Before it Gets Better

Randall’s morals are tested when he ends up in a life threatening situation. William dwells on past mistakes. Edward and Solomon encounter trouble on the road.

You can read the transcript here.

## **Synopsis**

The episode begins in a flashback, where Randall Forster is being beaten up by fellow officer, James Graves, in an alleyway. After the beating, James warns Randall to stay out of any big cases and leave them to him. He calls him a snake, before storming off.

Two days earlier, Randall enters the breakroom inside the Willamette police station as usual and is greeted by Scotty Boyle. Scotty says that Nicholas Burnett is being transferred to their precinct as the new Chief Inspector, and that Clayton Freeman was likely to be promoted to sergeant, which Randall hopes for. As Randall is going to leave, Scotty makes a throwaway comment about how he doesn't need to work hard when compared to Randall. Randall says that he has the same training as everybody else, before he walks out.

Later in the day, Randall and the precinct are welcoming Chief Inspector Burnett. James makes a joke about Randall, which even makes the Chief laugh, upsetting Randall. Afterwards, Nicholas asks to speak to Randall in his office.

In his office, Nicholas remarks in amazement about the amount of arrests Randall's partner Clayton has made this year, and that he's going to be promoting him to Sergeant. Randall is happy for his partner, but his happiness quickly vanishes when he learns Nicholas will be assigning Clayton a more experienced partner, commenting on the fact that Randall needs to step up and do more. An irritated Randall gets up, calling the new Chief a prick as he walks out.

Later that day, Randall is patrolling the streets of Willamette, noticing a rally in the town square being led by Leslie Staunton. As he goes to leave the square, he bumps into Melody Neal, an elderly lady he knows. Randall learns from Melody that there's been a drug problem going around the community, and even children are being affected by it. Randall finds that odd, as usually the department catches onto things like that quickly.

Later on, Randall is sitting with Clayton in their police cruiser. He apologizes for not being at Clayton's promotion party, but Clayton says it's fine, telling his partner that it doesn't matter what anybody says--he'll still always believe in him. Clayton says that he's already talked to the Chief about keeping Randall as his partner, mentioning that it wouldn't be the same if they weren't partners. Randall nods, thanking him and wishing him luck as the new Sergeant.

That night, Randall is working late at the department, going through files. Nicholas finds him working, and is surprised. He goes through some keys of his, subtly bragging about his new Mercedes, before he finds the key to the building and tosses it to Randall. As Nicholas leaves, Randall finds out through looking at the case files that James Graves is the lead investigator of the drug problem in Willamette.

The next morning, Scotty greets Randall as usual in the breakroom, and as Randall is leaving, he bumps into James, who, as he usually does, jokes and makes fun of Randall. Randall smiles, not being at all affected by the jokes, and walks out.

That day, Randall is meeting Melody at her house, where he learns some more information about the drug problem. She mentions how there was a kid who got stabbed behind the school after witnessing a drug deal. Randall says he's going to look into it.

Hours later, the entire precinct is watching the news as it's reported that a corrupt police officer named Samuel Vaughn was shot and arrested by Randall Forster while Vaughn was holding a kid hostage. The Chief is congratulating Randall for his valiant efforts, but Randall stops him, saying that the "case isn't over yet." He says that Vaughn wasn't the only culprit, and that there are more dirty cops in this very room. Randall knows that they were all friends with Vaughn, and their cheering and clapping is all just a façade.

That night, Randall confronts James in the parking lot, telling him that he knows he was working with Vaughn and covering up the case. James proceeds to headbutt Randall, before dragging him into a nearby alley and beating him up.

In the present, Randall is driving with Marcus Downes into Garden City. It's been three days since the death of Jared Kellings, and the two men comment on how different it's been ever since William Reynes hanged him.

At the motel, Rebecca Dawson finds William sitting quietly in his room. She tells him that the group needs him. William shakes his head, still angered with himself for buying into Jared's lies, and how foolish he was to do so. He says that he should have been listening to Daniel Rockwell and Lolida Windfield the entire time. Rebecca says it's not his fault, and that Daniel and Lolida were just going off on a hunch. William begins to nod, deciding that he needed to go and speak with Daniel and Lolida.

William goes to see Daniel and Lolida, starting off by offering an apology and telling them that they were right. Daniel questions what William is going to do moving forward, and he responds by saying he won't let what happened with Jared ever happen again. He needs people he can count on to help him--and he asks Daniel and Lolida to be two of those people. Daniel says that his apology is accepted, and shakes his hand.

In the woods outside the motel, Dean Howards wanders aimlessly, stumbling across the zombies he'd killed days earlier. He kneels down next to them, trying to imagine who they were before they died--but can't do it. Austin Kingston comes trudging through the woods when he sees Dean hunched over, muttering to himself. When Dean realizes he's been spotted, he gets up, trying to make an excuse that he was just enjoying the scenery. Austin knows there's something else on Dean's minds, evident by the corpses on the ground. Dean asks the man about whether he thinks they'll find a safe community, and Austin isn't sure. Austin then notices a whiskey bottle on the ground, and deduces that Dean was back to drinking. He reminds Dean about what he was like as a drunk, and how Dean shouldn't go down the same path he did. He steps closer, telling Dean that whatever he's going through, he's going to get past it. Dean remarks about how Austin is sounding a bit like Kate. After the two chuckle at a joke Dean makes, they head back to the motel.

Edward Remar and Solomon Reed are on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, their car having finally broken down. Solomon knows the chance of them fixing the car is unlikely, so they begin walking down the road. While walking, Edward looks around, telling Solomon how the whole world was out for taking--and he was gonna take it over. He says that the only thing Badrick did right when he was trying to take over, was putting fear into not just his enemies, but his own people.

Randall and Marcus arrive at the Garden City Police Department. After Marcus checks and finds the front door to be locked, Randall smashes open an already cracked window, and the two of them climb in. Immediately, the two of them are greeted by the sight of butchered and posed corpses in the lobby. It's obvious somebody set the corpses up this way, but they try not to think about it and quickly move into the rest of the building hoping to find some ammo and get out.

They continue through the police department, soon entering the breakroom, where Randall hears the usual voice of Scotty greeting him in his head. Randall decides to leave Marcus to search in here, while he goes to scavenge a room down the hall--the captain's office. Inside, he sees a photo of the entire Garden City police force, most of whom are now corpses sitting down in the lobby. He hears the words of his old Chief Burnett in his head, before he turns and exits, bumping into Marcus. After confirming that the two rooms were clear, they begin heading upstairs. Randall suddenly stops in his tracks, thinking he heard another pair of footsteps. He glances behind at Marcus, and before he can turn back, Adrian Mason lurches out and slashes through the skin on Randall's neck with a knife. Randall tumbles backwards down the stairs and passes out. Marcus reaches for his revolver, but Adrian hurries down the steps and tackles him, knocking him out cold.

Marcus wakes up tied to a chair in a dark room. Looking ahead, Marcus sees Adrian Mason stepping out of the darkness. He tries to ask him who he is, but Adrian says the question is irrelevant, and he then begins going on about how Marcus and Randall did something to him. Marcus continuously denies knowing what Adrian is talking about, which only makes the crazed man more upset. Listening to Adrian rambles out loud, Marcus deduces that he was a police officer, and that the corpses downstairs were his friends. It's then revealed that Adrian thinks it was Marcus and Randall who killed all the police officers in the lobby. He wants Marcus to just admit it, but Marcus won't. Adrian then begins hitting Marcus with a lead pipe over and over, breaking some of his ribs, his nose, and other bones in his body. Eventually, after Marcus is beaten so badly he can hardly move, Adrian drops the pipe, and the room goes silent.

At the motel, William meets with Jon Matthews, apologizing for having to bring Jon into the mess with Jared. Jon happily says that he would tie the noose around Jared's neck and hang him again if he could, and says there's no need for an apology. He continues on by saying that Jared's hanging needed to be done as an example of what happens when you do the things he did. Jon concludes by telling William that he has his respect for stepping up and doing the necessary things. William lets his words sink in for a moment, before he thanks Jon, and offers him a handshake, asking for his help in keeping everyone safe. Jon shakes his hand.

Upon returning to the motel, Dean goes to see Kate Bloodstone at her motel room. When Kate lets him in, Dean begins to apologize for how negative he's been lately, and how he wants to start helping out the group now. Kate smiles, happy to see Dean finally changing for the better. Dean asks her how she's been doing lately, and Kate says she's okay, and tells Dean that moving forward, she wants to help people--just like Albert Hanson had done by convincing the group to save Brenden Trevors. Dean thinks for a moment, before telling her that he wants to help her do that.

Randall's eyes flicker open, and he immediately grabs at his throat, seeing that his wound had dried up into a scab. He quickly gets to his feet and heads upstairs, finding Marcus unconscious in one of the rooms. While he's kneeling down checking on him, Adrian suddenly comes up behind him, driving a shank into his side, and then another into his shoulder. While Adrian tries to slice open Randall's stomach, Randall fights back, tearing a chunk out of Adrian's arm. Adrian delivers a final kick into Randall, knocking him to the floor. He tells Randall to say sorry for what he's done, but Randall doesn't know what he did. An irritated Adrian leaves the room likely to treat his arm, saying that he'd be back.

Jumping back to the flashback, Randall is sitting in the alleyway beaten and bruised, and feeling defeated. He then notices Clayton hurrying over to him, who helps Randall to his feet and brings him over to his police cruiser. While walking, Clayton reminds Randall that it doesn't matter what anyone else says, he's one of the best cops of the force.

Back in the present, Randall clambers to his feet, pulling the knife that Adrian had stabbed him with out of his side. He looks down at the unconscious Marcus and says he'll make this right. Randall leaves the room, and while stumbling down the stairs, he finds and takes Marcus' revolver. He continues making his way down the stairs and through the halls until he makes it back into the lobby reception area. There, he sees Adrian huddled around one of the corpses, muttering apologies to them. Randall makes his presence known, which sends Adrian into a panic, but he manages to calm him down. Randall now knows what it is Adrian thinks they did--but Randall says it wasn't them who killed his friends. To try and make him more comfortable, Randall says he was a police officer as well, which actually puts a smile on Adrian's face, if only for a moment. As Randall approaches, he tells Adrian that he knows what it's like to lose friends as well. He says that over time, he was able to forgive his best friend's killer, and how instead of mourning his friend, he's honouring him. Adrian looks down, questioning himself on why he gave up. When he looks up, Adrian says that he can help patch them up and let them go on their way. However, as he's reaching out to take Randall's hand, he suddenly freaks out, slamming his fist into a table and muttering that he doesn't want to hurt anyone. Randall realizes that there's no possible way he can trust this man, and so he subtly reaches for Marcus' revolver, while offering another hand to Adrian and saying that he forgives him. When Adrian is close enough, Randall says he's sorry and shoots him in the head with his gun. Adrian's corpse slumps down, and Randall picks up a pack of cigarettes with a note attached to it that Adrian had in his hand.

After doing what he could to patch himself up and scavenging for a few boxes of ammo, Randall carries the still unconscious Marcus into their car, before he himself gets in and he drives off.

In the last scene of the flashback, Scotty greets Randall in the breakroom as usual, but this time Randall tells him to shut up, before he heads into the main room, where James comes marching over to him. James looks at the beaten state of Randall, laughing about it and reminding Randall that he's no real cop. Randall tells James that he'd rather do what matters most to him, even if that's as simple as helping old ladies cross the street. He mocks James for having no real friends, before walking out the department to start his shift. As he's leaving the parking lot, Randall backs into Chief Burnett's Mercedes, damaging it, before he speeds off.

Edward and Solomon have been walking down the deserted road for over an hour before they finally come across a farm. As they enter the property, the two of them decide it's best they split up to search the farmhouse and the barn. Solomon heads inside the barn, where he lays eyes of a couple dozen zombies roaming around inside. Solomon remains on the upper level of the barn, avoiding all of them below, however, while searching for supplies, the wood floor beneath him cracks, and he falls through, smacking his head off of a wood beam. Barely conscious, Solomon manages to get to his feet and smash open a window, crawling out. He blocks the window with a hay bale, before he passes out.

Meanwhile, Edward is looking through the farmhouse, managing to find a double barrel shotgun in the lap of a woman who'd shot herself. He swipes the gun from her corpse, before heading outside and calling for Solomon, getting no response. More angered than concerned, Edward climbs the ladder up to the second story of the deck, looking down at the same horde Solomon had seen, and seeing the hole he'd fallen through. Having no choice but to head down to try and save his friend, Edward abandons his cane, grabbing a pitchfork instead to use as a weapon. He carefully drops down and begins killing the zombies one after another, but he quickly realizes he's bitten off more than he can chew. He fights through the horde and opens the two main doors, allowing the rest of the horde to follow him outside. He continues using the pitchfork to take out the zombies, but he eventually is forced to toss it aside, and he uses his knife to take out the remainder of the horde. After all is said and done, Edward lays on the ground covered in blood. Kurt Klein, Molly Massey and Landon Kimber are seen approaching Edward. When Kurt looks down at Edward and the state he's in, he says, "You are a real little psychopath, aintcha pal?"

## **Cast**

#### **Starring**

* William Reynes
* Kate Bloodstone
* Randall Forster
* Jon Matthews
* Marcus Downes
* Rebecca Dawson
* Dean Howards
* Austin Kingston
* Edward Remar

#### **Also Starring**

* Daniel Rockwell
* Solomon Reed
* Lolida Windfield
* Kurt Klein

#### **Guest Starring**

* Landon Kimber
* Molly Massey
* Adrian Mason
* Clayton Freeman *(Flashback)*
* Leslie Staunton *(Flashback)*

#### **Co-Starring**

* James Graves *(Flashback)*
* Scotty Boyle *(Flashback)*
* Melody Neal *(Flashback)*
* Nicholas Burnett *(Flashback)*