To Be A Leader

Chapter 33: My Little Runaway

"Five, we need a distraction, and I think Valmont's giving us one."

Glass shatters, and I hear the squeak of wheels turning.

"Oh, dear," Valmont says, being loud enough to make sure I hear over all the hushed giggles and chatter about his entrance. "Was that a special food trolley I knocked towards Runner Five?"

"That's the poisoned food. Five, kick upwards now!"

My foot flies up, the toe of my shoe meeting with the trolley. A loud clang resonates in my ears, followed by glass shattering and screams of terror.

"Yes!" Sam cheers. "Half of them have been splashed with zombie food. Five, stand up. I know you're blindfolded and that chair's still tied to your arms, but this is all we can do for now."

I stand, bending over slightly because of the chair. "Be my eyes, Sam."

"Okay. The door's open. Okay, okay, uh, turn left, walk fourteen steps. Good. Now turn right. There's a long corridor ahead of you. Just run!"

I do, my heartbeat thrumming in my ears, mingling with sounds of screaming from the people in the banquet hall. I try to keep my breathing steady, knowing exertion could make me change faster. Right now I feel okay. I want to believe I'm okay, but I can't. I've never been tested. I don't know if Van Ark's treatments made me immune to the zombie virus. It's a hit or miss. I have just as much chance to turn here in this building than I do to make it out alive.

I try to count my steps, regulate my breathing. It's so hard to keep my balance, and Moonchild's quiet, meaning she's probably disappeared back into my mind to hibernate for who knows how long. I wish she hadn't, for once. She's a different personality, coming up with her own ideas. Maybe she could figure out just how Sigrid knew I'd be here, and how she knew how to do whatever it is she did to me.

Moonchild would figure it out, but she's not here, so I have to just go with what I know. She must not believe me to be her Alpha. If she did, she wouldn't have infected me, so I'm right to say she thinks I'm a regular Moonchild Syndrome sufferer. Good. That's one less thing I have to worry about. I still don't know how she knew we would come, or I would come, really. She must not know about Janine because she would have sent for her as well.

I suppose she thought like Amelia did, that I would try to be the hero, that I would run off and reach too high. I hate that I've become so predicatable. Leaders aren't supposed to be predicatable.

I let out a squeak when I brush along the side of the wall of the corridor. Without my sight I can't tell how or where I'm running.

"Sam?" I say weakly as everything fades into quiet.

"Don't worry. I'm here," Sam says. "Step to your left a bit. There's a table in your way and I don't want you to-"

I cut him off with a yelp when something hits my leg.

"-run into it," He sighs, and I mutter out an apology. "It's-it's fine. Don't-Janine, we've got to get that blindfold off her."

"Yes, Janine," Amelia pipes up. "Why don't you go help Five with it? That way you could stop threatening me and I could leave."

"Amelia, I say this with the greatest respect," Sam says with an exasperated sigh, "and I'm glad you're helped us with trying to find the babies, but seriously, shut up. We're trying to save Five's life here."

"And the Minister has the cure to the zombie virus," Janine says, and Amelia hums.

"That is a surprise. I'd heard a few settlements were making a little progress, but all my intelligence suggested that your Veronica was our best chance."