Day Zero - Part One (Rise Episode)

"Day Zero - Part One" is the first episode of the first season of Rise. It is the first episode of Rise overall, and it premiered on December 8, 2018. It was written in full by Zachary Serra. It prior episode to Day Zero - Part Two 
== Plot ==
The series begins with a story broadcasted on local Connecticut news about a factory explosion, killing multiple workers and releasing a toxin into the air, poisoning anyone breathing it in whilst it is strong enough. Following multiple groups, the story branches out various times to focus on each group, starting with husband and wife John and Jessica Callis and their young daughter Amy. Jessica, working as a manager for the fictional Foxwood Shipping center, leaves John, a former business owner and United States military guard, to look after their daughter while she departs for work. During the broadcast, Jessica watches Emilio, a candidate for the position of Governor of Connecticut, sparking a brief conversation with John about the current political climate and the country's relatively-new form of distrust of career-politicians. John later falls asleep and takes a nap before awakening, only to find his elderly neighbor holding a teenager at gunpoint. The unnamed teenager is revealed to have been bitten, only to eventually disarm and execute the neighbor before unsuccessfully attempting to do the same to John, and being shot to death soon afterwards. Meghan Chapel, Jessica's sister, later picks up Amy and takes her to the park, where she meets up with her friends; Alicia, Lauren and Janice, the latter of whom is struck by the car of a drunk driver, forcing the women to take her to the hospital. Emilio, the former mayor of Cheshire, Connecticut and current gubernatorial candidate for Connecticut candidate, is informed by his fiance Bill about the factory explosion and information yet to be released to the public of citizens within the area of the explosion being executed in the streets, as well as the deceased workers regaining consciousness and violently attacking innocent civilians. Emilio's running mate for state-wide office, Franklin, informs Emilio and his fiance that survivors of the explosion were transported to various hospitals, with one being located close to the current debate hall. Emilio, Bill and Franklin then proceed to depart the hall and begin heading off to talk with the survivors. At the Foxwood Shipping building,factory worker Jack discusses the possibility of a promotion with Jessica, before being given the ultimatum of proving to Jessica herself, as well as management, that he can be a strong leader. As Jack returns to the warehouse of the building, it is revealed that he went behind fellow-worker Tyler's back, and asked for his own promotion as opposed to the one that Tyler requested that he ask for. Jack's close friend Reggie then proceeds to realize that he did as for his own promotion, before revealing that he and Tyler will have his back in helping him earn the promotion. Shauna, Jessica's secretary then proceeds to mention to Jessica that cellular towers are down, and phone calls are not going through, cutting everyone off from immediate contact with each other aside from Email. Jessica then proceeds to leave work and make her way towards John back at her home. After Jessica returns home, she sees John having passed out from shock at what he had done, only to watch the unnamed teenager reanimate and turn into a monster before going to attack the two. As the unnamed teenager had been shot in the head with the neighbor's shotgun, it is shown that damage to the brain will not kill a monster, contrary to zombie fiction in their universes pop-culture. John the proceeds to cave in the teenager's reanimated corpse with a rock from his garden, effectively killing the reanimated teenager following complete destruction of his head and spinal cord, revealing one of the methods towards taking out a monster. Jessica and John then split up, with Jessica returning to Foxwood Shipping to inform her coworkers and subordinates about the situation, whilst Jessica goes after Meghan and Amy once it is realized that they are late to return. As Meghan and her group make it to the emergency room, the nurse stationed at the front desk is attacked by a member of the undead horde before chaos breaks out, forcing people to do things as extreme as one father throwing his son into the horde to save himself, which causes Meghan and her group to retreat through the back door whilst screaming warnings throughout the remainder of the hospital. As Meghan's group makes their way out of the side exit of the hospital, they are stopped by an armed guard telling them to return inside, only for his position not to change. Alicia then proceeds to attack the guard with a stick before stealing his gun and shooting the guard dead and retreating up the main road to escape the horde.
== Characters ==
=== Main Characters ===
* John Callis
* Jessica Callis
* Emilio Vasquez
* Franklin Carter
* William "Bill" Taylor
* Meghan Chapel
* Alicia Haven
* Jack O'Rourke
* Reggie Harbaugh
* Tyler Dallmer
=== Secondary Characters ===
* Amy Callis
* Shauna King
* Lauren Salcedo
* Janice Garnett
== Deaths ==
* Multiple unnamed factory workers - Died in initial explosion and in the hospital during the first outbreak.
* Unnamed son - Devoured by monsters after his father pushed him into the oncoming horde in the emergency room.
* Unnamed father - Devoured by monsters in the parking lot of the emergency room after retreating from the hospital following the sacrifice of his unnamed son.
* Unnamed United States armed guard - Beaten and shot to death by Alicia Haven after refusing to let Meghan's group escape the hospital.
* John's neighbor - Shot to death by unnamed teenager after being held at gunpoint after being revealed as having been scratched.
* Unnamed teenager - (Alive) Infected with the reanimation disease after having been scratched by a monster. After shooting John's neighbor to death, he turns the gun on John, only to be disarmed by the former-soldier and shot to death. (Reanimated) After being reanimated, the unnamed teenager goes to attack John, only to be beaten to death with a rock. This is where John and Jessica Callis find out that a traumatic injury to the brain will not kill a reanimated monster unlike the zombie-shows in their fictional universe, but severing the spinal cord, decapitation or major disfigurement of the head will.
== Trivia ==
* This is the first appearance in the series for; John Callis, Jessica Callis, Amy Callis, Meghan Chapel, Janice Garnett, Lauren Salcedo, Alicia Haven, Shauna King, Jack O'Rourke, Tyler Dallmer, Reggie Harbaugh, Emilio Vasquez, Franklin Carter, and Bill Taylor.
* This episode was the first and only episode in the series to feature both the pre-apocalypse, and the post-apocalypse way of life for normal civilians.
* The group's location at the start of the apocalypse are revealed to be in the state of Connecticut.
* The Foxwood Shipping Building is revealed to be located in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
* The Callis Family House is revealed to be located in Waterbury, Connecticut.
* The Hospital that Meghan, Janice, Alicia, Lauren and Amy were forced to flee the park towards is revealed to be located in Waterbury, Connecticut.
* Emilio and his running mate Franklin are campaigning for the position of Governor of the state of Connecticut under the Democratic party, while Emilio is revealed to be the former Mayor of Cheshire, Connecticut. However; Emilio was the former Mayor of Cheshire, and his running mate in his mayoral election was his fiance Bill. This made Emilio and Bill the first gay-couple to serve in office of Cheshire, Connecticut in the same term as each other in the Rise universe.
* The closing song for this episode was listed as "Lydia" by the American rock band Highly Suspect.