Lauren Salcedo (Rise)

Lauren Salcedo is a survivor of the outbreak in Rise, and is a main character in the first and second seasons of the series. At the start of the outbreak, Lauren is out jogging with Alicia Haven awaiting the arrival of Janice Garnett when the women run into Meghan Chapel and Amy Callis. After talking for a few short moments, the four overhear Janice being struck by a car driven by a daytime drunk, and quickly join Meghan and Amy as the five make their way towards the hospital. At the hospital, Lauren and her group encounter the first horde of monsters in the series overtaking the hospital, forcing Lauren and her group to evacuate. After rushing out of an emergency exit, they are stopped by an armed solider, who demands that the women return inside of the building. After Alicia stuns and kills the armed soldier, the five women rush away from the hospital. After noticing the situation in play, Lauren leads the women to a car that she hot wires and drives them off in before being stopped by a man asking for a ride for his family. Noticing the severity of the man's current predicament, yet realizing that there is no room in the car for his family, she throws him a screwdriver from the driver's window and leaves him behind before Lauren drives away. After picking up Janice's son Tyler, Lauren and her group return to the Callis Family Home, where she and Meghan scout out the surrounding homes upon arrival. After police show up at the driveway of the home they are currently attempting to clear out, Lauren and Meghan are forced to hide in a closet space adjoining the bedroom where they are almost found by one of the officers before Alicia shoots him dead from across the street with a sniper rifle. Upon meeting with and informing Dalton Dallmer about the current events unfolding, Dalton departs to help his staff at the police station from an invading horde and leaves Lauren and her group to settle in at their new shelter. After Alicia and Meghan return with Emilio Vasquez, Franklin Carter, Bill Taylor and an unconscious John Callis, Lauren looks after John until he awakens, eventually taking Emilio to search for his wife Jessica. After John and Emilio depart, Lauren helps fortify and clear out the neighborhood until her group hears the cries of Salem Ailwood and her group fending off an oncoming horde of monsters, which eventually take over the neighborhood and force the group to split up and abandon the surrounding areas. After Meghan's group fills up and prepares to leave in a family mini-van, Lauren finds the keys to the car just before a horde breaks through a closed garage. As Megan and her group are already in the mini-van, Lauren throws Meghan the keys for her to take the group out of the house before Lauren rushes back into the home and hides away in a closet space similar to the one she and Meghan hid inside of during their encounter with Dalton. As the first season ends with Lauren returning to and hiding inside of the house as it begins to be overrun, whether she successfully hid from the horde or not was originally unknown until the release of the trailer for the second season in the series, where a portion of dialogue directed towards Lauren confirmed that she had survived the invasion and eventually found members of her old group or a new group after escaping. 
== Representation ==
Lauren is shown to be a quiet part of any group, yet her various skills and mental abilities tend to pull her group out of harsh situations on more than one occasion. Lauren is the single character introduced in the pilot of the series with the least amount of back story known, with much of her pre-apocalypse life being left unknown. Lauren's will to survive and quick-thinking become quick saving points for her group, proving them with a quick solution to a problem that eventually helps them continue to survive.
== Appearances ==
=== Season One ===
* Day Zero - Part One
* Day Zero - Part Two
* It'll Grow on You
* Hearts Beat for a Reason
* Novocaine
* King of the Clouds
== Trivia ==
* Creator of the series Zachary Serra confirmed that during the writing process for the first season of the series, he modeled Lauren's appearance after Camila Mendes, known for her role as Veronica Lodge in the television series, "Riverdale."