We're Alive: Descendants - Chapter 15 - Valley of the Shadow of Death - Part 1 of 3

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Start today at go.acast.com slash Arbitage. Written and directed by Casey Wayland. Chapter 15. Valley of the Shadow of Death. Part 1 of 3. Chapter 16. I can't... I can't do it anymore. This is too far. You just have to keep going. Don't give up. Thanks. Gloria. Gloria. We have to slow down. People are starting to fall behind. Slow down anymore and we're never gonna make it. These people realize that, don't they? They're doing the best they can. Yeah? Tell it to the people hunting us down. Well, fortunately, I still don't see them. Walking through the hills must have worked. Their vehicles couldn't keep up. For only so long. You haven't heard any explosions, have you, Grant? Nothing. They should have blown the pass by now. If Alex and Dotz screw that up, none of this is gonna matter. How much further is this atlas place? A few more hours, maybe? We should have left earlier. Traveled through the night. There's no shade out here. These people were exhausted then. They needed every bit of rest for how far we have to go. What did it matter? They're still exhausted. We need some help over here. Uh-oh. I got some stragglers. Keep pushing! Here. Cover your head with this. Wrap up. Keep the sun up here first. It's too hot. Come on. Don't fall behind, kid. Do you have any water? Only a little left, and I need to ration it. My legs are tired. Nothing I can do about that. Carry me. What? No. Just a little bit. Please. I can piggyback. Look, kid, why don't you go ask your parents? I can't. Why not? They left. Where are they? They left the work of camp a long time ago. Never came back. So it's just you? By yourself? Yep. That man you were talking to, he said we all had to go. And I couldn't stay in the prim. Now can you please carry me? I'm tired enough just dragging myself along. Please. Good look, you could have some of my water. Ooh, thank you. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I got, I got her. Ration it. Sorry. That's fine, I guess I'll manage. I feel much better now. Well, that makes one of us. What's your name kid? Gus. Gloria. What are you wearing? Where'd you get all that stuff? What this? This is my equipment. I brought the body armor with me to be safe. Which I wasn't expecting to be wearing when I was walking home. You're not from Prim? No. Where are you from? Well, if you can keep up then you'll find out. Okay. Is it better than the camp? What? Yes, it's way better. Cool. So cool. Just, you know, just wait and see. I will. Gloria! I think we might have a few more. Is that... Yeah. That's Alex and Dot. They must have set the explosives off. Oh, thank heavens. Now he's starting to get worried. Well, I still am. This is only a delay. Once the boar's trucks find a way around the pass and they will, there's nothing between us and them anymore. We can't let anything slow us down now. About that. A few people have fallen way behind. They aren't able to keep up. Maybe we should divert. Looks like there's a town just a little south of us if we if we just... No. We stay on the path. Don't go anywhere near settlements. This is the only way, trust me. If you say so. But we're losing people. And we're going to lose more. You have to accept that grant. This is a race now where the losers don't survive. I know, I know. You're right. You're right. It's just hard. I mean some of these people I've gotten to know and some are just too old for this. Some too young. There's only so much we can do. Don't forget, you need to make it there too. Focusing on the others helps distract from my own pains. Well, not me. You sent only two explosives with Alex and Dot, right? Uh-huh. No, that's... that's something else. Hey, hon. My head. Alex? Alex! My head. Dot, Dot. I'm bleeding. Yes. Did we... Did it? Dot. It worked? You sure? Uh-huh. Oh, no shade. The whole Rocky Pass came down. They're trying to shoot their way through. Cut, cut. The last thing I remember was setting it off and then their tank firing right where I was. And pieces of the rock going everywhere. Wait, you pulled me out? And onto Demon? Damn. Thank you. Strong. This? Yeah. That's good. Yeah. Man, my head is still pounding. Vass took most of the strap, though. Thankfully. Good thing we still had the body armor. Help. Okay, okay, yeah, yeah. We gotta go. Come on, come on, Demon. Ooh, ooh. Aye. Right. That's good thinking. I'll get on the front and just hold on. Rope? Okay, okay, yeah. Okay, tell me, tell me to you. Okay. Dot, Dot. Okay, I think so. Get, get. I'm just gonna close my eyes. For a second. For a second. Thank you, Dot. No, don't sleep. Okay. Alex. Please. Descendants will continue after a word from our sponsors. To avoid end of year tax surprises, change the way you see MTD. Search MTD ready with zero. Search Ford e-transit custom. Ready, set, Ford. Finance subject to status. And now, we continue with Descendants. Oh, man. If I've been out long. Uh-huh. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I'm good. Still haven't caught up to Glory and the others. No. At least that means they're getting ahead. It's good. We sure they went this way. Oh, you're following their tracks. Look. Oh, no. No, is that one of our people? Just laying there? You think they're... Dot? Dead. I knew people would fall behind, but I didn't think it'd be this bad. Today? No, no. Keep going. The man was old. It still sucks. Mm-hmm. Is that another one? Shit. Nothing we can do. We just need to focus on those we did get out. Dot. Hey, how you doing, Demon? Hanging in there? Bors people still aren't through the pass. Good job, buddy. We'll get you some really nice oats, carrots, or something when we get there. And whatever Glory has left. Town. Yeah. Yeah, I see it over there. But the group went this way. We should follow. Maybe catch up a bit. Demon, can you? Yeah. Here we go. Good boy. I'll have a lot better than walking. Died. Died. My head still hurts. I can't wait till we get there and I can just lay down. Damn, I like I chipped my tooth at the pass. Dot. I mean, hey, if that's the worst thing I got to deal with and... Dot, dot, dot, dot. Shit. Another refugee. They fell behind the group, but at least they're still walking. Little. It's a kid. Damn. Demon, you able to take one more? They just left him behind? Can't believe it. Hey. Hey, kid. Hey. He's not stopping. Must be the leaders out here in that hoodie. Can you untie me? Give me the canteen. Dot. Dot? It's alright. There's enough water to share. No, Dot. What? I mean, we have to do something. We can't just leave him out here. It's going to end up like the others. Hey, kid. Wait up. Kid. Dot. Are you hurt? Dot, get the first aid kit. Come on, he needs our help. We got you. Don't worry. We'll fix you up. We got to ride back to the group and... Holy shit! Infected! I can see that now. Get the fuck off of me! Shoot? Yes, shoot it. Help me do something. I can't! Dot, damn it. Stop trying to fight me. More! There's more of them! Help! Push! Now! Holy shit! You broke it's... you broke it's neck. No. Blood. Smart. Come! How many more are there? They must be from the town. They look like goddamn kids. The fucking thing actually dressed itself to resemble us. Up, up! Go, go! Nice, demon! Now get us out of here! Okay. I'm fine. I'm fine. Thanks to you. Okay. What the hell was I supposed to know? They sure as hell looked like real kids to me. Those were clean and close. Trick. Hell of a good one. Makes us think they're human and then... bam. Oh man, if you weren't there I... Dot, Dot. Stay away from the towns. No shit. You better catch up to the others and warn them about those. Uh huh. The boar's people were bad enough. Hey, maybe those things will go after them. That'd be something, right? Dot. Never even heard of any infected like that before. Are they new? It even said words, like not as many as you got now, but... A few. Dot. I wonder if anyone else knows about this kind. Oh. There are so many species listed in here. Listen to this one. Mimics. These short infected I only recently discovered. I thought the name was fitting as they will find human clothes, right? The ones that aren't tattered and or well used to better hide and disguise themselves among us. With only the use of a handful of English words and their natural childlike physique and tire encampments have been lost. Fallen victim to their copycat nature, preying upon the empathy of humans. Pfft. Once one gets in, others like it are soon to follow. Trust your instincts. If someone or something feels suspicious, it often times is. Damn, your grandma's journal is incredible. These creatures just keep getting worse and worse. And it says here that given their birth rates and growth, there could be millions in the Southwest. Many of which we have yet to encounter. Mm-hmm. Scary shit in there. Huh. Not all of it. The research she documented is fascinating. She really did a hell of a service putting this together. Even her infected equation is spot on. The flexible genome idea is brilliant. And you understand all of that? Uh, a fair amount. I studied bio and chem books in my free time. Pfft. Of course you did. I'm just very impressed, is all. She was pretty awesome. Yeah. I know. Now, you mind putting that away? Look, I get it. It's another book for you to absorb, but I could really use an extra set of eyes on this road right now. Right. Right. Everything in this swamp land is so overgrown now. Lots of spots for things to hide. Give it all a wide berth. Sorry, I just, uh, well, this is my first time out. I want to be prepared. And you will be more prepared if you can anticipate something coming. Oliver said that the highway was clear, but we cannot trust that. I mean, things change all the time. Right. Now, look, from here to here is my sector of fire. I got the front of what we call point. You cover the rear. If you see anything move, call it out. Then wait for me before you engage. Uh, right. And, uh, to engage or shoot, I rotate this little switch here and then I can pull the trigger. Just rotate it once. Don't go to three round burst or fulillado. In you, you'll just waste ammo. And how many shots does this one have? 29 rounds for the MP5. I made sure before we left. Why not 30? I never fill a magazine all the way. Over compresses. It's not good for the spring. Could jam easier with odor equipment like this? Yeah, uh, that, uh, that makes sense. There's some sort of book or manual I could read up on this. Yeah, I don't have one. I'm sure someone did at one point. How did you learn all this back in Westport? Sure did. Guardian training. Different weapons require new skill sets. They taught a wide variety so that if we ever found a weapon in the field, we can be effective with it. Hard to shoot something that you don't know, especially cleaning and maintaining them. Yeah, um, yeah, makes total sense. You, you are right there. Does that make you nervous? No, I'm, um, I'm fine with this. I mean, look, it's, it's okay if you are. My mom, my adopted mom, Pigs doesn't handle guns like at all. No, it's, it's not that. Just still feeling the withdrawals. Oh, um, is it bad? Yeah, very. Yeah, you have no idea. Maybe I do. Really? You? Uh, a while back, I, uh, struggled with a few things. It took me a while to get clean. Were you forced to use? Me? No, I, um, I chose to. Why? That's, uh, that's hard to say. I mean, I don't, I don't know if it was ever really one thing. I was going through a lot. Help me forget. Yeah, well, well, what do you need to forget? You know, well, you ask a lot of questions. Sorry, I'm just curious. Is that, is that bad? Not really. I just, uh, I just don't really like to talk about this kind of stuff. Uh, why? Because it's hard to. Well, for, for me, right, it, it, it was nice to hear that you may know what this feels like, because I, I just, I don't know how much longer I can take it. Everything I've been feeling is catching up with me all at once. Stardust helped me keep it at a distance. No, it was making you feel numb. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. And, and now all these new experiences, the, the, the plane, those people, these environments, to absorb it all, it's, it's so overwhelming. And I'm, I'm, I'm exhausted just by my thoughts. It's, I'm, it's just, it helps to know that I'm not alone is all I was trying to say. I get it. That's sort of how I became an addict. It was all starting to become too much. The world? My world. So many expectations, well people thought I should be, how they wanted me to act, their goals for my life. Like you said, it was exhausting. Was it because you were a guardian? No, mostly because of who my dad was. I mean, my real dad and mom. I thought you said people didn't know he was immune. There were rumors, and that was enough. But it was also because of what my dad did. People wanted me to be the same, act like him. I couldn't even be myself. Didn't know who I was. Maybe I still don't. So, so you have some big shoes to fill back home? You don't even know the half of it. My foster dad, Michael, he waited so long to tell me what really happened with my parents. And when he did it, all came at once. And I just got, just got so tired of people trying to protect me. It didn't help, it just made it harder to deal with. So that's why you became an addict. It was only the start. And it wasn't just the booze or whatever. Look, I don't even know if I should tell you half of the shit I got into. Who would I ever say anything to? And trust me, being from Prim, nothing you could tell me could be worse than what I saw there. I don't know, it was bad. Like, really bad, looking back at it all. Where I grew up, I'll admit, I got really, really spoiled. People would just keep feeding the issue, giving me whatever I wanted, even whoever. How did that work out? How do you think? A 16-year-old boy getting offered up a lot of daughters. I mean, that kind of thing sounded good at the time, but it really messed with my head. So, people assumed you were immune because of the rumors of your dad? That's why you'd be propositioned? Yeah, it was pretty fucked up. They all wanted children of the sun. They figured I could give them something that no one else could. That's really messed up. Wait, so then you have kids? Honestly, I don't know. Didn't want to know. I mean, I didn't tell no one about what happened. Shit, I can't even deal with the thought of it now. I was raised away from my real dad, and now who knows, maybe I did the same to some strangers. It was a lot to put on a kid, especially a dumb, spoiled one like me. Nick, listen, how we had to grow up doesn't have to change who we grow up to be. I understand this changes something I have to do for myself, where I started out how my life was in prim. That can't be the end of me, only my beginning. Yeah, I like that one. But what's sex is that the only person I think that knew any better from me, who didn't let me get away with half the shit that I tried, he's fucking gone now. So that's who Michael was to you? The only dad I ever really knew. I'm so sorry. Yeah, me too. So, what about you? Well, your mom and dad like that? Me? Oh, my parents were killed in the arena before I could even remember them. Oh, God, are you serious? Yeah, I had to practically raise myself. There was some help from other workers, but then those people either died from living in the camps or were sent to the arenas to help fill a spot. And here I was complaining. I can't even begin to imagine. How long did you live like that? Until I was ten. Some of the higher skilled workers that were engineers started giving me a few books and drawings to study, mostly because I never stopped asking questions. They let me read their notes and schematics, put the pieces together. I was able to do a lot of what they could do very quickly. Supervisors would even give me special assignments. Then the board took notice, allowed me to leave the camps and work for her exclusively. Well, first I started repairing bits of her casino slot machines, moved over to the motor pool, refurbishing vehicles, then security systems. Then I developed and installed live tracking monitors in the arenas. Eventually I pretty much ran all the technology. You're pretty young still. And you're so taught? Yeah, mostly. I love figuring out how stuff works and then how to improve it ever since I was very young. Apparently my mom would call me her little genius. That's what people told me, who knew her. Back in the old world, my mom and dad worked for some advanced industries. Knew a whole hell of a lot. And then, like that, they were forced into the arenas and died like so many others. All that knowledge wasted. And you still worked for the board? Even after all that? What could I do? I told myself that I would never get into the position that my parents were in. Power, even if given from bad people, is better than being helpless. And while I was right, working with the board, it gave me the opportunity to help you and your friends. Yeah, I didn't even think about it like that. We owe you a lot. No, no, no. You don't. You're helping save me too. You just may not know it. What's it, man? Look, we get back to Westport and I'm gonna help you start over, alright? You have no idea how much we could use someone like you there. Really? Oh yeah. You would be able to make some real changes in this world. I... I'd like that. I would. Just gotta get there first. Which means we gotta step it up if we're gonna make it to that train on time. Right. Hey, Nick, you think Vera and Nakoma will make it back there too? To Westport? Vera could take care of herself. She's in a good position too. Nakoma? Now that's another story. She better not get caught. I mean, she does have some skills. She's snuck up on all of us. Been doing that kind of shit for a while. If Nakoma plays things right, they won't find her. Black Goalsman! If you want. I caught one of our trespassers held up in a townhouse nearby. Where did the other two go? They're long gone. On their way to the rail line. You should have gone with them. We may have others still on the perimeter. Do a full sweep. Why did you come back? We let you go! I didn't know if I could believe you. What you told Vera, it didn't make sense. Oliver gave you a chance. He told you the truth and warned you about what would happen if you came back. Fine. I'll leave then. I'll leave this time. It's too late. What does that mean? Your protection ran out, which means you're trespassing. So? You haven't put it together yet? This is the family. We're very strict. We kill trespassers. To be continued in the next episode of We're Alive, Descendants. And now a word from our sponsors. You've been listening to We're Alive, Descendants. Produced by Wayland Productions. Written and directed by K. C. Wayland. Starring Jaton Gilbert as Nicholas. Kristi Carlson-Romano as Gloria. Vanessa Bourne as Nakoma. Sam Skolnick as Will. Austin Trace as Alex. Briarley as Dot. Alita Lachey as Fingers. Leonard Kelly Young as Conductor Grant. Augie Wayland as Gus. Charlotte Evelyn Williams as Phyllis. And I'm Michael Swan. Additional voices by... Phil Nieto. Nassaka Malimba. Shannon Zimmerman. Hiro Carlisle. Amy Newman. Eric Daines. Augie Wayland. Produced by K. C. Wayland. Editing and sound design by K. C. Wayland. Additional editing by Ryan Liu. Trailer editing by Vicki Lucas. Post-production supervisor K. C. Wayland. Original music by Robert Mai. Theme music by... Danny Birkov Hopkins. Score assistance by Evan Timani. Recording and engineering by... Wayland Productions. Sound engineering by... Geno Zhang and Victoria Chang. Script supervisors... Geno Zhang. Aaron Reardon. Kelsey Hughes. And Lynn McKayla. Audio production manager... Dimitri Keel. Associate producers... Jace Oli. Mistress Zeneca. Raoul Miller. John Grills. Mandy Armand. And Christoph Laputka. Co-produced by... Rusty Quill. Executive producer... Alexander J. Newell. Chief marketing officer... Callum Dowherty. Marketing assistant... Hattie Quinlan. Network liaison... Tom Park. Thank you to the following kickstarter backers. Raoul Miller. Elizabeth Keyes. Michael Hellman. Sean Mayhun. And Josh Maloney. For more info about the show and a complete list of cast and crew, visit us at www.we'realive.com. Access exclusive content and lore on our Patreon and follow us on social media. 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