~~Srage~~
I was sitting in the field, when I heard barking. I tuned to see Hall, 5k and Karen. Karen pushed me to the ground and I started to laugh as she kept licking me. I smiled up at her as I held her head in my hands, petting her like crazy. " Karen, down." Hall said and Karen went back to him. "Hello Sargent." He said to me and I stared. "It's just Sarge." I told him, smiling at him. he sat down next to me, his arms resting on his knees. "How are you doing?" He asked me. "I'm fine." I said, turning away from him, facing the field. I heard him sigh as the wind blow past me, pushing my hair in my face. "So are we just going to sit here and stare at the sky or we're going to talk about it?" He asked me and I stared at him. "I don't know what you're talking about." I said to him. "Sarge, we both know you blame yourself for what happened. It's not your fault. It was her choice." He said to me and I turned away from him. I sighed, but I kept my head up.
"You need to open up about what happened. You don't have to talk to me. I won't force you to talk to me." Hall said to me as 5k was playing with Karen. I turned back to watch them play. I smiled at them, 5k running around with a stick, Karen jumping up to get. I turned to face Hall, his eyes watching them, a smile pulled on his face. I smiled before I frowned. I felt his hand around me neck, his fingers in my hair. Our lips an inch away from each other. "Sarge, you know this isn't what you want." He whispered and I stared at him. He pulled himself back and stared back at me. "You know what you really want. And she's out there." He added and he smiled at me. "I'm sorry." I said to him and he shook his head. "No, you needed that." He said to me. "No, I'm sorry. I have to go." I said to him. Hall gave me a soft smile, a smile rarely seen in the apocalypse. I got up and ran off.
~~Jean~~
We walked up to the door and there was a huge closed sign on the door. "It's locked." Doc said as he had already tried the door. "Here, let me try." I said to and Doc stepped aside. I raised my hand and knocked on the door, then again and again, waited a moment and knocked twice. The door opened, but there was no one. I walked into the building and looked around. "Wow, this place is dead." Doc said and I turned to face him. "Doc." I said. "Oh sorry." He said. "Are you sure we were sending talkers here?" Doc added. "Maybe Murphy moved them?" Tommy said. I walked up to a door and got a gun pointed at my head. It as Addy as I stared at her. "Hello." I said to her. "Jesus Jean. I could have blown your head off." she said to me. "Not the worst thing that's happened these past weeks." I muttered. She put her gun away as we stood there. "Where's Murphy?" I asked her.
"Don't worry too much. I'm fine." Murphy said as I turned to another door. I stared at him and he stared back. "I knocked that knock you gave me and you all still hid?" I asked him. "People where poking around. Soon almost everyone knew the knock. No one could be trusted." He told me. I uncrossed my arms and he smirked at me. I hugged Murphy and he slowly hug me back. "See you haven't had much fun without me." I said to him before I stepped back from him. "Oh no, you've missed a shit ton of fun." He said back to me. I laughed at him for a moment. Murphy looked past me and at everything else. "What the hell are you wearing?" He asked me slowly. "Uh... things I found. Your clothes ripped." I said back to him. "Well someone going through a growth spurt." he said back to me. "Hey." I said to him. "What is all this?" He asked, pointing at the talker that followed us here. "Well... it's a long story." Doc said.
I watched as Addy and Murphy went to talk to each other. "Hey, you in there?" I turned to Tommy. "Ya, sorry. Sorry." I said to him. He took my hand, pulling it away from my neck. "What are you so worried about?" He asked. "We shouldn't be waiting." I whispered to him. "We're sitting ducks." he whispered back and I nodded at him. Addy and Murphy walked past us. "How are the miners doing?" Doc asked, walking up to them. "Great. Great. Super great. As long as your definition of great is starving for brains and slowly turning zombie." Addy said and I stared at her. There was a clinking glass sound and I turned to Murphy. "Dude? I think your fish are dead." Murphy said and I shook my head. "Man, they ain't fish in there. Those are bricks made of pure lithium. It's what they're using the Talkers to mine for." Doc said. "That's why they eat the batteries. It's the lithium." Tommy added as we walking over to them.
"Wait. Yeah, I saw this before on the black market. Altura militia were feeding it to Talkers like crack. They were slicing it like truffles treating it like nitro. It's super flammable. That's why it's in the liquid." Addy said and I looked at her. "They eat those?" Doc asked. "Yeah, just a slice on the tongue. It worked like the brains." Addy added. "Uh, how's your truffle slicing skills?" Murphy asked. We were all looked at Addy before there was loud banging on the door. "Jumping, Jupiter, Happy Patty." I said, covering over my heart. "I'll get rid of them." Murphy said, walking to the door. "Yeah." Addy added. We all stood there and Murphy jumped back. "Shit. It's Estes." Murphy whispered. Doc and Tommy moved the lithium as Addy and I moved the talkers, "Welcome to Limbo!" Murphy said as Addy and I closed the door. "Ramon, what a pleasure to see you again. And I see you brought your backup dancers." Murphy said as we walked back to the table. Addy and I sat down. We all looked at each other. "It's Roman. Open up, Murphy." I heard Estes on the other side of the door. "Oh, sorry. But we're closed to the public." Murphy said and I looked at Addy. "Don't ever." she said in my head. "We have to do something." I thought back.
"What are you talking about?" Murphy asked. "We know they're here. Open up." Estes said back. "Look. Don't you need a search warrant or something?" Murphy asked. "Warrant? This is the apocalypse." Estes said. "Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting that." Murphy said back. "Don't ever get up." I heard Addy in my head. "Stand back." Estes said. Addy grabbed me for the other side of the table. She put cards in my hands and I sat back down. I heard the door open and Murphy grunt. I turned to see Murphy almost knocked over. "I really should clean up a little bit before you..." Murphy stopped as did everyone else. Murphy laughed. "Welcome to Limbo. Or at least what's left of it." He said as we all held cards.
"Keep looking." I heard Estes say as I looked over at them. I was sinking in my seat, hoping no one would point their gun at me. "Mini reunion? How touching. What's the occasion?" Estes asked. "It's Thursday." Murphy said. Is it? "Hey, Doc. It's Thursday, right?" Murphy asked Doc. "I dunno. Wednesday. Thursday. Cut." Doc said and I looked back at him. I sat back up, straightening my back. "Thursday." Murphy said. "Doc, from what I understand, you are quite the maverick when it comes to strip poker." Addy asked. "Strip poker. Yeah, I got one word of advice. Layering." Doc said and I snickered. Estes walked over to us and sat right next to me. I slouched in my seat as Estes turned to Murphy. "Join me, Murphy." he said and Murphy walked over. "Of course. But there is a two drink minimum." Murphy said back. Murphy turned his seat around and sitting down, leaning his arms on the back rest. "There were dozens of Talkers here." Estes said.
Murphy laughed at him. "Says who?" Murphy asked. "Everyone." Estes said plainly. "I don't see any Talkers here." Murphy said. "Seeing is one thing. Believing, another. I believe they are here." Estes said. "If you believe that, then you're crazy." I muttered and Estes turned to me. "What happened to your eye, Geneva?" He asked me. I stared his square in the eyes. "That news you said would go everywhere, didn't." I said plainly to him. "Looks painful. Hope you didn't have too much trouble." he said to me. You're happy about this, aren't you? Fuck you. "Calm down Jean." I heard Murphy in my head. "We didn't really. Everything worked out in the end." I said to Estes smiling. Estes turned back to Murphy. "I'll just wait it out, test my theory." Estes said to Murphy. "About that two drink minimum." Murphy said. "Water for everyone." Estes said back. "That's two bullets per glass." Murphy said. "Put it on Altura's tab." Estes said. "Altura doesn't have a tab here." Murphy said back. They just stared down at each other. I kept looking back at both of them. This is going from bad to worse.
Estes turned and nodded his head at his guy. I reached down my leg. This guy put bullets on the table and I scratched my leg. "I'll be right back." Murphy said getting up. "Pardon me." he added as one of the guards got in his way. "Should I deal you in?" Doc asked Estes. "No." he said plainly. "What? Afraid you'll lose?' I asked him. "No, I never lose. I just don't like playing games." He said back to me. " Well you'll always lose if you never play." I said back to him. "I'm not in the mood to play." He said back to me. "Well it will help to pass the time." I said back to him. "What are you doing?" Tommy whispered in my ear. I turned and looked at him. "Trust me." I whispered in his ear, before kissing his cheek. "What are you two talking about?' Estes asked us. "Wedding." I said, turning to him. "Wedding?" Estes asked. "Well they are engaged." Doc said. "Well, where the ring?" Estes asked me. I pulled on my necklace and held it out to him. "Don't want to lose it. It is the apocalypse." I said to him.
Murphy walked back to us. "While we're waiting, have you seen George and that friend of hers, Lieutenant Warren?" Estes asked. "Nope." Murphy said back to him. "But you were such good friends?" Estes said. "Well, I don't have her chipped now, do I?" Murphy said back to him. "Go fish." Tommy said and I smiled at him. I looked around and smiled to myself. I leaned over, putting my arm on his shoulder. "I can see your cards." I whispered in his ear. He looked at me and I smiled more. "Three, four, four, ten, king, king, ace." I whispered in his ear, not even looking down. I watched as he pulled his cards back, with me still leaning on his shoulder. I heard a soft buzzing sound and I turned to face Estes. I looked down quickly, reading his phone. Wait... phone? "What does it say?" I heard Murphy in my head. I turned to him. "Unauthorized keycard use." I thought back to him.
"Screw you, Ghostking 2.0." Estes whispered. "Excuse me?" Murphy said. "Nothing. Sorry. Just some former employees turned vandals." Estes said. "You have a cell phone?" Murphy asked. "My apologies, Mr. Murphy. It seems all your Talker friends have vanished. Bravo." Estes said clapping. "I really do wish you would reconsider my offer and come work for Altura. We could really use your sales experience. Time to go." Estes added and I looked at him. "So soon?" Murphy asked as they left. I watched as they left and doors closed. " What the hell were you doing, kid?" Doc asked me. "Giving him the opposite of what he wanted would piss him off." I said to Doc. "He wasn't getting what he wanted." Addy added and I smiled at her.
"Do you know what you're doing?" Murphy asked Addy as I was leaning on a wooden beam. I turned away from them and turned to Tommy. He was talking to these two talkers. The talkers looked worried and the lady was crying. Doc was trying to comfort her down. Tommy turned and run up to Murphy. "Murphy! Doc says you gotta come. Apparently somebody's kid is missing." Tommy said to him and I followed after them. "Kid? It's like one thing after another." Murphy as I kept up with them. "What's up?" Murphy asked them. "Murphy, this is the kid's parents. His name's Mason, and they haven't seen him since this morning." Doc said. "All right, we'll go look for him." Murphy said. "We'll find him." Doc added. "Mason." Murphy said, looking around. "We'll find him." I added. "We'll find him. Really." Doc said calmly to them. "Mason? Mason?" We all called out.
"Mason? Mason?" We all yelled. I looked under clothed tables, under staircases, behind the bars, I ran around upstairs, but nothing. The kid was just gone. I walked back downstairs, still calling out of this kid as everyone else was. "Still looking?" Addy asked Tommy as we all gathered. "Yeah, still no sign of him." Tommy said. "He's got to be around here some place." Doc said. "These Talkers blend into the furniture." Murphy said, still looking around. "Mason?" I yelled. There was thumping coming from somewhere. "Shhh. You hear that?" Doc asked and there was more knocking. "I heard a knocking." Doc added. "Yeah. It's coming from the back door. Maybe it's the kid." Murphy said and we all went running after the knocking. Murphy opened the door and there was the kid. "Found him!" Murphy said. "Found him!" Doc yelled back.
Estes came out of nowhere and stood behind the kid. "I believe I have something that belongs to you." He said to us. I tried to push past Murphy, but his arm stopped me. "Don't do anything stupid." He said in my head. I watched as he pushed the kid over to the guards and one held him with care. Murphy, Doc and I stood there in front of Estes. "Did you really think you'd get away with this?" He asked us. "Get away with what?" Murphy asked him. "I'm just trying to help them." Estes said back. "You know, I'm hearing this, but I'm seeing this." Murphy said making a hand puppet than a gun. "What, with the roundups and the lockdowns and unleashing the vigilantes, not very supportive quite frankly." Murphy said. "It's for their own good." Estes said as I looked down, rolling my eyes, kicking my feet lightly.
"Oh, come on, man. Even for the zombie apocalypse, that's lame." Doc said. "What do you really want?" Murphy asked him. "All the Talkers you have hidden away in there." Estes said. "I don't have any Talkers hidden in Limbo. But even if I did, which I don't, I couldn't just give them to you. They're not mine to give. I don't own them." Murphy said. "Then you won't mind if I just take them." Estes said and I looked up at him. He turned and walked over to me. He bent down to be right in my face and I pulled my head back. "If you tell me where they are, I'll make sure that everyone knows your not Julia. Which is better than George could ever do." He said to me. I stood there staring at him, my mind fighting itself. I mean this should be simple right? This should be easy. This shouldn't even be a decision, but why am I finding this so hard?
"Geneva, if you do this. No one will ever hurt you again. They will never consider crossing you. Don't you want that? To go to sleep without fear? To live without death hanging off your shoulder?" Estes asked me. "Let me in kid." Murphy said in my head. "All you have to do is to tell me where the talkers are and everything will be alright." Estes said to me. I looked up at Estes and smiled at him.
~~Tommy~~
I had the shoot, until he moved. What the hell is his doing? Estes stopped in front of Jean. I sighed and walked over to the building. I started to climb up the stairs inside the building and made it to the roof. I lined up the shoot and my hand at the ready. My finger hung just above the trigger. I let out my breath slowly as I looked down the sight. Estes was right in Jean's face. Whatever he was saying to her, she was thinking about it. "Come on Jean. Just moved slightly." I whispered to myself. I watched as Jean looked down at the ground for a moment. Estes was still in her face as she looked up at him. I pulled the triggered.
~~Jean~~
A bullet when right past my ear and I stared at the wall behind me. "Sniper." Estes whispered. Estes walked away from me and looked around. "Find that sniper and deal with it." Estes ordered his one man. "No." I yelled at him, pushing past Doc and Addy, trying to grab Estes. Addy and Doc got re-hold of me as Estes turned to me, there was a smile plated on his face. The smile of the apocalypse. Estes quickly grabbed hold of me, holding my arm up, my feet barely touching the ground. "No, let her go." Murphy yelled, now he was fighting with Doc and Addy. "Oh Sniper. If you come down here right now, I won't hurt your fiancee go." Estes yelled. "Don't do this kid." I heard Murphy in my head. I closed my eyes and sighed. "I have to do something. I can't just sit here. I can't let him win." I thought back
~~Dark Jean~~
I turned to Estes and stared at him. "What? Am I supposed to be--" I got free of him and one of the guards pointed their gun at me. "Do it." Estes said. He fired and dropped to the ground. The bullet just grazed my hair. I got up to him and pushed him to the wall. He fell down the wall after hitting his head. I turned to the girl and ripped the gun out of her hands before she could shoot at me. I went in for the blow, but she blocked my punch. I kept trying and she kept blocking me. I heard a gun cock up. I dropped down, kicking the girl down. I heard the bullet hit the wall above me. "It's one girl, this shouldn't be that hard." Estes said.I turned to the last guard and ran after him. "Murphy stop this." Addy said to him. "If I stop her now, she will die."Murphy said back to her. "She'll die either way." Doc said. The guard pointed his gun at me as I was right in front of him. He fired and I fell to the ground. He looked down at me and I smiled up at him. I quickly kicked him when it hurts and he fell.
I quickly kicked the guard off and turned to Estes. He stared at me and back up to the wall. The girl guard came back up at me as I walked after Estes. I punched before she could block me. I heard her fall to the ground as I got right in Estes's face. His hands were on the wall, trying to get away as fear overtook him. I held my hand up to him face and placed it on his cheek. "I'm not going to sit here and be weak to people like you." I spat at him. "No." I heard as something hit me in the head. I fell to the ground and blacked out.
~~Tommy~~
I was dragged down to the ground and was pushed forward to the others. There was Jean, staring up at Estes. "I'm not going to sit here and be weak to people like you." I heard her say to him, almost in a growl. The one guard got up off the ground and grabbed his gun. "No." I yelled before he hit Jean in the head. I watched her fall to the ground, her eyes open. I stared down at her, being held back as her eyes closed shut. "Cheek her." Estes ordered. The guard bent down and put his fingers to her neck. The guard looked up at Estes and shook his head. My eyes whined as I fell to my knees. "She's one of your,right?" Estes asked. "She's not coming back." Murphy said. I looked up at Murphy and his face told me all of it. I stared up at Estes and stood up. I felt hands around me, stopping me. "Easy kid. Easy." Doc said to me. "Think about Jean. She would want you to life on." Doc whispered in my ear.
"Now, there's been enough death today. Murphy, you going to tell me where these talkers are or do we have to kill another one your friends?" Estes asked, my blood was boiling over at this point. A gun was pointed at Doc's head and I stared at him. "Now Mister Murphy." Estes ordered. "Stop, just stop." We all turned to see a talker from the mines, his hands were up. "We'll come with you, just stop the killing." He said and I stared as there were talkers were behind him. "Bring more trucks." Estes ordered. Mason run up to his mother and she held tightly onto him. The talkers walked into the trucks that were there. "I'm going with them." Murphy said, tears running down his face. "Murphy, no." Doc said to him. "There's nothing--I got to." Murphy said. "Probably just as well." Estes said.
"Technically speaking, you are a Talker. Vigilantes might get the wrong idea. You'll be safer under our protection." Estes said, his words like knives, his voice like poison. "Ya, cause your protection gets people killed." Murphy said back to him. "You sure you won't reconsider my offer to come work for Altura? We have more in common than you think." Estes said. "You know you just killed the closed thing I had to family." Murphy said. "I'll take that as a no." Estes said and he looked away from us. "Well, if you change your mind, we have excellent dental." He added.
"Is that everybody?" Estes asked. "Just those three." One of the guards said. "Sorry, we're human." Doc said, still holding me. "Leave them. Altura has no problem with humans. Move em out." Estes said. "Umm, did I mention that I am claustrophobic?" Murphy asked. "No, you didn't." Estes said back to him. "Don't worry, though. It's just a short ride to the nice air conditioned busses that'll lead you to your new lives." Estes said loudly to them. "New lives?" I heard Murphy ask. I watched them drive off and Doc let me go. I ran over to Jean and brushed her hair with my fingers. "Addy? Is it true? Is she--" Doc stopped as I scooped Jean into my arms. "She's not responding to me, Doc." Addy said back as I rocked Jean's body back and forth. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I whispered in her ear, hold her body so close. Rocking as our foreheads touched. "10k, we had to bury--" "No, Murphy said to wait." Addy said over Doc. "What do you want to do with her?" Doc asked Addy.
I picked Jean off the ground and carry her back inside. I set her on the table and stared down at her. I heard Doc and Addy walk away from us. I held onto Jean's hand as I used my other 'hand' to move her hair away from her face. Her pale face and colourless lips staring back at me. Her closed eyes, wouldn't show any of the light or warmth they held. Her body had run cold. "Please Jean. Don't be gone. Please all be a bad dream." I whispered, dropping my head away from her. Please Geneva. Don't be gone. Don't leave me here." I whispered. I looked up and stared at her. I raised my hand and pulled the chain off her neck. I wiped my tears, only for more to fall. I put the chain in my pocket and stared one more longing look at Jean's body. " Come on 10k. We have to go." I heard Addy say. I raised my head and quickly walked away.