"Flashlight. No batteries. Half a bottle of aspirin. Well, I got no ammo." Doc said taking his things out of his bag and putting them on the hood of the vehicle. "Found this." He said holding up a crowbar.
"I got two batteries and four bullets," Warren said pulling her things out and adding to the pile.
"I got two in my gun and two randoms in those," Addy said.
"You got gum?" Warren asked.
"For repair purposes only," Addy warned.
"Remember fresh breath." Doc breathed on Addy making her shudder.
"A couple of bullets. Road flares." Vasquez said.
"I got one empty clip." 10k said.
"You know what. See if these fit." Addy handed him the bullets she found.
"I got four shots and an empty clip as well," I said.
"I know this looks shaky, but we will find a way to get Murphy to California." Warren said.
"Well, I'm hungry. Hey, Sleeping Beauty." Doc called to Murphy sleeping in the car. "Help me find some lunch. Nuts, fruit, edible tree bark." He said once Murphy was awake.
"Edible tree bark, huh?" Murphy groaned leaving with him. 10k and I pulled out the map and looked over it while Vasquez was checking the gas.
"Two gallons, maybe three." He spoke up.
"If we get ten miles a gallon," Warren asked.
"It'll get us halfway to Plainview." 10k said.
"Hey, where's Murphy?" I asked Doc.
"He's right behind me." Doc turned around. "Damn it, Murphy!" Doc yelled.
"How do you just lose Murphy?" Warren asked as we all ventured into the woods to go find our lost member. "What do you mean, he was just behind you? Really?!" Warren said.
"I'm gonna be really pissed if my last words are 'Murphy, where are you?'" Addy said as we walked up the hill.
"We might as well be saying, 'Here we are, zombies. Come and get us.'" Doc said throwing his hands out.
"Murphy better hope he's not around when I reach 9,999." 10k said.
"Easy, kid. We got to find him first." Vasquez eased.
"Well I think it's somewhere around- Oh and don't eat the bark off them skinny trees. Starts out tangy then goes south in a hurry. Oh, maybe it was over here." Doc said as he led the way.
"I was hoping we'd find him here napping." Doc said as we came back to the car.
"That slippery bastard's gonna spend the rest of his day in shackles if I have anything to say about it." Vasquez said. We drove to the closest town. I looked in buildings for ammo and stuff, I didn't really bother looking for Murphy. He'd show up eventually.
"Ghost town." Addy said as she and Doc came to join the forming circle.
"Nothing but quiet." 10k said.
"Nothing. No one here." Vasquez said. All of us were together now.
"Without Murphy, there's no mission. Keep moving." Warren ordered.
"For as important as this guy is, we sure lose him a lot." Vasquez said. I can only agree with him. We all yelled for Murphy and continued to look for him.
Three hours later
"We need to fan out or we won't find Murphy by nightfall," Warren said.
"Well, why we got to split up? I hate that." Doc said as everyone went their own ways. A zombie started to walk faster towards a building. Huh. Okay Mr. Z, take me to Murphy. 10k was in front of the same building I saw the zombie walk up to. I joined his side.
"Is there anyone else in this town?" He asked through the door.
"Nobody." The long-haired man said.
"Anywhere else my friend might have gone?" 1ok asked. What is that noise?
"Sorry." The man said. We both walked away from the door. I gave him a look and he nodded. We put our bags down along with our rifles. He lifted my body up and I climbed through a window. I pulled out my handgun and 10k quickly joined me.
We walked quietly up the stairs and through an industrial kitchen. We walked around a zombie history hall.
"Murphy?" I whispered. 10k doing the same. We went up the stairs, 10k taking two at a time. We came to a red room. Inside, there were different types of zombies. Radiation Z. Phyto Z. Blaster. How and why would someone collect them?
"What is this place?" I asked Tommy.
"No idea" He replied. We kept moving forward. As we got closer to the zombies, they would walk forward but stumble back at the edge of their platform. Electric fence.
"Murphy? Murphy, you okay?" 10k said as he went up to another podium. Murphy was sitting in a chair passed out with his wrists facing up, on the arms. There was a blood bag attached to him.
"What is this?" I asked. 10k got tased and he went down. I began fighting with the long-haired dude. His long electric taser got my arm and I went down.
---
"You bleed slowly. Anybody ever tell you that?" The man who attacked us was now in a wheelchair.
"Yes," Murphy said.
"Look who's Mr. Agreeable all of the sudden. Mr. Murphy and his amazing zombie boy and girl. I want to see what happens when you bite a human. Quit lying to me and show me." The man said dramatically.
"Murphy, you don't have to do this," 10k said.
"Yeah, he does." The man snapped.
"Do not let him turn me into one of those things." 10k pleaded.
"One of what things?" The man asked way too eagerly.
"I dunno what he's talking about," Murphy said. The man pressed a button and we all got shocked.
"Patronize me again and you will limp for the rest of your undead life." The man yelled.
"I'm too weak," Murphy said. The man raised his hand and shot a bullet in the ceiling.
"That's just a warning shot." The man said.
"Just kill me. Just shoot me in the head." 10k wined.
"Murphy please" I begged.
"I want to see what happens when Mr. half-zombie man bites a living breathing human being. And it's gonna happen now or I'm gonna start putting holes in people!" The man said angrily.
"There's nothing to fear," Murphy said walking up to us.
"I don't fear you. I hate you. If you're the key to mankind's survival, we should all just go to hell." 10k spat. I stood in front of him.
"Finally, something we agree on. Move kid." Murphy said.
"No." I spat. We all got shocked again.
"I'm working here! It won't be that bad." Murphy coaxed.
"What you did to Cassandra was worse than death," 10k said.
"Just let it happen, kid. You won't be afraid anymore." Murphy said. 10k backed up too much and hit the fence. His body fell to the ground. Murphy got on top of him.
"No! Please, Murphy! No!" 10k begged.
"Don't bite him on the face. Don't bite him on the face." The man said. I looked at him and saw the zombies behind him. I know what Murphy's doing now. I sat next to 10k and held his hand.
"I'm tired. You took all my blood." Murphy said to the man.
"Bite him on the chest, just like yours." The man instructed.
"Okay. Okay. It'll all be over in a second." Murphy said.
"No, no, no!" 10k wined. I leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Karma don't let him do this to me please" He begged. A tear fell from my face.
"I can't" I cried.
"Is this what you want?" Murphy asked.
"Yes. Show me what it feels like to be a zombie." The man said excitedly.
"Done," Murphy said. The zombies behind the man attacked him and he fell to the ground screaming. We got off the stage and stood above the man's body.
"Look at me," Murphy demanded. "Look at me!" He screamed.
"Bite me!" The man begged.
"Now you know what it feels like to be me. There's no mercy in my world." Murphy said. He turned to us. "Don't watch this." He said. We both walked away.
"You wouldn't let Murphy turn me would you?" 10k asked.
"I'd pike the bitch first," I said hugging him. Murphy finished what he was doing and fell into the wheelchair.
"I'm glad you found me, kid. Now get me the hell out of here." He said and passed out.
"Murphy? Murphy, you okay? Murphy?" 10k knelt beside him. The zombies stood from the dead body and turned to us. I tapped 10k's arm.
"We got to go. We gotta go right now" I said and we took off.
"Murphy. Murphy, wake up." I said poking his face. The zombies slowly followed us as we backed up.
"Hey, I'm with him," 10k said and pointed to Murphy.
"I don't think they care," I said as we kept backing up. We kept trying to get Murphy to wake up.
"10K! Karma! Draw them over this way!" Addy yelled catching our attention. We did as she asked. She shot the phyto zombie in the head first. She shot the blaster's shoulder.
"I'm out!" She yelled. Another gunshot went off. Vasquez took out the remaining two.
"These are the weirdest freaking zombies." He said.
"The zombie fun pack. Collect all ten." Doc said. We brought Murphy out of the red room and he began to wake up.
"Ah, look who's still alive," Warren said. We left back to the car that we left in the woods at the beginning of today.
"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," Doc said as 10k carried the blood bags on the metal pole.
"That's why I'm not talking." He said keeping his eyes straight.
"Yeah. No, I get it." Doc said.
"I have half a mind to leave this on," Vasquez said as he was taking Murphy's electric collar off.
"How 'bout a cowbell?" Addy asked.
"That'll attract Zs," Warren said.
"Yeah well, what difference does it make? He yawns and they come running." Addy said. I joined 10k at the back of the car, watching the sun go down. Addy, Doc, and Vasquez joined us.
"Saddle up" Warren said. We all then got into the car.