Exodus

"**Exodus**" is the second chapter in MrPotassiumK's **Loud House: Infection of the Dead**.

## Synopsis

Surrounded by the dead, Lori must lead her group to safety, in and out of Detroit. Meanwhile, a looming threat awaits them in Royal Woods.

## Plot

**Part 1: Not So Safe Shelter**

A helicopter lands five miles away from Detroit. It seems to be carrying the adults that the rogues captured a few minutes earlier.

Meanwhile, in the bunker in Detroit, there is a panic among the children trying to understand what just happened outside. Knowing that the fences are probably destroyed and that the roamers will take over the Safe-Zone, Lori suggests the group go to sleep. However, the panic only seems to be getting louder and more dangerous, so Lori quells it by convincing *everyone* to go to sleep in order to be prepared to fight the roamers outside. Yet, even she herself has trouble falling asleep when the lights dim and the bunker is silent.

While everyone is falling asleep, Rocky stays up, having found an icebox with a lock. The lock could be opened with the right three-digit combination, so Rocky wakes his brother, Rusty, up and tells him about the lock. The two plan to spend the night trying out every combination.

Morning arrives and the lock has been cracked. Rocky and Rusty wake up and they both tell Lincoln about the key. However, a teenager overhears them and tells the rest of the bunker, causing chaos again. The teenager steals the key and uses it to open the bunker door, causing the children to flood out of the bunker. Lori and her group are forced to follow the children lest they get trapped by the roamers. Once they find themselves outside, they see roamers scattered across the Safe-Zone, now targeting the children. Many of the children, including the teenager who opened the bunker, are caught by the roamers and are devoured by them. Lori tells the group to follow Bobby into Building A, where they find shelter from the roamers. However, in the process, Luan and Benny get separated from them.

Luan and Benny find themselves in General Black's station. There they find a katana, an AK-47 rifle, and a P38 Luger pistol. They also find the corpses of Clyde's parents, horrifying Luan. Arming up, Benny fights his way out of the station with Luan following him. The two make it to Building A where Benny hands the AK rifle to Lori. Benny then finds his father, now reanimated as a roamer. Benny uses the katana to sorrowfully kill his zombified father.

The group find food in the cafeteria and take a break to eat. The group devises a plan to escape from Building A using the fire escape and to head to Vanzilla where they could get their weapons and take back their belongings. Benny hands the P38 Luger to Bobby and the group enact their plan flawlessly. They manage to escape the city and to Vanzilla.

Lori hands out the weapons in Vanzilla to the other group members. In the process, Carol asks to join the group, though Lori wants her gone already. Lincoln and Bobby convince Lori to let Carol join them. However, this doesn't stop Lori from resenting Carol.

There are not enough weapons for everyone, so some stay behind in Vanzilla while the others head back to the city. Lori and her group plan to take whatever supplies they can find that will help them survive.

**Part 2: Dead City**

Lori and the group enter Building B, C, and D, grabbing their belongings. Once they arrive at Carol's room in Building D, Lori and Lincoln find tapes belonging to Tim Crowley. Lincoln concludes the rogues shot up everyone who lived in the room, meaning Carol is lucky to be alive. Lori wants to hear all the tapes now but Lincoln doesn't want to keep the group waiting. However, little does he know, the roamers outside of Building D have broken in. The group members escape up the stairway, with the exception of Luan and Lucy. Benny comes to their defense and shows off his katana skills. The group then meet up with Lori and Lincoln and they leave Building D and head for Building A.

Going up multiple flights of stairs proves to be exhausting for many of the group members. In the meantime, Lori finds a hole in the side of Building A that gives her a view of the city. She uses her Polaroid to take a picture of this view.
The group now head for the warehouse.

**Part 3: Escape from Detroit**

The group break open a fence separating the Safe-Zone from the warehouses down the street. Lori tells the group to head there while she, Bobby, Ronnie Anne, and Darcy head for a nearby Humvee. Ronnie Anne shows Lori how to turn on the Humvee. Once the roamers start closing in on them, Lori drives the Humvee towards the warehouses.

In the first warehouse, there are a variety of furniture, none that the group could use now. In the second warehouse, there is a variety of weapons and equipment, the perfect supplies for the group. The group members place the crates of supplies in the back of the Humvee. Lori decides to take Lola and Lana back to the parking lot with the Humvee and leaves the rest of the group under Benny's command. Lori hands Benny a walkie-talkie and leaves with Bobby, Ronnie Anne, Darcy, Lola, and Lana.

The Humvee arrives at the parking lot, where Carol and the others hide at the sight of the armored vehicle. Lori wonders where everyone went before Carol makes her presence known. However, this terrifies Lori, almost leading her to shoot Carol. Lori gets angry at Carol before the others explain why they hid. Lori then calms down and hands Chunk's keys to Carol, ordering her to put the supplies in Chunk's van.

While Benny leads his group to the Safe-Zone, a swarm of roamers begin to walk towards them. They quickly make a run for it. In the meantime, Lori explains to Carol that she will be driving the van alone. Suddenly, Benny's call for help makes it to Lori's walkie-talkie. Lori grabs a few of the group members and they head back to the Safe-Zone.

Upon arriving at the Safe-Zone, it's revealed that the kids who escaped from the bunkers earlier were forced back to the Safe-Zone by the roamers in the city. Now, the massive groups of roamers have trapped Benny's group along with them. They struggle to fight off the roamers, some of the kids getting killed by the roamers. Bobby climbs onto the turret and fires it at the roamers while Lori unleashes the AK-47 on the roamers. Benny's group head for the Humvee, doing their best to fit inside. After everyone is inside, Lori drives off, leaving behind the other kids from the bunker.

In a rush, the group members stuff the crates from the warehouse into the vehicles and they leave the parking lot. They drive through the gates outside of the Safe-Zone, finally escaping from Detroit. However, once they're in the main road outside of the Safe-Zone, they find a road filled with carnage and death. In the road filled with corpses, Lori, Bobby, and Chaz find the Casagrande family among them. Bobby is heartbroken and tells Lori to not tell Ronnie Anne as the news would break her.

The three of them head back to their vehicles and continue driving away from Detroit. Lori tells Lincoln to play Tim's tapes.

**Part 4: Our People**

In the tape, Tim shares his backstory. The group members fall asleep, with a few exceptions. Thinking Benny is asleep, Luan gives a quick smooch to Benny. After seeing Benny was awake, Luan explains that she kissed him because he saved her life back in Building D.

In the meantime, Lori drives through Royal Woods. She sees her hometown ravaged and empty. She ignores it all and heads back to her house. There, the group park the vehicles. Although the town was quiet, her home street isn't as Lori takes out her golf club and takes out the roamers. Her group members help her out before they hear a helicopter flying above them and landing nearby in Ketcham Park.

Distracted, Lori's state of mind returns to finding herself and her group members held by three survivors: 45-year-old David Jones, 42-year-old Richard Bolts, and 38-year-old Missy Bolts. Benny attempts to rescue Lori and the others held up by the survivors before being held at gunpoint himself. David asks Lori where the group got their weapons. As Lori explains, David sees the children in Vanzilla and realizes the group are not associated with the rogues. He and his friends lower their guns and apologize, though an upset Lori vents at them. David then mentions his hostility towards General Black, leading Lori to trust him and his friends. He then urges them to get inside since the rogues are nearby. Lori opens the door to her house, allowing her group and the trio to enter.

The group and the trio introduce themselves. David then explains that he came across Tim's radio messages, and that's how he's come to know about General Black and the dangers of his Safe-Zone. David then reveals that General Black took the adults in Detroit to Ketcham Park, much to Lori's disbelief. He tells them that he has a group ready to fight the rogues and free the adults. He suggests to meet behind the Yates' house at sunrise tomorrow.

After the trio leave, Lori asks the group members if they want to fight the rogues. Almost all of them back out due to fear, which Lori understands. Only Bobby and Benny are going to fight with her, though the rest of the group aren't too happy about it. The group head to sleep, getting ready for the fight.

It's 5:30 AM and the group say their goodbyes to Lori, Bobby, and Benny. Benny in particular kisses Luan, now making his feelings known to Luan. The trio grab their weapons and head for the Yates'. Upon arriving there, the trio find Flip and Bumper Sr., along with many dozens, ready to fight the rogues. Bumper Sr. explains what the rogues did in Day 10 outside of the Safe-Zone. They killed his wife and two of his children, which Bobby hears. He figures that is what happened to his family as well. Lori then asks for the plan to free the adults.

Lori and the small militia arrive outside of Ketcham Park while David scouts with a sniper rifle from a treehouse in the distance. They're communicating through walkie-talkie. David spots General Black and clears the way for the militia to enter the park by sniping two rogues. He then prepares to snipe General Black. However, upon pulling the trigger, the bullet takes out General Black's left eye but doesn't kill him. Angered, David climbs down the treehouse, avoiding the bullets coming from the rogues that spotted him.

The militia now engages the rogues. David orders the militia to not let General Black escape. However, the rogues are preventing the militia from approaching General Black. The militia and the rogues get into a deadlock while the other rogues move the adults into helicopters. Chaos ensues as fires start burning the park. Distracted at the sight of her parents, Lori finds herself nearly shot by a rogue. However, Flip takes the shot while shoving her to cover. Flip crawls to cover, but he is then stabbed by a rogue. The rogues are now retreating as the park becomes engulfed by fire. The militia try to find a way out, but a few rogues are left behind to prevent the militia from escaping. Luckily, Bumper Jr. and Beatrix arrive at the park with ladders, against their father's advice to come to the park. The Yates children lead the militia towards an exit, but they come under attack. Bumper Sr. is shot in the head, Bumper Jr. has his throat slit, and Beatrix is executed by a rogue. Lori herself is almost shot before Benny saves her, just like Flip did. Benny also gets shot like Flip, but he's wearing a bulletproof vest. A pained Benny and Lori take cover as the helicopters fly above them.

David arrives at the park, enraged at the rogues. He then collapses in his knees. In the brink of a breakdown, David finds a map, showing the rogues' next destination: Houlton.

## Deaths

* Mr. Stein (*Zombified*)
* Angelica (*Zombified*)
* Mark (*Zombified*)
* Flip
* Bumper Yates
* Bumper Yates Jr.
* Beatrix Yates
* At least 3 unnamed teenagers and children
* 15 unnamed rogues

## Trivia

* The first mention of Houlton, Maine.
* Introduction of the Main Group.
* First appearance of David Jones.
* First appearance of Richard Bolts.
* First appearance of Missy Bolts.
* First (and last) appearance of Flip.
* First (and last) appearance of Beatrix Yates.
* First (and last) appearance of Bumper Yates Jr..
* Last appearance of Bumper Yates.
* The end credits song is *Baba O'Riley* by The Who.
* The title of the chapter, **"Exodus"**, refers to Operation Exodus, the plan that involves moving the surviving refugees from the Detroit bombing to Houlton. The name itself alludes to the Exodus in the Bible.
	+ The operation itself is named for the movement of the prisoners from one place to another, specifically from Detroit to Houlton.
	+ The operation itself also applies to the rogues, as many of them move from a dangerous Detroit to a safe haven in Houlton, and eventually, Nova Terra City.
	+ The allusion applies to Lori's group as well, since they leave their home state of Michigan to rescue their families and look for a safer place to live.
	+ Most importantly, the allusion also applies to Lori herself, in which she could be compared to Moses, being the one to lead her people to the Promised Land. In this case, the Promised Land is not necessarily Houlton, but a world where her family could live peacefully.
* The title of Part 1, **"Not So Safe Shelter"**, refers to the fact that the Detroit Safe-Zone was not a safe place to seek shelter. It also refers to the bunker itself, in that it is not a safe place to hide out either as the kids open it up, allowing the roamers to come in.
* The title of Part 2 **"Dead City"**, refers to Detroit, since it has almost no living inhabitants and is mostly inhabited by the dead, or roamers.
* The title of Part 3, **"Escape from Detroit"**, refers to the action the group members take, that is, escaping from Detroit.
* The title of Part 4, **"Our People"**, refers to the prisoners held in Ketcham Park from Lori's perspective, in that her family, as well as multiple residents of Royal Woods, are held there.
* General Black has his left eye shot out in this chapter.
* Lori mocks Carol by telling Missy to not let Carol be around her husband. Although only meant as an insult, Carol does eventually form a romantic relationship with Richard.