Philadelphia, PA
"Philadelphia." Murphy said with his head out the window. "Ah the city of brotherly love." Bailey didn't look up from her notebook but she still heard the snarling of feasting zombies as they drove by. She played with the end of her braid a bit while she wrote on the blank pages, Addy had gotten bored and decided she'd braid her best friend's hair. Normally Addy would braid her own hair when she got bored but she'd just about braided and dreadlocked every bit she could, so now Bailey filled the void. The braid was nice, starting high on the right side of her head before cutting diagonally across the back of her skull where the rest fell over her left shoulder, all in all Bailey liked it, especially that it started high enough that Addy had been able to incorporate the short strands of Bailey's bangs to keep them out of her face.
They'd made a few stops for bathroom breaks between the Jersey Devil Refinery and Philly so now Mack and Doc were in the truck bed with Bailey and Ten Thousand while Cassandra and Addy sat in the back seats with Murphy.
"Wow." She heard Mack say, "Is that really the Liberty Bell?"
That got her attention as she put her notebook away and stood up next to Ten Thousand as Garnett got out of the truck.
"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land and unto all the inhabitants thereof." Garnett recited as he approached the bell and the truck it was secured to. "Yeah, that's it."
"Three years of zombie apocalypse, you think you've seen everything." Doc said hopping out of the truck and walking over with Garnett.
"Well, when everything went bad, they probably tried to save a little history." Warren said getting out of the drivers seat and heading over to the truck too.
"Yeah well they should have known the only thing you can save is yourself." Murphy said still hanging out the window, "Let's go!"
"Hang on!" Warren called back while she put a tube into the truck checking for gas, "If this thing still has fuel. . . and it does. . . If we get this thing started they won't have to ride out in the open like that."
"Well, I'm all for that." Doc agreed.
"I'll grab the jumper cable." Mack offered.
"God bless the human race." Doc said looking at the tagged bell, "Ninety-nine percent of them dead but there's still one jackass alive with a spray can."
Warren collected her hose and moved to get in the drivers seat but when she opened the door a zombie lunged for her. She jumped back and in the next second the Z was dead with a gear wedged between its eyes. Bailey looked over to Ten Thousand who had his slingshot drawn.
"1,075." He counted and Warren gave him a salute in thanks. Then Doc came over to drive their truck closer to the one carrying the Liberty Bell so Mack could use the jumper cables to start it. Before he got in the drivers seat Bailey noticed the old man's eyes on her and she remembered what he'd said about giving the sniper a chance. She took a deep breath, he had saved Doc, twice now, and Bailey and now Warren. Maybe she was being too hard on him – and Cassandra. Neither one had done anything but help since they'd joined the group, they hadn't earned Bailey's distrust, it was more Bailey's own personal flaw. After so much time in the apocalypse it was hard to believe anyone could just be a good person without an ulterior motive.
"Ten Thousand." She called quietly and he turned seeming surprised she was talking to him willingly, "Nice shot." She said before looking away as Doc pulled the truck forward. Mack jumped the truck and the engine roared to life.
"All right, that's it, let's go Murphy." Garnett said, "You get in here with Warren, Bailey and me. Everybody else follow in the pickup. Stay close." Bailey hopped out of the truck bed and into the backseat of their new vehicle with Murphy. Doc was still at the wheel of their black truck with Ten Thousand in the passenger seat and Mack and Addy in the back with Cassandra. They barely made it a block before Warren ran over a zombie like on the Tappen Zee Bridge.
"You know, you could try to miss some of them instead." Garnett said remembering how they'd ruined the last truck.
"Why? One less zombie to kill." Warren replied with her eyes on the road looking for another target.
"Leave some for Psycho-Boy 2000." Murphy said from his seat behind Garnett.
"Ten Thousand."
"Ten Thousand."
"Ten Thousand." They all replied at once making Murphy jump a bit at having everyone jump down his throat over the boy's name.
"Ten Thousand? It's good to know kids today still have some goals." He scoffed taking out a water bottle and starting to drink.
"Hey, take it easy there. That's the last of your water." Garnett said.
"No, actually, it's the last of her water." He gestured to Warren, "Mine's right here."
"Give me that." Warren said snatching back her empty bottle. "Just because we've got to get you to California alive doesn't mean I can't kick your ass between here and there."
Murphy just shook his head and leaned back in his seat. Bailey glanced at her messenger bag that she'd put on the floor and moved it so it was between her body and the door so Murphy couldn't take her water too.
"What's the matter sweetheart?" Murphy asked, "Not up for sharing with the savior of the human race?"
"You know, a person can still live without his arms." She said with her right hand going to her hatchet and stroking the blade. "We have to get you to California alive, not unscathed." She pointed out with a look in her eye that made Murphy lean further toward his door. Garnett chuckled from his seat.
"Take it easy on him Bailey, save it for the Z's."
Warren laughed too looking at the girl in the rearview mirror then Garnett shouted, "Look out!"
Another car was headed for them with a zombie sticking out of the windshield, probably snacking on the driver. Warren swerved to avoid hitting them but the weight of the Liberty Bell made the truck tilt until it was too much and the cables holding the bell snapped sending it bouncing down the road where it took out some zombies, running them right over and turning them into piles of bloody goo.
"Yeah!" Doc called from the truck when they'd pulled up next to them, "I'd pay money to see that again." he laughed as Warren checked the truck.
"The axel's broke." She said as Garnett ordered them all back into their original truck. They drove for a few more blocks getting deeper and deeper into the city. Cities were usually dead zones, filled to the brim with thousands of zombies. Bailey remembered Cassandra saying she had been in Philly for Black Summer and that it got really bad. It must have been, Bailey thought, if most of the people who'd turned into zombies had run out of humans and moved on. It hadn't been an easy summer for Camp Blue Sky either, Bailey remembered, though luckily for them they had been surrounded by forest and could harvest certain tree roots and berries to keep them going.
Eventually they stopped for a break again and Warren passed out Twinkies to everyone.
"Enjoy, that's the last of the food." She said as Murphy licked his wrapper clean.
"God I'm so hungry. My big guts are eating my little guts." He said throwing the wrapper aside and turning to Ten Thousand who was sitting next to him on the tailgate slowly nibbling his Twinkie to savor it. "Are you going to eat all that?" he asked grabbing for it but before he could Ten Thousand stuffed the rest of the Twinkie in his mouth.
"Selfish little bastard." Murphy grumbled and Bailey couldn't help but give a little laugh. It wasn't as little as she thought though as Ten Thousand looked over his shoulder and saw her standing there smiling, their eyes met for a second before she cleared her throat and turned away putting her poker face back on. Man, she thought, first Warren's water, now Ten Thousand's ration, Murphy really didn't give a damn about anyone but himself did he?
"We need to split up and look for food and water." Garnett said knowing their supply was more than dangerously low.
"Oh if we could find a two way radio, or um, even like a satellite dish, I can try and contact that Citizen Z guy." Addy offered referring to the man they'd been talking to about getting Murphy to California.
"That's good. Okay, you and Mack do that." Garnett said, "And the rest of us will look for food. Doc, you take Cassandra and 10K, Warren and I will take Murphy. Bailey, pick your poison."
"I'll take any group that's not with him." she said from her place standing beside Warren in the truck bed as she nodded down at Murphy.
"Wise choice." Warren said shaking her empty water bottle.
Garnett gave a small chuckle again and nodded. "Stay close, meet back here in an hour. Okay? Let's go."
«»
When their groups split up Bailey ended up sticking to Doc, Ten Thousand – or 10K she assumed it was now – fell a bit behind with Cassandra. The sniper kept looking down every alley for zombies to add to his count and Cassandra seemed to be hesitant to go deeper into the city for some reason. Doc walked with Bailey while they looked for a place that looked fairly untouched and maybe still had something useful inside.
"Still don't trust the newbies huh?" Doc asked as they walked.
"Doc, I'm trying okay?" Bailey sighed, "But really, would you have gone with Murphy if you had the choice?"
Doc shrugged, "Eh, guess you've got a point." Then he spotted something promising and turned around to face the other two, "Hey, what do you think of this one?" he asked pointing to a building that looked like it had been foreclosed prior to the outbreak. They made their way over to check it out. The doors and first floor windows were boarded up and had red slips on them stamped evicted.
"Looks secure." Doc commented.
"Maybe too secure." Cassandra said, "If no one's gotten in there since the beginning how will we?"
Bailey took a few steps back and looked down the alley that ran along the side of the building. "What about this?" she asked jogging down it with the others following her, then they saw what she was heading toward – a fire escape. Bailey hopped onto a dumpster and grabbed onto the rail pulling herself onto the metal catwalk. The last flight of steps had been folded up so no one could use the escape to break in and the hinges squeaked loudly as Bailey pushed the ladder so the others could climb up. 10K broke the second floor window with the butt of his rifle and cleared it of broken glass before they all got in. Doc headed for the bathroom to check the medicine cabinet while Cassandra cleared the two bedrooms. 10K looked through the living room while Bailey hopped onto the kitchen counter. Given that the people who last lived here had been evicted the place was pretty empty but since they hadn't been packing for the apocalypse there was still a good amount of stuff they could salvage. Bailey found a half eaten box of cereal, stale but better than nothing, and pulled the plastic bag from the box, folded over the top and shoved it in her bag. There was also a jar of peanut butter, a sleeve of crackers, and some cans of soup. 10K came back over with some duct tape and a few gears he'd pulled from the dvd player. Doc came out of the bathroom smiling and patting his bag but didn't say or show them what he'd found. Then Cassandra called to them from one of the bedrooms. They found her looking out the window with the curtain pulled back.
"Didn't Addy say she could use a satellite dish?" she asked pointing out the window. There was a building behind the one they were in facing the street on the next block over and across the road from that was a pole with a satellite dish hooked up to it.
"Alright," Doc said, "Cassandra won this round."
«»
"Hey Kid, give me a hand with this will you?" Doc asked from where he stood on a dumpster trying to dislodge the dish and 10K hopped up to help him. Bailey went to the bottom of the pole and started unwinding the cable that connected the dish to the building. Doc unplugged it on the dish end and dropped the rest down to her. She collected it and began to wind it up so it'd be easier to carry.
"I don't know why we stopped here in Philly." Cassandra said and Bailey had noticed her nervousness seemed to have come back once they were out in the open again, "We should've kept going."
"Going where?" Doc asked, "We need to find a way to communicate with that Citizen dude." He said as 10K helped him try and pry the dish from the beam it was secured to. "And I think Addy can do something with this dish. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and pick up porn." He said hopefully.
"Never seen porn." 10K mumbled.
"You've never seen porn?!"
"You've never seen porn?!" Doc and Bailey asked at the same time.
"Really? Never?" Cassandra asked her nerves vanishing for a moment.
"Before my time." 10K explained squinting as the sun got in his eyes, "Is it good?"
"Yeah!"
"Nah."
"Some of it." Doc, Cassandra and Bailey all answered at the same time then looked to each other for a moment before getting back to work. Bailey continued to wrap the cord as Doc started to talk to 10K about movies he'd seen on cable, filling the boy in on everything he'd missed.
Suddenly, Cassandra took off down the alley next to them like a bullet, the guys didn't notice but Bailey did and she followed after the girl leaving the cord on the ground. Cassandra was quick but so was Bailey but she wasn't quick enough to catch the girl. She saw her turn her head back but it wasn't Bailey that made her eyes widen in fear, it was something over her shoulder. Bailey turned her head as they ran expecting to see a horde of zombies, instead she saw people, two men with automatic rifles chasing after them. Crap, Bailey thought as she ran faster now trying to catch up to Cassandra for a very different reason. The dark haired girl took the first left they saw and Bailey followed only to nearly crash into Cassandra's back when the girl stopped dead in her tracks. In front of them were at least half a dozen zombies feasting on a carcass. The dead hadn't seen them yet but their pursuers were now catching up. Cassandra grabbed Bailey's hand and tugged her behind a dumpster. As the men chasing them rounded the corner and called, "Sunshine!" which drew the zombies from their meal. When the men saw the Z's they drew their weapons and started firing as the zombies lunged trying to make a meal of them. From the other side of the dumpster the girls ran out headed down another alley. One of the men saw them and fired their way, he missed Cassandra, but he hit Bailey.
Addy POV
She was still fiddling with the radio in the cop car she and Mack had found when she got enough of a signal to try again.
"Mayday. Mayday. Calling anybody on this frequency. Mayday. Mayday. This is Addison Carver with Delta X-ray Delta. Trying to contact Citizen Z. Come in, Citizen Z. Mayday. Mayday."
"Delta X-ray Delta, this is Citizen Z. Do you copy? Over. I'm picking you up loud and clear. Do you copy me?"
"Copy you loud and clear Citizen Z." she replied happily then she suddenly felt pain in her neck as her body twitched from the sudden rush of electricity. She felt one man pull her out of the police car while another took her feet and carried her off. They tased her one more time before everything went dark.
«»
When she woke up she had a bag over her head and started to scream in terror. Finally someone took the bag off her and the first thing she saw was Bailey's face. She was sitting across from Addy at an elegant table and, like Addy, was tied to her chair. There was a girl with short curly hair and a peach button up top that was undone enough to show her bra who was crouched by Bailey with a needle and thread sewing up a small hole in Bailey's upper thigh. A hole had been cut in her jeans so the girl could tend to the wound and every now and then Bailey's face would twitch from the pain, but she was doing a good job of holding it together. Addy hated seeing her best friend in pain but she couldn't deny that she was relieved that she'd have some help getting out of this mess.
"It's okay you're safe now." A man said, he had dark hair and a goatee and was sitting next to a woman who looked unaware of a thing going on around her. "You're safe. No one's going to harm you." He said nodding to the man standing behind her who took her gag from her mouth and brushed her hair from her face.
"Touch me and I'll kill you." She threatened making the man with the goatee laugh.
"Sweet child. That won't be necessary. Please, the last thing we want is to harm you." He said and Addy glanced at the wound in Bailey's leg, the man caught her stare and sighed, "Oh yes." He said turning to Bailey, "So sorry about that dear." But Bailey didn't look at him only kept her gaze on Addy, then the man turned back to her, "There were zombies you see, and one of my men accidentally hit your friend. But Moonshade here will see that your friend is back on her feet in no time." he said still smiling.
"Our friends are looking for us and when they find us they will kill you." Addy said, "They will kill all of you!"
"I get it. You don't trust me. Why should you? I know you're not ready to hear this but I'm going to say it anyway. I'm sorry."
"Who are you?" Addy asked, "What do you want with us?"
"Fair questions." The man said getting up from his chair, "I'd be angry too if I were brought here against my will. Please, I don't want you to be afraid." He said sitting at a small organ and began playing funeral music, "I must apologize about my overzealous companions." He said as they began to untie her but no one moved to untie Bailey, "They're good men but sometimes we have to resort to. . . less than civilized means. We live in a less than civilized world. You know it. I know it. So when we encounter strangers the family needs to take. . . necessary precautions."
"What family?" she questioned.
"Ours. This is our home. And I am responsible for their well-being. I'm Tobias Campbell. I guess you can say I'm like a father to our little family. But like a family we take care of one another. Everyone contributes, everyone benefits. It's how we've survived the last three years. It's the only way we'll survive in the future. Don't you agree?" When she didn't answer he continued, "Oh. . . you must be hungry. Please eat. We have plenty to share." Addy looked at Bailey who didn't say anything, didn't even move her head but Addy could still tell something was very wrong. Bailey didn't lash out when she was in a tight spot instead she usually became very quiet as she tried to piece together a way out taking in every detail around her looking for an enemy's weak spot. The fact that she hadn't been gaged but also hadn't said a word tipped Addy off.
"I'm not hungry." She said plainly.
"You will be. Until then, why don't you go with Moonshade and Stormy." He suggested as another girl walked in and the girl – Moonshade – who'd been tending to Bailey stood up. "Ladies, be so kind as to find some fresh clothes for our newest member."
The men pulled her out of her seat and she pushed them off, "I didn't say anything about joining your. . . family."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be presumptuous. It's just that once people see the love and bounty that we share they never want to leave us. Ladies?"
Addy looked at Bailey one more time and she nodded her head telling her it was okay to go so she did. She was out of earshot when Tobias started talking again.
"Your friend seems more accepting than you." He said and Bailey looked at him blankly, "Cautious yes, but that's understandable. She'll come around. . . and so will you."