CHARLOTTE, ASH and EMMA have 2 TICKETS to the RESETTLEMENT ZONE. They’re trying to get to ASH’S PARENTS’ HOUSE as they think it’s safer. Once there, they’re going to try to find a 3rd TICKET, so they can all go to the Resettlement Zone.

 

Decisive Charlie tends to side with this government. Ponderous Ash tends to resist them.

 

Stuck on a street between scary SOLDIERS and scary PROTESTORS, they’ve flipped over which group to try to escape through.

 

THE COIN is TAILS. ASH WINS. They’re going to try to drive through the SOLDIERS.

 

Ash drives slowly towards the PROTESTORS - red-faced, screaming men and women in practical gear, looking like they’ll stomp anyone who disagrees with them. Some wield flaming torches.

 

Ash suddenly stops the car and tells Charlotte they need to take off their HAZMATS. They scrabble the hazmats to their waists. Charlie takes off her seatbelt, leans into the back and pulls Emma’s off.

 

Ash starts driving again, slowly, winding his window down. He starts to chant with the protestors.

The protestors love it. They start to clear out of the car’s way. One climbs on the car’s roof and surfs it, chanting along.

 

The Dhumals make it through the mass. Ash is still going slowly, for the protestor,  but with a little distance he puts his foot down - then stops suddenly. The protestor tumbles off, but Charlie (her seatbelt off) also smacks her head into the dashboard.

 

Ash squeals away, around the protestor, apologising profusely to Charlie. They drive towards Ash’s parents’ house, on the edge of Leamington. Charlie winces at a bleeding gash on her head.

 

This chapter, and the stories that branch out from it, are about our leads’ idea of family and marriage. Their extended families, and the marriages within, force our leads to reflect on their marriage.

 

Meanwhile, in a small COUNCIL ESTATE HOUSE, WILLIAM ‘BIG BILL’ BURTON is packing to leave. He’s wiry but grounded, sturdy; he has the same focus as Charlotte, and radiates energy – sometimes a little too much. He’s clearly a prepper too. He takes an OLD HUNTING KNIFE. He also packs a set of FILES from a box in the attic. The side of the box reads ‘The Inevitable’. (Subplot!)

 

AMY (still only seen from behind) is packing too. She packs the same PHOTO OF THEIR MOTHER Charlie packed.

 

The PROBLEM in this chapter: handling extended family.

 

Ash speeds through the chaos. They make it to Ash’s parents’ house, and turn into a driveway surrounded by trees. There are fewer neighbouring houses around than at the Dhumals’, and behind the house are fields - it does feel more isolated. Ash and Charlie are shocked to see that the house is completely dark.

 

At that moment, ANAND and VIDYA (both 60) pull up. They seem younger than their age; they’re sharp and eloquent and a little breezy. (They’re the kind of cool parents that less talented children suffer under.) They’re a mellow unit, and they tend to tease Ash and giggle at his frustrations. They rarely find anything uncomfortable – they take most things in their stride.

 

They’re surprised yet grateful to see Ash, but Ash just wants to interrogate them - where have they been?! Opening the front door, Vidya reveals that they went to their local TEMPLE for a community meeting about the crisis. A lot of their community need help. Anand and Vidya’s instinct is to help others over themselves – their family and their local community. Ash is furious – there’s a curfew! There are maniacs out here! You can’t be going out and about! Ash’s concern for his parents ratchets up a notch.

 

Anand sees that Charlotte’s injured, and is suddenly all business – he’s a doctor. He tells Ash to get Charlotte to the sofa and asks Vidya to grab his MEDICAL KIT. Vidya prepares the wound - she’s helped Anand a few times before - and then Anand sews it up. Emma watches, disgusted. In Gujarati, quickly, Vidya tells Anand: ‘don’t tell him’; Ash notices the comment, but doesn’t understand Gujarati (we note), so he asks what Vidya said. Vidya claims she was telling Anand to ‘be careful’.

 

Anand tells Ash about the meeting – aware of tensions flaring between communities, their local leaders are going to put out a statement. They’re also pushing for the Hindu community to follow the government’s advice; there were a lot of people at the meeting who said they didn’t trust it and wouldn’t be following it – even those with tickets.

 

Charlie can’t contain it any longer - she asks if Vidya and Anand got TICKETS. Anand goes to speak but Vidya interrupts – they did, yes. Ash takes note of Charlie’s interest. Charlie goes to explain their situation, but Ash interrupts to do it himself. He asks for his parents’ help in finding a 3rd TICKET for Charlie, and Vidya and Anand agree.

 

It’s 9pm. Ash receives a NOTIFICATION ABOUT A ‘PICK UP POINT’, from the government. This is a place that ticket holders can flee to if their house is not safe. The Dhumals’ Point is a local airfield, about a 20 minute drive away.

 

While Vidya heats up some leftovers for everyone, they gather in the kitchen. Vidya’s been talking to her relatives in India - there doesn’t seem to be anything like the crisis happening there, and the Indian Press has no idea what’s going on in Britain. The crisis appears local to Britain.

 

Ash asks about their other relatives in Britain – RISHI, his BA, MHOTI and BAPA. They’ve heard nothing from Rishi, and the family is getting worried. As for the other family members, they didn’t get tickets. Anand has been trying to think up how to help them. Ash suggests that the relatives try to get to the COTTAGE IN CORNWALL. A skeptical Charlie watches as Vidya and Anand lavish praise on Ash’s idea, and Ash himself. It’s clear that Vidya and Anand think Ash is amazing, and that he finds this deathly embarrassing.

 

Charlie raises some issues with the Cornwall idea. Vidya and Anand take up these issues and discuss them - Vidya siding with Charlie a little more.

 

Vidya and Anand have a constructive marriage. They debate to make decisions, and they tend not to argue. They’re peas in a pod.

 

Charlie and Ash watch this master couple at work, each feeling the weight of their own failing marriage.

 

FLASHBACK: Ash is on speakerphone with his parents in the lounge, with Charlie doing tasks in the background. Anand and Vidya are in their lounge. Vidya asks whether Ash has thought any more about couples therapy, and Ash reveals that they’re on speakerphone. Charlie says hello from the background. Vidya styles it out.

 

Vidya brings up that there are mixed reports about Cornwall online - it’s hard to tell what’s happening. She gets Anand to show Ash a video from PORTSCATHO - where the cottage is. It’s of the MILITIA LEADER (30s) - a nationalist thug - who’s forming a militia to ‘protect the area’ during the crisis. He doesn’t want anyone coming south and trying to get into Cornwall.

 

Charlie again suggests that Ash call CURTIS; Ash flat out refuses, getting quite tetchy. Vidya begins to pry into this - she remembers that boy, she knew HIS MOTHER.

 

Ash suggests instead calling people they know in Cornwall. Anand tries a NEIGHBOUR IN CORNWALL. The neighbour says it’s been quiet in their isolated house, but her husband - high up in the local police - went out a couple of hours ago and now she can’t get hold of him. He told her the local council was debating A PLAN TO EVACUATE PEOPLE ABROAD - with any boats available.

 

Ash suggests trying LAUREN (40s) - the woman who cleans their cottage, and lives in a more populated area. Anand calls Lauren. She’s scared, but she says it’s fine down there - peace and quiet.

 

After the call ends, we see that Lauren’s sat in front of the dead body of her HUSBAND. She’s suddenly shocked to find a phone in her hand.

 

Ash thinks that Cornwall could be safe.

 

Charlie and Ash do the washing up while Vidya and Anand play with Emma in the lounge. Ash forces himself to voice one of his fears: he knows Charlie wouldn’t think of this, but please don’t ask his parents for one of their tickets. Charlie doesn’t even dance around it - she of course thinks that they should do this. She’s quite shocked that they haven’t offered, to be honest. Ash puts his foot down - absolutely not. Is Charlie going to pull out the COIN …? Ash flees to the lounge before she can do so.

 

We should be noting by now that Charlie is always tempted to do what seems to her the safest, if most brutal, thing. And the most brutal safety tends to be the government’s offer: the Resettlement Zones. This is all despite her keen intelligence and ability at survival - which should help her to figure out ways to save them all, if she weren’t so cynical.

 

Meanwhile, Ash always tends to think there’s another way. He’ll blow up an opportunity in the moment because he’s certain they’ll figure something else out - even if he has no ideas. He’s rarely sure of how to beat the government’s offer, but he’ll try until all hope is lost.

 

Vidya slips away from the lounge and calls Curtis’s Mother. Curtis’s Mother boasts that Curtis is heavily involved in the government response to the situation. Curtis’s Mother calls Curtis on the same call, and we see Curtis for the first time. He’s at the PICK UP POINT - the local airfield. He doesn’t have much time, but he says that anyone with tickets must go to the Zones - and anyone without should do what they can to get a ticket. When the phonecall ends, Vidya looks concerned. Returning to the others, she keeps the call to herself. Vidya is lying to her family. Mystery: why …?

 

They check for tickets online. TICKETS ON EBAY are going for 500k each, and the cost keeps rising. Charlie and Anand go through bank accounts, seeing if they have enough cash - they don’t. Meanwhile, Anand and Vidya begin to call FRIENDS and RELATIVES, asking for tickets.

 

Taking a tea break, Vidya asks after Charlie’s family. Ash is annoyed. Ever the one to get to the heart of things quickly, Vidya notes that now’s the time. Charlie is uncomfortable but knows that Vidya has a point.

 

Meanwhile, Amy tries to convince Big Bill to contact Charlie. The stubborn, grudge-filled man refuses - Charlie has to be the one to call first.

 

Reluctantly Ash sides with Vidya - Charlie should call Amy. What if they can help with tickets?

Charlie thinks that’s unlikely - Bill doesn’t even have an ID BRACELET. But she knows Ash is right.

 

We’re getting an increasing sense of the disparities between Ash and Charlie’s families. He had a wealthy upbringing, while she had a poorer one. His parents are relaxed, happy, materially comfortable centre-left people. Her dad is a prepper and socialist who ignores material concerns.

 

But both leads struggle with communication because of their families - him because of their (apparently) perfect marriage, her because of her parents’ tumultuous, argumentative marriage. He thinks he has to be the perfect son; she wants to be nothing like her family.

 

Amy is a mirror of Charlie - what might have happened had Charlie stuck around. This difference creates a lot of resentment.

 

Charlie calls Amy. It’s awkward. We finally see Amy’s face and - reveal! - Amy is Charlie’s identical twin.

 

Charlie turns the conversation to tickets - do they have one they could give Charlie, or like any leads on one?

 

Amy starts to explain their situation, but Big Bill takes the phone. Amy begins to argue with him, and the sound of this makes Charlie bunch up like a fist - she really, really hates this.

 

Big Bill snaps at Amy, shutting the row down. And then makes his proposition: Charlie’s in luck, ’cause Amy’s got a TICKET and Amy isn’t going to use it. Charlie can have that ticket, if Charlie comes to see them.

 

Charlie says she’ll think about it, and then ends the call.

 

Ash’s mind boggles – this is a no-brainer! Charlie explains: Ash doesn’t know Big Bill, there’s always a catch. It could be a trap. Ash laughs this off, and Charlie is extremely embarrassed at Anand and Vidya’s presence.

 

Charlie suggests that Ash go to Big Bill’s instead. Ash stumbles over this idea - he doesn’t want to leave Charlie here, with his parents and their tickets … Surely that won’t work anyway - he’s never even met Amy and Bill!

 

FLASHBACK: Ash gets a secret coffee with Amy. She asks him for money, and he agrees. She passes on a LETTER from Big Bill to Charlie. Ash flips a COIN over it, then tears up and bins the letter. Mystery: What was in Big Bill’s letter?

 

Charlie pushes, and an embarrassed Ash notes that Charlie’s previously said her family don’t like Ash, partly because he wrote about them in his SECOND NOVEL - and made decent money from it. (Ash tends to be fascinated by hardship.) Vidya and Anand are surprised - they haven’t heard about this. Vidya - a stand-up comedian years back - starts to quiz Ash about this.

 

Ash drags Charlie aside, to have the conversation privately. He refuses to go - he knows that she’ll try to get his parents’ tickets. She points out that that won’t matter if Ash gets Amy’s ticket. Ash thinks Charlie isn’t thinking straight - she knows that this is against Big Bill’s wishes, Ash probably won’t get the ticket! Charlie’s sabotaging their best chance at going to the Zone! But Charlie believes, from past experience, that you can’t ever play into Big Bill’s hands …

 

She thinks she has a fair chance of getting a ticket either way, so she takes out a COIN, calls ‘Tails’ and flips. As the coin rises past Ash’s horrified face, the Decision Point appears onscreen:

 

Whatever you choose is this story’s midpoint. Going for the tickets that they want, the Dhumals will become further embroiled in the affairs of their extended families, forcing them to reflect on their own marriage amongst a series of terrible traps and brutal betrayals. One road will test the Dhumals’ belief, while the other will test what they’d do for their soulmate’s family.