A Devil's Rise To Heaven (Z Nation)

Going Nuclear

The Black Hills

South Dakota

"You know I usually wouldn't be complaining but I'm tired and bored as hell. There's no fucking Z's to kill here." I complained.

We made it to the next ridge where Warren was checking our position and making sure we were going in the right direction. Warren allowed us a quick break when Cassandra said, "Oh my god. Look."

We all turned to look at what she was looking at, in the distance we saw Mount Rushmore with red spray paint. "This is why we can't have nice things.", Murphy always having some sort of witty comment up his ass, per usual. Reminded me of what happened to the Liberty Bell, having the same painted logo. I had to admit I liked it better with the spray paint job, fit the mood of the whole apocalypse. 

"If I ever catch who did that, they're gonna get a whoopin'. I chuckled at her threat before following her lead as we walked until we hit a gate with a few locked warehouses. Doc broke open the door and we followed behind Warren, weapons at the ready. Once inside I knew we weren't going to find supplies in here, it was clearly empty. Murphy like usual seeing a jug of water ignored Doc's warning and drank some of it anyway. I rolled my eyes at the antics before I heard growls of a Z nearby. We all hid, waiting for it to show or move on, silent until Murphy let out an audible fart causing all of us to look at him in disgust and annoyance. I could hear it coming closer as I covered my nose and heard him whisper, "Sorry, it got away from me." 

I let out a small chuckle when I heard Doc threaten Murphy, "If I die because you farted, I am taking you with me." I nodded, I would gladly join him in piking Murphy, save him the trouble. As soon as the Z turned the corner Doc piked it, but we were all shocked at the Z we saw on the floor, it had like a luminescent glow to it. 

We all stared at it for a while, all of us popping in little comments here and there;

"Why is it glowing?"

"It's like a zombie ghost."

We were all drawn out of our staring when we heard the sound of more Z's coming our way, Warren ran out of ammo on her first shot but we were saved from getting close when the door burst open revealing two people in yellow suits, yelling, "Don't touch them!" 

When the Z's were given mercy they explained to us that the Z's were highly radioactive, we followed behind him as he showed us a power plant not far from a small town. We all introduced each other until he started coughing, he's got radiation poisoning. The reactor core is melting down and would poison everything around a 300-mile radius from here. None of the cars here we're working and we wouldn't make it by walking, we had 48 hours to find a way to fix it.

They had a plane meant to carry one passenger, so we explained to him how Murphy was the only person to survive a Zombie bite. We had to show him the bites for him to believe but he and his daughter eventually saw that we weren't joking around. Too many people have died and sacrificed much to get him this far and he couldn't afford to die here. 

So we made a plan to get him inside so he can shut down the plant and figure out why it wasn't working. He didn't make it. He died and turned right before his daughter Amelia and we to bury him. She told us of a man, Homer Stubbins, a chief engineer at the plant but he was a recluse. I'd be damned if I died in a nuclear blast and ended up a Z. So we went to go find him, we had to try something or we were all dead in a matter of hours. We went to his house as we neared, but about fifty yards away we had to stop, he had booby-trapped his yard. Warren came over to 10K and me as we surveyed the front yard. I could already see the land mines and tripwires in place, as we were pointing them out to each other. 

"Hey. This is your kind of set up. How do we get in?" she asked us before we answered Murphy cut in with a witty comment, "Without us getting killed. I do like to keep that in mind." I rolled my eyes at him, "Shut up Murphy, we know that we're not amateurs you know. My mom was a special force operative. She taught me, 10K and I know what we're doing. As much as I would love to push you into a tripwire or land mine, I can't."

I turned to Warren, "He set it up to keep out Z's, not a team. As long as we keep an eye out for tripwires or land mines.."

"We'll be fine." 10K finished, I nodded. We split up into two different teams. One would go first and the other would give them a 40-second head start before going and flanking him from behind. 10K went with the first team and I went with second, keeping a sharp eye out for traps. 

After a little convincing and harsh words he reluctantly agreed to help us shut down the reactor, as we all got ammo and supplies from him. It reminded me of the two safe houses my family had in case of emergencies, that my father had gotten and stocked with weapons and the like. I pushed those thoughts aside before I started remembering something that would never be once more. Those days were gone, I could do nothing to get them back. 

When we got to the plant it was decided that 10K would go to back him up despite our protests. Before he left I handed him my favorite knife before looking him in his eyes, "Use this, you had better come back. That's my favorite knife, I'd hate to lose it. So..be careful." He nodded before leaving. 

They came back and told us that the plan had failed and we had one more shot at finishing it and saving ourselves from the blast zone. I had to stay behind and help Warren and Amelia convert the plane to take vodka as fuel. Cassandra and Doc were to stay behind and help them to the reactor core. I fiddled with my pistols while we waited for them to return, though I was a bit relieved when both Doc and Cassandra came back it just made me more worried for 10k. 

When we saw him come back through those gates I could see that he wasn't well, at least not emotionally. But I didn't pester him but when we all clambered on I sat next to him on the back.