➳While (y/n) was never one to complain about bathing in nature, aka walking for miles, she did have some doubts about where Warren was leading them to. They'd been walking for so long, through dense forestry without any town or survivor - not even Z - in sight.
It was unnerving, to be consumed by such quiet. Murphy, however, was anything but.
"Is this entire state uphill?" He groaned as the group trekked along.
"Where are we, anyway?" (y/n) asked, gazing up at the trees in rapture. Such a contrast to the plain, gravel road scenery she'd grown used to these past months.
"According to this map," Warren said "we're in the Black Hills of South Dakota." So, they had made it a little bit West, albeit not very efficiently.
"There's nothing to kill out here," Ten Thousand whined, holding his rifle at the ready just in case. (Y/n) chuckled.
"Relax, number boy," she teased "you'll reach your count before we get to Cali." He pouted and frowned at her, which only caused more laughter to spew from her mouth. Amidst the playful banter coming from the two sharpshooters, Warren informed the others of her plans to have them camp out in a small town. Edgemont, before continuing on their journey West.
They finally stopped to take a break, apparently closer to civilization than the landscape suggested. Before them, as they stood on a ridge overlooking the ground below, laid carved stone - Mt. Rushmore.
More American history, she thought dully. But, she had to admit - the original artist was incredible, and the post-apocalyptic one even better.
"Now who in the hell did that?" Doc asked, almost sounding offended.
"An improvement, I'd say," (y/n) muttered to 10k, who stood grinning at the monument.
"I think it's awesome," he agreed, casting the girl a partner-in-crime look. The adults groaned in various degrees of annoyance.
"If I ever catch who did that," Warren said ominously "they're gonna get a whoopin'. Now, come on -I want to find that town before it gets dark."
Grumbling about the break cut short, everyone gathered their gear and followed their leader into - yet another - very eventful day.
➳After some more grumbling from Murphy, the group finally came across a metal farm shop-looking building, mostly empty save for huge amounts of pipe. Unfortunately, that was the extent of what remained inside, leaving the girl weary and thirsty.
"Take cover," Warren hissed to them, while they'd been roaming around the large space. They each followed, (y/n) grabbing a throwing knife and pressing herself close to the others.
"Everyone, hush," the girl whispered, taking a quick peek around the corner. Warren wasn't afraid of Zs, so it was either human - or something worse - that lurked around the building.
This zombie? Was glowing. (y/n)'s eyes went wide and she shrank backwards, only to hear some let go and a horrific smell descend over them.
"Sorry," Murphy said "got away from me." (y/n) covered her nose with a sleeve, trying to focus on the undead glowstick beside them.
"If I die because you farted," Doc seethed at the other man "I am taking you with me!" (y/n) coughed, and she could hear its feet shuffling closer and closer with each passing second.
Murphy and his goddamned stench, she cursed internally, preparing to fling the knife and lay the creature down for good.
"It's glowin'" Warren said in disbelief, and (y/n) felt everyone shift to get a better look. She tried, once again, to keep her focus on the task at hand and not 10k leaning over her shoulder.
Faintly, she thought she could smell lavender, and the smoke from their campfire the other night.
"It's like a zombie ghost," Cassandra said, staring at the creature intensely. (y/n) took a deep breath.
"Who ya gonna call?" she said lowly, stepping out and throwing her knife with deadly aim directly into its skull.
"He's got friends!" Warren warned, pulling out her revolver. Suddenly, the door they came through earlier bust open, and two figures in bright yellow attire moved in - quickly dispatching of the monsters.
"Don't touch them!" A masculine voice bellowed, while the other - presumably a female judging from her shrill tone - shot at the ones that had ventured a little too close for comfort.
"Back away from the Zs," she yelled, "it's not safe!" (y/n), after retrieving her knife, turned to see 10k being pinned by a glowing creature. She took only a few strides forward, however, when the other figure donned in yellow took it out instead.
At least he was safe, she thought gratefully.
The nuclear plant loomed above them ominously, further proving the man's talk of the Zs being radioactive.
"This is gonna be one of them days, isn't it?" Doc sighed dejectedly, and (y/n) couldn't agree more. Their daily lives were weird - even by apocalypse standards.
The whole thing felt like a big cosmic joke.
The group exchanged the normal pleasantries with their new acquaintances, and the father-daughter duo led them to their little base of operations - an old airplane hangar.
(y/n) swallowed her iodine pill with a grimace - hating the feeling of the small capsule going down her throat dry. She coughed once, and Warren handed her a bottled water that she took gratefully.
They were each scanned to check their radiation levels, and Grady stopped when he arrived at the girl.
"Looks like you're all in safe levels! But you'll probably get cancer in twenty years." He admitted.
"Somehow," Warren said "that's way down on my list of worries." (y/n) chuckled.
"Yeah, we'd have to live twenty years first," she joked, shrugging her shoulders when Tommy craned his head around to gape at her.
"Yeah," Grady began thoughtfully "our more immediate problem: the reactor core is melting down. We don't fix it soon, everything within a 300 mile radius will be going."
Oh, lovely.
Murphy stood up and grabbed his iconic pink backpack "Okay, well, it's been nice meeting you," he scoffed "We have places to be - 300 miles from here." (y/n) chewed her lip, trying to figure out their options for survival.
1. Take a car, GTFO, 2. Let the radiation kill them all - or 3. Stay and try to fix the problem.
"Every vehicle in town is either gone or can't be driven." Grady informed them bluntly, causing (y/n) to veto the first option.
That left them with option #3, stay and risk it all.
➳It was only occasionally that Murphy's 'condition' actually came in handy. In this case, Warren was able to gain the father and daughter's empathy to help him - instead of anyone else - survive the events of the next 48 hours.
"Yeah, right," Grady laughed. Well, it was more like a wheeze - given his radiation poisoning. Poor fella. "and I'm the Easter Bunny." The girl's mouth quirked up in a smile, glancing at Warren.
As expected, the wonderful woman told Murphy to show them. Upon seeing the horrific proof, the ice around the duo seemed to thaw. So, it was then that they became allies.
"Oh, my God," Amelia said shakily, staring in horror at his scars.
"Now, look Grady," (y/n) spoke kindly, taking a step forward "he is our only chance. We've lost a lot of people trying to get him here, and if he dies because of this meltdown - their lives meant nothing," she cleared her throat, memories swirling - unwelcome. Cassandra grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently.
"So, tell us what we need to do," Warren told him "so we can be on our way."
"Unless you have eggs to lay," Murphy sneered sarcastically "Mr. Bunny."
They followed their two new accomplices towards the reactor, Grady explaining along the way. (y/n) relished in the sound of the gravel crunching beneath her boots, the smell of the pine trees, sunshine on her skin - every tiny detail about that moment in case it ended up being one of her last.
It very well could be, but she'd never imagined a nuclear meltdown would put her under the ground, and she was hoping for something more peaceful.
But, what could you really expect, three years into the apocalypse?
"I need to get to the control room," Grady huffed as they hiked the road up to the gate that had enclosed the industrial building. "and figure out why the cooling rods aren't dropping to stop the meltdown. But, thanks to this gauntlet of zombies, I haven't been able to make it in,"
"So, that's what we're for?" (y/n) assumed, arching an eyebrow.
"Ah, she's a smart one," the dying man wheezed. (y/n) frowned.
"Killing zombies," Warren said proudly "that's what we do."
"You should be safe for about two minutes because the radiation levels are only slightly higher outside the building," he stopped at the gate to catch his breath. Amelia hovered over him, concerned. "long enough for me to get to the control room."
"This ought to be fun," (y/n) muttered to Tommy, who grinned.
"At least we'll be killing something," he said cheerfully. The girl chuckled under her breath.
"Only you would say that," she retorted, teasing him.
"Don't hug the zombies," Doc said gravely "got it."
"10k, you cover us from up there!" Warren commanded "if we don't make it back, you get him to California somehow." The boy nodded and spared one look at (y/n) - who gave him a peace sign and her smile back - before running up to higher ground to be their guardian angel.
"Let's do this," (y/n) grinned pulling out her remaining four throwing knives, after having set her rifle up against the fence.
"Remember, two minutes," Grady called out "no more!"
"Go!" Warren yelled, and that commenced the slaying. (y/n) ran in first, pausing in the middle of the courtyard to fling her knives at monsters that were lumbering towards her.
➳Their fighting was futile, for Grady came back even worse than before. When he turned, Amelia was inconsolable. (y/n), being the most empathetic of the group, offered to help bury her father and sat beside her while she worked through the grief.
"I lost my dad too," (y/n) said sadly, when her sobs turned into sniffles, but the blonde woman kept her firm grip in the girl's arms. "so trust me, I know how you feel." She shuddered.
"Now," Amelia sobbed again "i have no one." (y/n) stroked her hair.
"You can come with us," she offered kindly "we're not your father, but at least you won't be alone." they weren't offered much time alone, when the group came looking for answers.
"No, I know airplanes," Amelia said tearfully when Warren asked if she could fix it "not nukes. I mean, there is one guy," she hesitated.
"Here? In Edgemont?" Warren asked in disbelief. They had said population three, earlier.
"Yeah, Homer Stubbins." she explained further, telling the tale of a chief engineer, who, rattled with grief, locked himself away in a cabin - never to be seen. Not even when the world was overrun, but (y/n) figured an isolated cottage was a good place to be.
Despite Amelia's warnings that the elder wouldn't speak with them, they found themselves not long after their conversation standing outside a horror movie-worthy cabin.
"That's not creepy at all," she gulped, referring to a corpse that must've died caught on the barbed wire fence.
"We have to stop here," their guide - Amelia - told them.
"What? We're still fifty yards away," Murphy protested, but she shut him up.
"My dad says the place is booby-trapped," she explained further. "I told you, Homer's crazy." 10k had knelt on the ground, obviously doing a bit of recon on the premises.
"Have we completely dismissed the idea of a phone call?" Cassandra asked sarcastically. (y/n) shook her head, smiling.
"God, I wish," she said wistfully.
"This looks like your kind of set-up," Warren said, kneeling down beside him. "How do we get in?" The boy furrowed his brows and pursed his lips.
"Without getting us killed," Murphy interjected rudely.
"Uh, well," the sharpshooter began "one thing - Homer's setup is about stopping Zs, not a team. So, if we keep a sharp eye out for landmines, trip wires, we'll be fine." Warren considered this.
"Okay, you four guys - stay here," she said, motioning to them. "give us a 40 second headstart. We'll flank him and come up behind."
Ten Thousand, Warren, and Amelia ran into the setup, 10k taking the lead and running swiftly through the deadly traps. After exactly 40 seconds(yes, she'd been counting), Doc opened up the gate and let the rest of them through.
"Okay," Doc said breathlessly "watch for mines."
"Watching them," Cass reported. (y/n) simply nodded.
"At least it's sunny out," the girl said in a hushed tone. The older man led the way, and they made it up to the side porch in one piece. They'd crept along the wall, and Doc began counting down to give a signal on when to rush in.
(y/n) stood directly to his left, and when the boot-clad foot kicked him square in the chest, she had her rifle off her shoulders and pointed at the attacked within seconds.
"Don't move," he bellowed gruffly, adjusting the gun he held to point it at (y/n) holding her rifle. "you have three seconds to tell me what you're doing here-"
"Wait," (y/n) pleaded, but it was of no use.
"One," he began ominously "Two," but before he could get to the final number, a strong arm shot out from behind him, holding a knife against his throat. (y/n) lowered her rifle, and stared at Tommy.
It was crazy to her, that such a sweet human being could do things like this. But, she wasn't exactly complaining about this side of him either.
"Don't do that, sir," 10k said lowly, voice promising danger if he did anything to harm the girl in front of him. Homer simply sighed.
"Do me a solid," he said humorlessly "just don't leave me a Z."
"I would never do that, Mr. Stubbins," 10k promised, and (y/n) knew he wouldn't. Not after his father. "we just need your help."
Reluctantly, and with some persuasion - the knife, being a huge part of that - Mr. Stubbins let them into his home and had the decency to listen to what they had to say.
(y/n) noticed that her sharpshooter friend was more talkative, chatting with Homer about his cabin and it's perfect location, complimenting his traps. It was kind of sweet, but the man had pointed a gun at (y/n) and Doc, so she wasn't sure how friendly she'd get with Stubbins.
"How much time do you have?" Homer asked, after hearing the story of the day's events earlier.
"How much time do we have?" Murphy asked gruffly "you're in the soup with us, Homer,"
"You've confused me with someone who gives a damn," he retorted bitterly. (y/n) guessed it was hard to be a parent and lose your child; at least hers had never felt that kind of agony.
"According to Grady," Warren interrupted to save them from an argument "less than forty hours. So are you gonna help us, or let us all die?" Well, the man obviously couldn't argue that.
"Well, there's one thing we might try," he began, and the plan fell into place.
➳Homer slammed a bag of weapons on the table, and everyone reached in to grab themselves some new equipment. When Warren pulled out a set of throwing knives, (y/n)'s eyes lit up.
"Ah, ah, ah," she tsked, and the woman chuckled before handing them over.
"You're better at those than me," the older woman admitted, and the girl laughed loudly.
"Boredom is a great motivator to master any skill," she said sagely, securing the knives in her belt holster, beside her beloved axe.
Ten Thousand, instead of grabbing some new toys, wandered over to a small sunroom. Homer, surprisingly, followed him. (y/n) chose to ignore this, and instead set about adjusting her bag. It was a mess, and it'd been driving her nuts for days.
Wuthering Heights sat wedged in the very bottom, not read for quite some time now. Sighing, she adjusted the bag's contents, trying to center herself in the midst of a day that was by far the worst yet.
They'd left Homer's place, and walked along the road back to the large building. Warren was trying to contact Citizen Z on a phone Homer had stashed away, and they came to a point on the fence where a Z was trying - and failing - to reach them.
"Something wrong, Homer?" Cass asked, when he stopped to stare at the Z. 10k walked forwards, taking a great liking to the older man the past few hours. Maybe, he reminded him of his own dad.
"I knew her," he admitted "that's all. Her son was one of Max's buddies." 10k, seeing the man's distress, knelt and gently gave the woman mercy. "All right, from here on, the area's hot - alright? We got two clean rad suits in there. One for me and - I need somebody to back me up."
He looked at 10k, and (y/n)'s face fell. Immediately, the dark-haired boy - stupid, beautiful, infuriating boy - stepped forward.
"No, I'll go," Warren said, and (y/n) shook her head.
"I will," she said firmly, staring Tommy dead in the eye, as if challenging him to say something.
"Well, you can't go," Doc protested to Warren "who's going to get him to California if something goes wrong? Don't look at me!" Warren turned to look at the girl, who swallowed down her fear at losing someone she cared for.
"Okay, all right," the dark-haired woman said and walked past (y/n) to speak with 10k. "just remember: you have ammo now - but not an infinite supply." The boy nodded.
"Let's do this," he said bravely, and (y/n) hated him for it.
They solemnly walked Homer and 10k to the gate, to say a quick goodbye and good luck. Warren hugged 10k first, and whispered something to him (y/n) couldn't discern. It was all over so quickly, because they were on a time limit before everything went to hell.
(y/n) was the last to say goodbye, and she did not fail to notice everyone watching them intently - almost to the point of it being creepy. She sighed, tapping her foot on the ground.
"Well," the boy said awkwardly, running a hand through his raven-feather hair "see you later." (y/n) shook her head and scoffed.
"That's all I get?" she asked incredulously before taking a few steps forward. She wrapped her arms around his middle to hug him quickly. "Don't do anything stupid. Like dying. Don't do that."
She felt him laughing, and that moment would have brightened her spirits if he wasn't already being stupid by going in there himself.
Without another word, she let go and grabbed her rifle from Doc's hands before stalking away to sit upon a long and meditate her troubles away.
"I promise!" she heard him yell, and she turned to catch a glimpse of his now-familiar grin before he turned away and walked towards the nuclear plant.
➳They did come back alive, but unsuccessful. The plant was very much ready to explode within the next day, and they had nothing to show for their efforts.
Their - what was it now? Third, or fourth? - version of the plan consisted in sending in four people, alongside 10k and Homer.
"I'm going this time," (y/n) said firmly, looking out onto the lake, being blinded in the most delicious way by the sunlight that glinted off the water.
"You sure?" Homer asked her, and she nodded.
"She can handle herself just fine," Doc vouched "those two could survive anything." Warren nodded.
"Okay, Doc and (y/n) - you go with them. Cassandra you stay here and keep an eye out," The older woman used her military expertise to get the(hopefully final) plan ready. "I'll take Amelia and Murphy, get that plane ready to fly out."
Everyone began loading up into the little cart they'd been cruising around in that day.
"If this works, we'll meet back here to celebrate," Warren tried to bring up the mood.
"Positive manifesting," the girl chimed in. "We will meet back here to celebrate. All of us." With that, they were off.
The bright yellow suit kept (y/n) from accessing her knives, so she settled on a pistol from Doc and one knife to clear out the Zs from the building, to clear a path for their champions to save the day.
"That's not good," Homer said grimly as a loud alarm blasted in their ears. "we've only got thirty minutes until boom." (y/n) took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders back, readying up for the next wave of Zs. But 10k stopped in front of her, and she nearly knocked him over.
"Brave little dude," he said sadly, referring to the decrepit robot on the floor.
"Sentiment is a fatal flaw in this ugly world," the old man said, unfeeling. (y/n) frowned at him.
"What else is there to live for without sentiment?" she retorted, while Doc radioed back to tell Warren they were okay.
"Everything," he grunted, and they made their way onwards. They turned into a hallway, and were met with more zombie than (y/n) had expected.
"Go left," she called to 10k, who nodded at her command. She went right, clearing the way with her pistol first, and - when that ran out of ammo - her hunting knife. It took a few precious minutes, but they were clear to make it into the control room.
Panting, the two turned back to make sure their friends were following.
The two older men looked at one another, and kept on walking. "What's the status of that precious cargo?" Doc spoke into the radio while (y/n) reloaded her handgun. "Has the mouthy package taken off?"
"Yeah, he's in the air," Warren's voice came back crackly from the machine. Another Z ran out from behind a pillar, latching onto 10k. (y/n) grabbed its shoulder and yanked it backwards, letting fall to the ground - only to be shot by Doc.
"Then we'll fix our little problem, and see you on the way out!" he said cheerfully, as they continued on walking.
The trio stood waiting, while Homer was off scanning some pipes - presumably testing the radiation levels.
"How are you feeling?" (y/n) asked gently, still a bit rattled from earlier. The boy was fidgeting, making her nervous.
"Like a baked potato in this thing," he answered honestly.
"Reactor core is just down this corridor." Homer told them.
"Why are we standing here?" Doc asked. Fair question.
"Because, it's highly radioactive in there," he said in annoyance. "I'm going to manually insert those rods." he made a move to walk past them. but Ten Thousand walked into his path.
"By yourself?" he challenged.
"Outta my way, sonny," he demanded back, and (y/n) had a feeling Homer actually wanted 10k safe, not in harm's way. At least they could agree on that.
"I'm sorry, you need backup." The boy urged, trying his best to help.
"Suit yourself," Homer shrugged, just wanting to get it done and over with.
"You guys go," 10k said, looking anywhere but at the girl. "I've got it." Doc stepped forward, while (y/n) remained rooted in place.
"Take this," he said, putting the radio into 10k's waiting hand "and we need to hear everything."
"Come on!" Homer stressed, but Tommy had other ideas. He strode past the older man, and enveloped (y/n) in their second hug of the day, one that she hadn't been expecting. It was awkward, given the shape and bulk of his suit, but he burrowed his face into her shoulder, having to bend down just the slightest bit.
She closed her eyes and held him for just a second, before Homer pulled the boy away and towards either his certain death, or their salvation.
➳(y/n) was grateful to leave the stuffy building, and to get out into the fresh air again. It was interesting to her, how a few minutes spent outside could change your life - for better or worse.
In this case, it calmed (y/n)'s nerves. They stood on the edge of the lake, and the girl amused herself by finding pretty stones and listening to what they were saying on the radio. Apparently, 10k had kept the button on this whole time - letting them hear literally everything.
"You're a lot like my dad," The boy's voice came through the radio, muffled.
"With the same bad luck," Homer almost chuckled. For a guy who'd be facing death within mere minutes, he seemed very content, and she prayed 10k would recover after losing him. The next portion, (y/n) wouldn't forget even if she acquired brain damage.
"You need to go on, for all of us," Homer implored him, ignoring the various alarms going off. "Promise me that. That you'll reach your goal, live a happy life, keep that girl of yours. Live the life my son never had."
The next few moments - on both ends of the radio - were silent. It worried her because Ten Thousand was very much the suffer-in-silence type, and his quietness could possibly be him facing grief before his father-figure was even dead.
Doc and Cassandra looked at (y/n) who simply sat - rolling over Homer's words in her head. How was she supposed to ever look at her friend again, when she'd been tied to him in such a way as that?
"Well, finally," Doc chuckled, but (y/n) turned to frown at him. "uh-oh."
"It's not like that," she grumbled, stacking stones on top of one another until they fell. Cassandra gazed at her, like an older sister. And, really, she was.
"Trust me," she said "it is."
Notes;
idk why but for some reason I hate this chapter??? like my whole idea here is to have them both be very oblivious to it until now and then have that cause some stuff, and then finally have a big love confession...
because yes i am that bitch. a sucker for a good confession.
also i'm thinking about making the chapters a bit shorter, because i average about 4k words and it takes foreverrr to read so i apologize! would you rather the shorter chapters instead?
let me know! xoxo