The Collector

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"Flashlight. No batteries. Half a bottle of aspirin. Well I got no ammo. Found this." Doc said and pulled out a crowbar. "I got two batteries and four bullets." Warren said and set them on the hood. "I got two in my gun and two randoms in those." Addy said and I looked up at her. "You got gum?" Warren asked her. "For repair purposes only." Addy said to her. "Remember fresh breath." Doc said into Addy's face. "Oh." She sounded. "Couple of bullets. Road flares." Vasquez said. "I got one empty clip." 10k said and I stared down at the clip. "You know what. See if these fit." Warren said. I set my bag on the edge of the car. "I got two classics." I started to pull out of my bag. "That's not going to help." Vasquez said. I dug in again. "Lets see. I got a bullet, oh and a-" "No." 10k said to me, pulling my hand down. " I was going to say, that I two bullet in my clip." I said calmly to him. "Oh." he sounded. "What did you think she was going to say?" Vasquez asked. "Nothing." 10k said as his face flushed up.

"I know this looks shaky, but we will find a way to get Murphy to California." Warren said. "Well I'm hungry." Doc said as he walked away from us. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty." Doc said to Murphy, but he didn't wake up. "Murphy! Wake up man." Doc said to him, but nothing. I walked over and stood next to Doc. I hit Murphy's feet and shook awake. "What?" Murphy asked. "Help me find some lunch. Nuts, fruit, edible tree bark." Doc said to him as I walked away from them. "Edible tree bark, huh?" Murphy asked and they walked away. I took Murphy's spot and pulled out my book. I started to read before Vasquez started to cheek our gas as 10k flatten the map and stared down at it. "Well?" Addy asked and I looked up. "Two gallons, maybe three." Vasquez said to her. "If we get ten miles a gallon." Warren said and I looked over to 10k. "It'll get us halfway to Plainview." he said to her. I looked over to see Doc walking back, be himself. "Hey, where's Murphy?" Warren asked him. "He's right behind me." Doc said as he slowly turned around. "Damnit Murphy!" he yelled.

"How do you just lose Murphy? What do you mean, he was just behind you? Really?! " Warren asked. We walked into woods and I sighed. "Some guys better not jump out and scare us." I muttered. "Murphy!" Warren yelled. "Murphy." Vasquez said loudly. "I'm gonna be really pissed if my last words are "Murphy, where are you?"" Addy said and I nodded. "We might as well be saying, "Here we are, zombies. Come and get us."" Doc said. "Murphy better hope he's not around when I reach 9,999." 10k said and I turned to stare at him. "Easy, kid. We got to find him first." Vasquez said. "Well I think it's somewhere around." Doc said as we stopped. I started to look around and try to figure this out. "Oh and don't eat the bark off them skinny trees. Starts out tangy then goes south in a hurry." Doc said to us and I was pulled back to the group. "Oh maybe it was over here." Doc said and we followed him.

We started to walk back to the car as I started to turn my eyes back to the woods. "Oh,Damn. I was hoping we'd find him here napping." Doc said as I slowly watched the woods. "That slippery bastard's gonna spend the rest of his day in shackles if I have anything to say about it. And I do." Vazquez said as I traced ever tree. "Something's off." I muttered. "Good one Legolas." I turned to Doc and stared at him. "Well look again." Warren said. 10k pulled out the map and looked down at it. "There's a few house, a small town." he said and I looked down at the map. "Well, that was down the path we were on. If he was taking it, he could be hiding in any of them." I said to him. "Bounty hunters." 10k reminded me. "Right." I said to them. "Warren, what do we do about them?" I asked her. "We'll stop anyone who gets in our way." she said to me and I nodded. "The faster we find him." I muttered.

We walked through the woods, down the path as someone calling out for Murphy was always loud. The path just kept going as I kept my eyes on the ground. "There's nothing." I muttered. "What?" Vasquez asked me. "Will, if Murphy was walking on this path, wouldn't there be prints." I said to him. He slowly nodded and look up at the woods. "He could have walked along the path." Vasquez said. "And that would cover the fact there's no prints around."I said to him. "Murphy." Doc yelled again and I sighed. I looked up the trees, waiting for movement that never came. We kept walking as I got angry at everything. "This makes no sense." I muttered. "Oh, hows that?" Vasquez asked me. "Why leave? I mean, we keep him safe for others- mostly." I said as I watched trees again. "He's a bastard." Vasquez said to me. I watched the trees as I sighed again. "With our luck someone kidnapped him."I muttered. "Ya and who took him, cause there's no one out here." Vasquez said to me. "Things aren't as things seem. People could be watching us right now, waiting to jump us." I muttered.

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