#Doc Z nation | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

topazy · 2 years ago

Text

Inside, outside

Pairings: 10k x reader, Addy Carver x sister reader

Warnings: Swearing, child death

Chapter: 4.10

You shake your head, watching as Warren storms on ahead, not stopping to take a much needed break. She was leading you towards something called the black rainbow; not that any of you knew what it meant, but she had currently led you into a large open field in the middle of the country.

Rolling your eyes, you rub at your forehead, feeling a headache come on, most likely caused by a lack of food, water, and sleep or by Murphy continuing to moan. You walk forward to get further away from his irritating voice and unintentionally listen in on 10k and Sarge’s conversation.

“What was it like being in the Marines?”

“I'm still a Marine,” Sarge beams at him. “I reckon I’ll die as one. They were my family. After they rescued me from my old family, they gave me something to live for other than myself. Still does. What about you? What keeps you going, ten thousand?”

“My girl.”

A woozy feeling builds up in your stomach, and your face flushes red. You know 10k loves you, but he doesn’t talk much openly to others about his feelings, so hearing how much he says that causes your heart to speed up.

“Getting her to Newmerica is the goal. At least there we can find a new home and start fresh.”

No missions, no saving the world, no Murphy. No matter how hard he tried, 10k couldn’t let go of the things you'd been through together.

“You know that’s back that way, right?” Sarge looks at him confused.

“Yeah, but if history has taught me anything, it is that following Warren is our safest bet, and it will get us where we need to be.”

“Disgusting, isn’t it?”

You jump in surprise when Murphy appears behind you, scowling. Knowing he’s talking about what 10k just said, you flip him off and say, “Shut up, Alvin.”

He scoffs, “Alvin? Who pissed in the cornflakes this morning?”

Doc puts his arm around your shoulder and says, “Don’t listen to him; he’s old and jealous of you young kids in love.”

“Pfft love, that’s what they're calling it.”

Usually you don’t rise to Murphy’s teasing, and by the look on Doc’s face, you know you shouldn’t, but you snap back at him. “You wouldn’t recognise it because you’ve never been in it.”

“Of course I have,” Murphy says, clearing his throat. “Trust me, you’ll fall in and out of it quicker than I ever did.”

Doc quickly changes the subject to avoid saying anything else. The last few days, Murphy had been more belligerent than usual, taking every opportunity he could to cause an argument. You didn’t know what his issue was, but the way he kept staring at Warren suggests it somehow related to her.

—

The first building you come across is one that you’d been in previously, years before, and returning brought back memories of Red and 5K.

Tellers lab.

The air feels tense as you walk along the outside of the building, the silence only broken by Murphy asking the question you were too afraid to ask. “Warren? Why the hell did you bring us back here?”

She hesitates before answering, “I don’t know. But I intend to find out.”

The grounds of the building are scattered with dead bodies, and Sarge looks around confused. “What in the holy heck happened here?”

“We tried to help some people, but it didn’t work out.” You say, biting on your lower lip, remembering all the people who died. You turn around and see something moving fast—“Z incoming!”

The last time you were at the lab, someone had put metal helmets on Zs, making them merciless proof. 10k manages to trip the Z up with a metal chain, causing Doc to let out a loud laugh.

“Stop playing with that damn thing!” Warren orders before tossing a piece of metal in the opposite direction for the Z to chase. “All right, everybody suits up.”

—

Wearing a suit that was on a dead body moments before felt disgusting. Thinking about it makes your skin crawl.

You look up, feeling a hand on your back, to see 10k giving you a sad smile and asking, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you?”

“No,” he chuckled softly, pulling you to your feet. “But I will be once we leave this place.

“Good because I was lying.”

You follow the others and head inside the lab, which is now covered in dampness and has what looks like a fungus growing on the walls. Warren claimed she was searching for batteries, but you didn’t believe her.

The further into the building you went, the darker it got, with the only light coming from your torches, which is how you, 10k, and Warren got separated from the others. You watch bewildered as Warren automatically knows how to find the secret rooms and codes to enter them. Well, most of them.

Warren, try shaking her shoulder. “Warren!”

She looks hypnotized while trying to figure out different padlock codes for what looks like a metallic freezer with lots of chains and locks around it. Warren mumbles to herself, managing to get some of them off.

You and 10k share a look of concern when a rattling sound comes from outside. Seconds later, a Z burst through the door; it knocked you to the ground and pinned you against the wall.

“Warren!”

She suddenly grabs a chain and smacks the Z on the head with it, saying, “I show you mercy.” She drops the chain to the ground and then looks at the 10k, confused. “What are you doing here?”

“We were following you.”

She looks around the room and asks, “What am I doing here?”

“You were trying to get into that,” you say, getting to your feet and pointing to the metallic object. “I think you were having one of your visions.”

The lights in the room start to flicker as a beeping noise goes off. 10k watches as she struggles to remove the chains. “You knew the combination to all the other locks. You're on the last one.”

“I don’t remember,” Warren walks up to 10k. “Hit me.”

“What?”

“Hit me. Sometimes fighting triggers the dream. Hit me.”

You look between them and say, “I’ll do it.”

“No offense, but I think our boy here is a little bit stronger than you.”

“I don’t know. I think you should let Astra do it.”

“Come on!” Warren rolls her eyes. “Don’t sissy out, just hit me.”

10K very lightly hits her cheek; his cheeks flush with embarrassment at how weak the slap was. It was obvious he didn’t want to hurt her.

“Hit me.” 10k goes to move his hand again, but Warren catches his wrist, squeezing it tightly. “Harder!”

You push 10k aside and punch Warren in the face, knocking her to the ground. You both look down. “Shit, I think that might leave a bruise.”

10K bites on his lip, looking down at her then back at you, “Any unresolved issues I need to know about?”

You shake your head, trying to laugh it off. In truth, you adored Warren and had a lot of respect for her, but all the rage you felt when she wanted to leave 10k behind when he fell out of the boat or hurt him to get information about Murphy came flooding back at once.

Minutes later, Warren wakes up, knowing the code, and unlocks the final padlock. She opens the door and puts her hand through a thick layer of slime and goo, pulling out three metal objects, including a transmitter.

She looks back at you and says, “Let’s go.”

—

You meet up with the others, who are gathered around a test tube that has a little boy trapped inside it. His body is frozen inside, but his mind is still alive. Sarge tried to split the power from a battery so that the power for the tank stays on, keeping the little boy alive, and so Warren has enough to get a radio working.

Amazingly, it works, and you managed to make contact with Citizen Z, who had information on the black rainbow. Hearing his voice was good; you always worried something bad had happened to him whenever he went silent for too long.

“Kaya’s been drilling down into deep storage looking for anything black and rainbow.”

“Did you find anything?”

“We had intruders here, zona soldiers. They copied all the black-and-white files, then wiped the servers. They also used a secure NSA hardline to spoof into the NORAD computers. They logged onto the administrator account for a defunct weapons program. Guess what it was called.”

“Black rainbow.”

“What is a black rainbow?” Warren asks.

“You won’t believe…”

The radio cuts out before you can hear Kaya’s answer. The only way to get the radio to work again is by turning the tank with the kid in it off, which means turning off his life support. Your group starts to debate what to do; Sarge wants to somehow save the boy, while Murphy wants to show him mercy. It was a difficult decision to make, but the kid was already dead; his brain was only functioning because of a machine, which was incredibly cruel considering he would never move, talk, or be remotely human again.

Warren makes the tough call and orders Sarge to divert the power to the radio, but when she’s unable to do it, you step in. You put your arm around Sarge and said, “She can’t do this.”

Warren nods and takes over, granting the young child mercy before turning his power off. When the power is diverted back to the radio and you are able to make contact with Citizen Z again, you learn that Black Rainbow is a biological weapon of mass destruction.

And the only way to stop it from being blasted was by getting the president of the United States' thumbprint and resetting the missile at the launch site.

Shit, nothing is ever going to be easy.

—

The car ride towards Washington is tense; everyone is still reeling from what happened at the lab and the information you’d found out about Black Rainbow. You sit in the back of the truck in between Doc and 10k, trying not to fall asleep. Your fingers play with 10k’s hair as he sleeps with his head resting on your lap.

While driving, Sarge motions to the sky and says, “It’s a beautiful sunset.”

“It’s only beautiful if someone is there to watch it,” Warren says bluntly.

“That’s not true,” you say quietly. “The world is still full of beautiful things we can’t see; it’s just a little harder to notice now.”

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