#10k x reader

[grimespial]

im gonna start writing for 10k from znation too, ive been obsessed recently

aa i love him

[topazy]

Inside, outside

Pairing: 10k x reader

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of blood, vomit

Chapter: 5.07

The awkwardness while you, 10k, Warren, and Addy walk in almost complete silence is almost nauseating. You feel a migraine coming on from so many unspoken thoughts running through your mind. It was only the four of you now searching for the person behind the disgusting, foul, brainy biscuits.

10k keeps giving you knowing glances; he is wordlessly asking you to say something since the bad vibes are coming from you and Addy. You sigh, “Anyone else feel uneasy about not knowing where the hell Murphy is?”

“Yeah, I do,” 10k snorts. “It’s like the good old days. He disappears, then reappears to stab us in the back.”

“What’s the deal with you two?” Addy asks. “I know Murphy's an ass, but I’m surprised things are so bad.”

The bite still hurts.

If Addy had stuck around longer last time, she would have seen how badly 10k was affected by what Murphy put him through. But you bite your tongue and don’t say anything.

10k looks uncomfortable with you and Addy on either side of him. Addy didn’t exactly congratulate you when she found out about the baby; she seemed in shock and hasn’t mentioned it since. A few moments pass, then 10k suddenly laughs, “The first time we saw him in years, your sister punched him in the face within two seconds of talking to him.”

“He still doesn’t think he did anything wrong!” You point out.

“Biting people, manipulating them… trying to take over the world—just a normal day in the life of Alvin Murphy,” Addy says jokingly.

When the step road you’re walking down reaches the edge of a town called Heartland Warren stops walking. “These fields need to be harvested; they’re going to seed.”

“A friend of mine helped me move a few talkers from here to limbo, but… I don’t know how many lives humans are left to work the fields.”

At some point you’d need to find out how your sister met all these people and lost her eye.

“Well, it seems like the perfect time to find out.”

—

Heartland was like every other town you ever came across, abandoned. “What’s the plan, Warren?”

“We make contact with the locals and see what we find out about what’s in these bizkits.”

“And then what? What’s our end game here?”

“Help George with this idea of hers. A new country.”

“I don’t think we’re the nation-building types. You know? More like the tear-shit-up types.”

While Addy and Warren talk, 10k looks over at you and mouths, ‘I told you so.’ He was convinced Warren had romantic feelings for George, which you failed to see. But you also thought Red had a crush on 10k… he was probably right.

“Bodies up ahead. At least two of them,” 10k says before running over to a body lying in the middle of the road. “It looks like he was given mercy.”

The four of you split up to search on either side of the road to look for more bodies. Both humans and talkers had been shot in the heads execution style. According to Addy, they were all farm workers, which meant someone had targeted them deliberately to stop more biscuits from being made.

“Do you guys hear that?” 10k asks.

You shake your head.

“Something's not right.” He walks over to you and stands in front of you protectively. “I can definitely hear something.”

A few seconds pass before all of you can hear the faint whispers of talkers asking to be fed. It made you nervous that you could hear them despite no talkers being viable. You whisper, “Anyone else getting the feeling they are trapped in a horror film?”

You were half expecting a talker to pop up from the ground, grab hold of your leg, and try to pull you back down the hole with them.

Warren gets your attention and points towards a car park full of old, run-down cars. With each step you took, the voices got louder, and the feeling of being watched caused goosebumps to spread across your arms.

You see… something or someone pops up from behind the back of a truck. “10k, heads up.”

He turns and aims his gun in their direction, but before he pulls the trigger, Addy stops him. “Wait, that’s a talker.”

“He looks pretty bad.”

“She’s right; if he’s stalking, he might know something,” Warren adds. She puts her gun away. “Follow my lead.”

You hated it when she said that; usually it meant something bad was about to happen. Gulping down, you follow suit and hold your hands up to show you weren’t holding onto any weapons. More talkers come out of hiding and surround you.

“We come in peace!” Warren calls out. “We hear that you’re hungry! But we don’t have any bizkits.”

“But we can help,” you say, hoping they don’t try and eat you instead.

The talkers easily outnumbered the four of you, and soon the four of you were standing back to back, with the undead walking around you in circles, like a shark swimming around its prey before attacking. Skittish, 10k asks, “What happens when talkers stop talking?”

The talkers start to snarl the same way Z’s do, and when they get closer, a female talker reaches its hand out towards your stomach, but you lightly slap their hand back. Cautiously you pull the blade from your belt and grip hold of it tightly. Your voice shakes, “Back it up, back it up.”

“Don’t hurt them!”

Addy’s comment riles you up. You didn’t want to hurt any of them, but you couldn’t take it on good faith that they wouldn’t attack first. She should know by now you’d only use a weapon in self-defense.

“As long as nobody tries to touch my stomach again, I won’t!”

“Ok, look. There’s a farmhouse in the distance,” Warren says. “Let’s make this non-lethal. On three. One, two…”

“Someone’s coming!”

A car speeds forward and stops close enough that all the dry dirt on the ground is blown into the air when the car comes to an abrupt halt. To your relief, it was a familiar face.

“Doc!”

He waves at you from behind the wheel. George leaps out from the passenger side. “Get in!”

Since the car only has five seats, you get in last and sit on 10k’s lap with your legs outstretched across George and Addy’s. “Good timing, guys,” you pant. “That was too fucking close.”

10k leans his forehead against your shoulder, and the flat of his palm rests over your stomach. Quietly he asks, “Where are we going to next?”

“There’s a farm not far up ahead,” Addy says and points in the direction Doc needs to drive.

“Good, 'cause that’s about all the gas we got left.”

—

The rest of the drive is in silence, but you feel George’s eyes on you, or more specifically on the way 10k keeps caressing your nonexistent bump. She had probably guessed what was going on but was being too polite to ask.

George catches you staring at her staring at you and smiles. “So you guys are married; that’s pretty cool. Doc said you guys meet on the road?”

“No, not really,” 10k mumbles, his forehead still pressed against your shoulder. He had fallen asleep during the short distance and sounded as if he hadn’t fully woken up yet. “We got married under a black rainbow.”

“A black rainbow?” Addy asks, her voice full of skepticism.

“Doc, Warren? Black rainbow?”

“Ohh yeah,” Doc says fondly. “I married the kids after Warren, the aircraft Warren was on, exploded with her in it. Murphy got sunburnt, and we thought the dead was gonna eat us. All in all, not a bad day.”

You chuckle while twisting the silver band on your finger; Addy looks extremely confused to the point it’s verging on frustration. George chuckles, “That information did nothing but give me more questions. When this is all over, we’ll need to have a drink one night so you can tell me how you all met.”

10k tilts his head to the side to face George and points between you and Addy, “Their sisters, like, share a mom and dad.”

“We should definitely have a very large and strong drink,” you say, ignoring how shocked George looks and how drunk 10k sounds. “But in at least six or seven months time.”

The more you think about it, the harder it becomes to remember your last period, so it was really just a guessing game to figure out how many months it would be until a drop of alcohol touched your lips again, not that drinking was something you did often; however, not being able to drink made you want it more.

Addy taps on the window and points towards a farmhouse, “just up ahead.”

When Doc drives up to the house, you gently nudge 10k and feel how warm he is. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, just tired.”

When everyone is out of the car, Addy leads the way into the house, trying to be as discreet as possible. Once inside, 10k puts an ugly floral chair in front of the door.

You go over to the window with Warren, and she opens the curtains enough that you can see. “There are talkers in the field; they look hungry.”

“What are they eating then?”

“I know, I know.”

You both jump when a strange-looking man appears in front of you. He takes his hat off, showing everyone that part of his brain is missing. The smell and sight of the inside of your head are too much for you; turning to the side, you vomit all over the floor.

—

You sit on the opposite side of the living room while Charlie, who’s feeding his own brain to the talkers, speaks with the rest of the group. Just the thought alone was enough to make you want to hurl again.

“You feeling any better?” George asks, rubbing at your back.

“Yeah, thanks, just the smell is pretty strong in here.” Seeing the sadness in her eyes, you sigh, “I’m really sorry about Dante.”

“I just can’t help but feel like it’s my fault.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is thought he put his trust in me and what I believe in, and that’s what got him killed.”

“What?” Addy suddenly appears on the opposite side of the couch. “You got Dante killed?”

“Easy, Addy, we don’t know what happened.”

George becomes so emotional that she can’t explain what happened, so Doc steps in and answers for her. “Vigilantes got him. Killed the captain and his guard too. Probably the same bastards that killed the others.”

Warren goes over and hugs George while she sobs. “They chopped him up into pieces and put him in a trash can. I had to mercy him. Who would do something like that?”

“Humans,” Addy hisses.

You feel sorry for your sister finding out her friend had died in such an awful way, but this couldn’t be the only thing bothering her. She was on edge more than normal.

“Maybe not, maybe talkers,” Doc says quietly. “They left a sign saying this is what happens to traitors.”

“NewAmerica would be a much better place if you just got rid of all the people.”

“Enough,” you snap. “The world has been full of sick fucks who kill each other for years. This isn’t George’s fault.”

Addy shakes her head and goes to storm off. “I’m going to check the rest of the house.”

—

“So what was that about?” 10k asks as soon as you step into the kitchen.

“George was crying, and Addy was just making her feel worse.”

10k pulls a face; whatever he was thinking, he most definitely wasn’t sharing it. You get a whiff of something that is off and scrunch your nose up while glancing around the room; you didn’t want to be rude, but you smelled the same thing earlier in the car.

“How’s your wound?”

“It’s… healing.”

“Let me see.”

Reluctantly, 10k starts to remove the bandages covering his stump. You felt bad knowing how much he hated looking at it, but it had been days since it was cleaned properly. His stump is covered in dried blood, and what you suspect is a sticky substance caused by an infection.

“Oh Jesus, kid, that looks bad,” Doc says when he walks over to join you.

You turn on the kitchen tap, but nothing but dirty water comes out. “Oh boy, we really need to find something to clean that with. We need to find a first aid kit and antibiotics.”

Doc says something to himself, then disappears.

You start searching the kitchen drawers and cupboards for anything useful that could help, but unfortunately you find nothing.

“I’ve got it, I’ve got it.” Doc runs back into the room. “Hold his arm over the sink.”

You do as he says and hold 10k’s arm over the sink while Doc pours a clear liquid out of a jar and over the stop, causing 10k to wiggle in pain. His face turns bright red as he tries to not make too much noise.

“What is that? Water?”

“Hooch.”

10k grabs the jar and drinks the remaining hooch in one large gulp. His eyes gloss over. “I feel great.”

He definitely didn’t look it. Suddenly he lunges forward and starts to vomit; at least he made it to the sink, unlike you.

Hearing the commotion, Warren comes over. “Everything okay?”

“Just a little alcohol poisoning,” Doc says casually.

You press your hand to his forehead as he starts to sway on his feet. “Tommy's starting to burn up. Quick, help me get him into a chair.”

It takes the three of you to get 10k into a chair without him falling. George puts a bin in front of him just as he starts to vomit again. “We really need to get fresh—“

“I need help!” Addy bursts through the door while helping a man you’ve never seen before walk. “This is my friend Finn; he’s been shot.”

“I’m fine, really.”

Doc gives you a light tap on the back. “Guess we are back in business, partner.”

—

“Thank you,” Addy says. “I mean it; Finn means a lot to me.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Since Doc was buzzed from drinking hooch straight and kept getting distracted easily, you managed to stitch the wound on Finn’s side up. Thankfully they did have a first aid kit. Afterwards Finn explained someone shot him and then stole all the ingredients they had for making bizkits.

“Sis, I—“

“Why are you being so hostile towards George?”

Before Addy can answer your question, 10k and Doc step out of the farmhouse dressed as cowboys. You start to laugh; they had only been left alone for ten minutes, and how someone managed to ransack the wardrobes.

“Everybody,” Warren clicks her fingers and whispers. “Look alive, we’ve got company.”

Charlie comes out of the house and stands on the porch and starts to ring a bell to distract the talkers closing in on you. Addy grabs your hand. “Get in the car with me and don’t come out until it’s all clear.”

You sit in the front seat while Addy and Finn sit in the back. After a few moments of silence, Finn leans forward to shake your hand. “I’m really glad to meet you.”

“We’ve met… inside, I stitched you up.”

“Oh yeah, I know,” he laughs goofily. “Addy talks about you all the time, and it’s nice to finally put a face to the girl I’ve heard so much about.”

You smile politely, “It’s nice to meet you too, Finn.”

—

You sit in the car while Finn and Addy start tying up talkers to feed them Charlie’s brain and start to worry when you lose sight of 10k and Doc.

The car door opens, and Addy bites at her lip; she was thinking hard about what to say next. “I don’t agree with the things George has done. It’s done nothing but get people, including Dante, killed.”

You knew how George felt; you blamed yourself for years after what happened with Cassandra. “She already feels guilty enough without you adding to it. Regardless of NewAmerica some asshole would still be trying to stop bizkits from being made and killing talkers.”

“Why do you keep defending her?”

Addy steps aside so you can get out of the car. “Because we’ve all done shit we aren’t proud of, including hurting someone we care about.”

You notice Warren talking with George and Finn by the farmhouse. When you start to walk towards them, Addy clears her throat. “I think you’re being reckless.”

“What?”

“Bringing a baby into this world…”

You spin on your heels so fast it makes you feel dizzy. “Don’t go there, Addy—actually, you know what? Do go there. Tell me your expert opinion on being a parent when you’ve never been one yourself.”

Hearing your voice getting louder, everyone turns to stare, even some of the talkers.

“I think you and 10k will be great parents, but it is careless. War is on the horizon; people are being picked off one by one, and truthfully I think it’s a massive mistake to have…” She trails off, realizing what she’s just said.

Tears of anger start to form. “Fuck you.”

—

You bury your face into the side of 10k’s neck as Finn mercy kills Charlie, who had fed most of his brain to the talkers to keep them from turning into Z’s. His sacrifice was incredibly brave; you just hoped it wasn’t in vain.

“Addy looks pretty upset.”

He was right; she was crazy, but in that moment you didn’t care. What she said about the baby really hurt. Addy had been absent for so long that she didn’t have a right to comment on it. When you lived in isolation, 10k spent nearly a year trying to get you pregnant and was gutted each time it didn’t work. Things may be bad now, but they weren’t then, and you weren’t going to let her sour something so positive for the both of you.

10k brushes stray hair out of your face, “You look lost in thought. What are you thinking about?”

“Do you think Red was able to hear us doing it when we lived in the tree?”

—

“I still feel as if my hand hurts even though it’s not there.”

You, Doc, and 10k walk behind Addy, Warren, and George. The six of you were walking through grassy fields to reach the water dam to find out why the water supplies had been stopped.

“Oh, there’s a name for that. Phantom limb syndrome. It’s when the brain still thinks the hand is there, so it keeps sending these pain signals. But eventually it works itself out.”

“I don’t think my brain is ever going to get used to this.” 10k sways on his feet again.

“Oh my god.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not; you’re burning up again.”

Doc catches him before he falls. “The kid needs antibiotics. Was there any back at the farmhouse?”

“No, I think we used the last of it up a while ago.”

“What about holistic medicine? You know stuff about that, right, Doc?”

In unison, Doc and 10k say, “We were nowhere near the Grand Canyon.”

Suddenly there’s a loud noise coming from the direction of the farmhouse. “A distress signal; it’s Finn!”

Addy starts running back towards the farm with George right behind her. Warren calls out, “You two get 10k to cover; we’ll be right back.”

“We should get down.”

The three of you crouch down and slowly start to move off the main path and into the field. The grass was long enough that anybody walking by wouldn’t be able to see you. “Which way now?”

“Um,” Doc looks around for a moment. “This way.”

You follow him until you reach a small empty drainage pipe. The area has a lot of bricks and dried concrete scattered across it, so you assume it was a construction site at one point.

“I hope Finn is okay.”

You sit down next to 10k. He winces in pain when he pulls the cover off his wound again; his stump looks worse than before and is turning black.

“If the guys aren’t back soon, I think we should go to this water place without them. They will know to find us there.”

“Yeah, they will,” Doc says in agreement. “Plus we really need to get that stump cleaned with fresh water to get a good look at it.”

“It really hurts.”

It was unlike 10k to complain, so the fact that he was made you more worried than normal. You hand him a bottle of water. “You need to drink more.”

While he takes small sips of water, Doc groans out in pain and falls to his knees. It takes you a few seconds to register why he’s fallen and notice the arrow that’s landed in his shoulder.

“Oh shit.”

[yumebambi-writes]

"Puppy Love" Chapter Ten: Doctor of the Dead OR Losing Family

cw: canon character death(?)

chapter ten: 7.9k words

Cassandra wasn’t doing well. You and 10K were sitting with her by the side of the road as Warren contacted Citizen Z; hopefully he’d have some good news. You had long since run out of the antibiotics you’d stolen from the Sisters of Mercy, and her leg was still infected. Even the boxes full of medication that your group had ransacked from Mesa Pharmaceuticals had already been used up. You weren’t sure how much longer she could hang on.

You were soaking the sleeve of your button up with water to use as a washcloth to clear up any pus before retying the makeshift bandage you had been using around her leg. Just as you tightened the knot, Cassandra leaned over and threw up in the grass. You rubbed what you hoped were soothing circles on her back as 10K handed her a bandana to wipe her mouth with.

“Feel better now?” he asked. You dug around in your pack to find her water bottle. Shaking it, you realized it was empty, so you handed her your own instead. She took it with a weak smile.

“Yeah, a little bit,” she said. After she wiped her mouth and took a shaky sip, you and 10K tried to lift her to her feet with one of you on either side to support her weight. As you attempted to get her to a standing position, she protested, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.”

“Try to relax,” he told her.

“Just put all your weight on us, okay?”

“Not yet.” She took a breather. “Okay, now,” she said as she allowed the two of you to lift her up. You walked her slowly to the van and got Warren to open the back door. You jumped in first then turned around to help pull her up. You grabbed her top half while 10K gently moved her legs inside. It was a delicate process, but unfortunately, it was one you were getting used to. Once you got her situated comfortably—or as comfortably as you could get her—Doc started driving.

Warren informed you that the plans had changed. Now, instead of going all the way to California, you were going to double back around to Colorado. Apparently, there was a lab in Fort Collins that was equipped and had a doctor ready and waiting.

“Well, Murphy,” Doc started from the driver’s seat, “I think I’m gonna miss your sorry ass.”

“I appreciate the sentiment,” Murphy responded.

“We logged some miles together, brother.”

“Amen.”

“Starting to feel like a damn family. You know what I’m saying?” Doc said. You smiled at that and softly squeezed the hand that you were holding while Cassandra was attempting to get some much needed shut-eye. You weren’t sure if “family” was the right word, but you sure as hell loved the ragtag group of individuals you had traveled across the country with.

Murphy chuckled. “I don’t know if I’ve actually ever said this to anybody before, but I, uh,” he hesitated, “I almost consider you a friend.” You rolled your eyes and shook your head, still smiling as you looked across the van at Warren.

“Why are men always like that with their feelings?” you whispered to her so that the two men up front couldn’t hear.

“Beats me,” she shrugged. You turned your attention back to the front and continued eavesdropping.

“Yeah, I don’t envy you though, man,” Doc was saying. “I mean, hell, once we deliver you, all bets are off. They’re gonna have more needles stuck in you than the damn tomato in grandma’s sewing backet.” Your smile dropped. Uh oh.

Nervously, Murphy stuttered out, “No, they’re��they’re just gonna take out my…” Doc cut him off.

“Oh, trust me.” You didn’t like where this was going. “They’re gonna have some kind of tube or prod rammed in every spare orifice, or my name ain’t Sally.” You had to jump in before Murphy jumped out of the moving van to avoid that fate.

“Well, your name ain’t Sally, Stephen,” you said, putting emphasis on Doc’s real name and giving him a look in the rearview that told him to shut up. “And let’s remember, you’re not a real doctor.” You turned to Murphy. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. You’re gonna be fine. You’re gonna be a hero!” You needed to play to his ego if you were going to crawl out of the hole that Doc had accidentally dug you all into.

“Yeah, right!” Doc said. “You know, this one time, I had a catheter.” There went all your hard work. Back in the hole you went. “Dude, you better hope they don’t go that route.”

“Doc!” Warren said.

“What?” he asked, turning back to look at the two of you.

“How much farther?” Warren changed the subject.

“Uh, I don’t know, sixty-five miles or so. Anyway, I’m gonna miss you, dude,” he said to Murphy. You palmed your face and rubbed at your temple. No way were you going to be able to get Murphy to that lab completely willingly. “How ‘bout you, kid?” Doc asked 10K. “What do you got planned?”

“Uh, I don’t know,” 10K said, shrugging. “Still got 6,998 to go. Might take a break for a while though, head up north somewhere cold. The Z’s don’t fare too well in the cold.”

“Yeah, I don’t fare too well in the cold myself,” Doc joked. “Roberta?”

“I don’t know, maybe follow the sun west. I’ve never been to California. How ‘bout you, Doc?”

“Maybe I’ll buy a boat and sail around the world. Find me an island where there’s not even a Z in their alphabet. What about you, darling?” he asked you. Your head was down, your face hiding in your shoulder. Cassandra, clearly not getting any sleep as the rest of you continued to talk, squeezed your hand in a question. You looked up and sniffled, your face wet and your eyes full of unshed tears. “Hey, what happened?” he asked.

“Sorry,” you said. “God, it’s so stupid,” you laughed dejectedly as you sobbed. “I don’t know why I thought that we’d all—fuck. Thought we might be staying together for a while. Jesus, I’m an idiot. Guess I’ll just head off alone again.” You mumbled the last part as you covered your face in your arms. You were devastated. You weren’t sure that you’d survive being alone again. You were alone for so long before Luke, and then you were alone even longer before you found Operation Bite Mark. You’d rather die than be alone again. Your sobs were muffled, but the rest of the van was sitting in silence, so your tears echoed. Cassandra tried to sit up to comfort you, but you insisted she lay back down. “It’s okay; I’m okay. Get some rest.” You scooted away from her, finding a corner of the van that you could tuck into and be alone. You had to prepare yourself. You had to remind yourself of the isolation that you’d soon be faced with, once again.

The rest of the drive to Fort Collins was silent. When you arrived, Warren announced it. “Citizen Z said to look for a metal shed with a roll-up door.”

“Like this one?” Murphy asked as you approached exactly that. In front of the shed was a large group of Z’s, all faced the same direction.

“What are they all looking at?” 10K asked.

“Our entrance,” Warren answered.

“You think we’re in the right place?” Murphy said. “Looks small.”

Warren got up and hopped out the sliding door, but she closed it behind her. She opened Murphy’s passenger side door and let him out. They exchanged words that you couldn’t hear, and you prepared yourself to get out. Your tears had long since dried, but you gently slapped the sides of your face to shake you out of your funk. You could spiral after this was over. After they all left.

You watched as Murphy walked ahead of Warren, and Doc jumped out of the van. He called Murphy’s name, trying to stop him from taking off, but he caught the attention of a few zombies instead. When more Z’s turned to face them, they began to run towards the van. Murphy gave you a double thumbs up, but his wrists were handcuffed together. You hadn’t seen it happen, but apparently Warren had cuffed Murphy so that he couldn’t escape. It wasn’t exactly working out. Murphy continued to walk through the crowd of Z’s as Warren and Doc were forced to get back in the van. More than a dozen Z’s—definitely more than the five of you could take on—pounded on the sides of the van, trying to get in.

“How much ammo do we got?” Warren asked.

“Two bullets,” 10K said.

“Eleven knives,” you counted. “Plus, both hammers. If I could just get close enough to pike or far enough to throw…”

“I got one,” Doc said.

“One?”

“I told ya!”

Exasperated, Warren yelled out the slightly opened window, “Murphy!”

“What?” he yelled back. She motioned for him to come over. “Oh, you want my help?” It was sarcastic, but he approached anyway. Once he arrived near the van, he slid open the side door, and he said, “Follow me.” All of the Z’s were still stood directly behind him, blocking you in.

“How do you know?” Warren asked. She was referring to his hypothesis that the Z’s wouldn’t attack the rest of you as long as you were with Murphy. You weren’t confident in the idea.

“I don’t,” Murphy said. Great. You had sort of already resigned yourself to death before solitude, so you climbed out. Murphy was still stood between you and the Z’s, but you gripped his sleeve for protection just in case. Doc cocked his shotgun, and Murphy exclaimed, “Don’t! Don’t do it.” 10K came out next, and he grabbed your hand that wasn’t holding onto Murphy. You looked into his eyes, and he furrowed his brow but nodded. “Alright, quick,” Murphy commanded. “Group hug.”

“What?” Warren asked as she climbed out. You and 10K helped Cassandra out, and she stumbled to her feet.

“Just do it! You want to live or not?” As gently as you could, you and 10K sandwiched Cassandra between you. She was pressed against Murphy’s back, 10K was to her left, and you were to her right. He’d had to let go of your hand when you were propping Cassandra up between the two of you, but he grabbed ahold of it once more when she was fully righted. You felt him give your hand a comforting squeeze. Warren got behind you while Doc stood behind 10K. The six of you moved as one, a giant herd shuffling slowly. The zombies crowded around your group, but they never touched you. “Maybe someday you’ll learn to trust me,” Murphy said, smug.

“Man, I hope nobody sees us,” Doc said. You let out a dry chuckle but yelped when the hand of a Z almost brushed past your face.

“Let’s just hurry, please, Murph,” you pleaded with the older man. He gave you a nod over his shoulder.

When you all arrived at the door to the shed, Murphy turned around to face the Z’s. Warren quickly input the door’s access code, that Citizen Z had told her beforehand, and it opened. You made a swift entrance, Cassandra still in between you and 10K. You almost stumbled over the tangle of legs, but you were able to make your way inside the shed. Murphy stood within the open door and prevented the Z’s from coming inside. Somehow. Maybe he really was the zombie messiah. The door closed, and you were plunged into a dimly lit darkness.

“You know, before the apocalypse,” Murphy said, “I had the same effect on the ladies.”

“Weren’t you in an all-male prison? For multiple years?” you asked.

“Semantics.”

The room inside the shed was actually a large elevator, and with a flip of a switch, it was going down. You held onto Cassandra’s arm to make sure she was steady as the elevator moved and shook. When it finally stopped, Warren pulled up the gate, and you were met with dead bodies littering the floor of the lab.

“Sure doesn’t look operational,” she said.

“All those zombies up there,” Cassandra said as you and 10K helped her walk, “must’ve wanted something down here.”

“Yeah, but what?” Warren asked.

“Same thing they always want. Brains.”

“No,” Murphy interrupted Doc. “Something different. Something inside is attracting them like a magnet. I can feel it.”

Warren unclipped an ID badge from a corpse and used it to open the door to the labs. You had given Cassandra one of your hammers to wield so that she wouldn’t be entirely defenseless, but so that she also wouldn’t be stabbing you in the shoulder with her knife as you helped to hold her up. You wielded your other hammer in your open hand, the one not supporting her. The three of you stepped over the bodies and followed Warren.

You were met with a strange sight. A group of people, all in lab coats, were sat around a table and looked to be celebrating a birthday. At least, they had been until they died. None of them had turned, however. “Happy damn birthday,” Warren said.

“Aw,” Doc said, “reminds me of my fiftieth.”

10K read the frosting on the birthday cake, “Happy birthday, Doctor Kur—” The name was cut off.

“Dibs on the last rose!” Murphy called before leaning over and plucking the fondant rose off the cake and popping it in his mouth. When the rest of you looked at him, shocked, he shrugged and said, “What? I can’t help it. Damn vaccine makes me crave sugar.”

“Well, if you start craving brains, let me know.”

“That cake has to be at least a few years old, man,” you said as you scrunched up your nose in disgust.

A sudden crash made you all jump. “Puppies and kittens,” Warren warned. 10K and Doc readied their guns, three bullets between them. You and Cassandra each held your hammers up in as ready a position as you could while still supporting her. You were hoping there was only one or two Z’s and that the boys would be able to dispatch them before they reached the two of you. Warren called Murphy and was going to unlock the handcuffs she had placed on hm, but he had somehow already broken free.

“Here they come,” Doc said.

“Come on, let’s take cover,” Warren said to you and Cassandra. You let her take Cassandra, to whom you handed your second hammer, and you fingered a knife with each hand instead. You covered Cassandra, Warren, and Murphy in their hiding spot as Doc and 10K took center stage. You didn’t even spot the Z when 10K’s rifle rang out.“3,002,” he counted. Another one came running, and Doc was able to headshot it. He was out of ammo, and 10K had one bullet left. “Well, I hope that was a zombie,” Doc said. “Incoming at eleven o’clock,” Warren shouted. “That’s all you, kid,” Doc said. “I’m out.” 10K aimed, fired, and missed. “Damn,” was all he said. “It’s okay, kid,” Doc reassured him. “Remember that time in Missouri at the Piggly Wiggly?” “Frozen food section?” You were glad 10K seemed to know what Doc was referring to because you were lost. “Guys? Zombies,” Warren reminded them. You watched as Doc grabbed the cake and hid behind a pillar. When the zombie came running by, Doc smashed the cake in its face. While it was disoriented, 10K smacked it over the head, piking it. Doc counted out that 10K was now at 3,003. In the silence after the piking, you all heard a ringing noise come from somewhere nearby. It almost sounded like a ringtone. “What is that?” Murphy asked. It sounded out again, and Cassandra voiced what you were thinking—that it sounded like a phone. You sheathed the knives you hadn’t gotten the chance to use, and you pulled Cassandra up from off the floor. You all followed the sound while it grew louder and louder. Eventually, Doc found the source. Sitting at a desk, charging on a table, in front of two dead Z’s, was a working cell phone. Doc turned it on and said, “There must be twenty text messages here.” He pulled it off the charger. “Looks like this guy was texting his wife or somebody when it went down.” He began to read out the texts. “‘Something happened at the lab today. Can’t talk now. I’ll call you later. Won’t be home ‘til late; not telling us why. Putting us under quarantine. Will update when I know anything. Starting to get scared; something very wrong. Something infecting us. We might not get out of here. Tell the kids I love them.’” A notification chimed on the phone. “What?” Doc asked, sounding incredulous. “There’s a new message here from Citizen Z. ‘Operation Bite Mark, if you get this message, please respond. Hacked and searching lab mainframe. Discovered files you should be aware of. Really weird stuff. Find working computer. Search HZN1 test results backslash backslash codename: level nine. Password: red death.”

Murphy and Warren pulled the two corpses away from the desk. “What’s the passcode?” Murphy asked as he sat down at the computer. Doc repeated it, and Murphy typed it in. A video was pulled up onto the screen. It seemed to be footage of monkeys infected with something.

“Not surprising they were doing animal testing,” Warren said.

“Yeah, but what were they testing?” Murphy asked. “Look at the date on these videos. It’s the year before anybody was infected. How did they know to be working on a vaccine before anybody was infected?” He clicked off the video and pulled up another tab.

“What’s this?”

“That’s her,” he responded, pointing at the picture of the woman whose profile was on screen. “That’s Doctor Merch. That’s the bitch that did this to me!”

A video of Doctor Merch began playing. In it, she was talking to a man in scrubs. He looked to be quarantined. He was explaining that he had followed procedure in removing his protective suit. She was interrogating him, trying to find out where something went wrong. He denied anything going wrong except for the decontamination chamber’s alarm going off. He was certain that it was a false alarm and that he had not been contaminated.

“This is a false alarm,” he said in the video. “The sensor made an error because I didn’t touch anything. I didn’t puncture my suit. I didn’t remove any items out of order. I followed protocol.” He was desperate. “Am I going to be sick?” he asked.

The video ended. “Well, I’m guessing it didn’t end too well for old Doyle here,” Murphy said.

“Okay,” Doc said, “who’s for getting out of here, right now? Show of hands.” You and 10K both raised your hands. “It’s back out to the apocalypse it is!”

“Nobody’s going anywhere,” Murphy ordered. He stood from the desk with a newfound sense of urgency. “This is not a goddamn democracy. We came here to find Doctor Merch, and that is exactly what we are going to do.”

“Newsflash,” you said, “I don’t think anyone living has been here in a long, long time.” Unfortunately, Warren agreed with Murphy.

“If she’s down here,” she said, “we just can’t leave her. She is still our only chance at a vaccine.”

“You’re right,” Doc conceded. “I just thought we might want to, I don’t know, live.” You nodded your head emphatically.

“Yeah, well quit your dreaming, and let’s go,” Murphy said. You sighed in defeat and hiked Cassandra’s arm over your shoulder.

As you explored the abandoned lab further, the phone began to ring once again. Doc pulled it out and answered, “Zombie apocalypse, how may I direct your call? Uh, yeah, what’s left of us,” he responded to something on the other end. “This is Doc speaking.” You and 10K set Cassandra down so that she could rest. “Correctomundo, nice to hear your voice.” You could only hear Doc’s end of the call. “So, what fresh hell awaits us?” Pause. “Well, that sounds great to me, cause I ain’t had a decent shower since, let’s see, New York.” What was he talking about? “Defcon One? Well, isn’t that some kind of nuclear term?” That did not sound good. “Why am I not surprised? Yeah, what’s that?” Doc hung up and turned to you all.

“Naked?” Warren asked after Doc explained what you all had to do. You had to go through the decontamination chamber. Naked.

“That’s what he said! Naked. And then we got to put all our clothes and stuff in this chute here to get decontaminated with some liquid nitrogen.”

“So, what are we waiting for?” Murphy said as he began to undress. You quickly looked away, but he was stood right beside you.

“For y’all to turn around,” Warren said as she started disrobing as well. “And no peeking.”

“Wait, wait, wait. What? No, I can’t—I mean—no!” you stuttered out. “Can’t we take turns? You know, boys first, then the girls? We all have to go together?”

“No can do, darling,” Doc let you down gently.

“You know, maybe I should stay out here. Make sure no Z’s follow us from behind.” You started backing up and shrinking in on yourself. You were not prepared to be naked in front of all these people. You’d never actually been naked in front of another person before—at least, not since you were three.

“We all have to go,” Warren said. “Come on. Nobody’s gonna look at you. Right, boys?” she asked, death-glaring Doc, Murphy, and 10K.

“Yeah, yeah. Not into cradle-robbing, anyway,” Murphy said. That did not make you feel better. You looked to 10K with wide eyes, and he looked back to you with equally wide eyes. He shook his head fervently while Doc reassured you that nobody would be looking.

“Oh, god, oh, Jesus, oh shit,” you muttered. Everyone occupied their own space in the room, and they all began to undress. Cassandra asked you to help her, and you were more than happy to do anything to put off removing your own clothes. As you helped her, you made sure to be respectful and only look wherever you absolutely had to. She told you that she was too exhausted to feel shame, and that made you feel a little better, in a way.

When it was finally your turn to take off your clothes, you did so as quickly as possible so that you could cover your exposed bits with your hands, hopefully allowing for very little time for anyone to peep. Then, the six of you stood in a circle, your backs facing each other. It was Warren, 10K, Cassandra, you, Murphy, and Doc. Your entire body was shaking and on fire. Cassandra leaned on you for support, and you took the hand she offered you. You shut your eyes tight. They snapped open when you heard Warren tell 10K, “Eyes up front, young man.”

“Sorry! Sorry,” he said.

“Oh, Jesus, oh, shit, oh god,” you repeated like a mantra. Your right arm was covering your chest, and you had crossed your legs because your left hand was currently interlocked with Cassandra’s right. You wanted the coverage, but the two of you needed the security even more.

“Cassandra, you okay?” Warren asked.

“I feel like I’m gonna pass out.” She sounded like it too.

“Okay, hang on,” you said. You adjusted yourself so that she could lean more weight on you. Your eyes were shut again, but you didn’t really need to see when you could feel her body pressed up against you. Your chests were touching, and you apologized over and over. She shushed you and nearly collapsed into you.

“You hang in there,” Warren told her. “How are you doing?” she asked you by name.

“Oh, just peachy. Panic attack in my birthday suit is exactly how I wanted to spend the day,” your voice shook as you said it, and you had to bite back tears. Why were you so ashamed? You supposed it had something to do with the fact that the boy you had feelings for was naked, three feet away from you—also naked. Not exactly how you had imagined a scenario with you both in the nude. “How much longer?” your voice wobbled.

“Doc, what now?” Warren asked.

“Oh, we got to put these on,” he said. You didn’t turn to see what they were, but you took it when it was handed to you. They were goggles—the kind someone would use in a tanning bed. “And then you gotta hit that button marked ‘decontamination’ in front of you there, 10K.”

“Murphy,” Warren said. “Your scars.” You resisted the temptation to look over at him, not wanting to accidentally see something that might scar you. You hoped that when Warren and Doc turned to Murphy, who was beside you, they didn’t also look at you. “It looks like it’s spreading,” she said.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to Doctor Merch about,” he said. “Well, put your goggles on and quit staring! I’m not the goddamn elephant man. I’m a human being. Sort of.”

“Can we move this along? Please? I think I’m going to die of shame here soon,” you said as you pulled the goggles over your eyes.

“Are you ready?” 10K asked.

“Yes, god, please,” you begged.

“Just do it!” Murphy insisted. 10K pressed the button, and a loud hissing could be heard as you were decontaminated.

Once it was over, you scrambled to hide behind a half wall so that no one would see you as they retrieved their clothes. Your eyes were still shut tight, even as you pulled the goggles off, and you were still covering yourself as best you could. “Warren,” you asked softly, “could you be a dear and bring me my clothes, please?”

“10K’s already dressed; he’ll bring them over.”

“No!” you shouted, much too loud. “Uh, I mean—” you stuttered, using your inside voice this time. “I can wait.” Warren sighed but relented. You had to wait, naked, in the cold, sterile room for longer, but you were able to leave with a shred of your dignity. When you were fully dressed (you had even pulled your button up over your blouse and your jacket over your button up), and had verbal confirmation that everyone else was as well, you finally came out from hiding. Your face was still flush with embarrassment, and you couldn’t look anyone in the eye when you made your way to Cassandra’s side. Just as you approached her, however, she slumped over onto the ground. “Cass!” you said as you slid down next to her. 10K did the same.

“Hey,” he said. “You’re okay.” His voice was gentle and filled with worry.

“I don’t think I can go much farther,” she said.

“That’s alright!” you said, trying to be positive as the other’s looked at one another. “I’ll stay here with you; no worries.” Warren gave you and 10K a look that told you that wouldn’t be possible.

“We’ve got her!” 10K said. “I’ll carry her if I have to.” You nodded in agreement.

“Okay,” Warren said, looking at the both of you. “Sure.” 10K picked her up, and you took his and her things from him in order to lighten his load.

You made your way out of the decontamination chamber, down the hall, and through a door that read “Patient Quarantine: Authorized Personnel Only.”

“Can you see anything?” Doc asked as he, Warren, and Murphy peered into the darkness beyond the open door.

“Hold on,” Warren said. “Little too dark.” She pulled out a flashlight and shone it down the hallway. “There’s some kind of emergency lights flashing.” Murphy moved to walk in, but Doc stopped him. “Dude! It says ‘quarantine.’ Can’t we just believe them?”

“What are you, high? We’re infected already, remember?” He walked through the door. Warren followed, then 10K with Cassandra, then you, with Doc holding up the rear. Even with the flashing red lights and Doc and Warren’s flashlight beams, you could still barely see.

“What is this place?” Warren asked.

Murphy and Doc approached a door and looked through its window, and whatever they saw prompted Murphy to say, “This isn’t a hospital. It’s a goddamn hall of horrors.”

Warren called your attention over to her. She was looking through another door’s window. “Oh my god,” she said.

You didn’t see what they were seeing, but you didn’t want to after you heard Doc say, “I hope God doesn’t know about this. Cause if he does…”

“We should give her mercy,” Warren whispered. Was there someone alive in there?

“No,” Doc said. “We open this door, them flies are gonna be feeding on us.” You felt sick.

10K had set Cassandra down and went to peer through another door. And another. He must have seen something because he said, “Over here. This one’s gone. The door’s open. What was it?” he asked as you all approached.

“Better question is where’d it go?” Warren said, and a chill shot down your spine. A growling noise set the hair on the back of your neck on end.

“Well, whatever it is,” Doc said, “it’s still here.” Warren and Doc and 10K all shone their flashlights in the direction of the sound, and there were two Z’s hiding out. “Murphy, go talk to them. Do that thing you do.” Murphy complied, but he didn’t look very confident. From where you were sitting on the ground next to Cassandra, you pulled out a knife.

“Guys,” Murphy said after attempting to connect with them, “these aren’t regular zombies. They’re some kind of mutant thing. I don’t think they like me!” he shouted as one came running at him. It grabbed him and pinned him against the wall. The other one made a break for him as well. You couldn’t see anything as it was a rush of light and movement, but you could hear the struggle. When the struggle ceased, and the light of the flashlights steadied, you looked up to see two headless Z’s on either side of Murphy. His hands were bloody. “Let’s go find Merch.” That thing about Murphy scaring you? Yeah, well, he terrified you now.

“What’s he gonna do when he catches up to Merch?”

“I don’t know, but I’m glad I’m not her.”

“Be ready for anything,” Warren told Doc. “Let’s go.”

While exploring the lab further, you were stopped when Cassandra’s breathing became ragged. “I can’t do it,” she said, clinging to 10K. “Stop,” she told him. You were walking beside them, but your pace began to slow.

“I can carry you,” he insisted. “You’re gonna be okay.” He paused.

“I’m going to get us all killed,” she said. “Please, Tommy,” she said, using his real name. Only the two of you knew it. Her using it meant that this was serious. A tear spilled out from your right eye. You touched 10K on the shoulder, and you nodded at him.

He took in a harsh breath when he looked between the two of you. “Okay,” he said as he set her down. “Just don’t tell anybody my name, alright?” he asked with a sad smile, trying to ease the tension.

“I won’t,” she said. Her voice was so small, and you grabbed her hands tightly. She looked to you before her head slumped to the side. 10K caught her, and you moved to let her put her head on your shoulder. Warren seemed to have realized your absence and came rushing over.

“Hey,” she said, concern in her voice. “Is she…?”

“She’s still alive,” 10K said.

“We have to stop,” you told her. She nodded and told you to get her up. You helped her into 10K’s arms, and you all took her into a nearby room. It seemed to be a storage room, but it had a cot that you could set her down on. “Okay, it’s okay; you’re okay,” you told her as 10K laid her down. You brushed her hair away from her face and once more took her hand in yours. Her eyes opened.

“What happened?” she asked.

“You can stay here and get some rest,” Warren told her. “And we’ll come back for you. Look,” she said, pulling out a single bullet. You choked back a sob at the sight. “I’ve been saving this special since New York. I want you to have it. Just in case.” She loaded it into her revolver and placed it down in Cassandra’s hand.

“Thank you, Warren,” she said. Warren left, and Doc came up next to Cassandra.

“You hang in there, angel,” he told her. “We’re gonna find you some antibiotics, and we’re gonna get you straightened out in no time.” As Doc left, it was just you, 10K, and Cassandra in the room.

You squeezed her hand, gave it a kiss, and told her you’d be right back. You let 10K have his moment with her as you stepped outside. You paced in a circle, biting your thumb nail, as you waited for 10K to say goodbye to your friend. It wasn’t goodbye, you told yourself, just a “be right back.” As soon as he came out, you went right back in. The sight of her, alone on that bed, made you burst into tears. You leaned over her body and engulfed her in a hug. “I’m staying right here,” you told her. She pushed your face up and wiped your tears, giving you a soft, sad smile.

“No,” she said, “you’re not.” You furrowed your eyebrows at her.

“Yes, I am,” you insisted. “I’m gonna stay here until they get back. They’re going to find Doctor Merch, and she’s gonna get you right as rain, okay? But until they come, I’ll be with you. So, you’re not alone!” She cupped your face in her hands. “I’m not leaving you alone!”

“You have to go,” she said. You shook your head and hugged her tighter. She tried to pry you off her, but you wouldn’t budge. When the door opened, she said something to whoever was there. You couldn’t hear it as her voice was muffled by your sobs and her hands around your head. Then, arms grabbed you around your waist and began to pull.

“No!” you shrieked. You flailed and kicked at whoever had gotten ahold of you. You stilled momentarily when Cassandra kissed your cheek and whispered something in your ear.

“Tell him,” she said.

And then you were being dragged away. Away from your friend. From a stranger who had become like a sister to you. You sobbed her name as you were carried out of the room. You were placed outside, and you could now see that it was Murphy who had forcibly removed you. He looked to you with sorry eyes before he closed the door. “You motherfucker!” you screamed after him. You lurched forward, ready to burst back through the door and stand your ground, but two pairs of arms held you back. You looked to your left and your right to see that Doc and Warren were restraining you. “Let me go!” you told them. Doc just shook his head at you, with sorrow in his eyes. “No, we’re not just leaving her! Let me stay!” 10K looked back at you. There was something in his eyes. Something sad but resolute. You stopped thrashing against them and went limp. Your sobs quieted until you were choking on them. Air couldn’t come into your lungs fast enough, and you were hiccupping uncontrollably. When Murphy reemerged from the room, you were blinded by the tears clouding your eyes. “Please,” was all you could say as Doc and Warren dragged you down the hall, away from Cassandra, following after Murphy.

Doc and Warren only finally let you go when you arrived at a door, led there by a trail of gore that Murphy had found on the ground. Your tears had fallen silent, but they did continue to fall. You took deep breaths. In. And out. In. And out. Like Luke had taught you. You had to remind yourself that you would come back for her. You promised you would.

Warren opened the door. Inside, the same trail of gore continued on the ground. There were two long rows of what looked to be metal coffins. “Could this place get any creepier?” Doc asked.

“Yes,” was all that Warren said. She then turned when she saw something at the side of the room. “Oh, my god,” she said as she approached it. “It’s alive.” You looked over her shoulder, and you didn’t know what you were looking at. It wasn’t exactly a Z, but it wasn’t exactly a human either.

“Is that Doctor Merch?” Doc asked.

“No,” Murphy said. He touched it and inspected his fingers. They came back covered in a slimy and sticky substance. You tried not to gag. “Somebody else. It’s the lab tech in the video,” he realized. Murphy leaned in closer to what was once the lab tech. “He wants us to watch something.” The lab tech pressed a button on a computer keyboard, and a video began to play on the screen. It was of him, when he was alive, and he was strapped down to a table and being injected with something by Doctor Merch. He was the first human trial of the vaccine. You watched the video with horror as the lab tech began to convulse. The feed was cut off.

“The vaccine must have worked,” Doc said. “Kept him from turning zombie.”

“Kept him from staying human, too, it looks like,” you said in a monotonous drawl.

“It won’t let him die,” Warren agreed.

“Did Merch do this to you?” Murphy asked. It—he—nodded. “He’s trying to say something.”

So quiet you almost missed it, the thing that was once a man begged, “Kill me. Kill me. Kill me. Kill me.”

“We’re getting the hell out of here,” Murphy said as he stood up. This enraged you. When you, Doc, and 10K had wanted to leave earlier, Murphy was the one to stop you. Now that Cassandra couldn’t walk, he decided that he wanted to leave before finding a doctor that could help her?

Before you could chew Murphy out, the computer’s screen flashed with the image of Citizen Z. “You’ve got company,” he said. “Looks like Doctor Merch and two soldiers headed your way. They should be there any second.”

“Heads up,” Warren said as your attention turned to the door. It opened, and in walked three people in hazmat suits, carrying heavy weaponry. Murphy approached, but Warren held him back as you all followed.

“Doctor Merch,” Murphy said. “We meet again.”

The doctor set down what she was holding and lifted her gas mask from her face. It wasn’t Doctor Merch at all. Instead, a bald man stared back at you and said, “Doctor Merch didn’t make it. I’m her boss, Doctor Kurtz. I’m here to help you save mankind.” Kurtz. That must have been the name on the birthday cake. What did that mean? Had he survived his birthday party when everyone else had perished? “We’ve gone to a great deal of effort to find you, Mr. Murphy,” the doctor continued. “I’ve been on a little road trip,” Murphy quipped.

“Well, your journey ends here. You’re safe now. And your friends are to be commended for their bravery and commitment.” He turned to you, Doc, 10K, and Warren. “Your country—all mankind—owes you a great deal.”

“What’s going to happen to him?” Warren asked, all business.

“Well, we’ll take him the rest of the way to the lab in California where we’ll sequence his genes and clone the antibodies in his blood. Then, with any luck, we’ll be able to recreate the vaccine that’s keeping him alive.”

“What if I don’t want to be your guinea pig?” You knew this was going to happen as soon as Doc started telling Murphy about all the tests they would run on him.

“Well, then you’ll eventually wind up just like Brendon Doyle, Patient Zero over there,” the doctor said, looking over at the remains of what was once a man. “Speaking of which, someone should really give that poor creature mercy.”

“I’ll do it,” Murphy said. He held his hand out for a weapon, and Warren placed her machete in it. You all watched as Murphy approached the being, held his hand, apologized, and listened to something he said. You couldn’t hear it, and then Murphy mercied him. He whipped around and said, “I’m not going.” Warren attempted to reason with him, but Murphy just said, “Explain to me again why I should believe anything you say.”

“Let’s start with ‘you have no choice,’” the doctor said as he walked towards you all. You gripped the handle of one of your knives, uncertain as to where this was headed. Warren must have had the same feeling as you because she pointed her machete his way.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Just a precaution.”

“Now, just hold on a minute,” Doc said, trying to deescalate. “Ain’t no reason to jump bad. He’s just nervous. Right, Murphy? He’s actually very civic-minded.”

“Really, this is so unnecessary,” the doctor said. “No one’s going to harm you, Mr. Murphy. Quite the opposite.”

As your older companions dealt with the doctor, you and 10K both turned around as you heard a muffled voice. It seemed to be coming from the computer, and when you looked, Citizen Z was on the screen once again. He was holding up a sign with words written on it. You had to squint to read them, but you were fairly certain that it said, “kill the doctor.” Your eyes widened, and you looked to 10K who wore a similar expression. A knocking on the door sent one of the guards to investigate. “Just a zombie,” the doctor said. “Give it mercy, so it can’t attract more.”

“Zombies can’t open doors, can they?” the guard asked, rhetorically. The doctor looked to the door just as it opened. It seemed that it was now or never if you were going to do as Citizen Z ordered. You fingered a knife while 10K gripped his own. You looked to him for confirmation, but he was staring at the door. You turned to look, and the sight made you drop your knife.

It was Cassandra. But it didn’t look like the Cassandra you had just left. She was breathing heavily, and there seemed to be some sort of mark on her right cheek. You couldn’t see it from this distance. “Don’t shoot,” she said. Her voice was low and rough. It didn’t sound like her.

“She’s a zombie,” the doctor said. “Mercy her.”

“No!” you yelled, and you swept down to grab your knife from the ground. Before you could reach the doctor, Cassandra spoke up again.

“I’m not dead,” she said.

“Kill him,” Murphy told her, and she whipped her head his way. In a flash of movement, Cassandra took control of the guard in front of her and, using his weapon, she shot the other guard. You and your friends all ducked for cover as bullets flew this way and that. The doctor shot at her, and you threw your knife across the aisle, aiming for his head. You missed by an inch, slicing his cheek. Before he could turn his attention on you, Murphy was heading out the door with Warren calling after him. When Doc got up to try and stop Murphy from fleeing, the doctor opened fire on him. Doc was hit.

You rushed to Doc’s side, briefly forgetting the real doctor or Murphy or Cassandra. Warren and 10K were by his side as well, so the doctor was able to escape. As Warren began chest compressions, a blazing alarm sounded out over the speaker system. Your attention was swayed from his pulse when one of the guards arose, full Z. Then the other. As they approached, Cassandra came out of nowhere and tackled one of them. She then grabbed the other and shouted, “Get out of here!”

“Cass!” you yelled out to her, but she ignored you as she continued to fight the zombies.

Somehow, Doc came to, coughing and spitting up blood. While Cassandra fought off the two much larger Z’s, you, 10K, and Warren all got Doc to his feet. You looked back at Cassandra one more time before you were shuffled out of the room with the rest of your friends.

You ran like hell as a voice over the speakers announced that there were five minutes to detonation. What detonation? What had Murphy done?

You dragged Doc through the lab all the way back to the elevator you had come down in. 10K pulled the door up, and you all rushed in. As the elevator rose, “Three minutes to detonation” rang in your ears. You deduced that Murphy had escaped the lab without decontaminating, triggering the nuclear weapons to fire. They were headed your way, so you had to get out of there. Fast.

“Look,” 10K said as he picked up something on the floor. “What is it?” You took a closer look. It almost looked like a shed snakeskin. Except that this was…

“Oh, hell no. What in the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’?” you said. It was a Murphy shedding.

“Is that all that’s left of Murphy?” Doc asked.

“It’s his skin,” Warren said. “He shed his skin.”

“Keep it,” Doc told 10K. “Make some awesome boots out of that.” The fact that he was still joking while suffering a gunshot wound was hopefully a good sign.

“Where’s Murphy?” Warren asked.

Once outside, you realized that Murphy had taken off with the van. You cursed and ran your sleeve across your face, wiping away leftover tears. Warren instructed you to take the SUV that the doctor had presumably arrived in. You got Doc into the backseat while Warren hotwired the engine.

“Look,” 10K said, eyes aimed at the sky. You weren’t sure you wanted to, but you looked upwards. Sure enough, a nuclear missile was making its way directly towards you.

“We’re doomed,” you mumbled, under your breath as you pushed Doc’s feet into the car and shut the doors on him.

“Let’s go,” Warren told you and 10K. The two of you both climbed into the passenger seat as there was no room in the back while Doc was laying down.

“Cassandra?” 10K asked as Warren hit the gas and sped off. You gripped his hand, both out of terror and concern.

You were half sitting on top of him, with nowhere else to go, but you stayed like that as 10K clung to your back. When the nuke landed as you were driving away, his arms clenched around you as the two of you looked back to see the destruction.

What had Murphy done?

[justwritingforfun]

fracking zombies- chapter two (10k x OC)

I’m sorry it took so long to get this out *^* but chapter two is here!! and a redraw of Jay!! I hope you enjoy!!

I sat in the bed of the truck with this boy who I still don’t know the name of as we speed across this bridge but then again, I wasn’t paying any attention to what was going on around me as I played with the vines that wrap around both of my arms, with every bump a new flower grow from the vines and with each flower a different meaning showed how I am feeling. When I looked up, my eyes look straight at the boys across from me.

His eyes were wide in shock as he watched the vines grow from my arms. The one that wrapped around my thigh slowly grew out and grabbed his right pinkie and a small red rose grow from the vine. He didn’t move as I watch the flower grow on his pinkie my cheeks flushed red.

I grab at the space in between my thigh and his pinkie and ripped the vine, the one on his pinkie stayed and the broken end wrapped around into a makeshift ring. The one around my thigh wrapped down onto my leg just at my knee I curled into myself.

“Uhm what does this mean?” he asked as he lift his hand to get a closer look at the ring with a rose on the top.

“Nothing bad, so don’t worry it just happens some time” I said in quiet voice.

“Oh”.

We pulled over; we all get out but Murphy.

“Ha-ha. Out of gas” Warren said.

“Running on fumes” Addy said.

“All right So, it looks like you got a flat”. 

“Heads up” I look up to see two people rode by, I stopped paying attention to everyone and only glared at the two men rode by. Ready to attack at anytime.

“We ran over some fun stuff” I had my back to them as I watched to see if the men come back.

“Okay. Well help me get it off and let's see what's going on”.

“Well, that explains the pull to the left” they crowd around the wheel to found something stuck.

“What are you waiting for? Kill it! Kill it!” I turn around at Murphy’s panic voice and walked over to his side to see a Z all mangled in the where to wheel was.

“It’s okay Murphy, this one” I shoot out a vine into the Z’s head, killing it “was stuck and couldn’t get you” the vines wrapped around the Z and pulled it out so them could put the wheel back “and if you are that scared then just stay in the car” I walked away and got back in the bed of the truck and curled into a ball to try to sleep as I waited for everyone to get moving again.

We walked thought a car graveyard as we tried to find some gas, I again walked mindless around only paying any attention to earth and plants around us. It was calming to listen to them, I had my eyes closed as I knew that my plants would protect and tell me if danger was near.

When I open my eyes in front of me was the boy and Doc, I started to listen to what they are saying to each other.

“So, what's your name, kid?”

“Ten Thousand”.

“That is not a name. It's a number”.

“It's my name. Made it up myself”.

“Well, I suppose you'd have to does it mean anything?”

“How many zombies I'm going to kill”.

“Well, that's a whole lot of zombies”.

“Already on 1,055”.

“Damn! So, what happens when you get to 10,000”.

“Change my name”.

“To what? Twenty thousand?”

“Jeff, I like the name Jeff”.

“Well, I named myself Jay” they turned to face me, they both jumped at my voice.

“God! Kid don’t scare people like that”.

“Sorry”.

“It’s ok kid but did you really name yourself?” Doc asked and I just nodded as I started to explain.

“I name myself for many reasons but the one I will give you is that my Mother named me Subject VI-09” we had just walked back to the group.

Everyone was looking at me as I continued “I had six older siblings that I never got to meet and two older sibling that I got to talk to but we were all named Subject VI-0 whatever number order they were born and I was I youngest child” I walked up to Murphy “I was the only one to survive”.

“Damn” no one know what to say to that, so they just moved on.

“Where did everybody go?”

“I haven't seen a survivor except for those two bikers”.

“Black Summer, everybody starved to death, I was in Philly for Black Summer. It was bad. I lost thirty pounds; thought I was dead”.

“How did you survive?”

“Did what I had to do”.

I heard feet running in front of us, the vines around my legs shot out and wrapped around one of the bikers we saw before “Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa – Hey - Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa. Hold on. It's not a Z. Peace. No bites here. 100 percent alive” the vines tighten around his body and hold him upside down “can you put me down sweetheart?” he asked to me but waited until I got the okay from Garnett.

“What happened to your friend?” Warren Pointed a gun at the mans head as Garnett said.

“Turns out he had other friends of low morals. Took my ride. Horse thieves should be shot”.

“You should choose better friends.”

“Good advice, can you put me down now?” the new man looked confused at Cassandra then looked down to me, I looked over the Garnett who shook his head no so I tightened the vines around the unknown man.

“What can we do for you?” Warren asked the stranger as she kept her gun pointed at him “One peaceful group of humans to a lone traveler?”

“Could use a lift. Sure don't want to spend the night out here alone”.

“Sorry. We ain't running a taxi service”.

“Which way are you headed?”

“Any direction but back. Word is there's a horde on the move south on the New York side. I see you're scrounging for gas. You know like we used to say, ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free. I know where you could fill up”

“Now would be the time to share that information” Garnett said as he keeps eyes on me.

“Place called Jersey Devil Refinery, maybe five miles off, just off the turnpike” the man dangled in the air as he moved around.

“How do you know there's gas there?” Warren asked.

“Got overrun day number one. All the tanks are still full, just rusting away.”

“All right, take us to this refinery. And if there's gas there like you say, you can ride with us to the next outpost” Garnett nodded to me, so I dropped the man.

The man fall with a thud on the hard ground “ow” the man groaned “You won't be sorry.”

“You got that right” warren lowered her gun and grabbed the guy off the ground and pulled him with her to the truck.

“Let's get out of here. New guy's gonna ride with me and Warren. Everybody else load up in the truck” Garnett Said as he walked back to the cars, we all moved with them.

Me and 10K in the bed of the truck and Doc, Murphy, Addy, Mack and Cassandra in the car, Doc is driving, windows down so we can hear them talking.

“So are we just gonna pick up every sketchy loser at every place we stop?” Cassandra complains.

‘Well, you seem to know him from the way he looks at you’ I thought, I have my back to little window of the truck and I curled into a ball as I stared out to the tree we passed by.

“Well we brought you along, didn't we?” I stopped myself from wanting to hit Murphy at his comment “Besides, nobody consulted me.”

I turn my head to look at Murphy “no one need to consult you, dumbass” as I turn back to look at the  at the things with pass, 10K was watching me, he looks away quickly.

“We're not really going to California with this guy, are we?” Mack said.

“You know the Apocalypse is a lot like rehab, kid. Just take it one day at a time, and then do the next indicated thing. In this case, that means get more gas. After that, who knows?” Doc said.

“We're doomed” Murphy said, I rolled my eyes at him.

We come to a stop, we all get out to see that the refinery is over run with zombies ‘great’ I thought, I move closer to Murphy.

“That's not a refinery. That's a zombie factory.”

“Frackin' zombies” 10K said as he jumps off the bed of the truck, I turn to watch him walk off, I turn back around ‘where he is going is not my concern’.

“They seem to want something in there real bad.”

“It's that sound. Like bees to honey.”

“Or Zs to shit.” I grimace at Murphy’s words.

“Hey, you know about this?” I glared at the man who had brought us here at Warren’s words, I take a quick glance at Warren to see her displeasure with the man.

“Hey, all the easy gas is gone” the man said with a grin.

‘He not wrong but I still want to knock him out’ I thought as I watched him.

“So what's the brilliant plan? Die, get eaten, go home early?”

“What's that smell?” At Addy’s voice being so close, I snapped my head to behind me to see that she was right next to me, I quickly move away in an panic, pulling Murphy with me.

Addy looked worried at my movements and she takes a couple steps back.

“The undead and gasoline, Both highly flammable. So no firearms of any kind” I snapped back to Garnett voice.

“So how do you want to handle this?” Warren asked Garnett, she turn to him. Garnett sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Well first we got to shut off whatever's making that noise” he said looking up to where all the zombies were walking to.

“Okay, it's probably some kind of pump”

“But where?”

“Follow the zombies” Mack said 

”They all seem to be headed for the top of that tank”

“We'll get up there and check it out” Addy said as she pointed at Mack .

“Then we got to have a sound that draws the Zs away from the pump so we can get to the gas.”

“Sorry, I left my guitar back at Camp Blue Sky” Doc quipped.

“Car horns?” Addy asked.

“No, they'll all just head this way” at Garnett words I crouched down and placed my hand down onto the ground, the plant around my arm shot down into the ground then I use it to grow and skewer up into the zombies around the base of the refinery, killing about thirty Z’s, I broke off the plant and it rapped back up my arm as I stood up.

“What the-!“

“Holy Christ!”

“Damn!”

Every one exclaims at what I just did.

“Damn kid, remind me to never get on your bad side” Doc said.

“It’s not all of them but it should help” I said looking down at my feet, feeling lightheaded.

“I have something for the distraction, Zs like high-pitched sounds. The more musical the better” Cassandra said as she pulls out a music box thing, that I have ever seen in pictures.

“Wow, learn something everyday” Mack said as he pointed to me and Cassandra.

“That's great, You're our decoy” Garnett said to Cassandra.

“I'll go with her” 

“I don't need his help” Cassandra tried to argue but Garnett wasn’t have it.

“No, you need cover. Take him. And start the music when you get to the top of that catwalk. You two, get to the top of the other side and see if you can kill that noise. Got it. Where'd that kid go?”

“He was here a minute ago. Oh and his name is Ten Thousand”

“Well he better be back by the time we're ready to go”.

“Hey, if we get that tanker started and we could fill it up”

“From the main tank, that much gas would get us to California”

“I like the way you think” as they talked I walked over to Murphy and lent against him as some support as the world started to spin, he put an arm around me to keep me up.

“So what should I be doing while you all are getting incinerated to death?”

“All right, why don't you take Mr. Congeniality here and the Suburban and get back to a safe distance, just in case” Garnett said, he looked over to us “hey are you okay Jay?” I could only nod to him, Garnett didn’t looked convinced but let it go anyway.

“What if... you know... zombies?”

“If this all ends in tears, you got to get him to California.”

“Sure. No problem”.

I sit I the front with Doc next to me and Murphy in the back while we wait for the others to finish getting the gas we need “ do you have any eights?” Doc looked to Murphy who shook his head, they were playing a card game I had never seen before.

“Go fish” Murphy was not looking at his hand with the cards but was anxiously watching the outside, waiting for the undead to attack at any moment, I was still a little dizzy from ever exiting myself before.

“Hey Jay, do you want to play?” Doc asked looking over to me “seeing as Murphy is cheating”.

I was taken a back “ I have never played or heard of ‘go fish’” I said Doc and Murphy looked confused at my words.

Murphy stopped looking outside to look at me “what? What do you mean you have never played and you don’t know how to play go fish?”.

“Yeah, what Murphy kid, you had siblings right?” Doc no longer looked confused and more concerned “ I know you grow up in a lab but still” Doc shook his head in disbelief.

“Well my mother said it was childish, so I was never allowed to,” Murphy face changed from confused to angry at my words “and I never met my older siblings, they were all failures and mother had no use for them” I shrugged looking back and forth the two men.

Doc rubbed my shoulder in a comforting way “oh kid, that’s horrible! How could she do that” I didn’t answer that because I didn’t know myself, Murphy was enraged.

“So, how do you play?” I asked trying to lighten the mood, Doc jumped into explaining the rules and started to to deal out the cards for the three of us.

Halfway through the first game a Z banged on the window on Doc’s side, Murphy started to freak out “Murphy you need to calm down” I said as the two more Z’s showed and was rocking the car “ Doc roll down your window a little”.

“What?!” I rolled my eyes at Doc’s yell.

“Just a small amount and duck!” He listened when I yelled at him.

Doc does what I tell him “No what are you doing, they will get in!” I ignored Murphy’s panic yell as my plant around my right arm shot out into the small space that Doc made, into the Z’s heads. Killing them quickly, the bodies drop as my plant returns to my arm, Doc rolled the window up again.

“Now will you calm down please” I asked turning to Murphy who started to breathe normally.

“Sorry, it not my fault that I have a phobia after being bitten” Murphy sunk into the backseat as he calmed down.

I sighed “I get that but I’m here to protect you so calm down” I pick up my cards “can we go back to playing?”.

Doc grabbed his cards for “of course we can kid” Murphy grumbled but grabbed his card too, I smiled as we resume playing.

As we played we started talking about my mother “well she started to experiment on me when I was still in her womb” I said as I put down another pair.

“Got any fives Murphy?” Murphy shook his head “ what about your father? What was he doing with all this?” Doc asked.

“Well he loved my mother and want to make her happy so he just enabled her, sure he loved me too but never as much as he loved my mother” I said “got any sixes? Doc” Murphy cut Doc’s answer with him complaining.

“What the hell is taking so long?” I shrugged at him. 

“Full service just ain't what it used to be” Doc quipped “Relax, Garnett and Warren know what they're doing” Doc stopped and asked Murphy “I've been meaning to ask you about your bites”

“Wait. What kind of doctor are you anyway?” Murphy asked instead of answering the question.

“Not really a doctor, more of an amateur pharmacologist, we know Jay’s pass but what about you? How'd you get to be the saviour of the human race?”

“You really wanna know? Truth is for a guy who's been wrongly convicted, I'm actually very civic-minded I volunteered It wasn't easy, but somebody had to do it.” 

‘He is lying’ I thought but I didn’t correct him.

“Man, they would have to beat me senseless, strap me down, before I'd ever let anybody inject me with a live zombie virus” Doc said.

“Yeah, well it wasn't about me You know you do what you got to do For the kids...” I rolled my eyes but the men didn’t see.

“So you... you got the vaccine and then you got bitten?” 

“Eight times” Murphy didn’t seem comfortable with this conversation.

“Good God”

“If you say so.”

“That must have been horrible.”

“Must have been Luckily I blacked out, so I don't remember any of it” 

‘ another lie, I know that he still has nightmares about it’ I thought as I looked to Murphy.

“Somehow Hammond rescued me Better late than never, I guess And been on the run ever since” Murphy said.

“Now Hammond's dead, too” I said.

“Yep. Good times” just as Murphy finished his sentence a bang on Doc’s window sounded out.

“We got some nosey neighbours” Doc said “ Jay can you do what you did before?” He asked.

“No there is to many” the Z’s started to pile up against the car.

“Call the others!” Murphy freaked out way more then he did before.

“You're attracting them!”.

“Get us out of here!”

“Shut up!” I yelled at Murphy, the light-headedness I felt before come back as a headache and Murphy yells was not helping, I blocked out Doc trying to calm Murphy down, as I tried to calm my headache down.

When I looked up to see Doc going outside to deal with the Z’s, with Murphy’S freak out and my headache I couldn’t hear Doc but I could see him, he was trying to get them way from the car hoping that will calm Murphy enough.

It didn’t work “Get them off!”.

“Get them off!”

“Murphy please shh” I said quietly as I rubbed my temples and pain, Murphy only got louder and I couldn’t take it anymore and I got out of the car.

“One thousand sixty! Nice shot, kid!” I move to Doc as I could feel my pain lesson, I close my eyes.

“Murphy!” I snapped my head up and eyes open to were car was supposed to be only the see that Murphy has driven off.

“Shit” me and Doc took off after him.

Me and Doc run up to everyone to hear Murphy “Great. Who screwed that up?”

‘Well he not dead” I thought as I held my head in my right hand rubbing my temple.

Everyone all looked at Murphy with a disapproval “Oh. Sorry” is all he said.

“So where's your friend?”

“He didn't make it. And he wasn't my friend” Cassandra answered coldly.

Then a phone rang, Garnett walked over to the pay phone and answered “Hello?”

“Sergeant Charlie Garnett”

“It's going”

“Still alive Please tell us where to drop him off”

“California? Wait. No, Hold on. That's not gonna happen. We need to go some place closer.”

“Can I speak to someone in charge?”

“What do you mean problematic?”

“More puppies and kittens” Warren said as zombies come from behind us, I feel weak but I put Murphy behind me to protect him.

“Why can't I speak to somebody at the lab?”

“What's going on?!”

“Are they even still alive?” Garnett throws the phone down and run up to us as start to move to the trucks, I get Murphy in first and then I jump into the bed of the truck with Cassandra but she stays at a distance, which I’m thankful as I slump down with a sighed and close my eyes to try to rest after using so much of my energy.

10K jumped next to me, he sat in between me and Cassandra but I could careless.

“Excuse me, ma'am You have a finger in your hair” he said to one of us but I just slept.

[jasperbynight]

Fandoms that I write for and rules

Fandoms

Stray Kids

Eminem

Yu-Gi-Oh! (Any characters from the original to 5Ds as I haven't seen Zexal or Arc-V)

Z Nation

Attack on titan

The Witcher

Shadow and Bone

Star Wars

Dead Island (both the first game+riptide and dead island 2)

Masterlist

Rules

I don't write smut for underage characters, if you want a certain character then it will be set when they're in their 20s

If a gender is not specified in the ask then readers will be gender neutral

Please be patient as I have other commitments irl so I'm not writing 24/7

Original works Masterlist

[parkjammys]

the audacity of the official dc account to even post this 😭

[tetriminas]

dating Miles Edgeworth headcanons (Miles Edgeworth x fem reader)

He leaves you for a man

[lapetitepatisserie]

cod × fem!reader ⋆𐙚₊˚⊹ ᡣ𐭩

The familiar sound of keys in the door alerted you to your husband’s return.

“My love?” he called, looking for you, boots making heavy footsteps as he made his way towards you and your child. His eyes soften once they land on you and your baby girl.

“How’s my princess?” he drawls, voice deep with exhaustion from work.

You look down at the child sitting in your lap, occupied with trying to fit a chubby foot into her mouth. A steady finger reaches underneath your chin, lifting it to meet his warm, intense gaze.

“I’m talking about this one.”

[thedivinetexts]

Ghost sharing you with the rest of the 141, simply because he honestly can't keep up with your sex drive. Ghost fucking loves you, but he isn't in the mood that often. It's a wonderful thing when he is — he always gets you sobbing from pleasure with his nice, thick cock and dirty words spilling from his mouth — but it just doesn't happen much. Between his chronic pain flaring up or his ptsd rearing its head he finds it a little difficult to want to fuck you as often as you'd like him to. He knows you're more insatiable than him and he feels guilty sometimes, not being able to keep up; even though you have never and would never complain about the infrequency of sex.

Takes a while for him to come to terms with it. Takes a bit longer for him to decide on what he thinks is the only suitable option; let his mates, the men he trusts with his life, have their way with you. Starting with the one he trusts most.

It's nerve-wracking the first time he lends you to Captain Price, some cynical part of him worried that you'll like it a bit too much and decide Ghost isn't worth sticking around for. Ghost shouldn't have been worried though — Price sends along a video of him fucking you, assumedly recorded just seconds before. The noises you make are loud and filthy. You're clearly cockdrunk and almost incomprehensible when you whine. But when Price growls the question in your ear, you don't hesitate.

"Tell us who you belong to, sweetheart, go on. Who owns you, darlin?"

"S-Simon!" You moan, nearly sobbing it out. Ghost's hand is on his clothed cock as he watches you cry and squirm. "Ah, 'm Simon's! Please, please, fuck, please!"

Price chuckles and the video cuts just as his hips speed up. A moment after Ghost is finished watching, a text pops up underneath it.

> Got yourself a good one.

[annievrse]

dad!sukuna!!!

—ᡣ𐭩 blurb a/n: based on this tiktok that gave me insane baby fever

the birds chirping outside in the dawn light makes your daughter giggle from where she stands in your bedroom doorway.

"baby," you whisper to her, beckoning her over to your side of the bed. "c'mere."

your 3-year-old wobbles around the bed, having gotten out of bed by herself. she stands before you with her hands out and grabs your arms.

"layla," you whisper, glancing over your shoulder at your husband, whose hair pokes out wildly from under the duvet. "tell daddy mommy wants a coffee."

your daughter's wide eyes round, and she tilts her head. "cowe?"

you suppress a giggle. "coffee."

"coppee?"

"yeah, good enough," you mumble, nodding. and then you lift her onto the bed. layla clambers over your body and falls face-first into the space between you and sukuna, her pink hair splayed everywhere.

you slap your mouth with your palm to stop the laughs from escaping. your husband stirs, groaning deeply under the white blankets. she looks over at you with a smile on her face, and you give her a single thumbs up.

"dada," layla says, climbing on top of him. "wake up!"

"hi, babygirl," sukuna slurs, eyes half open.

"i want coppee."

"hm? what?"

"coppee!"

"coffee...?" sukuna takes a moment to process the word and then looks at you over his shoulder, eyes puffy. "really, bro?"

you giggle, hiding your face in the blankets.

"you want coffee..." sukuna says, pointing at your daughter. "you go get it."

"no, mummy wants coppee! you get it!" she giggles, chubby finger aimed at him, too.

“noooo,” he whines, though it’s barely one. he shoves his face back into his pillow. “you.”

“daddy!” your daughter yells. “coppee!!”

sukuna scoffs a laugh and rubs his eye with his knuckle while your daughter dances around the room singing, "coppee, coppee!"

"you're lucky you're cute," sukuna grumbles, swinging his bare legs out of the bed, looking over at you as he does so. "you too."

[jungwnies]

f1 grid | i'm so hungry i could eat a...

୨ৎ : featuring : all drivers on the grid ୨ৎ : synopsis (requested by 🫐) : the tik-tok, "i'm so hungry i could eat a..." trend

୨ৎ : genre : comedy ୨ৎ : word count : 1011

୨ৎ masterlist ୨ৎ 10k event | masterlist ୨ৎ

ᡣ�� a/n : this was so hilarious to write but i had to like deep dive for some of the drivers to make it ... interesting smirk 😼

ʚ・red bull

max verstappen

you bite into your sandwich, chew for a second, then sigh. “i’m so hungry i could eat daniil kvyat.”

max freezes mid-sip. his eyes slowly lift to meet yours with the full force of “what the actual fuck.”

he doesn’t say anything. just shifts slightly, pulling his plate closer like you might lunge across the table. two hours later he casually asks if you’ve been watching cannibal documentaries again.

yuki tsunoda

you flop onto the couch, stomach growling, and groan, “ugh, i’m starving. i could eat kazuto kotaka.”

yuki chokes on the chip he was halfway through. “what?!? you can’t just say that about my friends!”

he looks both offended and mildly scared, texting kazuto immediately: “don’t come over. she’s feral.”

ʚ・mercedes

george russell

you yawn dramatically while stabbing your salad, then say, “i’m so hungry i could eat alex albon.”

george blinks slowly, like his soul left his body. “i—sorry, what did you just say?”

he stares at you for a solid ten seconds, then opens a notes app and types “watch out for her” with no further context.

kimi antonelli

you toss a fork into the sink and mutter under your breath, “i’m starving. could eat ollie bearman honestly.”

kimi’s entire head whips around. “i’m—huh???”

his ears go bright red. he starts stammering something about context and friendship and legality. leaves the room muttering, “what the hell is wrong with her,” but returns ten minutes later with snacks “just in case.”

ʚ・ferrari

charles leclerc

you’re scrolling on your phone while eating cereal and casually say, “i could eat leo, he looks so soft.”

charles gasps so dramatically you think he’s joking—he’s not. “mon mon chat?? are you insane?? he is baby!!”

he picks leo up protectively and cradles him like you just declared war.

lewis hamilton

you lounge back on the couch and go, “ugh, i’m so hungry i could eat nicole scherzinger.”

lewis pauses mid-sip and just… raises an eyebrow. “so we’re just gonna say things like that now?”

he takes a beat. “honestly… i don’t blame you.”

ʚ・mclaren

lando norris

you toss a piece of popcorn in your mouth, sigh dramatically, and say, “i’m so hungry i could eat luisinha.”

lando drops his controller mid-race. “what?” he looks personally attacked. pulls a pillow into his lap like it’s a safety barrier.

“why are you being like this??” he asks, jokingly.

oscar piastri

you’re doing absolutely nothing, just scrolling on your phone when you go, “i'm so hungry i could eat hattie.”

oscar slowly turns toward you. “that’s… my sister.” he doesn't yell. he doesn't flinch. he just stares at you like you told him the sky is green. "surely you mean to say, 'patty' right?"

you laugh, "like a krabby patty? no, i meant hattie,."

ʚ・aston martin

fernando alonso

you sigh dramatically while picking through takeout, then go, “honestly? i’m so hungry i could eat taylor swift.”

fernando doesn’t even look up. “i beg your pardon.”

you blink. “…i'm just hungry...?”

he shrugs. “she’s powerful. that’s a strong protein source.”

lance stroll

you kick your feet up on the ottoman and mutter, “i could eat lawrence, honestly.”

lance turns so slowly it’s creepy. “my dad?” he doesn’t yell, just looks deeply unsettled. “what if he hears you, he might have you eaten?”

ʚ・williams

alex albon

you curl up beside him, all cozy, then whisper, “i’m so hungry i could eat bitbit.”

alex pulls back like you slapped him. “what the actual fuck did you just say??”

he’s already scooping bitbit into his arms. “you need to leave. i’m reporting you.”

carlos sainz

you’re peeling an orange and casually go, “i could eat isa hernáez, tbh.”

carlos chokes hard on his juice. he starts waving his hands like he's trying to reboot his own brain. “no no no. not this. not today.”

he walks out of the room mumbling “dios mío…” and comes back five minutes later with bread and zero explanation.

ʚ・haas

ollie bearman

you hum while scrolling, then casually go, “i’m so hungry i could eat kimi antonelli.”

ollie blinks. hard. “…like…why him?” immediately becomes suspicious of every time you’ve smiled at kimi.

he spirals for a full hour before asking, “wait… was that like a flirty hungry or a murdery hungry?”

esteban ocon

you stir your tea and murmur, “mmm, max verstappen sounds filling.”

esteban doesn’t look up. doesn’t breathe. doesn’t blink. “of course,” he says dryly, “we’re just devouring championship rivals now.”

your tea mysteriously disappears from the counter.

ʚ・racing bulls

liam lawson

you're laid out across the bed like a victorian widow and whisper, “i could eat yuki tsunoda.”

liam doesn’t flinch. he just sighs. “same, honestly.” pauses.

“…wait, what kind of eat are we talking about here?”

isack hadjar

you're giggling to yourself while reheating leftovers and casually say, “i’m so hungry i could eat… ze car.”

isack turns so fast his shoulder cracks. “i hate you so much.”

when you bust out laughing, he goes pale. “i am never going to live that down, am i?”

ʚ・alpine

pierre gasly

you spin around dramatically in the kitchen and declare, “i could eat simba.”

pierre gasps so loud it echoes. “mon chien???” grabs simba and cradles him like he’s just intercepted an assassination attempt.

refuses to let you hold the dog for the rest of the day.

franco colapinto

you sigh mid-bite of your sandwich and mutter, “i could eat javier milei.”

franco just stares at you. like a mix of concern, existential dread, and the weight of the argentine government crashing down on him. “…why would you say that, what if he's listening?” he whispers.

ʚ・kick sauber

nico hulkenberg

you're chewing on a breadstick and shrug, “i could eat kevin magnussen.”

nico doesn’t blink. doesn’t flinch. “get in line.”

he keeps chewing. you’re not sure if he’s serious. you don’t ask.

gabriel bortoleto

you’re giggling to yourself while setting the table, and blurt out, “i could eat isack hadjar.”

gabriel short-circuits. he stares at the salad you made like it might be laced with something. “you worry me.”

2021-2025 © jungwnies | All rights reserved. Do not repost, plagiarize, or translate

[grimespial]

Pretty Boy

10k x Addy's twin brother reader

See 10k is innocent, he knows all about hunting, shooting and survival, but that poor boy is completely unaware of anything sexual

Even his romantic knowledge is lacking, anything he knows comes from the couples around him.

He had crushes, they were small, the kind just based on looks that pass on not long after it came.

They certainly weren't requited, and the hope he had for a relationship was crushed when the world ended.

Before the apocalypse he was already out of the loop, but now he was in his early 20s and atleast half the world was dead.

Not ideal for dating.

One of the first people he saw out of the group was a boy, a little older than him, with auburn hair, shouting at the old man to stop spinning "or you'll lose your head too"

Why did he shoot the zombie for them? It was hard to think when he locked eyes with the other guy.

10k thought he got shot at that moment, thats what it would feel like right? Suddenly losing your breath? He wouldn't feel the pain from adrenaline so it must be.

When 10k joined the group, it was suprisingly simple to fit into

Doc definitely took his part in welcoming him into the group.

But there was you.

It was different,

You were the same as everyone else really, it was Tommy that was the problem.

Yeah you were slightly touchy, not that he minded, but you were with Addy and Mack so maybe he was just overthinking everything.

But it was hard not to when it felt like he has allergies everytime you lock eyes, whenever your hands touch he swear he was struck by lightning

Even lightning wasn't a good comparison, because that would surely hurt, and this didn't, he almost melted in your hands.

Not very good when he's keeping watch while the group is travelling.

When you and Tommy date, Addy especially runs with the teasing, everyone joins in, but nobody teases as much as Addy.

Especially to 10k, everytime he's just admiring she manages to catch him.

He is very much a hopeless romantic, i mean youre one of his first big crushes, and his very first relationship

You will almost never have an empty hand, if he's there, he will be holding it.

He's not the proudest of it, and he's very shy when he does it, but he will take something if he sees it and thinks it would be a nice gift for you.

Any time you two have to split up (which isn't the most often because when you have a choice you will stick together, Warren learnt that too) he'll give you a bandana, a promise to meet again to return.

Neither of you needs a bandana to see eachother again, but its a sweet connection.

It doesn't matter how long you two are together, the fact he's dating you still makes him blush everytime you kiss him.

[topazy]

Inside, outside

Paring: 10k x reader

Warnings: Swearing, drug use

Chapter: 5.08

The more you try and wriggle your wrists free from the pole they are bound to, the deeper the rope cuts into your skin, but the stinging on your wrist was nothing in comparison to the talker who wouldn’t stop harping on and on. After Doc was shot with an arrow, someone knocked you and 10k out. The next thing you’re aware of is waking up in a field.

The talker smiles at you, baring his rotten teeth and foul breath. “Your friend there looks a little pale,” he nods his head in 10k’s direction. “Just transitioned, has he?”

“He’s not a talker.”

“Then how come his hand fell off?”

10K frowns at the comment. You glance down at his stump and notice his bandages have been changed; before you can comment on it, the talker starts loudly harping on, and nothing he says makes sense.

“Dude, please stop talking!”

He continues to yell until Warren runs up and shoves a stick into his mouth, muffling his voice. “That's enough out of you,” she starts to untie the knot. “Who did this to you?”

“I dunno, and I would rather not find out.”

As soon as you are free, you go to untie 10k’s hand while Warren unties Doc. He looks up at her with admiration, “Chief, I have never been so pleased to see you.”

“I'm not the chief you need to worry about.”

You let out a scream of surprise as an arrow scrapes by your arm, “They’ve spotted us!”

“Keep your heads down!”

All of you start to flee towards a patch in the forest where the greenery is thicker and easier to hide in, but just as you're about to make it, Doc is shot with another arrow, this one landing in his ass.

“Oww!”

He stumbles to the ground; George pulls him back to his feet, but it’s too late. A group of people, aiming their weapons at you, surrounds you in a matter of seconds.

Warren raises her hands first. “We're not here to fight.”

“We're not your enemy.”

The woman who appears to be in charge whispers to the individual who is standing beside her, and he proceeds to bind the hands of all individuals.

—

The people known as the water keepers, with their weapons aimed at your back, take you as hostages and lead you to their camp. While they talk among themselves, you pick up a few words like ‘bombing’ and ‘zombies,’ and while trying to listen in, you notice a young boy standing watch nearby. You lower yourself until you are at his eye level. “Hey, I heard that you were also bombed.”

“Yeah, lots of times,” he nods. “Got hit by a zombie ball too.”

“Shh,” an older woman gives him a look that causes him to stop talking.

Not wanting to get the kid into trouble, you smile at him and back up. At the same time, George manages to free one of her hands and immediately reaches for her gun attached to her belt but is stopped by Warren.

“They haven’t hurt us.”

Doc scoffs, “Speak for yourself.”

“Something tells me your ass shot was just a warning, Doc.”

“We need to wait and watch,” Warren whispers. “They'll see we're not the enemy.”

—

It doesn’t take long for word to spread in camp that they had prisoners, and a familiar-looking woman with black hair soon comes to question why you were so close to the dam, but it turned out you’d met her once before at the Grand Canyon.

Kuruk.

Even though you didn't know her well, you remembered how much of a crush Doc had on her, and based on the way he looked at her, you could assume he still does.

Since you were friends of Doc’s, she ordered for your restraints to be untied. “I’m always thrilled to see Doc’s people.”

Kuruk explains that it’s her father who was responsible for the water dam, but someone has been trying to sabotage it, even going as far as planting bombs and trying to kill their people. Hearing this makes it easier to understand why they were so aggressive when you got too close to their home.

You recognize a tall woman with dark brown hair in neat braids. “Ayalla, isn’t it?”

“It is,” she smiles broadly and inspects you closely. “You are very brave for doing what few would dare to do. Bringing new life into our world.”

You look down at your stomach and frown; in your mind your baby was still nonexistent, but perhaps that wasn’t the case anymore. It becomes evident when others notice without being told.

Seeing you pout, Ayalla laughs, “I picked up on your energy. You have two very strong heartbeats beating inside you.”

A look of seriousness crosses 10k’s features. “Can you really tell that?”

She nods at him, then turns to face you, gesturing to 10k. “Can I borrow him? I’ll bring him back in one piece.”

“Um, sure… Tommy?”

He looks between the two of you; it takes him a moment to pick up on Ayalla’s tone and that she is joking. He rubs at the bandage covering his stump nervously, “Do you need help with something?”

“No, but I do think I could help you.”

—

While discussing a plan to try and find out who was attacking the dam, a talker barges into the camp. You could tell from its eyes that there was no humanity left, but the water keeps thought differently.

“You need to mercy it!”

One of the women tries to stop the walker without killing it by restating it. “No, we only resort to that as a final measure.”

“He’s going to kill her!”

“It’s not our way.”

You were in disbelief; you couldn’t understand why they weren’t fighting harder to save their friend. Fuck this. You pick up the blade that was used for slicing meat next to the small campfire and mercy the talker, but you’re too late. The talker bites the water keeper, tearing off the flesh from her neck.

Enraged that the incident could have been prevented, you stab the talker in the head before it can bite anyone else, earning you a few death glares. As the woman's loved ones gather around her limp body on the ground, with blood pooling from her neck, you retreat. Feeling helpless, you hold back tears. Why didn’t they just listen? Sometimes you miss the days when you had a clear understanding of what was right or wrong. At the start it was kill or be killed, giving a Z mercy was an act of kindness.

“Hey,” Doc pats your back. “You did everything you could.”

You watch as the waterkeeper comes back as a talker and lets out a deep breath. You slam the blade onto the table. “I’m going to check on Tommy.”

—

Irritation builds inside you while walking to the spot 10k and Ayalla went to, but you’re surprised to see that nobody is there.

“10k?”

You stand confused until you hear the sound of branches snapping nearby. You duck behind a large rock; it’s not until you turn and face the other way that you notice someone dressed in all black and wearing a mask trying to discreetly creep closer to the dam, and not far behind him was 10k.

You try to get 10k’s attention by waving, but he’s too far away to notice.

Not knowing what else to do, you start to do the same thing and follow them, being careful not to make too much noise in case the man in the mask spots the both of you.

—

“Damn it,” you mutter to yourself.

Upon entering an underground tunnel that was characterized by numerous turns and twists, you lost sight of them. The noise of your heavy boots was starting to become more noticeable, and you were afraid the masked man would hear it and find 10k while seeking the source of the sound, so you moved out of eyesight and counted for five minutes before moving again.

But now you are completely lost.

Turning a corner, you spot the start of a small trail of blood on the floor and withdraw your gun. Cautiously, you follow the trail down to the boiler room of the dam.

“10k!”

He lies unconscious, his back against the wall. You try to shake him awake, but he doesn’t move; that’s when you notice the bleeding bump on the back of his head. “No, no, no! Please wake up.

Usually you’d know what to do, but your thoughts had suddenly gone so hazy that it was becoming hard to think straight. You keep getting a cold chill, a strange sensation as if someone was reaching for you, but there was no one else there.

When drops of water land on the floor next to his body, you look up and see that the water from the boiler is now starting to overflow and is shaking.

“Oh no.” You get to your feet and attempt to pull 10K up, saying, “We need to go now.”

An alarm starts blaring, which you presume is being caused by the boiler being ready to explode. Feeling your grip on him starting to slip, 10k falls back down and lands on his ass with a thud. With no other choice, you rush to look for a way to turn off the main water supply. You quickly find the valve, but with it being so rusted, it’s difficult to turn.

Suddenly 10k stands up with an almost possessed look in his eyes; he looks like he’s a puppet being controlled by strings, but regardless, he helps you turn off the valve.

“Thanks, babe. What the hell happened to you?”

Before he can answer, another water pipe bursts.

—

You feel a sense of unease as 10K, and you run back and forth between different pipes, trying to turn them off and on before something explodes. The building was starting to shake, which didn’t give you much confidence, but something in the way 10k was acting wasn’t right.

A voice from the floor above unexpectedly asks, “Who's there?”

“The water stopped, then started again! We are trying to stop it.”

Your eyes widened. Perhaps it was a side effect of hormone changes, or you were outright hallucinating, but although 10K’s mouth was moving, it wasn’t him talking.

“Stop it? You started it!”

“No,” you snap out of whatever delusion you were having. “It wasn’t us.”

An older man comes into view; he looks directly down at you and, in a clear state of panic, reaches for his gun. Kuruk suddenly appears beside you. “Dad! They aren’t outsiders. They are George’s people!”

“Kuruk, you made it.” 10K smiles brightly at her and then turns to face the man. “Oh, and sorry, chief. I guess you didn’t.”

“…Tommy?”

“Oh, no, it’s me, Doc. Sorry, kid, I thought I told you that. 10K is still unconscious. I’m just borrowing his extremities.” He leans back against one of the largest pipes and slurs his words as if he’s drunk, “Oh, to be twenty again.”

“What the hell, Doc? Get out of my husband. I need to check he’s okay.”

“No can do, babe,” he chuckles at the last part.

Kuruk’s dad shouts down, “We can’t open the spill gate from in here. The saboteur must have gone into the emergency panel.”

You reluctantly call out, “Let's go, Doc!” and begin to follow the chief, grabbing 10k's gun.

—

The chief orders his people to go with his daughter to search for the intruder. Warren and George were close on the masked man’s trail; they found him by following the sound of gunshots.

You stand guard in the control room while Doc and the chief try to regain control of the dam.

“See number one, Doc? Crank it up to three,” the chief says.

Suddenly Doc makes a noise as if he’s going to be sick; he shakes his head. “I feel old. Kind of stoned.” He looks around the room, confused. Where are you?”

For a split second it looks as if a ghostly version of Doc moves out of 10k’s body and then vanishes. But that couldn’t be real… right?

10K blinks rapidly and looks at the chief. “What happened?”

“Saboteur.”

“10k!” You pull him in for a hug. “George and Warren are chasing the masked man we followed in here. I think he tried to kill you.”

“Well, let’s get our guns and go.”

—

You observe as the water keepers perform a small ceremony with singing and dancing that they believe helps the dead move on onto a better place. The chief managed to save the dam along with the rest of his people, and Kuruk informed George that once things had settled at the dam, they would be moving to Newamerica. You were glad, as it was clear there was something special between her and Doc.

You smile when 10k stands behind you and links his fingers with yours. When you met up with Warren, it didn’t take you long to figure out where the masked man had gone, and when you reached the balcony on the outside of the building, he was about to kill George, but 10k shot him in the head.

“I’m proud of you,” you say quietly. “I know how much you’ve been panicking thinking you won’t be able to protect us, but you saved George.”

“Yeah?” 10K leans in to kiss you, but you back away.

“Nope, sorry, it’s too weird. I’m still picturing Doc’s voice coming out of your mouth.”

10k pouts slightly while the rest of the group laughs. “Thanks a lot, Doc.”

“Better weird than dead, kid.”

With the dam saved, the five of you say your goodbyes to the water keepers to continue on your journey to seek the source of the mystery ingredient that would hopefully prevent talkers from turning.

—

You walk for roughly an hour when Warren spots an old-looking farmhouse up ahead. “Well, take shelter there until morning.”

The house has three bedrooms, and once the building is cleared and all the windows and doors are secure, you decide to call it a night since you’d be leaving at first daylight.

Doc picks the bedroom beside the bathroom upstairs since he was worried about being sick during the night because of how high he was earlier; whatever ‘spiritual’ drugs he took apparently caused him to be able to enter 10k’s body. Warren and George share the second bedroom that's upstairs while you and 10k take the only one on the ground floor.

Yawning, he closes the door behind you. “Yeah, so Ayalla helped me find a temporary hand.”

“Why a deer antler?”

You draw the curtains over while he explains that it was the best out of the options he had, plus it helps with learning how to balance a gun with only one hand.

“You know…” You turn back to face him, a wide smile on your face. “I don’t think it’s weird anymore.”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he smirks, “Thinking about it, we haven’t had any quality time together since we arrived in Newmerica.”

While 10k removes the harness covering his stump and places the antlers on the bedside table, you chuckle and begin to remove the top half of your clothing. You straddle his lap, your lips clashing against his, and between kisses you say, “We need to be quiet.”

While being lost in the rush of stripping each other of your clothes, you are completely unaware that the enemy was watching the house only a short distance away.

[yumebambi-writes]

"Puppy Love" Chapter Five: Anything but Normal Day OR There’s No Place like Home

chapter five: 4.9k words

It had been two days since Garnett had died. Warren was nearly catatonic and hadn’t spoken a word or shed a single tear since she mercied him. To your confusion, 10K also had not spoken more than three words—not to you, at least. Something had happened at Province Town between the two of you, but you had no idea what it could have been. Your mind kept going back to what he had muttered to himself right before the shot went off that killed Garnett. Looking back on it, you could’ve sworn he had said something like, “—gone with Cassandra.” Had he not wanted you to follow him? You were just trying to help. It was no use dwelling on it, but your mind still spun whenever you’d catch 10K staring at you and when he’d abruptly look away and avoid eye contact.

The group had made it to Kansas. You had only just left, five months back, but here you were again. You had stayed a year and a half longer after the tornado that took your friends from you. You had planned to stay away; you had gone so far northeast for a reason. The flat plains, flying by as the truck drove down an abandoned highway, reminded you of your memories here, both good and bad.

Citizen Z was speaking over the radio, giving one final salute to Sergeant Charles Garnett. You glanced at Warren, but her face held no emotion.

Suddenly, the radiator began smoking, and Doc was forced to pull to the side of the road. Addy and Mack had found a dirt bike back in Missouri, and they were driving up ahead but turned around when they realized you had stopped. When they reached your group, they hopped off the bike. 10K had dropped down from his spot in the truck bed and was climbing under the truck.

“Gee, if we only had a mechanic,” Muphy said, pointedly. Warren was in the backseat, completely lost to the rest of you.

“You gotta let her deal, man,” Doc said. “She’s got that post-traumatic stress.” Murphy wasn’t buying it, saying that everyone was stressed, all the time. He walked over to the open window on her side and repeatedly poked her. Whatever he said to her didn’t seem to convince her to come out.

“Alright,” Mack said, “Addy and I will scout up ahead. See if we can get some help.” You turned to look down the long, barren highway. There wasn’t much to see, and you weren’t sure you liked the idea of splitting the group up.

“We will?” Addy asked. The two of them discussed it before heading off. You gave Addy a hug before they left. As the bike started up, you waved goodbye, unsure of when you would see them again. You watched them drive off, leaving you all in their dust.

“I found the leak in the radiator hose,” 10K said from under the truck. He pulled himself out. “Taped it up a little bit, but we’re not going anywhere unless we get some water in there.” You immediately began digging around in your pack; you found your water bottle and handed it over. All your water, along with the rest of the group’s, was dumped into the radiator. You needed to remember to fill up the next chance you got. Once the truck was ready, 10K popped up and said, “I’ll drive.” You didn’t even know he could drive.

10K couldn’t drive. And he admitted as much. You and Cassandra shared a scared look before buckling up, glad you had decided to sit inside the truck instead of out in the bed. At least 10K seemed to be in a good mood. You, however, were feeling a bit sick. You closed your eyes and took deep breaths in and out.

A little ways down the road, after 10K had gotten the hang of driving, the vehicle came to a fork in the road. “Go right,” Murphy instructed.

“Why right?” Doc asked.

“Why not?” You couldn’t exactly argue with that logic.

Even more down the road, there came a series of signs. “No Z’s,” Doc read. “That’s a good sign.” You snorted at the pun. The next sign read that there was a gun show happening, today only. “Getting interesting.” The last sign came up. “Liquor! Now you’re talking. Murphy, we’re gonna have to let you navigate more often.” Murphy and Doc laughed. “Congratulations, son,” Doc said to 10K. “You’re now the designated driver.” You let out a single bark of a laugh at his misfortune.

“What’s that mean?” he asked. You thought it was incredibly endearing how out-of-touch he could be. You gave him a smile when he looked at you through the rearview, but he quickly shifted his gaze. Your face instantly dropped, and it seemed as though Cassandra noticed. She took your hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. You had no idea where you had gone wrong.

When you made it down the road to where the signs had been leading you, the truck was stopped by a couple of heavily armed men. “Y’all armed?” one of them asked.

“Obviously,” Cassandra said.

“Good. We don’t have time to babysit anyone.” They let you in.

Warren finally perked up at the mention of liquor. It was the first time she had willingly gotten out of the truck for anything other than bathroom breaks, so you weren’t about to discourage her as your group made your way to the entrance.

The woman sitting outside the gates welcomed your group and told you the entry fee was seven. You didn’t have seven of anything other than knives, and you weren’t about to part with those. Doc was bartering with some crystal he said he had back in the truck when the man sitting nearby said, “Back off with the toilet bowl cleanser meth. We only take that genuine, vein splitting, take you right out of this beautiful apocalypse and into a hell-hole meth.” You had no idea what he was talking about, but it seemed that Doc recognized the guy.

The man, who Doc called Sketchy McClain, gave you free entry. He walked you all over to his truckload of weapons that he had procured from a couple he had to mercy. He asked where Addy was, noticeably not mentioning Mack, and Doc explained that they’d gone ahead and had thought they might end up here. “No, haven’t seen them,” Sketchy said. “And I’m pretty sure I’d notice,” he joked. You scrunched up your nose in disgust and rolled your eyes. “What about these two? Never seen you ladies before,” he addressed you and Cassandra. “And I’m pretty sure I’d notice,” he repeated, this time with a wink. You crossed your arms over your chest.

“What’s all this?” Doc jumped in and changed the subject. Sketchy took the bait and showed off some of the weapons they had for sale.

“Just sit back, relax, and forget about the apocalypse,” he said.

“Aren’t you worried about the Z’s?” Cassandra asked.

“Look around. We’re in the middle of nowhere, Kansas. We’re surrounded by hundreds of square miles of nothing but fallow farmlands. There’s no Z’s here—nothing for them to eat. They’ve all moved on to the big cities.”

You nodded, agreeing. “When I was last here, I only ever encountered maybe three dozen Z’s over the course of two years. We should be fine,” you reassured your friends. This seemed to reassure Cassandra, at least.

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you,” Sketchy told Cassandra. Nobody acknowledged the comment, and he pivoted to the bar nearby. All Warren needed to hear was “moonshine” before she was off. You wouldn’t mind a drink yourself, so you followed after her. You were also worried that she’d drink herself under the table.

In the bar, you weren’t surprised to find that it was a dingy, little place. You sat next to Warren at the bar, and she flagged down the bartender. He poured you each a drink, and you shot it back. The burning sensation wasn’t unpleasant, but the taste was unlike any booze you’d had before. You coughed, and your eyes watered. “Jesus,” you muttered. Warren didn’t look the least bit affected, and she pounded her glass against the table to ask for more. The bartender poured her one and offered you another, but you shook your head. “One’s enough for me, thanks.”

There was a man in the corner, strumming an unplugged, electric guitar. You hadn’t seen or heard live music in ages, so you went to sit closer. Doc, Cassandra, and 10K came through the doors. You noticed Murphy go over to talk to Doc, the two of them looking over at Warren. Doc walked farther into the room before raising his voice and asking, “Anybody know anybody in here named Wannamaker?”

“Who wants to know?”

“Oh, we’re just looking to trade. You know, just a little business. My friend said he might have a vehicle.” The bartender pointed Doc in the direction of a man that was passed out under a table. When he didn’t wake up, Doc turned to a man nearby.

You turned your attention back to the guitarist, and he gave you a small smirk and a wink. You smiled back, nervously, and he scooted closer to you. He stopped strumming now and was instead trying to engage you in conversation. You just nodded politely. He continued to move into your space, and you looked to your friends, hoping for a way out. Cassandra and Doc were listening intently to the drunk man in front of them as he rambled on about his “Formanmobile.” Luckily, you were able to catch 10K’s eye, but right as he was going to look away as he had been each time your gazes met, the man beside you wrapped his arm around your shoulder. This made 10K do a double-take, and this time he was able to see the discomfort in your face. In a few, quick strides, he made it over to where the pair of you were sitting. He held out his hand to you but was looking at the man. “Come on,” was all he said.

“Oh, yeah, okay,” you stuttered out as you took his hand. He pulled you up, but the man grabbed your other hand.

“Where you goin’, baby?” he asked. You tried to free your hand, but his grip was solid.

“Shooting,” 10K said as he readjusted the strap of his rifle, making sure it was visible to the man. The man let go of your hand and placed his above his head in surrender.

“Fine. Not worth it, anyway.” You quickly turned heel and followed 10K out of the bar. The moment you were outside, he dropped your hand.

This was your chance. The two of you were alone, and he had just come to your rescue. “Hey, can we talk?” you asked, looking up at him nervously through your lashes.

He eyed you up and down. When he licked his lips, you were sure that he was about to open up to you and beg for forgiveness, explaining his behavior. Instead, you watched his face take on a stoney, blank expression. “Can’t,” he said, turning without giving you another look. He stalked off towards Doc and Cassandra, and you let out a shaky breath. You turned back around to the bar, debating going back in and drowning your sorrows with Warren, but Cassandra called out your name and waved you over. You sighed, plastered on a smile, and jogged over to where they were standing in line for sign-ups. Apparently, 10K was going to compete in a shooting contest for some fancy gun. You were upset with him, but you still wanted to support him. So, you stood in line.

Once you were near to the front, Doc said, “Let’s hope they’ll take a busted up truck for the entrance fee.”

“That’s our only transpo,” you said. “How are we gonna make it to California without it?”

“Once 10K here wins that monster of a gun, we’re gonna trade up for a new vehicle.”

“But…10K deserves that gun. He’s the best sharpshooter here; I guarantee it. Why can’t he keep it?” You glanced at 10K, who had a slight pink tint to his cheeks. He was ignoring you, but he couldn’t completely shut you out. This realization that you were still getting through to him brought a small smile to your face. The smile instantly dropped as you watched 10K unabashedly check out a girl around your age while she was walking by after signing up herself. Your eyebrows knit together as she checked him out in return. You watched Cassandra and Doc give each other a look that said something you didn’t understand. “What?” you asked, your mood officially soured once again.

“Nothing, darling. Nothing at all.” Doc ruffled your hair, and you quickly combed it back into place with your fingers as you stepped up farther in line.

“Boys are clueless,” Cassandra whispered so that only you could hear. Your ears heated up.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Doc and Cassandra shared another look. “I’m gonna go look at their knife selection. Let me know when the competition starts.” You grumbled and walked away.

“I’ll come with you!” Cassandra said as she jogged to catch up with you. You sighed in resignation, although you were secretly grateful for the company.

Their knife selection was disappointing. They had nothing small enough to throw—at least, not accurately. Frustrated, you took one of your own knives and threw it into a nearby tree trunk. As you went to retrieve it, a voice came from behind you. “Woah, little mama, what’d that tree ever do to you?” You yanked your knife out and turned around. It was the guitarist from the bar.

“Call me that again, and the next one goes in your face.” You shoved past him, glad you were in public so that he couldn’t try anything. He spit on the ground after you as you walked away, calling you a “teasing whore” loud enough for some passersby to turn and look. Cassandra was about to get all up in his face, but you pulled her back and told her it wasn’t worth it. “Let’s just go,” you told her. She frowned but followed you.

While Doc and 10K continued to wait in line, you and Cassandra walked around the grounds and checked out all the weapons on sale. Neither of you were actually looking to trade-not that you had anything you’d be willing to trade anyway—but you needed something to do. Something away from the drama that seemed to surround you and 10K.

“What’s up with you guys?” Cassandra asked as you passed over the third table full of guns you’d seen in the last five minutes.

“What do you mean? Who?”

“You and 10K, obviously,” she said.

“Oh,” you replied. You avoided eye contact with her, hoping that she wouldn’t be able to tell just how hurt you had been at his recent actions towards you. Of course, she could tell. “I don’t know. I think I pissed him off somehow, but I can’t figure out what I did wrong.”

“Have you tried asking him?”

“He won’t talk to me!” You turned to her, exasperated. The vendor at the table told you to scoot if you weren’t going to buy anything, so the two of you walked away from the makeshift stalls and headed towards an empty picnic table. You couldn’t see Doc and 10K from this position, but you had a perfect view of where the competition was being set up, so you would know when it was time to join them once again. “I tried talking to him just outside the bar earlier, but he walked away from me. I don’t know what to do, Cass,” you whined.

“Boy problems in the middle of the zombie apocalypse,” Cassandra chuckled, shaking her head and smiling at you. You groaned and covered your face in your hands.

“It sounds so stupid when you say it like that!”

“It sounds so normal!” she countered. “Normal people problems are a nice thing to have when the alternative is what it is.”

“I guess you’re right,” you mumbled. She pulled your hands away from your face, and you gave her a weak and shaky smile. It wobbled as you said, “What am I gonna do? The boy I like won’t even look at me—” Cassandra cut you off.

“Ah-ha!” she said as though you had just revealed something groundbreaking and not something she already knew and had made clear that she knew. “Addy owes me a drink next time we see her.” You pushed her away from you playfully, but she just shot you an impish grin.

“You and Addy were betting on me? Not cool!” You tried your best to sound serious and upset, but you had to admit that it brought a small smile to your face.

“Took you long enough to admit it! Now she’s not even here to see me claim my victory. SMH.”

“OMG, you did not just say ‘SMH’,” you mocked her. She laughed and rolled her eyes at you.

“Yeah, okay, kid. Laugh it up.”

“You’re barely older than me!”

“Tell that to my two-year community college degree,” she teased.

“Not fair! I didn’t even get the opportunity to go to any kind of college,” you faux pouted. “And besides, not like you’re getting much use out of that degree; are you, grandma?”

“Clinical psychology and a minor in field biology are extremely useful in these trying times, actually,” Cassandra joked. “But seriously,” her voice sobered, “what are you going to do? About 10K?” You sighed and ran a hand over your hair.

“What can I do?” you asked.

“Tell him how you feel, maybe.” Your head whipped up, your eyes wide and staring at her.

“Are you crazy? I can’t just tell him I like him,” you hissed at her, your voice low and quiet so that no one nearby could eavesdrop.

“Okay, maybe you can’t come out and say it. But what if you could find some way to show it? Maybe that’d be enough for him to get the hint and stop acting like such a dick.” You nodded slowly, taking her advice to heart. Could that work? Words hadn’t gotten through to him, but it was possible that your actions could. “Something to think about,” she said, shrugging and getting up from the table as you saw Doc and 10K make their way to the competition field. You followed her, lost in thought.

You and Cassandra returned to Doc, just as 10K was catching up with the girl from earlier. You let out a huff but watched silently as 10K took his position. Doc was coaching him and rubbing his shoulders. Sketchy was explaining the rules. You just wanted to get this over with and get out of Kansas.

“Hey, darling. Who was that guy?” Doc asked you when you rejoined them. Apparently, he had been watching you two and witnessed your unpleasant interaction with the guitarist.

You sighed and pushed your hair away from your sweaty forehead. “Just some creep. Who knows what he wanted.”

“I can probably guess,” Cassandra said with a scowl and a narrowing of her eyes as she looked in his direction.

“Hey, maybe he could be my first kiss,” you joked without an ounce of humor in your tone. You were tired and didn’t want to think about pervy guitarists or cute snipers. Unfortunately, said cute sniper seemed to have overheard your and Cassandra’s conversation, and he was looking back at you. When you met his eyes, he frowned, shook his head, and turned toward the field as the shooting targets made their way across it. You looked to Cassandra, and she just gave you a similar reaction. You sighed and traded your attention from their disapproving looks towards the field as the competition began.

The targets were zombies, parading in a straight line after an ice cream truck. The jingle was attracting them, and it was such a ridiculous sight that you let out a sarcastic snort. 10K easily headshot each Z, round after round.

A commotion near the vehicles drew your attention. Murphy was being cornered by a group of armed men. You, Doc, and Cassandra hurried over, hoping to deescalate whatever problem Murphy had gotten himself into this time. One man, the one your friends had been talking to in the bar earlier, held his gun to Murphy’s temple. Just as he pulled the trigger, Cassandra moved his arm, and the bullet missed. Doc then had to grapple the man, and he let out another shot. You finally got in there, attempting to disarm the man, but his gun fired one, final time. In the scuffle, one of the other men shot the main guy. In the heart. Before you could properly mercy him, a Z with his pants around his ankles came lurching out of the outhouse.

The guitarist yelled out, “Zombies!” You, Doc, Cassandra, and Murphy ran like hell. Doc left Murphy in the truck, and you, he, and Cassandra went to go collect 10K and Warren.

Unfortunately, 10K was still in the competition—just one of three shooters left. You couldn’t leave now. Not when he was so close.

“Why are you called Ten Thousand?” you heard the female sniper ask.

“It’s how many Z’s I plan to kill.”

“How many you got?”

“Not counting today…”

“2,119,” you said along with him. Both he and the girl looked back at you. His eyes were wide, and you were embarrassed that you had known that. The girl faced forward once again, but 10K’s eyes stayed on you.

“I’ll still get more than you today,” the girl said. 10K snapped out of it and turned back around, shaking his head as if shaking you out of his mind.

“Maybe,” he said. “Maybe not.” 10K easily headshot the next Z. The three of you cheered him on. “You ready to give up?” he asked the girl.

“Never.”

“Never?”

“If this is your attempt at trying to psych me out, it’s failing miserably.” The man who was with her—you assumed he was her father—told her to stay focused. “That gun is mine.” You weren’t an expert, but you felt tension. And not just the competitive kind.

“Zombies!” Sketchy’s partner, Skeezy, called out. You turned to look. “Zombies inside the perimeter!” Sure enough, Z’s had begun to invade. The competition was still on, however.

It was the final round. You held your breath as 10K fired the first shot. Then, when the girl fired and the bullet went directly through the hole 10K had just created, you exhaled harshly. You had to admit, it was impressive. Skeezy declared it a tie which meant there was one more, sudden-death round to determine the winner.

“So, come on over and see me and put down your bets before the next round!” Sketchy announced through his traffic cone microphone. As people went and placed their bets, you decided to be brave. You went over and leaned down next to 10K. He pretended to be looking through his scope and preparing for the next shot, trying to ignore you, but you knew he felt your presence because he stiffened, and his jaw clenched.

It was now or never if you wanted to show 10K how you felt.

“Hey,” you started, and his head cocked ever so slightly to the side. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on between us right now, but I want you to know that I believe in you. I think you’ve got a real shot at this.” You paused. “No pun intended.” He looked as if he was holding back an annoyed but amused smirk, and this spurred you on. “You’ve got this,” you said, and you quickly leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek. He whirled his head around just as you hastily turned and walked back to Doc and Cassandra. You couldn’t make eye contact with any one of them, but Cassandra nudged you with her elbow.

Fortunately for your embarrassment but unfortunately in every other regard, a horde of zombies was rapidly approaching. “We got a couple of fresh runners!” Sketchy called out, ready to use this to his advantage. The last round of the competition seemed to have come down to who could kill the most Z’s. 10K and the girl were able to easily put down the two runners.

10K even had to mercy the driver of the ice cream truck as a pack of zombies descended on him. One clean shot to the forehead declared him the winner. You, Doc, and Cassandra congratulated him before pulling him to his feet and rushing him over to the prize table. You hadn’t seen 10K smile so wide in a long time as he was handed his prize. But you didn’t have time to relish his happiness. You had to get out of there as fast as you could.

Doc and Cassandra ran ahead, and you headed for Warren. 10K didn’t follow you, so you looked back to see that he had gone with the other girl. You bit the inside of your cheek and kept running for the bar. You had to smash in the skulls of two Z’s, but you made it to the bar just as Warren was walking out. You called her name and watched as she expertly killed the pantsless Z from earlier. “Come on,” she said to you.

The two of you killed every Z in your path as you made your way back to the truck. Warren was on fire, and she almost seemed to be back to her regular self. She killed twice as many Z’s as you because at some point, you had become so entranced with watching her work that you could no longer move. You saw Doc and Cassandra nearby, in a similar state. “You’re looking better,” Cassandra said.

“Who’s next?” Warren asked. You had chills.

The four of you returned to the truck together, in silence. Once you were there, 10K was still nowhere in sight. You had been waiting for a couple of minutes when Murphy said, “How much longer are we going to wait for him?”

“Not much,” Warren responded.

“We can’t leave without him!” you said, indignantly.

“He’ll be here,” Doc insisted.

Just then, 10K came running up to the truck, yelling out, “Hey!” A grin broke out on your face but was quickly replaced with horror as you watched a Z come up from behind and grab him. You tried to climb over Murphy to get out of the truck, but the man was not budging. Warren was able to get out, luckily, but was unable to get a clear shot. “Get him!” 10K shouted, struggling against the Z’s strength.

“I can’t get a shot!”

“Hold him steady, kid!”

“I can’t,” he said. Just as you had switched tactics and began to climb over Cassandra to get out of the truck, the zombie’s head exploded. There was the girl from the competition, come to save his life. She was wielding 10K’s prize rifle. You got out anyway and ran to 10K’s side. You took his face in your hands, trying to make sure he hadn’t been hit by anything other than zombie guts, but he kept his eyes and a smile trained on the girl. She smiled back. Doc quickly pulled 10K away, trying to get him into the truck. The girl gave you a friendly wave as she got into her mini-van, and you waved back sheepishly. She was cute. And she was nice. And she had saved his life. Hell, who wouldn’t like her? You jumped into the back once more, after giving a final look to the girl.

10K was shell-shocked. Love-stricken, you might say. You couldn’t blame him. Still, it was one rejection too many, and you could feel your little, unrequited crush fizzling out. Maybe the two of you would only ever be friends. Did he even want to be your friend? You needed to know what had gone so wrong between the two of you, but you decided to give him space. You weren’t going to bother him anymore.

You turned toward the window and fell asleep, exhausted and still feeling a slight buzz—from both the shot you had taken earlier and the kiss you had given. Before you had fully drifted off, your eyes closed, you overheard a whispered conversation between 10K and Doc.

“She kissed me,” 10K said, awe in his voice. Your heart skipped a beat.

“I know, kid. We were there,” Doc chuckled.

“What?” 10K seemed confused, so Doc said your name. “Oh. No, not her.” Your heart skipped another beat, but it was an entirely different feeling this time. “Brittany. The sniper. The girl who just saved me.”

“Damn, kid!” Doc said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Two kisses from two pretty girls in one day! Somebody’s got game.”

“Do you think she liked me?”

“You gotta be more specific.”

“Brittany.”

You felt a pit form in your stomach. A single tear, born from both anger and sadness, slipped down your cheek. You forced yourself to ignore the rest of their conversation as you fell into a fitful sleep.

Chapter Six: Citizen Z’s New Best Friend OR The Erection Situation

[pillowspace]

Hey! Question for writers. How do you do that

[jasperbynight]

Umm if you still write request will you write something for 10K x female reader ? Something angsty to fluff or just fluff

I can totally do this, give me about a month as I have a lot to do irl but yeah, this is going to be fun 😁