Season One Episode One Part Two
Operation Bitemark Rendezvous Point- Sleepy Hallow, New york
Pulling up to the Rendezvous point, Warren pulled the truck to a stop, looking out of the front window Ellie could see a crashed vehicle with multiple bodies on the floor.
"What happened" she asked no one in particular as Murphy got out of the truck to let Hammond out of the vehicle, once Hammond was out he shoved Murphy back towards the door "Get back in the truck" he ordered him before he continued forward his gun raised. As he was walking towards the crashed vehicle he could see some of the bodies were still moving.
"Is it them?" Murphy asked but getting no response. "Hammond?! Is it them?" he shouted
Walking closer to them Hammond could see that the soldiers had turned. One of them was only the top half of the body which was growling and desperately trying to get to him. "yeah" he said to Murphy before shooting the zombie in the head.
"I've got to pee" Murphy said suddenly not bothered in the least about the newly turned z's.
"Seriously Murphy you can't hold it?" Ellie asked him an annoyed look over her face
"Nope" he said looking towards her before opening the car door.
Seeing that he wasn't going to wait they all opened their doors and got out of the vehicle guns at the ready.
Looking towards Murphy Warren said "Don't go to far"
"Don't worry" he said before turning towards the back of the vehicle by the wheel and unzipping his pants
"Gross" Ellie said scrunching up her nose and turning away while Warren also turned away rolling her eyes before taking out her gun and muttering under her breath "This guy" They both then walked towards Hammond with Garnett in toe while Doc, Addy and Mack stayed by the other side of the truck on the bed of the truck.
"My reinforcements are dead" he informed them "We need to make a quick search for survivors and any supplies". "YOU" he shouted over to Murphy who was still peeing against the truck. "Zip it up and stay close to me" he instructed which Murphy did while rolling his eyes.
"Hey where'd all the z's go?" Addy asked from the bed of the truck
"Mov'in on like locust" Doc said to her
'"Yeah, but they'll be back" Hammond said to them, before turning to Warren and Garnett "Warren, Garnett you clear the building, And you four check the vehicles' he said to Ellie, Doc, Addy and Mack.
So Warren and Garnett went towards the building while Ellie walked towards the others who were climbing out of the bed of the truck before setting off to search all the other vehicles.
Ellie's Pov
Walking towards the other side of the building Ellie could see several zombies and as they got closer they could see they were surrounding some sort of cage.
"Heads up" Addy said swinging her bat "What are the after?" she asked
"Only one thing. Come on" Mack said walking towards the cage before they all started to kill the zombies, using only their knifes and bats to minimize the noise and to not attract other zombies.
Once all the zombies were killed Ellie could see a young woman sitting down inside the cage the z's were surrounding and she wasn't moving.
"Hey" Mack said trying to get her attention. "Hey" he said again before banging the bars
"You alright?" Doc tried, but still she didn't respond. Walking towards the door Mack used his crow bar to break the lock, he opened it and went in Ellie following close by.
"Careful" Addy said "she might be dead"
"Sat like that I doubt it Addy, she's probably scared" Ellie informed her
Stopping in front of her Mack knelt down touching her shoulder, when all off a sudden the girl jumped up and pushed Mack into the cage a knife against his throat and Mack responded by grabbing her hand that held the knife to try and minimise the pressure.
Ellie lifted her gun to aim at her, she didn't want to shoot her but she would if she had too.
"Woah woah woah" Addy said holding her hands up as a gesture of peace from the outside of the cage
"Well she ain't dead" Doc said chuckling
"Not helping Doc" Ellie said in an exasperated voice
"Hey Its ok, we're good people. We just saved you" Addy said in a gentle voice
Putting her gun down Ellie tried to calm her down too "Addy's right, if we wanted to hurt you we wouldn't of helped you" she said as the girl look towards her"I know your scared and probably a bit confused but please don't hurt him, we don't mean you any harm, we just want to help. Please put the knife down" she said gently
Turning back to Mack the girl saw and felt him take his hands of her wrists and held them up as a gesture of peace, to show her that he in fact meant her no harm. After a few seconds of hesitation the girl stepped away and put the knife down.
"Sorry. I didn't know where I was. I must of fallen asleep" she explained to them
"Asleep?" Doc asked "How long you in this cage for?"
'Two days" she replied
"Wow" Ellie said "No wonder you reacted the way you did" she said smiling softly at her. "What's your name?"
"Cassandra" the girl replied
"Well Cassandra, I'm Ellie, that's Doc and Addy and the guy you just held at knife point is Mack. But don't worry he's not the type to keep a grudge' Ellie joked with her and she smiled a little bit. "Now how about we get out of this cage" she said and Cassandra nodded so they all made their way out and away from the cage.
Walking back towards the building the rest of the group were in they could all here what sounded like a baby crying
"Is that a baby?" Addy asked
Turing back to look at them Ellie said "Lets go find out" and she entered the building followed by the others.
As she got into the room Ellie could see Garnett holding a crying baby in his arms trying and failing to settle him.
"Any trouble?" Warren asked them when she saw them walk in.
"Nope" Replied Addy "Just a few Z's"
"Found a girl in a cage too" Doc said
"What?" Asked Garnett
"This is Cassandra" Ellie said pointing behind her to the girl they found "We found her locked in a cage surrounded by zombies. Cassandra, this is Warren, Garnett, Hammond and Murphy" Ellie said as she pointed at each person. "The baby is not ours"
"Ok.." Warren said sounding a bit confused "why don't you guys take a break, have a rest while we sort out what's happening next ok"
All nodding they went to find somewhere to sit, the baby still crying in the background
"Somebody better shut that kid up before he attracts z's like flies" Murphy complained before glaring up at Garnett
"Hey it's a baby. He makes noise okay?" Garnett said annoyance in his voice
"Shut up" Hammond exclaimed at Murphy before saying to Garnett "and you do what you can.. he's right about the z's"
Seeing Garnett continue to struggle Ellie stood up and walked towards him, holding her arms out she said "Let me try"
"Yeah why not?" Garnett said handing the baby over "See if you have better luck than me"
Taking the baby into her arms Ellie started making shushing noises while bobbing the baby gently in her arms and swaying. "It's ok baby" she cooed smiling at the baby and after a few more moments the baby quietened down
"You're a natural" Garnet said to her smiling
"I used to baby sit for the neighbors" she said smiling back at him while running her hand down the back of the babies head "I love children… never thought I'd see one again" she said smiling sadly at the baby
"Where'd he come from?' She asked Garnett as she started to rock the baby to sleep.
"Found him in a crashed car, the mum died on impact she smashed her head on the steering wheel". He explained to her.
"Aww bless him I wonder how long he was there, he's lucky no z's came across him, he must be starving". Ellie said looking down at the baby whose eyes were drooping before looking back up at Garnett, she also saw Hammond walking towards Cassandra with a bottle of water in hand.
"Here" he said to her handing her the water bottle, she looked at him wearingly before snatching it out of his hands opening it and gulping some water down before Hammond ripped it out her hands when she had taken enough which he then did back up again and chucked it over to Addy and Mack who were sat behind her.
"Why would somebody lock you in a cage and leave you to die?" He asked Cassandra "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything… I locked myself in the cage for protection"
"You have the keys?"
"I lost them"
"Why are you dressed like that?" Warren asked her, joining in on the conversation as she looked downat Cassandras outfit which consisted of shorts, top, a jacket and boots.
"I don't have to justify myself to you!" she defended herself
"Maybe you do!" Hammond exclaimed leaning down to her level "we were suppose to meet the men in those vehicles… what happened here?"
"Hey Hammond" Ellie said making Hammond face her. "Why dont you try and ask nicely for a change. Do you really think she had anything to do with this. We dont know her and she doesnt know us. Give her the benefit of doubt"
"Fine" Hammond said pincing the bridge of his nose with an annoyed look on his face. Before turning to look at Cassandra. "What happened here please" He said forcing the last word out.
"Those men showed up about a week ago, they cleared out the school and set up some kind of camp… but word got out that there was food. Lot's of it from the bomb shelter". Cassandra said looking towards everyone in the room. "Yeah, it didn't take long, there was too many people. The soldiers shot some of the locals… and that brought the z's. You can guess the rest".
"What are we wasting time talking to her?" Murphy said walking towards Hammond "Give her the baby and let's go"
"Seriously Murphy". Ellie said placing the now sleeping baby in the car seat. "You can't give the girl a baby and just leave them"
"Well they can't come back with us" he said back to her
"Listen" Hammond said trying to get there attention
"No way am I leaving the baby and her behind" Ellie said directing it at Hammond "She only has a knife as protection and he is a defenseless baby, they won't survive two minutes on their own".
"Ellie's right" Garnett said "It's not going to happen"
"It's just a baby" Murphy said. "It's not like he's gonna grow up and be a fine young man someday".
"You're such an arsehole Murphy" Ellie said nastily glaring at him "This baby has as much right to live as we do, I am not leaving them here to die. You may not care enough to have that on your conscience but I do"
Seeming to have enough Hammond walked over to Murphy and gave him a little shove "You know what shut up!" he exclaimed to both him and Ellie "We'll take them to the next safe outpost" he said looking towards Ellie and Garnett who had smiles of relief on there faces "God I hate moral dilemmas" Hammond said before walking away
"Yeah what's next chief" Murphy directed at Hammond "You wanna start a college fund for him" he said sarcastically before walking away too
"Puppies and kittens 200 yards away" Warren interrupted them walking away from the window she was looking through and towards them
Everyone jumped up at that announcement before talking out their weapons except for Cassandra, Murphy and Hammond who just looked confused.
"Zombies" Garnett clarified for Hammond seeing the look of confusion on his face who then nodded before saying "Alright, everybody. Time to go. You five" he said aiming at Doc, Ellie, Cassandra, Mack and Addy. "I want you to gather all the food and weapons you can find, load them in that truck. The keys are still inside" Before walking away.
"Hey" Mack shouted "We haven't talked about this"
"We can talk about it later" Hammond said to him "Right now, you do what I tell you" before walking away again towards Garnett
"Garnett.. you stay with the baby and Murphy till we get back, Warren… you and I are gonna see if we can start up that duece and a half'" he said walking towards her, before turning towards everyone else and saying "Everyone meets back here in five" before he walked towards the door
Everyone else in the room looked at each other not moving with annoyed looks across all their faces. Looking back and seeing no-one moving Hammond shouted "GO" but no one moved until Garnett nodded his head at them and said "Do it" to which they all then moved.
\*\*\*\*\*\*\*
Walking around the parking lot Ellie couldn't help but feel like they were being watched, looking around at the others she could see that it was only her who could feel it so she shook it off as being paranoid and started opening car doors to see what she could find but also keeping her guard up. As she was looking around she could see Addy poking the z's with her pike while Mack was patting the dead bodies down for anything useful. Ellie also saw Cassandra take out her knife while kneeling down to check the dead bodies. Looking towards Doc, Ellie could see him kneeling by a zombie with a knife in his chest.
Just as Doc was going to pull the knife out of his chest the zombie suddenly leapt up and grabbed Doc trying to bite him. Ellie reacted quickly she aimed her gun but was struggling to get a clear shot.
"Get it off me" Doc shouted panicking as he was spinning the zombie around to try and dislodge the hold on him and that's all Ellie needed as now the zombie was in her line of fire. Taking aim Ellie took the shot hitting the zombie in the head making him drop to the floor, but what surprised her was that she wasn't the only one who shot him. She heard two shots and looking at the zombie she saw it had a big chunk taken out of his head due to the force of two bullets going through it, lowering her gun a little Ellie scanned the area with her eyes before she saw a glimmer of figure behind Doc on the rooftop. Focusing on it Ellie caught the back of someone running and then disappearing behind the chimney and looking at the other's she saw that they caught it too.
"Are you ok Doc?" Ellie asked walking towards him concern lacing through her voice
"I'm alright" Doc reassured her breathing heavily. "Who was that?" he asked looking back towards the roof
"I don't know" she said looking down at the zombie. "But he's good"
"Your better, thank you by the way" he said to her
"Maybe… come on lets do a little more searching and then get back to the others" she said to them all and once they checked on Doc themselves they carried on their search for supplies.
Making their way back to the others Ellie could see Warren and Garnett leaning against the door like they were holding it shut, and as they neared they heard Hammond ask them "What's the hold up?, where's the baby?
"Turned" Garnett Said
"Surprise, surprise" Murphy said
"Shut up Murphy" Ellie said angrily, but was shocked when she saw Garnett turn towards Murphy looking pissed before he grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and shoved him against the door so hard it made a thump.
Hearing a gun cock next to her she saw Hammond aiming his weapon at Garnett before he said "let him go.. or I will send you to walk among the dead"
Getting sick and tired with being bossed around by this guy and also being upset about the baby Ellie raised her gun at Hammond before saying "Try it and I will return the favour" she said fiercely.
Garnett seeing the situation escalate he glared furiously at Hammond before letting Murphy go and Hammond responded by grabbing Murphy and pulling him behind him, he then looked over at Ellie before putting his gun down so Ellie did the same.
"Let's get in the trucks.. We're moving out" he informed them
"What about the …. baby thing?" Warren spoke up still leaning against the door. "We can't leave it like that"
"Yeah she's right" Mack said "Even if it is turned"
"It sound's so sad" Addy said hearing the zombie baby
"It's not sad" Doc said, "It's a zombie"
"Amen'"Murphy said "Let's go brother"
"We can't leave it like that" Warren said more forcibly this time
"I'll do it" Garnett said taking his gun out.
"I'll do it" Hammond said walking towards Garnett and holding him back as he was walking towards the door "I need you to pull it together" he said to him, before reaching down for his gun that was hanging by his waist "Two minutes… be ready to go" he informed them while turning back towards the door and nodding to Warren to open it.
Hammond readied his weapon before going into the room the door was then shut behind him.
After a few minutes of anxious waiting and silence they heard a few gunshots which they all assumed was Hammond mercying the baby.
"If we wanted to ditch these two, take the truck and run now would be the time" Doc spoke up before grunting slightly when Ellie nudged him in the ribs a small glare on her face before she gestured to the serious looks on everyone else's face. "Just sayin" he said before nudging Ellie back when he saw a small smile appear on her face.
But suddenly a scream of agony shattered the silence and it sent chills down Ellie's spine because that scream was Hammond. Raising her weapon and seeing the others do the same Ellie waited till the door was open before she charged in behind the others. The sight they came across when they got in the room made her heart stop. Hand coming up to her mouth she turned around desperately trying not to be sick.
"Oh no" Warren whispered shock going across her face as well as the others.
Cassandra gasped while also holding a hand to her mouth while Addy went over to Ellie rubbing her back gently.
Hammond was lying on the floor, gasping and his eyes unfocused, blood was everywhere and his insides were on the outside while the zombie baby was munching on his insides and another zombie was eating at his flesh.
Pulling herself together Ellie lifted up her gun as everyone else did except for Murphy and Cassandra who put their hands up to cover their ears from the oncoming slaughter of gunshots, before they all fired aiming at the two zombies while Ellie shot Hammond in the head putting him out of his suffering, tears in her eyes. Once they were dead they all slowly made their way out of the room.
Turning to leave Ellie saw Warren staring down at Hammond with tears in her eyes. Grabbing her hand she gave it a gentle squeeze and she felt Warren squeeze back. Once Warren looked at her Ellie gestured to the door with her head and she nodded softly and they both made their way outside.
"You know, none of this would of happened if you'd just left the damn baby" Murphy exclaimed once they were all gathered around the truck to figure out their next move
"I didn't tell Hammond to go get eaten by a baby" Garnett snapped at him
"Murphy knock it off, Hammond's dead. Do you really have to play the blame game right now?" Ellie glared at him
"Never mind that" Warren said agreeing with her. "We need a plan".
"My plan is I am taking this truck" Murphy said putting his hand on the window of the truck. "And I'm forgetting about vaccines and labs and all of you. I wanted of this train, from day one and now's my chance".
"Wait wait wait' Doc said holding his hand out 'You can't just go. What about California?, what about the vaccine?".
"What if it's real?" Addy spoke up. "What if there's a chance? And what if that's you?" she said looking towards Murphy
"Addy?" Mack said her. "How do we know this isn't all just bullshit?"
"How does anybody know anything any more?" Murphy said
"Hammond died for this cause" Ellie spoke up looking towards Murphy "he died trying to get you to California, so I'm willing to bet there's some truth to it"
'Delta- Xray- Delta' a voice suddenly announced coming out of nowhere
"What the hell is that?" Warren asked looking around, as did everyone else before Addy walked back towards the building and went in, before coming back out with a radio
Delta- Xray- Delta. Come in' a voice said again. 'Delta- Xray- Delta. This is northern light… Operation Bitemark do you copy?'
"It's Hammond's radio" Addy said walking towards the others
'Delta- Xray- Delta. This is northern light'.
"Hello?" Addy said lifting the radio to her mouth
'I copy you Delta x-ray. This is … this is northern lights, who am I speaking to?'
"Addison Carver"
'Okay. I need to speak to Lieutenant Hammond'
"Hammond's Dead"
'I'm… I'm … I'm sorry?, I …. didn't copy that , Delta -Xray. Did you say that Hammond is dead?'
"Yes"
'Is the package safe?'
"Package? What.. what package?. Who is this?"
'Listen. I need to speak to whoever's in charge'
"Who is it?" Warren asked leaning towards Addy
"They won't say" she replied "They want to know who's in charge"
"You are" Warren said looking towards Garnett, So Addy handed the radio to him
Taking the radio and raising it up to his mouth Garnett said "This is Sergeant Garnett of the national guard.
Who is this?"
'Sergeant Garnett. Lieutenant Hammond was transporting a civilian named Murphy to California. Is he
alive?'
"Yes. He's still alive"
'Good. Good. Are … are you aware of operation Bite Mark?'
"Do you mean the lab in California?"
Yes!, yes!. Listen to me! It's imperative that you get Murphy to California. I repeat, Its imperative you get Murphy alive to California. Do you copy?'
"But we don't know… who are you?" but the only response they got was static "It's dead" he said informing them
"So?" Warren asked him
"So… It looks like we're taking Mr. Congeniality to California." He said looking towards Murphy
"Say's who?" Murphy said looking Garnett up and down
"Says me" Garnett shouted throwing the radio on the ground before glaring at Murphy who looked over at everyone else for help. But seeing the look on Garnett's face no one wanted to argue with him, Ellie included.
"Get in" Garnett said to all of them before walking towards the truck, everyone else following slowly behind Murphy taking the longest of them all.
Garnett got in the military truck with Warren and Murphy. Addy and Mack got into another and Ellie, Cassandra and Doc got in the last one with Doc driving. As they were driving down the path from the school Ellie's eyes widen seeing a young man with dark black hair, cameo top with black bottoms, scarf and a rifle strapped to his back walking down the path.
"Doc stop" Ellie said pointing to the man
"Oh yeah" Doc said also recognizing the man before pulling to a stop by him making the other vehicles behind him stop. "Hey there" he said to him as the man stopped walking. "You're that sharpshooter that help saved my arse with my Eagle eyed Ellie here" he said pointing next to him to Ellie who smiled and waved at him. "Oh man, I want to thank you" Doc carried on. "Do you need a ride?" he asked him while the young man just shrugged his shoulders before walking to the bed of the truck and climbing in. He banged on the top of the roof to let Doc know he was ready.
Looking towards Ellie he smiled, chuckling while shaking his head. Ellie giggling a little bit too and looking behind her she could see that Cassandra had a smile on her face too. Starting the car again they made their way away from the school the other trucks following.
None of this belongs to me except Ellie and any original story lines the rights go to the wonderful creators and publishers of z nation