I refuse to sit in the truck. I can't bear to hear Citizen Z talk about Garnett on the radio. We found a motorcycle on the side of the road a few days ago so Addy and Mack have been riding on that. Technically only one person needs to ride in the bed of the truck but 10k refused to let me sit alone. We mostly sit in silence but his presence calms me.
As we are leaving Kansas the truck makes a weird noise and I know the radiator blew out. Doc lifts up the hood so that him and Mack can take a look while 10k crawls under the car to check for damage.
"Gee if we only had a mechanic." Murphy says sarcastically as the rest of the guys try to fix the pick up truck.
I don't have to look to know that Warren is asleep in the back seat of the pick up. Since Garnett died she hasn't been the same. She's been heart broken and mentally she has clocked out. It isn't ideal for the rest of us since she is basically our unofficial leader now.
"You gotta let her deal, man, she's got that post-traumatic stress." Doc says.
"She's got post-traumatic stress? The whole world's got post-traumatic stress. Actually there isn't anything post about it. We all got plain ol' present tense all traumatic, all stress, all at the same time. What makes her so special?" Murphy asked sarcastically.
"Why don't you just shut the hell up, man?" I say angrily to Murphy as I glare at him.
"I'm just saying people die all the time. We have a more important mission at hand and she needs to get over it. I'm the number one priority remember? Garnett knew it and it's time she realized it too." Murphy says in the same tone while meeting my glare.
"Murphy, is there a way to silence that little voice in your head that tells you to be an asshole all the time?" I ask and he rolls his eyes. He makes his way over to the window that Warren is leaning on and shakes her awake, but she just ignores him.
Mack and Addy decided to scout ahead and 10k tells us that he taped up the radiator pipe. We put all our water into it but of course selfish little Murphy tried to hoard some for himself.
"Hey, 10k's gonna drive why don't you go sit in the front with him." Doc says to me and I shake my head.
"I'm good here." I say quietly, still hugging my knees tightly to my chest.
"You need to get out of the sun and that's a doctor's order." He says jokingly to me and I crack a small smile.
"You're not even a real doctor you just watched a lot of E.R." I say while rolling my eyes and he chuckles.
"Yeah, but I know enough to tell you to get some shade." He says and I finally conceded.
I crawl into the seat next to 10k and Murphy slides in next to me. 10k starts the car and it jerks forward and he accelerates roughly.
"Take it easy Ten, who taught you how to drive?" I ask as my hands press against the dashboard to steady myself.
"Uh I did." he says with a blush and I nod.
"Keep your hands on ten and two and take it easy on the gas, you don't need to put that much pressure." I say and he nods.
I'm surprised 10k didn't know how to drive pre-z. I mean he was sixteen when the apocalypse started but so was I and my older brother Colton taught me how to drive. In all fairness though I did learn to drive when I was thirteen. When I glanced back in the rearview mirror I noticed Cassandra and Murphy both buckled up as soon as 10k told us he taught himself how to drive.
As we drive down the road 10k gets more used to driving and I relax slightly. I rest my head on his shoulder and start to fall asleep.
"Hey, wake up." 10k says shaking me awake. I lift my head and see we are stopped somewhere.
YOU ARE READING
Puppies & Kittens // ten-thousand fanfic
Fanfiction[Formerly titled: Nowhere Near the Apocalypse] [REWRITING] After surviving the first three years of the apocalypse Pasadena has pretty much given up all hope of making it back to her home in California. Her new life consists of traveling around upst...
