Z Nation Episode 1.01 Puppies and Kittens

Little background, as we get up to speed: The President is dead; a zombie virus has taken over the earth, and is being called an "extinction-level" event. Our hero, Lt. Mark Hammond, is rushing to rescue the last doctor working to create a vaccine for zombie-ism, just as new orders come that everyone evacuating to California. An NSA nerd named Simon is helping get the chopper to his location.

As Mark arrives in the doctor's office, he finds three prisoners being infected with a strain of zombie vaccine. It doesn't work for the first two, and they're killed, but for the last one? Wait! Maybe! Some confusion ensues as the zombies attack, and Mark evacuates the Doctor and puts her on the chopper, just as he goes back for that last prisoner. Meanwhile, Simon gets left behind in the Northern Lights zombie attack station.

A year later, in upstate New York, we join the funeral of Nana. See, in a future where zombies attack, funerals are pre-planned events wherein people are shot in the head for mercy. In this case, Roberta does the honors when she receives a call that someone is out by the river. She joins fellow survivor Charles Garnett and the two wait for the men in the boat to roll up to shore. When they do, they look familiar -- It's Mark! And he has Murphy (Prisoner #3!) with him, now identified as the "last best chance to save humanity." Back at the Northern Lights station, Simon is chatting with his mousey girlfriend, who turns out to be a recording from long ago, pre-zombie apocalypse. A call comes in - the government needs to know where Mark and Murphy are and "operation bite-mark" is a failure. Meanwhile, Roberta and Charles decide to help get Mark and Murphy to the Tappan Zee Bridge.

And now we meet Addy, Mack and some other survivors, who are getting some ammunition tips from a peddler of such things. Addy decides on an aluminum bat with spikes in it while Doc trades for aspirin. They're attacked by some zombie brothers and kill them dead, and keep moving on. Then something sort of impressive happens. It appears as though the zombies are organized! They rush the camp from their position as pretending to be dead in the river. This worries Roberta and Charles when they call back to camp, but Mark decides to show them the zombie bites on Murphy. Doc turns up on the radio; the camp (Blue Sky) has been over-run by zombies. While Addy and Mack and Doc flee for their lives, Mark and Roberta and Charles and Murphy come back for them. Now everyone's on the run.

The team pulls up to the rendezvous station outside a high school, and learn that everyone's been over-run by zombies. They hear a baby inside, and this one looks like it's not a zombie! They also save Cassandra, who has been locked in a cage hiding from zombies for two days. She tells the team that the school was overrun by survivors and then zombies attacked. The team decides that they'll take the baby to the next outpost, and raid the place for supplies. Someone seems to be watching them from a sniper's rifle. But who? Well, whoever it was, saves Doc's life from the roof. Then a ton of zombies attack, and somehow the baby get turned into a zombie! Mark goes in to find the baby and kill it, while the rest of the team debate leaving him there for good.

When Mark finds the zombie baby, he is attacked by both the baby and the mother, who eat him to pieces. The team shoots Mark, and the mom and baby zombie dead. Everyone has been "shown mercy." The team stands around the high school parking lot considering what to do, and while they're doing so, Simon interrupts! He's made contact! He learns that Hammond is dead, and asks if the package is safe. Since Charles is in charge now, Simon brings them up to speed on Operation Bite-mark, which is getting Murphy alive to California. Charles decides that they're on board, and they stop on the way out of the high school to pick up 10K, the sharpshooter who saved Doc's hide. Finally, Simon starts a radio station and becomes "Citizen Z" - and finally, Murphy's tooth falls out. But what does it mean?