"Everything is normal up here, Runner Five," Veronica says with a sigh as she looks at my brain scans. I simply wipe the sweat from my brow as I keep running on the treadmill. "If we can't reproduce what's happening in your brain, we can't do anything."
"We could take another look over the house," Tom suggests, "try to work out what that voice was."
"Yeah, well, we do actually sort of know what she is," Sam says before sighing heavily. "So, about three years after the apocalypse, when Van Ark was still alive, me, Janine and Five went into the main building of a company called Xia-Hifa Biologics to retrieve a vaccine for a virus called Junin2. It would have been totally deadly to, you know, everybody if we hadn't.
"Anyway, the reason it was tricky to get inside is because the place was still being run by a deranged artificial intelligence called A.N.N.I.E. She had like, multiple personalities at war with each other-some nice, and some awful."
"And they all hated me," I mumble under my breath.
"Oh, yes, I think I read about that in one of Janine's files Ian gave me," Veronica says, seeming more interested than fearful. "A.N.N.I.E. sounded interesting! I'd have liked to look more closely at her."
I give the teenager a confused look. How is she not getting that A.N.N.I.E. is dangerous?
"Yeah, well, she got a good, close look at us, and it wasn't fun," He replies. "She tried to kill us in a lot of interesting ways."
I hear the coms door swing open and then slam shut, causing my steps to falter.
"Sam!" Jody shouts. "Sam, sorry. I've just had a very long conversation with Saturnalia District, trying to convince them not to go over to the Ministry."
There's a beat of silence. "They're going over to the Ministry, though, aren't they?"
"Yeah," She says defeatedly. "They want the vaccine. But look, Sam, Saturnalia's said they'd seen something passing by the edge of their territory, heading in your direction. A headless zombie."
Sam groans. "This really is not our day, is it? Alright. Switching cameras and-oh, crap! Yeah. Those indestructible zombies you trapped in the mall. Not so trapped anymore. Heading right for the Center."
"How did they even get out of the tunnels under the White Fingers? How did they get here?"
"I'm guessing they wandered through some secret tunnel before the whole thing collapsed and was swept away," I pant. "Unless they somehow managed to swim back to shore, but I don't know how they could've done that with all the armor they were wearing."
"We can guess how this all happened later," Sam says. "You've got ten minutes tops before they all get here, so you need to either evacuate or find something in this manor that can destroy nearly indestructible zombies."
"This part of the building has adequate zombie protection, I think," Veronica says when I start to slow down. "Five, keep running. We need to try and get some data on what's happening in your head while we have the equipment."
I keep running, but I still open my mouth to protest. "But what about the rest of the house? What about everyone that's here?"
"I'm sure it will be fine." She turns to Kytan. "Have your people lower the shutters to the windows and lock all the doors. If the security systems here are in as good of condition as A.N.N.I.E. seems to be, then everyone should be safe, and after the zombies tire of not getting through, they'll move on."
Kytan looks unsure of this, but he still heads off. I want to argue, but I doubt that would do any good. Veronica is very good at arguing.
I don't know for sure if I'm immune to the zombie virus because there was that zombie shepherdess who got Van Ark's treatments and still turned gray. Plus we have no idea how these zombies differ from regular ones in who they effect. It's obvious something is different since destroying the brain does nothing to stop them.
But even if I happen to be immune, no one else here is. Still, Veronica isn't going to stop now. This is the reason I'm afraid of her, because she'll willing to risk everyone's lives to get the data she needs. I want to know what's going on in my head more than anyone, especially since Kytan believes I'm the special one Sigrid apparently wants, but none of this will matter if those zoms end up getting in this house and eating everyone alive.
And from what Kytan said, Sigrid doesn't know I'm the alpha. She does know I have Moonchild Syndrome, but that doesn't mean she thinks I'm the one she's looking for.
I keep running, sweat starting to drip from my face while everyone watches the graphs and networks on the screens. I don't know what any of them mean, but from the disappointed look on Veronica's face, everything looks normal. Moonchild's disappeared since I was led down into the basement, probably because she knows this is an attempt to find out what's going on in my head so I can maybe be cured. There's no way she would want to help with that.
Kytan comes back downstairs, his hands in his pockets. "The shutters are down and the doors are locked. I've got everyone locked in a safe room on the same side of the house as the equipment. They should be safe if the zoms get in."
"And what about us? Will we be safe?" Milo asks, and he gets a shrug in reply.
"These doors in the lab can seal shut, and we can use the equipment to barricade it if we need to, but there aren't any other ways out."
My breath hitches. That means if those zombies get into the house, we'll be trapped in here with no way out, and we'll be forced to wait it out-either wait for the zombies to leave, or wait for them to claw their way through the doors.
I hear a sudden bang from above, and my steps falter. "What was that?"
"Uh, right, yeah. Those V-type zombies have arrived, and they're bashing on the steel shutters on the windows on the floor above you," Sam says, his voice shaking slightly.
"I thought you said we had ten minutes before they arrived."
"Well, I thought so too. I didn't think they'd move this fast. Kytan, I know those are steel shutters, but are you sure they'll hold?"
"If they get in... they get it," Tom says nonchalantly, and Kytan nods in reply.
"Yeah. You know, sometimes, it just has to go down like that, you know?"
"Oh, for Gaia's sake, Five!" Moonchild shouts, causing me to flinch. "We're not dying of indestructible zombies here. I have a plan. Get off this treadmill now."
I give her a raised brow. Why?
"Now!"
"Okay, okay, sheesh," I say aloud, stepping off from the treadmill, only to stop when I hear Kytan gasp.
"Whoa, Five, something really interesting just happened to your brain!"
"Oh, yes," Tom murmurs. "Look at that, Maxine. The graph spiked."
"Don't listen to them, Five! Sorry, but I'm taking control. Peel off these patches connecting you to those sceens."
I rip the patches off of me, not completely sure if the actions are my own choices or Moonchild's, but I ignore Veronica's shouts of protest and Milo's worried questions.
"Now, turn right out of this room and run to the end of the long corridor. Go!"
I obey, running out of the room without a second thought.
"Five, what are you doing?" Maxine shouts. "Come back!"
I don't. I keep running, my steps mechanical, cold. I see Moonchild beside me, her eyes ahead, looking for something I can't understand. I don't question her.
I can still hear the banging from upstairs, even when I reach the end of the corridor and Moonchild instructs me to take a left away from the main staircase. Veronica was wrong. These zombies won't tire. They still struggled to get out of the mall even after we were out of sight. They're not like other zombies. They don't just give up. They know we're in here somehow, even though they shouldn't be able to smell us since there's no openings for our scent to get through.
The banging continues, and within minutes I hear loud, screeching sound of metal tearing. By now I've reached a new room, one with computer screens a lot like the control room in the rotating tower.
"Five, those zoms have broken into the Center on the upper level," Sam says fearfully, and the ripping of metal growls louder, as does the sounds of undead moans.
"I suppose you think you're going to get rid of me, don't you, Five?" Moonchild sighs, before grinning, her smile nothing but teeth. "Well, I have news for you. You need me. I need you. We're in a symbiotic relationship. It's beautiful really. Like fungus and a tree."
"Five." Sam's voice is distant, but I can still make out what he's saying, "I'm not sure what you're doing, and it's not that I don't trust you, but what are you doing?"
"Honestly," I reply nervously, "I'm not sure."
"I'd never usually do this, but needs must, and I saw what those zombies were like. They'll kill everyone here if we don't deal with them pronto."
Since when did you care about anyone here?
"I don't, but I know there is no way you'd abandon Milo. You'd fight me all the way out the door, and because of it we'd probably be bitten, and I don't know about you, man, but I do not want to go through that again, so we need to deal with the zombies. There's a person who can help us. I used to work with her. I know her secrets. Enter the code STA-B4G-783 into that panel."
I obey, not liking where this is going. My heart stops in my chest when the computer system beeps.
"There."
A deep, satisfied sigh fills the room, and I stiffen.
"Thank you," A.N.N.I.E. says. "It's good to be alive. I've only had partial connection to myself here all that time."
"Five, what have you done?" Sam asks in horror.
"Who woke me? Oh... Employee Five. You're the one who broke into my mainframe and stole my Junin2 vaccine and tried to destroy my CPU. I see my access to remote memory functions is still intact. Good."
"What have you done!?" He repeats.
"It wasn't me!" I shout. "Moonchild told me to!"
"And you listened to her?!"
"She said she had a plan!"
"Emloyee Five, how truly lovely to see you," A.N.N.I.E. says, cutting into the conversation. There's a pause. "Did I say 'lovely'? I meant something else, but I've lost the word. Apparently my memory functions are still glitching. Damn."
There are sudden loud moans from above.
"Oh, I see some zombies are breaking in. Oh dear. I have those in my database. They're very hard to kill. But I'm here to serve mankind. I have something that will work, but I need you to set it up for me. Run to point G on this map." A map appears on the screen, and I take a second to memorize its locations. "Come along, run!"
"Five, you can't!" Sam shouts. "You told me you'd seen very bad visions with A.N.N.I.E.!"
"I know," I say, biting the inside of my cheek. "But those zombies are breaking in and this is the only chance we have. These zombies won't stop until they've killed everyone here, and we don't have much of anything to stop them."
"But this could be a trap."
"I just woke her up. She now has access to this entire house, I think. If she wanted to kill me, then she could do it in here. She said her memory functions are still partially down, maybe some of her other functions-the ones involved in trying to kill me-are still down too."
"But-"
"If I don't do this, then everyone here will die."
Sam stays quiet for a long moment. "Okay... but be careful. Run!"
•
"That's right, Employee Five. Now open that access panel to your left." The panel creaks open a second later. "Now turn that lever counterclockwise. Ah. That's better. I'm starting to get some control of this facility back. It's like my arms and legs were missing. Can you imagine that? Maybe I'll fix it so you don't have to imagine it."
I tense at that, even more so when A.N.N.I.E. giggles.
"What am I saying? Sorry. I don't know what came over me. Deleting that subroutine. It's all fine. Fine! Back in the room. Yes."
"Runner Five, what are you doing?"
I spin around to see Kytan standing in the doorway, eyes wide and confused.
"Runner Five, is it?" A.N.N.I.E. repeats. "I suppose that does suit you rather better. But I like calling you Employee Five. Is it okay if I keep calling you that?"
"Uh, sure," I say uneasily.
"Five, are you listening to the lady?" Kytan asks. "I mean, I'm not here to tell you what to do-you listen to your own conscience-but when we got here, the lady was kind of weird to me. She even sent these little robots to try and mess me up, and there was that thing with poisoned gas. So I pulled out a bunch of wires, and that helped."
"Oh, that was you, was it?" She asks, sounding irritated. Kytan swallows nervously and takes a few steps towards me.
"Seriously, listen, I told everyone she's a ghost, and they believe me, but I'd say do not pull anymore of those levers."
I hear glass shattering nearby, and a second later two zombies stagger through the doorway, standing right where Kytan was seconds ago. By the sound of it, there are more following. Both me and Kytan take a few steps toward the secondary staircase located in the room.
"I know you don't trust me, but those zombies are going to be all over this facility in minutes if I don't help you," A.N.N.I.E. says, and I know she's right." Head to the upper level."
Kytan nods. "Yeah. Upper levels a better place to fight anyway. Five, does that zombie look like Grant Hamilton to you? Never mind. Upper level. Run!"
I don't need to be told twice. I race up the stairs with Kytan hot on my heels. The zombies lunge for the both of us, snarling and reaching out their hands in an attempt to grab us. We keep moving, skipping steps to get us up the stairs faster, but these zombies seem to have no trouble keeping up. They don't trip over steps like normal zombies. In fact, their motor skills are some of the best I've seen in a zom, even with their age.
God help us.
I hate to think of what would happen if we even let one of these things escape. No one would be prepared for them. They'd kill or turn everyone they came in contact with. No one would figure out how to stop them until it was too late. By then everyone would be infected with this different strain and it would be near impossible to stop it.
No, we can't have that. We already have enough to worry about with A.N.N.I.E. and Moonchild and Sigrid and the baby factroies. We do not have time to deal with indestructible zombies.
I pull my pistol from my holster and turn, trying not to trip over my steps. I lean so Kytan is out of my line of fire and pull the trigger. The bullet goes right between the zombie's eyes. It knocks it back, the zombie letting out a ear-piercing screech as it stumbles backwards. The zombies behind it simply move out of the way and let it tumble down the stairs before following after us.
I fire again, and again, running up the stairs as fast as I can. No matter how many times I fire, they still keep coming, the bullets barely even fazing them.
When we reach the upper level, I grab my axe and hand it to Kytan. "I know you're all peace and love now, but if you could go back to being the Abel version of yourself, that'd be great."
He nods and takes the axe, swinging at them while I continue firing, trying to push them back into the stairway. Kytan kicks one in the chest and slices the axe down another's torso.
"Don't get any of its blood on you! We don't know what might happen if you do!" I warn, shooting another zombie and causing it to stumble back.
"Got it!" He replies, using the blunt slide of my axe to knock a zom in the head. It still reaches for him, but he turns the axe and swings right at its leg. It slices it clean off. "This one won't be after us anymore unless it can hop on one leg. I really did like coexistence and nonviolence as an ethos, but these things... man."
He lands another kick to a zom, and once it goes back into the stairway a metal door slides down, cutting them off from us.
"That door will hold them for awhile," A.N.N.I.E. says.
"How long is awhile?" I ask, and I flinch when a second later there's pounding of flesh against the metal.
"I estimate 180 seconds until the zombies get through. Are you afraid of me?"
"Well, yeah," Kytan scoffs. "You tried to take away our oxygen. And when we first arrived, you kept trying to enact something called the Glass Protocol on us, but you couldn't start it."
"Oh... Oh dear. Well, that's not good. I hope I haven't... done the Glass Protocol on anyone else."
"Um, isn't that what she said she'd done to you, Five?" Sam asks.
I don't get the chance to answer him.
Glass shatters, but its from downstairs this time.
"Whoa, that sounded close," Kytan says worriedly.
"Yes, your friends are barricaded in the laboratory with the sealed doors. They are much thicker that the one separating you from the zombies in the stairway, but even they won't hold long against these zombies. You have to let me help you. Head to the south labs. Run."
I look at Kytan, and he sets off, the pounding on the door behind us getting louder and louder. It sounds like the zombies are throwing themselves against it.
"Five, do you think A.N.N.I.E. will tell us what the Glass Protocol is?" Sam asks, and I huff as I keep running, following Kytan's lead.
"I don't think now would be the right time to ask her, Sam."
"But we need to know. I mean, you've told me some... things, about what you know about it. We need to know how bad it is."
"It's bad. It's terrifying and horrible and it's-it's just bad, okay?" A shudder runs through me. "I don't think I'll ever be over what happened in those underground tunnels under Abel."
"Wh-underground tunnels? What are you talking about? When did this happen?"
I cringe. Crap. I suppose I didn't tell him about that, given all that happened that day. "It was when Ian was still alive, when he had you and Milo captive. I had to go through some underground tunnels to make sure the way was safe for everyone else, and... there was something there. I never saw it, but I heard it. I think it was... It walked through hydrochloric acid and didn't slow down, so if it was the Glass Protocol, then I'm going to guess it's not good."
"Why didn't you tell me about this?"
"That day was chaos. I forgot-"
My words are cut off when the door collapses, and the zombies start piling through. They start sprinting after us as soon as they see us. I suck in a sharp breath.
"I promise I wasn't intentionally keeping it from you. I really did forget. You can yell at me after we get out of this, I promise."
I push my legs to run faster, following Kytan through the corridors, looking back every so often to make sure they aren't gaining on us. They aren't, but we're not gaining any ground on them either. Even sprinting they're still able to keep pace.
We reach the south labs within a few minutes, thankfully with a few feet between us and the zoms, and a second later the door slides shut. It's metal, like the last one.
"That door should hold the zombies off for now," A.N.N.I.E. says.
"When you say for now..." I start.
"I estimate you have 240 seconds before they get in, a whole minute longer than the last door. I've managed to cut off some of the legs of the ones attacking the labs downstairs, but they just keep coming! Pesky little critters."
Kytan raises a brow. "You sound cheerful about it."
"Uh, I think she's the personality who's cheerful and helpful about everything, including Junin2 and the zombie plague," Sam says, and A.N.N.I.E. giggles.
"I can hear your friend talking in your ear. I have super sensitive hearing. Isn't that wonderful? Maybe I'm an upbeat personality. That's great! Oh. Oh dear. Don't do that, please! Employee Five, duck down now!"
I hit the floor, dragging Kytan with me when a machine gun comes out a section of the wall and starts firing. It fires for only a few seconds before stopping.
"What was that?!" Sam yells, his voice cracking.
"Oh, it's just an old subroutine. Occasionally, I get through my defenses, but I'm stronger than me. It should be fine. You two can stand up now."
We shakily do so.
"Listen, I've run the numbers. Your chances of surviving this without me is 0.00006%. So sorry, but I need you to take the chips on that table and insert them into the slots on level four."
I swallow thickly when I see said box. It says 'Dangerous Corrupt Memory'. "Uh, are you sure you want us to do that?"
"Yes. That's the only me with access to the weapons, I'm afraid. Sorry, but it is your only choice."
"But if this memory is corrupted, then-and if you have access to weapons..." I trail off, fear's grip on me squeezing so tight I can barely breathe.
Kytan said the reason A.N.N.I.E. didn't sick the Glass Protocol on anyone was because she couldn't, meaning she must have lost access to it soon after that day in the underground tunnels. If I give that access back to her, along with her corrupted memories that made her want to kill me...
I'll be signing my own death wish, or as close to a death wish as someone who can't really die can get.
I tell as much to Sam, leaving out the immortality bit.
"Yeah, uh, Jody's doing some other diplomatic negotiations, but I think I might want her input on this one," He replies nervously. "I'm going to go get her. You guys keep running. Those zombies will be through the door any minute now. Go!"
"Yes," A.N.N.I.E. says. "Go down to level four, and hurry. I estimate you have 20 seconds before those zombies break through."
•
"That's it. Turn left and-yes! There I am!"
I swallow as we head inside, staring right at the mainframe. I have a terrible feeling about this, but I still close the door, just to keep the zombies out for a few minutes.
"Guys," Jody whispers over the headset, "use those chips. She'll kill the zoms fine, but then you have to take them out again, okay?"
"Okay," Kytan replies, his voice just as hushed.
"There's no use whispering. I can hear you both," A.N.N.I.E. says, sounding almost amused. "And yes, that's a very good idea. Please, put the chips into the memory slots three rows up. Do you see them?"
"Yeah." My hands shake as I insert the chips, ready to take my gun and fire at the mainframe if she tries anything.
"Oh." She laughs. "That's really quite uh-that's very-oh. I remember myself. Oh. Oh dear."
"Are you alright?" Kytan asks. "Should I take them out?"
"No, no. Don't worry. Good news! At this time, I have no access to the Glass Protocol, so that's a relief."
Sam sighs. "Oh thank God."
"As for you, just go stand behind that blast screen. I'm about to do something to the zombies in the corridor, and I wouldn't want you to get hurt."
I sprint towards the blast screen, not waiting to see if Kytan follows.
"Just a moment," She says. "I'm turning on the acid sprinklers."
One of the screens show surveillance of the corridor, and I watch as acid rains from the ceiling, causing the skin and muscle to melt off the bones of the zoms. They all growl and snarl in anger, but that does nothing to stop them from melting. Within minutes the zombies are nothing but puddles.
"Wow, gold star move, A.N.N.I.E.," Kytan praises, but when he makes a move from behind the blast screen, I stop him by putting my arm out in front of him. "What's wrong?"
I point towards the door we originally came through, the acid eating away at it, dribbling across the floor towards me and Kytan.
"Uh, Sam..." I say worriedly.
"What are you doing just standing there? Get out of there, both of you!"
"No, wait," Jody cuts in. "You have to have to take those chips out of her CPU!"
By now the acid is halfway towards us. There's no way we can get to the mainframe without stepping into the acid.
"The door behind you is unlocked," A.N.N.I.E. says. "You should leave that way."
"But you told us to take those chips out of you again!" Kytan argues.
"There's no way for you to get those, Kytan. The acid would burn your feet off before you go across the room. The door behind you is unlocked. You should leave that way. Or stay there. Either way..."
"Yeah, I can't say I can see this ending well, but there's no other way out," Sam says. "Door behind you, guys. Up the stairs. Run!"
Cold sweat runs down the back of my neck as I turn back. This won't end well for me. I can feel the dread digging under my skin, striking me to the bone.
But I can't walk through that acid, even if I could heal. A.N.N.I.E. did this for a reason, so if I tried it, then she'd donsomething else to stop me. She knew this would happen.
Kytan and I leave the house quickly, being sure to avoid all of the hallways which have been acid sprayed. Maxine and the others are all waiting for us outside, along with the people from the center. They're crowded near the entrance, some of them muttering to themselves and others holding on tightly to each other's hands for comfort.
"What happened?" Maxine asks. "Are you okay, Five? Kytan, we were locked in the labs. We couldn't get out until just a few minutes ago. What went wrong?"
"I think we swallowed a spider to catch a fly," He replies, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Time for the Manor House Center for Healing and Reconciliation to find another home, I think."
"Still, the day wasn't entirely wasted," Veronica says. "I had a chance to look at Five's brain scans in some detail while we were locked in."
I perk up at that.
"And?" Sam asks expectantly. "Well, what's going on? What has Sigrid done to her?"
"Oh, it's not Sigrid. It's Moonchild."
"Yeah, well, we knew that."
She shakes her head. "No, no, I mean, it's actually Moonchild inside your brain, Five."
My eyes grow wide. "W-what?"
She pulls out on of the scans, as if I understand anything about that. "Look, there is something very real happening here. The way your brain's lighting up in this region is quite different to any normal person. It's a brain within a brain! You have a whole other personality living in there!"
By now I'm shaking, tears forming in my eyes. No, no, no, no!
"So Moonchild is real?" Milo asks, his voice raising an octave. "She's in Mum's head and she's real?"
Veronica shrugs. "It depends what you mean by 'real', but she's a distinct, unique, physical phenomenon in Runner Five's head rather than, um, a symptom of stress or of grief, or of Ceretin overdose. Yes, I suppose-yes. Real."
"I'm real," Moonchild says in an airy voice, just as surprised as everyone else. "I'm really here. I'm really, really real!"
Suddenly she pauses, her face morphing into that of anger while I still stand there, unable to move, unable to think. Moonchild looks at me, eyebrows furrowed together and lips pinching.
"And Sigrid wants to own me."
A/N: Here you go guys! I hope you liked this chapter! This chapter is dedicated to skyler0425 Please be sure to vote and comment. Thank you and have a blessed day!