➳After what happened in Philly, (y/n) was grateful for a bit of silence in the middle of nowhere, taking a break by the roadside with the group. They hadn't eaten in about a day, so (y/n) was glad to get out and forage for a few minutes. The basket she clipped onto her belt was very helpful, letting her have a freehand to hold a knife.
One could never be too careful, she'd learned.
The ditches were not overly bountiful, but she managed to find some yarrow - good for stopping bleeding - and a small raspberry bush. Her hands were stained red, but she'd gathered enough for each of them to have 3, maybe 4. Still, better than nothing.
Faintly, she could hear the swish of 10k's sling killing Zs. It was comforting, knowing that there was another sharpshooter covering their backs. Gently, she hummed to herself as she rummaged through the foliage.
From behind the bush, she heard a growling. She removed her hands and held her knife more defensively, creeping around to pike the monster. But, she noticed it was wearing a straw hat, and she had an idea.
"Find anything good?" Garnett asked she strolled back to the group, wearing the straw hat. She flipped open the little basket, and he whistled.
"Not much, but enough for a little snack." she said cheerfully, handing him a few. Slowly, she went around the group, doling out the little berries to each of her friends.
"Nice hat," Addy commented offhandedly, tipping the brim down over (y/n)'s eyes. The girl chuckled.
"Yeah, it's cute," she commented, overhearing the group arguing about whether or not zombies had souls. She scrunched her nose and frowned, when she heard Cassandra advocating for them. She leapt up into the back of the truck, kneeling down to give 10k the little red jewels, then Cassandra hers.
Satisfied, she sat down to enjoy hers. When the boy began to speak, however, she found herself unable to eat. He told the story of his Pa, and how he had to pike it. He was agitated, and (y/n) had never wanted to hug someone more.
"I couldn't do it," his voice broke "I couldn't hurt my pa, no matter what he'd become. I sat there for the longest time, staring into his eyes. Looking for some sign that he was still in there." (y/n)'s eyes burned, remembering her very own family, all those years ago.
"And?" Doc asked "What did you do?" 10k looked over at him, mouth set in an angry line, almost like he was near tears.
"I killed it." He said curtly, and the girl's heart ached for him.
"Damn kid," Doc commented, purposefully avoiding (y/n)'s gaze "you had to put down your own dad?" 10k shook his head.
"Didn't kill him," he spat "I killed it." Cassandra piped up.
"If it's not alive," she said "how did you kill it?" 10k scoffed as if this were obvious.
"Piked it. Right here," he grabbed his knife and pointed it towards his own forehead. "my first kill." His lovely jaw was clenched, and she could see how badly this hurt him. Tentatively, and ever so gently, she put her hand on his back.
He stiffened, but didn't lean away. The girl counted this as a win, as she gaze at him with sad eyes.
"I always wish he knew, you know," he spoke less angrily now "that I'd kept my promise." Everyone went quiet, looking on in silent anguish.
"I'm sure he knows," (y/n) murmured, as Mack got the truck ready to leave "you're a good person. He raised you to be." The boy didn't respond, looking out rather broodily at the horizon.
➳They'd been driving for some time when the vintage bug, full of humans, came into view. Doc let Warren know, so she could drive carefully. Everyone was still very much reeling over what happened last week. They'd come up to a spot where about a dozen zombies were standing in the middle of the road, suspiciously.
Ten Thousand leapt out of the vehicle, and (y/n) drew two throwing knives.
"Hey! Kid!" Doc yelled after the boy, who ignored him. Typical. Now, they were stuck between these zombies and the humans in the car. The lesser of two evils, of course, was piking the zombies.
"Hey, let's do this quietly," Garnett told them all "there might be more of them nearby." (y/n) launched herself off the side of the truck, throwing her two blades and killing two Zs. Another fell, presumably from 10k.
Not many more died after that, however, when they realized it was a trap. One of the "zombies", pulled out a pistol and had it aimed within seconds.
Lovely, she thought, as everything fell into place a few minutes too late.
"Hold it right there!" One of the men, the leader, she guessed, commanded them. "all right, now drop your weapons." When nobody moved, he tried a different tactic. "Put down the weapons, or die right where you stand."
(y/n) grit her teeth at his audacity. All of a sudden, a shot killed one of the men who had been yelling earlier. Silently, she thanked the universe for that boy.
"God, I love that kid," Doc whispered. Still, they were in a trap, outnumbered greatly.
"Look, we just want the truck," the man side, exasperated. His idea of a quick scam was not going as easily as he'd hoped.
"Give them the truck!" Murphy yelled, wanting to save his own ass. But Garnett wasn't having it.
"Don't give them a goddamn thing!" He corrected Murphy's earlier statement. Some of the bandits were laughing, seeming to enjoy their misery.
"Do the math Garnett," Murphy warned ominously. "we have other priorities."
➳And that's how a few minutes later, (y/n) found herself seated on the roof of the buggy, but she guessed she could have jogged faster. They were travelling along the same road, trying to get to D.C, as Charlie hoped, by nightfall. From there, they were planning to cut across west, through Virginia onto Kentucky, and so forth until the East coast.
They travelled slowly, slow enough that (y/n) pulled out her novel and kept reading. She hoped to make it through the novel before California, so it wouldn't be taken up space in her bag. Every so often, she'd glance up to admire the trees, or watch as 10k cleared the road ahead with his sling.
She found him a nice addition to the group, but something inside her envied him - for seeming to be everyone's top choice, as if she didn't exist. She knew that harboring that negative attitude towards him would be draining, but it was something she couldn't shake.
And, she'd tried. More times than she'd care to admit.
She was forced out of her thoughts when the Buggy slowed down, and she saw their truck.
"Hey!" Warren exclaimed "y'all see that?" Sure enough, they all did. Those bandits were trying to rob an innocent family - motive unclear. She put the novel carefully into her bag, and held her rifle at the ready.
"Oh, come on," she groaned "a family? Seriously? Sheesh, these guys are douches." Doc nodded wisely, while 10k looked on in confusion. She made a mental note to teach him cusses later.
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Garnett - always the hero. "come on," As per usual, the group followed. 10k hopped out of the buggy to get higher ground, always keeping watch. (y/n) did the same thing on the opposite side, kneeling behind a tree to see the family.
Half the men, who'd stolen from them earlier, were tied up in the ditch. The girl, panicked, tried to wave at Number Boy, but he was too busy watching them.
"Shit," she muttered, and jogged over to Mack. She nudged his shoulder, and jutted her chin in the direction of the other bandits. He craned his neck and she assumed he saw them, by the way his face changed.
"You heard the man," a brown-haired man who looked to be the father of the family, spoke up. "drop your weapons." With only a moment's hesitation, all the men of the gang dropped their various guns and knives.
"Garnett," (y/n) whispered harshly, gaining his attention. She pointed her rifle in the direction of the tied-up men. His frowned, dark brow furrowing together.
"What's this?" he asked, although she guessed he already knew the answer.
"A robbery," the unknown man/father said, and then each member of the family - the two children included - pulled out rifles and began shooting until every last bandit was dead. Then, they hopped into their former truck.
Stunned at what they just witnessed, nobody made any move to stop them. (y/n) thought briefly about throwing a knife to bust one of the tires and stop them, but either way they would have been without a functional ride.
With a sigh, the group walked back to the vintage automobile - the aesthetic of which (y/n) loved, but the speed? Yeah, not so much. Murphy, smug as ever, greeted them in usual fashion.
"Never get out of the boat," he said, and if she weren't already a bit traumatized, (y/n) would've smacked him then and there. Instead, she hopped onto the roof again, settling her legs between Doc and 10k, who rode in the front - where the hood should have been.
"Stop the car," Doc called, only a few minutes into their ride. Murphy'd been complaining the whole time, and (y/n) found herself disassociating, only being knocked back into reality whenever the boy in front of her nudged her leg by accident.
"Oh no," She breathed, hopping off the car and taking a few cautious steps towards what used to be - the crime-loving family. They must've stopped on the road and gotten ambushed by Zs, judging by how messy and violent the scene looked to be.
She grabbed her remaining knives - only 4 after what happened at the gas factory - and took a deep breath before she threw them consecutively. Then, she pulled them each of out of their skulls, whispering a quiet 'mercy' when she'd finished.
"We got to get out of this road," she heard Garnett mutter, as the rest of the group filed back into the truck - quickly, before any of the family turned and decided to munch on them.
➳This was the first time she'd been at a fast food joint in three years, she thought, as 10k and her took turns holding the satellite dish over their heads. It had been about an hour of them trying to get in contact with Citizen Z, desperately looking for better transportation.
Finally, the machine where you'd normally orders fries began talking - but desperate times called for desperate measures.
"This is Sergeant Charles Garnett," the man spoke into the phone. (y/n) stifled a chuckle, as she thought he'd looked rather funny while doing so. Warren shot her a look, but it wasn't a very serious one. "calling Northern Light. Come in Northern Light."
"Yes!" his voice came out garbled, but it was definitely the odd guy from the radio "this is Northern Light for Garnett. Citizen Z hitting you back. Go for Garnett."
Everyone sighed a bit out of relief, (y/n) included.
"Thank God," their leader said gratefully "we've been trying to make this work for hours."
"What are you broadcasting on?" The person on the other end asked. (y/n) smiled at the idea of how he was going to explain the french fry radio.
"Uh," he hesitated "Clowny the French Fry Guy. One of our team, Carver, jerry-rigged a drive-thru camera." This seemed to excite him, and (y/n) couldn't help but smirk playfully at her friend.
"Addy Carver?" He asked, seemingly in disbelief "Is she there? Can I talk to her?" Awkwardly, Garnett turned around to motion the girl over. "Hi Addy!" He greeted, and the girl ate every little bit of it up.
It's the apocalypse, it's not like there's much else(other than staying alive) for entertainment. Doc's little comment made it even better.
"Can we get a chocolate shake and fries for ten thousand men?" He laughed uproariously at his own humor.
"Yeah!" (y/n) chimed in, bubbly. "and a strawberry one, too!" Their comments, while like an inside joke between the two friends, was wasted on the rest of the group - who was more concerned with how to get off the road.
Eventually, Citizen Z told them of a military general by the name of McCandles, who was still up in his command station - who might be able to lend them a chopper to get to California. That way, they were less likely to run into trouble - or worse.
Murphy was their last chance after all.
"Now that's a hundred miles south from here," the man in question whined "we're going west, not south." Garnett interrupted him like a fussy mother.
"Do you want to get off the road, or not?" he challenged, knowing the answer. They needed to get off this road, all they'd had for days was bad luck at every turn.
(y/n) noticed, as 10k held the dish, Zs had heard their ruckus.
"Warren," she warned grimly, aiming her rifle before taking out a few that were getting too close for comfort. The woman nodded.
"Puppies and kittens!" she yelled, and every leaped back in the truck.
➳Their ride to the headquarters was tense, even more so than usual. (y/n) and 10k were not quite friends, but not quite enemies either. It was odd, and thinking about it made the girl scrunch her nose up and quirk her head.
It's not that she hadn't tried to be his friend. She had, but it seemed like he was very much the introverted type - she assumed this stemmed from what happened to his father. She could hardly even imagine.
Still, her heart found itself wanting him to talk to her, even if it was just a little. Because either one of them could die at any given time, so that made everything they had precious. So, why not?
They arrived speedily, Warren driving more anxiously and faster than she normally did. They were desperate, and even though their mission had started not even a full month ago, it looked bad.
"This looks promising," she commented sarcastically to 10k, and they hung onto the roof rack. The place was a graveyard, zombies corpses littered everywhere. It did not look functional in the slightest, the very aura of the building ominous and dangerous.
She had a bad feeling about what lay ahead.
"No kidding," he said back quietly, not even sparing her a glance. Quickly, she wondered if he hated her, not that he had any rational reason to.
"Not exactly what I was hoping for," Garnett pointed out the obvious as he got out of the car. Hoisting her rifle into her hands, (y/n) jumped down from the truck bed.
"One of these days you're gonna learn to stop hoping for things," Murphy offered, lovely as ever. Warren scoffed.
"You better hope not," she warned "cuz that's when we leave your ass on the side of the road." The girl smiled, walking in-step with her deranged, survivor family.
"Halt!" A voice yelled, laced with a sense of false authority "who goes there?" A soldier, looking worse for wear, appeared behind a fence - pointing a rifle at the group who approached the building. Everyone froze, but Garnett spoke steadily.
"Sergeant Charles Garnett," he introduced himself and proceeded to explain their situation. The soldier scoffed.
"Yeah," he said "the general's got a chopper. But he's a very busy man. He's got the entire east coast under his command - no time for a raggedy ass of civilians on some suicide mission." (y/n) raised her eyebrows. "I suggest you move on before the infected find you."
"Nothing raggedy ass about this group of civilians," Warren's tone was defensive. "sir." she added on with mock respect, which the soldier seemed to have missed.
(y/n) was impressed with her attitude.
The next few minutes was rather annoying, if you asked the girl. She normally tried to be positive, but the apocalypse these past weeks had worn her thin. Eventually, after taking the last of their oxycontin, which was normally used for pain - should anything bad happen, which it normally did - the solider brought them up to the radio.
And, of course, the General only let Doc up, because he believed him to be an actual doctor. Take it from (y/n), he most certainly was not. When she'd spliced her arm open learning to throw knives, he'd nearly fainted at the sight.
➳While they waited for Doc to come back down from the building, the group mostly busied themselves mercy-ing the locals. 10k had situated himself on a truck's roof, while Addy chose to pike the Zs with her bat. The boy had himself sprawled out on the entire thing, so instead of practicing with her rifle beside him, (y/n) propped herself in their truck, aiming the other way so he could add onto his count.
By this point, he was at almost 1,100.
"Okay," Addy said, interrupting her roaming thoughts "what's going on with Doc?" the girl aimed her rifle.
"Trust him, Addy," she called out, taking out a Z. The girl looked over at her friend, squinting into her scope.
"Guys, if we don't get out of here soon," Mack commented "this could get ugly." (y/n) chuckled, sitting up and propping her gun against her thigh.
"Oh, you mean uglier," Murphy retorted, grouchy at the waiting time.
"Appreciate the fact that you're breathing!" (y/n) said, exasperated "we're luckier than most. Quit complaining, Murphy." He made a face at her, which she mirrored.
"Do you hear that?" Cassandra said distractedly, listening to something. (y/n)'s ears struggled, but she heard faint screaming.
"I don't hear anything," Murphy said, but Cassandra shushed him.
"Sounds like Doc," Mack thought aloud, and (y/n)'s heart felt like the Titanic, getting scraped by that iceberg.
"That's Doc all right," Warren confirmed "but where the hell is he?" (y/n) hopped down from the truck and walked over, anxious.
"Let's go get him," she told them, but Garnett stopped her.
"Hang on," he said, putting a hand out "i'll deal with it." Reluctantly, the girl nodded her assent, but stood by his side - solid as a rock and just as unrelenting. Especially, if the safety of someone she loved was possibly endangered. Garnett stepped forwards.
"Let us up now." he commanded, but the soldier stopped him.
"Nobody goes upstairs," he sounded high out of his mind "without the General's permission." (y/n) arched an eyebrow.
"We weren't asking permission," she said, matter-of-factly "we were telling you." Garnett, with deadly calm, pulled out his pistol and shoved it at the guard's face.
"We go up now," he threatened "or I scramble your egg brain inside the shell."
"You'll be sorry," he promised.
"So will you," said Garnett, shoving the man towards the entrance "cuz you're coming up with us." While he opened the door, he called out to 10k.
"10k! Cover our flank," he told the boy "don't let man or zombie up." he turned to face (y/n), keeping his pistol pointed at the guard's head "you too."
(y/n) paled, and tried to fight so she could help Doc, but Garnett shook his head.
"You work better anyways," Warren said, as the group entered the building. As the doors closed behind them, (y/n) saw her own reflection, staring back at her. Her eyes betrayed her emotions - as her mother had always said.
With a huff, she turned around and put her rifle in the truck. To let go of some anger, she hefted her axe out of her belt, and decided to roam around, giving mercy to those who needed it.
After some time, 10k, whose shots were so consistent earlier stopped firing. She turned around, checking that he hadn't someone gotten hurt. There was no one to watch his back, with (y/n) using her axe in the field.
His blue eyes were gazing ahead, cigarette burning low. The zombies he'd been keeping at bay were coming quicker now, that he wasn't killing them. The girl called his name, but if he heard - he didn't show it.
So, she dealt with the Zs. Swinging her axe into the head of one, and kicking away another. At some point, her hat had fallen off and lay on the grassy terrain. She dated around the Zs, nimble as a dancer. The girl would have called for the boy again, but maybe he didn't care what happened to her.
No matter, she thought, releasing a breath as she pulled an axe from another Zs head, brushing the hair away from her face. Absentmindedly, she took notice of some wild lavender, growing into the lawn - now that no-one was maintaining the landscape.
She gently plucked the stems of a handful, and placed them into the basket clipped into her belt. Suddenly, 10k's shooting began again. She looked over and gave him a wave, that he returned.
So, he was okay. Everything seemed calmer, but then she remembered Doc.
➳It was a long time until the group came out of the building again, and when they did - they didn't have the old hippie with them. (y/n) and 10k had been sitting in the truck, not having any more zombies to kill.
The girl reached into her basket and grabbed a few sprigs of lavender, then gestured for the boy to hold out his hand. With much apprehension, he did. So, she placed the lavender into his palm. He looked at her, confused.
"Lavender?" he asked, smelling it. She nodded, smiling just a little.
"Yeah," she said "it's supposed to be really calming, and it smells amazing." The boy nodded, his version of a silent thank-you.
The group filed out of the building single-file, looking haunted.
"Hey!" (y/n) called happily.
10k spoke up, noticing the eldest member's absence. "What happened to Doc?"
The older people glanced at one another, as if coming to a silent agreement. Anxiety rolled through her chest. Finally, Roberta strolled over and delivered the news.
"He didn't make it," she sighed, voice laced with a myriad of emotions. (y/n)'s heart crumbled. Doc, one of her favorite people in the world. He made her feel less weird, since they were so similar.
A lump formed in her throat, and she let herself shake with a few silent sobs - face buried in her hands. A warm body scooted closer to hers, and a hand patted her shoulder - offering comfort.
(y/n) didn't need to look up to see that it was him, she could tell by his almost hesitant behavior. But, she was grateful. He didn't hate her, after all.
"Zombies," Addy warned, and (y/n) could almost see her broken facial expression by the sound of her voice. Her show of emotions stopped, and the girl sat up, wiping her tears away.
"Oh, God, is that..." someone said, but her mind was too muddled to care who. But she saw him, Doc, shambling forwards towards them. He wasn't himself, though, he was a zombie. Just another one to mercy.
Her friend was gone.
"Someone's gotta," Garnett left his sentence trail off, because everyone already knew what he was going to see. Gritting her teeth, (y/n) stared at her friend's empty shell. Warren stepped up to do what needed to be done.
Everything ceased to make sense around her, (y/n) thought.
"Steven, 'Doc' Beck," Warren began the Mercy Rites. (y/n) looked over to see 10k bracing his head against his rifle, and she put her forehead on his shoulder. Whether it was to comfort him or herself - she wasn't sure. "I give you mercy." She fired that fateful shot, and something very unusual it happened.
She missed. And then the man who was her target, spoke.
"What the hell Warren?" he gasped "You tryna kill me?" (y/n) broke out into disbelieving laughter, as did most of the others. She felt so relieved, and knew she wouldn't take anyone for granted again.
Even 10k flashed that rare, but incredible grin. "You're alive?" Warren exclaimed, obviously very surprised.
"Damn straight I'm alive!" He shouted, and (y/n)'s sadness disappeared. The dark-haired woman tossed him one of her handkerchiefs, to clean himself up. The group waited as he did so, and (y/n) gave him a kiss on the cheek when it was clean.
"You cockroach," she teased. He laughed, a sound she would have missed so dearly.
"Apparently! Just can't get rid of this guy," he chuckled, and (y/n) leaned back to pull out her novel to pick up from where she left off. By now, she was not even halfway done - since they had no time.
It gave her a sense of normalcy to read, though, and so she continued on. She could hear Doc talking to 10k, but chose not to eavesdrop.
It seemed private, something intimate between the two friends that didn't want to intrude on. Still, she got the gist. Doc had a feeling that 10k's dad knew what he did for him, and it warmed (y/n)'s heart.
"Thanks," the boy said awkwardly. Silence descended upon them again, which had become quite commonplace. She snuck a look at the raven-haired boy, who stared at the ground so harshly she felt bad for it.
It's funny, how eyes like his could be so beautiful - like a mosaic - but so tortured at the same time. Obviously, what happened to him in his past hurt him so terribly, and (y/n) wished he would overcome it, to move forward.
But then again, that was up to him.
Notes;
Okay, just being honest I love this chapter. I am actually vrey found of plants and stuff like that, so I love incorporating it into my books!
Also, I always got annoyed when on Z Nation they were like "oh no we're starving" when there are literally so many plants around!!! Then again, maybe they just didn't know.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! I love writing (y/n) and 10k's little interactions so far. He might be slightly OOC sometimes, but honestly we're here for the ship, who so cares lol<3