After the sisters of mercy situation we kept driving west toward California. We were currently in South Park, Colorado. As we drove down the road we began to talk about Mack and Addy. "I was kinda hoping they would make it with us to the promise land." Doc said. "With this crazy world and everything that's happened, I wouldn't be surprised if we did run into them." I said. "It's a hard possibility." Warren said. As we kept driving we drove up into a roadblock. "I hate roadblocks." 10k said. "Can't you just push that thing out of our way?" Murphy asked. "No thanks. I'd like to hold onto this truck." Warren said. Warren then began to turn the car to the golf course fence that had a break in it. "Well this golf course has seen better days." Doc said. "That it has doc." I agreed. As we drove on we stopped at a cross over bridge. Warren stopped the truck so we could get out.
"You think this bridge will hold up the car?" I asked Warren. "We better test it first." Warren answered walking to the bridge and jumping in it. "Seems pretty solid." I said. "Hello, Delta X-ray. Citizen Z calling all cars, calling all cars." Citizen Z said. "Delta-X-ray back at you." Warren answered. "Hello, good to hear from you again. Its been days and I worry." Citizen Z said. "Thanks, mom. Any news on Mack or Addy?" Warren asked. "No, nothing yet. Maybe they're just off the grid and can't make contact." Citizen Z said. "Maybe." Warren reasoned. "How's Murphy?" Citizen Z asked. "Murphy is pissed. Where the hell is that lab you keep talking about?" Murphy asked after snatching the radio from Warren's hand. "And have you found that witch doctor that almost killed me ? Doctor Merch?" Murphy continued, walking away. "I'm still working on that." Citizen Z replied. "And you call yourself the NSA? Quit looking at porn and find that quack. We got business to settle." Murphy finished screaming at Citizen Z.
As Murphy turned back to us I began to hear snarling and growling. I turned around to see a group of Zs heading our way. "Guys!" I said attracting the attention of the group. "Oh hell." Doc said. "I got the one on the right." Warren said aiming her gun at a Z then pulling the trigger. 10k also raised his weapon and fired at the Zs. "Two thousand, four hundred fifty-five." 10k said before shooting at another Z. Warren went to fire her gun again but failing with the click of an empty gun. "I'm out of ammo." Warren said. "Me too." 10k said. "I have a few bullets." I said pulling my gun out and began to shoot the Zs. I took down five Zs before my gun began to only make clicking sounds. "I'm out." I said making Doc and Cassandra grab clubs. "Remember keep your left arm straight." Doc said. They began hitting the Zs in the head taking down a few. "Let's run for the clubhouse." Warren said. We ran to the building with Warren in front to open the door. Once inside Warren closed the door shut.
As we caught our breath Zs began to come from in the kitchen to us. Doc tried to swing at a Z but became stuck in a chair. As the Z got closer to Doc I grabbed my knife and stabbed the Z in the head. Warren grabbed a club and stuck one end in a Zs face. "It's hard to swing in here." Doc said. "Keep your clubs up. Do as Warren does and you should be fine." I said as I took another Z down. "10k your sling." Cassandra said as she grabbed a bucket of golf balls. "On it." 10k said grabbing his sling and a golf ball. 10k then shot the ball at one of the Zs making it go through their eye. "There's to many! Go this way." Warren said as I took another Z down.
We followed Warren into the bathrooms and closed the door. As we stayed in the dark bathroom 10k turned on his flashlight as Warren, Darren, Luke and Doc held the door closed. "The door won't hold much longer." Warren said struggling. "Well, better in here than out there!" Doc said. As they started arguing gunshots runout through the building. "Gunfire?" 10k said confused. "You can come out now." Someone said outside. "That was not Murphy." Doc said. "Who ever it is we need to be cautious. No matter how nice they are people always have a motive." I said making eye contact with Warren. Warren nodded in acknowledgment and looked at the group. "All right, get ready." Warren said holding her hand up. Warren then began counting down to one. On one her and Doc opened the door with weapons raised.
Once on the outside we saw the group that "saved" us. "It's ok. All clear." The leader said. "Nice timing." Warren said. "Don't get comfortable, there's more outside." The woman said. "We got another guy outside too." Doc said worried. The group turned around to see Murphy. "I don't believe it." Zimmerman said looking at Murphy golfing outside. Murphy hit the golf ball making it land in a Zs head. Once finished Murphy walked to the building with the club. "What?" Murphy asked as he saw the newbies looking at him. "A little risky don't you think?" Zimmerman asked. "Nope. The Zs love me." Murphy said before continuing. "Who the hell are you?" Murphy asked. "Brett Zimmerman. This is Henry and Janice." Zimmerman said. "Roberta Warren. This is Doc, 10k, Cassandra, Ellie, and the fool with the jacket golfing with zombies, that's Murphy." Warren introduced us. "You're just jealous cuz they like me more than you." Murphy said swing the gold club at Warren and throwing the radio back to her. We then walked into the building and moved the tables to sit together. Then Murphy and the group of three went outside to sit. Doc then went outside to be on watch. Once the food was done we came together to eat our food and drink wine. Once we all sat down they passed out the food.
As I looked around I saw they the group already had their wine. I looked to Warren. "You know Warren we better get doc outside." I said giving Warren our look. "Yeah, we should." Warren said standing up, I followed after her to get Doc. "What's up?" Doc asked. "Foods done." Warren said. "You got anything?" I asked. "Yeah." Doc said. "Act like you telling me about it, but I need to tell y'all something." I said with a smile. "What's wrong?" Doc asked while swinging his club to the side like her was pointing at something.
"I don't trust them. They already had their wine but Murphy didn't. And we know him, he would have been the first one to have his wine." I said to them. "You think they are trying to drug us?" Warren asked. "Oh yeah, I mean it would make since, with Murphy making that big show out of being friends with Zs. They could be up to something." I said. "What would they want him for? We didn't say anything about the Delta-X-ray mission yet." Doc said. "As we drive up here I saw the sign about the MERCA pharmaceuticals company." I said giving them a "duh" look. "All right, just pretend the whole time and when they go to strike we fight back." Warren said. "We better get back." I said as I saw the group began to chat amongst themselves.
"I was beginning to think you left us." Zimmerman said. "No, just talking about the perimeter." Warren said with her fake smile. "Enjoy your glass of wine then." Zimmerman said throwing his hand out to our chairs. Warren and I sat down and faked a sip of wine. "Got any ID?" Henry asked 10k. "Mmm. Oh yeah, this is not the white lightning crap. Have a taste, 10 cent." Murphy said sipping his wine. "Miss Warren..." Zimmerman interrupted. "Roberta." Warrens corrected Zimmerman. "Roberta, would you like to propose a toast?" Zimmerman asked. "Sure. To absent friends." Warren said making us repeat it. "Mr. Murphy. You seem to have a special way with them." Zimmerman said making me cough and give Murphy side eye. "I guess you could say that." Murphy said chuckling. "How did you do it?" Zimmerman asked. "Oh just got to smell like them." Murphy said with a smile. In response Zimmerman nodded.
"Huh, that's interesting." Zimmerman said looking back at Henry. "There has to be some war story in there." Janice said. "Just trying to stick out a herd." Murphy shrugged. Before our conversation could continue on 10k's head fell into his plate making Murphy laugh. "And he is down for the count." Murphy said laughing. Then Cassandra went down making Murphy stop laughing and become worried. "Warren ?" Murphy questioned. Warren and I both pulled our guns out and aimed for the group of three. "Put your weapons done and no one gets hurt." Zimmerman said. "That's bullshit." I said to him. Behind them, Doc crept up and hit Janice over the head with his golf club. Startled Janice shot her gun in mine and Warren's direction. In fear I jumped on Warren to knock her down. Warren hit her head causing her to black out while I was hit by one of the people in the group.
———————-Dream——————-
Looking out the window in the car I saw the snow pass by. "Ellie, I know you don't want this, but it has to happen. The courts would never let your uncle Hector take you in." The social worker said as she drove down the white road. "It's whatever." I said rolling my eyes as any teenager has done before. "You get one last goodbye with him. He is meeting us at your new foster home." The worker said. I peeked up at that information and felt happy with seeing uncle Hector.
"Step on the gas!" I said excited. "We'll be there soon enough." The worker said. Once at the foster home I saw one of the gang's black SUVs parked on the side of the road. As the social worker put the car in park I hopped out and ran to the SUV. Uncle Hector opened his door and came toward me. "Uncle Hector!" I shouted as I hugged him. "¡Hola Ellie!" Uncle Hector said. "Do we have to say goodbye?" I asked not wanting to. "Sí, but don't worry if we ever meet in another life time then we'll recognize each other." Uncle Hector said before I woke up.
———————Dream Over——————
As I woke up I heard the group talking. "Where am I?" Doc shouted as he woke up. "I'm awake." 10k replied. "Guys, we have a problem." Cass said as something jerked on my arm. Looking up I saw that I was separated from the group and had a zombie between me and Cass. "Everybody, hold on." Warren said. "Not a good idea." Cass said as the Z tucked more on our arms. "Where's Murphy?" Doc asked. "Murphy!" Warren yelled out receiving only growls from the zombie as an answer. "Ok, anyone see anything sharp?" Warren asked. "There's something up in the counter." I said nodding my head above Warren and Doc.
"Perfect." Warren said as she and doc reached up to grasp the object. "On three." Doc said as he handed the umbrella to 10k and Cass. "One... two... three." Doc said before 10k and Cass plunged the umbrella into the head on the Z. "Good job guys. Now let's try to get out of these cuffs." Warren said. "Try one of the golf tees in the floor." I said breathless. Warren then bent down and picked a tee up with her teeth. As she sat back up she looked to Doc. "If you say anything golf-related. I'll poke you with it." Warren mumbled making doc give her a face. As Warren began to pick the lock on the hand cuffs I felt a searing pain in my arm. "Ow, shit!" I whispered as I moved. I looked down at my arm and saw blood. "Shit!" I whispered. "What?" Warren asked. "I got hit with that bullet." I told her. "Once we are out doc will take a look." Warren said before the cuffs unlocked.
As we left the clubhouse I held my arm. "What happened to us?" 10k asked l. "Roofied." I answered. "Drugged with Rohypnol." Doc said as we walked back to the car. "Where's Murphy?" Warren asked. "The others are gone too." 10k said. "You don't think... Murphy wouldn't do that. Drug us to escape?" Cass asked. "No it's Murphy. We may not be as close with him as we are each other, but we are still family. And besides, Murphy hates being told what to do unless it's Warren or I." I said. "How could we let this happen? He was our responsibility." Warren said. "At least we have the truck." 10k said as Warren started it up before it sputtered. "The battery's dead." Warren said before getting of the car and walking to the roadblock.
"Assuming we find some way to get moving, what next, boss?" Doc asked. "Go after Murphy and get his ass to California or die tryin." Warren replied as 10k, Cass, Darren, Luke, Amelia and I tried to find a viable battery. "Do we know what direction he went in?" Doc asked. "Too many questions, Doc. Too many questions." Warren said. "The limo has a battery and a phone we could try to use to get citizen Z." I said as Warren came closer. "Good." Warren breathed out. "How'd you know that?" Doc asked. "Antenna in the back." Cass said. "Ah." Doc nodded. Warren then dialed a bunch of numbers until citizen Z came in. "I'm here." Citizen Z said. "We lost Murphy." Warren said immediately. "We think he may have been kidnapped by three civilians, motive unknown. But they aren't aware of Murphy's status." Warren said. "Is he even still alive?" Citizen Z asked. "As far as we know." Doc shouted. "Well he disappeared this morning, probably on I-70 going east or west in a brown utility truck." Warren continued. Citizen Z then mumbled something before Doc answered. "That has to be them." Doc said to the phone before it cut out. "Hello? Hello? Ugh. Damn apocalypse." Warren said.
Warren then threw the phone down and called me over. "Yeah Warren." I said walking to her. "Let's move the truck over here so we can jump it off." Warren said. Once we finally pushed the car over to the limo we jumped it off and headed east on I-70. We followed the road to a fork heading left or right. As we looked around I noticed a traffic message sign parked on the side of the gravel road. As I watched it, it lit up to show a arrow pouting right and a message saying "over here". "Warren the message sign is working!" I shouted out to her. "You think it's citizen Z?" Warren asked. "Who else would use one of these." I said to her. "Ok everybody in the car. We're taking the right road." Warren said before we piled in the car.
As we drove further in we ran into their car. It was parked to block the road ahead. "They left their car." Doc said confused. "And we do the same." Warren said as she pulled up next to the car. "Let's check it out." I said having my gun out and ready. As we walked around the car I looked inside. "Hey, careful with the doors. They are booby-trapped." I said getting a head nod from Warren. As we continued to look around we couldn't find anything. Before Warren said anything a gunshot rang out. "Let's go on." Warren said making us leave the car behind. As we hiked to the Mesa warehouse 10k found the jacket that Murphy was wearing. "Do you think he left it on purpose?" Doc asked. "He must have." Darren said. "Murphy's definitely not going willingly." Warren said. We continued walking making Amelia curse us from pain. Once we hit the ridge before the warehouse Warren stopped us. "We stay silent from now on." Warren said making us nod in agreement. As we went down the ridge we saw the speed zombies. "Damn. Those are fast Zs. You think that's where they are?" Doc asked as Warren handed him binoculars. "Must be." I said. Doc then looked through the binoculars. "Oh, the Zs are all over this place." Doc said before laughing. "What's so funny?" Warren asked. "See for yourself." Doc said handing her the binoculars. "Oooh. Uh-Uh." Warren said. "What is it?" Cass asked. "Wow." Cass said as she saw what they were talking about. "Let me see." I said grabbing the binoculars. "Holy hell. How is that even possible?" I asked seeing zombies with boners. I then passed the binoculars to Darren until they reached 10k
"Apparently, the Zs got into the pharmaceuticals. Some of them are on speed, but looks like more than a few of them go into the viagra." Doc said making me laugh. "I didn't even know that was possible." 10k said. "Well people didn't think that zombies was possible outside of movies, but here we are." Amelia said in pain. "Kid, it's official. You have now seen it all." Doc said. "So, what do we do?" Luke asked. "We wait them out. Let them get inside the plant and follow behind." Warren said. "Have your guard up. They are very sensitive to sound." I said grabbing my knife. As we waited we slowly crept closer to the plant. After a while we saw Murphy walking into the plant. "What in the hell is Murphy doing down there?" Doc asked. "The Zs must think he's one of them. That must be why Zimmerman and the others kidnapped him, so they can get to the drugs." Warren said. "Now I like drugs as much as the next guy, but there ain't enough dope in the world that's gonna make me want to be out there walking around with them viagra Zs." Doc said. "Let's go." Warren said walking away. "Hey Warren, once we are in here and have Murphy we should stock up in some of those drugs." I said to Warren. "Ellie, you've been hanging around Doc to much." Warren said giving me a pointed look. "It's not like that. We could have the medicine for us and in case we come upon some trouble and need to have a bargaining chip." I said. "Fine, but only after we get Murphy." Warren strictly said. Before I could respond we were interrupted by the alarm blaring out distracting the Zs. Once we got to the front gate we ran into the plant following Zimmerman.
As we crept around we got into position. As we waited for Murphy to appear the alarm shut off. "I am not your stock boy." Murphy said. "I don't have time for this." Zimmerman said before pulling out his gun. "Drop it." Warren said as we came out with our weapons raised. "Warren, don't let your guard down. The alarm is off." I whispered as I stood beside her. Warren nodded in response. "Not happening, Warren. You need to turn around and get out of here before I kill your big ticket." Zimmerman said. "Then how will you get out of here?" Warren asked. "We can drive. Don't know what you folks will do." Zimmerman said before Henry got taken down by Zs. We then all turned to take out the Zs. Soon enough the Zs were all dead leaving us and Zimmerman. "Well... now that that's over, we're right back where we started. Once again, Warren, you're on the losing end." Zimmerman shouted. "Actually this is totally different." Murphy said before using his mind capabilities to control Zimmerman.
"You're weak, Zimmerman. You're a weak little man." Murphy continued. "Should we stop them?" Doc asked. "Only if he points the gun at Murphy." Warren and I said. "You we're gonna kill me and the others. Pathetic." Murphy said. "It's the apocalypse." Zimmerman said as he held his gun to his head. "The apocalypse is better off without you." Murphy said walking down the stairs to us. "Murphy, what are you doing?" Warren asked. "Me? Nothing." Murphy said before he closed his eyes and Zimmerman shot himself. "Murphy." Warren said shocked. "What?" Murphy asked before tossing the van keys to Warren. "Ok, Doc, Darren, and I will get the medicine, you guys go load up in the car so we know how much room we have." I said getting confirmation from the group. As we looked through the medicine I called out things we might need. "Pain killers. At least one box per medicine." I yelled out while walking through grabbing what we needed. "Grab as much Cipro as you can find." I said grabbing three of those boxes. Once finished we met back at the van. "Ok Doc, what do you got?" I asked. "Three boxes of Oxy, four of cipro, and one of viagra." Doc said raising his eyebrows. "Gross. Darren?" I asked. "Same as Doc except for the viagra." Darren said. "Ok we should be good." I said. "Question. Why do we need Cipro?" Doc asked. "I've got a feeling we will need it in the future." I said. Doc and Darren then got into the van while I opened the door for the van.