Not So Sleepy Hollow

"Not So Sleepy Hollow" is the first and debut episode of season one of The Last Ones. It was originally published for the first time on Wednesday 18th June 2014.
==Plot==
Married couple Peter and Lorna Thompson have their life thrown into chaos as the dead begin to rise and feast on the living. Things become worse for the pair when their son, Milo, goes missing, and a bitten family friend asks for help and refuge.
==Synopsis==
In the small gloomy settlement of Winterhodge Hollow, the Thompson family continue with their day to day lives, despite something strange happening in town. Milo, the eldest of the two Thompson children, turns off a breaking news announcement from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention in order to watch his favourite show. His mother, Lorna, didn't see the message, as she was in Milo's bedroom, trying to tempt her young daughter Beatrice into walking, something she remarks she should be doing regularly by now. She is thrilled when her persuasions pay off. 
Later that evening, Lorna reads Milo a bedtime story to send him off to sleep. He complains about the fairy-tale, claiming there's no such things as monsters, but Lorna insists on finishing it. Milo yawns and falls asleep. Lorna admits defeat, gives her son a kiss goodnight and leaves the room, unaware that outside her sons window is an undead corpse in the distance.
Shortly after the kids go to sleep, Lorna's husband, Peter, arrives home. He looks at the TV, which displays only static, which he expected. Like his wife, he missed the news alert. Lorna expresses her relief that her husband is back, and tells him that kids have been fine but Milo has been worrying about his missing cat, Jinx. Lorna asks for an update on what's going on in town, as the townspeople have become absent. Peter admits that he doesn't know what's going on and neither does his friend, Bill, who he ran into at the station, where Peter works as a firefighter. Lorna panics and tells Peter she's tried many different ways of getting in touch with her parents, but nothing seems to be working, including the phones and internet. Peter comforts his wife when she admits that she's frightened. The exhausted couple agree to get some sleep.
During the night, Milo awakes after hearing a noise outside. Suspecting it might be his cat wanting to get in, he goes outside to look, unaware that two zombies are approaching him from behind. When he eventually finds out, he screams and runs away, to where is unknown. Peter and Lorna wake immediately after hearing the screams and rush to find Milo, but they're terrified to find his room vacant. Lorna collects Beatrice from her crib as Peter goes outside to search for Milo. He finds the two zombies, but Milo is no where to be seen. He goes back into the house and tells Lorna that Derek is outside, this greatly disturbs Lorna, as they knew that Derek had died sometime ago.
Peter dresses and tells Lorna to stay low on the ground with Beatrice and to try and keep her quiet whilst he goes out to look for their son. He runs outside and warns the zombies that he'll hurt them, but they don't listen and try to attack him, leaving Peter with no choice but to kill them with a knife. Lorna comes outside after and asks Peter if he had to resort to killing them. He tells her that he tried stabbing them in other places than the head. At that moment, Franny, a neighbour and good friend to Lorna, arrives, pleased and relieved to see that they're alive and well. Lorna asks if she knows what the zombies are, but Franny is also oblivious. She tells Peter she had to kill his friend, Bill, as he also turned into one of them. Suddenly, an undead corpse approaches Franny. Lorna tries to warn her, but it's too late and she is bitten savagely in the shoulder. Lorna rushes to help but Peter stops her. Lorna is adamant that they can't just leave Franny, but Peter makes it clear that it's too late for her. They return inside and comfort Beatrice, who is shaken. Peter and Lorna make a decision to seperate; the former will go out looking for Milo while the latter stays in the house with Beatrice.
Sometime after, Peter leaves, where he runs away from the zombie that attacked Franny, and Franny herself, who has since turned. Lorna shuts herself in Milo's room with Beatrice but looks out the window after hearing shouts from outside. She is alarmed to see that her elderly friend, Joyce, is being chased by another two zombies. Lorna makes Beatrice hide in Milo's toybox and tells her to wait until she comes back to get her. Lorna then leaves the house and ushers Joyce inside. 
Joyce thanks Lorna for taking her in, and confirms that one of the zombies was her husband, Gilbert. Lorna expresses her relief that Joyce is all right, but she is taken aback to find out that she's not. Joyce explains that she feels sick and has done since she escaped from Gilbert, who managed to take a small bite on a few of her fingers.
Peter, meanwhile, is exhausted after running for a long time with an even bigger group of zombies on his tail. He trips and falls and death seems inevitable, but he is rescued by Sean O'Hara, the town drunk, who shoots most of the undead with a pistol. Peter apologises to Franny as he stabs her in the head, killing her zombified form. Peter thanks Sean for saving his life and tells him about Milo, who's missing. Sean agrees to help find Milo, if Peter will help Sean find alcohol in return. Peter expresses his confusion as to why Sean has not taken refuge at The Acorn, his local pub. Sean tells him that he was there for a while but the place got overrun and all the other regulars got taken out, leaving him as the sole survivor.
Shortly after, Peter and Sean arrive at the towns library in their search for Milo. As they approach the building, Sean tells Peter he's out ammo, but Peter has even worse news to break: they have more undead following them. They rush into the library and strengthen the doors with chairs. They hear noises from inside and Peter calls out for Milo, but they instead find four other survivors and a dog. One of the survivors welcomes Peter and Sean to the "same boat." Outside, a group of zombies arrive at the doors, determined to get inside.
==Deaths==
*Bill (Zombified)
*Derek (Zombified)
*Franny
*Numerous counts of zombies.
==Trivia==
*First appearance of Peter Thompson.
*First appearance of Lorna Thompson.
*First appearance of Milo Thompson.
*First appearance of Beatrice Thompson.
*First appearance of Sean O'Hara.
*First appearance of Joyce Evans.
*First appearance of Ollie Graham.
*First appearance of Aimi Kato, without lines
*First appearance of Henry Jones, without lines.
*First appearance of Karen Jones, without lines.
*First appearance of Ben.
*First (and last) appearance of Franny.
*First appearance of Derek.
*First appearance of Gilbert Evans.
*First mention of The Acorn.
*First mention of Bill.
*First mention of Jinx.
* First appearance of Winterhodge Hollow. 
* First appearance of The Thompson house.
* First appearance of the Winterhodge Hollow library. 
*This episode features the lowest amount of main characters in the first season. With only Peter, Sean and Aimi (who has no lines) appearing.
**Although, it does feature Lorna and Henry, who would go on to become main characters in season two.
* The episode title refers to Winterhodge Hollow, the name of the town where the episode is set. It also refers to the horror film and television series Sleepy Hollow.
*Sean mentions Stephen King, the best-selling author who is known for writing novels in the horror genre.