Blood

**"Blood"** is the first episode of *Season 5: Remake* of *Strain Zero*, the remake of *The Walking Dead by EDStudios*. It is the twenty-sixth episode of the series overall.

## Plot

*With the embers of their homes still burning, our group is forced into a fateful meeting. Elsewhere, an enemy licks his wounds.*

## Synopsis

Armed only with a revolver, Henry and the surviving Greencole guards reluctantly open the town's front gate to greet Albert, who agrees to be disarmed. He reiterates the Commander's invitation to visit Adams Air Force Base and offers the aid of his subordinates, Robbins and his deaf brother Greg, around town in exchange for Henry joining him on the return trip to the base. With Emma's reassurance, Henry disarms himself and asks to bring others along; Albert agrees and Kyle, Ben and Katrina volunteer to join him. The five climb into Albert's truck and drive away. David directs the Robbins siblings to various sites in the town just as a heavily-bruised Holly emerges from the medical tent.

On the road to the base, Henry inquires about Delta Force and how Albert came to join them; Albert reveals that his group splintered after escaping the forest, leaving just him, Cara and a few others to stumble across a Delta Force patrol. Instead of robbing them, as the group had come to expect, they offered Albert and his people roles within their group; with nowhere else to turn they accepted and came to believe in Delta Force's cause due to the leadership of the Commander. Albert adds that the mysterious Commander served in the Iraq invasion and is the only person in the group to have seen combat before the outbreak.

As the truck approaches the gates of Adams Air Force Base the group grow more apprehensive, still haunted by their escape and the horrors they witnessed. Albert assures them that all of the cannibals that Delta Force encountered when they arrived at the base are long gone, although another group had already killed most of them. Passing the gate the group are shocked to discover a thriving, well-organized community, complete with soldiers, a market and even a radio station. Albert reveals that more than 1000 people, mostly civilians, are living at the base. Guided by a patrol, they are led to the Commander's office where only Henry is allowed upstairs.

Apprehensive, Henry enters the office to find the Commander studying a map and struggles to get his attention. The Commander is vague and fires off about Greencole, including how many people live there and whether Wolf Dam is operational. Henry demands to know what Delta Force wants with Greencole; after a pause, the Commander answers: for the past four years, Delta Force has been building a network of communities, all within Montana, in the hope of building a new civilization. He introduces the communities already in the network: the farming settlement of Fairbanks; the army depot at Prescott airfield; a newly-cleared survivalist town called Graystone, currently empty aside from a few Delta Force soldiers; and a missle silo called Site 65. All of the communities provide resources to Adams Air Force Base, which then assigns troops to protect the communities from raiders and walkers. The resource that the network currently lacks in sufficient quantities is electricity; fuel is running low across the network and only Fairbanks has wind power.

The Commander makes Henry an offer: Delta Force will absorb Greencole into the network, complete with all the benefits, in exchange for control over Wolf Dam and its power generation. The offer insults Henry, who points out all the sacrifices that his people have made to get the dam to its current condition. The Commander claims that Delta Force has engineers to finish the work, causing Henry to realize that, due to Greencole's geographic position, they will be completely isolated if Delta Force controls their northern border at the dam. Henry's arguments are muted when the Commander states that he can take the dam by force, although he would rather work with the Pioneers than fight them.

Before their conversation grows hostile, the Commander offers Henry a drink, which Henry accepts. As they drink, Henry inquires about the Commander's past and his service in Iraq; the Commander is silent in response until Henry asks if he knew his brother, Corporal Worth, who was in the first wave of the Iraq invasion. The Commander smiles at the apparent coincidence and admits his surname is "Worth" and that his rank was corporal; he suddenly grows suspicious and asks where Henry is from. Henry answers that he is from the UK and came to the U.S. on an exchange trip, hoping to find his half-brother. Both men slowly realize the truth; although reluctant to admit it, Henry finally realizes that the Commander is none other than his half-brother Kieron Worth.

Back at Greencole, Holly is forced back into bed by David, who assures her that Henry will be fine and the Robbins siblings are being closely watched. Holly replies that it is not Henry she is worried about, but Delta Force, which she believes might be too big for them to fight. David leaves her to rest and Holly examines the ring Henry gave her; she hides it as Emma and Hope enter and the trio hug tight.

At the base office, Henry and Kieron share stories of the past eight years, including all the places they mutually visited such as Fargo and the base. Kieron reveals that his first group was wiped out and he was separated from the lone survivor, forcing him to survive in the wilderness. By chance he found a working radio and detected a Contingency signal that led him to a secluded bunker filled with around thirty survivors. The signal instructed all surviving soldiers at the facility to form "Delta Force" and build a safe-zone at a site of their chosing. Given the limited space the bunker offered the newly-formed Delta Force was forced to move on; Kieron eventually rose to leadership and absorbed other survivor groups into his new army. He ends by recounting that they settled the base four years ago and made contact with Site 65 a month later, forming the core of the network. Henry talks about his family, including Kieron's biological half-niece Hope and his adoptive nephew Kyle.

Having bonded, Henry tries to make a new deal: Delta Force troops could be deployed to the dam with the Pioneers overseeing them, and in exchange the uninhabited by newly-safe town of Graystone will be handed over to Henry's people, with a small group still living at Greencole. Kieron brands the deal preposterous and that he cannot make accomodations; Henry points out that they are family but Kieron replies that they just met and that blood counts for nothing when considering what is at stake. Kieron summonds Albert and orders Henry be escorted back to Greencole, adding that he will arrive tomorrow to inspect the town. As the door opens, Kieron is greeted by Kyle and they recognise each other, putting Kyle is a state of shock as they drive back to Greencole.

Upon his return, Henry orders a town meeting at Gideon's church while Albert and the Robbins brothers wait outside the gate. In a speech, Henry informs the frustrated Pioneers of what's to come: the occupation of Wolf Dam by Delta Force and Greencole's absorption into their network. The townsfolk are angered by Henry's apparent unwillingness to fight, which Henry counters by pointing out Delta Force's vastly superior manpower and supplies. Holly, still exhausted and bruised, enters the church and asks why they should follow Henry, who indirectly led the Frontiersmen to their doorstep. Henry responds that he has a plan but wants a vote, since this decision can't be made by just one person.

Albert and his soldiers enter the church just as voting concludes in favour of Henry's mysterious plan; to their shock, they are forced to their knees and bound.

Early the next morning, Kieron and a group of soldiers prepare to cross the dam, only to be met by the entire gathered townsfolk with Henry and the captive soldiers at their head. Henry correctly assumes that Kieron cares for his soldiers too much to see them killed needlessly and demands that Kieron agrees to his counter-offer: Greencole and Graystone will belong to the Pioneers, while the dam will be shared between their factions. One of Kieron's soldiers asks whether they should fire on the Pioneers; Kieron sees his niece Hope and refuses to give the order before telling Henry that he is lucky "she's my blood". Kieron and his soldiers withdraw while Albert and his soldiers stay behind to monitor the Pioneers; an angry Holly demands to know what Kieron meant and Henry finally reveals that Kieron is his long-lost brother. Holly says nothing and walks away.

Elsewhere, Nathan awakens in a straw bed, a bandage covering half his face. He suffers flashbacks of his fight with Henry and tears off the bandages, revealing his missing eye. He is calmed by a woman named Lydia, who welcomes him back to the Frontiersmen capital Archangel.

## Deaths

* None

 **Season 5: Remake** | "**Blood**" • "Rules" • "Dissent" • "The Game" • "The Coming Storm" • "Brotherhood" • "Call to Arms"