Caught In The Crossfire//A 10k Story

Chapter 13

I was nudged awake by Doc, slowly I cracked open my eyes slowly. The truck wasn't moving anymore.

"Did we break down again?" I asked groggily, rubbing my eyes with my palms. 10k laughed before opening my door. He smiled and offered me his hand. "No we haven't, we are ... somewhere," Doc stated, confused but chuckled anyway. I smiled at him and took 10k's hand, he squeezed it reassuringly.

"Murphy gave us directions and now we are here," Doc said as he opened his arms, gesturing to the surrounding area.

It was a wide field with 3 barns, one with a sign saying something I couldn't read from here, and a butt load of cars and other various vehicles parked by a fence. We walked over to a man and a woman sat on lawn chairs. They were sitting at a table with a sign saying '7 to enter' written on cardboard hanging over the end. The man had his hat tipped covering his face.

"7 to enter," The woman grunted in a southern accent. I looked at her confused and turned to the others, Warren was staring at the floor, no expression on her face. Sadness radiated through my chest at her broken expression. "7 what?" Doc asked.

The guy started to speak. "7 bullets, 7 oxy, 7 grams of whatever homemade, super loving concoction you have that lets us leave this god forsaken apocalypse behind," The man said pulling his hat up. Doc laughed, "If it ain't sketchy McClain," He laughed and hugged the man. I thought I recognised that voice. "If it ain't Doc and the gang,".

"Yeah, it's been a while, hey, have Addy and Mac passed through here?".

"Na, I don't think they have and trust me I would have remembered if that pretty thing passed through,".

"Don't think Mac would be too happy with that," I ended the conversation before Doc could continue it.

Sketchy looked me up and down, a smirk appeared on his face and 10k tightened his grip on my hand. "I don't believe we have met darling," He said, holding out a hand, I didn't shake it and he retracted it back to his side.

"Oh we have, back in New York," I said somewhat aggressively. He smirked again and raises his eyebrows, "Oh yeah I remember, been a long time ain't it sweetheart?" He winked at me. I slowly shook my head at him, I pulled my hand up that was holding 10k's arm and wave our joined hands, shaking it slightly to emphasis the fact that we were holding hands.

"Ahhh I see, congrats kiddo, quite the catch, " He patted 10k on the shoulder before he turned away. 10k scowled and I squeezed his hand before kissing his cheek. He smiled back at me and we started to follow the others.

"And over here is the Fu-bar, finest moonshine this side of anywhere," Sketchy pointed at the first barn. Warren started to quick walk towards the bar, most likely to drink away her sorrows.

"I'll go with her, makes sure she's okay," I sighed. 10k nodded and quickly kissed my head before quickly following after her. I pushed through the creaky swinging doors. Everyone stopped and stared at me, a few of the guys looked me up and down and someone wolf whistled. I scoffed and walked over to Warren, she sat at the bar sipping a jar of moonshine. "Hey Warren," I said softly. She glanced at me and smiles sadly. "Hey Jaime,".

"How are you feeling?".

"I'm feeling fantastic! How about you?".

"Warren how many drinks have you had?".

"Maybe one too less, hey can I get another one?".

"No Warren," I sighed and placed my hand on her hand. We continued talking for an hour before screams and loud gunfire erupted from outside. We had been hearing soft gunfire for a while, but that was because of the shooting competition happening outside. 10k had entered and I knew he would win, he can shoot anything from any distance.

But the screams were new. A bullet flew past us and hit the bartender. "Damn it! What the fuck?" I shouted and pulled Warren to the ground with me. "Jaime go and get the others, I'll be right out," She ordered, sounding like herself again. I was hesitant to leave her alone, but I complied anyway.

I nodded tightly, there's no point in arguing with her right now. I jumped up and pulled out my pistol, I was trying to save my rifle ammo. I stepped outside and raised my gun, looking around. Z's were starting to appear everywhere and people were  trying their best to fight them off. I watched as decaying Z pulled a guy with red hair down to the ground and ripped open his stomach. I shot them both and started to run towards the shooting range. I had to find the others. As I'm running, I see a familiar head of unruly white hair. "Hey Doc!" I shouted and his head snapped in my direction.

His eyes widen when he saw me, a worried look on his face as he waved me over. "Hey kid she's here!" I heard him shout in the opposite direction. I jogged over to him and hug him. "I'm glad your okay!" He shouted over the gunfire and groans. I pulled away and turned around to be pulled straight into another pair of arms. The familiar smell of oil, sweat and pine relaxed me as I wrapped my arms around 10k. "I thought I lost you," He whispered into my hair. I laughed lightly before answering, "It's going to take more than a few Z's to kill me off,".

We headed to the truck. Although it was on its last legs, or should I say last wheels, we needed to get out of here. Like right now. More Z's had shown up. I was confused, we were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by miles of nothing, so where were they coming from? We reached the truck and Doc jumped in the front, Murphy hopped in the passenger seat and I flopped into the back seats with 10k.

"We have to wait for Warren!" I shouted and pointed in the direction of the Fu-bar. Warren was chopping down Z's left, right and centre. "What a badass," Murphy mumbled in awe. Warren climbed in next to me and smiled at everyone. "C'mon get your ass moving," She ordered. Doc started to drive, swerving around Z's and other people speeding to get away. We turned sharply back onto the main road and slowed to drive at a normal speed once away from the camp.

"Well I saw that coming," Murphy sniggered. Warren reached forward and slapped the side of his head. "Enough Murphy! A lot of people died back there, people who did nothing wrong!" I shouted at him and give him my best serious face.

Warren smiled at me then turned back to Murphy and scowled. "Jaime is right, they didn't deserve that. Being killed because of a couple gullible people thinking that they were safe to get drunk and high," Warren scolded him. I feel the anger radiating through my body as I bite my lip to stop myself from shouting at him again. 10k leaned in and whispered in my ear, "You look incredibly hot right now," He smirked and stroked my thigh. I giggled and rested my head on his shoulder.

"It's good to have you back Warren," Doc exclaimed excitedly.