I step out of the shower, having throughly scrubbed myself to rid any of the toxins that might have clinged onto me during my time stampeding through that canal. Exhaustion clings to my body, my mind screaming for sleep, but I know I can't get rest just yet.

Jody, Sam and Nicole are busy setting the living room to have a short meeting about how we can contact Pit Viper and how we can buy out both our and Selma's contracts. Amelia is back in New Canton. We tried to get her to stay until morning, but she kept saying she wanted to get back to her memory foam mattress and goose feather pillows. When Sam and I asked if she could please just stay one night, she replied by saying that she would not stay but the two of us could definitely come back to New Canton with her, and her bed had room for both of us. This, of course, made me go off and let out a stream of curses, which only made Amelia chuckle before saying her goodbyes.

Because she is no longer in Abel and we still need to have this meeting, Sam is busy seeting up equipment to talk to her. Since this meeting is going to be somewhat large, with a lot of our runners in it, the coms shack was a no go and why we chose to have this meeting in Janine's farmhouse.

Although I really do wish the meeting had been pushed until morning. I mean, it is morning, technically, but I doubt many of the runners are going to be happy to be woken up at this hour. Maxine's currently doing that now. It's hard to be mean to her since she is a Abel's primary doctor and therefore not someone you want to sass at, unless you're me.

I head into the changing area and slip on some semi-clean clothes before stepping out and tossing my sweat drenched, blood-stained clothes in one of the hampers. Seeing the blood sends another stab of guilt through me for letting Peter shield me, and I clench my jaw in anger at Sam for telling Peter he needed to shield me. Maxine I understand, but me...

I know we want to keep my immortality a secret, but I don't want to make someone else feel unecessary pain to do so. I was willing to tell them if it meant not putting Peter through that alone. That wasn't fair, and I plan on telling Sam so.

I head out of the showers and towards Janine's farmhouse, and I wonder how she would feel about us using this equipment in her house. I suppose it doesn't matter. She's gone, and we've heard nothing from her and we probably never will. A part of me thinks she's never coming back, possibly because of her own choice, possibly because she can't. I mean, we've gotten along fine without her. She isn't really needed in order for Abel to survive, but we still think about her.

She's been gone for over ten months now. It's weird to think about that.

When I reach the farmhouse, I head to the living room. A lot of runners are already there-Summer, Peter, Paula, Tom, even Milo. None of them say anything as I enter, but all their eyes fall on me. I quickly take a seat on the floor. My cheeks heat up at being one of the last ones to show up even though I am Head of Runners, but I keep quiet and nervously run my hand through my damp, tangled hair.

"Okay," Sam says, "equipment's all set up. Can you hear me, Amelia?"

"I can, but I'm wondering why this couldn't wait until morning. While you Abel lot don't seem to care much for your looks, I do need my beauty sleep."

"We're not happy about bein' awake right now either," Jody says, rubbing her eyes and placing her hands on her hips. "But if we want to buy out those contracts, we have to make a plan, and we need to make it before Pit Viper reaches Selma. As I recall, you were the one who convinced her to go to Sigrid, and you promised we'd come for her as soon as we could."

She sighs heavily. "Yes, yes, my memory of that terrible fungus infested mission is very clear."

Sam sits down beside me, taking my hand into his. I let him, even though I don't look at him. "So what should we do?"

"I've never been able to get much information about Pit Viper. As I said before, nine of the fifteen people I sent to them were murdered, and those that weren't only came back with notes saying the contract had been bought out and I had no longer need to worry about them coming after me. The people I sent in said the person they talked to wore a mask and didn't say much, so I can't tell you much about them."

"What did you use to buy out your contract?" Jody asks.

"Different things here and there-technology, essentials, favors, secrets. Usually I sent in my people with an offer, and the ones that came back would tell me if Pit Viper wanted something else. It wasn't often they did. You know the type of strings I can pull." Her voice holds an air of pride, and I resist the urge to roll my eyes.

"And what could we give them that would convince them to sell out two contracts to us?" I ask, and Sam squeezes my hand. I notice Peter glancing down at our joined hands, a frown of confusion pulling at his lips.

"I don't know," She says. "You do have enmorous labs under your township. I'm sure there's dozens of valuable items you could trade in from there. But I'll leave you to figure that one out. I do know the directions to get to their HQ, if you'd like me to write them out for you."

I blink. "Well, yes, that would be appreciated-"

"Good. Now if that's all you needed from me, I'm going to go to bed. I'm sure you Abel lot can think of a plan without me. I'll have someone bring in the directions for you tomorrow. Ta-ta!"

"Wait!" Jody yells, but the only response she gets is a soft click before silence. She sighs heavily, before turning to us. "Well, it's obvious this meeting isn't as formal as I'd like it to be, but I called you here because Selma, the woman that went back to Sigrid to help us find the baby factory, is now on the run and has a Pit Viper contract on her. We can't go after her without buyin' out that contract first, or we risk leadin' them right to her. Since we're buyin' out her contract, it only makes sense we buy out our own as well, since Pit Viper isn't goin' to stop until we're wiped out.

"Since we're plannin' on buyin' out our own contracts, we need to formulate a plan on what we want to pay them. Amelia was right when she said we have valuable things in the underground labs, but we need to make sure we choose somethin' that we also can afford to lose."

"We could maybe barter with the seedbanks we have," Summer suggests, and Jody makes a face.

"I'm unsure if that would be enough to buy them out. Food may be an necessity, but is it somethin' valuable enough to buy our a contract?"

"There's probably some med tech down there we could use as a bargaining chip," I say. "If we need to I could go take a look down there tomorrow and see if I can find anything."

"But how would we take it with us when we go to the Pit Viper HQ?" Milo asks, and I cringe when he says 'we'. There's no way he's going to that HQ.

"Not all medical devices are large," Paula answers, "but they are sensitive. We'd have to make sure they're working properly, and with how long things down there have been, it may take a few days to find out if it is."

"We don't have a few days," Jody says, frustration swirling in her eyes. "Selma needs us now, and we promised we'd come for her as soon as we were able to." She sighs. "It's pretty well known that Abel's labs have valuable things within them. We can tell the Pit Viper assassins that we will give them just about anything they want from those labs to buy out our contracts."

"What's to say they'll not believe us if we don't have anything with us when we go there?" Maxine asks.

"They might not. I'll send one of you down there tomorrow to possibly get something we can use as a downpayment. But along with finding what we want to give them in exachange for buying out the contracts, we also have to decide who we'll be sending on this mission to make the deal with them."

I immediately raise my hand. "I'm Head of Runners. It's only fair that I go."

"You do realize you being Head of Runners may give them more reason to kill you," Tom says. "Sigrid hates you. I wouldn't be surprised if the contract on Abel's runners stated that you are specifically a target."

I bite the inside of my check, hesitating for a moment before answering. "Maybe, but Janine made me Head of Runners because of the fact that I go on these types of missions. It wouldn't be right for me to opt out because I have a title."

A leader doesn't send out other people to do their bidding when they're perfectly able to do it themselves.

Jody nods. "Okay. So Callista is heading out on the mission to make the deal with Pit Viper. Anyone else want to go with her? This isn't the type of mission for one person to go in alone."

My eyes widen in horror when Milo starts to raise his hand. "I'll-"

"I'll go," Peter interrupts, and Milo flinches back slightly, before scowling at being interrupted. Jody nods again.

"Okay. Good. Anyone else?"

"I'll go," Paula says, and Maxine lays her hand on the redhead's arm, who sends her a small smile before turning back to Jody. "The three of us seem to be the hardest to kill. We have the best chance of making it out alive."

Milo starts to raise his hand again, but Tom puts his hand on his shoulder, shaking his head at him. The teenager clenches his jaw, but says nothing, accepting the denial. I've never been so thankful in that moment, and I know I'll make it up to Tom for sparing me an arguement with my son over this.

"Okay then," Jody says, sounding more and more tired with each word. "Hopefully by tomorrow we'll have those directions from Amelia. Sam, make room for this run on the schedule. We'll head out in two day's time."

He nods, his face determined.

"Alright, with that being said, you all are dismissed. I'm sorry we had to wake you up at this hour, but I'm glad we were able to settle this quickly. I'll call one of you later today, during an appropriate hour, to tell you when to go down into the underground labs to find something to help in convincin' Pit Viper to let us buy back those contracts. Have a good rest of the night-er, morning."

We all stand, and Jody mutters something to Sam about leaving the equipement here for now. He nods, seeming actually relieved that he doesn't have to deal with it right now, and we start to head out. I pause only a second later, pulling my hand from his. He gives me a questioning look.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, uh, nothing. Just-"I look back at Peter, who's walking toward the dorms, a cigerette and lighter in hand. "Um, I'll be right back. You can go and start getting ready for bed."

Sam blinks. "Oh. Um, a-alright. See you in a bit, I guess."

"Yeah," I say quickly, reaching up on my tiptoes to give him a quick kiss that lingers for just a second longer than normal. He's smiling when I pull away and turning around, heading after Peter. He hears my quick footsteps, and turns around, giving me a small smile.

"Hello there, Five-o. Not ready to go to bed yet?"

"Not just yet," I say. "I just wanted to say thank you for volunteering to go with me to meet up with Pit Viper."

"Well, can't let you go alone, and I knew from that look you gave Milo that there was no way you were going to allow him to go with you," He replies nonchalantly, and I let out a soft laugh.

"Yeah. So, are you okay?"

"What do you mean?"

I smile nervously. "Your-your back. You know, the whole knives thing that happened earlier."

"Oh!" He says, as if that is something you can just casually forget. "I'm fine. I was already healed before we even got back to Abel."

I nod, relieved the pain didn't last too long for him. "Great. Well, uh, I should probably head to bed. I told Sam I wouldn't be gone too long."

I turn and start to head off, but I stop when Peter calls out to me.

"Hey, how's your hand?"

•

I freeze, my blood turning to ice in my viens as I turn around and force a confused smile.

"My what?" I ask coyly.

"Your hand," He repeats, his eyes darting down to it, and I instinctively pull it closer to me. "I see you don't have any bandages on it."

"Why would I need bandages on it?" It takes a lot of effort to keep my voice from shaking.

"Because when you grabbed that knife you grabbed the blade of it."

"No, I didn't."

He seems taken aback by that, but his face quickly hardens, blue eyes searching my face for something I can't describe. "I distinctly remember seeing blood on your hands."

"It was yours. I was the one keeping you upright for a good minute while you were recovering after being stabbed in the neck, remember?"

I can see his quickly growing frustration, but I cannot tell him about my immortality. As angry as I am with Sam about what he did, me telling Peter about me would undermine all that, and I would hate for him to be upset with me right before we go on an extremely dangerous mission. I'm sure Peter would be angry at me as well for letting him go through that pain alone, and he is also going with me on that highly dangerous mission.

"Callista, I saw it. You grabbed the blade."

"No, I grabbed the handle," I say, feigning confusion. "Why do you want me to be hurt so badly?"

"I don't," He says immediately, looking almost offended that I would suggest such a thing. "But I saw it. Why won't you admit-"

He cuts himself off when I show him my palm, perfectly fine. There's a faint burn scar there, already fading, but I doubt he can see that in this light. He looks absolutely horrified, and I can see the fear and confusion in his eyes.

"I'm fine, Peter. You lost a lot of blood tonight. You're not remembering things right."

He shakes his head. "I-but you... are you..."

"Am I what?" I ask, daring him to say it. I know he won't. After a long second of silence, I speak again. "I need to go to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

I don't give him the chance to reply before I'm walking off. My heart pounds in my chest, my pulse fluttering in fear that he may follow me, demand to know the truth.

He doesn't. He hasn't let it go, but he knows deep down that if I'm lying, then there's only one explanation, and even though he's curious, it's because he doesn't think that could actually be the case. Tom's words made him wary, but he believes deep down that they're just looking too much into it. Now that, to him, there's an actual chance of me being like him, it terrifies him.

He doesn't want anyone else to be like him. He doesn't want anyone else to have to go through this-the weight of having eternal life on earth.

He won't say anything, not until I fulfil my vision of telling him the truth, whenever that happens to be.

When I reach the coms shack, Sam's already changed into his night clothes and is getting ready for bed. He offers a soft smile as I close the door, but it quickly fades when I don't return it.

"What's wrong?" He asks, and I sigh, stroking my fading scar on my palm with my thumb.

"Peter noticed my hand. Had to convince him I never got hurt in the first place."

"Huh, that's surprising since you were willing to confess to him and Maxine while running from that assassin."

I stiffen at his tone, and my lips curl up into a sneer. Looks like I'm not the only one who was hiding emotions during that meeting. "You were the one who said he'd have to be a human shield for Maxine and me. You know I didn't need his protection."

"You did," He replies, eerily calm. "Just because you can't die doesn't mean you can't get hurt."

"I get hurt all the time."

"Exactly!" He snaps, his voice cracking, and he looks away when my eyes widen in shock at the sudden change in tone. He takes a moment to regain his composure, and I watch with concern when he looks back at me. "You get hurt all the time, and if they were to know that you have accelerated healing, then Jody and-and everyone else would start asking you to put yourself at risk even more. I don't want that, Callista."

He sounds desperate, as if he doesn't think I'll understand. I sigh heavily, taking a step towards him. "I don't want that either. But I don't think it's fair-"

"What's not fair is how you are have accelerated healing because Van Ark experimented on you against your will. Peter had those done to him willingly."

I'm so shocked I take a moment to reply. "He regrets that and we both know it."

"It doesn't take away from that fact that he still chose it and you didn't. Why should you put yourself even more at risk because of something you didn't choose to have?"

"Because not doing so is selfish," I say.

"Then be selfish for once! Please!" Sam walks over to me and grasps my hands in his, holding them tightly. "Please, Callista."

I stare at him in silence for a long minute, my thoughts swirling. I can't be selfish. I'm Head of Runners. I'm a leader. I'm Runner Five. The only reason we've gotten this far is because I, and others, have not been selfish. I feel my stomach tightening, and I bite my lip.

No one is going to die because of this-at least, I don't think anyone will.

Unless they believe they have to die in order for me to live.

I won't let it get far. I'll say something if a mission ever goes that far. But for now...

"Okay. I... I'll work on keeping myself safe."

He practically sighs in relief, and I hug him, taking a moment to just feel his warm body against mine.

"I'm still going on that mission to meet Pit Viper, you know."

"I know," He whispers, his fingers tracing patterns on my back. "Just be careful."

"I will be. But..." I pause, "I'm scared of what we might see."

"I am too, but if we can buy out that contract, then we can find Selma and go after her."

"Yeah..." I yawn, exhaustion hitting me full force. I look up at Sam, who looks as equally tired as me. "I love you."

His lips quirk up, and he looks pleasantly surprised by my sudden words. "I love you too."

Pulling back, I take his hand and drag him over to the cot, flopping down onto it and pulling Sam with me. I let a soft 'oof' when I feel his weight on top of me, and I laugh.

"That was a dumb move."

"Just a bit, yeah," He agrees, chuckling a bit. He pushes himself up a bit, still overtop of me, and brushes my bangs out of my eyes. I lean up and press my lips against his, sighing as his chapped lips move against mine. I wrap my arms around his neck, content to be here with him. I feel warm and safe, like all the outside problems-the multitudes of them that pile up with every passing day-have been thrown out the door just for this moment.

My hands trail down his shoulders and arms before coming down at my sides, but he quickly grabs my left hand, his thumb running over the ring on my finger. He kisses me harder, and when we pull back to catch our breaths I grin at him, feeling delerious from his kisses and from exhaustion. The silly half smile he gives me makes me lean up to capture his lips again, feeling my mind become free of all other troubles.

I move my lips down his jaw, his skin warm against my lips, and I hear Sam let out a stuttering breath.

"Uh, C-Callista," He stammers, and I hum, not stopping my ministrations. "As much as I'm enjoying this, I'm extremely tired and I'm worried my arms might end up giving out on me."

He laughs nervously when I pull away, my half lidded eyes meeting his. His face is flushed and he sends me an apologetic look, but it quickly turns to one of shock when I wrap my arms around his neck and flip us.

The sudden shift makes me dizzy, so I have to take a moment before I can say anything. "Better?"

Sam seems just as dazed as I am, but he nods, and I take that as a sign to capture his lips again. His hands grip my hips, his finger digging into my skin when I deepen the kiss. I resist the urge to grin when he sighs in content. When I pull away I let my forhead rest against his, trying to resist yawning.

"Are you about to fall asleep?" He asks in amusement.

"No," I lie, tracing my fingers up his arm, his shoulder, up his neck to cup his face. "I'm just taking a second. Kissing you gets overwhelming sometimes."

He snorts, a lazy smile on his lips. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah. You know you have a powerful effect on me. Surprised you haven't used that to your advantage."

"Oh, I may just do so now that I know." He leans up and kisses my neck, and I close my eyes. The sensation of his burning kisses on my skin are the only thing keeping me from falling into unconsciousness. "Callista."

"Hm?" I reply, shuddering at his breath on my skin, and then whining when he pulls away.

"We need to go to bed."

"No," I say, resting my forhead against his again.

"You can barely keep your eyes open."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I say with another yawn. "I'm wide awake."

He rolls his eyes at me as he runs his hands up and down my sides. "Well, I'm not, and I need to go to sleep because when I get up I have to change the scedule around to place the Pit Viper run in during a time where no other runners are in the field so you're top priority."

"I'm always top priority."

"To me, you are."

"You're top priority to me too," I yawn, kissing him again. I smirk when he kisses back. "And you like kissing me."

"Oh, I definetely like kissing you, and doing a lot of other things with you, but at the moment I like sleep more."

"Ouch," I say with mock offense, and his smile grows. "I'll remember that."

"You'll probably agree once you lie down and close your eyes." Sam cocks his head to the side, his hair getting into his eyes, making him look incredibly attractive. "Besides, didn't you say my wish was your command? Right now I'm wishing to go to sleep."

"Fine," I sigh, flopping off of him before scooching in, letting him wrap me into his warm embrace. "But you owe me."

"I owe you?" He raises a brow.

"Yes. It's not often I get into the mood to make out with you."

That makes him laugh. "That's definitely a lie."

"It is. Still I want you to kiss me in the morning after you fix the schedule."

Sam nods. "I can do that."

"Good. Now go to sleep since you're so tired. I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart. Goodnight." He presses a kiss to my forhead, and then goes silent, falling asleep almost immediately.

I feel the darkness pulling at me, and it's hard to not just fall into it immediately. With Sam no longer providing a distraction, I'm forced to think about what we're planning, what we're going to do, what could happen. Pit Viper may accept our deal, or we may be killed-or somewhat killed. Paula has accelerated healing just like Peter and I do because of the zombie virus and plasmapheresis, but we can't really tell to what extent it goes to.

But they both think they're harder to kill than me, meaning they'll both most likely stick out their necks to keep me safe.

And I promised Sam I'd keep myself safe, so there's nothing I can do about it.

Sam pulls me closer to him, burying his face in my neck. I can feel his breath against my skin, and I blink away the tears of early guilt as the darkness of slumber finally drags me down to its depths.

A/N: Here you go, guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I've decided to dedicate it to yordanoseyasu32
Please be sure to vote and comment. Thank you and have a blessed day!