Warren woke up with a start. Something wasn't right. She'd been able to sense these things for a while now, especially since her husband died. She lifted herself from the hard bed and grabbed her gun. She stayed as quiet as she could whilst proceeding to tip-toe out the room. Where are the others? She reached the hallway of the abandoned house, and stood dead still as she heard light footsteps coming from the other room. She used her gun to slowly push the door open and winced when it made a loud, long creak. The footsteps were getting nearer and nearer. Until they were right next to her- she jumped out her hiding spot and threw her gun tip right at the victim. "WARREN! ITS JUST ME! Chill.."

She lowered her gun, "10K! You scared the actual crap out of me! Never do that again EVER!" She playfully hit his shoulder. "Ow! You made me drop my glass." She looked down at the ring of shattered glass surrounding her feet. "Whatever, go wake up the others and tell them it's time to go."

"Why, what's going on?"

As if by coincidence, the groans and mumbles from nearby Z's got louder. "Oh."

"Puppies and kittens." She smirked.

A few hours later...

Warren and her group were now a few miles ahead of their last resort. 10K was hot and tired from walking so much. As he wiped a drip of sweat from his forehead he choked, "Where exactly are we going, Warren?"

Warren rolled her eyes at him. "You know where we're going. For the tenth time, we are going to the Dubstep Platform, where Cassandra will be waiting to give us Citizen Z's co ordinates. So we can find, you know, THE CURE??"

Doc laid his hand on 10K's shoulder. "It'll be okay kid. Won't be long."

"Thanks man."

Addison overheard the conversation and chirped in,

"10K is right, Warren. We should probably find some shelter soon before it gets too dark."

She whipped her head around so quick it made them all take a step back. "Do you all want to find the serum or not?"

"Yeah but-"

"THEN I SUGGEST YOU KEEP WALKING."

She yelled. 10K tried to walk again but as soon as he did, his legs buckled and he collapsed. Doc immediately ran to his side to make sure he was okay. "You good, kid?" He asked.

The jet-black haired boy looked mercifully up at their leader with big blue eyes.

"-sigh- fine. We'll look for shelter." Warren finally agreed. "Yes!" Mack muttered.

"Look, I think I can see some sort of shack just over that hill." Addy pointed out.

"That's where we'll be going then." huffed Warren.

Doc and Mack heaved 10k's arms over their shoulders to help him get up and walk. He was so worn out he was on there verge of passing out from dehydration too. Doc noticed and yelled,

"Hey, is there any water left?"

"We used the last of it. Why?"

"For 10K. He's not well."

"We'll be there before you know it dude."

He forced a weak smile as he continued to stumble along the dusty road.

About 20 minutes later..

Finally the group arrived at the small wooden shack. By now, it was pouring down rain pretty hard and almost pitch black. "It looks bigger in person." Addy commented. "Yeah well it'll do for us."

Warren opened the door revealing the dirty mucky inside. Doc and Mack walked over to the bench and placed 10K down on it. "We'll find you something to drink," said Mack. "Just rest for now." He half-smiled. 10k looked up for the first time in an hour and whispered, "Thanks." His throat was scratchy from no water, and his whole body felt limp. He used his satchel as a pillow and finally lied down on the hard bench. Meanwhile, Doc joined Murphy outside.

"Poor kid."

"What happened to him?"

"Did you not hear? Had to mercy his own father. He has no family left."

"Oh."

"I know. I'm the same, so I think of him as my son so at least then we can both pretend."

"Here, I think I have an empty water bottle leftover in my bag. Use the rain to fill it."

"Finally! Will do."

Meanwhile, 10K began to drift off into a world of his own.

His dad was tied up on the ground, bite mark on his neck. "You have to son."

"But... I can't!"

"Please. For me."

"I don't want to. You're my dad."

"I know. But I don't think either of us want me to become one of those-those creatures! Please, just promise me." His dad lifted the gun up so 10K could reach it. "Promise. Me." A tear fell from the boys face. "I promise." He cried. The noirette watched his fathers whole face relax, then the pupils of his eyes slowly go white and red. "..dad?"

His skin started wrinkling and peeling off, some hair fell out. "Dad??" The thing lied still for a few moments. 10K breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe he wouldn't have to murder his last piece of family.

But nope, suddenly the now-Z sat up straight and looked the kid dead in the eyes before attempting to escape the knots and chains. He tried to find some source of life in the Z's eyes, but it was just pure evil. He knew what the right thing to do was. He slowly brought up the gun to the struggling zombies forehead, said his prayers, and BANG. That was the last memory he had of his dad.

"10K? 10K!" He woke up with a start. Mack had been calling his name for the past 5 minutes.

"You okay dude?"

"Yeah man I'm fine."

"Here, I got you some water."

Mack handed the water bottle to 10K. He instantly necked half the bottle down with a refreshed sigh afterwards. He screwed the lid back on, deciding it would be a good idea to save some for later. He turned around and strolled into the other room where he found Warren and Addison talking. He didn't mean to eavesdrop, but when he did he heard her mention how they had no food left. He walked over and offered to help. "I can go out and find some if you want."

"Really? That would be so helpful."

"Yeah."

"Are you sure? It lashing down out there. Could be dangerous."

"It's just a bit of rain. I'll be fine."He laughed.

"Okay. Take my gun." Warren handed him a fully loaded Olympia. "Sweet." He mumbled before heading out.

Thank you for reading chapter one! The mystery girl appears in the next chapter, (I'm trying to keep her name a secret for now) xx

Next chapter will be up shortly.