Karma // 10k Fic // Completed

Another Day, Another Box

Everybody okay?" Warren asked.

"The sergeant isn't waking up." Lucy said.

"She'll come around. Here just raise her head. Shake her a little bit." Doc told her.

"What fresh hell is this?" Murphy asked.

"Feedin' time." A man said.

"Oh, great. I'm starving. What's on the menu?" Murphy asked.

a motor started and rattling could be heard from above the metal cage we were all in.

"What is that?" Murphy asked as the red and brown pellets fell from the tube.

"Dog food." Doc said.

"I love dog food." Tommy said excited. I raised an eyebrow at the man I had kissed not too long ago.

"It's good. Not even stale. Hint of chicken. Subtle notes of corn. And fortified. That's puppy chow." Doc said.

"Mmm. Puppy chow's my stuff, man. Oh, remember in Kansas when we were so starved we couldn't even walk? And then we found that fifty pound bag of Gravy Train." Tommy said.

"Man, I can taste it now. Add a little water, warm it up in the sun, and get that gravy going. That's the next best thing to home cooking." Doc said.

"Hey pal, why are they just milling around like that?" Warren asked.

"They keep them well fed. But... step out of the cage, and they'll attack." He explained.

"What do they feed them?" Warren asked.

"Not dog food." The man said.

"The Sarge is waking up." Lucy said.

"Where am I?" She jolted up.

"Easy. Still the Apocalypse." Warren said.

"Oh." She sighed.

"And we saved you some Puppy Chow." Tommy said.

"Oh. Bird. Bird! Bird! I saw a bird! It was alive when I got it." Lilly said.

"Let me see that bird." Murphy asked.

"Wait. If a bird can get in, then there must be a way out of here." Warren said.

"I saw sunlight." Lilly said.

"Murphy?" Doc asked.

"Hmm?" Murphy asked.  

"Did you eat the bird?" Doc asked. Murphy coughed out feathers.

"No." He said.

"Nevermind that. Look, she saw daylight, which means we have a chance. You think you could find your way back there again?" Warren asked.

"If I had a map." Lilly said.

"All right. So we know the stairwell leads to the surface" Warren said.

"Yeah, I think I saw an emergency exit door off that hallway with hell's plumbing. Well, either that or it was an actual door to hell." Doc said.

"Okay. So can you show me where?" Warren asked.

"Well, I think it was like maybe like here. Right there. Maybe here?" Doc said.

"No, I think it was more over here. We went around three turns." Tommy said.

"Yeah, kid's right." Doc mentioned. I laughed.

"Just stay away from this gate over here. Torso zombie." The new guy said.

"Torso zombie?" I asked humored.

"All right, that's a good start. Anybody else have any other landmarks?" Warren asked.