The Snipers of the Apocalypse

Going Nuclear Part 4

As we left Homer's place, Warren grabbed a satellite phone in hopes to contact Citizen Z. She attempted a few times before Homer said something.

"Northern Light, come in."

"I don't know what you want with that old piece of junk- nobody to call."

"We got somebody that might pick up." Warren commented as she held the phone back up to her ear. "Northern Light, come in." She didn't get an answer as we approached the gate. A zombie woman was clinging to the fence, causing Homer to stop in his tracks.

"Something wrong, Homer?" I asked him as I glanced between him and the zombie.

"I knew her, that's all." That's rough. "Her son was one of Max's buddies." That's even more rough. Homer looked up at the reactor with sad eyes. "Did you ever go back to the house you grew up in, only to see its falling apart and in a bad neighborhood? That's what this feels like- times ten."

"Well where I grew up the Zombie Apocalypse only improved things." Doc tried to lighten the mood as Homer looked to 10k and nodded his head to his old friend. Tommy seemed to understand as he pulled his knife out and walked up to her, giving her mercy.

"Alright, back to business." Stubbins continued to focus on the task at hand. "From here on the area's hot, right? You got two clean rad suits in there; one for me and," he looked around our group, "I need somebody to back me up." Before anybody could object, 10k walked towards him. I reached for his hand but he was already too far away.

"No, I'll go." Warren stopped him.

"What? You can't go!" I don't think I've ever glared at Doc harder in the year I've known him. "Who's gonna get him," he motioned to Murphy, "to California if something goes wrong? Don't look at me!" Warren hesitated before nodding and facing 10k.

"Okay, alright. Just remember- you have ammo now."

"But not an infinite supply." I reminded him, grabbing his hand. I know there's no talking him out of this, I just have to trust him.

"Let's do this." Thomas spoke as we walked to the front door where the suits were left. I stayed by his side and helped him put the gear on, stopping him before putting the mask over his face.

"Be careful." I warned, squeezing his hand. He nodded and put his mask on, giving me a reassuring smile before entering the reactor behind Homer. I tried to shake off my nerves as I followed the rest of our group back to the gate, listening as my boyfriend and his new father-figure talked over the radio. A minute passed before anything was said.

"We made it to the control room." Homer informed us, faint typing in the background. "And there's our problem. Cooling pool three."

"Can you SCRAM it or not?" 10k questioned. I held the radio closer since it was a little difficult to hear them over the alarm.

"According to the controls, all the rods are enabled but something is blocking the insertion. We need to remove it." Homer explained.

"By hand?" Thomas sounded concerned. I am, too. Homer seemed in thought for a second before he spoke.

"Not by our hand." His voice was dripping with something that almost sounded like pride as I heard the rustling of his suit, indicating he was moving. "This is Robbie." Who the hell is Robbie? "He will roll into the core and do a manual SCRAM." Oh, he's a robot. "He can cut through anything; this little darlin' can vaporize steel." Neat.

I listened closely as I could hear Homer sit back down and set 'Robbie' on the floor, followed by a beep signaling it was on.

"I get it, it's like a drone." 10k seemed amused.