CHARLOTTE and EMMA have NO TICKETS to the Resettlement Zone. ASH has ONE. Charlotte’s father BILL and her sister AMY have trapped Charlotte and Emma in a BUNKER at WILDMAN FARM.

 

BILL BELIEVES Charlotte will stay in the bunker with him. He has asked her to choose between him and Ash staying in the bunker.

 

The coin reads tails. Bill has won.

 

2:15am Ash sees what’s happening and bangs on the door. Bill explains to him. He should just go to the Resettlement Zone quietly and leave his wife where she belongs. Charlie can’t face her husband.

 

Ash toys with leaving, but thinks he can wait a little longer. Try and fix this. There must be another way. 

 

He calls his parents. Vidya picks up the phone. They’re fine, they’re just waiting for their escort to the Zone. He mustn’t worry. Just get Charlie and Emma to safety. Ash hesitates, then tells them he’s driving Charlie and Emma to the Zone now. They’ll all reunite at the Zone! Anand says goodbye, a little too poignantly.

 

Silence. Vidya hears something outside. SMASH! The front door buckles. An ANGRY MOB is surrounding their house. Caught by surprise, Anand and Vidya flee into their kitchen. 

 

On a counter, a laptop sits open. They do not have tickets to the Resettlement Zone.

 

In this chapter, we see both Ash and Charlie faced with the traits they have learnt from their own families. Will they have the strength to break free from them, or will it be too late?

 

Time ticks on. Amy and Jim start to doubt Bill’s theory. He holds strong.

 

Emma starts crying for Ash. Finally, Charlie goes over to speak to him.

 

They have THE CONFRONTATION through the door. Ash accuses her of never believing in him. They’ve both just been swept along. She’d actually allow a coin to decide his fate …?

 

3.27am Suddenly the radio announces: a BOMB WARNING, an ‘incoming projectile’.

 

Everyone except Big Bill panics. Ash is desperate to be let in. Bill is triumphant.

 

Charlie puts her hand on the door handle. Bill watches her carefully. She lets the door handle go and steps back.

 

3.30am. There’s a HUGE explosion nearby.

 

Ash stays by the door. He shouts to Emma that he loves her. Holds Charlie’s eye.

 

The FIREBALL whips through the field. Charlie shields Emma’s eyes. Ash is killed instantly.

 

Anand and Vidya’s house has been ransacked. An explosion in the distance. The shockwave shakes the house. Their bodies lie in the kitchen.

 

The bunker goes haywire - the inhabitants screaming, things grinding.

 

An alarm goes off. Jim goes and checks it out. The VENTILATION SYSTEM is struggling - rubble from the blast has gotten in. Charlie damaged the vent earlier. Noone can clear the blockage. 

 

Charlie gets Emma to try, but it’s still a squeeze.

 

Bill is suddenly furious. He knew Jim hadn’t maintained this place properly. If you want a job doing … and he begins to kick the vent. Jim tries desperately to stop him. They fight. Bill will not stop. Jim pulls out a shotgun. Bill has to stop. In the struggle, the gun goes off. Bill falls to the ground. He dies in Amy’s arms. 

 

The sisters turn on Jim. Almost indistinguishable from each other at this moment. They don’t even need to discuss what’s going to happen. Can Amy run this place alone? Of course she can. They jump Jim, and kill him. Left in the hands of her father and sister, Charlie’s full ruthless potential is fulfilled.

 

Charlie turns to see Emma watching. What has she become? Ash knew she had this in her. She gathers up her daughter and holds her, shaken and weeping.

 

7am Charlie and Amy finish up doing some routine tasks around the bunker. Then they sit with Emma, and have a heart-to-heart. Charlie expertly dresses her own wound.

 

Amy thinks that they’ll be alright - there’s two of them, they’re formidable. Just look at what they did last night. 

 

Charlie thinks this might be the problem. There’s no one to balance them out. Noone like Ash. Someone who takes pause. Someone who isn’t stubborn, ruthless. Someone who didn’t want any of this - like the Burtons and Jim did, in a way.

 

Charlie quietly vows to make a few changes … be a bit more like Ash, for Emma’s sake. And to stop using the coin.

 

On a CB radio, a PREPPER FRIEND of Jim’s from his prepper network: it looks like any survivors of the crisis are going to be okay. There’s rumours coming out of survivors in CORNWALL that the crisis is being caused by -

 

The radio cuts out. It needs new batteries. Amy sets about replacing them.

 

Charlie starts making up a story for her daughter. A story of a happy future life. Of boats, and Cornwall, and peace.

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