25 - Inadequate Strength

The episode starts with a muted repeat of Burt falling and of the helicopter taking off from episode 24 followed by Michael's 'I didn't fear death, that was then this is now' speech.
We then hear gun fire in the distance. Victor and Saul are running around at the base of the tower and see the helicopter take off from the next door tower. They see something hit the Tower and it falls towards them. They take cover inside a shop as they try to avoid dust. As they wait insode they hear more crashes. Victor is sure that everyone couldn't have made it out as they saw the other smashed helicopter so know there was only one. He wonders if it is just him and Saul now. Saul is sure his Mum got out, and grabs his gun and runs outside where they can't see much but can hear the chopper leaving. Saul is sure his mum is on board and when Victor asks what they are supposed to do now the chopper is gone, Saul replies with "What do you mean we, I still got stuff to do".
After heading back inside Saul heads out again. They are coughing lots and can't see more than 2 feet. Victor is worried about being out and their ammo supply, and Saul and Victor start to argue as the walk.
Saul accidently leads them back to the hummer because of low visibility. While they haven't seen anybody they hear a zombie call in the distance. Victor wants to leave straight away, but Saul wants to grab the 50 Cal from the hummer first. While Victor goes looking for a car, Saul starts to detach the 50 Cal and realises that the feed is broken. As Victor comes back with a car they hear the grumble of a behemoth nearby. Victor doesn't know what it is, and as they are loading the 50 Cal into the car, the behemoth comes around the corner. As they try to drive away the behemoth grabs the car. Victor manages to get the car free, but because of debris and the dust they can't go fast enough to get away from it chasing them. As Victor keeps driving they hit something that gets blood on the windscreen.
Saul realises that he can feed the 50 Cal with one round at a time. He misses as they are driving but then shoots it and the behemoth falls. Saul doesn’t see any blood from the behemoth but is sure it is down. He also mentions that he nearly lost his Picc line. Victor notes that the rounds for the 50 Cal go through solid concrete so questions that it didn’t go right through the behemoth
Victor asks Saul where they are going and Saul says to just drive. Saul tells Victor that it is not worth going back to the tower because whoever was on the helicopter wouldn’t have seen them through the smoke, so they are gone. They can't use the CBs to contact them as they will be out of range, and Saul doesn’t want to go to Fort Irwin because 1 - he won’t leave and 2 - if the chopper gets there and there is nothing they will move on. Saul finishes by saying "No matter where they go, we can’t follow. We’re on our own."
We switch to the helicopter. Michael is watching them follow a highway that is totally packed with stranded cars below them and knows that there is no way anyone could drive out of LA. Pegs checks the directions and Michael tells her to keep following the 15. Pegs wants to get there before dark and Michael says they should be there within the hour and tells her she is doing great. He goes to the back to see everyone else. Riley still out and seems like Lady is being passed around. Everyone is quiet. Datu asks how far away they ar and Michael tells him they are about 30 minutes out. He asks how Riley is and Tania says she thinks Riley has a concussion. Kelly asks how Pegs is doing, and Michael says she can handle anything you throw at her, when the chopper suddenly starts to leak hydraulic fluid and Pegs says they have to go down. We end with Pegs trying really hard to control the helicopter as it falls and Michael tells Pegs to head for a field he can see.

The episode begins where we left off with the helicopter crashing. They are falling pretty fast, Pegs is struggling to bring the chopper down but manages to land it. Pegs shuts it off asking if they have spare fluid, but Michael wants to get outside quickly. He tells Kelly and Tanya to grab a guns and Datu that he has to fix the hydraulics. They can see a farmhouse in the distance and Michael tells Datu that he needs to get the things fixed in the next few minutes so that they don't have to fly in the dark. Kelly asks where they are and Michael says that they are at some farming community outside of Barstow. They keep watch but don't see anything as Datu starts work on the helicopter. Pegs thinks they only have an hour or an hour and a half before night and Datu says that it is going to take longer to fix then that. Datu says that he has a good view from on the helicopter to see anything coming and Kelly and Tanya want stand down and do some other important jobs, but when they check with Michael he doesn't respond straight away.
Pegs ask Michael if he is ok and he says that he is 'just trying to deal with all this. Burt Angel, everyone else in the Tower.' Kelly, Tanya and Datu all say that this is not the time, and remind Michael the he had always told them to push it all to the side. But Michael thinks that he might have been wrong. At that moment Riley comes out and asks where Angel is and where they are. No one wants to tell her what has happened; eventually Kelly tells her that he is gone. Riley falls down and starts to cry and asks about everyone. Pegs is crying and tells her that she couldn't land on the roof. Michael adds that Burt fell when the zipline broke and that Angel was trapped on the roof when the Tower came down. Riley asks if 'this is it, just us', and Michael agrees. They start to name those left behind; Angel, Saul, Victor, those sent to the motor pool Steven, Mary, Jacob and James and Lewis locked in his room. Michael tells Datu to come on down as everyone is upset and calls Hope out from the helicopter who brings Lady out for cuddles.
Time passes and we come back to the group at night with a small fire eating MREs. Datu is still working on the helicopter with Kelly beside him keeping watch. Tanya wonders about the food on the farm but Riley had a look and it is dead and rotting. Riley is still writing in her journal and they decide to keep writing. Kelly is looking out with Night Vision Goggles from Burt's stores. They talk a little bit about Burt and Riley says that she doesn't want to get back into that because everyone has only just calmed down. Kelly says that it is hard not to talk about death when it surrounds us and Tanya agrees saying that everyone she knew more than 4 months ago is gone. Riley goes off for a smoke and Michael tells Kelly to watch her.
Tanya talks about how it is likely to get harder and that it is worse since she met them. Michael thinks it is because they are more involved, and says that he worries about this group more than he did his soldiers. Pegs wonders if someone should go and talk to Riley because she lost her best friend and the person she loves most in the same month. Kelly wonders which is which.
Michael asks if there is anything else people want to talk about and discussion swings to the likelihood of them going back to LA. Tanya and Pegs want to double check if Michael is sure there might not be someone still alive. Michael is sure they are all dead; including Lizzy, but Tanya has a feeling that Saul might be ok.
We switch to Saul and Victor who are heading inside a building for the night. They are still fighting and Victor wants Saul to bring the 50 Cal up out of the truck but Saul doesn't want to. Saul turns on his drip and says that he needs to keep using it till it runs out. Victor thinks that the helicopter should be at Ft. Irwin by now and asks Saul what they should do next. Saul doesn't want to share his MREs with Victor who doesn't have any. Victor goes to leave and take the truck and Saul calls him back and shares his MRE. Victor tells Saul that he can go alone if he really wants and Saul tells Victor he will be going after her. He tells Victor that they will figure out what they are going to do tomorrow and says sorry. They decide to go back to the Tower first. And Saul says that he will never stop looking.
We are back to the helicopter and Michael asks Datu how it is going and he says that he is nearly finished. Pegs comes out and talks to Michael for a while and they stop when they hear some movement nearby. They move towards it and Datu shoots at a coyote that had been in their trash. The rest of the group comes out and Pegs then notices that Riley is gone, and didn't come back after going for her smoke.

We start with the coyote incident from the previous episode. Michael grills Kelly about not looking properly when she had the first shift as lookout. If the distance they hear the sound of a zombie and Michael sends Pegs to warm up the chopper, while he and Kelly will go to look for Riley. They head off discussing why Riley might have left and Michael sees tracks heading into the corn. Kelly isn't sure and wants to check another direction, so they split up calling for her. Kelly joins Michael again and realises that the tracks might not be Riley's. They find her conscious, and apologising and having drunk a whole bottle of alcohol and covered in vomit. The zombies are getting closer so Michael gives Kelly the gun to cover them as they try to get out. They realise they are lost and are stumbling around when they hear Datu calling for them in the distance. They head to Datu and have to shoot zombies as they get back to the helicopter. As they try to take off there are zombies clinging to the outside, and Pegs tries to shake them off. When there is only one left Michael opens the door forcing Datu to shoot it and they can shut the door. Tanya gives Riley an IV as they check that there are no more on the side of the helicopter.
Datu notices a huge group of zombies on the ground as they fly over. Tanya can see that it is likely to be zombies by the way they are moving. Datu wonders where they came from and Michael points out Barstow, the nearest town. They are not sure what this will mean for Fort Irwin.
They head over the desert towards the base and Michael is hoping that it will create an natural barrier that the zombies won't cross, but he is worried because of the numbers they saw. Pegs sees that base in the distance, and they see the big reservoir of water. They see people as they start to land, but other than uniforms they can't see if they are normal or not.
Pegs lands in a heli-pad where there are a couple other desert-camo helicopters around. They get out ready to defend themselves, while Pegs keep the chopper running. Kelly and Michael get out and then Michaels sees a zombie coming out of nowhere and they shoot.

The original "air dates" of Chapter 23 were:

• Part 1: Jan 2, 2012
  
• Part 2: Jan 9, 2012
  
• Part 3: Jan 16, 2012
  

Part 3 included an 'advertisement' for Locked 'n' Loaded, Burt's shop in the story

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"It's gone, man! It's freakin' gone! No way everyone got outta there." - Victor in 25 - Inadequate Strength

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"You can hotwire a car?" "Why, because I'm Mexican!? I figured you could, brutha." - Saul and Victor in 25 - Inadequate Strength

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• IMDB Page for Chapter 2: "Inadequate Strength"