- On the seventh dawn of the seventh day,
A twice-bless’d man will roam the fields
Doomed to shadows with his brethren
Or savior to all who walk the ground.Quatrain 3, Century 1
Cade Foster, a thief turned security salesman, has been experiencing strange delusions. Then things get worse: his credit cards stop working, he gets fired, his house is vandalised and his wife Hannah scared out of her mind. As he investigates, he finds the same is happening to others, including a cop who commits suicide and a millionaire, Emmet Mayhew, who's been committed after going crazy and killing his family. Mayhew leads Cade to an ancient book full of prophecies written by Nostradamus, telling of the destruction of Earth in three waves and the "Twice-Blessed Man" who may be able to prevent Armageddon.
Returning to the mental institution, Cade finds that Mayhew has committed suicide. He takes Hannah to a motel, intending to send her away for her safety. However, when they're in bed together, she suddenly sprouts tentacles which strangle him unconscious. A car pulls up outside and two scientists from the institution remove a body: the real Hannah, murdered and replaced by an alien clone when Cade briefly left her earlier that day. They leave the body in the motel room and call the police, ensuring the heartbroken Cade will be blamed for her murder.
Cade escapes custody and tracks down an address left by Mayhew. There, he finds records detailing a vast experiment in which he is the 117th subject, and the only one left alive. Leaving the building, he's arrested for Hannah's murder, finding to his horror that the proof he found has vanished. He's convicted for murder and sent to the same institution as Mayhew, where he finds that the experiment he's been subjected to is only part of the first wave of a coming alien invasion. He escapes and goes on the run, vowing to avenge his wife's murder and prevent the second wave.
Tropes:
- Arc Words: Subject #117, The Twice-Blessed Man and the First Wave.
- Combat Tentacles: The alien clone of Hannah sprouts tentacles from her body that strangle Cade unconscious during sex.
- Crusading Widow: Hannah is murdered, leaving Cade to avenge her and prevent the invasion. No pressure...
- Establishing Character Moment: After the How We Got Here, we find Cade at work selling security features to a high-level company. The fact that the company has already updated their security recently doesn't faze him; he simply breaks open their new safe in moments, shocking the board members and ensuring the sale. He's obviously charismatic, cocky, and very skilled at breaking into things.
- Extremely Short Timespan: After the How We Got Here beginning, the narrative jumps back... all of three days. The events we actually see could possibly be crammed into three days, but you'd think a murder trial would take just a little longer.
- Frame-Up: The aliens murder Hannah and leave her body in Cade's motel room, ensuring he'll be blamed for her death.
- From Bad to Worse: Cade has a good job, a nice house and a wife he clearly loves. But recently he's been hallucinating, and it's getting worse. Then his credit cards stop working and his employers are sent information about his criminal past, resulting in his being fired. Then his house is vandalised, scaring his wife out of her mind. He investigates what's happening to him, and seems to be gaining ground until his wife is murdered and he's convicted. Oh, and everything that's been happening to him is related to an imminent alien invasion that will kill 19 million people in the first day. Cade goes on the run, with only a book of prophecies by Nostradamus to help him.
- Fugitive Arc: Blamed for Hannah's murder, Cade is forced to go on the run in order to clear his name and prevent an invasion of the aliens who really killed her.
- Gaslighting: Cade is the 117th subject in an alien experiment that tests human will by driving humans crazy and ruining their lives.
- How We Got Here: The series opens with Cade drugged and handcuffed to a chair in the mental institution as alien scientists discuss the experiment, the way it's brought out Cade's "warrior potential", and the fact that the experiment will conclude that night with the dissection of Cade's brain. They also talk about the coming invasion and the 19 million who will die in the first day. The narrative then jumps back three days for the plot of the episode, after which we see the opening scene again. After the aliens leave, Cade spits out a smuggled paperclip, picks the handcuffs and escapes, vowing to prevent the invasion and avenge Hannah's murder.
- Protagonist Title: Cade is Subject 117 in the alien experiment.
- They Would Cut You Up: Cade is marked for dissection by alien scientists. Specifically, his brain.
- Trojan Prisoner: Played with. Cade wasn't arrested on purpose, but still learns the gist of the aliens' plans while pretending to be drugged.
- You Have to Believe Me!: Sadly, no one is willing to take Cade at his word that aliens killed his wife.
