All That Remains (Remake)

**"All That Remains"** is the fifth and final episode of *Season 1: Remake* of *Strain Zero*, the remake of *The Walking Dead by EDStudios.* It is the fifth episode of the series overall.

## Plot

*With everything on the brink, Henry will have to go through a lot of pain to salvage what remains.*

## Synopsis

The Hopeville team rush through the streets of Port Collier, avoiding or killing walkers that have been drawn out by the explosion at Hopeville. Heavily laden with supplies, they return to Sam's Bar and bash on the basement door. A nervous Emma answers and asks what the loud noise was.

The group gathers at the bar and count out the supplies they have gathered, agreeing that it is more than enough to get them to Michigan. An ill-looking Jess asks where Liam, Shadowman and Alex are; Henry answers that Liam and Shadowman are missing, but falters when he tries to tell her what happened to Alex. Jess looks at the blood on Henry's clothes and breaks down in tears as Holly comforts her. Following a moment of silence, Henry orders everyone to pack up and get ready to head to the boat. Justinas stops him and says that they need to rest, but a desperate and frustrated Henry refuses. Aaron cuts in and tells Henry to look at them all: bloodied, bruised, exhausted and terrified.

Henry shouts that there is a massive herd flooding the streets and Hopeville soldiers thirsty for revenge, so they don't have time to rest. Through her tears Jess demands to know where Alex's body is; Henry shouts that Alex wanted to be left behind to make up for what he did, forcing him to reveal that Alex was behind the walker attack on the school. The revelation shocks and horrifies the group, who demand to know why Henry didn't tell them sooner. Angered, Henry screams that he has put everything - including his own sanity - on the line to keep them all safe and he won't stop now, so they can grieve and question later. He pleads them to keep going and to not give up because they have come too far. After a moment, Justinas stands up and says he will continue to follow Henry, crediting him for keeping them together and making the hard decisions none of the rest of them could make. One by one this spurs the others to Henry's side, including James and Jess. Before they leave, Henry grabs Liam's guitar and rests it on a flower bed outside.

The group abandons the bar and heads out into the streets, only to find them infested with zombies. With no way out, Henry has a brainwave and kills a nearby walker with his axe before gutting it. He remembers that the walkers back in Renton did not attack him when he was covered in zombie blood, so if everyone covers themselves they could walk through the herds unnoticed. While the others are skeptical, Holly trusts him and allows Henry to cover her clothes in walker blood. Eventually everyone is covered by Jess, who Henry says should remain clean to prevent her child being infected and should instead walk in the centre, surrounded by the camouflaged group.

Breathing through their mouths and keeping in a tight formation, the group approach the herd, which ignores them. Using the smoke coming from Hopeville as a landmark, they slowly move southeast towards the docks, making sure to move softly to not draw more attention to themselves. They are forced to pause for several minutes when several walkers smell Jess through their camouflage, but are eventually able to move on.

Clearing the streets, the group arrive at the boathouse and clean themselves in the water. However, Aaron calls over and the group discovers that the boat has been sabotaged: its engine has been torn apart and gunshots have been fired in the hull, causing it to sink. Angry and desperate, the group are forced to overcome their panic and decide to head back to the train outside the city. Inside the boathouse, they discover a leaking gas canister and hear a rifle cocking. They look up to see a bloodied Francis and two of his goons, Gregory and Randall. Francis orders them not to move and begins to rant that they destroyed everything that he and his people built. Henry tries to calm Francis, telling him that Shadowman was responsible for the explosion at Hopeville. Francis refuses to listen and says that a leader is responsible for the actions of his people, so Francis must avenge his people by killing Henry and his own. Realizing what is to come, Henry calls out for his group to get down as Gregory tries to stop Francis.

Francis fires a single shot, igniting the gas. The boathouse erupts in flames, attracting walkers from across the city. A dazed Henry witnesses the carnage around him as the roof and floor begin to collapse, revealing the waters of the bay below. The sound quickly attracts walkers in the area, who begin to build up in the water below.

Henry calls out to his people and screams out Jess' name. Unable to see through the smoke and struggling to breath, Henry crawls around, making sure to keep low. He spots several figures moving through the smoke, but before he can call out to them Francis unexpectedly appears, swining his pickaxe. Henry is barely able to dodge and falls backwards before rolling away as Francis desperately tries to strike him. Falling debris stops Francis in his tracks, allowing Henry to get to his feet and unsheath his axe.

Using Henry's condition as an advantage, Francis disarms him and almost kills him before Holly emerges from the smoke to shove Francis through a broken wall and into the water below. Meanwhile, Justinas and Aaron battle and kill Randall, while Gregory sneakily escapes in the chaos when James refuses once more to kill him. James grabs Emma by the arm and tries to drag her out, but she escapes his grasp and heads into the fire to help the others. She comes across a bleeding, coughing Jess and helps her walk.

In the smoke, the others desperately search for Jess, only for Henry to become trapped under falling debris. Aaron stumbles across him and drags him out; Francis, bloody and bruised, suddenly appears from the smoke and drives his pickaxe into the back of Aaron's head.

In a fit of rage, Henry grabs a burning piece of wood and stabs it into Francis' leg. Ordering the others to clear out the incoming walkers and escape, Henry decides to battle Francis alone, armed only with Ben's knife and using his empty Glock as a primitive knuckleduster.

With Francis now limping, the two find themselves an even match: Henry with his height and aggression, but Francis in better condition. Their brawl comes to a stalemate until Jess, Emma by her side, appears and strikes Francis over the head with a piece of debris.

Henry strikes Francis across the face with his Glock, disorientating him. He brings his other arm round to stab Francis in the belly with his knife; Francis howls in pain as Henry begins to stab him wildly in the torso. As Francis drops to his knees, he spits some last words as Henry prepares to finish him.

A gunshot suddenly rings out. Francis goes limp, falling backwards into the walker-infested water. Henry turns to see the shooter: Emma, holding her Glock out in front of her and visibly shaken. The two exchange a look before Henry calls out once more for the group to get out.

As they flee for the entrance, the floor beneath them collapses; Henry ends up holding on for dear life as he dangles over walker-infested waters, while James helps Emma to her feet. Henry pleads for James' help, but his friend simply looks at him with cold eyes before leaving him behind.

With walkers reaching for his feet, Henry tries desperately to claw his way up, but is finally rescued by Justinas, who pulls him up. Justinas tells him that everyone is out, but as they make their way to the others a roofbeam crashes down, trapping Justinas under a pile of burning wood. Henry tries to dig him out, but Justinas calmly pleads for him to run. Although Henry refuses to leave him behind, Justinas gives a final salute as the floor beneath him collapses; Justinas is seemingly crushed to death. Henry screams in agony before he is finally - and forcefully - pulled out of the building by Holly, just seconds before the entire structure collapses. Holly holds Henry back as he tries to get into the ruins and hugs him tight when he falls to his knees in defeat.

Now with no boat and cut off from the route taking them back to the train, the remaining Clarkson Survivors are forced to move into the nearby Iron Mountain State Forest to avoid a herd of walkers. As they head further into the forest, Jess goes into labour; while Holly and Emma tend to her, an antagonistic Henry and James are forced to help each other clear out the incoming walkers, attracting by Jess' screams and the smell of labour. They use up their last bullets in the fight, leaving Henry's knife as their only weapon. Jess successfully gives birth to a baby boy, who she names Alex Junior.

With the herd close behind, the group are forced to head deeper into the park, hoping the trees and uneven ground will slow the herd. Exhausted, they finally make camp deep inside the forest. While James goes to patrol, Emma sleeps and Jess rests with her son, Henry and Holly head off into a nearby clearing to talk. They both accept that heading back to the train may be the best move, but they should remain in the forest until the herd clears. The two share a hug in silence, both struggling process the events of the last few hours, and even share a kiss. Their moment is cut short, however, when they hear a chilling scream nearby.

Sprinting back to the campsite, they discover Emma staring in horror at a zombified Jess, having succumbed to infection and exhaustion. Holly uses her last bullet to kill Jess and then vomits in horror when she discovers what Jess was eating: her own newborn child, who has already reanimated due to his age. Out of bullets and too in shock to reach for his knife, Henry forces himself to crush the child's skull under his boot, a move that horrifies him and sends him to his knees, weeping from the shock. He barely holds back sick and enters a panic attack.

James then reappears from the gloom, demanding to know what has happened. Holly stutters about Jess' death before James takes out his gun, having been hoarding bullets for himself. He begins ranting at Henry that everything he has done has led to nothing but death and misery, and he has made the decision to leave the group. He begins packing a bag and tells Emma to do the same; a shaking Henry tries to stop him from taking food, but James suddenly aims his gun at Henry's chest, ordering him to back off. He continues to rant that he should kill Henry "to avenge everyone else" and shouts at Emma to hurry up and pack. However, he pauses when he hears a gun cocking, and turns to see Emma aiming her Glock right at him. Henry says that Emma doesn't want to go with him, and Emma refuses to lower the gun when James tells her to. A manic James then points the gun at Emma, screaming at her that he is her "father" and she should do as he says.

Henry seizes the chance and rushes James, grabbing his arm and forcing him against a tree. He growls at James to drop the gun; he does so, having apparently come to his senses. He tries to beg Henry and Emma for forgiveness; when nobody answers him, with Emma refusing to even look at him, James silently packs his stuff and departs into the darkness without a goodbye.

The remaining trio wrap Jess and her child in the tent and bury them in the nearby clearing, a task that Henry does alone with his bare hands. The trio then head even deeper into the forest before stumbling upon a large shack, which they discover to be an abandoned ranger station packed with food, weapons and other supplies.

Deciding to hold up there for a while, Henry heads out to check that the area is safe. Instead, he finds Holly, her pistol loaded with a bullet they found, as she puts her gun to her head, sobbing that they failed and that there is nothing to live for anymore. Determined to stop her, Henry hugs her and says they will go out together. Unable to take both their lives, Holly puts the gun down. Henry calms her by saying they still have a reason to keep going: Emma, who now has only the two of them to turn to. Holly tearfully accepts and returns to the shack while Henry returns to his patrol.

Henry finally comes to a sheer cliff that overlooks the endless hills of trees and silently cries as he removes his locker key from his pocket. A flashback reveals that, while on a supply run, a drunken Henry and Jess slept together a few weeks before she revealed her pregnancy, possibly making him the biological father of her child. Consumed by guilt over his actions and how he treated Alex in his final days, Henry briefly considers throwing himself from the edge but stops himself at the last second. Recalling that Ben used song lyrics as his suicide note, Henry smiles and whispers "we'll hold each other soon, in the blackest of rooms" before turning away and silently returning to the forest.

## Characters

#### Main

* Henry Edwards
* Holly Parker
* James Cottingham
* Justinas Garin
* Aaron Bailey
* Jess Black
* Emma Goode

### Supporting

* Francis
* Randall
* Gregory

## Deaths

* Randall
* Aaron Bailey
* Francis
* Jess Black
* Alex Junior

## Trivia

* First (and last) appearance of Alex Junior
* Last appearance of Randall
* Last appearance of Aaron Bailey
* Last appearance of Gregory
* Last appearance of Francis
* Last appearance of Jess Black
* Last appearance of James Cottingham