I Trust You

I watched as 10k shot a few Amish zombies using rocks and his slingshot.

"Amish zombies? Really?" Addy asked.

"They tried to quarantine themselves from the rest of society. Keep the Z's from spreading the infection." Garnett said.

"That was before we knew Romero had it right." Mack said.

"We were all carrying the virus. Didn't matter where or how you died." I explained.

"Night of the Living Dead. Great movie, sucky reality. You know what I don't get, if the Z's didn't spread the virus, how did we all get infected?" Addy asked.

Charlie shrugged, "Best guess I heard, it was spread by birds. Some kind of parasite piggybacked on the bird flu. Stays dormant 'til you die."

"You know, take if from somebody knows it first hand." Murphy started, "Other than the fact that they find brains delicious, when it comes to zombies nobody knows nothing."

Roberta returned from using the bathroom. "My turn." Murphy walked over to me holding his hand out for toilet paper. I placed three squares in his hand. "Have we just met?" He asked. I gave him one more square. "Thank you."

"Hey hurry up. I want to get past DC before dark." Garnett said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Murphy said.

"I'm tellin' ya, there ain't nothin' there. No thoughts, no memories. No soul. Nothin'" Doc said.

"Well they're not dead. They want something." Cassandra said to Doc.

"Brains." I said back, grabbing her head. She just laughed and pushed my hands off.

"You can't want something if you're not conscious, if you don't have a soul." Cassandra said.

"When my pa was wounded, he told me to tie him up before he turned." 10k started to speak. "Made me promise to show him mercy when he died. Kill the brain, you know? I couldn't do it. I couldn't hurt my pa, no what matter he'd become. I stared into his eyes for the longest time, just looking for some sign that he was still in there."

"Did you see anything?" Doc asked.

He shook his head. "What did you do?" Cassandra asked. I rolled my eyes.

"I killed it."

"Damn, kid. You had to put down your own dad?" Doc asked.

"Didn't kill him, killed it." 10k corrected.

"But if it's not alive, how did you kill it?" Cassandra asked.

"Piked it. Right here." 10k said and pointed to his forehead. "My first kill. I always wish he knew, you know, somehow knew that I kept my promise."

I sat down and grabbed his hand. He looked at me with fire in his eyes. "Hey it's okay, I'm sure he knows." He smiled and held my hand back.

He got quiet and we kept driving.

"Humans! Six o'clock!" I yelled, when I noticed a car behind us.

"I see them." Roberta yelled back.

"Is that more of your cannibal friends?" I asked Cassandra.

She shook her head. "No. Something else."

"Up ahead!" I noticed a group of Z's standing in the road in front of us. The truck slowed to a stop and 10k jumped out and into the trees with his rifle.

"Where's he going?" Doc asked. "Hey!Kid!"

We decided to get out and pike them instead of running through them. Roberta sliced the first head off a Z when I noticed something strange. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" I yelled, "Something's wrong."

"Yeah, she's right look at their feet." Roberta pointed out. They had chains around their feet, something was wrong.

"Hold it right there!" One of the Z's spoke up and pulled out a gun. "All right, now drop your weapons or die where you stand. Put down the weapons or eat brains."

a few of the Z's we're actually people. As Roberta put down her weapon a shot rang out and hit one of the actual Z's in the head. 10k was nearby watching.

"God, I love that kid." I said.

"Now, we just want the vehicle." The guy said, "All right? So give us the truck and we'll let you live to die another day."

"Give them the truck!" Murphy yelled.

"Don't give them a goddamn thing!" Roberta yelled back.

"Do that math Garnett. We have other priorities. Give them the damn truck." Murphy said to Garnett.

"Listen to your friend there. Nobody wants to die. But we're taking that truck."

"Say the word, Garnett." Mack said, gun aimed to shoot.

"Let them have it." He said and I was ready to pull my trigger when he said, "The truck, let them have the truck."

"Smart move. All right guys, let's go! And leave the junker! They're not gonna get far." The man said, as they hopped into the truck. Our truck.

The men were laughing and yelling as the peeled off down the road.

We walked over to the car and I tried to open the door but the entire door fell off it's hinges. "Beautiful! Just fucking beautiful!" I screamed and kicked the door.

10k came back from where he was and we all piled into the car. Me and 10k on the roof, on zombie duty.

An hour later we came across the same group of guys, they were holding up an entire family this time.

"Hey! Ya'll see that?" Addy said, "Bastards."

"Looks like they're trying to rob a poor family this time." Roberta said. As we hopped out and pulled out our guns. The whole family turned their eyes too us.

"Not if I have anything to say about it. Come one." Garnett said and we all followed.

"Would it matter at all if I said don't do this?" Murphy called after us.

"Drop your weapons or the first shot will take your head off." Garnett yelled at the men who put their guns down on the ground.

They put their weapons down but I couldn't help but notice some of the guys down on the ground tied up. "Hey! What's this?" I asked the family.

"A robbery." The man said before pointing his gun at us. The family including the kids all pulled out guns.

"Drop your weapons!" The family ordered. "Now. I don't want to have to kill you."

We dropped our guns as the family got into the truck. "Were we just robbed by the Brady Bunch?" I asked everyone.

"Never get out of the boat." Doc said, heading back to the shit mobile of a car.

"Yo, can't this thing go any faster?" Murphy asked. "I'm gonna die of old age before we get to California."

"You can always get out and push." Warren said from inside the car.

"Stop the car!" Doc said. Warren stopped very sharply and I was almost thrown from the car, thankfully 10k grabbed my shirt. "Oh, it's the family."

Charlie shook his head as we headed back to the truck that was once ours. "We've gotta get off this road."