What actually happens
A cottage with too many guests
During the first outbreak of the Rage Virus in Britain, Don and his wife Alice shelter in a cottage outside London with four other survivors. They hear a boy screaming and let him in, and a horde of Infected arrives right behind him. The Infected pour in and the other four survivors die. Don wants Alice to leave the boy behind, and she won't, so the Infected corner her while Don takes off and gets away in a boat. The scene people dread most is the cottage, and it comes at the start of the movie.
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Everything is under control in District One
Twenty-eight weeks later, many of the Infected have starved, and US-led NATO forces are moving settlers into a protected zone in London. Alice and Don's children, Tammy and Andy, arrive with the settlers and are given a place in District One, a safe zone on the Isle of Dogs with a heavy guard. At dawn they sneak out to their old house to get family photographs and find Alice alive but sick. American soldiers catch them and take all three to an isolation unit, and there the medical officer, Scarlet, finds that Alice carries the disease without any symptoms. Don, full of guilt, visits Alice and kisses her. He becomes infected and kills her.
Orders to shoot everyone
Don, now infected, rampages through the zone and passes the virus on to others. Scarlet decides that the siblings' genetics may help in developing a cure or vaccine, so she helps them escape. In the dark, the infected and the uninfected are hard to tell apart, and the American troops get an order to shoot everybody. Doyle, a sniper, refuses to follow the order, and he escapes with Scarlet and the siblings while the US Air Force firebombs parts of London to stop the spread.
A car that will not start
The group waits for a helicopter that Doyle's friend Flynn arranged, but Flynn will take only Doyle. Doyle refuses to leave the others, so all of them set out for Wembley Stadium, which is where uninfected civilians have been told to report. They take cover in a car while soldiers with flamethrowers show up to burn anyone who could be infected. The car won't start, and Doyle tries to push it into motion and is burned alive. Amid the chaos, Scarlet, Tammy and Andy slip away into a dark London Underground station.
The ending, explained
In the Underground station, the infected Don appears. He kills Scarlet and bites Andy, and then Tammy kills her father. Andy, though, ends up as a carrier who never shows symptoms. Flynn finds the siblings and gets them on his helicopter to France. Then, 28 days on, the helicopter radio picks up a voice with a French accent asking for help. The last shot shows a horde of Infected pouring out of the Paris Métro and attacking the city. Don, Alice, Scarlet and Doyle are all dead by then.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is 28 Weeks Later scary?
Yes, 28 Weeks Later is a 7 out of 10. It has jump scares and frequent graphic violence, and the dread lasts a few days.
How does 28 Weeks Later end?
Don kills Scarlet and bites Andy in the Underground, and Tammy kills Don. Flynn flies Tammy and Andy to France, and 28 days later the Infected are shown pouring out of the Paris Métro.
Does the dog die in 28 Weeks Later?
No dog dies in 28 Weeks Later. A dog barks once, and the only other animals are birds and a swan, and none of them are hurt.
Is there a post-credits scene in 28 Weeks Later?
No. 28 Weeks Later has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
What does asymptomatic carrier mean in 28 Weeks Later?
In 28 Weeks Later, an asymptomatic carrier has the Rage Virus without showing symptoms. Alice is one, and Andy becomes one after Don bites him.