Fear the Walking Dead - Season 5 Rewrite - Episode 03

Click here for Episode 02

Episode 3 – Rest for the Wicked

Plot: After their remaining vehicle finally breaks down, the weary group, now with little supplies, trudge through a barren land for a place to rest and lick their wounds.

Synopsis:

This episode is going to be a depressing and bleak episode. This one will be similar to the main show’s season 5, episode 10 “Them.” The episode where Rick and the group are struggling, hope seems completely lost as they have nowhere to go, no goal, no will to live. That is until something near the end changes their situation to a possibly brighter future.

Our episode starts with the group driving north up the road. It has been at least a few days (or over a week, need feedback) since their last adventure and with dwindling supplies they all look in rough shape. The morning is dreary, the sun rising through clouds and fog. Alicia, Strand, John, and Farah are still in their trailer while the others are in the car. Daniel is sweating in his seat while June is attending him. His condition seems to have worsened since the synagogue; his temperature high as the sickness spreads through his body. Yoana is silent, just looking out the window and thinking of her lost home. Madison, in the driver’s seat, is the only one trying not to show the weariness of the road. Even so, it’s a struggle for her.

We’ll have around 30 to 45 seconds of this kind of silence until the car starts to falter. Looking down, Madison sees that their remaining car has finally run out of gas. Moving to side of the road, Madison lets the vehicle use the last of its fuel until with a small flash and bump in the vehicle it finally reaches the end of its life. There she sets the vehicle to neutral to keep it going just a little more and ride out its momentum. During this deceleration, everyone realizes their situation and begin to mentally prepare themselves for what’s to come next. Faster than expected though the car hits a few walkers that are wandering about. Some are trampled by the vehicle, some just knocked off their feet. The impacts though slow the car down to a stop and ends the ride.

As everyone slowly gets out they start to deal with the remaining dead, including those that were rolled over by the car. Some of the infected that are after them have tumbleweeds stuck to them or even surrounding some body parts. This complicates the fight as people have trouble reaching through the brambles to kill the undead. But after some struggle the group manages to slay them all. Once those are all dealt with everyone groups up and looks around, June and John helping Daniel walk. Our sick survivor he tries to deny their help, but it’s clear he isn’t fully recovered and is still plenty sick. Quickly Farah points out a sign that says “Welcome to Beclabito.” While looking over the lay of the land in Arizona and New Mexico I had a really hard time deciding on locations because this part of the United States is very barren. It’s deserts and mountains with very small towns scattered about, which mean boring sets and lots of boring walking. Not something the audience would like because they want action, drama, and all sorts of things. Back to the story, while the fog is still heavy the sign gives them a destination in mind and Madison calls out, telling them just a little more so they can find a place to rest. Everyone follows, though they are in need of a moral boost with how disenchanted they’ve become. As they walk into the fog, we cut the intro.

When we come back we see all of them emerging from the fog into a small town. When I say small I’m talking about a town that, before the end of the world, would have around 300 people living in it. Mostly a bunch of houses with a convenience store and a few other buildings about. There will be one shot of the group walking there from far away on a hill as well. When the whole group sees the place they’re a little disenchanted by how small and deserted it is. Almost as if they’re still out in the wilderness. Madison, trying to keep things together, leads them to the houses close by and knocks on one of the front doors. Nobody answers after a while, dead or alive, even after a repeated knock, so she calls for Strand to unlock the door so they can all get inside. With weapons drawn, Madison, Strand, and Alicia go inside first to check for anybody or any trapped walkers. The others follow behind and soon enough they find nobody about. Setting Daniel on a couch they all look about for anything they can scavenge. Unfortunately, most of what’s left is rotten or in poor condition.

This lowers the spirits of our group and Madison has to do her best to keep them motivated, saying that they have enough supplies for a few days and in the meanwhile, they can go to the local store and find a map that’ll at least point them to a location where they can easily scavenge. John adds that he saw a large building not too far away, maybe a place where people or supplies might be held up. Madison thinks things over until deciding that staying with Daniel is the best decision. John tries to argue against it, but Madison is adamant that they last time they split up so much things went wrong. And with the current weather people could get lost. Silent, but clearly thinking it’s the wrong move, John agrees to stay with Daniel. Before she leaves with Strand and Alicia, Madison tells those who remain that if they aren’t back in a few hours, then they’ll need to move on.

After the three leave, June takes out her first aid kit and checks over Daniel. Meanwhile Yoana and Farah and sitting about, looking over the deserted home. John is watching the group of three head south towards the local store in the distance. He keeps watching until the fog swallows them up, then returns to June as she looks over Daniel. The former assassin is groaning and tossing some on the couch as June looks over this scar, dabbing it with alcohol and applying a new bandage over it. John will begin to talk to the group, wondering that even though Madison is doing their best for them if they need a new plan. They just haven’t been very lucky or fortunate to find anything. Nobody says anything at first, all the others needing to think over John’s words. Farah then speaks, saying that her time living in the American southwest has shown her the land is often barren and Madison is really trying to keep them together. June and Yoana though say that as soon as Madison returns they need a better plan than to just… follow her, with June adding that she can’t take care of Daniel forever with her current medical supplies.

Their discussion will be interrupted by Daniel, who will say a few things in Spanish. Farah goes to him and holds his hand and Daniel looks at her, trying to focus on her face. Getting a hold of himself as best as he can, Daniel will apologize to Farah about calling her Ophelia at the church, saying that she… reminds him of her. Suddenly there will be tears in his eyes as he weeps over missing his daughter. Farah will try her best to comfort him while the others try to not feel awkward. But the atmosphere in the room is adding a layer of doom to the four members of the group and John looks out the window, viewing the weather as a sign that things are just as depressing as the mood in the room.

We’ll then cut to Madison, Alicia, and Strand walking in the fog until they reach the local store. The place looks ransacked, but not as much as other places they’ve seen throughout their apocalyptic travels. All of them have guns in their hands as they scout out the building. Nothing suspicious or dangerous is scene as they near the main doors and step inside. The inside of the building is in disarray, but it definitely doesn’t look like it had been hit hard by looters. This keeps all three on guard as they look about the store. It’s full of regular store stuff, as well as Native American merch. We’ll take a minute or two of them checking over the store until they determine it’s safe to be in. Once it’s all done they start to look over everything from finding new clothes to picking up any useable food.

We’ll watch Madison hop over the counter and head into the back room. But just after she opens the door a figure falls on her. Falling to the ground, Madison sees an infected child trying to bite her. Crying out, she tries to kick it off as it gets on top of her. Strand and Alicia hear the noise and rush over to her as the small infected goes for her legs again. With an angry grunt, Madison kicks extra hard at the infected and knocks it flying. After recovering from the hit, it rushes at Madison and just before it can lunge at her she pulls out her shotgun and blasts it in the chest. The force sends it flying back once more, but this gives Madison enough time to get to her feet and shoot the infected in the head before it can recover once more. This time her shot kills the undead fully.

The shock of the moment finally hits Madison and she becomes horrified by her actions. This however is a bad move as another infected child in the small room gets up and starts to walk towards Madison. Alicia, seeing her mother numb and unmoving, hops over the counter and stabs the infected in the head with her butterfly knife before it can do anything. Pulling her knife from the skull, Alicia looks at her mother and sees her looking stunned.

“Mom…”

Madison suddenly shakes her head to get herself together, but Alicia can see some wetness on her face. Staying silent, Madison turns away and tries to search another part of the store. Strand and Alicia look at each other then go over to the closet and look inside to find a stash of food. Chips, candy bars, the kind of food a kid would store away. Looking about more both of them notice some blood in the corner and the shelves in disarray. Further investigations bring up a pink journal, a diary for a little girl. Alicia opens it, with Strand looking over her shoulder. At first the entries are of ordinary things in a scribbly handwriting, but after a number of pages it turns into the apocalypse. People getting sick, monsters, mom had a mark on her arm, then dad. People were heading to the school nearby to hide, but mom was sick and soon dad told her and her brother to hide. They went to the store and hid in the closet. Days later the brother, Erin, got sick. Then…

Snapping the book shut, Alicia looks over at the little kids that had tried to attack her mother. A rare look of distraught emotion will be on Strand’s face as they look over the dead bodies. The reality of this world of walking corpses has never been so strong to the pair and both of them feel the gloom of the world really hit them hard. Strand will wonder to himself if there’s really anything to do anymore because in the end… they’ll be just like those kids. Alicia will begin tear up, feeling overwhelmed by what’s happening. Madison, having recovered from her attack, power walks over to them and literally shakes them, saying that this isn’t going to be them. Not if they keep going. Strand will then ask where they’re going. They have no destination, no home, little supplies! He’ll then yell at Madison at they should have stayed at Yuma, it was just a few people who wanted them out after-all. Madison snaps back, saying that if they stayed they’d be in more danger because they couldn’t make the hard choices, and so thought of them as villains. Strand will shout back that maybe she, Madison is. Madison is about to raise a fist to punch Strand when Alicia gets in the middle of them and tries to diffuse the situation, but both adults have boiling tempers right now and only reluctantly stop. Strand turns away while Madison stomps off to find something, anything to get her away from her companions.

We’ll cut back to the other group as they wait about for the three to return. Yoana is doing some prayers, Farah is looking over kitchen tools, June is by Daniel’s side, and John is looking out the windows on guard. But this waiting and doing nothing becomes too much for the former policeman and he declares he’s going to the school for help. June and Farah try to stop him, but John is adamant to not just standing about and opens the sliding doors in the back. John walks out of the house and after a few yards he hears yells in the direction that Madison, Alicia, and Strand went (their argument). After turning his head at the noise another sound catches his attention: The groans of a walking dead. Turning his head back he spies an infected north of him. He reaches for one of his pistols then freezes. The moaning from the infected seems to echo about and in the distance John can see multiple infected coming out of the fog. That couple soon turns into a few dozen. Suddenly John realizes in horror that a horde is marching towards the house. As fast as he can he returns, locks the sliding door, and closes the curtains before telling the others about the approaching infected. As the sound of the horde gets nearer we’ll zoom in on the others and cut to black.

When we return we see everyone in their same positions and Yoana wondering out-loud what they’re going to do. John tries to take control of the situation, saying that they saw him enter the house, so they can’t stay or else the building will be surrounded and overrun. Immediately everyone begins packing up what they unpacked and Yoana and June help Daniel to his feet. All of them exit the front door, the opposite side of the approach multitude of walking dead. Farah takes out their walkie talkie and quickly calls to Madison. Madison, in a foul mood, pulls out her talkie, but before she can say anything Farah in a quiet, but urgent voice informs her of their unwanted company. Immediately Madison rushes to the front doors and greets the group, getting them inside and beginning to block the doors. But soon the group realizes that there won’t be enough to stop them and even if they could there wouldn’t be a way for them to escape or survive. There just isn’t enough supplies for them to last.

Everyone starts to panic. Everyone except Farah, who is searching the store for anything, ANYTHING, that can help them. Then she sees a Native American bow and arrow and an idea pops into her head. Rushing over, she grabs the items, then some twine and some firecrackers. Strand and June are the first to notice her and ask what she’s up to. Farah explains that if she can attach these explosives to the arrow and launch it, it could distract the dead enough for them to escape. Farah then calls to everyone to get her something to light the explosives. Everyone rushes off and start scavenging as fast as possible for something that can help. Daniel, the only one unable to help, is sitting with his back against the counter, trying to get a hold of himself. Then he spies just what they’re looking for: A pocket lighter. Weakly getting to his feet, he grabs the lighter and shows it to Farah, who exclaims in excitement that’s just what she needs. Showing the upgraded arrow, she asks who’s the best show. Yoana steps up and takes the bow and arrow. Outside the sound of the advancing horde is getting louder. Farah is clicking the lighter and at first it doesn’t seem to work. Then, to her relief, a flame finally comes out and she put it to the fuse. Knowing they only got one shot, Yoana aims the bow and takes aim. With only seconds to spare, she finds her target and lets the arrow loose.

With thrum and a whoosh, the arrow flies through the air, across the street, and into the window of a car, cracking the glass and causing the car’s alarm the blare loudly. Soon after the toy explosives start popping and the dead, which were only a few yards away from the store, slightly to follow the new commotion. Madison peeks through an opening to watch the horde make their way to the car. See this as their time to go, Madison motions them to follow and the group horridly heads down the road, away from the town and the dead. We’ll have a minute or two of them escaping until they begin to slow and go for a walk. Madison, Strand, John, and Yoana are all in the back with their guns ready in case there are stragglers. Alicia, Farah, June, and Daniel are in the front leading the way. We’ll have some silence between them all as they walk, trying not to make any noise that could get the horde’s attention back on them. After a while they’ll see a farm nearby and the group heads there for shelter.

We’ll then cut to them inside the house, with Alicia and John at the front doors. They knock, trying to attract any dead inside to the front. Not a peep though. Strand comes up and unlocks the door and all of them get inside, Madison and June blocking the door after everyone is inside while Alicia and Farah get Daniel to a couch. With everything now calm, June will ask where the horde came from, just out of nowhere like that. Alicia will then say not from nowhere and talks about the diary and how the town went to the school to bunker up. They must have all gotten infected. June will then ask if they at least got something good from the store. Without a word, Madison pulls out a map of the American southwest and lays it on the coffee table. Everyone gathers around as Madison points out the town they were just in, Beclabito, then points out the nearest workable city that could serve as a supply run, Shiprock. Strand cuts in however, asking… what is the point? There’s nothing left. Madison will then say she is trying her best to keep them alive. They have to stay alive. This group… they’re her people.

Strand will sigh and break away to explore the house. They watch him leave until Yoana suggests that they can’t leave yet, they need to rest. Madison, unable to think of anything better, agrees to this, but adds that they need to block up a few things. Everyone disperses expect Madison, who continues to look over the map, and Daniel, who continues to lay on the couch. We’ll see Alicia stop a few steps from Madison to look back at her before continuing forward. Madison just keeps looking at the map, trying to figure out a plan. Just a destination might not be enough. Looking over the map, Madison sees that to them there isn’t much around. North becomes less desert and more mountains and south is just more of what they’ve been going through. The best course for them now is east.

Daniel breaks the silence now and says Madison’s name. Our leader goes to him as he tries to sit up with partial success. Madison will ask how he is, and Daniel will reply along the lines of “Could be worse.” After a short pause he’ll continue by saying that he heard all that was said. Needing advice from an experienced survivor, Madison asks him for help, more specifically on how to keep things together because the group is starting to fracture. Another pause and Daniel will begin to talk about some of his time in Sombra Negra; There was this time where he was with a few others during a major shootout in the civil war. They had been constrained to a single building for several days and were running low on ammo and supplies because their mission went south. His squad were beginning to bicker because there was no way out and people were blaming each other on botching up the mission. Eventually things came together when there was a lull in fire, and they were able to sneak away. The lesson from that incident was to make good of a bad situation as much as possible because when the cards are stacked against you, you might need to make risky (and at times unpopular) choices to keep people alive and that opportunity will come. Madison will tell Daniel she knows this, she’s known it for a while, but Daniel will reiterate that something will happen, sooner or later, that’ll be a chance to make a real change. Madison, still sitting down, will put her head in her hand as she thinks and stares over the map.

We’ll cut then to Alicia and Farah walking about the house. We’ll see Farah looking at dusty photos of the family that used to live there while Alicia just keeps walking. Farah will break the silence by asking her what happened at the pharmacy, especially about where she got that diary she was talking about. At first Alicia doesn’t say anything, conflicted inside whether to tell Farah or not. But she eventually tells about the two little infected in the closet. This’ll horrify Farah and Alicia will continue, talking about Strand and Madison getting into their fight. Then Alicia will turn to face Farah and blurt out, “Do you trust my mother?” Farah will tell her that she wants to. Alicia, breaking her gave from the Arab woman, says out loud that she wants to as well, but… things just keep getting worse for them all.

Farah will look up to the teenage girl and then tell her a story: In their last years in the middle east, Farah’s father and mother were caught up in the Gulf War. They weren’t a soldier nor a fighter and they had to survive in the battles that plagued the region. There was a lot of luck to their survival and their green cards into the United States, but they told her that there will always be hard times. But there will always be a bright moment in any conflict. Alicia will then ask if she believes that for this conflict, this end of the world. Farah will nod and say she does believe it. And until then (she’ll take Alicia’s hand at this point) she’ll be there for Alicia and her mother. This scene I hope to set up a new sister relationship between Farah and Alicia. It could be interesting to have Farah grow to become closer to this new family she’s making.

We will switch then to Strand, who is in kitchen. He’s looking about for food or drink, whatever he wants. As the scrounges the cabinets he comes across a cheap bottle of bourbon. Disappointed, Strand sighs and picks up a glass and tries to wash it clean. Not much water leaves the sink faucet though and he is forced to just used his sleeve to wipe the inside away. As he starts to pour what’s left in the bottle in the glass Yoana joins him. He offers her a glass as well, there’s just enough for two people. Yoana at first refuses, but Strand coerces her into having one by stating it’s better to not drink alone. Once their two glasses are filled Strand takes a sip of his, but Yoana is still hesitant. Strand, losing a bit of his natural bravado, pressures her into having a drink, which she does and has a small coughing fit. Chuckling, Strand swirls his drink and looks around the room.

Strand will then ask Yoana about her belief in that light in her synagogue, in the Ner Tamid. This light of hope… is it really real? Yoana will of course say yes, but Strand shakes his head and takes another sip of alcohol. “We’ve been struggling for what seems like forever. We might have won a few victories, but everyone is a loss of a life. A life where we could relax and not have to fight again. It just keeps happening over and over again. I might be a gambling man, but some time you have to put your chips down and walk away.” Yoana looks down at her glass and a look of distress fills her face. She’ll speak out loud to herself about how she lost her home, hoping for something better. Instead, she got a harsh wilderness, no food and water, and nothing to renew her fate. We see her hands grip the glass hard as she continues that despite this, there is still hope. Strand, thinking she’s not understanding her situation, angrily whispers to her that what she said is exactly right. There’s nothing left, so why hold on?! Tilting her head up to look directly into his eyes, Yoana tells Strand that he’s alive. She’s alive. They and the others are still alive. If they’re alive, things can change. Strand, exhausted by her optimism, sits on a chair and takes another sip of his drink, muttering out loud that he wishes he could believe her.

After that we’ll cut to John and June in the upstairs of the house. June is listening as best she can to the small bits of conversation from Stand and Madison in their separate while John checks out the few rooms on the second floor. One the second one, John pokes his head out at her and tells her that there was nothing there of interest. June doesn’t listen though as she is trying to hear what is being said in the living room and kitchen. John walks up to her and asks what’s up, which breaks her out of her eavesdropping. She’ll then tell John that she’s feeling very uneasy right now. They’re low on food and supplies and there hasn’t been a good place to stay in a long while. Even the synagogue could have worked if there weren’t infected about, but that was a long while ago.

John will lean on the railing with her and ask her if this house could work? Even if it’s him and her. Maybe even a kid. Their own little cottage. June with smile a little at this, but tells John that this is no time for jokes. John’s smile will falter a bit, but still somewhat remain on his face as he tries to stay positive. “I know… but the least we can do is smile. There’s not much out there to smile over.” June will then look at John and ask him in a possibly teasing manner what he could smile about. This’ll grow John’s smile out some, but before he can say anything more there’s a small “thunk” from above them. Instantly both John and June are on guard. John takes out a pistol while June takes out her machete as they look at the last door they hadn’t tried yet. June quietly opens it and both begin to climb the stairway to attic as we get a small bit of intense music and cut to black.

When we return we’re back with Madison and Daniel in the living room. Madison finally breaks away from the map, knowing that her best option right now is to head to Shiprock with the others. As she starts to tuck away the map Alicia and Farah enter the living room. Alicia will ask what her mother’s plans are, to which Madison tells her that they got to push a little further to get out of the desert. Knowing her mom needs all the encouragement and help she can get, Alicia nods and tells her that she’s with her. Madison smiles at her daughter, really hoping her plan will give them a break. Suddenly a meowing is heard and a tabby cat walks into the room. Everyone is startled to fight such a creature about and even more so when it decides to hop up next to Daniel and snuggle against him. Stunned by the animal’s friendliness, Daniel gently pets the creature, smiling gently as he speaks kind words to it. At first the others think it’s adorable until Alicia realizes something and speaks openly: Why does this cat look so… clean and well fed?

Everyone suddenly takes in Alicia’s words, but before any of them can do anything something hits Madison in the back of the head and she falls down. An older kid, holding the butt of a rifle, is behind her and they point it at Alicia and Farah, warning her not to make a move. The pitter-patter of lots of feet are then heard and lots kids, most of them younger (ranging from 8 to 14), come out from doorways and windows, all of them armed with some sort of gun or weapon. We’ll hear Strand call out in the kitchen, indicating he and Yoana are being held at gunpoint as well. Our group is dumbfounded by all these kids and are wondering where they’ve all come from. We’ll cut to John and June as they walk up the stairs and open the door to the attic. They see around a dozen kids up there, who instantly begin to huddle together in fright. As they’re standing in shock they hear the safety of a gun turned off. Turning around they see another kid in the doorway pointing a gun at both of them and telling them to put their guns down and hands in the air. Another kid with a pistol comes up behind him and points his gun at them, then couple more kids come, this time armed with melee weapons.

We cut to the other groups besides Madison being lead into the living room and put on their knees. Strand tries to whisper to Madison that they need to do something before one of the kids hits him in the back and tells him to be quiet. We can see Madison thinking as fast as she can on what she and her group can do to get out of this, but nothing is coming up. Even if these are just kids, she and her people are outnumbered by at least four to one. Before she can think up any plan a voice is heard above all the kids, berating a kid named Jason about not being on watch properly. This Jason says something indistinguishable, and the other voice responds that this is serious and that they’re lucky that it wasn’t any of “those people.” The voice is oddly familiar to Madison, something on the edge of memory. A few seconds later some of the kids part for a portly kid in his later teens with a rifle in hand. As he looks down at the four kneeling prisoners his eyes fall upon Madison and his mouth drops.

“Mrs. Clark?”

Madison stares up at the boy, unable to believe her eyes. It’s the last living face she saw at Paul R. Williams High School. Tobias. As we slowly zoom in on her face the music intensifies and we cut to black.

That’s right everyone, I’m bring back Tobias. Original Fear fans have been clamoring for Tobias to return to the show because he instantly caught our attention through his guarded nature and how he had a heads up that the virus that was spreading across America wasn’t natural or controllable. He was already preparing for the end of the world and interviews on Talking Dead have had showrunners say that even though he hasn’t returned to the show, they think that Tobias is still alive somewhere and escaped Operation Cobalt in Los Angeles. With that kind of survival, I think he absolutely deserves a place in my story. And I’m implementing him with that group of kids from season five, giving both more story and better writing to them!

Click here for Episode 04