You done fucked up, Mica.
But she’s not the only one. I have a confession to make – the last few weeks did not go as planned. After the strip at the end of March, I rewrote this entire sequence from scratch over the following weekend.
Why?
Because of blocking.
What started as an insignificant problem – the characters couldn’t stand where I originally pictured them, because I forgot where James’ office was – I realized that where the characters were positioned also didn’t match the actions I wrote for them, both physically and mentally. I tried to make my changes as minimal as possible, wanting to retain my many carefully planned moments (like this one), but something unintended happened. Sometimes, you change things and they start to click. Other times they collapse.
This was a collapse…
… but it collapsed into something that clicked.
For the first time, I had the chance to take advantage of Unlife’s slow-as-molasses pace, and I had a whole weekend to re-beat the Mercy’s Kill assault with new eyes. I revisited what started as a “fun” action sequence with the new goal of exploring not just where everyone stood, but what they felt. And the result was scenes like this, this, and especially this. That last one made the entire rewrite worth the effort in my opinion (though, special mention to this, if not just because I got to profess my love for Die Hard). In the end, the script came full circle, with all of the original plot points covered as they should have been. But through rewriting, I realized this sequence isn’t about Mica being a badass or about love conquering evil – it’s about where hatred and violence and turmoil take us, and what it reveals about us. What becomes important to us in the heat of the moment. Our final words. Our true feelings.
When confronted with the end, do we embrace it?
Try to delay it?
Or fight against it?
I don’t blame zombies for wanting to stay among the living, even when the living can prove to be garbage people. But life isn’t just for those who conquer the hurdles like superheroes. It’s for everyone who moves past them however we can, moving forward with what has happened. As long as you’re willing to try, you deserve a shot.
If you live to see it, of course.