El Nuevo Mundo
Survivor Stories Episode Four
The world has fallen, and the living have become prey for the dead. All across America, we have seen the disintegration and downfall of human dominance and society: social order crumbling, infrastructure failing, and the human psyche reverting to its natural state of survival. But is all hope lost? Some say that safety lies in the rural Midwest. Some, in North Africa. Others say that there is no hope, and that there never will be, that all is gone, and they are the only left. Many "opted-out" in the first few weeks of the apocalypse, most succumbed to the hordes of infected, but a small few were able to survive. Now, they must weather this onslaught of the undead the best they can. People will die along the way, friendships and trusts will be broken, but in the end.. will it be for the greater good?
In the wake of EPISODE THREE, the survivors have fled Michigan state in a twin-prop airplane. Preoccuppied holding a trial for Alex Brighton, charged with the attempted murder of Scott Sheridan, the Watcher mole named Joseph Abney stole almost all of their supplies, and destroyed all of their vehicles. Following the attempted suicide of Johnny Hayes, the successful suicide of Xia Chan, the desertion of Yussef Mahedi, and the gruesome death of Chloe Cotillard, the group is nearly at it's breaking point. Low on food, water, and weapons, the group's last hope for survival is now reaching "the Compound": a supposedly safe haven run by the military-strongman Matthew Shelton.
Will the survivors make their way safely through Tennessee? Will those who do be able to integrate into the Compound? Will they even want to? And more importantly, will they be ready for when the New World comes knocking?
As the plane drifted closer to the tarmac, Matthew Shelton attempting to land the group without any horrible mishaps, the "present" that Joseph Abney (a.k.a. the Watcher called Cartwright) finally made itself known.
Really, the entire thing could have been so easily avoided, if only somebody in the group had used their brain for half a minute.
OK... well... not really.
Joseph had found himself with some spare time on his hands, in between stealing all of the group's supplies and destroying their vehicles, and as luck would have it he had stumbled upon a vest that was strapped with copious amounts of C4. Experienced as he was in dealing with the military-grade explosive, Joseph wasted no time in utilizing some of it to cause the group he was "travelling" with some more grief.
Joseph took two lengths of copper wire, both of which hooked into a 9-volt battery as well as a small switch, and very loosely bent the two ends and hooked them together. Now, the switch Joseph was using was a very special switch. He had jimmied it together, using some useless bits from the electronic detonator and a flashlight. With the current of the 9-volt battery running through it, the switch was locked into place. However, if that current were to stop for even a fraction of a second, then the switch would flick 90o to the side, creating a new pathway for the 9-volt. A pathway which ran through the electronic detonator. If that were to happen, if the current from the 9-volt were to run through the detonator, then the blasting caps inside would ignite, setting off the C4 to which it was attached.
Now, Joseph had been thorough. He had left a small bundle of supplies in the back of the plane, for the express purpose of hiding the small brick of C4 underneath. Now, one of the copper wires had been taped to the back of almost half the items in the pile. Perfectly hidden from view, if a person was to pick up the wrong item, the wires would disconnect, the switch would flick, and the C4 would detonate. Now, as luck might have it, nobody in the group had tried to rummage through the supplies, so nobody had yanked on the wire and detonated the C4. That luck, however, seemed to have just ran out. The turbulence of the test flight that Shelton had made, combined with the turbulence experienced during the flight to Tennessee, was just barely enough to jostle the two wires loose of each other.
The switch flicked. One-hundred feet above the ground, the C4 exploded.
As the bomb had been buried underneath a pile of supplies, most of the explosive force had been directed downward. It blasted a very sizeable hole in the tail of the plane, damaging the hydraulic systems that provided power to the horizontal stabilizer. The lightest of the supplies, mostly food, were thrown towards the cockpit by the force of the explosion. The heavier of the supplies, such as the weapons and ammunition, were all blasted outside the plane, falling to the ground below. Shredded plastic water bottles fluttered somewhat slowly on the breeze, drifting far afield, never to be recovered. The noise of the explosion was almost enough the deafen the occupants. At the very least, they wouldn't be able to hear properly for the better part of a day.
Shelton would now find it almost impossible to land the plane. Without the use of the aircraft's horizontal stabilizer, the Beechcraft was doomed to a crash landing. Shelton, however, never even had a chance to try. Before anyone had time to act, the nose of the aircraft dipped. Lurching downwards, the plane slammed into the tarmac, gouging a large trench into the surface as it slid towards the end of the runway.
Though the fuel in the plane didn't ignite immediately, it was only a matter of time.
