CHARLOTTE, ASH and EMMA have 2 tickets to the Resettlement Zone. 

 

After a community meeting, the street has split in two. ALI SAMAAN (10) has been kidnapped from the DHUMALS’ HOUSE by the opposing group, led by PENNY. PENNY’S CREW wants all of the DHUMALS’ CREW’s TICKETS as ransom.

 

Penny’s son OSCAR (18) has just arrived at HER HOUSE, and the Dhumals’ crew have flipped over whether to negotiate with Penny (Ash’s preference), or kidnap Oscar (Charlie’s choice).

 

Tails. They will kidnap Oscar.

 

Activist VI’s husband DANNY and Charlie lead the operation, tie Oscar up at the Dhumal house, and offer Penny a prisoner swap. 

 

Penny is immediately changed by news that Oscar is in danger. She tells a confused DIANA the plan is off. 

 

Ash is on prisoner duty. Oscar bonds with Ash over CONSPIRACY THEORIES. They read the same websites. Did Ash not see what was being posted about just before the Internet went down?

 

Flash to Oscar happily looking at his phone whilst on his motorbike, ignoring the chaos around him.

 

There’s talk of a downed military plane - Russians are involved. This is some old-school Cold War shit. He wants to show Ash screengrabs. Ash is about to untie him, but Charlie interrupts. Time for the prisoner swap.

 

In the street, Charlie and Penny bring out Ali and Oscar. Oscar is immediately rude about his mother when he sees her. Charlie is amused. Penny is horrified to see her son like this.

 

As the pair get close, a military vehicle pulls into the street. The soldiers inside, MICHAELS and DUNN demand to know what is going on. 

 

They train their weapons on Charlie and Penny and tell them they have the authority to punish any behaviour of this kind - they take their bracelets, and confiscate their tickets. Then hurry off. HIDING NEIGHBOURS watch behind curtains, afraid - including MARK NEWMAN.

 

Penny rushes Oscar into their house. The SMITHS bundle the Samaans off to the Pick Up Point. 

 

Charlie, Ash, Emma, Vi and Danny sit in their house, dejected. Vi is determined her group is going to create a community-driven alternative to the Resettlement Zones … 

 

A knock at the door. Is Penny back? It’s Oscar. Don’t worry, he’s talked his parents down.

 

Flash to Oscar locking his mothers in the cellar - he’ll be back later. Diana’s eye bleeding.

 

Oscar wants to carry on his conversation with Ash, who thinks Vi might be interested.

 

Emma finds ASH’S PHONE, which has come to life in the rice. Ash shows the others a message from CURTIS: they must come to the Resettlement Zone. Hearing Curtis works for the government, he suggests they check this guy’s house out. What if Curtis knows something?

 

Charlie is reluctant to follow this kid - but Ash points out they don’t have other options. Vi is also keen to get as much info as she can. Dany dislikes the plan, so Vi sends him to continue their community work.

 

There’s an opportunity for dark comedy with this motley crew. 

 

They arrive at an apparently empty house. They split into two groups to explore.

 

Ash and Charlie stumble across a study, charred pieces of paper on the floor that Emma plays with - ‘Hydrax?!’ visible on one of them. A nice picture of a flower that she likes. In Curtis’s desk they find MAPS of the Resettlement Zones, BURNER PHONES, other interesting paperwork. Ash is animated - if they’ve unearthed a big government conspiracy they could be heroes! Charlie thinks he’s getting carried away.

 

There’s a disturbing noise from the KITCHEN. The Dhumals arrive to find Vi dead, and Curtis struggling with an INTRUDER in black gloves. Ash and Charlie wade in, and Oscar kills the gloved man.

 

Ash searches the gloved man’s body, and finds a HANDGUN (Charlie takes) and a notebook. The latest entry is from 10.20pm that evening: a set of coordinates. Oscar searches them: they’re in the WARWICKSHIRE COUNTRYSIDE. They must be the downed plane!

 

Oscar wants to go to the coordinates. Ash does too, but is hesitant. Charlie does not. Oscar argues that this could save lives! Ash points out that they have no tickets - perhaps they’ll find something useful. Perhaps they’ll find information they could use to bargain their way into the Zones (now they know the Zone locations, from Curtis’s maps). Charlie thinks Ash just wants one of his theories to finally be proven right. She wants to ‘end this now’, find another way.

 

With a confused Oscar looking on, Ash takes out a COIN, calls tails, and flips.