VHS 003: Ash & Ruin

## Cast

Markeia McCarty: Achira Sampson

Luis Carazo: Lampwick

Michelle Nguyen Bradley: Juniper Song

Noxweiler Berf: Game Master

## Summary

The episode begins with a VHS message from Ten-Four, urging Enders to make some important deliveries of fruit, grain, and medical supplies, among other things. He says The Ender's Line is willing to pay big, and that "this is the best deal I've given since last winter." He encourages them to be careful and stay safe. He also asks if anybody can get their hands on some cocoa beans for him.

We flash back to scenes from the pasts of Lampwick, Achira, and Juniper.

Lampwick remembers meeting up with Jerry "the Mouse," a criminal contact specializing in selling stolen cars. Jerry gives Lampwick a key to a motel room, where he meets up with Isabella, a fellow criminal and a romantic interest. The two discuss their planned future of retiring to Cancun. They argue, but stop when Isabella reveals she has nearly made it to payout on a long con of a dying man. Frustrated that he's not dying fast enough, she convinces Lampwick to kill him.

Achira remembers a time when she was 13 years old. She and her older brother, Blaine, test out a town legend about a cursed bridge while Blaine records on a camcorder. The two have a sweet moment of teasing, and then telling each other they love each other. Later, she remembers this moment, at the morgue as she identifies Blaine's body after his death. Achira blames herself for his suicide because of a conversation they had had the day before his death. She vows to get revenge on the girl that cheated on Blaine.

Juniper remembers scavenging in an old hospital with her sister and a couple of other rag and bone merchants (Logan, a nonbinary quiet kid, and Skidmark, a perpetually dirty Wild One). Logan picks a lock and lets the group into a storage area that holds a large stash of medical supplies. The group is suddenly attacked by a group of Romeros, and Juniper and Olive leave the equipment and the others behind. Juniper grapples with the fact that Logan and Skidmark died because of her choice to run.

Back in the present, the group converses with the suspicious sick man--Sammy--and the singing old woman. Abigail prays with them, and the two tag along with the group, searching for aid for Sammy. They all make their way toward the community of Bakersfield.

The survivors make it out of the forest, and they can see Bakersfield in the distance. Worrying that the strange old woman and Sammy are trying to trick them somehow, they send Juniper up ahead of the group with some of the supplies so that, if the rest of them are held up or in danger, she can vouch for them and get them help.

A Romero missing the lower half of its body drags itself from a ditch and tries to attack Juniper, but she avoids it and tries to warn the others, but Lampwick and Achira fail to notice, and the Romero grabs at Lampwick. Achira slips in the mud, and another Romero grabs at her bag. Juniper makes it to Bakersfield, and talks with a woman--Sunny--at the community's watchtower. Sunny, having seen the rest of the group from the watch tower and realizing that most of the vital supplies the group brings are still with the group in the field, comes with Juniper to aid them.

Achira, trying to escape the Romero that grabbed at her, almost loses half her pack of supplies, but Lampwick picks it up. Abigail and Juniper shoot into the oncoming horde of Romeros. Lampwick is grabbed by a Romero, and falls to the ground. He drops his packs, and one of them breaks, its contents dropping into the mud. He drops everything on him, and barely manages to escape with his life as Juniper shoots the Romero attacking him with her crossbow and Achira pulls him out of the mud.

The group, as well as Sammy, the old woman, and Sunny, make it through the gates of Bakersfield, and are welcomed to the community of Greyridge. Dr. Maria Espinoza introduces herself and thanks the group for bringing the needed supplies.