Althea Luangrath

Silhouette as of Life After: The Void

> *"I can’t change your mind, so let this suffice: you’re killing yourself. And if you died today, we’d say we saw it coming. We’d remember you as a bitter, angry, vengeful cautionary tale. I know you don’t believe in a higher power, which means the only thing left of you will be your legacy, so you’d better think real hard about it…"*
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> - Althea Luangrath, cautioning Jeff Grey on his path in ***Life After: The Void***
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**Althea Celine "Ally" Luangrath** is a minor character in the ***Life After: The Void***.

A graduate student in psychology, Althea finds her way to the Lima mall, where she is ultimately discovered by John Anderson. She quickly agrees to join him and his band of survivors, acclimating to the group throughout the events of ***Life After: The Void***.

## Appearance and Character

Althea is lean with remarkably pale, creamy skin, shoulder length white-blonde hair, and sharp blue eyes. Jeff Grey opines that her countenance reminds him of a German spy in a particular WWII movie, but he can't recall which.

If nothing else, Althea possesses a penetrating intellect, capable of insights far surpassing anyone in the rest of the group, yet her greatest weakness lies in a myopic view that the apocalypse will be short-lived. Her interactions with Jeff put this dichotomy on full display; despite her keen intuition about Jeff's reckoning as the situation plaguing him becomes more grim by the day, she wholeheartedly believes that life will return to normal, cherishing the notion that she'll finish her psychology degree and start a practice.

While Althea's assessments of the individuals in the group emerge as more or less unimpeachable, and Jeff categorizes her as the easiest person to talk to in the group, her tone and style can become condescending to a point where she fails to cultivate relationships; her conclusions, while apt, come from a place lacking openness, sincerity, and relatability, leaving her acquaintances feeling "handled", as though they were patients rather than friends. Whether or not Althea feels this way, or realizes what she's doing, is unknown. The group at large, particularly Jeff, could be faulted for failing to get to know her personally, but Althea is perhaps the most guarded person present, often cloistering herself in one of Thomas Massey high school's most secluded classrooms.

## History

Born between August 22nd and September 22nd in 1977 to psychologists Amanda and Thomas, Althea was raised in Villanova, Pennsylvania as an only child. She excelled in high school, college, and graduate school before the apocalypse sullied her future plans. In the early stages of the crisis, she made her way to the Lima mall hoping to find a safe haven, only to find the grounds abandoned, save for a cache of MREs; it is assumed that she made it to the mall sometime after Jeff and his group left, because she is easily discovered in a return journey later in the fall of 2004.

## Recent Events

### *Life After: The Void*

Following the events of ***Life After: The Arising***, Jeff, Anderson and Rich McKnight welcome Althea as the newest arrival to a group that includes Karen DeMarco, Melody Landon, Jake Klimavicius, Colin Mursak, Elena Mursak, Robert Proctor, and Helen Cleary. Soon after her arrival, she begins analyzing the group's behavior, starting with Melody's flaunting and Mursak's slut-shaming, then Anderson ostensibly pairing with Helen as a toxic combination of hero syndrome and parataxic distortion, and finally attempting to ease the burden of explaining to Elena that her parents are dead.

Having spent several weeks cooped up in TMHS, Jeff proposes that he, Mursak, and Anderson travel to their former domiciles to collect computers and personal effects while scouting the surrounding region over the strong objections of Helen and Rich. The plan to depart is solidified when Rich yields to his reservations, making their travel arrangements for the following day. The journey is ultimately successful as all three return safely. After unpacking his wares and putting down a brief incursion on the front lawn, Jeff meets with Althea, who is in the midst of editing her graduate thesis in the school's most secluded computer lab. Jeff engages her in a conversation about his recent temperament, but Althea, who insists on being called Ally, quickly divines that his aggravation is a manifestation of survivor's guilt following the deaths of his girlfriend Julia Marino and brother David Grey.

The next morning, the group watches a news broadcast describing the use of a nuclear weapon in continental Europe and going on to detail ongoing rescue efforts by the military, militias, and paramilitary groups within the United States. Anderson and Rich quickly agree that they should advertise their presence for a rescue, but Jeff's impassioned rebuttal leads to the group agreeing to a tribunal where Rich will argue to leave, Jeff will argue to stay, Anderson will serve as a mediator, and the rest of the group will cast their vote for either Jeff or Rich's initiative. Though Althea, Karen, and Helen side with Rich, Jeff's argument carries the day.

The next day, a young woman with an infant is been spotted in front of the school. Jeff and Anderson debate over what they should do before deciding to invite Tracy and Jimmy Dantis to spend the night. Karen takes Jimmy as Jeff privately speaks with Tracy, who ends up committing suicide in one of the bathrooms; having disagreed with the notion that Jeff should welcome new arrivals previously, Althea is furious with Jeff, intimating that Tracy would not have killed herself if she'd spoken with her first. Thereafter, Jeff tries to avoid Althea. Later, Althea and Karen talk over what to do about integrating Jimmy into the group, with the former ultimately affixing a note to Jeff's bedroom door indicating she'd like to speak with him.

Having discovered the note the next morning, Jeff joins Ally in the computer lab, where she cautions him on the steps the group will need to take in order to successfully integrate Jimmy in a manner that will best support his mental health after the loss of a parent. Detecting that Jeff isn't truly engaged in the conversation, Althea makes dinner plans with him; unbeknownst to Jeff, she's set up an intervention for him.

With Althea taking the lead, nearly everyone in the group amasses with the intent of extracting Jeff's admission that he's not dealing with his grief and that his belligerence is only worsening; true to form, Jeff steadily becomes furious and begins to insult the group members individually, accusing Althea of living in a fantasy that she'll complete her degree and practice therapy professionally before he storms off.

The next morning, Christmas Eve, begins with the sound of helicopters overhead, heralding a military-backed scientific expedition to the cemetery. Once Anderson recognizes one of the scouts as an acquaintance from the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, he meets the soldier outside in secret, keeping the conversation private before conveying to the group that they are to remain inside and avoid interfering with the soldiers. After dark, the helicopters depart without incident, but later in the night Helen announces that a vehicle is approaching the school from the street. The group is quickly armed to defend themselves, and though Althea clearly wants to resolve the conflict verbally and avoid using a gun, Anderson tells her they've already been fired upon. This sets up a brutal firefight in which several of the intruders are killed, Anderson is rendered unconscious, and both Melody and Helen are abducted. Jeff immediately conscripts Rich and Mursak for a rescue effort. Fortunately, the quintet return apparently unharmed, at which point Jeff asks Rich to tell Ally what happened before going to sleep.

The following day is Christmas, and the group celebrates with a large, elegant breakfast, during which Rob is introduced as having completed his rehabilitation, though Jeff is unreceptive to his apologies. The group exchanges gifts, and with his best friend still unconscious, Jeff opens Anderson's present to find a framed picture of his family, something that causes Jeff to break down into tears. The entire group embraces him as he cries. Following the meal, the group takes stock of their supplies and Althea begins therapy sessions, starting with Rich, Mursak, and Helen before she gets to Jeff, who is singularly dismissive of her bald-faced attempt to psychoanalyze him. Later in the afternoon, Jeff and Melody reconnect in his room, where she tells him of Althea's concern that she shouldn't sleep in the same bed as Jeff. Shortly thereafter, Althea takes a meal with Rich and Melody, further cautioning them on the long-term effects of their collective trauma. When Jeff joins, the three of them gang up on Althea, jointly agreeing that she needs to back off. When Melody storms off, Althea follows, vaguely indicating that Melody is failing to cope with the situation. Later in the evening, Jeff gives the group his Christmas present; he's trained the observatory telescope on Uranus as a broad contextualization of their problems. The gesture moves Ally and Jake to tears.

The next day, the group watches a news broadcast where it is stated that wounds on the extremities, such as those suffered by Julia, may not be as fatal as initially thought. Jeff has another breakdown, recovering when he considers that there's nothing he can do in hindsight. A further concern is raised when it becomes unclear whether the government might begin using nuclear weapons on American cities. Jeff clarifies the consequences of that action by showing the group ***The Day After***. The following day, Jeff joins Althea in the computer lab and finally asks her about her thesis; at length, she elaborates on her observation that the apparent inclusivity of the global village is a smokescreen by which people will share their personal lives without perceiving the risks to their privacy, preferring cheap affirmations to substantive emotional connections. As their conversation draws to a close, Althea proffers her entry into Jake's dirge project, selecting *French Mistake* by Denali.

Three days later, Jeff leads a group of Anderson, Melody, Karen, and Jake to DCCC for a reconnoiter. While the quintet returns safely to TMHS, the journey effectively reveals that Karen is sick. After assuring her that the group will do what they can on New Year's Eve, the group watches a celebratory holiday broadcast in a secured Times Square, and at the stroke of midnight, Melody favors Jeff with a passionate kiss. On New Year's Day, the group indulges in another extravagant breakfast as they recount their resolutions. What would appear to be a minor siege from the undead turns serious when a few surviving runners attack, but the group maintains their composure and dispatches them.

Once the corpses are deposited in the pool, Rich reveals that Karen has suggested some antiviral medications to combat her sickness. Anderson details a complex and infeasible plan to locate looters and trade supplies for the necessary drugs before Mursak reveals that he successfully acquired the medication at the Temple University Ambler health center. The proceeding day begins with Rich trying to coax some sort of plan regarding their forthcoming attempt to rescue Jeff's acquaintances from State College, with Rob suggesting that they call the effort Operation Prometheus. Jeff and Rich spend the rest of the day planning for Operation Prometheus with Anderson, who is to remain behind; they amass supplies, plan routes, and accord a generous supply of automatic weapons and ammunition for the voyage north. After conferring with Alan the next day, it is ultimately decided that Jeff, Rich, Mel, and Althea will make the trip, leaving Anderson, Karen, Mursak, Jake, Rob, Elena, and Jimmy behind.

At daybreak, Operation Prometheus officially gets underway; Jeff takes the lead with Mel in the Humvee while Rich follows behind with Althea on the bus, the first leg of their journey being a trek up I-476. Along the way, Jeff stops upon seeing a stark warning spray-painted on northbound side of a highway overpass; deeply disturbed by the implications of the message, Jeff insists that he advance in the Humvee alone and that Mel join the others in the school bus behind him. Jeff's suspicions prove prescient when they arrive at the Lehigh Tunnel, which is apparently controlled by a small-scale but highly organized gang. After a fraught negotiation with the snowsuit-clad leader results in their safe passage, the group successfully reaches the halfway point of their journey, where they are supposed to meet Alan, but Jeff hasn't been able to get in touch with him all day. They remain as long as they can before continuing on I-80 toward State College, hoping that they've merely outpaced Alan. Shortly thereafter, Jeff identifies his friends over the radio.

After negotiating a long bridge, Jeff finally reconnects with Alan and Jack, formally meeting their party; Nick Wilborn, the pale and heavyset loner who previously murdered another member of their group, Heather Chapman, who is pretty and outgoing with a subtle attraction to Alan, Lada Dragomirov, a sturdy Russian expatriate, Andy Kremens, a vaguely distrustful and soft-featured nerd, Levi Hazen, a fit and stone-faced black introvert, and Nancy Candler-Hollowell, a traumatized old-money outcast. Once everyone has been introduced, they begin loading their gear on the bus and preparing for the return journey.

The trip back is immediately complicated by a buildup of the undead at the far end of the bridge; Rich's constant warnings don't dissuade Jeff from impetuously plowing through the parade of zombies until he plunges the Humvee into a ravine between the highway lanes. Jeff and Mel escape with minor injuries, struggling to rejoin the rest of the group as Alan aggressively attacks the oncoming horde from the windows of the bus. Alan's hostility gets the better of him and he's pulled from the window, dropping forty feet into the ravine. When Jeff finds Alan unconscious and severely injured, Heather rushes down from the bus to help as the undead descend upon them, and the resulting skirmish results in Heather getting bitten. Jeff, Mel, and Heather manage to drag Alan up to the highway, where Nick takes it upon himself to execute the moribund Heather. Jeff flies into a blind rage and punches Nick into submission before his friends pull him away and usher him onto the bus, loading Alan on a backboard to escape the horde.

After Jack tries and fails to talk through his grief over Alan, Rich sternly indicates that this outcome was one of the risks of their journey, setting Jeff off once again; this time, Jeff mercilessly tears Rich down. Depressed and drained, Jeff takes a nap. He's awoken again at the Lehigh Tunnel, where it seems a new gang has taken control. Another tense deliberation ensues, but Jeff manages to ensure their safe passage, catching sight of the snowsuit-wearing leader of the previous group being executed as they emerge from the other side of the tunnel. Althea promptly engages with Jeff, analyzing his reaction to their recent circumstances and concluding that Jeff isn't grieving, he's vengeful. Jeff dismisses her, and moments later, they realize that Alan has died from his injuries.

The rest of the journey is uneventful until they get close to TMHS and start receiving distressed radio signals from Anderson. Jeff does the best he can to prepare Jack's group for the worst before they arrive at their destination, finding a massive throng of undead sieging the school. As they exit the bus, Rich drives off into the horde. The initial offensive goes quite well, resulting in a linkup with Anderson, who explains his assault strategy. The unified group continues to make progress against hundreds of attacking zombies until a series of compounding setbacks results in a faltering defensive line, compelling Jeff toward a bold series of maneuvers that drags him further and further from the rest of the group. The ensuing combat gets close and tense as Jeff tries to fight his way back, and he nearly manages to get clear before his hand gets bitten. Rob yanks the katana from Jeff's belt and hacks off the affected appendage just before he's dragged inside.

A brief lull in the siege the following day allows the group an opportunity to withdraw; though the undead continue to build up around the TMHS perimeter and walls, Anderson assesses that their numbers are insufficient to threaten a breach. With Jeff unconscious, and Karen expressing doubts as to his survival, she and Anderson ultimately decide to give Jeff's possible recovery as much leeway as possible. Later, Nick and Andy suggest that killing Jeff is the smartest move. Suspecting that Nick might attempt to kill Jeff in secret, Anderson delegates the defense of TMHS to Mursak and Jake, choosing instead to stake out Jeff's convalescence. Sure enough, Anderson catches Nick's attempt on Jeff's life and shoots him before he can carry it out.

Two days later, a lucid Jeff is awakened by Anderson and Karen, who confirm his amputation and assure him that the worst of his troubles are over. However, the siege on the front lawn continues and Rich has yet to return. Anderson returns to the fray with Jake, Mursak, Althea, and Andy, directing the group's attempts to halt or slow the onslaught of undead. Seemingly low on definitive strategy, Anderson drives a truck into the horde, laying on the horn and rolling out of the vehicle as it continues down the street. Anderson throws a Molotov when the situation becomes more chaotic, and before long, he pops smoke, effectively admitting that fighting the horde in the street is futile, and that their last chance at survival means relying on the high school's largely untested defenses.