The Race

"**The Race**" is the tenth chapter in MrPotassiumK's **Loud House: Infection of the Dead**. It is also the final chapter of Arc 1.

## Synopsis

Sherry finds herself prisoner to the group, but she isn't ready to give up just yet. Vonda wants the group to give Sherry a second chance, testing each member's desire for revenge.

## Plot

**Part 1: Interrogation Room**

In a flash-forward, Lori walks around the Dust Zone, seeing multiple X’s around. She then begins to cross the land bridge that the debris created between Jersey City and Manhattan.

In the present day, Vonda, overhearing the beating her mother is taking, wants to get in the attic. David tells her she can’t go, which upsets Vonda. He realizes that Sherry may have manipulated Vonda, though he is not certain how. Vonda storms away.

Richard continues to punch Sherry in the attic until George tells him to stop. Sherry insults Missy, which makes Richard hit her again. George thinks Sherry won’t crack under interrogation and tries to figure out another way to make her talk. Richard pulls a gun on Sherry, stating that they may not need Sherry alive since the hostages are probably at Albany. However, George stops him from using it, reminding him that he doesn’t want the group to make the same mistake they made with Boomer. Sherry asks George if he had even bothered to ask her daughter what she wants, though George states Sherry is not getting a second chance that easily. The three are interrupted by Vonda knocking on the attic window, having climbed up the house. Richard lets her in and Vonda gets upset at the way the men have been treating her mother. Sherry plays victim and tells Vonda that the men haven’t guaranteed her safety in exchange for information, which George can’t deny. She tells them that if she doesn’t get released by tomorrow afternoon, then the Piranhas will kill the hostages. Her demands are simple: she wants to be freed and she wants George to promise to Vonda that he won’t go after Sherry. George is reluctant— which Sherry expects and secretly planned for in order to drive a wedge between him and Vonda. He wonders how he can guarantee the two won’t go after each other, but Sherry states that it’s a gamble for her too, since she would have to take his word for it. He thinks Sherry has an ulterior motive, though Sherry explains she simply wants to gain her daughter’s trust by making sacrifices before accusing him of being unable to do that— referencing the fact that George kept going after Sherry despite receiving death threats against his family. George loses his temper and hits Sherry, causing Vonda to step in to stop him. He walks away to cool down and heads down to the second floor. David asks him if he was able to get Sherry to reveal the location of the hostages, but George tells him that he could, as long as he promises to not kill Sherry. Though it seems simple, especially in Vonda’s eyes, he is unable to bring himself to not bring Sherry to justice. Vonda, who followed him, tells him that she doesn’t care if it’s unfair and that she only wants to save the lives of the hostages. David agrees with Vonda, since it’s the only choice they have, though he does bring up Lincoln’s suggestion, which George shuts down. George walks away again, leading Vonda to ask what Lincoln suggested, though David doesn’t want to tell her. With this, Vonda also walks away, feeling the group members are starting to go against her.

Downstairs, the group members vent about Sherry, letting their complaints be known. Zach, however, wonders how Sherry got a roamer before the GIE. Lisa wonders as well and tries to analyze what she knows about Sherry’s past. When she asks Vonda if she got any clues from her mother, Vonda tells the group that Sherry knew about General Black being in Houlton, but she keeps quiet about Nova Terra. Lisa suggests the adults question Sherry for further information on the rogues, to which Missy agrees. Thinking about what David said earlier, Vonda asks Lincoln to explain his plan for getting the location of the hostages. Though Lori doesn’t want Lincoln to say anything, Lincoln decides to tell her. The plan was to shoot Vonda and only treat her if Sherry reveals the location of the hostages. Vonda walks away, needing time to process this information.

George is fiddling with the figurine his daughter gave him when Vonda joins him on the front steps. Vonda asks about the figurine, attempting to get on good terms with George again. She then admits she feels selfish for thinking the choice Sherry gave him was easy. She believes that she wouldn’t be able to release General Black. Vonda then tells George that she’s willing to go through Lincoln’s plan. However, George, not wanting Vonda to be harmed, decides that he will promise to not kill Sherry instead.

Meanwhile, Lori and Luan walk to a neighboring house, the latter wanting to be able to sleep knowing she’s capable of using Benny’s katana on a roamer. Lori believes it’s too risky with how dark the house is, but Luan refuses to sleep until she can kill at least one roamer. The girls come across a hanged roamer. Luan cuts the rope and lets the roamer down. Luan clumsily kills the roamer. Not satisfied with how she took care of the roamer, she wants to look for another, but Lori tells her not to since many group members have not even killed a roamer at night. Luan reluctantly follows Lori back to the group.

Back in the attic, Missy treats Sherry’s wounds while asking her about how she was able to get a roamer before the GIE. Sherry raises the idea that it may be better the less they know. The adults aren’t convinced, so Sherry brings up the Barracudas and states they are not native to New York and confirms that they are a group allied with the rogues. She then tells the group she’s unable to decrypt Tim’s tapes, but she knows a man in Medway who is able to do so. George and Vonda arrive at the attic where the former promises to not go after Sherry. Sherry, aware of Vonda’s presence, accepts this promise and tells the adults that the hostages are at her old headquarters in Albany. George fears the Piranhas may ambush the group, but Sherry tells them that her Piranhas are outnumbered, implying the Piranhas with the hostages are the only remaining ones. Everyone but Richard and Sherry leave the attic, and once on the second floor, David tells Vonda to go on downstairs. With Vonda gone, David plans to leave someone behind to follow Sherry, though it can’t be George since he doesn’t trust him to be rational around her. David decides it has to be Missy. In the meantime, the group will be heading for Albany, figuring out a way to prepare for a possible ambush. He intends to leave a car for Missy. Certain Sherry has something up her sleeve, George attempts to convince David to change the plan to include having him follow Sherry as well since he could read her body language and can tell if she’s lying or not. However, when asked if she was lying, George is not certain as it seemed Sherry was hiding something, though she was not lying. Missy states it would be better for her to have a backup, and thus, David lets George and Missy follow Sherry.

While watching Sherry, Richard is carving a wooden duck, which Sergei points out. When he looks out the window, he notices his wife walking around the shipyard, causing him to go after her. When he catches up to her, Missy explains that she is looking for a good vantage point so that she could follow Sherry without getting spotted. Richard dislikes the idea, but Missy insists she must do so just in case Sherry decides to order an ambush. Knowing that Missy feels guilty about Tad’s death and the kidnapping of the hostages, Richard decides to stay behind, though Missy tells him that George is backing her up. Missy then compliments Richard’s wooden duck. Richard intends to give it to her when he finishes it.

**Part 2: Loose Ends**

Morning arrives and George, Sherry, and Vonda walk to the shipyard. George uncuffs Sherry and gives her and Vonda a moment alone. Some group members stare, though from a distance. Sherry, knowing it may be the last time she sees Vonda, hands over her blue vest to her. After being told it was a gift from her father, Vonda takes it. As she walks away, Sherry calls out for her, wanting to ask for a hug. However, she decides to simply thank her. Vonda nods and returns to the group. The group members get in their vehicles and leave, all except George and Missy who get into position. Richard, who stays behind as well, catches George off-guard and explains to him that he is there to make sure George doesn’t make an irrational decision as well as to make sure his wife is okay. An impatient Sherry contacts Andrew, who lets her know that he will be there in half an hour. She looks around before finding a roamer approaching. Having nothing to take down the roamer with, she tries to get a weapon from a locked toolbox, though she struggles with opening the combination lock. The roamer attacks her and nearly kills her as Sherry struggles to fight it off. After kicking it away, Sherry decides to use the toolbox itself to kill the roamer. Richard and George watch the whole thing, with the former insulting Sherry and the latter relieved she didn’t die yet. Missy places her gun away, having had the intention of saving Sherry from the roamer.

Meanwhile, Dana asks what the group will do if the hostages aren’t alive. David tells her to not worry since George, Richard, and Missy are monitoring Sherry. Vonda once again feels outcast since David didn’t tell her. She is worried that George may get caught by Sherry, though David, once again relying on faith, tells her that they won’t get caught.

Back at the shipyard, George figures out that Sherry is waiting for someone. Richard asks him if he’s really going to keep his word. George explains that he has no choice since the promise is not only to her but to Vonda as well. Richard explains that he too knows how it feels to want revenge. He tells a story about his younger sister, who was killed by a drunk driver. He never caught the drunk driver, but if he had, he knows he would have killed them. Now that they live in a world without rules, Richard believes it should be easier to take revenge. He then realizes that he’s just not that good of a person like his wife or George— or maybe George simply has better restraint than him.

Andrew arrives on a boat. As Sherry gets on it, he delivers the bad news to Sherry: every Piranha at Hudson is dead, including Boomer, who George mentioned earlier. The two come to the conclusion that David’s group killed them all, and Sherry correctly assumes that they only attacked the base because they thought the hostages were there. Andrew tells Sherry that the rest of the Piranhas can execute the hostages on her orders, and pressures her to do so. While Sherry contemplates it, she looks over at the house and realizes that David’s group left one of their vehicles behind. Now having figured out someone stayed behind, Sherry walks out of the boat and towards the house. Missy wants to warn George and Richard by radio, but Andrew remains close by, forcing Missy to reveal herself, stopping Sherry in her tracks. Sherry and Andrew hold her at gunpoint while Missy explains that she was only following Sherry to make sure she stood by her word. Sherry wants to know if there is anyone else following her, though Missy lies, telling her that it’s only her. While Missy is held at gunpoint, George and Richard sneak out of the house to avoid detection and take aim at Sherry and Andrew. Sherry wonders if she could kill Missy and get away with it, but Missy tells Sherry that the group would know and that Sherry would lose her daughter’s trust forever. Sherry is convinced and heads back to the boat. However, before the two Piranhas leave, she asks Missy if her group attacked the Hudson base. Missy admits that they did. Sherry, noting the genuine nature of her answer, realizes that Missy lied about being the only one following her. As the boat starts to move, she draws her pistol faster than Missy could and shoots her in the head. She then immediately goes for cover as George and a heartbroken Richard fire at the boat. As the boat moved away, Sherry fired back, managing to blow away Richard’s right thumb with her pistol. The boat then disappears from sight.

George and Richard run after Missy. After inspecting her wound, George wants to leave Missy and head back to the house to warn David, but Richard wants to take Missy’s body into the car and chase after Sherry. George puts down a couple roamers and helps Richard move Missy’s body into the car. He then tells Richard to wait for him as he runs to the house to contact David. However, Richard decides to drive and chase after Sherry, leaving George behind. A frustrated George ignores it and contacts David, informing him that Missy was killed by Sherry and that Sherry is headed back towards Albany. David tells George to find a car and meet up with the group outside of Kingston. George runs out the house where he finds roamers swarmed around Richard and the car. He and Richard kill off the roamers and free the car. George enters the car and the men leave the shipyard.

The group members inside the RV overhear the news about Missy’s death, causing Vonda to get upset at David. She tells the group that they should’ve trusted her mother. David tells her that they have to focus on returning to Albany as fast as possible, but Vonda knows the group has no true plan to get the hostages back except to follow through with Lincoln’s plan. He blames himself, but he is determined to figure out another way to get the hostages back. Vonda is done with the group’s planning and tells David that they will listen to her now as she figures out a way to get the hostages back. She then breaks into tears, realizing that she will have to live out the rest of her life with Sherry because according to her, that’s what it will take to get the hostages back. David then learns Richard and George are coming and he stops the vehicles. However, Richard continues to drive at his high speed, until George tells him to stop so that his thumb could get treated. Richard stops the car, but he doesn’t seem to care about his thumb, but rather, is angry that David chose to come to a stop. He tells the group that they have to keep chasing after Sherry, but David tells him they need to come up with a plan first. An angry Richard blames David for Missy’s death and loses faith in his ability to come up with a plan. David apologizes, but Richard doesn’t accept it. George blames himself and Richard for not allowing Missy to follow Sherry by herself, though this only angers Richard further. Richard blames George and tries to hit him, though David and Sergei hold him back. George then reminds Richard that Missy was going to put her own life before others regardless of whoever planned anything. Richard, realizing George is right, breaks into tears and collapses to the ground, causing the group members around to cry as well, including David.

Some time passes and the group are gathered around Missy’s grave. Carol checks on Richard’s wound, which she treated earlier. Richard thanks Carol for treating him. However, she isn’t able to say much except feel sorry for him. Vonda feels frustrated with everyone for not trusting her mother, and paradoxically, herself for trusting her. Lori holds Missy’s vest as David hands Missy’s dog tags over to Richard. David tells Richard what Vonda plans to do. Richard tells David that no matter what plan anyone comes up with, he intends to kill Sherry. George promises that Sherry won’t get away with her crimes. David tells the group that they will not stop for anything until they reach Albany. As the group members head back into the vehicles, Richard puts the dog tags on Missy’s grave.

**Part 3: Eight Fifty-Two**

The next day, Bobby and Ronnie Anne were inspecting the city from atop a building. They leave before it gets too dark. Just as they leave, however, David’s group enters the city with their vehicles.

Inside the room with the cage in the Albany headquarters, the hostages suffer from the heat. Lynn wakes up in a daze and finds herself still in a cage. D explains that she and Benny continue to act out against the rules, just like Becky, though the cage is too small for all three of them, so Becky remains outside of the cage. Lynn worries that Benny may suffer from a heatstroke so she tries to remove his shirt. However, Benny tries to prevent her from doing so, not wanting his wounds to be revealed. After a struggle between the two, Lynn manages to do so, revealing the wounds to the hostages. The hostages are shocked and Lynn is worried for Benny, believing he’s infected. Benny explains that Sherry tortured him, which angers the hostages. Becky regrets not killing Sherry when she had the chance, not caring if the Piranhas killed her afterwards, but Lucy tells her that her life has value and that she shouldn’t sacrifice her life so needlessly unless she had no option. Lynn hands Benny his shirt back, not wanting him to put it back on but understanding if he does. Benny doesn’t put it back on, though an intense sadness washes over him, prompting Lynn to reassure him that the group is there for him. The Piranhas arrive and take the hostages out of the room except for Lynn and Benny.

Sunset arrives and Sherry walks down to the room. She tells the two that the cage was never locked, though Benny doesn’t seem to care. She and Doug drag both of them out of the room and move them outside of the warehouse. They line them up along with the rest of the hostages as they await David’s group. Benny grabs Lynn’s hand, wondering if they were together in this. Lynn nods and grabs Lucy’s hand before the rest of the hostages did the same, causing amusement on Sherry’s part. Doug keeps his pistol aimed at Benny’s neck as all the hostages’ thoughts are explored. David’s group then arrives, prompting Sherry to go inside a container and grab a roamer, holding it with a grabber. The group members quickly get their weapons out and take cover, getting themselves ready for a gunfight. However, Sherry has a proposal for the group members instead if they want to get out of this situation alive: hand George and Vonda over, and kill David and Richard. However, the group members quickly reject that proposal with Lori telling Sherry that they don’t trust her. Sherry, noting that George broke his promise of not following her, tells the group that they don’t have any other option but to accept the proposal to save themselves. She then explains how it feels to be infected with a roamer bite before bringing up Lola, angering Lori— and trying to get her to do something rash. She tells the group to accept the proposal, lest she forces the roamer gripped by her grabber to bite one of the hostages. However, the group members do not budge.

Vonda steps forward and gets in between the line of fire for the two groups. She questions her mother’s actions and tells her that her group is willing to give her another chance if she lets the hostages go. Sherry knows Richard won’t be satisfied until he kills her and she herself doesn’t want to let David’s group get away with the massacre at the Hudson base. Vonda wonders why Sherry cares so much about the Piranhas. Sherry wonders the same, leading Vonda to explain that her group consists of family members and friends. She ultimately blames George for starting the conflict, which leads Vonda to bring up her father, trying to appeal to Sherry’s humanity. However, Sherry doesn’t care what Tim would think of her, and in fact, she believes he didn’t care enough about his family. She also doesn’t care what Vonda wants, since she believes the group members will do whatever they want just like Tim. In an effort to prove her mother wrong, Vonda aims her bow at Richard and forces her group to lower their weapons. To further gain her mother’s trust, she reveals Luna and Sam’s position, which is on top of a nearby building. She forces Luna and Sam to lower their weapons, preventing the group from being a threat. Sherry forces David to get Luna and Sam to join the rest of their group, causing the girls to be confused. Still, she doesn’t trust David’s group, prompting an emotional speech from Vonda, who admits that despite how much she resented her without knowing her, she still wanted her love. And despite everything Sherry has done, Vonda is willing to go with her, but only if she lets the hostages go as a way of showing her that she still loves her. Sherry, tempted by the offer, looks to Andrew, who rejects the proposal. Knowing the other Piranhas would not agree to it, and having practically lost her authority, Sherry tearfully mutters that the offer is very easy to accept before releasing the roamer and kicking it towards the hostages.

Vonda moves the bow away from Richard and fires it at the roamer. However, she manages to nick its ear, causing it to turn to a different target, who ends up being Lucy. John moves Sherry behind cover as Richard tries to shoot her, though Richard is too inaccurate from firing with his left hand. Lori aims at the roamer but is unable to shoot it as the roamer is too close to the hostages. The roamer then bites into Lucy’s neck. The Piranhas return fire at the group members, causing them to get behind cover, though David is able to take out the roamer from his cover. Vonda crouches and the hostages scramble away from the line of fire— with Lynn and Benny dragging Lucy behind an abandoned truck— as the two groups now engage in a gunfight. Sherry tries to get away with Andrew, though Vonda angrily fires an arrow at her, managing to strike her in her right arm. Vonda then runs past the abandoned truck and around the warehouse as she tries to track her mother down. John wonders why Sherry didn’t take Vonda’s offer as the Piranhas find themselves in a tough spot. Bertie then provides them cover fire, allowing Doug and John to escape, though the latter suffers a gunshot wound to the arm. He then tells Gina to go ahead as well so that she could treat Sherry’s arrow wound. He provides cover fire for Gina, allowing her to escape too. Realizing there’s only one Piranha left, David and Lori move forward and flank Bertie the way they flanked Bruna back in Albany. Bertie attempts to catch the group by surprise. However, Lori quickly guns him down. David, George, and Sergei move into the warehouse while Gina runs out of the warehouse, catching up with the rest of the Piranhas, who were in Doug’s van. Sherry is delighted to see Gina, though Vonda pops out from around the corner of the warehouse and fires an arrow into Gina’s chest, killing her. Andrew attempts to fire at Vonda, though Sherry stops him from doing so. Under Sherry’s orders, Doug drives the van away as John closes the back door, shielding everyone inside from an arrow fired by Vonda. Vonda then screams at the van as it drives away before looking down at a dying Gina, letting her suffer instead of putting her down. Andrew removes the arrow from Sherry’s arm before Sherry threatens to cut off his testicles if he attempts to kill Vonda again. Andrew smirks as Sherry regains his respect and fear from John and Doug.

David, George, and Sergei catch up to Vonda, with David killing a roamer getting too close to the girl. However, Vonda doesn’t react and simply stares at the woman she killed. George attempts to comfort her, though Vonda is upset her mother got away. He moves her away from the street and has her rejoin the group members, who are mourning the bitten Lucy. In a desperate attempt to save her, Lori calls out for Lisa. The rest of her siblings come to surround Lucy, even Luan, who despite being able to reunite with Benny, is heartbroken over Lucy’s bite. Lisa states that Lucy can’t be saved, despite Lynn’s suggestions. Lucy tells her group that it’s all right, since she doesn’t fear death. However, her siblings feel differently, including Lincoln, who believes that she was supposed to reunite with their parents so that everything could be the way it was. However, Lucy admits that she never thought things would return to normal, though she still believes it’s still worth it to live in this new world. The Loud siblings give their final words to Lucy before she asks to speak to Lori alone. Lynn bids Lucy goodbye, as she and her siblings leave Lori and Lucy alone together. Now alone, Lucy tells Lori to make sure no one ever reads her diary. She then tells Lori that it’s not her fault she got bit. She also doesn’t want her to blame the roamers too much and instead treat them with more sympathy as they were once people too. She reminds her that the real monsters are humans. Lastly, she tells Lori to not let her turn into a roamer. The two sisters bid goodbye to each other. Lucy closes her eyes and finally succumbs to the infection.

Lori lifts her pistol, aiming it at Lucy as she tries to fulfill her last wish. All the Loud siblings turn away except Lynn, who could see how much Lori was struggling to pull the trigger. Ultimately, Lori is unable to go through with it. This leads Carol to take Richard’s revolver and take over for Lori. She shoots Lucy in the head, thus preventing her from reanimating. She then consoles Lori, as the two cry together. Richard looks at his watch and realizes it is 8:52— the same time his younger sister died.

Bobby looks out his apartment, wondering why the gunfire in the distance stopped. He then notices the group’s vehicles approaching the apartment building. He and Ronnie Anne, both happy to see the group return, come out of the building to reunite with the group. However, they are quickly overcome with sorrow as they see David carry Lucy’s body. Bobby hugs a pained Lori. The group then enter the apartment building with Vonda now knowing that the group fully intends to kill Sherry once and for all.

**Part 4: Pursuit**

Four days later, Vonda and Lynn are hunting in the woods when they come across footprints. They follow the footprints.

In another part of the woods, Benny and Luan come across a roamer. Luan goes ahead and kills the roamer instead of having Benny do it for her. Benny is impressed by Luan’s courage, which leads Luan to explain that she doesn’t want to be dependent on anyone else for protection. Benny then wonders if that is why Tad wanted to learn how to use a gun, so that he could protect others. He is contemplating picking up a gun himself to protect the group. The two head back to the vehicles.

At a gas station by Route 9, the group members are camped out. David returns to the group with Luna and Sam, who were practicing with marksman weapons. He tells Lori that Luna is improving. Lori doesn’t seem all that interested though as she asks Luna if she found any signs of Sherry. Luna hasn’t and doubts she may be around at all. The group think Sherry might be at Diamond Point according to Vonda, who based this assumption on Sherry’s own words, which in itself causes some of the group members to not have much hope. Dana informs Lori about a question Becky has, which leads Lori to wonder why Becky still doesn’t want to talk to her. Dana explains that Becky blames Lori for what happened to Tad, and implies that she blames her too. Lori answers the question Becky has, though Bobby wants Becky to ask Lori herself. Bobby walks over to Becky and sticks up for Lori. Bobby then reveals that he told Tad his secret as well, but is confused as to why Tad didn’t just tell the whole group if he wanted to save lives. Becky explains that Tad would have done the same thing with her, in that he would have kept quiet if it meant she had a slim chance to reunite with her family. She then reflects on her own actions, feeling guilty over getting mad at Tad for him wanting her to forgive Carol. She realizes that everyone is truly changing, including herself. She wonders if she forgives Carol and apologizes to her, then Tad will be able to forgive her for being angry at him. Bobby agrees, leading Becky to walk over to Carol and hug her. Becky tearfully apologizes for the way she acted and asks for Carol’s forgiveness. Carol accepts Becky’s apology and forgives her.

D jokes about him and Wavehead being able to take Becky and Carol out on a double date. Wavehead states that he gives up on pursuing Carol and instead asks D if he ever thought about leaving the group. D tells him that it never crossed his mind, though Wavehead admits that he used to think about leaving, but then everything convinced him not to go as he stares at Dana, implying that he likes her and wants to stay with her.

Luan and Benny walk out of the woods and return to the group, revealing that the entire area has been looted already. David wants to shelter up since there may not be a lot of roamers in the area, but Lori wants to keep on going since they are close to Diamond Point. He stresses that it is not a race and that either Sherry is already at Diamond Point and is still there or she is long gone. George suggests the group could turn around since he could take care of the remaining Piranhas by himself. Lori refuses and wants to be there since she would never feel safe at Houlton if she is not certain Sherry is dead. She then bitterly wonders where Lynn and Vonda are. The group members have no clue where they went, though Luna believes she spots them. However, the figure she looks at is revealed to be too tall to be either girl. The group members take out their weapons, causing the figure to retreat into the woods, prompting David and George to give chase. This figure is revealed to be John, who tries to shoot at the two men to make them back off. The two men take cover as John radios in the Piranhas, telling them to get the van ready for him. This angers Andrew, who asks John where he is. A frightful John hears a branch crack, causing him to fire at a nearby tree, giving off his location to David and George. John makes it to a road and tells Andrew to meet him at the nearby CVS. John is then shot by arrows fired by both Lynn and Vonda. Andrew gives John a time limit over the walkie-talkie, which Lynn and Vonda overhear. They let John suffer as he chokes on his blood, causing Vonda to feel remorse as she is reminded of what she did to Gina. David and George come out of the woods, and Vonda informs them that she knows where the rest of the Piranhas are at. As the four survivors run back to their vehicles, roamers come out of the woods and rip John apart. Lynn initially feels happy seeing John get killed by the roamers before feeling guilt and sorrow as she was reminded of what happened to Francisco’s body. When the four survivors return to the group, David tells the group members to get into the vehicles.

The remaining Piranhas await in the van as Andrew angrily expresses that his brother cannot do anything right. He raises his voice at Sherry, causing her to threaten him. He submits to her once again before Sherry reassures him and Doug. The moment of calm is short-lived, however, when the vehicles of the main group arrive, prompting Doug to drive the van away. With the vehicles in pursuit, Doug swerves around a couple roamers blocking the road, though the RV drives past them without slowing down. Unfortunately, the RV is too slow to catch up to the van, prompting Sergei to race ahead after the van. Andrew opens up one of the rear doors and fires at Sergei’s car, causing him to steer the car off the road. The car slows down before crashing into a tree, though Sergei and Carol aren’t injured. Sergei gets out of the car and aims his assault rifle at Doug’s van, managing to strike one of its wheels. The van crashes into a tree, killing Doug and injuring Sherry and Andrew. The vehicles come to a stop as they approach the crashed van and they see Doug’s mangled state. David and George surround the van and inspect it, though Sherry and Andrew are gone. George finds a trail of blood that leads him and David to go into the woods. Some of the group members go after them, including Lori, Richard, and Vonda. The rest stay at Vanzilla, except D, who remains inside the RV.

Now in the woods, David, George, Lori, and Richard come across a couple roamers. They quickly take care of them, though the group members that followed them struggle to kill the roamers that were attacking them. David, Lori, and Richard backtrack to help the rest of the group fight the roamers off, noting that the herd they saw the last time they were near Lake George must have left remnants. In the meantime, George follows the Piranhas’ trail, but is distracted by the gunshots that his group were creating. He tells them to stop firing, which they do, though his distraction is taken advantage of by Andrew, who smacks him with his empty submachine gun. Sherry also takes advantage of the chaos and grabs Lori, dragging her away from the group. The group decide to head back to the vehicles to avoid the roamers, though they move in the wrong direction. Lori and George try to fight off their attackers, with the latter nearly attacked by a roamer before he uses it on Andrew. The roamer brutally mauls Andrew as some of the group members watch, now having met up with George. Vonda gets queasy at the sight and tries her best to look away as the group moves away. Meanwhile, Sherry and Lori continue fighting, with the former wishing she could’ve just killed them all back at the bridge. She beats Lori and badly wounds her before tossing a nearby roamer at her. She then runs off into the lake to meet up with Andrew, though she quickly realizes the group has spotted her. In a futile attempt to escape, Sherry is shot in the leg by George. She tries to reach for her gun, though George steps on her arms and holds her at gunpoint while the rest of the group surrounds her. Richard prepares to shoot her, though George tells him to wait to give Vonda a chance to talk to her mother. Vonda asks Sherry if anything she told her was a lie, which Sherry denies. She then asks if she truly loved her, which Sherry answers by telling her that she does while desperately trying to ask for another chance. She rejects the idea of Sherry being her mother and turns towards George, subtly giving him permission to kill Sherry. George shoots Sherry in the head— an act that Richard feels betrayed by as he wanted to be the one to kill her. Lori, out of the woods with a wounded face, asks if it’s finally over. David tells her it is as the group members reflect on the losses they faced. The group members then head back into the woods to return to the vehicles as George walks with Vonda, who feels a mixture of emotions with sorrow dominating them.

Picking up where the flash-forward intro scene— now revealed to be two years after the present— left off at, Lori makes it across the river. She finds a set of clothes, identical to the ones Sherry wore. However, she seems to be more concerned about something else and she walks away while thinking about her late sisters— revealing that there is someone else included after Lola and Lucy.

## Deaths

* Missy Bolts
* Lucy Loud
* Bertie
* Gina
* John *(Alive)*
* Doug
* Andrew
* Sherry Crowley

## Trivia

* Last appearance of Missy Bolts.
* Last appearance of Lucy Loud. *(Alive)*
* Last appearance of Bertie.
* Last appearance of Gina.
* Last appearance of John. *(Alive)*
* Last appearance of Doug.
* Last appearance of Andrew.
* Last appearance of Sherry Crowley. *(Alive)*
* The end credits song is *Mt. Washington* by Local Natives.
* The title of the chapter, **"The Race"**, refers to the race to get the hostages back after Sherry's double-cross.
	+ It also refers to the manhunt for Sherry, where David states, "Lori... this isn't a *race*. If Sherry's going to Diamond Point, then she's already there."
* The title of Part 1, **"Interrogation Room"**, refers to the attic where Sherry is being interrogated.
* The title of Part 2, **"Loose Ends"**, refers to Sherry and George, both who still want to kill each other despite the promise they made to each other.
* The title of Part 3, **"Eight Fifty-Two"**, refers to Lucy's time of death.
	+ It also refers to the time Richard's sister died at the hospital many years ago.
* The title of Part 4, **"Pursuit"**, refers to the manhunt for Sherry.
	+ It also refers to the physical pursuit of Sherry's van.
* The flash-forward scenes in the intro and ending take place during the group's mission to find quinine to treat the malaria epidemic in "Dust Zone", which takes place exactly two years after the final part of this chapter.