S6E08:
10K POV
They'd gotten most of the equipment back inside but there was still more to do in the outer fields. Despite the cold he liked this more than wrangling starving Talkers like the last time he'd been here and some of those Talkers like Joe and Alma turned out to be really nice people. He and Addy had wandered a bit further off heading for a plow that would hook up to the tractor. He went around the right to start to dig it out and Addy went around the left. When they'd cleared the snow from around it Addy left to go get more farmhands to help pull it into the barn.
That was when he heard the scream. It wasn't a high pitched shriek of terror, it sounded more like someone struggling. He looked up and saw that more of those frozen Z's had made their way through the snow and Addy was having trouble fighting all of them off. 10K quickly ran over and started using his handgun to mercy them since he'd left his rifle in the barn. When one got too close and got a good grip on him he wrestled it for a bit, trying to shove it off before its teeth could take a bite out of him. He didn't need to feel pain like that ever again.
"Addy!" he heard a shout but didn't know who's voice it was or what direction it had come from.
"10K!" he heard another call and knew that voice was Bailey's. He pushed at the zombie harder until it fell back into the snow and 10K brought up his left hand, still holding his gun, and shot the zombie in the head making a splatter of dark blood color the snow. He looked up and saw Addy backpedaling as a Z charged at her, she readied her Z Whacker and knocked the feet out from under the zombie before she brought her bat down on its face giving it mercy. When she did, the spikes went right through the Z's head cracking its skull and the ground below it. Then the cracks spread and Addy's eye widened. She had been backed up onto the frozen river.
The river provided irrigation to the farm and had been dried up last time they were there because of the attacks on the Waterkeepers. But since the dam was repaired the water had been flowing normally again which now made a hazard none of them had thought of and covered by the snow they hadn't even realized they were so close to it.
The cracking sound continued as Addy moved forward trying to get off the river quickly, but then it collapsed from under her and she fell into the freezing water. It wasn't deep enough to submerge her but the cold temperature would be enough to make her body go into shock which alone would be a big enough threat to her life. 10K ran for her and saw Bailey and Murphy coming up alongside him also running. Finn and a few others were further back and were rushing over too but Bailey, worried for her friend, was moving the quickest. 10K changed direction and ran for her instead, grabbing her and holding her back.
"Addy!" she shouted as Murphy charged forward and she struggled to get out of 10K's grip but he held onto her as she fought him. Murphy went right into the water, going in to above his knees and grabbed Addy, who was struggling among the large slabs of ice, and hauled her out onto the snow. Even from further away 10K could see she was shivering and only when she was out of the water did he let Bailey go and they ran over to help Addy. She was shaking from the cold and he helped Murphy grab her and they started moving her closer to the barn. Finn caught up with them and threw his coat over Addy to try and help keep in her body heat.
They got her into the barn and Finn took off her soaked clothes and replaced them with dry ones as the others started to pile blankets on top of her. She was still conscious which was good but she was shaking violently and her teeth were chattering so bad they were surprised they weren't chipping.
CZ POV
He'd been going through the old files he'd had on Hammond and the original Delta X-ray Delta team that had been charged with taking Murphy from New York to the CDC in California years ago. He hadn't seen this log since he'd cataloged Hammond's death and now he was going through it with a fine tooth comb. The members who seemed to have made the fake identities all had been assumed dead. Forrest, Jacob, and Justin had been marked as 'hostile fire' while Deric and Jesse were simply listed as 'unknown'. He was shocked to find out that wasn't the case at all. Instead it looked like they'd faked their deaths to get out of the mission and save themselves. Understandable, he shrugged, Murphy wasn't the easiest person to get along with or the most grateful person in the world. It wasn't a stretch to think that these members had thought it would be a better use of their time saving their own lives instead of the life of an ex-con. Not everyone had the dedication and loyalty that Roberta Warren had.
Speaking of Warren, since she was acting as sheriff he'd contacted her and let her know he'd come across information that she and George would be eager to know. He looked at the record of the victim again and tried to find out why these DXD members would have killed him. Well, he had been ex-military, it was possible he'd known one of them, maybe he'd even heard of the killer 'dying' on that mission years ago and found it odd to see them walking around Altura. There could have even been a conflict, he thought, going AWOL was a shameful thing to do, even by apocalypse standards, it could have started a fight that ended with the man's death.
He sighed and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his beard. If that was the case and someone else recognized any one of these AWOL soldiers they could respond violently again if their abandonment of their position came to light. Then there was a knock on the door.
"Come in." he called and George and Warren entered.
"Hey, you find our guy yet?" Warren asked shutting the door and stepping into the room assuming that's why he'd called them there.
"I may have found a lot more than just our guy." He said waving her over to the screen and bringing up Hammond's file, "Remember him?"
"Lieutenant Hammond." Warren said looking at the picture of the man, the only thing that was missing was his scar since the picture was taken Pre-Z.
"Who's he?" George asked.
"He was the one who brought Murphy to our camp in New York." Warren explained, "He was the last surviving member of Delta X-ray Delta before we joined him after Camp Blue Sky went up in smoke."
"Yeah. . . turns out, he wasn't the last surviving member." He told them and saw Warren's eyes get wider. "See these names? They're all people who ran out on the mission and turned up here using fake aliases."
"You think one of them might be the killer?" George asked getting closer to the screen.
"Our victim is ex-military. That could be our connection."
"If one of these guys was frightened enough that his identity would be found out that he'd kill, then what's going to happen when we go to bring him in?" Warren asked.
"He could be a loose cannon." George said looking worried as she turned to Warren, "We don't need a shootout and we don't need more bodies piling up."
"Then we have to do this quietly." Warren said putting her hands on her hips. Then her radio went off and one of the guard's voices came through the static.
"Warren, calling Warren." Dave's voice echoed.
She took the radio from her belt and pressed the button. "This is Warren, go ahead Dave."
"We've got a situation by the Memorial Wall. Someone reported a 'disruption of the peace' it looks like an arguing couple but we might need some back up."
"On my way." She replied before putting the radio back and looking at them, "What were you saying about a loose cannon?"
Warren POV
When they got to the Memorial Wall they found Dave standing far back from the arguing couple, it looked like he was trying to keep the area clear of bystanders and eavesdroppers as he waved people along telling them to get back to their lives. With so many people in Altura getting sick from the weather they didn't have enough guards to step in and keep the peace and they couldn't risk a guard getting beat up and become incapable of covering his shift because they were so understaffed. Dave wasn't alone though, it looked like Ray had also been in the area and had decided to pitch in. Warren knew from talking to George that Ray had been a minister Pre-Z along with working in the justice system; in the middle of so much chaos breaking out it was nice to see some people step up and help, just out of the goodness of their hearts.
Dave gave her a nod as she passed with George and CZ as she told the pair of men they'd handle it and Dave left to return to his post as Ray also left to get back to his job. CZ had the files of their suspects on the phone in his hand and she was curious to see if this man matched any of those pictures. As they got closer they could see the man was Jack Eastwood, the one she'd talked to when they picked up his group in New York. He was spitting through his teeth at the woman, his face was red in anger and he kept making gestures with his hands that led them to believe he was probably threatening her. She on the other hand had a stone cold glare in her eyes and tears running silently down her face.
"That's the wife of the guy who was killed." George whispered to them as they got nearer. Now they could see it wasn't just the man and the woman, there were two more men with them who looked like they were helping Jack corral the woman against the wall so she couldn't run off and get help. Citizen Z nudged Warren's shoulder and looked down at his phone, these three were all on their suspects list. And according to CZ's records Jack Eastwood's real name was Sergeant Forrest Gordon. Which made the two men with him Deric Farrell and Jacob Walker. Then the woman said something and the Sergeant snapped. He got in her face with one stride and grabbed her upper arm roughly giving her a shake.
"Hey!" Warren shouted getting their attention and the man let go of the woman after he shoved her to the ground. His friends both drew handguns and pointed them at their trio. Warren raised her hands and tried to calm them down before the situation got out of hand. For all these men knew, their secret was safe, and it was just this argument Warren was trying to break up.
"Alright, alright." Warren said in her usual strict tone, "Look, tensions have been high since our supplies got cut off from the snow. Let's all just calm down."
The two men looked at each other with their eyebrows scrunched angrily as they turned back to her and lowered their guns.
"You alright mam?" George asked helping the woman up from the ground as Sergeant Gordon glared at her in a way that told her to keep her mouth shut. She nodded in response to George's question but didn't look at her keeping her own harsh stare on the man who'd nearly attacked her, maybe even killed her, and probably would have if they hadn't shown up. Warren looked from the woman to the three men, maybe she could use this to get them to come with her and she could lock them in some old meeting rooms until they could detain them. She'd have to be crafty about it, Bailey-style crafty. She could tell from their shifty eyes and tense body language they were already on edge and the fact that two of them had loaded guns in their hands wasn't going to help at all.
"Alright, so how about we make this nice and easy okay?" she asked and noticed them all give each other looks again. "Hey I hate the paperwork." She tried to joke to ease the tension, "But with the new world coming together it seems to be making a comeback. So can you guys just help me out and I can file the disturbance report and we all can get back to our lives?"
They looked at each other again but seemed to be calming down since her words made them believe this had nothing to do with the killing last week. The two men put their guns away and stepped forward, one went with George and one walked beside Warren. The Sergeant glanced at Citizen Z who tried to give him a reassuring look, but then he glanced down at the phone in CZ's hand which still had the open file on Hammond's group and in the next moment everything happened very fast.
The Sergeant realized by the screen they must be onto them. He knocked his beefy arm into CZ's face making him stumble and fall back. His two friends turned to see what had happened and George and Warren quickly drew their guns and pressed them to the back of their heads. Warren quickly grabbed the gun off the man in front of her and aimed at the third guy who was now sprinting away after pushing Citizen Z.
"Freeze Forrest!" she shouted but he kept running so she had no choice but to fire. Her shots missed though as the Sergeant turned the corner at the end of the building and ran out of sight.
Bailey POV
They were keeping a close eye on Addy, she was still in shaky condition and strangely Murphy hadn't left her side. Her heart rate had increased and Finn was keeping his hand at her neck to monitor her pulse. Bailey knew Lucy had bitten her at some point but wasn't sure if that would have some kind of effect and help her heal. She hoped so. She couldn't lose Addy, she couldn't. Murphy seemed to be doing fine, going in the water to rescue Addy hadn't put his body into the same state. She assumed from all the various crap he had in his blood, and the fact that he'd actually died once already, made his body a bit tougher. Though it seemed he had a soft spot for Addy.
As Bailey watched her red headed friend from the stall across the barn she couldn't help but fold her arms as she paced and 10K turned to look at her. He walked over and wrapped his arm around her as she buried her face into his shoulder. He didn't say anything but she was grateful for the gesture. She glanced over his shoulder after a minute or two and looked at Murphy crouched by Addy's side. Lucy, she thought again, maybe that was it. Addy had been the one to take care of Lucy in the two years her father had been on Zona. Addy had been the one to practically raise her from a child to a young woman. Maybe that was why Murphy was keeping such a close eye on her, he felt like he owed it to Lucy.
"Where's our radio?" she asked Tommy, pulling away from the hug.
"In my bag. . ." he trailed off as she went and grabbed his backpack from the hay. She opened it up and started digging through it.
"Calling Kaya?" he asked following her over and she nodded.
"We need that truck." She said, determined to help Addy, "Altura has the best infirmary out of all the outposts in Newmerica. Addy can't travel out in the snow but if we have that vehicle we could bring her to Doc and Red."
10K gave a small chuckle, "I think other than keeping her warm the only thing Doc will do is offer Addy some Z-weed."
She turned and smiled up at him, "Anything's worth a shot." She said before pressing the button on the radio and trying to contact Kaya.
Warren POV
Given that she had two of the men in custody she should be happier, but it was Forrest who she was concerned about getting away, especially given his tendency to act violently when he felt he was in danger. George had gone to get the other two suspects on their list and hadn't come back yet. Warren held her hands on her hips as she paced in front of the door to the room where Deric and Jacob were handcuffed waiting to be interrogated. The irony wasn't lost on her that not too long ago it had been her and George tied up in that room waiting for Estes and Pandora to interrogate them. Had Estes been sweating this much before their questioning? Knowing that Doc, 10K and all the Talkers were out there? Now she was in a very similar situation and she hated that. She wanted these guys caught, she needed to know which one of them had killed that ex-military guy, the husband of the woman that Forrest had been about to kill. She must have been onto them, Warren thought, she must have said something or done something to make that guy think she'd tell on him and get him caught. What made Warren worry the most was that the most violent of the group of AWOL soldiers seemed to be the one who had gotten away.
She kicked the wall. If only one of those shots had hit him he'd be down. They could have had him too but now he was just one more threat to add to an already long list. She took a deep breath and turned to the door and went in. Both men were tied to chairs with their hands cuffed behind their backs and she pulled over a spare chair and sat down backwards on it resting her folded arms on the back.
"I know neither one of you want to talk to me." She said calmly as they avoided eye contact with her, "But I need to know where your friend might have gone." Just like she thought they didn't answer her so she kept talking hoping to get through to them, "Look, I get it. Military changes you, it changed me too, but so did the apocalypse. All the rules changed, people did things, awful things. Abandoning your mission. . . military always said there was nothing worse than leaving your brother behind. But when dead people start eating living people things change. Rules change. No one here can fault you for leaving Operation Bitemark, hell, I travelled with Murphy for years I know just what a pain in the ass that guy can be. Trust me, I get it."
She saw them glance at each other again and hoped she was making progress, "Why risk your life for a guy who'd never do the same for anyone else? Why fight to save the human race when it was already doomed right? It's hard, and when you see people you care about dying for a mission you don't believe in. . ." she thought about Garnett, Cassandra, Mack, Vasquez, Hector, Sun Mei, she knew how each death made carrying on that mission harder. "You start to think it's better to leave and go off on your own. We can forgive that. Everyone here has had thoughts like that. These past eight years have not been easy on anyone. We can forgive you for that, we can pardon you for that. But what I can't pardon is murder. I need to know who killed that innocent man, I need you to tell me if it was your friends so I can protect everyone else here. I know you don't want to rat out an ally, but would you rather be responsible for letting more people die?"
There was a long silence and neither man looked at the other and they didn't look at her. She could tell they were mulling over what she'd said and she knew as the silence ticked on that the quiet might be enough to get them to start talking. Then there was a knock on the door.
"Think on that." She said before getting up and going into the hall. She shut the door when she saw George standing there looking worried.
"They weren't there." She said meaning the last two she'd gone to get, "Justin and Jesse, their stuff was packed and they're gone."