#Inside outside

[the-night-picture-collector]

/ Matteo Massagrande, The Flower Curtain, 2017

[remash]

i/o cabin ~ erling berg | photo credit: carlos rollán

[zzaphotoaday]

[arc-hus]

House in Puntiró, Palma, Spain - RipollTizon

[topazy]

Inside, outside

Pairing: 10k x reader

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of blood, vomit

Chapter: 5.07

The awkwardness while you, 10k, Warren, and Addy walk in almost complete silence is almost nauseating. You feel a migraine coming on from so many unspoken thoughts running through your mind. It was only the four of you now searching for the person behind the disgusting, foul, brainy biscuits.

10k keeps giving you knowing glances; he is wordlessly asking you to say something since the bad vibes are coming from you and Addy. You sigh, “Anyone else feel uneasy about not knowing where the hell Murphy is?”

“Yeah, I do,” 10k snorts. “It’s like the good old days. He disappears, then reappears to stab us in the back.”

“What’s the deal with you two?” Addy asks. “I know Murphy's an ass, but I’m surprised things are so bad.”

The bite still hurts.

If Addy had stuck around longer last time, she would have seen how badly 10k was affected by what Murphy put him through. But you bite your tongue and don’t say anything.

10k looks uncomfortable with you and Addy on either side of him. Addy didn’t exactly congratulate you when she found out about the baby; she seemed in shock and hasn’t mentioned it since. A few moments pass, then 10k suddenly laughs, “The first time we saw him in years, your sister punched him in the face within two seconds of talking to him.”

“He still doesn’t think he did anything wrong!” You point out.

“Biting people, manipulating them… trying to take over the world—just a normal day in the life of Alvin Murphy,” Addy says jokingly.

When the step road you’re walking down reaches the edge of a town called Heartland Warren stops walking. “These fields need to be harvested; they’re going to seed.”

“A friend of mine helped me move a few talkers from here to limbo, but… I don’t know how many lives humans are left to work the fields.”

At some point you’d need to find out how your sister met all these people and lost her eye.

“Well, it seems like the perfect time to find out.”

—

Heartland was like every other town you ever came across, abandoned. “What’s the plan, Warren?”

“We make contact with the locals and see what we find out about what’s in these bizkits.”

“And then what? What’s our end game here?”

“Help George with this idea of hers. A new country.”

“I don’t think we’re the nation-building types. You know? More like the tear-shit-up types.”

While Addy and Warren talk, 10k looks over at you and mouths, ‘I told you so.’ He was convinced Warren had romantic feelings for George, which you failed to see. But you also thought Red had a crush on 10k… he was probably right.

“Bodies up ahead. At least two of them,” 10k says before running over to a body lying in the middle of the road. “It looks like he was given mercy.”

The four of you split up to search on either side of the road to look for more bodies. Both humans and talkers had been shot in the heads execution style. According to Addy, they were all farm workers, which meant someone had targeted them deliberately to stop more biscuits from being made.

“Do you guys hear that?” 10k asks.

You shake your head.

“Something's not right.” He walks over to you and stands in front of you protectively. “I can definitely hear something.”

A few seconds pass before all of you can hear the faint whispers of talkers asking to be fed. It made you nervous that you could hear them despite no talkers being viable. You whisper, “Anyone else getting the feeling they are trapped in a horror film?”

You were half expecting a talker to pop up from the ground, grab hold of your leg, and try to pull you back down the hole with them.

Warren gets your attention and points towards a car park full of old, run-down cars. With each step you took, the voices got louder, and the feeling of being watched caused goosebumps to spread across your arms.

You see… something or someone pops up from behind the back of a truck. “10k, heads up.”

He turns and aims his gun in their direction, but before he pulls the trigger, Addy stops him. “Wait, that’s a talker.”

“He looks pretty bad.”

“She’s right; if he’s stalking, he might know something,” Warren adds. She puts her gun away. “Follow my lead.”

You hated it when she said that; usually it meant something bad was about to happen. Gulping down, you follow suit and hold your hands up to show you weren’t holding onto any weapons. More talkers come out of hiding and surround you.

“We come in peace!” Warren calls out. “We hear that you’re hungry! But we don’t have any bizkits.”

“But we can help,” you say, hoping they don’t try and eat you instead.

The talkers easily outnumbered the four of you, and soon the four of you were standing back to back, with the undead walking around you in circles, like a shark swimming around its prey before attacking. Skittish, 10k asks, “What happens when talkers stop talking?”

The talkers start to snarl the same way Z’s do, and when they get closer, a female talker reaches its hand out towards your stomach, but you lightly slap their hand back. Cautiously you pull the blade from your belt and grip hold of it tightly. Your voice shakes, “Back it up, back it up.”

“Don’t hurt them!”

Addy’s comment riles you up. You didn’t want to hurt any of them, but you couldn’t take it on good faith that they wouldn’t attack first. She should know by now you’d only use a weapon in self-defense.

“As long as nobody tries to touch my stomach again, I won’t!”

“Ok, look. There’s a farmhouse in the distance,” Warren says. “Let’s make this non-lethal. On three. One, two…”

“Someone’s coming!”

A car speeds forward and stops close enough that all the dry dirt on the ground is blown into the air when the car comes to an abrupt halt. To your relief, it was a familiar face.

“Doc!”

He waves at you from behind the wheel. George leaps out from the passenger side. “Get in!”

Since the car only has five seats, you get in last and sit on 10k’s lap with your legs outstretched across George and Addy’s. “Good timing, guys,” you pant. “That was too fucking close.”

10k leans his forehead against your shoulder, and the flat of his palm rests over your stomach. Quietly he asks, “Where are we going to next?”

“There’s a farm not far up ahead,” Addy says and points in the direction Doc needs to drive.

“Good, 'cause that’s about all the gas we got left.”

—

The rest of the drive is in silence, but you feel George’s eyes on you, or more specifically on the way 10k keeps caressing your nonexistent bump. She had probably guessed what was going on but was being too polite to ask.

George catches you staring at her staring at you and smiles. “So you guys are married; that’s pretty cool. Doc said you guys meet on the road?”

“No, not really,” 10k mumbles, his forehead still pressed against your shoulder. He had fallen asleep during the short distance and sounded as if he hadn’t fully woken up yet. “We got married under a black rainbow.”

“A black rainbow?” Addy asks, her voice full of skepticism.

“Doc, Warren? Black rainbow?”

“Ohh yeah,” Doc says fondly. “I married the kids after Warren, the aircraft Warren was on, exploded with her in it. Murphy got sunburnt, and we thought the dead was gonna eat us. All in all, not a bad day.”

You chuckle while twisting the silver band on your finger; Addy looks extremely confused to the point it’s verging on frustration. George chuckles, “That information did nothing but give me more questions. When this is all over, we’ll need to have a drink one night so you can tell me how you all met.”

10k tilts his head to the side to face George and points between you and Addy, “Their sisters, like, share a mom and dad.”

“We should definitely have a very large and strong drink,” you say, ignoring how shocked George looks and how drunk 10k sounds. “But in at least six or seven months time.”

The more you think about it, the harder it becomes to remember your last period, so it was really just a guessing game to figure out how many months it would be until a drop of alcohol touched your lips again, not that drinking was something you did often; however, not being able to drink made you want it more.

Addy taps on the window and points towards a farmhouse, “just up ahead.”

When Doc drives up to the house, you gently nudge 10k and feel how warm he is. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, just tired.”

When everyone is out of the car, Addy leads the way into the house, trying to be as discreet as possible. Once inside, 10k puts an ugly floral chair in front of the door.

You go over to the window with Warren, and she opens the curtains enough that you can see. “There are talkers in the field; they look hungry.”

“What are they eating then?”

“I know, I know.”

You both jump when a strange-looking man appears in front of you. He takes his hat off, showing everyone that part of his brain is missing. The smell and sight of the inside of your head are too much for you; turning to the side, you vomit all over the floor.

—

You sit on the opposite side of the living room while Charlie, who’s feeding his own brain to the talkers, speaks with the rest of the group. Just the thought alone was enough to make you want to hurl again.

“You feeling any better?” George asks, rubbing at your back.

“Yeah, thanks, just the smell is pretty strong in here.” Seeing the sadness in her eyes, you sigh, “I’m really sorry about Dante.”

“I just can’t help but feel like it’s my fault.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is thought he put his trust in me and what I believe in, and that’s what got him killed.”

“What?” Addy suddenly appears on the opposite side of the couch. “You got Dante killed?”

“Easy, Addy, we don’t know what happened.”

George becomes so emotional that she can’t explain what happened, so Doc steps in and answers for her. “Vigilantes got him. Killed the captain and his guard too. Probably the same bastards that killed the others.”

Warren goes over and hugs George while she sobs. “They chopped him up into pieces and put him in a trash can. I had to mercy him. Who would do something like that?”

“Humans,” Addy hisses.

You feel sorry for your sister finding out her friend had died in such an awful way, but this couldn’t be the only thing bothering her. She was on edge more than normal.

“Maybe not, maybe talkers,” Doc says quietly. “They left a sign saying this is what happens to traitors.”

“NewAmerica would be a much better place if you just got rid of all the people.”

“Enough,” you snap. “The world has been full of sick fucks who kill each other for years. This isn’t George’s fault.”

Addy shakes her head and goes to storm off. “I’m going to check the rest of the house.”

—

“So what was that about?” 10k asks as soon as you step into the kitchen.

“George was crying, and Addy was just making her feel worse.”

10k pulls a face; whatever he was thinking, he most definitely wasn’t sharing it. You get a whiff of something that is off and scrunch your nose up while glancing around the room; you didn’t want to be rude, but you smelled the same thing earlier in the car.

“How’s your wound?”

“It’s… healing.”

“Let me see.”

Reluctantly, 10k starts to remove the bandages covering his stump. You felt bad knowing how much he hated looking at it, but it had been days since it was cleaned properly. His stump is covered in dried blood, and what you suspect is a sticky substance caused by an infection.

“Oh Jesus, kid, that looks bad,” Doc says when he walks over to join you.

You turn on the kitchen tap, but nothing but dirty water comes out. “Oh boy, we really need to find something to clean that with. We need to find a first aid kit and antibiotics.”

Doc says something to himself, then disappears.

You start searching the kitchen drawers and cupboards for anything useful that could help, but unfortunately you find nothing.

“I’ve got it, I’ve got it.” Doc runs back into the room. “Hold his arm over the sink.”

You do as he says and hold 10k’s arm over the sink while Doc pours a clear liquid out of a jar and over the stop, causing 10k to wiggle in pain. His face turns bright red as he tries to not make too much noise.

“What is that? Water?”

“Hooch.”

10k grabs the jar and drinks the remaining hooch in one large gulp. His eyes gloss over. “I feel great.”

He definitely didn’t look it. Suddenly he lunges forward and starts to vomit; at least he made it to the sink, unlike you.

Hearing the commotion, Warren comes over. “Everything okay?”

“Just a little alcohol poisoning,” Doc says casually.

You press your hand to his forehead as he starts to sway on his feet. “Tommy's starting to burn up. Quick, help me get him into a chair.”

It takes the three of you to get 10k into a chair without him falling. George puts a bin in front of him just as he starts to vomit again. “We really need to get fresh—“

“I need help!” Addy bursts through the door while helping a man you’ve never seen before walk. “This is my friend Finn; he’s been shot.”

“I’m fine, really.”

Doc gives you a light tap on the back. “Guess we are back in business, partner.”

—

“Thank you,” Addy says. “I mean it; Finn means a lot to me.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Since Doc was buzzed from drinking hooch straight and kept getting distracted easily, you managed to stitch the wound on Finn’s side up. Thankfully they did have a first aid kit. Afterwards Finn explained someone shot him and then stole all the ingredients they had for making bizkits.

“Sis, I—“

“Why are you being so hostile towards George?”

Before Addy can answer your question, 10k and Doc step out of the farmhouse dressed as cowboys. You start to laugh; they had only been left alone for ten minutes, and how someone managed to ransack the wardrobes.

“Everybody,” Warren clicks her fingers and whispers. “Look alive, we’ve got company.”

Charlie comes out of the house and stands on the porch and starts to ring a bell to distract the talkers closing in on you. Addy grabs your hand. “Get in the car with me and don’t come out until it’s all clear.”

You sit in the front seat while Addy and Finn sit in the back. After a few moments of silence, Finn leans forward to shake your hand. “I’m really glad to meet you.”

“We’ve met… inside, I stitched you up.”

“Oh yeah, I know,” he laughs goofily. “Addy talks about you all the time, and it’s nice to finally put a face to the girl I’ve heard so much about.”

You smile politely, “It’s nice to meet you too, Finn.”

—

You sit in the car while Finn and Addy start tying up talkers to feed them Charlie’s brain and start to worry when you lose sight of 10k and Doc.

The car door opens, and Addy bites at her lip; she was thinking hard about what to say next. “I don’t agree with the things George has done. It’s done nothing but get people, including Dante, killed.”

You knew how George felt; you blamed yourself for years after what happened with Cassandra. “She already feels guilty enough without you adding to it. Regardless of NewAmerica some asshole would still be trying to stop bizkits from being made and killing talkers.”

“Why do you keep defending her?”

Addy steps aside so you can get out of the car. “Because we’ve all done shit we aren’t proud of, including hurting someone we care about.”

You notice Warren talking with George and Finn by the farmhouse. When you start to walk towards them, Addy clears her throat. “I think you’re being reckless.”

“What?”

“Bringing a baby into this world…”

You spin on your heels so fast it makes you feel dizzy. “Don’t go there, Addy—actually, you know what? Do go there. Tell me your expert opinion on being a parent when you’ve never been one yourself.”

Hearing your voice getting louder, everyone turns to stare, even some of the talkers.

“I think you and 10k will be great parents, but it is careless. War is on the horizon; people are being picked off one by one, and truthfully I think it’s a massive mistake to have…” She trails off, realizing what she’s just said.

Tears of anger start to form. “Fuck you.”

—

You bury your face into the side of 10k’s neck as Finn mercy kills Charlie, who had fed most of his brain to the talkers to keep them from turning into Z’s. His sacrifice was incredibly brave; you just hoped it wasn’t in vain.

“Addy looks pretty upset.”

He was right; she was crazy, but in that moment you didn’t care. What she said about the baby really hurt. Addy had been absent for so long that she didn’t have a right to comment on it. When you lived in isolation, 10k spent nearly a year trying to get you pregnant and was gutted each time it didn’t work. Things may be bad now, but they weren’t then, and you weren’t going to let her sour something so positive for the both of you.

10k brushes stray hair out of your face, “You look lost in thought. What are you thinking about?”

“Do you think Red was able to hear us doing it when we lived in the tree?”

—

“I still feel as if my hand hurts even though it’s not there.”

You, Doc, and 10k walk behind Addy, Warren, and George. The six of you were walking through grassy fields to reach the water dam to find out why the water supplies had been stopped.

“Oh, there’s a name for that. Phantom limb syndrome. It’s when the brain still thinks the hand is there, so it keeps sending these pain signals. But eventually it works itself out.”

“I don’t think my brain is ever going to get used to this.” 10k sways on his feet again.

“Oh my god.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not; you’re burning up again.”

Doc catches him before he falls. “The kid needs antibiotics. Was there any back at the farmhouse?”

“No, I think we used the last of it up a while ago.”

“What about holistic medicine? You know stuff about that, right, Doc?”

In unison, Doc and 10k say, “We were nowhere near the Grand Canyon.”

Suddenly there’s a loud noise coming from the direction of the farmhouse. “A distress signal; it’s Finn!”

Addy starts running back towards the farm with George right behind her. Warren calls out, “You two get 10k to cover; we’ll be right back.”

“We should get down.”

The three of you crouch down and slowly start to move off the main path and into the field. The grass was long enough that anybody walking by wouldn’t be able to see you. “Which way now?”

“Um,” Doc looks around for a moment. “This way.”

You follow him until you reach a small empty drainage pipe. The area has a lot of bricks and dried concrete scattered across it, so you assume it was a construction site at one point.

“I hope Finn is okay.”

You sit down next to 10k. He winces in pain when he pulls the cover off his wound again; his stump looks worse than before and is turning black.

“If the guys aren’t back soon, I think we should go to this water place without them. They will know to find us there.”

“Yeah, they will,” Doc says in agreement. “Plus we really need to get that stump cleaned with fresh water to get a good look at it.”

“It really hurts.”

It was unlike 10k to complain, so the fact that he was made you more worried than normal. You hand him a bottle of water. “You need to drink more.”

While he takes small sips of water, Doc groans out in pain and falls to his knees. It takes you a few seconds to register why he’s fallen and notice the arrow that’s landed in his shoulder.

“Oh shit.”

[mijnmobielemoleskine]

Everybody wanna be God. Besides God, he wanna be like us.

- Mac Miller (Inside Outside)

[envyxquincydog]

MEET THE CONPET AND SCRAPPED EMOTIONS

[spineless-lobster]

YEAHHHHH THE DUMBASSES ARE SINGING A SONG!!!!!!!

[nighera]

visdev pt.9

4/4

[senorboombastic]

a/s/l: This Is The Kit

Remember the days of the old schoolyard? Remember when Myspace was a thing? Remember those time-wasting, laborious quizzes that everyone used to love so much? Birthday Cake For Breakfast is bringing them back!  Every couple of weeks, an unsuspecting band will be subject to the same old questions about dead bodies, Hitler, crying and crushes.   This Week: Ahead of releasing new album ‘Careful Of…

[thecrystalauthor]

Wip for the last page of Inside Outside I'm working on this quarter. Normally I'd just wait, but William is so freaking cute so I wanted to post these panels of him on their own

[remash]

sabino 10 house ~ editorial | photos by ariadna polo

[zzaphotoaday]

[arc-hus]

House Between Canopies, Vilablareix, Spain - Unparelld’Arquitectes

[topazy]

Inside, outside

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

Warnings: Swearing, minor violence

Chapter: 4.12

Your hair fell over your shoulders as you pulled clumps of blood out of 10K’s hair with your fingers. It would make cutting his dark locks, which had grown to just under his ears, that much easier without pieces of Z still in them. You were both drenched in blood and in need of bathing in the nearby river, but it was safer to wait until all the thick smoke from the explosion had cleared.

“It meant what I said.”

“I know; that’s why I agreed to marry you.”

10k tilts his head around, looking up from over his shoulder; his eyes almost have a pleading look in them. Just over half a year had passed since your group had all gone their separate ways, but it never became any easier to accept; out of everyone, 10k had taken it the hardest. Growing up, he only had his mother, so gaining a family he never had just to lose it was difficult to adjust to, especially with how it ended. 5K was dead, Murphy had gone AWOL, which was concerning considering he tried to build his own army last time, you and Addy weren’t on speaking terms, Warren was untraceable, and Doc decided he needed to do more and left to join a Z hunting party. He promised he’d be back, but I still hurt when he left. You were grateful that Red chose to stay with you and 10K, but all the new memories you were making didn’t ease the pain of the old ones.

All of this, combined with 10k’s body trying to function as normal after being bitten, had made him paranoid; he was scared anything that was too good would suddenly disappear.

“I love you, Tommy.” You kiss him on the only blood-free part of his face, which was his left cheek.

“I love you too,” he smiles. “When the time is right, we will get married, and hopefully our old gang will be there.”

“How will we know when the time is right?”

He shrugs and says, “I don’t know; I guess we just will.”

“You seem lost in thought; what are you thinking about?” 10k asks as you walk through a plot of land that was mainly rumbling from collapsed buildings and abandoned vehicles.

“One day in the future, when we have our own home again, I'll have the note you’d written me framed and hung up on a wall.”

10k raises his brows, smiling, and says, “That's a very hopeful thought to have, although I’m surprised that note has lasted so long.”

“You’re kidding, right? I treat it as if the paper were made from gold.”

“You know,” Murphy says loudly for Warren, who was charging in front, to hear. “If you just told us what you were looking for, it would be a lot easier to help you find it.”

Warren takes a moment to reply as her eyes scan the area, “I’ll know when I see it.”

Rolling your eyes, you sighed. You’d been relentlessly flogging Warren for days, and she had shared nothing useful about the location or any other information that would help you help her. It was growing increasingly frustrating, especially with Murphy dragging the zombified president behind him. After a while of walking, Warren zones out again, but then comes to and orders Murphy to stand in one spot while holding his hands in the air.

“How long do I need to do this for?” He moans, “I haven’t showered in three weeks, and my arms are tired.”

“It’s definitely longer than three weeks,” you snort.

After making Murphy change his arm position and holding up a sign post, Warren spots something no one else can see and somehow finds a hatch that had been hidden beneath the dirt and rubble leading to your next location.

—

Your mouth twists in irritation as you struggle to lower the dead president, who was surprisingly heavy, into the room the hatch led to, which was part of an underground army base. 10K, Warren, Murphy, and Doc had already gone in first to make sure it was clear, leaving you and Sarge alone for the first time in days. Neither of you had attempted to utter a single word to one another before this, but now you were forced to.

“Easy, steady,” she says, looking down. “Take it slow, nice and slow.”

“Easy for you to say.” You grit your teeth as you feel the rope burning the palms of your hands. You feel yourself startling to lose your grip. “I’m going to drop him!”

Sarge quickly grabs the rope that’s slipping and says, “Holy shit, he’s heavy!”

Even with the two of you trying to keep him steady, the president's weight became too much when he began wriggling about in the makeshift harness, causing the rope to slip from both of your hands. Hearing the thud below, you share a shocked look before both moving to stare down the hatch. Luckily, he was still moving, which meant you hadn’t re-killed him.

You let out a soft chuckle while getting to your feet. Sarge looks at you nervously; she motions for you to climb down the ladder first, “after you.”

“Thanks.”

10k takes your hand as he helps you jump off the end of the ladder, giving you a knowing look that says, “My bad.” You clear your throat. “So where to next?”

“That way,” Warren says before exiting the room.

As you go down different hallways, you come across a handful of Z’s that have gone blind due to the lack of sunlight, which meant it was easy for you to show mercy to time. Not wanting to create any noise, you shot them in the head with arrows. Your group remains silent until you reach a staircase and try to figure out the best way to get the zombie down it quickly.

“Maybe we could make a stretcher?” Doc suggests.

“That’s a good—” you stop talking when you hear a loud thud, and you glance over your shoulder to see Murphy standing suspiciously alone. “Murphy, did you just push the zombified president down the stairs?”

“Ex-president,” he points out. “And it saved us time, and besides, he’s already dead.”

Warren shakes her head. “We better go get him before he wanders off.”

—

You finally find the president after going down thirty flights of stairs to find two Zs eating the organs from his stomach. “I got it,” 10k says before using a slingshot to fire a sharp blade that goes through the two Z’s heads. He clicks his tongue and says, “Eight thousand, four hundred fifty-two.”

While Doc and Murphy tried their best to fix the president up as best they could so the zombie could walk again, your eyes remained glued to Sarge, who was staring at 10k so lovingly. You felt as if something was finally clicking into place as an uneasy feeling set in your gut.

“Let’s go,” Warren says, interrupting your thoughts.

You go into a control room and look around until Warren spots a red sign with a black message saying fourth strike and declares that’s the way to go.

You manage to fight your way through a small herd of Z’s without anyone getting bitten or hurt. While you all catch your breath, another Z appears suddenly behind you. Quickly, you stab it in the head and ask, “Where did that come from?”

10k points to the floor above, “up there.”

“I don’t think God has anything to do with this,” Murphy says sarcastically.

“No, I mean someone is pushing bodies over the edge.”

You look up as more Zs are pushed over and spot an older man with glasses about to push another Z over. “Hey!” You are behind him, firing arrows at him while Warren begins firing shots; however, the man is able to duck behind the wall. “Son of a bitch! Who the hell is that?”

“Possibly the same zona bastard who hacked the northern lights, then he had the launch codes,” Warren says, sounding panicked. “We can’t let him get to the drone before us.”

“Looks like it’s a race to the finish, then.”

—

A few things became more obvious to you while looking for the drone, including that Warren had apparently picked up a number of skills she had no memory of, including speaking Latin and hacking computers; the missions were growing increasingly dangerous as the minutes passed as more Z’s appeared; and Sarge most definitely had feelings for 10k. Seeing her stare at him with puppy-dog eyes made anger swirl inside you, but you had no right to be angry when she hadn’t acted on her feelings or had any control over them.

“Anyone else seeing this countdown?” Doc asks as a beep fills the room.

Warren remains silent as she clicks away at the computer, which now shows multiple CCTV footage of a small aircraft as gunfire fills the room. You join 10k and Sarge as they try to hold off Z’s from entering the room.

“Warren, we need the door code to close it!”

She doesn’t answer and sits, talking to herself instead.

“The code! Now, before the Z’s kill us!”

When she doesn’t answer, Doc tries his best to push the door closed, but he only manages to push it so far.

Suddenly Warren snaps out of her trance and back to reality, “It was Teller.”

“Dr. Teller?”

She explains that she remembers that Dr. Teller from Mercy Labs was the one who woke her from her coma to tell her about the black rainbow and how to stop it. She passes on instructions to both Doc and Murphy before saying she needs to go alone for the next part of the mission.

“We go where you go, boss.”

“Doc’s right, we can’t split up now. It isn’t safe.”

“You guys need to stay here and turn the keys in the computer,” she says, glancing down at the ground. “Where I’m going, no one can follow.”

Your jaw drops as the feeling of sorrow spreads through the room; it felt as if Warren was saying goodbye.

Warren pulls 10K in for her hug. She holds onto him tightly and says, “When you get to Newsmerica and find Addy, Sun Mei, and Red, tell them I love you from me.”

This was wrong. It felt as if Warren had already accepted that she needed to die in order to save the world.

With tears in her eyes, Warren steps back from her hug with 10k, turning to Doc and hugging him before embracing you tightly. “You’ve done good, kid,” she whispers. “I want you to go on and have the best life possible, with lots of little babies and at least one named after me.”

You let out a broken chuckle as you held back from crying. Throughout the years, Warren had been a massive part of your lives and was the reason all of you had survived so long. Losing her was going to be devastating.

“I’ll see you soon,” you sniff.

10k rests his forehead against the back of your shoulder as she leaves. The only thing you could do now was watch the screen on the computer.

—

“What is she doing?”

“Changing a cylinder on the aircraft,” Doc answers. “Apparently one saves the world and the other destroys it.”

“Okay, but once she’s done that, she can leave, right?” Deep down, you knew the answer but desperately wanted someone to tell you you were wrong.

“Uh guys!” 10k says, “we aren’t alone!”

When a Z forces itself through the crack in the door you fight to kill it as the others turn the keys and press the alarms as Warren had instructed causing red lights to start flashing and another countdown.

When Murphy spots the man from before who’d thrown the Z’s down on the screen he rushes from the room, despite Doc trying to stop him.

Your eyes flicker between screens as you watch Warren climb back into the drone and try to watch for Murphy on the other. The countdown reaches the final ten seconds causing you to panic, “what do we do? The drone is going to take off with Warren inside.”

“We can’t stay here,” 10k says, opening the door.

The four of you race down to the landing strip just as the drone dissolves into little pieces in the air, leaving behind what looks like a black rainbow in the sky.

—

She’s gone. Warren was really gone.

“What the hell?” Doc asks from beside you.

You glance to the side to see Murphy, who looked quite sunburned. You look at him in disbelief before looking back to the sky and saying, “We’re all going to die, aren’t we?”

“Looks like it,” 10k answers.

You stare up at the black rainbow above, finding it hard to believe you’d just lost Warren, your leader, your friend. Behind you, Sarge, let’s out a small gasp, but you don’t pay attention to why. You only look away from the darkness above when you feel something brush against the back of your leg. You glance over your shoulder and see 10k looking as if he’s going to sit on the ground. “What are you—”

10k falls to one knee and pulls out a ring box, “Astra…”

You momentarily freeze, unable to think as you process the unanswered question his shaky voice wasn’t able to get out. 10k opens the ring box, revealing multiple rings, each of them looking a different size. The thought of him saving them all for you causes tears to swell up. You look over to Doc and say, “can you marry us?”

He laughs a little before lifting his head to address Sarge and Murphy, waving them to stand at the side. The sun was setting, the air smelled of smoke, and everyone was covered in sweat, dirt, and blood, but weirdly, it seemed fitting for the type of life you lived. Doc clears his throat: “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the love between these two crazy kids. Now in the world before wedding ceremonies were drawn out, but since there’s a chance the dead could gate crash, I'm going to keep it short and cut to the vows.”

You all laugh at his words as 10k, who’s now standing, takes your hand in his. “I have spent my entire life feeling like something was missing, and I didn’t know what it was until I spotted a group of strangers fighting off the undead. That’s when I first saw you and finally found what was missing.”

You wipe away the tears trickling down your cheek while you let out a shaky breath. This was a moment you’d been looking forward to for so long, but it felt surreal finally living it, and it also broke your heart thinking of everyone who should have been there. Addy, Mack, Cassandra, Garnett, Vazquez, Red, and Warren 10k squeezes your hand when he sees you become emotional and gives you a moment before he continues. You wipe at your nose and nod for him to go on, “Sorry.”

He smiles brightly. “I knew from the moment I saw you pull the blade from your belt and take out a bunch of Z’s so fearlessly that you’d be important to me.” He chokes up and takes a deep breath. “My biggest fear is losing you. When you were kidnapped, I realized how much I loved you and that there was nothing I wouldn’t do to find you. I love you and promise to always protect you and stand by your side.”

Your heart melts when you hear those sweet words fall from his mouth. “When the apocalypse began, I lost all faith that anything good could last, but from the day you saved me, I knew our fates were intertwined, but I had no idea how madly I’d fall for you. You’re my best friend, Tommy, and there’s not a line I wouldn’t cross to keep you safe.”

By the end of saying your improvised vows, you are both crying, along with everyone else, including Murphy, who is now holding the ring box. He looks between the rings and your hand before pulling one out and handing it to 10k, saying, “I think this one will fit.”

It was a plain silver band that surprisingly fit as 10K placed it on your finger. You notice Doc's eyes have now gone bloodshot from crying; he claps his hands together and cheers, “You now may kiss the bride!” Your lips collide, and you smile into the kiss as 10k wraps his arms around your waist. When you pull back, Doc announces, “I now pronounce you man and wife!”

You kiss 10k again and mumble into his lips, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”