will bump into her and ask what’s going on. Farah will explain the situation and Alicia will recall that her mom was out to check the trap not long ago. Standing up with her tools, Farah will say that it seems like repairs are needed. Sometimes this heat can mess up machinery and we’ll get a small little explanation as to why (back in the modern times) they couldn’t set up solar power in the African deserts. Too much heat can break down electrical systems and with the worn down machinery they have now, it might not last forever. Alicia will walk by Farah as she heads to the north gate and then ask the Arabic woman how long they can make this place a home. Farah will think on those words with a long pause and tell Alicia they’ll make it last as long as possible. She’ll go on that they have to make the resources they have last and with the oil and the dam possibly being fixable, they have rare things that a lot of others survivors might not have. Nodding, Alicia will feel a little reassurance as she follows Farah.

As our duo walk north, they’ll bump into Madison, Martha, and Paul leaving the school and about to take a truck down to the river south of Bloomfield. Alicia will say hi to the newcomers and ask her mother how the interview went. Madison will give a small smile and say they might have two new members. She’s just taking them to the river to see how they work and tomorrow she’ll show them the riverside community. Martha will ask if that’s where John, June, and Tobias went and Madison will nod. Farah will say that they could use somebody to help with guard duty, Strand has been asking for another guard. Paul looks interested, but Martha says that they want to see who needs more help first before deciding. Acknowledging this, everyone splits off, with Madison and her two recruits packing up in a vehicle, Alicia going off to train with her prosthetic, and Farah going north to quickly meet up with Strand and his group at their truck. After the everyone gets in the truck, the gates will open and the vehicle will drive off.

We'll cut here to this group driving north. They reach the trap and everyone gets out, Farah in the lead with a toolkit and wires. Strand will announce to keep everyone on standby on guard. As Farah walks closer to the trap, she notices that panel with the wires is open and the wires have been roughly cut. There’s a some of flesh on the box and the wires, puzzling the engineer and calling Strand over. Pointing it out, she’ll ask Strand if he’s seen something like this before. Strand will openly talk about Madison telling him about the CRM experiments in the school basement, but this is completely different from that. Or at least he hopes they’re not connected. Both look closely at the mess, trying to figure out what’s going on and checking the pit to see if any infected have wires on them.

They’re interrupted by one of the guards that, while keeping watch, notices something in the distance (a glint on the hill) and peers ahead. He raises his rifle, which catches Strand's attention. While Strand asks what's up, a shot is heard and the guards head has a crown of red burst out from the back of it. As the slain man falls lifeless to the ground, more gunfire is heard and Strand yells at everyone to take cover, grabbing Farah to hide behind the truck. He'll take his own gun and begins to fire over the top of the hood, then gives Farah a pistol. Unlike Strand though, Farah is not experienced with firearms and her hands shake as she takes it. There's great fear in her at the idea she might have to kill a living person.

Everyone expect Farah is shooting now as a vehicle in the distance is drawing closer. While there is gunfire from the truck, the deadly shots are coming from the sniper on the hill. As each member of the guard is killed off, it becomes just Strand and Farah left, who still refuses to use her weapon. Strand tries to yell/ encourage her to shoot, but she can't do it. Knowing it's now just him, Strand tries to enter his vehicle so he can start it up and drive off, but as his head lowered head enters through the open passenger door he notices the oncoming truck has stopped not far from him from the sound of it coming to a halt. They're trapped!

A desperate Strand takes out his walkie and begins to call Madison, informing her of the situation. We'll have a short shot of a person stepping out of the new truck and walking over to our hidden heroes. At first there's nothing on the other end and Strand continues to repeat himself, swearing a few times until he finally gets a response. But just as he does there's a click behind him and a new, rough, yet feminine voice telling him to raise his hands and turn around slowly. His hand still on the button, Strand raises his arms and turns around to find a Native American woman with a rifle pointed at him and Farah. As we look at this new enemy's face, we'll cut to black.

Upon return, we are now with Madison holding her radio and calling out for Strand. She, Martha, Paul, and a few others are in a truck with large containers of water and Strand’s call has halted the vehicle. There's silence though as Madison continues to ask for Strand before the sound of the button being let go is heard from Strand's end. Swearing, Madison will get the vehicle moving and drive back into the base. We’ll cut here to Strand and Farah tied up and on the ground. Five people surround the two, with the Native American leader presiding over the capture. Strand begins his usual tactic of offering them a way out, an arrangement in his words. The leader though shakes her head and tells them that there is no negotiating, and they are going to be getting them their supplies back. Shaking his head, Strand will explain that if they don’t take up the offer, the rest of his people is going to kill them all.

The leader laughs at this and tell them they must be joking at they can fool her like that, justifying with in a mocking tone: “You idiots thought the skinwalkers were messing with your little contraption. If the rest of your people are as stupid as you are, they’re going to die before they can fire a shot.”

Strand and Farah will look at each other and then back the leader as she continues:

“Did you really think they’re smart enough to know how to destroy wires? They have less brains than a rock.” She’ll pick up a hand-sized rock and leans forward, shoving it in their faces. Farah shrinks back in fear, but Strand keeps a cooler head on his shoulder and looks directly into the leader’s eyes. He’ll try to convince the woman again that they can all share the supplies if they all go to their home in peace. The woman will straighten her back a bit as she looks at Strand, some contempt in her face. Then with a quick swipe, she’ll smash the rock into the side of Strand’s face. Luckily, it’s mostly the cheekbone that gets hit and he falls down with a bloody face, Farah whimpering next to him. One of the other marauders will tell the leader (who we learn is named Lomasi) that they need them alive. Lomasi will glare at the speaker, but throw the rock away none-the-less. She’ll then proclaim that it’s best time to get their stuff back, pulling out the stolen walkie talkie.

With a click, she turns it on and speaks into it, asking for the “Dumbass in charge.” At first there is silence, so she asks for them again. This time, she gets an answer from Madison. Lomasi will then smugly tell her that she has two of her people. Madison will immediately ask for their health and threaten Lomasi if either of them are dead. Lomasi will say that Madison can’t threaten her so easily and holds the walkie to a blood-coughing Strand, who barks out that he’s okay. When the walkie is offered to Farah, she’s silent at first, trying to calm herself down. From the walkie, Madison will ask what they want from her. Lomasi will be direct in her response:

“Our supplies. From the bank. We learned about it first, we earned it. It’s ours.”

Madison will quip if their names are on them, causing Lomasi to grunt in anger. Nobody was about, so they took them. Lomasi will snarl that if Brandon (glaring over at one of her people) hadn’t fallen asleep on watch, then those supplies would be theirs. Then Madison will that it’s a shit excuse because those were left for anybody to take them, then will response with the same offer that Strand offered: Join and they can share them, or die. Just like with Strand, Lomasi turns down the offer and offers instead (after getting Madison’s name) that they give back those supplies and all will be good. Either that or they’ll kill Strand and Farah, then take their home. We get a pause, until Madison tells them that they could be living better lives with them instead of out there.

“There’s nothing out there… you’re going to die out there. We all need a home to live in, to grow, to be safe against the infected. When we have one, we can rebuild again, make a better life.”

She’ll then, after asking for Lomasi’s name, once more offer her and her people a place to stay. Knowing that she’s not going to break Madison, Lomasi turns it down again and gives Madison an ultimatum: Bring them all the goods to Humbug Gulch before sundown or her friends die horrible deaths. Right at this moment, Strand coughs up some blood and the noise is caught on the walkie.

"Tick tock, Madison."

Lomasi ends the call there, then tells her people to throw the two into the truck. We’ll see both prisoners picked up and dragged into the truck, with Lomasi telling them they’ll pick up Mellissa (the sniper) on the way back. We’ll switch to Madison holding the now silent walkie as she’s parked in Bloomfield. Paul and Martha are looking worried, Paul asking if they’ve met these new people before. Madison shakes her head and gets out, switching channels to call Ian and inform him of the situation. We’ll have a talk between the two before Madison turns on her newcomers, raising a hand to indicate her people to have weapons out on Paul and Martha. Both raise their hands and before they can reply, Madison demands to know if they have any idea of this attack. Martha and Paul will deny any knowledge of this, saying they were only looking for their friend. These people, whoever they are, are not with them.

Our leader though is not fully convinced, as the lack of time between their discovery and this ambush are way too small to feel unconnected. Paul, while remaining calm, vehemently tells Madison that whoever these new people are, he and Martha are not connected with them. In fact, they’re ready to take them down. He’ll continue by say:

“You are good people. We’ve met bad people on the road and you all are not like them. We don’t want to lose that and we don’t want you to lose that. We’ll get your people back if you want us to.”

There’s an odd look from Martha as Paul says this, but Madison, after a pause, indicates to the others to lower their weapons. She’ll then look hard at both of them and proclaim this:

“Fine. If you’re with us, let’s see you fight for this place.”

There is a bit of fright on Martha’s face at this, but it’s not enough to get her to say anything against this. Paul nods and tells a few of her people to take them to the North gate while ordering the others to start grabbing weapons. Once she’s alone, Madison clicks the radio to another channel and goes to contact the river community. There’s silence at first, but then Daniel picks up and asks what’s going on. She’ll inform him them about the situation and gather guns and people, including John since he knows Humbug Gulch. After Daniel acknowledges this, she’ll also tell him to put extra guards on the walls in case this is a trap. Once the call is done, Madison will start to go off with the group getting guns. She pauses after a few seconds into her stride though and thinks on Paul and Martha and how she still doesn’t know them enough to feel comfortable, even with guards. Changing direction, she’ll head to the northern gate with the first group.

We’ll cut here to Daniel, who follows Madison’s orders and starts to organize a group to attack and more people to defend from the walls. After around 20 to 40 seconds of this, he’ll head to John and June’s home and knocks. John will open the door and, upon seeing Daniel’s serious face, lose the smile on his and ask what’s wrong. Sighing, Daniel will describe the deal that Madison told him of and how Strand and Farah have been captured. June will enter the room during Daniel’s explanation of the attack and look worried. With some unhappiness in his voice, he’ll continue that these bandits have Strand and Farah in Humbug Gulch and they’ll need him to get them back.

John is at first reluctant to go, having been there already and worrying about leaving June, who agrees with him. Understanding his feelings, Daniel has a little reluctance to coerce John into helping, but he informs him that they need at least Farah back because she’s helping to keep the oil field running. As for Strand, he’s keeping everything organized. Or maybe he’ll make a deal to him out of this. Whatever the case, they got to rescue him too. John is a little unnerved by Daniel’s talk of Strand (since he doesn’t fully know why they don’t like each other) but walks away to talk to June on this.

As the couple huddle up, John says that he doesn’t want to go, but he knows the town (approximately) to give them a major advantage if there’s a fight and they need to save their friends. June will look nervous, knowing John is right, but still feeling this isn’t right. She’ll ask if he can make a quick map of the place or draw out something to show off the town, but John shakes his head and says he needs to be there. Nodding, June will say she’s coming to, but John interrupts her and insists she stay, explaining that he doesn’t want to lose her. June defiantly replies that he won’t lose her if she’s by his side. Besides, Strand and Farah might need a medic if they’re hurt, as well as anybody else. Knowing this is true, John agrees and both begin to pack and join Daniel.

We’ll cut to all three meeting up with their group of six volunteers. With everyone gathered, Daniel calls in Madison to tell her that his group is ready. We’ll start to hear Madison reply that she’s ready too and we’ll cut away while she speaks to her talking into her walkie. She’ll continue by saying she’s bringing Paul and Martha with her, adding quietly that they might be in on this. Daniel will whisper why she’s bringing them then and Madison says they have the numbers to take care of them if they try anything. But if they’re loyal, they’ll see how strong they are. Returning to a normal speaking voice, she’ll indicate where they’ll all meet up, says she’ll see him soon, and turns off her walkie.

As she prepares to leave, she’ll see Alicia and wave her over. They’ll have a talk about this operation and after a good talk Alicia will nod and tell her mom to bring Strand and Farah back. Madison will nod and say she will before opening the car door. As she’s about to enter, she’ll tell Ian to be on guard while she’s gone and hops inside the truck. In the driver’s seat, Madison turns on the engine and starts to drive north as the gates open up. Martha, Paul, and two residents of Bloomfield are in the back and one is in the passenger seat as the vehicle heads north and as we get a horizontal/ back view of the truck leaving we cut to black.

When we return, we see the Bloomfield and River groups meeting up. Everyone gathers in a group, bags of weapons and ammo on their back and some of the supplies they found in the trucks. Madison explains the situation in full, then asks John for advice since he knows the area some. John will begin to explain big features of the amusement park, explaining how most of the place is down a center road, the places that can be help up and defended, and locations he remembers when he went there. During his explanation though, Martha cuts in and proposes they try to negotiate first, try to not spill any blood. Madison shakes her head, saying that this group isn't looking for friends. Persistent in her idea, Martha says that the desperate just need some hope and they can be better. Offer them a safe home with food and friends and they could join them. Again Madison shakes her head, saying that this aggressive attitude is too dangerous to risk a fully peaceful option. She already tried multiple times to give them that option, but they said no. Strand probably tried that already as well. They’re probably going to have to fight. Everyone except Martha and Paul agrees with their Madison, though John shows some reluctance in killing live people.

Still, looking over the guns, John suggests they put up a sniper since this enemy has at least one skilled marksman (the ambush on Strand and Farah’s group was in an open area). Paul takes the role, saying he’s a good shot. There’s some hesitancy in giving Paul the rifle he’s indicates, so John takes it and hands it to June and the couple take Paul up to the top of the hill. When all three reach the peak to see if they can spot of the foe, John using binoculars to view the scene. Madison is not far behind and when she asks if he sees anything, John says he sees at least one person out on watch. When she asks if there’s any sign of Strand or Farah, John says there isn’t. Hands on hips, Madison sighs and tells everyone to roll out. John goes down with Madison, Daniel, Martha and the others while June stays with Paul. Both will give each other a long look as June holds onto the rifle.

We’ll watch Madison’s team head down to Humbug Gulch. We’ll get shows of everyone’s tense faces as they see the front entrance to the western theme park. Soon enough, Madison drives up slowly with her truck of supplies and stops when a loud voice calls for them to halt. After the engine turns off and Madison, John, and some of her people step out slowly with their guns at their sides. Daniel, Martha, and the others park a ways back from them, just out of the outskirts of the entrance. As our front step out, Lomasi will step out from the building on the right with her rifle, along with a couple of her people. We’ll get a long high-up shot of both groups standing and eyeing each other up until Lomasi mockingly calls out that she made it… And demands to know where her stuff is. Nodding over her shoulder, Madison indicates the boxes in the back of the truck. Madison loudly asks to see Strand and Farah. The leader yells to her left and both hostages are lead out with guns pointed their heads, Strand looking a bit bloody from the rock to his head.

Lomasi proclaims that they now give the supplies back to them and then they’ll be on their way. Madison shakes her head and says she probably know where they come from. She’s a threat. So she gives Lomasi another offer: Since HER PEOPLE got the supplies, they won it so its theirs. But they’ll offer the whole thing if they join the community because how they're living, in the wild, is no way to live. With an eye roll, Lomasi in a loud and annoyed groan, says, “You seriously on this again?” Then her voice turn dark as she continues in a more blunt tone: “There is no room for argument, give us our stuff now! Or these two are going to get it.” As she’s saying the last one, one of her people pushes his gun to the back of Farah’s head and we see her shivering a bit. Madison’s face fills with anger, John looks worried, and Martha is apprehensive.

We're at a stand-off here, Madison and the leader watching each other down the street. Everyone can tell a shootout is about to happen. We'll look at each of Madison's people in cover, watching the members of Lomasi’s group on the edge. We'll drag it out a bit until both Madison and Lomasi pull out their guns and begin to fire! The fight will be just like westerns, with people using cover down the street as both parties try to pick off the other. Seeing everyone focused on each other, Strand throws himself to the side to knock Farah away from the gun just as the shooting commences. John, one of the first to fire, uses his bullets more to put distance between the two former captives and their captors, giving Strand and Farah time to find cover. Both will fling themselves out the street and behind a barrel, then Strand will notice a broken piece of wood and starts to cut his bonds with a broken edge.

The reserves of both groups now join the battle, Daniel running up with his group while more of Lomasi’s group poke out of windows and begin to fire. We’ll see at least one of each side shot and most of the each side behind cover. On Lomasi’s side, we see her behind cover and telling her group to move up while she provides cover. Her man gives a nod and she gives a countdown before providing covering fire. The man runs across the street to a more forward position to our through and with his machine gun he keeps everyone down. John shoots from behind the far side of the truck, using it as cover to keep shooting. Madison and Daniel though are more pinned down by this moved-up bandit.

Meanwhile Strand has freed himself and is trying to free Farah when one of the bandits spots them and tries to recapture them. As they get close, Strand tackles the woman into the window and both fall flipping into the bar. With both disheveled, Strand gets to his feet as the woman does too and aims her gun at him. Panicking, Strand grabs a chair and throws it at her as she shoots, hitting the side of his leg, but mostly missing him. With her on the ground, Strand grabs another chair and slams it on the bandit’s face multiple times, killing them. Taking the rifle off them, he’ll find out it’s out of ammo just as Farah, still tied up, runs into the bar away from the gunfire. Just as Strand is about to grab ammo though, another bandit will spot them and chase after them, leading both Strand and Farah to run for the stairs.

Cutting away to Paul and June, both hear the noises and June looks hesitant to give Paul the rifle. He though convinces her and telling her to watch him. June, knowing John is in danger, gives Paul the rifle and immediately pulls a pistol on him. Paul ignores that though and situates himself on the hill, sniper rifle pointed at the town. We’ll cut back to the main fight, where everyone except John and a few others on his side are shooting. We’ll see Madison and Daniel still pinned down as the frontrunner keeps shooting with his rifle until he runs out of ammo. As he ducks down to reload, Daniel calls out to Madison and tosses her a grenade. She’ll pull the pin and, after quickly peeking to the side, throws the grenade over the cover the gunner pinning them down. The grenade lands close to the guy and he notices it, crying out and trying to grab it and throw it back before it explodes. But as his hand reaches out, the grenade detonates and blasts him back into the building next to him, the blast killing him and the knocking against the building breaking his spine.

The sudden use of a grenade shocks Lomasi, realizing Madison’s people mean business. But she still thinks she can win as her sniper gets up in a high, windowed building looking down the street. The first shot kills one of Madison’s people and Daniel orders some of their people to focus on the sniper. But it’s not enough as the sniper takes out another of their group and skins the top of Daniel’s head. When John needs to reload, he uses the time to contact June, telling her they need help. On June’s end, she’ll wrestle with the thought of going out to help them or to watch Paul. He, seeing June’s anguish, redoubles on his focus, aiming for someone, anybody to stop. He is able to snipe one of Lomasi’s people, but that’s it. Taking a deep breath, he looks closer through his scope.

Returning to Strand and Farah, both are trying to avoid the gunfire of this new bandit. As they run down the hallway, both of them split up and hide in different rooms. This new bandit, seeing the empty hallway, the bandit will look carefully look around with their gun up. He’ll check the first door on the right, but nothing is in there. He’ll then try the next door on the left and nothing is in there. But before he can move on, he hears a noise and stops, slowly entering the room. From behind the close door, Farah pushes hard on it, knocking the man into the wall. She’ll try to flee then, but the man grabs her and tries to throw her to the ground. But she puts up more of a fight than he expects and the two wrestle a bit with the gun. Unfortunately, Farah is definitely not as strong as this man and she’s pushed up against a wall, the bandit’s gun chocking her out. We’ll get a long moment of her trying to push the gun away and the man’s nasty smile as he presses the gun up against her neck. Suddenly, a pair of scissors are rammed through the back of the bandit’s neck and he begins to choke on his blood. As the man falls dead, we can see Strand holding the blade and then stabbing it through the man’s eye. Farah will be taking deep breaths as the oxygen comes back into her system.

Back at the battle, both sides are losing more people at a pretty equal rate. But Lomasi’s sniper is starting to become a problem as one of their bullets hits the car mirror that’s right next to Madison. As she’s pinned down, we see the sniper far in the background aim more get a better shot at Madison. They know that they just need one shot and the tide will turn. They get a brief glimpse of Madison’s hair over the top of the hood and we see their finger on the trigger. We’ll get a couple of shots of the sniper about to fire, and as they curl their finger on the trigger we cut away with a bang and a bullet nearly hits Madison, her hair flowing with the force of the bullet that nearly hits her. In the same shot though we see a figure fall out a window in the background and hit the ground. Martha will notice it and yell it out to Madison, who looks under the truck to see the dead body.

Cutting away to a scope pointed at the window, we see Paul’s rifle barrel smoking a little, indicating he shot the sniper as they were focusing on Madison. Paul saved her life. He’ll then tell June they need to move and both move to another location, one a little closer to the town while still under cover. Back to the battle, Lomasi knows she’s in trouble. Calling out to her people, she tries to order a retreat, but as they start to move backwards and use cover, they begin to be picked off. Madison then orders the rest of her people to advance and we watch as everyone except Lomasi are killed. With her behind cover, she loathly puts her rifle down and raises her hands in defeat. As Madison has her shotgun on Lomasi, she declares to the surrendering native American: “Told you. You should have taken the deal.” With that we cut to black.

Okay, so I might have to update this battle a bit later because I feel I mostly talked about highlights and might have missed opportunities like June having to fight an infected or two and Paul having to help her out, as well as more moments for both sides to fight. But I’m satisfied so far with what I got and right now we’re going with that.

When we return, Lomasi is tied up and the bodies are being scavenged. With the marauders defeated and the leader captured, Madison will take a head count of all the people they lost, which will be around eight of the eleven they brought with them. Those unhurt are tending to the wounded, like Martha using June’s first aid kit to deal with a bullet wound. Strand and Farah are seen walking out of the bar, Strand limping a bit, and Daniel gives him an arm to help him. Touching his face, Strand says he kind of knows how you felt to Daniel with his own cheek. Daniel will glare at this and tell Strand that no, no he doesn’t. Soon after that, we see Paul and June arrive to come walking in, June immediately running to John and hugging him. When she asks if he’s alright, he’ll say he is. Madison will look at Paul and ask him if he was the one who took out the sniper and he’ll nod. She’ll look at him closely and thank him for that and he’ll nod once more, saying it’s his duty. He’ll then tell Madison that he gets why he and Martha were kept under guard… they’re new, they are still trying to know them both. He’s dealt with that before and it’s a necessity in this day and age. Paul will then offer the rifle back, but Madison will say to keep it. She thinks she knows what’s a good position for him. We’ll finally get a real smile out of Paul as he walks off to help with the cleanup.

Meanwhile Martha, after bandaging the bullet wound of the one soldier, will be looking at Lomasi and call to Madison. She’ll ask her if she can talk to her in private, she wants to find out if she saw her and Paul’s friend. Madison feels it’s unlikely they do know of this, but agrees to let the two talk to Lomasi. Both recruits grab Lomasi by the bindings on her hands and taken her into the bar. As both walk way, Daniel will walk up to Madison and watch the pair drag their captive away. Madison will ask Daniel what he thinks of these two and he’ll respond they have talent, but there’s also something about them that bothers him. When Madison asks what it could be, Daniel says that they might be acting friendly towards Bloomfield, they were also trying to be friendly towards the enemy. His advice is to keep them at Bloomfield for longer, get to know them more first before introducing them to the river community.

Cut away there to Paul and Martha dropping the bound Lomasi onto a chair, Lomasi looks at both people curiously. They’ll begin to ask her if they’ve seen their friend after giving a description, but she rolls her eyes and says nothing. Paul tries to coerce her to tell them and they might be able to let her live. Still in a grumpy mood, Lomasi tells the pair that no, she hadn’t seen their friend. Martha will ask again, making completely sure that their prisoner knows they haven’t seen their friend. Lomasi groans, “Oh for the love of- I told you I haven’t seen them! They’re probably dead.” Both will look at each other, then Paul will say that whatever the case, she can make it out alive and join them if she works it out with Madison. Lomasi though just glares at the two and, seeing there is nothing more to get out of the prisoner, Paul and Martha turn away to quietly discuss the situation. With their backs turned, Lomasi notices a piece of broken glass and discreetly takes off her boot. Gritting her teeth, she tries to grab the glass with her uncovered food and she succeeds, though it cuts her a bit. Bending her leg back as far as she can, she grabs the glass shard and starts to use it to cut away at her bonds.

As the rope starts to wear down, we’ll get a shot of her staring at the two survivors, trying to hide her deception from them. We’ll draw out the moment, let some tension build up as the rope quietly snaps, Lomasi silently moves off the chair and tries to sneak up on conversing pair. As she gets close, Paul will notice her coming up on and as he Lomasi will notice and lunge at the two. We cut away to outside just as she pounces and, after a long pause, hear a gunshot. Rushing inside, Madison, Daniel, John see Lomasi on the floor in a growing pool of red. Paul has his rifle pointed at the woman lying face down on the wood floor, where a hole in the middle of her back is clearly visible. Paul explains what happened and Madison sighs. With no way to save her, Madison puts the dying woman out of her misery with her hammer, smashing the woman’s face in with a crunch.

With the threat now totally wiped out, Madison calls to the two former interrogators and tells them to pack up, they’re leaving now. As John and Daniel walk out, Madison will ask the two if Lomasi knew anything about their friend. Both shake their heads, with Martha sighing that the dead bandit could have been useful to the group. This response causes Madison to look at them oddly, replying that their friend, Greg, is more important. Martha nods at this, but adds that no matter what, they need as many people as possible against the dead in order to win. Paul will nod, but he also looks like he made the right call in shooting Lomasi. Still, Madison tells them to hurry up because they’re leaving soon. We’ll follow our leader as she walks out, tucking her war hammer into her belt on her way out the door.

Cutting to the trucks, including two new ones split between the new communities, everyone left is together and ready to head home with their new supplies. Before everyone leaves, Madison declares loudly to everyone:

“Everyone… We won today. But we lost a lot of people. Martin… Enapay… Lucy… and more… we lost them. This is just something we’ll need to work together on so it doesn’t have to happen again. There will always be the dead and there will always be people out to take our stuff. But we have to be ready to know when to fight and when to offer a hand.”

She’ll indicated Martha and Paul and continues:

“Martha and Paul have proven that there is still good in the world. It’s a world worth fighting for.”

John and June will hold hands at this, Farah will stare at Madison and nod with a determined look, and Strand and Daniel will watch Madison apprehensively. With her speech done, she’ll order everyone to move out and we’ll see her hop into her truck and start the engine. As everyone starts to drive off Daniel, from the back of his truck, watches the Bloomfield group head back home, eyeing the two recruits as they move farther away. As the Bloomfield groups moves past a hill and out of Daniel’s sight we’ll cut to black.

Click here for Episode 12