Night of the Living Deb

Deb Clarington spots a tall, attractive man across the bar and is nudged by her friend Ruby to say hello. Ryan Waverly's fiancé interrupts and breaks up with him after he refuses a high-paying job at his father's company. Deb wakes up later in Ryan's bed with a heavy hangover, unsure what happened the night before.

After a nerve-wracking attempt at romance, Deb leaves Ryan's apartment. Moments later, she witnesses people attacking and cannibalizing each other as a city-wide nightmare unfolds. In the chaos, Deb dives back inside to pull Ryan from danger and relocate to a safer space.

The duo visits Deb's elderly neighbor to gather supplies, only to find the woman appears dead and then rises as a zombie. They kill her, but the noise and chaos draw more undead toward them. The encounter reinforces the immediacy of the threat they face together.

The noise from the previous attack triggers a new stampede of zombies as the pair try to escape. Deb rams through clusters of the infected to reach safety, while Ryan urges restraint and questions the moral cost of every kill. They vow to push on toward Ryan's family to find safety.

Deb detours to visit Ruby, now a zombie, and traps her in the car trunk to study a possible cure. The risky move buys them time but leaves Ruby's fate uncertain as they press on. The plan underscores Deb's willingness to sacrifice for a potential cure.

At Ryan's father's mansion, Chaz Waverly admits them after a zombie-check and lets them inside. Ryan is reunited with Stacy, while Frank reveals his water treatment plant has spread the virus to town, blaming the governor for backing an environmentally dangerous project. Ryan becomes unsettled by the broader waste and manipulation at play.

Frank privately tells Ryan that the governor has arranged helicopter evacuation, but Ryan insists Deb accompany him. Frank resists and tries to drug Deb to abandon her, but Deb outsmarts him by handing the drugged food to their security guard. A tense standoff follows as loyalties and survival instincts collide.

Ryan tells Stacy he no longer wants to marry her, triggering her jealousy as she tries to provoke trouble. After the guard dies, zombies overrun the mansion; Stacy is eaten, and Chaz is stunned into inaction, ultimately getting bitten. The Waverlys scramble to escape with Chaz in tow.

The Waverlys escape the mansion, taking Chaz with them and moving toward the area where a helicopter escape might exist. Deb and Ryan push ahead through a collapsing town, clinging to the hope of getting out alive. The odds grow thinner with every step.

Deb discovers a security checkpoint at the town's edge and is allowed to leave, but she is warned to turn back later. She invokes Frank's name to the governor, who finally reveals there was never any helicopter—only a cleanup plan with darker motives. The truth reframes their mission from escape to exposing corruption.

Ryan confronts the governor and reveals Deb is a reporter carrying crucial evidence in her car's trunk; the governor opens the trunk and Ruby kills him. Frank, who has been bitten, urges Ryan and Deb to flee while he holds off the soldiers. The heavy blows of betrayal and sacrifice sharpen the stakes.

Back at the television station, Deb broadcasts their message so it cannot be jammed. She proclaims her love for Ryan on air, then is bitten. Ryan refuses to abandon her and offers himself as zombie fodder, while paramedics reveal the virus is not contagious; fighter jets hammer the city as they share a final kiss and cling to hope.