oneoddood: Loved it! Thank you for another great chapter! Can't wait to see what happens between Trin and Escorpion; he really seems to hate her for killing the last queen, but I wonder if there is more to the story? Also, really loving the 10th and Trin moments. I like the battle between his quiet and her quiet lol! Again, thank you!
Author; no problem! I'm glad so many people like this fic, it's really nice. I'll try to update it a little more often, but good chapters take time. I'm no speed writer. Some chapters are easy, but some chapters I have to spend a while trying to plot out. Hopefully I'll have some good luck with this chapter.
Unfortunately, that's not the case with this chapter. I'm sorry it's been a while. I got sick, then I got busy, and I have all sorts of homework to catch up on too. Sorry for the delay.
I felt like screaming. Escorpion was here, and he remembered more about the past than I needed.
We had been sitting around for the past three hours, trying to figure out something.
"Well this is just great." Murphy said sarcastically. "What's our next big idea on how to survive out here?"
"I don't know Murphy." Warren said, clearly annoyed.
"I know what we should do." Murphy stated. He pointed at me and Escorpion. "We should get rid of these two as soon as possible."
I stared at Murphy. "I understand getting rid of Escorpion. I mean, he's Escorpion. But why get rid of me?" I asked.
"Easy. You lied to us, and led us to a death trap." Murphy said. "For all we know, you're actually working with Escorpion."
I glared at him and stood up. "Are you serious? I will never work with Escorpion, or for him, again. And I sure as hell did not lead you to a death trap." I said.
"Oh really? And why should we trust you?" Murphy asked me.
I could feel my gun in my pocket. It was feeling like a pretty good option at the moment.
"We can trust her because she gave us food, water, and a change of clothes." Addy said, sticking up for me.
"And what good will that do us now? In case you hadn't realized, all of that is below us, behind a giant bunch of zombies." Murphy said.
"Why don't you just send them away then with your mind powers?" I asked.
"And what makes you think I have 'mind powers', as you so lovingly refer to them as." Murphy said.
I shrugged. "A lot of radio talk up and down the West Coast. At the right time, you can hear a lot of good stuff about 'The Murphy', as everyone so lovingly calls you." I said, smirking.
"Wait, you have a radio?" Addy asked, standing up.
I nodded.
"Where is it? Can we use it?" Addy asked me rapid fire.
"I'll bet it's downstairs." Murphy said.
I looked at him, and pulled a radio out of my backpack next to me. I gave Murphy an evil smile, and tossed it to Addy. "Careful, it's the only one I have." I said, sliding back down to the ground.
"Does the battery still work?" Addy asked. She turned it on. Static started sounding. "I guess that answers my question." Addy said. She started twisting the knob to different stations.
"If you're looking for that guy who does the weather, Citizen Z, he hasn't been on in a while." I said. "Which sucks, because I miss hearing what was happening everywhere else in America." I said.
"Why'd he stop broadcasting?" Warren asked me.
I shrugged. "I don't know. He left a farewell message, which should still be playing on repeat, but-" The radio interrupted me as the Citizen Z guy started saying his message.
I sighed. "There it is."
Addy turned up the volume. I didn't need to listen, because I'd heard it several times already. Blah blah blah, I've been compromised, blah blah blah, don't go to the CDC lab, blah blah blah, someone else knows everything about Murphy, blah blah blah.
Citizen Z's voice disappeared into the static.
"Well, that's even better. Now what are we supposed to do?" Murphy asked.
"I don't know Murphy." Warren said.
"Well, and I say this again, we should take care of these two." Murphy said, pointing at me and Escorpion again.
"In case you hadn't realized, if I hadn't brought you here, Escorpion would've found you in the woods." I pointed out. "And you wouldn't have heard what Citizen Z had to say. And you would've starved. All of these things would have happened to you had I not brought you here. So a little appreciation would be nice." I said.
Murphy didn't say anything else.
"Why don't we just leave?" Doc asked. We all turned our attention to him. "We could climb down the ladder, then hit the road." Doc continued.
"We'd never make it on foot." Vasquez said.
"There's a truck out there in the clearing behind the barn. It still runs, and it has gas cans in it." I said.
"That will help. But how do we know if it's save?" Warren asked.
"I vote we send Escorpion down first." I said.
"We can't trust that he won't take off running when he reaches the ground. And he knows where the truck is now too." Vasquez said.
"Then I vote her." Murphy said, pointing at me.
I glared at him.
"We're not going to vote on who goes. We need someone to volunteer." Warren said.
Everyone looked at each other.
Murphy kept staring at me, obviously wanting me to volunteer.
I broke eye contact with him. "I guess I'll go. I mean, I'm used to climbing up and down that ladder quickly anyways." I said.
"Great!" Murphy said.
"Shut up Murphy." I said. I grabbed my backpack and walked over to the window. I peeked out. For all I knew, I was siding down to my death.
I stepped out onto the roof, and almost fell off the roof. The roof was a lot more slippery than I remembered.
I slid down to the ladder carefully, that way I didn't go over the edge.
I looked over the edge. It was clear. I sighed in relief. "There's no zombies." I called up to them.
"They might be hiding. You need to go down all of the way." I heard Murphy call back.
I growled under my breath, but started climbing down the ladder.
When I hit the ground, I stood by the ladder, ready to run if needed. I pulled a knife out of my belt, and held it ready, just in case. I looked around carefully. I even walked away from the ladder to peek around both of the sides of the barn. No zombies.
I guess they're all inside.
I sighed in relief, and put the knife back into my belt. I walked back over to the ladder. I could see the truck in the distance, and I was filled with that urge to run again. And why not? Escorpion was here, and I had no idea on what the others were planning on doing with him. It might be safer to leave now, before Escorpion could get to me.
I shook the feeling away, and climbed up the ladder.
When I reached the top, I called out "It's clear of zombies."
"Great, we'll start sending people down." Warren quietly shouted down.
I climbed back down the ladder to ground.
I leaned up against the back of the barn on lookout as everyone came down. Doc, Murphy, 10K, Addy, Warren, then Vasquez.
When Vasquez reached the ground, I noticed something. "Where's Escorpion?" I asked.
"I tied him up there." Vasquez said simply. "We can't bring him with us. He's too dangerous."
"What good will that do? He survived falling into a pit of Zs. That guy's immortal." Addy said.
"I'm good with leaving him up there." I said. "Come on." I started walking towards the truck. Everyone else followed.
When we reached the truck, Warren started it up, as everyone else stood lookout.
"Shotgun." Murphy shouted, getting in on the other side.
I sighed, and hopped into the back with Doc, Addy, and 10K. Vasquez pushed Murphy into the back seat of the truck, and sat in shotgun.
I looked out at the barn as we drove away. I couldn't help but wish it goodbye in my mind. I had stayed here for almost three months, and now I was leaving my safe house and hitting the road into the dangerous world again. It was kind of scary.
I took my backpack off, and leaned against the side of the truck, as my home disappeared as we got further and further away.