S3E05: Part 2
Murphy POV
He went over to the blue safe he kept in the lab and turned the dial. He immediately grabbed a rack with at least a dozen tubes filled with the same yellow tinted vaccine Merch had created.
'Without it you'll end up like Patient Zero in that lab in Colorado.' Her words haunted him.
"Fine." He said looking at the vials, "I'm fine."
Then he looked up and saw his reflection in the mirror and noticed his skin was changing. He tugged on the sleeves of his shirt and saw it on his arms too. Patches of pale human skin popping up, taking over the blue; he looked back at the vials, picked one up and stared at the liquid.
"Control of a human. . . power of a Z. That's me. That's my legacy. I need to make more booster for me and more vaccine for them to finish the plan. Bring it to completion. If I have to do it myself I have to do it myself. What else is new?" he asked then turned too quickly and got dizzy.
"It's low blood sugar." He said trying to convince himself, "You better eat something Alvin. Got to take care of yourself, people counting on you."
He passed by Merch and tried to ignore how delicious her brain looked before he went to his table full of strawberries, apples and blueberry pie.
"You were close." He said to Merch, "I know you were. Ten thousand doses in just a few more steps." He said grabbing her journal from the table and flipping through it. "No. No. Maybe you just add water? That's not it. That's not it, no. No. No. What the hell is dsRNA? Or IFNRA2? How exactly does the pumpkin seed looking thing connect to the Pac Man looking T-Cell thing? And what in the name of all that is holy is cytokine or MAP kinesis?" he threw the journal down and picked up his fork again and looked over to Merch.
Bailey POV
"Listen." 10K said turning to her after taking his shirt off hesitating to inject himself, "When I do this, the reaction it causes it. . . it isn't pretty. But just, let it happen okay?" he asked nervously and she nodded not taking her eyes off his, the dark circles around them had only been getting darker since she'd found him by the river. "Back up." He said and she scootched back on the bed though now she had twice the worry on her face. 10K took a deep breath and looked down at his arm and the injector hovering over it in his hand.
Then he brought the needle down.
Immediately his body tensed up and he fell back onto the bed. Bailey wanted to jump forward and help him any way she could but then remembered he'd told her not to and she stayed put. She saw the veins in his neck as he started to make choking sounds and began to foam at the mouth, his body twitched and spasmed like he was having a seizure and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Bailey looked away not being able to just sit by and not do a thing but watch. It wasn't until she'd stopped hearing him groan and felt the mattress under her go still that she looked back to find him passed out. When it looked like it was over she moved to his side and put his head in her lap. She didn't know what more she could do so she brushed her fingers through his hair and ran her thumb across his cheek and waited for him to wake up.
She couldn't help but let her eyes scan over his body again taking in all his injuries. The bullet wound was patched but he still had so many scratches and cuts and bruises. Each angry red line only made her concern for him grow but it also fueled the hate she still had for Murphy. This was all his fault, hadn't 10K suffered enough? Now he had to deal with the blue devil trying to turn him into a slave, taking away his free will, taking away 10K's own control of his body and his mind. She remembered what Vasquez had told her and part of her wished she could talk to him now. Should she give up her mission for revenge now that 10K was alive? Did she no longer have a reason for revenge, or had the reason just changed? If Vasquez had discovered that Hector had faked the death of his wife and daughter would he have been able to let him live and not feel empty like he'd told her he felt? Or since Hector had been such a monster back then would killing him still have been the right thing to do? Murphy was out there creating more blends and all those people thought Murphy was helping them out of the goodness of his heart. She almost scoffed, Murphy didn't have a heart, and if he did it was only filled with concern for himself. If he really wanted to save everyone by turning them into blends he'd cure them and let them go on their way, go off and live their lives. Not tell them to stay with him, tell them to defend him, build him a new world to rule. Then 10K's head moved in her lap and he took a deep breath and coughed before he opened his eyes and looked around seeming groggy.
"Do you feel better?" she asked still stroking his cheek. He reached up and grabbed her hand taking it from his face and intertwining their fingers.
He nodded, "The urge is gone. That feeling of. . . I need to do this now. Whatever Murphy is commanding at the moment, I have to do now."
She helped him sit up but he didn't move far, only enough so that now his head could rest against her shoulder.
"That must be horrible to go through." She said quietly, it was hard enough to watch.
He nodded again, "It's disorienting, but worth it if it keeps Murphy out."
"I hate him." She whispered near his ear, for the first time noticing the light freckles on it, and he turned to look at her with a small smile.
"Me too."
She turned to look at him better, "I love you."
"Me too."
She gave a small chuckle at his response before leaning in and kissing him. He kissed back and after a while they readjusted themselves and he leaned back against the pillows both of them taking in everything they felt, the softness of the bed under them, the feeling of their lips molding together before Bailey started kissing down his neck and he craned his head back further to give her more access. She kissed all the way down past his collar bone down to just above his heart before making her way back up to his shoulder then up the curve of his neck again.
"That feels so good." He said softly, "Especially after all the shit I've been through lately."
"Don't curse." She scolded lightly, "You promised your dad." She reminded him, kissing up the side of his jaw to his ear and nibbling a bit.
"Sorry." He said moving his hands to wrap around her holding her tightly as she pulled back to look him in the eye, "I just never thought anything would ever feel good again. After everything Murphy did, everything he's made me do against my will. . . I was starting to think death would be kinder."
"Never think that." She said cupping his face in her hands as he brought his thumb to stroke her cheek. "No matter how bad things get as long as you're alive there's the chance they'll get better. If you're dead. . . " she said looking away and bringing one hand to trail up and down his bare chest not making eye contact anymore, "If you're dead, that's so final, there's no chance for anything anymore. So. . . please never think like that." She said looking back up at him.
"Even if Murphy gets me back and turns me into a puppet like Cassandra?"
"Even then, besides now Merch has these shots." She said nodding to the bag on the bedpost, "And Warren has Dr. Sun, I'm sure between them we'd find a way to reverse whatever Murphy's done."
They sat silently for a while, Bailey in his lap, one of his arms around her, the other hand rubbing up and down her arm until he brought it all the way down to hold her wrist where his red bandana was tied.
"You still have this." He said looking at the bandana on her wrist before his eyes moved to her other hand where she still had on the glove he'd given her, the one that matched the one on his right hand.
"Yeah. . . " she said blushing a bit and looking up at his face, "I just. . . wanted a piece of you to hold onto, when I thought you had. . . "
"Hey." He said bringing his hands to her face, cupping it gently, "I didn't die okay? I'm here and we're okay. I want you to forget all the terrible things from when you thought I'd died alright? Take it all out of your head and never think about it again." he said softly, their faces so close now their noses touched.
"Make me forget." She whispered before pulling back and grabbing her bag from the corner of the bed and fishing through it, then she returned to his lap. "We still have one left." She said with a small smirk and a blush as she held up a foil packet pinched between her fingers. "Make me forget." She said leaning in again and he couldn't help the grin that broke out on his face before he leaned in and kissed her passionately bringing one hand to weave through her hair as he turned so her back hit the bed and he was leaning over her. She brought her hands to his hair, her nails clawing at his scalp and he moaned, both of them committing every small touch to memory in case the worst should happen.
10K POV
Afterwards he laid on his back with her head on his chest as he ran his fingers through her hair. Her hand kept tracing over his stomach keeping her eyes on the gauze taped over his bullet wound like she worried the stitches would open and he'd start bleeding again from the strenuous activity they'd just finished.
"If it hasn't started bleeding yet I doubt it will Bailey." He said trying to soothe her worrying.
"Do you want me to stop then?" she asked pausing the movement of her fingertip.
"No." he replied without missing a beat and she gave a small giggle and kept moving her finger along his skin. They laid in silence just enjoying the warmth of each other before he felt something wet on his chest. He carefully craned his head to look down at Bailey and saw another tear escape the corner of her eye before it fell and hit his skin.
"Are you crying?" he asked horrified, "I didn't hurt you did I? I know it's been a while –"
"No." she said looking up at him and bringing her hand to his jaw, "No, you didn't do anything wrong."
"Then what is it?"
She sniffled again, "It's just. . . I thought you were dead. I never thought I'd have a moment with you like this again."
He kissed her forehead and held her tighter bringing her closer to him.
"Me either." He replied as she resumed tracing her fingers along his skin before turning her head to kiss his neck, then he heard a very small giggle. "What?"
"Nothing, just. . . " the pad of her finger ran along his collarbone, "Your freckles are cute." She said, her fingertip running over the one between his collarbone and the base of his neck.
He chuckled before replying, "You say that about everything you know." He pointed out looking down at her again as she tilted her head to look at him and he saw a blush color her cheeks in embarrassment. "My smile's cute, the goggles on my head are cute, the way I shoot is cute. For someone who wanted to be a writer you should get more adjectives."
She laughed and he joined in.
"Well what about 'I love you' are you tired of hearing that too?" she asked jokingly already knowing the answer.
"Mmmm, never." He said shaking his head before he leaned in and kissed her again.
"We can't stay here much longer." He said reluctantly, knowing they had to talk about the blend that was after him, though he hated ruining their afterglow. "Murphy has his right hand man after me. . . he's not going to stop until he gets those boosters back."
Her fingers paused, "And you."
He let out a long deep breath, his hand moving from her hair to run down her bare back, "And me."
Bailey shifted so more of her body was laying on top of him, it was almost like she was trying to shield him, like if she could hide him they could stay in that little house forever. He smiled a little and buried his face in her hair.
"But it's not like we were going to stay here anyway." He said trying to cheer her up, "We're still going north aren't we?"
He felt her smile as she moved her hand up to his chest where it rested over his heart feeling it beating. "Find a place and secure it. Settle down somewhere safe and far away from Murphy and his blends." He said kissing the top of her head, "Maybe have children one day."
"You still think about that?" she asked snuggling into his shoulder, "You still think we can have that?"
He paused thinking about his answer, "I think we'll have to fight harder for it than we thought, but yeah, I think one day we will have that."
She gave a small chuckle, "I can't believe you still think about that."
"Sometimes it's the only positive thing I have to hold onto. That hope that one day we can be happy."
"I wish I could hope like you do." She muttered and he wasn't sure if he was meant to hear that.
"Well just keep thinking about it." He said his fingers still running over her back, "Close your eyes and think about it enough and maybe you'll dream about it tonight."
It wasn't long after that conversation that he felt Bailey fall asleep and as much as he tried to take his own advice he just couldn't get any rest. Not while knowing Will Chaffin was out there looking for him, not while knowing that every moment Bailey spent with him she was in danger. Would Will drag her back to Murphy too if he found them? Would Murphy turn her into a blend like he'd done to Cassandra and himself? He didn't want to find out, so when dawn came the next morning he snuck out of bed, got dressed, quickly wrote a note to Bailey and left it on the pillow. He crept outside with his satchel of booster shots and took the motorcycle. He walked it until he felt he was far enough away that the noise wouldn't wake Bailey then he started it up and took off.
Bailey POV
When she woke up the next day she immediately noticed she was alone in bed. The second thing she noticed was that the satchel was gone and the third thing she realized was there was a note left on the pillow 10K had been laying on. She got dressed before opening the note, part of her already knowing what it would say.
Bailey, I know you might hate me for this and I hate myself for having to leave you after just finding you again but I hate putting you in danger even more. I can't let Murphy get you too. So please don't come after me. Go find the others, you shouldn't be alone, you deserve to be surrounded by people who care about you but right now, I can't be one of them. I'm not safe to be around especially if Murphy gets me under his control again. But even if he does none of that will ever take away what I feel for you. Keep yourself safe, I love you. Tommy
She took a deep breath when she'd finished reading the note and started packing her things.
"This is the kind of thing I'm talking about." She said aloud to herself as she packed, "You try to push us away, you try to be the better person and it just makes me want to fight for you more." She looked at the note in her hand one more time before tucking it away in her bag shaking her head, "Classic 10K." she said before going after him.
10K POV
He drove through the woods until he came to a junkyard. There was a long building made of cinderblock with several junked cars in the field around it, hay and dead grass scattered over the dirt. Suddenly a rope was pulled out of the hay and the bike went under it but 10K got caught and flung off the back landing on the ground. A man came over with a knife and put his foot on 10K's chest and he turned his head to see a woman run over and kick him in the face knocking him out again.
When he came to he was leaning against a car and he immediately heard snarling Z's. He got up and tried to run but was pulled back and landed on the ground again, now noticing he'd been chained to the car with one cuff around his wrist. More snarling came and he looked up to see zombies now approaching from either side of him. He got up just as the nearest one was charging for him and 10K punched it in the face disorienting it enough for him to wrap some of the loose chain around its neck, put it in a headlock and toss it to the ground. Once it was down 10K put his foot to its chest and tugged on the chain, he gave it everything he had as the metal pulled through the Z's neck decapitating it. He took a few deep breaths, taking out one Z had taken nearly all the energy he had. The others were closing in now and he turned to the car hoping he could use it for shelter but it was locked. Then he saw a hubcap by the driver's side tire and he picked it up and turned around and hit a Z in the head three times with it until it fell down brain dead, then he spun and mercied the next Z. Then he hopped on the trunk of the car and tried climbing over it, his mind spinning with various plans to get away but not really thinking any of them through. He climbed over the roof of the car not sure if he should stay on the top for a better vantage point – if he had his sling and gears that would be an option, but sadly he didn't. He kept crawling and before he could figure out what to do a Z got a hold on the chain and pulled him back. His body tipped and slid off just as his hand skimmed the wiper blade on the windshield. His fingers reached for it until he got a good hold then he tore it from the car, turned and put it right through the zombie's eye socket. He took a deep breath and leaned back against the car, the hubcap still in his hand as he panted, his stomach in pain again. How many times could he possibly rip those stitches open? More importantly, how much blood could he spare to lose?
He heard more snarling as he leaned over and caught his breath then he looked up and saw another Z lumbering toward him. He ran toward it and hit it in the head three times with the hubcap before it fell and he turned the metal cap over and rammed the thin edge into the Z's skull. He stood up and saw another Z and flung the hubcap like a Frisbee mercying that zombie too. He saw one more so he marched over to it and grabbed it's head using it's skull to smash the car window then he flung the Z to the ground as he leaned into the car and rifled around for something sharp. He turned and looked over his shoulder as the Z got up again, then he found something on the seat and turned shoving it in the Z's temple. That was the last of his energy as he leaned back against the car again. He looked left and right and saw Z's coming from either side making a small pack of five. But he was sweaty and exhausted and he leaned over grabbing at his stomach again as one of the Z's got closer reaching out its rotting hands for him. He leaned back against the car, his last attempt to put any distance between them then a gunshot went off and the Z dropped dead. More shots fired and the rest of the Z's dropped too and 10K turned to see Bailey approaching. Filled with relief he sunk down to sit leaning against the car as he gripped at his side.
Bailey crouched next to him on the ground beside the car and pulled open his shirt enough to see his wound again. She gave a sigh as she saw the blood that stained the bandage.
"You pulled the stitches open again." She said non-judgmentally as she started looking through her bag for something to help patch him up.
"You've gotten into the habit of saving me." He said leaning against the car.
"Down to my last bullet now, but call it part of paying off a debt." She said looking away from his wound to smile at him, remembering all the times in the past that he'd saved her.
He smiled back before reminding her, "I told you not to come after me."
"Did you know when you tell someone not to do something it only invokes a deeper desire to do it?" she said still smiling as she tried to fix the damage he'd done to his wound. Before he could respond another figure joined them from around the corner of the car and quickly hit Bailey in the back of the head with his gun knocking her out.
"Bailey!" 10K shouted and tried to get up to help her but the pain in his stomach made him stop and cringe as Will Chaffin came into his view.
"Touch her and I'll kill you." 10K said through clenched teeth partly in pain the other part stemming from his rage as he gripped his wound.
"Relax." Will Chaffin said using his foot to roll Bailey's unconscious form away from them, "She's not the one I'm after."
He knelt down to check his wound before cutting the cuff from his wrist freeing him from the chain leaving a few angry red lines around his wrist from where the cuff had chafed the skin so much it bled. Will told him to take off the top part of his jumpsuit and 10K had no choice but to follow his instruction as Will pulled out a small med kit from his jacket and began patching him up.
"He sent you after me." 10K said, not asked, as he held up his grey shirt and Will worked.
"You're important to him."
"I bet."
"Well, now." Will said looking at his neck and 10K knew he saw the spot where Merch had injected him, "What do we have here? That's not the mark from the vaccine." He said and 10K looked away not making eye contact, "You got something different. You stole the injectors and you used them."
Then Will started patting him down, "Hey!" 10K protested.
"Where is it?"
"Where's what?" 10K asked playing dumb.
"Murphy's medicine."
10K tried to fight off a smirk but failed as he felt the corner of his mouth turn up, "I don't have it. I was ambushed. They took my motorcycle."
Then Will grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up while he groaned in pain, "Motorcycle you said?"
"Yeah. And the medicine."
"You were traveling east?" Will asked looking in the hay at the tracks the bike had left.
"Yeah."
"So were they." He said pulling him along and leading him away.
"Wait! We can't just leave her there, the Z's –" he began to protest looking back at Bailey still out cold on the ground.
"We'll leave her for Darwin." Will Chaffin said continuing to drag him away.
"I'm gunna –" but before he got his threat out Will jammed his free hand into 10K's side. It wasn't enough to reopen the injury but it was close enough that his side still flared up in pain.
"Keep walking." Will Chaffin said pulling 10K along as he limped, dragging his foot. "We're getting that medicine back."
"And then?"
"Take you and it back to Murphy."
Bailey POV
She woke up with her head throbbing, thankfully when she touched the back of her skull her hand didn't come away stained with blood. She got up carefully and the world stayed upright, nothing spun or turned upside down so she took that as a good sign that she'd be okay. She quickly noticed 10K wasn't there and knew whoever had knocked her out must have been one of those blends 10K had mentioned, the ones Murphy had sent to hunt him down. She looked around trying to find any sign of where they'd gone or what direction they'd headed in. She quickly found long lines in the dirt that looked like they'd been made with the toe of a boot and she smirked. 10K was leaving her a trail, she realized as she saw more long lines in the dirt and hay and grass that went in a path east.
"Ten Thousand you smart sexy bastard." She said still smirking as she collected her bag and followed the path.