Dead Gold

"*Fortunes be damned...*"
—Official description[src]

***Strain Zero* Presents: *"Dead Gold"*** is an upcoming post-apocalyptic horror story set in the relaunched continuity established by *The Walking Dead: Strain Zero*, also called the *Remake* Universe, between the events of the *Bloodlines* and *Descendents* arcs. A miniseries, it will follow the adventures of a small group of rangers, led by Jane Rhodes, as they search for a lost treasure outside the Commonwealth.

## Plot

*Years after the events of* Bloodlines*, Jane Rhodes recollects the efforts of the rangers, the Commonwealth's most elite team of explorers, in their attempt to uncover a secret stash of old world treasure.*

## Synopsis

### "Press Play"

Twelve years have passed since the Battle of Adams Air Force Base. The survivors gather in the Bastion theatre to watch the premiere of Jane Rhodes' movie, *Dead Gold*. Halfway through, her nine-year-old son Carl angrily leaves, forcing Jane to chase after him. He reveals his anger that his mother's story is fake when she claimed during her opening presentation that it was based on a true story. Jane claims that she was telling the truth, and decides to finally tell Carl the truth about his father.

In her office, Jane retrieves a set of tapes labelled "Operation Dead Gold" and explains their backstory: before the outbreak she wanted to be a film director, specifically documentaries; when she joined the rangers, she finally saw her chance when she found an old video camera. The subsequent footage she captured was eventually edited down and used to make her movie *Dead Gold*. Carl agrees to watch the tapes.

Jane's story begins nine years prior, three years after the Battle of AAFB. Bastion is still under construction, but is already home to several hundred people, mostly newcomers from outside the Commonwealth. Jane celebrates with Drew about getting her new video camera working, part of a special request from "the bride". That evening, Jane is picked up by her boyfriend, fellow ranger John Blake, to attend the wedding of David and Ashleigh. Jane films most of it and confesses to Ashleigh that she doesn't feel strongly about John, but nonetheless believes he is good for her. The celebrations are interrupted by a security alert from Adams Air Force Base, which has just suffered a break-in. Henry, Jane and the other rangers gear up at their office and set out to the base.

The rangers are met by the base's commander, Kieron, who explains that the thieves broke into a hidden vault beneath the base; nothing was taken aside from a few military documents. The thieves used explosives, drawing walkers to the base; Henry elects to stay behind while Jane, Katrina, John, Mike and sole eyewitness Samson track the thieves. As dawn approaches, the group find tyre tracks in the fields; they trace them to a large truck, where they find the two thieves locked in an argument. One of the thieves pulls a gun on the other, only for his accomplice to pull out a sleeve gun; both thieves are shot, but the one with the sleeve gun survives after shooting his accomplice in the head. The rangers restrain the injured thief and begin interrogating him.

The thief calls himself Patches and explains that he has been looking into Operation Dead Gold, a pre-pandemic Contingency plan to move truckloads of gold from various banks to a single, secure site somewhere in the southwestern United States. He believes that the gold never reached its destination before the outbreak and may be sitting around, waiting to be discovered. He offers a share of the gold if the rangers were to help him find it, effectively serving as hired muscle. The rangers are skeptical, but Patches points out that gold never loses its value, not even after catastrophic disasters such as the outbreak; believing that the adventure could be made into a documentary, thus fulfilling a lifelong dream, Jane convinces the others that they should help.

### "Pause"

In the present, Carl asks his mother to stop the footage, annoyed that nothing he has seen has involved his real father. Jane tells her son to be patient and resumes.

## Episodes

 2
 3

## Characters

### Main

* Jane Rhodes: a ranger and instigator of their *Dead Gold* adventure
* John Blake: a Bastion resident and one of the many newcomers to the Commonwealth
* Katrina: a ranger and former Innocent looking to change her fortunes
* Cara: an accomplished helicopter pilot
* Samson: a ranger recruit that inadvertently joins the search for treasure
* Gaunter O'Kyle: an enigmatic survivor who claims to know the location of buried treasure

### Supporting

* Henry Ward: leader of the rangers
* Holly Maxson: governor of the Commonwealth
* David: a Bastion city councillor
* Ashleigh: Fairbanks' former deputy leader