After

"After" is the first and debut episode of Season 4 of The Cleansing. It is the 25thepisode overall. It premiered on May 29, 2019.

Synopsis
One Year Later, John still alone, must learn to trust the living again while the threat of the dead still grows.

Morning
The summer wind blows, green and yellow leaves sway. The sound of nothing but the slight breeze is calming and relaxing. The sunshine beams across the forest and surrounding area acting as a beacon of hope that symbolizes the happiness that is felt.

In the distance, a faint growl can be heard as a single walker stumbles around, blood dripping for its mouth onto its body and the ground.

A hatchet is sent straight into its head, killing it instantly.

A twenty-eight-year-old John Halkett removes the hatchet from its head with one simple tug. Its body falls to the ground and John spits on it.

He loomed over its body from a minute but then moves on.

He wanders the forest in search of food.

The thought of Quinlos pops into his mind. The amount of food and water they had there, and now it’s gone. For a full year he hasn’t been able to see a smile on anyone's face, he hasn’t even seen anyone since Quinlos.

He shakes his head, stops thinking about Quinlos, and focuses on what animals he could find that would leave him with days, maybe weeks worth of food.

He continues his hunt and finds what he’s looking for. A big brown bear in the middle of an open field. He grabs out his bow and arrow and aims it at the bear. He slows his breathing and focuses one hundred percent of his attention on the bear.

Everything goes quiet.

He pulls back the string and...

“AHHHH!”

Him and the bear both turns their heads to the direction of the screams. He accidently shoots his bow and it hits the bear in it foot. The bear runs off and John tries to shoot again but realizes that he doesn’t have anymore arrows.

“Shit”, he murmurs under his breath.

He runs off in the direction of the screams, pulls out his hatchet, and gets ready to fight.

Midday
Blood dripped onto twenty-one-year-old Carter Buick as he struggles to fight off a walker. He falls to the ground and the walker gets closer and closer to biting his neck. “HELP”.

The walkers get closer until it’s inches away from his face.

SHWAP!

Blood and brains cover his face as he closes his eyes and mouth. The body is pushed off him and he slowly opens his eyes. John stands over him but says nothing. He turns away and starts walking off.

“Wait”, the guy exclaims.

John doesn’t react and keeps walking.

“WAIT”, he repeats. “I know who you are John”.

John stops in his tracks and turns slowly. “How do you know me?”

The guy gives him a desperate look. “Quinlos”

John gives a look of anger on his face. “Get up and follow me”

“What?”

“GET UP... and follow me”

The guy obliges and follows with a small backpack.

"Keep up." Ethan runs his hand through his hair as he and the boy head deeper into the woods.

The guy looks at John as they walk. “I saw my girlfriend die at the hands of one of that crazy bitch’s people. I didn’t get to mourn her loss, the explosions just came, so many died, I think the explosions were bigger than that group intended because even that crazy bitch’s army was blown up into shreds. After that-”

“SHUT UP!”, John shouts as he suddenly turns. “I don’t want to be around anybody anymore. EVERYONE JUST DIES, I don’t want to have to mourn someone else's loss.”

The guy stares at him. “Maybe you’re just a PUSSY!”

John looks shocked.

“IN FACT, YOU ARE A PUSSY JOHN. LEADERS HAVE TO BE STRONG; THEY HAVE TO PULL THROUGH THE TOUGH TIMES. BUT YOU... YOU WERE JUST PUT INTO THE LEADER ROLE RIGHT. BY THAT SMALL GROUP YOU HAD... AND I WONDER WHY WE DIDN’T WIN THE WAR.”

John stares at him in a shocked state. The guy starts walking in front of him. “Now follow me John... and keep up”

John listens and follows the guy.

Evening
The two walk until the sun starts to set and the crickets can be heard. John smacks a mosquito on his arm and scratches the spot. The guy stops in his tracks and John bumps into him. John looks up with surprise and sees a brick building with a large cell tower on top. The place is covered in tree vines and old rusty metal is covering the cell tower.

The guy opens up a rusty metal door and John watches as the guy is consumed by the dark. After a few moments of silent waiting, a click is heard and lights come on in the building.

John steps into the small building and looks around. He sees an old bed with two backpacks on it, a large wooden bookshelf with what looks like books that have been sitting there for years with cobwebs and dust slowly forming around them, and a small kitchen with a few shelfs and a sink.

“This is home”, the guy says.

John looks around and inspects every little detail of the place. “Cozy”

“Yeah it is actually, I've been living here for around eight months now, I have a map of the surrounding states”

The guy pulls out the map and lays it on the hard-concrete ground. He points to a place on a map. “Quinlos was located in Dallas, Georgia right next to Interstate 278 that lead in and out of Atlanta, now I know why it was easy to for you to get to Quinlos.”

John buts in. “It wasn’t easy, we went through Devil’s Road and had to fight a group called The Devil’s Servants.”

“The Devil’s Servants were a faction apart of Sarah’s Army”

“Right...”. John goes quiet. “Anyway, we got to Atlanta and there was the biggest herd I have ever seen, if we took Highway 9, we wouldn’t have had to fight The Devil’s Servants and it would have saved us time.” The two look at each other.

The guy gets up and packs the map away.

John looks at the guy. “I never got your name?”

The guy turns around. “Carter, my name is Carter.”

He turns and walks outside with a cigarette.

Midnight
Carter sits on a lawn chair outside while on watch. The sound of crickets is the only noise that can be heard apart from the howl of a dog in the distance. The stars and moon are like the light shining from a lighthouse into the darkness. Carter sits in silence as he takes one last puff of his cigarette and then throws it on the dry ground. He looks at his watch – 12:23am. He gets up and walks to the door. Just before he opens it, he hears the sound of a twig snap in the distance. He grabs out his mini-torch and shines it into the darkness of the trees. “Hello... is anyone there?”

Silence.

He turns back and walks inside. As the door closes, the figure of someone comes out from the trees with a knife in one hand, and a gun in the other.

The Next Morning
John’s eyes flutter open. Drips of water come down from the ceiling, one drip landing on his face. He sits up and looks around. He sees Carter with his backpack on trying to walk to the door. “Carter”

He turns around quickly. “John, I um... I was going into town to get some supplies before you woke up.”

“Stop with the bullshit, I know you were trying to get away from me.” He gets up and grabs his bag. “I’m still coming with you.”

Carter smirks and rolls his eyes as they both walk out the door.

The pair walk for a while until they overlook a town on a hill. “You ready?”, Carter asks.

John turns to him, “I was born r-”

BLAM! A gunshot goes flying into John’s left rib cage causing him to tumble down the hill. Carter turns quickly and sees a bearded man. BLAM!

Carter falls over the slope too. He tumbles for what seems like forever but is only for a few seconds. When he gets to the bottom, he spots John and grazed up like him. He helps him up and the two limp towards a small convenience store. Another shot is fired as they make it into the shop. They jump over the counter and Carter sees a gun. He picks it up and points it at the door.

Footsteps are then heard getting closer and closer until they stop at the door. Carter straightens up. The footsteps run back. Carter lowers his gun and looks in disbelief. He hears a faint beeping. He listens closer and John suddenly hears it too. John quickly gets up and grabs onto Carter. “IT’S A B-”

BOOM!

Everything goes black.

The sound of gunshots being fired fills John’s ears. The sound is faint, but feels close. As he comes to, the sounds get louder and louder until he fully awakens.

BLAM! BLAM! “GET THE FUCK BACK!”, Carter distant yelling can be heard. BLAM!

John looks around and sees he is in the store with half of it blown up. He slowly gets up, grabs his .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, and hobbles out of the eradicated general store. He limps to a detached part of the wall in the middle of the street. More gunfire endures until Carter’s scream is heard once more and the gunfire stops.

John hurries to the street over a spots the man pointing his rifle over Carter. John slowly creeps up behind the man.

His gun touches the back of the man’s head. “Put the GUN DOWN.”

The man obliges and slowly turns around.

John looks in shock.

“Miles?”

Death
N/A

Trivia

 * This episode marks the beginning of the second arc of the series.


 * Below are changes made to the cast:
 * Andrew Rothenberg (Markus Gray) and Alicia Witt (Kelly Walker) are no longer listed under Also Starring after their deaths in the Season 3 finale.
 * Matt Lintz (Henry Wittock), Alyssa McCarty (Besheba Mills), Liam Hemsworth (Mike Anderson), and Madison Lintz (Lily Freeman) are all upgraded to Series Regulars and are listed under Starring.
 * Tyler James Williams (Carter Buick) and John Holloway (Miles Morales) join the cast under Also Starring.


 * Two drafts were considered before the final draft was created.
 * The two drafts were formed together to make the final draft.