ISSUE 005

Newly sober and grateful for Linda's forgiveness of his part in her father's death, Ray redeems himself by protecting the lonely girl and putting her up in his double-wide trailer. They make a thriving business of the Moonbeam while supporting each other in sobriety and preparing for the arrival of Linda's baby.

Carlos thrills as the vampires lead his newly assembled crew to crush all rivals in the local meth trade, but two burning issues require closure. First, there's Carlos' no-good stepfather, Howard, and a lot of missing money. Second, there's his girlfriend, Linda, who cut off contact with Carlos while in prison. When he spots pregnant Linda pouring drinks at the Moonbeam, Carlos attempts to take her to Candy's mansion by force, but Ray humiliates Carlos by whipping his ass with one hand. When their trailer is torched in the night, Ray and Linda flee to the last safe place in town: Adam's ToroTread compound.

Ray's presence infuriates Adam, but he keeps his cool, hoping to use Linda to get an angle on reconciling with her sister Dani, who's now covering the county-wide combat zone as a cub cable-news reporter. It won't be long before Ray's courage and military savvy - not to mention the wild Batmobile capabilities of his custom wheelchair - have Adam seeing his dried-out dad in a new light.

Lakeview teeters on the brink of complete anarchy, overrun by thousands of nonviolent offenders. With the American military stretched beyond limits to field corporate-interest away teams in the Middle East, South Korea and the Philippines, there's simply no muscle left to contain the disintegrating domestic situation in the States. A strange collection of unlucky locals and waylaid travelers take refuge in the ToroTread compound - each uncannily suited to provide complementary skills or abilities as mismatched parts of an increasingly formidable whole.

Dani is reporting from the air over one of the privatized prisons when the leader of the Aryan gang gives the order to jump. Within ninety bloody minutes, all six prison complexes fall to the inmates. Dani's news team chopper gets too close to the action and does a "Blackhawk Down", providing the inmate leaders with high-profile hostages and unlimited publicity. Dani finds herself playing the role of a lifetime, attempting to serve as an essential part of the riot leaders' efforts by directing their media presence for maximum effect in a bid to remain unmolested.

In another hour, the inmates will march on Burning Rabbit to take hostages for bargaining when this game goes into overtime.