S3E10:
The door to his cell opened and Wesson stood in the doorway again but 10K didn't even turn to acknowledge that he was there.
"If Murphy wants to see me again I can tell you where he can shove it."
"It's not Murphy I'm taking you to." Wesson replied which made 10K turn to him confused, "Mr. Murphy, in a sign of good faith, has allowed you to have ten minutes alone with your girl."
"She's still alive?" he asked in both relief and shock. Wesson nodded.
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He was brought to another room in the museum, it was small, if he stretched both his arms out his fingers would skim each wall, the room was nearly empty and he noticed there were no windows to jump out of. It had one small single bunk where Bailey was lying with her back to him – she probably thought it was Murphy coming to see her. Her left shoulder was bandaged in layers of gauze and medical tape but it was pink in some places where the blood was starting to seep through.
"Remember, ten minutes, no more." Wesson reminded him before closing the door and locking it but 10K didn't hear retreating footsteps and knew he was standing outside to make sure neither one of them would bail. 10K stepped forward, still barefoot, and sat on the edge of the bed bringing a hand to Bailey's arm.
"Bailey." He said softly hating how rough his voice sounded. She sat up on her good arm and turned to him her eyes lighting up slightly and a small smile playing at the corner of her mouth.
"10K." she said and he pulled her off the bed bringing her into a tight hug being careful of her shoulder.
"We don't have much time." He said quietly in her ear before pulling back, "How – how are you?" he asked his eyes glancing to her shoulder.
"I've been better." She said biting her lip and looking at her bandaged covered wound.
"You don't feel tired? Or in pain? Or like –"
"Like I'm dying?" she asked and he gave a shy nod, "I feel. . . fine, I guess. My shoulder's sore but all in all it's not bad." He nodded before they fell silent then Bailey spoke up.
"What about you?" She asked as she brought her hand to his face tracing the bruises he had, "You look like you got hit by a truck, Tommy."
"I've been worse." He said with a shrug, "Been better."
It was quiet again, he tried to find something to say not wanting to waste their short time with silences but it was like he wanted to say so much, everything he regretted doing, what he regretted not doing, apologizing, there was so much he couldn't decide where to start.
"I love you." Bailey said and his eyes snapped to her knowing that tone.
"You said never to say it like a goodbye." He said remembering back to when he was shot at Auntie's.
"I –"
"This isn't a goodbye." He said leaning forward and bringing a hand to her face seeing her eyes well up with tears, "You're going to be okay, you're going to be. . . whatever Murphy is. . . but still, you'll be alive."
"But what about you?"
He knew what was going to happen, the booster shot would eventually wear off, he'd be under Murphy's complete control. This was probably the last time he'd see Bailey and be able to act under his own will. With that in mind he moved his hand to her hair and leaned in kissing her with everything he had left in him. She returned the gesture, kissing back with just as much desperation and heat as her hand moved to rest over his heart. When they pulled away to breathe he kept his forehead resting on hers and his hand in her hair.
"Tell me something happy." She whispered and he pulled back slightly to look at her, "No matter how bad things got you always somehow still had hope. Tell me something, anything, I don't care what it is." She asked, the look in her eyes pleading.
He shifted on the bed so her head rested in the crook of his neck as he wrapped his arms around her holding her close. When something came to mind he kissed her temple before resting his cheek on her head.
"If the apocalypse never happened but we still met. . . " he began and he felt her smile against his skin, "I'd show you the lake by my cabin, take you to my favorite spot to fish. We'd go on picnics all through the summer, hold hands and walk along the trails." He said rubbing her back soothingly, he tried to think of more and his eyes landed on her messenger bag on the floor by the bed and he remembered her notebook, "You'd be finished with school and just published your first book. I'd be working with Pa as a ranger on the reserve."
"Do you think he would have liked me? Your Pa? Would he have approved?"
He smiled into her hair, "He would have adored you."
"Even with the age gap?" she asked.
"Pa wouldn't have cared about that, not when he saw how happy you make me. Besides it's only what? Three years?" he shrugged and gave a chuckle, "He probably would have made a few jokes at my expense actually."
"Really?" she asked with a little laugh.
"Mm-hmm. Pa always had a good sense of humor."
"Then what?" she asked encouraging him to go on.
"Mmm, we'd probably get married down the road, get a house –"
"A cabin."
He smiled, "A cabin. . . maybe even a dog. I never had a dog."
"We'd have to go on vacation sometime and stay in a hotel." She said before pulling back to look at him, "So you could swim in a pool."
"You remember that?"
She gave a small smile and nodded, "I remember everything you've told me about you."
"I love you." He said again and she smiled wider.
"I love you too." She replied and it sounded so much better this time. It wasn't said like a goodbye, they'd just fallen into the moment as impossible as that seemed. He pulled her close again and she rested her head on his shoulder, the sleeve covering it having ripped off a long time ago. He rubbed her back trying not to let his eyes drift to her bandaged shoulder too often and shatter the idea of them by the lake cuddling like this in the warm sunlight. Then their moment ended anyway when the door opened and Wesson stepped in.
"Time's up."
"Not yet." 10K begged not turning away from Bailey who pulled away and brought a hand to his face.
"It's okay." She said looking him in the eye, "It's all going to be okay." She did her best to smile, "I love you."
"I love you too." He said before leaning in to kiss her one more time and Wesson looked at his shoes giving them some privacy. When they pulled apart he looked back at them and took another step into the room.
"Ten Thousand." He said reminding him Murphy wouldn't allow them more time.
"It's okay." Bailey said, "Go, it's okay."
It felt like he'd been shot all over again when he left her, the pain that burned through his chest was just as agonizing as having a hole blown in him – maybe this hurt even a bit more.
Murphy POV
He was relaxing in his throne when he heard a phone ringing. He followed the sound to an old closet were a wire went from a jack in the wall to an old cardboard box with an old phone in it.
"Hello?"
"Hello, uh, who is this?"
"Murphy?" he responded though it sounded more like a question.
"Uh, Mr. Murphy. Hi it's me Citizen Z, Operation Bitemark?" came the reply and Murphy rolled his eyes. Of course that geek could get a phone working again in the apocalypse.
"What can I do for you Mr. Z?" he asked with heavy sarcasm.
"Yeah I'm looking for some intel on the mission status. –"
"Operation Bitemark has been terminated. There's a new mission now."
"New mission? But what about Warren and the others?"
"I don't even know if Warren's alive or dead and frankly I don't care." He snapped into the receiver.
"But the mission? The vaccine? Dr. Merch?"
"Dr. Merch decided the future was more then she could handle. I'm in charge of my own mission now and I don't need any help from you! Don't call again!" he said pulling the cord from the wall and throwing the phone in the closet before shutting the door.
Bailey POV
One of Murphy's blends, a woman named Hope who turned out to be Will's wife had been assigned to keep an eye on Bailey and the progress, or deterioration of her shoulder. She'd changed the bandages after 10K had left telling her that it had stopped bleeding which didn't reassure Bailey. She wasn't exactly sure what she was hoping for anymore. Did she want to live this way? Or did she want to die? Left alone with nothing but her thoughts helped a bit but the really confusing part was when she dug deep enough she found the answer to be neither. How that could be an answer she didn't know, but she did know that if she wasn't going to kick the bucket then she had to find a way out. 10K had fought until he was starving, dehydrated and down to his last booster shot in the middle of the woods before it had all been too much. She didn't like the way he looked when Wesson had brought him to see her, she could tell by his eyes he didn't have much fight left in him, he was exhausted, tired of fighting and now his body – pushing for some means of survival – would be the thing that made him succumb to Murphy and his mind control. Bailey had to help him and the best way to do that was to get out of there, maybe find Warren, try again to talk some sense into her. She knew she'd feel betrayed that 10K hadn't been honest with her but she had to let Warren know 10K was in no way a double agent for Murphy. She knew it would be easy for her to see the situation in the wrong light, that maybe 10K was bleeding to death from his bullet wound, the sub was sinking and he'd turned to Murphy for help. But Bailey knew the truth, 10K would have rather gone down on that ship then have Murphy bite him, she just had to help Warren see that.
Baby steps, her mind reminded her, first you have to get out of here. She looked around her tiny room, she didn't have much just her messenger bag and rucksack. She dug through them and looked for anything useful, she had some spare clothes, her notebook, a bottle of water, food wrappers, some old rope, a lighter that was out of fuel, some scraps from band aids, and the needle and thread she'd used to stitch up 10K. She held the needle for a minute before going to the door and checking the lock and handle. She'd never picked a lock before, but there was no time like the present.
It took a lot of fiddling around but she finally heard a tiny click.
Third Person POV
"I have got to bite me a secretary." Murphy complained as Wesson led 10K to Murphy's office, "Where are those progress reports?" he shouted before turning and seeing the pair enter, "Oh good, you're here. I don't know why there's so much paperwork to do. You know I think we should just get rid of all the paper and go back to using. . . whatever it is they were using before paper was invented."
10K didn't acknowledge him, his last booster shot had worn off a while ago and he was in a constant struggle with the new blend side of him telling him to do what Murphy said, it was good to make Murphy happy, his purpose was to follow his orders, it made everything okay.
"Oh yeah that's right you never were one for small talk." Murphy said after sipping some of his tea. "You can sit down you know." But 10K stayed standing not even turning his head, barely blinking as he focused all his effort into fighting off the partial order.
"Sit down." Murphy repeated more forcefully putting down his tea cup and that force was all it took for 10K to lose the fight and his body surrendered to Murphy's command taking a seat at the table. Murphy dismissed Wesson with a wave of his hand and he left.
"We need to talk about something, and by something I mean you." Murphy said playing with a knife at his desk. "You're not like the others. They've accepted being blends, embraced it even. It's the best thing that's ever happened to them. But you. . .when you've had a booster shot you're a pain in the ass and when you haven't you just sort of. . . fade into oblivion." 10K gave no response just kept staring straight ahead which in itself was a struggle when the blend in him just wanted to look at the miracle that was Murphy, "If I didn't know any better. . . I'd say your heart's not in it."
Then 10K's hand shot up grabbing the knife an inch from his face after Murphy threw it. "You react, but you don't act."
Then Murphy made his way to stand across from 10K, if he wasn't going to look at him then he'd just move into his field of vision. "I need you to take the initiative here. We are preparing to go to war. And you should be the hero at the front of my army." He said as 10K's eyes turned up to him surrounded by dark circles, his hand still holding the knife an inch from his eyeball. "My Ajax. My Achilles. My. . . Luke Skywalker."
Then Murphy sat down, "It's a problem. And we need to fix it. And I think I know how." He said raising his left hand and 10K's body copied to motion no matter how loud his mind screamed at him not to. Then Murphy placed his hand fingers spread on the table and 10K did the same. Then he twisted the knife in his right hand now holding it ready to stab.
"I think it's that stupid name. Ten Thousand." He scoffed, "10K isn't just a name to you. It's your mission. It's your purpose. But as far as I can see as long as you're 10K, you're no good to me. I think you need a new goal, a new purpose. You thought it was killing ten thousand zombies, but it's not. That's an outmoded way of thinking. The world has moved past that sort of thing. So I have decided. . . to give you a new mission. . . Thomas." He said and 10K's eyes widened the slightest bit and his mind stopped shouting and started asking questions. How did he know? Bailey wouldn't have told him. No. No. Murphy couldn't be that deep in his mind could he? There was no way he could have seen that much, dug that deep. Then his mind started screaming again shouting at his body to stop, to run, to do something, anything so long as it wasn't something Murphy commanded. But his body stayed frozen still holding his left hand on the table and the knife in his right.
"But first. . . " Murphy continued, "I need to know that I can trust you." He rested his elbow on the table with one finger pointed to the ceiling. The knife in 10K's hand waivered then shook violently as his mind told him not to but he could feel Murphy's control wrapping around him, like he was suffocating and the pressure wouldn't go away until he obeyed. His eye twitched as he tried to fight but when Murphy brought his finger down 10K did the same with the knife.
It landed between his fingers impaled into the wood of the table.
"Do you know the knife game?" Murphy asked and he gave a robotic single nod. "Show me."
10K started moving the tip of the knife between his fingers as he continued to stare ahead at Murphy.
"If it were any of the other blends, there wouldn't be a question." Murphy went on as the tap, tap, tap of the knife on the wood continued, "But you and I have a history," he said as the knife moved faster, "and I need to know that won't interfere with things. I need to know what you're willing to do for me." he stared at Thomas as the knife went faster still, "I need to know that you are willing to kill for me Thomas. Or die for me." The knife was moving rapidly now, taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap. Murphy let it go on for a while as he and Thomas stared each other down, and Murphy felt an odd sense of pride at seeing how far he'd made the sniper fall. When a drop of blood hit 10K's face then he stopped it, "Enough."
He looked down at 10K's bloody hand as he put down the knife and Murphy smiled. He got up and grabbed a bandana from his jacket as he moved to 10K's left side, he didn't see the tear that fell down the right side of his face though whether it was from the pain in his hand or mourning the loss of his free will or a mix of both even 10K didn't know.
"Good thing this isn't your trigger hand." Murphy said as he took 10K's hand and wrapped it up in the bandana. Then he walked around to 10K's right and knelt down.
"Now. . . let's talk about your new mission." He said and 10K turned to him still staring blankly.
Murphy smiled then leaned in and whispered in his ear and 10K stared down at the table, when he pulled away 10K looked back over at him.
"You understand what I want you to do?" Murphy asked putting a paper in his hand and he gave another single nod. "And I have a surprise for you."
He pulled out an injector with green liquid inside and held it in front of 10K's face as his eyes went wide as he stared at it. Murphy continued to smile as he placed it on the table.
"Go ahead." He said and 10K looked at him, "It's okay," he said with a smile and a chuckle, "It's what you want isn't it?" 10K grabbed it in his wrapped hand, "To be yourself again? To be human?" he asked his smile falling as 10K lined it up with the inner joint of his right elbow.
His hand shook slightly and he swallowed like he was nervous, his eyebrows kept pulling together as he struggled internally. But why? Why was he struggling? His mind was shouting at him to take the damn injection and the blend side of him. . . well, Murphy said it was okay didn't he? He said go ahead. So what was stopping him? Why couldn't he do it? When he put the vial back down on the table his mind started screaming at him again as Murphy smiled.
"Good." He said bringing a hand to 10K's shoulder, "Good. Your transformation is complete."
10K turned and looked at him blankly but Murphy was deep enough in his head that he knew what the boy was asking and he gave a long dramatic sigh.
"You want to see your girlfriend again." He gave another sigh, "Fine." He said standing up and walking to the window stretching his hand out to 10K and curling two fingers gesturing for him to follow. He got up from his seat at the table and followed Murphy, "You want to see her, fine. See her." He said pointing out the window and 10K followed his eyes moving in that direction. Down below in the zombie moat a dozen Z's had all bent down and were shoving each other to get a piece of a body lying motionless under them. The victim was lying face down and was covered in blood but 10K's eyes still widened in fear.
"She didn't turn." Murphy said bringing his hands together behind his back, "The vaccine did that much." he turned and saw 10K's mouth twitch, "Oh go ahead, speak your mind."
"You're lying." 10K said his voice weak and cracking from not being used in so long. "That's not her."
"Mm-hmm. I knew you'd want proof." Murphy said then leaned closer to the window and 10K saw Will below turn and look up to Murphy giving him a nod at whatever silent direction he'd just been given. He moved into the moat and walked between the two fences until he reached the pile of Z's. He pushed some aside and reached under the body and pulled out a blood stained messenger bag. It's not her bag, a voice in his head spoke up and it wasn't Murphy's it was his own, he could fake that, he's lying to you. Then Will came out of the moat and walked into the building, not long after he entered the room they were in and set the bag on the table.
"Go on." Murphy said not turning from the window and 10K took the opportunity. He walked to the table and began digging through the bag. He pulled out a lot of stuff that could have belonged to Bailey but also could have been thrown in there to deceive him, half full water bottle, food wrappers, things like that. It wasn't until he found the notebook and pulled it out did he really begin to worry as his breathing picked up pace. He put the notebook down on the table and began flipping through the pages violently, the edges of some ripping slightly he was moving so quick. Then he froze when he found what he'd been looking for and he felt tears sting his eyes.
The leaves crunched under his feet as he ran down the path through the forest. The night air was crisp and cool, the sky clear, the dark blue dotted with a thousand stars. He loved being in the woods at night with the moonlight shining through the trees. It was serene but with something else, like at night nature tucked away a secret, and his body filled with adrenaline at the idea of being the one to find it.
It was the passage she'd read to him back when he'd been dying of anthrax. Murphy couldn't have faked that, he thought as he began to fall apart.
"Let's give him a moment alone." Murphy said as he and Will left the room, "Remember what we talked about." Murphy called back before he disappeared down the hall and 10K fell to his knees with the notebook in his lap trying not to think about Bailey being gnawed on in that moat. When he'd dropped to the floor something had fallen out from between the pages of the notebook and he picked up the three pictures Addy had taken of them back when they'd camped out in the remains of Disney. He turned them over and looked at the images. They both looked so happy, and he looked so different. He didn't look as tired or as run down as he looked and felt now. He remembered how the night before they'd talked about running away and going north. He'd felt like he'd be a coward if he'd abandoned the group but he should have listened to her instincts. If he had he wouldn't have gotten shot which would have meant Murphy would have never bit him, which meant Bailey would still be alive right now. Her death was his fault, just like Pa's death was his fault. That sentence repeated through his mind as he brought one knee to his chest rested his folded arms on it and leaned over and let his misery swallow him up as the tears started falling.
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Later that day Murphy had come back and found him sitting on the floor looking just as empty and stone faced as he'd been earlier. He'd stopped crying after a few hours, mainly because he had nothing left to cry, and as the blend inside him grew stronger the human side of him stopped fighting. What was the point? Bailey was dead, he had nothing to fight for now. Warren thought he was her enemy, Doc was off going after Lucy with Addy and Bailey was gone forever. He had nothing, so why bother? Maybe serving as Murphy's blend would get him killed if he was lucky. When Murphy did come back he gave him orders to clean up and start his new mission. He had changed into a new all black outfit, black sleeveless shirt, black hoodie, black leather jacket with a letter M on the shoulder. Black leather gloves, he even had a new all-black rifle. He had one bag over his shoulder and he threw the strap of the gun over it. He had dog tags around his neck too and he looked down at them as he left the compound.
THOMAS
He ran his thumb over the imprinted metal. It was like his old name mocked him and he tucked the tags away under his shirt so he wouldn't have to look at them. He pulled out the note Murphy had given him and read the big black letters.
FIND WARREN. BRING HER TO ME. IF SHE WON'T COME, KILL HER.