S4E03:
10K ran back through the woods to where their tree tent had been but when he got there he found nothing left but a few pieces of the tent shredded and hanging from the branches; the floor, the rest of their gear, it was all gone. He thought he heard someone calling him, Tommy, Tommy, and he ran in the direction of the voice.
When the trail went cold he started making bird calls he'd practiced with Red in case they got lost or were in a tight spot and needed to signal for help. He raised his hands to his mouth like in a double fist and waved his fingers as he blew air and a high whistle like a bird came out. As he waited for a response his mind bombarded him with a memory he thought he'd buried a long time ago.
5K went back to practicing with the slingshot and Red joined him clearly not wanting to ever be far from her brother, which left Bailey alone with 10K.
"So. . . listen." He began nervously and she quickly interrupted keeping her eyes on 5K and Red.
"Do you think she really understands when he caws and claps his hands like he was doing before?" she asked and 10K stuttered not having been prepared for her to change the subject.
"Uh, yeah I guess so." He finally replied.
"Secret code. It's clever." She said impressed and nodding as she watched the pair. 10K smiled at the ground and Bailey caught his out of place expression.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing, it just. . . reminded me of when I was a kid. When I'd be outside or by the lake and my mom wanted to call me in. . . she'd use bird calls."
"Bird calls?" Bailey asked.
"Yeah, you know like. . ." and 10K demonstrated by raising his hands to his mouth and moving his fingers as he blew air and a high whistle like a bird came out.
"Damn." She said as he lowered his hands, "I can't even whistle."
"Well maybe I can show you sometime." He offered.
"I'd like that." She said smiling.
Then he was pulled from his thoughts as he heard the voice again, Tommy, and he followed it. He couldn't lose Red like he'd lost Bailey.
«»
Lucy was terrified in the back of the black SUV while the solider from Zona drove. She tried getting out of the zip ties that restrained her until suddenly a bullet went through the windshield and struck the man in the head killing him instantly. He bent over the steering wheel as the car picked up speed. She grabbed the seatbelt and braced for impact. In the next second the car hit a tree and crashed. She sat up as someone opened the driver's side door and the driver's body fell out, then her door was opened by someone very familiar.
"Dad?" she asked, Warren was with him too and she was a platinum blonde now. They helped her out of the zip ties and she got out of the car conflicted about seeing her father again as she turned her back to him.
"Hey." He moved to stand in front of her.
"Hey." She replied a bit stiffly crossing her arms.
"I didn't know you were alive." Murphy said with a small smile.
"Yeah well. Now you know." She replied shortly making the moment more awkward.
"You've grown."
"Yeah it happens, regardless of whether you're there for it or not."
"Sure you've just. . . done it, rather quickly." He pointed out seeing she looked seventeen, at least, now.
"Umm. Yeah." She shrugged knowing she grew faster than normal people did.
"Um look, have I done something to disappoint you?" he asked.
"No." she said her tone a bit shocked and a bit guilty.
"I'm, I mean, because, if I have, I'm sorry. I don't know exactly what I could have done differently um, to be honest, it's hard. This whole parenting thing and being responsible what with the zompocalypse and everything."
"It's whatever. . . you look a little different yourself." she said noticing he wasn't blue anymore and his hair was dark not white.
"Oh, uh, yeah. I'm cured." He said with a smile and she frowned.
"Was there something wrong?"
"No, no, no, no. –" he tried to backtrack realizing he'd offended her.
"That's okay." She said turning away from him again.
"No, no, no, no, no, no. I didn't mean –"
"Relax." She cut him off, "Honestly I . . . I just don't. . . feel anything, with you."
"Um, I understand." He said seeming saddened.
"Yeah."
"But I think that –"
"But you." She turned to Warren and put her hand on her shoulder.
"Lucy." She smiled and they stared at each other, "Something's wrong isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"Addy?" Warren asked and Lucy's lip trembled.
"I didn't want to leave her. She told me to go, she said she'd find me. We were headed to a refugee camp. Everyone's going to Newmerica."
"Okay, we should get to that camp, she'll look for us there, okay?" Warren said and Lucy nodded as they all got in the car.
«»
Doc was still back at camp worrying about 10K, and now the Lieutenant was talking about ditching the camp and heading north without the Kid. He was certain 10K wasn't going to find Red, he'd only find whatever had killed her. But Doc knew the Kid, he knew how well he survived but that didn't mean he didn't still worry. Then he was pulled from his worried thoughts as they heard a car approaching and drew their weapons as a dark SUV appeared on the road and parked in front of the camp.
"Identify yourselves!" Mueller shouted as a blonde woman got out of the driver's seat.
"Doc?" she called seeing him.
"Warren?" he put down his gun and opened the gate for her. She had a wide smile as she hugged him and he chuckled.
"What the hell Chief?" he said pulling away, "Aw, I'm digging the hair."
"You like? Apocalyptic blonde."
"Right on." They laughed as Lucy walked in and ignored them and Doc turned to Warren questioningly but before she could explain he heard another voice.
"What's up Doc?" he turned and saw Murphy, no longer blue and they hugged too. "Thanks man. You're the first person on the mainland who's been half happy to see me." Murphy said.
"What do you mean?" Doc asked and Murphy nodded to Lucy as she went into a tent. "Oh yeah, well, you reap what you spawn brother."
"Ain't that the truth." They walked in and Doc closed the gate behind them as the others made introductions.
"I'm Lieutenant Mueller. This is Sergeant Lily." He said saluting her and her new position.
"Got a nice ring to it." Doc said.
"Sarge will do, hippie." She said lightheartedly.
"Sergeant, I'm Lieutenant Roberta Warren, Ex-National Guard. This is Murphy, Ex-human. We all go way back."
"I'd hate to cut this love fest short but let me bring you up to speed." Mueller began and told Warren about the missing survivors and the abandoned convoy, Doc told her that Red and Sun Mei had been among them and that 10K was out there looking for them. The Lieutenant was still adamant not to wait for the kid and Doc knew with Warren here the guy was not going to get his way.
"You know he's coming back Chief, you know he is." Doc said.
"If she's out there, he'll find her. We'll wait til morning." Warren said already taking charge.
"That's a mistake." The Lieutenant said.
"Wouldn't be my first." Warren told him as she walked away to find Lucy.
«»
10K kept going through the woods until he found an abandoned car, the bodies inside were long rotten and had flies all over them. The front hood was all smashed up, there was no chance he'd get the vehicle running as he rested his arm on the open driver's side door. Then he looked down and got an idea, throwing his rifle over his shoulder he started to dismantle the door and took out the glass pane that had once been the window. It was still in good shape, no cracks, and he lifted it to his ear using his hand in a semi closed fist to help funnel the sound around him. He heard the bees in the field of weeds, a snake coiling, another critter's pattering feet, a crow, among the sounds the voice came back, Tommy! Look out!
Then a Z grabbed him and he turned and smashed it in the head with the glass pane and took off. He wasn't sure if it'd get back up like Z-Czarnecki did and he didn't have the ammo to take it out. As he ran he thought back to two years ago, he had visions of Red then too, was he relapsing? He brought his hand to the back of his neck where he could feel the small remaining scars from Murphy's bite, a lot of it had healed but enough of it was still there to be a painful reminder. A reminder he didn't want or need.
"10K. . . 10K." he jolted awake and saw Red next to him on the floor where they'd made a bed for the night in the shack they'd found. He could see the concern on her face as she took her hand off his shoulder where she'd been shaking him and he could feel wetness on his face and quickly turned away from her wiping away the tears on his cheeks. He hadn't had a nightmare about Bailey's death in a long time but the lingering embarrassment he felt when Red caught him crying was still just as strong as the first night they'd been together, alone, after the explosion at Mount Casey. That had been ten months ago now, he thought taking a deep breath still not able to look at Red though he could feel her gaze on his back.
"10K." she called him again but he could only look at the floor as he fixed his bandana on his head. "It's okay to still feel pain."
It wasn't just the pain that had been slowly eating away at him for nearly a year. It was the guilt too, the failure; even though Red did her best to take his mind off it. In all the time he'd known Bailey he'd done his best to protect her. It was his nature, even before he met the group he still did what he could to save Doc when he'd seen him struggling with that Z, and his instincts to fight and protect only grew the closer he got to each member of their team – a team that had literally been blown apart. But with Bailey he'd gotten the closest to, he'd fallen in love and he hadn't had any idea how much that had consumed him until he'd lost it. He didn't know if Red knew about her notebook, the one he'd packed when they'd been leaving Spokane to save Lucy, the one he still had. It was at the bottom of his bag, the pages frayed and the cover a lot more worn now but he refused to part with it. It was the thing Bailey had held most dear and it held stories and drawings that had come from her soul and in a way it made him feel like he'd preserved a bit of her spirit in keeping those pages. There were also the three pictures of them, the ones Addy had taken, but he hadn't looked at those in a long time. He used to look at them at least once a day then he stopped when he realized looking at them happy and laughing during their tickle fight, watching them sleep peacefully, and seeing them kiss, it all only deepened the raw wound he felt in his chest.
"10K." Red spoke up again, "I know what you're going through. . . I still miss 5K. I still feel the guilt over his death. I get it. Please don't shut me out."
She's all you have right now, he reminded himself. There was no more Doc smoking his Z-weed and giving him deep stoned advice. There was no Addy who'd become like the sister he never had. There was no Warren, she was the one most likely to have died on Mount Casey, a bullet to her stomach, bleeding out and crawling away from an explosion as the base crumbled around them – he wasn't expecting to see her ever again. Murphy he could live without, but he would put up with a hundred Murphy's if it meant he could have back everything he lost.
He took another deep breath and shook his head. He used to think like that after his Pa had died too, about everything he'd give up to have him back. He would have given a limb, cut off his own hand, to have it all back. But he had to be realistic, he still had Red, she kept him grounded. Without her he might have gone and offed himself by now. But she stuck by him and he was grateful to have her, to have someone who understood and she understood better then most of the others would. He turned to her but didn't meet her concerned eyes. Instead he slightly reached out his arm and she knew what he needed. She leaned forward and wrapped him up in a hug as he wrapped his arm around her and buried his face into her shoulder and let himself cry. He felt ridiculous blubbering like a baby but after a few minutes he felt her own tears fall onto the bare skin of his arm where the sleeve of his black shirt was missing and he knew they were both mourning all the people they'd had ripped away from them.
«»
The next morning he woke up alone and his eyes stung. It reminded him of what had happened in the middle of the night and he slowly sat up and found a bowl of dry cereal next to him and a half empty water bottle. He folded his legs and grabbed the bowl eating in silence apart from the crunching sound his chewing made and when he finished he brought the bowl to the kitchen where he found Red eating her own breakfast at the table.
"Morning." She greeted softly clearly wondering what state of mind he was in after his nightmare last night.
"Morning." He replied, his voice cracking. He put the bowl in the sink then leaned back against the counter messing with his hair awkwardly. "Last night was. . . I'm not sure what that was." He admitted shyly looking at the floor again.
Red stood and walked over to him abandoning her bowl at the table as he crossed his arms and she rested on hand on his forearm until he looked at her. "I thought the nightmares had stopped."
"So did I." he muttered.
There was a long silence as he looked back at the floor before Red seemed to come up with something to say. "I don't think either of us will get over what happened back then. It's going to be a part of us, it's going to haunt us, just like everything else. But life will go on and we'll keep living day by day."
He nodded before looking up at her, "I didn't think life could. But it's been almost a year so I guess life isn't going to give me a choice. . . And I know she'd want me to pick myself up and keep living. It's just. . . hard."
Red took his hand and intertwined their fingers. "Well you're not alone. That's something."
His eyes met hers and they stared at each other for a long minute. Then they realized the atmosphere around them and both looked away as she let go of his hand.
"I can check for Z's if you want to pack." She suggested, "We should keep moving."
"Yeah." He agreed bringing a hand to play with the hair at the nape of his neck, "Yeah, that works."
Red left and he took a minute to think. Day by day, he repeated in his head, just take it day by day.
«»
The Lieutenant and Sarge went to look for 10K finally accepting that the others weren't leaving without their friend. In the meantime, Warren had passed out and they'd moved her to the medical tent. Doc had asked Murphy about her but the best he could come up with was she wasn't 'all there in her head but there seemed to be more' which made no sense. Doc went to check on her after a few minutes and found her awake so he poured her a cup of water.
"What happened?" she asked disoriented.
"You passed out."
"I gotta quit doing that." She said shaking her head. "Last time I did that I lost two years."
"So was life really that sweet in Zona?" Doc asked.
"I don't know Doc, I slept through the party."
"Yeah. . . I feel that way about the sixties, and the seventies and eighties. . . most of the nineties. ." he said making her laugh.
"Guys we've got movement." They heard Murphy call and they headed out with their weapons raised.
"Something's coming." Lucy called grabbing a gun. They all followed her gaze as they heard someone or something moving through the tall grass and bushes. The figure emerged from the tree line and they could see it was human. . . or zombie. When they got closer they all breathed in relief.
"10K." Warren said.
"That little zombie proof son of a bitch." Doc said lowering his gun and heading for the gate. "10K, damn it!" he shouted hugging him, "You gotta stop leaving me like that." He scolded.
The Kid looked bummed as he walked back into camp but then he got a small smirk on his face as he saw Warren, when she smiled at him his smirk turned into a full grin and they hugged.
"Look at that." She laughed as she poked his chin looking at the scruffy beard he'd started. 10K glanced over her shoulder and saw Murphy and his smile fell and his eyes became hard and angry but before he could act on his hate they heard a growl and not a second later Lieutenant Mueller – now turned Z – was clawing at the gate tearing it apart as he charged into the camp. They all opened fire but nothing slowed him down just like with Czarnecki. He got to Lucy who was closest and grabbed her gun from her hands latching onto her shoulders. She screamed as Warren rushed over and hit him in the head getting him off Lucy, then Murphy shot him point blank and he hit the ground. Then he twitched and a second later and was crawling back to his feet. 10K shot at him and Z-Mueller lunged for him before enough of the group started hitting him back to the ground. They kicked and shot at him but he kept trying to get up then he grabbed Murphy's foot and dragged him to the ground, as he tried to make a meal out of Murphy Lucy kicked him off her dad. Then when he got back up they heard a shout.
"Clear!" and turned to see Lily had arrived and had her gun on him. They all dodged as Z-Mueller charged at her but she opened fire riddling him with bullets and finally blasting half his head off. Even with part of his skull missing he kept attacking and Sarge kept shooting until he was nothing but a pile of mush on the ground at her feet. If all the Z's were going to be this hard to kill they'd run out of ammo quick and without ammo they had no way of defending themselves and weren't likely to last a day.
Sarge started putting together a grave for what was left of Mueller as Lucy approached Warren looking shaken up. Zombie's had never tried to hurt her before and Warren wrapped her arm around her shoulders trying to comfort her.
"What the hell was that?" Murphy asked quietly so Sarge wouldn't hear.
"Mad Z brother." Doc said, "They're the kind that won't go down. The virus mutated and now they're almost unkillable. Like some fresh hell for those of us who survived the first one."
After Sarge had said her goodbye's to her fallen comrade she packed up a truck full of supplies, moving silently and not making eye contact with any of them.
"This road will take us north we'll meet up with the other convoys and join them to Newmerica." She said her attention going back to her mission.
"What the hell?" Doc said seeing Warren down the road crouched down with a route sign she'd turned into a shield, "Hey Warren what are you doing?" he called but she ignored him and started heading in another direction.
"Chief where are you going?" he shouted but was still ignored, "She's going east."
"I thought Newmerica was north." Murphy grumbled standing next to the vehicle.
"Well that's what I thought." Doc said.
"No, she's going the wrong way." Lily told them leaning her head out the window of the driver's side door and watched Warren too.
"Hey!" Doc shouted hoping to get her attention, "Hey!"
Then Lucy went after her not looking back at the others.
"Hey, where are you going now?" Murphy asked but his daughter ignored him too.
"Do you even think she realizes she's going the wrong way?" Doc asked.
"Not in her mind." Murphy said then 10K followed Warren just like Lucy had, not a word, not a single look, just following Warren like they'd done back at the beginning.
"Oh not you." Doc said watching him go, "Great." Then he shrugged and followed too.
"Wait! Where you going now?" Murphy shouted.
"You know me, I don't like it when we split up. I'm going with them." Doc said making his way down the road. Then Lily drove the car over to the others and they all piled in, a moment later Murphy joined them too and they all headed east.