Don't Be Scared

S.1 E.10 ~ GN (Ch. 56)

Was all the gas-releasing idiot could reply with.

"If I die, because you farted, I'm taking you with me." Doc promised, shaking his beard at the stench as it veiled over all of us.

Jesus Christ. Does he need a new pair of pants?

"Shh." Warren scowled, pulling the collar of her jacket up over her nose to try and stop the toxic cloud from reaching her even more.

The snarl from the zombie was now getting closer and closer to us—thanks to Murphy. Just when the Z turned the corner, though, Doc raised up from the ground. He rose the crowbar up and slammed it down on top of the glowing Z's head.

Glowing.. Z?

"What in the livin' Hell? It's glowin'." Doc spoke, amazed as he hovered over the green glowing zombie.

It's skin was dark and ashy, but it had vibrant green ooze-looking liquid bleeding from the top of it's head. There was even some on it's clothing.

"It's like a zombie ghost." I blurted out, remembering a Spongebob episode.

I lifted myself off of 10K's grasp, studying the Z like everyone else. It was as if we were all scientists that just found the most rare, interesting specimen in history. At the moment, we kind of did.

"Why is he glowing?"

Murphy was just amazed as everyone else.

"I don't know, but he's got friends." Warren removed her attention from the unidentified zombie to look ahead at the rest of the glowing ones that came from around the same corner the original Z came from.

Just as I cocked my shotgun, the door we broke was swung open by men/women in yellow radioactive suits. They shot two Zs that were heading our way, immediately catching our attention with the guns in their hand.

"Don't touch them! Back away from the Zs! It's not safe!" A man shouted from behind the suit, taking out another Z that was heading for our Doc.

"Are they contagious?" Doc questioned, watching the man, who had just saved his life, work to defeat any other Zs.

I watched as the man behind Doc's savior followed closely behind him. Suddenly, I was shoved away from where I was standing a second ago. I turned around on my butt with a knife in hand to see 10K shoved against the wall by a contagious Z.

The time I took to get off of the dirty floor was enough time for someone behind me to shoot the head off. Luckily, no blood was splattered on 10K's face. Close one. The limp body fell to the ground, but was shoved halfway down by 10K's hand.

At least he's okay.

"Radioactive."

We all looked at the first speaker bewildered and shocked at the statement he said with one word.

"How is that possible?"

Warren couldn't believe the word to describe the undead. Great. What's next a zombie-bear? Trusting these strangers may not lead us into a trap since they have knowledge about the radioactive Zs and willingly shared it with us.

In complete trust and following our hungry guts, we walked out of the warehouse with them leading us. We went down a road, veering off down to a grown up road. In front of us was a large, nuclear plantation that was constructed high into the air.

"There you go." Was all the man had to say.

The radioactive plant had some sort of light green gas leaking into our oxygen; meaning this could really be deadly.

For us.

"This is going to be one of them days, isn't it, Warren?" I sighed, pocketing my knife into my front pocket.

I looked around at all the Zs caged behind a fence that surrounded the plantation.

"I think so, baby girl."

The man and woman took off their hats, revealing a sickly pale man and a healthy woman. The alpha of their baby group led us to a place where his and his friend or daughter stayed. 10K and I stayed in the very back while Doc and Warren lead behind the two strangers.

Murphy and Cassandra stayed in between the four of us.

"If you don't mind me asking, what were you folks doing wandering out there near the reactor?"

"We were lost." Warren clarified, "Our vehicle ran out of gas 20 miles from here. We took a shortcut through the woods so we could avoid the Zs."

"You're not lost anymore." The man let out a raspy, sarcastic laugh, "Welcome to Edgemont, South Dakota. Population three, not counting any of you."

The weak male turned around so we could get a clear look of his face since he had began to strip from the hazmat mask. He looked like pure death; death being the savior and a coffin being his new home.

His pale skin was dripping with a cold sweat, but dark circles were painted under his drooping eyes to give some kind of shading. Only color on his body was the sleep-deprivation evidence. The pale blue orbs screamed sickness and disease.

Not with the Z-virus. Maybe it was the radiation he's been breathing, but why isn't she sick?

"Name's Wilbur Grady. This is my daughter, Amelia."

Amelia turned around, giving us all small smiles before focusing back on the road like her father.

"Nice to meet you."

She too had stripped away from the yellow suit and tied the sleeves around her waist.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Roberta Warren. This is Cassandra, Doc--."

Wilbur began to cough up a deadly cough from the back of his throat, killing his lungs by the sound of it. The dry cough must've started from the lungs or down in his stomach.

"This.. This is Murphy. 10K and (Y/N)'s in the back."

The new man now clung to a near gas pump for support. He was hunched over, covering his mouth with an even paler hand. His free hand, his right, was hung over the corner of the metal gas holder to try and support his heavy weight.

I grabbed the back of 10K's shirt, growing uneasy by the sight of it. He's dying. There's no loophole here. There's no medicine to share or get.

"Is he okay?" I asked, looking forward to her telling me I was wrong about his death.

He's dying and, I think, he knows it as well. I think we all know it, but don't want to admit the worse.

"No. Radiation poisoning." She determined the illness herself.

The young--and about to be last--Grady didn't want the words to be true, but they were growing more and more of a fact with reality seeping through it. The sickness didn't hit them right off; no, it seemed like it progressed.

They've had time to come with the terms he's about to die. It's just gotten far worse since then. He's reaching the end. She knows it, but doesn't want to face the truth that this is now a high-risk of losing the only man she's ever loved.

|| "If I die, because you farted, I'm taking you with me" ||