Post by MSS Productions on Apr 2, 2021 0:59:41 GMT
The episode opens to a beautiful room decorated with animal furs, a bed against the far wall. A huge titan was drawn over the bed on the wall. The camera slowly pans around the room, a shotgun laid on the table with a pair of hatchets lying one on each side of it and finally to a rolled up door of a storage unit.
Hessberg.
The room of Jackson Mawl.
A figure was revealed standing in the doorway with the bright morning sun shining behind them. Jema Delacroix with a hand over her eyes. Her blonde hair was pristine and clean and she wore the same outfit we had last seen her in, but it was clean.
Voice:“Hey you.”
Jema looked over and her mouth slowly dropped open, tears slowly running down her face as the camera turned back into the room and found Jackson sitting on the bed. His hair was clean and freshly combed, his beard was free of blood.
He was healthy.
He looked so strong.
He was alive.
Jema Delacroix: “...Jax.”
There was such love and sorrow in her voice. She crossed the room and Jackson rose to meet her and the two embraced. She buried her face in his neck and held him so tight and he stroked her long blonde hair gently.
The two held each other for a long moment before he whispered.
Jackson Mawl: “It’s not time yet.”
Jema pulled back and looked up into his face expecting him to change to the Feral she had seen but he still looked like him. The same smile.
Jema Delacroix: “I don’t understand...why can’t it be time?”
Jackson Mawl: “You know why.”
The two stared at one another and Jema finally whispered.
Jema Delacroix: “Gwen.”
Jackson Mawl: “She needs you Jema. Now more than ever. She needs you.”
Jema Delacroix: “But i’m...It’s over Jax...we lost.”
Jackson: “You dig down deep. You look under every rock. Every nook. Every little cranny and you find the rage Jema. You find the hatred. You find the whatever it takes to do what you need to do. It is the only way you can do this and you have to do this Jema. Whatever it takes. Whatever the cost. You understand me?”
Jema sniffled and nodded, looking down at his feet and then up into his eyes and there was a new fire burning there. A burning hatred for the Reavers.
Jema Delacroix: “Yeah. Gwen needs me.”
Jackson Mawl: “You can do this. I believe in you.”
Jackson Mawl: “So do it.”
Jackson ordered and the whole world flashed a bright crimson. Jema’s head shot up, her mouth hung open in a soundless scream as she clawed her way back from the brink of death. She was in the room with the burning bodies. Gwen was lying on the floor and only one person in the cured white skins remained.
Jema looked over at her arm attached to the spike and bit down on her lip as she flexed. The spike began to recede into the flesh of her arm, blood running down her forearm in a little trickle before it came free. She laid it back above it and turned to look at the man left in the room.
Jema Delacroix: “Ugh...Uh…”
She lulled her head to the side pretending to be coming around and the man spun around with a sadistic grin. He approached holding a butchering long knife but when he got withins arms reach her free arm and the newly freed arm shot out and grabbed him by the side of the head and yanks him into the spit her arm had once been in driving the spike into his eye socket.
The second the man’s eye hit the spike the green logo faded in revealing the title in the center of the screen.
Afterlife
Episode 5.
“Valkyrie.”
Starring
Bethany Kenyon as Abigail Ryder
And
Lilith Meadows as Madison Chaney
Jema Delacroix: “Gwen…”
Jema’s voice was weak, broken and slurred.
Jema Delacroix: “Gwen...talk...to me….”
Samantha Hamilton as Jema Delacroix
Jansen Myrrh as Gwen O’Neal
Nathaniel Cartwright as Miles Wright
Shanna Mitchell as Vanessa
Forge Mitchell as 'Lo
Forge Mitchell as 'Lo
The younger woman didn’t move or respond and Jema looked down at herself. She could see the spike sticking out of her thigh but saw also the holsters she wore that her hatchets had once hung from. It was around her waist and down to her thighs, wrapped to each thigh much like Abigail’s gun holsters were.
She reached down with her wounded arm, her tiptoes on the ground to keep the weight off her pinned leg while she grabbed the sculpture with her other hand.. Fingertips were shaking as she hit the release on the clasp causing the right side of it to swing free. Slowly she reached up then with her wounded arm and grabbed where she had once been pinned and reached down with her other hand to unclasp the other side and grab it before it fell.
Jessica Clarkson as Penelope Hargrove
Adrien Cochrane as Josiah Crane
Eavan Maloney as Fang
Morgan Payne as Katherine Gray
Khary Kenyon as Reaper
Morgan Payne as Katherine Gray
Khary Kenyon as Reaper
With the thin fabric in her hand she looped it up around the top spike above her head. Grabbing both ends she pulled tight and cast her gaze down at the motionless girl lying on the floor and saw her jaw.
Jema Delacroix: “Hang on…Hang on Gwennie….”
Jema then flexed her arms and let out a piercing scream of agony as the metal spike in her thigh began to move. Tears streamed down her face as inch by inch it began to pull backwards into the wound. She continued to pull on the strap pulling herself up inch by horrifying inch.
Jema screamed in agony, and she pulled.
Jema screamed in agony.
and
She pulled.
Broderick Montgomery as Claw
Claire Daniels as Talon
And introducing
Tren Descarrilado as Lord
The camera came in on the wound as the spike came free, blood spurting out across the floor as jema landed using her good foot for leverage. She dropped the holster and staggered forward, unable to put any more weight on her other leg than it took to limp. She looked down at the body of the dead Reaver and found to her surprise the butt of a handgun sticking out of the back of his skin.
She moaned in pain and leaned down, brushing her fingertips over it once and then again but unable to grab it. The camera caught another figure entering the room, this one a young woman in her late twenties. When she saw Jema she burst forward and tackled her to the ground with the two rolling end over end with one another across the floor.
As the two rolled the Reaver grabbed ahead of Jema’s hair and raised her head driving it back into the floor. The blood from the already wounded head spread across the ground. She lifted it up again and Jema’s hand weakly reached out, feeling around as the back of her head hit the ground again.
Her eyes began to roll back in her head as the woman raised her head a third time. Jema’s fingers closed around the handle of one of her hatchets and she brought it up with a weak cry, the spike on the back catching the woman on the side of the head sending her toppling over.
Jema rolled over on top of her, that fire once again flaring in her eyes and she let out a screaming cry as she brought the axe down into the woman’s face again and again and again, blood shooting all across her chest and face.
Jema rolled off onto her back panting, her fingertips reaching out for the man lying on the floor until they found the butt of the pistol and closed around it. She rolled back to her stomach and crawled across the floor, a thick trail of blood behind her where she dragged her leg.
Jema Delacroix: “...G….Gwen?”
She whispered brushing the dirty brownish hair from the girls face. Gwen didn’t open her eyes but it was clear she was breathing.
Jema Delacroix: “Come on...we gotta go…”
Jema put the barrel of the gun into the ground and pushed herself to her feet shaking the whole way. She moved the gun on the table near Gwen that Josiah had hidden behind and pulled Gwen up by the arms.
Jema grunted, tears running down her face from the pain and the effort as she hefted the girls dead weight up and dumped her over the shoulder on the side without the wounded leg. She took the gun in the hand of the wounded arm and put her good one arm Gwen’s thighs.
Blood was running down her other leg like a river.
Jema Delacroix: “Stay with me Gwennie...Stay with me please…”
**
The camera shifts from the underground processing facility back to the road where Abigail, Madison and the others had slowed to a stop and at the turn off not far away from the department store.
Abigail sat on her bike with Madison sitting behind her on her own and Miles standing on the foot bar on the drivers side of the truck with his arm on the top.
Miles Wright: “Why we stopped?”
Abigail Ryder: “You seeing this Maddie?”
Abigail asked and motioned her head toward the group of people all carrying stacks of large boxes away from the clearing beside them and heading in the direction of Eden. Madison nodded and lifted a brow.
Madison Chaney: “Yeah.”
Abigail Ryder: “That qualifies as weird to you?”
Miles Wright: “They could just be scavenging?”
Abigail looked over her shoulder and motioned around them with an opened hand.
Abigail Ryder: “Where?”
Madison Chaney: “She’s right Miles. There’s nothing here to scavenge.”
Vanessa opened her door and rose from the seat to stand on the foot bar as miles was.
Vanessa: “And why so many of them?”
Abigail Ryder: “Let’s get back...this doesn’t feel right.”
**
The camera shifted to further down the road near the bridge to the sound of running feet and the sound of someone panting. It stayed on the road until a figure came through the brushes, wild eyed and panicked.
Josiah Crane.
He looked behind him and found no sign of pursuit but didn’t slow down, instead resuming his running back the way he had come. As he ran the camera came to his eyes and there was a resounding guilt and remorse in his face.
Josiah knew what he had done, even if he didn’t attempt to go back.
He ran, panting until he came to the bridge and made his way through the maze. As he came staggering into the camp he was met immediately by his second Alice Cornell who put a hand on his chest and his arm around her shoulder.
Alice Cornell: “Josiah?! What’s going on?!”
Josiah Crane: “Uh...I….”
Josiah looked around and saw all the eyes on him and he saw it again.
He saw himself standing in the room with the Reavers with the rod in his hand and throwing it at the stack of boxes. Saw them tumble over and cover Jema and Gwen.
Josiah Crane: “I…”
The boxes toppled and suddenly the image flashed to him standing at the mouth of the ramp when the terrible scream of Jema sounded.
Alice Cornell: “Josiah?”
Voice:“Yo, you good?”
Josiah looked up and found the huge frame of the mammoth ‘Lo standing beside him with his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed. Josiah swallowed down a lump in his throat and nodded silently.
Josiah Crane: “Ferals. Lost them though.”
Before the huge man or Alice could say another word a sudden blast of what sounded like a trumpet sounded off from the other side of the community. All eyes turned away from the wall separating Eden from the bridge, down the street and past the trees where another door in the gate opened and a small army of people were shown on the other side.
There were close to thirty of them in total and walking at their head was a man who was bigger than even Reaper or ‘Lo. Both his arms were heavily tattooed and his face was stark white with paint and covered in various designs that were all permanent and intricately designed.
The camera watched as Reaper joined his partner next to Josiah and Alice with Katherine joining them curiously.
Reaper: “He’s early.”
‘Lo: “By near a day.”
Katherine Grey: “Who is ‘he’?”
Reaper: “Lord. He’s the head of the fourth community.”
‘Lo: “They all consider him their god.”
Alice Cornell: “Their god?!”
Reaper: “I’d mind yalls tongues with Lord if I were you.”
Katherine Grey: “Or?”
‘Lo: “Or he might rip them out?”
**
The camera shifts to the darkness beneath the earth once again as Jema comes staggering out of the cook room with one arm dangling limp at her side and the other around Gwen’s thighs. When she reached the boxes that had been scattered when Josiah revealed them she nearly lost her balance when her leg almost gave out but she braced the barrel of the gun on the wall and steadied herself.
She struggles through the room and into the small hallway. Blood ran behind her as she pressed on through it. Each step was like fire and she was panting, blood running from her leg like a river and from her arm in a little trickle. Sweat was building on her forehead and her skin was beginning to pale.
When she reached the door to the room with the cages one of the Reavers saw her and sounded the alarm. The eyes of every Reaver in the room turned toward her. They grabbed whatever weapons were handy and made a beeline for her.
Those in the cages who were awake and hadn’t been starved to near death all began to scream for help but it all sounded so far away to Jema now who could only see the Reavers.
She raised her wounded arm and squeezed off a shoot taking the nearest Reaver in the chest. Another shot took a second one in the head before a third hit her. She fell back against a cage causing Gwen to tumble out of her arms and land on the floor.
The younger woman rolled limply away and the Reaver dropped the blade he had been carrying when him and Jema collided so he wrapped both arms around her neck. Jema raised her good arm and drove her forearm into the man’s face once, and then twice but before she could hit a third he reached down and drove his hand into the gushing wound in her leg.
Jema let out a scream and dropped her arms allowing the man to get his hands around her neck. She tried to fight but was just too weak and could feel herself fading when the Reaver suddenly tensed and looked down to find an arm sticking through the cage driving the knife he had dropped into his gut.
He dropped and Jema turned and found the face of a teenage boy looking out at her.
Teenager: “Let me out. I can help you.”
Jema Delacroix: “....”
Teenager: “You can’t get her out alone. You’re bleeding out!”
Jema looked at the boy through the rot iron and cried out in pain as she leaned into the release level causing the cage to pop open. The boy came out and spit down on the dead Reaver but when he moved toward Gwen jema growled.
Jema Delacroix: “Don’t touch her!”
The boy stepped back holding his arms up watching as Jema grabbed the gun again and struggled across the room. She was pale as a sheet now as she struggled to get Gwen up but finally she managed to get her over her shoulder again and grabbed her thighs again. When she took a step however she collapsed.
Before she could fall the boy grabbed her and put her other arm around his shoulder.
Teenager: “You said I can’t touch her but I can help you.”
Jema Delacroix: “...What’s...you’re...name?”
Teenager: “Thomas. Thomas Reid.”
Jema Delacroix: “...Thank….you.”
**
The camera shifts back into Eden as the community gathers to greet Lord and his entourage. Even with so many people however, the group of outsiders all standing outside the group could see this man they called Lord.
He simply towered over everyone.
They watched as the sea of people parted as the black and red haired Talon came down the stairs of the big house holding a small wooden box in her hands. She crossed the distance to him and dropped to a kneel holding the box up.
Lord took the top off the box and they watched him pull out a large chunk of burnt meat and rip into it with his teeth. He chewed for a time with all eyes on him and every person of Eden holding their breath.
After he had chewed and swallowed he lifted his head and bellowed in a voice that carried over the entire community.
Lord: “I am….”
No one moved. No one breathed. Josiah, Alice and the others all looked at one another confused but Reaper and ‘Lo didn’t seem remotely surprised.
Lord: “...PLEASED by your offering.”
The group rejoiced at the acceptance of the offering and Lord began to mingle around the people, all the while idly eating the hunk of meat he had been given. A small group of men and women then began to filter out to those he had brought with them distributing what was inside the box.
Alice Cornell: “what about us? Do we get some?”
Reaper: “Uh...you don’t want that.”
‘Lo: “Yeah.”
Katherine Gray: “What is it?”
Reaper and ‘Lo looked at one another and Reaper answered.
Reaper: “You don’t want to know.”
Josiah was noticeably pale. He knew what it was.
It was human.
Before he could say anything the rumble of a trip of engines sounded and the three bikes pulled up through the maze wall. They all turned, but the worst of it was when the attention of the huge man they called Lord turned as well.
Abigail and the others pulled to a stop and got off their bikes only to be joined by the huge man and a small group of those who had come with them. Abigail watched him approach with a lifted brow.
Lord: “And who are you?”
Abigail rose and offered her hand.
Abigail Ryder: “Abigail. Abigail Ryder, Scavenger by trade.”
The two were joined by the black and red haired Talon who looked up at her God with a look of adoration and informed him.
Talon: “They are here for the Great Gathering Lord.”
Whatever that meant, Abigail didn’t like the look that appeared on the huge man’s face. She’d seen the look on the face of men before. The men of the club looked at the girls on the street and clubs like that.
Hungry.
Expecting.
Evil.
The look however was gone as soon as it appeared and Lord looked around at the group offering them a warm, even disarming smile.
Lord: ‘It’s gonna be a hell of a show.”
Madison Chaney: “Oh? Why is that?”
Lord: “The time of Transcendance has arrived.”
Miles Wright: “What is the ‘Time of Transcendence’?”
Talon: ‘It would be hard to explain. You will all see for yourselves now that Lord is here to lead the people of Eden in the ritual.”
Madison, Vanessa and Penny all looked at Abigail unsure but Abigail looked Lord straight in the face and smiled.
Abigail Ryder: “We’d be honored Lord.”
Lord: “If you’ll excuse me and Talon? We have preparations to make.”
Abigail offered little more than a nod and the two turned and walked away with the group that had come with them following behind them. As they neared the house Lord turned and looked back at Abigail and flashed that leering smile again.
Abigail: “Maddie. Gather everyone up. Now.”
Madison just nodded and climbed off her bike. She moved around the community gathering up everyone. The survivors, the Peace Keepers, everyone. Once they were all together they returned to those gathered around the bikes and vehicles where Vanessa, Penny and Miles were standing near Abigail. Abigail had remained on her bike with her eyes on the house Lord and Talon had entered.
Abigail Ryder: “This everyone?”
Miles Wright: “Why? What’s going on?”
Abigail turned back to him giving him her full attention.
Abigail Ryder: “We’re leaving, that’s what.”
Vanessa: “Leaving?”
Abigail Ryder: “This?”
She said and motioned behind her to the group that had gathered near the house.
Abigail Ryder: “Whatever this is? Isn’t good for us. Tell me you don’t feel it?”
Miles just nodded and looked slyly at the house looming behind them.
Miles Wright: “Oh, I feel it Abs.”
Abigail Ryder: “You two?”
She told to Reaper and ‘Lo
Abigail Ryder: “I can’t make you come with but I don’t get the feeling you’ll be any safer than we are. Whatever this special gathering is? It’s bad.”
Reaper and ‘Lo looked at one another and looked like they wanted to tell her something but ‘Lo shook his head and Reaper remained silent. Madison finally arrived, coming to a stop beside Abigail.
Madison Chaney: “This is everyone except Jema and Gwen. No one can find them.”
Josiah Crane: “They….”
Abigail looked sharply at Josiah.
Abigail Ryder: “They what?! Went fishing? Are using the bathroom in a bush? What?!”
Josiah Crane: “They uh...they might have tracked a couple of the people from this camp? They were heading east.”
Abigail Ryder: “You’re fucking kidding me right? And you just tell me this now?!”
Josiah Crane: “.....”
Abigail held out four fingers to Vanessa, Penny, Miles and Madison.
Abigail Ryder: “You four with me. Josiah, show me where they went.”
Josiah Crane: ‘I don’t think I should…”
Abigail Ryder: “Just fucking show me Crane. The rest of you get ready to roll out the second we get back.”
**
The shot shifts back to the underground system where Jema was leaning on the teenage boys shoulder with Gwen over the other shoulder. They made their way across the room freeing the people from the cages as they went.
The first couple they let out made a beeline for the door leading to the ramp but when the boy let the third out the camera came in to show an emaciated man in his forties. Thomas opened the cage next to him, holding an equally emaciated woman in her thirties.
As soon as the second cage was opened and the boys' back was turned the two came rushing out of the cages. Jema tried to shout a warning but found her voice wouldn’t work. The two tackled Thomas into the cage he had been attempting to unlock biting into his neck and shoulder.
Thomas screamed in agony and fought to get them off him but even in their weakened state they had the leverage and him pinned to the cage. Blood exploded from his throat as the man ripped out a chunk of his neck and began to chew.
He turned his eyes to Jema, his gaze pleading for help and she did the only thing she could do. She raised her shaking arm and pulled the trigger. The bullet ripped into his head killing him as the pair literally ate him, the man in the cage ripping at him with his hands through the cage.
They were too far gone.
Jema turned and staggered through the door to the ramp but when she reached it three Reavers came through one of the doors on the other end of the room. The two of the three rushed at the freed prisoners fighting them back into the cages while the third came for Jema while her back was turned.
He grabbed her by the arm pulling her around but she hit the wall keeping her upright and Gwen on her shoulder. The gun in her hand fired three times into the man’s midsection sending him toppling down the ramp.
Jema was now pale as a ghost, her lips were ashen and her eyes were nearly lulled closed. The two, with the prisoners back in the cages hurried to the ramp to recapture Jema and Gwen only to each catch a bullet in the head from the shaking hand of Jema.
The camera comes in close on the now empty gun held in Jema’s now shaking hand. It tumbles from her hand and Jema turns and struggles up the ramp. She emerged from the underground into the dead tree and staggered out. The camera followed her as she made it through the trees and into the grass before her leg finally gave out and she collapsed.
Gwen hit the ground and rolled away still unconscious and Jema was on a knee with her wounded leg now useless. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell forward, collapsing face down into the grass.
She had gotten Gwen out.
That was all that mattered.
**
The shot shifts back into Eden as the day is wearing. The door of the main house opens again and those within come out again. They were now wearing black fur covered skins and wearing bear masks with deer antlers.
Talon came out behind them holding a large leather covered box and wearing a long white ceremonial gown. Lord came out last wearing nothing but a leather lone clothing showing off his massive frame and his torso covered in paint, intricate designs that had once appeared to have been drawn it now appeared had been carved into his skin.
They were bloody scars.
The camera shifts to the group again and Katherine watches the procession approaching and swallows down a lump in her throat.
Katherine Grey: “We should go.”
Alice Cornell: “We have to wait for Abigail and the others.”
Katherine Grey: “No.”
She insisted, staring at the group of Eden residents.
Katherine Grey: “We have to go. Now.”
The few PeaceKeepers with them and all of those who had left Cold Creek all agreed with Katherine but Alice shook her head stubbornly and crossed her arms over her chest.
Alice Cornell: “Ya’ll do what you want. I’m waiting for Josiah.”
Katherine Grey: “Suite yourself.”
She and many of the others all quietly gathered up their belongings, loaded them into the trucks and left with Reaper and ‘Lo on their bikes leaving only two of the trucks, Alice Cornell and a handful of the citizens of Cold Creek.
Behind them Lord approached the head of the group, who all had their undivided attention on their nearly naked God.
Lord: “You have all been waiting. You have been so patient waiting for this moment. All of you have eaten the flesh of the enemy treated with the special herbs.”
Alice and the others all looked at one another concerned by the phrasing of this but said nothing, just watching. Talon approached a small table standing in front of Lord and placed the large leather box down on it.
Lord: “The time has come. I promised you that someday you would all rise up and shed the bonds of this world, leaving this place to join your brothers and sisters in the world. Inside this box are the instruments of your transcendence. Come and shed the shackles of this world. Leave behind the bonds of humanity and join this world as what you were always meant to be!”
One by one the people of Eden approached the leather box and pulled out a small wrapped fur bundle. Once they all had them, Lord spread his arms and threw his head back letting out an insane laugh.
Lord: “Join us brothers and sisters. Shed your humanity and join the Horde!”
Those watching were suddenly shocked and appalled, watching in horror as the people of Eden unrolled the bundles to reveal pieces of metal, all of them small and razer sharp.
They all stood wide eyed and watched as the people pierced their faces, neck, hands and torsos with these pieces of steel. All of them put multiple pieces in their faces, women through their nipples and men their their genitals, alung other places.
None of them screamed out in pain. Instead they yelled in a strange kind of religious hysteria. The meat they had eaten tainted strange ‘herbs’ that Lord had mentioned.
When it was over those watching could only stare in horror as they witnessed something they had always known further east.
Reavers.
Covered in blood and pierced by steel and all of them looking at the small group of survivors with hungry need. Lord stepped up onto the table and stared at the small group through his now bloody hair.
Lord: “FEAST MY CHILDREN!”
He screamed and the group descended on the small group of survivors that remained. The camera came in on Alice’s face as she screamed in horror, the reflection of the charging Reavers reflected in her eyeball and blood began to splatter everywhere.
**
The camera shifts back to the little field outside the Reaver processing center with the gentle sounds of a piano’s keys being plucked in the background. Jema is lying on the bloody grass, collapsed to her side now with Gwen lying unconscious beside her. Behind them and coming up fast were the lights of two motorcycles and a military transport truck.
The camera swung back to the amazon woman’s face and found Jema’s eyes were now open and staring at the unconscious younger woman lying beside her. The camera stays on Jema’s eyes, wet with tears as she stares at Gwen and the soft sound of a woman’s voice begins.
“It feels like a tear in my heart.
Like a part of me missing
And I just can’t feel it.
I’ve tried and I’ve tried.
...I’ve tried.”
Dust is kicked up as the bikes slide to a stop and suddenly topple over when Abigail and Madison come off them quickly. The truck slowed to a stop and the doors on each side were thrown open revealing Miles, Penny and Vanessa. Josiah remains inside staring at the dashboard.
As the group rushes forward the camera pans back around to Jema, who is now lying in the puddle of her own blood and turning a very dangerous shade of pale white.
“Tears on my face
I can’t take it.
If lonely, a taste?
Then it’s all that I’m tasting.
Do you hear my cry?
I cry.”
Abigail slides to a stop beside Jema and presses her hands to the gaping wound in the woman’s leg but the blood just keeps gushing through her hands. Jema had ripped the artery in her struggle to get Gwen out.
She was bleeding out.
No sound except the music came as Abigail turned and began to yell orders at the group behind her, many of whom just stood staring in shock.
Behind her Miles pulls off his shirt and quickly hands it to her. Abigail quickly folds the fabric into as many layers as she can and presses it to the wound, but the blood soaks through the shirt nearly instantly causing the camera to close in on Abigail’s face.
She was scared.
For the first time Abigail Ryder was truly scared.
“Can you hold me?
Can you hold me?
Can you hold me in your arms?”
The shot shifts to Gwen who finally begins to blink and when she looks over and sees the condition Jema is in fear creeps into her eyes. Fear and a terrible realization of the sacrifice Jema had made for her.
She frantically claws her way over but Abigail barks an order and Vanessa, of all people, comes forward and grabs the girl dragging her back and away.
Abigail frantically presses down on the gushing leg wound harder, but the blood just continues to rush through her hands and soak the ground.
“Just wrap me in your arms
In your arms.
I don’t wanna be nowhere else.
Take me from the dark.
From the dark.
I aint gonna make it myself.
Put your arms around me.
Let your love surround me.
I am lost.
I am lost.
If I aint got you?
I aint got nothing at all.”
Gwen fights to get free as Jema looks over, the weakness showing in her eyes and tries to smile at her. There was so much in that smile. Pride and affection. She hadn’t just protected Gwen for Jackson.
She had truly cared about the girl.
The bloody woman’s arm slowly lifts and her fingertips stretch out for her. Gwen and Jema’s eyes connect for a split second and the bleeding woman smiles.
Gwen was safe now.
She can go.
Her arm falls limp to the ground and her eyes stare vacant at the sky.
No sound comes out when Abigail screams “NO!” and her bloody hands begin to do chest compressions trying to revive the amazon.
“Can you hold me?
Can you hold me?
Can you hold me in your arms?”
The camera looks from person to person, each of them staring down at the woman that gave everything to protect Gwen, all of them now crying. Madison turns and throws herself into Miles’s arms, who wraps his arms around her head.
Penny slowly approaches Abigail and lays a hand on her shoulder, the camera catching her mouth telling her “She’s gone” but Abigail shoves her away with a scream and returns to the chest compressions.
Soundlessly Gwen finally gets free and rushes back to Jema, her hands grabbing the woman’s top and shaking her, trying to wake her up and screaming through tears “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it! Please come back!”
“I feel like it’s just me.
Like it’s just me.
What it gonna take?
What it gonna be?
I don’t even know.
(It’s not just you.)
But I’m lonely.
Feel like I don’t even know me.
I don’t even know me.
(I feel it too.)”
Abigail finally stops and leans back on her knees with Jema’s blood coating her hands and arms. Madison is crying into Miles’s chest and Vanessa is standing beside Penny with a look of complete shock on her face.
Gwen cradles Jema’s lifeless head in her lap screaming in pain at having now lost the only other person she could consider family. As she did the camera pans around to see a figure coming out of the truck.
Josiah Crane, staring at Jema’s lifeless body in shock. The shot quickly shoots to Gwen holding Jema’s head and weeping with the words.
“Gotta have you.
Gotta see you.
(You’re the only thing I ever think about.)
(The only one that I can’t live without.)
(I need you, need you to hold me now.)
Gwen looks up and sees Josiah standing there and immediately lets out a soundless scream and charges at him but Abigail catches her and for a split second Gwen fights before finally her arms just wrap around Abigail and she begins to cry hysterically into her.
The camera slowly spins around the group one final time with the body of Jema Delacroix lying in the bloody puddle a short distance away as the music fades back to the piano and the words…
“Can you hold me in your arms?”
As the episode ends with the camera coming in close to show only the lifeless body of Jema Delacroix.