More Than This

The two teenagers introduce themselves as Regine and Tomasz. Seth wonders whether they are really there or if his mind simply created them, but he decides to follow them despite whether or not they are real.

Seth, Regine, and Tomasz try to leave the neighborhood, but the van is still patrolling. They escape the Driver by riding over a narrow bridge that the van cannot pass over.

Regine decides to head to Seth’s house because the Driver does not know where he lives. She tells him that Tomasz saw him at the train station one day, and that they searched the town until they found him showering under the rain. They did not want to disturb him then, so they returned the next day and found him running toward Masons Hill. Seth wants to ask them more questions, but Regine only agrees to answer if he tells them how he died.

Content Warning: The characters discuss their deaths, which touch on suicide and domestic abuse.

Seth explains that he drowned and hit his head on a rock. Tomasz and Regine also died hitting the same spot at the base of their neck. Tomasz claims he was hit by lightning, while Regine fell down the stairs. When Seth touches the spot on his neck, he can feel a strange notch in his skull. The others believe it is a kind of connection and this world is not what it seems, but they are interrupted when they hear the van approaching.

Seth decides to confront the Driver. When Seth opens a window to leave the house, the Driver appears and attacks him.

The three teenagers run out the back door. Tomasz sets fire to the overgrown grass with a lighter he stole from Regine, and they leave the Driver behind.

Regine explains that they must get away from the prison, so Seth takes them to the supermarket to hide. Seth insists on getting answers from them, so Regine tells him that he did not really die in the other world, which he thought was real, but instead woke up from it. She believes that their lives were a simulation because the post-apocalyptic world they are in now is the supposed real world.

Regine theorizes that people left the real world to go online after the world ended, probably because of increasing natural disasters and collapsing economies. That explains why some of their memories are seemingly wiped out. She woke up in a coffin in her living room months ago, while Tomasz woke up in the prison, where all the other coffins are stored. Seth is confused and disbelieving but decides to go see the prison himself.

Regine and Tomasz refuse to go to the prison, arguing that it is too dangerous with the Driver guarding it. While Tomasz sleeps, Seth and Regine have a conversation about the many questions they still have. Regine then promises to tell Seth how to get into the prison.

In this dream sequence, Monica shows up at Seth’s house to apologize for outing him and Gudmund. She explains that she sent the pictures to everyone in the school after finding them on Gudmund’s phone because she was jealous that Gudmund loved someone else.

Regine gives Seth a coded map to her and Tomasz’s house so he can find them after he goes to the prison. She does not want Tomasz to know about the trip to the prison. Seth tells her about Gudmund, whom he loved and lost, and wonders whether that was real at all.

Seth goes back to his house, gets some of his things, and says goodbye to the house and to Owen.

Seth walks to a breach in the prison wall which Regine told him about. He still cannot decide which world is real: His past, or the current world he resides in.

The prison grounds are deserted but look completely normal. A door suddenly opens and reveals the Driver. He leaves in his van, and Seth comes out of his hiding place to investigate the door.

The door opens into a brightly lit hallway, and Seth debates exploring what lies behind it before entering the building.

Seth follows the white hallways until he gets to an underground network of enormous rooms filled with shiny black coffins.

Seth opens one of the coffins, which reveals a man wrapped in bandages with tubes connected to him. Seth is awed by this revelation and, in a panic, starts wondering whether the man could be himself. He pulls the bandages from his face, but then notices a tattoo and other physical differences that reassure him they are not the same. He also notes the same notch in the man’s skull as his and the other teenager’s before the alarm goes off.

A display appears on a wall showing surveillance camera images of the coffin rooms and information that Seth does not understand. Seth manages to look up his own name, Wearing, and the display shows him the names of his parents, whose coffins are stored in one of the rooms. There is no mention of Owen, so Seth vows to find him. A strange light falls on him and the computer identifies him as a “damaged node.”

The light causes Seth to pass out and go into a dream sequence. Seth and Gudmund are watching the sun set over the ocean. The narrative then jumps to a police officer asking young Seth questions so they can find Valentine, the escaped prisoner who took Owen. The narrative jumps again to the moment after Monica left Seth’s house. Seth’s father learns about what happened with Gudmund and he expresses his support for his son’s sexuality.

Seth regains consciousness after Regine and Tomasz turn off the machine. Tomasz insisted on coming after learning about Seth’s trip to the prison. They drag Seth outside in a hurry, and Tomasz grabs a shotgun on the way out. The Driver attacks and Tomasz uses the gun to defend the trio.

Despite a large hole in his chest, the Driver gets back up and attacks the trio again.

Seth, Regine, and Tomasz ride away in a hurry. Seth’s memories are jumbled and his friends have a hard time keeping him grounded in reality. Seth insists that he remembers “everything” as they try to escape the Driver.