Karma // 10k Fic // Completed

Losing Murphy

"Flashlight. No batteries. Half a bottle of aspirin. Well, I got no ammo." Doc said taking his things out of his bag and putting them on the hood of the vehicle. "Found this." He said holding up a crowbar. 

"I got two batteries and four bullets," Warren said pulling her things out and adding to the pile. 

"I got two in my gun and two randoms in those," Addy said. 

"You got gum?" Warren asked. 

"For repair purposes only," Addy warned. 

"Remember fresh breath." Doc breathed on Addy making her shudder.

"A couple of bullets. Road flares." Vasquez said. 

"I got one empty clip." 10k said. 

"You know what. See if these fit." Addy handed him the bullets she found.

"I got four shots and an empty clip as well," I said. 

"I know this looks shaky, but we will find a way to get Murphy to California." Warren said. 

"Well, I'm hungry. Hey, Sleeping Beauty." Doc called to Murphy sleeping in the car. "Help me find some lunch. Nuts, fruit, edible tree bark." He said once Murphy was awake. 

"Edible tree bark, huh?" Murphy groaned leaving with him. 10k and I pulled out the map and looked over it while Vasquez was checking the gas.

"Two gallons, maybe three." He spoke up. 

"If we get ten miles a gallon," Warren asked.  

"It'll get us halfway to Plainview." 10k said. 

"Hey, where's Murphy?" I asked Doc.

"He's right behind me." Doc turned around. "Damn it, Murphy!" Doc yelled. 

"How do you just lose Murphy?" Warren asked as we all ventured into the woods to go find our lost member. "What do you mean, he was just behind you? Really?!" Warren said.

"I'm gonna be really pissed if my last words are 'Murphy, where are you?'" Addy said as we walked up the hill. 

"We might as well be saying, 'Here we are, zombies. Come and get us.'" Doc said throwing his hands out. 

"Murphy better hope he's not around when I reach 9,999." 10k said. 

"Easy, kid. We got to find him first." Vasquez eased. 

"Well I think it's somewhere around- Oh and don't eat the bark off them skinny trees. Starts out tangy then goes south in a hurry. Oh, maybe it was over here." Doc said as he led the way.

"I was hoping we'd find him here napping." Doc said as we came back to the car. 

"That slippery bastard's gonna spend the rest of his day in shackles if I have anything to say about it." Vasquez said. We drove to the closest town. I looked in buildings for ammo and stuff, I didn't really bother looking for Murphy. He'd show up eventually.

"Ghost town." Addy said as she and Doc came to join the forming circle. 

"Nothing but quiet." 10k said. 

"Nothing. No one here." Vasquez said. All of us were together now. 

"Without Murphy, there's no mission. Keep moving." Warren ordered. 

"For as important as this guy is, we sure lose him a lot." Vasquez said. I can only agree with him. We all yelled for Murphy and continued to look for him.

Three hours later

"We need to fan out or we won't find Murphy by nightfall," Warren said.