Episode Recap: Stay Inside

Back in 2016, we meet a vampire named Julius, a rather pathetic-looking creature squatting in a junkie house and stealing a quick suck of blood whenever someone passes out. Today, though, is different, as everyone wakes up to the sounds of sirens and the sight of volcanic ash falling from the sky … and blocking out the sun.

Julius is thrilled to be able to go outside during the daytime and immediately wrecks havoc, biting random people and turning them into vampires. He turns a man named Phil, who goes home and brutally attacks his family.  

Three years later, Phil now goes by the name of Flesh … and he's human again, thanks to drinking Vanessa's blood (as we saw at the end of Episode 1). The survivors at the hospital are more than a little suspicious, but the transformation seems legit … even though John gets in Flesh's face, asking him how he can live with himself after years of feeding on human blood. "Who says I can?" asks Flesh, obviously haunted and overwhelmed with guilt.

Axel confronts Vanessa about her newly revealed superpowers, though she denies there's anything special about her. Their conversation is interrupted by noises outside; upon running to the roof to investigate, they find John's wife, Wendy, tied to a tree on the street below, being brutally whipped with chains. The vampires demand the survivors hand over Vanessa or they'll torture Wendy to death.

John is, of course, ready to throw Vanessa off the roof to save his wife, but Axel suddenly turns the tide by shooting Wendy in the head. John is enraged and attacks Axel, during which the turbine is knocked over and crashes to the street below. "Great! Now we've got three hours to live!" exclaims Axel.

Y'see, the turbine powers the car batteries that in turn power the UV lights strung all over the hospital, and when those go out, well, the vampires come in. Axel and Vanessa prepare to retrieve the generator located in the hospital basement as Mohamad and Sam hold down the fort, given strict instructions to not harm either Flesh or Doc.

Axel and Vanessa don't make it very far in the basement before they're attacked by a couple of ferals, forcing them outside. Plan B is to salvage the engine of a nearby boat, which requires Axel to go underwater. Vanessa's left to stand guard with Axel's rifle, and sure enough a few ferals show up and attack. Vanessa clumsily fires at them, simultaneously pulling on the rope that's attached to Axel. Axel comes up from the water holding a piece of the boat's engine and the two of them dispatch with the ferals … one of which simply dies after tasting Vanessa's blood.

Back at the hospital, Flesh wakes up screaming from a nightmare, which makes everyone uneasy. John proposes they just kill both Flesh and Doc right then and there, but Mohamad and Sam stop him, warning him that he'll end up down the chute if he touches them. Ah, survivor bonding!

And then the lights go out. And, almost immediately after, the vampires storm the front door of the hospital, pounding and clawing, trying to get in. Vanessa and Axel watch from across the street as Flesh opens the front door and confronts the vampires head-on, showing them that he's human again thanks to "the dead girl." He preaches the Gospel of Vanessa, which makes the vampires uneasy. They retreat, allowing Vanessa and Axel safe passage back to the hospital. Vanessa takes the time to remove Wendy's body from the tree and take it with them so John can pay his respects.

As Axel gets to work on the generator, Vanessa confronts Flesh, who's sewing up his wounds, asking him why he put himself at risk like that … and why he would stick his neck out for a bunch of survivors who want him — and her — dead. Oh, and she definitely doesn't need him preaching about her being some sort of savior or destroyer, either. Flesh reveals that when he was turned, he killed his five-year-old daughter and tore the heart out of his infant child … though he spared his wife's life, leaving her surrounded by pieces of her children. Vanessa says he deserve to die for this, and Flesh agrees … though he'll die on his own terms.

Just then, the lights turn back on. Yay, Axel!

Meanwhile, the group of vampires whom Flesh scared off, led by Gustov, return to Julius' compound, a sort of Mad Maxian orgy of blood, appetite and industry. Gustov tells Julius that Flesh is now human again because of Vanessa, after which Julius orders to send word to Dmitri.

Back at the hospital, Axel asks Vanessa to cure Doc. Vanessa gets in the cage, but Doc has no interest in biting her; in fact, she seems afraid of her. Vanessa ends up biting Doc on the neck, after which Doc collapses, seemingly dead. Axel is heartbroken until Doc suddenly starts coughing. She stands up, seemingly human again. She exits the cage, smiling, taking it all in. Doc is back!