Apocalyptic | 10K

Chapter seventeen

"Going nuclear"

"If you don't mind my asking, what are you folks doing wandering out here, near the reactor?" The older guy asked as he walked In front with the blonde girl, his daughter. "We were lost." Murphy said looking down at Warren who shook her head.

"We weren't lost" Roberta stated elbowing murphy's ribs earning a groan.  "Our vehicle ran out of gas 20 miles from here. We took a shortcut through the woods see if  we could avoid the z's ." Warren continued to correct Murphy as she gave him a look, Delilah walked beside Cassandra as the girls looked around talking amongst one another whilst they walked past an old clothes store.

"You're not lost anymore. Welcome to Edgemont, South Dakota. Population three, not counting you." He hummed as he pointed at the group, "Name us Wilbur Grady. This here is my daughter, Amelia." He introduced as Delilah sent a small smile to the girl "Nice meeting you, I'm Roberta Warren. This is Murphy. And that's Cassandra, And this is 10k and -" Warren was cut off from the introduction as the man started to cough heavily, leaning against an old sign post as Delilah moved from Amelia to get to her father.

Delilah looked at Doc as the man gave her a weird face as she shrugged looking back at Wilbur, "Is he okay?" Warren asked as the daughter shook her head, "Radiation poisoning." Amelia said as Delilah nodded slowly looking at the man that shook his head behind her "I'm fine."

"Let's get you folks checked out and get you some food. Our place is just around here down the road a little ways." Wilbur spoke standing, he and his daughter wrapped their arms together as they walked, the group followed keeping a small distance from the man as their stomachs grumbled at the mention of food.

They sat eating as Wilbur ran a radiation radar over them, whilst Amelia gave everyone iodine.

"It'll keep the radiation from accumulating in your thyroid." She said to Doc as the man sighed "Yeah, right." He spoke as he swallowed it straight, as did Delilah whilst sitting beside Warren "Looks like you're still within safe levels. But you're lucky we came along when we did. Most of the z's around here are highly radioactive." Wilbur said as he leant on an open engine, "As if being brain- eating zombies wasn't bad enough. "

"Okay, Question. Shouldn't we be in one of these suits too? "Murphy questioned as the man shook his head "The radiation levels are too bad out here. " Wilbur chuckled as he turned to look at the group, "But you'll probably get cancer in twenty years." He said as Delilah snorted "Trust me its way down on my list of worries." She said as she leant back against 10k. "Yeah, but our more immediate problem is that the reactor core is melting down. We don't fix it soon, then everything in a three mile radius will be glowing. Not just the z's." He chuckled dryly as Amelia gave her father an iodine tablet, Delilah made a face as she looked at 10k "I've always wanted to glow before." She laughed quietly as the boy shook his head a smile growing on his lips.

"You won't make it, we have less than 48 hours before the core starts to melt down." Wilbur said as he looked at the anxious Murphy, "We're always somewhere at the wrong time." Cassandra rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms, "Why are you still here?" Delilah asked as she leant forward slightly, "Because there's still a chance to shut this thing down and save a big chunk of god's country from being irradiated for the next 10,000 years. Besides... I'm already a goner. " He spoke as he looked down at his hand, Murphy stepped forward as he pointed at the man's daughter shaking his head.

"What about your daughter? Did she sign up for this suicide mission too?" He pointed out as his voice raised, Amelia stepped forward as she looked Murphy dead in the eye "I am sticking around to help my dad." She said stubbornly whilst Wilbur shook his head "I told her I didn't need her help, but she wouldn't listen. " He spoke as he looked at his daughter, "I'm a pilot, I'll fly us out of the hot zone. " She said as Murphy grinned, "Well perfect. We'll just hitch a ride" he grinned as Delilah shook her head seeing the plane had only two seats.