"You look like drowned rats. I mean, like rats that were taking a bath and then someone switched the shower on at the same time, and then a tidal wave washed you into the sea. That sort of drowned rat."
"You really know how to make a girl feel pretty, Sam," I say with chattering teeth, the rain and snow mixing together, hitting my skin to the point where it's almost painful.
"Sorry. I can say you look like a pretty drowned rat, if that makes you feel better."
"I'd only feel better if it were true."
"I think it's true."
I don't say anything in reply, and I bite my lip to keep from smiling, and blame my red cheeks on the cold.
"The rain is cleansing, man," Moonchild says, breaking the moment.
"Your lips are blue and Five can't stop shivering. Is this place much further?"
"I thought it was down that lane, but now I'm thinking that was just where I dreamt it was, and it was actually somewhere else."
"Right." He draws out the word uneasy, while I internally groan. "But are you sure this is where you've got your stockpile of meds-the place you were heading for-when Diana caught you? Because-because if it isn't-"
"Is this the right frequency?" A new voice chimes in, snobby and annoying. I blink. I know this voice. "For God's sake, someone help me get ahold of those Abel runners!"
"You're talking to my Abel runners, actually," Sam replies with slight bite in his voice. "Who's this?"
"Sam Yao?" The male voice says. "Is that Abel radio operator Sam Yao?"
"Yes, and you are?"
"Thank God," He mutters under his breath. "I'm told you have an asset very near to New Canton."
"That's Runner Five," Another voice replies-female. "My husband Esteban always used to say... it's Runner Five."
I hear gunshots through my headset, then screams of terror. My eyes go wide and my heart stops in my chest. What's going on in New Canton?
"They've seen us," He says fearfully. "Mr. Yao, divert Runner Five to New Canton's East Gate Four immediately. I repeat, immediately. Have you got that?"
Sam gives out a mock laugh. "I'm not diverting anyone until you tell me who you are."
"This is Bernard Prior, New Canton Permanent Advisory Council. We're under attack."
"Wait, New Canton's under attack?" I ask with a gasp.
"Not New Canton, the P.A.C. There's a gunman in the compound, someone with a grudge. Emergency procedures call for evacuation. It was Runner Thirteen's job to guide us on route to the emergency shelter, but..."
I shudder at the memory of that night with Steffie. It flashes across my eyes-the zombies, the rats, the thunder and lightning. The storm of this day reminds me much of the storm of that one.
Let's just I don't encounter anything like that today.
God, I hope I didn't just jinx myself.
"Yeah, okay," Sam says, letting out a deep breath. "Five, you heard the man. East Gate Four."
"What about me?" Moonchild asks, and I hear more gunshots and screams. My blood runs cold.
"You'll have to go with her. Just, both of you, hurry!"
I pick up the pace, mud and slush splashing up onto my covered ankles and calves, seeping into my already soaked pants and socks. But I do my best to ignore the cold, hoping that I'll eventually go numb entirely. My face already has, as well as my hands and feet. I have to just hope the rest of me will.
I also have to hope I make it to New Canton before this shooter kills all of the P.A.C. members. New Canton is vital to Abel. They're our allies. If they become leaderless, the entire establishment will crumble to the ground soon after.
We can't have that. Not now. Not with the threat of Diana and her mind control looming over us. We need New Canton's help if we stand any chance of stopping her. Because if we can't stop her... then how will they stop me?
Moonchild runs beside me silently. I'm thankful for that. She's been talking about weird hippie stuff almost the entire run to her stash of medicines, which we still haven't found yet because she keeps getting lost.
I try to keep a positive outlook on this, since I know we desperately need these medicines, but it's hard when Moonchild keeps trying to talk to me and sometimes even touch me. She thinks she can grab my hand to lead me places and that I'm perfectly okay with it, when in reality it's the exact opposite.
She tried to grab my wrist about ten minutes ago, and I screeched so loudly I scared Sam and made him fall out of his chair. I yelled at her, a lot.
Because no one can grab my wrist on a run. No one but Simon.
Thankfully after that she stopped trying to get all touchy-feely with me, but she still keeps trying to be friendly in the weirdest ways possible. Hopefully after this mission I won't have to do too much more with her. There's something about her that just makes me feel uncomfortable, and I don't like it.
We reach East Gate Four pretty quickly, and we head in. It's more like a tunnel than the gate in Abel, but I'm okay with that. It shields us from the rain for now, although the ground is still wet.
It isn't water and snow that it's wet with though... It's wet with blood.
There are people at the end of the tunnel. One of them sees us-a man with dark hair that's starting to gray-and he waves one arm at us to beckon us over. I'm sure he'd be waving the other arm as well if he wasn't using it to hold up guns.
"Runner Five, over here!"
"Look at the state of them," Sam says. "That's Bernard, isn't it?"
"Yep," I reply with a neutral tone. The last time I saw him he was yelling at me for bringing the news that Nadia wasn't coming back. That seems like such a long time ago... but really, it hasn't even been three months.
My eyes go wide as Moonchild and I continue over to them, and Sam lets out a small noise through my headset. It's a noise of shock, disgust and fear.
"Look at him. He's got blood and-oh. Oh, God. Are those bits of brain on his jacket?"
My gut twists. It is.
"I just heard. I-I just heard," A young man stammers. I recognize him as well. Ashy blonde hair and violet eyes-that's Jonathan. He punched Summer in the face after I delivered the news about Nadia. She punched him right back. "Did you hear? They shot Justine. That's Justine and Savv and Bobby now. That's nearly half of the bloody council. None of us are going to make it out of here alive."
"Enough, Jonathan," Bernard says with an eye roll. "Runner Five's here and... who are you?"
Moonchild smiles despite the wary look Bernard sends her. "I'm Moonchild."
Jonathan blinks. "Moonchild?"
"There's a civilian shelter down by Dining Hall Four, lass," A woman says, but I don't recognize her. Not her face, anyway. She was the one talking about Esteban. "Just go through those gates and turn left."
Moonchild raises a thick brow. "In there? With the gun wielding maniac? Thanks, but I'll stick with Runner Five."
"Here, take this," Bernard says, handing me an MP5. "You'll be more useful to it than I ever could be. And you, Moonlight, take this pistol."
"Moonchild," She corrects. "And I don't believe in weapons. Make love, not war."
Jonathan rolls his eyes, a grimace on his face. "Do we really have to take this bleeding moron with us?"
As soon as he finishes speaking, more gunshots are fired, and the woman, Ms. Sosa glances around worriedly. "No time for ditherin'. Everyone goes right now."
Neither Bernard nor Jonathan argue. The gunshots are louder, closer, and we don't have time to think of any plan of attack. The rain is too heavy for me to try to shoot the shooter. I can't risk hitting any innocent people who trying to find shelter. We have to just run.
So we do. We run out of New Canton, the rain only getting harder as it mixes with the snowfall. My hair and my clothes are drenched, and the few members that are left of the P.A.C. just as soaked. They're shivering from the cold, as is Moonchild, although she doesn't look as bothered. I guess that whole 'cleansing' thing she was talking about helps her think positive in this and keep warm-like a mind over matter situation, or something.
My worst fear is that they'll end up getting pneumonia from this. I know I can't get sick anymore, but they certainly still can, and I'd hate for any of them to get deathly sick after we escape this gunman. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to Moonchild, even though I don't particularly enjoy her company. I still don't wish any ill will upon her.
We reach the woods, and have to trudge through the mud and snow while trying to avoid tripping over tree roots and bushes, which is hard to do when we can barely see through the rain.
"Sam, do you have any idea where we should go?"
No answer.
I wait a moment before speaking again. "Sam, what's our safest route?"
Nothing.
"Sam?" Moonchild says. "Sam, come on, man. Don't bail on us now."
"We're blocking his signal, Moonshine," Bernard states. "Protocol in this situation calls for total communication blackout. We just need to stop the wrong people from knowing the wrong things."
"Well, that's no bleeding use, is it?" Jonathan snaps. "Who's gonna tell us what to do? Where to go?"
"He's got a point," Ms. Sosa says. "I can't see out in this rain. I can barely see me own nose."
"I know where we're going, the emergency bunker. It's only a mile away. Shouldn't take much time, even in this weather."
I hear a loud moan of the dead through the rain. My eyes dart from one place to another, looking, searching, but I can't see anything.
Where are they? Where are they?
"That's-that's zombies, isn't it?" Jonathan trembles, and Ms. Sosa rolls her eyes.
"Of course it's zombies, you daft son. What else is it gonna be?"
"I don't know. I haven't been outside the compound since New Canton got set up. No one with any sense goes outside." He flinches when I send him a warning side eye. "A-apart from you runners, Five, but that's what we pay you for."
"We don't, in fact, pay them," Bernard says, and I roll my eyes. What would they pay us with anyway? Money doesn't matter anymore. The thing that people said makes the world go round is just paper and and coins now-there is no value in it, no worth.
"Uh, Five, you do know how to use that sub-machine gun, don't you?" Moonchild asks, causing Ms. Sosa to raise a thin brow.
"I thought you were against violence."
"Killing zombies isn't really violence, man. It's just restoring the natural order-balance and harmony in the world."
"They'll be no killing anything until it's absolutely necessary," Bernard scowls as we trudge on. "Ammo isn't limitless, and we need it to last until we get to the emergency bunker."
I wipe the water from my eyes, the cold water on my skin feeling like tiny knives constantly stabbing me. The numbness that's already taken over many parts of my body is actually starting to make its way up my arms as well.
"Right, and where exactly is this emergency bunker?" I ask, my teeth beginning to chatter. I clench my jaw, hard, ignoring the slight ache of my teeth and gums and jaw.
"It's... hang on. I have a compass." He takes said item from his pocket, but after only a second of looking at it, he curses and smacks it against his palm. "Damn it. The bloody thing's waterlogged. Anyway, we just keep following this road."
"What road?" Jonathan snaps. "We're running through sucking mud and slush, in case you haven't noticed, and trees. We're lost in the bloody forest! Who designed this stupid evacuation plan anyway?"
"We did," Ms. Sosa replies with gritted teeth. "We all voted on it."
"Well, then we're bleeding idiots!"
"Am I like, seeing things?" Moonchild asks, and I tense, looking around for danger, readying to fire my gun if necessary. She grabs my arm and points ahead. "On that tree. That pink thing flapping in the wind. Pink and... kind of red."
I squint. She's not seeing things. It looks like a marker of some kind. I don't recognize it, but it might mean shelter is somewhere near here.
"It's nothing. It's just a sheet someone left out," Ms. Sosa says, and Jonathan frowns.
"In the middle of a forest?"
"I think I see the zombies," Bernard says fearfully. "Those shapes staggering towards us from up ahead, and to the left, and from behind."
"There's dozens of them. Hundreds!" She exclaims, and Jonathan's heavy breathing turns to sharp inhales of panic and fear.
"Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God."
Moonchild rubs her temples, face scrunching up as we come to a stop, turning to the right in attempt to get away before we're completely surrounded.
"There's too much negativity. I can't think." She looks around, then her dark eyes meet mine. "Five, aren't these like, dunder woods? My place-the place we were heading for before all this bad karma-it's just north of here. We'll be safe."
"I'm not hiding in a bloody teepee," Jonathan spits, and she shakes her head.
"No, it's like, shelter. It was an old coal cellar, you dig? It's deep, man. Totally secure. All we need to do is head north."
"But which way is north?" I ask. "The compass is broken, and if it's not the way we're going-the only way without zombies, then we're screwed anyway."
"It is this way," Ms. Sosa says. She points at a tree with some moss growing on it. "Moss grows thickest at the north side."
I grimace, but then let out a shaky breath. I don't know whether that's true or just an old wive's tale, but it's a risk we have to take. This is the only path without zombies ahead. We have to go now, or we'll die.
"Come on then," I say. "Hurry."
•
"This hideaway of yours is close, isn't it?" Ms. Sosa asks, her voice barely audible over the pouring rain and chorus of groans from the zoms.
"I think so," Moonchild replies, causing Bernard to scoff.
"You think so? We're surrounded by zoms. There are more zombies than trees!"
"How do you know?" Jonathan asks, rubbing his face in attempt to get the water out of his eyes. "I can't see anything in this bloody rain. Maybe there aren't as many as we think."
"Listen to then. They're everywhere. I can smell them, and they can smell us. They're not going to stop until they've eaten us all! So where's this bloody shelter?"
Moonchild purses her lips. "Mellow out, man. I told you it was out in the woods, but the woods are like, ambiguous. They are the great primal forest. In a sense, they're infinite."
I grit my teeth, my eyes narrowing angrily. "That's not an answer."
"There's zombies in front of us!" Jonathan suddenly screeches, pointing ahead. "Hundreds of them!"
We all screech to a stop, and every curse word I know flies through my head. I can barely think with the rain, growls, and the fearful mutterings of those around me.
I don't die here. I don't die today.
"Runner Five, the machine gun," Bernard says. "You have to clear a path."
I look down at the gun in my hands, then I aim at what I can barely see. My mind buzzes with chaos and a prayer, and I fire.
Not one zombie falls.
"You missed them! You idiot!" Jonathan yells. "How can you miss them? There's less than twenty feet away!"
"She didn't miss!" Bernard yells. "There's something wrong with the weapon."
I try to shoot at the zoms again, and I hear the bullets firing. The gun isn't jammed...
It's firing blanks.
"Shit!" I curse, and explain what I know. Jonathan looks at Bernard in confusion.
"Why the hell did you load the gun with blanks?"
"I didn't. Someone must've swapped the ammo."
"Probably the same lunatic who tried to kill you all." I let out a grunt of frustration, then shove the gun into Bernard's hands. "Here. Take this. It's useless to us right now."
I grab my axe, looking around to see if there's still a chance. And I see it. We've run just far enough that, if we're quick, we can make it through a small path that isn't crawling with zombies.
The only problem is, it's not to the north, meaning we'll be heading away from Moonchild's shelter.
"We have to go this way. It's the only chance we have of surviving this."
"Jesus, what's that? Through the tress?" Jonathan steps back behind me, eyes wide and afraid. "It was-it was... it had no skin."
He takes another step back, and Ms. Sosa reaches out to him. "Be careful!"
He screams as he loses his balance and falls, sliding down a muddy cliff.
"Jonathan!" I yell, panic hitting me like a brick wall.
This just went from bad to worse.
"I can see him at the bottom," Ms. Sosa says. "We have to go after him."
"We have to find shelter," Bernard argues, and I stare at him in shock. Is he seriously suggesting we leave him?
"There's a path that winds down to the bottom of the bank almost in the right direction. Come on."
I follow her without question. I don't know Jonathan, and the two times we've spoken, this one included, he's called me an idiot. But still, I don't want to just leave him to the zombies! What type of person would that make me? To want to leave someone to die helplessly?
So we make our way down the muddy path, trying not to lose our footing like Jonathan did. The rain beats against us, and by now all of my limbs have gone numb, and I can't feel my face or neck. I wonder how long it will be before I can't feel anything at all...
My breathing is heavy, and my heart pounds in my chest. I tighten my grip on my axe. We have to keep going. We have to keep running.
Stay alive. Don't get bitten. Stay okay. Stay alive...
The mantra repeats its itself over and over and over again in my head, even as my lips feel like they've turned to ice, and as I look down and see the tips of my fingers starting to turn blue. It rings on as my vision starts to blur, and the exhaustion of it all starts to pull at me, telling me to rest because I'm so, so tired, and cold, and wet.
Stay alive. Don't get bitten. Stay okay. Stay alive. Stay alive. Stay alive.
I can see zombies through the trees. I can see their blurred, dark figures trying to get closer and closer to us. There's something wrong with them, more than usual. It looks like... like they're all bleeding-all of them, everywhere.
"How-how far behind are they?" Bernard asks breathlessly.
"They're close," Ms. Sosa replies, "and they're... Jonathan was right. They've been skinned."
My stomach lurches. Oh, God.
"Some mad sod skinned whole bunch of zombies. They're bleedin' everywhere. They won't even need to bite us. If they're close enough, if that blood gets on us..."
We could turn in seconds, depending on if the virus has mutated, which is only if they've been a zombie four or more years... We don't know if they have, but there's no need to take chances.
"It was the cult," Moonchild speaks up. "You remember, Five. I mean, it's not like, easy to forget, is it? They skinned them while they were still alive."
"Jesus," Bernard breathes out, and Ms. Sosa shakes her head frantically.
"I can't die here. I won't." She looks at me. "You knew my husband, didn't ya, Five? You knew my Esteban. You were there when... I heard you were the one who-who finished him off, put him out of his misery."
"Don't talk about that now, Ilene. It won't help."
"It does help. Esteban's gone and I won't leave my babies without anyone. They need their mum. They can't be orphans, not in this world. I don't care how many zoms there are; I don't care if they're skinless. I'm getting out of this alive." She looks ahead. "I can see Jonathan down there. Let's get a shift on."
We head down the path, and Jonathan spots us. He's lying in the mud, his arms pushing him up a bit, but there's something wrong with his left leg. It's bent at an odd angle, and I think I can see bone poking through the skin. The rain is the only thing keeping the zoms from smelling the blood. They would have already been on him otherwise.
"Over here!" He tells fearfully. "Oh, God. Please help me! I think I've broken my leg."
"You have," Ms. Sosa, Ilene, says once we reach him. "You need to stay still. Don't want to make it worse."
"We can't stay still," Bernard spats. "The zoms are less than a minute behind us. We need to run."
"I can't bloody run. I can't even stand," Jonathan replies.
"It's alright," Ilene says as she grabs his arm. "We'll help ya. Five, take his other arm, and up you get."
He cries out as we pull him up. "It hurts! Oh, God, it hurts!"
Pity strikes at my heart as we help him limp forward, just a bit. But I can see the edge of the forest. It's just a little bit further.
"It's alright," I say, trying to be as comforting as possible. "We're almost there. Just one foot in front of the other. You can do it."
"He's too slow," Bernard panics. "We need to leave him."
I glare at him. "We're are not leaving him!"
Jonathan shakes his head. "No, please don't."
"We'll die out here if we try to help him."
"Then you all go. I'll carry him and catch up." I pick him up as best I can, my blood pounding in my ears. I'm sure the only reason I can hold Jonathan right now is because of the adrenaline rush that's going through my body.
"Runner Five, we need you to stay alive! You'll die trying to get him to shelter."
"Then at least I'll die trying to save him! Now go!"
I take a step forward, then another, then another. I'm not up to running speed, but I can do a slight jog. The others don't leave me and Jonathan like I told them to. Moonchild simply puts her hand on my shoulder, then on Jonathan's.
"Listen, man. I know it's heavy, but it's like, your time. Fate doesn't want you to make it out of this one."
"Moonchild!" I scold, glaring at her.
She ignores me. "But like, you can pick up some really amazing karma before you go, something to go on the right side of the scale when it gets weighed up on the other side."
"I don't believe in karma. I believe in God," Jonathan replies.
"Then He'll reward you for giving up your life for others. Ilene and Runner Five are both mothers. That's like, holy, you know? Their children need them. They need them more than you do."
I keep pushing forward, trying to get away from Moonchild, to stop her from talking to him like this. I don't want to lose a life if I can save him.
"I know it sounds crazy, but you can be happy right now. It's not about what's going on; It's about what's going on with you."
"I don't-I don't want to die," He stammers.
"You're not going to die," I reply. "None of us are going to die."
"You can feel okay about this, man. This is a good way to go," Moonchild continues, and I grit my teeth. "We're all going to die someday, and this is a good death. Look at me." She meets his eyes and smiles. "Do you see? This is how your story ends. It's a good end."
"Stop that right now," I growl. "I am not leaving him to-"
"She's right," Jonathan mutters, and I look at him in my arms, eyes wide.
"What?"
"She's... Yeah. She's right. Oh, God." He forces out a laugh, and his violet eyes focus on my face. "I just-thank you, Five... and you too, Ilene. Thanks for trying."
He shifts in my arms until I set him down. I try to hold onto his arm, but he pulls away, just barely able to stand up. Moonchild grabs my hand and starts pulling me away from him.
"Jonathan, no! Don't!"
"Alright, you bastards, I hope you choke on me!"
Then they're on him, growling and grabbing and biting. He screams and screams as the rain and groans drown out my own.
"No!" My heart clenches, my stomach twists, and guilt hits me like a crashing wave.
"Come on!" Bernard yells as Moonchild keeps pulling at me. "Don't waste the chance he's given us."
•
"Praise Gaia," She sighs. "We're here."
"But it's a shack," Bernard says as we approach it. "There are hundreds of zoms behind us. They'll tear it down in seconds."
"It just looks like a shack. Come in." She opens the door. It looks just like a regular shack would. "Just trust me."
I sneer at her. Any trust she might have had from me died the moment she started talking to Jonathan like that.
Now he's dead because of her.
She goes inside and we follow, shutting the door. She pulls back a rug, revealing a trap door. It creaks when she opens it. "It's a coal cellar, you dig? Goes down twenty feet. Still has coal left in it too. We'll get a toasty fire going."
Ilene heads down after Moonchild and then Bernard after her. I go down last, shutting the door. It's dark, but a fire is soon lit, and an odd noise fills the room.
"What the hell is that?" Bernard asks.
"Whale song," Moonchild replies. "It'll help us re-energize our chakras."
A low beat suddenly joins in, and Ilene raises a brow. "Didn't know whales played the drums."
"It's a tribal remix. Here." She hands us all cups. "Drink this. It's ginseng tea."
"What's this going to do? Colorize our auras?" Bernard asks sarcastically, still taking the tea.
"No, it'll warm you up."
"Oh. Uh... thanks."
Moonchild looks at me, and the cup of tea I have yet to drink. My hands are shaking. "Runner Five, are you alright?"
"I could've saved him," I mutter.
"What?" She blinks, as if she's innocent, as if she didn't just see a man die a painfully gruesome death.
I snap.
"I could've saved him if you had just kept your stupid mouth shut! Now Jonathan is dead when he could be in here with us! He's dead because of you!"
"Five, I know you feel upset, but you've got to understand, it was his time. Just drink some tea-"
"I don't want your stupid tea!" I throw it at her head. She ducks, avoiding it as the stainless steel cup hits the wall, tea flying everywhere. "Jonathan is dead and it's your fault! His blood is on your hands! How-how do you not feel bad about this? How can you act as if nothing is wrong?"
She stays calm as she fixes me another cup of tea. "Because I know he's here in spirit. And you can't save everyone, Five. I know you want to, but sometimes you can't, and it's okay."
She hands me the cup, and looks at me expectantly. I stare at her for a long moment, still confused, still angry, still hurting because someone died and I could've saved him. He wasn't kind to me, but that doesn't mean he deserved to die.
I angrily take a sip of tea, and grimace at the taste. I don't like it, but I drink it anyway, even as it burns my frigid lips and my fingers that are stiff from the cold.
"We need to know what's going on in New Canton, if they've caught the gun wielding lunatic," Bernard says, and I fiddle with my headset, hoping maybe he stopped using the signal blocker so I can talk to Sam again. I'd rather speak to him than Moonchild, who's watching me intently. Thankfully her gaze shifts to Bernard.
"Don't harsh your mellow, man. Just chill out. Have some more ginseng tea. Stay the night. Tomorrow's like, another day."
Ilene sighs and sips on her tea. "Let's hope it's a better one."
A/N: Here you go, everyone! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. This chapter is dedicated to jettmanas
Be sure to vote and comment! Thank you and have a blessed day!