Don't Be Scared

S.1 E.10 ~ GN (Ch. 60)

Warren grabbed her shoulders, bringing herself closer to the girl's face, just waiting for her to tell a lie.

"Amelia, we need to know, can you shut this thing down by yourself if we protect you?"

We're not risking our lives and the members of this team if she can't look at the panels and know what to do.

Amelia looked at Warren as if she had just insulted her, "I know airplanes, not nukes."

"Awesome." Murphy grumbled, not liking the events.

I took a step closer to him, hitting his chest, but not too harshly. Hard enough for him to get the idea that it was rude of him to say that in such a sarcastic manner.

"Miss Grady, your father said that there were three people in this town. We've only met two. Who's the other?"

"Yeah, Homer Stubbins. He was chief engineer at the plant for twenty years. He was dad's boss, but he's been holed up in the woods since the apocalypse." She informed us of the last living employee of the plant.

Why didn't Wilbur ever seek him out so he could assist? He helped set up the damn plant in the first place!

"He's armed and dangerous." Amelia added quickly, thinking we'd change our minds the instant she said that, "He became reclusive after the death of his son."

"How do we find Homer?" Warren questioned, placing her hands back on the wide hips of her hourglass body.

"He won't talk to you." Amelia rejected the thought before even letting us try it out.

"We have to try." Warren sighed, turning around on her heels to direct us on what to do.

Twenty minutes later and Amelia had all of us in the woods, searching for Homer's home. Warren was ahead of us with Amelia and Doc at her side.

Cassandra and 10K were behind Murphy and I as we stayed behind the two leaders and Amelia. The girl stopped in front of a fenced area that had a couple of trees behind the metal protector, like he was trying to hide his home and keep the Zs away.

"We have to stop here." Amelia warned, not going pass the metal fence.

In the corner of my eye, I watched as 10K left Cassandra's side and squatted down beside Amelia's feet. His face showed pure concentration as he studied what he was working with. This looks like something he'd make for himself.

"We're still fifty yards away." Murphy scoffed, not thinking like a hunter that's been isolated for years.

"My dad said the place was booby-trapped." Amelia gave us the heads up right as we made it, "I told you, Homer's crazy."

Crazy? It's the apocalypse. You're going to want to have booby-traps all around you as you walk. Protection over destruction.

"Have we completely dismissed the idea of a phone call?" Cassandra asked, looking around at our faces, "Just sayin'."

I watched as Warren got beside the squatted 10K, "Hey. This is your kind of set-up. How do we get in?"

"Without us getting killed. I do like to keep that in mind." Murphy interrupted the two thinkers.

Once again, the back of my hand hit the front of his chest.

"Rude." I mumbled.

"So, you'd like to die?"

"10K wouldn't let us get hurt. On purpose."

He wouldn't. It's just not in his nature to hurt the people who's protected and fed him for as long as we have. We're almost like family, I think you could say.