Fracking Apocalypse - a ZNation 10K/Tommy Fanfiction

S5E02: Part 9

S5E02: Part 9:

They followed the signs for Altura for a couple weeks, now being on foot slowing them down. When they found a community with high walls and several guards outside the main gate they knew they'd made it. They weren't the only ones there, other small groups of tired and disheveled looking survivors were at the gate too. There was one guard standing next to a woman who looked like she was giving a speech. Red and Bailey joined the group both with their weapons in hand – they'd each seen communities that weren't all that they seemed and were now always alert.

"Welcome to Altura, the longest zombie free outpost in all North America, give yourselves a hand, you made it." The woman said and she started clapping but no one joined in. She cleared her throat and looked to her clipboard before directing them in certain doors, some people who looked a bit closer to death were ushered into a gate labeled 'Talkers.'

"What's a Talker?" Bailey whispered to Red who shook her head not knowing.

"Talkers are the dead." One girl said overhearing them and making her way over. She had short black hair that was buzzed on the sides and she wore a long black trench coat over a white shirt and dark pants. "The name's George." She introduced herself, "Welcome."

"Thanks." Red replied, "What do you mean by Talkers are the dead?"

"Ever since the Black Rain." George explained, "It affected how people die. Now you turn Talker before you turn Z. You eat some brains and you can keep your soul and keep living your life normally. If you starve your body turns Z."

Red and Bailey exchanged a glance. "Black Rain?" Bailey asked.

"Didn't you see it?" George asked.

"The sky got pitch black one night." Red explained, "We took shelter in the basement of a house. –"

"That wouldn't have helped." George interrupted, "You still would have breathed it in. Everyone did. The dead don't just walk anymore, now they talk."

"And you let them in too?" Bailey asked watching the Talkers move into the quarantine line.

George smiled, "Newmerica is a place for all. Well, it will be. Once the vote happens but that's still a few months away."

"Next!" they turned and saw the doctor waiting at the opening to the tent, Red went in first for her checkup and George patted Bailey's shoulder and wished her well before she went on her way. From her place in line Bailey could see as the doctor took Red's temperature, checked for a pulse and wrote things down on a piece of paper before stamping it and sending Red on her way.

"Next." She called and Bailey stepped in. The doctor checked her temperature which was normal before she started looking for a pulse. She ran her fingers along both sides of Bailey's neck after checking her wrists no doubt looking for the strength of her pulse. But then she hesitated and Bailey almost froze, she tried to keep the tenseness out of her shoulders knowing it would look incriminating like she was trying to hide something but the doctor still pulled the collar of her shirt down revealing the scarred flesh of her shoulder. Bailey prayed it was marred enough that the doctor wouldn't be able to tell that there had once been zombie bites there. It still looked like a large birthmark except where the slightly tanner skin met her ivory flesh. Along where they met it was a bit bumpy along the jagged line where stitches from Zona had probably been. Clearly the doctor knew enough to see that it was a scar of some kind.

"What happened here?" she asked and Bailey tried to keep the expression on her face calm and neutral.

"I was attacked." She said a bit uneasy as the doctor turned her eyes from the scars to Bailey's face.