(day one) Nick wakes up just like Rick, only he’s drug addled, not in a coma.
He kind of zombie walks down the stairs, jerking and hesitant – foreshadowing?
Nick hears noises, sees dead people in corners, freaks out and picks up a sharp object so he can defend himself. He’s looking for his druggie buddy, Gloria, and when he sees her from the back, he’s momentarily relieved. He tells her they have to go. She’s eating some guys face, and not in a good way, and turns to face Nick. Nick sees her bluish, opaque eyes and gore dripping from her mouth and freaks out a second time. She slowly stands up, focused now on Nick, and when she takes a step toward him, he runs as fast as he can out of the church/drug den and promptly gets hit by a car.
We then see a backdrop of Los Angeles, planes in the air, trees, and an outdoor farmer’s market. All of the normal things we take for granted, far away from druggies and zombies.
And there are commercials, lots of commercials.
Cuts to morning at the Cark house.
Daughter Alicia is in the shower, Madison’s boyfriend, Travis, is fixing the plumbing under the sink. He is successful and saves them $300. He’s very proud. The phone rings and they are apprehensive. All of them. No one goes to answer it, and finally Travis picks it up. It’s the hospital – about Nick. Clearly this has happened before. The doctor won’t tell them what’s going on with Nick because he’s an adult and the HIPAA medical privacy rules apply. The doctor won’t tell the cops either. Cops try to quiz Nick. He evades. They read Nick his statement where he says he saw blood and viscera. He tells the cops he doesn’t know the word ‘viscera’. Hee. They ask him about drugs, he evades, with a smile. He sees the sick old guy next to him – the old guy’s breathing sounds like a walker. Maddie, Nick’s mom comes in and asks the cops if they’re arresting Nick, and they say no. Maddie tells them to leave until they come back with a warrant.
Nick is restrained in the hospital bed. Maddie asks if he tried to harm himself. He says no. They all start to argue – Travis, Maddie, Alicia, and Nick. Travis tries to calm them. Travis gets a call from his ex-wife, Liza, who is concerned that Travis won’t take their son, Chris, for the weekend. Chris doesn’t want to spend the weekend with him anyway, and he’s certainly not interested in bonding with his maybe step-siblings. Travis gives up and says ‘keep him’ to Liza.
Back in the hospital room. Travis says Liza sends her love. Can’t tell if that’s sarcasm on his part or just wishful thinking. We find out that Nick has been blacklisted at other facilities. Maddie and Alicia go off to school – Maddie as the school counselor and Alicia as a student.
Driving in the car, Maddie and Alicia fight over the earbuds. Alicia thinks sending Nick to rehab won’t work because he’s not a kid anymore. They get to the school and both walk through the metal detectors, placing their bags on the table for the guards. The guards sitting at the table by the metal detectors don’t appear to search their bags. Seems like a haphazard search to me – but maybe like other security in this society, it’s mostly window dressing.
The principal wonders if Maddie had her flu shot because of the virus that’s going around. She says she has. At that point, a student, Tobias, sets off the metal detector. Maddie takes his knife, but doesn’t alert the principal about it. Instead she says Tobias had 70 some odd cents in his pocket. She takes him into her office and questions him. ‘What’s bothering you?’
He seemed to have been a troubled student at some point, but now tutors others, and is college-bound. ‘Why the knife? Why potentially get expelled?’ Tobias says they’re safer in numbers. Maddie wants to know ‘safer from what?’ Tobias says no one is doing anything they think they are. No one is going to college. The attacks aren’t connected, ‘they’ said, says Tobias. ‘Reports of attacks in 5 states, they are wondering if it’s a virus or a microbe, but whatever it is, it’s spreading.’ Maddie says the authorities would tell us if there was anything to be really worried about. Tobias says ‘sure. Can I go now?’ He clearly thinks she’s kidding herself. She says yes, but keeps the knife. He leaves his change on the table.
Alicia meets her boyfriend, Matt, doing an art project. We learn that she’s smart, and he’s an artist. He seems like a pretty good guy.
Back at hospital, Nick has a bad dream, and Travis sees him wake with a start. Nick and Travis start to talk. Travis asks if it’s a hallucination, and Nick says drugs have never made him see this kind of stuff before. Nick wants to be untied, Travis says no. Nick wasn’t trying to harm himself, he was running from, not to, traffic. Nick tells Travis about Gloria – junkie communion at the church. Gloria and Nick scored, she was with him, when he went downstairs everyone was dead. She was beside him when they were asleep? Why didn’t she attack him first then? Maybe she wasn’t dead yet? When he found her, he saw blood on her mouth, and then she came after him.
Nick is afraid to say that she was eating the people. Travis is skeptical, he thinks it’s the drugs, Nick isn’t so sure. He’s not sure if he’s crazy. If it didn’t happen, and if it wasn’t the drugs, then he’s insane, and he doesn’t want to be insane.
Travis decides to go to the church on his own and in the dark! He kind of breaks in, and wanders around with his flashlight. He doesn’t have a weapon in spite of the fact that Nick said people died there.
Cuts to the hospital agian, and it must be after work because Maddie is there. We can hear the old guy breathing heavily next to Nick, but we can’t see him because the curtain is drawn. It sort of reminded me of the ‘directoress’ in Suspiria, who was snoring behind a curtain. She was backlit so you could see her profile, and she looked kind of scary that way, and so does this old guy, even without the backlighting.
Back to Travis in the church. He runs into a junkie who is petrified. The junkie screams ‘don’t kill me, don’t kill me!,’ and runs off. Travis goes down the stairs.
In the hospital, Maddie is crying in a chair, and the old guy’s breathing is very labored. Cuts to Travis, who sees blood on the walls by the stairs. He doesn’t see any one else though – living or dead. He yells out for someone to come out – no one does, which is a good thing because if they did, he’d be dead. There’s a nice shot of yellow filtered light streaming through the window. Travis trips on something and sees a pile of blood, and yes, viscera. He looks like he believes Nick now. The camera pans back and we see the beam from Travis’ flashlight moving wildly against the wall and floor surfaces.
Maddie spent the night at the hospital. (day two) Travis and Alicia walk in, Nick is still asleep. Travis brought Maddie a fresh set of clothes for work, too bad Travis can’t coordinate shoes and clothes. It’s the thought that counts. Alicia and Nick are alone in room. They discuss Travis and Maddie’s relationship. Nick comments that Alicia is perfect and he’s not. She’s going to Berkeley and he was expelled. She thinks he’s crazy and he says he’s not. He tells her he’s going to stop using. Maybe Gloria scared him.
Travis tells Maddie that he went to the shooting gallery and that he found that ‘something very bad that happend there’. Maddie thinks Travis is enabling Nick. Travis says Nick needs to know that they believe him. Much clunky dialogue about how Travis can’t help Chris by helping Nick. They drive off to school, Travis is back in the room with Nick. The shrink will see Nick today. Nick says he’ll get clean. Travis asks if he means it – Nick says he always means it.
Matt and Alicia – at the bleachers at the school. They discuss having a commuter relationship when she goes off to Berkeley. He’s doodling an image on her arm, as they talk. She can’t wait to leave LA. The guy who plays Matt has presence and can act. I really like him. He says it’s not on Alicia to fix Nick. She says ‘one more year, one more year’. Matt suggests they meet at the beach after school and then go to his place – his parents are out of town. She likes this plan. He finishes his drawing on her arm. It looks like The Blob (as in – beware of the).
Travis is teaching his class – Jack London – London is teaching us how not to die. Russell the student is asleep, and we’re supposed to wonder if he’s sick with the weird virus. He’s not, just bored. He was paying attention though, and he’s clearly smart. Travis sits and talks to him about the story. I wonder if this was foreshadowing of how Travis deals with people. He’s walked right up to two walkers (in the Walking Dead universe, zombies are called ‘walkers’) since this scene and was lucky he didn’t get bitten either of those times.
Another tease, the camera focuses on Artie’s back. He’s the principal. He’s hunched over in a chair, his back to Maddie as she walks in. He doesn’t respond at first when she calls his name. There’s scary music, but it’s shown that he’s eavesdropping on what’s going on inside classrooms. Is that how they do it in schools now? He flicks a switch and can hear whatever is going on in that classroom.
Back in the hospital. The old guy next to Nick is breathing in a very scary way, and Nick is afraid. A nurse comes in with a bed pan for Nick. Nick charms her into letting him have one hand untied. It will be easier, you know? She leaves and Nick starts to untie his other hand. Nick accidentally causes the bed pan to fall, making a huge clanging sound. The old guy cold blues. Doctors rush in and draw the curtain. The doctor says if they can’t bring him back they need to get him downstairs in 60 seconds. They can’t revive him. The doctor says to bring him downstairs NOW. He looks worried. They know something about this ‘virus’ and they aren’t letting others in on it. Nick sees it all go down and finishes untying himself. He grabs his clothes, gets dressed, tries and fails to get drugs out of a locked cabinet, and then slithers out of the hospital. Somehow he’s avoided the security cams. He gets out and manages to stroll down the middle of the street. Again. Man! As he’s picking up stuff from the ground, we see all of LA in the background.
Maddie and Travis arrive back at the hospital and ask the nurse where Nick is. She doesn’t know. The nurse says his roommate coded and there was another death on the floor – so it was chaotic. Again, withholding knowledge. She tells them to call the police if they want to find Nick and then she walks briskly off. Maddie says to Travis – ‘take me where it all started, take me to the church.’
Travis drives Maddie to the church. On the way they pass by someone who might be a walker loitering by some playground equipment in an otherwise deserted park. They see missing person flyers on some concrete barriers.
At the church, Maddie says ‘something bad happened here’ just like Travis said earlier. ‘It’s a violent place’, Maddie continues. They go up the stairs. ‘It’s not your fault,” said Travis. Maddie says ‘it’s in the genes.’ Is she a former user? Travis tries to convince her to leave the church but she won’t. ‘This is where he slept’, says Maddie. She looks at where Nick slept. She finds a book of Nick’s with drug paraphernalia and a syringe in it. When she finds the drug stuff, she tosses the book and its contents aside. She’s sad, and Travis tries to convince her to come away. He succeeds. They hear sirens when they go outside, there are helicopters. They ignore them, it’s all background noise. They go to see Calvin to see if he knows anything about Nick.
Calvin lives in a nice neighborhood and is dressed nicely. He’s cleaning out an SUV when Travis and Maddie walk up. They ask him questions about Nick. Calvin invites them in. Travis calls Chris on the phone, who doesn’t respond. Nick is walking down the street calling friends, maybe Calvin? He leaves messages and asks to be called back. Alicia is waiting at the beach. No Matt. She’s been there for awhile. Earbuds in, she’s oblivious. She texts Matt, and then leaves.
Maddie and Travis are in the truck on the freeway discussing Nick and what is going to happen to him. Is she a bad mom if she doesn’t want Nick to come home, she wonders. Not at all, says Travis. Maddie says she’s always waiting for a call from the morgue. They’re stuck in traffic. There are lots of sirens and cops are directing traffic, helicopters buzz above. Travis and Maddie don’t immediately pay attention. They only start to pay attention when they see all the flashing lights and helicopters and their freeway exit is blocked. Then there are the cops on bullhorns. Travis and Maddie get out of the truck, and then they hear gunshots. Travis says get in the truck, they’re outta there. They make a u-turn and get away from the bottleneck.
(day three) The school bus drops the students off at school. Artie, notes that five kids are out today. He wonders if the bus skipped a couple of stops. When he walks in the door, school staff, including Maddie and Travis, are glued to some video footage they’re watching. They see an ‘infected’ guy wearing a green shirt and a hoodie, attack an emergency services guy. School staff think he’s on drugs, as they watch him get beaten and then shot multiple times. They wonder if this is the virus or something else. The guy goes down but gets back up. Maddie is uncomfortable and Travis says this is what Nick said happened. Maddie says to call the police so they can help track down Nick. Travis gets on the phone. Cuts to Nick, who is still on street, still on the phone – trying to get in touch with Calvin?
Chaos theory in Alicia’s class. Kids are watching the same footage of the dead guy on their phones. ‘It’s not real, can’t be real’, says Alicia. Then there is the kill shot – to the head. Alicia looks incredulous when the teacher is going to take her phone. Artie calls for half day today because of the video. Maddie gets Alicia, and they discuss the ‘fake’ video. Kids leave class. Everyone leaves the school. Helicopters fly above, and the bus fills up with students, including Tobias. When Maddie catches his eye, he has a grim ‘I told you so’ look on his face.
=
NIck goes to the diner. Nick meets Cal there. Nice leather baseball cap, Cal. Cal tells Nick that his mom is looking for him. He’s upset that Nick’s parents came to his parent’s house looking for Nick. Nick apologizes and cries that he’d never implicate Cal. Cal is worried. Nick wants to know what Cal gave him. Cal says he didn’t give him anything. Nick tries to hold it together. Nick says that Gloria killed two people, and Cal says Gloria is 90 pounds soaking wet, clearly not believing Nick. Nick loses it again and then says he’s sorry and gets ready to go. Cal holds him and says he gets it, you saw something bad. Cal is assessing. Is Nick in withdrawal? Yes, says Nick. Cal and Nick leave the diner. Cal is driving. Cal is pumping him for info – he’s worried that Nick may have implicated him to his parents and/or to the police. Did the cops question him? Yes, says Nick, they had a lot of questions. Cal drives him to a deserted area – that dried concrete river area where they have car chases in movies. Nice black car that Cal has there. Cal tells Nick everything will be fine. Cal gets out of the car, and Nick relaxes. Cal opens the trunk and comes to the pasenger side with a gun. He’s probably thinking that even if Nick hasn’t ratted him out yet, he might in the near future. Nick sees the gun in Cal’s hand and gets wise to his predicament. He gets out of the car and they fight over the gun. Nick accidentally shoots Cal. Nick sees that he’s dead. Nick freaks out. A train goes by on the rails above, and Nick runs off.
Nick must have called Travis because he and Maddie are now with Nick. Nick’s upset that Maddie is there. Nick tells them that he wanted to know what was in the drugs he took, so he met with his dealer, Calvin, to find out. Then he admits he killed Calvin by accident. They get in the truck and drive to Calvin’s body. The truck barely enters the tunnel. They see Calvin’s car, but no Calvin. They all call out for him. The passenger door to Calvin’s car is still open, but no Calvin. Nick is beside himself – he’s got to be there! They touch nothing. Nick breaks down and Maddie hugs him and tries to comfort him. They get back in the truck and start backing it up through the tunnel. I’m not sure why they just didn’t go to the bottom like Cal did and then turn around and go forward through the tunnel. Anyway, they see a figure lurching toward them. It’s Calvin, covered in blood, backlit in the reddish-colored tunnel. Nick tries to tell them not to interact with Calvin. They do anyway, and almost get bitten. Nick backs the truck into Calvin – hard, and Calvin goes down. Calvin gets up, making walker sounds. Everyone is baffled at how he could get up after taking a hit like that. At some level Nick knows he’s dead, and rams into Calvin from the front, Calvin gets up on the hood, and so Nick backs up fast so that Calvin will fly off the hood, which he does. There’s a huge blood stain on the front of the truck. Calvin is lying motionless at the mouth of the tunnel. And then he stirs. He’s jaw is gone. Now Travis and Maddie see it too – Calvin must be dead, no way he can’t be, and yet…. They have no idea how to read this situation. The trains continue to run on the tracks above.