Z nation here I come

Chapter 8

   Warren and I were in the back seat hugging. We hadn't talked since Garnett died. Warren sometimes kisses my head. But other than that we don't do anything. I remember when I watched his death on the phone, it had made me cry but I didn't really think about it. But now that I am here and they are real people it hurts.

"Good morning people. Welcome to third day of the sixth month of the year 03 A.Z. If your listening to this, it means you're still alive. Congratulations or condolences you know, whatever. If your noticing more repair in my voice today, it's because we lost someone special. I know, we lose people all the time. It's more common to get your faces chewed off by a Z then making it to your next birthday. But this guy... this ones worth mentioning. Charles Garnett, First Sergeant, Army National Guard Reservist, was an honest to God, real life, actual good guy. He fought for other people, not just for his own survival. And he did something that's pretty much impossible these days. He gave people hope. Remember hope? Remember actually think we might come out on the other side of this thing? Yeah. That. Sergeant Garnett died trying to give us a reason to hope. And for that... Sergeant Charles Garnett. On behalf of a grateful nation. Or whatever the hell we are now, we salute you." Citizen Z said over the radio.

Then our truck broke down, Addy and Mack were in front of us on a dirt bike. They pulled around when they noticed we were slowing down. "Radiator?" Mack asked. "Yeah." Doc said. "Fixable?" Mack asked. "Don't know." Doc answered. "Gee, if we only had a mechanic." Murphy said sarcastically. "You got to let her deal, man. She's got that post-traumatic stress." Doc said. "She's got post-traumatic stress? The whole world's got post-traumatic stress. Actually, there isn't anything post about it. We all got plain ol' present tense, all traumatic, all stress all the time. What makes her so special?" Murphy said while walking over to me and Warren. Luke got out of the truck to hang with Cass and the woman from the compound. Her name is Sandy.

"Hey. Wake up. Hey." Murphy said poking Warren. "No, you can't just check out. We got a job to do." He continued, then looked at the mirror on the door. "And I am running out of time. And California is still 2,000 miles of bad road away. And we are not gonna make it without you. Cuz it's not like they're gonna follow me or the old man or the wonder twins out there." He said, but Warren just ignored him. "Hey." Murphy said before giving up. I then zoned out, Luke poked me and asked "Are you ok?" I smiled a little and nodded. Then the group got back in the truck with 10k in the drivers seat. I immediately buckled up and nodded at Luke and Cass to do the same.

"Whoa, whoa! Easy there, kid! Easy!" Doc yelled getting 10k to slow down. "Who taught you how to drive?" Doc asked him. "Ahhh... no one." 10k replied. Cass and Luke then put their seat belts on. "Hands on the ten and the two. And easy on the gas." Doc said teaching 10k how to drive. I started to fall asleep after that on Luke's shoulder.
—————Time Skip—————
We reached the gun show that I was definitely gonna compete in. I have some emotions to get out. "Stop. Y'all armed?" The guard questioned after we stopped. "Obviously." Cass said. "Good. We don't have time to babysit anyone." He said before letting us go. We drove in next to a SUV. "Guns and liquor. What could go wrong?" Murphy asked sarcastically. "Did someone say liquor?" Warren questioned from beside me. We all got out of the truck and went to the entrance. "Welcome to S&S limited, the finest gun show in the west. Entry fee is seven." The woman in a chair said. "Seven what?" Doc asked. "Bullets. Oxy. Grams of whatever DIY super fun time substance you got." The woman answered. "Well I think I got some crystal back in the truck. It's the good stuff too. Yeah." Doc said.

"Back off with the toilet bowl cleanser meth. We only take the genuine vein splitting take you right out of this beautiful apocalypse and into a hell-hole meth." Sketchy McClain said. "Well slap my ass and call me Sally if it ain't Sketchy McClain. How'd you get way out here?" Doc asked. "We traded our way up in the world. Here. You see zombies, they move in mysterious ways. We were on our last legs when we came upon this truckload of sweet weaponry under attack. We had to give the former owners mercy. In return they gave us this wonderful vehicle with enough gas to get us to Kansas. Oh. Hey, Skeezy! Look what the living dead dragged in!" Sketchy yelled out at his companion.