S5E10:

It took another three days before they got from the dam to the mines which rested just by the mountains. The Cave Dwellers Outpost usually oversaw the mines since it was easier for them to reach it than the Mountaineers who had to come down from their camp in the higher peaks. And instead of your usual coal mines, which were higher north in the heart of the Cave Dwellers territory, they were actually mines within an old junkyard. Since Newmerica wouldn't have a way to process coal yet they decided excavating the junkyard and recycling what they could would be a better use of time until they made the means to tend to the coal properly. But for some reason the Cave Dwellers had abandoned it and it looked like Altura had taken over in their absence. Bailey wondered what could have drawn the dwellers out, maybe they'd been attacked by bombers and balls of zombies too? Or maybe the Altura militia had made them leave. She mulled over the possibilities as their group ducked behind some abandoned cars and stacks of barrels on the side of the road as a large eighteen wheeler drove by them.

"Somebody's burning gas like there's no apocalypse." Doc complained while resting his hands on his hips after they'd all left their hiding places and regrouped.

"Yeah, what was in that crate?" Warren asked suspicious of the truck's cargo.

"Whatever it is I bet it's headed to Altura." George replied a bit sourly.

"I think you're right, but where's it coming from?" Warren asked walking along the road a few paces and looking over the metal wall that sealed off the junkyard keeping what the people inside were up to private.

"Warren?" George asked joining her after she'd stood there for a long quiet moment.

"Knowledge is buried underneath the past. Guarded by demons with sharp claws." She said looking at the large crane with its sharp metal claws as it carried scrap metal around the junkyard.

"The ancestor's prophecy?" George asked.

"Worth checking out." Warren said drawing her gun "Stay quiet, keep low."

"Cool, at least we're sticking together." Doc said as they followed Warren to an old firetruck outside the junkyard and climbed on top of it keeping themselves low so no one would see them. They now had enough height to look over the walls and Warren peered through her small binoculars at what was happening.

"North American Recycling." Warren read off a sign.

"Quite the operation." Doc said looking around at how big the junkyard was.

"Altura, what are they up to now?" George said to herself out loud.

Warren passed George the binoculars, "They're Talkers alright."

"Talkers?"

"What are they doing?" Doc asked.

"Scavenging? Electronics. Phones, laptops. . . " George listed as she watched them.

"Nope, they're mining something." Warren said since obviously there wasn't much need for things like cell phones and computers in this world.

Meanwhile 10K was using the scope of his own gun to check it out, "Caution hazardous material." he read off a sign.

"Of course." Doc scoffed, "Why can't the signs ever say anything nice, like, baby goats this way."

"Goats." Bailey muttered beside 10K and he turned to her seeing her shaking her head, "Like zombie sheep weren't enough." She muttered and only 10K heard her and chuckled. Then he passed her his rifle and she took a look at what they were going to be dealing with.

"Should we be worried about this stuff?" George asked and Bailey knew she was talking about how all the workers from Altura were in white suits to keep them safe from any radiation.

"It's the apocalypse, whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Warren said putting her binoculars away.

"Well then I'm Superman." Doc grumbled and Bailey gave one chuckle this time as she passed 10K his gun back.

"Want me to take up a position?" 10K asked turning to Warren.

"Good to have you back baby boy." Warren replied, "But I need to figure out what's going on before you start shooting people. We're gonna split up, you, Doc and Bailey go figure out where they're loading these trucks and we are going to check out these miners."

"Well that didn't take long." Doc said as they all got off the fire truck and went their separate ways.

Third Person POV

Warren and George successfully snuck their way between the piles of garbage to where a group of Talkers was being pushed around by Altura workers in the white radiation suits.

"Come on! Faster!" one man's voice carried across the open dusty air. "Come on! Move it! More!" the man kept shouting to one Talker who seemed so starved he was barely coherent.

"Look." The man said picking up a piece of salvaged scrap, "This or this." He said holding up his gun then using it to knock the Talker to the ground, "Come on! Worthless!"

As the man tormented the poor Talker George and Warren took the opportunity to move from the pile of junk they were hiding behind to some more barrels then to an old truck without any wheels.

"This or this." George whispered holding up her gun and her fist.

"There'll be enough time for that." Warren whispered trying to calm her down, "These Talkers are pretty far gone."

"No bizkits. Maybe the toxic stew around here is what's keeping them from turning." George suggested as she peeked out watching one Talker, "Hey check this out."

The Talker closest to them was raising a piece of something to his mouth and started chewing on it then he looked around and when his eyes caught them they ducked back to their hiding place but he was somehow now more aware then the other Talkers and walked over to where they were.

"Do. Not. Go. Down. There. The metal. Is alive." He warned as the Altura man came over.

"Back to work."

"No! Not safe!" the Talker refused.

"Come on, back to work!" the man shouted as Warren and George took off for a better hiding spot.

"Did you see how that Talker snapped out of it?" Warren asked when they were a safe distance away.

"Like somebody threw a bucket of cool water on him." George said stunned.

"Whatever they're mining. . . affects the Talkers." Warren said putting the pieces together.

"The secret ingredient." George whispered.

"We gotta get our hands on whatever's in those barrels." Warren said looking back toward the group trying to find a way to do it without getting caught.

"I've got an idea." George told her with a smile.

Bailey POV

They worked their way around the junkyard until they found the loading dock where all the trucks were waiting to be loaded with whatever the men were putting in the crates. Outside the building were stacks of compressed soda cans and other old trash that had already been salvaged for what they were worth.

"Whatever they're guarding must be important." 10K said as he peeked around the corner of a block of cans. "Doc?" he asked noticing the older man wasn't listening.

"Someday kids this is gonna be all that's left of us." he said looking around at the cubes of cans, "Mountains of crap and oceans full of plastic."

"Well we'll be dead so who cares?" 10K replied.

"Think that's what our parents used to say about the zombie apocalypse?" Bailey asked and 10K got an unreadable expression on his face and she wondered if he was thinking back to a lifetime ago when they'd talked about having kids one day. It seemed like a dream that had shriveled up and died along with graduating college and going on vacation but shouldn't they still care for all the other kids? The ones in Pacifica and Altura? Kids like JZ who would grow up in whatever world they left behind?

That had effectively killed their conversation so they got back to their job at hand. They took off when the coast was clear and ran into the open loading bay. There were several large rectangular buckets on wheels that were piled high with the electronics the Talkers had salvaged and she, Doc and 10K crouched behind two that were next to each other.

"It's more of the same junk." 10K said quietly.

"One man's junk, is another man's treasure." Doc said and 10K and Bailey both looked at him weird, "Yeah, no, that didn't come out right."

Then a few more men in those white suits showed up and started rummaging through other carts of scrap. Doc and Bailey each grabbed the side of the carts they were hiding behind and wheeled them across the room as 10K crouched and crab walked between them as they moved to another section of the building. This room had a large conveyer belt that was taking the scrap and dumping it into a smelter which glowed bright orange with the extreme heat.

"What are they doing with all this?" 10K asked looking over the melting metal, his face covered in the orange glow.

"Who knows?" Doc replied.

"Melting down parts by the look of it." Bailey said hearing the bubbling as the metal became liquid.

"But for what?" 10K asked as they ducked beside the machinery as more men walked by. One man had a heavy duty rod with a claw on the end and he lowered it into the other end of the machine and pulled out a metal brick. Carefully he brought it over and rest it gently into a large fish tank full of water and other metal bricks. Then two men rested a crate over it as another wheeled the tank away. Whatever those bricks were was what they were shipping. But what were they using it for? And where was it going and why?

"What the hell is that? Silver?" 10K asked as they stood back up again when the coast was clear.

"I don't think you have to be that careful with silver." Doc told him, "Whatever it is, they're afraid of it." Then they heard gunfire and turned to see if they could figure out where it was coming from, "Militia bastards probably killing more Talkers."

Then there was a sound like something powering down, "What happened? What you'd – you push something?" Doc asked turning to them. Bailey shook her head and 10K held his hands out, his gun in one and his antler the other, "Oh."

They ducked again as they heard footsteps and shortly after more men ran by. It wasn't the casual pace they'd been working at, now they looked like they were in a rush to get somewhere – or get away from something.

"Well they know something we don't." Doc said, "Come on let's split." And they took off after the men to see if they could find anything. Following the men brought them to a large metal shipment crate like the kind you saw on those large barge like ships. The men passed it by but their trio stopped to check it out. There were puddles of blood along the open entrance that looked a bit like drag marks.

"Zombies?" 10K asked.

Doc shook his head, "We'd have heard them." He readied his hammers while Bailey grabbed her hatchet. 10K adjusted the strap around his torso that was hooked to his gun as he kept his finger near the trigger.

"Talkers did this?" 10K asked skeptical.

"Nah, nah, they're too. . . I dunno, stoned." Doc replied as they slowly made their way inside.

As they walked further in they saw more and more blood splatters, it was all over some books and paperwork even dripping down the walls like in old horror movies.

"If they were taking the time to record paperwork then this place should be heavily guarded." Bailey said trying to piece the chaos around them together in a way that made sense. "Where is everyone?"

"What did they, shoot each other?" Doc guessed.

"Well they fired out. . . but. . . at what?" 10K asked from the doorway making a judgement based on the placement of the bullet holes and blood splatters.

"Whatever it was it was big." Doc said pointing a hammer above 10K's head and he tilted his head back and looked at the bullet holes in the metal door above his head.

"I've never seen a Z that tall." Bailey said knowing if it towered over 10K then it had to be nearly seven feet high, "And I really don't want to."

Bailey went in deeper and looked around at what appeared to be a converted office space slash control room and cringed when she saw a decapitated body. The arms looked human, not the rotting skin of a zombie and she knew she didn't want to find what did that.

"No baby goats?" 10K said.

"No baby goats." Doc agreed sadly.

"No zombie either Doc." She spoke up confirming his earlier thoughts and they both joined her to see what she'd found. "Z's go for brains, maybe take a few bites of flesh. . . I've never seen one take the head and leave the body before."

They kept looking through the room until they got to a desk with several old television screens that looked like they were hooked up to various cameras around the junkyard as a makeshift security system.

"Check this out." Doc said sitting down, "Maybe we can find Warren and George. What does this button do?. . . Hmmm, nothing."

"Try that thing." 10K suggested pointing his antler at a joystick like on an old videogame system. Doc started messing with it and soon they saw a crane start to spin on one of the monitors and when Doc pressed the button on the stick the crane bent over, picked up a Talker and flung him across the junkyard.

"Oops. My bad." Doc said though he sounded like he was starting to enjoy himself, "I guess we know what that one does."

"Maybe we shouldn't be doing this?" 10K told them with his eyebrows scrunched together a bit worried.

"I know, but it's kinda fun." Doc chuckled before turning to the screens and seeing two men approaching them, "Uh oh, close the door quick!"

10K ran and shut the heavy metal and locked it as the men started to bang on the other side.

"Open up!"

Doc got up from his seat and grabbed some spare suits hanging on the wall quickly passing one to 10K. Bailey went to grab one too but 10K stopped her.

"What?" she asked.

"They're working for Altura, they'll recognize you remember?" he said and she groaned, "Just stay hidden in here, we'll take care of it." he assured her before heading for the door with Doc.

"Movies made being an outlaw and a fugitive look like so much more fun than hiding all the time." Bailey grumbled as she crouched under the desk so the men wouldn't see her standing around in the background. Doc and 10K got the door open and 10K quickly stuffed both hands into the pockets of the suit.

"All okay here." Doc said nonchalantly, "Yeah situation normal."

"Where's Coolie and Hood? What's going on? Who are you?" the man who'd been yelling at the Talkers before asked.

"Siegfried." Doc replied calmly, "This is my partner. . . Roy. The boss sent us here to speed up the operation."

"Estes sent you?" the man asked confused and Doc and 10K shared a look while Bailey felt a knot form in her stomach. You idiot, she scolded herself.

"Uh, that's right, Estes." Doc nodded, "He's not happy. He needs you to make more of them. . ."

"Bricks." 10K finished.

"Bricks, more." Doc nodded along.

"Yeah? Well screw Estes. He has no idea what we're up against here. I got four men dead or missing this last week, even the Talkers are spooked."

"Any idea. . . why?" Doc asked.

"This place ain't just hazardous, it's haunted."

"Yeah well haunted or not you're gonna need to keep feeding them conveyer belts or you're gonna end up with them Talkers digging up truffles." Doc said taking his role seriously.

"Well listen you tell Estes this mines been picked dry and he's wasting our time." The man snapped at him.

"While you're wasting my time! Now if you'll excuse us we've got work to do!" Doc shouted back at the man.

Thankfully the man didn't argue anymore, "Don't have to be such a dick about it." he muttered before he left with his partner.

"Haunted?" Doc asked as he and 10K shut the door and came back to the control center where Bailey was, "As if zombies weren't bad enough."

"Let's go find Warren and George." 10K said pushing the hood of the suit off his head.

"Already found 'em." Bailey said looking at one of the screens. They were being held at gunpoint by two of the men in white suits. Doc took his seat again and started working his magic, soon the automatic rifles the men were holding got sucked up by a giant magnet as Doc moved it over them.

"Not so tough without your guns now are ya?" Doc chuckled, "I'm getting the hang of this now."

Bailey turned to another screen and saw another man show up holding his gun on Warren and George but a moment later something pulled him into a pile of junk and a whole mess of blood sprayed out. Warren and George took off and 10K ran from their room and out into the junk.

"10K!" Bailey shouted hating the idea of him running into whatever had just killed that man in a second flat.

"What is that thing?" she heard Doc ask and turned to another screen and saw something covered in rags chasing after Warren and George.

Soon 10K joined them shouting to get their attention, "Warren!"

"10K!" she replied.

"That way!" he called and led them back to where Bailey was waiting with Doc and they both ran for the door shutting the metal so only their friends could slip in.

"Hurry!" Doc shouted as they saw the thing start to catch up behind the others.

"Come on! Come on!" Bailey cried as Warren made it through the door first, then George then 10K. While Warren and George helped Doc shut and lock the door the rest of the way Bailey wrapped her arms around 10K's middle tight and refused to let go.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." He said.

"Never do that again." she said into his shoulder still holding onto him as his arms wrapped around her. She'd seen a lot throughout her time in the apocalypse and the fact that anything could scare her as much as. . . whatever that thing was, was saying a lot.

"Nothing getting through that door." Doc said as they joined them in the office space and Bailey let go of 10K though he kept his handless arm around her shoulders.

"Well it looks like it's already been here." Warren said looking at the blood and the decapitated body on the floor.

"What is it?" Doc asked moving back to the screens trying to get a glimpse of it so they could figure out what it was. Talker? Zombie? Or some new kind of apocalyptic breed?

"Something super weird and super pissed." George said out of breath and Bailey noticed she was now dressed to blend in with the mining Talkers wearing a worn brown jacket and cap, "Is it gone?"

"For now. What does it want?" Doc asked.

"To be left alone." Warren said, "It has a lair of dead bodies and batteries, it's been mining this dump for a while."

"Mining for what?" Bailey asked leaning into 10K.

"Lithium." Warren answered.

"Might be the secret ingredient to the bizkits." George explained.

"Oh bizkits huh? Well that makes sense, we just found out that Estes is in charge of this whole operation." Doc told them.

"Estes?" George asked surprised.

"Whoever controls the bizkits controls the Talkers." Warren said, "Whoever controls the Talkers controls –"

"Controls Newmerica." George finished her thought, "Bastard. If that's true. . ." she trailed off knowing how bad this was.

"What now?" 10K asked with his arm still around Bailey.

"We get that last shipment of lithium and we get it to the Talkers at Limbo." Warren said.

"Oh crap." Doc said turning back to the screens, "Looks like they had the same idea, they're loading up and buggin' out."

"Yeah not if we can help it." Warren said and they all knew she already had a plan in mind.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" George asked.

"We're gonna hijack that truck." Warren said fiercely.

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Bailey was nervous once they put Warren's plan into action, it only made it worse that she could feel everyone else's nerves coming off them in waves. She and 10K were in the back of the last shipment truck while Doc drove, all of them in white suits to look like crew members. Then something made Doc brake and Bailey peered over the side of the truck bed to see two men approaching. One got in the driver's side while another got in the passenger door boxing Doc in. A third man got in the back of the truck with her and 10K holding an automatic rifle. He nodded at both of them as he stood on the left side of the crate that was being transported while Bailey stood in front of it and 10K stood to the right side. She looked over her right shoulder at him and they exchanged a nervous glance. Something in her gut told her this plan was not going to work and if by some miracle it did, it would not happen smoothly.

The truck got started and took off again for the gate, when it did it jolted the three in the bed and the man with the gun grabbed the side of the truck to steady himself, when he did he caught a glimpse of 10K's antler hand behind his back and his eyebrows pulled together in confusion but before he could voice any suspicions the truck stopped again and drew his attention.

"We got new orders." She heard Warren's voice as she spoke to the driver. "We're taking this truck. Direct orders from Estes."

Bailey didn't hear the driver respond and with each second that ticked by she became more nervous. Then there was a commotion in the driver's seat and the man with them turned ready to shoot assuming a hijacking was taking place. 10K was faster though and quickly turned to punch the man using the side of his prosthetic while his hand blocked the rifle turning it to the ground. The man recovered quickly though and punched 10K back making him stumble as Bailey went for him. He grabbed her by the collar of the white suit she was in and pushed her back against the crate bending her spine at a painful angle. The hood came off as she was thrown back and the man lifted his fist to hit her but it never made contact as 10K lunged and pulled the guy off her. The two wrestled for a bit before the guy got the upper hand and threw 10K against the side of the truck lunging at him and grabbing him around the middle as 10K pushed back and the pair spun and fell to the ground. 10K landed on top of the man and started punching him with his prosthetic while his good hand grabbed the man's suit and helped hold him down. Then the man started punching back until 10K was thrown off him. With the crate taking up so much room in the truck bed Bailey had no real way to easily get to them and help 10K. She couldn't even use her hatchet to swing because it was in her belt inside the suit she was wearing. Only when the man knocked over 10K and stood up did she see an opening. But when she tried to get the guy from behind he turned and grabbed her giving her a quick spin before throwing her into the side of the truck opposite where 10K was. He knelt by her, grabbed her collar and started hitting her head into the side over and over.

"No!" 10K shouted when he got up and saw her knowing that already having a bad head wound any more trauma could cause a concussion. He got up and leapt at the man but the guy had already heard his outburst and was ready for him. He turned and pushed 10K back, the two struggled a bit more but now Bailey's head was spinning and she couldn't tell who was winning since they were both in the same suits. Then 10K was backed up onto the roof of the truck and as he tried to fight the man off he ended up sliding over the windshield.

"Doc!" he shouted as the engine revved but didn't start as the hippie tried to get the vehicle working. The man followed 10K over and grabbed the back of his suit and pulled him up so his stomach was on the roof as he was pinned down. The others were all still fighting and Bailey was still waiting for her head to stop swimming and her vision to go back to normal when she heard the man in the driver's seat cry out in pain and Bailey pulled herself up enough to see over the edge of the truck as he was pulled out of the vehicle by some kind of Talker with a buzz saw for a hand. The Talker had a metal plate over his head like a silver cap protecting his brain from mercy and had a spine of metal that led to his all metal padded arm. He had a few straps across his chest that held batteries and a small green light indicated he was getting power from them. She closed her eyes as she heard a squelch and the next time she opened them the man was on the ground writhing in agony as a hole next to his shoulder where his arm had been attached bled in a never ending stream of red.

The man 10K had been fighting jumped off of the truck seeing his friend in trouble and took a metal pipe and hit the Talker in the head but the pole bounced off and he looked up at the unfazed Talker before he fled into the trash. 10K got back into the truck bed and took his gun that he'd abandoned on the floor, he tried shooting the Talker but the bullets just ricocheted off until he was out of ammo. Bailey used the side of the truck to push herself up more to grab him by the front of his suit and pull him down to his knees while giving him an expression that said 'what were you thinking?' to which he only shrugged with wide eyes, shocked from the metal Talker's immunity to guns.

Then Warren, Doc and George approached coming around the front of the truck and stopped when they saw the Talker. They each picked up a metal pipe from the ground and got ready to fight it. The Talker took a few steps toward them when his buzz saw started to power down and it looked like his batteries were running out of juice. Warren and the others took the chance to move in and started hitting him as Bailey got another dizzy spell and sat back down lying against the side of the truck, her stomach turned and flipped as she fought off the sudden wave of nausea. 10K saw her and immediately moved closer to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked and she shook her head – bad idea, bad idea, she scolded herself since the motion only made everything worse. He took his hand and pushed away the hair that was covering most of her face after the fight and she felt something wet drip down the side of her cheek.

"Damn." He cursed under his breath and she assumed her head wound was bleeding again. "Doc!" he called and the next second he was there hauling himself into the truck to look her over. He started to check to see if she had a concussion as 10K explained what the man had done to her in their fight.

"Bailey? Bailey. Are you still dizzy?" he asked.

"Not very much."

"Do you know who I am?"

"Doc."

"Do you feel any pressure in your head or a ringing in your ears?"

"No."

"Can you tell me what year it is?"

"No one can, it's the apocalypse."

"Alright." He said sounding a bit relived, "No slurred speech or delayed responses."

"But she was already knocked unconscious once and Ayalla said she couldn't remember who attacked her." 10K said with concern all over his face, his hair a bigger mess than usual from not only the fight but now him nervously running his hand through one side of it in worry.

"Well, we'll need to keep an eye on you. But you look like you're gonna be okay." He said gently wiping at her wound. "Looks like he ripped the scab open. I can fix her up in a jiffy but girl, you're gonna need to take it real easy for a day or two."

While Doc patched her up 10K stood by her keeping an eye on the metal Talker. Warren was speaking softly to him before he made his way over to the garbage compressor and mercied himself. George and Warren had a few words with the mining Talkers before joining him, Doc and Bailey at the truck.

"We need to load up this truck with as much lithium as we can get our hands on." Warren said, "And we need to get these Talkers to Limbo."

"I've got some questions for Roman Estes." George snarled with rage in her eyes.

"That's gonna be a problem to get to him." Warren pointed out.

"I think I know some guys who can get passed Altura's high tech security system." George smirked, "Come on."

"Where we headed?" Warren asked as 10K sat by Bailey to make sure she was okay.

"Hackerville." George said as she, Warren and Doc got back in their seats in the front of the truck as the Talkers joined Bailey and 10K in the back and they headed for Limbo.

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Sorry for not having a lot of Bailey in the first half of the chapter, hopefully the action at the end made up for it. And now poor Bailey has a second head injury and we're nearing the end of season 5 when the team really needs her smarts the most. Any thoughts or predictions guys?

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Staypeculair: Thanks again for taking the time to review. It was the only one I got this week so I really cherished it. It means a lot to me. Thanks!