Recap / Extinct E 09 Wounds

Ezra and Lynn try to escape the Skin Riders, and Abram attempts to find the Ancestor.

Teaser

Lynn examines Nicholas and says she needs to remove the arrow, but she can’t just yank it out, it needs to be cut out. Ezra says they can’t stay because the Skin Riders could attack at any moment. Lynn protests that it’s near a major artery, and that it would be bad to move him, but Ezra says not moving would be worse. Nicholas tells them to break off the shaft so that moving will be less risky. Ezra moves to help, and together they get the shaft broken off.

Jax gives orders to his men: inform the others of the survivors’ location, watch a back entrance Thomas told them about, and kill anyone who tries to leave. Meanwhile, Nicholas is moved inside the caves, and Lynn asks Kylie for help gathering any bandages or supplies there might be in the cave to help Nicholas. He tells Lynn that the arrowheads carry an intercellular larval stage of the parasite, and that the Skin Riders carry it with them. He tells her the previous version of Lynn instituted a rule to protect their community: all infected individuals must be killed, no exceptions.

Act 1

Duncan, still locked in the outbuilding, tries to reach out telepathically to the other Skin Riders to tell them of Silas’s betrayal, but he gets no response: they must not be in range. He beats desperately against the door, but can’t get out. Inside the settlement building, Yellow Drone says that Silas’s parasite is too widespread, beyond the help of even the Sparks. The parasite is killing Silas and itself in order to ensure that he doesn’t reveal the Ancestor’s location. Even though Red Drone has been to the Ancestor cavern, it was deactivated at the time, so it doesn’t know where it is. However, Red Drone says that even though Silas is in a coma, it can connect his mind to someone else’s, and he can speak to them in a dream state. However, doing so carries a roughly 10% risk of severe consequences for the person who connects their mind to Silas’s. Abram feels that this is an opportunity to redeem himself and volunteers over Feena’s objections.

Flashback: Kylie meets Nicholas after lights out in the settlement. He tells her that everyone who isn’t taking the virus is leaving that night. Kylie says they should wait because her parents aren’t ready yet, but Nicholas says he heard Lynn is staying to take care of the people who take the virus. He urges her to come with them, but she won’t leave her parents.

She goes to talk with Ezra and Lynn, and they confirm that they’re staying, but not taking the virus themselves, and quarantining everyone who takes it and monitoring them in case they need help. They can catch up with the others later, but Jax points out that it’s dangerous for them to know where they’re going, since the Skin Riders will have that information if they’re turned. He also insists that the people who leave need leadership, which Ezra says Jax can provide, but Jax says people look to Ezra and Lynn for leadership more than him, and concludes that Rowyn will have to lead them. Ezra thinks it’s not a good idea because Rowyn is inexperienced, but Jax says that staying’s not a good idea either, but he supposes that’s what they’re doing; Jax refuses to leave a friend behind.

Kylie joins Ezra on watch. She asks if Nicholas is infected, and Ezra thinks it seems like something Jax would do. Kylie tells him that he should know better than anyone that the Skin Rider out there is not Jax, his best friend but Ezra doesn’t have any memories of that, since that happened during his previous life in the settlement. Kylie says that’s why Jax is so determined to kill him: they hate anyone connected to their hosts’ lives before infection.

Lynn successfully extracts the arrowhead. She tells him that she needs to clean the wound, and he agrees. She asks if this means that he’s dropped the idea of killing him, but he responds that cleaning will allow her to tell if the wound has been infected: as far as he’s concerned, killing him is still on the table.

Ezra spots Jax watching them, but no attack is forthcoming. He thinks that they’re waiting for nightfall and/or reinforcements, owing to their having the high ground and potentially outnumbering them. He asks if Kylie has ever shot and killed anyone. She says no, but that she can. He reminds her that her targets will be people who used to live at the settlement, possibly former friends. She assures him that she’s been trained to do this.

They go back inside, and he tells Lynn that they should leave by the north entrance to get Nicholas back to the settlement so that he can be healed with the Sparks. Lynn thought they were trying to hold the caves so that Rowyn and her people would have time to escape, and Ezra says they are: he will stay behind. Lynn and Kylie both object, but Ezra says that Rowyn is traveling with children and needs all the time they can give her. He hands Nicholas a sword and tells him that if he loves Kylie, now’s the time to prove it. Lynn tells Ezra that if anything happens to him, Kylie will never forgive him, and Lynn will never forgive herself.

Act 2

Red Drone links Abram and Silas. Inside Silas’s mind, Abram finds him sitting alone in a church, remembering when he performed a solo as a choir boy. Abram tells Silas that their minds are linked, and that he’s got hours at most before he dies. Silas knows why he’s there, and tells him where the Ancestor is located. Abram thanks him, but Silas says he deserves no gratitude. Silas explains to him what the Ancestor is: the stored consciousnesses of millions of deceased individuals, acting as a nervous system, with the individual parasites as appendages. It wants to consume more minds to make itself greater. Destroying it will destroy the Skin Riders. Abram says would be genocide, but Silas says he’s seen the Ancestor’s heart, and that there is no coexistence with it.

At the caves, they approach the north entrance, and Ezra realizes that if Thomas knew about it, so will the Skin Riders. He staggers out, holding an arrow to his body as if he’d been shot, and sees the lone Skin Rider scout. As the scout approaches, Kylie shoots him. She goes up to his body, and recognizes him as Ian, one of the teachers at the settlement. Ezra sends them on their way, and Kylie says she understands why he’s doing this, but wishes he weren’t.

Flashback: Kylie stands in front of the quarantine door. Ezra finds her, and confirms that the settlers that took the virus are in there now. He explains that the people inside are afraid, and trust the Obelisk to help them. Kylie asks if Ezra’s not afraid, and he says he is, afraid that the Skin Riders might take those he loves most. He takes Kylie to the living quarters and gives her a bow, saying he’s tired of her borrowing his. They head off to the courtyard for an archery contest.

In the present, as they walk to the settlement, Lynn tells Kylie that Ezra means well, and that he acts out of love. Kylie says Lynn didn’t feel that way the last time they separated from him. Meanwhile, Feena and Abram talk with Yellow Drone about their plan to destroy the Ancestor. Abram says swimming is required to reach it, which helped it stay hidden. Yellow Drone explains that the weapon has three parts that constitute two different weapons. The top part releases a toxic gas that would destroy the Ancestor, but also the human deploying it. The bottom part can break down the Ancestor but must be activated from within, which is where the middle part comes in: it’s a device that permits a human brain state to connect to the Ancestor, so that the weapon can be activated by someone inside it. However, the Ancestor contains an entire world of memories, so just finding the weapon inside it without some kind of guide is impossible. Abram realizes that Silas is their guide, and Yellow Drone says that Silas must be in the Ancestor to guide them: he’ll have to die so they can take his crystal and put it in the Ancestor.

Ezra guards the caves, and shoots a Skin Rider that ventures out into the open. He claims to have 10 archers ready to shoot anyone who comes near, but Jax doesn’t believe him. Jax tells him reinforcements will arrive at nightfall, so it would be better for them to come to an agreement now, but he won’t surrender. Jax says that he died easily last time, and this time will be no different.

Feena sits in the common room, wishing she’d kept her promise to kill Duncan to free him from the parasite. Yellow Drone says that he’d asked a hard thing of her, but she’s not comforted. Yellow Drone reveals that the tracking device they put on Duncan says that he’s right outside the building, so if she wants to keep her promise, now’s her chance. She takes a bow from a locker, because she’ll be overwhelmed by Duncan’s superior strength in close quarters, and she doesn’t want to involve Abram, who has enough death on his conscience. She goes outside, readies her bow, and puts her hand on the outbuilding’s latch.

Act 3

Feena lets go of the latch and hides, hearing a Skin Rider approaching. The Skin Rider lets Duncan out, and they head out. Feena comes out of hiding and aims the bow at Duncan, who hides behind the other Skin Rider. She says she’ll shoot the other one first if she must, but he tells her that he’ll escape before she can nock another arrow, meaning she will have killed him for nothing. Feena hesitates, and the Skin Riders leave.

Nicholas stumbles with pain. Lynn inspects his wound, and finds an infection. She tries to say it could be bacterial, but Nicholas knows better and insists that if they won’t kill him they should leave him behind. Lynn and Kylie refuse, but Lynn takes his sword and makes him walk in front.

Abram returns to Silas’s mind and tells him they need his help to destroy the Ancestor and explains the plan. Silas points out that the crystal is the parasite’s mind, not his, and that the parasite will not help them. Abram says that he’s in the church because he’s consumed with guilt, and that he’s praying because he is (or is trying to be) a man of faith. Repentance, he says, is an act of faith, not just a request for forgiveness.

Lynn and Kylie talk about her engagement to Nicholas. Kylie asks if she’s going to give her a speech about how she’s too young to get married. Lynn asks how old she is, and Kylie replies that she’s 17… almost. Lynn says that yes, that is too young, and asks what the other Lynn would have said. Kylie replies that she was her best friend, that she would have said a lot, and she probably would have listened.

Flashback: In the settlement, Kylie hears a man yelling. She follows the sound to find Jax with a sledgehammer, trying to destroy the Obelisk, and Ezra trying to reason with him. Jax says the Obelisk lied to them, and asks how many more people he and Ezra are going to have to bury. Ezra says Blue Drone has an idea, but Jax scoffs at that, saying they didn’t care about Althea, Ezra, or any of the others dying. Ezra says Jax isn’t one to give up. “They gave up on us,” he retorts.

As Jax leaves, Kylie asks Ezra if it’s true that they’re all going to die. Ezra doesn’t know. She asks if Lynn will get sick, and Ezra reassures her that she is careful and will always do what is best for them.

In the present, Lynn, Kylie, and Nicholas hide as they see Skin Riders heading toward the caves. Kylie thinks they should try to stop them, but Lynn tells her that Ezra can take care of himself and that they need to keep moving. At the caves, Jax and another Skin Rider make a brief dash in the open, provoking only two missed shots. Jax concludes that Ezra is the only bowman there, and tells the other Skin Rider to look for a side entrance while he goes to the rear. As Ezra attempts to set up barricades inside the caves, Jax removes the crystal from the dead Skin Rider. Two more Skin Riders arrive, and he tells them to kill anyone remaining inside the cave, then follow the tracks of Rowyn’s group, turn those they can, and kill the rest. Jax, meanwhile, will track down Lynn’s group.

Act 4

Nicholas is getting worse, still miles from the settlement. Lynn draws her sword.

In a flashback, Blue Drone tells Ezra, Lynn, Jax, and Kylie that they need to bring the Sparks to the lake, where they might be able to use the organics there to create a cure for the virus. It has also detected traces of the virus outside the quarantine room, meaning the settlement may no longer be safe for them. Jax volunteers to take the Sparks to the lake and rendezvous with them and the departed settlers in a few hours.

In the present, Lynn uses the sword to cut wood into poles to fashion a travois to drag Nicholas to the settlement. He says it would be better to go by themselves and bring the Sparks back, but Kylie won’t leave him, and Lynn won’t leave Kylie. Nicholas remarks that the previous Lynn would have killed him already.

A Skin Rider in the caves gets hit by an arrow, but pulls it out. Ezra dives behind a barricade, having run out of arrows. As the Skin Rider searches for him, Ezra comes up from behind and zaps him with a prod weapon. He takes his arrows just in time to fell two more Skin Riders charging into the caves. Then he goes to examine the fallen Skin Rider outside and notes that its crystal has been taken. Jax has left, and may be going after his family.

As Lynn gives Nicholas water, he opens his eyes and immediately attacks Lynn: he has turned.

Act 5

Kylie comes upon Nicholas attacking Lynn and shouts for him to stop. The parasite, who has gotten the sword, says that his human is fond of her, and that he needs to let him know that he’s in charge now. Lynn picks up a branch and tells Nicholas to leave her daughter alone.

In a flashback, Ezra, Lynn, and Kylie meet with Nicholas at the rendezvous point. He says he is to scan them for the virus, then take them back with the other settlers. Ezra asks about Jax, but Nicholas hasn’t seen him. Nicholas wants to take them back immediately, but Ezra insists they wait for Jax. After three hours, Nicholas says they have to move on; the risk to them and any search party Rowyn might send is too great. Ezra tells the others to go ahead without him and he’ll wait longer for Jax alone. Lynn tells him he doesn’t know where the camp is, and Ezra says he’ll signal again and Nicholas can come back for him and Jax. Lynn pleads for him to stay, but he says they owe Jax this much. He bids them goodbye and leaves.

Parasite!Nicholas draws his sword, and attacks Lynn, only to be felled by Kylie’s arrow. Ezra catches up to them, and they embrace, as Jax watches from a distance with a scope. Suddenly, he hears Duncan in his mind, telling him that Silas has betrayed them, and that the settlers plan to destroy the Ancestor. Jax responds that they’ll destroy them first.

Abram returns to Silas, who says he’s had a change of heart. He tells Abram to take his crystal and put it in the weapon. Abram says he doesn’t understand, but Silas asks him to do him two favors: forgive him, and tell his brother he loves him. Abram replies that he’s already forgiven him. Silas cries, and says the first move is his. Abram wakes, and Red Drone reports that Silas has died. Feena asks if he said anything, but Abram says it’s what he didn’t say: They weren’t chosen randomly: they were all sent for the purpose of destroying the Ancestor.