All That I'm Living For ☠️

Zombaby!

"These type of people freak me out." I thought out loud as we walked up the dirt path.

I watched timidly from the back of the group as we approached the men in farming outfits. I knew that we didn't have much choice with Serena about to have her baby. Not to mention we were just shot at a few hours ago by some maniac group of survivors. We knew people were here because Vasquez had been following leads on a walkie-talkie that picked up the Zero's communications.

"Don't be so judgmental." Addy said from her spot beside me.

"Horror movies start like this." I stated, crossing my arms in front of me. This motion seemed to be a habit of mine. Whenever I became nervous, my arms almost became a barrier between the world and myself.

"Look around, we're already in one." She replied.

Addy was right but I couldn't help that any group of people who always played nice and were known to be pure, freaked me out. I mean no one can be that good, there's skeletons in everyone's closet.

I listened as Warren explained our situation to the men in overalls. The man with light colored hair gave us a look of sympathy but it quickly turned back to defensiveness. "We can't help you."

Warren sighed and tried one last plea, while motioning to Serena, who was holding her large belly.

The man shook his head. "It's not that we don't want to help you, its that we can't. There's something you don't know." The man glanced back at his two companions before continuing. "We have Anthrax here." His voice was smooth and the slight accent gave the sentence a creep factor.

Warren perked up at his reasoning. She backed away a few steps, which caused us all to do the same. "We understand and we should get going."

The man let his lips curl up into a warming smile and nodded his head in a silent goodbye.

I turned and began walking down the path towards the truck. I watched the beautifully kept green grass reflect the sunlight.

I heard a thud from behind me. When I turned around to see what caused it, I saw 10K laying on the ground. In a second I was by his side before I was being pulled away by Vasquez. "It's Anthrax. Let Doc handle it, he's been vaccinated. The last thing we need is two sick people."

My heart was beating a mile a minute. I didn't know much about Anthrax other than what I had seen in the news or in action movies pre-apocalypse. Doc was carrying 10K towards the men who motioned for us to come back. Probably feeling guilty because they were the ones who caused this.

10K was rushed into a room full of sick people who were all infected with Anthrax. I watched as a women sat on the small stool next to 10K and used a rag to clean off all the white powder. The next think I knew, Serena was screaming bloody murder. The group rushed towards her and took her out of the sick room and towards another barn. Doc and I stayed with 10K, still watching the women clean him up and administer some antibiotics.

"Doc, he's going to be okay right?" I asked.

"With those antibiotics he should be back to kicking Zs asses soon enough." He answered.

The women gave us a side glance and shook her head. She quickly gathered her things and high tailed it towards the door. I grabbed her by the arm. She turned to look at me, fear in her eyes. I loosened my grip and softened my expression. "Mam, there's enough antibiotics right?"

She looked at me with saddened eyes. "No." Her voice was almost inaudible.

"No?" I repeated back. Maybe too loudly because she flinched in front of me. I looked back to the multiple sick people, "You're rationing just to keep them alive a little while longer."

She nodded. "We aren't meant to choose who lives and who dies."

"I can choose. How about you save your strongest, your most valuable? 10K is strong and valuable to us. Get it?" My anger rose. Who just lets people lay around being miserable, while prolonging their misery, for them to die anyway?

"Cora, let her go." Doc said from behind me. I realized I was still holding on to the women and she was frozen in fright. As soon as I let go, she was rushing back to wherever she came from.

"I don't get it." I turned to Doc before storming back into the sick bay and sitting on the stool next to 10K.

I watched his chest rise and fall in a labored breath. The antibiotics allowed his body to retrieve enough strength to wake up. His eyes falling on me and he smiled weakly. "I'm going to get you those antibiotics and we are getting out of here." I said in a hushed voice, so that no one else could hear me.

10K squeezed my hand but didn't reply. I stayed there the rest of the day.