Bertrise is the lone survivor of an outbreak from Jamaica that killed her family and most of the people around her. She was the only survivor on board the Octopus.
Biography[]
Bertrise was born and raised in Negril, Jamaica with her mother, father, and brother Dominic. As a kid Bertrise always got sick and was teased that she was faking so she wouldn't go to school. Her father ran a hotel on the beach in the Black Cliffs which she helped run. When the Red Flu broke out it first struck several larger resorts to the North before it eventually reached Bertrise's family's hotel. They initially turned the hotel into a hospital for the sick but after Bertrise's mother died of the virus, her father took Bertrise and Dominic and fled onboard a fishing boat nicknamed the Octopus.
Bertrise and fifty-one other people including her family were passengers onboard and Dominic sent out a distress call asking for help when their boat is stranded off the coast of Jamaica near St. John Point. The Red Flu started killing everyone on board, including Bertrise's family. As a result, Bertrise took over sending the distress signal and sent one out while there were fifteen people, including her still alive on the boat.
Events of The Last Ship[]
Season 1[]
When the rest of the people on board die, Bertrise sends another distress call but this time hears a voice on the other end of the line who identifies himself as "Joe Brown" on a fishing boat in her area. Bertrise answers back with excitement and eagerly gives him the coordinates of her boat using her ship's GPS. Brown responds that they are in the area and are coming for her and Bertrise thanks him and gives them a description of her boat. When Bertrise sees a boat approach with guns she hides from them out of the fear that they came to kill her based stories she heard over the radio. Two men eventually find her and when Bertrise exclaims that they are not fisherman they respond that they are the US Navy and are here to help her. They help her onto their boat and bring her back to their ship the Nathan James.
After Bertrise is safely onboard she is introduced to Dr. Scott and is taken back to her lab. Dr. Scott takes several samples of Bertrise's blood to run it against the virus and run additional tests. While they wait Bertrise apologizes for making it harder on the people who rescued her to find her. While Bertrise tells Dr. Scott about her life before and after the Red Flu pandemic broke out Dr. Scott gets the results on Bertirse's first test back, confirming she is naturally immune to every strain of the virus giving Dr. Scott hope that she can create a vaccine. (“SOS”)
Dr. Scott shows and explains to Bertrise how the virus attacks a human cell and how her cells' receptors react differently toward the virus. Dr. Scott goes further and reveals she injected her receptors into a monkey she has to test whether the monkey gets sick and praises Bertrise as savior to the entire human race as a result. Dr. Scott introduces Bertrise to Ensign Mason, who picked up her initial transmission and she thanks him for helping find her. (“Two Sailors Walk Into a Bar”)
Mason takes Bertrise to the Comms room where Mason plays a recording of her brother Dominic's transmission to the Nathan James at Bertrise's request. When Bertrise asks Mason to turn it off, she says she thought she wanted to hear his voice again, but not like that. She goes onto say how hard it must've been for them to hear all that suffering and that she needs to see whether her blood helps the people in Dr. Scott's human trials ward off the virus.
Bertrise listens to Dr. Scott explain to the volunteers how the vaccine will work, the possible symptoms, and watches her inject each of them with the vaccine developed from her blood. True to her word she watches over the patients and they greatly enjoy her company, with one, Master Chief Jeter, even dedicating a song to her. When one of the patients, Kara Foster has a seizure and Dr. Scott says she needs ice Bertrise grabs as much ice as she can and rushes over. Dr. Scott manages to save Foster in time thanks to Bertrise and Dr. Scott thanks her before mentioning she will have to have her clothes decontaminated.
After one patient, Maya Gibson, dies during the trial and Dr. Tophet suggests using Bertrise's blood to give them her antibodies, Dr. Scott adamantly objects because of the risk of Bertrise dying, but Bertrise volunteers. Chandler and Tophet agree and while Dr. Scott is still against it, Bertrise goes through with it and donates her blood. Bertrise survives but is severely weakened as a result. Mason visits her and shows her that everyone else managed to survive the trials and they have their vaccine and cure to the virus. (“Trials”)
Bertrise later helps Dr. Tophet administer the cure to the crew by taking the names of the people who have received it. When Granderson's state troopers start taking over the ship, Bertrise follows the rest of the crew in meeting on the flight deck. (“No Place Like Home”)
Season 2[]
Bertrise is lead and held into the helo bay with the rest of the crew by Granderson's forces. She is later moved to the mess hall with everyone else when O'Connor sabotages the engines to force the guards to move them to a better position and give Miller and Cruz the chance to slip away unnoticed. (“Unreal City”)
Bertrise is seen stretching her legs and later sitting back down before O'Connor, Cruz, and Miller take out the guards, liberating her and the other prisoners. (“Fight the Ship”)
Bertrise becomes Dr. Scott's assistant and helps load the cure into several cases to be distributed across the country. (“It's Not a Rumor”)
As Dr. Scott finishes her video logs, Bertrise reports to her that the door to the autoclave won't close properly and they are almost out of ethanol. When survivors aboard the Solace board the Nathan James, Bertrise administers the cure to all of them and welcomes them aboard. (“Solace”)
While the Nathan James is at EMCON one, Bertrise is seen waiting in the mess hall while they search for a hostile submarine. (“Achilles”)
Bertrise works with Doctors Scott and Milowsky while they attempt to turn the liquid cure into an aerosol form based on the late Dr. Julius Hunter's work. (“Long Day's Journey”)
When Dr. Scott tests her first version of the air-based cure using rats, Bertrise observes the experiment and asks if breathing it in will cure them and Dr. Scott confirms this. When the experiment doesn't work as expected, Bertrise asks Dr. Scott why and she explains the cure reached the rats closest but it wasn't potent enough to reach the ones farther away, making it useless if dropped from three hundred feet. Bertrise than asks what they will do now and Dr. Scott replies that she doesn't know. (“Alone and Unafraid”)
When Niels Sørenson is captured, taken aboard the ship and starts helping develop the new version of the cure, Bertrise tells Miller that she questions how Dr. Scott can work with him given all the death and suffering he has caused, including the death of her brother. (“Uneasy Lies the Head”)
After is Niels is found dead, Bertrise is one of three people suspected of killing him on the fact she delivered the IV bag that the senior command believe was used to kill him. While working in the lab, Bertrise is told by Garnett that they are suspended from the lab and contacting each other until the investigation is concluded. Bertrise asks why because she didn't do anything wrong and Garnett tells her it is just the best way to gather the facts. It is eventually discovered Dr. Scott is the one who killed Niels to make another version of the cure that is contagious. After an attack on the ship by the Immunes, Bertrise helps Doctors Rios and Milowsky clean up the lab after the battle shockwaves shake the ship. (“Friendly Fire”)
After the crew is attacked by civilians aligned with the Immune Army, Bertrise helps Doctors Milowsky and Scott treat those injured in the attack and personally witnesses Lt. Bivas die of her wounds. (“Valkyrie”)
In preparation to fight the Immune submarine, Bertrise is evacuated along with the president, doctors, and children onboard with a small group of operators lead by the XO Commander Slattery to protect them. She waits with the others while the ship battles the sub and Slattery takes some of his operators to take over an Immune position on land to back up the sub. (“Cry Havoc”)
Bertrise helps Dr. Scott prepare the aerosol version off the cure when they receive news that the Immunes are going to infect everyone at the College of Memphis so no one answers their call again. Bertrise later attends Jeffrey Michener's swearing in ceremony as President of the United States. Bertrise is last seen celebrating in the New Orleans Courthouse after the cure is successfully distributed and the last leader of the Immune Army is captured and raising a glass to honor the fallen who made it happen. (“A More Perfect Union”)
Trivia[]
- She is the first character to be shown that is naturally immune to the virus. Ironically, she was constantly sick as a child. During "Trials," Doctor Rachel Scott suggests that this may be part of why she is immune as Rachel comments on Bertrise being constantly sick as a child yet immune to the Red Flu while explaining the problem with the vaccine.