To Be A Hero

Chapter 4: Post War Blues

I nod. "Yeah. They were... intense while I was here."

"Runner Four! Runner Five! Welcome!" Bernard waves, his gray eyes scanning over the three of us as he leaves New Canton's gates. He pauses at seeing Nicole, but then his eyes quickly turn back towards me.

There's another man with him. He's younger, maybe in his mid or late twenties, brown skin with hair as black as night, with bright green eyes that are transfixed on me and me alone.

"So this is Runner Five," He breathes out in awe, and I shift uncomfortably. "It really is Runner Five. I just-I can't believe it."

I force out a laugh. "Yep. That's me. And this is Runner Four. It comes before Five. You know... Four."

Jody glares at me, but ignore it. I'd do anything to get this man's gaze off of me. Of course, this man isn't doing anything wrong. He's not looking at me in any way that screams red flag, but he... he looks at me like I'm some sort of angel, a holy thing or miracle-something great.

Something I'm not.

"I've heard of you too. Although I haven't heard of you," He says, eyes turning towards Nicole.

"I'm an old coworker of your girl, Five," She answers, seeming unimpressed by his awestruck attitude. "And you are?"

"Saeed Uteem. I used to lead the people you call 'the Deadlocks', but thanks to Moonchild, I..." His eyes go wide, and the look of horror and confusion and pain sweep across his face in a swift second. "I... I mean, I-after her, I brought some of my people here to New Canton."

I nod, giving him the kindest smile I can muster for a man who is the leader of the people who took off a chunk of my left ear and put a bullet in my left forearm. "Right."

"We'd better be off if you want to be back to Abel before nightfall," Bernard says. "Just a quick supply run with us to pick a few things, and then we'll let Four leave with Five and... Five's ex-coworker. If you ended up running home in the dark, we might have to come rescue you for a change, and who would know how to deal with that?"

He laughs, and Jody and Sam laugh uneasily. Nicole gives me a raised brow, but again I ignore her. She has no idea what these people have been through. As weird as they are, I know it's because of the trauma they went through from being under the mind control.

"Right. Uh, well, you're already outside the gates, so uh, off you go, I guess."

"Yeah, let's go," I say, and the five of us all start to run.

We head down the road in uncomfortable silence, but no one wants to make any effort to start conversation. Nicole doesn't care to, Jody and I feel too awkward, and I believe Bernard and Saeed are upset about Jody leaving but don't want express it. I know if Sam hadn't argued about my mental health for nearly four hours to the P.A.C., they'd have not let me go home when I did seven months ago.

Thankfully though, a few minutes later, Sam speaks. It's not good news, but it at least breaks the almost crushing silence that weighs on us.

"Looks like the main road's crawling with zoms today. Lucky for us, the shops we're looking for should be right on the outskirts of town."

"You don't need more fencing, do you?" Jody asks. "I thought the Ministry gave you everything you needed."

Saeed shakes his head. "No. No, we're after art supplies."

Nicole frowns. "Art supplies? You're risking going into a city full of zombies for art supplies?"

"Hmm. Yeah, I did wonder about that when Janine gave me the schedule you worked out," Sam says. "What do art supplies have to do with splitting New Canton into all those little bitty bits?"