I hand the boy-my friend... Chrys's friend-Tony another bottle of water from my backpack, and he's quick to open it and guzzle it down.
"Yes, that's it," Kefilwe says. "He's probably suffering from dehydration."
Paula rolls her eyes. "Yes, I am a qualified doctor too, you know. Residence at Cedar Sini. I know how to treat dehydration."
"Okay," She replies curtly. I don't blame her for using that little bit of bite in her tone. Seems she can't say a word without Sam or Paula smarting off about it. I mean, I care for them both deeply but... Kefilwe's my friend too.
"Can you talk now?" She asks.
Tony sets down the bottle of water, his eyes darting to me for a moment. He hasn't let go of my arm since I caught him about two hours ago. The poor kid looked terrified, but I'm still worried about what he said when we made our first encounter.
"I saw you die."
"I... yeah. I'm feelin' a bit-you came here a proper turn there." Tony glances at me, his eyes studying my face, my jacket. "I saw that 'five' on your jumper... My friend in London, Chrysalis, she looked exactly like you besides the-the eyes."
"We need to get out of here," Paula says, handing him her spare headset. "Here, if you listen into this, you'll hear our operator back at base. If you can stand, do so."
He nods and slips the headset on. "My friend, Chrys, died. That's the thing-"
"Wait... Chrysalis is dead?" I stammer out, my heart sinking.
Of course that's what he meant when he said that. How did I not understand it then?
He nods grimly. "Brought a building down just so they'd think the biggest hero in London was buried under it with the most important box in London."
My brows furrow in confusion. "She wasn't shot?"
"No, but there were a lot of times she came close to bein' so. The adventures we went on." A smile appears on and his grip on my arm tightens a bit. Summer simply sends us both a raised brow, but I ignore it. Another thought's on my mind right now.
Chrysalis made it out that in that last dream... She made it out then, but she didn't make it out.
"Sam, any chance of a way out?" Paula questions.
"Yeah, we've uh-got a sort of a problem, actually."
"New Canton is saying they have no free runners," Janine states quickly. "They're helping their people at the dam. Three were injured in the explosion."
Summer grimaces. "So, what're we going to do?"
"Oh," Sam mumbles, "Abel's new commander, Amelia Spens, she's arrived. Well, kind of. Her helicopter landed not far from your position. Well, I say landed. It's a bit more crashy than that."
I tense.
"Mechanical failure, not rocket launcher," He continues quickly. "Just in case you're having any flashbacks, Five. Sounds like she's not in any immediate danger, unlike you. There are still zoms around the door to that lab."
Tony perks up in interest. "Trouble with zoms?"
Paula nods. "We're a bit stuck here is the thing. Zombies at the entrance."
"Yeah," Summer says, "and the chair I put up against the door isn't gonna last much longer."
A sly grin crosses over Tony's face. "That ain't no problem. Look at this." He lets go of my arm to pull something out his pocket. It's a box. Three little black boxes all connected.
Oh, my God.
"Got it off Chrys when we were in London. Tell you what, there are a lot of people who killed a lot of people to get this thing." He flips a small switch and stands up, taking a moment to get his balance back before walking towards the exit. "Just wait 'til you see what this thing does to zoms."
Summer and Paula both share a skeptical look, but I follow him without question. When he reaches the door, he removes the chair that looks like it's been used for most of its worth. The two behind me stay back when he reaches for the doorknob, and they gape when he opens the door, revealing no zoms are there at the ledge. And they aren't currently climbing down either; They jumped off the ledge.
We slowly start climbing down after them, and I keep my gaze up. My hands are already shaking now that I'm not in immediate danger, and I realize just how high up I am. No adrenaline is fueling the climb this time. Now it's just fear and ice in my body, and the darkness that surrounds me isn't helping.
"To the left, Five," Paula says.
"T-thanks," I stutter quietly, following her instructions in where to put my foot.
"Scared of heights, are ya?" Tony questions, and I let out a small whine-like noise as I mentally remind myself to not look down.
"Not exactly the height itself," I say around the lump in my throughly. "It's-it's more about the falling and the sudden stop when you reach the bottom."
He chuckles at that, but I'm nearly as pale as he is. My foot blindly searches for a place to step, and I cautiously place it on one of the rocks when I feel it. It's funny almost, seeing how afraid I am of this and yet I've lived through so much crap that, while it probably should have, did not scar me for life.
But thankfully, finally, we reach the ground, and we'll have to take the longer path to get to higher ground since I'm not willing to risk climbing again.
And that's if we could get up to the top by climbing. After that door, the canyon's walls are a lot smoother, which would increase our chances of slipping and falling to our deaths. Which is something I'm definitely a fan of doing.
Please note the sarcasm.
At least the zombies aren't a problem. They're running away from us. Well, this is about as close as you can consider running for them since that jump broke most of their bones, slowing them down considerably even if they don't feel pain.
Paula's eyes are wide with awe. "That is incredible."
"I have never seen anything like that in my life," Sam laughs. "The zombies-they-they're running away from you."
Tony grins. "Good, innit? Got this little baby, and no zoms come near me. Kept me safe all the way from London."
"They'll not come within twenty feet," Kefilwe says, a smile in her voice. "It is astonishing."
"Yeah. Yeah, we said that already," Sam replies dismissively, and I frown. "So, yeah, with that thing, I think you might be able to rescue our new base commander from a tree. Just keep heading the way you're going."
"Where does it come from?" Summer asks, eyeing the box in suspicion and curiosity.
"Oh, man," He laughs, "that is a story. Canton Five-uh, Chrys-told me it came from the vault-like, in the Comansys Technology Building in London. Bunch of people in London were working to get in there because they heard there was something good in there, but they got double crossed by this woman, Diana, right?"
Paula's eyes go wide. "Diana Dunkon Pettly? Business strategist for Comansys?"
"Dunno, mate. Anyway, this Diana double crossed 'em. Chrys had to go on the run, needed to get out of London, see? I helped. We got through the corridor together. But then, they just didn't stop comin'." A small smile crosses over his face. "Man, she was brave. Hey, let's cut through that old railroad tunnel. Feels like old times. Me and Chrys had most of our best times in train tunnels. The stories I could tell you."
There's a certain gleam in his eyes as he says that, and I feel my heart sink when he looks at me with an innocent smile and shining eyes. I don't say anything. I just nod and shine my flashlight into the tunnels as we enter them. It's not much darker than outside, really.
But then I turn my gaze ahead, making sure I keep an eye out for anything that might be hiding in here. Tony starts saying something about Chrys-a story about one of their adventures together. I'm... sad she died. Her death was my fault because I chose to search for Caleb instead of trying to get Janine to let me go to London and help her and Tony.
Her blood is on my hands, and I know she'll haunt me just like everyone else does. That's how it always happens.
And I feel bad for Tony, seeing as he lost his friend. I feel bad because I know when he looks at me, he sees Chrysalis.
But I'm not Chrysalis, even though I look like her, and I hope Tony actually knows that. Because right now, I'm not completely sure he does, not really. I saw that look he gave me. You don't give that look to a stranger. You give that look to someone you really, really care about.
I believe this is worse than when I met Jaime, because at least he knew I wasn't Cameron. That's why he disliked me so much. Tony probably knows that I'm not her... but I can tell he wants to believe I am, in a way.
I guess he could be right, seeing I was her a few times. But I'm not her now. I'm me, and now that she's dead I might never be her again, which I won't complain about, seeing as I don't want to dream of myself being someone who's already dead.
"And then we filled the whole of subregion with with sewage!" Tony exclaims. "Shame really. I liked posh, jubilee pine stations. Calm like-peaceful. Credit where it's due though. Chrys was a quick thinker. When all the shenanigans was over, when they still kept comin', when we could see it was hopeless, she knew what to do. Said the only way they'd let anyone out of London was if they thought they knew where this little box was. So she gave me the box, right? But rigged up something that looked like it. We lured Diana to the multi-story car park. Do you know it?"
"Well, actually, yeah," Sam answers. "It's massive, right?
"Yeah. We hooked up explosives to all the pillars. Ah, Chrys really knew about that stuff, man. Amazing, like-like 'Die Hard'. Anyway, we made sure Diana saw her holdin' the thing, then we brought the building down."
"And Chrysalis?" Summer asks, and a grim look passed over his face.
"Buried under ten tons of rubble, mate. But Diana and her people are still diggin' for that box down there. They'll be there for months, maybe years. Chrys told me to head north, then east-that I'd find people with the same uniform she always wore. I was supposed to tell them what I'd seen in London. She told me about you too, Runner Five. Said you might understand some of this, and maybe speak to someone else... I can't remember the name though.
"She said what I'd seen was the most important. I don't know though. If you can make a million of these, that must be important, right?"
"Depends on what you've seen in London," Paula replies.
"Guys," Sam cuts in, "slightly bad news, in that you seem to be herding the zoms ahead of you towards the tree where our new leader is uh, sitting. Maybe adjust your course so-yeah, that'll do it. Just pick up the pace for a few minutes."
•
"So, yeah, like thousands of 'em. Hundreds of thousands. Hundreds of millions!" Tony pauses. "No, maybe not that many, but loads. London's full of those weirdly mind controlled people. They all march at the same time, like-like this." He stiffens his posture and steps to a quick beat. "I am a robot. I do what I'm told."
Paula cringes. "Yes, we've-we've lost some people like that ourselves."
"I know, mate. It's bad when it happens like that. I had these friends in London. Went off to get water, right? Never came back. Next thing I see 'em marchin' along. Left. Right. Left. Right."
Pain flashes across her eyes. "I hate to think of London like that-all the places I grew up."
"You're from London?"
She nods. "Bellside Park."
He lets out a low whistle. "Man, that is a nice station. All them old tiles are lovely. London always was nice like that. Robot people won't keep her down. They had a bunch of people like that in the canal, did I say? Left. Right. Left. Right."
My eyes widen, and my lips part in surprise. "Did you get a good look at them? Hear any names?"
"How did you even end up in there?" Sam asks, and Tony grits his teeth his teeth in annoyance at the memory.
"Bleedin' Diana again."
"Diana? Here?" He asks. "I thought you said she was in London."
"Yeah, that's what I thought, but she obviously had some major problems with them people in the canal. I've been hidin' out in the woods for a few days, thought I must be gettin' close to where Chrys told me to come because I saw a couple of them people in uniform afar off. Almost said hello to 'em before I saw 'em doin' the ole left. Right. Left. Right. Ya know?"
"Yeah, well New Canton lost people as well. Ministry of Recovery say people've been taken from all over."
"I didn't see what was goin' on-not properly 'til someone shut down the dam and the water drained away. Really weird." He shrugs. "Suppose I got too close because I was interested, ya know? All drained away like someone pulled out the plug. Not that you could actually pull the plug here."
"We know someone rigged the dam to blow if it was tampered with," Paula says.
"Yeah, that's not the half of it. They was terrified. Shippin' out there people in jeeps, leadin' frozen people into like, weird coffin things in the backs of lorries."
Her brows furrow together. "What do you mean 'frozen'?"
"You know, like in the movies."
"Right, but did you-"
"Not all of 'em were frozen, obviously. There was some scientist goin' 'She's coming! She's coming!' Thought I'd just nip in, take a look around before Trya Banks or whatever scary woman it was turned up. By the time I saw who was comin', it was too late. Diana took the place apart, looking for anything about where they'd gone. I hid in the fridge. Didn't think to look for me there."
"And did you see their faces? Any of the people at all? Was there any way of knowing who was who? Did anyone mention Max-"
"Just a sec. Look at those zombies." He points ahead. "Bet I could get 'em to fall off that bridge. Wanna bet?"
"Tony, please." I place a hand on his arm, and he flinches. His eyes going wide as he looks down at my hand, and then my face which holds the look of desperation. "One of my best friends is missing. I need to know if he's there."
He sighs. "They gave off a bunch of names. I can't remember 'em all, but I do know one guy said they might have to take someone out of the freezer thing early because they found some meds in his pocket. Heart meds or somethin'. Said they'd have to hold him down, but he couldn't be in there too long since it might kill 'em. Made a pretty big fuss about it."
My eyes widen. It might actually be him.
"Did you see what he looked like?"
He shakes his head. "Sorry, Five... Now let's get those zombies."
He takes off before we can say anything more, and my chest tightens. What if it's him? Caleb did... does-he does have a heart problem, even if he won't tell me what it is, and he usually has medication on him. What if it's him?
But what if it isn't? There are other people in this world who have to take medication for cardiovascular issues. What if he's not there?
"Keep up hope, Five," Summer says as if reading my mind. "There's a chance it could be him."
I sigh. "Yeah. There's a chance."
I pick up the pace to catch up with Tony, and Summer and Paula do the same. He's giggling like a child as the zombies all run away almost fearfully. I would think they were scared if I didn't know that they can't feel any emotions.
"Don't like it so much now, do ya?" Tony taunts as most of the zoms tumble off the bridge, doing everything they can to get away from Tony and his little box. "Don't like bein' chased, do ya?"
"That is really satisfying," Summer says with a grin.
"You said you heard names being read off," Paula says. "If I told you her name, do you think you could remember it?"
He shrugs. "I dunno. They were bein' read out by some scientists blokes as they were loadin' people up."
She pulls out a photo from her pocket and hands it to him. "Here. This is a picture of her. This is Maxine."
He hums and presses his lips together in concentration. "I-I don't know. I saw a lot of the faces, but not all of 'em. I'm not sure."
"Meyers." There's desperation in her voice. "Maxine Meyers."
"Dr. Meyers?" He gasps. "Why didn't you say so?"
"What?"
"They didn't mention anyone else, not besides that one kid with the heart problems. Said she was high security cargo. I don't know what was goin' on. Said somethin' about needed to make sure."
He tries to speak more on it, but his attention is drawn away from the conversation when the device in his hand stops making the soft buzzing noise it's been making this whole time. Instead it makes... like the low noise that machines make as they power down.
Summer's brows rise up in confusion, and a small noise of fear comes from Sam.
"That doesn't sound good."
"No, we're fine, mate," Tony says quickly. "Sometimes goes wonky: It goes right back."
Paula nods in agreement. "It's fine, Sam. Just tell me what they said about Maxine. Tell me everything."
"No, listen," He cuts in again. "The zoms are slowing down. Some of them are turning back towards you."
"I see it," I say, grabbing my axe that I have yet to use since we came out here tonight. It's getting earlier in the day, which isn't surprising because that is how time works after all, and the sun is starting to rise. I'm thankful for that, since I need both hands to swing my axe accurately. Using one is something I only do when absolutely necessary.
"It's alright," Tony tries to assure. "Just gotta hold it steady."
"Well, hold it steady and run."
One of the zombies starts to head back toward us, and I tighten the grip on my axe defensively, sprinting forward to take it down as well as the other four that are beginning to turn back to us now. That's all that's left since Tony managed to get the others to fall off a bridge. There is a group of twelve or so way ahead of us, but I doubt they'll be turning back because they can't see us from here and none of us are bleeding, so they can't smell us either.
I raise my axe up, ready to bring it down on the zombie heading towards me...
Then Tony's little box starts up again, and the zom turns and flees from me, just managing to avoid the fatal blow.
"There you go. Told you it would work."
"Lucky you. Good thing Five always has something to use as a back up plan," Sam says, and I almost laugh, considering how many times I've been run into a corner by enemies. "And uh, guys, I've got an urgent caller on line two."
"Sam, Tony's seen Max," Paula says, her eyes wide.
"I get it, but seriously, not now. I've managed to cross feed Spens's radio to yours. Runner Five, Paula, Summer, and Tony, I guess, meet the new boss."
"Is this thing on?" A new voice chimes in. "How does it-"
"Miss Spens, your rescue team is on the air."
There are the sounds of keys typing, and a small huff. "Good. Fantastic. So how long until you get here, um, Runner Five, was it? And Runner Seventeen and Runner... oh, gosh. Let's see... Runner Twenty-three? No, that can't be right. They weren't that high. I'll have to fix the spread sheet."
There's a loud roar from a zombie, but there's none near us. None that aren't running away, of course, meaning it's coming from Amelia's location.
"Maybe later," She says. "Look, I hate to be a pain. Quick situation update so we're all on the same page. Helicopter crashed, as you know. It-it's basically stuck in a tree, zoms below, sort of gathering. Crew's dead; All alone."
"So what you're saying is hurry up?" Tony questions.
"That would be the preferred course of action, yes," She answers, typing some more. "And you are..."
"We're comin' after you. From what I've heard Five, it seems like a chopper crash is your specialty."
I scowl at him. "Saying stuff like that's how you get punched... Looks like we're gonna be putting that to good use, huh?"
He nods, looking slightly worried. "That we are."
A/N: Here you are, guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please be sure to vote and comment. Thank you and have a blessed day!