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The major

The major is the unnamed commander of the Utah National Guard convoy that backs the task force in the finale of The Walkers in Skin. The players also call him "the general."
Type NPC
Aliases National Guard major; the general
Affiliation National Guard (Utah)
Status Unknown; absent after the battle at the field (Walkers 09)
First appearance Walkers 09 (he had already met the party in an unrecorded session)
Played by Andre

Description

The major is a skeptical career officer who commands a column of Humvees and armored personnel carriers. He is never named. The players call him both "the major" and "the general," and they clearly mean the same man (Walkers 09).

History

At the start of Walkers 09, Andre recaps the unrecorded session before it: the party fetched horses to get around a roadblock, took a generator to the radio station, called the National Guard, and met the Guard on horseback outside Ballard. They then fought through the Ballard-Roosevelt barricade and cleared the police station (Walkers 09).

In the finale the convoy drives back through dark, abandoned Ballard toward the community center. The duplicate Andrew Howard rides in the major's Humvee. As the radio dissolves into static, the major gets out and asks the party about electromagnetic interference. Kurt Larson tells him the ranch recorded bursts that killed its cameras and urges him to stay alert; Kurt also warns him to bail out if a vehicle starts to rise. The major is doubtful but goes along (Walkers 09).

Kurt pitches Ned Simpson and his homemade killdozer as an "asset," and the major agrees after a long stare through the window, then slows the convoy to 20 mph so the rest of the column does the same. When Kurt points out that the cloud crossing the sun is the ranch farmhouse floating in the sky, the major's jaw drops open (Walkers 09).

After invisible waves shove the vehicles and freeze everyone mid-sentence, the major concedes that the cars are a liability, halts the convoy, and orders the heavy equipment carried, body armor worn, the horses taken and civilians left behind. He also agrees to try a megaphone surrender first. Kurt advises that the megaphone team should not be where the bulk of the force is, and the major sends volunteers in an armored personnel carrier around the left of the hill. Andrew gives him the nod; the loudspeaker announces "This is the National Guard, please, sir" and is answered by a hail of bullets. The main force swings around the right (Walkers 09).

He is not seen again. After the white powder knocks out everyone left on the field, Kurt refers to him as "the general... or, you know, the major" being "gone" as the survivors try to gather what evidence remains. It is never established whether he lived (Walkers 09).

Relationships

  • Takes tactical advice from Kurt, who tells him "This isn't anything worse than Iraq." Andre notes that Iraq has not happened yet.
  • Rides with the duplicate Howard, who is secretly a skinwalker played by Rita.

Appearances