CHARLOTTE, ASH and EMMA have 2 tickets to the Resettlement Zone. They’re at ASH’S PARENTS’ HOUSE, who have said that they have 2 tickets for the Zone. They also have a holiday home in CORNWALL that Ash thinks could be a good back up plan. 

 

Charlie’s father BIG BILL and her sister AMY have told Charlie that she can have AMY’S TICKET if Charlie comes to see them on the other side of LEAMINGTON SPA. 

 

Charlie thinks there will be a catch to Bill’s offer. She wants Ash to go talk to Big Bill while she tries to persuade VIDYA and ANAND to give her a ticket.

 

Ash wants Charlie to go speak to her father. Bill asked for her, and Ash is worried Charlie will wheedle a ticket out of his parents. Protecting his parents is key. 

 

They’ve flipped over who ventures out to Big Bill’s (into the unknown).

 

It’s heads. Ash wins. Charlie will go.

 

10pm A government document leaks, predicting mass casualties.

 

Charlie reluctantly climbs into their electric car, and sets off for her father’s flat.

 

The PROBLEM in this chapter: Ash and Charlie must communicate with their own families, and try to work out what their families have planned.

 

10:30pm Vidya discovers that the only available site is the Government gateway. The Internet is down.

 

Ash starts to get scared. Perhaps he, Emma and his parents should head to the Pick Up Point early. Charlie could meet them there once she has the ticket from her father. This idea angers Vidya - she insists that Ash and Charlie stick together.

 

On the way to Bill’s house, Charlie is alert, avoiding emergency vehicles, large groups, anyone who looks too official. She witnesses an attempted murder. She runs over the PERPETRATOR but, when the NEAR-VICTIM knocks on her car door, she drives off. Things are getting grim.

 

Ash and his parents call around looking for a third ticket. Vidya and Anand appear the perfect team, which grates on Ash. He watches them chatter in Gujarati - which he can’t speak. Anand puts Ash on the phone with his relatives, who are extremely emotional. To Ash’s surprise, Anand cuts the call short.

 

11pm Charlie arrives at Bill’s. After a tense hello, they have a summit at the kitchen table. Bill launches into an explanation: nuclear armageddon is coming. All the signs are there. He’s been planning for this for years. He wants Charlotte to come with them to his friend JIM’s BUNKER on WILDMAN FARM. 

 

These strands are about belief. They’re about the clash between sticking to your guns, what you believe, versus being flexible and compromising.

 

Charlie says no, thanks, she’ll just have the ticket. But there’s a catch. Of course. She must give them a lift. Charlie’s not prepared to do that, but if they transfer her the ticket now, they can come with her back to Ash’s parents’. It’s part of the way, and Jim can collect them from there.

 

Back at the house, Anand and Vidya are becoming overly sentimental. They are proud of Ash, of all he’s overcome. 

 

11:30pm As they leave the flat, Charlie and her family see an ANGRY MOB attacking a MIDDLE EASTERN FAMILY. It’s clear racist CONSPIRACY THEORIES are now rife. Bill provokes the group and after fighting skillfully side by side, the three escape in Charlie’s car. 

 

On the journey, Big Bill undermines Ash. He doesn’t communicate. Or respect Charlie. He’s shocked he didn’t give up his own ticket to her. Ash is ultimately weak. He’s a goner at a time like this. Did he ever give Charlie BILL’S LETTER? Does Charlie know that he met up with Amy? He bets not. Does she really believe in herself and Ash as a good team? Charlie hates the chat, but she sees a grain of truth in it.

 

So she’s had enough. She pulls the car over. Why would she take them to Ash now?

 

Bill chloroforms Charlie into unconsciousness.

 

Ash panics when he can’t get through to his wife. She’s been gone far too long now.

 

Charlie wakes in a speeding car. Amy is driving them through the countryside. There’s a ROADBLOCK ahead - a PLATOON OF SOLDIERS. Amy tries to speed around them but the soldiers open fire. Charlie’s shot in the leg, and slips into unconsciousness again.

 

Anand and Vidya convince Ash to pray with them. They conduct a puja before a Hindu shrine.

12:30am She comes round at WILDMAN FARM. Her ‘Uncle’ JIM has treated her wound, but she’s too injured to drive. Her options are limited. She calls Ash and asks him to come and help.

 

Both Ash and Charlie are being forced to decide whether to prioritise either their immediate or extended family …

 

Ash decides to go. He says bye for now to his parents, and sets off in Anand’s FAST CAR with Emma.

Despite beginning to bond with her new companions as she waits (they are clearly all very similar), when Charlie uses the bathroom in the BUNKER, Bill locks her in.

 

1:45am Ash arrives. Amy snatches up a sleepy Emma and sprints towards the bunker. Bill incapacitates Ash, then sets off sprinting too. They slam the door in Ash’s face. And let Charlie out of the bathroom. She punches her father and, in the ruckus, Amy removes and destroys both Emma and Charlie’s ID bracelets.

Only Ash now has a ticket to the Resettlement Zone.

In a panic, Charlie snatches Emma and runs for the bathroom. They’ll escape through a vent.

But Bill breaks down the door and drags Charlotte and Emma out. He has an ultimatum. 

He’s prepared to let Ash inside the bunker. But he will not stay here with him. The Bunker was built for five. So Charlie has to choose. Let useless Ash in, and condemn her own father to certain death in a nuclear attack, or face who she really is, and stay here with them. Leave Ash to the government’s plans, if she trusts them so much. 

 

This is ridiculous. Neither option sounds like something Charlie wants. Her dad’s theories are ridiculous. But the Resettlement Zone is no longer an option for her and Emma. Only Ash. Bill pushes her. He’s not going to let her out. She has to choose. So Charlie pulls out her coin.

 

Seeing what she’s about to do, Bill mocks her - he raised her to be decisive! See what Ash has reduced her to!

Ash is knocking on the door …

Charlie flips.