Jack Holden

Jack Holden
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Abel Township Radio Abel
Occupation	Radio Host
Status	Alive
Ethnicity	British
First appearance	S1 Radio Mode: "Testing"
Last appearance	S10 M30 Only Lovers Left Alive
Voice actor	Rhys Jennings

Jack Holden is one of the hosts of Radio Abel alongside his partner Eugene Woods. His weapon of choice is a cricket bat he named W.G. after a famous cricketer. His birthday is February 29. His hair is ginger.

History

Pre-apocalypse

Four years before the outbreak, Jack saw a nettle-eating contest at a pub in Dorset.

Right before the outbreak, Jack headed out to a field in Hampshire to attend a rave.

Early Apocalypse

The rave continued for the first two days of the apocalypse, because nobody had heard the news. Jack felt a bit tired, so he wandered off into the woods to lie down and ended up passing out for thirteen hours. During this time, the rest of the rave attendees were attacked by some wandering zombies.

Jack was awoken when a man tripped over him - that man was Eugene Woods. Eugene, knowing that there was a field full of zombies 500 yards away, held out his hand and told Jack, "Come with me if you want to live." Jack had no idea what was going on, but he took his hand anyway.

Jack and Eugene traveled with three hedge fund managers who were impressively prepared for the apocalypse. One night, as they were sheltering in a bookstore, they heard a sort of groaning, choking noise from the back. Thinking it was a zombie, Jack grabbed W.G. and led the way to the back - only to discover one of the men, Shawn, who had gorged himself on marshmallows and was now vomiting them all up. Shawn looked up and said, "I used to love these things!" and Jack casually leaned on his cricket bat and replied, "Not anymore!"

Jack and Eugene traveled for a while with a man named Zach. Zach used a garden fork as a weapon, but it was very difficult for him to clean the zombie gore off of it. He eventually tripped and scratched his leg on the fork, causing him to become infected.

Season One

Jack and Eugene begin hosting their own radio show from Abel Township. They give their listeners updates on which areas are dangerous and which are safe. But after a short time, Major de Santa tells them that they have to stop broadcasting in order to conserve the generator fuel.

After the newest runner, Runner Five, brings more fuel back to Abel, Jack and Eugene are able to begin broadcasting again - although Major de Santa does tell them to include more "public service content".

At some point Jack decides to test if a piece of equipment has a live electrical current by touching it. He receives a painful shock as a result. Janine has no sympathy for him, telling him that it was his own fault.

Jack and Eugene set up a new service called "Z-Bay" to help people to trade items and services with one another.

Jack and Eugene host a series on their alternate frequency where they teach the listener how to set up ROFFLENet.

Jack and Eugene join Maxine's Demons and Darkness campaign along with Sam, Runner Five, and possibly Jody.

Once they have the proper equipment for it, Jack and Eugene record a series they call "Abel Minds", where they go around asking the residents of Abel various questions.

Eugene falls ill with food poisoning after eating some spoiled Spam. He has to spend a few days recovering in the hospital, leaving Jack to host the show alone.

Jack and Eugene solicit recorded messages from their listeners and are pleased with the number and variety of responses they get.

Season Two

After the rocket launcher attack against Abel Township, Jack fled towards a riverbed alongside Runner Twelve and a few others. They get ambushed by a horde of zombies. Jack fights them off in order to let the others get away. Jack kills at least seven zombies in a row before W.G. breaks. He is rescued by a man named Powell who takes him to a nearby house, Birkmyre Estate.

At the estate, Jacks meets Bella Ramsay and her mother, Beatrix. Jack asks Beatrix to send a message to Abel telling them that he's okay, and she promises that she will. Jack discovers that Bella studied chemical engineering, a skill Abel Township needs to help develop their water treatment system. He tries to convince the Ramsays and Powell to come back to Abel, but they all turn down the offer, with Beatrix in particular staunchly refusing to leave the estate.

Jack greets Simon and Runner Five, who have also been lead to Birkmyre Estate by Powell. Runner Three says that Eugene wants to talk to Jack, so Jack takes Five's headset and is surprised when Eugene starts scolding him for not sending a message to say that he's still alive.

Jack and Eugene spend all night talking. Eugene is still very upset about having thought Jack was dead for weeks. Jack says that he tried to get a message out, but Beatrix apparantly did not send it for some reason. After Eugene calms down a bit, Jack explains how he's been trying to get these people to come help at Abel. Eugene agrees that they would be a great help for the township. The next day, Jack, the runners, and Bella help Powell with some more zombie-trapping. Simon and Bella get into some trouble and have to fire a gun to protect themselves. The sound of the gunshot attracts a swarm of zombies, and everyone retreats back inside the Birkmyre Estate.

Jack does his best to reassure Eugene as they begin barricading the house. Jack questions why Beatrix is so insistent on staying, and she finally explains that it's because of an old family tradition saying that Britain will not fall so long as a Ramsay is in Birkmyre. As the zombies start breaking through, Bella finally gets fed up and knocks Beatrix out. Powell leads the group through a hidden tunnel, with Simon carrying Beatrix. When they reach the exit, Powell directs Jack to remove a plank, causing a bunch of coal to fall and block the tunnel behind them. The group then returns to Abel together.

As Van Ark's army of fast zombies approaches Abel, Jack keeps an eye on Rofflenet for news. When he gets a message from a nearby settlement that the army is approaching, he goes to the comms shack to warn Sam.

Eugene gets Runner Five to escort him and Jack outside of Abel to interview the North London Girl Guides. Jack is less than thrilled about this and he argues with Eugene as they search for the Guides. They get chased by some unexpected zombies but are saved by the Girl Guides themselves. One of the leaders, Charlie, agrees to be interviewed.

Bandits invade Abel Township and threaten to kill Janine if they don't get some of Maxine's anti-zombie spray. To help Runner Five and Simon stay hidden and stop the bandits, Jack and Eugene volunteer to take a barrel of the spray to the bandit leader.

Eric Englert found a new cricket bat on a mission, and passed it on as a replacement for W.G. Jack named it Sir Geoffrey.

Supply Missions

Entertainment Run

• Sam, Jack and the Doctor speculate on what entertainment the Major would like.
• Jack and Janine would like video games.

Relationships

Eugene Woods

Jack and Eugene are married.

Sam Yao

Jack and Sam are good friends.

Appearances

Season 1

• S1 Radio Mode

Season 2

• S2 Radio Mode
• M05 Ghosts
• M06 Let The Dogs Come Out
• M07 Mummy's Hand
• M23 Galvanize
• M30 Panic
• SM8 Interview With A Girl Guide
• HM1 Living Dead Girl

Season 3

• S3 Radio Mode
• M24 Return To The Forbidden Planet
• M25 The Road Goes Ever On And On
• M52 Shiver Me Timbers

Season 10

• M30 Only Lovers Left Alive (unvoiced)

VR12 Jack & Eugene's World Tour

• Ambient Radio
• Part 1: Training Mission 1
• Part 1: Training Mission 2
• Part 1: 5K/10K
• Part 2: Training Mission 1
• Part 2: Training Mission 2
• Part 2: 5K/10K
• Part 3: Training Mission 1
• Part 3: Training Mission 2
• Part 3: 5K/10K

Trivia

• During the second season of Radio Abel, Jack states that his birthday is February 29, and that he has never had his birthday fall on a Wednesday. February 29 fell on a Wednesday most recently in 1984 and 2012. Therefore, Jack was born in either 1988 or 1992, as any prior leap year would have resulted in his birthday falling on a Wednesday, and any later year would result in him being no older than 15 years old at the time of the conversation. Theoretically, it is also possible that Jack was born in 1984 if he does not consider his date of birth to be an actual birthday.
• Jack might have a younger sister. He mentions her in a dream that he had, although the dream was rather surreal so it's unclear if he actually has a sister in reality.
• On the Rofflenet board for the Halloween! Virtual Race, Jack's username is hit_the_superhighway_jack.

Gallery

A tarot card featuring Jack and Eugene as The Lovers.
(VR9: Escape From Runaway Fairground)

Eugene, Sam, Jack, Maxine, and Janine
(Sent in the Holiday 2021 email.)

Jack & Eugene's World Tour

Letter from Jack
(Season 3 Mission 25: The Road Goes Ever On And On)

Season 10 Mission 30: Only Lovers Left Alive