To Be A Leader

Chapter 24: What Have I Done To Deserve This?

"Goodness," Amelia says through my headset, "that canal looks positively toxic."

"Ugh," Maxine gags. "It is toxic. We are basically walking through bacteria and industrial effluent soup."

"Love the smell of that in the morning," I say, my headlamp shining into the distance. "Is it even morning yet? Anyway, it's a good thing Sam warned us about this so we'd wear these rubber boots."

"Yes, but the toxic soup is beginning to eat through them," Peter points out.

"Well, then you'd better hurry up, hadn't you? Take Five's example," Amelia says, and both Maxine and Peter try to catch up with me. As someone who had to wade through mud and sludge as a kid when my dad would force me to go on his hunting trips with him, moving through this isn't too much of an issue. Plus the thought of this soup breaking through these knee-high boots and eating away at my flesh keeps me going at a decent speed.

I've already got Peter and Maxine wary of me because of Tom's words, so them seeing me heal after coming into contact with toxic canal water would definitely reveal the truth. It's been a week, but that doesn't mean they've let those thoughts go. Tom firstly started becoming suspicious over a year ago and he still is wary.

"Why are we doing this again?" Peter asks.

"Well, Peter, crossing a border is always risky, as you know. You're in Sigrid's territory now, so traveling at night and through unpopulated areas is the safest option," Amelia answers.

"I think he meant why are we risking our lives helping you?" I ask, stepping out of the canal and holding out a hand to help Peter and Maxine out.

"Because this is a mission of mercy, and mercy is very much your sort of thing at Abel," She answers, and she's not wrong, really. "And, you know, we've been working so well together on that babies issue that I asked Jody if she'd help me out with this, and so here we are."

We start jogging, trying to shake off the leftover canal soup from our boots. "Yes, but what is 'this'?"

"Okay. The thing is, New Canton's absolutely crawling with babies at the moment. Honestly, they must be going at it like rabbits. I'd try to discourage it, only it's doing wonders for morale. But we're running awfully low on baby food. Luckily, there's a shipment passing through the train yard just ahead of you."

Maxine frowns. "Wait, so this isn't about helping you track Selma and find out where Sigrid's horrible immunity serum factory is?"

"Oh, well, no, but this will probably help as a byproduct. The more we can find out about where Sigrid's shipping baby-related items, the closer we'll be to zeroing in on that location. So yes. Well done, team. This mission helps everything. Although, first, there is the small matter of those zoms you seemed to have picked up."

My face scrunches up in confusion, but when I look behind me I almost gag at the unsightly view of the zombies crawling from the canal. They're a good distance away, which was why we can't hear them, but from my headlamp's light I can see where the toxins from the canal have eaten away at the flesh, melting it down to the muscle.

"That is disgusting," Peter says, and I nod in agreement.

"They're slow, so we should lose them before getting to the train yard. Run."

We pick up our pace a bit, the night air quiet aside from ragged breathing and uneven footsteps. The train yard is only about two miles away, meaning if we keep a steady pace we should get there in about fifteen minutes. I've never been near this area before, which is why I'm thankful Sam looked into what might be a danger and found out about that canal.