Kenneth Hall Rhodes (portrayed by Ving Rhames) is a main character from the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, and the 2008 remake of Day of the Dead. Originally a police officer from Everett, Wisconsin, he fled his hometown after the rest of the police force were overwhelmed by the living dead. At some point, he joined a group of survivors and protected them as they ventured to Fort Pastor in hopes of finding a safe zone. By the time they had reached the Crossroads Shopping Mall, only half of them were left alive.
Dawn of the Dead (2004)[]
In Dawn of the Dead, Sergeant Kenneth H. Rhodes investigates a car crash that occurred off the main road and found a lone survivor, Ana Clark. After confirming she wasn't infected, he introduced her to Michael, Andre and Luda and together they headed for the mall. Inside the mall, the group encountered C.J., Bart and Terry, three security guards that had claimed the mall as their shelter and were hesitant to allow anyone else in. Eventually the survivors reached a compromise that allowed all of them to take shelter there and they worked together to secure the mall. In a short time, more survivors would arrive at the mall and be offered refuge. Kenneth would also establish a line of communication with Andy, a man who had secured himself in a gun shop across the street from the mall.
As the days went by, the survivors would enjoy the comforts of the mall and Kenneth would forge a friendship with Andy as they communicated with each other by using whiteboards and markers. But over this period, no rescue came, more zombies filled the streets and several of the mall survivors would die. Kenneth decided that he would rather try to escape than just wait to die in the mall, and so the remaining survivors planned to leave using a pair of buses in the mall's garage, head down to the marina and take Steve Marcus' boat out to an island where they believed they would be safe. The group also attempted to rescue Andy from the gun shop and take him with them, but this plan went awry and and Andy was bitten and infected after some zombies got into the shop.
The survivors left the mall in their armoured buses, but the sheer volume of undead made it difficult to get through. Though the buses got through the initial blockade of zombies by blowing up a propane tank, the horde was still vast and pursued the buses relentlessly. A zombie had latched on to the bus that Kenneth was driving and he attempted to scrape it off, but in doing so Glen, who was holding a running chainsaw, lost his balance and fell into Monica, killing them both with the chainsaw and spraying blood everywhere, blinding Kenneth and causing the bus to crash. Michael, Steve and Kenneth survived the crash, but Steve would be killed and turned by a zombie. Kenneth and Michael boarded the remaining bus and continued on to the marina, though it also crashed just before reaching the pier. Ana and most of the other survivors got out and ran to the pier while a wounded C.J. stayed behind, blowing up the bus and a sizable portion of the horde. The fire left by the explosion held the rest of the horde back while Ana, Kenneth, Terry and Nicole boarded Steve's boat. Ana urged Michael to come with them, but Michael revealed that he had been bitten following the crash and would eventually turn. Michael stayed behind and shot himself while Kenneth, Ana, Nicole and Terry set sail on Steve's boat.
Unknown Fate[]
The survivors' escape on the water is shown in a series of scenes that appear throughout the end credits. Ana, Kenneth, Terry and Nicole spent days on the water, exhausting their supplies by the time they got to the island which they believed would be their safe haven. Unfortunately, the island was no safer than the mainland as it too was infested with zombies. Seconds after the survivors arrive, a swarm of undead emerge from the forest and attack. Ana and the others open fire at the horde as they retreat back to the boat, but it remains unknown if any of them escaped or if they all died. An Easter egg in Zack Snyder's 2021 spiritual sequel Army of the Dead references the initial outbreak too have been contained, and the survivors to have lived.