"Zombie apocalypse, how may I direct your call?" Doc answered the call. I ignored the rest of his call until he said Def Con One. Oh no.
"Naked?" Warren asked after Doc explained what Citizen Z told him.
"That's what he said. Naked. And then we got to put all our clothes and stuff in this chute here to get decontaminated with some liquid nitrogen." Doc said.
"So what are we waiting for?" Murphy said unbuckling his belt. I shrugged and followed suit.
"For y'all to turn around. And no peeking." Warren said. Everyone was undressed and in a circle all facing out.
"Eyes up front, young man." Warren snapped.
"Sorry. Sorry." 10k apologized. I rolled my eyes.
"Cassandra, you okay?" Warren asked her.
"I feel like I'm gonna pass out." She said.
"You hang in there. Doc, what now?" Warren said.
"Oh, we got to put these on. And... and then you got to hit that button marked decontamination in front of you, 10K." Doc said, passing around goggles.
"Murphy. Your scars." Warren said. I looked over at her and got self-conscious myself.
"It looks like it's spreading," Doc said.
"That's what I wanted to talk to Doctor Merch about," Murphy responded. "Well put your goggles on and quit staring. I'm not the goddamn elephant man. I'm a human being." He said.
"Are you ready?" 10k asked.
"Just do it," Murphy yelled. A bright light emitted from the ceiling and hissing sounded all around us. We got our clothes out of the basket and began to dress.
"Karma," Warren said, making me stop buttoning my pants. Everyone looked at me and I'm just glad I was wearing my bra as well.
"What?" I asked while glancing at everyone.
"What happened to you," She asked, her voice much softer. I looked down at my exposed skin. My scars from training exercises and missions gone wrong.
"Rough childhood," I spoke sounding more like a question, tugging my leather tight shirt back on. Everyone was dressed.
"Man, I think I fried my gonads. I shoulda used sunscreen on my junk." Doc said making me smile as the joke. Cassandra put her hand on the table and drew my attention to her. She slid against the wall and my body rushed towards her side.
"Hey. You're okay." 10k said from beside me.
"I don't think I can go much further," Cassandra spoke as Warren knelt down in front of me. She looked at Doc and then to me. I gave a small shake of my head.
"I've got her. I'll carry her if I have to." 10k said sternly. His jaw tightened.
"Okay. Sure." Warren said standing up. We left the room and 10k was carrying her. Warren stopped in front of a door. She opened it and looking inside.
"Can you see anything?" Doc asked.
"Hold on, little too dark," She said grabbing a flashlight. "There's some kind of emergency lights flashing," She said. Murphy went to walk around her but Doc stopped him.
"Dude, it says quarantine. Can't we just believe them?" Doc said.
"What are you, high? We're infected already, remember?" Murphy said before pushing through. We all followed. Warren led with me by her side and Doc and Murphy were in the middle while 10k held Cassandra in the back. Red lights flashed along the gray, cold metal walls.
"What is this place?" Warren asked to my left. Everyone looked through the little round windows on each of the doors taking in the scientist's experiments. These were humans once. Now, look at them.
"Over here." 10k's voice drew me out of my thoughts. Cassandra wasn't in his arms. Where'd she go? "This one's gone. The door's open. What was it?" He asked.
"Better question is, where'd it go?" Warren asked. Growling could be hard around us.
"Well, there's your answer," I said dropping my knife into my hand. A flashlight landed on the zombie. It looked weird. Why was it bent over its knees like that? There was another one to the right of it that was also hunched over. What happened to them?
"There's another one. Murphy. Go talk to them. Do... do that thing you do." Doc said pushing Murphy towards them. He stumbled then fixed his shirt. As he got closer he stopped walking and knelt down. He inspected them then turned to us.
"Guys. These aren't regular zombies. They're some kind of mutant thing." He told us. The zombies continued to growl and one lunged for him. "I don't think they like me!" He screamed falling back to us. The flashlights made it hard to see while they tried to find the zombies. Okay Karma. Breathe.
I closed my eyes and focused on just my hearing. The growls emitting from their throats were enough to tell me where they were. They were attached to Murphy and Warren and I went to take care of them. Doc pulled Warren back and a hand gripped my shoulder. I stopped moving when I collided with 10k's chest. Everything went silent and the zombies fell to the ground. Murphy stood there with red crimson blood covering his hands. Two heads rolled on the ground and I looked at Murphy for the first time since I've met him with fear.
"Let's go find Merch." He said, calmly. His eyes were full of rage and hatred. He didn't seem phased at all when he decapitated two zombies at once.
"What's he gonna do when he catches up to Merch?" Warren asked.
"I dunno, but I'm glad I'm not her," Doc said.
"Be ready for anything. Let's go." Warren said. We all followed and 10k picked up Cassandra from off the floor. Glad I didn't step on her. Walking through the halls I heard 10k shuffle along. We turned a corner and I didn't hear the scraping of his feet. Warren tapped my arm and we turned back around. 10k knelt in front of Cassandra. Her eyes were shut. His hand cradled her face. I'm not jealous.
"Hey. Is she...?" Warren trailed off.
"She's still alive," 10k told us. We moved her into a separate room with a bed. Warren gave her a bullet she's been saving since New York. We all said our goodbyes and waited for 10k to say his in private. He took a few extra minutes and then came out as Murphy was jogging down the hall.
"Guys, come on. I think I found something." Murphy said out of breath. "Is she gonna make it?" He asked.
"You might want to say your goodbyes," Warren said. He moved to the door and hesitated before completely emerging. 10k slowly walked in front of us. Doc gave me a sympathetic look.
"Let's go," Murphy said exiting the door quickly. "Check this out. This trail of gore leads to here." He said making me take notice of the dried blood beneath my boots. "Biocontainment." Warren unleashed her blade and opened the door. We all followed her into the white room. There were metal, coffin-like, boxes lined up in rows sitting on top of slabs.