S1E11: Part 1
UTAH
Third Person POV
"Are you sure Citizen Z said we should be down here?" Addy asked Mack as they made their way through the tunnels underneath some building. They were trying to find someone named Chester who would be able to help them get some food but both Addy and Mack were discouraged given where CZ had led them so far.
"Yeah, that's what he said." Mack replied using the flashlight in his hand to light their way.
"Hear that?" Addy asked as they heard something moving around down ahead. They followed the sound until they entered the basement and found a hallway full of doors.
"Here." Addy said pushing a door open revealing a room empty of everything except four zombies. "Bingo."
She walked forward wielding her Z Whacker with confidence, "Cinderella dressed in yella," she began the old jump rope rhyme she used to use with Bailey, though she added a few amendments. She whacked one Z dead, "Went upstairs to kiss a fella." Hit, "Took the pill, lost her frills." Hit, "How many zombies –" hit, "-did she kill? One, two, three, four. Ha." She counted spinning around and curtseying to Mack.
"You couldn't just give them mercy?" He asked.
"What fun would that be?" she asked, then there was a clang from upstairs and they both shot their heads toward the noise.
"What was that?" Addy asked.
"I don't know." Mack said pulling out his handgun and going out another door that led to a staircase. Addy followed behind him as he held his gun in front of him with one hand and his flashlight in another.
"Hold it right there." Came a voice from the dark when they reached the top floor. They turned to see Doc and Warren with their guns pointed at them.
"It's the damn wonder twins." Murphy said flinching back from the bright light coming from the flashlight Mack had in his hand.
"Guys." Warren said in shock before reaching out and hugging both Mack and Addy.
"The wonder twins?" Doc asked in disbelief, "Never, I mean never, in a million years truly, did I ever think I'd see your faces again."
Bailey made sure 10K had Cassandra before she let go of the girl and ran forward to hug Addy. The red head returned the hug squeezing her best friend hard though making sure she didn't poke her with her Z Whacker.
"I'm so glad you're okay." Addy said into her shoulder.
"Same here." Bailey said, "I missed you."
"CZ bring you guys here?" Mack asked after the girls ended their embrace and he'd had a chance to hug Bailey too.
"Yeah, he said there was food and somebody named Chester who could help us out." Cassandra said.
"Yeah, he told us the same thing, we're starting to have our doubts."
"Okay well he should be right down here." Warren said pointing to a door behind them down the hall.
"Let's hit it." Doc said as the group followed behind Warren, Bailey returning to Cassandra's other side as she helped 10K support her as she struggled to walk.
"Hey, hey." Mack whispered getting Doc's attention, "What happened to her?"
"She got caught on a piece of barbed wire. Now it's all infected." Doc explained as they followed the others.
"Well I guess we found Chester." Warren said as they opened the door and found a man sitting in a chair and shot in the head, the gun limply in his hand.
"Hello, Chester." Addy said before she beat his face to a pulp with her Z Whacker.
"Somebody got up on the wrong side of the apocalypse." Murphy said softly, cringing away from Addy.
"What happened to you guys out there?" Warren asked Mack.
"She's working out some stuff. You know how things can catch up with you." He replied stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"The flashbacks?" Bailey guessed and he looked over his shoulder and nodded at her.
"Chester?" they heard Citizen Z's voice echo from the other room. "You got them yet? You got my team? Hello? Anyone?" They all filed into the room to find a television screen with a webcam. On the screen was Citizen Z. He looked pretty close to how Bailey had pictured him, a geeky computer nerd with a headset, who would have guessed he would have been the one with the most power and best setup in the apocalypse?
"Hey, hey! Up here!" he called waving to get their attention. "Hi everyone! Addy looking gorgeous as always. Oh hey, you must be Mack." Citizen Z said remembering talking to a guy who'd said his name was Mack Thompson back in Philly when Addy had been kidnapped, "Huh, kind of thought you'd be taller."
"I thought you'd be old enough to shave." Mack replied unamused.
"Hmm, hey, hey Murphy, looking good sir. So guess what? I've got good news. California's back. They're alive and online. Well, most of them. But they're getting ready for you and the dream is alive. The mission is a go, thanks to yours truly. That's good news right?"
"Good news would be a package of Oreos and a couple gallons of milk." 10K said.
"Oh, yeah right food, sorry. Down the same hall, next door on your left. Should be everything that you need. I can't tell you how good it is to see you all again."
"Yeah, good to see us too kid." Doc said giving CZ a wave as they all left the room.
«»
"Hey." Bailey called to Addy before she got in their SUV. The others were still hauling the supplies they'd found and 10K and Cassandra were already inside the car waiting to go. "What was that all about back there?"
Addy shrugged and looked at the ground drawing patterns in the dirt with the top nail in her Z Whacker. "I've just been going through some stuff, that's all."
"You know I'm always here if you need to talk." Bailey offered and after a slight pause from Addy she took a deep breath and started talking.
"I just started thinking all this really negative stuff and some of it still sticks with me."
"Like what?"
She took another deep breath, "Mack and I never stood a chance." She said and saw Bailey's eyebrows scrunch together in both confusion and concern, "Think about it, our relationship, what's it based on? Do we even have anything in common?"
"You're both alive, that's a start."
"Yeah but that's about it. You and I met Mack on the first night of the outbreak. He and I don't even really know each other, all we know is zombies and mayhem."
"Addy, we've all kept each other alive, Mack has fought to keep you alive." Bailey reminded her, "No matter how bad it's gotten. He's been there for you. That's so much more of a bond than anything else." She said, actually a little jealous.
"Bailey, Mack and I are trauma bonded, we kill together, we survive together, we have sex together but that's it, that all we have. We met on night one and I don't even remember much of that night really. It was just one blur for me, the visions, the episodes, the spacing out. It was all madness. In three years we have never thought about anything past tomorrow - until this mission. But what kind of future do Mack and I have? What are we gonna do, get married? Have some kids?" she scoffed like it was impossible.
"What did he say when you told him this?" Bailey asked.
"He said, we have each other." Addy replied still looking at the ground.
"I tell you the same thing, whenever things would get bad. . . does that mean you're going to break up with me too?" Bailey asked and it made Addy laugh. "Addy, the world changed, we can't think about things like we used to because all that doesn't exist anymore. Maybe trauma bonded is the new norm and maybe that bond is stronger than anything else. Because you kill for that person, you'd die for that person. I think if anything, the zombie apocalypse stripped away everything in our lives that wasn't important, like makeup, what brands of clothes you wore, how you did your hair, what grades you got on trigonometry – I mean really when do we need trigonometry?" she asked getting off track but it made Addy laugh again anyway. "I think you and Mack have worked out pretty damn well this far, so why try to fix something that isn't broken?" she asked and Addy went silent, "Besides, what you and Mack have. . . "Bailey trailed off now looking at the ground as she felt Addy's eyes turn to her. "I've always been a little jealous of it. There've been a lot of times I wished I had what you had."
"Maybe you're right." Addy said, "Maybe I'm reading too far into it, or maybe I'm trying to apply old rules that doesn't exist anymore."
"Well they say admitting it is the first step." Bailey said looking up at her with a smile.
"Admitting your problem you mean."
"No, admitting I'm right." She said and they both started laughing as the others came back with the last of the supplies.
«»
They had just passed a sign that read SALT LAKE CITY 251 MILES when 10K tapped on the roof.
"Three o'clock." He called with his rifle in his hand leaning against his shoulder and they saw another kid walking on the side of the road. He was dressed like the Z kid Addy had put down not far back and Warren stopped the car to get out and talk to him. Bailey couldn't hear what they said from where she sat in the far back of the SUV but it wasn't long before Warren opened the door for the kid and he hopped in next to Mack.
"Hey kid, I'm Mack." He introduced himself.
"Sam." The kid replied.
"Nice to meet you." Mack said shaking his hand as 10K moved from his position standing through the sunroof to sit across from Bailey in the back. "So what are you doing out here by yourself?"
"I was going to Salt Lake City to see my dad." Sam replied like it was nothing. "I'm old enough now to leave the camp by myself."
"Sam's been kind enough to show us where he's from." Warren said from the driver's seat. "He said there's a woman there who can help us get some food."
"Didn't we just –" Murphy began before Doc elbowed him in the gut making him shut up. Luckily Sam hadn't heard him, he was already talking to Mack, Addy and Cassandra about his camp. 10K looked over to Bailey who had her eyes on Sam but they were distant and cold, calculating. He scooted over to sit beside her and whispered so the others wouldn't hear.
"So what do you read on him?" he asked. Bailey just shook her head not taking her eyes off the boy.
"Just that something is very. . . off. In a really bad way."
MONTICELLO, UTAH
"Just up there." Sam said as they followed a dirt path in the middle of a large field, there were large areas of the field that were nothing but boulders and slabs of stone but the entrance to his camp seemed to rest in a gully surrounded by tall rock. It lined the path as they approached the closed gate and passed a sign that said 'No Trespassing'.
"Anybody home?" Doc said noticing not even a guard stood watch.
"Doesn't look like it." Mack muttered but Bailey could feel a sense of dread form in the pit of her stomach. Something about this place was very wrong. Warren stopped the SUV and turned to Mack.
"Mack, you want to check it out?"
"Yeah." He said hopping out and circling the truck.
"Get back in the truck!" came a voice and Bailey looked out the window to see a woman up on top of the rock with a gun and she wasn't alone. At least half a dozen women all armed with automatic rifles had taken their posts along the rocks and if they all shot their truck would be caught in the crossfire. "You're not welcome here."
"Hold on. Hold on." Mack said raising his hands, "It's okay, we're friendly, we just. . . " then a bullet hit the ground by his feet making him jump back. "Stop! Stop! It's fine! Just listen to me for a second! We have –" then another shot went off and Mack jumped back to the door, "Thought you said they were friendly Sam." Then Warren got out.
"Stop! Don't shoot, please! We have your boy! We have Sam!" she said with her hands raised.
"Hold your fire!" came a cry from the other side of the gate before the large metal doors opened. Three more women with guns came out following behind a blonde older woman who was tall and wide, seeming like she barely got her shirt buttoned. It told Bailey that three years in the apocalypse and this camp was still well fed. The woman had a stern look on her face as she walked out and Sam approached her.
"Mrs. Helen, it's okay. They just need food. They're nice."
Helen rested a hand on his shoulder and gave him a smile but as Bailey got out of the car with the others she could see the insincerity in the woman's face. The smile didn't reach her eyes and it looked strained and Bailey knew something about Sam coming back displeased her.
"It's good to see you again Sam. Why don't you go inside and find your mother, I'm sure she's anxious to see you." Then she turned to the group, "Thank you for bringing him back. Sometimes our kids get cabin fever and decide to go exploring." Liar, Bailey thought as she pieced together the puzzle of this woman. Sam had said he was old enough to go to Salt Lake City to see his dad, he'd said two other boys had gone before him. They'd seen the first two boys on the road as Z's, it didn't seem like simple exploring to Bailey.
"What's wrong with you?" Helen asked Cassandra looking at her leg.
"It's infected." She answered as she clung to Doc to stay upright.
"Oh, that could be dangerous." Helen said shaking her head.
"Yeah, it could." Doc agreed.
"We can help you." Helen said, "You've arrived at the Sisters of Mercy."
"Anytime now!" Murphy called opening the passenger side door and leaning out the side. 10K had also stood and was back to sticking out of the sunroof resting on his folded arms.
"You don't have to stay." Helen called to Murphy.
"Yes, he does." Warren said, "We're a team."
"You are?"
"Yes."
"Well, team or not, if you want to stay here you'll have to split up. Women and children only here." She said and Addy's eyebrows raised as she turned and shared a look with both Bailey and Mack. "You can go inside with your friend. But your men will have to stay outside the wall. We'll give you twenty four hours. You can rest, get some food and then you'll leave us."
"That's very fair of you." Warren said holding her hand out making a formal introduction, "And you are?"
"Helen, and you?" she asked as she accepted the handshake.
"Lieutenant Roberta Warren. Missouri National Guard." She introduced herself and Helen looked impressed. Addy had Cassandra put her arm over her shoulder so she could help her inside the Sisters of Mercy camp. She only walked a few steps before she turned back and looked at Bailey who hadn't moved.
"Aren't you coming Bay?" she asked and Bailey's eyes swept the tops of the cliffs around them where the women with the guns were still staring down at them like vultures. Then her eyes went to Helen and the distrust in them only grew.
"No." she said putting her hands in the pockets of her jacket, still staring at the leader, "I'd rather stay out here with the men." She said making sure her tone revealed her distrust and her disgust.
Helen's eyes held hers for a long moment where no one spoke. Addy, Cassandra and Warren moved inside with some of the other women but Helen and Bailey kept their stare down. Neither one blinked while they assessed the other. She's smart, Bailey thought, confident, stern, probably used to getting everything her way, she's not someone who will back down easily. Finally, Helen turned away from Bailey which made the girl smirk in her small victory. She remembered back Pre-Z when her cousin had gotten a new dog, it had been a bit on the wild side and a trainer had said staring into the dog's eyes would be a sign of challenge and to the dog whoever turned away first lost and the winner would be the alpha. Bailey couldn't help it but the smirk on her face grew.
When the gates closed Bailey turned and headed back to the SUV. The women still flanked them on all sides ready to shoot at any moment but Bailey was more worried about the trio who had just walked into the lion's den. She hoped Warren knew enough to stay on her toes in there.
"What now?" she heard Doc ask as he turned to Murphy and Mack and they began to figure out their next move. Bailey kept walking along the vehicle looking out at the field beyond the camp entrance.
"Hey." She heard 10K call and looked up to where he was standing out of the sunroof again as he leaned on his arms which were crossed in front of him, "How about that shooting lesson?"
Bailey couldn't help the smile that spread on her face even though she tried to hide it. She'd been excited when 10K had agreed to teach her, it was probably a skill that she was long overdue to learn. He smiled back happy that he'd taken her mind off Addy and the others for a moment and he ducked through the sunroof and opened the back and hopped out.
"Come on." He said leading her to the field still smiling and Bailey couldn't help but admire how perfect his smile was.
The fields were mostly flat and grassy but 10K was able to find an old tree that had fallen over, one of the limbs had impaled a zombie who was reaching out trying to grab them but only skewered itself further. Bailey took out her hatchet and cut off its arms at the elbow allowing 10K to get close enough with his knife to give the Z mercy. Then he picked up the severed arms and cut the hands off before placing the various pieces of zombie in the branches of the tree.
"Stand back. . . here." He said backing up about twenty feet and drawing a line in the dirt with his duct taped shoe as Bailey pulled out the handgun Cassandra had given her back in South Dakota.
"It's a good first gun." 10K told her, "Magazine release, slide release, thumb safety." He said gently taking it from her hand and pointing out the parts of the gun, "Full magazine." He said taking it out and showing her, "But empty chamber, see?" he said pulling open the top part of the gun and showing her before cocking it and she heard it load a bullet before he handed it back then 10K moved to stand next to her taking in her stance and helping her adjust her position.
"So the target is in front of you, more often than not it's a Z that jumped out at you so your body is going to tense and you won't have time to think. Your gut reaction will be to pull the trigger when you get it in front of you, but you'll miss then you'll be dead. You want to make sure the gun is up to eye level." He said reaching out and raising the gun an inch or so. "When you've got a Z charging at you you've got to be strong enough to wait for your moment."
Bailey nodded focusing the gun on one of the hands 10K had laid out, "Keep both eyes open unless you're using a scope." She nodded again and followed his instructions, "You'll see twice as well." She smirked looking at him out of the corner of her eye to see him smirking back. She took a deep breath and aimed trying to hit one of the hands. When she fired her bullet hit one of the fingers cutting off the top half above the knuckle. 10K nodded beside her.
"Not bad."
«»
10K and Bailey had stayed out in the field shooting until she'd knocked all the zombie bits off the tree branches. Then they saw the others pull over in the SUV and start to set up a makeshift camp tying a tarp to some poles and leaning it against the truck for some shade. Bailey and 10K went over to help and already could hear Murphy complaining.
"All these women give me the creeps." He said, "That blonde one keeps looking at me."
"Oh, man, don't get down on yourself like that." Doc said, "You are a perfect hunk of man meat and don't you ever forget it." He said patting Murphy on the back.
"Ha, ha. Don't quit your day job." He replied walking away as Bailey and 10K both snickered as Mack who was leaning on one of the poles turned to Bailey and gave her a fist bump.
"Nice shooting out there." He said and Bailey muttered a small 'thanks'.
"Is there really all women in there?" 10K asked looking back at the camp gate.
"Yeah. Enjoy your imagination, Kid. That's probably all you're gonna get." Doc said.
"It's probably not all it's cracked up to be." Bailey said leaning against the truck, "I wouldn't want to be in there when all those women sync up."
"Yeah but the rest of the time it's got to be pretty sweet living, like one giant slumber party." Doc replied and Bailey scoffed.
"Yeah well guess what, women don't have pillow fights in our underwear like on TV." She said and Mack and Doc both turned to her.
"What?" they asked looking betrayed, like a pair of children who'd just been told Santa wasn't real. Then Mack shook his head though Doc still looked bummed, 10K she noticed had wandered away either uncomfortable with their topic of discussion or having nothing to add since he'd grown up without cable.
"You know what I don't understand?" Mack said, "What the hell happened to all their men?"
"Well, maybe we can ask her." Doc said and Bailey turned seeing the blonde who'd been staring at Murphy approach with a pie in each hand.
"Angels from Heaven." Doc said though Bailey couldn't be sure if he was referring to the woman or the food. "Is that pie?"
"Blueberry. Um, I. . . I made it by myself." She replied seeming flustered, "Do-do you guys know where the um, the, other one is? The one with the, uh, with the hair and those eyes. . . "
"10K hold my calls." They heard Murphy shout from not far away as he climbed into another tent they'd laid out, "Wake me up after the apocalypse."
"I'm gonna go give him a piece of this." She said passing Doc a pie and heading over to the tent. 10K smiled as she walked over to him but it fell pretty fast when she passed him and went straight to Murphy who's head was sticking out of the tent.
"What?" he snapped as she crouched down to be face to face with him.
"Pie?" she asked seductively and Murphy looked from her to the pie then back to her again.
"Beat it kid." He snapped at 10K, "Beat it!"
10K walked back over to them seeming very confused then he turned to Bailey.
"So. . . more shooting practice?" he asked and she nodded with a smile. 10K opened the back passenger door to the SUV and climbed onto the roof of the car. He waved Bailey up to follow him and scooted over so there'd be room for her to sit.
"You see that one?" he asked pointing far out into the field where there was a zombie waddling along.
"10K, that's probably a couple hundred feet out." She said knowing there was no way she'd be able to hit a target like that with her handgun.
"I know." He said smiling as he grabbed his rifle and pulled the strap over his head holding it out for her.
"10K. . . I don't know." She said unsure of herself as she held her hands out and took the rifle, feeling the weight of it. "I don't even know how to hold a sniper rifle."
"Here." He said wrapping his right arm around her waist and pulling her into his lap, with his left hand he grabbed the long end and positioned her hand where it should be. She adjusted her right arm trying to ignore 10K's arm that was still wrapped around her middle holding her back tightly to his chest. He seemed too preoccupied in teaching her to shoot to realize how they were sitting, she took a deep breath and looked through the scope getting a bit more comfortable with the weapon.
"Hold your head a bit more like. . . that." He said bringing his left hand to her chin and tilted her head just a sliver. "Good. Now you want to aim lower on the rifle than on your gun, this has a lot more power so the recoil is going to knock-back a bit when you shoot so you have to aim accordingly."
She did as he told her finding the Z in the scope and aiming lower than its head, but it was hard to concentrate with 10K's breaths fanning her neck. She put her finger on the trigger keeping the center of the scope's lens on her target as it lumbered forward.
"Now take a few deep breaths to steady yourself." He said and she did so, "Now when you exhale that breath don't inhale; in that second that's as still as your body is ever going to be, so if your aim is on target, exhale and pull the trigger."
She pulled the trigger and like 10K said the recoil of the gun made it give a small lurch upward which pushed Bailey further into 10K who tightened his hold around her waist to steady her. Also, just like 10K said, it made the bullet hit higher then where she'd been aiming. However, instead of hitting the Z in the head her shot had only blasted its jaw off. 10K leaned over her left shoulder and she raised the rifle so he could look through the scope. He closed one eye and gave a crooked smile showing off his perfectly straight white teeth and she found herself wishing he'd smile more.
"That's pretty good for a first shot." He said looking away from the scope and turning to her. Then he paused finally noticing how close they were. Neither one of them moved, both clueless about what to do, lean in? Back away? Should they say something?
Instead they just stared at each other, hoping the other one would do something that would ease the awkwardness. Then 10K leaned in until their foreheads touched but didn't do more. Both of them weren't accustomed to a lot of social interaction; even back at school Addy had been the social butterfly and Bailey hung back in conversations. And 10K, 10K grew up in a cabin in the woods where he didn't talk to anyone but his Pa. While both of them had been improving with social interaction this sudden close physical contact was still too new for both of them and they just continued to look at each other. For the first time she noticed the small spattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose and she couldn't help the rush of blood that tinted her face as she thought about just how close they were sitting. Then the sound of a car engine made both of them turn. Far off there was a red jeep that was heading fast for the camp. 10K and Bailey jumped off the roof of the SUV and walked around to where Doc and Mack were under the tarp talking in the shade. The jeep went right by them and headed for the cliffs that ran along the sides of the camp entrance, they were let in and the gate shut behind them.
"What was that about?" Mack asked and Bailey couldn't shake the sneaking suspicion that something was very wrong, especially after seeing the beaten girl the Sisters of Mercy had brought back in the jeep.
Mack was now pacing back and forth under the tarp worrying about Addy while 10K kept an eye out for any more zombies. Doc and Bailey shared a look and took their window of opportunity to sneak off to check out what was going on in the Sisters of Mercy camp.
"2,414." she heard 10K count as he killed the zombie she'd knocked the jaw off earlier. She was glad he didn't see her and Doc sneaking off, she needed some time away from him to think and by the look on his face as he reloaded his gun he was thinking pretty deeply about something too.
Her and Doc went around the camp in a wide circle until they found a bit of the cliffs that was unguarded and far from the main gate. They crawled on their bellies keeping their heads low in the tall grass until they could see inside the campground. Bailey was shocked by how green everything was, it was so different from the outside. They had lush gardens and picnic tables. Their buildings were quaint and well kept up. But what grabbed her attention was the group of women that had gathered in front of a brown barn. Among them she saw Addy and Warren watching as Helen stood in front and addressed a man in leather with unruly hair.
"You harm a woman, you die. That's our rule." Helen said as one girl got ready to open the barn door and another passed the beaten girl Bailey had seen in the jeep a long prodding taser.
"Tessa." Helen addressed her, "Now Tessa."
Two other women led the man to the door and pushed him, but it was Tessa hitting him with the taser that forced him inside. They began to immediately close the barn door but before they did Doc and Bailey caught a glimpse of a bear – a zombie bear. Half of it's head was missing the skin, exposing it's skull while several of it's ribs and deteriorating muscle could be seen on it's stomach. It let out a loud roar as the man screamed. The door shut fully as the man's screaming could be heard along with the tearing of flesh as he was ripped apart.