➳"If you keep looking like you're going to kill Murphy, I'll take your rifle away."
(Y/n) had stopped on the trail to kneel down and check out some of the plants, to see if there were any she could recognize. So far, only a few wild roses here and there.
"That's fine," Tommy shrugged "I'd just kill him with my bare hands instead."
The girl looked at him seriously.
"You really are impossible, you know that?" She scoffed, before getting back to her feet and picking up her pace, to put some distance between the two of them.
As much as she understood his pain and wished for it to go away, she also knew that killing Murphy wouldn't make Tommy happier.
It would kill him.
"Everything okay back there?" Vasquez glanced at her from the corner of his eye as she caught up to the rest of the group.
"If by 'okay' you mean 'Murphy's still alive'," she muttered "then yes. Everything's peachy."
"Works for me," the man shrugged.
They continued forward in a heavy silence as the dense forestry gave way to a view of the Mississippi River.
"Well, the Mississippi sure ain't as mighty as it used to be," Doc said sadly, gazing out at the landscape.
Docked near the shore, was a boat. And on that boat, a group of zombie passengers apparently headed out to enjoy the beautiful weather.
According to Warren, however, the only thing they would be enjoying today was a good old cup of mercy.
"We can move faster on the river than on foot," Warren pointed out "we can take this south to Memphis and then head west."
"Can't we find another one?" Doc whined, while (y/n) reached into her left boot - moving her pants to the side to access it - to pull out two throwing knives.
"No," Warren whispered, as (y/n) pulled her right arm back and heaved it forward quickly, flicking the knife from out of her grasp and into the neck of one of the Zs.
She frowned.
(y/n) hardly ever missed, especially not with her throwing knives. She hadn't missed in... God, how long had it been?
Regardless of her slip-up, the boat was soon cleared of the unwelcome passengers, and another unwelcome guest presented himself.
The man cowered beneath a tarp, and when Warren pulled the fabric back, he was greeted with Addy holding her Z Whacker threateningly above him.
"Whoa, whoa, easy," he cried, holding out his defenseless hands "i don't want any trouble."
"What are you doing here?" Vasquez demanded, half-blocking (y/n)'s vision.
"It's my boat."
"It's ours now," Vasquez deadpanned. He was being honest, they were going to steal this boat.
"Now, wait a minute," the unknown panicked "i don't like this deal. Can we negotiate?"
Not a split second before the last syllable left his mouth, Vasquez had cocked and aimed his silver pistol directly at the man's head.
(y/n) shifted from behind him and took a step forward, grabbing his wrist firmly. He glowered at her, but she glared right back.
"Don't be stupid, Vasquez," she chastised "does it look like any of us know how to drive a damn boat?" With an eyebrow raised, she looked at each of her family members.
"Actually, one time down in Santa Mo-" When everyone glared at him, Doc snapped his mouth closed.
"She's right!" The man squeaked, sitting up properly instead of cowering on the ground "This boat ain't easy to operate. Plus, I know the channel patterns."
"Forget it, you talk to much." Vasquez said, while (y/n) rolled her eyes. His death would be unnecessary, and messy. What was the point, when they could just ditch him afterwards.
"He doesn't pose a threat," (y/n) had let go of Vasquez's wrist, but didn't fully trust that he wouldn't shoot him.
"Who cares? He's annoying."
"So? We keep you around, don't we?"
"Can you take us South, to Memphis?" Warren's voice jerked the two of them out of their little squabble, and directed their attention to the man instead.
"Well, hell yes!" He replied cheerfully, jumping to his feet.
"Let's go."
➳Everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts the entirety of the ride. The boat's captain, who she still didn't know the name of, kept quiet after Vasquez pointed his pistol into his face.
Nothing gets people to shut up faster than being held at gunpoint, that much was true.
Doc was absentmindedly shuffling a deck of cards, while (y/n) sat with one legged propped up on one of the plastic oil drums in the back.
To keep her mind off things, she admired the scenery. It wasn't often during their travels that she felt safe enough to simply enjoy the outside world fully, so she took the time to do so now.
It would have been even better, if she could stop thinking about what transpired the day before. She winced as the memory rolled through her mind for what felt like the millionth time: seeing the light leave Tommy's eyes as he realized what he'd done, helping him bury the body.
But what hurt the most, was how he could barely even look at her. Not while they rifled through an abandoned gift shop, not even when they sat on the rooftop of the trailer.
She didn't realize until then what she would give just to see him smile at her.
"Hey, I think I know those dudes!" Doc suddenly chimed, and she looked over to see him pratically skipping to the front of the boat to inspect a small boat that seemed to be headed straight for them.
In it, sat two figures that even from here, she could tell immediately who they were. Although the rifle they gave her lay destroyed in Fort Collins, the duo wasn't so easily forgotten.
"Oh my god. Is that..." Addy leaned forward to get a better look.
"Sketchy and Skeezy," (y/n) called from her spot near the back. It was easy to identify them, perhaps by their constrasting looks. Sketchy, short and wearing a hat like always, and Skeezy, tall and skinny.
Yeah, she'd hoped she'd never have to see them again.
Of course she wasn't that lucky.
"Hey, slow down, man!" Doc called.
"Slowing down," the captain reported, and she felt the shudder of the boat's engine as they slowed down.
"Hey, we're not slowing down." Vasquez ordered.
"Yeah, for once I agree with him!" Murphy shouted indignantly, earning himself a glare from the girl sitting behind him.
"Nobody asked you, did they?"
He mocked her in a stupid little voice like a five year old, before sticking his disgusting tongue out at her. She shuddered, and tried to ignore how it felt when she realize Tommy's eyes were on her.
She hated those blue eyes right now.
"Do what I tell you and slow down," Doc pleaded. "those are my friends."
Vasquez was quick to pull his pistol from his belt and cocked it.
"Well is that really necessary?" The captain asked shakily, but luckily for him Warren was quick to push the gun away.
"Let's check it out," she reasoned.
"Mistake." Vasquez grumbled.
"Never get off the boat." Murphy said quietly, as if he was dreading what was to come. To be fair, so was she.
"Doc!" Sketchy called out, but (y/n) stayed where she'd been sitting the whole time. The farther she could be from them, the better. "Well, I'll be damned."
"Well, if it ain't Tweedledee and Tweedledumbass," the old man said fondly. Although she couldn't see it, she could hear from his kind voice that he was smiling. At least someone was happy they were here.
Not her.
(Y/n) watched the interaction continue.
"Oh, man, you guys' timing is perfect," Sketchy smiled with rotting teeth
"What happened to him?" Addy asked, gesturing to Skeezy - who was partially covered by bird's feathers.
"He fell in with the wrong crowd. Hey, kid! You still shooting out the lights?
10k, surprised he was being asked a question, mumbled a confused "Yeah?"
"Great. Oh, hey uh - what happened to the other one?"
"Other one?" Warren asked, and (y/n) could see over Murphy's shoulder that Sketchy was craning his neck to get a better look of the boat's passengers.
"Yeah, yeah, the little flower child with the knives."
(y/n) snorted, and then huffed a chuckle.
"My aim's even better now, since I last saw you." She called, cupping one hand around her mouth to help push her voice further.
"Perfect! The two of you kids can have this gear loaded in no time at all."
➳Murphy seemed to not be amused by the folklore he had become. According to Sketchy, 'The Murphy' was dangerous as all hell, a telepathic psycho, and was seven feet tall, with red eyes.
Now, Murphy was not a great-looking guy, but their claims were a little outrageous.
(y/n) rolled her eyes, knowing that in reality, all The Murphy was was an angry, regular psycho. Or maybe sociopath was a better word. But most days, both seemed to do the trick of describing their mission.
The boat jerked suddenly, nearly sending (y/n) flying off her perch and into the unforgiving waters.
"Zombie jam!" The captain of the boat cried, and she looked over the side of the boat in horror to see it was true.
A dam made of corpses cut through the river, blocking the path of their vessel. She sighed. It was going to be another one of those days, wasn't it?
"I told you!"
"Nobody ever believes us!"
"Guess we woke 'em up," Doc said, as they all stood up to watch the Zs begin to climb the boat. (y/n) grabbed her hunting knife.
From behind her, an undead hand grabbed the back of her shirt. With a strangled cry, she tried to maneuver out of its grasp and jam her knife into it's skull - to no avail.
"Zombies on board!" Somebody cried, and then the hand went limp, freeing her. The girl glanced over at 10k, who was shoving his sling back into his belt quickly.
She nodded curtly at him, hopping off the barrel to stand by her family. Her knife was still in her hand.
"Bail out!" Warren cried, and the girl momentarily panicked.
Getting eaten by zombies wasn't exactly high on her apocalypse bucket list, but neither was diving into zombie-infested waters.
She watched anxiously as Tommy dove headfirst into the water, like he'd been doing it all his life. Had he?
It when then, as she dove into the water, following Doc - who'd grabbed her by the arm - that she came to realize she really didn't know that much about Tommy at all.
Shortly after diving in, the girl burst to the surface with a gasp. (y/n) tried pushing the wet hair from her face and spun around looking for the sharpshooter, but his familiar figure was nowhere to be found.
Another figure splashed close to her, their hands reaching out like she was a lifeline.
"I can't swim!" Sketchy gasped, coughing on the water as he continued to reach for her.
"Get away from me!"
The girl twisted her body to kick him in the chest, but his fight-or-flight had kicked in, making him relentless.
His strong arms grabbed her head and she was pushed under, the water rushing over her cruelly as she fought.
Through her thrashing, the girl bobbed momentarily to the surface and took a deep breath of air, losing it all to cry out for help.
"10k!"
Finally, she raised her elbow and brought it down into Sketchy's groin, the pain forcing him to release his hold on her.
Frantically, she paddled to shore, coughing up the river water as she went. Thankfully, a pair of strong arms reached down as her hair cascaded down her face, making it nearly impossible to see.
A hand pushed the hair out of her face as she sputtered, trying to catch her breath.
Vasquez.
"You okay, kid?"
His face was close to hers, and he'd obviously knelt down to be at her eye level. His brown eyes were framed by his even darker eyebrows, they were they were pulled down made her think he was genuinely concerned for her wellbeing.
"Yeah, thanks."
"Come on,"
➳With a grimace, the girl began removing her weapons. Her pistol was soaked, and her rifle had been lost during the fight for life when Sketchy tried using her as a personal life raft.
"Zombie jams? Seriously?" she groaned, beginning to dry her knives with some moss found near the riverbank. The rest of the team was trying to get as dry as they could, but it was nearly impossible.
"10k!" Doc bellowed suddenly, making the girl jump.
Tommy.
She knew he would be fine, but that didn't change the ache in her gut at the thought of something going wrong - of him getting hurt. He'd been through enough lately as it was.
"10k!" She joined in Doc's yelling, trying to get his attention.
"Kid, can you hear us? Send a smoke signal!"
"I'm going across," the girl said, forcibly putting her pistol back together and shoving some spare ammo into it.
"(y/n), you won't make it." Warren said sadly.
"We have to get him."
She blamed the catch in her voice on the water drama, but of course it was because she was scared.
"No, we don't," Murphy spat, emptying his shoe of liquid "What makes you think he's on the other side anyways?"
(y/n) clenched her right hand into a fist.
"He's a survivor. He wouldn't go out like that."
"Yeah, as romantic as that sounds, that is not much to go on."
"I don't care," (y/n) spat, double-checking all her knives were in place. "I'm going after him."
"East side of the Mississippi you're talking about." Vasquez was strapping his bulletproof vest back on.
"Yeah? So?" The girl couldn't withhold her sarcasm.
"I'm heading west. So is he." He jutted his chin out towards Murphy. She knew what he meant: they'd leave without her.
"Oh, is that right?" Doc said sarcastically. Warren sighed, her hair still dripping wet. (y/n) pushed a piece of wet hair behind her own ear.
"You're not going back in there, baby girl. Or you, Doc." Her voice was gentle, but that didn't help how the girl was feeling.
"What are we gonna do, Warren?" The girl asked quietly, afraid of the answer. "Leave him?" Her voice broke, and Addy rushed to her side.
"Hey, hey," she cooed, putting a hand on either side of her face so the girl was forced to look at her "We're not gonna leave him. Look, he probably just floated downstream, right? So, let's head South. We'll find a spot. We'll camp out."
(y/n) nodded, swiping at her eye with her left hand. "Okay."
"There's only one direction he could have gone. We'll stay on the river's edge. If he's on the other side, he'll give us a signal."
"What about getting Murphy to California?" Vasquez interjected. (y/n) scoffed, before scowling at him.
"Once a bounty hunter, always a bounty hunter."
Whatever mild concern he felt for her earlier disappeared, leaving nothing but the daunting figure to glare at her. Not that she cared. The only thing she cared about in that moment, was Tommy.
Screw the mission.
"We'll put in 24 hours of looking for him. And then we head west." Warren negotiated. (y/n)'s shoulders drooped and her mouth fell open in shock.
"Is that all he's worth? One day?"
"Now, now, I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to!"
(y/n) let her voice rise, because all rationale was gone.
"Look, screw the mission, okay? I am not leaving him behind."
"Nobody's asking you to come with us," Murphy sneered, and it took all her willpower not to punch him in the face right then and there.
Instead, she took a deep breath.
"Twenty-four hours. Then we leave."
➳Night had fallen, but that didn't mean sleep would come easily. Instead, the girl sat wide awake on the edge of the riverbank, her eyes squinted so she wouldn't miss a thing.
So, when she saw the tiny red dot across the flowing waters, she tapped Doc excitedly on the shoulder.
"Doc, look! There's a light over there!"
"I see it!"
"See what?" Warren glanced over towards the two survivors, the flames of the fire roaring cheerfully nearby.
"A light." (y/n) explained, getting ready to take her pistol from her belt.
"You saw a light. What does that mean?" Vasquez deadpanned, leaning his forearms on his knees. In the firelight, (y/n) could see how unimpressed he is.
All this time travelling together, and he really couldn't give a shit about any of them? Not even Tommy, who'd done nothing to him personally.
"10k, he signaled us! (y/n), you saw it!" The girl nodded at the old man's enthusiasm.
"It's true, guys. It has to be him."
Vasquez shook his head slowly. "We've gone far enough south. We head west in the morning."
The girl upholstered her pistol, and Vasquez raised an eyebrow.
"Going somewhere?"
"Yep," she checked the ammo.
"Care to tell me where that is?"
"I'm going to find 10k.."
"(y/n), it's dark out. You're not going out alone," Warren stared at the girl earnestly, before pinching the bridge of her nose.
"I can take care of myself, Warren, you know that."
As she began walking away from the warmth of the fire and past the sleeping figures of Addy and Murphy, (y/n) froze as she heard their soft voices - Warren, Doc, and Vasquez.
"-Jeopardizing the mission," The gruff voice of Vasquez.
"What do you know about the mission? You're just here collecting the bounty. I mean, who the hell are you, anyway? Why are we dragging him along?" Silently, the girl thanked her lucky stars for helping her find a friend like Doc.
"Let's not get it twisted, old man," The bountryhunter replied sternly "I'm escorting this prisoner to California. I'm not putting him in danger without a damn good reason. This is not one of those reasons."
Behind (y/n), she heard the sound of someone groan, and leaves being shifted on the ground.
Then, a voice, heavy with sleep.
"Where you going?" Addy yawned, her head angled to watch her friend, whose back was still to the adults gathered around the blazing fire. Slowly, she put his pistol away and turned around.
"I saw a light. I was going to go find him."
"Aw, c'mere," Addy patted the spot beside her as her eyelids began falling closed, and the girl laid down on her back to look up at the stars.
"Addy?" She called out quietly, unsure if her friend was still awake.
"Yeah?"
"Do you miss Mack?"
A pause. Then:
"Every single day."
NOTES;
I am breaking this episode into two chapters, because having just one was approx. 6k words!
(which is just way too long lol)
but season two is my fave, which is why i am really putting effort in!
(also 10k in season 2 is literally the best era... although season 5 10k has my heart as well he is just so cute in general)
P.S I never really proofread my chapters, so someone please tell me if something doesn't make sense and I will fix it!!