The Snipers of the Apocalypse

Going Nuclear Part 3

"So that thing is still ready to cook off?" Doc shouted, taking his bag off his shoulders and tossing it to the ground in irritation as Warren and I nodded. "Well I'd like to know what we're supposed to do about it."

"Can't run, we're still within the blast zone." Cassandra pointed out.

"We go in." Warren spoke up.

"And do what?" Doc questioned.

"Grady was the only one who knew how to shut that thing off. Last time I checked, none of us are nuclear physicists." I pitched in from beside Amelia.

"She's right, I'm a Doctor, dammit." I laughed slightly at Doc's words.

"He was so close." Amelia said solemnly. Cassandra knelt next to her.

"Your dad gave it a good try, sometimes that's the best we can do." She reassured the grieving woman.

"It wasn't dying that he was afraid of. He really didn't want to become a Z; even for a few seconds." Warren sat down on the other side of her and leaned on her knees.

"Amelia, we need to know... can you shut this thing down by yourself- if we protect you?" Amelia let out a deep breath.

"I know airplanes, not nukes."

"Awesome." Murphy scoffed.

"I mean, there is one guy." Amelia seemed in thought.

"Here? In Edgemont?" I questioned.

"Yeah, Homer Stubbins. He was the chief engineer at the plant for 20 years; he was dad's boss. He's been holed up in the woods since the apocalypse. He's armed and dangerous."

"So are we." I grinned to Warren who nodded.

"He became a recluse after the death of his son." She added. Man, everybody's losing family these days. Not a surprise, actually.

"How do we find Homer?" Warren interrogated.

"He won't talk to you." Amelia warned.

"We have to try." Warren spoke from pure determination. Amelia hesitantly nodded before standing and grabbing her gun. The rest of us grabbed our weapons as well, hiding our bags so that anybody that happened to amble by can't find them. We followed Amelia through the woods and eventually came to a small cabin.

"We have to stop here." Amelia warned when we came to a barbed wire fence.

"We're still 50 yards away." Murphy spoke the obvious.

"My dad said the place was booby-trapped." She explained as 10k and I knelt down to examine the grounds ahead. "I told you, Homer's crazy."

"Have we completely dismissed the idea of a phone call? I'm just sayin'." Cassandra joked slightly, her voice dripping with stress. Warren walked over and crouched between Thomas and I.

"Hey, this is your kinda set up. How do we get in?"

"Uh, well one thing." 10k started as he eyed the terrain in front of us. "Homer's set up is aimed at keeping Z's out- not a team." 10k finished his thought, myself adding my own.

"So, if we keep a sharp eye out for land mines, tripwires..."

"We'll be fine." Warren finished my sentence. Tommy and I shared a glance before looking back to her, nodding. "Okay." The three of us stood back up and Warren came up with a plan. She looked at Doc, Cassandra, Murphy and myself first.

"The four of you guys stay here. Give us a 40 second head start, we'll flank him and come up from behind." We all agreed with the plan, and I kissed Tommy's cheek quickly.