Don't Be Scared

S.1 E.2 ~ FZ (Ch. 10)

The grown man, that was scared of Zs more than I was, interrupted his superior, "Wait. What kind of doctor are you anyway?"

Murphy's words were now skeptical towards the 'doctor' in the car.

"Not really a doctor, more of a amateur pharmacologist."

"More like a pro at watching ER." I smiled at my own joke.

"What about you? Aren't you, what, twenty?"

"I wanted to go to school to be a (Your Dream Job). I was just in middle school when this happened."

"So, eighteen?"

"Sixteen." I corrected.

He was close; just two years behind.

"What about you, Murphy? How'd you get to be the savior of the human race?" Doc asked, looking at the 'savior of the human race'.

"You really wanna know?" Murphy was hesitant and surprised that we actually wanted to know something about him, "Truth is, for a guy who's been wrongly convicted, I'm actually very civil minded. I volunteered."

You know, that's what a true convict would say. I could see the lies in his eyes. The way they diverted to the left. The way his fingers gripped the inside of his jacket even tighter as he tried to hide the marks.

All these symptoms were signs of lying. Why not just say the truth? It's not like we can hate you even more than we already do. Finally, he looked at Doc's eyes after his little story.

"Man, they'd have to beat me senseless, strap me down, before I'd ever let anybody inject me with a live zombie virus." Doc shook his head, chuckling to himself.

The old doctor hooked his thumbs under the dirty red straps of his suspenders.

"Yeah, well it wasn't about me. You know, you do what you gotta do. For the kids."

I'm taking the last part to be an obvious joke. This man doesn't care about anyone but himself.

"So, you got the vaccine, and then got bit?" I examined his face, watching for any more lies.

I sat my elbow on the top of the console, leaning my head on top of my palm.

"Eight times."

"Good God." Doc spoke in disbelief to the cruelty of reality.

"If you say so." Murphy's words were muttered.

"That had to be awful."

Just the thought of being bit that many times and being surrounded by so many undead made me sick to the stomach; even more disgusted with the thing that started this mess.

"Must've been. Luckily, I blacked out so I don't remember any of it. Somehow, Hammond rescued me. Better late than never, I guess." The only survivor of the zombie bite muttered the last sentence, "And been on the run ever since."

Why did Hammond leave him in the first place? Or was Hammond just late getting there to him? If Murphy had eight bites, there had to be a lot of Zs. I mean, come on. Eight? From one Z? That scene is probably where the black man got the scar across his face.

"Now Hammond's dead, too."

"Yep. Good times."

Murphy didn't seem hurt by the reminder as he showed no remorse.

How can you act so coldly towards the man that risked his life for you? Mentally, I was smacking the devil out of him, but on the outside, I was just a smiling teenager in the apocalypse.

"Shh, we got some nosy neighbors." Doc pointed out the window behind him.

More and more Zs were popping up like flies. The slamming increased and the volume of their groans were louder than before. Two or three zombies started to come to the passenger side of the car.

Fear was very evident in the man behind Doc and I.

"Call the others!" Murphy shouted, pressing his back against the black leather seating.

"You're attracting them!" Doc shouted over Murphy's repeated cries.

It seemed as if someone had injected the man with a fear serum that had no end. The claws of Murphy's hands started to dig into the nice cushion seats beside his legs. His chest was heaving up, then back down only to rise in a quicker motion.

PTSD maybe?

"Shut up!" Doc finally hissed out, trying to get the 'savior of the universe' to settle down, at least a bit.

I sat down on top of the console, keeping my legs crossed. I had to bend my spine down some so I wouldn't bump my head on the roof.

"They're on the other side, Murphy. There is no way that they can harm you when they can't get to you."

I gave him the most sympathetic smile I could.

"Murphy, I need you to breathe, alright?" I nodded.

Murphy looked like a frightened squirrel that was stuck between two dobermans. His hands were splayed on either side of him against the backseat. If he keeps panicking like this, he'll attract even more zombies and if he attracts more zombies, I'll start to panic, and then no one will be able to help Doc.

"Good grief, dude. Murphy--. Alright."

I got off of the console so that Doc could try and knock some sense into him.

"Murphy."

Murphy refused to look at another man.

"Murphy. Look at me."

The frightened kitten glanced at the white-haired male before turning back to watch the undead.

"In my eyes." Doc redefined.

Finally, Murphy stared deep into his older orbs.

"You're safe in here, man. They can't get you. Now, just try to breathe through it, man. Breathe."

I watched from over the corner of the chair as Murphy's chest only started to get worse, not better. His hands now gripped the head of the chair's seat. Peritoneum part of his body started to pump up and down faster.

His panic attack only got worse.

"Alright, that's enough. Look, there's only two of them." Doc motioned towards the remaining three zombies.

Where did the rest go?

"Look, man, I'm gonna go out there. I'm gonna draw them away, and then I'm gonna mercy them. Now, you just chill out."

When he saw that Murphy was no longer giving him any attention, he turned to look at me, "I'll be right back. Try to calm the big baby."

"Be.. Be safe." I mumbled, not liking the idea of being trapped in a vehicle with Murphy in his condition.

Doc ruffled my already matted hair before swinging his door wide open, then slamming it shut. As Doc tried to lead them off in front of the car, more and more started to come back. Oh, God. Doc.

I placed my hand over the handle of the door, but before I could open up to help, two zombies were down onto the ground. 10K. No one else can shoot like that and no one else on this team has a sniper.

More zombies started to appear. When I turned to look at Murphy, the man braced my head into the palm of his hand and shoved the back of it against the window. I grunted as pain surged from the hit.

I fluttered my eyes open, watching as Murphy moved to get into the driver's seat. Ah, shit.

|| It's not like we can hate you even more than we already do. ||