The Man had her head pinned down, she was sucking up water and nothing else. No air. He lifted her head up briefly, just enough for her to hear him say something. Then she was down again. The sweet taste of air was ripped from her. Her body ached from the fight she tried to put up for Lucy. She had to try, for Warren, Murphy, 10K, Doc. Her last thoughts were of her failure as she blacked out.
Doc was riding the bicycle uphill when a Z appeared on the side of the road. He got out his crowbar, ready to mercy it but it didn't attack him. Instead, the zombie pointed into the woods where Doc could hear the sound of water.
Curious, Doc ventured into the woods following the Z that Lucy must be controlling. The zombie, wearing a "Grandpa" shirt, tripped a few times until Doc helped it up and continued. Finally, the woods ended and opened up into a small bank where Doc's heart sunk. In the water he saw a black blob of clothes with red hair.
Addy, he thought as he took off running towards the girl. When he reached her, Doc pulled Addy's head out of the water and put it in his lap, looking at the bloodied and bruised face she had. Anger flared in the old man. The Man had done this, he knew that much, but he couldn't lose Addy.
Laying the girl on her back he put his ear to her chest. Weak heartbeat but no breathing. Doc sat up and began CPR on her, ignoring the Z behind him completely. After about a minute Addy turned her head to the side and coughed up a mouthful of water, struggling to breath. Doc helped her sit up as she took deep breaths for the first time.
"Doc?" She asked weakly, turning to him with one eye swollen shut.
"Shhh, Addy, it's ok. Come on, can you walk?" The red head nodded weakly. Doc grabbed her arm and began to pull her up when she shouted in pain.
"No stop!" She screamed in agony, pulling her arm back to her chest. "I think he broke it, I can't feel my arm Doc," tears silently darted down her bloody cheeks.
"That damned man, I am gonna mercy him as soon as I can for hurting you like this," Doc gently reached for her left arm this time. "Can I see it?" She nodded and allowed him to take her hurt arm in his hands, wincing in pain as he did so. He moved it around a bit, asking her where it hurt before giving her his diagnosis. "Yep, it's broke kiddo, and your shoulders dislocated. I'll have to reset the shoulder and when we get back to the road I'll wrap the arms and clean your cuts. It's your wrist that's broken, though."
"I'm not a kid, Doc. Im 26, not 5," she laughed off the pain, or at least tried to.
"Ok Addy, this is gonna hurt like a bitch," she just nodded her head. She already knew it would hurt. "On the count of three," Addy was laying against Doc's chest, one of his hands on her shoulder, one on her arm,"One, two…" she braced for the pain to come as best she could,"three!" Doc pulled her arm back, hearing a pop while an ear piercing scream came from her lips. Trying, but failing to stay awake, Addy passed out from oxygen deprivation and pain.
Meanwhile, Warren, 10K, Murphy, Sun Mei, Red and 5K were all driving on the road, ready for a rescue mission when Warren heard an alarming noise. A scream, really. She looked to Murphy in the passenger's seat before stopping the car and jumping out.
"Warren we don't have time for this, we need to get to those coordinates now! My daughter is out there," Murphy screamed at her. Behind them, the other car stopped and everyone was gathered around.
"You heard that scream too," asked 10K, looking like crap while being supported by Red.
"Yea, it sounded like a female, come on lets just check it out quick to be sure they don't need help," Murphy stormed up to her.
"Warren, we need to go," he demanded.
"We'll be quick so stop pouting like a two year old, Murphy," she pulled her gun out before venturing into the woods to investigate. Warren lead the group who all followed through the thick woods towards a river, where she thought she heard the scream come from.
"Warren," 10K whispered, gun drawn as well. He nodded his head to the ground, towards a small drop of blood.
"Lets go," she pushed forward, following the blood trail until the woods opened up into a small riverbank. Next to the water they could all see that there was a small horde of zombies surrounding two people. Two very familiar people.
"Doc!" Shouted 10K, pulling up his gun like the rest of them, all opening fire on the horde of people. Warren was wondering what was wrong with Addy, who was currently laying on the ground battered and bruised. When the small group of Z's were dead, Warren put her gun in its holster before running over to Addy, still laying down, unconscious.
"Boy am I glad to see you guys!" Doc exclaimed, throwing his arms around 10K.
"Doc what the hell happened to her?" Warren demanded, Sun Mei rushing over to the bruised girl.
"The Man happened. I sent word to you guys while Addy went after The Man and Lucy, I don't know what happened after that," Doc looked to the dead Z with the grandpa shirt on. "This Z lead me to her, thanks to Lucy otherwise she would have drown for sure. When I got here I had to give her CPR and thank god she's a fighter, because I know I wouldn't have survived that. Anyways, I reset her dislocated shoulder and she passed out from the pain, or oxygen deprivation I don't know. Her left wrist is definitely broken too," Sun Mei was looking over the girl the whole time.
"Yes, her wrist is definitely broken. We need to get her in the car, help me with her," Sun Mei gently picked up one side of Addy while Warren got the other. Carefully, they carried the broken girl back to the car and lay her down in the back seat, Doc and Sun Mei checking over her while Murphy and Warren hopped in the front. The rest followed in the other car as they took off.
"Doc do you have bandages for her?" Sun Mei asked, concerned with all the cuts on her face and arms.
"Yea," he said, frantically searching through his bag. He gladly found them and handed them to Sun Mei.
"Ok, we need to reset her wrist and wrap it while she's still out, it's gonna hurt."
"I told her that when I reset her shoulder. Should have had her bite down on something because her scream attracted all those Z's." Silently, Sun Mei probed and poked Addy's wrist looking for where it was broke. Without any warning, she twisted the wrist in a painful way, a sickening crack filling the air. That was what woke Addy up, kicking and screaming.
"Calm down! Come on Addy, chill!" Doc tried. After about a minute of struggling she calmed down enough to look at her new surroundings.
"Warren?" The woman in question poked her head back, smiling at Addy.
"Look who's awake. You gave us quite the scare," Addy smiled.
"Yea, I thought I was dead for sure when he dragged me into the river…" she trailed off as Sun Mei and Doc wrapped her arms in bandages and cleaned her face.
"I know you don't want to talk about it, Addy, but we need to know what happened at the river," Warren asked regretfully. Murphy turned to look at the broken girl.
"Is my daughter alright?" He asked instead.
"Yea, Lucy's fine. Though she is a lot older than she should be," Addy proceeded to tell them everything that happened, starting from the very beginning of when they met Lucy. After a while of talking, she finished with her fight with The Man. "He knows some sort of fighting vudu crap."
"I'm going to kill him when I see him," growled Murphy, who then turned to look at Addy. "And… thanks." She gave him a puzzled look. "For trying to save Lucy. You put up quite the fight," he looked her up and down.
"You're welcome, but you're gonna have to beat me to killing that dude when we get wherever we're going."
"Hell to the no," Warren said without taking her eyes off the road. "When we reach the coordinates you are staying in the car. Doc said before your showdown with The Man at the river you for sure have a concussion, not counting the beating he gave you at the river. Besides, your left arm is broke."
"Wrist. And that doesn't mean I can't walk or shoot a gun, Warren. I promised Lucy I would find her, and that is exactly what I plan on doing. I just won't be able to swing my bat…" She trailed off in thought. "Where is my bat!" She sat up straighter and looked around.
"10K grabbed it before we left," said Murphy. Addy let out a breath of relief at the news.
"Good, I love that thing," Addy lay back against Sun Mei while Doc wrapped her wrist.
"Addy," Warren said again. "I don't want you going into wherever we're going… I would rather know you're safe in here." Addy could tell she was genuinely concerned for her wellbeing.
"Warren...I can't. Lucy needs me, The Man killed both of her guardians back at the farm she grew up at. I promised her, and I can't just break that promise, I let her down too many times."
Warren sighed before nodding her head.
"Ok, but if you're not up to it then just tell me. I can't lose you. And I guess it's a competition to see who can kill The Man first, because I'm pretty sure everyone wants too." The redhead smiled just as Doc finished wrapping her wrist.
"Now, kiddo, that's going to take a while to heal so just take it easy, would ya?" Doc asked, packing away his supplies.
"I'll try, but no promises." Warren shot her head back, giving the redhead a glare. "Jeez, Warren ok, I'll take it easy," she lied easily. The rest of the drive went by in silence until they reached their coordinates that Citizen Z gave them, not at all expecting where they reached. Stopping the car, everyone got out and gazed upon a large mountain with a small locked passage in front of them.
10K walked up beside Addy and gave her a hug, letting her know he was glad she didn't die by the hand of a monster like The Man. They shared a smile until Murphy interrupted.
"What the hell now, Warren. We never counted on their damn coordinates being a locked mountain!" He shouted in frustration. Warren just shot a look at him.
"We will figure this out, Murphy. Just-" She never finished though, as they heard multiple gunshots come from inside of the mountain. Everyone pulled out a gun, including the barely standing 10K, except Addy who didn't have one. Warren whistled to Addy who just barely caught the 9mm tossed to her one handed. Warren then signaled for the team to advance towards the door that was being dented with bullet holes. Everyone gathered around either side of the door, just waiting.
It felt like an eternity before the large white door started to slowly creak open, revealing a small passageway filled with Z's. Murphy just walked towards them, closing his eyes in concentration, trying to sway the Z's into moving. It didn't work and they all charged at him as he ran behind the group who opened fire.
Addy shot one handed, being a little off as she started to feel light headed, wavering on her feet a bit, thankfully everyone was too busy shooting to notice though. After about 40 shots, all Z's were dead on the ground.
"Well," Warren said, gun still up as she advanced into the tunnels. "I guess this is our way in." Addy fell in line, right behind her, Murphy behind Addy and the rest all grouped up as they dove deeper into the narrowing halls. Leading her team, Warren rounded each corner with skill before making her way further into the building.
Rounding a corner into a small room with a window, Warren nodded for Sun Mei, Red and 10K to go into the room.
"Stay here and do what you can for him," she said to Sun Mei before leading the rest of them back into the hallways. They reached the end of the compound where there was a staircase leading out onto the rooftop. "This is it guys, lets get Lucy back." They all nodded and Warren led them up the stairs, followed by Murphy, Doc and Addy last.
"Stop right there!" Addy heard Warren yell, still hidden in the tunnels a bit. When they all got to the top she could see The Man had a gun trained on Warren and Doc, Lucy behind him.
"Lucy," she called out to the young girl who had grown even more since she last saw her. She lowered her gun before slowly stepping forward, just enough to see the the girl they were all after poke her head out from behind The Man.
"Aunt Addy!" She screamed, trying to run towards the redhead when The Man grabbed her and pulled her to his chest, guns still trained on the threats in front of him.
"Jesus, what does it take to kill you!" He screamed to Addy in anger. "You know, Addison Carver, you have caused me more trouble than a fucking thorn in my balls! If you and the old man there wouldn't have came to little Lucy's rescue we might already be in Zona making a cure." Murphy growled, The Man turning his attention to him. "Oh, The Murphy himself. If you would've just come with me in the first place then little Lucy wouldn't even be here." The Man laughed.
"Just let my daughter go, take me instead. I am the one who has the real vaccine anyways, you don't want my daughter," he made eyes contact with Lucy. "Please, just take me instead."
Warren handed her gun to Doc before moving towards The Man, hands up.
"This doesn't have to end in violence, you know," she tried to reason with him. "We can all be friendly, right?" The Man aimed his gun at Addy with Warren no longer being a threat.
Snickering, The Man said, "You know what, I will take the trade for Murphy," he turned to face Addy. "But only if the bitch dies." Before anyone could even move, The Man fired many bullets, Doc jumping for cover, not daring to shoot towards Lucy as Warren and Murphy charged The Man. Lucy, deafened from the guns fired off next to her ear ran towards her father and hugged him. Murphy picked up Lucy and ran to cover with Doc behind a large concrete slab.
Warren easily disarmed The Man of both guns as Addy punched him in the nose with her good arm, blood flying as he back up a few paces. Pulling her gun, Addy aimed towards The Man.
"I thought I already shot you?" She asked him, confused.
"And I thought I already beat you and drowned you, yet here we are. What are you waiting for? Shoot me." Addy did just that, pulling the trigger. The gun just clicked empty. Shit she thought as The Man pulled a knife and charged towards her and Warren. Thinking quick, Addy threw the gun at her foe, with him dodging at last second and tackling her to the ground. The two rolled a bit, The Man on top with the knife an inch away from Addy's neck when Warren ran and tackled The Man off the redhead, saving her life again.
As Warren got up, however, The Man slashed at her and the knife dug home, creating a nice sized gash on her shoulder. Using his other hand, The Man punched Warren in the cheek, knocking her down. Doc stood off to the side, just getting a clear shot as Warren fell but before he could pull the trigger, a red blur rushed in front of his sight and tackled The Man, both falling down the staircase.
"Addy!" He shouted, running to the staircase just in time to see them both stop rolling at the bottom. The Man looked up to see Doc aiming his gun at him, rolling to the side before he could be shot. Rushing down the stairs, Warren, Murphy and Lucy just behind him, Doc saw Addy lying on the ground just like he found her at the river. "No no no no no," he said frantically dropping to her side.
The pain Addy felt was unreal. Her chest burned like no other pain she's ever felt in her whole life and her head spun like crazy as she felt hands roll her onto her back.
"Shit!" Warren cussed, taking off her jacket and pressing it to Addy's chest. "Hang in there, Addy. You're going to be just fine." Addy knew she was lying. The pain in her chest hurt so badly she felt like she could just die from pain alone. When she tackled The Man down the stairs they both rolled, trying to gain control of the knife he had. She know knew she lost that battle, seeing the knife sticking out of her chest, a good two inches away from her heart.
"Warren," she mumbled weakly. She could feel Doc slide something soft under her head, relieving some of the pressure but not all. "Warren," she said again, weaker this time.
"What is it Addy? Murphy go get Sun Mei! Hurry!" He nodded before taking off with Lucy who was crying for her Aunt Addy. Addy could taste blood coming up her throat.
"Promise me…" she trailed off. This was it, she was going to die. Her strength was slowly leaving her body and Addy knew it. So did Doc and Warren. "Promise me you won't let me turn.." she finished, coughing a bit as blood spattered around her mouth.
"No, Addy, no! Don't talk like that, because you're not dying. Right Doc?" She turned to the old man.
"She's right kiddo. It's not even that bad, just a few stitches and you'll be as good as new." She could hear the lie in his voice and see the tears streaming down his face into his beard.
Addy laughed a little, coughing up more blood. "Don't lie to me, Doc. I can feel it, I'm not going to make it." Doc smiled before leaning down and kissing her forehead.
"You know me kiddo, I don't lie," he said sadly.
"Addy just hold on. You can't give up, just don't close your eyes, ok?" Addy nodded her head, closing her eyes just for a second, but not having enough strength to open them again. "Addy no! No, I can't lose you too!" Warren sobbed. Addy could hear footsteps approaching as Sun Mei knelt before her. She heard voices talking, voices she had travelled thousands of miles with, people she had come to call family as Addy slowly gave up her fight and let the darkness take her.