Hope {z nation - 10k}

*Flashback*

*This is a flashback to when 10k had to put his dad down*

Driving. That is, all they have been doing for hours is going. Lana sat in the back while Tommy was in the passenger seat while his dad was driving. At the moment, the sun was down. So, other than the truck's headlights, all she could see was black. It had been a while since she had slept. You know, because it's the apocalypse.

Once she leaned her head against the window, her eyes started to close. Her sleep was peaceful up until the car began to swerve. Then, her eyes sprung open in alarm, ready for anything. Tommy's dad wasn't looking too well. He was pale and sweating a lot. They pulled over and got out of the car. Lana and Tommy grabbed him and helped him out of the car, ready to treat his injury.

His legs weakened, causing both teens to lay him down using his bag as a pillow. "It's going to be ok, Dad," Tommy had claimed to try to comfort his dad. While that was happening, Lana lifted the man's sleeve on his jacket to discover it wasn't an injury. He had been bitten. "Ummm. Tommy. You might want to see this." Tommy looks over at what Lana has discovered.

His father had been bitten. "Tie me down, son. You are going to have to mercy me." At this point, Tommy was crying. Lana took a rope string from her bag and helped Tommy tie his dad up. Tommy had never smoked a cigarette before. But when his dad wanted his last smoke to be with his son, he didn't refuse.

Tommy reached into his father's bag and pulled out the pack of smokes. He placed one in his father's mouth and offered one to Lana. She declined. She knew this would be the last father-son moment that those had together. Lana stood up, placed her hand on Tommy's shoulder, then turned and sat in the back of the truck.

Tommy lit both of the cigarettes and coughed when he inhaled his. He knew it was time when his dad had stopped breathing from underneath him. His father's eyes opened, but they were milky white. He growled and gurgled, trying to get one chunk out of Tommy, but couldn't. Tommy, on the other hand, was crying his eyes out. He put a dagger to the center of his father's forehead. He looked into his father's eyes one last time, looking for any sign of him left.

Nothing. He saw no trace left of his father. So he slowly sank the dagger into his father's head, killing the thing that used to be him. He fell to the ground crying. When he stopped, he got up and walked back over to the driver's side of the truck. He looked in the back to check on Lana. The girl was lying down, her dark hair spread around her. She was sound asleep.