Puppies & Kittens // ten-thousand fanfic

Full Metal Zombie

We had to stop so Murphy could pee. That man has both a very large bladder and a very small one. He always has to go and he always takes forever. Because of the little pit stop I was using this time to practice using 10k's slingshot by shooting amish zombies.

"No thoughts, no memories, nothin." Doc says.

"Well they're not dead. They want something." Cassandra says.

"Yeah, brains." Doc counters.

"You can't want something if you're not conscious. If you don't have a soul." Cassandra says and then I hear her take a drink of water.

"When my pa was wounded, he told me to tie him up before he turned. Made me promise to show him mercy when he died. Kill the brain you know?" 10k starts and I hear the crack in his voice as he tells the story. I finish killing the last amish z and sit next to him. He turns and looks at me and I can see the pain in his eyes, "I couldn't do it. I couldn't hurt my pa, no matter what he'd become."

"So, what did you do?" I ask 10k quietly. Cassandra and Doc are silent as they listen to what 10k has to say.

"I stared into his eyes for the longest time, just looking for some sign that he was still in there." 10k continues not breaking eye contact with me until Cassandra asked,

"Did you see anything?" 10k just shook his head with a hard look in his eyes.

"What did you do?" Doc asked with a strained voice.

"Killed it." 10k bites out harshly.

"Damn, kid. You had to put down your own dad?" Doc asked and 10k glares at him.

"I didn't kill him. I killed it." 10k says harshly.

"But if it's not alive, then how did you kill it?" Cassandra asked quietly.

"Piked it." 10k says glaring at her. He points to his forehead with his knife, "Right here. My first kill. I always wished he knew, you know, somehow knew that I kept my promise."

"I get it." I say quietly while looking at the small knife in my hand. I can feel all the eyes turn to me and I look up and meet 10k's questioning eyes. "I had to mercy my little brother and sister."

"Dear god, you kids have been through a lot." Doc mutters.

"How old were they?" Cassandra asked.

"They were only eight years old at the time. Andrew and Julia. Drew and Jewls as I called them. They were twins. I was 16 at the time. We were so far from home. They were so excited to come to New York for my karate tournament and to see their big sister win. They came with me and my mom. We left my older Colton back home. My dad left before they were born and my mom worked a lot so me and Colt basically raised the two of them. They were more like my own kids than my siblings." I say while staring off into the horizon. I'm lying about my father but sometimes it's just easier to pretend like he left.

I feel the burning sensation in my throat and the hard press of tears to my eyes. I felt 10k grab my hand and I looked at him. He nodded encouragingly for me to finish my story.

"And when that day came. When I came back to our campsite after getting supplies and I saw that those things had taken over my brother and sister, I knew they were gone and those things had replaced them. I knew I couldn't let those things turn my mother who was sick but not from the zombie virus. I looked into those eyes and I didn't see my siblings. I saw it staring back at me with white eyes." I say while gritting their teeth.

"Then what happened?" Doc asked, but he already knew the answer. I stared at him dead and the eyes and I reached into my pocket.

"Well I reached into my jacket. This same jacket to be exact, it's my older brother's jacket. And I pulled out Colt's knife." I pull out the knife in my pocket and show it to them "And I picked those things."