10K's Sister(Znation) Season 1

Going Nuclear

Going Nuclear
"Is this entire state uphill? Where are we anyway?" asked Murphy
"According to this map, we're in the Black Hills of South Dakota." said Warren
"I miss the truck."
"At least we're out of that damn horde. There's nothing to kill out here and That's fine by me." I said
"We need to find a place to make camp soon. My dogs is getting tired." said Doc
"Well there's supposed to be a little town nearby called Edgemont. I'll take a compass reading at this next ridge up here." said Warren
"Can't we just take a break?" Murphy said.
"A quick one."
"Oh my God. Look." I said. "Now who in the hell did that?
"Some daredevil with a sick sense of humor." said Warren
"Is that Mount Rushmore?" asked 10k
"This is why we can't have nice things. Probably the same jackass that tagged the Liberty Bell." said Doc
"I think it's awesome." said 10k
"If I ever catch who did that, they're gonna get a whoopin'." I smirked "Come on. Let's find that town. It's gonna get dark soon." said Warren
"I thought we were taking a break." said Murphy
"Break time's over."
"We've been walking for hours. Admit it, Columbus, you're lost." said Murphy
"Give it a rest, Murphy. Warren knows where she's going. You know where you're going, Warren?" I asked
"Well we should've hit the town by now. And for the record, Columbus was lost when he discovered America." said Warren yelling at Murphy.
"Yeah, and look how that turned out." Murphy yelled back.
"Check this out." I said to Warren. It looked like some sort of storage shed.
"Well now being Doctor Brightside for the moment, maybe there's something useful inside." said Doc
"Yeah. Let's check it out." said Warren
"Hey Doc, get the door." I said to Doc as the door was locked
"Why do they still lock doors? Luckily I have a skeleton key." When we got inside it was dark and just full of shelves. "Well being Doctor Darkside, we are not gonna find much food or ammo in here."
"Yeah. If we wanted industrial pipes, this would be the place to be." said Murphy
"I don't like this." I said to 10k
"Oh, look." Murphy grabbed a jug of water and started to drink it.
"Hey, hey, hold on. You can't just drink that. What do you think this is the local piggly wiggly? That could be some kind of you know industrial type water that'll rot your insides." said Doc
"Spare me the details." said Murphy continuing to drink it
"Shhh, over there." I said.
"Take cover. Come on. Everybody sit quietly." Warren whispered. The zombie was about to leave when dumbass Murphy farted.
"Sorry. It got away from me."
"If I die because you farted, I am taking you with me." said Doc
"Shhh. What in the livin' hell? It's glowin'. It's like a zombie ghost. Why is he glowing? He's got friends." I yelled. All of a sudden 2 people busted in through the doors in radioactive yellow suits.
"Don't touch them! Back away from the Zs! It's not safe! No! Don't touch them!" They yelled
"Are they contagious?" asked Warren
" Radioactive."
"Radioactive? How is that possible?" asked Doc
" I'll show you. If you don't mind my asking, what were you folks doing wandering out there near the reactor?"
"We were lost." said Murphy
"We weren't lost. Our vehicle ran out of gas 20 miles from here. We took a shortcut through the woods so we could avoid the Zs." said Warren
"You're not lost anymore. Welcome to Edgemont, South Dakota. Population three, not counting you. Name's Wilbur Grady. This is my daughter, Amelia." said Wilbur
"Nice to meet you." said Amelia
"Nice meeting you. I'm Roberta Warren. This is Murphy. And that's Cassandra. And this is 10K in the back and his little sister Autumn."
Wilbur started coughing and hacking as if he couldn't breathe.
"Is he okay?" I asked
"No. Radiation poisoning." said Amelia
"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." Said Wilbur when we reached to their place they gave us these weird pills.
"What are these?" asked Warren
"Iodine. It'll keep the radiation from accumulating in your thyroid." said Amelia
"Looks like you're still within safe levels. But you're lucky we came along when we did. Most of the Zs around here are highly radioactive. As if being brain-eating zombies wasn't bad enough." said Wilbur
"Okay. Question. Shouldn't we be in one of these suits too?" asked Doc.
"Radiation levels aren't too bad out here. But you'll probably get cancer in twenty years." Said Wilbur
"Somehow that's way down on my list of worries" Said Warren.
"Yeah, but our more immediate problem is the reactor core melting down. We don't fix it soon, then everything within a 300 mile radius will be glowing.Not just the Zs." Explained Wilbur
"Okay, well it's been nice meeting you. We have places to be, places at least 300 miles from here." Said Murphy
"Good luck with that. Every vehicle in town is gone or can't be driven." Said Amelia
"Then I guess we better start walking." Said Murphy
"You won't make it. We have less than 48 hours before the core starts to melt down." Said Wilbur "Why are you still here?" Asked Warren
"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." Said Wilbur
"Well what about your daughter? Did she sign up for this suicide mission too?" Warren asked
"I am sticking around to help my dad." Amelia said.
"I told her I didn't need her help, but she wouldn't listen." Said Wilbur
"I'm a pilot. I'll fly us out of the hot zone." She said "Well perfect. We'll just hitch a ride." Said Murphy
"Yeah. As you can see there's only room for one passenger. And I have enough bullets for all of you, so don't go getting any ideas."
"Mister Grady, Wilbur. I know it doesn't look like it, but this man this man is the only known survivor of a zombie bite." Said Warren
"Thought there was something wrong with him." Amelia said
"His blood carries antibodies for the zombie virus. He's our last best hope for humanity." I Said
"Yeah right, and I'm the Easter bunny." Said Wilbur sarcastically
"Show him." I Said looking at Murphy. He lifted his shirt and showed them the bites.
"Oh my God."
"Now look, man. This dude here's the real deal. And a lot of people got killed getting him this far. So tell us what we need to do to shut down that reactor so we can be on our way. Unless of course you have eggs to lay Mister Bunny." Said Doc
"Okay, here's the plan. I need to get to the control room to see if I can figure out why the fuel rods aren't dropping down to the cooling pool to stop the reaction. I haven't been able to get in there cuz of this gauntlet of zombies. That's where I need your help." Said Wilbur
"Killing zombies, that's what we do." Said Warren
"Radiation levels are only slightly elevated outside the containment building. So you should be safe for at least two minutes. Long enough to get me to the door before you have to retreat back here. Use whatever you have to keep the Zs from getting too close. They're very contaminated. One hug and you'll be dead in a few hours." Explained Wilbur
"Don't hug the zombies.Got it." Said Doc
"You four stay here. If we don't get back, you get him to California somehow." She said to Doc, Cass and I.
"You ready?" Wilbur Asked
"Let's do this." An hour had past and they started running out.
"What do we do?"
"Dad, dad, dad, dad. Dad, are you okay? Look at me, dad.No, hang on, hang on, hang on. Wake up.
Please." I saw her dad start to turn and I looked at 10k for back up but she Merced her dad herself.
"I'm sorry." 10k Said
"Let's bury him." I Said
"No. It's too late for us. We're still within the blast zone." Said Amelia
"We go in." Said 10k
"And do what? Grady was the one who knew how to shut that thing off. I'm a doctor, dammit, not a nuclear physicist." Said Doc
"He was so close. Your dad gave it a good try. Sometimes that's the best we can do." Said Cass
"It wasn't dying that he was afraid of. He really didn't want to become a Z, even for a few seconds." Said Amelia
"Amelia, we need to know Can you shut this thing down by yourself if we protect you?" Asked Warren
"I know airplanes, not nukes. I mean there's one guy here in Edgemont? Homer Stubbins. He was the chief engineer at the plant for 20 years. He was dad's boss. He's been holed up in the woods since the apocalypse. He's armed and dangerous. He became a recluse after the death of his son." Explained Amelia
"How do we find Homer?" Asked Warren
" He won't talk to you."
"We have to try."
She lead us into the woods to ftnf cabin and we finally ge have to stop here.
We're still fifty yards away.
My dad said the place was booby-trapped.
I told you, Homer's crazy.
Have we completely dismissed the idea of a phone call? Just sayin'.
Hey.
This is your kinda set-up.
How do we get in? Without us getting killed.
I do like to keep that in mind.
Uh, well one thing.
Homer's set-up is aimed at stopping Zs, not a team.
So if we keep a sharp eye out for landmines, trip wires We'll be fine.
Okay.
The three of you guys, stay here.
Give us a 40 second head start.
We'll flank him and come up from behind.
Okay, watch for mines.
Watching them.
Don't move! You have three seconds to tell me what you're doing here.
One.
Two.
Don't do that, sir.
Go ahead.
Do me a solid.
Just don't leave me a Z.
I'd never do that, Mr.
Stubbins.
We just need your help.
Hello to you too.
Grady was a good man.
If anyone could SCRAM that reactor it was him.
SCRAM? Safety Control Rod Axe Man.
Goes back to the first reactors.
The only safety system they had was literally a man with an axe whose whole job in the event of a meltdown was to cut the rope holding fuel rods over the cooling pool.
That's what dad was trying to do.
How much time do you have? How much time do we have? You're in the soup with us, Homer.
You've confused me with someone who gives a damn.
According to Grady, less than 40 hours.
And we do give a damn.
Now are you gonna help us or are you gonna sit here and let us all die? Well there's one thing we might try.
I'm gonna have to show you.
We're gonna need weapons, equipment.
Come on.
Load up.
It's not as if I'm gonna be needing this stuff.
Hello, nurse.
Vitamin V.
The elixir of the Zombie Apocalypse.
You know you're looking at the original building plans for this reactor.
I was part of the design team.
You're pretty handy with that knife for a kid.
My son he had one like it but with a longer blade.
Yeah, older model.
Got to be good to make it work.
Oh, Max was good.
Okay, let's go, let's do it.
I heard about your son.
I'm sorry.
There's nothing worse than outliving your own child.
Nothing.
There sure is a whole lot of nothing in South Dakota, huh boy? Dammit.
What the hell? A satellite phone? Is it my team? Oh, rats.
Northern Light, come in.
I don't know what you want with that old piece of junk.
Nobody to call.
We got somebody that might pick up.
Northern Light, come in.
Something wrong, Homer? I knew her, that's all.
Her son was one of Max's buddies.
Did you ever go back to the house you grew up in only to see it's falling apart and in a bad neighborhood? That's what this feels like.
Times ten.
Well where I grew up, the Zombie Apocalypse only improved things.
All right, back to business.
From here on the area's hot, right? You got two clean rad suits in there.
One for me and I need somebody to back me up.
No.
I'll go.
Well you can't go.
Who's gonna get him to California if something goes wrong? Don't look at me.
Okay.
All right.
Just remember you have ammo now.
But not an infinite supply.
Let's do this.
We made it to the control room.
And there's our problem.
Cooling pool three.
Can you SCRAM it or not? According to the controls, all the rods are enabled but something is physically blocking the insertion.
We need to remove it.
By hand? Not by our hand.
This is Robbie.
He will roll into the core and do a manual SCRAM.
He can cut through anything.
This little darlin' can vaporize steel.
I get it.
It's like a drone.
Only he never leaves the ground.
There's too many Zs.
Back it up, Homer.
I'll do the driving.
We need to go forward.
Damn Zs got us.
You're an ugly one.
Damn Z.
I don't have time for this.
Get 'em out of there.
Damn Z.
Leave.
We lost Robbie.
So what now? Plan B or is it C? - Give me a D, E, F.
- Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
Not helpful.
All right.
Robbie failed.
But I can still do a manual SCRAM.
How? That place is filled with Zs.
We'll go in heavier.
Take us along this time.
We probably only got one more shot at a SCRAM.
But we'll need heavier suits to reach the control room.
Where do we find them? In the lab, not far from where we lost Robbie.
Four can go in, two in these suits.
Me and the kid in the heavies.
Okay.
But what happens if plan C doesn't work and we wind up with our very own Fukushima Chernobyl whatever? You mean what happens to you? Hey.
I didn't ask for the job of saving the human race.
Amelia.
Would you be willing to fly him out of the radiation zone? To be honest, I don't have enough fuel.
I lied to my dad or else he never would have let me stay behind.
Oh great.
If I had a few gallons, I might be able to get myself and one other person outside the blast zone, if we are lucky.
Okay, a buddy and I once converted a Dodge Dart to run on alcohol.
A light plane engine isn't that different.
You had a serious supply of vodka.
You're welcome to it.
Okay.
Doc and Cassandra, go with 10K and Homer.
You cover them.
Murphy and Amelia, come with me.
Given we have no other choices, I shall embrace the inevitable.
If this works, we'll meet back here to celebrate.
That's not good.
We have 30 minutes till boom.
Brave little dude.
Too bad we have to leave him here like this.
Sentiment is a fatal flaw in this ugly world.
We should let Warren know where we are in case we need backup, right? Warren, this is Doc.
Please be advised we have entered the tunnel to the reactor core.
Over and out.
Let's see what's going on with this baby.
So Amelia, my dear.
Where exactly might we be headed in this fine piece of aeronautical hardware? Considering it's only my life and the human race at stake.
Sheridan, Wyoming.
It's to the northwest, and the fallout will be to the southeast.
Far enough away, and my dad and I heard there's some real humans.
I just hope it works.
Piece of cake.
All I need is some tools.
Murphy, could you quit drinking your fuel and fill up the damn tank? I don't know where the tank is.
Well it's not in your mouth.
Let me get a screwdriver.
Okay, so that was 22 gallons.
Sheridan is 250 miles as the crow flies.
Here's a couple more.
Is that gonna be far enough to clear the blast zone? It'll have to be.
Well this is vodka, not avgas.
So the mileage may vary.
Listen, I, uhhh Oh shit, you're not gonna try and say goodbye, are you? I was going to say be grateful for all the sacrifices everyone has made.
Hey! Back at you.
Are we there yet? We've been in the air for five minutes.
You know, I kinda like this.
You can't see any zombies.
They're down there, bet on it.
Hey, if we find more fuel in Billings, we could take off again and head to California.
If we find vodka.
I don't know how to change this carburetor back to a gas-burner.
Doc, this is Warren, back at the plant, coming in the same way.
Doc, Warren.
Hello, Roberta.
Welcome back.
Please be advised we're now entering the reactor core on the other side of the facility.
Is there something I can do? Oh, just the usual prayer.
What's the status of that precious cargo? Has the mouthy package taken off? Yeah, he's in the air.
Then we'll fix our little problem.
And see you on the way out.
Will you miss your friends? They're not my friends.
More like foxhole buddies.
But yeah.
What's going on? Wait.
I What is that? I got it.
Just a little turbulence.
Oh God! Hang on.
Shut up and hang on! Oh God! Oh God! Amelia! Oh God, no.
Mercy.
Mercy.
Mercy.
It's weird.
It's too weird.
All right.
Which one of you fine vehicles is our ride out of here? Hello, Delta-X-Ray.
This is Delta-X-Ray, copy.
I need a little information on glowing zombies.
Okay.
Checking zombie-pedia.
Are you kidding? For now, but it's not a bad idea.
Okay.
It's called 'Angel's Glow.
' Comes from nematode bacteria.
Somehow the radiation affects zombie skin and lets bacteria grow there.
The bacteria glows when exposed to high levels of radiation.
First observed at Fukushima.
I just need an answer.
Are they hot or not? Don't let them spatter you.
Shoot.
Still there? Yeah.
I got no other place to be.
How you feeling? Like a baked potato in this thing.
Reactor core is right down this corridor.
Then why are we standing here? Because it's highly radioactive in there.
I'm going into the core to manually insert those rods.
By yourself? Out of my way, sonny.
I'm sorry.
You need backup.
Suit yourself.
You guys go.
I've got it.
Take this.
And we need to hear everything! All right! Go on! Move it! Come on! That guy came out of nowhere.
I couldn't move fast enough.
It's one of those good news, really really bad news things.
The suit is breached.
Can I tape it up? Son, I've accumulated so many rads in my life, I was probably a dead man the moment I walked through the gate.
There's got to be something I can do.
Aren't you gonna add to your count? Two thousand three hundred and sixteen.
You know you're a good kid, strong, smart, like my son Max.
I just hope to God you have better luck.
You're a lot like my dad too.
With the same bad luck.
You need to go on for all of us.
Promise me that.
Live the life my son never had.
We need to get up there.
Time really is a waistin'.
Let's get to it.
There's our problem.
Two rods didn't go down.
I'm gonna have to go out there and unstick those rods.
Be careful not to drop me into the reactor pool.
I'll be cooked instantly.
We shouldn't have left them alone.
Got it.
We couldn't stay.
We were at our limits.
That thing goes off and limits won't matter.
Homer knows what he's doing.
And the kid is awesome.
Here I go.
Can you get me closer? Yeah, sorry.
I thought everybody your age was a whiz with a remote.
Not me.
Lower me a little more.
Can you get me a little closer? Okay.
Now hit the switch that says claw release.
One down.
Once this is fixed, shoot me and get out.
I don't want to become one of them.
If I haven't said anything lately, thank you so much, universe.
For the Zombie Apocalypse! And for Doctor Merch and my whole situation! And for, well I don't know, let's see, what else.
The Badlands Nuclear Power Plant! And yes! Points to you, universe! Points to you for dragging my ass all the way to South Dakota to die! That was sarcasm.
I am not like other boys.
I do not give mercy.
Go home! I don't have anything for you! Can't you find somebody to munch on? Oh God, really is puppies and kittens.
Two more inches.
Now hit the claw release again.
Almost there.
Temperature normalizing.
Homer, it worked.
How about that? We did good.
All right, now let me get you out of there.
Shoot me now.
I already killed my father.
I don't want to kill you.
You don't make it easy.
No, no, no! No, no, no! No! No! Here he comes.
Hey, kid! Wait! Wait up! Homer saved us! That's right.
He saved the whole town! It's not that! I couldn't save him.
I know, I know.
We heard.
You did everything you could.
You gave him mercy.
You remind me of my ex-wife, back from Costco.
Who'd marry you? Several women, I'll have you know.
None with very good taste or staying power.
So it all worked.
We're safe.
From the meltdown.
Nothing else.
Is this a battery charger? Yeah.
I couldn't find a truck that I could fix, so that'll keep us going.
All right, so we can get back on the trail.
But where to? Given the fact that we've lost patient zero.
Great news! The vodka made perfect fuel for ten minutes! What happened? Crash landing about a hundred miles out of town.
Wow, you covered a lot of ground.
Did you hitchhike? Ten miles, whatever.
It felt like a hundred miles when you're walking.
So what happened to Amelia? Oh no.
You didn't give her mercy? It didn't feel right, somehow.
So you just let her follow you? That felt right, somehow.
Okay, what do you want us to do? No, no! No, no, no, no, no! No! No! She is not hurting us! I don't know.
Maybe it's time for a different kind of mercy.
Okay.
Climb aboard.