Casey and Tessa go downstairs, where Elaine, Dale’s partner, greets Casey with an emotional hug. Greg enters, furious with Blake, whom he calls “Soldier Boy” (64). Recognizing Casey, he hugs her, relieved she is alive. Tessa teases Greg about his poor shooting. JJ defends Blake, saying Greg was reckless, and the brothers argue.

Molly, a young woman Casey does not recognize, fusses over Greg and praises his bravery. When Elaine prompts introductions, Molly becomes overly friendly upon learning Casey is Greg’s cousin, dubbing them cousins-in-law while Greg protests that they are not yet engaged. To defuse the awkwardness, Elaine sends Molly to the garden. Once she leaves, Greg admits they are not dating and only hooked up the day before the world ended.

Blake enters unnoticed and overhears Greg call him a “little bitch” (68). Blake challenges him, but Elaine halts the confrontation. Blake announces he and JJ are leaving for a supply run. Casey insists on going. Blake refuses, saying she is untrained. Angry, Casey runs upstairs for her gear and shouts from the bedroom window for them to wait.

Casey runs outside to appeal to Dale, who is cleaning up the dead biter. Dale sides with Blake, saying Casey needs rest and time to acclimate. However, she argues she grew up there and recently killed three burners. She gets in Blake’s face, lists her credentials, and insults him. Blake replies that she was a doctor and is now just an annoyance.

Casey asks why Blake is there. Dale explains he hired Blake 18 months ago to help around the compound and they became friends. Dale claims he did not realize it was the same Blake from Casey’s childhood until the previous night. Casey reflects she stopped telling her dad about the bullying, so she cannot blame him for not knowing it continued. Blake states Casey must pass firearms and combat training before going on runs. He challenges her: If she can “take him down” (75), she can go. Casey objects that it is unfair given his size and Navy SEAL training.

As Blake turns to leave, Casey attacks from behind. He sidesteps, and she falls. She lunges again and face-plants. When he stands over her, she sweep-kicks his legs, mounts him, and pins his arms. He reverses, trapping her beneath him. She cannot escape and notices his arousal, so he releases her and promises a “next time.” Dale comforts Casey and promises to train her.

Dale gives Casey a tour of the compound and its upgrades: chicken coops, a man-made pond, additional solar panels, and an improved water system. Casey admits, to herself and to Dale, that she is glad for his prepping. He asks why she never visited after college. Internally, she reflects that resentment over a childhood consumed by prepping and the social fallout at school kept her away, and she now feels ashamed. She lies, citing a busy schedule. Dale accepts the answer, though he seems unconvinced, and says what matters is that she is home.

They meet Helen, who is hanging laundry. Chris, Helen’s husband, joins them and explains their car broke down nearby and Dale took them in. The couple’s two boys run out to play. As they walk on, Casey tells Dale it is wonderful what he has done. Dale says they built the place together during her childhood, so she shares credit for saving the family. He adds that he thinks she and Blake have a lot in common and will come to like each other. Casey disagrees, and he changes the subject, saying he has to show her one more thing.

Dale leads Casey to the basement, past storage and holding cells she once thought unnecessary. They enter a hidden tunnel that opens into a large, well-stocked armory. Aunt Julie and Uncle Jimmy are polishing guns, and Casey has a warm reunion with them. Dale says Casey needs shooting practice, and Julie jokes that Casey cannot be worse than Greg. After Julie and Jimmy leave for the firing range, Dale retrieves gold throwing stars, Casey’s favorite childhood weapon. Holding them, she feels her confidence return and believes she can prove to Blake and her father that she is ready for a supply run.

At the outdoor range, Dale fits Casey with holsters and a pouch. She visualizes Blake’s face on a paper target and throws two stars, hitting center twice. Dale praises her, then turns serious, defending Blake and urging her to give him a chance. A flashback shows senior year, when Casey’s truck broke down and Blake, then uncharacteristically kind, fixed it and asked her out for ice cream. She hesitantly agreed. Back in the present, the memory reinforces her belief that Blake cannot be trusted and that letting her guard down led to pain.

Casey tells Dale that Blake will never change. Years of anger erupt as she yells at her dad for ruining her childhood with doomsday prepping and for taking Blake’s side. To channel her fury and to train, Dale challenges her to spar. She resists, then engages. He easily defeats her, noting how much her combat skills have degraded.

Distant gunshots, a clanging bell, and screams interrupt them. They sprint toward the front. Casey arrives first to see dozens of biters swarming the fence. Helen and Chris’s sons run past her, screaming. Chris fires wildly at the fence. A biter lunges from the side and bites into the muscle between his shoulder and neck. Casey shoots the biter dead, but Chris, in shock, tells her to tell his family he loves them and kills himself to buy time. Traumatized, Casey collapses as biters advance.

Casey lies in shock, ears ringing, until a voice yells for her to move. A biter is shot and falls on her. Dale pulls the corpse off and hauls her up. They retreat as other members of the compound continue to fight. Casey grabs her second gun and rejoins the fight, shooting biters in the head. She and Dale coordinate to bring down a pile-up of seven. Julie runs out of ammunition, and Greg saves her with his sword. Casey’s gun empties, and she cannot see her father.

Casey yells for everyone to fall back. Julie, Elaine, and Molly run to the main house for ammunition. Dale emerges from the dummy house with a heavy automatic weapon and opens fire, shredding the remaining biters. When a truck drives into his line of fire, Casey signals him to stop. Blake jumps out with his sword to face the last two biters. Determined to prove herself, Casey kills both with her throwing stars just before he can strike.

Blake surveys the carnage and asks what happened. He jokes about missing the action but sobers when no one responds. Casey explains that Chris was bitten and died by suicide to save time for his sons. The group recognizes their sense of security has been shattered. Tessa asks whether the attack resembled Chicago. Casey says she has never seen so many biters together.

JJ joins them and theorizes that a downed coach bus they saw on their run was the source of the horde. Casey is relieved it came from a single source rather than signaling spontaneous, larger herds. Blake regrets not investigating the bus, but Dale reassures him it was the safer choice. Elaine brings white bedsheets to cover Chris’s body.