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foreveralwaysanauthor · 2 years

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Through the Valley Deleted Scenes

After a nearly 2-hour trip out to Boston to visit my mom's friend and her daughter (Instagram pictures to come), I have finally gotten this post together and ready for reading! At first, I was just going to keep them short and summarize them all, even the ones I had written things out for, but decided that it wasn't fair to keep all the scenes to myself. Some of them are entirely written out while others are just summaries because I didn't have anything for them, ideas that I never fleshed out, or just snippets of conversation that never got incorporated. They're sorted in chronological order so that it reads a bit easier. I hope you enjoy them!

The earliest section of Through the Valley that was changed from my original plans was Vivien meeting Royce and Bentley for the first time in part 3. Originally, it was going to happen in part 2, but I quickly changed it. Also, they were going to meet in Hobby Lobby, but since I was basing it on a real mall and I needed them to be in the same general area as they were when Mick and Viv fought the infected the day before, I had to change it. This is what that scene would’ve looked like if I hadn’t changed it:

"While the others took clothing and things from JCPenney, Mick gave me her walkie-talkie and told me I could explore the hobby store on the next floor down. I think she was just trying to spare me from repeating what had happened yesterday, but once she told me about how stores like that were usually left untouched during raids, I wasn’t going to argue the matter. I left most of my weapons with her in case she needed them, but kept the gun strapped to my thigh and my pocket knife. If the store had been cleared out by the other girls yesterday, I didn’t have much to worry about.

It was nice to look through places that hadn’t been entered in years. Looking around the dusty entrance of the Hobby Lobby, I shrugged and turned my Walkman on, listening as I Was Made For Lovin’ You by KISS came through one of my earbuds. As I walked through the store, I found it exceedingly difficult to fight the urge to grab things off the shelf to bring back to base. I wasn’t much for arts and crafts anymore, but I knew a few people who had offered to teach me things before that might’ve taken half of the store home with them if given the chance. The store wasn’t nearly as ransacked as some of the others, but there were quite a few empty shelves past the handful of cash registers. I have to admit, it was nice looking through all of the supplies they had.

As I made my way through the embroidery section of the store, I found a set of fresh footprints in the dust that had settled on top of the linoleum floors. It didn’t have the stumbling, dragged steps of a runner, and, based on the prints, there were two different sets of shoes. One set looked like the hiking boots Mick liked to wear while the other looked fairly similar to my sneakers. Deciding to follow the footprints, I was almost in the paint section of the store when the sole of my sneaker screeched against the floor. Instantly, I heard someone take off in a run. Following the sound, I tucked my earbuds into my shirt and kept a hand over my holstered gun, spotting a head of blonde hair as whoever it was ducked into one of the Halloween display coffins that had stayed in the store since before the outbreak.

Nearing the display with a shake of my head, I announced, “Look, I don’t care who you are, but if you’re planning on jumping out of there to scare me, it isn’t going to work. Just come out and let’s talk.”

To my surprise, I heard a male voice ask, “How do we know you won’t try to kill us?”

With a scoff, I replied, “What am I going to do - wrap you in ribbons and stab you with safety scissors? That’s all there is in this store.”

“You have a gun,” another voice stated.

“And I’m a terrible shot,” I added. “Trust me, I’m far better with a bow. Now, am I going to have to pretend I’m talking to Count Dracula all day, or are you going to come out so we can talk?”

-------

Another one of the first deleted scenes was going to be around this same time frame, but with one of my favorite movie quotes. Basically, it was going to be a bit of back and forth between Vivien and Royce following the conversation between Kat and Patrick in 10 Things I Hate About You. When I realized that I didn’t like it for the two of them, I was going to alter it a little and use it for something between either Vivien and Aiden or Mick and Aiden, but it never worked out, so here’s the quote:

Him - “You’re not as mean as you think you are, you know that?

Her - “And you’re not as badass as you think you are.”

Him - “Ooh, someone still has her panties in a twist.”

Her - “Don’t for one second think that you had any effect whatsoever on my panties.”

Him - “Then what did I have an effect on?”

Her - “Other than my upchuck reflex, nothing.”

-------

I had this whole arcade scene planned in the mall, but I completely scrapped it because it made very little sense with the rest of the timeline. You can pretty much tell I was building up for it toward the end of part 3, but I decided it wasn’t going to work out with everything else I had planned. It was pretty much just the Troublemaker Trio (Royce, Vivien, and Bentley) hanging out in the arcade while the others searched the rest of the mall. Vivien would’ve shown the boys how to bowl, play pool, and throw darts in the arcade (based on the Round One arcade that I go to in the mall the story is based on). One of the more important scenes would’ve been Vivien teaching the boys to play arcade games with their imagination because the games are broken. Here’s a little snippet of that:

"It was sort of upsetting, you know, seeing an arcade empty and untouched. The one back at the stadium was always full of people, especially on weekends and after school got out. Round One had probably sat abandoned for a lot longer than the mall itself since it wasn’t really a “useful” place in the apocalypse. Isn’t it funny how many arcades had shooting games, especially ones based in worlds filled with zombies, but these places were deemed “useless” and “pointless” by the media after the outbreak? I mean, I could understand why, but still, I think they should’ve kept arcades open as a sort of morale booster for people.

As we passed a machine labeled “The Walking Dead,” I thought about how ironic would it have been if someone was inside when the outbreak started. Peering inside the machine, however, I spotted only cartoonishly red blood splattered around the inside to add to whatever ambiance the makers of the game were trying to achieve. As we kept walking, I found myself wondering how many people had been inside the mall during the outbreak. Based on the handful of crusty copper stains that dotted the once blue and white carpets, my guess would be a lot.

Most of the claw machines had the glass shattered and the toys were stolen, but there were a couple that had at least one prize still hanging on by a thread. The prize room itself had very little left, but I was able to snag myself a new skateboard and a stuffed purple Yoshi from the top shelf while the boys looked around. Eventually, we met back up at the ticket counter where the boys were looking through whatever was behind the counter.

Upon noticing my return, Bentley leaned over the counter and pressed a few red cards onto the white surface. “What are these?” he asked.

Picking up the card, I chuckled, “These are game cards. People would pay real money to put tokens on the card, then they’d be able to go play as many games as they could with what was on the card.”

I could practically feel the excitement rolling off of him in waves. “Do you think they’ll still work?”

With a shrug, I said, “We can try. If you find a machine that’s working, let me know and I’ll show you how to work it.”

Bentley’s smile only seemed to grow as he pushed himself over the counter and made his way over to the arcade machines, a handful of red cards clutched tightly in one fist. Royce rounded the counter and joined me as I walked past the pool tables to where twelve lanes of bowling sat empty. “You’re pretty good with Bentley,” he remarked as we climbed the steps to the bowling alley.

“He’s the same age as my brother and sister, so it comes naturally to me, I guess,” I replied, grabbing a purple ball from the rack and making my way to one of the lanes that had pins still standing.

“What are you doing?” Royce asked.

“Bowling,” I replied. “Grab a ball and I’ll show you how.”

Royce contemplated the idea for a moment before shrugging and grabbing a ball from the rack of greens. Standing at what had once been the sixth lane, I stared down at the pins that were illuminated under a dull, flickering light. I took a few steps toward the end of the lane before releasing the purple ball, watching it roll its way toward the pins, knocking a group of them over with a satisfying clatter.

When I turned to Royce, I found him watching me with a curious smile. “What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he chuckled, “you just looked so serious watching the ball roll.”

Without missing a beat, I shot back, “I take my balls very seriously, Royce.”

Obviously taken aback at my choice of words, Royce let out a squawk of a laugh before joking, “So do I.”

With a smirk, I took a seat and watched Royce make his way to the lane next to mine and let his ball roll toward the pins. Just as the ball collided with the pins, I felt someone drop into the seat next to mine. Finding Bentley had made his way over, I greeted him before turning back to Royce, finding all but three pins had fallen. After congratulating Royce, Bentley led us over to the arcade game he wanted to play: The Turning. I’d played it before in the arcade back at the stadium, but this one had a static-covered screen like many of the others in the area.

After pressing a few of the buttons and even resorting to kicking the machine, I muttered, “It’s not working.”

“What?” Bentley asked. “Don’t tell me it’s busted.”

Placing a hand on his brother's arm, Royce sighed, “It’s busted.”

Bentley let out a long, upset breath, “Man, I thought I was gonna be able to play it.”

Taking a look at the disappointed shine in Bentley’s eyes, I said, “You still can.”

“How?” he asked.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled Bentley over so he stood in front of the machine. “Close your eyes.” Before he could ask me why, I said, “Just do it.”

“Okay,” he said softly, closing his eyes and turning toward the screen.

I took Bentley's left hand and wrapped it around the joystick. “Use this to move.” After taking his other hand, I moved his fingers over the corresponding buttons as I told him, “This is your punch. This is your kick. And you block with this.”

“Alright.”

I caught a glimpse of confusion in Royce’s gaze as I gestured for him to stay quiet. Then, trying to force all of my game knowledge to the front of my mind, I began, “First, you have to choose your character. You’re playing as the person who uses people’s pain as a weapon, Tormentra.”

After a moment of silence, Bentley’s eyes flutter open and he looks at me in disbelief as he says, “Am I supposed to be picturing all this?”

“Eyes,” I reminded him.

“Okay, okay, sorry,” he replied, closing his eyes again and turning back toward the screen.

Resuming my storytelling, I brought back my action-movie voice and said, “Tormentra stands on the edge of the Shadow Temple, an ancient, mythical building where they hold the tournaments of the immortals. Your opponent, Blackfang, steps out of the temple. He’s this super ripped dude with three arms.” I watch Bentley’s eyebrows scrunch as the silence in the room grew. Then, I added, “He’s out for your blood.” The concentration on Bentley’s face grows and I notice his grip on the joystick tighten as I pull my walkman out and raise the volume so the music could be heard as I talked. “The music kicks up as Blackfang gets into his fighting stance. Are you ready?”

Bentley’s head tilts down as a smirk pulls at his lips. “Bring it,” he claimed confidently.

I quickly gesture for Royce to read the side of the machine and he soon smiles as he says in a deep voice, “Round one. Fight!”

Smiling, I watch Bentley’s smirk disappear and his fingers hover over the buttons as I begin narrating again, “Round one begins. Blackfang rushes towards you. He throws a double punch in your direction. Jump up!”

Bentley’s reflexes on the joystick are quick as he pushes it up. Soon, I find myself narrating the entire battle from start to finish. I guess Mom was wrong, video games can help you in everyday life. Between the excited concentration in Bentley’s expression and the fond look in Royce’s eyes, I find myself glad that I spent so much time in the arcade back at base. By the end of the third and final round, Royce and I give the order for Bentley to, “Finish him.”

Bentley moves the joystick and presses a couple of the buttons before pausing as I say, “The screen turns dark. Tormentra’s spirit power begins to glow a bright red. The magic pierces Blackfang’s torso again and again until his heart flies out of his chest. Tormentra’s spirit wolf bites his head clean off. That is an Ultra Kill.”

“Oh, nice!” Bentley exclaims.

“Tormentra’s wolf howls as the screen turns black. You win,” I finish.

“Heck yeah, I win!” Bentley says with a brilliant smile as his eyes slowly open.

“Did you have fun?” Royce asks with a grin.

Bentley is quick to nod as he turns to me and says, “I wanna go again.”

With a chuckle, I nod and say, “When we get back to the stadium, you’ll get to play the real thing.”

“Really?”

All he needs is a single nod before he launches himself at me in a hug, squeezing me so tightly that I worry my ribs will crack. “Thank you, Viv!” he exclaims.

“Anytime, Beemer.”

-------

Some of my favorite cut scenes revolved around music, but most of them weren’t written out at all and were scrapped at the plotting stage. The only cut song that I wrote anything out for was Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Taylor and would’ve been in the mall in part 4. The first part is similar to a scene in The Last of Us: Left Behind, but I did change a lot of it to fit what I needed. I took this scene out because I realized that I didn’t want to have the whole story take place in the mall and the way I wrote it made me feel like it would’ve kept them there a lot longer than they needed to be, especially since they already knew about Miles being in the hospital. Also, if you can’t tell by the grouping in the first paragraph, Lugnut wasn’t in the picture when I wrote this out.

"The mall was fairly easy to navigate even with the lights off. We had flashlights and, while it wasn’t much, it gave us enough light to see in front of us. Mick, Butchy, and Lela had split off to do heaven knows what on the top floor, leaving me, Royce, and Bentley to explore the bottom floor. I guess you could say we got the short end of the shit stick, but we seemed to be managing just fine. I had my bow, Royce had his pistol and some earbuds, and Bentley’s rifle was easily accessible from his backpack.

As we entered the Target, we stayed on guard, but didn’t see or hear any infected in the area. Toward the back of the store, I found a line of speakers that seemed to be what was playing music throughout the electronics department. While the guys looked around for anything of importance, I headed over to the speakers and hooked one of the smaller ones up to my walkman through the slot next to the headphone jack, turning the volume up as the last song I had been listening to began to fade out.

“What are you doing?” Royce asked.

Instead of answering, I pushed myself onto the glass case that held some of the more expensive electronics. “Come on,” I told them, “get your asses up here!”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Bentley asked.

“There’s no infected in here and the glass is bulletproof,” I replied. “We’ll be fine!”

Bentley turned to Royce with a grin and tried to pull his brother along, but Royce seemed glued to the floor. I shrugged and danced along to the music as the next song on my cassette began playing. Soon enough, I was joined by Bentley who had left his backpack on the floor and taken to hopping around to the beat of the music. Royce took a bit more convincing, but eventually, he left his things and joined our little dance party, claiming it was “so stupid” as he pushed himself onto the thick, glass case. After dancing around for a minute, he seemed to change his mind, laughing and bouncing around with us as we jammed out to the mixtape Mick and I had made ages ago. Then, in the dip of silence between One Way or Another and Holding Out for a Hero, Royce froze and gestured for us to be quiet.

“What is-”

“Wait,” he interrupted, hand latched onto the hoster of his gun.

Almost as suddenly as our fun started, it came to an abrupt halt as the sound of groaning infected reached my ears. We quickly threw ourselves off the glass, grabbing our backpacks and whatever else we’d taken before sprinting toward the exit of the store. Bentley gripped onto Royce’s arm as he ran, pulling Royce to move faster as the hoard chased us down. Once I felt like there was enough distance between us and the infected, I nocked an arrow and turned to the group behind us, firing off an incindiary round and delighting in the flames that erupted from the now screeching crowd, but that only held them back for so long. Music was still blasting from my Walkman and I let it drive me to move faster, propelling myself to at least attempt to fill the gap between me and the boys.

As I ran, I heard yelling from above and, once I spared a glance to the next floor up, I found Mick, Butchy and Lela had made their way to the space above the food court and were trying to ecourage us to make our way to them. There was no way we could take the escalator up since the steps had collapsed in on themselves, but there was a staircase on the other side of the gap. I yelled for Royce and Bentley to head to the stairs and, in an instant, they headed for the other side. Sparing a glance at the hoard, I realized how screwed we - scratch that - I was.

Sucking in a breath, I fired off another arrow, but didn’t bother to watch it explode as I took off again. The distance between me and the boys had gotten so big that they were already propelling themselves up the stairs, but as I watched Royce run up behind Bentley, a couple of steps before the middle landing creaked eerily. Picking up the pace, I heard gunshots echo through the building, making me shriek and duck as I ran. Looking up, I found the others shooting whatever ammo they had at the infected.

From their spot on the middle landing of the stairs, Royce and Bentley yelled for me to run faster as they readied their weapons. My lungs screamed and the stitch in my side only seemed to worsen as I forced myself to move faster. As I made my way to the stairs, I slowed, but only enough to make it up without slipping. However, luck didn’t seem to be on my side. The creak from before sounded deeper this time as the steps closer to the landing crumbled to the floor on the next floor down. With my only other choices being to join the rubble or get pulled apart by the infected, I pushed off the stair closest to the gap, hoping my aching legs would propel me far enough to reach the landing.

The air in my lungs left me as the upper half of my body slammed into the concrete landing, my legs dangling uselessly in the air as infected stumbled their way up the stairs behind me. I heard a few rounds fire from one of the brothers’ guns as the other pulled me onto the landing. As he helped me to my feet, Royce asked, “Are you alright?”

“Peachy,” I panted in response.

“They can’t make that jump,” Bentley declared, lowering his gun as Royce pulled me toward the next segment of stairs.

“Good,” I heard Lela say.

As we joined them, Mick nodded and said, “Once they’re all down on that floor, we can burn the shit out of those fuckers.”

“Good riddance,” I breathed as I practically collapsed onto a bench near the top of the stairs. With how many infected had chased us and no sign of where they’d come from, the mall wouldn’t be safe until we could completely secure it and close up whatever hole they were coming in from.

-------

Another thing that I swapped was Miles being immune. Originally, it was Royce, but I decided I wanted the whole drama in the Trauma Center so I traded Royce for Miles. In the very beginning, I had written down that I wanted Royce to breathe spores while with Vivien in the Trauma Center and have this moment where she’s having flashbacks of her time with Lexi and he has to help her out of it and tells her about his immunity. Sadly, I don’t have anything written out for it, but it was a solid plan until I finished working on part 4.

-------

Now, for the most part, part 5 didn’t have many deleted scenes, but there was a segment in part 5 where I was going to have them go through the MGM casino/movie theatre and shops in Springfield on their way to the hospital, but it’s too far out of the way and felt kind of pointless to keep.

Part 6 was going to have a few more Vivien and Carrie interactions, but I was really excited to write out the action in the Trauma Center, so they never got written. Mostly, it was going to be Vivien tailing Carrie around while she visits other patients, pestering her about how she knew Butchy and the gang, if they were trustworthy people, and things like that. It was going to show a bit more of their friendship, but I ended up adding the ideas to my “write later” folder and never actually going through with them. Instead, I ended up working more on Vivien’s relationship with Miles.

Part 7 is another one that didn’t have much taken out. The only thing I took out was a scene where they find what remained of the very first person to be brought to the hospital with a bite - a little girl named Kona. That’s right, Kona was going to be Patient Zero instead of a recurring character. It was going to be this very sad moment where the kids of the group find this girl who was maybe four, strapped to a hospital bed in a small room with only her stuffed animal by her side. Due to paperwork and notes in the room, they would’ve found out her name and how the hospital had decided to run vaccine tests on her, but the tests failed. Originally, it just going to be a little nod to her existence, but I love writing Kona’s character, so I ended up just completely scrapping that idea and making her Vivien’s roommate.

Part 8 had quite a bit changed, but most of it was just things I added to the part, not deleted scenes. There are a few that didn’t quite make the cut, though, here they are:

(When Vivien sent the video of the concert to Mick)

As I stood from my desk and crossed over to my dresser to grab something to change into, I heard a noise from my desk. It sounded different from the usual ping I got, telling me the message couldn’t be sent and that it would keep trying. It was a sort of deep swoosh sound With a shrug, I pulled my dad’s old shirt and a pair of shorts on and made my way back to the desk, picking up the phone and finding that not only had the video gone through, but I had received a message as well - ‘Can’t talk. Ilysm. Miss u - M.’

Staring at the little gray message in confusion, I came to the realization that I had received a message from Mick’s phone number. I had accidentally sent things to myself over the months, but this wasn’t one of those times. The contact at the top of the screen was Mick. I checked it a few times to make sure before digging my nails into my arm to make sure I wasn’t dreaming or making this shit up due to lack of proper sleep. Putting together that I was, in fact, seeing something that was real, I felt even more confused. Did that mean they were over the border? If they were over the border, that meant they would be home soon. A million thoughts ran through my head at once, but only one thing remained: they were coming home.

(This is the same premise - Vivien getting something from Mick for the first time - but this one was in August and she would’ve gotten it around the time Mick’s phone was being fixed in Littleton)

Nothing really eventful happened in the beginning of August, but I did get a ping on my cellphone one day that sent me into a frenzy. Kona and I had been eating some lobster that we’d caught on one of our fishing trips when my cell phone buzzed on the table. Guessing it was a text from one of the other girls, I picked up the phone and checked my notifications only to find a text from the only contact I had labeled as Mickie Mouse. The message wasn’t even a text, it was a picture. The picture was of a white, brick house with a group of people standing in front. Every person in the picture was decked out in winter gear, but I could make out everyone in the shot. Mick, Butchy, Lugnut, and Lela were standing to one side while Miles, Royce, and Bentley stood with a woman who was just a little bit shorter than Miles, and two graying people who each had an arm wrapped tightly around Miles, Royce, and Bentley. It seemed as though they’d found the rest of the Murphy family.

I tried sending something in response, firing off a barrage of messages that all came back saying they couldn’t be delivered. I stared at my phone in complete confusion and showed Kona what had happened. I showed Mick’s parent’s the next time I saw them, but it didn’t make any sense. How come I’d gotten the picture if I couldn’t send anything in return? I tried sending a picture of me and Kona, but that didn’t go through either. At least I knew they were alive. I could cling to that hope until they came back.

-------

The ending was originally going to be Vivien smashing her Walkman and leaving the stadium for her home in Sanbornton, never wanting to see or hear from anyone else again. She was pretty much going to become like Bill from The Last of Us - a man who secluded himself in a tripwired town, living out his days in solitude, angry at the world and everyone in it. However, I felt like that wasn’t the best outcome I could’ve gone with.

Another ending that I tried was the “Everyone Dies” ending. Vivien was going to join the group on their Canada trip and, on the way back home without Mrs Murphy, they’d lose the people around them. Lugnut would’ve been shot just over the border, Butchy would’ve died protecting the group from a hoard of infected, Miles was going to die in the car crash, Mick would’ve died in the jump from the bridge, and Royce would’ve drowned in his frantic search for Bentley in the waters. Basically, the only people to live would’ve been Vivien and Bentley. Like the other ending I mentioned, they would’ve gone back to Sanbornton and lived out their time there in peace. Vivien would’ve trained Bentley with whatever weapons they had, taught him to scavenge the way she’d been taught, and use the radio to find people in need of help. They would pretty much follow the same lifestyle the group had been living before - helping people in need and then returning home. While I loved this ending, I could nerve bring myself to write it out. It felt too out of character for many of them to die the way they would’ve. In the end, it joined the scrap pile

Here are some of the cut songs and what would’ve taken place:

One Way Or Another would’ve been playing over the speakers in the mall while both the Hunters of Artemis and the Rodent crew were playing cat and mouse with a group of hunters that broke in. In the end, our favorite groups would’ve hunted down the hunters and returned to the safe houses. I took it out because it felt like it would’ve taken forever to get through and I wanted them to go to the hospital at that point.

Another One Bites the Dust was going to take place in an abandoned hideout in the sewers. They would’ve found their way to a gated door, but upon opening it, it triggers a heavy metal door to drop, separating the group in half with Vivien, Butchy, Miles, and Lela on one side and Mick, Royce, Bentley, and Lugnut on the other. Mick and her group get chased away from the metal door by clickers who found them with echolocation while Vivien and her group watch them run away. They navigate their way to a room that leads outside and meet up with the others there, leaving the area and using an old vending machine to keep the infected inside the building. At this stage, I was pretty much taking ideas straight from the first Last of Us game and took this out for that reason.

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This was going to be either on their way to the hospital in Springfield, through Boston to get to the stadium, or in a city on their way to Canada. It was just going to be them running from a group of hunters and, sadly, I have nothing else for that idea. It was just running and hiding, I guess. That’s literally all I have written for that scene lmao.

Finally, Hit The Road Jack (cover version by 2WEI) was the last song I would’ve used and it was going to be in the main story, but I liked it better for the epilogue. This was the song I listened to while writing the car crash/running from Xander’s group/jumping from the bridge scene. It felt very fitting as I was writing, but there was no way for me to use that song since Royce had no Walkman and there wasn't a radio or speakers they could use. Also, the cover version wasn’t released until after the outbreak would have started (2013).

Sadly, that's all that I've got in my notes folder and my Google Doc. I really wanted to expand on a few of these a lot more than I did, but my family is busy planning a fundraiser for a family friend as well as trying to get my sister's new house ready so that she, her husband, and their three kids can be settled in before winter hits. I haven't had the time to sit and write for a few days, but that should change soon! I'll have more things ready to post - maybe a few Halloween-themed stories - in the next week or so, hopefully. I hope you liked the deleted scenes and I hope to post something new soon.

#through the valley

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