My head pounds. My world is still dark as the sounds of cutlery clinks against glass, and idle, unrecognizable chatter fills me ears. I hear jazz music.

I blink several times, but my world remains dark, empty.

Where am I?

"You know that thing, Five, where you've woken up in bed with your eyes closed, warm and snug, and you have this feeling that not everything is right, but you can't quite remember why? So you want to keep your eyes closed for just a moment longer because when you open them, it's all going to come back to you?" Moonchild asks in the darkness, her voice echiong in my mind as she remains unseen.

I feel softness on my cheek, like a fantom feeling, and I realize she's using my mind to make it seem like she's brushing my cheek. "I'm very sorry. It's all about to come back to you. Five, four, three, two, one."

A scream reaches my ears, following by a zombie growl. A gunshot sounds out, the splatter of blood on the wall, the thud of a body hitting the floor.

"This is taking a very long time," Someone says, and I try to move. My world stays dark, my arms won't budge, the feeling of coarse rope rubbing harshly against my skin.

"We're in this together, Five," Moonchild says, her voice firm but soothing. "Here's what happened: you passed out, and I was in charge of your body for a bit. Sigrid couldn't tell. It was all quite confusing.

"You're tied to a chair. That's not great. You're blindfolded, which is tricky because neither of us can see now, but I took over your eyes when you passed out, so I've seen a bit more than you have. They took your headset, but I grabbed your minutature earpiece from your backpack and dropped it before they took that away from us. Your earpiece is under your right foot. If you reach down slowly, you should be able to touch it, but don't do that yet!"

"For my demonstration to be effective, we'll have to wait," Sigrid says. "Princip and I both ate zombie infected food. I survived. Princip had to be shot. But you might think the virus in my food was a fake. As a second demonstration, you have all seen me inject both Runner Five and my underling with zombie virus with a syringe. My underling will be fine. Runner Five will not."

Every muscle in my body tenses.

No.

No! No! No!

"Oh, yeah. She's infected you with zombie virus. I guess I should have started out with that. But there is a possibility you're immune to it because of what Van Ark did to you... I mean, you are immune to every other way to die. Maybe the zombie virus will not be able to hurt you either."

I don't like how unsure she sounds as she says that.

Suddenly I hear a door swing open.

"Ooh, Minister!" Valmont says, his words  slurring together. "Minister! Minister, am I late for the party? Have you drunk all the champagne? I'm sorry. I was detained with two Swedish... well, needn't go into the details. But... oh. What are you doing here? Saucy fun with the ropes."

"Sit down, Mr. Valmont," Sigrid hisses.

"Oh my God. Is that Runner Five?"

I know exactly why Valmont's doing this. A distraction. I reach down and grab my earpiece, cursing internally as the chair creaks. It's a soft sound, but so loud to my ears. It takes some maneuvering to get the earpiece in, but I manage.

"Five!" Sam yells. "I'm managed to hack into one of the cams into that room. You're going to be okay. Amelia's helping."

"Under duress," Amelia grumbles.

"Five, we need a distraction, and I think Valmont's giving us one."

Glass shatters, and I hear the squeak of wheels turning.

"Oh, dear," Valmont says, being loud enough to make sure I hear over all the hushed giggles and chatter about his entrance. "Was that a special food trolley I knocked towards Runner Five?"

"That's the poisoned food. Five, kick upwards now!"

My foot flies up, the toe of my shoe meeting with the trolley. A loud clang resonates in my ears, followed by glass shattering and screams of terror.

"Yes!" Sam cheers. "Half of them have been splashed with zombie food. Five, stand up. I know you're blindfolded and that chair's still tied to your arms, but this is all we can do for now."

I stand, bending over slightly because of the chair. "Be my eyes, Sam."

"Okay. The door's open. Okay, okay, uh, turn left, walk fourteen steps. Good. Now turn right. There's a long corridor ahead of you. Just run!"

I do, my heartbeat thrumming in my ears, mingling with sounds of screaming from the people in the banquet hall. I try to keep my breathing steady, knowing exertion could make me change faster. Right now I feel okay. I want to believe I'm okay, but I can't. I've never been tested. I don't know if Van Ark's treatments made me immune to the zombie virus. It's a hit or miss. I have just as much chance to turn here in this building than I do to make it out alive.

I try to count my steps, regulate my breathing. It's so hard to keep my balance, and Moonchild's quiet, meaning she's probably disappeared back into my mind to hibernate for who knows how long. I wish she hadn't, for once. She's a different personality, coming up with her own ideas. Maybe she could figure out just how Sigrid knew I'd be here, and how she knew how to do whatever it is she did to me.

Moonchild would figure it out, but she's not here, so I have to just go with what I know. She must not believe me to be her Alpha. If she did, she wouldn't have infected me, so I'm right to say she thinks I'm a regular Moonchild Syndrome sufferer. Good. That's one less thing I have to worry about. I still don't know how she knew we would come, or I would come, really. She must not know about Janine because she would have sent for her as well.

I suppose she thought like Amelia did, that I would try to be the hero, that I would run off and reach too high. I hate that I've become so predicatable. Leaders aren't supposed to be predicatable.

I let out a squeak when I brush along the side of the wall of the corridor. Without my sight I can't tell how or where I'm running.

"Sam?" I say weakly as everything fades into quiet.

"Don't worry. I'm here," Sam says. "Step to your left a bit. There's a table in your way and I don't want you to-"

I cut him off with a yelp when something hits my leg.

"-run into it," He sighs, and I mutter out an apology. "It's-it's fine. Don't-Janine, we've got to get that blindfold off her."

"Yes, Janine," Amelia pipes up. "Why don't you go help Five with it? That way you could stop threatening me and I could leave."

"Amelia, I say this with the greatest respect," Sam says with an exasperated sigh, "and I'm glad you're helped us with trying to find the babies, but seriously, shut up. We're trying to save Five's life here."

"And the Minister has the cure to the zombie virus," Janine says, and Amelia hums.

"That is a surprise. I'd heard a few settlements were making a little progress, but all my intelligence suggested that your Veronica was our best chance."

"I thought so too. I will need to reevaluate resource management on that front, but this has larger strategic implications. The Minister can move aginst us now in all sorts of ways. She can advance her troops through zombie-infested zones we'd treated as off the field of combat. She can promise the cure to mercenary groups to lure them to fight for her."

"She can keep the babies in the middle of an industrial area full of zombies," I pant.

"In a working steel factory run by the bad part of A.N.N.I.E.," Amelia adds. "Yes. She holds all the cards now."

"Then we will find a way to create some new cards of our own. One thing at a time," Janine says. "Runner Five, you are nearly at the end of the corridor. There's a wall with coat hooks on it. Slow down, but still take a few steps forward..."

"She's very calming in a crisis, isn't she?" Moonchild asks, and I jump in surprise. "Authoritative. I'd like to do a birth chart. There's Ares in there somewhere, for sure, but maybe also some Leo?"

I roll my eyes, grateful that Moonchild is back but also wishing she would actually be helpful instead of going into full hippie mode. I need her to be smart, not talk about birth charts.

"That's it. You're at the wall now. Lean forward until you feel your head touch the hook." I do as told, shivering as the cool metal touches my skin under the blindfold. "Now bend forward."

It's hard to bend much since this chair's already got me in that position, but I manage, blinking at the harsh light that greets my eyes when the blindfold comes off. I grin at being able to see again.

"Yes! You did it!" Sam cheers.

"That is only the beginning, Mr. Yao. Her arms are still tied to the chair. She is still in the Minister's lair behind steel security shutters, infected with the zombie virus."

"Yeah, well, uh, one thing at a time, like you said. Plus I'm trying not to think about her being infected. Brings back a lot of... unpleasant memories." I hear him shudder. "A-Anyway, Runner Five, see that passageway to your right? Run own it now. Go!"

I take off, running at a quicker pace now that I can see. I see no guards or servants down this corridor. I don't even know if Sigrid knows I'm gone yet because of what I did in order to escape. Because of the chaos, I'm sure some of those people will die, even with the cure available. I feel sad for them, that they will die that way. I felt bad knowing that Sigrid was going to poison some of them with it in the first place. But it had to be done. They were all going to watch me turn, and if somehow I am immune, then Sigrid would have just shot me.

I couldn't risk waiting for someone to come save me. Ellie can't blow her cover and Valmont took a big risk in creating that distraction in the first place. As long as they are okay, then that part of the escape plan was a success. I can only hope I manage to make it out of here before I'm caught or before I turn.

I feel fine for the moment, although the ropes are rubbing against my skin and the area were the syringe was injected into my arm throbs. Sweat drips down my face, but I'm sure it's from exertion and not rising body temperature. I feel fine. I'm fine.

I'm fine.

"Sam, how're we doing?" I pant after I reach the end of the passageway. "Any plan?"

"Uh, well, you're well away from the banquet hall, but this whole place is shut down tighter than Steve's trousers. Trying to get you out is going to be... tricky."

"So no plan as of yet, got it."

"Don't worry. We're going to get you out of there."

"More to the point, we need to find a way to get me out of here," Amelia says, and I clench my jaw. "I refuse to stay here and be captured. I will summon my own means of escape if you're not getting on with it. And I'll happily tell Sigrid where you are in exchange for my freedom."

"There will be no need for that, Ms. Spens," Janine says, her voice teetering on irritated. "Mr. Valmont used an alternate ID to enter this building. Your entry has not been detected. Look at the feed from the banqueting hall."

I hear a soft click before chaos echoes in my ears. Screams and shouts of scared people, crashing sounds of culterly and tables breaking and being flipped.

"Give me cure!" A woman shouts. "Give it to me. That dressing got into my eye! I'm infected!"

"No," A man shouts. "Give it to me!"

"There's enough for everyone!" Sigrid shouts, trying to calm the raging crowd. Her words fall on deaf ears.

"You like that, don't you!" Someone spits out.

"For goodness' sake, stop pushing!" Sigrid yells.

"Minister! Minister," Ellie yells, "have you found Runner Five yet?"

I scowl. Why is she bringing me up in conversation?

"Hey, it's Ellie," Sam says. "She'll do something to help us. Just watch."

"Minister, in this difficult time, have you considered the power of poetry?"

"Er... maybe not." He clicks off the broadcast, with silence filling my ears once more. "Five, we will come up with a plan. Uh, but there's a zombie shambling along the corridor. Looks like one of the serving staff. She must have tasted the poisoned food before it was set out."

I hear the low rumble of a growl, but the zombie hasn't turned the corner yet. "Okay, tell me where to go."

"I mean, she's only a shambler, but you're a sitting duck in that chair. Well, uh, standing. But it would be quite easy for you to sit down."

The zombie turns the corner, spotting me.

"Sam!" I yell, and he winces.

"Sorry. Sorry, I'm rambling. Sorry. Uh, okay, uh, take the corridor to your left and run!"

•

"Uh, yeah, that's great, Five," Sam says with a sigh of relief. "You've lost that zombie."

"It scarcely matters now that Five is infected, of course," Janine says, and Sam stays silent. I suppose it's good thing Janine is treating he situation as if I am certainly going to turn. I know Sam is still clinging to the hope that I'll be okay.

I'm feeling extremely warm, with sweat dripping down my skin, soaking my clothes and the ropes.

Fevers. It's one of the signs of turning. That and a cough. I'm not coughing yet. I may still be okay.

I have to be okay.

"Five, Dr. Lobatse has a plasmapheresis team standing by in Old Town," She continues. "When you get out, we will be able to prevent you from turning."

"And do we have an evacuation plan yet?" Amelia asks. "Or are you just going to make me sit here and watch Five run around tied to that Louis Cannes like the world's most devious player of musical chairs?"

"I'm working on it! This building may be a repurposed university college, but the security is still tight. Five, I may need to ask you to fight eight guards while tied to a chair. Do you feel capable of that?"

I pause, trying to remember if any of my training with Tom could help me in that situation. "Uh..."

"Janine, Ellie's still talking to Sigrid, and Sigrid's looking really angry. Do you think she suspects her?" Sam asks, and I squirm where I stand, trying to get out of these ropes. My sweat has only made this worse, with the ropes sticking to my skin and burning painfully when I try to wiggle out of them.

"Check the audio feed. Miss Maxted is a valuable ally and friend. We must protect her if we can."

There's a click followed by screams.

"'Where Alph, the scared river ran/Through caverns measureless to man,'" Ellie quotes. "Don't you think that precisely describes out situation, Minister?"

"Form an orderly queue!" Sigrid orders, ignoring her. "There are enough vials of the cure for everyone!"

"Or, for example, the known ryhme, 'Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream.' Doesn't that feel applicable to this current moment? To precisely where we are right now, Minister?"

Sam clicks the audio off and hums. "Has Ellie... I mean, she's talking like Five when she's going through a Moonchild episode."

I blink in surprise. "I talk?"

"Sometimes. Not often, but yeah."

Amelia sighs, her tone condescending as if we're all stupid children. "She's trying to send you a message, you halfwit."

"Amelia, I swear if you don't shut your mouth-" I threaten, only to be cut off by Janine.

"Oh, Miss Spens, you're right. You may not need to fight your way out after all, Five. Mr. Yao, if you can locate a map of this college on your system please. Runner Five, that zombie serving person is catching-no, has caught up to you. Although you are infected already, her bites still damage you, and you're vulnerable. I know it's tempting to sit down, but you must keep on running. Go!"

I hear the zombie behind me, and I groan before starting off again, breathing heavily and sweating terribly. That zombie behind me is slow, but so am I. I mean, I'm slower than I would be if I wasn't running while tied to a chair. I wince as my muscles begin to cramp from these positions. I'm sure I'll be sore for the next few days because of this.

Still I run, ignoring the pain as heat simmers under my flesh, my body growing hotter with every step. I taste the salt of my sweat on my tongue when I lick my lips, my breaths coming in quick gasps as my heart pounds into my chest. My lungs burn, my back aches, my legs scream to slow down, to stop as panic rises more and more as my mind comprehends and processes the situation I'm in-how bad this looks for me.

I'm scared.

But I am losing that zombie, fortunately. Even though it's newly turned, it's slow and has trouble maneuvering around the tables and wall decorations. I turn a corner, thankful that this hallway is empty. All the hallways have been, surprisingly. I suppose the Minister's using all her staff to try to detain everyone to the banquet hall. Things can turn bad extremely fast if someone turns and bites another person before they get shot. Even with the cure, people's panic will get the best of them. It almost always does.

"Sam," I say, "please, please tell me you've got something. I'm losing that zombie, but I'm not sure how much longer I can keep going like this."

"I know, love. Um, alright, alright. I think we've got it," He says, and I pump my legs faster, grateful that some type of plan has been thought out. I crane my neck to see the zombie losing ground between me and it. "Ellie was giving us a clue. Oh, you clever Ellie knowing, your history and stuff. We've got a way out for you, Five!"

"Praise God."

"Runner Five, there's a river that runs under the college. Miss Maxted was hinting it to us in her mentions of poetry," Janine explains, and I'm patched back in to the banquet hall.

People are still screaming, although I suppose it's been only about fifteen minutes since I ran out. Good, it means I have maybe an hour before I turn, although that's more of a guesstimation. It's hard to say for sure. It's different for every person. For some it takes hours, others it takes minutes.

"Do you know the Carly Simon song, Minister, 'Let the River Run'?" Ellie asks, and she's cut off by Valmont's annoyed sigh.

"If they haven't got it by now, Ellie, I think you've annoyed us all for nothing."

Sam clicks off the audio, and I hear Amelia scoff.

"He always thinks he's so clever."

"Five, that river will be your fastest way out of the college. It won't be long before you begin to turn, so we must use the fastest route to get you to the plasmapheresis equipment," Janine states, her words cold and clipped. "You need to run along that corridor and down three flights of stairs, and head down the stone passageway. Using the river will evade all of the Minister's security, which she's just sent out for you."

"She probably just remembered the last time she tried to infect me and then left me to my own devices," I reply.

"Run!"

I roll my eyes at her order, as if I wasn't doing that already. Still, I run along the corridor, making sure that the zombie is well out of my sight before I descend the stairs. It's hard, with me being bent over and my arms tied. I have to go slower than I'd like to keep from falling and splitting my head open. Each step along the stone path echoes through the dimly lit stairway. The tempurature drops the farther down I go.

The cool air feels nice against my overheated skin. My lungs burn. I find myself gasping for air, my mind reeling as I try to count my breaths. In for four, out for seven. It keeps me from panting too much. The faster I breathe, the faster my heart beats in my chest, the faster the virus spreads through my body. This heat-I haven't felt this type of burn under my skin since Nicole first showed up, when I would overheat and bleed. Those times were from my body changing due to Van Ark's treatments.

Simon did tell me that time would tell what Van Ark did to me. It took a long time for it to happen, but it did. After they stopped-that final time when I tried to end my life in the armory-I became able to heal at an accelerated pace. This burn, this pain, is almost what it feels like in comparison, but I know it isn't the same, not really.

I make it to the bottom of the stairs and run along the corridor. I don't know if there are any cameras down here. It's so dark that I doubt Sam can see me if there are any. But, in the flickering light of candles mounted on the wall I see a iron ring to my left. An idea sparks in my mind, and I hook one leg of the chair through and tug, snapping the wood that connects the seat of the chair to the back of it. It falls to the ground, scratching bits of my skin as the back slips past my arms. I sigh in relief at the ability to stand upright, even though it kills my back to do so.

I can hear the river flowing up ahead, and eventually I see it, following the stone path towards the flow.

"I've reached the river," I say, "I've gotten rid of the chair, but my arms are still tied."

"Very good," Janine says. "I have also made my way through the palace. I am waiting for you further down the river."

"Uh, we have a bit of a problem," Sam says nervously. "I don't know if you can see it, Five, but you're running out of walkway."

"I anticipated this. I'm sorry, but this is going to be difficult. Five, you'll have to run through the river. It passes through a series of low, arched tunnels. In each one, there will be no room for you to raise your head and take a breath. I'm sorry to ask you to do this. It is the only way."

Sam chokes. "She can't do that, Janine! Her arms are still tied. She'll drown!"

"If she wants to keep herself from turning into a zombie, she'll do it, Mr. Yao," She snaps. "There will be air pockets every thirty to sixty seconds. The cold water will also slow the progression of the virus in your bloodstream. Jump into the water, Five. It's the only way."

I gulp, running towards the end of the walkway towards the river. I don't want to do this, but I know Janine's right. It's become clear that Van Ark's treatments haven't made me immune to the zombie virus. If I stay here, I'll turn.

So I jump into the water, every muscle in my body tensing from the cold. It steals my breath from me, but I don't stop. I continue onward, taking a deep breath and readying myself to go under.

"Ugh. Water again. Do you remember that Comansys ship, Five?" Moonchild grins when I flinch. "Be sure your sins will find you out."

•

"It's alright. I have you," Janine says as she pulls me from the river. I'm drenched, shivering from the cold. That's a good thing, I suppose. The water broke my fever, but it will be back. She pulls the ropes from me, and I give out a relieved noise as I work out my stained and cramping muscles from being tied up. That relief only lasts for a moment, and Janine notices. "You look nervous. It's alright. By your vital signs, you have at least another forty-five minutes before you become zombie."

"Janine," Sam cuts in, "remember how we said that precision isn't as comforting to other people as it is for you?"

She nods. "Thank you. Five, you have... all the time you need."

I laugh, my teeth chattering as water droplets fall from my hair. "I really wish that were-"

I'm cut off by own coughing, and I feel the blood drain from my face. Sam sucks in a sharp breath, and I don't want to picture the look his face might have. Janine frowns.

"We may have less time than I thought. I have a simple plan, even better than the plasmapheresis machine. Roaul, the chief of police from Worthington-on-Sea, has stolen away from the party with more than a dozen ampoules of the cure. We will run down this tunnel, which will bring us up in town, and track him."

I nod. "Okay, but if I start to turn before then... you'll make it quick, right?"

I hope she'll be able to kill me. I don't want to be like that zombie shepardess who had regenerated healing after death.

"There's no need to think about that," Sam says, his voice wavering. "You're going to be fine. We're going to catch Raoul and get you the cure."

"Oh, yes. He's a 100-carat idiot," Amelia says. "You won't have any trouble with him... Sam, did you see that?"

"What?"

"It looked like... it looked like there's something following Five in that tunnel."

High pitched laughter reaches my ears, and I take a step towards Janine, who looks down the tunnel in confusion. My heart stops in my chest, dread filling every atom in my being.

No. Not now. Not this.

"Be sure your sins will find you out."

A/N: Another cliffhanger! I know how much you all love those. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please be sure to vote and comment. Thank you and have a blessed day.