“ | I love you, Iris. And I know you're gonna be okay. We all will. (...) Because I'm not the real asset. We are. The two of us together. We have spent our whole lives making each other better. Stronger. Your smarts. Your instincts. (...) Your bravery. Your fight. They have no clue what you can do. That's how we're gonna beat them. They think they need me to save the world, but you... You are gonna save the world from them. We will. We got this. So grin, girl.
|
” |
Hope Bennett is one of two protagonists and a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's The Walking Dead: World Beyond. She is the adoptive sister of Iris and daughter of Kari and Leopold Bennett. She is also a former resident of the Campus Colony of Omaha, one of three cities part of the Alliance of the Three.
Dubbed "The Asset" by the Civic Republic Military for her high level of intelligence, Hope was led on a fabricated journey across the country with the Endlings by CRM operative, Jennifer Mallick to teach her the importance of saving humanity until her cover was later exposed. After being coerced into transferring to a research facility to work alongside her father, who she had previously believed to have been in danger, Hope was able to thrive in academics and formulate a new scientific theory to speed up the decaying process of the undead. Despite her growing comfort amid her month at the facility, Hope ultimately played an integral role in helping the scientists escape the CRM's clutches after learning of the genocide of Omaha and the Campus Colony, taking her fellow classmate Mason Beale, the son of the military's Major General, hostage as a result. Following the group's success, Hope temporarily parted ways with her sister as the survivors settled in an underground mall, continuing her studies with their father and the remaining scientists.
Overview[]
Hope is Iris' rebellious, troublemaking, fun-loving sister. Convinced the world is doomed, Hope lives for today, shunning responsibilities in favor of partying and having a good time. But underneath her carefree “live for today” attitude, Hope is haunted by a dark secret, something she's kept hidden from her sister and the others around her.[2]
Pre-Apocalypse[]
Lincoln, Nebraska[]
Hope Bennett was born on October 8, 2003 and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska. As a baby, she was adopted by Leopold and Kari Bennett, who also had a daughter named Iris. Leo was a professor at Nebraska State University and the four grew up happily in a loving home. During this time, a young man named Felix Carlucci was kicked out of his house by his parents for coming out as gay. Leo then adopted Felix and brought him in their home as one family who accepted him.
Post-Apocalypse[]
Lincoln, Nebraska[]
In the fall of 2010, the outbreak occurred across the planet. Hope and her family survived the initial outbreak. During that night, Hope and her family were evacuating to the University. Hope's mother noticed a pregnant woman in danger, but Leo told them they had no time to rescue her. Empties then began to approach the family, causing Iris to become frightened and let go of Hope and their mother, causing them to get separated in the chaos. At that moment, a plane full of undead passengers crashed into the streets, only worsening the situation.
After the crash, Hope and Kari attempted to reunite with Leo and Iris until Hope spotted a pick-up truck and suggested it would help them find Leo and Iris and get to the university. Unfortunately the pregnant woman, now armed approached the mother and daughter and demanded she take the truck to find her husband and son. Kari attempted to reason with the pregnant woman, but to no avail, prompting Hope to lunge toward her — causing the pregnant woman to shoot Kari in the chest. As both the woman and the young girl stood in shock, Hope retrieved the gun and aimed it at the woman, only to accidentally fire it due to a nearby explosion, resulting in her accidentally shooting and killing the woman.
Hope eventually reunited with Leo, Iris, and Felix and arrived at the university, but did not reveal that Kari was murdered or the fact that she killed the woman responsible, saying that Kari was devoured by empties. The rest of her family survived, with Leo establishing a community within Nebraska State University and later joining the Alliance of the Three. A grave was then created for Kari within the Campus Colony, the night she died was later infamously known as "The Night the Sky Fell" or "NSF". Since then, Hope became a rebel within the community - with the desire to leave one day and not only revisit Omaha, but the rest of the world before it could be rebuilt, or, in Hope's belief, before humanity goes extinct.
Among the Alliance of the Three was the Civic Republic - whose origin and operations are unknown unlike the Campus Colony or Portland, Oregon. In 2020, the CRM requested Leo Bennett's scientific knowledge at an unknown base of operations, prompting him to leave the Campus Colony. Hope begged and screamed at her father not to go, but he insisted on going, with Felix's boyfriend, Will, accompanying him. Shortly after his arrival, however, he was able to send faxes to his Hope, Iris, and Felix in a cabinet in his office - with continual updates. Meanwhile, Hope spent her time either training with Jennifer how to fight or brewing contraband alcohol.
Season 1[]
"Brave"[]
Hope sneaks into the baggage compartment of the bus carrying the representatives to meet with the CRM delegates. At one point, a walker grabs onto the side of the bus and nearly gets to Hope, but it eventually falls off. After the bus stops, Hope sneaks away to the Campus Colony Cemetery where she pays her respects to her mother. However, the arrival of the CRM helicopter interrupts this and she quickly sneaks back to the bus. Observing Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Kublek from a distance, Hope gives her the middle finger which Kublek notices as Hope quickly runs away. Upon returning to the Campus Colony, Hope realizes that Silas Plaskett saw her stowing away, but he promises not to rat her out and she invites Silas to a party that she's throwing. Watching the CRM helicopter flying overhead, Hope shakes her head in disgust.
Returning home that night, Hope finds Iris working on her Feast Day speech and Iris confronts Hope about the modified banner. Iris points out that Hope had used to be fine with the Civic Republic, but Hope points out how little they know about them at all and expresses resentment at the CRM taking their father while giving them a soldier in return. However, Iris defends their father's important work in finding a cure to the walkers and berates Hope for her stunt with the banner. Iris asks Hope to sign Felix's birthday card and they bicker briefly about Iris' decision to focus on studying science instead of her artistic talents. After Iris confirms that there's no new messages from Leo, Hope bemoans how she had screamed at their father not to go and pushes Iris to come to her party. Iris flips her off and returns to working on her speech.
The next day, Hope's alcohol lab is raided by the police and she is arrested. Hope tries to claim that it's only a little bit, but Felix calls it a lifetime supply and is annoyed that Hope hasn't finally gotten her act together with Leo gone as he had hoped. Coming closer, Felix quietly asks if Hope has heard anything from Leo and she confirms that its been months since they've heard anything. Felix asks Hope why she does the destructive things that she does with all of her gifts, but she turns the question around on him. Felix states that her dad had given him a life which he is grateful for even if it means trying to reign Hope in. Iris arrives and Felix states that he needs a family member to sign for Hope until she can appear before the CCC. Iris points out that he has guardianship over them and Felix releases Hope, stating that he'd wanted her to think about what she did.
The two girls leave with Hope complaining about Felix's behavior and Iris telling Hope that their father would state that her ability to make that much alcohol would show that Hope has an impressive grasp of chemistry. Spotting Kublek nearby, Hope tries to go in the other direction, but Kublek greets the two girls by name. Kublek thanks them for the sacrifice of their father being gone for months on end and lauds their accomplishments, but Hope rudely rejects Kublek's words and walks away. Hope accuses Iris of not trusting the CRM either and confronts her sister about the nightmares that she's had every night since their father left, but Iris dismisses it. Hope is convinced that they will never see their father again and is sure that Iris knows it deep down too before walking away from her sister.
When Iris tells Dr. K about their family getting separated on the Night the Sky Fell, Hope appears in a flashback with Iris, Leo and their mother Kari.
Hope later trains with Huck and, sitting in the stands as Elton teaches a karate class, discusses her arrest and how Huck never talks about her life in Omaha. Huck insists that there's not much to tell, but Hope admits that she's thinking of going to visit despite there being "over a hundred miles of crap" between the Campus Colony and Omaha. Hope is convinced that the world's gonna end again and that building everything back up is pointless. As a result, Omaha will be gone if she keeps waiting for her chance to see it. Hope believes that it's not because of the threat of the walkers, but rather the destructive nature of people themselves. Huck tells Hope that "it's not it is what it is" before departing as Hope continues watching Elton's class. Playing with her necklace, Hope has a flashback to the Night the Sky Fell, making her way through the crashed plane filled with corpses and walkers along with her mother despite them both being afraid.
Later, Hope arrives at Leo's office and notices that Iris has the cabinet open even with Silas and Elton present. Iris hands Hope the message that she had found from their father and Hope, warily eying Silas and Elton, is concerned by what Leo might mean when he says that his safety isn't assured. Silas is surprised that their father is sending them messages and Elton promises that they won't say anything about it. In order to prove that he will keep their secret, Elton admits that he regularly sneaks out which is how he'd found the Easy Bake Oven and why he wears his suit which he calls bite-proof. Elton explains that he's looking for something that he lost and to see how their world is changing. They now have each other's secrets and Silas promises that he won't tell anyone either. Iris insists that the message could meaning anything or nothing and that the CR has always been very upfront, but Hope reveals that while Kublek claimed that the CRM could only spare one helicopter, there was actually five of them, some of which were carrying shipping containers. Hope insists that the CRM is bad and that their dad is in trouble and that only one person can help them.
At the Bennett home, Hope and Iris show Felix Leo's message that his safety isn't guaranteed. Felix points out that the science exchange with the Civic Republic is about building trust and that it's the first time that they have allowed anyone from outside within those borders wherever those are and that Leo is breaking a number of rules just by sending them messages. Hope insists that Leo could be in trouble and that they must tell someone, but Felix reminds her that Leo hadn't wanted them to tell anyone about the messages as they don't know what the Civic Republic will do when they find out. Felix insists upon honoring Leo's wishes which were meant to keep them safe and that if he is in trouble, they need to put their faith into Leo's security detail - Felix's boyfriend Will - and that they don't have another choice. Angry, Hope leaves, followed by Iris.
Following Hope down the street, Iris states that the message could mean anything and that radio static could've caused it, but Hope insists that the CRM are bad people who have their dad and she is incredulous that Hope can't see it. Kublek interrupts them, asking how the Civic Republic, one of their Alliance partners, are bad exactly. Iris confronts Kublek on how the CRM won't let anyone in or out, communicate with their people or vice versa, they won't tell anyone where they are and they have Hope and Iris' dad. Kublek reveals that she has a daughter who is a bit older than them and is a soldier in the CRM, causing her daughter to be away from Kublek a great deal. However, she remembers the work that her daughter is doing to protect the Civic Republic and the Alliance of the Three and to bring the world back which makes Kublek brave. Kublek insists that they have to be brave in the life that they have, simply existing. Kublek decides to tell them something that will make them trust her, something that will make her need to trust them. Kublek reveals that Leo is teaching at the Civic Republic Research Facility in New York State. Kublek provides them with a coded map to the facility, one that won't show Hope and Iris where in New York, but contains a watermark and a stamp that will show certain people that she gave it to them. However, if those people find out, Kublek will certainly go to jail for it. Kublek assures the two that she's serious and also maybe a little drunk and asks how Hope had learned to make the champagne, explaining that Felix had given it to her as a generous gift from the Campus Colony. Hope explains that she had learned from a book in the library, amusing and impressing Kublek who calls them both their father's daughters. Kublek admits that she had noticed it when she landed with Iris' banner and Hope flipping her off, simply stating that they're brave when Hope asks how that makes them like Leo. The two laugh about Hope hitching a ride in the baggage compartment and make fun of Kublek before leaving to drink some of their father's brandy.
The next morning, a hungover Iris awakens from another nightmare to see another message from Leo telling them that it's gone bad, he's keeping his head down and ordering them not to tell Felix or the council. Even though both know that whatever is going on is bad, Hope doesn't think that there's anything that they can do except wait and hope. Hope reminds Iris that her speech is in an hour, telling Iris that she thinks that their father would want her to give it. Hope constantly rolls her eyes during Kublek's speech, but smiles at her sister's.
Walking with Hope after her speech, Iris insists that they know that Leo might need help which is enough for them to go and help him somehow. While Hope is incredulous, Iris points out that Felix won't go with them to protect and states that they need to be the ones to go and they know where he is. Hope argues against the idea as being crazy, but Iris refuses to look away or lie anymore, stating that she knows that Hope can't either. Iris admits that she froze on the Night the Sky Fell, but promises that she's not freezing anymore. Iris tells her sister that she should've have to go see their mother die and Hope tells her that she's glad that Iris didn't have to see it, fingering her necklace.
In another flashback to the Night the Sky Fell, after escaping from the plane wreckage, Hope spots an abandoned truck that they can take. As Hope and Kari run for the truck, Amelia, the pregnant woman that they had previously encountered confronts them at gunpoint so that she can take the truck instead. As Kari tries to convince the frightened woman to wait for Leo and Iris so that they can all take the truck together, Hope runs at Amelia, causing her to shoot Kari dead out of fear and drop her gun. After desperately calling out to her mother, Hope picks up the gun and accidentally shoots Amelia dead after being startled by an explosion behind her. Hope then picks up a bead that Amelia dropped which becomes her necklace.
In the present, Hope tells her sister that she's glad that Iris didn't see any of it and argues that they could die trying to go after Leo, but Iris points out that they could live and that when they arrive, they will be different and ready. Finally, looking at Silas raking the leaves nearby, Hope states that they know a way out.
Later, Hope and Iris lay out their plan to Silas and Elton, showing them the route that they have mapped out. Elton points out a couple of flaws in their plan, admitting that he's trying to talk them into letting him go with them, Silas asking to go as well. Elton states that they need help and in the time that he has left on this Earth, he wants to mean something and to see the world outside before he's gone and he knows karate. Accepting this, the girls turn to Silas who simply tells them that he doesn't want to be the person that everyone at the Campus Colony sees him as.
Elton leads the group outside through an old door and they look out over a river together. Crossing under a fence, the group avoids some immobile walkers nearby and walks through the ruined city, coming upon the wreckage of the plane that was brought down on the Night the Sky Fell and as night falls, continuing across a bridge where Silas and Elton find the dinosaur fossil that Elton had been looking for which was supposed to be a gift for his sister.
The next morning, as Hope plays with the S-pole that they stole from Felix, Elton adds his Triceratops horn to Hope's training pole which Iris excitedly takes for herself as a weapon. Iris happily tells Hope that she was drawing things that she's been thinking about for living in the now and she didn't have any dreams the night before. As the group continues on through an abandoned neighborhood, they spot a lone walker in the distance and Iris decides to deal with it herself. Excitedly, Iris approaches the walker and raises her weapon, ready to put it down.
"The Blaze of Gory"[]
Iris struggles against the walker, repeatedly stabbing it in the wrong place and making mistakes. Hope calls out to Iris that they're not ready, but Iris insists that she is before her fight causes Iris and the walker to fall down a hole, leaving the walker impaled upon a fallen tree. As the others descend to join them, Iris laughs at the fallen walker and Hope makes sure that she's alright before berating her sister for her recklessness. Elton takes pictures of the walker and comments upon its different physiology. Retrieving her weapon, Iris once again tries to put it down, but she ends up throwing up on the walker instead. As the group leaves the walker trapped, Hope tells it that she's sorry. The group continues on through the ruined city with Hope and Iris joking about their memories of their childhood there.
While the group is stopped, Hope bowls into some crates in front of Iris and Silas and notices Elton taking pictures of a walker that has been pinned down by a fallen tree limb. Elton quotes his mom about nature always winning and tells Hope that Amelia was right about them being at the end of the sixth extinction event on the planet. Elton believes that while humanity was killing themselves directly and indirectly, nature made a shortcut with the undead. Based on how long the dinosaurs were around before they went extinct, Elton suggests that humanity has only about 15 years before they are gone too while Hope comments that she would've given them way less time. Elton and Hope acknowledge that unlike most people, they are both at peace with the end of the world.
Staring through a pair of binoculars, Iris notices a plume of smoke rising into the sky and, handing the binoculars to Hope, tells her that it's the Blaze while Elton is amazed that the Blaze of Gory is real. As Silas is confused, Iris, Hope and Elton explain that it's an everlasting fire that has drawn massive amounts of walkers which Elton explains is the reason that they haven't seen too many walkers in the area. Iris argues for them to at least see if they can pass through the Blaze as otherwise, they have to detour 60 miles to get around it. Hope reluctantly agrees to check it out while Elton wants to see it regardless if they pass through it or not. As the others leave, Hope secretly leaves behind an empty can of sliced peaches in the middle of the road.
As they continue towards the Blaze, Elton collects a rock and pulls out a can of spray paint, explaining that he can continue Dr. Bavolar's experiments into studying the walkers migration patterns and Silas agrees to help him. The group stops in front of a walker that is weirdly covered, only to have a swarm of bees emerge from inside of the walker which they had been using as a beehive. While trying to shake off the bees and flee, the walker comes after Elton who falls to the ground. Silas steps up to his defense, but he hesitates to use his wrench on the walker and instead helps Elton up and they flee along with the others. Spotting a treehouse, Elton stops the group for the night.
Inside the treehouse, the group enjoys playing with the bowling ball, Silas with a little reluctance, before they are interrupted by the arrival of the walker that they had earlier encountered. Hope reluctantly agrees to drop her bowling ball on the walker, but while she succeeds in destroying part of its face, she fails to destroy the head completely and put the walker down. As Elton begins looking for something else to throw at it, Silas apologizes for not putting it down earlier. Iris reassures Silas that it's okay, stating that walkers are supposed to get distracted pretty easily and that if it's still around in the morning, they can deal with it then. Elton finds Monopoly in the treehouse and the group enjoys a game before going to sleep.
However, Hope is haunted by the noise of the walker still outside and memories of accidentally killing a woman on the Night the Sky Fell and she can't sleep. Grabbing an old doll, Hope sets on fire and tosses it across the lawn, drawing the walker away. Hope descends the rope ladder with her S-Pole to kill it, but she ends up falling, drawing the walker's attention back to her. Hope manages to lure the walker through a broken fence towards a swimming pool, but she falls in with it and ends up hanging onto the edge with the walker trying to get her from below. Hope manages to kick the walker off of her and climb out, but she flips it off and leaves the walker trapped in the pool rather than putting it down. Hope returns to bed and Silas asks if she got rid of it, but Hope states that she didn't do anything. Nevertheless, Silas thanks her as it was his mistake for not putting it down earlier, but Hope tells him that it wasn't, but even if it was, "that doesn't mean it has to follow you around forever." Silas agrees to keep it a secret and puts his headphones on and goes back to bed.
The next day, the group stops near the Blaze of Gory and Iris peers at it through their binoculars. At Hope's request, Iris gives her the binoculars while Elton takes a picture with the binoculars showing a smoke-filled bus depot crowded with walkers. Sitting on a tennis court, Hope argues against going into the Blaze, calling what she saw crazy. Elton agrees that the Blaze is quite big, but Iris argues that they can do it. According to their map, there is an airfield on the other side of the Blaze which is surrounded by a fence, meaning that the walkers coming from the east have to go around it leaving them a clear path to go through due east. Hope asks about what they will do about the walkers before the fence, but Elton believes that they can evade them by using the buses for cover. Hope points out that they've barely survived two encounters with single walkers let alone a whole herd, but Silas states that they will probably get caught if they go around and he can't go back. Having come outside to see what the world is start to finish, Elton agrees with Silas as he doesn't intend to finish before he starts. With darkness coming, Iris decides that they'll wait for dawn when the shadows will be long and they'll have more cover.
Half an hour before dawn, the group begins packing up to go into the Blaze. Elton approaches Hope who is sitting on a bench and comments on how nice Hope and Iris' jackets are. Hope explains that Silas' grandmother had taught him how to sew and he was able to fix the jackets up so that they would better fit the girls. Hope asks if it bothers Elton that they are going to end up like the dinosaurs and Elton returns the question. Hope admits that she thinks that she always knew that it was always going to go that way, before becoming suspicious that Elton is dodging her question. Elton states that he was just curious and that it doesn't bother him. There always had to have been a last generation and he wonders if they knew that they were the end and were therefore special. Hope wonders if they're the last generation which Elton calls "endlings" which is what the last of a species is called. Elton calls himself lucky to know that, "to know that I need to make my life count. it's all I can do. Really, it's all any of us can do. We're the Endlings." Hope is intrigued by Elton calling them Endlings, but he corrects himself, saying that he misspoke and the very last member of a species is the endling. Of their group, the true Endling will be the last one alive and it's that person's life and death that will define them all. Hope starts crying and admits that it bothers her and asks Elton for his spray paint. Hope uses it to spray paint a message onto the signs outside of the park: "WE WERE HERE - THE ENDLINGS."
Entering the bus depot, the group sneaks between the vehicles, but the herd is between them and the exit to the east. As they continue to sneak through the bus depot, the smoke gets a lot thicker, blocking out the sun and making it almost impossible to see, causing the Endlings to get lost. As the herd closes in from all directions, Hope finally spots the fence nearby and they run for it, knocking walkers out of their way. After getting through the fence and blocking it behind them, Iris celebrates that they did it, only for them to find that they have reached the heart of the Blaze with burning tires and more walkers nearby.
That night, the Endlings stare at the fire and the building on the other side of it with the sounds of walkers growling. Elton guesses that the airfield must be on the other side of the rest of the Blaze and Iris is dismayed that she didn't think of there being a rest of the Blaze before, but Hope points out that none of them saw it because it was behind the smoke. Elton proposes an idea that he knows will be unpopular: one of them can manually sound the old tornado siren on the building roof and create a distraction for the rest of them, hopefully escaping themselves afterwards. Elton admits that he wants to send someone in as bait, but Iris rejects the idea as too dangerous, stating that they all came in together and they will all go out together. Silas wonders how, but Iris has no answer and she admits that Hope was right to question her as she isn't as ready for this as Iris had believed. While Iris had wanted to be brave like her sister, Hope tells her that she's not brave but rather that she's "a shit person, who does shit things, because I don't give a single shit about anything." On the other hand, Iris had the guts to do something big and crazy that meant something to all of them and she should be proud of herself for that no matter what. Hope decides that they should get some sleep and that they will all do better with fresh heads.
Later, while everyone else is sleeping, Hope sits awake, crying and playing with her bead necklace. Spotting the two radios amongst their belongings, Hope takes her pack and S-Pole, covers her face in a handkerchief and walks off alone into the Blaze of Gory.
"The Tyger and the Lamb"[]
Hope wakes Silas, Iris and Elton up over the radio, announcing that they're doing Elton's plan. Iris refuses to let her, but Hope states that she can get to the factory and sound the siren which is their best chance of getting out alive. Iris points out that they don't know if the tornado siren even works or if they can get it to work and that they had decided against the plan, but Hope states that Iris had decided. Iris pleads for Hope to come back, but Hope tells her that its not so bad further in and jokes that Iris' cooking is worse. Hope refuses Iris' pleas to come back, telling her sister that they knew how it was going to have to be when they left but they did it for their father and this should be her job. Hope suddenly swears and has to go and Iris isn't able to raise her on the radio again.
After a few minutes of trying, Iris finally reaches Hope again who explains that for a second there, things had gotten hairy. Hope reveals that she's in an office in front of the factory, one that is a straight shot from the entrance with not too many walkers in the way. From there, Hope will be able to use the siren to clear a path to the exit. Iris orders her to wait and that they are on their way, but Hope tells her sister that she will be gone by the time that they arrive and that they just need to get there. Hope orders Iris to stay put once they get there, wait until she hears the siren and then make a run for the exit where Hope will meet them. Iris tries to get her to wait so that they can go together, but Hope knows that she will move faster and quieter alone and she insists that Iris just needs to trust her. Iris reluctantly agrees to do as Hope wants and Hope tells her that she needs to turn off her radio until it's safe. In goodbye, Hope tells Iris to grin and that she loves her. Iris flips Hope off through the radio and claims to be grinning, but Hope knows that she's lying and gets Iris to grin for real. Hope then shuts off her radio and, after a final look at the walkers moving around outside, grabs her S-Pole and leaves the office.
Hope enters the factory, but her flashlight dies as Hope approaches the partially-blocked stairs. As Hope tries to clear the stairs, the noise draws a walker to her, causing Hope to hide out in a nearby supply closet for awhile. Once the walker moves away, Hope opens the door, but she inadvertently draws it back with the noise that she makes. The walker smashes its head through the metal grating on the door and Hope escapes while its head is trapped. Hope quickly clears off the stairs and makes her way to the roof where she finds the tornado siren. However, when Hope tries to test it, the crank handle breaks off.
A little while later, Hope contacts the others and informs them that she found the siren, but the crank was broken so she took the whole thing apart and now she can't figure out how to put it back together again. Iris gives the radio to Felix who demands to know where she is. Hope is surprised to hear from Felix who tells her that Huck is with him too. However, Hope refuses to tell Felix where to find him which would put him in even more danger. Hope resumes work on the siren and tells Felix that the second that she sounds the siren, it'll clear a path for them, but they need to haul ass. Elton is confused by Hope's terminology and, annoyed, Hope orders him to just run to the exit and she promises to meet them there. Hope has Felix give the radio back to Iris and Iris reassures her that she can do this, just like when they were kids. Hope asks Iris to promise not to come back for her if she doesn't make it to the exit in time and Iris makes that promises because she's sure that Hope is going to make it. Hope states that she wishes that she hadn't had a stupid fight with Leo before he left and that while she still wants to find him and see him, she didn't think that they'd be any good to him dead. Iris knows and promises that they will talk about it and make it out of the Blaze and she orders Hope to haul ass to the exit or Iris will kill Hope herself. Agreeing to no goodbyes, Iris flips Hope off again through the radio which Hope appreciates while Elton finally understands what she had meant by haul ass.
After putting the siren back together, Hope manages to use a long pole to sound it. Hope's use of the siren draws most of the herd to the factory wall, clearing a path for the others through the Blaze. Once they are clear of the immediate area, Hope abandons the siren and climbs down the fire escape, but falls the last few feet, injuring her leg and slowing her run. Chased by a number of walkers, Hope uses a Zippo lighter to set a trail of melted rubber on fire in order to hold them back. However, as Hope races to catch up with the others, she is attacked by a pair of conjoined walkers and her attempts to fight them off only to result in Hope losing her pack and getting knocked to the ground. Iris comes to her sister's rescue and manages to put one of the walkers down with her weapon, but she struggles with the other one. Grabbing her S-Pole off of the ground, Hope drives it into the second walker's head from behind as Iris pushes it up off of her, putting the walker down. Iris helps her sister towards the exit, assisted by Elton who supports the injured Hope from the other side. However, while putting down a walker, Huck knocks into a wall of tires, causing it to collapse. Silas holds it up while the others rush through the gap between it and the wall next to it. Elton suddenly runs back through for his bag and gets back just in time before the wall collapses, the tires forming a blockade that prevents the herd from following the Endlings any further.
After escaping from the Blaze, the Endlings relax on a dock while laying most of their clothes out. Huck approaches Huck and tells the girl that she should've come to her and Hope asks if it's so that Huck could've tried to stop her. With a laugh, Huck asks if that wasn't what Hope had wanted and tells her to think about what she wants as Hope's sister and her friends are all counting on her. Huck takes her coat and walks away as Hope plays with her bead necklace.
Later, as the Endlings eat, Felix approaches and tells them that they should pack up and leave. Iris questions where he wants to go and Felix informs them that they aren't going back through the Blaze and with the other options on foot not being much better, they head up to Omaha and resupply. The group can then return to the Campus Colony with the next transfer in about two weeks. However, Iris refuses to go back and Silas backs her up, telling Felix that this is the fresh start that he had promised him. Felix tells Silas that his uncle is worried sick about him, but while Silas misses his uncle, Silas believes that he's supposed to be out there and his uncle would want him to be where Silas is supposed to be. Elton declares that he's where he's supposed to be too and Hope agrees with the others. Hope tells Felix that if he really wants to keep his promise to their father, he will help the Endlings find him. Leo is in New York and Kublek has given them the map. Felix already knows this, but he's convinced that the Endlings are only going to get themselves killed trying like they nearly did back at the Blaze. Hope implores both Felix and Huck to come with them then, telling Felix that while he keeps saying that there's nothing that he can do to help their dad, he can help the Endlings help him. However, they are going with or without Felix's help or approval. Huck agrees that Hope has a point, telling Felix that they can't turn them around at least for the moment and that all they can do right now is to keep them safe "till there's something more we can do." While he's not happy, Felix reluctantly agrees and walks away.
Hope approaches Iris where she's sitting alone on the end of the dock and sits down with her. Iris thanks her sister for having their backs and wonders what changed. Hope guesses that she did and admit that she was scared, but she's tired of being scared. Crying, Hope tells her sister that on the Night the Sky Fell, when their mother died, it wasn't walkers, Iris or people that caused it, but rather Hope herself. Hope admits that even after all of these years, she hasn't told anyone the truth, not even their father and she explains that the pregnant lady that they had seen came back with a gun. The woman was scared and Hope went at her, scaring the woman and causing her to shoot their mother. As Iris stares at Hope in shock, Hope reveals that she picked up the gun and it went off, killing the woman. Sadly, Iris tells Hope that she should've told her, but Hope tells her sister that she didn't want what happened to change Iris or the way that she saw her, but Iris is right and Hope should've told her. Iris admits that she knew that there was something that Hope didn't tell her, but they were just kids that night, the sky was falling and they weren't ready for it, nobody was. Hope apologizes and, crying herself, Iris embraces her, reassuring Hope that they will get through this together before they stand up.
Felix approaches Hope and Iris and tells them that they should go to Omaha as it's where safety is and their dad wants them safe, "not that either of you seem to care about that at all." Felix insists that their plan is a mistake and that they're going to eventually see it, he only just hopes that it won't take one of them getting hurt or worse before that happens. Iris asks if this means that Felix is saying that he's coming with them and with Iris confirming that they're not giving him an option, Felix confirms it, planning to come along at least until he can convince them to change their minds and go back. Felix is sure that he will eventually convince the Endlings to change their minds and Hope apologizes for dragging him into this, but admits that she's glad that he's with them, although Felix doesn't share the sentiment. Hope also apologizes for stealing Felix and Will's jackets even though they look really good on her and Iris. Felix states that they look better on him and Will and leads the Endlings, now including Felix and Huck, in continuing their journey.
Hope questions why Elton went back into the Blaze to save his luggage and he explains that it was to save his mother's unfinished manuscript which Elton intends to finish himself. While they both acknowledge that it was kind of irrational for Elton to go back for it, Hope calls it badass as well.
"The Wrong End of a Telescope"[]
Walking down a path, Elton tells Iris that based on the coded map that she was given, the Civic Republic Research Facility is somewhere in New York, but she points out that they don't know where exactly it is yet. Felix calls out that it's all the more reason to turn around, but Hope simply calls it a nice try. Iris states that they might've taken a wrong turn, but this path should still lead to the interstate. Felix states that the bad news is that they are almost out of supplies and rain is coming. Huck states that it would've been one thing if the waystation that Will mentioned had panned out, but it didn't. Silas reassures the others that they will figure something out, surprising her with his smiling even in this situation.
Elton wonders where the Civic Republic itself is, but Iris points out that it's called the Hidden City for a reason and states that she had always pictured it as being underground. Elton agrees with her, but he points out that they refine their own fuel, fly helicopters and grow their own crops which can't all be done underground. Iris points out their research facility where Leo is located isn't actually where they are and that maybe the Civic Republic does all of that other stuff elsewhere too. Elton states that regardless, the Civic Republic's high resource output suggests that they have a large population, which causes their security approach of not saying where they are is understandable. Hope calls it shady which Elton agrees with along with the fact that the messages from Leo are certainly a cause for concern. However, if the Civic Republic has technology and agriculture and sophisticated governmental systems, it would be smart to stay hidden even if it makes others question their motives. Elton concludes that they should feel lucky that the Civic Republic hasn't taken over or taken things. Hope states that they don't know that, but Felix insists that they do since they trade with the Civic Republic as does Portland and Huck reminds the group of their joint protection agreements. Iris simply states that the CRM has their father and Felix acknowledges that they don't know anything about them at all. "Ergo the long walk, Champ," Hope sarcastically quips to Felix. The others walk ahead of the two adults and Iris finds and breaks the chain on a gate leading into a high school. Felix suggests that a place like this which is hidden from the world could be a good place to find supplies while Huck points out that it could also be a good place to ride out the rain and Iris is excited about the idea of being inside of a real high school for the first time.
Sitting in the auditorium, Iris looks in a yearbook at the picture of Sabina James and smiles, lost in thought, before being interrupted by Hope rummaging through the trophy case, breaking the glass on the front in the process. Hope tells her sister that she's trying to see if there was anything useful while they wait for their babysitters to get back, but it turns out that there wasn't much. Elton and Silas enter the auditorium with a large round trophy which Elton says that they can use to collect rain water. Entering, Felix tells the others that the school is huge with no sign of any walkers, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any around. Huck states that their priorities are food, clothes for Hope and anything that they can use to collect water as they can take advantage of the downpour outside for that. Huck agrees that the trophy that Elton and Silas have found is a good idea for catching rain and Iris suggests that they should split up in order to cover more ground. When Felix and Huck hesitate, Iris states that they can handle themselves and she quotes Felix's own words in class right back at him. Amused, Felix agrees and orders Silas to keep his radio on and takes Elton with him to collect water. Hope tries to talk to Iris as they haven't really spoken since the docks and she promises that they can talk later and states that she and Silas will take the first floor. Felix orders the others to keep their eyes open and their weapons drawn and to run if they see any walkers and to be careful. The Endlings split up with Hope pairing off with Huck, although she's not happy that her sister is avoiding her.
Walking through the school's ruined hallways with Huck, Hope rummages through some of the lockers and is amused by a pair of sunglasses that she finds, asking if people had actually worn them. Hope realizes from Huck's grimace that she had worn sunglasses like that too, which Huck refuses to confirm or deny. Hope tosses the sunglasses to Huck who puts them on, puts on a funny face and flashes a peace sign before Hope tells her to stop, embarrassed for her friend, but too hungry to laugh. The two resume walking and Hope begins collecting things from people's lockers while Huck wonders what has changed since the time that they had talked where Hope had believed that the world is ending and that people are shit, but she is now walking through a thousand miles of walkers on just a hunch. Hope ignores the question and plays with some of the clothes that she's found, asking if it's too late to reinvent herself. Huck points out that Hope had left Huck and Felix straight to them and asks if she got roped into the mission or if she had second thoughts. Hope admits to having had second thoughts before having second thoughts about her second thoughts. Huck presses Hope to be straight with her, but Hope refuses to do so until "cool Huck" returns since Huck sounds like her dad right now.
In a flashback, Hope angrily confronts Leo for not showing up in Principal Kallenbach's office despite Hope waiting for him all day. Hope is angry when Leo's response makes it clear that he forgot and Leo explains that he was going to go between classes, but then he came up with the exact right phrase for the start of the Advanced Immunology textbook preface, the one that was giving him all of the trouble. As a result, he forgot about the meeting. After that, Leo had another class and then he thought that if she sat there all day, Hope might think twice before setting off stink bombs to try to get a day off of school. He had then gotten distracted by wondering if it was just a product of the background processes of his brain which had made Leo forget again until right now.
Leo asks Hope what's going on with her since this is getting to be a regular thing with her, but Hope reveals that they weren't just stink bombs but time-release stink bombs that had taken two weeks to perfect. Leo returns to his work without a word and Hope accuses him of kicking himself some days for "picking a dud like me" and that he had at least done well with picking Iris. Getting up, Leo tells her daughter that the adoption agency had told Leo and her mother that Hope and Iris had shared a crib and that they were inseparable, bonded before the Bennett’s had ever met them. From the moment that Leo and Kari had laid eyes on them both, they had wanted to protect Hope and Iris and they knew that if they couldn't, that Hope and Iris would protect each other instead. Hope has done well with Iris and vice versa and Leo promises Hope that he has never wished for another Iris and he loves Hope unconditionally, but he hates that Hope doesn't see herself the way that her father does because she is exceptional. Hope leaves with the excuse of helping Iris before her sister burns dinner, but Leo stops her, asking about the composition of her stink bombs. Hope corrects Leo's assumption and while he admits that it wasn't what he would've done, it's not bad. Smiling, Hope leaves without another word.
In the present, Hope stares at a sign for a fallout shelter and Huck notes that she's seen several outlines like the one around the sign around the school, but that this is the first one with an actual sign attached. Hope wonders if someone had taken down all of the others and Huck suggests that if somebody did, there might be something in the fallout shelter worth hiding and they have a chance at resupplying after all. Huck is excited by the idea while Hope points out that they just have to find it now.
Hope and Huck enter a stairwell where Huck bangs on the railing in order to draw out any nearby walkers. With no sign of any, the two begin making their way down the stairs and Hope presses Huck for information on her past, particularly on her dad's reaction to Huck's military service. Huck admits that her father was proud of her, but tells Hope that it's complicated with fathers sometimes as "they have a funny way of showing that they give a shit sometimes" which Hope agrees with.
In a flashback, Leo apologizes to Hope as he gathers things from his office, but tells her that he has to go. Hope argues against her father putting himself in danger who knows where for people that he doesn't even know, but Leo states that the CRM are good people, or they seem to be at least. The Civic Republic shares the same goals as the Campus Colony and they need to trust them. Hope points out that good people would tell you where they are taking you and she accuses her father of not seeing things clearly. However, Leo trusts his brain and his brain is telling Leo that the clear thing is to trust the CRM. Leo feels that any chance he gets to teach emerging minds to train more people in the things that they all need to know is the only way forward. Hope insists that the world that her father is trying to save is over, but Leo tells her that it's not the end because if it was the end, it would be easy, but it's not. Leo is sure that humanity still has a shot and he intends to take it.
Tearfully, Hope promises to be better and to stop being a screw up, but Leo reassures his daughter that he isn't going on this trip because of her and that Hope isn't a screw up. However, Hope isn't convinced that she's not a screw up, but Leo tells Hope that she's just frustrated and it's not her fault. Leo has intended to talk to Hope about a lot of things for a long time and he promises that they will talk about them when he gets back. While it's big stuff that he needs to say, Leo promises that it's not bad stuff. Leo brings up how the CRM has said that they can't communicate because the CRM doesn't allow any messages to go in or out before revealing that he's figured out a way around it using a tweak on some old technology. Leo will be sharing it with the Omaha Council when he gets back, but not until then. Leo will show this device to Hope, Iris and Felix, stating that Felix is family too. Hope is impressed that her father has made a communications device and he jokes that he can be bad too. Leo promises Hope that it's gonna be fine and that he loves her more than she'll ever know and the two hug.
In the present, Hope and Huck emerge on the first floor and Huck tells Hope that the basement steps should be just up ahead. However, the two spot a snarling wolf nearby and Huck orders Hope to get back. Huck goes for her gun, but Hope stops her and the two quickly duck into a nearby classroom. The two observe the wolf through the window and Huck notes that it's standing in a doorway like it's standing guard. Hope wonders if the wolf is defending its young and Huck says that if she's right, she thinks that she knows how they can get around it and to go slow. Emerging from the classroom, Hope and Huck slowly inch their way along the wall and through a grate that Huck closes behind them, separating the two from the wolf. With a last look back, Hope follows Huck down the hallway.
As they continue searching for the fallout shelter, Hope asks Huck about the whole defending its young thing that she had recognized with the wolf. Huck explains that it was something that she had picked up while being out in the wild for as long as she was and that while it's easy to think that you're reading a situation the right way, sometimes there is something else going on that you have no idea about. Hope knows that this is about Huck trying to get her turn back with all of her earlier questions and Huck states that she should. However, while Hope would've done it a few days before, she now knows that she can't. Hope echoes what Huck had said about dads having a weird way of showing that they give a shit and she suggests that she might've had her dad all wrong. Leo had told her before he left that it wasn't her fault that she was so frustrated and while she had thought at the time that he was just trying to make her feel better, Hope now thinks that Leo might've just been trying to protect her like the wolf was doing with its young. Hope admits that she doesn't know what Leo was trying to protect her from, but she intends to find out when they find him.
Crouching under a half raised sliding door, the two find a door leading into the fallout shelter's pantry which is full of food. However, Huck spots a walker that is missing a leg on the floor and orders Hope to start packing up supplies while she uses her S-Pole to put the walker down. Hope is disgusted when Huck loads up on cans of sardines before they heard Iris calling for help and banging on the locked door leading into the rest of the fallout shelter. Huck begins working on getting the door open while Iris calls out to her sister that they need to get the door open as there are walkers in the shelter and it's about to get bad. Huck promises that they are going to get the two out of there and orders her to hang on. With the help of Felix and Elton, the two get into the fallout shelter just in time to witness Silas beating a walker to death with his bare hands, throwing Elton to the ground in his rage. Felix puts down the other walkers and manages to snap Silas out of his rage. Everyone stares at Silas in shock while Silas, staring at his own shaking hands, apologizes to his friends.
After the fight, Iris packs food into her backpack while Hope sits silently nearby, shocked by the events. Iris tells her sister that there is a lot that she missed out on and she starts to suggest that it might've been different had she known or Hope told her, before stopping herself and telling Hope that they should've talked. If they had been honest with each other about what had happened that night, they could've been there for each other which is what they both really missed out on. The sisters interlock their hands before Iris jokingly flips Hope off which she returns.
In the auditorium, Felix checks that Silas, now cleaned up, is good which he confirms. Patting Silas on the shoulder, Elton reassures his best friend that he is before having the Endlings line up for a group picture together, much to the surprise and teasing of Iris due to Elton only ever using his camera to document things.
"Madman Across the Water"[]
Elton smiles at a sign for Daiquiritown on the side of the road. As the others walk by him, Iris and Silas, talking and laughing, Elton turns and follows his friends, smiling at Iris and Silas' jovial mood. Elton looks back at Felix who gives him a nod as they continue their journey.
That night, as the Endlings camp out and Felix and Huck set up protective netting, Elton works on continuing his mother's manuscript. Iris informs Hope that, according to Huck, the U.S. Military had blown up all of the bridge crossings over the Mississippi River when things went bad, meaning that the group will need a boat in order to get across. Huck warns the others that the crossing is going to be tough and the terrain on the other side of the river will be worse than anything that they've encountered so far and asks if they are ready to do this. Recognizing that Huck is once again trying to get them to turn back, Iris and Hope sarcastically agree with her that they aren't ready and that they should turn back. As Huck walks off, the two girls exchange fist bumps in victory while Elton chuckles.
The next day, as the group continues their journey, Elton takes a picture of a decomposing walker that has plants growing out of it. Walking past a destroyed bridge and half-sunk boats, Hope sarcastically comments on their many options. Reaching the end of the wharf, Elton suggests that the locals had used the boats kept there to evacuate when things got bad and that they are likely looking at the last of them. Iris decides that they will get creative and build their own boat which Hope supports. Felix is incredulous at the idea, but Iris suggests remodeling an old trailer nearby into a boat. While Elton tries to downplay the suggestion, Silas thinks that it could work if they fix it up and add stuff to it while Hope suggests that they can look for parts at a warehouse further north. With everyone else agreeing, the Endlings head for the warehouse, although Felix is visibly unhappy at the idea.
Arriving at the warehouse, the group taps on the outside in order to confirm that it's empty of walkers before entering. Hope is discouraged by the state of the warehouse, but Iris isn't quite so pessimistic about their chances of finding anything there. Iris and Hope find a few boxes of nail polish and Iris has the Endlings split up and keep looking for anything that might be useful to them. As Elton searches, he comes across the dead body of a walker against one of the shelves.
After completing their search, the group starts going over what they have found: barrels for flotation, straps for binding and fastening, a fan blade that could make a good propellor and a lot of pallets outside that can be broken up for wood as well as a tool box full of tools. Felix points out that they don't have an engine and that without that, they have nothing to fight the river's current. Elton states that there's not much left in the warehouse other than some long-dead batteries, a huge broken air conditioner and a couple of bags of sand. Iris comes up with the idea of using the air conditioner's parts to make some kind of steam boiler like how Hope had created a still back at the Campus Colony. Silas states that the steam boiler would be like the dorm furnaces that he had to fix and Hope figures that it's worth a shot. While Felix remains visibly unhappy, Huck agrees to try out their plan.
On the banks of the river, the Endlings work together on building their boat using the parts that they have gathered, even Felix despite his reluctance to go along with the plan. Hope tells Elton that working on their boat is making their mission to find her dad really seem possible now, especially because the river is the last big thing in their way and once they cross it it's all downhill from there.
After overhearing Felix and Huck discuss Felix's plan and Elton's part in it, Hope angrily confronts Elton about it. Elton admits that he has been working with Felix kind of and Hope flatly rejects to hear Felix out and accuses him of planning to sabotage the boat if he can't change their minds. Elton tells Hope that he's been listening to Felix and a lot of what he's saying about going back makes sense, but Hope angrily reminds him of how Elton had wanted to see the world from start to finish. Felix reveals that he had wanted them to take the boat downriver and then back up the banks of the Missouri River until they reached the Campus Colony. Felix calls this plan safer than cutting through the Blaze and the smartest thing for them right now, reminding Hope that they don't know where they're going, what they're going to do if and when they get there and they don't even know that Leo is really in trouble. Getting heated, Felix suggests that Leo could've sent them ten messages that he's fine since their departure. However, Hope knows that Felix doesn't really believe that last statement. Felix angrily tells Hope that it doesn't matter what he believes as Felix had made a promise to Leo to keep her and Hope safe and that is exactly what he intends to do. Hope accuses Felix of caring more about his promise than Leo's life, leading to an increasingly-heated exchange before Iris breaks it up, telling the two that they don't have time for this as there is still so much left to do. Iris orders them to "leave your shit at the door, because without each and every one of us giving 100%... we're not making it across that river." The argument ends and the Endlings go back to work.
Walking along the banks of the river with Huck looking for a possible source of fuel, Hope sees only driftwood which Huck calls better than nothing and decides to have them grab it all. Hope expresses her anger over the way that Felix messed with Elton's head in order to get them to turn around, but Huck defends Felix and Elton, telling Hope that they were only doing what they thought was best for everybody and that it's not really something that Hope can fault them for. However, Hope isn't willing to let it go, stating that she can fault them for being shady and for what Huck just said too. Hope questions which side Huck is on since she had also overheard Huck talk about calling the plan off. Huck admits that for a long while, she was all for bringing the Endlings back home, but now she's not so sure. "This thing we're doing right now going across country, is big, maybe the biggest thing we'll ever do" and it's things like this that makes people stronger and better.
When Hope is still unconvinced, Huck brings up how the story that everyone knows of how she got to Omaha in the first place: she was found floating down the Missouri River in a raft with a broken arm, in a messed-up state and not sure if she's coming or going. The next thing that she knows, people are calling her Huck which she doesn't mind, calling her nickname kind of cool. Huck admits that she leaves a lot out of that story such as the days when she didn't know if she was going to live or die and how close Huck came to giving up and letting the water just take her away. However, if she had given up and didn't keep pushing every single moment, she never would've lived long enough to have been found by Omaha Security. Hope apologizes, but Huck waves it off and tells Hope that her experiences have pushed her to be stronger and better and she suggests that this mission might do the same thing for Hope and her friends and maybe even Felix. Hope suggests that Huck should tell him that and Huck reveals that she was about to when Hope interrupted them. Huck thinks that it might not be her place to tell him that, however and he might need to figure it out for himself in his own way.
Felix approaches the two, asking for a word alone with Hope and Huck leaves the two alone. While they both acknowledge that Hope is pissed at Felix, she tells him that she's more pissed at herself for being dumb enough to think that she could turn him over to their side. Hope reveals that she and Iris were extremely excited when Leo first took Felix in as they had thought that that they were going to get a brother. However, Hope states that they didn't get a brother because Felix never acted like one to them. Hope accuses Felix of rejecting every chance that their father had given him to be a real part of the family and seeing Hope and Iris as his problems rather than his sisters. Becoming emotional, Hope tells Felix that all Felix had to do was to be the one to tell Leo not to go and he would've listened as Leo trusts Felix more than anyone. While Hope knows that Felix had his reasons, she had still hoped that he would do something to stop Leo. Stating that the joke's on her and that it's time for her to grow up, Hope walks away, leaving Felix alone.
As Hope continues to work on the boat, Huck warns that the storm is getting closer and Hope demands to know where Silas and Elton are. Suddenly, smoke pours from the boiler and Hope climbs up on top of the boat to tend to it with Huck. Felix and Iris arrive and begin to tell them something, but Huck tells them that they already know about the lightning storm heading their way real fast. Iris reveals that there's a herd of a couple of dozen walkers heading their way and that they are maybe only fifteen minutes out. Felix tells them that they don't have enough time and that they need to take cover, but Iris warns them that the rising water will wash the boat away and they can't risk that. Hope states that they'll launch before the shit hits, but Iris realizes that Silas and Elton are still missing.
Hope, Felix and Huck frantically rush to finish the boat, causing Hope to accidentally cut her hand in the process. Felix gives her a rag to wrap it up with as Silas and Elton finally arrive with the buckets of nail polish. Iris pours the nail polish into the steam boiler, causing the drive belt to begin spinning before fire comes out of the boiler and the drive belt stops moving. Spotting the herd approaching, Felix borrows Elton's fisherman and uses it to string up a makeshift net between two trees, holding back the herd temporarily. Looking under the boat, Iris discovers that the drive belt has come loose and it can only be fixed if someone can fit under the boat and reattach it. Iris turns to Elton, the only one small enough to fit, but he refuses as Elton is claustrophobic. Iris pleads with Elton to do it anyways as it is their only chance. Closing his eyes, Elton remembers cowering, scared, in the box ten years before. Finally, Elton agrees and begins to crawl under the boat with a screwdriver. As Elton fixes the boat, Iris, Hope and Huck briefly join Felix in holding back the herd before Iris and Hope pull Elton free after he gets stuck fixing the boat.
Running out of time with the herd approaching and their limited fuel, Iris, Hope, Huck, Elton and Silas work together and attempt to push the boat into the river. However, they are unable to move it at all. Feeling that they have no other choice, Hope decides that they need to abandon the boat and make a run for it against Iris' objections, but Felix appears with a plank of wood to use as a lever. As the herd closes in on them, the Endlings successfully launch the boat and set sail across the Mississippi River to Illinois.
That night, as the Endlings camp, Hope questions why Felix helped them in the end as, if he hadn't, they would've been forced to ditch the boat which would've given Felix more time to turn them around. Gathering food for the group from their supplies, Felix states that it wouldn't have done him any good and Iris and Hope are stubborn as shit. The two share a laugh and Hope tells Felix that Huck thinks that this will be good for them and that it will turn them into the people that they are supposed to be. Observing Huck looking at a map, Felix agrees that they'll see and that it was never just about a promise that Felix had made to Leo. Hope tells Felix that she knows that and that she hadn't left those clues behind just so that Felix would come and turn them around, she was also hoping that he'd join them. However, Felix is with them now which is what matters. Felix approaches Huck and confirms with her that she's alright with their change of plans. Huck promises that they'll keep the group safe and when they find Leo and Will, they'll keep them safe too.
Huck proposes that for now, they divide and conquer and she explains to the group that she's going to spend the next day or two scouting ahead. Their intel is weak for this side of the river and they are only as solid as their intel. Hope is surprised that Huck is going off on her own, but she promises to be back within 48 hours at the most and until then, they are in good hands with Felix. With a pat on the shoulder to Felix, Huck ducks under the netting strung around the camp and leaves on her scouting mission.
Hope approaches Elton and asks if he's okay. Shakily, Elton tells Hope that on the Night the Sky Fell, his father had told Elton not to be scared and that he wasn't scared and that Elton shouldn't be either. However, Elton now knows that Isaac was in fact scared, probably more than he'd ever been in his entire life. However, that didn't stop Isaac from doing what needed to be done and he was brave because he was scared, not in spite of it. Putting her hand on Elton's shoulder, Hope tells him that she wishes that she could've met Elton's parents, calling them pretty cool to have had a kid like him. Looking at the picture of his mother, Elton admits that even though he knows that the odds against it are astronomical, he sometimes thinks that his mother is still out there somewhere with his sister Esmerelda, both surviving together. Hope tells him that she doesn't think that its crazy before seeing the picture and realizing that Elton's mother is the woman that she had killed on the Night the Sky Fell.
The group is disturbed by a branch breaking nearby and Elton and Hope rejoin the group. Believing it to be a walker, Iris goes to take care of it with Hope, Silas and Elton right behind her. However, a boy emerges from the woods instead holding a stick.
"Shadow Puppets"[]
Aiming his stick at the Endlings, the boy demands that they stay back as Hope tries to get answers from him. The argument turns into a standoff before Felix come up from behind and holds the boy at gunpoint. Felix forces the boy to disarm himself and sends Elton and Silas to check the perimeter just in case there is anyone else with the boy. Iris pats him down for weapons and the boy insists that he was alone and taking a leak in the bushes when he heard voices. Hope asks if his intention was to rob them while Hope determines that the boy is unarmed. Iris asks where his food is, but the boy tells them that he doesn't have anything. Silas and Elton confirm that there are no signs of anyone else and the boy introduces himself as Percy.
Iris invites Percy to have something to eat and he tells them a story about two guys that he had met, Mike and Tony, who had robbed Percy a couple of days before. They had gone to a settlement that they'd heard was friendly to newcomers, but they had heard wrong. Hope sarcastically suggests that the people there might've just not liked Percy, but Percy ignores her and explains that they had found a place to camp out and when he woke up, Mike, Tony and his stuff were all gone. Percy thinks that they are in Andersonville down the road and he intends to go there and get his stuff back. Felix suggests that Percy just be grateful that they left him with his life and move on, but Percy responds that "this isn't a vigilante type deal and it ain't about the principle of it all either. Some things just can't be replaced" which Elton understands.
Aside from Felix and Silas, the Endlings sit around the campfire and Percy tells them a story about a time in Wyoming during a snow storm when he got caught by a herd on an overpass and, unable to run away climbed on top of a car and closed his eyes, waiting for the end. However, the herd turned out to be of 200 bison rather than walkers which was the most beautiful thing that Percy had ever seen. The Endlings, Iris in particular, are enamored by Percy and his stories and Percy mentions another time when he saw a Ferris Wheel in the spring in Orlando that had been turned into a pelican nest.
Hope becomes suspicious of Percy's story, wondering how he had gotten from Wyoming to Florida in just a couple of months. Percy quickly tries to claim that he misspoke, but as Felix and Silas rejoin them, Hope accuses Percy of lying about someone stealing his supplies and, as Iris and Felix try to calm her down, she accuses Percy of having his car stolen which instead which is what he really wants back. After a moment of silence, Percy finally explains that a year before, he had found a truck that had skidded onto the ice. The accident must've just happened since the engine was still warm and the driver was becoming a walker. Silas asks why Percy had lied and he explains that it's not just a working truck, it's one that's carrying barrels of refined fuel which is worth a lot in the current world.
Iris offers Percy a deal: the Endlings help him to get his truck back and Percy drives them where they need to go. Felix believes that it's too risky, but Iris points out that with the truck, they will get there in half the time and they can avoid walkers and running out of supplies. Hope suggests that they wait for Huck to return as backup, but Iris points out that Mike and Tony could be gone by then. Iris believes that the six of them together can overpower the two men and although Felix is worried that they might have guns, Percy states that he had never seen any guns with them. Silas worries that they will have to hurt Mike and Tony or get hurt in return, but Elton states that they have the element of surprise on their side which will give them an advantage. Percy questions how he knows that they won't just steal his truck and leave him in the dust, but Iris promises that they won't which Silas reinforces. However, Percy is skeptical as that doesn't mean much out here. Iris pleads with Percy, telling him that they need to get where they're going fast and it could be the difference between their dad living and dying. Felix points out that if they had wanted to steal Percy's truck, they would just do it with or without his help, reminding Percy that he's already told them where to look. Felix proposes that at dawn, they go and find the truck.
In the morning, Elton spray paints a message for Huck on the Endlings' boat telling her that they will be back soon. As they walk, Elton takes a picture of something on the ground and writes in his mother's manuscript. Looking at Amelia's picture, Hope asks what she was like and Elton tells Hope that Amelia was great, describing how she would sometimes sing as she made breakfast despite being terrible at it. Hope is surprised to find out that Elton is named after Elton John, calling the singer an icon. Elton considers his mother to be the coolest, her manuscript having helped Elton to get to know her. Elton explains that Amelia had seem death and decay as no better or worse than any other part of the life cycles and she wasn't afraid of it. Hope asks what Elton intends to do with the manuscript once he finishes it and Elton states that he'd like to pass it on so that it can help somebody with the big questions, help to make them less confused and alone just like it had done for Elton. In that way, Amelia will never be forgotten and Hope offers to help Elton finish it which, although surprised, Elton accepts.
The group reaches Andersonville where, hiding beside a building, Felix spots a curtain blowing in a nearby window before Percy's truck comes down a nearby street and passes in front of them. Percy confirms that it's his truck and the Endlings follow after it. Observing where the truck has been parked, the group discusses possible options and, while Felix wants to get eyes on both men before they move in, Percy just wants to smash and grab it back, stating that even without the keys, he can still hotwire the truck. Silas objects to doing this at all and Hope states that they need to make a decision either way. Felix decides to have the rest of the group stay in their hiding spot while he covers Percy.
Percy and Felix make their way to the truck and, as Percy opens the door, Felix keeps a lookout. Percy suddenly swears and reveals the body of Tony in the front seat. Percy and Felix pull Tony's body from the truck and place him nearby with Percy suggesting that the bickering between Tony and Mike had gotten much worse. Percy discovers that a plate has been bolted over the ignition wires and he begins searching for the keys in the truck and on Tony's body as the rest of the group joins them. Percy is unable to find the keys, but he retrieves a knife from Tony's body and insists on getting the keys back from Mike, stating that he's going to get the keys back with or without their help. While Hope and Felix want to go back to the campsite, Iris decides to go and help Percy. After Iris refuses to relent, Felix gives Iris his bag and decides to go in her place. Elton suggests keeping a lookout at the front of the building in case Mike isn't there and he decides to come back. Hope changes her mind and decides to come with Elton and Felix as backup while they leave Iris and Silas behind to look after their gear.
Finding a clothing store to be the only one not boarded up, Felix orders the other two to stay outside while he enters and meets up with Percy. While they wait, Hope argues that they were doing fine on foot, "slow and sore, but fine." Elton points out that anything that gets them to Leo faster is worth it. Elton reveals to Hope that he had actually met Leo before he left for the research facility, having gone to ask him if Leo would read Amelia's writing which he did. To Hope's surprise, Elton states that Leo was the one to encourage him to finish the manuscript and that even though Leo had never met his mother, he admired her research. Leo had kind of reminded Elton of Amelia in the similarities between the little things that Elton doesn't want to forget. Hope begins to tell Elton something, but she changes her mind and merely states that they should focus instead of talking.
Everyone is shocked to suddenly hear a gunshot and Elton suggests that Felix might've found Mike. As Tony drives off in the truck, Silas runs towards Elton and Hope yelling that Tony had stolen their bags. Hope chases after the truck, but she fails to catch up to it as Percy jumps in the back and escapes. Hope hears Iris calling for help from a nearby dumpster and reassures her sister that Felix and Silas are on their way to help before becoming concerned when Iris suddenly stops responding. While Felix, Elton and Silas use Silas' Wrench to break into the dumpster's enclosure, Hope does her best to keep Iris calm. With a herd approaching, Felix orders Silas and Elton to hold them off while he manages to open up the dumpster and put down one of the walkers attacking Iris. Percy suddenly returns and saves Iris from the second one while Tony returns in the truck, running over several walkers and yelling at the Endlings to get in. The group quickly jumps in the back of the truck and Tony drives off as the herd closes in, running over the head of a fallen walker in the process.
After reaching safety, the Endlings confront Percy and Tony about their con. Percy admits that they did in fact con them, but he states that they came back to help them when they saw the herd coming. Hope argues for just taking the truck and leaving Percy and Tony to the walkers, but Tony angrily reminds them that they had just saved their lives, explaining that when they saw the herd coming, Percy, who is his nephew, had him turn around. Felix asks if they should just be grateful that the two grifters had changed their minds, but Tony states that "out here, that's pretty much as good as it gets."
Later, the Endlings sit around their campfire where Tony displays a magic trick to them, much to the amazement of Elton, Silas and Felix while Iris is despondent over the events. Hope asks if Tony is just a professional scammer and Tony introduces himself in a grandiose fashion as Tony Delmado, the resident illusionist at the Paradise Lounge in Las Vegas for fifteen years. Tony is impressed with Elton's knowledge of magic and tells everyone that he had dabbled in a lot of things including illusions, card tricks and ventriloquism, the latter of which comes in handy with the state of the world as it is. As far as Tony is concerned, he's still in show business: for a small fee at friendly settlements Percy and Tony will perform which is why his makeup job to look dead is flawless. Hope asks if Percy is Tony's protegee and he explains that Tony had raised him after Percy's mom took off. Tony calls Percy a quick study who was grifting kids in the sandbox and Percy tells everyone that it's how they get what they need without hurting anyone. Upset, Iris sarcastically tells them that they deserve medals or something and leaves.
As Elton picks up his mother's book, Iris tells him that she'd love to read it sometime if Elton will let her. Elton is surprised and tells Iris that he might be the only person left in the world who knew and saw Amelia, but at least now someone else will know her too. Elton gives Hope the book and, after staring at Amelia's picture for a moment, she walks away with it.
That night, Iris leans against Hope as Percy and Tony set up a shadow puppet show, but she is still obviously upset when she sees Percy. Watching Percy, Silas comments to Felix that some people make it look easy starting over. Iris admits to Hope that she wishes that she knew which part of Percy is the lie and which is real, but Hope calls Percy the same as them, everyone having parts that they want people to see and other parts that they want to hide, but it's all real. Percy and Tony put on a show depicting the end of the world which the Endlings enjoy, although they grow somewhat more somber and Hope starts silently crying as the story gets sadder and sadder.
"Truth or Dare"[]
Returning from her scouting mission, Huck notices Hope sitting on some nearby stairs holding Amelia's manuscript and watching Tony teach Elton a magic trick. Huck smiles as she watches Tony and Elton, but her smile drops as she turns and looks at where Hope is watching them.
That night, Tony dramatically presents a CRM map to the Endlings which has no landmarks designated or points of interest labeled. While the map, to all appearances, looks to be useless, looks can be deceiving. Percy brings his uncle a wooden box with a few plastic squares and Tony holds one up, explaining that when Percy first discovered them in the truck, they had reminded Tony of the colored lenses that he used in his Prism of Light illusion. As a result, Tony has discovered that you set the squares up at proper distances, shine a beam of light through them and symbols appear on the map, in this case, oil drops, which Tony identifies as hidden CRM fuel caches and all of the gas that they need. Percy adds that the ones that he and Tony have hit so far have mostly just been shacks with landing pads and they were all unmanned and unguarded where helicopters touch down, refuel and take off again. Huck is excited, stating that she can't believe it, while Iris becomes intrigued.
Later, the Endlings gather around the table where Iris shows them the CRM map that Kublek had given to her and Hope before they left the Campus Colony. While some of the markings on the decoder overlays didn't form symbols on Tony's map, when she tries them on this map, they do. Iris points to a symbol on the map that Elton recognizes as a DNA strand. Felix realizes that Iris thinks that it's the research facility and she asks him what else it could be. Hope is excited that they now know where to find their father and while Silas smiles at first, he gets upset and jealous when he sees Iris and Percy smiling at each other.
Upstairs, Percy offers Elton, Silas, Hope and Iris a drink which everyone but Silas accepts. Hope calls it not as good as her own, but agrees that they should party. Taking seats in a circle, Percy gives Iris some gloves for her cold hands and suggests that they play truth or dare. When Iris chooses truth, Percy asks what she would do right now if she could and Iris responds that she would hit the Louve and see some good art, but Percy fakes falling asleep out of boredom as Iris starts to go into more detail. Laughing, Iris insists that the Louve has the best art in the world, and, although she knows that it probably isn't even standing anymore and that even if it were, she doubts that she'd ever get to see it, Iris still dreams of going there which Percy calls fair enough. The Endlings, aside from Silas, share a toast to dreaming and never saying never while Silas only just watches Iris and Percy.
As the game continues, Hope chooses truth and Percy interjects to ask her what the worst thing that Hope has ever done is. Defensively, Hope asks what kind of a question it is and points out that it isn't even Percy's turn. Percy presses her and, taking a drink, Iris tells him that back at the university, she locked the faculty bathroom and spiked the teachers' coffeemaker with laxatives. Everyone but Percy laughs with Iris confirming that Hope really did do that. However, Percy isn't satisfied and he asks Hope for the truth and while she insists that it is the truth, Percy doesn't buy it, asking if Hope thinks that she can con a conman. Percy continues to press Hope and Silas angrily orders him to stop. Having had enough, Hope tells Percy that the worst thing that she's ever done is agree to play the game and she storms off, followed by Elton. Percy insists that he was just playing around and Iris tells him that Hope knows.
Catching up to Hope in the stairwell, Elton stops her and admits that it is just a stupid game and he starts to explain why he was playing before stopping himself and hugging Hope instead. Hope thanks Elton, but tells him that she thinks that Elton is drunk and she just needs to be alone before walking away while Elton returns to the others.
Huck is joined on the roof by Hope whom she chastises for being on the roof drunk and at all. Hope asks what Huck is doing up there and she returns the question, knowing that something has been bothering Hope ever since the Blaze. Hope tearfully reveals that she had killed someone on the Night the Sky Fell and that she didn't know who she was, that the woman was afraid that Hope's mom was going to take her truck. The woman freaked out and shot Kari before dropping the gun after which Hope picked it up and it went off, killing her and her unborn child. Hope reveals that the woman was Elton's mother and Huck tries to comfort Hope, telling Hope that she was just a kid and Amelia had killed her mom in front of her. Hope tells Huck that Elton doesn't know and that while Iris knows, she doesn't know that it was Elton's mom. Huck tells her that they shouldn't know and that they can't change the things that they've done, they can only carry the truth for everybody else so that they don't have to. Hope asks Huck how to do this, but Huck doesn't know, telling her that some nights it can get "so damn dark" and then somehow, it can get even darker. However, Huck promises her that the light will eventually come.
The next day, the Endlings drive to the CRM fuel depot where Hope, Iris, Felix, Huck, Percy and Tony stand outside of the entrance while Silas and Elton wait by the truck. Tony tells the others that there is a stash of refined CRM fuel just ripe for the taking somewhere inside and Huck notes that it's a big place, deciding that they will split up, start at the bottom and work their way up. Felix asks if these places are clear of walkers which Percy confirms as far as they can tell since the CRM keeps their things locked up pretty tight. However, this isn't a problem for them as Percy, Tony and Felix are good at lockpicking. Iris tells the others that they should still stay alert nevertheless and they head out with Hope taking a moment to look back at Silas and Elton.
Paired up together, Huck asks if Hope is still going to talk to Elton. Hope tells Huck that she's finished Amelia's book and Amelia was smart and kind and Hope thinks that she just got scared and did a bad thing. Hope suggests that if she can forgive Amelia, then maybe Elton can forgive Hope for what she did. However, Huck questions if this is about Elton or Hope herself, telling Hope that the truth can be a funny thing and that while people say that's what they want, it isn't. Hope asks if they are just stuck living a lie, but Huck states that if people don't know that they're living a lie, then they just live. They pay the cost, but the people they are lying to get to live because of them. Huck then continues walking, leaving Hope behind for a moment.
Huck notices that Hope has disappeared and, with Hope not answering her calls, Huck draws her gun and begins looking for her friend. Huck finds Walter holding a terrified Hope hostage with a gun to her head and he demands that Huck drop her gun. Huck puts her gun away and advances on Walter, trying to calm him down, but he demands that she stop. Huck agrees and notices a wound on Walter's leg, asking what happened to it. However, Walter refuses to answer, stating that he asks the question and calling Huck one of the people with the helicopters, demanding to know how many more there are. Huck lies that it's just her and Hope and that they are just scavenging, but Walker accuses her of lying since both Hope and Huck have the CRM symbol on their jackets. Huck again asks what happened to Walter's leg and if the dead had taken a bite out of it.
Shaking a terrified and crying Hope, Walter tells her to shut up and that this place is "ours" and that the CRM had come and taken it and they took it back. Huck insists that they didn't take anything and that she's not a part of the CRM. Noting that Walter doesn't look too good, Huck tries to get him to talk about it and, calming down a little bit, Walter tells her that he doesn't know what happened: he woke up and his brother had somehow died and turned and bit him. Walter stabbed him and his brother is now dead in the next room. Huck tells Walter that he won't last much longer with his leg, but when Huck moves towards him again, Walter again threatens to shoot Hope. Huck introduces herself and Hope, stating that they are just passing through and asks for Walter's name. Walter finally introduces himself and Huck promises that she can help him, but first he has to let Hope go. Walter refuses and Huck tells him that Walter didn't let her finish: once Hope is free, he can train his sights on her. Hope protests, but Huck tells Walter that Hope is just a kid and harmless and he should focus on her. Walter finally releases Hope and trains his gun on Huck who tells him that they now need to talk about how they are going to save him, but Walter believes it to be impossible. However, Huck tells Walter that they can do it and to trust her.
Huck tells Walter that she's going to have to take his leg before his infection spreads any further. However, Walter tells Huck that it's been too long and that she shouldn't be there and maybe none of them should be. Walter apologizes, telling Huck that it's not personal, but Huck tells him that if he shoots her, Walter will take his life with that bullet too. Hesitating, Walter asks if Huck can really help him and Huck states that she's seen people survive amputations hours after infection. Walter again accuses Huck of lying, but she insists that she's not.
Huck notices just how much Walter is swaying and soothingly tells him that his gun is getting heavy and that no one would blame him for dropping it. Walter tells Huck that it wasn't supposed to go this way and, having slowly made her way closer to Walter while they were talking, Huck grabs him and disarms Walter, holding him from behind. Huck soothes a crying Walter who asks if she can save him and Huck says that she can save him. Huck shoots Walter in the head, killing him. Horrified, Hope tells Huck that she said that she could save him, but Huck tells Hope that it's time for Hope to forgive herself. Hope has a future and she has to see that now. Iris, Felix, Percy and Tony rush in and ask what happened, but Hope simply tells them that Huck saved her. Huck tells the others that Walter had radios and supplies while Felix reveals that they found the fuel. Flipping through some notebooks, Tony states that they found something else too locked in a cabinet. Percy asks what they are and Tony calls them something to potentially work with.
Outside of a recreation center, Hope and Iris look through the notebooks at the various codes and Hope asks if Iris thinks that they might be encrypted CRM lunch orders. Iris chuckles. stating that if they can crack this, it can tell them more about the CRM and maybe help their chances of saving Leo when they get to him. Hope with Iris' maybe and Iris tells her sister that it feels like they're changing and that it's just the start.
Later, Iris stops Silas in the hallway, telling him that Tony has something that he wants to say to the group. Tony announces that after talking it over with Felix, he and Percy have decided to extend the terms of their agreement with the others. Percy states that instead of just dropping them off, he and Tony want to stick around and do what they can to help them find Leo. Felix orders everyone to get some sleep as they leave first thing in the morning and Tony heads off to charge up the radios and top off the tank while Hope and Iris hold each other's hands for a moment. Percy asks Iris to see her by the truck in an hour, telling her that it's just gonna be him there and that he needs to get his gloves back. Iris tries to give Percy back his gloves immediately, but he claims that his hands aren't cold now but that they will be in about an hour. Iris agrees and she walks off while Silas watches jealously and eyes Percy's liquor.
As everyone goes their own separate ways, Elton apologizes to Hope for what had happened to her earlier, telling her that it means everything to him that she's still alive and there with them. Elton then successfully pulls off the magic trick that Tony had taught him, cheering Hope up a bit. Hope returns Amelia's manuscript to Elton and thanks him for sharing it with her, stating that his mother seems like she was an amazing woman. Elton agrees that she was and he suggests that she might still be as everything is possible. Hope half-heartedly agrees and, after a look at a watching Huck, Elton leaves.
Hope approaches Huck outside and tells Huck that she was right and that telling Elton the truth would be for Hope's benefit, not his and the truth would just crush him. Huck calls Hope a good person and Hope shows Huck her bead necklace, revealing that she took from Elton's mother after killing her and she asks if Huck still thinks that she's a good person. Huck tells Hope that she knows that Hope is and that her necklace proves it. Remembering scarring her own face in the same way that Drake's face was scared, Huck knows that Hope took it as a reminder, something that she wears every day, to remember the bad that she's done, a reminder to keep living to do good as that's the only way to make the bad mean something. Huck promises Hope that she's going to be okay and they hug.
Awhile later, looking for Percy, Iris finds Tony with his head bashed in in one of the bathrooms. Calling for help, Iris notices Silas' Wrench lying bloody next to Tony's dead body and a trail of blood leading to a broken window that she realizes must've come from Percy. Felix runs in and stares at Tony's body in shock while Hope, Elton and Huck run in and join them. Drawing his gun and having Huck cover him, Felix makes his way to where somebody is visible in a stall. Opening the door, Felix is shocked to find Silas passed out with a bottle of liquor next to him and covered in blood. Silas wakes up and looks silently at Felix.
"The Sky Is a Graveyard"[]
As Silas sits tied up outside, Hope, Iris, Elton, Felix and Huck argue about Silas' culpability in Tony's murder and Percy's disappearance. Iris insists that someone else must've been responsible and that Silas isn't a murderer, but Huck points out that they've seen Silas lose control before and that Silas was drunk, blacked out and woke up covered in Tony and Percy's blood. Iris argues that Silas could've stumbled on Tony and Percy just like them, but Felix states that Silas has told them that he doesn't remember. While Felix believes Silas, they have to look at the hard facts: Silas was angry and he didn't like Percy. Iris points out that Tony and Percy were grifters who must've had enemies and she suggests that someone that they had ripped off came back for revenge. However, Huck informs Iris that they have turned the recreation center upside down and found no sign that anyone else was ever there and if someone was, they would've taken Tony and Percy's things. In contrast, Silas was found passed out at the scene, his wrench covered in Tony's blood. While Hope doesn't want to believe it either, she reminds Iris that Huck is right and they've seen Silas lose it before and they've all heard the stories about Silas' dad. Elton sides with Iris, telling the others that Silas is their friend and he has earned their trust. Elton believes that there must be another explanation of some kind such as wild animals or marauders even. Iris states that they never found Percy's body and he may still be alive and need their help and Elton hopes that Percy could tell them what actually happened. However, Felix states that they had searched for Percy for hours and only found a trail of blood that had stopped at the river. Even if Percy had survived his injuries, Felix doesn't think that Percy could fight the current and has most likely drowned. Elton questions why Silas would attack the people that were trying to help them and Huck states that she has an idea of why and leaves the room. Returning inside, Huck starts going through Silas' belongings against Elton's protests. Huck pulls out several drawings, telling the others that she had seen them when they were camped out a few nights before and that it wasn't her business until now. While Elton is confused by the significance of the drawings, Iris recognizes them as her own.
Hope and Iris look at the drawings which Hope finds messed up since Iris had thrown them away and Silas had dug through their trash for them, but Elton reminds Hope that as a janitor, it was Silas' job. Iris agrees with Elton, stating that it doesn't have to mean anything. Hope points out that Silas liked Iris and that they could all see it as well as the growing romance between her and Percy. Hope suggests that Silas was jealous of Percy and Elton argues that they should put the drawings back, stating that even if they weren't important to Iris, they were to Silas, enough so that he had brought them with him on their journey.
Later, Huck digs a grave for Tony's body outside and is approached by Hope. Huck warns Hope that Felix will be pissed if he knows that she's out there, but she doesn't care, stating that she was looking for Elton. Hope then joins Huck in digging Tony's grave, giving a brief look at the wrapped corpse. Hope grows frustrated digging into the frozen ground, recalling how she barely knew Tony, he'd tried to steal all of their stuff and was "kind of a dick, actually," but acknowledges that Tony was alright. Huck states that Tony was a mixed bag like everybody else, including Silas and tells Hope to feel how she wants to feel about it, but to keep asking herself how to serve the greater good which is how you stay focused. Hope refutes this, telling Huck that she's got the wrong sister as Iris has always been the good one. However, Huck corrects Hope that she's talking about the greater good which isn't always about right or wrong but about doing what's best for everybody even when you know it's gonna hurt. With everyone wanting to reach the research facility and help Leo, every choice has to be about making it there. "Sometimes what's painful in the moment... is what gets you where you need to go." Dropping her shovel, Huck goes to get Tony's body, stating that the grave is now deep enough. The two women then finish burying Tony's body.
As Iris goes through the CRM codebooks alone, she is joined by Hope. Iris admits that while she had thought that cracking the codes would be a good distraction, all it does is remind Iris that nothing makes sense. Hope informs Iris that she and Huck had buried Tony and left markers for him and Percy. Iris states that even with Silas' blackout and the blood, she still believes that Silas is innocent. Hope reminds Iris that she can't know what someone is capable of and that Iris didn't know what Hope was capable of. Iris tries to defend Silas by stating that one mistake doesn't make him a bad person, but Hope states that Silas didn't just make one mistake and she wonders how many chances they will get. They know where Leo is now and they are so close and Hope insists that they can't let anyone stand in the way of that. Iris wants to believe Silas and she feels that if he did do it, she should've seen it coming and she should've known. Hope suggests that Silas didn't want her to see and that he was protecting Iris, but Iris believes this to be worse as it would mean that Silas had let her live in a lie.
Felix chastises Elton for going outside alone, reminding Elton that they don't need anyone else getting killed. Hope enters, asking where Elton was and Felix explains that he had found Elton down by the river and he asks Hope to keep an eye on him as he walks away. Elton explains to Hope that he had followed Percy's trail in search of evidence to exonerate Silas, but he doesn't know forensics and it's dark so Elton had no luck. Hope questions why Elton is fighting for a lost cause, but Elton insists that they don't know what happened and all that Elton knows is that he hasn't had a family in a long time, but he has one now in the Endlings. Elton believes that even if Silas is actually guilty, he deserves their help because that's what family does. Hope wonders if Elton will just forgive Silas and let him get away with murder, but Elton doesn't think that it's something that you just get away with as you still have to live with what you've done. Hope insists that they need to focus on the greater good, what's best for everyone, but Elton believes that to be staying together.
As a walker crawls towards Silas who intends to allow it to kill him, Hope puts the walker down with her S-Pole and saves him. Hope furiously demands to know why Silas didn't call for help and tells him that while she doesn't think that Silas meant to, Hope thinks that he probably did kill Tony. Silas asks why Hope had saved him then and she states that enough people have died before going to fix the broken fence.
The next morning, Iris informs the others that Silas has left, having exiled himself from the Endlings in order to protect his friends. Elton packs up Silas' belongings and informs Hope that he has come to a very difficult decision: he is leaving to join Silas. Elton knows that Silas' survival odds are increased with supplies and someone watching his back. Hope protests Elton's decision, but Elton knows that if he doesn't go after Silas, his best friend will spend the rest of his life thinking that nobody believes in him which is a lie. Elton asks Hope to give his best to the others as he knows that it will just be too hard to say goodbye. Hope is shocked that Elton is really leaving, pointing out that they could never see him again and asking about the family that the Endlings are to each other. Elton reminds Hope that Silas is family too and he hugs Hope. Elton believes that everything happens as it's supposed to and that maybe Elton is supposed to find Silas and then his mother and his sister too. Hope reveals that she had lied to him, telling Elton that she had thought that she was protecting him from the truth, but she had only made it worse. Unwilling to let Elton keep searching for someone that's not there, a crying Hope gives Elton her bead necklace, hoping that he can someday forgive her like he forgave Silas. Hope finally reveals to Elton that she had accidentally killed his mother on the Night the Sky Fell.
"The Deepest Cut"[]
As Huck drives, Iris falls asleep in the passenger seat and she looks into the back where Hope and Felix are sleeping against each other. Huck spots a road sign revealing that Ithaca is only 113 miles away. Seeing a fallen sign in the middle of the road, Huck swerves, damaging a tire and drives the truck off of the road, waking up the others. Huck begins backtracking the group to a location a mile or two back that she claims can act as shelter for them and which maybe has something that they can patch the tire with. Felix accepts this due to how cold it is.
As they walk together, Iris starts to talk about how cold it is, but Hope recognizes that her sister is bringing up how cold it so that Hope will picture Elton and Silas out there alone. While Hope admits that she's worried about their friends, she is tired of "picking the scab over and over", stating that she hates how things went down with Silas and that she's worried that Elton is going to freeze to death. However, as they had spent hours searching and found no sign of either Silas or Elton, Hope doesn't think that they want to be found and there's nothing else that they can do.
Huck brings the group to a stop, spotting a small herd in the fog. Ordering Felix to hold his light steady, Huck shoots one of the walkers with a silenced pistol before Iris realizes that they are all caught in something. Looking around with her own flashlight, Iris sees that it's barbed wire as walkers surround them. Huck realizes that they will have to fight their way past and she orders the others to watch themselves as she and Felix deploy their S-Poles. Huck saves Felix when he falls into trouble while Hope and Iris are cornered by three walkers, one of which Hope stabs in the throat with her flashlight. Seeing them in trouble, Huck gets in close and takes out all of the walkers with one silenced shot. Felix then manages to clear the Endlings a path out of the herd and to safety.
The next morning, as they continue down the road, Felix wraps a cut on the back of his leg up in gauze. Although Huck expresses concern, Felix assures her that it's just a little slice from the barbed wire that the herd was caught up in. The Endlings reach the Red Maple where Huck breaks the door down and tells the others that the sooner that they can find something rubber and waterproof, the sooner they can get back on the road. Looking at a brochure, Hope comments that the place looks haunted while Felix guesses that it must've been evacuated, but he warns them that they still need to be careful. The group splits up with Huck and Iris going to look upstairs and Hope and Felix downstairs.
Continuing their journey, the Endlings encounter a blockade made out of shipping containers and a bus. Seeing another one past it, Felix tells the others that they should go around through an alley on the other side. However, Hope simply climbs over the front of the bus followed by the others. When Felix climbs over after them, Felix falls backwards due to his leg injury bothering him.
The group carries Felix back to the Red Maple where Hope is surprised by how bad Felix's leg was injured in the fall. Felix explains that it didn't and he'd nicked his leg on some barbed wire while fighting the herd while Huck adds that he rolled it when he jumped. Felix apologizes for hiding the extent of his injury, promising that it's not that bad and that he'd started on some antibiotics before they left just in case and he can handle the pain. Iris assures the others that it will heal and Huck suggests that the girls try to find something to keep it stable and keep some of the pressure off of it.
In a flashback, Felix and Will eat dinner with Hope, Iris and Leo. Felix brings up how the CRM is adding a second person to join Romano on Leo's security detail which Leo confirms. While Felix had thought that it might be Dwyer, he had asked and she said that it wasn't her. Felix is surprised that Leo isn't just asking who he wants before Will admits that the second person is him. Felix is shocked and Leo quickly asks Hope and Iris to get dessert ready so that the three adults can talk alone.
As they look, Iris comments that she's growing tired of searching this place. Hope wonders what they're doing as Felix isn't going to last another mile on his foot let alone all the way to the research facility. However, Iris reminds Hope that Felix has spent months protecting them and she insists that they need to protect Felix in return. Hope starts to ask if the extra week that it will take could mean the difference between Leo being okay or not and Iris demands to know if her sister wants to just abandon Felix. Hope claims that that isn't what she is talking about and that they have to figure something out. Iris refuses to leave Felix and comments that she sometimes wishes that she had a map to figure Hope out.
Felix hobbles into the living room where Iris is looking at a map. Although Iris thinks that highways will be easier, Felix is intent on sticking with the original plan even though Felix knows that it's impossible for him to hike. Iris insists that Felix is still coming with them, but Felix tells her that they don't need him anymore and that Iris is more than capable of getting the Endlings the rest of the way without him. Felix believes in Iris and who she is becoming and the two start crying. Hope and Huck enter and Huck announces that they will leave first thing in the morning and that once they find out what's up with Leo, they'll be back for Felix. Felix and Huck hug and Huck tells him not to worry about this as they've got it. Felix knows that they do and he expresses his love for Huck, leading to a laugh between the two. As Felix says his goodbyes, Iris angrily storms out, calling it bullshit.
Hope packs up her belongings, including the CRM codebooks, before Iris joins her. Iris asks if Hope and Huck are close and asks what Huck had told Hope about her life before. Hope reveals that Huck had told her that she was in the military, her mom died when she was little and she was found on a raft. Iris suggests that they can't trust Huck, having sensed something off about her. Hope wonders where this is coming from and Iris admits that she's been thinking it for awhile, but she just can't explain it. Hope tells her to stop, but Iris points out how quickly Huck had dropped Felix. Hope tells Iris that Huck doesn't want to leave Felix behind either but they have to do it. Hope challenges Iris for not getting that and thinking that Huck is untrustworthy for being willing to make tough choices. Iris tells Hope that she isn't saying that and asks her sister to trust her gut feeling. However, Hope states that Huck has been there for her in ways that Iris doesn't understand, has saved Hope's life and never judged her.
Iris asks if she has and Hope admits that ever since she told Iris how their mom died, Iris has looked at her different. While they've been pretending that it's still been the same, it hasn't and it has all changed between them no matter how much they pretend that it didn't. Huck listens and understands and Hope has told her everything. Shocked by Hope's behavior, Iris asks what's going on with her and Hope suggests that her sister just doesn't know her as well as Iris thinks that she does. Iris confronts Hope about her plans to leave for Omaha and Hope has no answer beyond admitting that she wasn't even planning on telling Iris. Without saying anything further, Hope leaves the room.
That night, Hope wakes up a sleeping Huck and tells her that they have to leave right now. Iris won't leave without Felix who will only just slow them down. After a moment, Huck agrees and goes to grab her things.
The next day, Hope and Huck travel together towards the research facility and Huck offers to carry Hope's bag but she declines. Hope thanks Huck for believing in her, stating that she's stronger than she's ever been before thanks to Huck. Huck thanks her and asks for a second, walking away. A few minutes later, Huck rejoins Hope and asks if she has any regrets about this. Hope promises Huck that she doesn't, but she looks less than certain.
In a flashback, after Iris wishes that she sometimes had a map to figure her sister out, Hope has an epiphany. By comparing the codes from the CRM codebook to longitude and latitude on a map, Hope is able to crack one of the messages and is alarmed to learn that it says "RAFT EMBED AGENT EN ROUTE TO NY WITH ASSET + FOUR. ALL FOUR EXPENDABLE." As a result, Hope realizes that Huck is actually a double agent for the CRM.
In the present, Hope reaches for Felix's gun which she has stolen.
"In This Life"[]
In a flashback, Leo and Kari are introduced to their daughter Iris for the first time by an adoption agent. Leo notices Iris sharing a crib with another baby and the agent explains that the baby is Hope and that she and Iris have been looking out for each other from the moment that they met. Leo and Kari share a smile as they decide to adopt both girls.
In the present, Hope and Huck walk down the road together and Hope raises Felix's gun as Huck tries to unjam her S-Pole. Hope demands to know who the hell Huck really is. Huck tries to talk Hope down, but Hope decoded the CRM codebooks and she now knows that Huck is actually a CRM agent. Although Huck calls this crazy, Hope continues to demand answers, asking if Huck is some kind of spy and if the story of how Huck was found "all messed up on that raft" was just a plan to get her into Omaha and pretend that she was somebody else. Huck insists that she's the same person that she's always been and promises that if Hope puts the gun away, she can explain. Huck states that Hope doesn't actually want to shoot her and hurt anybody else, not like the Night the Sky Fell when Hope's mother had died. In response, Hope shoots the ground next to Huck who puts down her S-Pole and tells Hope that even if Hope kills her, the CRM will still come looking for Hope.
Hope realizes that Huck has just admitted that she really is a part of the CRM which Huck confirms, but she points out that Hope knew that and she still came with Huck anyways. Huck suggests that it's because part of Hope knows that Huck is on her side, but Hope is unmoved, stating that she'd only come with Huck in order to keep Felix and Iris safe. The second that Huck agreed to come with her, Hope knew that she was "the asset, whatever the hell that is" and that Felix and Iris are expendable. With a grimace, Hope asks what the others know, but Hope tells her that they don't know anything so Huck and the rest of the CRM can leave them alone.
The argument is interrupted by the approach of a herd and Huck reminds Hope that in their training, she had told Hope that to survive outside of the safety of places like the Campus Colony, you have to make big choices quick and asks her what she's going to do. Looking around, at the approaching walkers, Hope hesitates as Huck insists that she needs to get her S-Pole and that she won't hurt Hope. After a moment, Hope shoots one of the walkers, but only succeeds in blowing off its jaw. Grabbing her S-Pole, Huck orders Hope to put the gun down as the sound will only draw more and to watch her back. With walkers closing in on her, Hope drops the gun into a ditch after a walker grabs her and draws her own S-Pole as Huck instructs her to use her training against the herd. Fighting back-to-back, Hope and Huck are able to eliminate the entire herd together.
In the aftermath, Huck expresses pride and admiration in Hope's skill before telling her that the gun is gone and they should keep moving. Hope angrily tells Huck that she'd thought that Huck had come to her as a friend and Huck insists that she did and that she cares about all of the group. Hope demands to know why the rest of them are expendable if that's true and Huck states that it was never supposed to be this complicated. Huck admits that Leo isn't in danger and he never was: Leo's last two messages saying that he was in trouble were actually from Huck. Hope is shocked by this revelation and Huck explains that she had thought that it was the easiest way to get Hope to leave the Campus Colony. The CRM had found out about Leo's secret messages and intercepted the rest so they took advantage of that.
Huck had wanted Hope to want to go, to see if she would, figuring that she was strong enough. Huck is confident that she was right about that and tells Hope that she had thought that Iris would try to talk Hope out of it so Hope would come to her and the two of them would go alone. Since Hope was convinced that the world was going to end, Huck taught her how to fight and she needed Hope to see what was worth fighting for: civilization and the future, the same future that the Civic Republic is fighting for. While they could've easily gotten Hope to the research facility, getting her to see the world right and that what Leo was working for was important was going to take a lot more. While it would've been easier if it was just the two of them, Hope has come to see why it is always about the big picture, the greater good. The CRM takes this stuff seriously because the world's future is at stake and having other people try to find out where they are, getting in the way of Hope seeing what they have to do to save it, wasn't going to work which is why the others were expendable. Getting emotional, Huck promises that she did everything that she could to split up the group without hurting anybody and Hope realizes that Huck was responsible for what happened to Tony and Percy. Huck explains that with Tony and Percy's truck and the maps, the Endlings were "two days away from knocking on the CR's door" and that with their location compromised, the CRM would've killed everyone. Huck insists that it was for the greater good and that killing Tony and Percy was the only way to save everyone else. Hope demands to know why the CRM cares so much about her, but Huck states "kid, you have no idea who you are" and continues on.
In a flashback, Leo walks into the study to find processor chips and circuitry everywhere with a 6-year-old Hope working on dismantling a computer. While Leo thinks at first that Hope is just being disruptive to try to get his attention, he was wrong. Hope was just doing what Hope does and being curious. When Leo walks in the next day, he discovers that Hope had put the whole computer back together by herself. Leo later tells Kari that this isn't something that normal kids do and Hope is extraordinary while Leo and Kari watch their daughters playing together.
In the present, Huck tells Hope that they have to pick up the pace and Hope demands to know where they're going and why the CRM wants her. Huck states that Hope cracked a CRM cipher and it takes a special kind of smarts to pull that off. Hope states that the CRM are idiots and that she's not worth all of this, but Huck tells Hope that it's not just about her, it's about people like Hope and making sure that their gifts aren't being wasted. It will take a lot to bring the world back and people like Hope need to be a big part of that. Huck radioed the CRM that morning just after they left and they are sending a helicopter to meet them 15 miles away to take Hope to Leo. Hope asks what would've happened if things hadn't gone the way they did and they had just made it to the research facility. Huck states that it would've been easier, that Hope would've been happy that her dad's ok, the CRM would've asked her to stay and Hope would've stayed. Hope asks what would've happened if she didn't want to stay and if she doesn't now, but Huck is confident that she will and tells Hope that it will be dark soon and they need to find shelter. Huck warns Hope not to run and that while the CRM won't do anything to her, "but they'll find you. They always find you."
At night, Hope and Huck sit in an abandoned house and Huck offers Hope a birthday gift that she'd picked up while she was scouting ahead, but Hope isn't interested. Huck admits that while the mission is about Hope, it's also about Huck too and that there's a lot more going on than Hope knows, maybe more than Huck knows too. Huck reminds Hope of how she'd once told Hope that it was complicated with dads and adds that it's complicated with moms too. Hearing a vehicle outside, Huck blows out the lantern, but the truck stops and Felix and Iris emerge, having apparently seen the light from the road. Huck tells Hope that if she wants them to safe, Felix and Iris can't know they're there and that this is life and death and Hope needs to make another big choice.
Hope and Huck hide as Felix and Iris search the house before the two reveal themselves. As Iris checks on Hope, Huck feigns surprise at the two getting the truck working again. Iris confronts Huck, revealing that they had checked the room that Huck had tried to hide from them, the one that she had told them not to go into because there were bodies. Iris demands to know why Huck had lied and Huck tries to claim that it must've been a crossed-wires thing and that she'd never said that there were bodies in the room. Hope backs Huck up, claiming that Huck had meant the basement instead of the storage room and Iris must've heard her wrong. Felix points out that Hope and Huck had still left without even saying goodbye, but Huck claims that they had thought that it would just be easier with Hope adding that Felix and Iris are there now and they have the truck fixed which is great. They are all there, together and safe which are all good things, but Felix doesn't seem to be fully convinced. Huck suggests that they get some sleep and hit the road in the morning, offering to get Felix and Iris' stuff from the truck so that Felix can get off of his leg. Felix refuses until Huck tells Felix that he needs to trust other people to take care of him for a change and Felix lets Huck go move the truck around the corner.
As Huck calls Hope to give her a hand, Felix grabs Huck's gun and demands that she drop the key and tell him what she's doing with Hope. Dropping the key and putting down the lantern, Huck tells Felix to grab Iris, take the truck and go. Felix refuses, but Huck tells him that it's how he lives and she doesn't want to hurt him. Hope tells Felix to listen and that Huck is CRM, she wants Hope, he can't save her and walking away is the only way that he'll live, shocking Iris. Huck states that she doesn't want to hurt Felix and she just wants to him be happy, she really did. Felix demands to know if it's true and Huck admits it before attacking Felix, throwing him down the stairs, shattering the lantern and setting the house on fire.
Huck races downstairs and kicks away Felix's S-Pole, ordering him not to make this any worse. As the two fight and the fire spread, Felix orders Hope and Iris to take the truck and flee, but they refuse to leave him behind. As the girls make their way out, looking for Huck's gun, Felix retrieves his S-Pole and he and Huck duel with them. Felix refuses to walk away and continues the fight, wounding Huck in the arm. As the fight continues and moves outside, Hope finds and retrieves Huck's gun. Struggling with Huck, Felix urges Hope to shoot her and that it's okay, Hope doesn't need Felix to protect her. With a few walkers approaching, Hope shoots one of them while Iris puts the other two down.
Huck finally overpowers Felix and, after a moment of hesitation, prepares to kill him with her S-Pole, apologizing. Hope removes the silencer from Huck's gun and fires it into the air, catching everyone's attention. Hope holds the gun to her own head and threatens to kill herself if Huck doesn't get away from Felix. Huck backs off and Hope orders Felix and Iris to take the truck and get back to the Campus Colony as fast as they can, knowing that nothing is going to happen to her because the CRM needs Hope to help Leo with his research because of who and what she is. Huck's mission was to get Hope to the research facility and "I decoded the message. I'm the asset. Turns out I'm smarter than I thought."
As they prepare to leave, Felix tells Hope that it's not too late to change her mind and she can just give him the gun and Hope, Iris and Felix can just leave. However, Hope knows that the CRM will just come after Felix and Iris looking for her and that this is the only way. Seeing that he can't change her mind, Felix hugs Hope goodbye. Hope approaches Iris and tells her sister that she was never going to leave for Omaha without her and she only left the night before because she was trying to protect Iris, both of which Iris knows because it's what they do: they protect each other and they always will. Hope hugs Iris and assures her that she will be okay and that they all will. Hope and Huck drive away while Felix and Iris sadly watch them go.
The next morning, Hope and Huck arrive at the rendezvous point and Hope returns Huck's gun to her, having kept it pointed at Huck during their journey. Huck is surprised that Hope didn't fight this harder, but Hope tells Huck that it's not about the now, it's about the future, the greater good and the big picture which is what she's doing, pleasing Huck.
Hope and Huck walk into a nearby field where a CRM helicopter lands with Elizabeth Kublek and two soldiers emerging. Hope realizes from Elizabeth's presence and Huck's earlier comment about how mothers can be complicated too that Elizabeth is Huck's mother. Elizabeth greets Hope warmly and has her men take Hope's belongings from her. After talking privately with Huck, Elizabeth leads Hope to the helicopter, stating that she's excited to have Hope at the facility and that the Bennett's are going to accomplish great things together, something that Hope agrees with.
In a flashback, it's revealed that Iris had helped Hope to put the computer that she had taken apart back together and that when Hope said goodbye to Iris, she had told her sister that it's really the two of them together that are the asset, making each other better and stronger throughout their whole lives. With Iris' smarts, instincts, bravery and fight, the CRM has no idea what she can do and that's how they're going to beat them. The CRM thinks that they need Hope to save the world, but they are going to save the world from them together.
In the present, Hope smiles as she flies away in the helicopter.
Season 2[]
"Konsekans"[]
The CRM helicopter carrying Hope, Huck and Elizabeth Kublek lands on a building in the ruins of Albany, much to Hope's surprise. Hope asks if the research facility is there, but Elizabeth tells Hope that there has been a change of plan. Emerging from the helicopter, both Hope and Huck are confused by this and, putting down an empty, Elizabeth states that this is a lesson or rather a field trip as she knows how much Hope hates school.
Hope demands to know if Elizabeth's promise to take her to her dad was a lie too and Elizabeth confirms that she's not taking Hope to Leo yet. Hope angrily confronts Elizabeth, reminding her that Elizabeth had given them the map and told them that the research facility was located in New York, pushed them towards the facility and lied about it. Cutting herself off and remembering something, Hope recalls Elizabeth telling her that she had gone to the Campus Colony alone and asks about what the other helicopters had been about. Elizabeth tells Hope that they are now ten years into the outbreak and both the continent and, as far as the CRM can tell, the entire world, have herds roaming through it which are now so big that they just break through everything, run through everything, including whole cities. The day after Monument Day, the CRM was on their way to Omaha and they saw a herd so big that they had never seen anything like it before, "it was unimaginable." Elizabeth claims that the herd had run through Omaha and was headed for the Campus Colony and while the CRM was coordinating the rescue effort, a second herd nearly as big merged with the first, forming a herd that must've been over 100,000 total. While the CRM had done everything that they could to save as many lives as they could, it wasn't enough. The CRM airlifted the few survivors out to Portland, but both Omaha and the Campus Colony have been destroyed.
Hope breaks down crying at the news, rejecting the stunned and devastated Huck's attempts to comfort her. Elizabeth offers both Hope and Huck her condolences, but Hope isn't interested. Elizabeth reveals that she brought them to Albany because it was her home when the world ended. Elizabeth had been working in Albany as an attaché for the UK Ministry of Defense when everything fell apart. She had realized then just how quickly the chance for a future can crumble, even when everyone does their best. Elizabeth wonders if Hope believes that a future is still possible and she admits that she did. Elizabeth states that Hope should because, despite all of the fallen cities, a future is still possible. Getting Hope to think differently and more positively about the future was why the CRM had pushed Hope to go on this journey. Now that Hope has seen how fragile civilization is, Elizabeth trusts that Hope is understanding that no one can make it on their own, it takes everyone coming together to get to that future.
Hope again brings up the fact that Elizabeth had told her that she was taking Hope to her father, but Elizabeth tells her that she hopes that she can. Much to Hope and Huck's shock, Elizabeth states that Hope isn't ready. For a community with a long-term plan predicated on generational education and scientific progress, geniuses are an invaluable resource. However, a genius who is a rebellious, strong-willed troublemaker is a risk. Used against the CRM, those qualities can spread like rot and make any kind of common goal unattainable and the CRM can't bring in someone who would jeopardize that. The CRM wants Hope to work with them and she has a lot to offer, but Elizabeth can't bring Hope to her join father until she knows that despite Hope's grief and anger, she is fully committed to being an asset to the future, to learning and furthering Leo's research and handing that knowledge onto the next generation. Only then will Hope be an asset to the future. While Hope insists that she's ready, Elizabeth believes that she needs more time to think about what she truly wants. Providing Hope with a radio and her belongings and S-Pole, Elizabeth states that she will need Hope's answer by dawn.
Hope is shocked at the idea that, after everything that the CRM put her through, she can just walk away and Elizabeth will let her. Elizabeth confirms that she's giving Hope that option, admitting that Hope would have every reason to given the extent of the CRM's manipulations. Hope shrugs off Huck's attempts to stop her, stating that she'll take her chances alone. However, Elizabeth warns Hope that, not only won't she be able to find her sister and her friends, she won't even be able to make it out of the city alone, never mind to any kind of a future. Being alive today is a gift and Hope can choose to waste it alone or she can fight for a future with others for others so that what happened in Albany and the 100,000 souls in Omaha and the Campus Colony won't happen again. While Hope doesn't have to like the CRM, she does have to embrace what they're fighting for and the choice is hers. Without another word, Hope walks away and Elizabeth calls after her that the Dunn Memorial Bridge is the only way out of the city. However, it's eight blocks east and Elizabeth doesn't recommend it.
At night, Hope makes her way through an abandoned high school, finding dead bodies and disturbing messages written on the walls. Hope finds herself drawn to a picture of Candice Froder before she is attacked by an empty, causing both Hope and the empty to fall down the stairs and hit their heads against the wall, putting the empty down, but leaving Hope with a concussion. Hope begins hallucinating the Bennett Family Apartment and calls out for her family and Felix before being surrounded by empties. In reality, an empty attacks Hope from behind, but she manages to put it down with her S-Pole. A hallucination of Elizabeth appears to Hope and tells her to think about what she truly wants. Hope stabs the hallucination of Elizabeth who vanishes. Reeling from her concussion, Hope looks at a Missing poster of Candice before spotting a hooded figure at the top of the stairs. With more empties closing in, Hope flees.
A dazed Hope continues to make her way through Albany and, after seeing a dead body holding a blanket, experiences a flashback to the Night the Sky Fell and the death of her mother and accidentally killing Amelia Ortiz. Hope finds a map showing where she is in relation to the Dunn Memorial Bridge before spotting the hooded figure again. With empties closing in from multiple directions, Hope flees.
Hope manages to get inside of a building and becomes trapped by the herd outside. Inside, Hope finds the same message from the high school written on the walls as well as a bunch of squares with "dead" Xed out. Hope is attacked by the hooded figure who turns out to be Candice Froder who reveals that she wants what Hope has such as the helicopter that she came in, her food and clothes. Having nothing and having gone insane, Candice tells her that when you have nothing, you have to take and you have to feed and she attacks Hope again. Hope knocks Candice to the ground, causing her hood to come off and revealing Candice's identity to Hope who recognizes her from Candice's picture in the high school. Candice tells Hope that she's not Candice "because you are" and attacks again. With empties behind Hope, Candice tells Hope that she can't run away because there isn't any place better and Hope knows that. Hope got out, but she had to come back and she should've done so many things at the start, but she couldn't. Hope tries to warn Candice off, not wanting to hurt her, but Candice states that if she leaves, she'll just die and someone else will get the clothes, the food, the supplies and the meat. Candice demands to know what Hope is doing out there if she won't feed and Hope tells her that she's just trying to make it. As Candice attacks again, Hope slashes her leg with her S-Pole and Candice falls into a group of empties who are reaching through some bars. As the empties feed on Candice, she tells Hope that she fed and that this is Hope's home now and to stay.
As Hope cowers, she hallucinates herself in the Bennett apartment again and remembers hugging her father there and talking to Elton and Silas. Hope breaks down crying and looks at her father's messages in both the hallucination and the real world. Looking around, Hope discovers that while the empties were real, Candice was just a hallucination brought on by her concussion. Remembering Elizabeth telling her to think about what she truly wants, Hope picks up the radio that Elizabeth gave her.
At dawn, Hope is led to Elizabeth and Huck by two CRM soldiers who rescued her from the herd that had trapped her after Hope called Elizabeth. Hope admits that Elizabeth was right that Hope wasn't going to make it all alone, but she doesn't want this to be all that there is. Hope doesn't know if it's what Elizabeth wants to hear, but it's the truth and she asks if she passed Elizabeth's test. Elizabeth tells Hope that it's alright to hate the CRM and that she should, but that the bad things they do must be done and they carry that burden so that others don't have to, so there can still be good in the world and so that maybe some day this won't be all that there is. Elizabeth is willing to offer Iris and Felix a home with them since they don't have one to go back to which she imagines Hope understands very differently now. Elizabeth has the CRM soldiers lead Hope away.
Sitting in the detention area of the research facility, Hope is approached by Huck who asks how she's doing, having been diagnosed with a concussion by the doctor. Huck acknowledges that Hope has every reason to hate her, but if Hope ever wants to see Iris and Felix again, they need to get on the same page about something. Before they left Iris and Felix at the farmhouse, Huck had sent them to a settlement a few miles away from the research facility where the people will keep them safe. Huck had told her mother that Iris and Felix didn't know anything which will guarantee their safety if Elizabeth finds them as long as they don't divulge what they know. Hope asks what will happen if they do and Huck tells her that if the CRM knew that they had decoded their intel, knew that Huck had orders to take out Iris and Felix if that's what it took and let them live knowing that, she doesn't know what will happen, but she knows that they've killed people for less. Hope accuses Huck of only trying to cover her own ass and asks why she shouldn't tell her mother how bad her daughter screwed up her mission and screw with Huck's life just like Huck did with hers. Huck states that if she does, Hope could be putting a target not just on Huck's back, but herself, Felix, Iris and even Leo's if Hope tells him what really went down. Hope will have to lie to Leo about where Iris and Felix really are and what she knows, it's the only way that she can be sure that Leo will stay safe.
"You and me, we're just tiny pieces of a big mosaic, little players in the game that will be played out over decades, maybe centuries," comments Huck. Huck reassures Hope that the research facility is safe and good for everybody as long as they play by the rules and don't stir shit up. Hope wonders if that's a threat, but Huck states that it's simply how it is and she thought that Hope got that after the night before. Hope states that she got that she wanted to get to a future, maybe help work for one, but she is unwilling to work with the CRM to make that happen. Hope knew that she wasn't going to make it back there and the CRM was just her ticket out. Frustrated, Huck leaves, telling Hope that it's past midnight and Huck wishes Hope a happy birthday.
Later, two CRM soldiers lead Hope to Leo's apartment where she is tearfully reunited with her father at last.
"Foothold"[]
Hope clears fog off of a bathroom mirror after having cleaned up, plays with the faucet and notices two toothbrushes in her father's toothbrush holder and a pair of earrings in the cabinet.
Leo makes Hope a birthday breakfast, but annoys her when he keeps adding food to her plate. Leo worries that Hope had been going hungry, but Hope reassures her father that she didn't because Felix had taken really good care of them and they were luckier than most. Leo wonders if they were ever in any kind of danger and Hope remembers fighting empties in the Blaze of Gory, being held hostage by Walter and being attacked by an empty in the school in Albany. Hope asks not to talk about it, but, getting emotional, she admits that the hardest part of being out there was worrying about Leo and not knowing. However, seeing that Leo is alright makes it all worth it. Leo wishes he knew for sure that Iris and Felix are alright too, but Hope reassures her father that they are. The Endlings had toughened up a lot out there and Iris has gotten particularly good at killing empties. Leo tells Hope that the CRM approaches everything with an ice-cold pragmatism that he was never on board with and while Leo had always made sure to never push Hope so that she could choose her own path, there was always a part of him that had hoped that Hope would choose to follow Leo's. "And now here you are, with me, in the exact same place, without any choices at all," Leo laments. Hope wonders if they just have to go along with it, but Leo isn't sure.
Hope wanders through the research facility before sitting on a bench and taking notes on the facility's security. Hope is approached by Lyla Belshaw who recognizes her from a picture on Leo's desk. As they shake hands, Hope notices Lyla's hand tattoo of the symbol for the Alliance of the Three. Lyla tells Hope that while Leo was supposed to meet Hope, he is waiting for an update on Iris and she offers to take Hope on a tour. Looking at a security guard using a keycard to enter a building and Lyla's own keycard, Hope accepts her offer, asking Lyla to show her everything.
Walking into the lab area, Hope asks what the facility was before the world turned and Lyla tells her that it was a government-funded educational research lab housing experiments in dark matter and neutrino physics. Before that, it was an old diamond mine and the shafts and rock stability made it ideal for experiments that required shielding from the sun's cosmic radiation. Now, the CRM is using the labs for their own purposes. Down here, the CRM scientists are laying down the foundation to one day find out why the world turned. Hope asks if that means that they're trying to find a cure and, as they walk past scientists performing various experiments, Lyla confirms that pinpointing what inside of them makes them turn, whether it be fungal, bacterial, viral or something else entirely is one part of it, but it's also about trying to find a way to get rid of the ones who have already turned. By investigating and hopefully discovering what keeps the dead animated, what inside them slows their decomposition rate and feeds their appetites, the scientists hope to one day find a way to turn off those triggers, eliminate the dead as a threat and eradicate them from the Earth. Hope wonders if that's even possible and Lyla tells her that she wouldn't be here if she didn't think that it was. Hope thinks that it sounds a little far-fetched and Lyla calls it a big picture approach: they teach her everything that she needs to know and as she researches and investigates, Hope teaches in turn. The knowledge gets passed on to the next generation and so on until a solution is found.
Approaching Leo's office, Hope takes interest in a door that is marked as being for authorized personnel only and asks if she can just meet Lyla at Leo's office, claiming that she wants to use a bathroom that they had passed. Lyla gives her directions to the lab and departs. Left alone, Hope approaches the door, but is interrupted by a teenage boy who offers her his help and is dubious about Hope's bathroom story given where she is trying to get into. Calling Hope out on her lie, the boy introduces himself as Mason and recognizes Hope as the new girl who had gotten flown in the day before. Hope is surprised that Mason knows who she is, but he simply states that it's a pretty small place and offers Hope his condolences over the destruction of Omaha, explaining that it's why they're wearing armbands. Mason opens the door, revealing it to only be a supply closet, much to Hope's disappointment. Mason explains that the CRM takes their things very seriously and doesn't want anybody stealing from them, but he offers to break the rules for her if there's something that Hope wants. Hope jokingly asks for a mop and then admits that she just wanted to see if Mason would actually do it when he tries to give her one. Even though he was planning to meet his study group later, Mason offers to show her around, but Hope refuses as she is already in the middle of a tour. Mason asks for Hope's name, but she tells him that he probably already knows since it's a pretty small place. Addressing Hope by name, Mason promises to see her around and leaves.
Hope enters Leo's lab where Lyla tells her that she's been thinking that it would be good if Leo filled Hope in on what he's been up to at the research facility. However, Lyla isn't sure where Leo actually is and she promises Hope that Leo loves her very much, but he doesn't have a choice except to work this hard. Hope already knows that Leo is doing it for her, Iris and the future, but she is still visibly disappointed. Showing Hope the picture of her on Leo's desk, Lyla tells her that she's met many parents who feel helpless and want to make their children's lives better, want to do something to fight this, but they can't, they don't have the knowledge, just the desire. Those parents are relying on people like Hope's father to do what they can't and Lyla wonders if Hope can imagine what being under that kind of pressure feels like. As a way of still having Leo fill Hope in, Lyla shows her a video recorded by Leo of his work on alongside several other scientists, including Samuel Abbott and Lyla, on a viral recorder attached to an empty's brainstem that can transmit and record the dead's biological responses to environmental stimuli and provides them tracking data to approximate and predict behavior. Lyla tells Hope that she and the other scientists had tried for years to create a viral recorder, but Leo had cracked it in just two months, "his mind is truly something else." Amazed, Hope watches her father's video on his research with interest. Leo talks about his work on infecting the dead with strains of fungi that grow on necrotic flesh in the hopes of modifying an existing fungus to one day accelerate the dead's rate of decay, virtually neutralizing them as an active mobile threat.
That night, Hope looks at a copy of Leo's manuscript and starts crying after reading the dedication to her and Iris. Leo enters and apologizes for the mess, but Hope tells him that it feels like home with his stuff everywhere. Leo explains that he has been trying to get an update on Iris and Felix and has been trying to clear his head. Leo asks what Hope thinks of Lyla's tour and she admits that she'd thought that there would be a lot more guard towers and attack dogs. The two share a laugh before Hope teases her father about his girlfriend, having deduced the true nature of Leo and Lyla's relationship. Hope gives Leo her approval on his relationship with Lyla and promises that if his work is important to him, it's important to her too. However, Leo is more concerned about Iris and Felix. The CRM found the Red Maple empty and no sign of Iris and Felix in the area. As Hope and Huck had taken the truck and Felix could barely walk, Leo is afraid of the implications, but Hope tells him that if Felix felt like they should move, they would have. Leo recognizes that Hope is leaving something out and asks Hope to be honest with him about it.
"Exit Wounds"[]
Hope goes on a run through the grounds of the research facility. Stopping to tie her shoe, Hope looks around at the CRM soldiers on guard and remembers Huck telling her that this place is safe. Hope remembers asking Leo if they just have to go along with it and Leo admitting that he doesn't know. Hope resumes her run, practices fighting using a staff and witnesses Huck's goodbye with her husband Dennis Graham from a distance. Shaking her head, Hope walks off without a word.
Sitting in Dr. Terry Ellis' class on empty decomposition, Hope flashes back to empties cornering Iris and Felix holding them back at the Mississippi River as Ellis talks about decay. Looking in the hallway, Hope spots teenagers walking arm in arm and remembers walking out of the Blaze of Gory with Iris the same way and hugging Felix before they parted ways.
Noticing Hope's distraction, Ellis calls her out on it, telling Hope that this is the one day of the week where they apply the science that they are learning to the state of the world and wondering if there's another aspect of decomposition that she might be more interested in. Hope reassures Ellis that she's alright and then brings up the fermentation angle of decomposition. Hope suggests that if fermentation of yeast could create "an awesome bottle of vodka, then there has to be more good that can come out of it." Hope wonders why they should focus on the negatives when there's also some positives. Mason agrees that Hope makes a great point, but he corrects her that in yeast fermentation carbon dioxide is released before ethanol. Hope and Mason bicker about the ratio of ethanol produced by fermentation before Ellis agrees that Hope is right and pauses their debate. Ellis tells Hope that her father has been researching fungi as a means of accelerating decay and suggests that if Leo hasn't already looked into yeast, maybe Leo and Hope can put their heads together about it. It's divergent thinking like Hope's that makes this place what it is, pleasing Hope.
After class, Mason approaches Hope and asks if she's busy later. Having gotten word that the students are getting the rest of the day off in honor of the destruction of Omaha, Mason and a few of the other students are going to get together later on to get their minds off of things. Mason invites Hope to join them, but Hope refuses in favor of staying in and studying instead. Although disappointed, Mason provides Hope with directions in case she changes her mind before he leaves.
Later, Leo admits that he had never considered yeast before and is dubious about how Hope had just come up with it out of the blue. Hope unconvincingly claims that she has never thought about brewing yeast before in her life. Leo tells Hope that he knows what she's doing, but Hope insists that she's not going to try to brew alcohol at the research facility and suggests that the kids would probably just use it to sanitize stuff. However, Leo knows that Hope is just trying to keep him distracted from everything. Hope reminds Leo that he'd said that there was nothing that they can do so all they can do is just wait and trust that Iris and Felix are okay. For all they know, Iris and Felix could be way closer than they think. Leo is aware that Hope knows something that she isn't sharing with him. Leo brings up the fact that he talked to Huck, worrying Hope and Leo demands to know if Huck is threatening Hope and if she's done something to Iris and Felix. Snapping, Hope asks her father to just trust her and Leo promises her that he does. Hope admits that it was really hard in the outside world and it is really hard in the research facility and she wanted this to be a distraction for her too. Leo knows that none of them asked for this and he wishes that he could give her a bigger distraction.
At the party, Mason raises a toast to Omaha as Hope joins the party. Mason welcomes Hope to the Bunker and offers to show her around. Mason offers Hope his condolences about her home again and she asks if they got the stuff in the bunker from the Civic Republic. Mason explains that they got the parts from the CR while some of the rest came from Portland just like some of the students. Stating that they had built everything themselves, Mason has Ian tell Hope about his work on constructing the bunker. Hope asks about Mason's own claim to fame and he tells her that the previous month, in computer engineering class, Professor Verschuren helped Mason build a master control panel for all of the labs. However, Mason had co-opted it to install the Bunker's sound system.
Mason reveals that he's been at the research facility for about three years now, having done well on a bunch of tests and ended up there from the Civic Republic itself. However, that's about all that he or anyone else can say about the Civic Republic. Hope wonders if Mason does keeps quiet about the Civic Republic because it's what he wants to do or because he believes in what they're doing and Mason guesses that it's a little bit of both. Hope asks if Mason is ok with being away from his family forever, but he tells her that everyone from the Civic Republic gets to go home for two weeks every year. Mason finds it a real honor to learn from people like Leo Bennett and Dr. Ellis though and Mason likes it there. Hope asks if Mason likes the soldiers too and he reveals that his dad had wanted Mason to go into the military, but it wasn't for him. Instead, Mason focuses on the science, "the stuff we're learning here is going to unlock the future." While it's not perfect and the people from Portland don't even know when they're gonna go home, Mason reminds Hope of her words in class about not focusing on the negative when there's so much positive.
Pouring herself a drink, Hope challenges Mason to a game of giant Jenga. The two play until Hope successfully removes a block blindfolded and, acknowledging that he can't beat that, Mason removes a block that causes the whole tower to fall. As the other students' cheer, Hope experiences flashbacks to the Endlings watching the rack of tires fall at the Blaze of Gory, Iris fighting an empty and Felix struggling to help launch at the boat at the river. Iris' words that they will always protect each other rings through Hope's mind.
Pounding on Huck's door, Hope demands to be taken to Iris and Felix immediately. Hope argues that it's been days and she's done everything that Huck has said and demands to know what Huck has been doing. Hope worries about what will happen if the CRM finds them first or what will happen if Huck's mother figures out what Felix and Iris know. Hope demands to know if Huck even checked to make sure that they made it, but Huck tells her that with the guards and patrols, it isn't as easy as Hope thinks. Hope doesn't care and she demands that Huck go and take Hope with her, knowing that Iris and Felix won't listen to Huck's warnings, pointing out that Felix probably wants to kill her. Huck agrees to go the next day, talk to them and take it from there. Hope asks why she can't go that night and, after shutting the stove off, Huck states that her first patrol shift isn't until the next day which is how they get there unnoticed while Hope notices two plates set out for dinner. Huck dismisses it as being just one day, but Hope reminds her that a whole city of people got wiped out in just one day. Hope knows that Huck talked to Leo and if Iris and Felix don't come back soon, he's going to start stirring shit up. Hope wants her family back.
After acquiring a Humvee from Dennis, Huck is stopped at the gates by Corporal Diane Pierce, Hope hiding in the back. Huck declares her reason for departure to be classified business for her mother. After checking over the paperwork, Diane introduces herself, telling Huck that she was transferred to the research facility after Huck's departure to assume Huck's responsibilities. Diane had worked closely with Elizabeth and calls her an inspiration which Huck agrees with. After checking the back of the vehicle, Diane allows Huck to go.
That night, Hope and Huck are escorted into the Perimeter by two guards, noticed by Iris, Elton, Percy and Asha.
"Family Is a Four Letter Word"[]
Indira greets Huck and Hope at the Perimeter. Indira notes that it's been quite some time since Huck last visited them and she asks what has brought her out so far. Hope notices Iris standing nearby and the two are reunited. Iris can't believe that Hope is there and asks if their father is with her, but Hope reveals that it's just them and Huck had to sneak her out. Hope reassures her sister that it's fine as Felix joins them and Hope hugs him as well. Huck comments that it's just like old times while Felix glares at her over Hope's shoulder.
Indira hopes that Huck isn't bringing them trouble, but Huck reassures Indira that she's not and that her mother doesn't know that she's there and she won't. As a gesture of good faith, Huck hands over her rifle to one of the Perimeter's guards as Felix hands in his S-Pole as well. Huck explains that she just wants to talk to Iris and Felix alone and Indira reminds Huck that the Perimeter hasn't seen bloodshed since its founding, and she wants to keep it that way. Both Felix and Huck agree, and Indira leaves them alone.
Once Indira is gone, Felix draws his knife, addressing Huck by her real name of Jennifer and demanding to know what she wants. Stepping between the two, Hope explains that what they want is for Iris and Felix to come back with them which Iris and Felix are visibly unhappy with. Felix demands to know why they would ever come with Huck, but she tells them that they wouldn't. Instead, she intends to take them most of the way and have Iris and Felix act like they found the research facility on their own.
Iris wonders what this is about, and Hope tells her that it's about being together, keeping Felix and Iris safe and keeping their father safe. Iris reminds Hope that she had said that Leo was safe, and Hope promises that he is, but Leo is worried, and Hope is worried that he's going to stir shit up if they don't bring them back soon. Leo could get hurt or worse and Huck states that the CRM is currently looking for them back at the retirement home. However, Felix reveals that Huck's mother was just there looking for them with soldiers and wonders if Huck is here now because she's using Hope to lure them out.
Huck insists that all they have to do is play dumb that she is CRM and about the code books and the fuel caches and they'll be fine. Her mother will take them in, and they'll be safe. Felix is dubious and Huck calls it just one more lie. Iris demands to know if Omaha was just one more lie too, surprising Hope that they know about it already. Felix asks if it's true that Omaha is gone, and Huck confirms it along with the fact that the Campus Colony has been destroyed as well. Huck states that the CRM couldn't mobilize fast enough to save either one, but Iris suggests that they were the ones who made it happen instead. Huck is surprised, telling Iris that it was a giant herd of empties, but Iris outright accuses the CRM of killing everyone and using the empties as a coverup. Huck is confused as to why the CRM would kill over a hundred thousand people when they are all about rebuilding civilization and bringing the world back and Felix demands that she tell them why the CRM would do such a thing. Huck calls Iris' claims crazy while Hope wonders if Iris knows something. Iris admits that she can't prove it, but she refuses to go anywhere with Huck.
Iris begins to walk away, refusing to say anything else in front of Huck. Hope insists that this isn't about Huck but rather their father, demanding to know if Iris doesn't want to see him. While Iris does, she knows that they would be idiots to go into the research facility without a way out, something that Felix agrees with. Huck asks them about Silas, drawing everyone's attention. Huck reveals that Silas is alive and at a culling and maintenance post not far from the Perimeter. Huck has made sure that Silas is being taken care of and promises Iris that if she and Felix come with them, they can see Silas too. Hope admits that this is the first that she's hearing about this, and Felix accuses Huck of lying to them. Huck insists that it's the truth and that she hadn't said anything before as she didn't want to complicate things more than they already are. Huck implores Iris to come with her and Hope and see for herself, but Iris tells her sister that she wants to talk to her alone and Hope and Iris walk away.
Sitting in a workshop, Hope comments on how much older her sister seems even though it's only been a few days since they last saw each other. Reminding Hope that she's the one who's older, Iris apologizes for missing her birthday, but Hope's fine with it and tells Iris how their father had put a candle on her eggs, and they share a laugh. Hope tells Iris that this is the first time that Leo has been distracted by work since her arrival, but seeing him okay with all of the other doctors from Portland and Omaha that are just like him, Hope thinks she's starting to get it, why Leo is so into it and why it's so important. Iris asks if their father is happy and Hope states that he isn't with the CRM, but he has a girlfriend. Hope explains how Leo's girlfriend is a scientist and really smart and that Mason says that she's a big deal or something. Iris is intrigued by the mention of Mason and Hope claims that he's just a guy that's in some of her classes and that it's not how it sounds.
Iris accuses Hope of meeting guys and talking about Leo's girlfriend as if it's a good thing, but Hope insists that she's just trying to get them back together so that they can figure things out in a way that's smart. Iris insists that the smart thing is Hope staying at the Perimeter so that they can all get Leo out together. However, Hope knows that if she stays, the CRM will find them all before they even get a chance. At the facility, they can take their time, think things through and plan, but Iris points out that they'd be prisoners. Hope states that they'll be alive, reminding Iris that Portland is 2,700 miles away and that they will never get there with a target on their backs. With their home gone, they are all each other has which Iris knows. Hope asks how Iris found out about the destruction of their home, but Iris doesn't want to talk about it and refuses to come back with them. Tearfully, Hope says that Iris can, and she should, but Hope gets that she won't.
Near sunrise, Hope says goodbye to Felix and Will, asking Will to look after Iris and Felix. Now aware of the CRM's attempted murder of Will and believing that the CRM had destroyed Omaha and the Campus Colony, Hope confronts Iris about not telling her the truth about it which changes everything. Iris insists that she had wanted to tell Hope and that maybe she should've, unsure of why she didn't. Hope asks if there's anything else that she should know and, with a glance at Huck, Iris shakes her head. Hugging Hope, Iris promises that they will get Hope and Leo out and asks Hope to tell Leo that they're okay and not to worry. Hope wishes that she could and leaves with Huck.
Outside of Leo's apartment, Hope finds a package with her name on it. Inside is a Jenga block with a message from Mason that it was good hanging out with her and asking for a rematch. At first happy, Hope becomes somber after a moment and enters her father's apartment.
"Quatervois"[]
In a nightmare, Leo wakes Hope up to tell her that a team is heading out to look for Iris and Felix and they're finally letting him join them. Hope protests, but Leo tells her that raising a little hell and not taking no for an answer has finally paid off just like it did with Will. Behind Leo, two CRM soldiers raise their guns and shoot him in the head.
Hope awakens from her nightmare and makes her way to Leo's lab where Leo, Lyla, Terry Ellis and another scientist are working. Ellis warmly greets Hope, stating she's just the young mind that they were looking for. Seeing that her father is busy, Hope goes to leave, but Leo stops her, telling Hope that he's still trying to find answers about Iris and Felix, but Ellis had called earlier that morning. Hope is initially worried that she's in trouble as Leo invites her in, but Ellis explains that he had decided to do a little extracurricular work and apply Hope's yeast theory to Leo's fungal decay research. Lyla introduces Hope to Dr. Amanda Siegel, one of the most well-respected mycologists. Once Leo and Ellis had looped Lyla in, she asked Siegel to tag along in case something were to come of it. Ellis reveals that they have identified three strains of yeast that they believe with some augmentation, could gravely accelerate necrotic decomposition. Siegel tells Hope that, while there's still a lot of work to be done, it's sparks like this that will light a path to a new world where the dead have been neutralized as a threat. Lyla adds that Hope should be proud and Leo states that it's early, but this discovery could be big. Hope is initially excited but, remembering her nightmare, asks to talk to Leo alone and the three scientists leave.
Leo starts to tell Hope that knows that this potential breakthrough is bad timing, but Hope interrupts him to reveal that she had seen Iris the other night. Leo is shocked by this, and Hope tells him that Huck took her to see Iris and that Felix and Will are there too and it's not that far. As Leo reels from the news, Hope admits that there's a lot that she hasn't told him.
In Leo's apartment, Leo, having been informed of the whole truth by his daughter, is enraged at what he has learned. Leo pictures them running away, but the research facility is a prison which Hope agrees with, but she wonders if it's also the future. Hope doesn't mean the CRM, but the researchers themselves and their research. Their discussion is interrupted by a phone call.
In the holding area, Leo shares a tearful reunion with Iris and Felix. Hope is surprised by Iris' presence there and even more by Percy being dressed up as Elton. Hugging her sister, Iris promises to explain everything to her.
In Leo's apartment, having been informed the escape plan, Leo is surprised that they want to leave now while Hope asks why 2 p.m. that day. Felix explains that the guard shift happens at 2 and Will has got this all mapped out and it's the only way to get out of the research facility without anyone noticing. Percy adds that if they do, he's going to hang back and give them some cover while Iris states that it's also when Silas is meeting them at the Detritus Service Terminal. Hope is surprised that the others were with Silas and Iris confirms that Silas is coming with them. Leo worries that it's a long, dangerous walk to Portland, but Iris tells her father that they got to the research facility, and they'll get to Portland too. Portland needs to know what their Alliance partner did. Leo is afraid that if the CRM catches them, they could kill everyone, but Felix suggests that, if they get caught, they leverage the fact that the CRM want Leo and Hope working towards the future for their safety. With about 40 minutes left until the deadline, Iris states that this is their best and only chance to be a family again on their terms. Leo checks with Hope who reminds Leo that he said that it was about making their own choices and, right now, this is the only choice that they've got. After a moment, Leo decides that he needs to say goodbye to Lyla, suggesting that maybe she can come with them. Leo calls Lyla the only person outside of this room that they can trust, and he needs to talk to her.
As the time approaches, Hope, Iris, Felix and Percy sit anxiously in Leo's apartment with their bags packed.
"Who Are You?"[]
At 1:57 p.m., Leo tells Hope, Iris, Felix and Percy that, from what he can tell, the transmissions describe field tests conducted in the aftermath of some sort of large-scale chemical event. Leo guesses that the V symbol on the papers refers to a specific project at the research facility. Hope and Iris realize that the CRM used some kind of chemical weapon to kill everyone in Omaha and the Campus Colony and then used the empties to cover it up. Felix warns everyone that they now have exactly two minutes to meet Silas at the back terminal while Percy wonders if the documents are legitimate and not some kind of new con that Huck is planning. However, Leo insists that whatever this is, the specificity involved is real. Hope suggests that the scientists in on it didn't know or working against their will, but Iris' more cynical opinion is that they might've known exactly what they were doing and just didn't care.
Felix warns the others that they must make an immediate decision on whether to stay or go and Hope votes to stay, stating that these are people's lives they're talking about. Portland needs to know and they have to figure out what's going on and what all of this means. Felix agrees and tells the others that they need to leave word for Will and Elton and asks what they're going to do about Silas. Iris explains that she told Silas to leave if they didn't show up and to go back to the culling facility until they figure things out and that's hopefully what he did. Percy's surprised that they're scrapping the escape plan, but Iris admits that Hope's right and they need answers. Percy wonders what then and Iris firmly tells the others that they make sure that the CRM doesn't get away with it. Leo agrees and says that they're going to get some answers.
In Leo's lab, Iris asks Huck why the CRM would wipe out two whole communities, if it was for the research or if the research was just part of it. Huck states that that's what she's trying to find out, but Felix points out that Huck was a mole in both places and if anyone would know, it's her. However, Huck reminds Felix that she'd told the Endlings that she was just a part of a standard observe and report mission, at least until it became about Hope. Elizabeth Kublek was the one who oversaw the Civic Republic's dealings with Omaha and the Campus Colony while Huck was nobody. Percy is doubtful, asking Huck if shooting him and killing his uncle was her call while killing everybody else was her mother's. Huck admits that while only Major General Beale could've authorized something this big, her mother would've seen the order.
Leo asks if Huck has any idea why the CRM would do such a thing and she tells the others that, even before the CR formed the Alliance of the Three, they kept their location hidden in order to make sure that everything within its borders was kept at a statistical balance such as resources, food and population and something like an influx of people or a potential for conflict would jeopardize what they've built. Huck guesses that "someway, somehow, Beale must've thought that Omaha and the Campus Colony was a threat to that balance." Iris presses Huck to tell them where the Hidden City is as proof of her honesty, but she refuses, stating that she came to Leo for answers, not the other way around. Huck tries to take the coded transmissions and leave, but Leo snatches them back, telling Huck that he needs more time and that if she wants answers, they stay with him. Huck agrees and starts to leave, but turns back, telling the Endlings that having Indira turn them in was smart. However, she warns them that whatever great escape they think they've figured out, they haven't, and she leaves. Once Huck is gone, Felix tells the others that they need to get their note to Will and Elton and their window is closing soon to deliver it. Iris goes to write it and Felix tells her to keep it short and tell them that they are delayed and safe.
When Elton decodes Iris' message, it reveals that they not only have been delayed, but that they intend to burn the research facility to the ground. Indira realizes that Iris and the others intend to start a war with the CRM.
After composing himself in the bathroom of his apartment, Leo tells the others that he needs to know just how much Lyla knows. Leo explains that Lyla being there for dinner means that she won't be in her lab. Leo tells Felix that he needs Felix to do something for him, but not just Felix.
At dinner, Iris tries to brag to Lyla that she could've been an amazing chef, but Leo refuses to back her up. Watching Leo and Lyla hold hands as they laugh, Iris asks what Lyla did for a living before all of this. Lyla reveals that she worked for big pharma on treatment for a variety of diseases, but she doesn't want to bore them with all of that. Iris asks if Lyla tested on animals which she confirms is unfortunately true, calling it industry standard. Iris suggests that if it was so unfortunate that it shouldn't have been standard while Leo and Hope exchange a look while Lyla tells Iris that in most cases, testing on isolated cells doesn't produce reliable results. Lyla asks if it isn't worth it if sacrificing a few mice means saving thousands of lives. Iris suggests that it depends on where you're willing to draw the line and what if what you're doing is worse than the disease you're trying to cure. Leo interrupts, suggesting that this might be a discussion that's better suited for a classroom. However, Lyla acknowledges that Iris has a point, but it all comes down to how much of your humanity and soul you are willing to sacrifice for the greater good. While they all do things that they wish they didn't have to, that's just life. Iris angrily tells Lyla that it's not just life, but a choice to do those things and to say that it's not is just an excuse. Standing, Hope suggests that they go check on Felix and see if he's doing any better. Iris refuses, but Leo reinforces Hope's suggestion and Iris reluctantly leaves with Hope.
Outside, Hope angrily confronts her sister about her behavior, reminding Iris that she's supposed to be keeping Hope from doing stupid shit, not the other way around. Iris tells Hope that she just can't with Lyla and this place, and she just can't see how Hope can. While she knows that Iris doesn't want to hear it, Hope insists that there are good people here such as the scientists and the students like them. Hope is helping them with something that could be important, possibly a breakthrough. While Hope isn't saying that that changes what the CRM or Lyla has done, the scientists and the students aren't the same as the CRM. Iris reveals that she killed one of the CRM soldiers. Iris did it because he is the enemy and she would do it again because that is what the CRM is, the enemy. They need to be ready like everyone on the outside already is which is what she put in the note. Hope asks what Iris put in the note and she tells Hope that she had told the others that they are going to find out what the CRM is up to, stop them from ever doing it again and then burn this place to the ground. Hope is shocked by her sister's actions.
"Blood and Lies"[]
In his lab, Leo takes a swab of the liquid in the vial that Felix stole and adds it to a beaker as Hope and Iris watch with Hope glancing at the equations on the whiteboard in Leo's lab. The liquid in the beaker turns a light shade of purple and Leo identifies the liquid as chlorine. "They gassed everybody back home. That's how they did it," realizes Hope with Iris realizing that chlorine gas is how the CRM was able to kill over a hundred thousand people. Leo tells his daughters that massive amounts of chlorine gas can be produced with very little effort and expensive resources before describing how the gas kills its victims. Angry, Hope states that the CRM can't just get away with this, but Iris tells her that the CRM already has unless they do something about it. Hope is confused as liquid chlorine is supposed to be colorless which Leo agrees with, guessing that something must've been added to it. Putting the vial away, Leo tells Hope and Iris that they need to keep this safe until they can figure it out.
In the Bunker, Hope hides the cannister with the vial in one of the speakers before being found by Mason. Hope lies that she was just looking for Mason who has been wondering how Hope has been and has heard that Hope's sister was coming in and that her yeast theory might've sparked something. Hope admits that it's just been a lot in general which Mason understands. Hope tells Mason that she was looking for him to see if Mason wanted to hang out together later and Mason tells her that he'll be back in the Bunker later tonight to catch up on some microbiology and Hope can stop by any time. Hope agrees and she leaves after the two teenagers say their goodbyes.
Iris enters Leo's apartment, calling out for her sister. To Iris' surprise, she is greeted by both Hope and Lyla. Hope explains that Lyla wants to make them an offer and Lyla tells Iris that she needs the vial that they stole. While Lyla hasn't given them any reason to trust her, she'll tell them anything that they want to know about who she is and what she does. Iris questions why they should believe anything that she says, but Lyla tells Iris that they can come with her, and she'll show them. However, they need to decide now as Leo's life depends on it.
Lyla leads Hope and Iris to the observation room of her lab where the girls are shocked to see Lyla's empty test subjects. Lyla reveals that she developed the contents of the vial right here in the lab that no one at the research facility is supposed to know about, Leo included. Iris demands the answers that Lyla had promised, and Lyla reveals that she studies reanimation, but in order to understand what causes someone to come back after they die, Lyla needs to observe a subject while they are dying. Hope is shocked that Lyla killed all of these people for research, but Lyla tells her that most of them were found already bitten out in the wild. They would've died in vain, but the research facility made it so that their passing could be a gift to science, to the future. Iris recognizes that Lyla had only said that most of her test subjects were already bitten, and, telling Hope and Iris that they need to understand what they are up against, brings up a camera view of the zombified Samuel Abbott in a cell and releases a rat into the cell. Watching as Samuel chases it around, Lyla tells Hope and Iris that the rat will eventually get tired, but the dead won't ever. The dead are perpetually in motion and none of them will be safe as long as this exists in the world.
Hope demands answers about Omaha and how this ties into the genocide there. Lyla explains that she developed an intra-cerebral injection of algae-derived chemical extracts that showed promise in delaying the time between death and reanimation, but Lyla needed a lot more test subjects to be sure. The CRM told Lyla and Samuel about a secret military operation in which tens of thousands would die. They were assured that this operation was critical to the survival of the human race and that they were being let in on something that almost no one outside of the military knew about and it was their chance to test the formula out in the field. Lyla and Samuel were horrified by it and the Civic Republic's civilian government has no idea what its military does outside of its walls. Samuel threatened to tell the government about it, so they made sure he never would. The three watch as Samuel continues to chase the rat around the cell and Iris wonders why 100,000 people would need to die. Lyla admits that she had asked the CRM that, but they had warned her to never ask them that again. Lyla claims that she would've stopped it if she could've, but Iris angrily tells Lyla that she could've, but Lyla chose to put her own safety before the lives the people that were murdered. Lyla insists that if she resisted, they would've killed her too, but what was going to happen was going to happen either way. Lyla could end up dead, or she could try to turn something that she couldn't stop into something that could help humanity. Hope angrily asks if Lyla found the answers that she was looking for, but Lyla tells her that it's not about answers, but data.
Disgusted, Iris asks if they're just supposed to trust her, but Lyla insists that she's telling them the truth and that giving her that vial back will save Leo. Lyla told the CRM that she misplaced it during the blackout and showing the CRM that she has it will take all of the suspicion off of Leo. Lyla claims that this is her putting Leo's life ahead of her own and that she's doing this to save him. Iris thinks that she's doing this to save herself, but Lyla continues to insist that she cares about Leo and that the return of the vial is what keeps both Leo and Lyla alive, maybe all of them. Iris continues to refuse, but Hope finally admits that the vial is in the Bunker and, much to Iris' shock, gives Lyla directions to the hiding place. Lyla tearfully thanks Hope and tells Hope and Iris that they should wait a few minutes after she leaves as it's best that they aren't seen together more than they already have. Hope agrees and Lyla leaves the lab. Once Lyla is gone, Hope tells her furious sister that there wasn't another choice and, while Hope doesn't trust Lyla, she couldn't do nothing. Looking at the camera where Samuel has finally caught and began eating the rat, Hope reminds Iris that they came to the research facility to keep their father safe.
Waiting in the observation room, Hope insists that Lyla will keep Leo safe as Hope believes that Lyla really does care about him. Still furious, Iris demands to know why, ever since she got to the research facility, Hope has been willing to give everyone there the benefit of the doubt. Hope calls that unfair, but Iris reminds her sister that Lyla let an entire city die and did nothing about it. Hope insists that she's not saying that she wants to trust Lyla, Hope just doesn't think that they have a choice. Iris tells Hope that she shouldn't have made that choice without her, but Hope retorts that Iris did the exact same thing with the dead drop note. Deciding that it's been long enough, Iris decides to leave without continuing their argument, but the two notice CRM soldiers approaching the lab on the security monitor and worry that they are already looking for them or Lyla. Seeing more soldiers arrive and prepare to enter the lab, Hope orders her sister to run. The two quickly enter the area housing the empties and hide amongst the equipment and the empties, moving around as the men search. The two are very nearly caught, but the soldiers are called off at the last moment after Lyla is located. Once the soldiers are gone, Hope and Iris hug each other in relief.
Sitting in Leo's living room, Hope asks what they do now. Leo isn't sure and tells Hope, Iris and Felix that Elizabeth Kublek wasn't there and Jadis told him to take a couple of days and report back to work on Monday. Leo doesn't know if he's going to have armed guards at his elbows or not and Felix suggests that they get out of the research facility before then and have Huck get word to Silas. Iris reveals that Percy went to talk to Huck that morning and she hasn't seen him since.
Answering a knock on the door, Iris is relieved to find Percy and becomes concerned at what he did after seeing how distressed Percy is. Percy explains to the Endlings that there's not gonna be an Alliance of the Three anymore and Felix asks what he means. Percy suggests that maybe the CRM never intended to have allies and maybe they had just wanted to find out who their competition was. Iris asks what he's telling them, and Percy reveals that it's just going to be the Civic Republic, the CRM is going to wipe out Portland using the chlorine gas and the empties to cover it up just like they did in Omaha and the Campus Colony. The CRM intends to kill 87,000 people and they have no way to warn them as a wire would get intercepted and it would take months to reach Portland on foot. Portland won't see it coming and they won't know what hit them. Percy tells the others that it will be soon, and Hope asks how soon, but Percy doesn't know as Jadis had only said that it would be soon. Felix points out that they know where the gas is, and Iris realizes that he wants to destroy the gas. Hope decides that they must destroy the research facility as well. This isn't just about saving Portland and escaping, they can't let the CRM keep the research facility. Hope wants to get the scientists and their research out and keep it going. Iris wonders how they're going to do that.
In the Bunker, Mason tells Hope that he wasn't sure that she was going to come. Hope admits that she wasn't sure either, but it's not because of Mason but because of this place. Mason recognizes that the research facility can take some getting used to with it sometimes feeling normal and sometimes like a prison. Mason laughs about how his father wouldn't take him saying that well, drawing Hope's interest. Mason comments that he's sure that he's a big disappointment to his father due to Mason not being all in on the military. Mason asks Hope about what's going on with her, but Hope is stuck on the mention of Mason's dad and asks if he's in the military. Much to Hope's surprise, Mason reveals that his father is actually Major General Beale which Mason had thought that Hope already knew.
"Returning Point"[]
In Leo's apartment, Hope and Iris pack. Iris reports that the cameras in the north stairwell are still down from the outage and Percy is taking down the rest of the go-bags. Iris notices her sister's distracted state and Hope admits that it just got real for her that everyone is putting their lives in the Endlings' hands. Hope knows that Iris thinks that it's smarter to just go for the gas and save Portland, and Iris acknowledges that there's a lot that could go wrong with getting everyone out, but she promises Hope that they will make it work and that they will do whatever they have to do to make sure that they win.
As the girls continue to pack, Huck calls for Hope, Iris and Felix over the radio revealing that they need to start everything now. Jadis and some armed guards are on their way to Leo's place to take everybody in. They need to get out and head to rendezvous one. Hope protests that they haven't heard from Will or Elton, but Huck tells them that there's no time. They need to start the plan and Huck will do whatever she can to help, but if their plan is going to happen, it needs to happen now. Hope and Iris flee the apartment with their bags just before Jadis, Frank Newton and their troops burst in. Hesitating outside, Hope gives Iris her bag and orders her to find Felix and Leo, spread the word and get everybody in place. Hope promises to meet Iris there and runs off in the opposite direction.
As an evacuation order sounds, Hope finds Mason in the school part of the facility. Mason wonders what's going on and Hope asks him to get Ian or somebody that Mason trusts to sign him in with the evac guards while Mason comes with her. Mason is confused and Hope asks him just to trust her as it's life or death. After a moment of hesitation, Mason agrees. As the facility enters full lockdown, Hope arrives at the biocontainment unit with Mason just in time before the door seals. Looking around at the gathered people in alarm and confusion, Mason asks Hope what's going on. Hope apologizes, wishing that there was another way, but the Endlings' plan doesn't work without Mason. Felix and Percy grab Mason and drag him away, calling out for Hope and Percy welcomes Mason to the biocontainment unit.
Tied to a pillar, Mason notices masked figures moving around through a window and is startled when one comes up to the window, revealing that it's an empty. Approaching, Hope explains that it's one-way glass and they can see the empties, but the empties can't see them. Mason demands answers and Hope explains that the CRM isn't what he thinks it is and that they've done horrible things. Mason insists that whatever the CRM has done can't be that bad and that his dad would know about it. Mason realizes from Hope's reaction that she took him because of Mason's dad and Hope insists that there was no other way. The Endlings are going to leverage Mason to get what they want and then, once they do, they'll let him go. Mason wonders what they want and what they will do if they don't get it such as feeding him to the empties, but Hope promises Mason that no one's going to hurt him and walks away. From nearby, Iris silently observes this interaction.
Hope and Iris go over a blueprint with Felix and Leo, mapping out the direction that they will be traveling in. Leo warns the others that they only have 12 minutes until the CRM gets in and Leo heads off to get everybody ready while Felix goes to set the C4. Nearby, Percy unties Mason who angrily refuses to go anywhere until they tell him where they're taking him. Hope tries to intervene as Percy roughly drags Mason away, but Iris stops her. Hope protests that Mason didn't do anything, but Iris tells her that neither did and they and that there is too much at stake and they need to get it done.
When the CRM soldiers enter the biocontainment unit, four of them are killed by C4 that Felix had set. They discover that everyone has escaped into the old mining tunnels beneath the facility, having counted on the CRM initiating lockdown protocols. The Endlings had known that sealing the containment door would buy them time to escape into the old mining tunnels and used the explosives to stop the CRM from following them in. They also stole all of the research to take it with them and wiped it from the facility's central server. Jadis realizes that their actions are not just an escape plan, but a rebellion. Jadis orders Corporal Diane Pierce to shoot to kill if she sees the Bennetts or any of the scientists.
"Death and the Dead"[]
Having escaped into Lyla Belshaw's secret lab, Leo passes around controllers for the viral recorders strapped to the backs of several of the CRM test subjects which the Endlings have released into the mining tunnels with C4 strapped to their backs. Leo declares to the others that the CRM is sending them a signal so they're sending one back, reassuring the group that the CRM has brought them to this. While the others watch, Leo, Iris, Terry Ellis, Amanda Siegel and Dr. Ebersol detonate the C4, killing the fireteams searching for them in the tunnels who have just encountered and put down all of the empties. "No going back now," notes Felix. After exchanging a look with Mason, Hope detonates hers last.
Leo calls in over the radio, asking to speak to Jadis. Answering his call, Jadis admonishes Leo for killing her men, telling him that their lives might mean nothing to Leo, but they had dedicated their lives to fighting for a future, a future that the Endlings are putting at great risk for every living person on the planet. Leo tells her that the trap was only for show, and they're prepared to escalate even further. Jadis states that Leo has crossed a very serious line, but Leo tells her that the CRM destroyed their home and an entire surviving city full of living people and then tried to hide that from everyone.
Leo announces that they're done with the CRM and that they're all leaving today. Jadis doesn't think that Leo is any position to bargain with her, but Leo reveals that they have Mason Beale, giving Jadis pause. After a moment, Jadis accuses Leo of lying as Mason had left on an evacuation transport with the other students. Leo holds up the radio to Mason who hesitates to respond before Hope pleads with him to. After a moment, Mason speaks to Jadis and asks her to get him out of there. Increasingly angry but unable to do anything but bargain, Jadis asks what Leo wants and he asks for the two biggest transport trucks that she has with full tanks of gas and no tricks.
Jadis asks where they plan on going and if Leo plans on abandoning his role in finding a cure and in someday saving their entire species. However, Leo reiterates that the CRM are murderers and liars, and the scientists are no longer willing to continue working for them. Leo promises that if the CRM lets them go, the scientists will find another way to save everyone eventually, even the CRM. Jadis questions if everyone with him feels the same way and if they are all so quick to abandon the safety and security that the CRM has given them. Jadis insists that they won't find that outside of the CRM's walls and that "there is no progress out there. Only death and the dead." Jadis tells Leo to ask Hope as she's seen it. Iris, Felix and Leo give Hope surprised looks, but Leo simply tells Jadis that she has 30 minutes to get the trucks backed up to the service entrance near Guard Gate 1 and while they don't want to hurt Mason, they're prepared to escalate, causing Mason to give a worried look to Hope. Jadis agrees to give the Endlings the trucks and, as Felix heads off to meet them, furiously congratulates on Leo on roping a lot of smart people into a breathlessly stupid suicide mission.
Looking at the empty test subjects, Mason asks Iris and Percy what goes on in the lab. Percy suggests that Mason ask his father, sarcastically calling Major General Beale a real standup guy. Iris is then called away by Leo to where Hope is packing C4 into a bag and the others are preparing to leave. Felix tells Leo that the trucks are ready and Leo states he and the others are heading out and they should keep radio communications to a minimum. Iris promises to let her father know when they've made it out and reassures him that he's got this. Leo tells Hope, Iris and Felix that as long as the CRM thinks that they're all leaving and that they've got Mason, they shouldn't try anything. Hope tells her father to be safe and he jokes that he should be saying that to her and Iris. Iris promises Leo that, if this works, they'll be right behind him. The three agree to no goodbyes and Leo asks Felix to take care of his daughters which Felix agrees to and asks Leo to take care of the other scientists, reminding Leo that all eyes are going to be on Leo for this part. Stating that that's the plan, Leo and the scientists leave while Felix prepares to depart with Hope, telling Iris to watch Mason and that they'll be back in 10 minutes.
Mason interrupts their departure, calling to Hope that there's nowhere that she can go that's better. As Percy orders him to shut up, Mason asks what if the Endlings never find this kind of safety again and what if this is their last chance at a future and they blow it. Seeing Hope wavering, Iris orders her sister to ignore Mason as he doesn't know anything about what the CRM has done, and Percy suggests that it might be time to tell him. Felix gets Hope moving, leaving Iris and Percy alone with Mason.
Hope and Felix, armed with S-Poles, reach the cold storage area. Felix tells Hope that they're going to get in, set the charges and get out with Hope adding that hopefully the others will meet them with the gas masks. Entering the area and looking around, Hope notes that it's pretty warm for cold storage which Felix agrees with. Hope wonders if the power outage knocked out power to cold storage as well, but Felix tells her that it's on a different grid. Seeing an empty moving around in the open freezer, Felix realizes that the test subjects being stored there have all thawed out. As empties approach from around the corner, Felix orders Hope to shut the freezer door.
As Hope tries, an empty gets in the way and, seeing its Alliance of the Three tattoo, Hope realizes that it's a zombified Lyla. Desperately slamming the door on Lyla, Hope remembers Lyla telling her that she should be proud, Huck telling her that the research facility is safe and good for everybody and Lyla stating that the research facility is her home now. Redoubling her efforts as the memories pass through her mind and Lyla's head gets stuck in the doorway, Hope finally manages to smash Lyla's frozen head with the door, putting her down.
Felix rejoins Hope as she stares at Lyla's corpse. Filled with new determination and finally completely disillusioned with the appeal of the research facility and the safety that it offers, Hope tells Felix that they need to plant the charges and get out of here, "fuck this place." However, upon opening the door to the area containing the chlorine gas, Hope and Felix find it all gone and Felix realizes that Jadis had moved everything somehow. With the gas moved, the power cut and the empties released, Hope and Felix realize that the CRM knew that they were coming for the gas and they quickly flee the cold storage area.
Returning to the lab, Hope and Felix reveal to Iris and Percy that the gas is gone. Iris insists that the gas has to be there somewhere, they just need to find it. However, Felix knows that there's no time to search for it as the CRM knows that they're still here. Iris suggests using the charges to do some damage on the way out, but Hope tells Iris that Silas is already leading a herd to the research facility to do that for them. Felix declares that Hope is right, and they stick to the exit plan. Percy asks what they do with Mason and Felix tells him that that part of the plan doesn't change: they drop Mason off somewhere a ways out and radio the CRM to pick him up. Angry, Iris asks if they're just giving up on saving Portland, but Felix reminds her that they can't save anyone until they save themselves. Once they get out, they'll radio the others about the change of plans and figure it out from there.
Turning to Mason, Iris demands to know where the gas is, but Mason doesn't know, and Hope asks how he could. Iris reminds Mason that his father is the head of this place, but Mason believes that his father wouldn't do any of the things that they're accusing him of without a reason and that he's a lot more sane than any of the Endlings. Iris continues to press Mason, but he insists that he doesn't know anything about the gas. Intervening, Percy reassures his girlfriend that they're going to figure this out and the group follows Felix's orders to leave.
Making their way up the stairs to the surface, Percy notes from the gunfire outside that Silas came through for them. Iris states that the more eyes that the CRM has on the empties, the less they'll have on the Endlings. Hope tells the others that they have to get out of here or the empties will be their problem as well. Returning from checking outside, Felix announces that the coast seems clear and asks which Humvee they are stealing. Percy provides Felix with the keys that he had stolen from one of the grounds crew using Tony's Ring Around the Rosy routine and tells him how to find it.
As Hope, Iris, Felix, Percy and Mason approach the jeeps, they are confronted by several CRM soldiers, including Jadis and Huck. Felix quickly turns his gun on Mason, forcing Jadis to order her men to hold their fire. Hope and Huck exchange a look as Jadis orders Team Alpha to stand fast over her radio as they have the Bennetts where they want them. Jadis asks the Endlings to talk, just them, and gives Felix instructions on how to adjust his radio accordingly. Stating that the Endlings want out of here while the CRM wants Mason Beale, Jadis asks how they will do this. Felix tells Jadis that they will turn Mason over to the CRM unharmed once they're out which will only happen when she lets them drive off in the jeep. However, Jadis calls this unacceptable as they haven't shown her anything to make Jadis trust them with Felix telling Jadis that they don't trust the CRM either. Jadis points out that there's the CRM, the Endlings and a giant herd coming and challenges Felix to see who blinks first. Jadis states that the Endlings hadn't wanted to listen and now they are all in a no-win situation. Felix swears to God that he will kill Mason if Jadis tries anything and then Jadis is out of luck. Jadis reminds Felix that he will be too as the Endlings lose their leverage without Mason, causing Felix to threaten to kneecap Mason instead. Jadis understands that they're angry and blame the CRM for all of their troubles, but this is the outcome of their own actions, not the CRM's. Iris tells Jadis that the CRM didn't give them a choice, but Jadis thinks that they just don't understand.
Iris confronts Jadis about the CRM's lies and how they covered up their genocide of Omaha and the Campus Colony. Jadis tells Iris that this is the only world that she's ever known and is far too young to understand all that has been lost. Stepping forward, Iris furiously accuses Jadis and the CRM of murdering 100,000 people. Jadis tells the Endlings that all of those people were going to die anyway and the military had made the hard decision so that the civilians wouldn't have to. "Two years ago, the CRM's modeling revealed that the Alliance would soon become a drain on the Civic Republic's resources. Omaha, the Campus Colony, Portland... had become too reliant. They'd never be fully self-sustaining. So, it was only a matter of time before thousands faced a famine of devastating proportions. At best, those thousands would have died slowly. At worst, disease and conflict would have spread through the Civic Republic itself, and then? The light of the world... extinguished forever. Death wins. We made the choice to spare them that by ending it quickly for them so that there could be a chance for humanity to survive. What we did to your home was mercy," Jadis explains. The CRM made sure that all assets were extracted, including 10,000 children, and the greatest minds were sent to the research facility to contribute to scientific progress under the CRM's protection. Jadis insists that the people who died became an essential part of their study to stop reanimation and that their legacy will be stopping the dead from walking the world.
As Huck notices a CRM sniper moving in nearby, Hope demands to know what gives the CRM the right to choose who lives and who dies. Jadis berates the Endlings for looking at the world from their limited perspectives and criticizing the CRM when it is the CRM's work that made their very existence possible. The Endlings rant about injustices and unfairness while they compromise and possibly destroy the advances of the many that came before them. The CRM makes the hard choices so that other people don't have to. Jadis tells them to take a look around at their great plan at work and claims that all they're doing is stopping the march towards scientific progress and denying the world the path to its rightful future because the Endlings are mad at them for their actions. Jadis calls it cute if it wasn't so dangerous and pathetic.
With empties approaching from behind, Felix is forced to turn and shoot them. Headbutting Iris, Mason breaks free of Percy's hold and Jadis orders her men to make one shot kills. As Percy races after Mason, the Endlings engage the CRM with Iris killing one before Huck suddenly turns her gun on the soldiers, killing the sniper and one other before holding Jadis at gunpoint and forcing Jadis to disarm herself.
After Felix kills the last two soldiers, Iris turns to find Percy dead, having been shot in the back of the head during the skirmish. As a devastated Iris cries over her boyfriend's body, Hope retrieves her sister's dropped gun and turns it on Mason. Hope accuses Mason of being responsible, but the unrepentant Mason blames Hope and her family instead. Hope angrily tells Mason that he only had to come with them, and everyone would be okay, but Mason states that it's what Percy and Iris deserved, and orders Hope to look at what they've done. Hope realizes that Iris was right about Mason, that he is just like the rest of the CRM and that he never cared. Hope blames herself for not seeing it sooner and for Percy's death and prepares to kill Mason in revenge as Felix puts down several empties and gets into jeep. Coming up beside her sister, Iris tells her not to kill Mason as she'd only be doing something to herself all over again. Remembering how she accidentally killed Amelia Ortiz on the Night the Sky Fell, Hope finally relents and drops the gun. Felix drives up and Huck orders them to go. After a last look at Percy's body, Iris climbs into the jeep and they drive off. Left alone with Jadis, Huck forces her to move out of the way, exchanging a look with Felix as he briefly slows down while driving by.
Arriving at the rendezvous point, Hope, Iris and Felix find no sign of anyone else. Hope asks if Felix is sure that this is it and Felix explains that, with the gas out of play, he had Will and Indira head to the underground mall. Hope asks why Leo isn't answering as he should've been there already with everyone else. Felix tries to raise Leo on the radio again and Leo reveals that they got stuck after a tire blew on one of the trucks due to spikes in the road. Leo and the others have loaded as many people as they could onto the second truck and sent it ahead. Felix asks for Leo's location and Leo explains that they're about 2 miles due west of the rendezvous point, having lost some time detouring around a herd. Leo thinks that they can patch the tire, but whoever left the spikes can't be far behind. Felix orders Leo to sit tight as he's coming which Leo acknowledges. With the jeep too easy to spot from the air, Felix decides to go on foot and Hope promises that they are good to wait for the others to arrive. The grief-stricken Iris doesn't respond, and Felix grabs his S-Pole from the jeep and heads off to find Leo.
Silas and Elton arrive at the rendezvous point and Hope, reunited with Elton for the first time she confessed to accidentally killing Elton's mother, breaks down in tears as she hugs him. Elton tells Hope and Iris that they've got the meds for Dennis, but they need to stop by the outpost before they meet up with Indira. Noticing that Hope and Iris are alone, Elton asks where everybody else is while Silas asks where Percy is. Iris breaks down crying and Silas realizes that Percy is dead from her reaction. Hope explains that Leo is in trouble and that Felix has gone to help him. However, even if Felix makes it, even if they make it, the gas is probably already on its way to Portland. The CRM won: they're going to destroy another city and there isn't anything that the Endlings can do about it. Devastated by their losses, the four enter into a group hug.
As Hope, Iris, Silas and Elton break their group hug, Huck calls out over the radio and Hope answers her. Stating that she thinks that she's found something, Huck asks if the others still have the C4. Looking at her bag lying on the ground, Hope confirms that they still have it and asks what Huck found and where she is. At the culling facility, Huck stands in front of a cargo container that she had opened, the missing chlorine gas concealed inside of it, giving the Endlings one last chance to stop the genocide in Portland.
"The Last Light"[]
Two months ago, on Monument Day, Elton and Silas wait for Hope and Iris near the door leading out of the Campus Colony. Hope comments on Elton's Tuffy Stitch Suit while Elton comments on the size of Silas' Wrench. Iris asks if this door is how Elton sneaks out all of the time and Elton explains that both of his parents used to teach at the university and his father would use this door to smoke so that his mother wouldn't catch him. Elton acknowledges that what they're about to do is slightly more dangerous than that and Hope asks if they're really going to do this: the four of them going 1,100 miles on foot.
Silas asks if Hope is having second thoughts, but she isn't, stating that their dad's in trouble and they need to find him, but, once they go through that door, there's no turning back. Elton points out that there's also no way of knowing how this is going to end for any of them. Iris suggests that they make a promise to have each other's backs no matter what and all four promise to be there for each other until the end, "whatever the end turns out to be for us." Elton begins to open the door, but stops to remind his friends of Felix's first rule of survival in case they encounter any empties: engage only as a last resort while avoidance is key. With the acknowledgement of the others, Elton opens the door.
In the present, Hope, Iris, Silas and Elton fight their way through a herd as they make their way to the culling facility. Hope complains about going on foot, but Elton tells her that a vehicle would be too easy to spot from the air and this is safer. Putting down another empty, Hope sarcastically comments that it's really safe. Elton points out that the Endlings made it halfway across the country on foot, so they can do this. As Iris aggressively puts down an empty, Silas asks if she's alright, but Iris states that they need to move faster as everything is riding on them.
Continuing on, Silas asks what happens after they blow up the gas and Iris states that they will meet up with the others and some of them will head for Portland. Silas wonders if Iris will go and she sadly states that it was something that she and Percy talked about. Silas offers his friend his condolences for her loss and Iris tells him that Percy was going to kill Huck, but he didn't and then Huck risked her life trying to save his, but she couldn't and none of them could either. Iris guesses that she just wanted to make some kind of sense and Silas tells her that Percy was lost until he met Iris, suggesting that that's the part of this that makes sense. Wiping away tears, Iris moves to join the others as Elton puts down another empty.
Arriving at the culling facility, Hope, Iris, Elton and Silas are greeted by a relieved Huck who tells Elton that's it's good to see him, having not encountered Elton since the Endlings split up. Iris tells Huck that they had tried to radio her and Huck states that she had tried the same thing and that the CRM must be jamming the comms. Silas gives Dennis the antibiotics, stating that he grabbed as many as he could. Dennis thanks Silas for not listening to him, warmly telling his friend that what Silas did means a lot to him. Huck removes the C4 from Hope's bag and, pleased, congratulates the group on their success.
Elton asks else what they can do and Huck orders them to head back and meet up with the others. It's still going to be safest to move on foot and minimum safe distance is going to be about 3 miles once the culling facility blows. Hope worries about what will happen to Huck since the CRM knows that she helped them escape. Hope suggests that Huck can come with them, but Huck tells the group that the people inside of the CR don't know what their military's been doing outside of their walls and they need to. Huck and Dennis are going to see to it that they find out. Hope tells Huck to get there safe, a sentiment that Huck returns, stating that "for what it's worth, I'm proud of you. You're the future kid. Never forget that."
Elton urges the others to leave, but Silas hesitates after looking at the badly wounded Dennis. Much to everyone's surprise, Silas announces that he's going to go with Huck and Dennis instead. They are going to need someone to help them get to the Civic Republic and they need to get there and warn everyone. While the others say their goodbyes to Silas, Huck goes to set the charges on the gas. Hugging Silas, Hope tells him that he's gotten really good at being a hero, but Silas states that he's not. Silas is just helping a friend, and Silas didn't even have any friends to say goodbye to when he left the Campus Colony like he does now. However, Elton doesn't think that this is goodbye and hugs his best friend, reminding Silas that they found each other twice before and they will again, something that Silas agrees with. Iris and Silas share a warm hug and Iris thanks him for coming with her and Hope when he barely knew them, saving her life at the high school, and for dancing with her when Iris wanted to dance. Silas tells Iris that he was just following her lead the whole time, just like everybody else. Looking at Dennis, Silas tells the others that it won't be long before Huck has the charges set and they should go. After a final goodbye from Elton, he, Hope and Iris depart.
On the road, the Endlings fight their way through a herd, but Hope tells the others that they're not far enough away from the culling facility yet and they need to move faster. More empties approach from the direction that they need to go in and as the three move to engage them, a CRM jeep pulls up. Initially worried, they're relieved to spot Asha in the passenger's seat. Manning the mounted machine gun, Indira orders Hope, Iris and Elton to get clear before gunning down the herd. Moments later, the C4 detonates, creating a green mushroom cloud that is visible for miles. With more empties approaching and the group not yet at a safe distance, Indira yells at them to hurry up and get in while Asha rushes to bring them gas masks. An empty emerges from the woods suddenly and nearly gets Hope, but Elton jumps in to protect her, getting bitten in the arm in the process. Looking at his bite wound in horror, Elton screams.
That night, Felix stands guard with a pair of binoculars outside of Dolsons. Walking inside, Felix approaches the cot where an unconscious Elton is laying with Asha at his side and Leo tending to him following the amputation of part of his left arm due to the bite. Leo leads Felix over to where Hope and Iris are standing and tells him that Elton's breathing shallow and has lost a lot of blood, maybe too much to survive. Leo suggests that they should secure Elton just in case he dies and Hope tells Felix that Elton had saved her life. Will calls Indira over and hands her two boxes of vials that were in Elton's bag which Elton had stolen from the research facility. Indira tells the others that it's the medicine that she needs to live with her kidney failure.
Later, Iris approaches Hope as she sits vigil at a still unconscious Elton's bedside, reading a book. Hope tells her sister that the book is Elton's and that he had started writing a book. Leo approaches his daughters and Iris tells him that she was talking with some of Indira's people and a bunch of them want to leave and head to Portland to warn them once it's safe in a few days. Leo asks if Iris wants the scientists to go with them, and Hope objects that they can't leave Elton. However, Iris isn't suggesting that they should. While Iris knows that the underground mall isn't permanent, it seems safe, and Cornell University is nearby and there must be lab equipment there. If the scientists stay, they can keep working on this place and the science for years.
Leo realizes that Iris wants to go with the people that are leaving, and she admits that she thinks that it's what she's supposed to do. Iris knows that she might not be making any sense right now, but Hope feels that she is: this isn't about them, but the future. Not the CRM's future, but the future of everybody. That's how Hope feels and she's sure that it's how Elton feels too. Leo tells Iris that he loves her, but he can't just let her go. Iris promises that she'd come back with reinforcements from Portland. Will suggests that maybe he and Felix can go with Iris too, but Iris refuses as there's too much at stake here, too much that needs to be protected. Felix agrees with Iris, stating that the CRM's close and the scientists aren't fighters, but Iris is.
A few days later, Iris and several people prepare to depart for Portland while Hope, Indira, Felix, Will, and some of the others stay with Leo. Indira reassures Leo that Iris is in good hands with her people and vice versa as they watch Iris say goodbye to Felix and Will. Iris gives Will a map showing her route to Portland in case he needs to find her for any reason and Felix asks Iris to take care of herself to which Iris returns the sentiment, asking Felix and Will to take care of each other. Iris tearfully turns to her sister and Hope remembers how she said that they would save the world together. Hope still thinks that they could with Iris adding that they can even if they're not together anymore. "All this... it didn't change us. It just showed us that who we are is who we were," comments Iris. Hope and Iris hug each other and exchange I love yous before Iris begins to leave. Stopping Iris, Hope gives her a double middle finger, causing Leo and Indira to laugh. Hope tells her sister to "grin, girl" and Iris returns the middle finger with a laugh. Leo waves goodbye with Will blows Iris a kiss and she begins ascending the escalator out. Suddenly, Asha runs in with the news that Elton is awake, stopping Iris' departure. Elated by the news, everyone rushes to Elton's side.
After everyone else's departure, Hope works with her father and the other scientists in continuing their experiments on an empty using Hope's earlier yeast theory which shows some promising results. Taking advantage of the mall's dark room, Hope develops Elton's pictures from the Endlings' cross-country journey to New York, including the group photo of Huck, Hope, Silas, Iris and Felix at the high school.
In a flashback to the Endlings' departure from the Campus Colony, Elton opens the door to begin their journey, telling the others "so, let's see who we really are, shall we?"
Killed Victims[]
This list shows the victims Hope has killed:
- Kari Bennett (Indirectly Caused)
- Amelia Ortiz (Accidental)
- Esmerelda Ortiz (Accidental)
- Samuel Abbott (Zombified, Caused, alongside Iris, Leo, Percy, Felix, Terry, Dr. Ebersol and Amanda Siegel)
- Lyla Belshaw (Zombified)
- Several unnamed CRM test subjects (Zombified, Caused, alongside Iris, Leo, Percy, Felix, Terry, Dr. Ebersol and Amanda Siegel)
- 15 unnamed CRM soldiers (12 Caused, alongside Iris, Leo, Percy, Felix, Terry, Dr. Ebersol and Amanda Siegel)
- Numerous counts of zombies
Relationships[]
For a more in-depth look at Hope's relationships, read here; Hope Bennett (World Beyond)/Relationships
Allies[]
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Enemies[]
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Appearances[]
Gallery[]
- For more images of Hope, please visit Hope Bennett (World Beyond)/Gallery.
Trivia[]
- Hope is the youngest character to directly kill a person in The Walking Dead: World Beyond.
- Hope is one the four characters to appear in all ten episodes of season one. The other three being Iris, Elton, and Felix.
- She is also one of the three characters to appear in all episodes of the show. The other two being Iris and Felix.
- Hope is one of the few characters in the franchise to have her birthday mentioned, as she turns 17 in "Konsekans".
International Dubbers[]
Language | Dubber | Other Characters Voiced |
---|---|---|
Czech | N/A | N/A |
French | Lou Lévy | N/A |
German | Ronja Peters Anni Salander (young) |
N/A |
Hungarian | N/A | N/A |
Italian | Veronica Puccio | Beth Greene |
Japanese | Akiha Matsui | N/A |
Portuguese | Rebeca Zadra | N/A |
Spanish (Latin America) | Harumi Nishizawa Paola Fonseca (young) |
N/A |
Spanish (Spain) | Clara Schwarze | N/A |
References[]
World Beyond Characters
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Campus Colony | Iris • Hope • Silas • Felix • Elton • Will • Leopold • Romano • Marco • Mr. Kapadia • Dani • Phoebe • Jan • Dr. K |
Lincoln | Isaac • Amelia • Kari • Cliff |
Civic Republic of Philadelphia | Elizabeth • Tiga • Grady • Mason • Terry • Ian • Diane • Marjorie • Amanda • Tucker • Jadis • Dr. Ebersol • Cohen • Robertson • Lowery • Armadi • Nolan • Betts • Murrow • Dennis • Jennifer • Frank • Webb • Lyla • Samuel • Mills • Barca |
Illinois | Percy • Tony • Walter |
Military Personnel | Dawson • Drake • Owens • Wilkins • Powlowski • Farmer • Simms |
Omaha | Mrs. Plaskett • Ruth • Galbraith • Daniel • Margaret • Gary |
The Perimeter | Indira • Asha • Robin • Brody • Dev |
Miscellaneous Survivors | Candice • Beta • Edwin • Sabina • Mr. Mallick |
Animals | Teresa |
Alive characters appear in green. Unknown characters appear in blue. Dead characters appear in red and italics. Undead characters appear in gray and italics. |