"Do you think we convinced them?" Jaime asks.

"New Albion?" Sam asks, then sighs. "I mean, they're keen on royalty, so maybe they'll stay with the Abel alliance for a few more weeks."

"How long until Sigrid's promised them their doses of vaccine?"

There's a beat of silence.

"A few more weeks."

Nicole sighs over my headset. "Just what does New Albion have that we need resource-wise? If they have something important to us, and it's possibly important to the Ministry, then maybe it would be best to-"

"We aren't stealing from them and then destroying their settlement," I interrupt. "There are innocent people that live there."

"Innocent people who are going to join sides with the enemy the first chance they get."

"Are you always this brutal?" Jaime asks.

"When I need to be."

"So that's a yes then."

"Your Majesty, my job is to keep my bosses informed who's winning where, since here in England is the place with the most knowledge about the zombie apocalypse," She informs curtly. I can almost picture the bored look her face must hold. "They want me on the winning side, since the last thing we need is someone who knows more than us deciding to go against us. Since I informed my bosses I'm on the side of Abel, and there is no possible way for me to switch sides, I need to make sure Abel comes out victorious. I'm just giving suggestions which could raise those odds. Doesn't necessarily mean I like them."

Jaime doesn't look pleased with that answer, but before he can say anything we hear the coms shack door open.

"Sam, Nicole, I have to talk to you now," Amelia says, and I grimace at the sound of her voice. Why is she here in Abel? "It's urgent."

"Urgent as in urgent, or urgent as in you've run out of rouge nail polish?" Sam asks flatly. Even without seeing him I know he wears an annoyed look not too different from mine.

"You wear nail polish? Who the hell has time for that?" I hear Nicole ask, but she's ignored.

"Both of those would be urgent, actually," Amelia corrects, "but the first one. We've got a lead on the baby factory. A member of the Laundry wants to come over to us if we can guarantee her safety."

"Big if," Sam says. "Remember what happened to Sweetpea?"

"This woman is important! It's our best lead in months. Runner Five, we know Sigrid's working on some way to exploit our weakness in the form of Moonchild in your head. Well, we're working on a way to exploit her weakness, aren't we? If we take those babies away from her, no more immunity serum, no more colonies going over to her."

"And no more arguing with Nicole about burning down settlements that leave the alliance," I mutter.

"And we'd be saving those babies," Jaime adds, slowing his pace down a bit.

"Oh, yes," Amelia says in surprise. "I forget that other people care about this too. How funny. We all care about something. Anyway, this woman, Selma, is hiding just over the border in Anstice territory, but they're rabid Wakened Land loyalists, so I'm going to give you a one-time-only route into their territory. And it has to be Jaime and Five because... Jaime, you used to be a member of the European Rescue Force, correct?"

"Weren't they the people who worked with oil wells and natural disasters and stuff in the UK?" Nicole asks.

"Yeah," Jaime replies. "Me and Cam were both on the force 'til I switched over to bein' a fireman. Cam switched once she figured out she was pregnant with Jasper."

"Yes, yes, so sad about them," Amelia says dismissively, and he narrows his eyes at nothing in particular. "But you were a part of it, and that's exactly what we need. Selma's hiding near an ERF equipment store, the one you called the perfume factory."

His eyes shine with recognition as he nods. "Oh, yeah, because it stunk of manure."

"Yes, you'll go across the border using a single favor I have with the border official. So you'll be getting in the easy way, and the ERF equipment will help you get out the hard way."

"Sounds just like the good days." He grins.

"Right then. That's decided. But you have to be quick. All key Ministry staff have to clock in regularly, and they'll soon know she's gone. Jaime, Five, head west, then south, across the border to Anstice. Go!"

We turn and head west, keeping at a good pace. Anstice isn't too far away, but we can't burn out before we get there. This is a risk, getting someone out of a territory allied with the Ministry, not only for this women but for me and Jaime too. Sigrid knows I have Moonchild Syndrome, even though she, as far as we know, isn't sure I'm the 'alpha' she's looking for. If I'm caught, they'd take me and do the same horrible tests on me as they did to those people that were in the prison-turned-pub-turned-prison again.

This is a risk for Jaime since he's the ruler of this country. He was nearly executed a few months ago.

All in all, this is a huge risk, and for us to be taking it, this woman must have some extremely valuable information. But to get it we have to get her out safely. We can't fail her like we did Sweatpea. I just pray no Pit Viper has gotten word of this, of her, of us.

We keep running, my hair wiping back and forth as I do so, my bangs getting in my eyes slightly. I push up my headband, which only helps some. Better than nothing, I suppose.

The erratic sounds of our footsteps against the concrete roads mingle with the sounds of harsh breathing. Sam, Nicole and Amelia stay quiet. Sam may be a talker but he's made it very clear how he feels for both Nicole and Amelia. Even now he's told me how he still can't fully get over the fact that Nicole was the one who took away my voice. I don't know if he'll ever one-hundred percent forgive her.

Nicole doesn't enjoy pointless conversation, and Amelia seems to want to keep us as in the dark about this as much as possible. She has yet to tell us why this woman is important, which worries me. What information could she have that makes this something we have to do now? Why is it such a big lead to the baby factory?

I want to believe that this woman and Amelia are telling the truth, but we've chased leads many times before and then were disappointed turned out to be nothing at all. I understand that there is and will always be times where we have to take the risk to find out whether or not we can gain an advantage from something, but constantly risking our lives and safety only to turn up emptyhanded is rather annoying.

I may be immortal, but as far as I know I could still turn and then just become an immortal zombie, and Jaime isn't immortal at all. I want to be sure this isn't just another dud.

I'm so tired of duds.

I can see the checkpoint up ahead. There's a guard there, his dark green eyes following us as we move closer. My hand inches towards my gun in its holster as his back straightens. I only stop my movements when he nods ever so slightly, his face never changing. We run past him, and I let out the breath I'd been holding, only to cringe when I breathe in again and smell a slight stench that I know will only get stronger as we head further into the deserted town.

"Ah, there it is," Jaime says, "past the market square." His eyes hold a small bit of joy at the familiarity. "The perfume factory. Haven't seen it in years."

"Dr. Lobatse is waiting by that fruit stand," Amelia says. "She's been sheltering your contact."

The fruit stand is old and crumbling, and I watch as blonde hair peeks out from behind it before a plump woman emerges. Kind eyes meet mine, and if this were under different circumstances  I'd be happy to be in the company of an old friend again. It's hard to be happy when the risk of getting caught clings to me like a parasite.

"Runner Five, King James, it's good to see you again."

Jaime shifts. "Uh, you can just call me Jaime."

She nods. "Quickly, come this way. Selma is hiding in that garage. She has been waiting for more than one hour now."

Sam scoffs so loud it makes me jump. "One hour? People wait for weeks to cross borders! Who is this woman? Why does she get the one-time pass and the European Rescue Force equipment?"

While Sam's words are harsh, his questions are valid. I honestly had been wondering the same thing. Just why is this woman so special?

We reach the garage and Kefilwe rolls the door up, revealing a short woman, maybe in her late twenties, with olive skin and straight, dark brown hair that goes down to her waist. She takes a tentative step towards us.

"Five, Jaime, this is Selma."

"Hello," She says softly. I can't quite place her accent.

"Do you want to tell them why you need to leave? You don't have to if you don't want to."

Selma shakes her head. "No, it's okay. You deserve to know if you're going to help me..." She takes in a deep breath. "I'm immune, and Sigrid wants to send me to her baby farm to make little immune babies to make little vials of immunity serum."

"Yeah, okay," Sam says, letting out a shaky breath. "I've heard enough. Five, Jaime, give this woman every possible assistance. Bots, give her a headset." He waits for the headset to beep on. "Selma, we're getting you out of there."

"Why didn't you tell us this, Amelia?" Nicole asks accusingly. "You obviously knew."

"Old habits," She replies, a shrug in her voice, and I roll my eyes.

"Old habits, my ass," She murmurs. "Head off to the... perfume factory. Looks more like a ruined old shed. Either way, the coast is clear. No guards will be coming that for another... six minute, forty-two seconds. Run!"

Without a second's delay, we run, heading for the building with cracked walls and a ruined roof. I almost find it odd that so many guards are patrolling this checkpoint, but then again, Anstice settlement is only about a mile from this abandoned town. It's probably for the town's best interest, or at least that's probably what the Ministry tells these Wakened Land lunatics.

It doesn't take us long to get to the 'factory', but I still keep an eye out for any figures in the distance. The door creaks open and we rush inside, Selma first. She is number one priority.

Kefilwe scrunches up her nose. "My goodness. That smell is really quite strong."

Selma shares her look, but shakes it off. "It does, but it'll have made it less attractive to looters, especially in Anstice, where there are so many strictures against unclean places. Your equipment might still be intact, Jaime."

She gestures to one of the lockers, and when Jaime opens it, his eyes brighten and a surprised laugh leaves his mouth.

"Oh my word. You're right! It's still in here."

"Selma, you sound... knowledgeable about the new world order," Sam says skeptically as Jaime digs through the locker.

"Selma has been a member of the Ministry for many years," Kefilwe explains, and Selma nods.

"And before that, a civil servant. Department of Work and Pensions, originally. I've been organizing rationing and work deployments since the apocalypse. It's my job to know what's going on everywhere. That's how I knew to ask Dr. Lobatse for help finding non-immune blood. Sigrid's been doing blood tests, looking for immune people for months now."

"And how did you know you were immune?" I question, crossing my arms. "Sam didn't know for years."

"I was bitten by a postman on the second day of the major outbreak. As I understand it, that's not the kind of thing one typically shrugs off," She says, pursing her lips at me. I clench my jaw, slightly annoyed at her tone.  "And before you ask, no, I don't know where they take the immune women, but I do know what happens to them. That's what convinced me to join the Laundry."

"And you've done sterling work, Selma," Amelia praises. "And because of it, you get out before Sigrid catches up with you. Jaime, as much as I'm enjoying watching your rippling shoulder muscles as you rifle through that locker, have you found anything useful?"

"Exo-skels, drones. They need a lot of battery power, but it's good to know they're here," Jaime replies, ignoring her 'compliment'. "I've got heat sensitive visors. Got some long range GPS tag injections here for keeping track of personnel in a hurricane. No need for that though."

"No, no! Uh, take it." Amelia pauses. "I can sell it on the black market."

He sneers at that. "Oh, you're delightful, you are. Five, Lobatse, Selma, visors for you, we're gettin' you to Abel the very hard way."

•

"Oh my God!" Sam shouts. "What is that? Looks like a tunnel full of mushrooms."

"Yeah," Jaime says, looking uncomfortable, scared almost. "The ones on the outside ain't the ones you need to worry about."

"Yes," Amelia agrees. "Further down, there's a bioengineered fungus coating the walls. It's sensitive to light. If you turn a light on in there, even for a second, the fungi will release its spores, so you'll need your visors to get through."

Kefilwe frowns in confusion. "I do not understand. Are the spores deadly to breathe in?"

"It was engineered as a weapon," Selma says, looking sick to her stomach. "The spores burrow under your skin, and you become a human mushroom farm."

My stomach churns, and for once I'm glad I didn't bring a flashlight with me.

"Yeesh. You know," Sam lets out a nervous laugh, "some days I feel like the zombie apocalypse came just in time to stop us destroying ourselves in a dozen other different ways."

"I know what you mean. I wasn't much of a believer in the milk of human kindness before this. I think people have gotten nicer since, more generous and compassionate. Look at you all, trying to rescue me. You're all very kind."

"I'm not," Amelia says, and Sam is quick to agree, which makes me laugh.

I don't really agree with Selma though, about people becoming kinder. People became survivors. I've done things I never would have done before the apocalypse. I never would have killed someone, and neither would a lot of other people.

I think if the apocalypse never would have happened, I would have been a better person. I never got the chance to really think about what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I like to think I would have chosen a profession that would have helped people.

But apocalypse happened. I had to do terrible things because of it. That's life now. Humans are monsters now and that's all there is to it.

"I want to be very clear about this: I am a terrible person," Amelia says, and I roll my eyes at her dramatics. "I'm helping you because I hope you'll give me valuable information about the Minister, and I have no idea why you continued to work for the Laundry for so long when you could have been selling secrets to the highest bidder."

Selma hums. "Right. Okay. But the rest of you-"

"We believe in doing what's right," Kefilwe says, looking to Jaime, who nods.

"I've got this inherited duty, but yeah, I'd do it anyway."

"I just like people," Sam says, and Selma looks at me, waiting for a reply.

"This is literally my job, and Nicole's too-putting ourselves in danger for others," I reply nonchalantly. "I'm beginning to think it was what I was made to do."

Only Sam understands the weight that last statement holds. Selma still nods, smiling slightly.

"Well, that's what I mean."

"Let's get going down this tunnel," I say, not sharing her smile. "Time to stomp some mushrooms."

"Yeah, I wouldn't go with that as a catchphrase," Sam replies, and I scoff in a laugh. "Five, you take point. Run."

I head off, my visor on as I head into the tunnels, shuddering at the sight of more mushrooms lining the walls and ceiling the further down we go. Why did anyone think to biologically engineer mushrooms to do this? Why make something so dangerous, so terrible?

The same reason someone decided to bring back a ancient infectious disease that led to the apocalypse, I suppose.

As we head on, staying in the middle of the tunnel, too afraid to get close to the mushrooms, I find myself understanding why we chose this route. It's dangerous for us, but also to anyone who might decide to come after us. If someone did happen to see us and report it, then they couldn't come after us unless they had the proper equipment, and there is no visors left in the perfume factory.

This dangerous path, ironically, secures safe travel back to Abel.

The soft sounds of multiple pairs of feet running are the only sounds that reach my ears. With each twist and turn, I find more and more things for the corners of my eyes-things I know not to look at because I won't like what I find. Curiosity eats at me, but I ignore the gnawing in the back of my mind, knowing I'll thank myself for it later as the mushrooms grow larger and larger, taking up more space. I step on a few that take up the path, but nothing happens. I'm almost thankful that daylight is all we have to worry about.

"You're doin' well there, Five," Jaime says. "You're a natural with the visor."

"Thanks," I reply, my voice flat. It's not often Jaime gives out a word of praise, but down here, surrounded by all this, I can't really bring myself to recognize it.

"These tunnels twist and turn a lot, don't they?" Nicole asks. "You'd been running into walls for hours without those visors."

"And if we tried to make a light..." Selma trails off, her head turning to focus on something ahead of us. Out of instinct I follow, and gasp harshly. Up ahead is a body. It's a woman. From the smell her body has been here a few weeks. There is a flashlight in her hand. It's off now, probably because it ran out of battery power, but I know it was once on from the six-foot-tall fungus growing through her head.

"I thought zombification was bad," Jaime says, "but this might be worse."

I force myself to look away from the body as we pass it, trying not to think of how excruciating that must have been for her, how terryifying.

"Do you know how I knew this tunnel was here?" Selma asks after a minute of silence.

"Oh, please tell me it's because you love mushrooms and think they're 'fungis' to be with," Sam begs.

"Sigrid used to send people down here."

He sighs. "See? I didn't want to know that... Carry on."

"She'd tell them there was a way out. She'd send them down here equipped with boots and torches, told them they could have their freedom if they just walked through the tunnels, and then she'd wait at this end to hear the screams. I keep thinking I'll see a corpse I'll recognize. There were so many."

"And I thought Rux was evil," Nicole murmurs under her breath, and I bite the inside of my cheek, wanting to tell her that he is. Just because he's less terrible than Sigrid doesn't mean he'd not a bad person.

"She's a monster," Selma continues. "The more power she has, the more monstrous she becomes. I haven't done enough to fight her, not by a long shot, but I've done what I can. With what she'd do to me if she knew I could give her an immune baby-"

"You will never have to go back there, Selma," Kefilwe assures her.

Suddenly I hear a growl from of the connecting tunnels, the sound low and raspy and inhuman. I curse.

"With all the grimness, it's almost a relief to tell you, team, not everyone down here became a fungus-infected corpse," Amelia says, and of course she'd say that because she's safe in Abel and not here with us. "Some of them apparently became zombies. Oh, with fungus on them. So, you know, do keep running."

I pick up my pace, mushrooms crunching under my feet as I do so. The growl becomes growls, the sounds growing louder with each passing second. My breathing starts to get labored as we carry on, running and running and running. They should be slow. We should get out fine. I know the sound is amplified by the closed quarters but that doesn't lessen my anxiety any. This, here, knowing the zombies chasing us are here because Sigrid tricked them when they were alive-it makes me sick. It makes me angry.

They were innocent people, and Sigrid tricked them, led them to their death on a promise of freedom. Selma said she listened to them screaming.

All I can think of is Van Ark. It's something he would do. The only difference is Van Ark would do it because someone pissed him off; Sigrid does it because she knows if they don't die they will piss her off. Van Ark would kill them after they hurt his plan; Sigrid kills them before they get the chance to.

They're both sickening. My blood boils under my skin the more I think about it.

Van Ark's already died by my hand. I'm going to make sure Sigrid does too.

The zoms behind us snarl and groan, and I nearly trip over one of the larger mushrooms. Jaime grabs my arm to keep me stable. He looks back, sneering.

"Nothin' like being in the pitch dark with a pack of zombies followin' you and walls coated in deadly fungus around you, eh, Five?"

I force out a laugh. "I think I'd be worried if I could say there was something akin to it."

"I think a lot of the things you Abel people get up to are a bit like being in the pitch dark, being hunted by zombies and fungus," Amelia comments. "Selma, did you know that Dr. Lobatse could leave the Ministry territory at any time, but she has willingly decided to stay and treat patients because she thinks it's the right thing to do?"

Selma is quiet for a long time. "Has she?"

"Well, it is the right thing to do," Kefilwe says, and Amelia sighs.

"You see what I mean? Meanwhile, you, Selma-goodness knows what secrets you have for me about Sigrid-you are going to have a simply marvelous time with me at New Canton. My personal masseur can't wait to get his fingers into you. I've got roast quail waiting for your supper. Do you think you'd enjoy a jacuzzi?"

"I haven't had a bath in six months," She answers with a small laugh, but it fades. "Sigrid took my friend, Maria."

"We heard about that," Kefilwe says. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"She was immune. The Laundry helped her hide. That's how I got to know her. They found her because she kept switching jobs just before the mandatory blood tests. She tried to run and they caught her.

"Before all of this, she was a marine biologist." Her voice shakes. "She just really liked fish... and squid and plankton and whales-the ocean. She never wanted children. She always said that only people who really, really wanted them should have them. If she hadn't been immune Sigrid would have just sent her down here, I expect. Sometimes I think about what might be happening to her now. There's no way to find her. We tried a dozen different ways."

"So have we," Sam says. "We've been looking for where they might have them for months. They-they tried to take my daughter, and they tried to take Five's."

"I know. That's why I came to you." She glances around. "God, it's so dark down here!"

"So, so dark," I sigh, my shoulders dropping. "And it never ends."

•

"A psychoanalyst might call this observation overdetermined, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel," Kefilwe says, and Sam laughs joyessly.

"That's safety! Over there."

"A thirty foot climb up a sheer rock face, then safety," Nicole corrects, and my stomach turns at the thought of having to climb.

"And then massages and quail and jacuzzis..." Selma says, her voice tight.

"I also have a finely stocked wine cellar," Amelia says. "But then, that's the kind of person I am. As I understand it, most people think I'm terrible."

"I wish I were more like you," She blurts out, before sighing and wringing her hands. "I can't go. If I weren't immune, if I were just a tiny bit more terrible... She'd kill you, Sam. She'd never trust you enough to use you."

"I know," He says, not at all shaken by her words. This calmness his voice holds frightens me more than I'd like to admit. "I've thought about it, believe me. If I could find the babies by giving myself up..."

"They don't keep the men with the babies anyway. And there are a series of tests, holding areas, fertility treatment zones." She spits out those words like they're poison. "Amelia, I know what you've been trying to do."

She gasps in mock offense. "Me? Manipulation? I don't know what you mean."

"It worked, anyway. I wish I were like you, but I'm not."

"I know."

"The stuff you told Jaime to take, the GPS tag injection, that'll mean you can track me?"

Jaime nods. "Yeah, for months."

She straightens her posture. "I won't need months. I'll run as soon as I have enough to help you find them. And you'll come get me?"

"I will," Amelia promises. "Or die trying, and I'm not going to die trying. That's just not who I am. So this is as close to a cast iron guarentee as you are ever going to get this side of the apocalypse."

"We will come for you," I say. I hold my hand out to her and she takes it. "What you're doing-what you're deciding to do-thank you. You are very brave."

She smiles at me. "We've all had to be braver than we thought. Come on, then. Inject me. We've got just enough time to run back through these awful tunnels before I'm missed."

"And there will be roast quail and masseurs and so on when you're finished, Selma," Amelia says. "I personally guarantee it."

A/N: Here you go, guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Since it's almost spring break I'm going to try to write more so be on the lookout for extra chapters. Please be sure to vote and comment. Thank you and have a blessed day!