Slight Gore Warning ⚠️
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"Back on the road again..." Dell murmured and laid against (Y/N)'s shoulder who did the same with her.
They both sat inside the truck together while the rest of the team was siphoning gas from stranded cars. Vivian sat across from them and watched the red and orange leaves on the trees flow in the wind.
"How big is that bunker exactly?" Dell asked to fill the silence inside the truck.
"Not too big. I say it's the size of a small house." (Y/N) tried to remember. It's been years since she's stepped foot there. "But Grandpa and Rockman stored supplies there years ago. They were doomsday prepping for a few years."
"Thank goodness for grandpas." Dell sighed and moved so that she could see Vivian. "How have you been holding up, Viv?"
The older lady smiled softly and shrugged her shoulders. Her hands were tracing around her belly to help soothe some tension she had. "As best as I can with everything that's happened."
She was trying to keep calm and not let the group's problems affect her pregnancy. (Y/N) hoped the stress from the shootout and her temporary death didn't the baby. "Do you need anything from us?"
"No, I'm fine. I just want to stay off my feet fo-" Vivian stopped as her eyes widened due to a surprise feeling in her belly.
Both nurses jumped up when they saw Vivian's reaction but the older woman chuckled and motioned for them to settle down. "It's just a kick. Not labor."
Visible relief washed them. Dell almost felt her heart jump out of her chest. "Oh thank god..."
Vivian's hand moved her sweater up to reveal her stomach. She felt around for the baby's kicks and smiled once she saw the little movement. "You ladies want to feel? They're still kicking."
Dell perked up and nodded while (Y/N) simply watched. Her friend was always excited about babies. Even back at the hospital when the world was normal, Dell was always quick to offer her help to new mothers and midwives.
As Dell giggled from feeling the baby's movement, (Y/N) thought that the moment was a rather precious one in such a while. "Do you know the gender yet?"
"No. I wanted it to be a surprise." Vivian spoke. "I haven't thought of names either. It might sound cheesy but I want the name to come to me the moment I get to meet them."
"As long as their middle name gets to be Delilah." Dell smirked, making the other two women laugh.
Vivian covered her belly with her sweater as she and Dell fell into a conversation about motherhood. (Y/N) mostly listened and sometimes added in some input, but throughout the conversation, she began to notice Dell look a bit down. Her friend mostly kept a normal and smiled but (Y/N) could see that it was more of a bittersweet look.
Wes appeared at the door and peeked inside at the three. "Hey, sorry to barge in but (Y/N), the Captain needs you for a moment."
"What's wrong?" (Y/N) asked as she got up and excused herself.
"Nothing too bad. Just Rose's stitches broke." Wes escorted her to where the captain was after she quickly grabbed a small health pack. He leaning against a small car with his hand clutched over his bleeding arm and held an annoyed look.
Good thing, she grabbed the health pack. She approached the captain and began to inspect his arm carefully. "You really need to stop moving this arm. It won't heal."
"That's not something I can do, unfortunately." He held his arm out for her to work on easier. She pushed his sleeve up and got started.
"How's the gas looking, Woodrow?" Rose asked Wes, grimacing at the disinfectant alcohol making contact with his wound.
"Not too bad. We actually might have enough to make the trip to Baxburry." Wes spoke, feeling a bit hopeful about the gas situation. "Rockman said there should be a couple of truck stops along this road. We can try those places too."
"Then that leaves us with figuring out food." Rose looked around the highway they were on.
Miles and miles of stranded cars going out from the nearby cities and towns which left the roads heading in mostly clear. The surrounding areas were nothing but forests and lakes.
"We'll have to start considering hunting if we want to feed these people." Rose spoke and glanced down at (Y/N) who burned the end of a suture needle with a lighter. "You grew up in these mountains. Know how to hunt in them?"
"I'm a fisher, not a hunter." (Y/N) muttered as she put the lighter away and focused on stitching his wound back up.
"Works for me..." Rose grunted and gripped his hand on the car's mirror from the slight pain.
(Y/N) mended the wound back together and applied cleaner bandages around his arm, making sure they were firm enough to not break again.
"Sir!" A soldier called to Rose as they ran over. He nodded for them to speak.
(Y/N) gathered the small supplies she had used and placed them back inside the health pack. She saw how rushed the soldier was and felt worried.
"We managed to pick up a signal from the radio. It's broken but it's something."
Rose immediately got to his feet and pushed his sleeve back down to head over to where the radio was. (Y/N) went to follow and looked down when her own handheld radio attached to her hip began to crackle a little.
Over at the first truck in their line was the main radio the team used. Rockman had been fumbling with it and going over the dials to try cracking the signal and actually managed to break through the static.
"Is it still going?" Rose questioned, his eyes focused on the device.
The old hippie shrugged as he waited for the message to return. "I think so. It's cutting in and out, back and forth. It's all over the place."
(Y/N) moved to stand next to Rockman and watch the radio as well once the message came back.
"......fa-culty....un... r-id...all...Sa-ite....per....g-o...ing....l-es...nds....."
It was more than they had before but still unintelligible. The message was the same as the last meaning it was prerecorded. Not actual contact. But then.
"....Hel-lo?... Hell-..." A woman's voice spoke.
Someone was actually making contact. Rose quickly went to answer. Drake and Cheng along with two other soldiers were carrying their jugs of gas when they heard the radio. They immediately placed them down and came over.
Rose picked up the connected mic and held the button to speak. "Yes, we hear you! This is captain Easton Rose of Satellite enforcement. Can you hear me?"
"Wor-k dammit!...Hell-o?...Hello?!"
"Must be her end of the call." Rockman spoke as he looked over the dials to make sure they weren't put out of place.
"You're fucking kidding me..." Rose grunted and tried it again.
First actual contact they get in so long and yet they can't fully communicate. It sounded like the woman on the other line was desperately trying to get her end to work. In the background were tapping sounds as her hectic breathing could be heard. (Y/N) started to think she might be in trouble.
It seemed like the woman gave up as she smacked her hands against a table in frustration. "I-f any....ear-s... don't-"
The signal cut out. No static, no noise, it was just pure nothing once more. Even the radio on (Y/N)'s hip stopped crackling.
Rockman tried fixing it, but it was no use. Nothing else came from it. "That's all she'll say."
"It wasn't enough. But she was warning us." Rose deduced. It cut off before she could say what the warning was about. Fiends? The facility? Government interference?
Drake handed his jugs of gas to Cheng and she went with the other soldiers to go fill up the tanks. "If that woman was warning us, then maybe we should reconsider the facility, sir. That was their station, right?"
"It's the only one we've been trying and that we're in range of. We don't know exactly what the warning is about, however." Rose grunted and turned to pace away with his hands on his hips. With every step they took forward, the world shoved them a hundred steps back.
(Y/N) could understand the amount of vexation the captain must be under. First their wanted status, then their fallen soldiers, and now a warning from the very facility they were supposed to go to? Was anything going to go right for them?
She turned and watched the old hippie turn the dials to other stations to try catching any broadcasts or other people out there trying to make contact. "You can get that signal working, right?"
"Shouldn't be trouble. These military radios are surprisingly easy to work." Rockman spoke. "But if not, then the issue is on the other end. Nothing much I can do there."
Drake glanced around the highway as he listened. It was beginning to come to a point where they'll have to change plans. That warning could mean anything. "Keep trying any station. We need to know what's going on around us."
"Lucky for you, radios are my specialty."
(Y/N) smiled at his words and moved to leave him to it. She was going to head back to the truck where Dell and Vivian were but Drake gave her a tap on the shoulder and motioned for her to follow. She wondered what for but followed anyway.
The two walked past the trucks and over to where a pile-up of cars was. Looks like the people trying to leave were in a massive rush. Many of the cars were damaged and turned.
"I have new ground rules for you moving forward... considering recent events." He spoke and went up to one of the pile-up cars to open its back door.
"What happened to the old ones?" She moved to lean against the same car and saw him pull out his knife.
She jumped in fright when she heard a growl coming from inside the car and he reached in quickly to drag out a fiend who happened to be inside. He threw the fiend to the ground and got on top of it before it could grab him.
"The first being- these things!" He shoved his knife into the fiend's skull, killing it. "If it comes down to it, we're going to use your condition more. So you can't be scared of them anymore."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not scared-"
"Graaah..." The fiend groaned which made her step back quickly.
Drake twisted the knife which finally put an end to the fiend. "You're the only one here who can actually get past these guys. You have zero reason to fear them."
"You try seeing them the way I do." She huffed. "They used to be people. I could've very well ended up like them."
"Yet you're not." Drake got to his feet and looked inside the backseat to see an open suitcase. "Second ground rule. You're gonna have to start taking initiative."
She looked at him strangely. "Initiative for what?"
"For getting out of predicaments and learning how to defend yourself. Or else you're going to get shot again."
She knew where this was going. Her arms crossed over her chest and she listened to what he had to say.
Inside the suitcase he was rummaging through, he found a small lockbox tucked underneath some pajamas. He pulled it out and used his knife to wedge in between. "That attack shows that I won't always be around to save your ass unless we go the death route. You need to toughen up for me."
It wasn't the fiends she had to worry about, but other people. Another situation like the attack could arise that prevents him from keeping her safe. With the loss of members as well, it wasn't just her who'd need to toughen up.
"You're saying that like I'm weak." (Y/N) muttered and looked away from him. Although, she was starting to see his point.
"I'm saying it like it is. You are." He positioned the lockbox against the door then jabbed his knee at his knife to break it open. The lock broke off and a steel object came tumbling out of it.
'He can at least be nicer about it...' She thought to herself and looked to see what fell.
"I gave you my gun which you're going to have to start using." He picked up the steel object which turned out to be a switchblade. "But not as much as this."
It was long with a white ivory handle and when Drake flicked it open, a skinny but sharp blade flew out and glinted in the autumn sun. He held it out for her to take.
She looked at it unsurely and carefully took it. It wasn't bulking like his knife but longer. It could slice through something cleanly without worry of getting stuck. But the idea of shooting and stabbing didn't sound like her. It made her feel slightly queasy...
"This is supposed to be your job..." She whispered and carefully pushed the blade back into its handle.
"I am doing my job." He looked through the rest of the suitcase before closing the car door. "I'm turning a zombie girl into a reliable soldier."
He stepped around her and expected her to follow so they could search the rest of the cars. But (Y/N) looked up at him when he said his nickname for her that he hadn't said in days. He sounded less stern like a sergeant and had a hint of his teasing attitude in there.
She should be rolling her eyes calling him an asshole in return but she didn't.
They approached a pickup truck that was halfway over the lane blocker and stuck underneath tires was a fiend who began snarling at the sergeant. He thought this would be good practice for her and nodded for her to take care of it. "Use your knife. You did it before."
"That was to save you." She groaned and slowly approached the fiend while drawing her switchblade. The fiend didn't bother to look at her and instead tried reaching out for Drake.
He watched as she got to her knees and positioned the knife over the fiend's head. It whipped around to glare at her which made her yelp and jump back. Her knife clattered to the ground.
The sergeant sighed and went to help her. "What am I supposed to do with you..."
"Shut up." She glared and picked the knife back up. Maybe if the fiend didn't look like a monster this would be less scary for her.
Drake stepped onto the fiend's arm and tried to grab him to keep it held down. He lowered down and took her hands into his, guiding them back over the fiend's head. He could feel how much she was shaking but it lessened the more he helped her. (Y/N) closed her eyes and grimaced as she moved the blade down and felt it pierced the fiend's head. It snarled and tried biting at Drake but he gave her some force to push the blade further in. A chill ran up her spine hearing the crack of its skull and feeling it stop moving...
This will take some getting used to. She wasn't looking forward to it.
Drake's hands didn't leave hers for a moment longer. Not even after the fiend was already dead and the seconds went by. (Y/N) almost didn't want his hands to leave either.
"I'm sorry." He muttered.
She looked up to see him staring down at their hands with that distance expression he had before. "For what..?"
He sighed and finally released his hands before getting to his feet and turning away.
"For shooting you."