A/N I forgot when Vasquez joins our group so I just added him in sorry.
We arrived at the greenhouse in Minneapolis that supposedly grows Z-Weed and may have a cure for the Zombies. We were standing in the back watching the guy talk to the crowd.
"Hope for a cure. Hope for a tomorrow. But hope has a price. And for some of you, that price will be your lives. But without hope, what do we have to live for anyway? And for the one who succeeds, there is the promise of life. Not just for himself, but for all of humanity. Somewhere in that greenhouse is the hope we all came here for. Batch 47. The herbal vaccine against the zombie virus. It's a suicide mission."
"Where's your proof?" Asked Warren.
"Proof? The proof's all around you. For years Batch 47 has been hidden away, lost to the world until I discovered the evidence that a cure exists. All you have to do is go in there and harvest a few seedpods. Now, who here has what it takes?" Almost everyone in the crowd raised their hands. "Whoa! Don't worry. It's a big greenhouse. You're all gonna get your chance."
"Maybe we don't need to go to California after all." said Doc.
Murphy went and started to walk to the other green house that was guarded trying to get in.
"Hold it right there."
"I need to talk to your boss." said Murphy.
"No you don't. You need to go wait in the garage with the other harvesters."
"Oh, he's gonna want to hear what I have to say." Murphy said
"If you're here for z weed, we're closed for retail sales. Come back tomorrow."
"I don't want Z-Weed. Although she might." Murphy said looking at Cass. "I have a proposition you're gonna want to hear."
Murphy went in the greenhouse and stayed near Doc. I looked over and saw Vasquez from Cheyenne. Warren saw him to and went to talk to him.
Addy P.O.V
"This is Citizen Z at Camp Northern Light. Does anyone copy? Over."
"Citizen Z. This is Delta X-ray Delta. It's me. It's Addy Carver. Are you there? Citizen Z. It's Addy Carver from Delta X-ray Delta. Do you copy?"
"Addy! Yeah, yes. I read you Delta X-ray Delta. This is Citizen Z. I copy you."
"Copy you, Citizen Z."
"But hey, you're breaking up. I'm glad you're alive. Things here are."
"Listen, I can't talk long. I'm losing the light." I said.
"Do you have an update on Murphy?"
"Murphy is alive."
"Can I talk to him?"
" He's currently out of contact. But we know where he is."
"Is he off mission?"
"Roger that. Murphy is indeed off mission. And getting weird."
"You must get Murphy back on mission. Repeat. You must get Murphy back on mission. The CDC lab in California is still awaiting your arrival. There's still a chance for a vaccine." Citizen Z said as he was breaking out.
"Citizen Z. Citizen Z."
"The last known coordinates for the CDC lab are as follows. The last known coordinates are Thirty four point Nine degrees west longitude. Do you copy"
"Citizen Z? Citizen Z, are you there?"
"Addy, do you copy? Damn it."
Autumn P.O.V
Murphy came up behind Warren and I and said, "Batch 47 is real. We just tested it. A bona fide zombie miracle. Well think about it. No more relying on me to save the human race. It's a win-win. Right?" said Murphy to us.
"No, that's not our fight." said Warren.
"Please. If there's any hope." Murphy looked at us and I turned to Warren. "If this is true, we won't lose anymore people trying to get me to California." Murphy said. Warren looked at all of us and we agreed that we should try.
"Your job is to return to Batch 47 and harvest the rest of the seedpods." said The Scientist. "I have protection for you."
"That's okay. I'm gonna go like this. I need to be able to move to fight." I said.
"Yeah. I like to be able to run from danger." said Doc.
"I wouldn't take your guns. Bullets don't kill plants. I would take these." He said as he showed us a pile of machetes and sharp tools. I went to grab the shears and so did 10k.
"Big brother gets the shears while little sister stays outside and waits." said 10k
"What! Why can't I go in and kill zombie plants!" I said
"Just stay out here and watch and make sure everyone is safe."
"Fine." I said.
"If we don't come back, you shoot somebody or something." Warren told me handing me her gun. I nodded and watched as they go in.
I was pacing in front of the greenhouse when Dr. Kurian came out of a corner.
"You son of a bitch!" I yelled going to attack him when he pointed a gun at my head as everyone came out and guns pointed at them.
"Kurian? You bastard! Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now." Murphy yelled as I stood there looking at Warren to give me a signal when to go.
"I'll give you two. Number one. Batch 47's never gonna work. It's a dead end. And number two. We lose. Humans won't survive. But you will. You and your kind will outlive humans and zombies. You will inherit the earth. And here's how I'm going to help. And by that time, nobody will be able to stop us." said Kurian
"Okay, okay. You make a good point. But tell me, why should I trust an irradiated mad scientist with an ear that looks like Elvis?" asked Doc.
"Because you know I'm right." Kurian said.
A line of trucks started coming towards us with guys in skull masks holding guns in the air.
"You know those guys?"
"Zeros. They financed my work after the government collapsed. That's how I knew how to find you at Fort Collins." said Kurian
"They were responsible for that mad house?" asked Murphy
"Yes. They're after both of us. What are they doing here?" Kurian asked.
"They distribute all the z weed." said Odegard as they started to pull up.
"We got to get out of here." Warren said.
They stopped in front of Odegard and got out. We backed up and tried to blend in.
"Senor Escorpion!"
"You're fired." said Escorpion
"Senor Escorpion. Bienvedio." said Odegard.
"Cut the Spanish crap, Odegard. Where's my shipment for this month?" asked Escorpion.
"Well the van's all packed and ready to go." said Odegard
"Excellent. You know if you keep up with your quotas, you might be in line for employee of the month. Make sure everything is there." said Escorpion
"Si, senor."
"Who are all those people out there?" asked Escorpion looking at the crowd.
"Oh, temps. We had this huge harvest, so we had to hire all this cheap labor" said Odegard
"Odegard, how am I supposed to be an effective manager if you insult my intelligence by lying to me? You've been searching for that loco Batch 47 again, haven't you?"
"You don't understand." Odegard tried to explain.
"La Reina was very specific. No more fatalities searching for this ghost plant. It's bad for branding. Besides, you're killing our customers faster than the zombies." said Escorpion.
"We tested Batch 47. We got a zombie to say brains." said Odegard
"A talking zombie? Well this I got to see." said Escorpion
"This is the last vial of the first batch. We can repeat my experiment any time you want." said Odegard handing the vial to Escorpion.
"Excellent. We should begin human trials immediately." Escorpion said as the soldiers grabbed one of his men and held him as he injected it in him.
"What's going on?" asked Doc.
"Where's Vasquez and Murphy?" I asked 10k.
"Who are you?" Warren asked Escorpion.
"My name is Hector Alvarez. But my friends call me Escorpion. I'm the Vice President in charge of sales for the Zero Cartel. How can I help you today?"
"Well you can start by telling us what the hell is going on." Warren asked.
"This? Just a little business between friends."
"I see you've been harvesting. Let me guess. Batch 47? I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to give it to me." He said looking at Warren holding it. "We are the new Zeros. The more user-friendly Zeros. Admittedly, the transition was not easy. Where were we? Oh yes. Batch 47. So this is the cure everyone is talking about, huh? Reminds me of the Crocodillo we used to sell back in the day.
Step one. We need a fresh zombie." Hector said as he stab one of his soldiers in the stomach. "I am very sorry about that. Good help is hard to find these days."
"I've only ever tested it on a zombie. I have no idea what a safe or effective dose on a human is." Said Odegard
"There's only one way to find out." Hector said as he was about to injection it again into another one.
"I got a great idea. The Power Vape 3000. Solar powered. The stuff you potheads come up with.
I can control the dose with this. Well it only takes a micro dose to stimulate the immune system.
Any more than that could be fatal."
As they injected it, it didn't work and Hector was pissed.
"So much for Batch 47. Grab the z weed. Let's get out of here, huh?" Hector said as soldiers brought up Doctor Kurian. "Doctor Kurian?"
" Hello, Hector."
"What happened to your face? That looks like my mom's chicharrones." Said Hector
"It's a long story."
"You can tell it to La Reina. Put him in the trunk, huh? You two, you're in charge now. Burn the greenhouse down with Batch 47.We need to get back to our core mission."
Vasquez went up to Hector and I went up to try to stop him.
"How can I help you?" Asked Hector
"Your tattoos. Show me."
"Do I know you?"
" Hey, hey. Come on. We need to go." I Said.
We all ran into the truck and got out of the as fast as we could.
"Why are we headed south? Shouldn't we be going west?" Asked Murphy
"Still too much fallout west. We can turn west south of Missouri." Said Warren
As we were driving a saw a woman standing on the side of the road.
"What the hell is some woman doing out here by herself?" Asked Doc
" It can't be. It's Serena. No way." I Said
"Murphy, is that your pie girl?" Asked Doc
"Pie girl? Pie girl." 10k Said
"Boy is she pregnant." I Said
"Pregnant?" Murphy asked
"Yeah, like ten months pregnant." Addy Said as Warren started to slow down.
"No, no. You're not stopping for her, are you?" Asked Murphy
"Uh huh. Yeah." Said Warren as she pulled over next to her.
"Serena!" I Said
" Hey. Autumn"
"Where are you going?" Asked Warren
"We're just looking for our baby-daddy." Serena said as she saw Murphy laying down.
"Daddy? Daddy? Is that you? Is that really you?" "Hey."
"He's here BaBa. Daddy's here." Serena said as the baby made a huge kick and showed us its face inside the stomach.
