Season 7 (Remake)

"*A new beginning...*"
—Official description of *Season 7: Remake*[src]

**Season 7: Remake** is the seventh season of *Strain Zero* and a rewrite of the *A New Beginning* story arc of *The Walking Dead by EDStudios*. It begins the *Descendents* arc.

Twelve years later, the survivors and their descendents begin a new journey.

## Plot

*Twenty years. Twenty years of surviving. Twenty years of loss. Twenty years of dreaming.*

*For our survivors, the old world is a distant memory; for their children, it is a story told in ruins. Our group has built a home, a place where the dead are a rare but painful sight. Cities stand tall once more. Fields thrive. Hope has won. Their bonds are stronger than ever, a family that cannot be stopped.*

*But in the midst of their prosperity, our group meets a danger that threatens to tarnish their new beginning. For the descendents, it is a chance to prove themselves; for the survivors, it is a repeat of the horrors they triumphed over. All will be tested in this first instalment of "*Descendents*".*

## Synopsis

### "A New Beginning"

Twelve years have passed since the battle at Adams Air Force Base. The rangers led by Henry return to the Commonwealth from a three month expedition. Just outside the Commonwealth border they rescue a young girl named Lucy from walkers, though she refuses to reveal who was chasing her. Meanwhile, Hope Ward has her leave approved and she returns to her hometown Graystone on the afternoon of her mother's re-election as governor. Holly delivers her victory speech as her husband and son Kyle return to Graystone, and the Ward clan celebrates their reunion. In the midst of the celebrations, Emma also returns, having been absent for nearly two years. Henry and Emma sit down for a talk where he reveals his intention to retire and hand over the post of First Ranger to her.

Hope and a few of her friends decide to sneak out of town and explore the hills; they are ambushed inside an old barn by the "Pale Ones", the monstrous children of the Mother and the Carldweller. Alerted by their children's absence, Henry and the other parents organize a search and follow the distant howling, arriving just as the Carldweller appears to recover its offspring. Henry and the Carldweller leave peacefully. Back at Graystone, instead of punishing Hope, Henry shows her his private workshop in the attic where he gifts her a home-made mandolin he was saving for her birthday. Their talk over, Hope returns to her bedroom and finds a bite wound on her calf. Meanwhile, out in the wilderness, a patrol led by Muldoon are attacked by a powerful creature.

### "Act of God"

After Shadowman fails to contact them, the corpses of Muldoon's patrol are eventually discovered, having been violently ripped apart. Henry and the rangers are asked to investigate and conclude that a human, rather than an animal, killed the patrol. The sole survivor, Robbins, describes a creature resembling a darkdweller, albeit one capable of human speech and a "IX" tattoo on his face. Meanwhile, Hope prepares to amputate her bitten leg but realizes she does not have a fever, nor any other early symptoms of infection, and decides instead to show it to Tanya upon returning to Bastion. Emma volunteers to drive her to the city and the sisters catch up briefly before Emma turns off at Prescott, where she fails to reconcile with Abigail after being away for so long. Elsewhere, the rangers deliver the patrol's bodies to Bastion where Tanya performs an autopsy; she confirms that the wounds were inflicted by a human, perhaps one of the Pale Ones. Despite Henry's protests, Kieron organizes a hunt for the Pale Ones, viewing them as mistakes of nature. However, a traumatised Robbins suddenly remembers that the killer asked about "a girl"; suspecting the girl in question to be Lucy, Henry radios Jane, only to learn that the girl has gone missing. After arriving at her apartment in Bastion, Hope reluctantly shows her bite wound to Justin and Abby; to their collective shock, the wound appears to be healing.

### "Manhunt"

Henry teams up with Jane and Drew to trace Lucy's footsteps. Using cameras designed by Tonks, they watch her take a bus out of town. They search her bedroom at the processing centre and discover a torn ID card bearing the seal of the Republic, a survivor nation on the west coast; an administrator also reveals that Lucy was talking in her sleep about the "nine man". Drew suspects that Lucy's fleeing may have something to do with the sudden silence on all of the Republics' comm channels. They conclude that Lucy may be heading west towards the Frontier, a region containing the only intact railway between the Commonwealth and the Republic.

Meanwhile, Hope, Justin and Abby attend a training exercise at Fort Peck where Hope is asked a stream of questions about her bite from her roommates, who believe her to be immune to LBI. Hope stresses that she has no idea but is struggling to cope with sunlight. That evening she leaves the training ground to visit David and Ashleigh, now retired and living on the shore of Fort Peck Lake. After dinner she asks if the two of them have ever heard of someone being immune; they say no, but did hear rumours of infection treatment out in the Republic.

### "For Blood"

While Kyle recovers in Bastion's hospital, Holly and Henry send out messages to the surviving members of his old group - Drew, Becky, Sarah, Emma, David, Laika and Jane - to meet him at the ranger headquarters. With everyone gathered, they reveals their plan: enact the "Old Guard" protocol, an old agreement between them all that they would all muster to avenge one of their own. With Kyle close to death, Henry plans to find Nines and take revenge, but cannot do it without the others' help. Abiding by their promise, the Old Guard all accept.

Meanwhile, Hope, Justin and Abby make preparations for their expedition to the Republic.,

### "Something Begins"

Out of view, the caravan is watched from the forest edge by an unnamed man, who confirms to someone on the radio about Nines' death. The message is relayed to a hidden bunker near Bastion, then transmitted to a listening station on the outskirts of the Commonwealth. From here it is carried electronically to a Republic outpost, and then on horseback to an unnamed, heavily-populated city under curfew. The report is handed to a man named Darren, who passes it to his superior, Stronson.

Stronson and six other men and women wait around a table in a dim room, impatiently waiting for "The President". He eventually arrives to the meeting, panting with exhaustion and blood on his hands; he is closely followed by a silent assistant that sets down a metal case behind him. The President sits silently as the numerous "Secretaries" give their reports: fighting in the north, a struggling harvest in the south, and a potential threat to the east in the form of the Commonwealth. The President demands to know who retrieved the latter information; the Stronson, the Secretary of Communications, claims credit but the President dismisses him, knowing that Darren has been running the eastern spy network for months. Stronson complains that his people are spread too thin, and he cannot solely handle the eastern spies.

Fed up with the Secretary's excuses, the President opens the metal case and retrieves a baseball bat. Stronson pleads or his life while his fellows watch silently. The President slowly walks towards Stronson, preaching that the Republic's strength lies in just a certain few and cannot be handed over to subordinates; he further asks Darren if he believes he would make a better Secretary of Communications. Darren says he would and the President suddenly bashes him over the head, reducing his skull to pulp. He lays the death on Stronson's shoulders, that his delegating cost a man his life, and warns him to improve his operational efficiency. The President sits down and hears the other reports from the Secretaries, who call him "President Eden".

## Episodes

### Part I

 34
 35
 36
 37

### Part II

 39
 40
 41
 42

## Characters

### Main

* Henry Ward: co-founder of the Commonwealth and leader of the rangers
* Emma Goode: Henry's ward and a courier for the Commonwealth
* Holly Parker: the governor of the Commonwealth and Henry's wife
* Hope Ward: a trainee in the Commonwealth Army and aspiring pilot
* Kyle Granger: the adoptive son of Henry and Holly and a member of the rangers
* Drew Stanton: chief of security for Bastion
* Becky Grace: a teacher and Bastion city councillor
* David: a farmer, courier manager and former ranger
* Mike Trapp: a ranger and survival instructor
* Jane Rhodes: a ranger and chief of the Patrol Guard
* Katrina: a ranger and patrol officer
* Achilles: an accomplished pilot and ranger
* Samuel Fairbanks: the mayor of Bastion
* Kieron Worth: the commander-in-chief of the Commonwealth Army

### Supporting

* Shadowman: a blind survivor and the army's chief of comms
* Laika: doctor and translator for the Commonwealth Army
* Jimmy: a baker and former resident of Graystone
* Nicolas: owner of Graystone's bar
* Abigail: a resident of Graystone and Emma's girlfriend
* Lawrence Carter: an officer in the Commonwealth Army
* Sarah Stanton: an aspiring journalist that travels the Commonwealth's territories
* Cara: a helicopter pilot and flight instructor in the Commonwealth Army
* Ashleigh: a farmer and former deputy leader of Fairbanks
* Katherine: Bastion's diplomat to the city of Billings
* Tonks: a savant, engineer and Emma's ward
* Muldoon: a sergeant in the Commonwealth Army
* Tanya Steele: Bastion's chief medic
* Antony Eden: a crossover character from *So Help Me God*
* Lucy: a mysterious girl that turns up in Montana
* Nines: a resident of the Republic

## Deaths

* Muldoon - beaten, mutilated and torn apart by Nines
* Justin - head smashed against a tree by Nines
* Nines - bisected and axed in the head by Henry
* Darren - bashed to death by Antony Eden
* Four unnamed Commonwealth soldiers - beaten, mutilated and torn apart

## Trivia

* *Season 7: Remake* is set ten years after the epilogue of "*All Out War*", which itself is set two years after the Battle of AAFB.
	+ In total, approximately twenty years have passed since the outbreak
* As of this season:
	+ Emma has been promoted to co-protagonist alongside Henry
	+ Hope has been promoted to deuteragonist
* This season will introduce Antony Eden, whose backstory is detailed in *So Help Me God.*
* The usage of firearms in this season is very limited, with only Commonwealth Army soldiers wielding automatic weapons. It is explained in "*A New Beginning*" that pre-outbreak ammunition has been completely used up, forcing the survivors to make their own at the Bullet Farm.
* Vehicles are more widely used compared to the *Bloodlines* arc due to fresh oil extractions from Deepwater.