"We are going the wrong direction. Again."Murphy said.
"You left us no choice. Too much fallout in the West." Warren said.
"Again. That was not my fault." Murphy said.
"Murphy, don't make me have to explain the term "failsafe doomsday weapon" again. Please." Doc said.
"How do you even know California's still there?" Murphy asked.
"You're looking ripe. You better hope it's still there. Move."The man from yesterday who apparently joined our group said.
"You are not the boss of me," Murphy said lowering his voice. He was facing us now. "She is." He nodded towards Warren. The dude stepped up but Warren stepped in between. How was Mack allowed to die but this idiot was allowed to dive off a building and live?
"I can handle this," Warren said. She raised her arms and pushed Murphy back. "Move." She said. Murphy looked at the dude, then to Warren.
"Gladly." He said.
"You'll get used to him," Warren said to the dude. We kept walking. There was dark gray smoke that piled into the sky. Warren walked off and 10k followed her. Murphy sat down on a rock and Cassandra was rubbing his shoulders.
"So, what's your name, 'dude who tried to kill us then joined us'?" I asked looking at him.
"You're pretty mouthy for a kid." He said.
"Yeah, I get that. Name?" I asked.
"Call me Vasquez," He said. Okay. Vasquez.
"What about you, Kid?" He asked.
"Karma" I spoke. The sound of a loud truck's engine broke our stare down. We all gathered on the edge of the rock 10k and Warren were standing at. I brought up my scope and looked through. Two groups were fighting each other. One had a semi-truck, upgraded for the apocalypse, the other had an ATV and some other guy with an automatic resting against the smoking car.
"Not bad for a bunch of sitting ducks," Warren said pulling 10k's gun away from her face.
"Well, you think we should, I dunno, help them?" I asked, following her actions.
"Think less like a missionary and more like a mercenary," Vasquez said, putting his hand on my sniper and lowering the barrel down. I threw my dagger equipped hand against his throat. "Let's wait and steal the vehicles from the victor," he said stepping away from my blade.
"We may not be able to save the world. But maybe we can save them." Warren said. She put her hand on my shoulder and I dropped my blade back into its holder. "10K and Vasquez, that way. Addy, you're with me. Doc, you watch him and her. Karma, do you, babe." Warren ordered. We all went our respected ways.
I slid down the mountain a bit until I was on the ledge I wanted, and tightened my gun around my back, slipping one hand and my head through the strap. I flexed my wrists, my blades coming out as I did. I waited until my victim was close to being beneath me before dropping on top of him. My wrist pushed against his neck the blade diving in. My other blade stabbing his skull to kill the brain. I got off the now dead corpse and rushed to brace against a vehicle. I slid myself under the engine of the truck and made sure to tuck my body from being seen. my fingers traced the parts connected together to find what I needed.
Got it.
I wrapped my fingers around the small but necessary pipe. Right as I was about to tug, Warren yelled my name.
"What?" I slid my top half out from beneath where I was working.
"We're going to be nice to these people. They're going to take us to Edmonton." She told me. My eyebrows furrowed together and I gave her a face that said 'what the heck'. I slid the rest of the way out. Warren called everyone together and we were hanging around the truck. I found Doc and 10k, so I walked up to them.
"What's shaking bacon?" I asked as I sat between the two. A lady came up to us and asked if we wanted water. We each took some and Doc was eating cream of mushrooms.
"Hydration?" The guy his group called 'Wrecking ball' said, sitting down next to Murphy.
"Is there somewhere else you can sit?" Murphy deadpanned.
"Yep." Wrecking ball said getting up. We soon departed and loaded up on the truck. We left from the ridge. I sat in a beat-up jeep next to 10k. Vasquez stood in front of us with his weapon out, ready for anything. Murphy and Addy were in the back with the sick. Doc was in the charger with Wrecking Ball. Warren was somewhere near the front. I took my sniper off my back and rested it against my leg. I looked down on the ground to see dead humans with their faces essentially ripped off. I grimaced and directed my eyes elsewhere.
Two guys on motorcycles came from either side. Our group started firing. Warren took one out while we were still under fire. A shiny burst of light caught my eye from on the ridge. I ducked down pulling 10k with me.
"Sniper," I said looking over my shoulder. "On the ridge" He nodded. He brought his hand up and counted to three silently. We both launched up and fired at where he was. A bullet hit through his head. There were more snipers, probably about four. Vasquez and Warren kept shooting from in front of us.
The charger was stolen and the medical truck was too far behind us. We pulled over to decide what to do next. I don't like being out here in the open. 10k and I kept watching over our group. out the corner of my eye, I saw something run past the car Warren was next to. What was that? It moved too fast for a zombie but too slow for a human.
Suddenly, the zombie thing jumped on top of the car. Vasquez went down with the thing on top of it. From my angle, I'd shoot him too. Warren took care of the newfound threat and I focused on the ones farther away as did 10k. Looking back down to Warren's position the zombie took the bullet then stood up. It stared at her and had an evil look in its eye. It jumped on the truck and turned to face us once more before jumping off and running away.
We continued driving down the road. On the left, there was the bloody old charger. Custer pulled over and 10k climbed down to stand in front of Cassandra. She had blood running down her body. The once white fur coat is now stained red on the front. He reached her body and his hands went up to cup her face. He was talking to her but I'm too far away to notice. Doc joined him and her gaze fixated on something else. She pushed past his body and went straight to Murphy. Custer got the vehicle and backed it up. He got and talked to Warren. He wasn't looking so good. Suddenly he pulled a gun on her. Vasquez and I both cocked our guns to show we weren't messing around. The charger's engine started and Murphy threw his hand out the window. Huh. Okay. Figures he'd save himself. We loaded up and went on our way.
"Warren!" Addy yelled from the medical truck. "Warren! We got to go! Let's pick it up!" She called out.
"Here they come!" 10k yelled and loaded his sniper. I got beside him and fired on the three blasters that were trailing us. The sick survivors turned and Addy was by herself between them and the blasters. she pushed her way on top of the truck. A blaster jumped in the truck bed behind her. 10k climbed over to her. They worked their way over back to where I was and I tried to kill the blasters that followed. Doc fired when it got closer to him. The thing fell off the side and they moved to where I was.
"Hey, are we slowing down?" Addy asked.
"We need to not slow down!" Doc said panicked. The zombies and blaster zombies crawled over to us trying to eat us. They broke through the truck that was on the semi-trucks bed. The screams from the girl inside could be heard as we kept pushing on.
"Everybody, hang on to something!" Warren ordered as we couldn't go much farther. we fired on the ones who were close to us but there were just too many and not enough bullets. Warren rolled on the ground from where she jumped. Okay. Jump from a moving vehicle that is six feet off the ground. It can't be that hard right? People do it all the time in movies. Mack did it.
"Hang on, Roberta!" Doc yelled. We all gathered onto one side.
"Everybody off!" Vasquez yelled. We threw our weapons and dove off. My body hit the ground and tumbled as it was slowing down.
"This hurts a lot more than in the movies," I said groaning in pain. 10k reached his arm out and pulled me off the ground. My left hand went to grab my shoulder and rub the sore area. My arms were scraped up but luckily no broken bones.
"I've never jumped from a moving vehicle my whole life. And now boom, twice in one day." Doc said annoyed. A truck horn went off pulling our direction to the thing we just jumped from. It was constant, meaning Custer was dead and leaning on it. We walked to where the medical truck ended up. 10k opened the door up. Vasquez flinched and raised his weapon up quickly as the dead body came tumbling out. He's the only one who flinched.
"You people really do attract it, don't you?" He said. "Help me with the hitch." They both went to the back and the rest of us just stood there. An explosion went off in the distance.
"A caravan of 20 refugees leaves Seattle's blast zone for Edmonton. They meet six survivors and one Murphy. How many refugees survive?" Warren asked hypothetically.
"Not one," Addy said to herself.