"Is this whole state uphill? Where are we anyway?" Murphy asked. We were currently hiking up a hill. We were somewhere in South Dakota and that's all I know.

"According to this map, we're in the Black Hills of South Dakota." Warren answered.

"I miss the truck." Cassandra said.

"Me too." I agreed.

"At least we're out of that damn horde." Warren said.

"There's nothing to kill out here." 10K agreed.

"Babe, that's a good thing." I told him. He mumbled a disagreement.

"We need to find a place to camp soon. My dogs is getting tired. " Doc told Warren.

"Well, there's supposed to be a little town nearby called Edgemont. I'll take a compass reading at this next ridge up here." Warren told him.

"Can't we just take a break?" Doc asked.

"A quick one." Warren answered.

"Oh, my God. Look." Cassandra said. We all looked in the direction she was looking in. It was Mount Rushmore. The faces carved in the mountain had red on them like blood.

"Now who in the hell did that?" Warren asked.

"Some daredevil with a sick sense of humor." Doc stated. I laughed.

"Is that Mount Rushmore?" 10K asked.

"This is why we can't have nice things." Murphy commented.

"Probably the same jackass that tagged the Liberty Bell." Doc said.

"I think it's awesome." 10K commented. Doc punched his arm lightly ,sending him a stern look. I laughed and wrapped my arm around his waist. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"Of course you would think that." I teased him. He sent me a playful glare. I just laughed at him.

"If I ever catch who did that, they're gonna get a whoopin'." Warren stated. "Come on. Let's find that town. It's gonna get dark soon."

"I thought we were taking a break." Murphy said.

"Break time's over." Warren told him.

***

"We've been walking for hours." Murphy complained dramatically. "Admit it, Columbus, you're lost."

"Oh, give it a rest ,Murphy. Warren knows where she's goin'. You know where you're goin' ,Warren?" Doc said ,making me laugh.

"Well, we should've hit the town by now." Warren answered. Then she looked at Murphy. "And for the record, Columbus was lost when he discovered America."

"Yeah, and look how that turned out." Murphy commented.

"Check this out." 10K said. We all looked at him and he nodded towards something behind us. We all looked to see some building in a fence that had an opening near us.

"That's not a town." Murphy pointed out.

"Thanks ,Captain Obvious." I said sarcastically. Murphy rolled his eyes at me.

"Well, now bein' Doctor Brightside in the moment, maybe there's something useful inside." Doc said.

"Yeah, let's check it out." Warren stated.

Warren led the way to the buildings. 10K and I took up the rear, 10K with his rifle and me with my shotgun.

"Oh, just like home." Murphy said sarcastically when they were by the buildings.

"You know this might actually be a safe place for us to get some rest and load up on supplies." Warren told him.

"I could use an hour's sleep." Cassandra stated.

"Hey ,Doc, get the door." Warren told Doc ,looking at one of the big white buildings in front of us. Doc walked forward and tried to open the door. It was locked.

"Why do they still lock doors?" Doc asked. "Luckily I have a skeleton key." He said holding up his crowbar. He used the crowbar to pry open the door.

Doc stood the door and let Warren go in first. Doc followed her in. 10K and I waited for Cassandra and Murphy to go in. I smiled at 10K before walking in. He followed me in as we walked behind everyone else.

"Well being Doctor Darkside, we are not gonna find much food or ammo here." Doc said.

"Yeah, if we wanted industrial pipes, this would be the place to be." Warren commented.

"I don't like this." Cassandra commented.

"Oh, look." Murphy said grabbing a gallon jug of water. He opened it and went to take a drink. Doc grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"Hey, hey, hold on. You can't just drink that. What do you think this is? The local piggly wiggly? That could be some kind of ,you know, industrial type water that'll rot your insides." Doc told him.

"Oh, spare me the details." Murphy said and took a drink. Doc went to object but was interrupted by Cassandra.

"Shh. Over there." She said.

Warren told everyone to hide. We all listened to her and hid together.

"Everybody sit quietly." Warren told us ,holding up her gun ,ready to shoot the Z. We were quiet ,then Murphy farted.

"Sorry. It got away from me." Murphy whispered. I rolled my eyes at him.

"If I die because you farted, I am taking you with me." Doc said quietly. Warren shushed him.

The Z came around the corner to where we were. Doc piked it with his crowbar. The Z was glowing.

"What in the livin' hell? It's glowin'." Doc pointed out.

"It's like a zombie ghost." Cassandra said.

"Why is he glowing?" 10K asked.

We heard more growling. "He's got friends." Warren pointed her gun at one that came into sight. Warren shot it. She tried to shoot another one but was out of ammo.

The door opened and two people in hazmat suits came in. "Don't touch them." A masculine voice said as Warren pulled out her machete.

The guy shot three zombies. One grabbed at 10K but he pushed it against the wall. A feminine voice warned him that touching the Zs wasn't safe and shot the Z 10K was struggling with.

"No! Don't touch them!" I turned to look at the guy who yelled.

"Are they contagious?" Doc asked.

"Radioactive." The guy said.

"Radioactive? How is that possible?" Warren asked.

"I'll show ya." The guy said as he lifted his mask off his face. He looked maybe in his 40s ,with a beard that quite a bit of grey with his dark brown color.

***

"There it is." The guy said. We looked up at a building that seemed mostly shaped like a sphere.

"It's gonna be one of them days ,ain't it?" Doc asked.

"Yup." I agreed.

***

"If you don't mind my asking, what were you folks doing wandering out there near the reactor?" The guy asked as we walked through the town.

"We were lost." Murphy answered.

"We weren't lost. Our vehicle ran out of gas 20 miles from here. We took a shortcut through the woods so we could avoid the Zs." Warren objected.

"You're not lost anymore. Welcome to Edgemont ,South Dakota. Population three. Not counting you. Name's Wilbur Grady. This is my daughter Amelia." The guy said.

"Nice to meet you." Amelia spoke up.

"Nice meeting you. I'm Roberta Warren. This is Murphy. That's Cassandra. And that's 10K and Chris in the back." Warren told them. The man started coughing badly. He leaned against a gas pump to steady himself. "Is he okay?"

"No. Radiation poisoning." Amelia told Warren.

"I'm fine." Grady spoke up. He stood up straight again. "Let's get you folks checked out and get you some food. Our place is just around here down the road a little ways."

We went to there place and stood in a garage type building that had an airplane in it. Grady scanned us with something ,probably checking for radiation. Amelia started giving us pills.

"What are these?" Doc asked excitedly as he got what he thought was a drug. It's probably some vitamin or something to help against radiation.

"Iodine." Amelia answered. I was right about it not being a drug.

"Oh." Doc said disappointed.

"It'll keep the radiation accumulating in your thyroid." Amelia told him.

"Yeah, right." Doc said ,still upset that it's not going to get him high.

"Looks like you're still within safe levels. But you're lucky we came along when we did. Most of the Zs around here are highly radioactive." Grady told us.

"As if being brain-eating zombies wasn't bad enough." Doc said sarcastically.

"Okay. Question. Shouldn't we be in one of these suits too?" Murphy asked.

"Radiation levels aren't too bad out here. But you'll probably get cancer in twenty years." Grady chuckled.

"Somehow that's way down on my list of worries." Warren said.

"Yeah, but our more immediate problem is the reactor core melting down. We don't fix it soon, then everything within a 300 mile radius will be glowing. Not just the Zs." Grady said.

"Okay, well... It's been nice meeting you. We have places to be, places at least 300 miles from here." Murphy stated ,grabbing his bag and walking for the exit.

"Good luck with that. Every vehicle in town is gone or can't be driven."

"Then I guess we better start walking."

"You won't make it. We have less than 48 hours before the core starts to melt down."

"Why are you still here?" Cassandra asked.

"Because there's still a chance to shut this thing down and save a big chunk of God's country from being irradiated for the next 10,000 years. Besides, I'm already a goner." Grady said.

"Well, what about your daughter? Did she sign up for this suicide mission too?" Murphy asked.

"I am sticking around to help my dad." Amelia stated.

"I told her I didn't need her help, but she wouldn't listen." Grady said.

"I'm a pilot. I'll fly us out of the hot zone." Amelia told us.

"Perfect. We'll just hitch a ride." Murphy stated.

"As you can see there's only room for one passenger. And I have enough bullets for all of you, so don't go getting any ideas." Grady told us.

"Mister Grady, Wilbur. I know it doesn't look like it, but this man," Warren pointed at Murphy ,who waved, "this man is the only known survivor of a zombie bite."

"Thought there was something wrong with him." Grady commented. Murphy looked offended.

"His blood carries antibodies for the zombie virus. He's our last best hope for humanity." Warren told him. He started laughing.

"Yeah right, and I'm the Easter bunny." Grady continued to laugh.

"Show him." Warren told Murphy. Murphy pulled on the top of his shirt to show them a bite on his chest.

"Now, look, man. This dude here's the real deal. And a lot of people got killed getting him this far." Doc said after Murphy had buttoned the few buttons that came undone.

"So tell us what we need to do to shut down that reactor so we can be on our way." Warren said.

"Unless of course you have eggs to lay ,Mister Bunny." Murphy said sarcastically. I chuckled at his words.

***

"Here's the plan. I need to get to the control room to see if i can figure out why the fuel rods aren't dropping down to the cooling pool to stop the reaction. I haven't been able to get in there 'cause of this gauntlet of zombies. That's where I need your help." Grady told us as we walked up to the reactor building.

"Killin' zombies, that's what we do." Warren told him.

"Radiation levels are only slightly elevated outside the containment building. So you should be safe for at least two minutes. Long enough to get me to the door before you have to retreat back here. Use whatever you have to keep the Zs from getting too close. They're very contaminated. One hug and you'll be dead in a few hours." Grady told us.

"Don't hug the zombies." Doc piked a Z at the fence. "Got it."

"You two stay here." Warren said to Amelia and Murphy. "10K, you cover us from up there. If we don't get back, you get him to California somehow."

10K came over to me and hugged me. "Be careful." He told me ,looking into my eyes with an intense look.

"I'll be fine. I have you to cover my ass 'til I get inside." I told him lightly. He smiled at me. "I love you." I told him.

"I love you too." He told me. He leaned in and pecked my lips before going to get in position to cover us.

"You ready?" Grady asked Warren.

"Let's do this." Warren said. I slung my shotgun on my shoulder so I had it just in case. I kept the wooden baseball bat that I found and kept with me recently.

"Remember, no more than two minutes. Come on!" Grady told us.

We pushed the gate open and ran for it. I heard Amelia and Murphy close the gates behind us. We killed any Zs that got to close.

We followed Warren and Grady into the building. "You got one more minute!" Grady called.

There was a Z on the staircase we needed to go up. Doc went and killed it, the impact of the hit pushing the Z over the railing.

"No hugging!" I called to the Z ,referring to how Doc put it earlier. Doc laughed at me.

"Chris, you're awesome." He told me.

"I know" I did an over dramatic hair flip. He chuckled at me.

We all went up the staircase. The others followed Grady to the elevator. I stayed by the stairs and kept watch there.

I waited until the other were back towards me. We started running to make it out of there.

Out front, Murphy opened one of the gates for us. We all ran through. 10k came over and was trying to subtly look me over to see if I was okay.

"I'm okay ,10K." I assured him.

"Good." He hugged me. I laughed and pulled away.

"What, were you worried? You're adorable." I teased him.

"Shut up." He rolled his eyes at me. I smiled at him and he smiled back.

***

"Hey, here he comes." Warren said. Murphy opened the gate for Grady.

"Dad." Amelia went out to help him. She kept repeating the word. Grady didn't make it to the fence before he fell. Amelia ran to him.

"I didn't make it." I heard Grady say.

"Dad, dad, no, no." Amelia started telling to hold on but I saw his head slump and I knew he was gone. She was crying.

He came back as a Z not even a minute later. He grabbed Amelia. Doc rushed to grab Amelia too while Warren mercied Grady. Amelia sobbed while Doc held onto her. They both sunk to the ground.

"I'm sorry. Let's bury him." Warren said.

***

"So that thing is still ready to cook off. Well I'd like to know what we're supposed to do about it." Doc said.

"We can't run. We're still within the blast zone." Cassandra stated.

"We go in." Warren said.

"And do what? Grady was the one who knew how to shut that thing off. I'm a doctor ,dammit, not a nuclear physicist." Doc told her.

Warren and Doc went over with Amelia and Cassandra. I stayed back with 10K and Murphy. I rested my head against 10K's arm and sighed.

10K wrapped his arm around me. I wrapped both arms around him. He kissed the top of my head.

***

We walked towards an old run down looking house. It apparently belonged to Grady's boss ,Homer, who's been holed up here since his son died.

"We have to stop here." Amelia said as she stopped by a fence still quite a ways away from the house.

"We're still fifty yards away." Murphy pointed out.

"My dad said the place was booby-trapped. I told you ,Homer's crazy." Amelia told us.

"Have we completely dismissed the idea of a phone call? Just sayin'." Cassandra asked.

Warren walked over and crouched by 10K ,who was also crouched down. "Hey. This is your kinda set-up. How do we get in?"

"Without us getting killed. I do like to keep that in mind." Murphy said. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Well ,one thing. Homer's set-up is aimed at stopping Zs, not a team. So if we keep a sharp eye out for landmines, trip wires..." 10K trailed off.

"We'll be fine." Warren finished. 10K nodded. "The four of you guys, stay here. Give us a 40 second head start. We'll flank him and come up from behind."

Warren, Amelia, and 10K went to do what they said. I started counting to 40 in my head.

"That's 40." I said once I reached that number.

Doc went forward and opened the part of the fence we needed to go through. I stayed up front with Doc. Cassandra and Murphy followed behind us.

"Okay, watch for mines." Doc told us.

"Watching them." Cassandra said.

We walked along the path carefully. We saw a couple mines but nothing we couldn't avoid.

We made it to the side of the building. I was closest to the end with Doc beside me. Cassandra and Murphy were on the other side of him against the wall behind us.

Doc looked at me and gave me a nod. I turned the corner just to get kicked in the chest. I hit the ground feeling like all the air just left my lungs.

"Fuck!" I exclaimed ,bringing a hand to my chest. Cassandra and Doc came over to me.

"Don't move!" A guy said with a gun raised. "You have three seconds to tell me what you're doin' here. One. Two."

"I wouldn't do that ,sir." I heard 10K's voice say. I looked to see he had a knife to Homer's throat. Warren and Amelia had guns pointed at his head.

"Go ahead. Do me a solid. Just don't leave me a Z." Homer said.

"I'd never do that ,Mr. Stubbins. We just need your help." 10K told him.

"Hello to you too." I said sarcastically. Cassandra helped me to my feet. "Thanks." I thanked her. She sent me smile.

***

"Grady was a good man. If anyone could SCRAM that reactor, it was him." Homer said after we told him about Grady.

"SCRAM?" 10K asked.

"Safety Control Rod Axe Man. Goes back to the first reactors. The only safety system they had was literally a man with an axe whose whole job in the even of a meltdown was to cut the rope holding the fuel rods over the cooling pool." Homer explained.

"That's what Dad was trying to do." Amelia told him.

"How much time do you have?" Homer asked.

"How much time do we have? You're in the soup with us, Homer." Murphy said.

"But he doesn't care if he lives or not." I mumbled.

"You've confused me with someone who gives a damn." Homer said looking over at him.

"According to Grady, less than 40 hours." Warren answered Homers question. "And we do give a damn. Now are you gonna help us or are you gonna sit here and let us all die?"

"Well, there's one thing we might try. I'm gonna have to show you. We're gonna need weapons, equipment." Homer pulled a black bag on the table. He started pulling hand guns out. "Come on. Load up. It's not like I'm gonna be needing this stuff."

I grabbed a pistol and slipped it into the waistband of my -well, technically there 10k's- pants.

Doc was right. It's one of those days.