"Ghost Highway"

YouTube

**"Ghost Highway"** is the twelfth episode of KOllOK 1991: Bleach

## Synopsis

Sometimes the past is not a good place to live, or visit a cabin in the woods during a rainstorm.

## Plot

**August 16, 10am**

Kelvin Lundt, the new mayor. and Gabby Bobby from the Town Council stand outside a small office building behind the police station, waiting for sheriff Bull to arrive. Gabby is eager to find out what Mearl and Eveyln, other members of the Council, were hiding while Kelvin mentions that the building gives him bad vibes. Sheriff Bull arrives, refuses to shake the Mayor’s hands and brings up his eagerness to dig up the town’s deeds and his investigations. The mayor doesn’t stand down and Bobby hurries them up so Bull opens the door to the building. The lights come on and when Gabby gloats about being right that Mearl was siphoning power from the station, Bull tells him that power is solar, supported by Synchroneity. The mayor pushes past them intent on finding what he believes to be a secret room on the blueprint.

The two of them ask Bull what the building's purpose is and he answers briefly about Council members meeting there on occasion and points out a small door set into the wall. Mayor Lundt opens it and is blinded a moment by the bright sunlight coming from it. He squeezes through to reveal a 4x4 section that is open to the sky and has a dirt floor. Gabby squeezes through to take a look as Bull tells the mayor that he has to make the difficult decisions now. The mayor and Gabby feel a strange sensation across their skin like the air before a lightning strike. Gabby searches for an open current, recognising the feeling from working in the power plant and hears it humming beneath them. Kelvin starts to dig with his hands but Bull throws him a shovel to help him and he begins to dig. Eventually he strikes metal and Gabby investigates the strange metal container with tubes leading off from it he uncovered, the word "cache" imprinted upon it.

The mayor asks Bull what it is and Bull suspects it has something to do with the computers Synchroneity gave everyone. After pondering what the Council would want with it, Bull hands the mayor a key. The mayor asks what he’s supposed to find inside but the sheriff walks away. The mayor tells Gabby to make sure the door is still open and after checking he reveals Bull has gone. The mayor opens the box to reveal a simple metal lever with the word “clear” beside it. With encouragement from Gabby he pulls the lever.

**Act 1**

**Unknown time and Place**

Mallory, Henry, Laura, Mickey and Tibby awake in the dark during a storm. Tibby calls out for Mickey and she replies so he can find her. The group call out to each other, confirming that they are all there; but Laura voices that not all them made it. Tibby calls to Mallory and he leaves Mickey a moment on her own. In the brief flashes of the lightning Mallory sees the anger on Tibby’s face but not the fist that comes flying towards him. Tibby gets on top of Mallory and starts pummelling him until Laura tackles him off of Mallory and refuses to let him go. Tibby angrily confronts Mallory with his actions and what they’ve caused, stranding Em in the past and putting them all in danger because of it. Tibby finally brings up Mallory’s repeated attempts to hurt himself and his abuse of Tibby’s powers because his refusal to seek real help and blames him for what happened to Em.

Laura argues that it is her fault that Em is trapped because she refused to move but Mallory accepts the blame and tells them that it doesn’t matter right now. Mickey brings up the possibility of being stuck now without Cheese, but while on the topic of their actions in the past Laura calls out Henry and his almost death at the hand of the Claritys. Tibby also expresses not knowing anymore if Henry is the same person he knew - the same friend he used to know - and mentions that with all the things that have happened to each of them, Em was the only one that was good. His words are left for a moment and Mickey purposes that they try to find out where they are.

Mallory starts looking around but a lightning strike surprises him and he slips and falls down the hill. Henry realises he lost his backpack in the tunnel and through the lightning flashes Mickey can only make out woods in every direction. Tibby reunites with Mickey and Laura catches up with Mallory, who tells him that no matter what he does the group will be there for him. The group reunite and worry about Skye and Em and their own situation without Cheese to open or to at least find the hole in time. Laura and Tibby mention to not bring up to anyone that they are from the future going forward and pick a direction to go in. A beam of light cuts through the darkness and a voice calls out offering help, they answer and the voice tells them to hang on. The group comes up with a story to tell, as the person with the flashlight gets closer. He tells them that they are on private property and shouldn’t be camping but he keeps the light on so they can help climb up the hill. The person introduces himself as Louis and they start to trek up in silence.

At the top, they enter a clearing with a very large cabin. Louis tells them that this is home and that they are still in Kollok when Henry asks about where they are. He brings them to the porch and goes inside ahead of them to but his dog away. Alone for a moment the group plans to use a phone to try and call one of their houses to figure out when they are. Laura spies a burn barrel hoping to find a newspaper or something to tell them when they are, when Louis returns. He invites them in and offers them towels to dry themselves off. The inside of the home seems sparse but comfortable, a dining table set up for three and Mallory notes no evidence of a dog bowl. Mickey tries to inquire about Louis but he doesn’t go into detail and, when asked, tells Henry he doesn’t have a phone. Laura excuses herself, under the guise to need the bathroom, and Mallory sidebars with Henry about his suspicions.

Henry asks Louis about getting them back into town but he is reluctant with the weather so bad, and dodges his request about seeing his dog. Louis answers their questions about living alone, he and his wife not on good terms. Billy tries to figure out when they are by bringing up his coma. However, Louis has no recollection of it and when Billy brings up his mother, Gemma, he becomes confused and answers Mickey’s question about it saying the Gemma Baker he knows doesn’t have any children. He asks for Mickey’s name and she responds with Mikayla. Laura meanwhile finds the bathroom and taps on the opposite door where Louis had mentioned keeping his dog. Something loudly bangs back on the door and she dives into the bathroom.

The noise get Louis’ attention and he goes to investigate. Laura covers saying she tripped and Louis waits for her. Back in the living room the others try to figure out if Louis is on the level with them, Henry and Mallory on the side that he isn’t while Mickey tries to keep them focused on figuring out when they are. Laura gets out the bathroom and Louis asks her to grab medical supplies and a set of surgical knives, as she’s already in there, in case they need to treat Mickey’s “injury”. Louis questions her about the group and them being out in the woods, claiming that he spoke at the school and doesn’t recall any of them. He indicates Laura to return to the others and Mickey sees Louis go into a different room. Mickey voices her concern about what she saw to Tibby as he sets her down at the dining table. There she notes markings on the floor, like scratches on the floorboards and finds a broken fingernail between them.

Louis returns to attend to Mickey and he discovers that “Mikalya” can’t feel her legs and shows concern. The others inquire about how he knows about medicine and Louis reveals that he is a geneticist, and worked for Synchroneity. Henry manages to use that admission to get his full name, Louis Tenniel, and Laura asks if he knows the Bennett’s but he does not as he’d know everyone working under him. Mickey distracts him by bringing up his offer of food and Mallory brings up the other two places that were set. Louis sits and sighs and tells them that they were for his wife and son, Clarence, and had done so by routine.

Mickey immediately picks up on the name and asks after Clarence but Louis tells them that Clarence is with his wife and is reluctant to share more. Laura offers to help cook and finds a kitchen knife to keep close by as she goes about it. The “dog” bangs again and Louis excuses himself to tend to it. Mickey tells them about the fingernail and brings up the Clarence connection. Henry finishes her thought that Louis is the Traveller and Clarity his wife. Louis returns and washes his hand at the sink having been bit by his “dog.” Henry riles Louis up and Tibby removes him from the kitchen to sit by the fireplace and warns him about not making Louis angry. Henry agrees but tells Tibby that if Clarity shows up he will stab her and Tibby opens up to feeling still mad at Mallory, nervous for himself and Mickey and where he stands with Henry. Henry manages to calm him down and looking around finds a newspaper, the date reads February 7, 1980. The date makes Tibby realise that by now, Henry should have already been born, so either Louis lied to them about knowing Gemma and of Henry being born or something is wrong.

Back in the kitchen Laura strikes up a conversation with Louis, opening him up with talk about science and he offers to put in a word for her at Synchroneity. He goes into his reason for his path of the geneticist and Laura keeps him distracted. Once the meal is prepared, they sit down at the table and share out the food. Louis talks with the group even offering to take Mickey to his lab after the storm is over to see if he can fix her legs but Mickey politely refuses. More bangs reverberate and Louis angrily gets up and leaves, they hear the door to the room open and shut and the faint sounds of something being beaten. Laura leaves the table and grabs the knives from the kitchen as Mickey notices that Tibby has vanished as well. They hear a loud crash at the end of the hall and Tibby’s panicked yelling before it shuts off.

The group rushes to their friend and see Tibby being held by Louis by the back of the neck and a hand over his mouth, the door behind them open. Laura sees inside a stack of dead bodies, all resembling Clarence, with signs of fatal wounds, and one crawling on the floor at the back mouthing for help.

**Act 2**

Mickey army crawls to catch up with the others and also sees the bodies in the room behind them. Laura levels a knife at Louis and demands he let Tibby go, but he doesn’t and demands to know the real reason why they are there. Mallory tries to lie and convince him to let them go and they won’t tell anyone. Louis admits to knowing Gemma and knows that she has had a son and asks the group when they are from. They lie and he tightens his grip around Tibby’s throat. Laura threatens Clarence again but Mickey tells him the truth about being from 1991 but lies about the why. Henry tells him that he brought them here, but Louis questions why he would do so, as they are not the one he called for. Laura figures that he wanted to get Clarity and Clarence back, but Louis clarifies that he doesn’t care about his wife and that he will get Clarence back his own way and closes the door behind him. Henry and Mickey warn him about hurting them as they need to be alive to help his son but he doesn’t believe them and boasts about his meeting of “god” and his travels. Laura slashes at his arm but Louis only tightens his grip on Tibby and tells Laura to drop the knife. She does so as Henry asks Mickey if Phobos is still alive in this time and tries to use his powers. Nothing happens and he realises that though he is in a time with Phobos still present, he still remains disconnected.

Louis lets Tibby go and pushes him into Mickey’s arms, then demands answers as to what the group know about him and his son. Laura brings up cloning and Louis admits to already knowing who among them are clones, pointing out Mallory being one of his father Mearl's clones and revealing that he hired Mother to run that project that made him. He debunks Mallory’s belief about how he was made and tells him of his father’s lack of interest in women. Laura tries to get them to leave but Mallory continues to ask questions about Louis calling them and he tells them about the time tunnels. Laura cuts the questions off and gets Tibby to pick up Mickey, ready to leave as Henry distracts Louis with talk about the Grotto. Louis recognises what he is talking about, describing the sensation of Phobos in the back of his mind. Louis tells them he can’t let them leave and the group tell him about his fate in the future to throw him off but he remains unmoved, convinced that they did not understand what they saw.

Louis makes reference to them only seeing “this one” die and for all their words don’t seem to know much about him and motions to someone behind them. They turn around and see another Louis having entered the front door, as the one in front of them begins to usher them backwards toward the second. Laura goes to tackle the second Louis at the same time as Mallory and they knock him down, but his eyes begin to glow and his body emit a burning heat. Henry rushes over to where the newspaper was, lights it in the fireplace and throws it on the wooden floor and it begins to catch and spread. Mickey and Tibby move quickly rushing past Mallory and Laura and out into the storm, as the Clarence clone opens the door and grabs the original Louis’ leg to slow him down. Mallory, Henry and Laura get up and run out as the second Louis begins to brighten and grow like a balloon.

The group run through the storm down the hill as the crest becomes a beacon of light and then suddenly goes out in an implosion. As they run yellow glowing ash fills the sky and mixes with the rain, they pause for a second and an angry scream rips into the night followed by the sound of an engine starting. They continue running but the slick ground makes it difficult going until they come to a mountain road, the glow of Kollok’s lights in the distance. They don’t get far until they feel the warmth of headlights behind them, Laura goes toward the lights with a rock in hand as the others head toward the curve in the road hoping to stay out of sight. Laura throws the rock at the same time as another set of lights turn the corner. The rock strikes the windshield of the second vehicle and it spins out as the first comes around the bend and they collide and hit the guard rail.

Mallory starts running back toward Laura and he hears the sound of crying and difficult breathing. At the crash he sees that neither of the two vehicles were Louis’. Mallory investigates and discovers the bodies of an Asian family, the wife and two children, at least one daughter, deceased and the father injured but alive. In the other he recognises Gemma Baker. Henry joins up with Mallory also seeing his mother as she pulls his younger self from the back of the car and runs to help his mother as Mallory helps the survivor of the other car. Mickey and Tibby join them as they immediately recognise the man as Jacob Jewell and the other figures in the car as his first wife and the children Rachel and Tommy. Tibby breaks down in tears at the sight of them, wishing that they could leave.

They look up as the storm clouds rumble and streaks of lightning join together and strike the two cars before them. They blink and find themselves once more in the golden tunnel, falling. They land in an all-white room with reflective glass around them and Tibby notices that Mickey has vanished and calls out for her. Mallory touches one of the glass sides and it darkens to reveal Clarity Prime on the other side.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Aabria Iynegar as Laura Bennett
* Lucas Eubank as Billy Baker
* Matt Sohinki as Mallory Jenkins
* Shelby "Shubble" Grace as Mickey Jones
* Zac Lim Eubank as The Driver

## Rumors

1. There are pictures of some girl that looks just like Embeth at the public library. (winner)
2. Marcus Bennett is stepping down from Synchroneity?
3. Who is Mickey Jones?
4. Go tell Alice.

## Notes

Some interesting things about this episode, or the making of this episode...