S6E06:
Back in George's office Kaya was typing away on her laptop in contact with the tech heads in Hackerville, getting their help doing background checks on their citizens. Every now and then she'd scoff and shake her head and they all assumed it was because Ghostking2.0 was flirting with her again. Apparently getting punched in the face by Citizen Z hadn't been enough of a warning to get him to stop but on the other hand they all knew Kaya was more than capable of handling herself.
Also in the room were Addy and Murphy who were both having the same problem – they wanted to get back to their homes. Of course with the lockdown they needed special permission from George, though Warren was skeptical about letting them leave in this weather, concerned for the safety and wellbeing of her long time group mates and friends.
"I really need to get back to Heartland." Addy was saying, "Finn can't take care of all the Talker farmhands himself, he's going to need my help. And this snow is only going to get worse, it won't go away any time soon. I can't wait around for the weather to clear, I need to go now."
"And Limbo needs its leader." Murphy argued, "How are they supposed to get anything done without me telling them what to do?"
Warren rolled her eyes at Murphy's reasoning and Addy crossed her arms clearly not thrilled with his train of thought though she did make the most of it.
"I could go with Murphy." Addy offered, "Heartland is just past Limbo and Murphy's got that truck, he can give me a ride."
Warren looked to George who shrugged as if saying, 'Works for me.'
Then there was a knock on the door and George called, "Come in."
10K came through breathing heavily like he'd just been running which of course made them all go on high alert.
"I'm not interrupting am I?" he asked when he saw the five in the room clearly in the middle of something already.
"Not at all. We were just making plans to get Murphy and Addy back home." Warren told him, "What's wrong baby boy?"
"To Limbo and Heartland?" he asked looking to the pair who both nodded at him, "Think you can make one more stop?"
"Depends on where." Addy said, "And if they're accessible in the snow."
"Pacifica." He responded and George stood up from her chair. A lot of people she knew and cared about were in Pacifica, if something was wrong there or they were in trouble she wanted to know about it.
"Has something happened?" she asked.
"Not to them." 10K began to explain, "But Red just told me she's worried about running out of medicine during the winter. I figured since after the bombings most of Pacifica's population turned Talker, they won't need the medicine they have stored there. At least, not as much as they needed to keep on hand when they had more humans."
"The bombs did target the library and dining hall." Kaya piped up having been there herself at that time. "But where they store medicine was unharmed last I knew. I can try and contact them and see."
"Won't Ghostking2.0 miss you?" George mocked and Kaya scoffed before she got back to typing, now looking to contact Pacifica.
"Okay so you can go with Murphy and Addy but then how will you get back to Altura?" Warren asked. It was one thing to get people back to their homes, but a supply run was another story. Addy went to George's desk and looked over the map of Newmerica. Altura, Pacifica and Heartland made this thin isosceles triangle with Altura being the furthest away. In the middle of them was Limbo.
"Murphy can take us to Pacifica and we'll get the meds, he can drop me off at Heartland, it's not that far from there. Then he'll turn around and bring 10K back here." Addy said laying out a plan.
"Excuse me but when did Murphy become the pony express?" he asked holding a red finger in the air clearly annoyed he was being told what to do. 10K looked a bit skeptical too given that Addy's plan meant he and Murphy would be alone for a very long trip together which probably wouldn't end well and he felt a soreness at the back of his neck where his bite scar was.
"I thought you liked doing things that made you look like a hero." Warren asked with her hands on her hips, "You certainly have never turned away from praise."
Murphy rolled his eyes but didn't respond, probably because he knew it was true and was contemplating being known as the man who saved Altura by delivering their much needed medicine.
"I can go with them." Kaya offered, "They know me in Pacifica and I'd like to make sure they're doing okay."
"Bailey's going to want to go too when she gets wind of this." Addy said and 10K turned to her.
"But she can't go." He said, "She's –"
"Pregnant?" Addy asked, "It's not like she's six months in and waddling around. It's only the first trimester. She'll be okay."
"But –"
"Trust me, I wouldn't risk my best friend or your baby. She can handle one trip to Pacifica." They stared at each other for a long pause like they had the kind of bond that siblings had. Then 10K nodded and turned back to Warren.
"Alright then." Warren said, "Murphy get your truck, you guys have got yourselves a mission to Pacifica."
«»
Addy had been right when she said Bailey would want to tag along. 10K had done what he could to try and talk her out of it, assuring her they'd be alright, saying Altura might need her more there. But no matter what he tried she wasn't swayed from her decision. Although, when she'd come out of the trailer in her navy winter coat and he glanced at her larger looking belly she smiled at him and pulled up the coat and her shirt enough to reveal a bullet proof vest she'd put on just in case. He smiled back at her as she dropped her coat back down and walked past him heading for the main gate.
"God I love that woman." He muttered to himself before following after her. But not all his worries were solved with a bullet proof vest. Other then worrying about her going out into the snow and possible danger of lingering zombies from Estes' attacks 10K also wasn't too happy to have Bailey within a hundred feet of Murphy. When they got in the truck he sat with her in the spot furthest from the driver's seat, keeping his arm around her as she leaned into his shoulder getting some rest.
10K kept glancing at Murphy and couldn't help but think something seemed off about him. He kept looking over his shoulder at the wall behind them like he was worried about something in the back. But Murphy didn't have anything back there, 10K thought, he'd dropped off his last bizkit supply at Altura. But 10K's suspicions and Murphy's worrying all stopped when they heard clunking in the engine and the truck soon came to a stop. Bailey lifted her head from his shoulder as the vehicle shuddered and Murphy and Addy got out to open the hood. The others got out too, Bailey threw on a pair of light grey gloves and a knit headband that wrapped around her head and kept her ears from freezing off. She tucked her matching scarf into her jacket as she zipped it up and 10K kept his arm around her for extra warmth. There was no smoke coming from the engine but Addy still fumbled around with what she could see and soon deemed the truck a lost cause.
"Maybe not." Murphy suggested stuffing his hands in his pockets, looking cold, "Maybe it just needs some help. Hawthorne get back there and help push, I'll supervise."
"Murphy shut up or I'll slap you." 10K threatened before turning to the red man, "And once I get started I might not be able to stop!"
Bailey rubbed his back to calm him while Addy shook her head, "No, this baby ain't going anywhere. We're on foot from here. Let's grab what we can and get moving, the longer we stand here the colder we'll get."
Luckily, they were dressed well for the weather, Bailey's new jacket had a fleece lining that helped keep her warm and 10K had thrown on a second sweater under his black U.S.N. jacket before they'd left, in addition to the glove he wore on his one hand. They all grabbed their backpacks with their ammo, food and radio and got walking. They were lucky that they were already more than halfway to Pacifica and it wouldn't take too much longer to get there on foot. Maybe a few hours instead of just the thirty minutes the truck would have gotten them there in.
«»
After the others had left to try and get some medicine from Pacifica Warren and George went to find Citizen Z. He'd been in his room doing background checks and it made him feel like he was back at the NSA outpost back when Operation Bitemark was traveling cross country on their CDC mission. He had a folder on his laptop of all the suspicious people, the ones with prior offenses Pre-Z and people with a history of violence. Of course a lot of those people he knew personally, and truthfully the apocalypse did seem to help calm them down. He couldn't deny the positive benefits of taking out your anger by smashing a few zombies, it did seem therapeutic. At this point he'd gone through most of the citizens and only had the more recent arrivals left.
"Jack Eastwood." he muttered to himself, plugging the name into his search engines like he'd done with every other name and was puzzled when the results it brought up didn't match. There was a Jack Eastwood who died before the apocalypse, a Jack Eastwood who was too young and didn't match the date of birth on the Altura citizenship form and a few others whose photos didn't match the one in his database at all.
He thought it was curious, so he created a new folder and dropped the file in there to look at it later. Now he was even more inquisitive, he'd never thought that someone might be using a fake name in the apocalypse. He knew Red, 10K and Doc all used nicknames but making a fake first name and last name? Especially one that was so common, something about it just seemed too suspicious.
Bailey POV
As they walked Bailey hung beside Kaya as 10K kept a constant eye on their surroundings, looking through his scope every now and then.
"I never got the opportunity to congratulate you." Kaya said and Bailey gave her a small smile.
"Thanks." She said quietly her smile faltering.
"Nervous huh?"
Bailey chuckled, "Is it that obvious?"
"Only a little." Kaya reassured her, "But I think all first time parents get that way. I remember being nervous my whole pregnancy with JZ."
"How did you get through it?" Bailey asked, "Without your baby's father there? In the middle of the apocalypse? No doctor? I think the worry would be enough to kill me."
"You take it a day at a time, like everything else." Kaya said and Bailey's mind jumped back to when 10K had told her the same thing, "It's a different kind of worry, because it's for someone other than yourself. Someone who's dependent on you for everything, even when they're as little as they are now." She said and Bailey automatically brought her hand to rest on her stomach. "You're going to worry no matter what, it's just you're shifting into 'parent mode'. None of it's going to be easy but you'll be alright. We've got a full lab and infirmary in Altura and a community with high strong walls to keep everything dangerous out. That's more than I had, you'll be fine, trust me."
"I'll feel better when winter is over and supply deliveries can go back to normal." Bailey admitted. "If we don't have supplies then Altura might end up crumbling from within."
"George won't let that happen." Kaya assured her, "You've got your baby and Newmerica is George's."
Bailey spent a good amount of time while they walked talking to Kaya about being a mother. She gave her good advice on what she was going to experience later in her pregnancy like backaches and heartburn, she warned her about indigestion, and said she'd gotten bad dizzy spells in her fifth and six month. But when she talked about feeling JZ kick for the first time, and feeling him roll around when she'd sit, stand and lie down Bailey could see her eyes light up and couldn't imagine how it would feel when the baby was big enough that she'd feel him or her moving.
"Didn't that feel weird?" she asked.
"Not really." Kaya admitted, "It's like, you start feeling them move and it helps calm you down. Like 'okay, I know they're alright if they're tumbling around'." she gave a short laugh, "Sometimes I'd lie down in bed on my side just to feel JZ readjust himself if I hadn't felt him move in a few hours."
They both laughed and kept talking as they trudged through the snow. Addy was ahead of them looking at her map and looked over her shoulder and told them they only had about five more blocks to go before they got to Pacifica.
Then they all heard something they hadn't heard in a while and something they weren't expecting to hear so far north – a growl. The next moment they turned to the trees on their left as a horde of zombies charged out. Their skin was pale as the snow and they had pink cracks in their skin from frostbite and exposure. Their fingers were black as they reached out for them and several of them went down as 10K fired his rifle and the others drew their guns. Some zombies had thin layers of ice on them and as they shot that ice shattered with the impact of their bullets.
"9,008. 9,009. 9,010." Bailey heard 10K counting, his breath coming out in small white puffs in front of his face. But even he couldn't shoot fast enough as more snow zombies charged at them. When Bailey ran out of ammo she threw down her gun and took out her hatchet as she and Addy started smashing skulls that broke like thick panes of glass, making these crunch sounds instead of the usual squished brain sound she'd gotten used to. Well, at least the apocalypse never got boring.
Out of the corner of her eye she watched Kaya jump on one zombie's back tackling it to the ground before she drove her knife into the back of its skull. 10K was further behind her and a particularly fast zombie had gotten a hold of his gun as he struggled with it. When he got his right arm free he thrust his wrist forward sending his antler through the zombie's eye socket giving it mercy.
"Well that's one way to stay warm." Addy said after she'd smashed the last zombie's head to bits, the snow around them now looking like they'd just had a paintball fight with only dark red paint.
"I thought Z's didn't like the cold?" Bailey asked as they regrouped and 10K wrapped his arm around her as she gave him a nod letting him know she was okay.
"Yeah Murphy what gives?" he asked adjusting his rifle in his hand. Murphy stood in the snow looking down at one of the zombies at his feet before he slowly looked around at the others.
"I'm not sure." He said slowly as he crouched down and got a better look at the zombie. "Maybe they're just starved Talkers who didn't get enough bizkits."
"That many?" Addy asked skeptically.
"We would have heard if a community had lost that many people at once." Kaya said, since she was the one who monitored all communications she'd be the one to know.
"I -I don't know." Murphy said standing up and still looking down at the body, "I don't know."
He was clearly unsettled by the horde as he looked around at the icy carnage.
"Maybe. . . " Bailey tried putting together some kind of evidence that made more sense, "Maybe, they were left over from when Estes' goons were transporting zombie tumbleweeds across the north?"
Tommy nodded beside her, "There was that warehouse we found. No telling how many they were keeping in there."
They all waited a moment thinking it all over before the chill returned with a vengeance, "Alright well we can worry about it more at Pacifica where we can at least be in the warmth." Addy said pointing her Z Whacker down the road, "Let's go."
«»
When they arrived at Pacifica Henry greeted Kaya with a smile and a hug. She asked the old college professor how things had been and he was happy to report that reconstructing the library and its collection had been going at a faster pace than they had anticipated. Once the snow started of course everything came to a halt but he did have high hopes for the thaw in the spring that they could step right back into it and have it completed by the end of that year.
Kaya introduced them, since only Warren and Doc had been at Pacifica last time. Henry shook all their hands and welcomed them inside. Their first stop was the dining hall for a warm meal.
"We can't thank you enough for this Henry." Kaya said as they found a table and sat down. She had already corresponded with him before they'd left Altura so their arrival had been expected.
"Of course." He replied with a smile, "For all George has done for us it's the least we can do. We don't need nearly as much medicine since the bombings and the humans who were evacuated out of here under Estes' orders either stayed in Altura or moved to different outposts. Couldn't handle the trauma of coming back here, not that I can blame them." He explained with a shrug as Chef Amy brought some food over and gave Kaya a hug.
"We're grateful for anything you can give." Addy told him as Bailey and 10K dug into their food, letting the warm stew get the chill out of their bones and relax them. Bailey finished her food in record time and the piece of bread that had come with it. As she was taking her last bite another piece of bread landed on her plate. She looked over at Tommy who was looking down at his own half full bowl as he ate and was trying hard not to meet her gaze. She picked up the bread meaning to put it back on his plate when he stopped her.
"Bailey, take it."
"You need to eat too." She pointed out.
"I am eating." He said gesturing to his bowl of stew, "And you're the one eating for two."
"Ten –"
"Bailey, please, it's just a piece of bread. Just take it." He insisted.
She looked at him for a long moment and she really couldn't describe the look in his green eyes. It was like, worry and concern and a bit of that 'need to provide and protect' that men had by nature. He just wants to give you something that will help you and the baby, that voice in her head spoke up, swallow your pride and let him be a good father.
"I'll take it if she doesn't want it." Murphy said from across the table with a mouthful of food as he reached out to swipe the bread. 10K slapped his hand away with his antler but ended up poking Murphy instead. It had the same effect and Murphy pulled back his hand and rubbed it muttering a quiet 'ow'. Bailey rolled her eyes at him before dunking the bread in the gravy at the bottom of her bowl and taking a big bite. She saw Tommy smile as she chewed and wondered what he'd be like when she actually started showing.
10K POV
"Henry we could also use a vehicle if you have one." He heard Kaya explaining when they'd finished eating. "Ours gave up on us a little more than halfway here."
"Sure, we've got an old pickup you could use. It should be enough for your group and the meds."
"Hey would we be able to take a break for a couple hours?" 10K asked moving his chair closer so he could lower his voice. The others looked at him and he nodded toward Bailey who was resting her cheek in one hand while she doodled on a clean page of her notebook. Her eyes kept drooping and she was just barely catching herself from falling asleep and going headfirst onto the table top. Now that her stomach was full of a warm meal her exhaustion was taking over. He knew she'd just taken a nap while they'd been driving but she also was working harder than any of them right now so it was understandable that she was still tired.
"She could rest in my old room while we pack up the medicine." Kaya offered.
"Thanks Kaya." He said gratefully.
"Hey, been there, done that." She said with a smile as they turned and watched Bailey's eyes close before she jolted awake again. Now all he had to do was convince Bailey to rest while they loaded the truck. . . maybe fighting another horde of ice zombies would be easier.
CZ POV
When he'd finally finished going through the citizen logs he'd found a good handful of recent arrivals who seemed to be unknown to every data file he had access to – which was quite a lot.
"Okay, Joe, Jack, Phil, Frankie and Penny let's see what some facial recognition software says about your real identities."
His fingers moved at lightning speed across his keyboard as he used the photos they took at the gate and entered them into the software. On the second half of the screen faces flashed by until the five had been matched.
"Forrest Gordon, Deric Farrell, Jacob Walker, Justin Greene, and Jesse Vazquez." he read out and he got a feeling like he should know those names. But from where? He looked up the history of the five in question and when their records came up and he saw the link between them his eyes went wide.
"Holy crap." He said like the air had been knocked out of him and a pit filled his stomach, "Hammond's original Delta X-Ray Delta team?"
