Previously on Z Nation.
I was the founder and CEO of Mercy Labs.
We were able to stop the virus from spreading.
But the side effects were too horrible.
Mayday. Mayday. Request emergency assistance.
We can hear her, but she can't hear us.
What do you want?
I want to see my boy.
Simon?
Kaya.
It's your father.
Zona soldiers just attacked us.
They stole files.
All we know is the name of the label on the files.
Black Rainbow.
Black Rainbow is real.
The rain is coming.
Hey, Warren!
We've been walking south for two weeks now!
Any idea where we're going yet?
Not since you asked me an hour ago!
Give it a rest, Murphy. You can't rush these things.
It seems like we're going a hell of a long way based on two words
Black Rainbow, whatever that is.
It sounds like some kind of acid from the sixties.
Yeah, well I definitely would've done a few tabs of that
back in the day.
Apocalyptic trippin.' Hell ya.
Yeah?
Something tells me
Warren's Black Rainbow ain't the same thing.
No shit.
What do you think those two have to talk about?
I dunno. Arithmetic and killing?
Well I mean what else are they gonna talk about?
Politics and movies?
Poor kids got screwed. No TV. No Internet. No rock n' roll.
No casual teenage sex.
Oh, wouldn't be too sure about that.
Really?
Not sayin.'
What was it like being in the Marines?
I'm still a Marine. I reckon' I'll die as one.
They were my family.
After they rescued me from my old family.
Gave me something to live for other than myself.
Still does.
What about you? What keeps you going, Ten Thousand?
Just trying to get back to my girl.
Red?
Yeah.
I'm hoping she made it to Newmerica.
You know that's back that way, right?
Yeah, well, my dad said
that the shortest route between two points
is never a straight line.
So if Red's alive,
following Warren is gonna get me to her.
Why am I not surprised?
Oh, crap.
Not this place again!
What?
What is it?
We've been here before.
Warren?
Why the hell did you lead us back here?
I don't know.
But I intend to find out.
I was afraid she was gonna say that.
Look. I have one word for all of you.
Kracken.
Our man with the plan
wasn't just erasing files and hacking around
[light growling] for Black Rainbow data.
Rawr!
[rawring]
[rawring and laughing]
[laughing] Give me that, you little rascal.
[laughing] He also cracked his way into NORAD looking for nuclear codes
or something worse.
[rawring and laughing]
Are you even listening to me?
Yes.
Some evil dude is trying to destroy the
rawr-orld!
[rawring and laughing]
That doesn't worry you?
[whispering] I think we're annoying mommy. Stay right here.
Yes, of course it matters to me.
But, you're on the case, right?
Hey, the only thing I'm worried about is you.
And this little human we made.
Rawr!
[rawring and laughing]
Okay, well our little person needs some Vitamin D.
So take your son out for some daylight.
Roger that.
Hey, let's go work on our tans.
[rawring and laughing]
So wait.
You weren't just downloading files from NORAD?
You were uploading files?!
To a top secret sys admin account
for Black Rainbow.
The plot thickens.
I love you.
I love you right back.
All right, we should go back to mommy.
I know. We have to, though. She's gonna miss us.
Yeah, I know, I know. I wanna stay here.
I know. It was fun, wasn't it?
You know when I was a little boy,
we used to play outside all day long, even in the winter.
So we'd get on our bikes and we would ride everywhere.
And we didn't have to wear helmets.
Why?
Because they didn't make us.
Yeah!
It was a different world.
The only thing we had to worry about
were neighborhood bullies and the occasional serial killer.
One day I'm gonna find a place for you to play outside.
And I'm gonna get you that bike.
Of course your mom's gonna make you wear a helmet.
[growling]
[electric guitar theme music plays]
* Have mercy,
[two gunshots]
[thunk]
* Oh, Have mercy. *
[growling]
You again.
A puppy.
[growling]
I need you to run and tell mommy about the puppy, okay?
Run straight to mommy!
Run, little boy! Run!
Hey!
[growling]
[crash]
[grunting] [growling]
[horn honking]
[growling]
[whip snapping]
[growlish yelling]
Let's rock 'n roll!
[gunfire]
Got a name?
It's Ten Thousand.
But everybody calls me 10K.
Ten Thousand?
That's not a name. That's a number.
That's how many zombies I'm gonna kill.
So what's your name?
Red.
That's not a name. That's a color.
[clanking]
[yelling] Now!
[explosion]
What in the holy heck happened here?
We tried to help some people.
It didn't work out.
[growling]
Big ass Z, 3 o'clock!
Kracken!
[gunshots]
Save your bullets! He's mercy-proofed!
[growling]
[laughing]
The damn thing's blind. He's got his helmet on backwards.
[growling]
Hey, dumbass!
[growling]
Olé!
[laughing]
Hey!
[growling]
[crash]
[laughing]
Stop playing with that Kracken!
[clanking]
[growling]
Now let's suit up.
Just look at exactly what you want to hit,
and the gear's gonna follow.
Cawww!
Hey.
Suit up. We're waiting on you.
Yeah. Sorry.
Why don't you go ahead, and we'll see you in there.
Zompocalypse is bad enough without having memorabilia.
Sorry, kid.
I just wish I knew if Red was still alive.
Well maybe she'll be waiting for us in Newmerica.
Wouldn't be the first time she came back from the dead.
Do you think this is ever all gonna be over?
Yeah, I don't know, kid.
You know, my brain says no.
Humanity's screwed every way to Sunday
and there's nothing we can do about it.
But my heart says yes.
It will be over someday.
I have no reason to believe that.
But if I didn't, I may as well just crawl in a hole
and mercy myself.
Thanks, Doc.
I think.
You're welcome.
Take a minute. We'll see you inside.
Warren?
You're sure in a hurry
for someone who doesn't know what she's doing.
We need batteries for the radio.
I saw solar panels on the roof.
If any place will have power, it'll be Teller's lab.
You didn't come all this way for batteries.
I have the same feeling.
You think Teller had something to do with this?
The dream?
But how?
[door squeaking]
Clearly somebody messed with your head.
Did you bring the radio?
Yes, right here.
There might be a solar outlet,
maybe a charger back in Teller's lab.
If it's hot, I'll get us on the air.
[door squeaking]
10K?
Yeah, he's coming.
All right, lab's back this way.
Now, Sarge, try not to step in any of that glowing fungus.
Yeah, it might be somebody's kin folk.
Besides, this goo is nasty.
[muffled sounds]
Warren?
[muffled sounds]
[door latch echoing]
Warren?
[door closing]
Warren?
[door squeaking]
What the hell were you doing on an old secure landline?
Logging on to an 80 baud modem?
Picking up emails from the 70's?
No, wait. You were uploading some kind of run exec file.
Launch codes?
Launch codes for what?
Mama?
Mama.
Why hack your way back to the 80's?
Mama!
Mama?
Puppy!
[muffled growling]
[growling]
[groaning]
[growling]
[groaning]
[splorch]
[growling]
[muffled growling]
My hero.
That was so
efficient.
What is that?
Zombie heart?
[muffled growling]
Where's JZ?
I sent back to you.
JZ! JZ!
[screaming] JZ!
I told him to run straight to mommy.
Oh my God! Hurry!
Nana, no.
Where's the puppy?
What happened to Warren and 10K?
They were right behind us.
Well I wish we'd stick together.
Some creepy creepy stuff going on around here, you know really.
I mean it's...it's creepy.
You mean like this?
[door squeaking]
[moaning]
Ugh, I told you.
What is it?
Not what.
Who.
This is Teller's wife.
She was infected by one of their experiments.
You sure this Doctor Teller's a good guy?
They were trying to cure the zombie virus.
Instead, this happened.
Thanks, Science.
[thump]
Where the hell is Warren?
[muffled sounds]
Warren?
[muffled sounds]
What are you doing?
[muffled sounds]
Warren?
[muffled sounds]
[beeping]
It's cool to take these off now?
(voice echoing) Seven. Eight.
Three.
Zero.
You really think there's any juice left
after all these years?
This conduit looks like somebody retrofitted the electric
to bring in power from that solar on the roof.
If we're lucky, that's been feeding some of the batteries
that haven't gone bad yet.
Hey, guys. I think I got something back here.
Now turn your lights off.
See that glow coming from behind all that stuff?
He's right. Something's got to be powering that light.
Yeah. Let's move this crap.
There's another lab back here.
What is it?
I dunno.
There's something in there, but the glass is too dirty to see it
Oh!
Oh man, there's a kid in there.
I think I know who's kid this is.
It's Doctor Teller's kid.
[growling]
[bludgeoning]
[giggling]
[growling] [bludgeoning]
Quick, let's drag it out to the snow before he wakes up again.
Grab his feet.
Which end is his feet?
[muffled sounds]
(voice echoing) Three. Two. One.
[beeping]
The batteries aren't holding.
Are you sure you want to do that?
(voice echoing) Two. Five. Zero. Nine.
It seems like maybe whatever is locked in there should
stay in there.
One. Two.
Five. Zero.
Down. Down. Right.
S. I. C. K.
[growling]
Six. Seven.
[growling]
Warren! Look out!
[growling]
Warren!
[growling]
[groaning]
[clink]
[growling]
[splatting]
Have mercy.
What are you doing here?
I was following you.
What am I doing here?
You were trying to get into that.
I think you were having one of your vision things.
[beeping]
I need to get in there.
You knew the combination to all the other locks.
You're on the last one.
I don't remember.
This is Teller's kid.
He told his wife he was dead. But
he was right here the whole time.
She wants to know about somebody.
Somebody she can't see.
Andrew.
She needs to know.
Where is Andrew?
Who is Andrew?
He was their son.
It's hard being a parent in the Apocalypse.
What?
So like is he frozen in some kind of suspended animation?
What kind of monster would leave their kid like that?
Maybe the pain of losing his kid was too much.
If I could've frozen Lucy,
I might have done it.
This panel controls the life support for the kid.
I should be able to divert power for the radio.
Well don't cut off the little glowing dude's life support.
Don't worry. He's way beyond life support.
This kid's been dead a long time.
How can you be so sure?
Back in the day, in my blue period,
I used to be able to feel what the undead were feeling.
But now I have to rely on more subtle clues like
the giant bullet wound in his head.
Good enough for me. Disconnecting.
[beeping]
What?
Wait.
Stop.
Stop. Turn it back on! Turn it back on!
Okay.
What's wrong?
He's alive.
This kid's alive.
Okay.
What do we do?
Well we can't just disconnect him.
Well I'm gonna find Warren and 10K
and see if they maybe found a different power source.
Look for anything from 1982 forward.
Easy peasy.
Russian intercepts 1982 to 1983.
Chemtrail cover stories.
Putin's lovers 1993 to 1994.
Three. Two. One.
Go.
Over here.
I got her fired up.
Wow. Super high tech, circa 1979.
What are we looking for?
Anything Black Rainbow related.
[clunk]
Sorry.
This could take a while.
10K?
Warren?
This is just about the time something jumps out at you.
[growling]
[smack]
[growling]
Hammertime.
[splat]
Break it down.
I can't do it.
I can't see the numbers.
I'm not in the dream.
Hit me.
What?
Hit me.
Sometimes fighting triggers the dream.
Hit me.
[slap]
Hit me.
Harder.
Hit me.
[muffled sounds]
(voice echoing) One. One. One.
N. O.
Warren, wait! Your mask!
[squishing]
[clang]
[squishing]
[groaning]
[clang]
[squishing]
[groaning]
We go now.
[squeaking]
Here's something in the list of black budget defense programs.
Everything's redacted but the final budget numbers.
You smell just like I remember.
That scent kept me going for two years.
Four point two billion dollars
for a top secret program called Black Rainbow.
Sounds like a lot of money.
Is that a lot of money for 1982?
Mm-hmm.
I don't know. I never had any.
That is a lot of money for 1982.
Of course these days it wouldn't buy you a cup of coffee.
[kissing]
Here's some more docs,
but they're all redacted.
Baby,
can we put the Apocalypse on hold for a while?
It'll be waiting for us.
[kissing]
Did you miss me?
I ached for you, baby.
Fourth strike weapon?
What the hell is a fourth strike weapon?
Who's left to kill after the third strike?
We are.
All right.
I'll go pull 1982 and 83.
Anything fourth strike related.
Got it.
I couldn't find them.
What the hell happened to you?
Dude, there's a fungus among us.
Oh there you are.
Where have you been?
Collecting souvenirs.
Well, you were right about the solar chargers.
But, we also came across a little surprise.
Who is it?
It's Teller's kid.
Andrew.
We have to get this information over to Lieutenant Warren.
How's the Cincinnati Kid?
[babbling]
He cheats?
Operation Bitemark has no idea what they're walking into.
Try scanning the low end of the military frequencies.
There aren't that many working radios at this point.
I'll just keep working the dials until somebody hits me back.
Delta Xray Delta.
It's burned into my brain.
[babbling] Delta Xray Delta!
Nana, will you get him a snack?
Delta Xray Delta. Calling Delta Xray Delta.
This is Kaya-In-The-Sky-A. Over.
Lieutenant Warren, are you there?
I have important information. Over.
Is he alive?
If you can call it that.
Despite having a hole in his head
you could drive a model train through.
I'm sorry.
Is this it?
Is this why Teller sent you here?
No.
This is.
What the hell are we supposed to do with that?
I don't know yet!
He should have been mercied.
Maybe Teller thought he could bring him back. Cure him.
Well sometimes
the Zompocalypse has a way of ruining the best laid plans.
Right now we...we got to get power to the transmitter.
Well you're not gonna unplug the little guy, are you?
I can divert power from half the batteries.
That should leave him enough power to stay alive.
Or whatever he is.
Do it.
Delta Xray Delta. This is Citizen Z. Do you copy?
Murphy?
Doc?
Addy, are you there?
Warren, do you copy?
This is Citizen Z.
We have vital information regarding Black Rainbow.
Repeat.
We have vital information regarding Black Rainbow.
[radio static] Delta Xray Delta. This is Citizen Z. Do you copy?
That's it. Go back.
Yeah, that's Citizen Z all right.
[on radio] Copy you.
Citizen Z, this is Warren.
Repeat. Citizen Z, this is Warren. Do you copy?
Copy you, Warren. This is Citizen Z.
How are you, Lieutenant?
We're alive.
Most of us anyway.
Bad signal, low battery. Talk fast.
Okay, I'll get right to it.
Kaya's been drilling down into deep storage
looking for anything Black Rainbow.
What'd you find?
We had intruders here. Zona soldiers.
They copied all the Black Rainbow files
then wiped the servers.
Dammit.
Why?
They also used a secure NSA hardline
to spoof their way into the NORAD computers.
They logged onto the administrator account
for a defunct weapons program. Guess what it was called.
Black Rainbow?
What is Black Rainbow?
You won't believe
[radio static]
[silence]
Hello?
We're out of juice.
I need this radio. We need this radio.
Chief, if we take any more batteries from that kid,
his life support's gonna fail.
What if he can be saved?
My parents left me.
Left me locked in the trunk of a car, trying to save me.
But they never came back.
Not alive.
I should be dead.
But somebody found me.
We found him. Maybe we're supposed to save him.
We don't know how to save him.
Well we can't leave him here for all eternity.
That's exactly what we're gonna do.
But not like that.
His mother's dead over there.
His father's dead on Zona.
No one's coming for him.
He is trapped in amber like a bug that can't die.
If it were me,
if it were my son,
I'd want mercy.
Sergeant,
sometimes in war, we have to make hard decisions.
The needs of the many
outweigh the needs of one.
Divert the power to the radio.
That's an order.
[crying]
It's okay.
Sorry. Go.
I give you mercy.
[radio static]
Do you copy, Citizen Z?
Citizen Z, this is Lieutenant Warren. Do you copy?
(Kaya on radio) Copy you, Lieutenant Warren. Loud and clear.
Talk fast. We're losing our charge.
What do you know about the Black Rainbow?
Zona soldiers hacked the Black Rainbow files
and then logged into a server at an air force base
in Quantico, Virginia.
We believe they changed the launch codes for Black Rainbow.
Launch codes? Launch codes for what?
Black Rainbow is a biological weapon of mass destruction.
It's a fourth strike weapon
meant to kill anything left after an all-out nuclear war.
The Reset.
That's what Zona was working on.
Killing everything so that they could start over.
That must be what the Black Rainbow is.
I thought you said these folks were nice.
Yeah, for billionaires.
You said that they changed the launch codes.
Can we change them back?
Not remotely.
After they changed the code,
they sent the server a command to disable itself.
We got to stop that launch.
That's what my dream is about.
There is another way to change the codes.
I found it in a training manual they missed.
It's a little tricky.
We can handle tricky.
The codes can be changed manually on the control panel
at the launch site.
Oh. Well that's gonna be tricky.
That's not the tricky part.
You need the President's thumbprint
to verify you have clearance to change the codes.
Do you copy?
You must have the thumbprint
of the President of the United States
to change the codes. Do you copy?
Copy.
Over and out.
Looks like
we're going to Washington.
Well at least they'll be together now.
Do you think they care?
No.
But I do.
[melancholy music plays]
*
It's a beautiful sunset.
*
It's only beautiful if someone's there to watch it.
*