Nick wakes groggy in the game room, expecting a battlefield but finding himself swept into orders he barely understands. Vertigo, surging euphoria, and the unsettling blur between reality and simulation leave him questioning what he signed up for. As his squad marches into the unknown, one thought haunts him—he should have read the fine print.

While Tim struggles to keep the youngest children safe, panic grips him as Nancy returns with a baby—proof that the freeze has claimed nearly every adult. Faced with the crushing weight of responsibility, Tim and Nancy realize they may be the only caretakers left. But before plans can be made, a new and unexpected threat rides into view.

Riding hard to the farmhouse, Sam discovers her colleagues frozen in place—bodies twitching in sync with a flickering computer screen. With Carl at her side, she sets out for help, only to find the town eerily silent, its people struck down mid-routine. But at the fire station, the silence breaks—by the laughter of children who may hold the key to what’s left of humanity.

When Sam and Carl arrive on horseback, two worlds of survivors finally collide—Nancy and Tim with more than 180 frightened children, and the researchers desperate for answers. Relief is short-lived as Nancy gathers the children to reveal the truth, only to discover some have already slipped away. With trust fragile and unity essential, the cost of one missing child could be devastating.

With Carl and Sam back from stabling the horses, a fragile alliance begins to form. Nancy shoulders the grief of children discovering frozen parents, while Carl offers Tim the comfort of a father figure. As plans take shape to move nearly 200 children to safety at the university, the old fire bus roars to life. But with families lost and hope fading, survival will demand more than logistics.

Thrown into the role of leader, Sam struggles to bridge the gap between her unease with children and their desperate need for direction. What begins as an awkward round of introductions soon becomes a daring mission: a neighborhood-wide search for food, blankets, and—most importantly—survivors. With surprising teamwork and grim discoveries, the children prove both resourceful and resilient, transforming into a determined band of hunter-gatherers under Sam’s watch. But in houses where time has frozen mid-moment, what they uncover will test their courage and harden their understanding of the world forever changed.

On the road out of Pine Ridge, the eerie stillness of abandoned cars tells its own story—machines frozen mid-commute, some neatly pulled aside, others wrecked in sudden, senseless collisions. Carl keeps the bus steady, shielding young eyes from the worst of it, while Nancy clings to hope for children who may still be out there, waiting. With every mile, the weight of their mission deepens: survival for this fragile group first, then the desperate search for others scattered across empty schools and silent homes.

Through blooming gardens and picture-perfect campus grounds, the bus rolls into a place that seems untouched by disaster—yet the beauty only sharpens the ache of what’s been lost. As Carl sketches a hasty map and entrusts Nancy with the weary children, the weight of separation settles in. Left at the student union with little more than directions and hope, Nancy watches the bus pull away, uncertain if Carl—or safety—will return in time.

As exhaustion and fear settle over the children, Nancy and Tim search for shelter and a shred of normalcy within the silent campus. In the shadowed corridors beneath the student union, Tim discovers a food court still powered by solar backup—an unexpected lifeline for the weary group. But even small blessings carry reminders of what’s been lost; every flicker of light feels borrowed, every meal uncertain.

When an elderly couple, Frank and Helen, appear—kind, confused, and seemingly untouched by the day’s horrors—Nancy faces a new test of faith and leadership. Are they a miracle or another burden to carry? With nearly two hundred frightened children now under her care, Nancy must summon the strength to hold them together, one small victory at a time, even as the world outside falls apart.

Trapped two hundred stories above a silent city, Briant Coleman finally hacked his way through the wreckage of his own empire. The once-invincible titan of Valtech staggered down endless stairwells, his blistered hands wrapped in bloodied towels, his fury giving way to fear.

When he reached the streets of Boston, the truth hit harder than any blow he’d dealt to his locked doors—everyone was gone. The cars were still running. The sidewalks were full. But no one moved. Not a breath, not a sound.

As the realization sank in, the man who had ruled from the highest tower in the world began to scream.

As Carl steers the bus toward the university, Sam reflects on how quickly life has changed. Only days ago, the campus was alive with students chasing their futures—now it stands silent, a refuge for the young survivors she and Carl have gathered. Amid the quiet courage of Nancy, Helen, and Frank, Sam begins to grasp the magnitude of what humanity has lost—and what still might be rebuilt.

Briant Coleman, the ruthless power broker of Valtech International, wakes to a city turned graveyard. Bodies line the streets, frozen mid-stride, eyes twitching with the last sparks of life. Driven by terror, he runs through the silent chaos, desperate to escape the nightmare—only to realize there’s nowhere left to run.

Carl rises with the sun and slips easily back into his old routine—tending animals, solving problems, and keeping the kids fed. With Tim quietly tagging along, he milks the cows, gathers eggs, and wheels supplies back across the quiet campus. As they walk, Carl senses the strain settling on the boy and gently lets him know he’s not alone. In the calm of early morning, both men start accepting that their world has changed—and that caring for these children might be their new purpose.

Nancy wakes to a rare moment of calm after a long night caring for the children. As she and Helen share a quiet cup of coffee, the reality of their new responsibilities sinks in. With supplies dwindling and the kids depending on them, the small group begins planning how to survive, protect the children, and keep the colony going.

Nancy and Carl walk the children to breakfast while quietly confronting some hard truths — Helen’s fragile mental state, the losses everyone is carrying, and the difficult future ahead. Over cereal and raw milk, they begin planning long-term survival for the colony. Nancy struggles with letting the children face reality, but Carl reassures her to take things one day at a time as older teens step up to help.

Coleman wakes hungover and furious, navigating through bodies to reach the underground lab where the global disaster began. Finding Veer seemingly frozen at his workstation, Coleman erupts in rage, attacking the unresponsive scientist. When he finally rips out Veer’s wireless shunt, Veer jolts back to life—confused, disoriented, and unaware of what has happened.