Cash's Family

Cash's Family
Game	Manhunt
Location	Carcer City Zoo Carcer City Mall
Business	None
Weapons	None
Allies	James Earl Cash
Enemies	Lionel Starkweather Wardogs Innocentz
Status	Deceased/Determinate
Voiced by	Kim Gurney (Females Pain Audio) Unknown (Males Pain Audio)

"You've left your old life, your old self, behind. I'm all the family you need now."

— Lionel Starkweather after executing a member of Cash's family

Cash’s Family (unofficial name) are four unnamed characters who appear in Manhunt. They are the family of James Earl Cash. All four members appear in the scenes Strapped for Cash, and one appears in View of Innocence.

Biography

Before Manhunt

The background for Cash’s family was never stated, but some comments from Lionel Starkweather imply they may not want anything to do with Cash because he is a convicted criminal and awaiting in death row. They were not present when Cash was facing his "final moments" in Darkwoods Penitentiary. It is unknown if they are residents of Carcer City.

Events of Manhunt

Strapped for Cash

Some unknown time between Cash’s "execution" and prior to his arrival in Carcer City Zoo in Strapped for Cash, four of his family members have been violently kidnapped by Starkweather’s personnel (likely the Cerberus) and taken to the zoo. They have been gagged and tied to posts throughout the Carcer City Zoo, by the Wardogs, in order to bait James Earl Cash.

When Cash arrives at the inner area of the zoo nearby his family, he's warned by the Director about the family members being kept as hostages and the Wardogs will execute them if they spot him. Cash is ordered to free at least one of his family members as part of the snuff film script.

When Cash frees any of the members, he instructs them to run away and leave the zoo to safety. Although it is recommended to free all four family members, it is possible to complete the mission with only one to three members rescued. If all members die, the scene will fail.

View of Innocence

Prior the events of View of Innocence, at least one of Cash’s relatives freed by him is immediately recaptured and taken to Carcer City Mall. Afterwards, he or she is murdered by an Innocentz member inside of a store in order to record a tape for Cash to locate with the mall as part of the snuff film.

When Cash arrives at the mall, Starkweather instructs him to look for the tape, as well as a broken video camera, and find a way to watch it. After watching the first moments of the tape, Cash becomes enraged by his family member being killed, picks up the CRT TV screen that he is watching the tape on and destroys it, vowing revenge seeing his rescue efforts were all in vain and being tricked by the Director once more.

Even if Cash managed to free all four of his family members, the other three are never seen or heard from again. However, it is very likely that all three have been killed as well because they were witnesses, with Starkweather even saying he "could never have let them go", only saying "her" or "him" if a male or female member is the only one remaining to survive in the previous mission. The death of the one family member in the mall is never shown to the player at all as the screen abruptly cuts to Cash, but is left implicit by them screaming that they are killed by having their throat slit with a Machete.

The comments of the Director reveals that he lied to Cash, saying that the Wardogs used the family as bait out of his orders. The scenes of Cash rescuing his family are scripted to appear in the snuff film. It is clear that the footage of the family member being murdered in the mall was not intended to appear on the movie, but the scene of Cash watching the footage itself instead.

The inevitable murders of the family members was the first time Starkweather clearly double-crossed Cash, followed by another betrayal ambush in Kill the Rabbit. Later, Cash avenged himself and his family by ultimately killing Starkweather with Piggsy's Chainsaw in Deliverace.

Gameplay

At least one of the family members must be freed in order to proceed in Strapped for Cash. All of Cash's family must have been rescued or killed, as it is impossible to leave one behind tied up.

Near any of the four family members, there is a Wardog with a Revolver patrolling the area. If Cash is spotted nearby, the Wardog will run to the family member. When the Wardog reaches the family member, a cutscene will occur where said member is killed with a single shot to the head. In order to free a family member, Cash must kill the Wardog and then use a bladed weapon (Glass Shard or Machete) besides his family member to cut the rope which is trapping them.

Canonically, the last family member was killed in the mall prior to Cash’s arrival. However, during View of Innocence, it is actually possible to reach the hidden part of the store where he/she is with the Innocentz member by the use of trainers. Gameplay-wise, the death scene happens in real time; this was done simply as a programming shortcut by the developers.

Gallery

Wardog with one of Cash's male family members

The first male family member

A Wardog executing the first male family member with a Revolver

The first female family member

The first male family member after being murdered by a Wardog

Cash untying the first female family member with a Glass Shard

The second male family member

Official screenshot

The second female family member

An Innocentz gang member about to execute the first male family member in View of Innocence

Trivia

• If one looks closely, the textures of the four family members appear to be just placeholders:
  • The shirtless man appears to be an edited version of one template for members of the Skinz.
  • Both women (in particular the red haired one) appear to be an edited version of one template for the strippers in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
  • The older man appears to be an edited version of one template for members of the Innocentz.
• Unused text in zoo2's .gxt states that at least one of the male family members is Cash's brother (most likely the younger male). Another unused line states that the two females are Cash's sisters.
  • Starkweather: "Say a prayer for your brother Cash."
  • Starkweather: "Ok, Cash, there's still one of your sisters hostage in the monkey dome."
• The older male could either be Cash's uncle or even his father.
• If any family member is killed by the Revolver-armed Wardog nearby, he/she will die instantly from a single shot to the head and their face will splatter into gory pieces, similar to using a Shotgun or Sniper Rifle. However, it is impossible to blow off the head of a Hunter during gameplay with any Blue Class firearm.
• The female family members share the same body type as the Journalist.
• Surprisingly, there is no Trophy reward for rescuing all the family members on the PlayStation 4 re-release of the game. It's unknown why this wasn't made as a Trophy, as this is one of the more challenging tasks to accomplish from many of the established Trophies.