Fracking Apocalypse - a ZNation 10K/Tommy Fanfiction

S5E02: Part 4

S5E02: Part 4

Still Flashback

She'd been running from the Man for almost a month now, she'd lost count after fifteen days and was sure at least five more had gone by since then. During that time she'd only run into the Man again once. She'd been hotwiring a car when he found her and her heart had been hammering in her chest as she prayed she'd picked up something from watching Addy and Warren do this dozens of times before.

"Bailey!" the Man had called to her when he'd caught sight of her, though thankfully she was a good distance away, "You know I always get the people on my list. Dr. Teller tried to fight and now all those people who died trying to keep him from me, their deaths are on his hands. You don't want to live with that. Anyone you encounter, anyone who will try to help you, I'll have to kill them and that will be on you. You don't want that guilt."

Her hands still moved quickly as she worked on the wires of the car and the Man approached her walking at a leisurely pace down the street. His words made her argue with herself. Part of her wished 10K was here. That maybe he'd caught up with her and he'd shoot the Man in the head and rush out, hug her, wrap her in his arms and tell her it would all be okay. But another part was happy he wasn't here, that he wouldn't die protecting her. Just then the car started up and Bailey hopped in, put it in gear and was off speeding away from the Man.

She'd headed south until the car had died then continued on foot, straight south occasionally bouncing from border to border. She went down the line between Iowa and Wisconsin before crossing the bottom of Iowa and continuing south along the border of Kansas and Missouri before she had to cut east again. She did her best to stay ahead of the Man only catching brief glimpses of him before she got the hell out of dodge. Her only advantage had been that while she ran or drove at full speed the Man seemed fine to follow at a leisurely pace. She knew he had a reputation of never failing to deliver a target to Zona and he probably had so much confidence now that he knew inevitably he'd catch her, she just knew she was going to do her best to make it a challenge for him, she wouldn't go down easily. The arguing with herself had stopped a few states back and she was just happy 10K hadn't found her yet, she knew he'd risk his life to keep her safe and against the Man she knew he didn't stand all that much of a chance. 10K was a cockroach, nothing could kill him but the Man was something else and she knew if it came down to a hand to hand fight – 10K would lose. More than lose, the Man would probably break his bones if he stood in the way of him taking Bailey to Zona. She couldn't be more relieved that 10K wasn't here.

She was walking down a side road off the beaten path, it wasn't even a paved road and she was hoping it would be one place the Man didn't look for her. She heard a light snarling but her phobia or PTSD whatever you wanted to call it, that initial fear of zombies she'd had after she'd gotten bit had gone away. Since the Man started following her and hunting her down she had bigger problems and that seemed to have cleared up her perspective as her brain re-categorized what was more important, running from Z's or running from the Man.

However this Z she didn't have to run from. It was lying belly down on the dirt road everything from the waist down flattened by tires running over it. The zombie had its arm stretched out, the other hand propping it up as it reached for her. At first she was just going to walk by it but then she got another idea. She stopped in front of it and crouched down looking into its white hungry eyes from under her cap. How the hell did Murphy do this? She wondered as she sat there and stared at the half mashed zombie, maybe she was too tense, or wasn't focusing enough but could anyone really blame her? She was wasting time she could be using to put distance between her and the Man. Just as she was about to give up and walk away the Z stopped snarling and she paused. Its hand dropped like it no longer desired to make a meal out of her and it turned its head staring at her curiously. When it became too much and she started to get creeped out she stood and continued down the road leaving the silent Z behind. She pulled down the collar of her shirt and jacket and looked at her shoulder. The wound hadn't scabbed over instead it looked like one of Murphy's bites only bigger and now it had turned a sickeningly grey color. She sighed and covered it back up. She knew that color would spread and she'd start looking like a Z soon. Then she was pulled from her thoughts when she heard a car engine and she ducked off the road and headed into thicker woods.