Fracking Apocalypse - a ZNation 10K/Tommy Fanfiction

S8E03

"I just need something for the pain." He insisted holding his head, "I have important business to get back to."

"You can forget the business." Doc tried to tell him.

"That's not an option." He continued.

"Well if you don't let me run some tests and see what's going on it's quite possible you won't be back to business at all this week." Hastings said sternly, "Head injuries can be much worse on the inside then they appear. Please."

She gestured to the ambulance in the parking lot, it had a good amount of her medical equipment in it and was Murphy's best shot. Pacifica was mostly Talkers so their medicine and infirmary were just the bare bones.

Murphy rolled his eyes but allowed it. He hopped in the ambulance as Hastings shut the door and started asking him questions. It reminded him too much of when he'd been on that submarine with Dr. Merch and she'd been questioning him about any STD's he might have, if he craved brains, and his blood relatives. Dr. Hastings questions were at least more about how his head had been, his vision and other symptoms. She shone a small flashlight in his eyes and looked at his pupils as she asked him to follow the light as she moved the flashlight around. She applied pressure to different parts of his skull asking how much it hurt on a scale from one to ten.

"Ah! Twelve!" he shouted as she pressed on the exact spot where he'd been bludgeoned. She had no reaction, only made some notes on her clipboard.

"What was it that hit you Mr. Murphy?" she asked adjusting her glasses.

"I didn't see it." He asked fixing his collar and avoiding eye contact.

"Do you know why anyone would attack you so violently?"

He looked at her with a you-got-to-be-kidding-me expression, "It's the apocalypse."

"Very well." She said returning to her clipboard. It became too quiet for his liking so he coughed once, twice, a third time. Then the silence became too much for his nerves.

"So. . . you were part of the CDC in California?" he began, attempting to make small talk.

"Yes." She replied, "I had been employed by Mount Wilson for several years before the outbreak."

"And your colleagues just up and left you for paradise in Zona?"

"We were infiltrated by a horde of zombies." She replied, "That's what initiated their emergency escape plan. The hordes of zombies migrating south tend to pair up and form mega herds. Our response team wasn't well equipped enough to handle such a swarm."

"How did you escape?"

"I had contacted Citizen Z while I was hiding. When the connection started to die I followed some of my fellow workers where they were fleeing. We might not have had clearance for the submarine but there were contingency plans in place. Rooms full of food and batteries. Supplies in case the worst should happen. It kept us going while the herd passed through. After that we lived in the run down lab hoping the military would show up."

"I'm guessing they didn't."

Hastings finally tore her eyes from her papers to look at him, "No. They didn't. But Rita did."

Something about the way she said it made him shut up, like if he continued the conversation would become a lot more personal. Him and personal conversations didn't mix and it seemed the doctor also wanted to keep their interaction professional.

"Now." She said clicking her pen again, "Have you ever had headaches this bad prior to your injury?"

He rolled his eyes, great, they were back to more questions.