Chapter 16 Author’s Note

In RBM, I never formally defined Scout’s neurodivergence, and most could have been chalked up to PTSD until ISO. This is the earlier reveal of who she is at a very basic level.

In 2010 terms, Scout never would have been properly diagnosed. She’s female, highly skilled at masking, and shows none of the earmarks that people considered neurodivergency/autism at that time. The military would have seen the way she processes information, her high cognitive empathy and extremely low emotional empathy – and labeled her a high-functioning sociopath with an imposed moral framework. They’d have absolutely have used that to their advantage. In today’s psychology, she’d be diagnosed as on the autistic spectrum, possibly with schizoid and alexithymic traits, in addition to PTSD.

And despite Jazz being fully diagnosed with Asperger’s (as it still was defined in 2010), it is highly unlikely that even Scout’s family would immediately link anything. It’s a spectrum, presenting differently in Scout versus Jazz, and Scout was an adult and already extremely skilled in masking by the time Jazz was diagnosed in 2001. Asperger’s was only recognized in 1994 – when Scout was 13 – and there was a 9:1 ratio male:female diagnosis back then. Girls were misdiagnosed as bipolar, having social phobia, BPD, or OCD; and many developed eating disorders as part of internalizing meltdowns instead of externalizing them. Sadly, not much has changed for Lost Girls.

Revised Book Plans

Book I – This Is the Way the World Ends – Scout/Shane

“This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper.” – T.S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men”

Book II – Not to Belong Is to Be Too Lonesome – Daryl/Lori

“All people belong to a We except me. Not to belong to a We makes you too lonesome.” – Carson McCullers, “The Member of the Wedding”

Antagonists: Whisperers

Book III – There’s a Certain Slant of Light – Carol/Merle

“There’s a certain Slant of light, / Winter Afternoons— / That oppresses, like the Heft / Of Cathedral Tunes—” – Emily Dickinson, “There’s a certain Slant of light”

Antagonists: Governor/Woodbury

Book IV – Courage Is Beginning Anyway – Cricket/Tara

“It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” – Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Antagonists: Reapers

Book V – Everything Lightly – Eugene/Honey “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.” – Aldous Huxley, Island

Antagonists: Negan/Saviors

Book VI – I Believe While I Tremble – Jazz/Jesus

“I believe that this life is not all; neither the beginning nor the end. I believe while I tremble; I trust while I weep” – Charlotte Brontë, Villette

Antagonists: Commonwealth

Chapter 15 Authors Notes

It’s fairly basic, but I’ve got a wiki started for the series. Some characters are lumped in with others for the moment and may stay that way.

A note for any new readers to my work. Lori is hands down my favorite female character in the series (Eugene being my favorite male character). It took me a while to grasp her badassery for what it was, which is why I’m rewriting an entire 600k+ series to allow for a better character development for her. If you don’t like Lori, let me state kindly: this is not the story for you. (I’m feeling a little salty due to a misogynistic fanfiction.net review on RBM, can y’all tell?)

Chapter 13 Authors Notes

Never fear, the code names will come up further. I haven’t assigned them to all quarry members (yet) aside from Daryl, Merle, and Shane, but it’ll be fun to utilize them more this time around. Fun fact: Daryl’s code name changed; it’s not Ranger in this. 😈

Alas, much like RBM, Jazz’s sweet puppy love romance is not destined to last. With Beth and Jazz being older (she’s about to turn 18, he’s just turned 17), it will probably last longer and be more significant than RBM’s Jazz/Sophia one (especially since Jesus isn’t slated to appear until book 3). But no POVs planned (at this time) for either in this book.

Chapter 12 Authors Notes

In RBM, we didn’t see a whole lot of the convoy camp, so with the new mission driven Scout in Redux, I’m spending a little more time on that instead of rushing to exit the quarry. If you’re curious about what Carol’s actually seeing, the field kitchen Scout has “appropriated” is a containerized kitchen. I debated back and forth between the CK and a MKT-99, and in the middle of this chapter, changed to the CK. Never fear, they’ll still get the big community center kitchen at Homestead, but this will make life a lot easier on the cooks than the makeshift kitchen system they used in RBM. And for further curiosity, the M934A1 Expansible Van that pulls it. (Link tips: click with the middle mouse button or right click if you want those to open in a new window.)

With RBM, there was the version-with-smut (AO3) and the “clean” version (FFN). I know some readers popped over to FFN for the clean chapter, so I’m going to add a PDF for the clean version of the chapter that anyone who wants to skip the smut without breaking immersion can pop that up to read.

Although at the rate I’m going, even with Scout and Shane speedrunning their smutty times, it’s going to take until chapter 20 to get to that point on Day 3! 🤣

Chapter 11 Authors Notes

In RBM, I answered reader questions as to how I visualized Scout & siblings with imperfect actress ideas because there just weren’t a lot who fit my ideal for the four Dixons, especially Jazz (for whom I never found anyone who came close). Since 2019, many lovely new actresses and actors have entered the scene, and I finally spotted the absolute perfect Jazz casting: Uli Latukefu. And the sisters, in order of age (although consider actresses in terms of age up/down to suit): Sisa Grey, Frankie Adams, and Madison Bailey.

Side note: 1) Comments where readers doxx themselves (revealing close locations and identifying details) will not be replied to and will be deleted. Please stay safe on the internet, dear readers, and don’t leave that sort of information in a public forum. 2) Comments asking when x, y, or z story will be updated may be deleted depending on tone, and they will not be replied to. Writing is a break from RL, where my best friend, my person, ride-or-die, is dealing with cancer and where one of the sweetest people I know is watching her dad (also one of the sweetest souls on the planet) slip away day by day. It’s my happy pill so that when I get up in the morning, I am the best support both of them can ask for. If you don’t like what I’m working on, there are plenty of other TWD writers to go enjoy. Bless your heart(s).

Chapter 8 Author’s Note

I had intended to follow the original RBM combo of drugs + heatstroke, but in rewatching the fight to assess possible injuries, I made the interesting note that neither Merle nor T-Dog are sweating anywhere near as much as some of the others (especially poor Rick). And while logically, that’s simply because both actors were better acclimatized to the roof than Andrew Lincoln, it gave me the idea to see what else could trigger Merle’s behavior on the roof, which is too weirdly controlled to be completely out of his gourd on drugs. Plus T-Dog’s later characterization makes his engaging with Merle verbally—despite the others trying to get him to back down—unusual for him. It’s a fun way to incorporate the goofs and glitches that often happen early in a show before the writers really know the characters. 😁

Anticholinergic toxidrome mnemonic: Red as a beet: Flushing of the skin. Dry as a bone: Dry skin and mucous membranes. Blind as a bat: Dilated pupils and blurred vision. Mad as a hatter: Altered mental status, delirium, or hallucinations. Hot as a hare: Fever.

Causes: Medications: Anticholinergic drugs, including some antihistamines, antipsychotics, antidepressants (tricyclics), and anti-Parkinson’s medications. Plants: Certain plants like Jimsonweed (Datura). Toxins: Industrial chemicals like BZ (3-quinuclidinyl benzilate).

Chapter 5 Author’s Note

While the Dixon history is somewhat the same (number of siblings, etc), one of my regrets the longer RBM went on was that such an important part of the Dixon history – Merle’s wife – was only known as a negative influence. Instead of the deep violent trauma of RBM and a sideswipe of the kids’ Chamorro heritage, Redux will explore a different type of trauma: what happens to a family when they lose their guiding light, especially when immersed in a matriarchal cultural background. Back in 2019, I did as much research as I could, but there are just so many more resources available now for Chamorro culture, so expect that to be more than a footnote this time around.

And as fun as the guessing game of “just how many Dixons are there” was back then, bringing in Daryl and Scout’s POVs sorta throws that out the window a bit. Slight age-ups have happened: Merle (46->51), (Daryl (30->33), Scout (27->29), Cricket (22->23), Jazz (15->17). The original Jazz/Sophia romance will be completely axed, as I want to leave her at 13. You’ll also note that any real consideration of Daryl as anything other than a sibling to the four younger Dixons is gone.

The convoy also changed a bit to adapt to Scout having an entirely different mission in this AU, and time in the quarry won’t be just drama & runs, but actual training (plus drama & runs). Expect a more militaristic Scout initially, and I’ll be bringing in some elements from other stories: Lori’s background as developed in We Are Made Wise and for fans of the Grenade series, Alex is crossing over.

Chapter 2 Author’s Note

I’ve altered timeline to be closer to the present day canon timeline, but as a fixed points for this AU: 2009: Wildfire escapes containment; global infection reaches critical mass by March/April 2010. 2010-02-16: CDC first detected anomolies. 2010-04-24: Rick Grimes shot. 2010-07-24: WHO declares pandemic. 2010-08-08: Military executions at King County’s hospital. 2010-08-09: Cobalt Day. 2010-09-18: Rooftop handcuffing occurred.

Bringing in Scout’s POV was a lot of planning. The original “we were in Florida on spring break and battled our way to Atlanta” storyline has hit the cutting room floor. Scout will trickle out the details of how she got from California to Atlanta as time goes by, because this time her military history will be used as more than just Badass Marine Background the Author Forgot to Properly Take Advantage Of. Some histories have changed a little bit, ages tweaked, and some of the more telenovela level drama smoothed out. Never fear, they’re still the same people, just with a few less reasons to be completely bonkers in this world – or to go bonkers in different ways entirely.

Chapter 1 Author’s Note

When I originally wrote Repair Broken Men in 2019, I had no idea the juggernaut it would become thanks to amazing readers and the story landing at a time when TWD fans longed for the early days and characters of the show. But it was the first work I wrote after years of not writing, and I’ve always wanted to rework it. I felt the Quarry days did a vast injustice to Lori as a character, and worse, the entire work largely ignored the POVs of primary characters: Scout and her siblings.

Expect five works, with chapters expanded and POVs streamlined. The timeline has changed and histories may change, rooting out some harsh dramatics that I was never quite pleased with, so this isn’t just RBM all over again with Scout & sibling POVs. Things will change; consider it an AU of RBM. The major pairings aren’t changing, but I’m not tagging ones not present by the end of the book. Scout/Shane, Daryl/Lori, Carol/Merle – absolutely locked in. Eugene/Honey and Jazz/Jesus will have their time. And for the first time? Cristina/Tara will actually be seen as more than just background characters, so their relationship will bloom just a bit later than preloaded on day one.

  • Book I: This Is the Way the World Ends (Chapters 1–15)
  • Book II: Not to Belong Is to Be Too Lonesome (Chapters 16–41)
  • Book III: There’s a Certain Slant of Light (Chapters 42–74)
  • Book IV: Courage Is Beginning Anyway (Chapters 75–101)
  • Book V: I Believe While I Tremble (Chapters 102–123)

I am so grateful and flattered at so many who have read and reread RBM and my other works. While life is Very Crazy and staying that way, this felt like a project I could handle to get my toes back in the water. As for the other stories? I am hopeful to get back to them. A few are outlined, ISO’s last chapters in second draft.