Heavy duties

Little Lulu

Warren's crazy drive ended at a lab. We thought she had some sort of idea of how to cure Murphy, but just as we got inside the lab, she was gone. 

- '' Warren!'', Doc yelled but got no answer. We laid Murphy down on a table, and his health was worse than before. He kept saying random things and losing consciousness, his bitemark was darkening, and dark, thick liquid was coming out from it. The situation was really bad and chaotic since half of our group was worried for Murphy and the rest of them were worried for Warren. 

- '' Look, I have no idea what Warren is up to, but she can't be out there alone. 10K and Lily, you'll come with me. Y/N and Lucy, stay with Murphy'', Doc said before hesitating for a moment and then pulling a dagger out from his pocket. He handed it over to me but I was too confused to take it. 

- '' Just in case he changes, you'll have to give him mercy'', Doc quietly said. 

- '' No!'', Lucy cried, but I took the dagger and thanked Doc as they left us there. Something in Murphy's blood was clearly still working against the zombie virus because a normal person would have turned already. But he kept fighting it, even if at this point the fight seemed to be lost already and it was only a matter of time before he would turn. 

Just then Murphy gasped for air one last time before he stopped breathing. I checked his nonexistent pulse before starting to give him CPR. Something in me was telling me to work even if my mind was in total shock. The CPR didn't work, I was getting tired and I took the dagger out, ready to mercy him with my shaking hands. 

- '' Mom, don't!'', Lucy yelled before sinking her teeth into Murphy's arm. For a moment nothing happened, Murphy didn't react but he didn't turn either. Then he sat up, gasping for air with his eyes wide open. 

- '' Dad!'', Lucy yelled happily before hugging him. Murphy was still panting hard but now he was looking at me with my dagger ready to hit him.

- '' What are you doing?'', he asked, almost sounding irritated.

- '' Wh- Nothing'', I said, putting the dagger down and letting a relieved sigh come out. Then Murphy turned to look at Lucy, and his expression turned into pure shock.

- '' You've....grown...again'', Murphy said. Lucy turned to look at me and that's when I saw it too; she had grown. Now she was older than me, a middle-aged woman. Lucy looked at her hands before turning to look into a mirror.

- '' Oh...well. This is not the first time it has happened'', she said, trying to brush it off.

- '' Did your bite trigger this?'', I asked.

- '' No! Or I don't know. It doesn't matter. Everything is good'', Lucy defended herself. Murphy seemed to be fine for now, the zombie bite seemed to heal, it was truly a miracle.

- '' Where's Warren and the rest of them?'', Murphy asked, and just then I heard a scream followed by the sounds of a fight coming from the place Warren, Doc, 10K, and Lily had gone to. 

- '' They might need help'', I said before taking the dagger again.

- '' Don't go'', Murphy quickly said.

- '' Lucy, stay with your father. I'll go check what's going on'', I said before entering the rooms where the sounds came from. It didn't take me long to find a scene with a huge mutant zombie throwing my friends in the air. This kind of fight would require a proper gun and not just a dagger, but then out of a sudden, Warren started to talk to the zombie. The zombie seemed to understand her, which was freaky, but not surprising at this point. Their talk gave the rest of the group an important moment to pull themselves together. Doc got up from the floor and looked at me.

- '' How's Murphy?'', he whispered while Warren was talking to the Z. 

- '' He's fine. Lucy bit him'', I said. Doc didn't ask any further questions. Just then Warren gave mercy to the zombie that fell on the ground. We looked at each other, confused, but Warren told us to leave. 

As we walked to the hall where I left Murphy and Lucy, I noticed Murphy was sitting on the floor with Lucy in his arms. At first, I didn't think much of this scene before I noticed Lucy's hair was all silver and her skin was wrinkly. She had aged into a very old woman.

- '' No!'', I yelled before collapsing on my knees on the floor, holding my daughter's face. 

- '' What happened?'', Warren quietly asked, as shocked as the rest of them. 

- '' It's okay. I am okay'', Lucy said in a raspy tone and tried to smile. I felt tears on my cheeks without even realizing I was crying. 

- '' I told her not to do it anymore'', Murphy quietly said.

- '' It's okay dad. I made my own decision'', she said before caressing Murphy's cheek with her shaky hand. Then she turned to look at me, taking my hand with her other hand.

- '' All I ever wanted was to be held by both of you'', she said. She sounded so calm, but I was screaming inside my mind. Just then she closed her eyes and took her last breath. The smile on her face slowly faded away as the life left her body.

- '' No! No, no, no'', I cried, trying to shake her awake. 

- '' Y/N, she is gone'', Murphy said with a broken tone. I turned to look at him, and for a moment I just stared at him before starting to scream. My mouth left the most heartbreaking, ear-shattering, and animalistic sound this group had heard in a while. 

I couldn't get up. I couldn't say a thing. All I could do was hold my dead daughter's body and sway myself back and forth. I couldn't comprehend anything anyone said to me, I blocked everything out. Warren lowered herself to my level and tried to speak to me. 

- '' Y/N. I know you are in a hard place right now. But we have to continue. We have to give Lucy the funeral she deserves. Come on'', Warren spoke to me and tried to get me up. Murphy walked up to me and got down on my level as well. He looked directly into my eyes with clear sadness on his face.

- '' Come on Y/N. Lulu deserves to leave with pride. Come on love'', he spoke to me as he helped me get up with Warren. Murphy then lifted Lucy's body from the floor and we all walked out. 

The group decided it was best to wrap Lucy in a white cloth, surround her with flowers and then set a bonfire around her. I wasn't able to participate in any of these, I just stared at the grave they had set for my daughter and her body staying still in the middle of beautiful flowers. 

Murphy was holding me as 10K set the grave on fire. I was still crying even if I didn't notice it myself. There was nothing else I could do. I got my daughter back just to lose her again. The days I've spent with her were way too few and altogether she had spent little over 2 years in this world. The more I thought about it the more I started to cry. Doc held a beautiful speech about Lucy, and it was very good that he did it; neither I nor Murphy could have said anything. Throughout the whole apocalypse, this was the worst thing that could possibly happen to anyone. 

//My updating speed is entirely between me, my work, and the holy spirit