"Oh, right. Of course," Amelia says. "That's why Jones was transporting those high-tech hazmat suits with UV protection. You remember, Five? That crate we had to deliver?"
"You mean the one that you broke open and caused us to lose and then when retrieving it, Jones nearly killed us?" I deadpan.
"Oh, leave the past in the past," She dismisses casually, and I roll my eyes. "Anyway, I thought he'd done some trade deal with Brent. Bugger, this is annoying."
"Well, you were the one who tried to convince us something was dodgy with Sage, Amelia," Sam says.
"I was expecting he's coldly ambitious and frightening people by playing on their past with the Last Riders, rather than he's a terrorist mastermind."
I take a glance over at Peter, who looks rather irked by that comment. I grab his wrist, as a way of comfort. I really do hope we're wrong about this, at least with Sage, but with how things look, I doubt it.
"This is a lot less useful and profitable," She continues, before sighing. "I supposed you know Sage is meeting with the head of senior settlements right now? He was doing so well bringing back free trade."
"That's why we called you here at Abel, Ms. Spens," Janine explains, her lips pursed. "We must reveal what we know about Colonel Sage, but if we try to capture him by force-"
"Yes. Nom nom with the zombie pill, and there go the settlement heads. I see. Why don't you just set off a proximity alert? Brent's donated some version of his system to the war effort, hasn't he?"
Peter quickly shakes his head, even though Amelia can't see it. "We can't do that. Proximity alerts are for genuine emergencies only."
"This is a genuine emergency."
His shoulders scrunch up in annoyance, but he doesn't say anything. I can tell he wants to, but I suppose he's holding back because of what I said earlier. He may think we want this, but we don't. This hurts everybody! But if it's true, Sage has to be stopped.
"We could report a small horde," Janine suggests.
"And Sage would go to the nearest tactical alert or whatever it is, and you could arrest him there. Better than doing it around Eagle Fang and the Psychoanalysts Enclave anyway. The Analysts are terrifying."
"Not to mention doing it in front of everyone else could ruin the entire conference," I add, looking down at my feet when Peter gives me a raised brow. "I mean, arresting the guy we all were about to announce as head of the V-Type resistance for suspicion of having to do with bringing back the Last Riders? Abel backed him up, remember? If we did that, no settlement would ever trust us again, and the only reason we got everything to go well today was because of the fact that we got New Oban to side with us. Doing this in secret is our best option."
Sam makes an unsure noise in my headset. "Well, like-I mean, setting off the zombie alert? I... We've heard of the boy who cried wolf, right?"
"One the other hand, Mr. Yao, as Runner Five well knows, sometimes only bad choices are available."
I blink in confusion. Is Janine talking about the fungus farm?
I shake my head. It's too much work to try to figure out what she might be referring too.
I hear an alarm go off.
"What the-" Sam chokes, and then the coms shack door opens.
"Sorry, that would be me," Nicole's voice comes in. "You were taking too long to hack the system, so I did it using this old laptop. I've pulled the alarm. You guys might want to get to that tactical station at the edge of the wood in time."
"Wh-how did you-did you steal a headset to listen in?!"
"Yeah. When I saw you and Amelia at Abel, I knew something was up. So, I took this so I could have a listen. And Singer's right. You need to take out Sage in private. So, hurry! Run!"
We head off, and I take in a deep breath as my mind reels. It was a good idea for Janine to decide to send Sam back to Abel with Amelia. It'll ensure he's safe if Sage does take the zombie pill or gives the instruction for someone else to on the rig. We need our operator, and we can't risk putting him somewhere where he might get bitten.
He's immune to regular zombie bites, but the V-Types are a different story. The cure doesn't work on them, and so immunity might not either. We can't risk it.
Jody meets us along the way. We couldn't all leave Seaside at the same time, especially since Sam and Amelia left too for Abel. That's too many people to be leaving one place all at once, so we had to split up when we met. Jody doesn't seem to mind that she was scheduled the last to meet up with our four-person team.
I think she thought it would mean she would be around Peter for less time, since he still is a bit... defensive about all of this.
Janine nods at her in greeting. "Runner Four, I'm glad you could join us. With Runner Five and Mr. Lynne, we'll make a useful and unobtrusive force to apprehend the Colonel."
Peter rolls his eyes. "Oh, you brought me here because you know he trusts me. He won't panic if I'm there."
"We just want to ask him questions," Jody says. "Find out what he knows."
"Ha!"
"What?"
"You've made up your minds already. I know how everyone talks about Sage at Abel. Controlling, dictatorial. Well, what you don't get is that's what some of us want. It's good to have someone to tell you what to do. It helps you focus."
Janine looks at him with something akin to pity. "I know."
"No one is arguing that he hasn't done amazing things," I say, and he looks at me curiously, expectantly almost. "I mean, just getting Eagle Fang to sit down with the Psychoanalysts and New Oban and the weirdos from the Hebrides is a huge feat."
"Yeah," Sam agrees. "All the different settlements have brought their ideas for how to defend against V-Types. Have you seen that stuff along the coast? Loads of different technology there for us all to learn from."
Peter sighs, his shoulders slumping a bit. "So what are we even doing here?"
"It's not that stuff we object to," Jody answers. "It's the bit where he made the zombie pills that killed everyone at the rave and at Exmoore."
He grits his teeth, just barely restraining himself from shouting. "Oh, there's 100% proof of that? Pictures of him cackling and rubbing a white-haired kitty while dropping zombie blood into a vat? Five said she only saw Jones, so it could just be him, you know!"
Janine looks at him sternly. "It happened on his watch. He must take responsibility for that."
"Oh, like Van Ark did? Like Sigrid did? Fire a rocket launcher, set off an underground volcano?"
"Not that, no. A trial, evidence. The rule of law."
He presses his lips together. His eyes show exactly how little her words affect him. "Yeah, well, excuse me for thinking it might not work out that way."
My shoulders tense when I hear a dead moan, and Peter's hand shoots out to grab my wrist. My free hand readies to grab a weapon.
"Guys, V-Type past those trees to your left," Sam warns, and I jerk my head towards it. The V-Type is there, at the trees. We keep moving, all eyes on the zom as it- "Oh. That's weird."
"You-you saw that too, right, Five?" Peter stammers, and I nod. The V-Type was at the trees, then it just... growled and walked right back into the forest.
Sam hums. "Never seen one do that before. Maybe it didn't notice you."
Peter's grip on my wrist tightens. "I think it looked at me and left."
I have a bad feeling about this.
"We must hurry," Janine urges. "Colonel Sage will be approaching the tactical station. Pick up the pace."
We do as told, but my mind lingers back with that V-Type. It saw us! I know it did. So why did it turn around and leave when there were four people there that could try to infect?
I remember that V-Types are clever, more so since Exmoore fell, and the V-Type army grew again. I mean, when Valmont used his pigs to try to stop them, the zombies surrounded them and tore them apart. They're strategized, unlike anything we've ever seen from zombies before. If that zombie saw us and turned back...
It's planning something.
The shiver that runs up my spine isn't just because of the cold. Anxiety grips at my mind, wondering just why the zombie did that. What could it be planning? What does it know?
We can't underestimate them, but I also know we can't waste time trying to find out just what might be happening when we have other problems to worry about as well. Sage and Jones are our main targets, and hopefully we'll be able to arrest and detain them quickly and efficiently. Then we can worry about whatever that V-Type is up to.
I nod to myself. Yes, good plan. Just one step at a time.
"Look, you see?" Peter says, gesturing to the post in front of him. "When have we ever had this before? Even the Ministry didn't manage it. Tactical zombie outlook post with cams access. See how peaceful everything is, how organized? A single person can run this whole thing. It's almost meditative, being in one of those. If there was a Top Ten Most Picturesque Post-Apocalyptic Holiday list, this would make the cut."
I can't help but let out a little laugh at that. No one else finds his words amusing.
"He's come here alone to prove that his system works," Janine says. "One person with a radio can monitor the tide of the V-Types. I agree, Mr. Lynne, this is the kind of organization we need to fight this new threat, but we cannot be tainted by suspicion. If Colonel Sage is innocent, it will be proven in a trial."
We reach the outlook post, and heading up the stairs we reach the door, which I open. Sage's back is turned to us, watching some of the monitors. He turns at the sound of us entering, his eyes widening in surprise when he sees us all here.
"Runner Five, Runner Four, Colonel De Luca, Peter," He greets. "How good to see you. You know, I think this zombie alert might have been a mistake."
Janine lets out a breath. "Colonel Sage, I'm sorry. Evidence has come to light that suggests you are responsible for the massacre at Exmoore. Please come with us."
His mouth drops open in shock. "Me? What sort of evidence?"
There's static in his radio. "Colonel, what's going on?" Jones asks, but he ignores it.
"I'm so sorry, Colonel. I didn't want to do this," Peter says painfully, and Jody takes a step forward.
"Don't fight this, Colonel. It'll just make this harder."
His face contorts into confusion. "Fight you? No, I'll-I'll happily turn myself in." He glances at Peter. "Peter, I do not try to hold myself above the law. Just as I ask others to live by my rules, so must I respect the rules and even accusations of others."
I stare at him in surprise. "Oh. Wow. I was not expecting that. Um, but thank you, Colonel Sage. We also need to speak to your... associate, Jones. Can you have your people hold him?"
He nods and grabs his radio. "Jones, the people from Abel want to discuss a few things. Please reset the zombie perimeter and tell the Psychoanalysts I'll take a short break. And I think Dennis needed to see you. Could you report back to him?"
There's a beat of silence, and Sage frowns.
"Jones?"
"I see," He replies after another second of silence. I don't like the tone of his voice. "You've been corrupted. I knew this might happen."
"Oh, crap," Jody mutters. "Colonel Sage, we have evidence against Jones too. If he somewhere he could hurt people?"
"Jones?" Sage actually looks scared for a moment, but then he regains his composure and nods. "I understand. If there's a chance he could hurt himself or others, we must stop him. Abel Runners, will you help?"
I look at Jody, and she nods. We both turn back to Sage.
"Let's go."
•
"Jones, come in. Come in, Jones. Report your position," Sage commands, but he gets no reply. He sighs dejectedly as we keep running. "It's no use. He's not answering."
"I've spoken to people at Seaside Base," Sam says. "Jones vanished from the conference room in a hurry. They know to look out for him, and that he might be carrying zombie pills."
"You say he produced the pills that destroyed the Exmoore Militia?"
I nod. "Yes, practically certain. I-I saw him in the fungus farm."
An emotion passes over Sage's face-fear, regret, guilt? "I-I recognized the man in the red cap that you, Milo and I apprehended at Exmoore, Runner Five."
"You did?" Peter and I both say in unison, and he nods.
"He was an associate of Jones. An unstable personality. Jones wanted me to help him out, but after an assessment, I was certain I could not."
Sam gasps. "Oh, right! That's why you were so certain it was him when Milo pointed him out."
He nods solemnly. "Jones had said that he was angry that Exmoore was the frontrunner to lead the country, not me. But to do something like that..."
He looks horrified, guilty, and Peter lets out a shuddering breath. Instead of mirroring Sage, he honestly looks relieved.
"So you didn't know? You-you didn't! Jones was acting on his own!"
Jody still scowls, her green eyes seeming to bore right through the Colonel. "Yeah, but you didn't tell us, did you? You didn't say that man was a friend of Jones', did you?"
I hear a nearby growl, and I quickly look up, around. I spot it, walking along. It's not running, as if it knows it doesn't have to. "V-Type at our one o'clock."
"Mm, and your two. And your eight." Sam sucks in a sharp breath, and then I hear Nicole curse beside him.
"Shit," She says. "Sam, look. More of them approaching from the south. Have they... have they been hiding?"
"This couldn't be Jones, could it?" Jody asks. "Remember he had some sort of device to attract zombies to Abel? Something he'd stolen from Sigrid and the Edgeware Dragons."
Janine quickly turns to me. "Runner Five, I carry an emergency burn cube. Mr. Lynne cannot be bitten by a zombie in this horde. To create an invulnerable zombie now would be a disaster." She pulls it out of her backpack. It thankfully is in the stabilizing case. "I must ask you to use this burn cube now. Place it in the path of the zombies approaching from the south, then rendezvous with us heading east. The zombies will trample the cube and set it off."
"W-wait," Peter stumbles, and I see his eyes are wide with panic, "what if Callista gets caught in the horde?"
"She knows that is a risk, but we cannot have an invulnerable zombie, Mr. Lynne. You know that."
"Then you have to send someone else!"
Sage's eyes widen at that, and he looks at me with a raised brow, and I sigh, leaning closer to him to murmur so that only he can hear me.
"With recent discoveries, I haven't exactly been able to give him the good news. And I don't think telling him this now would be the best idea since-well, we kind of need to focus."
He nods in understanding, before looking at Peter. "I'm sure Runner Five will be fine."
Peter shakes his head. "No, you don't understand. She's-"
"I'll be okay, Peter," I assure him, and he looks at me like I've lost my mind.
"But you're-"
"Trust me. Please."
He knows I've said those words to him before, and from the look on his face something clicks. I don't think he understands it completely, but he knows that somehow, both conversations we've had today with me asking him to trust me are connected. So he nods, worry still swimming in his blue eyes as he lets me go, watching as I turn and run.
I run as fast as my legs will carry me. I wish I could tell Peter about this now, but all that will do is cause a flurry of questions and confusion that we can't afford to have right now. He really doesn't have to worry about me making an invincible V-Type, but I do have to worry about what will happen to me if I do get bitten.
I don't imagine the death will be pleasant.
So I run, my legs pumping hard, strong. Even with the little amount of rest I got last night, adrenaline and fear keep me moving and breathing. The need to survive and the knowledge of what will come of everyone here if I fail keeps even the thought of being tired from entering my mind.
We can still fix this. We can still stop Jones, and we can hold Sage accountable for withholding information from us. It's still better than him convincing Jones to make pills to slaughter the Exmoore Militia, and I'm glad we were partially wrong in our beliefs about him. We can stop Jones and I can still give Peter his gift. This can go well.
It can work out.
Sam tells me when to stop and take the burn cube out of its protective casing. I do so gently and set it on the ground even more so. If they simply step on it, it will kill them all.
With it in place, I turn and I sprint. I don't want to be anywhere near that thing when it goes off. Just as I think death by V-Type bit would be unpleasant, I think death via burn cube would be more so. Plus I don't think Peter would ever forgive me by dying via burn cube when I threatened to go back for him at the necropolis and keep him from dying that exact same way.
It would seem rather hypocritical of me, I think.
So I keep moving, not daring to look back. The sight of several V-Types in the distance isn't something I should see now, not with the fear that already eats away at my bones. I believe we can stop this, stop the V-Types. I know good ends up winning in the end, because that's how it always goes.
But that doesn't mean I'm not afraid, or that my mind doesn't wander to the "what if's" part of everything. Because it does, more than I'd like it to. I fear what would happen if we failed, if something suddenly-
Pain erupts from the back up my head, white hot and sharp. For a second my vision goes black as a scream of pain echoes in my ears.
"I've worked it out. She's the root of it... The world's better off without her."
My steps falter and my knees nearly buckle. I've heard those words before, multiple times. I recognize Jones' voice now.
Something bad is going to happen.
And as quick as it comes, the pain is gone, and I'm left with nothing but the taste of metal on my tongue and a bloody nose. I don't stop, running as fast as I can to keep away from the V-Types. I bring my hand up to wipe away the blood.
"Alright, love, your pace is good," Sam says. "You're ahead of the V-Types. And they're just about to hit the burn cube you've planted. Bloody hell, we can't have many of those left, can we?"
"Barely a handful," Janine replies. "We used more than twenty, along with napalm to destroy the fruiting body inside the fungus farm. There is a tactical store to the north. I gave one to Runner Five and have one left. The situation is grave."
"The conference is being disbanded," Sage announces. "The Psychoanalyst Enclave is leaving already. No one at Seaside has seen Jones. When the horde is dealt with, we'll find him."
"Uh, yeah. About the horde..." Sam says, and I feel it in my chest. Something's wrong.
"Have they reached the burn cube, Mr. Yao? One of them will stumble over it and set it off, but we should be a safe distance now." Janine raises her hand to signal over to me, and I sprint towards her. Even when I reach her and the others, I don't slow down.
They see it on my face. They know I know something's wrong. They keep pace with me when I reach them and grab onto Peter and pull him along. They send me questioning gazes when I tell them we have to keep moving. Then Sam speaks.
"Yeah. They've uh... yeah, they've reached the burn cube. They're all standing around it, like dozens of zombies standing around it. More every minute."
"Oh God," Jody gasps. "They get cleverer the more of them there are."
"Yeah. One of them is... picking up the burn cube."
"Picking it up?" Peter repeats. "Oh, you mean it's stuck to its hand, like an exploding engagement ring."
"No. I mean it's picked it up. It's running north."
I taste blood on my tongue again. I don't like this. I don't like this at all. Why is the zombie running with a burn cube?!
It hits me like a brick, and my voice comes out surprisingly steady for how terrified I feel and how ragged my breathing has become. "Janine, where did you say that tactical store is?"
Her eyes widen in realization. "To the north. A green steel bin."
"And the group of people in sensible shoes and blunt haircuts opening that green steel bin right now?" Sam asks.
"The Psychoanalysts," Sage whispers in horror.
"The zombies have triggered a chain reaction," He chokes out. "You've got to get away from there, now! South! Run!"
•
I think I feel the explosions more than I hear them. Actually, I know. My ears have been ringing for multiple minutes now, the high-pitched sound so loud and burning in my head to the point that it drowns out the sound of the actual explosions. But I still feel the tremors in the ground, the shaking of my bones. It's so rough it hurts. I keep my mouth shut, my jaw aching from gritting my teeth and my muscles cramping from how tight they've become.
"We've run as far as we can, Sam," Peter says. I can barely make out the words. My ears are still ringing. "We're at the sea. There's nowhere to go."
Searing pain from before returns, starting at the base of my skull and traveling outward to the rest of me. It's white, hot agony, adding to the pain I'm already experiencing.
"You'll be the first to die, and then you'll keep on dyin'... forever!"
I let go of Peter's arm to place my hands against my ears, a pathetic whine leaving my lips. "My head."
Peter mistakes my pain as just pain from the ringing, and he places his hand on my shoulder. "It's alright. Just breathe."
I listen to him, and it helps some. I can hear more clearly after a few moments, but the searing pain only lessens slightly, still sharp and hot and horrid.
"Yeah, the explosions... there's like, a couple miles of forest that isn't there anymore," Sam says, and Jody frowns.
"Was it Jones who summoned the horde?"
Colonel Sage's brows furrow. "One can never be sure of individual response to-"
"To?" Janine interrupts. "Colonel Sage, this is the time to be straightforward with us. Whatever Jones has done, whatever you have done, you must tell us. Those V-Types have an intelligence we have never known possible in a zombie. They deliberately targeted our store of weapons. Was it you who gave the Last Riders these horrible pills? Or do you know how Jones came by them, and who he was working with? We must know what has happened here, and how it might have affected the zombies."
Peter looks at Sage desperately. "You didn't give the Last Riders the pills, did you? It's ridiculous! It was Jones Callista saw, not you."
"It was Jones who acted at Exmoore," Sage says as I lower my hands from my ears. There's blood there now.
"And before?" I ask, trying my best to wipe away the blood before anyone notices. I was lucky to have gotten away with the nosebleed. "The Last Riders. The pills they had at the rave party."
Guilt shines in his eyes. "I never thought they would use them in such a demonic way."
My eyes harden. "You have to tell us now. Just say it."
He sighs heavily. "I offered my people a choice. The way of order or the way of chaos. They had to know what chaos meant. Chaos isn't imaginary. It's real. A force of destruction. If you choose to walk away from order, you're not choosing nothing. You're choosing death. They had to know that was real. I had to show them."
Peter's flinches back. "No."
"The Last Riders began as those who were expelled from our colony. That was their choice. Live by our rules or forfeit our protection. They took me at my word. I did not expect it, but they became chaos. And," Sage sighs again, "after a time, they became useful. An image for my people of what darkness would overcome them if they left us."
Jody frowns. "Yeah, I'm strugglin' to see where 'create accelerated zombie pills' became part of that plan."
"They wanted destruction. I thought if I supplied them with a swift means to end themselves, they would take it. A witness and a warning."
"But instead, they used it to destroy others," Sam finishes. "And then Jones restarted your operation, but this time with V-Type blood because why the hell not? Hasn't that just been the bloody story of this whole thing? We go looking for a way to kill zombies, we end up releasing V-Type fungus. Nanites create super goo. Burn cubes kill our own people!"
"Immortality creates monsters," Peter murmurs, and my gaze snaps to him.
"Peter..."
"I'm sorry, Peter," Sage says. "I've let you down."
I can hear them, the animalistic growls and groans. They're miles off, but there are hundreds of them, loud and demanding and hungry.
"Guys, the V-Type horde is on the move. It's heading towards you," Sam says.
"The horde is large and intelligent," Janine says. "It has targeted our weapons and destroyed our last burn cubes. And if we cannot stop it now, humanity will be at an end."
A/N: Here you go, guys! We're getting closer and closer to the end of this book! I do want to let you know that I have a plan set out for what I'll be doing next (although there possibly be some adjustments because I'm waiting to see how season 9 of Zombies Run goes, and how long the mid season hiatus will be because there is talk about it possibly being longer than normal, but that will be updated as I learn about it). Thank you for sitting tight on this and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please be sure to vote and comment! Thank you and have a blessed day!