Karma // 10k Fic // Completed

Escaping

After most of the zombies were killed we both slumped down exhausted and in pain. 10k reopened his stitches I gave him and I reopened mine from the submarine. We were both bleeding out beside each other. He grabbed my hand and looked at me. As a zombie was running towards us 10k leaned in and kissed me. I kissed back and heard the zombie's body fall in the other direction before a guy yelling for them to leave. I know that voice. It was the father in Murphy's group. The man that was after us. He took us to the side of the building and patched us up.

"He sent you after us," 10k said. 

"You're important to him." The man responded. 

"I bet," I muttered. 

"Well, now. What do we have here? That's not the mark from the vaccine. You got something different. You stole the injectors, and you used them." The man accused before searching 10k much to his dismay.  

"Where is it?" He yelled. 

"Where's what?" 10k asked. 

"Murphy's medicine." The man said. 

"I don't have it. I was ambushed. They took my motorcycle." 10k explained. We were lifted off the ground and brought to the middle of the road. 

"Motorcycle you said?" The man asked. 

"Yeah. And the medicine." I added. 

"You were traveling east?" He asked making us look to the tire imprints on the ground. 

"Yeah," 10k said. 

"So are they. Let's go." 

"Where?" I asked. 

"To get the medicine back." 

"And then?" 10k asked. 

"Take you and it back to Murphy." He said. We were pushed to a river so we could drink some water. As we cupped the water in our hands the man held a gun pointed at us. 10k picked up a rock and hit the guys head before we both ran through the trees. I ducked under his arm and helped him keep going. 10k fell to the ground after an hour of running.

"Thomas this isn't the best time," I said kneeling beside him.

"Go save yourself. Leave me" He grunted.

"I'm not leaving you" I sternly said. I grabbed his arm and started to drag his body. Will came from the direction we last ran from and stopped above us. 

"How's all this running away working out for you? Murphy offered you peace and freedom. But you ran away from that. You like fear? Is that what it is? What about pain? You like pain?" He said as he pushed down on 10k and I's wounds. We both screamed.

10k POV

"Did you know that Murphy has a plan to get the electricity going again? And running water. Can you imagine indoor plumbing again? I know I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it. But somehow when Murphy says something's gonna happen, it happens." Will said as we walked through the woods. My hands were bound and Nikkole was being carried in his arms. She still hadn't woken up yet. My body is shaking from the anger of him holding her.

"That's what I'm afraid of," I said through clenched teeth. 

"Yeah, fear. That's what attracts the zombies. That's how this whole thing got started. But Murphy's cure, it fixes all of that. How could you not want to be part of that?" He asked. 

"You don't know him like I do," I grunted. He laughed at me. 

"Hey, look. All I know is that my daughter's still alive. And me, my wife, my baby girl, for the first time in years, we're actually safe." He said. 

"You're only saying that because he bit you," I said. We stopped walking. 

"I asked him to. I begged him to actually. And it was the best decision I've ever made for my family." He said. 

"So you traded your freedom for safety. Do you even remember what you were before he bit you?" I asked. 

"Yeah. Afraid. That's what I was. But not anymore. You wanna talk about freedom? That's freedom." He said. 

"That's brainwashing." I dragged out. 

"What do you think was in that injector?" He said as he grabbed my face and turned my head so he could see my injection mark. He dropped Karma's legs and that made me mad.  

"My free will," I growled. 

"I don't think so. That medicine wasn't meant for you. It's messing with your mind. It's making you paranoid and afraid. These days, afraid and dead are the same thing. That's why Murphy sent me. To get those injectors back. So nobody else gets sick in the head like you.

He walked away from me towards a zombie before turning Nikkole away from the z and it came after me. I bent down to try and grab a rock but it was too big and not coming out of the ground. I ended up throwing my hands up and trying to fight it. I slipped and began to army crawl away from it kicking it back when it got to close.

"The world without Murphy. It's just more of this." He said. "An unending slog of fear and misery leading to certain death." He added. I crawled closer to him. He put a gun against my head. "I could put you out of your misery. Give you mercy?" He said. I felt tears prick my eyes.

"Please!" I shouted.

"Please what," He asked.

"I don't want to be afraid anymore!" I yelled saying what he wanted me to. The gun pressed closer to my head before I heard it go off. 

"Welcome back to sanity, son." He said lifting me off the ground. He cut the tie around my wrist and passed me Nik. I lifted her up into my arms and pressed a kiss to her forehead. We walked until we found the bike. Nikkole woke up and I smiled down at her. She returned it and kissed my cheek. I carefully put her legs on the ground and held her until she regained her balance and could walk herself. There was a growling heard and I saw the furry creature. I grabbed her hand and ran away leaving Will to chase after us again. We ran to the edge of a cliff before I stopped us. I looked around and saw a dead animal's head bloody on the ground. I pulled my shirt off over my head and threw it on the ground next to the head. 

"Nikkole take your shirt off," I told her reaching out to take her leather jacket off. 

"What" She asked shocked when I pulled the jacket off. 

"Nikkole I'll explain later please" I begged. She nodded and took off her black shirt leaving her in her black sports bra. I tossed her jacket back to her and grabbed our shirts off the ground and rubbed the blood from the dead animal on them before shaking as much as I could on the ground. I dropped the dead head down onto the ledge below us and lowered my body down. Nikkole walked to the edge before sitting down and scooting off. My hands instinctively went to her waist to help her down. I heard the footsteps coming closer so I pulled her down with me to hide.