Ryker and Scott get conscripted (Story Arc)

### Side Effects

Lena as well as other characters are introduced in the story, bigger expansion of Lawrence's character and morality as well as Scott and Ryker

### Contenders

Scott Green, Ryker Wendell, Lawrence Hardgrove

## Chain of Events

Ryker and Scott get taken by Lawrence to Los Angeles over a multiple hour drive forcibly.

### Motel Scene

While driving to Los Angeles they stop at an abandoned Motel to spend the night. Lawrence falls alseep rather easily on the bed before Ryker and Scott.

Ryker points out that since Lawrence is sleeping they should sneak out and leave him there, Scott denies it saying that if they snuck out Dale would be dead before sunrise.

### Pulling into Los Angeles

Scott, Ryker, and Lawrence are immediately greeted by people arguing over the contents of a store with each of them holding various goods.

Lawrence pulls the car over on the side of the road and turns around to face both of them. He informs them that they're gonna raid stores for water, food, clothes, etc. and drop them off inside large trucks where that will be parker in a few minutes where they currently are, and to meet at him here at 6:30 PM tonight where he'll give them each a key to a house for them to share in the suburbs of Los Angeles for their time there. Lawrence hands both of them shiny silver watches that both read 12:32 PM. Ryker and Scott reluctantly leave the car and get to work.

### Looting

Ryker and Scott walk inside of a gas station. Ryker begins to rip apart a case of watter bottles and places them inside a duffel bag. Scott walks around a corner and finds a shelve full of medical items and pills. Scott notices a box of sleeping pills, and a box of energy pills, he pockets both of them, and then begins to pack pain killers and bandages into his duffel bag.

Ryker asks if there's anything specific that they should grab. Scott suggests that they get canned foods, probably peanut butter if there is any, hell why not ice cream. Ryker agrees and sticks his arm out and walks forward with his duffel bag in his other hand causing the canned foods and peanut butter to fall into the bag. Scott notices a can of fluid that you use on pans for pancakes and sprays it on the ground, and then yells for Ryker is a panicked voice to come to him.

Ryker runs around the shelve to Scott and slips on the liquid and groans, saying he thinks he broke his ass because he fell on his collar bone. Scott laughs and gives Ryker a hand and pulls him up. Ryker looks at the watch that Lawrence gave to him, notices that it's cracked and sighs, then shrugs it off.

Eventually after a few hours of looting in a shopping area, Scott and Ryker carry two duffel bags full of food and various objects to the spot where Lawrence told them to meet up and notice too large trucks with the word "Sacramento" was spray painted on it. They greet two men there who take their duffel bags, empty them out and then hand them back the bags.

They see Lawrence there who nods at them as they walk away. As Scott and Ryker are walking away to a department store, Lawrence notices two people stealing a few canned foods. Lawrence begins to yell at them, but then stares at them as they give him a desperate look. Lawrence sighs, and tells the two men there to give them a case of water as well. The two men resist in confusion but Lawrence demands it saying they're just trying to feed themselves and they did nothing wrong, they're innocent.

Scott and Ryker look confused, but then Lawrence tells them to get back to work so Lawrence and Scott walk to a department store down the street.

### Later on that Night

Around sunset after hours of doing manual hard labor, Lawrence gives Scott and Ryker a key, then drives them to a house in the suburbs. Ryker and Scott walk to the front step of the house and go inside, Ryker notices Lawrence is watching them going inside. Ryker and Lawrence have a prolonged stare at each other with eye contact, but Ryker breaks it and heads into the house.

After Ryker falls asleep on the couch, Scott wakes him up and tells him he found a box of photos of the family that used to live in the house they're at. Ryker groans and tries to go back to sleep, but Scott ignores him and turns the lights on to look at the photo's to Ryker's annoyance.

Scott goes through the photos, set in a sort of slideshow manner. He sees two people hugging, then one proposing, then a marriage, then one of them holding a baby. As the photos go on, the girl grows older and older, a new photo of her every month up until she was 6, and then it stopped. Scott begins to talk about how each of those people had a whole world, a whole universe going on in their head every day. A world he'd never experience, or anyone else would experience. And now that universe is gone. Poof.

Ryker begins to speak, trying to be gentle to his friend. He says that millions died, millions of worlds gone. And that they were going to have to accept that, since constantly thinking about it would get them nothing. Then Ryker tells Scott he should head to bed. Scott stays there, stunned. He says it looks just like Cassie, as tears fall onto a photo of the little girl. Ryker begins to speak, but Scott puts it down and says he should head to bed interrupting Ryker.

Ryker wrestles with what's going on, but eventually falls asleep.

### The Next Morning

Scott and Ryker are raiding another store when they here a scream outside. The two of them run outside and they see a woman screaming at a member of the Rotten slowly walking towards her. Scott is stunned at the sight of the Rotten, not believing it to be human then realizing that's what's happening to Dale. Lawrence walks over to it and injects it with a syringe that causes it to collapse on the ground and die. Scott is traumatized by this.

Ryker is stunned as well, but takes Scott's arm and takes him to a department store. Scott begins to have a panic attack inside of it at the horror he'd just seen. He begins to freak out asking if that's what Dale is becoming. Ryker has no choice to say that's exactly what Dale is becoming. This only causes Scott to freak out even more. Ryker is able to calm him down and they walk over to a counter where they both sit.

Scott brings up the fact that if that's what Dale's becoming, maybe they shouldn't prolong his suffering. Ryker has no choice to agree, but doesn't know how to cope with his friend dying.

### Las Vegas Dispute

Scott and Ryker are going through a gas station when two men walk inside and begin to take it apart as well. Ryker tells them to stop but they don't listen. Ryker shoves one of them and tells them that they already got this store. One of them punches the Ryker in the eye and Ryker ends up falling back against a shelve. Ryker stands up straight to attack them but the other man who didn't punch him the eye holds him against the wall and says that this gas station is just as much there's as it yours.

The man let's go of Ryker and both groups begin to take apart the gas station. Eventually Lawrence comes to see how Scott and Ryker are doing and finds out about the two men there. Lawrence asks Scott who they are but Ryker answers for him, that they showed up and began to take apart the gas station as well, there wasn't much they could do to stop them.

Lawrence walks over to the man who punched Ryker in the eye. Lawrence tells him sternly that he's got thirty men within ten feet of this place who would happily kick their asses, and that if they really want to face all of them they're more than welcome to. The man says he's bluffing, but Lawrence lists off 5 names without missing a beat. The two men slowly leave, but still take their duffel bags full of supplies.

Lawrence tells Scott and Ryker to keep working. Lawrence follows the truck the two men loaded their supplies into with his car. Scott and Ryker talk about the event. Scott tells Ryker that Lawrence must've been bluffing, Ryker asks how he knows. Scott tells him that he knows this because each of the names he listed were the first names of the American Leaders of the Vietnam War. Ryker laughs and asks Scott how he knew all those names, Scott says that his dad fought in 'nam and would tell him war stories as well as ranting about each of the American Leaders. Not only that but the best way to memorize all those names were to have fought in the war. Rykers asks if that meant that Lawrence was Rambo sarcastically, Lawrence says he just might be.

Lawrence continues following the trucks onto the interstate and witnesses them pull over for the night. Lawrence watches them all night, then follows them into the city of Las Vegas. Lawrence watches the trucks drive into a warehouse in Las Vegas. Lawrence drives around the city for the day and eventually finds out that the leader of Las Vegas is a man named Joaquin Orvell, who has the strain of Rot in his eyes and is blind, as well as a psycopath.

Lawrence enters the main building, and is taken to Orvell who is standing next to Hartwell who's seemingly his helper as he lights his cigarette for him. They discuss about Los Angeles and the supplies in it, Orvell refuses to let Lawrence have anything and says he's lucky he lasted a day in there. Lawrence says he's lucky that with the way's he's talking to him, Orvell can even walk, let alone see. Orvell seems confused. Lawrence tells Orvell without missing a beat that he will snap his leg in two if he sees another man harm Ryker or Scott. Hartwell asks who the hell is Ryker and Scott. Lawrence says that they're a pain in his ass for sure, but ultimately just two kids who got caught in an awful situation. Lawrence takes a piece of paper out of his pocket and places it on Orvell's desk. Orvell asks what's on it, Hartwell describes it as Lawrence leaves the Casino. On the piece of paper is a single photo of the two men from Las Vegas who beat up Ryker in an awfully and completely injured state, but not dead just yet. On the back of the paper is the words written in red marker *This Means War.* Lawrence then drives back to Los Angeles silently.

### Preparing for War

Lawrence wakes up Scott and Ryker in the middle of the night. He tells them both in their living room that it's more than likely that Las Vegas will be sending troops to invade Los Angeles. Ryker and Scott both freak out at him but Lawrence ignores them and takes them outside and drives them to a downtown Los Angeles.

Lawrence gives a battle speech to them and gets them riled up, he tells them a battle plan that is kept secret to the reader.

After that Ryker finds Lawrence having a panic attack in a bathroom, splashing water on his face. Ryker is able to calm him down but Lawrence keeps muttering to himself that he can't go to war, not again. Never again.

### The War

The next morning after everyone sent from Sacramento, they're all gathered around the downtown area. Lawrence tells them that the men from Las Vegas will likely enter Los Angeles through the Harbor Freeway and Transitway so their plan should work. Scott asks him what if it doesn't, Lawrence says that every last one of them will die if they lose.

After a few hours of waiting, Lawrence is watching the Harbor Freeway through a pair of binoculars. Eventually multiple trucks and other military gear begin to drive down the freeway right next to downtown. Lawrence picks up a walkie-talkie and utters the words "They're here. Fire away."

Lawrence climbs to the roof of the apartment building and looks at the skyscrapers from downtown begin to shake. Flashbacks of explosions course through Lawrence's mind as loud sounds fill his eyes. Massive Skyscrapers fall ontop of the freeway in a blaze of explosions, blood and glory. The Skyscrapers crush the trucks and men in them on the Harbor Freeway. Slowly over time skyscrapers crash onto the freeway, and Lawrence watches without a word. From a distance Scott watches in horror, and ends up vomiting. As he's vomiting the sounds of skyscrapers crashing rings in his ears. Ryker pats his back, not sure what to do.

More trucks begin to drive down the freeway but stop in shock of the skyscrapers now on the freeway. Lawrence watches from the backlines as the members of the Sacramento Faction begin to attack the Las Vegas faction. But of course thanks to Hartwell, Las Vegas has a trick up their sleeve.

Gas begins to emit from all the trucks in a reddish color. Lawrence continues watching, but drops his binoculars in horror. He watches all the men and women who fought for Sacramento start coughing, and then collapse. Lawrence continues having flashbacks as memories of Napalm fly through his mind. Las Vegas had turned the Rot into a gas and weaponized it.

Scott finishes puking and turns to see the war from afar. He sees the men and women dying and is stunned. Ryker tries to get him to move but no luck. Scott shows the thousand yard stare at the men and women dying. Soldiers from Las Vegas leave their cars wearing gas masks and begin to walk around, "Finishing off" those who breathed in the gas. Sacramento ultimately lost the war.

Ryker is able to break Scott's stare and takes him to a car, Ryker still scared as well. Ryker drives them to their house and Ryker lets Scott onto the bed. Ryker asks if he's okay, Ryker doesn't say anything. Ryker walks outside and hears what he mistakes as fireworks for half a second, but realizes it to be gunfire. Ryker tells himself that he's fine and nothing bad is happening, but places his cigarette upside down in his mouth.

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