S6E05:
Doc and Addy had left 10K to try and coax Bailey from the bathroom, after he kept begging through the door to be let in there was a small click and the bathroom door opened a sliver but Bailey didn't come out. Instead 10K pushed open the door and went inside before closing it behind him again. He found Bailey sitting on the floor with her knees to her chest and her head resting on them so she was facing away from him. He wasn't really sure what to say so he just sat down on the floor next to her and gave her a minute. He gave himself a minute too, his mind still spinning over what Murphy had said. Judging by everyone else's reaction and the various glares they'd given Murphy what he said had been true but 10K still wanted to hear it from Bailey.
"Was what Murphy said true?" he asked after a moment of quiet, "Are you. . . ?"
She leaned back and looked at him and nodded. Her eyes were a little red and she had some wetness on her face.
"We're going to have. . . ?"
She nodded again and sniffled. He scooted closer and wrapped his arm around her bringing her closer to him and she leaned her head into his chest.
"I didn't want you to find out like that." She said so quietly he almost didn't hear her. He kissed the top of her head before resting his cheek on it and tightening his hold on her.
"How long have you known?"
"Just since yesterday." She admitted.
Well that made sense, he thought, that must have been the test she'd been talking about Red giving her. He thought it was a blood test or something like that, a pregnancy test never even crossed his mind.
"But we haven't even been –"
"When you first got here." She reminded him and he remembered when he'd gotten to Altura and found out she wasn't dead.
"Oh." Then the quiet took over for a bit again as he rubbed her arm and she snuggled into him resting her hand on his chest. "It's gonna be okay."
"What are we going to do?" she asked miserably.
He rubbed up and down her arm more, "We're going to have a baby, the rest we'll just figure out as we go along. We'll find a way, don't worry."
"It's not that simple though." She said moving so her head wasn't resting against him anymore and he felt a loss at the lack of contact. "We can't just go to the store and get baby food, formula and diapers anymore."
"Bailey, we'll find a way." He repeated leaning forward and resting one elbow on his bent knee, "You'll be here to feed the baby so we won't need formula, we can mash any vegetable and make our own baby food –"
"What about everything else though?" she asked getting up and pacing in the small space of the bathroom as she crossed her arms, "What if there's a complication while I'm pregnant? What if the baby ends up with some birth defect? We don't have surgeons or an ICU or the medicine or technology to fix any of that. What if something goes wrong?"
"Bailey, we'll find a –"
"Don't say 'way'!" she shouted stopping him.
He hesitated and stuttered, licking his lip before shrugging, "We'll find a. . . path?"
Bailey let out a long sigh and bent her head back to look at the ceiling. When she turned her head again she put her hands over her face collecting herself before she looked back at him. "What path? What way? Show me a solution, show me that way. If something happened tomorrow what would our plan be?"
She moved to her knees and looked him in the eye desperate for an answer that would relax her.
"Did I ever tell you about my mom?" he began and saw her confusion at the sudden change of subject, "She was a veterinarian - before she had me and became a stay at home mom – but sometimes people would bring their pets to her if they couldn't afford a vet and she'd look them over. One time this man brought his dog over because she was expecting puppies. He wasn't sure what to do so my mom helped make a bed for the dog and she let me help her by getting blankets and other stuff she needed. I remember when the dog was having the puppies, she didn't have a doctor coaching her through it or machines monitoring everything, she just plopped herself down so she was comfortable and she did what her instincts told her to do. That's our plan. We're going to take it one day at a time and whatever life throws at us we're going to find what we need to make it work and face it. People have been having babies for thousands of years, way before we had any of that other stuff. We're going to be okay. I'm going to make sure you and the baby are going to be okay no matter what."
Bailey looked touched as she leaned back over and hugged him. He rubbed her back again soothingly before she muttered into his shoulder, "You're not mad?"
He pulled away from their embrace to look at her, "Why would I be mad?"
She shrugged, "Because I didn't tell you. Because Murphy of all people did."
"Well yeah but its Murphy." He said, "I'm always mad at him."
She chuckled and it made him smile.
"So this is why you've been getting sick? You're just pregnant, everything's normal?"
She nodded, "Yeah I'm fine."
"Good." He said kissing her temple and pulling her close, "I was so worried you were sick with something we wouldn't be able to cure."
"I'm sorry I made you worry." She said wrapping her arm around his waist. They sat in the quiet for a little longer while he rested his head on hers. He kept glancing down at her flat stomach still wrapping his head around the idea that she was pregnant. She must have caught him looking because then she broke the silence.
"Are you happy about this?"
He hesitated trying to think of his answer. "No –" he began and she looked away from him trying to get out of his embrace, "I'm. . . ecstatic, I think." That made her pause and turn back to him, "I've never been ecstatic before so I'm not sure. Aren't you happy about it?" he worried seeing the tears in her eyes.
She wiped them away before they could fall and chuckled halfheartedly, "I – I haven't moved past nervous yet." She admitted as she leaned back against the wall again and he rested his hand on her knee.
"I'm nervous too, but we'll figure it out – together. Just like we've done everything else." She smiled at him and he smiled back before he leaned in and kissed her wanting to take away all the doubt and worry in her mind.
"We're going to have a baby." He whispered in awe, smiling when he pulled away and she nodded now grinning from ear to ear, "I'm going to be a Papa."
«»
About a week passed as George ordered Altura to go into lockdown. Not that anyone was leaving anyway, the light snowfall they'd had was followed by another storm and now there was a good few inches of snow that covered the ground. It left tracks and their feet sunk into it as they walked, people flooded the supply building asking for what more they could trade for but Bailey could only give out so much. She began to worry about what would happen when enough people didn't get the food and blankets and coats they were demanding, would they riot? Would they break down the door and take what they wanted at the expense of others? It reminded her of the start of the outbreak when people were so driven by their fear they forgot about caring for anyone else, for caring that humanity survived, only concerned that they would live. She didn't want to relive that and she knew George didn't want that for the new world either but George was a bit busy at the moment as she and Warren investigated the murder Citizen Z had stumbled upon. The man who had been killed didn't have any enemies, he'd been military Pre-Z and at the start of the outbreak; since moving north he'd helped out in Altura's community whenever he could. Bailey knew it only added to the people's fear that there was a killer among them and George was having trouble keeping everyone calm. Bailey would have felt better if they'd at least seen someone fleeing the crime scene but the killer couldn't even do that. With the snow on the ground they'd leave tracks and be caught that much easier and Bailey knew how people worked, if the killer felt trapped or backed into a corner they might get paranoid and anxious and kill again.
Tommy had tried telling her it would be okay - on the rare occasion he was home long enough to talk. 10K had been busy doing overtime along with the other guards and now he had come home exhausted every night that week and would fall asleep the second he was through the door. Bailey didn't ever wake him, knowing he needed his rest or his immune system would get weak. To make matters even worse people were starting to get sick and she didn't want 10K to become one of them. Right now it was just the common cold and sniffles, things that Red could handle, but it was a reminder that there was one more thing working against them right now.
Warren POV
She was pacing in George's office in the community building on the floor above the infirmary wing. She knew George had a lot on her plate right now and knew she felt she was being tested as a leader. Warren had faith in her though, if she could overcome the bombings and starving Talkers and a crumbling Newmerica then she could handle one killer trapped within their own walls.
"Citizen Z's been running background checks on everyone in Altura, every application, every citizenship form, and has been cross referencing those names and old addresses to locate any information from old NSA databases to try and get us a suspects list. People with a past history of violence, or criminal records." George listed from where she sat at her desk, there was still a map of Newmerica and all the outposts now covered by various stacks of papers. There were forms detailing import and export routes that were trying to deliver their supplies to the needy communities before more snow could fall and make traveling conditions even worse. One stack was just reports from supervisors saying how much their division had worked and earned, the problem was without supplies people weren't getting paid in their usual rations and soon they'd probably stop going to work at all if they weren't getting their promised amounts of food. Warren's eyes lingered on that pile of paper work in particular before she stopped pacing the room and approached George.
"I know it's probably not on your mind right now but we need to go back to looking at our governments roots." She began as George looked up from her files to her, "We got the constitution passed, we elected to keep Talkers as citizens and we elected you leader but there's still a lot more that needs to be done."
"First we need supplies and we need to find whoever killed –"
"No." Warren interrupted though her voice was calm, "We need to provide the people with a stable government. That's what CZ said Altura is meant to provide while other outposts export their supplies. We're their security. And we're failing them."
"Well what do you suggest we do, sheriff?" George asked addressing Warren by her new position title.
"We need a justice system, people have to know there are consequences for breaking the rules. That's how we can keep this community from falling apart. We already have the guards keeping as much order as they can but soon people are going to ask what the consequences are if they break the rules, and we need something more proactive than just saying we'll shoot you. We need an acting judge, a court system, something fair and just to determine appropriate punishment for people's actions. That's how we'll keep people from just breaking into the supply building and taking what they want. That's how we'll keep people feeling secure, that's how we'll treat people who kill our citizens within our walls."
"So you're saying two birds, one stone." George said following her train of thought.
"There's no point in having a constitution if we can't enforce it. And we need someone who's going to make fair punishments. Not someone like Estes who punishes everyone with a bullet to the head. Once we have that, people will think twice about breaking the rules which will keep order while we wait for more supplies to arrive. It will eliminate the possibility of people rioting and refusing to work if they're not getting their pay. And with that problem solved we can use more of our time looking for the killer, but if we focus all our energy on finding our culprit without looking at the condition of our people then Altura will slide through our fingers while our backs are turned."
George was quiet for a long while but it didn't look like she was going to turn down Warren's idea, instead it looked like she was thinking things over as she bit her lip and tapped her chin with her pencil.
"There is one guy. . ." she began, "Ray, he worked in the justice system Pre-Z but I don't know the specifics. He was the one who helped us organize a vote before you got to Altura, he knew all the ins and outs. He's a good guy, one of the first Alturan citizens, and I know he'd be fair and the people would accept his rulings, he's friends with almost everyone so we know he wouldn't be locking people up left and right."
Third Person POV
Doc had joined Red in the infirmary to help her as more people, so far guards who'd been working shifts outside and children who'd been playing in the snow, came into the infirmary with complaints of sore throats, runny noses and bad coughs keeping them up at night. Right now it was nothing they couldn't handle and they had the medicine to distribute for their patients but it did take both of them to keep up with the incoming people and whenever they did have a free moment Doc noticed how Red looked exhausted as she sat on a cot looking like she really wanted to take a nap.
"Hey, you good?" Doc asked walking over to her.
"Yeah." She said crossing her arms, "Just really wish I could rest my eyes for a second."
"Then you should." He encouraged, "These people rely on you and if you get too run down you could get sick too and then what? We don't have another doctor."
"You seem to know what you're doing." She pointed out with a smile.
"Only so long as the cough drops and cold medicine hold up." He replied, "You've got more training then I do at this point."
"Yeah but it won't help either if we run out of medicine." Red replied laying back on the bed, "Or if these people's symptoms get worse."
"Yeah, flu and pneumonia are going to be our big enemy now, never mind the zombies."
Red shook her head, "Illness and no medicine would mean we start losing people, then we get a spike in our Talker population and I'm not sure if we have enough bizkits to handle that and even getting more would mean getting a truck from Limbo to here through the snow." She shook her head again as they both remembered what a community full of starving Talkers looked like, it wasn't pretty. Then Red sat up from the bed and got up, "There has to be more that I can do."
"Red you're only human, you should maybe take some time to rest –"
"No, there has to be more I can do for these people then just pass out medicine." She said looking around the infirmary for an answer.
Murphy POV
While Red was tending to the ill in the infirmary he figured it was the perfect time to sneak around Sun Mei's lab again. He already knew where not to look for help as he shuffled through things looking for some notes Sun Mei might have kept. When he'd bitten into her brain he'd gotten not only the formula for the cure but also a problem. According to Dr. Sun and her research his own blood changed so frequently from the Merch vaccine, the Zona cure, the Mad Z bite, Lucy's bite and finally the Black Rain and whatever had been in that canister that sprayed him that it was almost impossible to replicate the cure. He'd have to go through his own blood and hope that whatever gene or antibody she'd used would appear again as his blood kept changing. He was hoping to get his hands on her notes because he was also curious to see what negative side effects the other antibodies in his blood had produced. He knew if he told anyone this they'd think he was trying to create some kind of biological weapon when really he was just curious, and since he didn't need the cure himself why not take a little time to have some fun? After all, they all thought being a blend was a bad side effect which he still disagreed with. Who knew what other genetic combinations he could make? Things that Sun Mei hadn't been willing to do, things her morals hadn't let her do. Thankfully for him, he didn't have nearly as many morals as the others.
He kept leafing through drawers and cabinets until he found what he was looking for – files. They were all in manila folders with odd abbreviated labels so he couldn't tell what was what. Luckily, he had a whole truck that he'd used to transport the bizkits in so all he had to do was smuggle out a few folders at a time and soon he'd have everything little Red had been helping the doctor work on. Then he'd be back to Limbo and thanks to the snow the others wouldn't be able to come after him to get it back or ask questions until the spring and by then who knew what he'd cook up.
10K POV
He was on his third overtime shift in a row, after the news of the killing had gotten around he and Dave – his co-supervisor - had decided to double the number of guards on each shift but with some of them starting to get sick they were losing bodies to do actual perimeter checks which is how he'd gotten stuck doing it this time. He held his gun in his left hand while he brought his right forearm to cover his mouth while he yawned as he walked along the gate checking for anything suspicious or breached. He couldn't wait until he finished this walk around, then he was free to go home and sleep for a few hours.
When he reached the patched section of hole in the fence, back from when Estes had framed Dante and Warren had CZ cut the hole back open so she George and Doc could sneak out to look for him, he paused. This was also the place where CZ had found the body and they'd checked and double checked the patched fence afterward just to make sure someone else hadn't pulled the same stunt they had to sneak out. But there had been that light layer of snow and they'd seen no tracks on the other side of the fence so they quickly crossed off that possibility.
10K didn't like any of it, it left a bad taste in his mouth and made his gut tie up in knots. His mind drifted to Bailey and how she was carrying his child, and that only made him feel worse about this whole thing. He wanted her to be safe, he wanted their kid to grow up someplace safe. Which meant they had to find whoever had killed that ex-military guy and he had to do all he could to help. He yawned again almost like his body was protesting that thought reminding him that he needed his sleep too, otherwise he risked getting sick and the Altura guard would be down one more man. He shivered and pulled his jacket tighter around him, it probably would have helped to zip it up but he still hadn't been able to do that one handed yet, and the antler didn't help him out. He could have asked someone but his pride stopped him though now with the cold getting to his skin he was starting to think he should have just swallowed his pride and asked for help.
He kept making his way along the fence counting the steps he took and knowing with each one he was closer to getting back to his warm home and soft bed.
Third Person POV
Red had grabbed some old posters from the election and turned them over to their blank side and began writing with a large sharpie marker. She wrote in all caps across the tops 'Tips to Stay Well' and started listing things under it like, covering your mouth when you cough, washing your hands or using hand sanitizer, etc. If she could keep enough people from getting sick in the first place then they could save their medicine for those who really needed it and hopefully then they'd have enough to go around. It also gave her a chance to get out of the infirmary and get some fresh air herself. Being cooped up all day made her sometimes miss when she was living outside or spending her days walking through forests fighting zombies.
As she was hanging the posters up outside she noticed a very familiar guard headed her way as he was checking the fence along the perimeter.
"Hey Red." 10K greeted her when he saw her and she gave him a small smile.
"10K, how have you been, ya know with. . . everything?" she asked clearly meaning Bailey's pregnancy.
He shrugged, "Haven't really had time to think about it." He admitted, "Between extra shifts, and all the hours Bailey's been working at the supply building we just kinda go home, eat and crash."
"I know what you mean." She said in agreement, "I wake up in the morning and still feel tired. Thankfully Doc's been giving me a hand."
"Yeah Doc's great with thinking up stuff last minute when you need him to." He said thinking back to when they were in that hotel and Doc had helped a guy who'd been shot by sticking Murphy's bleeding thumb into his mouth and he'd called it 'alternative medicine'.
"That will help when we run out of medicine to give the patients." She said sadly pressing down on the corner of the poster she'd just stuck to the side of the building they were near.
10K looked at her with concern, "Are you running low already? I thought Altura would be good for at least another month or two. Are that many people getting sick?"
"Not right now, it's just the simple stuff but I can't shake the feeling that we're going to run low sooner rather than later, then people will be at my door demanding I give them more like they're doing to Bailey at the supply building right now. And when people get desperate. . ."
"They can get violent." He finished her thought knowing how likely it was to happen.
"I just wish we had more." She said crossing her arms and resting her back on the building, "But I guess that's the apocalypse, it's not like there's an outpost out there just giving medicine away."
He nodded his head then his eyes got a little bigger like he'd just thought of something, "Or maybe one will."
"What?" she asked having barely heard him and knew what she thought she heard must be wrong.
"I've got to go see Warren and George." He said before taking off.