Season Two
When I wake up I have a massive headache. But the first thing I notice is that my hands are cuffed and there is a gag in my mouth. My eyes widened when I realize that I am laying in the back of the Mesa Pharmaceutical van alone.
"This is Citizen Z broadcasting on all frequencies. This is an emergency broadcast. Repeat, this is an emergency broadcast. Literally life and death for the human race. Now there's a man traveling among you. He's the only human known to have survived a zombie bite. His blood has the antibodies to create a vaccine. Now it is imperative that he be transported alive to the Centers for Disease Control Lab in California..." Citizen Z's voice drifts through the radio.
Through my groggy state I barely recognize his voice and I can't process much of what he's saying. I do know that he sounds panicked. He's worried about something. Somewhere in the back of my mind I wonder if the nukes have taken us out yet or not but the pain that shoots through my head takes all of my focus.
"This mans name is Murphy. Last seen in Fort Collins, Colorado. Six foot two. Dark hair. Numerous bite marks on torso. Known to control zombies and is possibly traveling with a kidnapped girl. She responds to the name Pasadena, she is five foot three, has red hair, and hazel eyes. Pasadena is possibly unarmed and is only dangerous if threatened. Murphy should be considered armed and dangerous. Keep both of them alive at all costs. Repeat, keep them both alive at all costs." Citizen Z continues.
"Look who finally decided to wake up. Slept through all the nukes, you missed a fantastic light show." Murphy comments when he opened the back of the van. I wince as the harsh light comes streaming through the open doors. He waits for me to say something before realizing that I am still gagged. "Sorry, that's my bad."
"The Center for Disease Control is offering an enormous bounty for Murphy's safe delivery to be paid in whatever form you desire. As well as being the first in line for any cure developed." Citizen Z finished causing Murphy to roll his eyes.
"Looks like your little buddy has taken a great interest in us." Murphy sighed as he looked down at my torn clothing. "You my dear need a costume change."
"Do I have a concussion or are you blue?" I ask squinting and he laughs.
"Yeah the vaccine did this to me." He says while helping me up. I notice for the first time that he is only wearing slides and a very small red and yellow kimono.
"Ew, what happened to your clothes?" I groan as I stepped away from him.
"I took them off when I shedded all my skin." He shrugged before leading me into an abandoned store. Murphy picked up some old hand held machine and placed an odd rectangular disk inside. "I bet you don't even know what this is. It's a walkman, it played cassette tapes before you kids got your fancy iPods and what not."
"Murphy..." I start uneasily when I see the growing number of z's coming towards us. He looks at them before tossing some clothes at one of them.
"You know Pasadena, the best part about traveling with me now is that you don't have to worry about z's anymore. They're all friendly as long as I am friendly." He states before his eyes land on a horrendous golden suit. "Oh I think this will do just nice. What do you think?"
"I think it'd make you look like a rejected disco ball." I say bluntly and he rolled his eyes before heading towards the changing room.
"Pick out something new for you to wear. This whole dead soldier look isn't doing you any favors." He says referring to my torn jeans, my bloodied guns and roses tee shirt, and my brothers old jacket. "Now, I'm going to one of the changing rooms. Don't think about escape because only I know where you're weapons are and don't think for a second I won't hesitate to sick these z's on you."
He turned and walked to one of the changing rooms and out of sight. Of course I wouldn't escape right now, I have no plan. I don't know if Tommy, Warren, and Doc are even still alive. Plus now Citizen Z is having everyone and their uncle look for me and Murphy. It wouldn't be in my best interest to leave now.
Tiredly I walk through the racks of clothes. As I pick out items I make sure to find things I can layer. In the apocalypse you never know when you are going to find more clothes and the weather is always unpredictable. Eventually I settle on a button up black and white plaid shirt and a simple pair of blue jeans. I add a black tank top underneath incase it gets too hot. In the case it gets cold I can always put on my brothers jacket.
"Murphy, if you are insisting on keeping these things around can you at least tell them what personal space is!" I call and before he responds he exits the changing room now decked out in the new suit.
"Yeah, yeah, quit your complaining." Murphy rolled his eyes as she shooed away some of the zombies. He walked over and began to uncuff my wrists. "I'm taking these off so you can change. Afterwards they go back on."
"Why are you keeping me handcuffed? I thought I was your friend not your prisoner."
"I don't know if I can trust you not to run or kill my zombies." He says and I roll my eyes. "You're the only thing in here not under my control. Now hurry up and change so we can go check out the new digs I found."
Silently I head to the changing room to change. Right now I could escape, but where would I go? I don't know where the others are and I don't have my weapons. Plus technically Murphy is still the mission. Someone should be around to get him to California. Hopefully the others are ok and heard CZ's broadcast. If they did they'll come looking for us.
"Hey, friend." A guy said as soon as I walked out of the changing room. He looked relatively young but I have no idea who he is so naturally I am suspicious of him.
"I don't want any trouble." I say trying to side step around him but he doesn't let me.
"Doing a little shopping, huh? I didn't know girls your age still shopped." He commented as his eyes raked up and down my body.
"Sorry, can we help you with something?" Murphy asked as he walked over to us suspiciously.
"Just browsing." The guy shrugged and with him distracted I manage to step around him and closer to where Murphy is. This guy gives me an uneasy feeling and I don't like it. "Those zombies of your's are pretty tame."
"They're not my zombies. I would never own a... nevermind. Can I help you... friend?" Murphy asked annoyed and the guy only grinned as he pulled out his shotgun.
"You can start by stepping aside." The guy says before shooting all the zombies around Murphy and me. I hate the defenseless feeling that settles in my gut. This guy has a whole arsenal on his back and I have no weapons to defend myself.
"What the hell you do that for?" Murphy asked.
"Are you two Murphy and Pasadena?" The guy asked and I shared a concerned look with Murphy. This guy definitely heard Citizen Z's broadcast. We both shake our heads and the guy sighed before playing a recording of CZ's broadcast. "Are you sure? Cause that's the only thing keeping you two alive. Now, show me your bites."
"I beg your pardon?" Murphy asked.
"You heard me. Lift up your shirt. I need to see those bites. Gotta make sure you're the real thing." The guy snapped. Murphy complied by unbuttoning his shirt. "Those are bites?"
"They were. They're healing nicely, thank you." Murphy said sarcastically. "What if I am The Murphy or whatever that means? So, what?"
"So, everybody and their uncle is looking for you. Government's got a bounty on your ass. They seem to want your prisoner unharmed but I don't see what's so special about her." The guy said as he looked me up and down once again. "She'd be fun for a while but she'd get boring fast."
I watched silently as Murphy and the guy argue back and forth for a minute before the guy decided to tase Murphy. When I move forward to help Murphy someone yanks me backwards. My eyes widened when I see Cassandra. She quickly murders the guy with a stick she found.
"Cassandra?" I gasped as Murphy stood up uneasily. She launched herself into his arms and hugged him.
"B-b-bomb." She stuttered when he gently pushed her away.
"Yeah, bomb bad." He nodded. "It's not safe here. We need to get out of here but first, Cassandra, you need a makeover."
The two of them go around the store looking for clothes for Cassandra but I just stay in my place watching in shocked horror. The thing holding Murphy's hand looks like the girl I considered like a sister but it isn't her. Not anymore, not now that she's under his control. She's not even human anymore really.
"Murphy, where are we going?" I asked once he came back and returned my hand cuffs to my wrists.
"To our new home!" Murphy said excitedly as Cassandra came back and grabbed his hand. My eyes widened when I took in her appearance. She was wearing this golden two piece and fishnet stockings under a fake white fur coat.
"What about the others?" I questioned.
"Ancient history! No more missions and what not. No, no, no, from now on we're living in style!" He exclaimed as he threw open the door to another building.
"Is this a strip club?" I asked in disgust as he dragged me inside. He wasted no time cuffing me to the pipe that ran across the counter of the bar.
"Yep, found this place about a week ago..." He started and my eyes widened.
"Wait, are you saying I was unconscious for a week?" I asked and he shrugged.
"Well, I kept you sedated for a while with those rat tranquilizers in your bag. I needed some alone time." He said and my eyes widened. It's official this man has gone insane. "Anyways the looters missed the stash of food and booze in the basement. Guess all the zombies in here kept out the rif-raf. Wait till I show you what I've been teaching the locals."
"Murphy, this is insane." I say disappointedly as I shook my head.
"No, what's insane is that I am blue and the whole world has a weird obsession over me." Murphy stated before looking around confused. "Cassandra? Where'd you go?"
Turns out she was checking herself out in a mirror. One of the zombies comes up behind her and starts rubbing his hands over her body. She growled before kicking him to a corner causing Murphy to chuckle. He nudged me before showing me what he had been "working on" all week. Apparently he's been training the zombie strippers to make out. I cringe in disgust when one pulls out the others throat.
"You know eventually the others are going to find us." I say uneasily and he shrugged.
"Good, they're always entertaining to have around." Murphy shrugged as he poured himself a drink. A ringing sound catches my attention signalling someone is at the door. "Speak of the devils. Hey, guys! What the hell took you so long?"
"Murphy, you son of a bitch." Warren growled.
My eyes frantically search out Tommy and I physically relax when I see him even though he hasn't seen me yet. Because of how dark it is in here everyone is focused on Murphy. None of them have noticed me. Kind of rude in my opinion.
"Now, now, Roberta. Is that any way to talk to an old friend?" Murphy asked cheekily. She hurriedly presses her knife to his throat causing all the zombies in the room to hiss. The others finally notice how many z's are actually in here. "Calm down. That hurt."
"Now, come on, Chief. Don't forget the mission." Doc said urgently as he attempted to pry Warren off of Murphy. Reluctantly she shoved him away.
"You damn near almost got us killed! And you did kill millions of people." Warren snapped at Murphy.
"Didn't you get the memo? The apocalypse means never having to say you're sorry. I was just following the prime directive of this mission. Save Murphy's ass. Let's not forget if I die, party's over for the human race. If you want to blame somebody blame that nutjob Doctor Kurian or maybe your buddy Citizen Z!" Murphy exclaimed sarcastically.
"Maybe we should tie you up for your own good." Tommy says stepping forward but Cassandra runs in front of him growling. He says her name before pulling her into a hug.
"That's not Cassandra, not anymore." I speak up and everyone turns to me seemingly noticing me for the first time. "Yeah, I'm fine too everyone. Thanks for asking."
"Dena!" I hear a voice exclaim and I look over surprised to see Addy and Mack. Cassandra growls before shoving Tommy away and going over to Murphy.
"What did you do to them?" Tommy growls while looking between me, Cassandra, and Murphy.
"I saved their lives, what did you do?" Murphy retorts and I can see the anger behind Tommy's eyes.
"What is Cassandra wearing. Isn't that mildly impractical for the apocalypse?" Addy asked.
"You try dressing a classy lady in Cheyenne, Wyoming." Murphy spits.
"Is anybody else concerned that there are all these z's standing around here?" Doc asks and Murphy rolls his eyes.
"Don't worry they're friendly as long as I'm friendly." Murphy says. After that Murphy starts to argue about not going to California anymore. "Grab a seat, people, you're going to love this and if you need a drink please just ask our lovely bartender. Don't forget she works for tips!"
"Don't drink that." I whisper to Tommy as he tries to take a drink of something. Doc asked me for a drink and through my limited movement ability I manage to pour him one.
Cassandra starts up the generator and Murphy introduces, Chanterelle, a zombie stirpper to the stage. Really bad country music starts to play as Chanterelle starts to slowly spin around the pole. The others watch in confusion as the zombie starts to spin faster and faster. That is until her arms rip off of her body.
"Ta-da! I know, I know, the ending needs work but let's here it for Chanterelle!" Murphy exclaimed as he clapped his hands. No one else joined his applause.
"Is this a private show or can anybody watch?" A guy asked as he slowly claps his hands and walks into the room. Everyone starts to move but he puts up his automatic and tells us to put our hands in the air. "That means you too, sweetheart."
"Sorry, I'm about incapacitated at the moment." I say with a glare and jangle the cuffs around my wrists for a second. Tommy looks over at me and his eyes widen. Seemingly realizing this for the first time.
"This man, he's our prisoner." Warren says to the guy with her hands raised.
"Sorry, but he's my prisoner now." The guy shrugged.
"Uh no, sorry, she's right. We got dibs on him." Doc interjected.
"Yeah, and we're taking him to California." Addy snapped and the guy only shook his head.
"Nope, he's coming with me. To the highest bidder. The CDC in California aren't the only ones willing to pay for his blood. You know what you guys can keep his prisoner though. She's of little use to me." The guy said nodding in my direction. I just glared at him until Tommy stepped in front of me protectively.
"Why does everyone always talk about me like I am not standing right here?" Murphy asked in annoyance. "There's only one problem with all of your plans for The Murphy. I ain't going any where with any of you. Hit it!"
Suddenly the music starts to play again only louder this time. In addition to that the spotlight goose dark and is replaced by the pulsing lasers. Smoke from the fog machine enters the room obscuring everyone's vision enough to allow Cassandra and Murphy to escape. With the two of them gone the z's begin to attack. Tommy hurries over and uses a bobby pin to jimmy the lock on my handcuffs. Around us everyone is fighting the zombies.
"Mack, get my stuff!" I yell to him while nodding to the corner. He nods to me and makes his way to the hooks on the opposite wall where my backpack and axes hang. Surprisingly Murphy didn't get rid of them while I was unconscious.
"Oh god, I thought I lost you, Delilah." Tommy whispers, pulling me into a hug once my hands are free.
"I love you, Tommy. But we gotta go now." I say before giving him a quick kiss.
I turn and see a zombie coming at us so I break a bottle over it's head. Tommy grabs my hand and we make our way towards the back door. We stop at a billiards table and chuck the pool balls at oncoming zombies. This clears the way for the others to escape out the back door.
"10k! Dena! Let's go!" I hear Mack yell and we run down the back hallway.
We round the corner and see a z pinning Warren to the wall. Tommy runs over and stuffs a fire extinguished into it filling it with the foamy substance. My eyes widened as the z expands like a water balloon and I realized it was about to explode. Quickly I duck behind Mack just in time to avoid getting splattered by foam and zombie guts.
"Zombie kill of the week?" I ask and Tommy laughs with an eye roll.
"Zombie kill of the week." He says. When we get outside everyone restocks their ammo and Mack hands me my stuff. I am so relieved to have my jacket and my axes back. I would feel naked without it.
"Take this, Dena." Warren says handing me an M16. "I have a feeling we are going to be fighting a lot more humans than z's today."
"Aye aye Chief. What's the plan?" I asked as I took the rifle from her.
"We are going to find Murphy, get him to California, and they're going to make a vaccine and save the world. And I'm gonna kill any bounty hunter that gets in my way." Warren said as she reloaded her pistol.
"Sounds like a plan." Addy nodded while wiping the foam off of her face.
"Any idea which way Murphy went?" Tommy asked.
Our question is answered when the squealing of tires rounds the corner. We watch as a red minivan speeds down the street. Wherever the bounty hunters are that's where Murphy is going to be.
"It's good to see you again." Mack says while giving me a side hug as we jogged down the street with the others. "I'm sorry for threatening you with a gun."
"It's ok I understand. I'm just glad you guys are safe." I tell him and return the hug. I've missed Mack and Addy they're like older siblings to me. "We'll have time to catch up later. Right now we gotta find Murphy's dumbass."