Chapter 48 - WARNING SPOILERS FROM THE FINALE!

[UndeadSweeper]

Who makes the code A1, B2??? Who does that?!?!? Only someone that is trying to help both teams thats who!!!!

Never trust CJ!!! Rules to live by!!!!

A1,B2 Wow, it seem CJ has sunken your battleship.

[jmdavis333]

A1,B2 Wow, it seem CJ has sunken your battleship.

First thought when she told Kelly the combination:

th.jpg

[fredrum]

If I recall correctly, 1A2B is one of the self destruct codes for the enterprise in the original Star Trek series. i doubt this was a reference to it, but that's where my mind immediately went.

[Witch_Doctor]

No use now. All but one of mine turned out to be totally wrong. Hell of an ending though.

I kind of count your prediction that Scratch survives to the end to be correct. She made it past the final battle. Good Job, Sir.

[Witch_Doctor]

OK, so I didn't change this at all.

Going through the old chapters and editing my predictions so I would have been right all along.

Since the first clear images of Ink were posted, we have been captivated by the symbols. Voodoo, Chemical, Egyptian, Chinese, Alchemy, Old Norse,... the list goes on. We have speculated and debated about their meanings, their origins and their purpose in the story. Is Ink an occultist, a mad scientist or some other type of mystical puppet master? Yet there were scores of questions and ideas that seemed to be in conflict with each other. But two elements go hand & hand, they are inseparable; Ink and the Symbols. Ink get's his name by way of the symbols covering his skin. The symbols seemed to be the secret to his plans. But what are his plans?

Ever since it was revealed that Ink was using symbols to manipulate the zombies, we have debated how could it be that zombies could be controlled by them. Is there a zombie language? Are these zombie-glyphs? How can they understand different symbols from a cross section of cultures from a long span of history? How can the zombies understand them and humans can't? Is there something mystical going on? Surely, looking at an ancient rune, a Voodoo veve, or the Eye of Horace can't possibly have a control over a real flesh and blood human suffering from some sort of naturally-caused cognitive disorder. They can't even reason, how can they possibly understand these symbols? It seemed that the only way the symbols could possibly have an affect on the zombies is by way of some supernatural effect. And boy oh boy, did we let K.C. have it. How dare he wind up this story by introducing hocus pocus, mumbo jumbo? Don't know how you're gonna pull a logical explanation out of yer butt! Looky here folks, deus ex machina is a comin' our way!

But throughout the whole story there were clues to something else.

• The outbreak is world-wide. Starts along geologically active places. Ink has no control over that.
• Zombie-making haze coming from deep underground.
• Zombie bodies decompose and release the haze (Gas).
• It seems that something buried deep underground that could produce the gas might very well be incredibly ancient.
• The soldiers discover a zombie Rosetta Stone and we learn that Ink placed symbols all over the place like a gang member with a can of spray paint. Along with Datu, we learn that this is how he controls the zombies.
• In the jail, we see different symbols over different doors. One stands out. The rainbow-fan symbol. We later learn from Datu that this somehow 'feels like stop', and with Tanya's help, we learn that it is the reason why there was one cell where the door was not busted in. The zombies would not go in there.
• Datu encounters another symbol beckoning him to enter. The symbols don't say anything, they just cause a feeling.
• The zombies are like animals. They even nest like ants. They are controlled by instincts and their senses, not unlike animals in heat.
• Some zombies seemed to form cliques.
• Many of the symbols are described as symbols we can look up. Symbols that we might even know about. Some people on the forum even figured out that the common meaning behind these symbols is that of protection, long before Tanya revealed it.
• Google the Rainbow-Fan symbol and see what you get. Nothing comes up. It's not a recognizable symbol from a recognizable human history. Almost like KC just made it up.
• We learn, again with Tanya's help, that Ink feared death and most likely had himself tattooed with protection symbols in a desperate attempt to save himself from a lethal injection needle.
• Ink seems to have conducted TWO experiments in the jail. One to create the behemoths, another to determine which symbol does what.

Where am I going with this? How can an ancient symbol control people suffering from some sort of cognitive disease? Where would such a symbol come from?
Perhaps the stop and enter symbols are ancient symbols of protection from some very ancient unnamed culture. Ink may have found them in a catalog of similar symbols, using any and all in a willy-nilly fashion. In order to look for the origin of such a symbol from the PAST in the We're Alive Universe, lets look into the FUTURE in the We're Alive Universe.

• Ink is dead, and so are his minion of zombies under his control. His clique. The only realistic way for Ink to counter the effect of the stop symbol is to create new zombies immune to it. Perhaps breeding smart ones who show resistance to it. (Like humans who show resistance to the infection.) So, with the death of Ink, Michael and Tanya's fear is abated and CJ's plan of marking everything can prevail.
• With Ink gone, the remaining zombies can't learn to avoid the effects of the markings.
• The human survivors mark themselves, their effects, their habitats, their roadways and everything else with the SYMBOL OF PROTECTION. Just like it was done some untold time in the past when this last happened. In time, the origin of the symbols are lost. All that remains is the notion that it protects.

And just how does such a symbol protect from the deranged, crazed, animal-brained former humans? Well, as animals with highly diminished cognitive functions, these creatures are instinctual. They act like insects. They follow the leader. They go under ground. Perhaps what we call 'symbols' are, to them, natural markers. Bi-valued even. Stop-Come, Front-Back, First-Last. Perhaps an earlier version of these creatures, in the ancient past, formed chains or links or trails, all leading underground. DEEP UNDERGROUND, like Tanya said. Deeper than anyone bothered to dig. There, they died, decomposed, and turned into gas.

[daveyman23]

Bravo, KC. And to the cast and crew as well.

Utterly amazing. Breathtaking and bittersweet, leaving us with just enough to want more. I mean we ALL want more, which is why we are here on the forums. But you get what I'm saying. Thank you so much for your hard work and dedication. I hope one day someone with the ability to award you something recognizes your immense talent and gives you all the awards. ALL OF THE THEM.

And I definitely plan to buy every single "Tales from We're Alive"

And this may be the gamer in me speaking but I really want to play as Nicholas progressing through training and venturing out into the post-apocalyptic world to discover the truths our favorite characters were unable to. The "new" special kind, whatever may have happened to skittles, the charred remains of Boulder. Is it just me or does that not sound fucking awesome?

[Gooer]

I kind of count your prediction that Scratch survives to the end to be correct. She made it past the final battle. Good Job, Sir.

She may of lived through the battle, but i wouldn't class "buried alive" to be surviving. Haha :P

[Litmaster]

She may of lived through the battle, but i wouldn't class "buried alive" to be surviving. Haha :P

A fitting end for such a fine individual....

[LiamKerrington]

She may of lived through the battle, but i wouldn't class "buried alive" to be surviving. Haha :P

Imagine ...

Scratch sitting in the box, receiving enough air to breath for a couple of days. Starvation kicks in.

But before she dies, some zombs dig from beneath to her position. They free her, bite her, and make her a new super-zomb ...

And then she, again, tries to kick someone's arse - like Burt's and Pegs' ...

Best wishes!
Liam

[urzombiefood]

Thank you KC and crew for an amazing story told in an old school way like radio. You have earned my 5 bucks. I would have paid more. I really can't say enough about the cast and crew who did an amazing job over the years. My hat is off for all of you! Thank you again!

Also one last thing KC and I'm sure you have been told this before. If anyone ever buys the story from you make sure you have stipulations in there that they arent allowed to change the story. Nothing worse than someone trying to make a already great story into something that it's not.

Congrats! I look forward to your future work.