"Okay! Ready to uh, rumble?" Sam asks, pausing as I laugh. The sound is airy and light, almost strong enough to break through the tenseness that's consumed me these past few days. "How do you know if you're ready to rumble?"
"Are you asking if I'm hungry?" Veronica questions, and Janine rolls her eyes as we continue our brisk jog.
"Can we please proceed, Mr. Yao?"
"Okay, okay. So our not-at-all sinister Ministry friends say they've had a report." He cracks up in laughter. "Oh, this is excellent. They've had report of zombies skateboarding."
Janine frowns. "That seems unlikely."
"I doubt they actually mean skateboarding," Veronica says. "But perhaps I can get more data points on what's causing these anomalies. That's integral to my work on a cure."
"Awesome. I'm all about that cure," Sam says, and I feel the smallest of smiles make its way into my face. "Also the Ministry is sending some help. He'll meet you on route."
Janine's face pinches. "Oh, please not the Builder."
Veronica seems equally distressed. "It won't be him, will it? He's working for New Canton now, head of security!"
"Glad to know I'm not the only one who doesn't exactly like him," I mutter, and Janine nods.
"His type only work for themselves. Military consultants, security contractors-they wash up in a war zone and see which way the wind is blowing. The last thing we need is to spend the afternoon with him-"
"Hey, Miss De Luca."
We all slow our pace, turning our heads at the sound of a new voice. Steve sends us a smile that's almost too charming. He gives a nod to Janine, then to Veronica, and finally to me. Veronica just lets out an exasperated sigh. I have to resist the urge to do the same.
"Oh, Steve, you're here. Yay!"
I can't find it in myself to actually put in any effort in my words. Still though, Steve smiles at me. I get the feeling it's not genuine.
"Five, good to see you're actually talking again. I heard you had a lovely voice."
"Um, thanks, I guess. We should probably pick up the pace. The faster we find those zombies, the better."
That sentence I do actually put some effort in, because it's true. If we can observe these zombies, and Veronica can run tests, then we can find out more about how their brain works, and why they are somehow still sentient. I haven't heard much on what Veronica's found out on the ones she's been experimenting on, but it's been barely a week since we rescued her. I mean, the fact that we've gotten another report this quickly is mind blowing. Because, well, when's the last time Abel had good luck?
Our pace is mostly leisurely. It's nice to not be racing against time, or pushing ourselves to the absolute limit. It puts on a lot of stress, stress that I honestly don't need at the moment.
But as we run, I find myself thinking about just why we're doing this. I think about it even as I find a few random objects here and there, like I used to. I keep in mind to add the mini wallet to my collection, but it only stops my main thought process for but a moment.
This research for a cure... it almost seems unreal. I mean, for years we were told a cure was impossible, that nothing could stop this virus, but now there might be a chance for us to make one. It's hard to believe, after everyone we've lost. How many people could we have saved if we'd have known there was a chance for a cure sooner? How many people could we have helped if we knew about plasmapheresis treatments?
It sad to think so many died not knowing.
Everyone else silently comes to a stop, and I do the same, watching an old bus shelter from afar.
"Is this where they were seen?" I ask. "The uh, skateboarding zombies?"
"Yes," Veronica says quietly, not bothering to look at me.
"So we're just going to wait here?"
"Are they there?" Sam arms excitedly. "Are there actually skateboarding zombies? I thought I saw someone, but then the camera switched off."
"Sam, love, I think they're zombies with skateboards," Steve corrects.
"Shush! Look!" Veronica says, and I see figures stumble out from around the side of the bus shelter.
"Are they skateboarding?"
"This is unprecedented!"
"They are, aren't they? They're freaking skateboarding zombies!"
"No, silly, they're just carrying them," I correct, watching them with interest. Usually a zombie having ahold of something wouldn't spark such wonder, but that's because all the zombies we have seen carrying stuff were under control tones. These zombies are not. They're carrying those skateboards because they... I guess because they want to.
"They look like two-"
"Like two teenage kids mooching at a bus shelter," Steve interrupts, and Janine gives him a sharp look.
"This is amazing! I need to note this," Veronica exclaims, not trying to hide her excitement. She pulls out a recorder. "Two S-types, one XX, the other XY. I estimate age at death to be fifteen to eighteen years, and-goodness! The female just got on her skateboard!"
"Wait, what?" Sam gasps, and I watch with wide eyes as the zombie boy drops his skateboard on the ground, placing his foot on it, copying the zombie girl.
They both slowly push themselves forward, wobbling, but staying on the board. It's like watch a child learning how to skate. The moves are not great, but they're managing, and they're going slow enough that we can follow them.
That is, until they reach the hill, which they start to descend.
Veronica gasps. "No, we can't lose them!"
She sprints off before any of us can say a word, and we find ourselves dashing after her. One of the things I have learned about Veronica is she is very impulsive when it comes to her research. I think that's one of the reasons Milo likes her so much. They have that in common. When it comes to things they're passionate about, they'll do reckless and even dangerous things in order to get what they need.
Milo gets it from me. I didn't know Chris McShell well enough to know if Veronica got it from him.
But still we follow the zombies, who are having trouble staying on their boards as they reach the bottom of the hill. They pay us no mind and continue shuffling on the boards, going at a leisurely pace. I don't know exactly what I'm supposed to think of this. It's insane but also so fascinating. It's odd that it's even possible.
I say nothing as I watch the zoms shuffle onward, and I can't help but wonder where they could possibly be heading. With the fact that they retain some memory of how to skateboard, could they be going somewhere that they remember when they were alive?
I find my answer a few minutes later when we arrive to a concrete slab filled with ramps and metal bar rails that are becoming slightly rusted.
"Is this a skatepark?" I ask.
"Skatepark?" Sam repeats. "Ugh, I can't see. Something keeps switching off my cameras. Are they doing tricks?"
"No. They just keep on shuffling around on their boards." I shrug. "Not that I could do any better."
"It's still unprecedented," Veronica says. "It's the equivalent of tool use."
"Right." Sam mumbles a curse. "Camera, bloody stay on! Oh. There we go. Oh... They're not very good at skateboarding, are they?"
"They're actually amazing at skateboarding, given that their inner ears are probably partially rotted away."
He shudders. "What amazing mental images you give me, Veronica. Uh, what's that the girl's got?"
Veronica squints, leaning forward just slightly as the zom pulls something out of her bag. "The female appears to have some kind of spherical device."
"Uh, that's not a weapon, is it?"
"It's a ball," Janine deadpans. "A tennis ball."
I tilt my head to the side, watching as the girl zombie rears her hand back and throws the ball at the boy zombie. He catches it, then throws the ball back to her.
"Holy skateboarding zombies!" Sam laughs. "Are they playing catch?"
Veronica laughs as well, her eyes alight with joy. "This is astonishing!"
"Do you think maybe they were boyfriend and girlfriend when they were alive?" Steve asks, but Janine shakes her head.
"They're brother and sister."
I pause, thinking on it for a moment, before nodding. "You're right."
"How do you know?" Sam asks.
"This is a game children play. They grew up together." I sigh. "My sister and I played catch all the time before the apocalypse."
Sam doesn't respond. I don't think he knows how to.
"I'd love to know if other members of the same family were exhibiting the same behaviors," Veronica says with wonder.
"Well, we can wait into their mum calls them for tea," Steve laughs.
"That might even work. These types of sentient zombies parrot their real-life behavior. Maybe they would go home for tea."
"Except the tea is human flesh," Sam says. "Uh, what's the girl doing?"
"Leaving, apparently," I say as I watch the girl zombie starts to walk off, leaving her skateboard behind.
"We can't lose her," Veronica says, looking torn between staying with the boy or following the girl.
Janine nods at me and Steve. "Builder, Five, you follow her. We'll stay here and watch the male."
He nods. "Yes, ma'am. Come on, Five. We can't let her get out of our sight."
I send Janine a look for sticking me with Steve, but follow. The girl isn't fast, especially now that she's not on her skateboard, but I understand why Veronica wants us to follow her. This right here, while it seems utterly insane, is true. There are actually skateboarding zombies! This means that somehow their brains retained memory from their lives, which all in all is amazing!
There's a lot of things I'm beginning to realize I don't know, especially when it comes to this apocalypse. Hopefully though, with what we're steadily learning, we'll find a way to end this once and for all. I've dreamt of having a zombie free life for so long I almost forget that for over half my life I had one. I never realized just how much I had before I lost it. I'd heard that stupid saying many times, and yet, I still didn't realize what I had until it was gone.
We continue following the zombie, and I can hear Sam mumbling and saying a few bitten off curses. My brows furrow together, a frown pulling at my lips.
"Sam, is everything okay?"
"What? Uh, well, yeah. Mostly. It's just-" He groans in frustration before taking in a deep breath to compose himself. "Where are you? Are you and the Builder still with her? These cameras are just-they keep turning themselves off!"
"That's concerning."
"Just a little bit, yeah."
"We're under some old railway arches," Steve says, casting a glance around. There's graffiti everywhere. Most of it I can't make out. "The zombie is just wandering about. She's dropped her bag, but hasn't noticed us."
"Right. Uh, just a sec. I'm switching this camera back on for the twentieth damn time." I can picture him shaking his head in annoyance, and it takes effort not to laugh. "Ah, got her. Wait, who's that?"
I look around, Steve doing the same. The atmosphere changes from calm to concerning in seconds.
"Who? What have you seen?"
"Uh, there's a woman behind our zom, on the other side of that overturned lorry. And she's got-uh, okay. She's got a weapon." Sam's voice shakes as he takes in a breath. "Um, Builder, what does a grenade look like, exactly?"
"It looks like a grenade. If you think she has a grenade, she has a grenade. What's she doing with it? Does she look as if she's going to throw it?"
"No, I don't think-oh, yes! Oh God, yes she's about to throw it towards you! Get back!"
Steve grabs my arm and dashes off, dragging me behind him as the woman throws the grande. He pulls me behind a billboard that's fallen down, and I'm able to cover my ears just as the grenade goes off.
"Builder, Runner Five?" Sam asks after a few seconds. "Are you okay? I think she took out the zombie. It was right in the crossfire."
"We got clear of the blast radius. We're fine."
I step away from the billboard, and see the flash of a figure. There's long blonde hair, and for a split second it blows back for me to see her face. I grit my teeth.
"Oh, of course it was her! Amelia!" I scream, and Steve curses.
"Is that a bike she's grabbing?"
"It's a moped," Sam answers, his voice flat.
"Come on, Five, quick. After her!"
•
"Still got her?" Sam questions. "You're right outside an old fertilizer factory."
"She's going in," Steve says, and we rush after her, trying to get in before the door closes and locks us out. We succeed, but I freeze at the sight before me.
"What the hell?"
"What is it? I've got no cams in there," He asks, but I can barely stammer out an answer.
There's cages, too large for an animal one would keep as a pet, but still there are dog bowls of water in them. There's a dry-erase board that's been wiped clean, but I can still see some marker stains. It looks like drawn out maps, possibly. There are some crates lying around as well, but I'm but not going to look to see what's in them. I don't want to know.
"I know what this is," Steve says. "Old Netrophil hideout. We find them all over the place. Full of the kinds of stuff you wouldn't want to bump into on dark night."
"Okay, that makes me feel even more uneasy," Sam says. "Just get Amelia and get out of there."
Steve and I say nothing, instead following the shadow that's against the wall. It takes us only a second to catch up to her retreating form, which is odd considering she's ridden inside the building on her moped.
"Amelia, there's no way out!"
The blonde stops, stepping off the moped, slowly turning around and giving us a smile that makes me stiffen in discomfort.
"What makes you think I want a way out if you're here?"
"What do you want this place for?" He asks, ignoring her words. "Enhanced interrogation? Rendition? Lovely. You do know how to show a soldier a good time, darling."
She smirks. "You're not a soldier."
"And I'm not having a good time. Why have you come here? And why did you try to blow us up?"
Her lips curl up as she throws her head back in a mocking laugh. "I wasn't blowing you up. I was blowing that zombie up. God, you're so vain. You actually thought that explosion was about you?"
He blinks. "What?"
"Yeah. I've been following a lead on a zombie milkman in Dorset. Well, milkwoman to be precise. That sounds weird though, but anyway, she's still doing her rounds. Kind of." She shrugs, a thin smile playing on her lips. "I mean, she is mainly picking up the same five or six moldy milk bottles, but hey, it's a living. And I've been tracking her down for months, and I knew the Ministry's been wetting their pants over these things.
"Then, can you believe it, a lead came in on these other sentients, so I thought I'd just swing by and blow them up so they don't decrease the value of my specimen! Sorry if it made you think I cared about either of you. Trust me, the only thing I like about Five is the pretty way her eyes flash when she gets angry, and how fast she runs. And the only things I like about you are your high explosives, your upper arms, and that thing you did in Cardiff."
Steve nods curtly, calmly. "I see... Wait, which thing?"
"What happened in Cardiff?" Sam asks.
"Nothing. It's nothing."
"Hi, Sam. I've been patched into your coms all day," Amelia says, grinning.
"Okay. Creepy."
"Yeah. Except you're both in position now, which means I can do this." She pulls out a device, which beeps loudly.
"Which means you can do w-"
Static cuts him off, and suddenly my headset feels unnaturally hot. I screech as it burns my ears and face. I rip it off and throw it across the room as sparks fly from it. Steve chunks his off as well. After the first bout of shock wears off, I turn to glare at Amelia, baring my teeth.
"What did you do?"
"You really thought you had me cornered on a warehouse I led you to?" Her eyes roam over to Steve. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist a bit of Netrophil action, but alas, it was just a red herring. I needed to get you into a position to jam your headsets and turn Sam's cameras off.But now I've got a little bit of business to finish up."
She gets back on the moped, turning around and headed straight for us. Steve grabs my arm and yanks me out of the way just in time, and we both watch as Amelia speeds off.
"She's going after the other sentient zombie," Steve murmurs, keeping his hold on my arm and dragging me out of the warehouse. "I know a shortcut, one she won't be able to take on that moped. If we're quick, we might be able to warn Janine and Veronica."
I nod, pulling away from Steve's grip. I stay beside him, but I still keep my distance. He may have saved me, but I've found I don't like people touching my arms, my wrists especially. Every time someone does, I feel a pang of hurt, a reminder of the person I've lost.
My legs burn, my chest rising and falling in quick pants. Still Steve and I keep pushing, running as quickly as we possibly can.
Leave it to Amelia to pull something like this. She's nothing but trouble. She always has been. Why can't she just leave us alone?
Because things can never be easy for us.
I follow Steve, him taking us through a patch of trees that Amelia would never be able to go through on her moped, and after a few minutes of running, I see the skatepark, with Veronica and Janine and the zombie they're watching from afar.
"Miss De Luca, ma'am, Amelia's on her way!" Steve shouts. "She fried our headsets so we couldn't warn you, ma'am!"
Janine and Veronica both turn towards us, eyes wide.
"Good Lord," Janine says in shock once we finally reach her. "Sam told us your coms had stopped after you were in pursuit of Spens. We presumed the worst." She reaches into her backpack and pulls out two headsets. "Here. I never leave home without spare headsets."
"Thank you," I say, slipping on my headset, sighing with relief at the sound of Sam's voice, even though it's only been a few minutes since I last heard it-not even half an hour.
"To be clear, they only feared the worst for the moment. I knew Five would get out alright."
"You did?" I ask.
"'Course I did. You always do."
I nod. "Right. Well, we need to leave like, right now. Amelia is going to try to blow up the sentient zom."
"Why?" Veronica asks, and Janine grits her teeth.
"Because of course she is. That's why. She always has her own devious purposes." She pauses, eyes narrowing at an oncoming figure. "Ah, look. Here she comes."
Amelia comes to a stop on her moped, still a good twenty feet away from us and the zombie that's shambling around. He doesn't take notice of anything around him.
"What're we going to do?" Veronica asks.
"I would suggest you retreat a safe distance from that zombie!" Amelia shouts. "I heard you observed some very interesting zombie behavior earlier. I would if I can-Hey, brainiac! Catch!"
She pulls the pin from a grenade and chucks it at the zom. The zom catches it, probably thinking it's a tennis ball.
"Oh, shit," I murmur as Veronica gasps.
"This is fascinating."
"But getting blown up isn't," I say, grabbing Veronica's arm. "Run!"
She starts to protest, but the sudden jerk of me dragging her off shuts her up. After a few seconds of running, I push her to the ground, throwing myself on top of her in hopes to shield her from the blast.
The grenade goes off, zombie matter spewing everywhere. I cringe when a piece of rotting flesh hits my calf.
"Everyone okay?" Janine asks after a moment of silence. "Veronica, Five?"
"We're okay," I reply, getting off of Veronica.
"What happened to-"
"Me?" Amelia guesses, sauntering over to us with a smug look on her face. "How are you, Janine?"
"Right now? Really wishing that blast had rendered you unconscious."
She shrugs. "Tough luck."
"I know. That means I have to do this." With no warning, Janine swings, hitting Amelia in the side of the head, knocking her out cold. The dark skinned woman doesn't even blink. "I feel much better now."
"I can't believe she did that just to increase the value of her own half-sentient zombies," Veronica says dusting herself off. She's also undeterred by Janine's sudden act of violence. "They're all valuable! There's priceless information in every body. We need as many specimens as possible so that I can compare and contrast their blood and brain samples. Any information about them would be useful."
"What about their possessions?" Steve asks.
"Might help. Anything about them could help. But even their pocket contents were blown to bits."
"I think the girl had a bag when we first saw them. She must have put it down somewhere. No bag when she blew up."
"Excellent observation skills," Janine praises, and he smiles.
"Thank you, ma'am."
"We'll look for this bag at once. Come along, Veronica. We'll search this location. Five, you and the Builder get back to the location of the other zombie as quickly as possible."
"What about Amelia?" Veronica asks. "What if some other zombies get her?"
Janine stares at Amelia's unconscious form. "It is impossible that she does not have several backup drivers waiting to collect her. She always has a backup plan, but today, so do we. Go quickly. We don't want to be here when Amelia's employees turn up."
•
I wrinkle my nose as raindrops hit my skin.
"If there's anything useful, it could be sodden by the time we find it," Steve says, noticing the rain. "We've got to work quickly. You search that side. I'll look over here."
I nod, dashing around and searching for something, anything that might be of use.
"So, you're uh, New Canton's head of security now?" Sam asks.
"Looks like it, love."
"And you had a thing with Amelia?"
He chuckles. "A gentleman never tells, mate."
"But you did, right?"
"You're very keen to find out details."
"I'm not," I pipe up. "So please don't give me any revolting mental images."
He laughs. "I've been working for the Minister since the apocalypse. Since before, in fact. Contracting for the Department of Defense when Sigurd was permanent Private Secretary there. She used to give me a call when she had something that needed doing off the books, you know? Sometimes they needed plausible deniability."
"Oh, that is so cool," Sam murmurs. "In a potentially evil way."
"Normal people don't want to know the things that go into keeping them free and safe. I think I was the Minister's first call on the day it all went grey. She was on that faster than anyone else in the government. She didn't believe the denials, didn't take the hospital's assurances that they could deal with it. She took it seriously from day one. That's how she saved so many people. I've got no trouble at all taking orders from someone who knows how to give them. Anyway, she knows how to use resources, like your De Luca."
"And like Amelia?"
"We were on a job together a year or so ago securing radio communications and signal blocking equipment out of a government facility in Cardiff. Looks like she kept a couple bits for personal use, which would be just like her. She nicked my best Bowie knife too!"
"Hey," I yell out, freezing when something catches my eye. It's a brown bag. It looks close to a satchel. "Look what I found!"
Steve jogs over to me, and he grins, taking the bag from me.
"That's it. Now, we've got to get this to the ladies."
I nod, quickly turning to head back. Steve rummages through the bag, pulling out a notebook. He hands the bag to me, flipping through the pages of the notebook. His brows furrow as he silently mouths the words out.
I watch him with curiosity, but he doesn't notice. So I then look through the bag, only finding a few trinkets that won't help us much. Hopefully whatever Steve's reading is of use.
We reach Janine and Veronica after a few minutes of running. They take quick notice of us and eagerly walk our way.
"Ma'am, Five's found a bag containing this notebook. Flipped through it as we ran. It's all handwritten poems," Steve explains. "One of them's called 'No One Understands'. It just says that twenty-five. I don't get it."
"So, would you say, in a way, you don't understand?" Sam jokes.
"You're an idiot," I deadpan.
"You love me."
"Teenagers write poetry like that?" Veronica asks, and Janine shrugs.
"Normal ones do."
Veronica takes the notebook from Steve, doing her best to shield the pages from the sprinkling rain.
"This poetry's terrible. Oh, but look! There's an address. I suppose she didn't want to lose it. Erica Clark, 15 Unicorn Square."
"Is that good?" Sam asks.
"It's wonderful! We can go to their house, find out everything about how they lived. This is the best lead we've had on the S-types, and we might have missed it if we'd just taken the zombies back to Abel. This is a very good day's work!"
Me and Steve share a look, eyes ablaze and grins smug.
"A pleasure to be helping save the human race," He says.
A/N: Here you go, guys! I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! Please be sure to vote and comment. Thank you and have a blessed day!