S5E09:
10K POV
He was so groggy when he came to. There were voices but he was having trouble making them out.
"Hey 10K, wake up.". . . Doc? Then he felt someone kicking his leg and that got him to fully wake up.
"Ow, quit it." He muttered as he saw that he Doc and one other guy were all tied to posts in the ground in the middle of the forest. His wrist felt better then he remembered and his black jacket was missing. The other guy tied up with them had dark circles under his eyes and several slashes around his bald head along with the letter S right on his forehead.
"Your friend there looks a little pale." He said looking at 10K, "Just transitioned has he?"
"I'm not a Talker." He replied offended.
"Then how come your hand fell off?"
"Hey who did this to you?" Doc asked.
"War-riors." The guy said in a sing songy voice, "Fierce and quick as lightning. You don't see them but they see you. And then – psh-psh, arrow in your arm. Saboteur!" he started shouting, "Saboteur! Saboteur! Saboteur! You! You! You!" then a stick was stuffed in his mouth the way a dog would carry a bone and Warren was next to the guy in a second.
"That's enough out of you." She said before going to untie Doc while George went over to 10K.
"I gotcha buddy." She said as she began to cut at the ropes.
Then they ran off but only a second later arrows were flying at them, coming from every direction, as they bolted through the trees.
"I've never been so glad to see you Chief." Doc said.
"I'm not the Chief you need to worry about." Warren called back right before Doc took an arrow in the backside and fell down. "Keep your head down!" Warren shouted as they all hit the dirt. 10K used his handless arm to shield his head while George dropped next to him. When he looked up again they were surrounded by people with various types of face paint covering their eyes, many of them were women and while most of them had bows and arrows there were also several who had guns.
"We're not here to fight." Warren said still in the dirt, "We're not your enemy."
They all got to their knees and put their hands up before the people swarmed them and tied their hands together and led them away with ropes like they were dogs on leashes. They were brought to a perimeter line made of string and tin cans so if any zombies came they'd be tripped up and the noise would alert the people staying at this camp. There was a whistle and one of the women with them whistled back before a young boy ran out.
"Good looking out Littlefoot." The woman said, "We found a couple of Z's but what we got here is worse."
"Bombers." He said.
"Could be. I'm bringing them in."
"Hey precious, you were bombed too?" Warren asked the kid as they walked by.
"Lots of times. Got hit by a zombie ball too –"
"Shh." The woman said turning to him as they were pulled deeper into their camp.
"Hang in there." Doc spoke up, "I know a few natives down south. May take some time to sort this out but hopefully we won't get our ass kicked in the meantime."
"Doc? I mean, Steven? Is that you?" Another woman in a yellow lace dress, brown hat and skin tight pants said as she approached but since she was behind Doc he didn't see her.
"Death knows my name?" he asked.
"Steven –" the woman broke off the long end of the arrow in his backside and he turned, "It's me."
"I thought death would look meaner." He replied as the woman kissed him while she smiled, "Kuruk? Well of all the gin joints in all the world –" he began to step toward her then groaned in pain, "Oh, that hurt."
"It would hurt a lot worse if that long arrow got caught on something." The medicine woman from the Grand Canyon told him with a smile.
"Kuruk." George called and she turned.
"George?" she asked seeming shocked she was here then she turned, "I know you, Lieutenant Warren, 10K, you're also Doc's people."
"A little help?" Warren asked smiling as she held up her tied hands and Kuruk gave the others the okay to untie them.
"Hmm, two noted military leaders, champion from Newmerica, wise elder, young warrior, something tells me you're not here by chance."
"Yeah, we came about the water." Doc began.
"What we came about was keeping the peace." George said.
"Sure, it always begins with the word peace." Kuruk said not seeming convinced.
"You know me, your father knows me. I'm true to my word." George said.
"Yeah and you know me." Doc said.
"The apocalypse changes people." Kuruk said still suspicious.
"Yeah, not that much." Doc shrugged.
"We'll argue politics later my friend." George said, "Right now we just want to know why you shut off the water."
"We didn't." she replied, "Come with me."
She led them through more of the camp and 10K took the opportunity to catch up with Warren.
"Hey, where are Bailey and Addy? Are they going to catch up?" he asked and she turned to him a little alarmed.
"Addy stayed with Finn, but we thought Bailey was with you and Doc."
His eyes widened, "No, the last time I saw her she was going with you after Finn's distress signal."
"Neeznáá mííl." They heard and turned to see another familiar face.
"Ayalla, you're here." he said surprised to see her here too.
"If you're looking for Bailey, you don't have to look far. She's here." She said and both him and Warren visibly relaxed. Warren turned and continued on with Kuruk, Doc and George but 10K lingered back with Ayalla.
"Come on, I'll take you to her." She offered and he followed her in a different direction, "What happened there?" she asked shaking her hand in the air.
"Oh, you know. Zombies." He shrugged and he pulled his freshly bandaged wrist behind his back.
Bailey POV – Fifteen minutes ago
She slowly blinked her eyes when she regained consciousness. She knew she wasn't in the field anymore and she remembered seeing a shadow looming over her shortly after. . . something. . . had happened that knocked her out. She'd been trying to think of what but every time she did she ended up giving herself a headache then falling into the blackness again.
This time though her head didn't ache as much and she was actually able to find the strength to move her head and bring her hand to her temple where she felt a square of gauze taped to the side of her forehead.
"Hey, hey take it easy." A calm voice said as a woman with twin braids sat on the edge of her bed and leaned over her. She looked familiar and after a minute Bailey remembered where she'd seen the woman before.
"Ayalla." She said smiling a little as the woman grinned back at her before checking her head.
"Looks like you got into a pretty bad fight there." She said before grabbing a mason jar with some kind of herb water and brought it over for Bailey to take a sip.
"I guess." She said, "I can't really remember much of what happened, only that it hurt."
"Well just rest and take it easy, alright? You're safe here." She reassured her and Bailey followed her instructions and laid back down on the pillow.
"I was with Warren and the others." She explained, "I have to let them know I'm alright."
Then there were voices outside the tent they were in and Ayalla peeked her head outside before she chuckled.
"It looks like two of them have just been dragged into camp – literally." She said turning back to Bailey, "Don't worry, I'll make sure they aren't hurt."
10K POV - Present
"One of our warriors found Bailey knocked unconscious in a field on the edge of our territory and Heartland's." Ayalla was telling him as they made their way across the camp, "She came out of it just before you and Doc arrived."
"Did she say anything about who knocked her out?" he asked.
"She said she couldn't remember. Head wounds can be tricky, I've been keeping an eye on her just to make sure she didn't get a concussion."
"Thank you." He replied and she turned and smiled at him.
"I know how much she means to you."
He looked away and could feel himself blushing before he changed the subject, "Hey what was that you called me back there?"
"Neeznáá mííl. It's Navajo for ten thousand."
"Well what's Navajo for 'girl that just led me in a circle'?" he asked looking around at their familiar surroundings.
"I wanted to see if you trusted me or not." She explained.
"Well – I thought I could trust you then you led me in a circle." He pouted.
"Too late." Ayalla said in a cheerful voice, "You followed me so, you're cool, it's done."
Then she brought him to a tent and pushed the flap open and he followed her inside. Sitting up on a cot with a bandage on her head was Bailey and she turned to them when she heard them enter and smiled when she saw him. He couldn't keep the smile off his face either as he moved over to her and wrapped his arm around her in a hug glad she was okay.
Ayalla moved to the corner of the tent and picked up his gun, he hadn't realized before now that they had taken it after they'd 'kidnapped' him and she moved back to the door.
"Alright come on you two." She said and both he and Bailey looked at her a bit confused. "Well do you want my help or not?" Ayalla asked gesturing to the gun then his hand and he broke out in another smile.
Third Person POV
Kuruk brought them to a tent that had a map of the land the Waterkeepers lived on, "There have been attacks." she said and they could all see the marks on the map where the attacks had occurred.
"Zombies?" Warren asked and she nodded.
"Old ones. Long walkers, they came here from far away. But they're just a distraction, trying to divert attention from more sophisticated sabotage."
"Talkers." George said looking at the map.
"Like that Saboteur dude we were tied up next to." Doc said.
"They're lethal." Kuruk told them, "We've lost most of our strongest warriors. And now, the whole dam is failing. It's time for us to go, we can't stay here."
"What? No Kuruk, you can't do that." George said, "You control the dam, you have stewardship over the water, finally. Your people are vital to Newmerica, we had a –"
"Don't say treaty."
"We had an agreement. Your father made an agreement. He was a friend, an ally."
"Was. He's up at the power house. He keeps trying to fix the damage from the attacks but they're coming faster and faster. If another one comes before he fixes the damage from the last attack, the whole dam could fail and all of us could go with it."
"We'll talk to the Chief." George said looking at Warren.
"Yeah and in the meantime, you should get that taken care of." Warren said turning to Doc and pointing to the piece of arrow that was still in his shoulder. That reminder also made his butt hurt and he nodded at her.
Bailey POV
Ayalla led them to an area where random things from scavenges seemed to be stored. Bailey looked around with interest as 10K leaned against a fallen tree. Ayalla grabbed a pill from her pocket and a bottle of water and looked at his bandaged wrist. "It's looking a lot better."
"Were you the one that bandaged me up?" he asked as she passed him the pill.
"Mm- hmm." She unscrewed the water bottle and he took the medicine.
"But you didn't untie me."
"It's been a while." She said taking back the bottle, "I wanted to make sure you were still you."
"Shouldn't you be back at camp helping pack up?" he asked and Bailey turned looking away from the collection of supplies to Ayalla.
"Your people are leaving?" she asked concerned.
Ayalla gave a single nod before turning back to 10K, "No, what I should be doing is helping the best shot in the apocalypse so he can help us not get run off our land for like the billionth time in history. Sounds like a fair deal, don't you think?"
Ayalla walked over to where Bailey was and started rifling through the supplies while 10K watched them.
"What do you think?" Ayalla asked holding up a swiss army knife, "It's got a lot of sharp edges, plus a fish scaler, toothpick, corkscrew?"
"I'm trying to kill zombies not take them out for a picnic." 10K replied with a small smirk as Bailey stuffed her hands in her pockets and joined him by the tree sitting on the trunk and folding her legs in front of her then resting her hands where her ankles crossed.
"Right, we need you killing zombies. You just need the right hand." Ayalla said going back to the pile of random stuff and Bailey smirked at the play on words whether it was intentional on Ayalla's part or not. When Ayalla turned again she had a whisk in her hand.
"Well I'm not a cook." 10K said and Bailey nodded in agreement, he could catch fish and hunt but actually cooking, eh, not so much. Ayalla's next suggestion was a small garden trowel, then a tiny gnome.
"Pick me." Ayalla said in a tiny voice getting a chuckle out of 10K which Bailey was happy about, she couldn't remember the last time he'd had a real laugh. Then Ayalla found an old lightsaber toy and started impersonating a Jedi. But having never watched movies 10K didn't get the joke.
"Maybe this isn't such a good idea." He said as he crossed his arms and Ayalla turned her attention back to the pile and Bailey hopped off the log and stood on the other side of it now leaning forward on the tree and resting her cheek in one hand.
"Wait. . . here." Ayalla said holding up her next suggestion.
"What is that?" 10K asked.
"Deer antler. The deer is known for its intelligence, energy and speed. See how this part hooks out right here? A great place to put the barrel of your rifle. You shoot left handed now?"
"Yeah." 10K replied with his thumb running along his chin as he considered it.
"The antler could also hold a slingshot. The tips are pretty sharp – could be made sharper."
"You think I should choose this hand?" he asked.
"No, the hand must choose you." Ayalla said.
"How does that happen?"
Ayalla got a serious look on her face as she stepped forward toward 10K, "First, you must strip naked." She said talking in a very no-nonsense voice. 10K stood up straighter as she continued, "Free yourself of all worldly attachments. Then, you stand in the sun for a whole day and if you're still standing when night falls, the hand is yours."
10K nodded and Ayalla nodded back. Bailey stood up a little straighter now resting her weight on one arm that leaned against the tree as Ayalla made gestures along 10K's body with her hand while she chanted under her breath. 10K's head was snapping side to side following her quick movements with wide eyes and Bailey was happy she was standing behind him so he wouldn't see her hiding her laughter. As Ayalla chanted with her eyes closed Bailey heard 10K undo the zipper of his pants.
"Ten!" she shouted and he turned to her with wide eyes like he was afraid she'd just interrupted a very important ancient incantation. Bailey couldn't hold back her laughter anymore as she started giggling, "She's messing with you!"
10K turned to Ayalla who was also now cracking up as she looked at him, "Kidding." She admitted with a shrug as he rolled his eyes and redid his pants as both girls continued to laugh.
"You white boys are so gullible." Ayalla said.
Then 10K turned to Bailey, "Are you going to let her insult us like that?" he asked jokingly with a humorous light in his green eyes.
"Us?" she asked him, "She said boys not girls."
10K turned back to Ayalla who shrugged again, "Sorry, it's true." She said then she passed him the antler and he turned it in his hand examining it as Ayalla grabbed a drill, "Hold still."
As she pressed the trigger and the drill bit started to spin 10K's eyes grew wider again and he looked like he desperately hoped Ayalla was kidding about the drill too.
«»
When Ayalla had finished the modifications to the antler and had found the best way to secure it to 10K's hand he looked impressed.
"Good?" She asked and he nodded, "Then stop looking at it and try it out."
Bailey passed him his gun and for the first time he looked eager as he took it. They all leaned forward watching him check out the scope. Then further away they saw someone in all black rush through the bushes heading toward the dam. 10K looked to Ayalla.
"I see him. Outsider." She said as 10K looked back through the scope and lined up a shot, when he pulled the trigger though Ayalla bumped into him making him miss.
"What was that for? I was gonna make that shot." 10K complained possibly losing the first good shot he'd made in a long time.
"We need him to talk. Follow him. Don't shoot unless you have to. I'll alert the others." She said before rushing off and 10K and Bailey leapt over the fallen tree and went after the Outsider.
Third Person POV
Once they followed the Outsider to an unknown entrance to the dam it confirmed any suspicions they had about if he was one of the Saboteurs. They followed him in and crept along the dark halls underneath the dam as the Saboteur went further and further into the heart of the structure. They did a good job of staying back far enough that he didn't realize they were following him. Then Bailey slipped on the puddle that must have been from the damage the last Saboteur did. She didn't fall but her shoe made a wet squeaking skidding noise and the Saboteur turned and caught them. He started running and they followed doing their best not to lose him in the maze of hallways. Even in the dark Bailey could see him grab a long red pole from the backpack he wore and he lit the end before throwing it behind him. It didn't take a genius to know it was an explosive of some kind as the fuse burnt down.
"We're gonna lose him!" Bailey shouted as 10K sprinted forward just as the charge went off and blew the concrete hall apart. 10K was thrown forward while Bailey was blown back and the ceiling caved in leaving a huge pile of broken cement that neither one of them would be able to get through. 10K got up quickly and looked over the blockage trying to see if Bailey was okay. But the pile was too high and even on his tip toes he could barely see over it. Bailey on the other hand was shorter then him and had no chance of getting a peek to see if he was injured at all.
"Bailey!" he shouted as she coughed on the ground and slowly got up checking to make sure her bandage on her head wound was intact.
"I'm okay." She said getting up and leaning on the wall for some support as she regained her balance, her head spinning a little.
"Are you sure?" she heard him shout, his voice laced with concern.
She coughed again, "Go get that son of a bitch."
10K nodded and took off down the hall after the Saboteur as Bailey took a few deep breaths before she doubled back and tried to find another way around to where 10K now was so she could help him.
10K POV
He was able to find the Saboteur again, he was in a concrete room full of pipes and kept looking from a piece of paper – probably with instructions – to a wheel with a heavy metal chain and lock on it. He took a pair of bolt cutters from his backpack and broke the lock and undid the chain. 10K, who had been watching him from the stairs that led down into the room started heading down making his footsteps as light as he could and tried to get a good position behind the Outsider to knock him out. Normally, he'd just shoot him but Ayalla had said not to shoot him unless he had to, they'd need him for information.
But as he was sneaking through the machinery he turned the corner around a large piece of equipment and nearly dodged a wrench that was swung by his head. The Saboteur charged at him again while he wielded the heavy wrench and 10K blocked it with his gun but what he wasn't expecting was the Saboteur to have the chain he'd broken in his other hand and when 10K dodged one strike he used the chain wrapped around his fist to punch him in the head making him fall to the floor with his gun laying in his lap while his vision swam with black dots before he completely passed out.
Third Person POV
After failing to convince her father to leave with her Kuruk, George and Warren started walking back to the camp, however on their way there they ran into Ayalla and a few others who were all armed.
"Outsider, a new one. 10K and Bailey are following him, they're headed inside." Ayalla quickly explained.
"Okay, we've got to find a way in." Warren said urgently.
"We've tried. Everything's guarded or blocked." Kuruk told her.
"Hey maybe we should do like we did before." Doc spoke up, "Spirit Walk."
Kuruk looked at him with an expression somewhere between disbelief at what he was suggesting and doubt that it would even work if they tried. "Doc what happened before was a fluke, or a miracle like you said."
"Yeah well, it's worth a try. I could probably do it again, yeah I think I could." He shrugged.
"Wait, Doc what did you do?" George asked confused, having not been with them at the Grand Canyon.
"Kuruk gave me some 'medicine' and I left my body and I Spirit Walked, then I killed a zombie and I saved 10K." he explained like it would make it seem less impossible. . . or crazy.
George turned to Kuruk, "What do you think happened?"
"We got really stoned and Doc had a hallucination."
"Yeah well it worked." He defended himself.
"What about Ashki?" the boy – Littlefoot – asked.
"Who's Ashki?" Warren asked.
"Our medicine man." Ayalla replied.
"Well where is he?" Doc asked.
"Sleeping probably." Ayalla said before they left to find Ashki.
«»
Ashki, who was younger then both Kuruk and Ayalla, was indeed asleep under his ball cap when they found him. After waking him up and a lot of persuasion, he had been able to whip up some 'medicine' in a tea kettle and he had Kuruk, Doc and Warren each take a cupful and lie on a woven rug around the fire pit. Warren had been skeptical to join this 'Spirit Walk' but Ashki said something about how his grandfather spoke to him in his dreams and said he knew Warren from the spirit world. Warren had then gotten this look on her face. It made Doc wonder if she was thinking about something that had happened while she was in her coma on Zona, maybe Warren had already done some of this out of body traveling herself and didn't realize it.
"Cheers guys." Warren said before drinking the medicine. It was one of the more foul things any of them had had but soon it knocked them all out like a light.
Doc POV
He knew this would work! He thought as he appeared in the power house of the dam and started running through the halls trying to find either the problem or the solution. He found some rooms another story down full of pipes and meters and metal wheels. One pipe was spraying water everywhere and Doc rushed through the maze looking for a way to stop it. On the floor by some other piping he found 10K, unconscious and with his rifle on the ground with him.
"10K!" he shouted and ran over to him but when he tried to grab the Kid he went right through him, "Oh that's right, I gotta find a way to do this psychically. 10K! Wake up! Come on man! Wake up!" he called and he called but the Kid wouldn't move a muscle, finally he got fed up and went to grab him again and fell, but when he toppled over he somehow went right into 10K.
"Here we go 10K." he said as he got a feel for controlling someone else as he got the Kids' arms to shake a little before he was able to get them up to pull the rest of himself up to stand.
"Up we go. Oh, there you go. Now we're walking. One more step, come on you got this. Good we got it. Grab it, good. Good and heave!" he got 10K over to the valve wheel and turned it until the water stopped flowing from the pipe in the ceiling. "Far out. It worked."
Then another pipe on the other side of the room blew and started leaking water everywhere. It was easier to get 10K to walk this time as they crossed the room and he tried to do the same thing with another valve.
"Who's there?" came a voice from the top of the steps.
"The water stopped then started again. I'm trying to stop it!" Doc said but it came out of 10K's mouth so he sounded just like the Kid.
"Stop it? You started it!" The guy above him in a yellow safety vest said making his way down the steps.
"What?" he asked.
"Dad! He's not an Outsider, he's George's people." Came Kuruk's voice from behind him and he turned.
"Kuruk, you made it!" he said happily before turning to the guy who must be her father, the Chief, "Oh, sorry Chief. I guess you didn't."
"10K?" Kuruk asked probably wondering how he could see her if he wasn't a Talker, he turned back to her.
"Oh no it's me Doc. 10K's still unconscious I'm just borrowing his, extremities." He said, "Ah, to be twenty-something again." he said, the last part coming out in his voice as he leaned on the valve.
"We can't open the spill gates from here." the Chief said, "The Saboteur must have gone to the emergency panel." He said taking off and Doc, or 10K, whoever, grabbed the Kid's rifle from the ground and followed him as Kuruk went to tell the tribe's Talkers to block all the exits.
Bailey POV
Bailey kept zig zagging through the halls until she heard footsteps rushing in her direction. She gripped her hatchet tighter and prepared to strike as she continued down the hall. Then from around the corner George and Warren appeared. George had ditched her trench coat which revealed her bright white shirt while Warren had her gun raised and her finger on the trigger but when she saw Bailey she lowered it and smiled at her.
"What are you doing here?" Bailey asked wondering how they would have gotten in. Last she knew the members of the tribe who were guarding the dam weren't letting anyone in, even people from their own tribe.
"Spirit walking baby." Warren replied with a shrug and though Bailey didn't completely understand what she meant she ignored it as the building began to shake and Warren gestured for both her and George to follow her once it had settled. She navigated the halls like she'd been through them before and led them from one to another until taking them down a set of concrete stairs where they found a dead Talker with a bullet to the head lying motionless.
"I've never seen a Talker kill their own kind before." George said shocked and clearly saddened. But they didn't have time to mourn, Warren pushed them on with that same determined look in her eyes that Bailey knew so well.
Warren didn't slow down until they were nearly out of the concrete catacombs that were the inner workings of the dam. She stopped in a doorway and Bailey could see cleanly painted hallways ahead and knew they must be getting close to a main power source which meant the Saboteur wouldn't be too far. George drew her gun and Bailey readied hers as they began to creep forward.
Then Bailey heard a high pitched hiss as Warren looked into a nearby office door. Bailey crouched down too and leaned over seeing the Outsider already there with a small handheld blowtorch. The small blue flame was what was making the hissing sound and Bailey shared a look with both George and Warren knowing they'd have to act fast before the Talker could damage more of the electrical panel or take off.
Warren acted first and turned around the corner and shouted, "Stop right there!"
But the Outsider only dropped the blowtorch and shot some kind of automatic handgun at them. Warren ducked behind the corner while Bailey dove onto her stomach, her lower position helping her go unnoticed as George and Warren fired from around the corner and the Saboteur shot back in short sprays of bullets. Then he dove for the opposite wall and pulled a lever before taking off up the stairs inside the room. Bailey was able to nick him in the leg with one of her shots but that didn't slow him much as he fled.
"Who are you?" George demanded as they kept firing at him, "Who sent you?"
But when he vanished upstairs and they saw daylight they knew they could lose him so George ran after him while Warren turned to the hall where they could hear backup coming.
Third Person POV
"He's in here!" 10K and the Chief heard Warren shout as they followed the sound of gunfire and came to the room with the emergency panel as George was already halfway up the steps and Bailey was getting up off the floor. Warren immediately followed George going up the stairs inside the room following the fleeing Saboteur.
"Lever number one Doc see it?" the Chief asked as they arrived and saw the cranks, valves and pressure gages. "Crank it to number three."
Then 10K woke up and looked around, "What?" he asked wondering where he was. This definitely wasn't where he'd passed out. Bailey turned to him and rested a hand on his shoulder looking worried from his odd behavior. Then he got this weird feeling that came over him, "I feel old. And kinda stoned."
"What?" Bailey asked confused then he heard another voice.
"10K, you're awake."
"Doc?" he asked looking around, "Where are you?"
"Oh! I – uh – sorry – I was just –"
Then he twitched and Doc popped out of his body and stood behind him. As 10K looked at him with wide eyes from over his shoulder Bailey was still looking at him not able to see Doc and she was clearly getting more concerned with each passing second. So was 10K, out of everything he'd seen in the apocalypse this was the one that was seriously making him question his own sanity. But Doc only smiled and waved before fading away, "See ya soon Kid."
"What happened?" 10K asked as not only Bailey but the Chief looked at him with confusion.
"Saboteur. George and Warren are after him." he explained as 10K's eyebrows shot up in alarm before he looked up the stairwell and followed. "Hey where are you going? I need your help!"
"I know, you need my gun." 10K said.
"I'm here Chief, what do you need?" Bailey asked.
"Lever one." He pointed, "Turn it to three."
She did what he instructed her to do and bit by bit they relieved the pressure building in the dam and fixed what the Saboteur had tried to break.
«»
George was on one of the balconies that wrapped around the edge of the dam when she caught up with the Saboteur. He quickly jumped her when she came out of the doorway and disarmed her just as fast. He kicked her in the stomach but then she landed a good punch to his jaw before hitting him again and making his head snap back. She was able to kick him in the knee then the gut making him topple over. Then she grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him against the wall.
"Tell me who sent you!" she demanded but he head butted her, forcing her to let go as she stumbled back and she was able to use the wall to steady herself but the Saboteur had already pulled out his gun and was aiming at her head. There was a bang but instead of his gun going off his head snapped to the side and there was a small splash of blood as he fell to the ground. She turned and saw 10K and Warren standing by the door at the top of the stairs that led back into the dam. 10K had his gun up and was smirking and Warren smiled as she gently punched his shoulder happily.
Bailey POV
After the Chief had finished repairing the dam with his team he and the Talkers rejoined the rest of the tribe at camp that night to celebrate. Their group was waiting on the sidelines watching with smiles as they stood in a row. 10K had been given his jacket back when they'd collected the rest of their things and Ayalla had rechecked Bailey's head wound. The bleeding had stopped and she'd be able to go without the huge piece of gauze taped to her temple but her friend warned her to be careful not to get knocked like that again any time soon.
The tribe danced and played music as Kuruk joined them on the edge of the campfire and explained the significance of the dance. She explained how it brought the living together with the spirits of the dead to help them fight off their enemies just as they came together to fight off an enemy today.
"You brought your Talkers back into the tribe." George said, "Now we have to do the same."
Then Kuruk turned to Doc, "I'm not exactly sure what you did inside there with 10K –"
"I still feel a little weird." 10K spoke up from the end of their line as they watched the dancing.
"A good weird or a bad weird?" Doc asked.
"Weird, weird." 10K replied.
"Well better weird than dead Kid." He chuckled but 10K still looked at him skeptically.
As he and Kuruk continued their conversation about his spirit walk Ayalla came over to where Bailey and 10K were standing. 10K was a bit further back now as Bailey got closer to the dancing and watched the movements intently.
"Thanks for this." She heard 10K tell Ayalla.
"So it works then?"
"Pretty damn good actually." He replied and sounded genuinely happy.
"What will you trade me to keep it?" she asked and there was a pause while 10K was thrown off by her question. "Nothing in life is free, if you want to keep your hand you're gonna have to trade me another body part."
Bailey inadvertently clenched her teeth at the insinuation, she tried to tell herself to calm down and stop acting jealous, they had bigger problems like starving Talkers, bombers, and vigilantes to worry about right now. She didn't hear 10K reply but assumed he was caught off guard and trying to come up with a response. Poor guy, she thought, he was as bad at talking to women as he was the day they'd met.
"I'm kidding." Ayalla said again and Bailey heard 10K chuckle. She turned to slyly glance at the pair and saw he was covering his face with his hand in embarrassment, "Take your hand and use it well."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Then Bailey turned and saw them hugging as Ashki approached Warren.
"Grandfather gave me a message for you. He said 'the knowledge that you seek, is buried under the past. But beware, it is guarded by demons with sharp claws'."
"Buried under the past? What does that mean?" Warren asked.
"Um, did you hear the part about the demons with sharp claws?" George asked and Warren shrugged it off.
"Sounds like another Tuesday in the apocalypse." Doc commented and Bailey smirked.
"Well you tell your grandfather I said thank you." Warren said shaking his hand before they left the tribe and went on to continue their mission, the singing falling further into the distance.