(Intro Music)

[phone recording starts]

MASON

Come on. Just a little hint.

RATHIN

I really shouldn’t.

WILL

It won’t hurt just to tell us the area you were headed to with that package.

RATHIN

I’m not supposed to say.

MASON

Yeah, but someone was poisoning Will. Isn’t that a little fucked up?

RATHIN

It’s really fucked up, but- I can’t-

WILL

How much is he paying you? Double it. It means nothing. We’re in the apocalypse and money means nothing.

RATHIN

That’s a good point, actually.

MASON

So?

RATHIN

Oh, alright. I was supposed to go back to the Kitmouth hospital, he said to meet him in the lobby.

WILL

Shit, that’ll be dangerous. So many zombies in that area…

MASON

Let alone the hospital itself.

RATHIN

Tell me about it. I was going to have a military escort, but you two…

WILL

This might be harder than we thought, Mason.

MASON

You thought it would be easy?

WILL

No, I just didn’t think we’d be running into the county’s biggest hospital on day two.

RATHIN

Look, let me talk to Silver. Maybe we can lend you a car—plenty of these houses had cars with full tanks in the garage and keys on the kitchen table.

MASON

[unsettled] That’s… spooky. They didn’t try to drive anywhere when the apocalypse started?

WILL

Maybe they didn’t have time. Maybe they tried to quarantine at home.

MASON

Let’s stop talking about this. Rathin, we’d love to have a car—and some spare weapons, too, if you have any.

RATHIN
I think we can spare a few.

[phone recording ends]

[radio begins]

[car starting]

MASON

Vroom vroom, motherfuckers.

WILL

What they mean is that we got a car.

HEN

Oh, good, that’ll help a lot!

MASON

Especially since we have to drive all the way back to Kitmouth. We’re just on the edge of the county line, but it still would have taken us days.

WILL

As it is, we can plow through any zombies and maybe get there by noon.

MASON

So, how are things up there? Give us a report.

HEN

It’s… not looking pretty. Keo says 5-29 is only a week or two away from total failure, and 6-14 is running really low on food.

WILL

That’s not good.

HEN

It really isn’t. I’ve tried to keep a positive outlook on the radio here, but everyone’s spirits are way down. Tairam’s been trying to make the council be more honest with us, too, and as noble as that is, it’s mostly bad news.

MASON

Mostly?

HEN

Oh, yeah! There is one good thing: apparently we just got a lot more funding from our founder, so more food should be sent up soon.

WILL

That doesn’t make much sense. If they didn’t have the funding in place to supply the colonies for the foreseeable future, then why evacuate people up there to begin with?

MASON

I’m beginning to think these colonies weren’t meant to be permanent.

HEN

Don’t say that on the air!

WILL

Isn’t it obvious, though? 5-29 is breaking down, 6-14 is out of food, and you only get more supplies because of some surprise funding. This isn’t a solution, it’s… I don’t know. Something else.

MASON

A distraction?

WILL

From what? The entire apocalypse? No, I feel like whoever did this did it for a purpose, just…

HEN

Well, hopefully you’ll figure that out as you go, right?

MASON

Hopefully. Anyway, tell us about your day, Hen… [fading out]

[fading back in]

[car turns off]

WILL

We’re here.

MASON

Alright. There are surprisingly few zombies in sight.

WILL

I guess if someone was using the hospital as a base of operations, or even a meeting place, they’d have cleared out some of the zombies, right?

MASON

That makes sense. Makes things easier for us, too.

[car door closes]

[hospital door opens]

MASON

Rathin said he was meeting this guy in the lobby, right?

WILL

Yeah, I- Shit, look out!

[scuffle]

WILL

Are you okay?

MASON

I’m fine, Will, thank you. I didn’t even see that zombie.

WILL

God, the apocalypse is stressful.

MASON

You’re telling me! Let me see you, are you okay? No bite?

WILL

No bite, Mason, I’m okay.

MASON

Good. [pause] Hey, one of the receptionists’ computers is on.

WILL

That’s… weird.

MASON

Maybe it was used recently. [pause] It’s already logged in. The only thing on the desktop is a folder called ‘Audio Logs.’

WILL

Holy shit. What’s in it?

MASON

…It’s password-protected. Says it’ll let me view the most recent file though, let’s see…

WILL

It’s an audio file!

[recording starts]

SIMON

[clears throat] This is Simon Hubys, log 81, day 63 of the apocalypse.

WILL

Wait, pause it. [pause] Doesn’t that name ring a bell?

MASON

I think I saw his name on something at the space center.

WILL

Maybe he owns it.

MASON

Well shit, if he owns it, he probably founded the colonies, too.

WILL

Yeah, but why would the founder of the moon colonies be hanging out on Earth in the worst part of the zombie apocalypse?

MASON

Yeah… I don’t know.

WILL

Still worth following this guy for information, he might know something.

MASON

I’m unpausing it.

SIMON

The experiments… aren’t going well. The moon colonies are fruitless. I am… losing hope.

WILL

Well now we have to follow him.

MASON

Shh, stop pausing it!

SIMON

Edea is as beautiful as ever, though I know she hates her ‘jewelry.’ I treasure each journey to a new location because it gives me an excuse to hold her hand, regardless of the danger.

And we will have to leave again soon. While the mall is a nice place to set up shop, it won’t do to have all of my equipment out and about when Rathin returns with his military escorts. We’ll have to move, likely back to the hospital.

SIMON (cont.)

End audio log.

[recording ends]

MASON

So he was at the mall? Our mall?

WILL

People usually refer to the Kitmouth Mall as ‘the mall’ around here, and Silver seemed to think he was a local. Maybe he was at our mall.

MASON

This had to be after we were evacuated, or we would’ve seen some sign of him. Maybe this was recent, maybe he’s referring to Rathin’s last expected visit.

WILL

If it was, that means he could still be here, at the hospital.

MASON

Maybe, but Rathin said he’d meet him here in the lobby, and there’s no living person to be seen.

WILL

Makes sense that his base of operations wouldn’t be in the lobby. He’s probably holed up in one of the rooms.

MASON

But searching each room would take us forever, especially with the threat of zombies. And if he was frequently changing spots, he could have already moved on to somewhere else.

WILL

Well, then maybe we go to the mall—he might have left more audio logs talking about some of his other favorite places. Maybe he cycles through them, you know?

MASON

Seems like our only option.

(outro music)

(Beyond Awakening Season 3 Trailer starts)