Inside, outside
Pairing: 10k x reader
Warnings: Swearing, mentions of blood and brains
Chapter: 5.06
After bringing the quad bike to a complete stop when you spot a deserted-looking warehouse, 10k jumps off the back first, and immediately you’re missing the warmth of his arm wrapped around your waist. With the sling of his gun over his shoulder, he offers you his hand to help you climb off. If 10K wasn’t a gentleman before, people would probably be catching onto how protective he was being.
You, 10K, Warren, Murphy, and Addy had gone to find the source of bizkit’s and why they seemed to be low rations of it, while Doc and George headed back to Altura to keep an eye on Dante’s trial.
“Is that the bakery? The place looks abandoned.”
“It doesn’t mean nobody is home,” Warren points out.
The five of you stand on the edge of a small hill that leads down to the pathway into the building. The side of the hill was mainly covered in rubble, preventing any vehicles from driving on it.
Murphy looks lost in thought; a look of distress appears on his face. You lightly hit his arm to gain his attention. “Are you okay?”
“I smell brains.”
“This must be the place, then.”
When the five of you started making your way down the path, you were being extra cautious not to trip while walking on such a rocky surface. 10k stays in front of you and continues to glance back, ready to catch you if you do fall.
Murphy walks by you at a normal pace and scoffs, “You two make me feel sick.”
“Just keep walking, Alvin.”
“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,” Murphy says mockingly. “You're my best friend, Tommy, and there's not a line I wouldn't cross to keep you safe.”
10k glares at him and warningly snaps, “Shut the hell up.”
Addy, who’s standing at the bottom, already looks up in confusion. “What is he talking about?”
“Nothing.”
In a high-pitched fake girly voice, Murphy says, “I knew our fates were intertwined.“
“I swear to god!” You knew Murphy was looking for a reaction, and usually you wouldn’t take the bait too easily, but he had been teasing you since you left for this new task.
“Don’t get wound up; he’s not worth the reaction,” 10k says calmly, but as soon as you reach the bottom where the others are waiting, he presses the long side of his rifle against Murphy’s collarbone, pushing him into the wall. “Lay the fuck off Murphy.”
“Jeez, lighten up, kid.”
10k steps back.
Warren clicks her fingers. “All of you, focus.”
Once you checked, nobody else was in sight. You round the corner, and Addy breaks the lock on the door, giving you all access to the building.
—
The inside of the building stinks of rotten meat, which is explained when you find human skulls and parts of rotten brains scattered across various baking trays.
The group had split up, but you could see both Addy and 10k going to check out the same area. It saddened you that they no longer had a close relationship, and you felt partially responsible for it, but then it was your sister who left. Since they last saw each other, Addy had lost an eye, and 10k had lost his hand, and they could have leaned on each other for support.
“Astra, I’m really sorry, but it looks like she left during the night.”
You shake your head, refusing to believe it. “No, no. Something is wrong; Addy wouldn’t just go without telling me. She wouldn’t do that.”
When you awoke in the morning to find Addy gone, you assumed she had gone hunting, but when she never returned, a couple of hours later, you, 10k, and Red went looking for her, but you couldn’t find her. You returned to your home to see if she had returned.
Red links her fingers with yours and gives you a sympathetic look. “All her stuff is gone.”
You squeeze your eyes shut to hold back tears. Addy only found you in the first place while looking for someone else. “She’s gone to find Lucy,” you say, clearing your throat. “We should go and let Tommy know; I don’t want him out there looking for someone who doesn’t want to be found.”
You aim your gun in the direction of something being crushed and slowly make your way over to a large mixer, which appears to have turned on itself. You look inside it and almost gag at seeing more skulls.
“You guys seeing this? This place is gross.”
When you don’t get a reply, you spin around to see Warren staring at something with a concerned look on her face. She notices you looking and waves you over. When you do, you see what the problem is.
“Eh Murphy, are you good? You’re practically drooling over a skull?”
“Yeah,” he quickly shrugs your comment off. “This place just gives me the munchies.”
All of a sudden, a man appears and starts firing at the three of you. Quickly, you jump out of the way to avoid being shot and accidentally scrape your stomach on something sharp. You duck behind one of the metal tables and, taking a few deep breaths, look down to see blood appearing on your top.
No, no, no.
Murphy crawls over beside you and says, “What the hell are you doing? We gotta keep moving.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know I just—fuck.”
“Did you get shot?”
“No, I’ve just cut my stomach.” The cut wasn’t deep, and you were sure it hadn’t harmed the baby, but it gave you one hell of a fright. Between deep breaths, you start mumbling to yourself, “Tommy is going to freak.”
Seeing how afraid you are, something clicks in Murphy, and he gives you a look of understanding. He knows. Quietly, he says, “Stay behind me; we are going to make a run for it.”
You nod, and the two of you manage to run behind a different spot without being shot.
—
“I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you try anything stupid.” You say, aiming at the man who was previously trying to kill your head.
While he chases Murphy and Warren off from either side, the man seemed to not care that much about weapons being so close to his head. “It looks like we’ve got ourselves a zombie standoff. You have me; I got him, and my brothers got all three of you.”
You glance around the room; it was more than likely that 10k or Addy had gotten to his brother first.
“We are looking for bizkits,” Warren says. “We have starving talkers that are starting to turn.”
“We are just trying to survive ourselves, and it’s crooks like you who have shut down the bakery and turned us into a bunch of dirty dogs. So lower your weapons and kindly waltz out of here, or we’re all going to be crawling brains.”
“Look, I don’t know who you think we are, but we aren’t them.”
“That’s what the last bunch said before they started shooting.”
You didn’t doubt the man’s story for a second; the bakery was covered in a red mist of blood. A door creaks open, and Addy and 10k bring out another man, whom you assume is the brother with a gun at his back.
“Listen,” you lower your weapon slightly, “your brother is still human, and I know you want to keep it that way. Just tell us what we want to know, and nobody else will get hurt.”
The man gulps down, “So, you're in need of some help?”
—
While the older man, Gilly, looks at his younger brother, Skull's nose, which was cut by your sister. 10K pulls you aside and grips a hold of the bottom of your top, “What the hell happened? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine; it’s just a cut.”
He holds your gaze. “Are you sure?”
“We’ll be fine.”
You return to your group just in time to hear Gilly explain that it was their mom who invited bizkits to save their brother, who had been bitten, but then the brother bit the mom when they ran out. And since the bombing, someone has been attacking the bakery so they won’t continue making them. Their mom had turned two weeks ago, and she was the only one who had the recipe.
You look up at the window of the office overlooking the rest of the bakery and see multiple talkers that have turned.
—
Murphy stands up a table, holds up a radio, and turns the music up to distract the talkers while Skull sneaks inside to get the recipe. The plan was going well until Skull tripped and fell and was bitten by their zombified brother right after their mom ate the recipe.
“I hate to say it, but the only way to keep them from turning might be to feed them actual brains.”
From the doorway at the far side of the room, multiple heavy footsteps can be heard, along with snarling and hissing. All the noise must have attracted the nearby Z’s from outside. Thankfully, only a small number of them came into the building.
You run up behind one of the Z’s and stab it in the head before shooting another two. You notice Addy and 10k working together to take out Z's, which makes you smile.
Warren cuts the head off one and tosses it to Gilly.
You stand behind 10k and bury your face into his back, not wanting to witness Gilly crushing the skull, then cutting up the brains, and then feeding them to the walkers.
When the talkers return to normal, the mom flirts with a creeped-out Murphy, kissing him on the cheek before continuing to help.
—
Sitting with your legs dangling over the edge of a table, you watch as the brothers bag up the last of the bizkits. Hearing a whistling noise, you look over to Murphy, who was trying and failing to be discreet by waving you and 10k over to him, then looking away.
You and 10k stand on either side of him. “What’s going on?”
“I just wanted to say...” he trails off while tracing patterns in the flour scattered across the table with his finger. Murphy's jaw clenches slightly. “I don’t like either of you, but I do think you will be great parents, even lefty over here.”
With that, he turns and quickly walks away. You share a confused look with 10k. “Did you tell him?”
“No, but I think he figured it out.”
Ultimately, you’d need to tell the others the truth sooner than later. 10k smiles and brushes strands of hair out of your face. “Go for it.”
“Uh, guys, we’ve got something we need to tell you.”
Warren and Addy step a little closer, and you try not to laugh, seeing the worried look on their faces.
“Tommy and I are having a baby.”