Fear the Walking Dead - Season 5 Rewrite - Episode 06

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Episode 6 – To Be Young Again

Plot: Strand, June, Yoana, and the kids are all on their own and have to decide whether to risk it for the others or not.

Synopsis:

We start with a flashback showing young black boy at school. He’s just left a class and has gone to his locker to drop off some unneeded books. As he closes his locker and heads to his next class, he falls over and lands on his books. We’ll hear laughter and see some white boys laughing at him, along with one of them pulling his backpack off him. As the young black boy is restrained by the other bullies, the “leader” of them pulls out the boy’s lunch and mocks him for such a “meager meal.” The food will be thrown to the floor and stomped on as the crying child is given a few punches to the stomach. As the gang of laughing bullies walks off, the boy looks at his disarrayed belongings and ruined meal as he picks up his school supplies.

We’ll cut away to that same child walking home, reaching a poorly renovated home. After getting inside he notices his father has returned early, looking haggard and tired. Upon seeing his boy though, the father runs over to him and asks what happened to him. The boy gives no reply and then the father says, “Victor?.... Victor?!”

Suddenly the boy shakes and as he does, we cut back to present time Strand doing the same and we see that it’s John talking to him. Strand will apologize, saying that he’s tired, then ask what’s going on. Gesturing at the gate, John will tell Strand that they need help with the last part of the gate. Grunting, Strand will get up from his nap and join the crowd of kids and Yoana as they get the last car needed to block the gate. The simple mechanism needed to move the car is almost in place and Strand holds the line needed as John makes the final hook into vehicle. With that done, all the kids disperse, with Kwahu calling them over to a house to get inside from the heat. With everything done, John asks everyone else present (Strand, Kwahu, Annie, and Yoana) who gets first watch. Kwahu volunteers and after some silence Strand also volunteers, saying he should since he just finished his nap break. Kwahu will look at him with a distrustful way before heading off to guard part of the walls. Yoana will then volunteer and take another part.

Before he leaves, John will pat Strand on the back and say maybe their discussing on leaving was the wrong choice after all, but Strand will say that it’s too soon to say that and not to jinx them. Our former con-man will then take the rifle and walkie talkie that John offers him get up on the wall gates. We’ll be looking about for a while, just keeping watching, until he notices something in the distance: Vehicles. Ducking back under, he’ll peek out and see that they’ve turned off the road. After a long pause a few figures are seen being dragged into the Humvees and the cars all start heading back where they came from. There’s relief mixed with fright on Strand’s face, knowing that there’s something big out there and that they might have leapt out of the frying pan and into the fire. We’ll play the intro here.

Once that’s done, we’ll have a shot of the road with the back of Strand’s head near the camera. You can see on his face that he’s trying to figure out a plan before telling the others while also keeping an eye out for anybody else. We’ll linger on this for around fifteen seconds until Strand notices a small figure running back towards the walls. It’s Skidmark. Strand will ask himself how that cat got out before coming down and helping the little animal into the community. It runs off as it spots some kids and the kids start to play with it. An odd look comes over Strand’s face, pity combined with envy. After staring a bit he’ll take out the walkie talkie and try to radio Madison. There is no response, however. Strand tries again and gets the same result. Knowing this means Madison has been detained somewhere, Strand heads out to tell somebody about this, leaving his post unoccupied.

We’ll cut then to June, who is checking on the kids for any medical problems. With no proper adults about, she felt it was time some of them got taken care of. John is in the background, watching June while giving the children she’s looked over a candy each as a reward. After June finishes with one and John gives them a sweet, he looks over the ring he picked up at the superstore in Flagstaff. Playing with it in his fingers, he eventually puts it away. Just before he does though Strand enters the room and, seeing it occupied with some kids, tries to have them leave so he can speak privately with the adults. June convinces them to leave and once they’re gone Strand tells John and June there’s a problem, explaining the vehicles and Madison’s disappearance/ radio silence. June will comment that their scavenging group was captured alive, which isn’t the case for most bandits. Strand will retort though that it doesn’t change the fact that Madison, Alicia, and the rest were taken. Tobias was right and they could be next.

John, while hearing Strand out, adds here that right now they already have problems: Limited supplies, low on energy and rest, and a lot of the area around them is either picked bare by the elements or people. Strand acknowledges this, but says that they cannot stay. John and June though will argue that now isn’t the time to leave, they all need rest. Frustrated, Strand will rub his forehead with his fingers and declare to them that he needs to think up a plan. Though somewhat supportive of Strand, John will tell Strand that they all need to decide together. Ignoring this, Strand leaves to return to his lookout. As he's walking back he’ll see Kwahu glaring at him from his post. After seeing this he looks away and climbs up to his spot to watch the road.

As Strand resumes his watch we’ll zoom in on his face, back a bit of white noise, then cut to him back in the past. His father is treating his bruises from earlier while Strand is in a dejected state. Once the last bandage is on, Strand’s father (who I will now call Laurence Strand) will set out dinner for them both. It’s not much and Strand is quick to eat it up. Laurence, eating at a more controlled pace, will talk to his son about God and how one is to love one’s neighbor. Wishing to retort back, but unable to do so to his father, Strand will say how the bullies aren’t religious, they don’t know that. Smiling, Laurence will assure his son that it doesn’t matter who they are, we’re all supposed to live as “good people”.

Otherwise, how can they all still be alive? Strand will nod and clean his dishes before going to bed.

In the morning, young Strand is making his lunch while his father is about to walk out the door. Both will wish well upon the other before Laurence leaves. We’ll cut to Strand walking in the school hallways heading to one of his classes. Unfortunately for him the same bullies come back, beat him up, and ruin his lunch. This time though, when he’s back on his feet, Strand will try to do what his father taught him and forgive the boys for their actions. However, this results in the opposite of what he was hoping for and the leader of the bullies ask him if he’s stupid. Denying this fervently, Strand tries to explain what his father taught him, but the bullies only start to resume their beating. As it gets intense there’s a cry of outrage as a teacher comes out and breaks up the fight. All three bullies are sent to the principal’s office while Strand is left crying and bruised with his teacher’s arms around him.

A calling back in the present reawakens Strand from his past as John Dorie comes to take over his watch. Strand will nod and descend to the pavement below, but as he starts to walk off John will ask Strand if he’s alright, that he looks a little pale. Shaking his head, Strand says he’s fine, but John will still tell his friend that he can talk to him if he needs help. Half-heartedly acknowledging this, Strand walks off to join a growing crowd of kids with Yoana. The food found by Madison and the others is starting to be dealt out, with Yoana proceeding over the distribution since she knows how to feed kids and ration food. Some of the kids are a little unhappy, but Yoana’s kindness is enough to satisfy those whose bellies will not be fully filled. When Strand gets his turn for food Yoana gives him a suitable portion and he thanks her before sitting down at a table. As he eats, he’ll notice Kwahu watching him still and here Strand decides that enough is enough.

Suddenly getting to his feet, Strand marches over to Kwahu as everyone stares him, then demands to know what Kwahu’s problems are with him. Kwahu doesn’t say anything, just continues to glare at him. His anger growing, Strand will exclaim that he’s lucky that they stumbled upon the group and that they’d all be dead if they weren’t around. This gets Kwahu to his feet, still staring daggers at the former con-man and telling everyone how he left his post. This causes Strand to pause for a second, calculating what to say next. In order to try to establish authority, Strand reveals his sighting of the Humvees and how he went to tell John and June. He’ll then elaborate that he was going to tell the others about this later and only told those two first because he knew them the longest. Whether that’s a lie or not, his news has scared all the kids and even Kwahu is a little unnerved by the news but is trying his best to hide it.

One of the kids will then suddenly realize that this means that Tobias might have been taken. Before any more panic can come in though Strand will speak up and say that together they’ll figure out a plan. He’ll nod to the kids and to Yoana and the former will agree and a few of the kids that nod back will be happy to have an adult looking after them. But Kwahu and most of the other youth are still ever distrustful of Strand and Kwahu takes his meal so he can eat by himself. Strand watches him, frustrated that this kid seems to be out for him. But we can also see that he thinks that if this rivalry keeps going on there’ll be actual trouble. He’ll mutter to himself that having Daniel was bad enough already, now he’s got a kick who can’t keep his eyes off him.

We’ll cut then to June being on her own, on watch at the north side of the community. It’s getting dark now and the nurse is bored as there haven’t been any dead around in a while. Rubbing her eyes, she hears footsteps behind her and turns her head to see Yoana with a plate of food. June accepts the food and Yoana joins her on watch. With no moaning undead about and a clear night sky, June expresses how relaxing it is right now and wishing it could last this way forever. Yoana will say the same, as well as how, after they secured the community, it felt like they were safe. Just after this happens a rustling will be heard in bushes and June pulls out her rifle only to see a coyote running off into the wilderness. Releasing a hard sigh, June falls down behind the wall and expresses how she just wants to rest. Not just sleep, but just escape all of this. The dead, the hunger and thirst, the loneliness, it feels utterly overwhelming. “I want to live again. This isn’t living. We’re just slowly dying.” Yoana, feeling the defeat in June’s voice, holds her close and June does the same to her. Yoana also expresses that she wishes the others were also with them. Both look out over the night-covered desert before we cut to black.

It is morning when we return and we are with John as he wakes up in one of the houses. June is sleeping beside him and begins to awaken due to John shifting in his wake up. He’ll apologize to her about this and she’ll try to pass if off as nothing, but it’s obvious that she’s not the highest of spirits. Noticing this, John will inquire what’s going on and June will say it’s nothing as she gets up and starts putting on clothes. We’ll get a close-up shot of John looking worried for her before we cut to the both of them walking out of the appropriated house. They see the kids are mostly staying inside with some of the older teens keeping an eye on them. As they eat breakfast they encounter Yoana eating her morning meal. When John asks for news on the vehicles Strand spotted yesterday Yoana says that nothing was spotted during the night.

The news is depressing and John suggests that maybe they can go look out for them, see if anything they can find any clues to what happened to them. Suddenly Strand comes in and declares to them that must not do that. John and Yoana start to argue back, but Strand immediately cuts them off by saying things are not stable right now. They, along with all these kids, have just settled down in this place and tensions are high. Yoana will reply that tensions are just high with Strand and Kwahu, but Strand interjects again by saying that sudden plans, especially rescue ones, result in disaster. He’ll insinuate that right now everything needs to calm down some before they do anything huge. June will speak up here and ask why he thinks he’s in charge now. Strand, already frustrated as he is, takes a deep breath before explaining his plans when he left Los Angeles and how there were difficulties and setbacks like Madison trying to take kids with her while at a stop and the pirates they encountered. His anger then abates, and he’ll then tell them that he’s just trying to keep everyone together. If Madison and the others are lost, they must have a backup plan ready.

Everyone seems to feel bad for Strand as his mental state of stress and unwillingness to give up are shown. We’ll have some silence from everyone until John says that they can’t just sit about all day doing nothing, something has to be done in the meanwhile if they’re not looking for Madison. Strand snaps his fingers multiple times as he thinks of something. Nothing comes to mind though so John puts a hand on Strand’s shoulder and tells him that he’ll go out in a bit to see if there is anything of Madison that they can find. All begin to eat as Strand continues to ponder his thoughts for a solution.

We’ll cut away then to John and June gearing up for a run. They’ll make small talk as they pick up their tools until they are joined by Annie, who wishes to accompany them. Both are a little hesitant at first, but agree after considering things. All of them walk down the same road that Madison’s group went down, keep their eyes open while looking about. Soon all three reach the warehouse and immediately notice the tire tracks. All three enter the warehouse and look about to see a lot of mechanical tools are missing. John tells both ladies to also look for any spent bullet casings to see if there was a fight at all. June and Annie find none and John concludes that there was no fight at all, further adding that there’s no blood or signs of struggle. Or at least nobody got hurt. They only take a few leftover tools like a screwdriver, nails, and other such small things with them.

After leaving the warehouse all three continue down the road until they reach a small Native American store. As they walk into the store, they notice two infected in the back. John and June kill both of them while Annie is looking about. She begins to play with leftover tomahawk, commenting that maybe Kwahu would like it. June will explain that most likely it’s more of a brittle prop than an actual weapon. Disappointed, Annie puts down the weapon and walks about the store, playing with Native American jewelry from broken cases. John will join June and comment on how she’s so relaxed to be playing with charms like those. They stare at her for a bit until she suddenly jumps and the sound of an infected is heard. Both adults charge forward but stop when they see Annie easily dispatch the crawling corpse. Immediately it can be seen that her suddenly cheery demeanor is gone and she puts on a more serious face and makes a comment on how there’s nothing left here, they should try one more place.

Eventually all three leave the store and after a slightly longer walk all three get to a veterinary clinic. It’s bigger than expected and while it looks ransacked it also looks like there could be things still about. John enters first, followed by June and Annie. Looking about, they all see many dead animals in their cages, both as skeletons and rotting corpses with flies buzzing around them. All of them are grossed out, Annie especially. She’ll say then that she used to have a dog of her own named Jasper(?) and mourn that she never got to say goodbye to them before fleeing her home. John comforts her as best as he can, but it’s not the most effective and Annie’s sullen mood deepens. As the little girl walks off, June and John will follow, with the former saying that his people skills still need work. Playfully irritated, John will admit he has some work to do.

Going further into the clinic, June tries to identify and take any medication or medical supplies that could be useful. Sadly most of it has been taken, but not all thankfully. She then finds a corpse near a door with a large hatchet, a real hatchet, embedded in the skull. Pointing it out to Annie, she performs a few tugs before ripping it out. The corpse falls over and then suddenly several undead come falling out the closed room. With how tight the corridor is, all three begin to back away. But unfortunately an infected that was missed in the entrance room sneaks up on the group and pushes John into another room. June pulls the dead woman off before stabbing it in the brain while Annie shuts the door behind them and locks it. But that has left them stuck as infected begin to pound on closed door. All three are now trapped! With that we cut to black!

When we return we are back to Strand’s past. Just as battered as before, young Strand is being berated (in a gentle way) by this father. It’s been another hard day for the boy and Strand’s father tells him that those bullies will get their due sooner or later, that God has a plan for everyone. While Strand nods, he leaves the house to be on his own. As he’s walking about he’ll notice the bullies and hide. They haven’t noticed him and are playing with a toy gun the main bully owns and is showing off. They’re all laughing and the main bully points out a car that is driving down the road. Being a little hotshot and troublemaker, he shoots the car, thinking nothing major will happen. The opposite happens though as the driver freaks out and crashes into a light post. Horrified, all the three scatter. Strand, once they all leave, heads towards the car to see who’s inside. It’s the school principal. Helping the man out, the man thanks Strand and asks if he saw who did this to his car.

As Strands looks at his principal we’ll back to the present with Strand posing the same way out in the sunlight. He’ll be looking over all the supplies his group and the kids have left, thinking over what can be done with them and how to ration. Yoana joins him, both silent as they gaze over everything they have. Eventually Strand will break the silence by asking Yoana how she rationed herself when she was with others at the synagogue, as well as when she was on her own. A little uncomfortable, Yoana says that it was a struggle and that at first people were very lax in using supplies. But as the situation worsened they all learned to tighten their belts to keep going. Strand will nod at this, saying he had a life like that before. He’ll take about his father and how poor he was, what it took to get by. But doing this to kids and people he cares about… that’s something he’s unprepared for. “When I was with Madison, I basically just owed her and her family a favor. But they’ve become more than that since then. And now…”

His thoughts are cut off then when Yoana cries out and pushes Strand to the side. An arrow flies right where Strand’s head had been to crack against the hardened concrete. Turning around, both see Kwahu and a few kids coming towards them with weapons. Immediately Strand calls out in anger while Yoana is shocked at this behavior. Kwahu, large knife in hand, steps closer and calls Strand out to be ready to take what he can and abandon them and he, Kwahu, is not going to let that happen.

Lunching forward, Kwahu swings his blade as Strand picks up a metal bat and deflects the blow. Yoana tries to stop the fight by saying there’s no point in this fight. Kwahu tells the other kids to go after her as well and a few armed kids approach her. Strand yells at Kwahu, saying even if he was doing something wrong she wouldn’t have any involvement. Kwahu ignores this and tries to swipe at Strand once more. We’ll have a small battle between the two of them until Strand hits Kwahu in the stomach, knocking him to the ground. Panting some (mostly due to the heat) Strand tells him to stop this. Enough is enough.

Just as Kwahu begins to rise once more though Strand’s walkie talkie goes off. It’s June. Answering it while keeping his eye on Kwahu, Strand learns of June and the others about being trapped in the clinic. Swearing, Strand tells Kwahu that they can deal with their issues later and starts to undo the gate. Kwahu sees his chance to kill Strand, but Yoana demands to know if Kwahu is really that selfish to throw away people who want to help. Kwahu, flustered, tells the rabbi that this is none of her business, but she responds that he made it her business when he told the kids to kill her. Once Strand has unlocked the gate, both he and Yoana pick out a vehicle and start it up, racing towards the clinic. Kwahu and a few of his fellow kids soon go for another of their vehicles are race after them.

We’ll cut here to the clinic with John, June, and Annie in the locked room. Annie pleads for John to use his guns to kill the dead, but John tells Annie that he left most of his ammo back at the houses. Besides, use any more and they could be drawing in more dead. As the banging continues the lock breaks and John and June work together to push the door closed. An especially hard blow from an infected knocks the door wide enough for the upper half of a walking dead to get into the room and grab at John’s arm. Annie stabs the dead man in the head, but the corpse has jammed the door open slightly. All three look about the room for anything to defend themselves and unfortunately there isn’t anything that can be useful. John tells Annie to kill any more dead that try to get in and Annie, while looking scared, gets ready to fight. Still pushing back, June then notices that dead from outside are beginning to join the others bashing on the door.

We’ll cut from her horrified expression to Strand and Yoana arriving at the clinic to see a crowd of infected coming into the front. As both close their doors some of the dead notice these newcomers and turn to face them. Both adults begin fighting them off while Kwahu and his gang arrive soon after and join the fight. We’ll get a good action sequence of both teams fighting together against the dead, as well as the three inside finally being pushed back and having to fight the dead themselves. In the end all of them will be slain and everyone will meet each other again. Yoana will hug Annie, Strand will acknowledge John and June, and Kwahu will appear to try and hide his discontent for Strand. Then Annie will thank Strand for saving him and Strand will attempt to smile and say it’s nothing.

All of them will get back in their cars, with the team of three sitting with Strand and Yoana. As all of them drive back to the houses Annie will confess to John and June that the real reason that she wanted to go out was to look for Tobias. She has a crush on him, that even though he might not look like much she sees him as somebody who’s grown very confident of himself and is very brave when it comes to helping others. John will smile and ruffle her hair after she finishes and says that he’ll help her get him back, wherever he is. Strand will notice this conversation while driving and the effort to smile from before happens once more as he comments on “young love”. With that we cut to black.

Upon return everyone is back at the houses and getting out of their vehicles. As Annie, John, and June are taken off to be treated Strand approaches Kwahu and tells him they need to settle their problems right now. Kwahu is very adamant and at first completely refuses Strand. But Strand becomes forceful and tells him that they got to put whatever grudges they have behind themselves, adding “Time for you to act like an adult and talk about it.” Both find a section of deserted housing and sit down next to each other. Strand then asks again what his problem is. At first quiet, Kwahu eventually opens up and says that his original home was “bought” by rich people and his father kind of “rolled over” because these people forced his father to sell the land at a lower price. They ripped him off using dirty tricks and he sees that kind of person in Strand. We’ll focus on Strand’s face as we cut to the past.

Young Strand is walking through school and his bullies have returned once again to give him trouble. But before they can swing a fist or do him any harm he tells them that better not because he knows what they did. This does stall the older kids some, but the leader becomes angry and threatens Strand to keep his mouth shut. But Strand stands up to them by saying even if they hurt him, he can still tell the truth. At that moment the principal comes walking by and Strand is about to say something to him when the head bullies at long last lets Strand go. But as they walk away Strand decides he can push his blackmail further and tells the bullies they owe him lunch. At first incredulous, Strand once again makes the move to call back the principal, who looks very frustrated with his life, and the bullies once more agree to his terms. Both groups turn away and as young Strand walks down the hallways he’ll smile as he realizes he has finally gained power over somebody else.

Returning to the present, Strand tells Kwahu that yes, he was that kind of person before. He bribed, he took debts, he used others to gain power. Like Kwahu, he didn’t have much in live so he had to be dirty to get anywhere. He still does it actually, but now things are different. Now it’s about doing it for himself, but for others. “I barely know you and you barely know me. We don’t trust each other. That’s the right thing to do, to not trust people you first meet. But you, I, John, June, Yoana, and all those other kids can make something if we don’t go for each other’s throats. Why fight each other when together we can have the chance to build something better?” He’ll then tell Kwahu that they got off to a bad start, but maybe they can just get along until they get Tobias back. Then maybe they could go their separate ways. Kwahu stares at him in a long pause before silently nodding. Strand offers a hand to Kwahu, but the Native American boy is reluctant to take it. Strand chuckles and takes his hand back, saying that maybe they could be good friends if all goes well. Content that he and Kwahu can at least not try to kill each other now, Strand heads back to the others and asks if the three scavengers found anything useful. They all reply that they hadn’t and Strand will tell them that they’ll need to decide tonight what to do next. In the meanwhile, he’ll be on the wall. Taking a rifle with him, Strand watches the road east with a hat he picked up near the clinic.

We’ll cut to John and June changing clothes after all the infected blood got on them. Once fully changed, they’ll be greeted by Annie, who thanks John for wanting to help her get back to Tobias. John smiles and says that he knows what it’s like to go after the people you love, glancing over June as he says this. Annie makes a rude, but funny noise and leaves them, giggling as she does this. Once she’s gone, June comments that he never seems to want to change when it comes to love. When John asks what she means, she’ll explain that he’ll do whatever it takes to get people back to their loved ones. John agrees, but June interrupts by saying he should still be careful though. She doesn’t want to lose him. This slightly wipes the smile off John’s face as he acknowledges this. He then begins to fiddle with the ring in his pocket and says June’s name. Before he can say anything new though his walkie talkie goes off. It’s Strand. He’s needed at the gate.

Back to Strand, we’ll see him peeking up from behind cover as the vehicles from before park outside the clinic. While nothing can be heard from that distance, Strand knows that they should have taken care of the bodies because now this new group, whoever they are, know people are about. John and June come up behind him, as well as Kwahu. Strand will tell them all to get ready for a fight and all of them get in a place to shoot, with the adults behind the wall and Kwahu jumping over to hide in the bushes. The vehicles are then seen moving again, getting closer to the communities. They’ll stop right in front of the gates, soldiers getting out of them with rifles in hand. We’ll hear one of them say that it looks like somebody took over the houses. Another soldier says they better kill them, they don’t have time to take anybody else back before the column arrives. Agreeing, one of the unit, makes a report with his walkie talkie to base before he walks to the Humvee in order to ram the gate down. But as he turns his back Kwahu fires an arrow and hits them right in the back. Immediately the soldiers turn towards the shrubbery as Strand and June open fire. We get a good gunfight of both sides until John kills the last one. Strand joins Kwahu over the wall and looks over the people, with the former shocked that this is military. He’ll comment that it’s astounded to have found two miliary groups not too far from each other (the ones near Yuma vs the ones here).

Suddenly a voice is heard from one of the soldier’s walkie talkies. Picking it up, Strand listens careful as the man on the other end of the line (Captain Peter) asks if the column has changed at all. As Strand tries to comprehend what they mean by a “column”, June hears Yoana calling out to them. John heads over to Yoana and joins her on the wall. As Yoana points frantically towards the north-west, John looks in utter horror at what he’s seeing: A horde. A massive horde! Something close to the horde from the start of season six of the main show. I’m going to say they were originally from Provo, Utah, and were lured south. And they’re less than a mile away. John and Yoana immediately get down and tell everyone to pack up, they have to leave now! When Strand Kwahu get back over the wall Yoana tells them of the oncoming threat and both stunned. Strand is the first to break out of his trance and tells everyone to gather up as much as possible!

We get a mad dash from everyone gather as much supplies as possible, commandeering the empty army vehicles with their supplies, along what vehicles they still can use. This’ll be a sequence that goes for a couple minutes until everyone has gather as much as possible. Strand then takes keys from one of the dead soldiers, turns on the vehicle associated with it, and stomps on the gas. All of them start pelting east, away from the horde.

The final shot of the episode is a dead scout and their abandoned walkie talkie, which is asking for an update. As the voice on the other end gets no reply they keep asking, worry creeping into their voice as the first infected appears from behind a corner.

Click here for Episode 07