In the Apocalypse

Doctor of the Dead

"Do you feel any better?" I asked Cassandra after she finished puking. Her infection in her leg came back and with a vengeance. It's bad. Doc doesn't know if she's gonna make it.

"A little bit." She smiled weakly at me. 10K tried to pick her up so we could go back to the van. "No, no, no." She told him. He stopped his movements and set her back on the ground.

"Guys, we gotta go!" Warren called to us after a couple minutes.

I looked to Cassandra to make sure she was okay to move. She saw my look and gave me a slight nod. 10K picked her up. She grimaced as he carried her back to the van.

Once we were in, she laid down against the side of the van. 10K sat opposite of her. I sat down beside him. Doc was driving. Murphy was in the passenger seat. Warren was sitting in the back with us.

"Well, Murphy. I think I'm gonna miss your sorry ass." Doc said to Murphy as we were going down the road.

"I, uh, appreciate the sentiment." Murphy replied.

"We logged some miles together ,brother." Doc stated.

"Amen." Murphy said.

"Startin' to feel like a damn family. You know what I'm saying?" Doc said to Murphy.

"Uh, I... I dunno if I've actually ever said this to anybody before but I ,uh... I almost consider you a friend." Murphy said. He really wasn't a sentimental person.

"Yeah, I don't envy you though ,man. I mean, hell, once we deliver you, all bets are off. They're gonna have more needles stuck in you than the damn tomato in grandma's sewing basket." Doc stated.

"No, they're... They're just gonna take out my-" Murphy started but Doc cut him off.

"Oh, trust me, they're gonna have some kind of tube or prod rammed in every spare orifice or my name ain't Sally. You know this one time I had a catheter. Dude, you better hope they don't go that route." Doc said.

"Doc." Warren scolded.

"What?" Doc asked.

"How much further?" Warren asked.

"Uh, I dunno, 65 miles or so." Doc answered her. "Anyway, I'm gonna miss you ,dude."

"Yeah, right." Murphy said in a distant tone.

"How 'bout you kids? What do you two got planned? I assume you're sticking together." Doc asked looking between 10K and I.

"Of course we are." I told him.

"We don't know. I still got 6,998 to go. I might take a break for a while though, we were talking about heading up north ,somewhere cold. The Zs don't fare too well in the cold." 10K sent me a smile. I grinned back at him.

"Yeah, I don't fare too well in the cold myself." Doc said ,making us look up at him again. "Roberta?"

"Uh, I don't know. Maybe follow the sun west. I've never been to California. How about you ,Doc?" Warren asked.

"Maybe I'll buy a boat and sail the world. Find me an island where there's not even a Z in their alphabet." He said making me chuckle.

"That plan doesn't sound too bad either. At least I wouldn't be freezing my ass off." I said. I smiled over at 10K to show him I wasn't being serious. I loved the snow. I had no problem going with him somewhere cold ,as long as I was with him.

***

"This must be it." Warren said as we were pulling up to some building that reminded me of a storage area. "Citizen Z said look for a metal shed with a roll up door."