To Be A Runner

Chapter 20: One Step Closer, Two Steps Back

When I get back to Abel, I dump out my backpack, but keep the case in my hand. When Jody, the runner who's been assigned to check the bags, tries to take it to check it, I shake my head.

"Five, we have to look through everything you bring back," She argues gently. She tries to grab at the handle, but I pull away in an instant and shake my head again.

"Don't worry," Dr. Meyers states from behind me. I flinch in surprise. "It's for me. My name's on it, see?"

She points to her name on the case and Jody nods, closing her eyes and I can see she's mentally face palming. "Oh, alright. Sorry, Runner Five."

I shrug in reply as the doctor gently takes the case from my hand. 'It's okay.'

"Come on, Five. Let's check you for bites."  I nod, following her towards the tent and once inside I peel off my shirt and pants. "I'm going to be really checking your neck and shoulders since that's where the zom that attacked you was closest to biting,"

She runs her fingers over my skin in search for a sign of infection. I know what happens if there's a thought I might've been bitten but it's unsure. It's happened before at Mullins. You get put in a dark, quiet room with a small bit of food and water. You're completely alone and after twenty-four hours they come to check on you. If you're still human, you're let out; If not, you're shot in the head. Simple.

'I don't see why anyone would come back knowing they're bitten,' I sign as she looks at my hands.

"Usually they're scared. They think if they ignore it, it won't happen," She answers, studying me and checking for bites. "Sometimes someone else is too afraid to lose them and doesn't want to believe what's going to happen will happen. But I guess that's how people are with loved ones even if it isn't from the bite."

My back and shoulders tense from her words as memories I don't want to see run through my head-flash in front of my eyes. I swallow thickly and Dr. Meyers notices immediately. She raises a brow. "Everything alright, Five?"

I nod quickly, taking in a deep breath to relax myself. 'Yes, you just touched a nerve there.'

Liar...

"Oh, sorry," She laughs lightly, then takes a small step back. "You're clean, so that means you're all good to go."

'I'm glad,' I reply with a genuine smile.

"Me too. I'd dread to put you in that containment unit we have. I always hate putting runners in it." She shudders. "A dark, lonely room for twenty-four hours? I'd go mad."

I shrug. 'I've been put in them enough times to have gotten used to it.'

"Oh, so they did that at Mullins too?"

I nod. 'No use in killing a good runner.'

Even if we are all replaceable.

She gives a small smile in agreement, before her eyes flicker over to the case at the tent's entrance. I know she's trying to be polite and wait until I leave to go through it, and I think it would be cruel to make her wait any longer. I may still be a bit angry for her asking me to retrieve the case when I was surrounded by flesh eating dead people, but sticking around to keep her from looking into it would just be petty.

And I'm not petty, well not that petty.

'I should probably go get cleaned up,' I say, releasing my sweaty, brown hair from it's ponytail, grimacing when I feel knots that's formed in it. I look at the case for a small second. 'Do you really think whatever's in that case will help us find a vaccine?'