Don't Be Scared

S.1 E.13 ~ Doctor of the Dead (Ch. 112)

He stared directly at them, making no mistake to show them what he was doing. Murphy's height was hiding the sight of his touching; making it difficult to prove if I was ever asked if I held 10K's hand before. 

A soft tug to my hand told me to come closer to his form. If he wanted me at his side right then and there, it would've been a pull. Discreetly, my right foot shuffled closer to him, letting my left foot follow suit. Half my body was now hiding behind Murphy's shoulder.

"We've gone through a great deal of effort to find you, Mr. Murphy." Doctor Kurtz grinned proudly.

'Find'? If he was Dr. Merch's boss shouldn't he have known the location of their package?

"Yeah, well, I've been on a little road trip." Murphy snapped, attitude wrapping around his words like an anaconda around it's meal.

I took another shuffle towards 10K's side when I felt another tug come from him.

"Well, your journey ends here. You're safe now. Your friends are to be commended for their bravery and commitment." Dr. Kurtz turned his head to bow slightly at our leader, "Your country, all of mankind, owes you a great deal."

I didn't do it for mankind. I did it because my father-figured died believing in Murphy saving the entire world. I did another shuffle, fully hiding my body behind Murphy now.

"What's going to happen to him?" Warren questioned the intentions of the superior.

In the corner of my right eye, I noticed the way her right hand was flat against the handle of her machete, which was holstered.

"Well, we'll take him the rest of the way to the lab in California where we'll sequence his genes and clone the antibodies in his blood." Doctor Kurtz freely gave us the next step of saving the world, "Then, with any luck, we'll be able to recreate the vaccine that's keeping him alive."

Why willingly tell us all of this? I shuffled once more, looking down at my feet. They were directly next to 10K's boots. Blood rushed to my face as if him squeezing my hand one more time before he finally let go, forced the red liquid up to my face.

I cleared my throat, adjusting the brass knuckles on the hand 10K had just touched. I now only had the view of one of the soldiers. Why did he want me right next to him?

"What if I don't want to be your guinea pig?" Murphy asked.

I didn't have to look at him to know he was glaring at the scientist and his bodyguards. I grabbed the back of his shirt, squeezing it as the fabric across his shoulders moved back at the grasp I held before settling there.

What the hell is he doing now?

"Well then, you'll eventually wind up just like Brandon Doyle, Patient Zero, over there."

Does Murphy really want to die in this lab? Those men have more firepower than we have right now, and a hell-of-a-lot more armor than us.

"Speaking of which, someone should really give that poor creature mercy."

'Poor creature'? It was your establishment that failed him! You're the reason he's barely alive right now! I bit my lip, not wanting the past to rewind. We've already lost someone. No more deaths this go-around.

One of the soldiers' must've made a move to eliminate Brandon, but Murphy stopped their moves with his words, "I'll do it."

I grabbed Murphy's hand from his side, tugging him around to face me.

"Be his savior." I smiled lightly as my voice came out as a whisper, taking off the last source of a weapon I had.

I opened up my knife for him, placing it in his hands. Murphy and I had eye contact before he nodded a silent 'thanks', promising he would be the savior of this one person. Once Murphy was no longer a wall to separate me from these men, I finally got sight of the enemy once more.

They're not here to help anyone but their selves and whoever they've got back at home. They're not here to save humanity. They couldn't be. I didn't look at them anymore, or I'd be convinced to open my mouth. 

Instead I turned my head and watched Murphy move around us. He squatted down in front of Brandon's face. Murphy spoke lightly, not wanting Dr. Kurtz to hear him, but the way he moved his ear closer to Patient Zero's deformed lips told me they were making light conversation.

What could he being saying to Murphy? I couldn't read Murphy's face for the first time since I've met him, but maybe that was a good thing. Murphy brought my blade above Brandon's wrinkly head and brought the sharpness down against the skull in a swift movement.

The torture Brandon endured for only God knows how long ended today. Murphy stood his towering height, his hands still gripping the blade as he just stood there in silence. Processing is a slow, fragile time for anybody.

"I'm not going."

Warren quickly jumped behind him, trying to change Murphy's made up mind, "Murphy, this is why we came this far."

"Explain to me again why I should believe anything you say." Murphy demanded the answer, looking over the top of Warren's head to let Kurtz get a good look of his fierce expression.

"Let's start with the fact you have no choice."

After Kurtz said that, he snapped his fingers and the soldiers now held all of us at gunpoint. Well, shit. I swallowed the thickness of my saliva, not knowing what to do. I have no weapon and my best bet is the boy beside me, who held no ammo in his possession. 

|| She never looked nice, she looked like art and art wasn't suppose to look nice; it was suppose to make you feel something ||