Eternal life. Freaking eternal life! Of all the things that scientists could try to mess with, it had to be the lifespan of a human person. I understand you don't know until you try, but some things just weren't meant for us to mess with. Why do you think we can only travel so far into the ocean, or only survive so long in space? Because there are some things we can't understand and are not supposed to-not in this life anyway.

"Uh, Five?"

I look up from my sleeping bag, and staring blankly at Summer as she gives me a raised brow in confusion.

"I've called your name like three times and you didn't answer."

'Sorry,' I shrug. 'I was just... listening to the rain.'

She turns to look out of my tent opening, watching the flap open a sliver to reveal the raindrops that are beating down on the dirt. I grimace as puddles are already starting to form and I pray that the rain doesn't seep through the tent and ruin what few possessions I have. I sit up quickly and grab my Bible, shoving it deep inside my sleeping bag for precautionary measures.

"Did you listen to the rain before?" She asks, and I stare blankly and tip my head in question as if to say, 'Before what?'

Summer sighs. "You know, before the fall of civilization. Is that something you... did?"

I shake my head in reply. 'No, usually when it was raining I'd read, or sleep. Usually sleep.'

In all honesty I dislike the rain. Really what's to like about it? It's cold and wet. It does have its usefulness, especially now since we can't rely on running water very much. The irrigation system here at Abel does just enough to give us clean water to shower in and do the laundry. Rain water helps with the plants and what we use to drink, but still it isn't exactly something I like.

'I hope it stop soon though,' I say. 'I have a run tomorrow and I really don't want to ruin my only good pair of running shoes.'

"Maybe you'll find a pair when you're out on your secret mission," Summer jokes. "You're good at finding things. I bet Waldo never stood a chance around you."

'Why do you think my mission is secret?'

"Because your last two have been," She deadpans, and I shake my head.

'They have not. They were med runs.' The lie is smooth and clean, but Summer doesn't look convinced.

"I'm not an idiot, Five. I know when a secret's being kept, but if it has something to do with the doctor then I know it's nothing that could put the Township in danger." She shrugs as I stare with a neutral face, my only movement being me blinking every so often.

'I wouldn't put Abel in danger, not while I'm living here. That's... moronic.' My brows furrow together when she hums softly in reply.

"Yes, very." She looks at me with her head cocked to the side like a puppy. "But whatever these missions are about, they seem to be bothering you."

I raise my hands to deny it, but she cuts me off.

"Once again, I'm not an idiot. You're good at hiding your emotions, but I've learned how to read people. My sister was good at keeping a straight face so I learned pretty quickly." There's a short pause as she stares at me curiously. "Did you have any siblings?"

I blink. 'No.'

Liar.

'Not anymore.'

"I know what you mean," Summer says with a bitter laugh. "Brooklynn would have been turning fourteen next year in February. And Canyon would have turned seven last month."

I cringe at her words and she looks at me with a small smile.

"I don't expect you to tell me about you sibling or siblings. I know most people don't like thinking about the past, but I just want to know, how old would your brother or sister be?"

She turned fourteen in June.

'I can't even remember.'

•

Shots firing, gates raising, and me running. The routine is something I almost look forward too.

Except that it's still muddy and I've not even been running for a full minute yet and there's mud covering my shoes, socks, and ankles.

Ew.

I adjust my headset, sneering at the added weight and pressure it puts on my head. I think it's a head cam, but it's a lot bigger than the ones I used at the AMTB, or Mullins.

Well, whatever it is, it's got me off balance. I can't run as quickly as usual without feeling like I'm going to tip over like a toddler just learning how to walk.

"You're-you're sure you haven't made a mistake?" Sam questions softly.

"Take a look for yourself," Dr. Meyers replies.

"So-so we're supposed to be looking for the records of-"

"Patient Twenty-nine-the patient Paula told us about on the recording-Patient Zero."

I raise a brow in confusion. I thought she had Patient Twenty-nine's files. I gave her that file on all the VS72 patients.

Maybe there's more or something.

"W-wait, so Patient Twenty-Nine is also Patient Zero?" Sam questions with a voice riddled with confusion. "I-I know I was always going to fail my engineering degree but even to me that seems like... that's bad math."

I huff a laugh at his cluelessness.

"He was named Patient Twenty-nine in the records," Maxine explains. "We call him Patient Zero because we think he was the first person to become a zombie."

'Yeah, that's what Mullins referred to the person to first turn-Patient Zero, but that was when they were still trying to figure out where the virus originated from,' I cut in, but Sam doesn't tell the doctor my words. Instead he just lets out a noise that tells me he's thinking.

"So... what are we going with? Patient Twenty-nine? Patient Zero? Or the first of the living dead?" He asks that last question in a deep loud voice that makes me roll my eyes as a small smile tugs on my lips.

"Patient Twenty-nine," She answers without even a hint of amusement. "Now just look at the files."

"'Kay, they're all in order with photos attached. Patient Twenty-seven, Tom Evan; Patient Twenty-eight, Pavarti Shock-wow... look at that photo," He mutters. "Hello, Pavarti."

Oh my God, I think with an eye roll of annoyance and... something else. I mean, it's something, but I'm not sure what. I haven't felt it in a long time. No. No, no. Cut that out right now. I'm not jealous, especially over someone who is probably dead. I'm not. I'm not...

Aw, crap. I am, aren't I?

"That's not..." Dr. Meyers starts but her voice trails off. "Oh, yeah. I hear that. A-anyway, just carry on."

"Patient Thirty, John Bishop; Patient Thirty-one-"

"Notice anything?"

"Well," Sam answers, "apart from Pavarti's um-"

"Patient Twenty-seven, Patient Twenty-eight, Patient Thirty, Patient Thirty-one-"

"No Patient Twenty-nine," Sam exclaims, his voice sounding almost like a child's. I might've found it cute if I wasn't overpowered by the feeling of dread that's begun seeping into my veins. "What, did you take the file out already?"

"No, but someone did. Someone knew this this file was important and got there ahead of us."

Jesus on a freaking boat!

"I think I have an idea who," Maxine continues, "and that's what we need Runner Five to check out today."

Why can't they tell me this before I go on my missions? It would be nice to know where I'm going before because I honestly thought I was looking for... ingredients? Is that what you'd call it when making a vaccine?

I shake the questions from my mind as I bend down to pick up a... is this a freaking mace?

You've gotta be kidding me? Who the hell leaves a freaking mace lying around? Who the hell even uses a mace?

...Oddly enough I could envision Sarah using it.

I shove the weapon in my backpack, praying it won't poke a hole in the thin fabric.

"Runner Five, did you just pick up a mace?" Sam questions. "Who the hell leaves a mace just lying around?"

'That's what I just thought.'

"I guess you're wondering how I saw that since there are no cameras around that area you're in. Well, because it's a very special mission assignment today we've given you a very special piece of kit."

'You mean this overly large thing you put applied to my headset that makes me feel like I'm going to tip over?' I ask with a straight face, it only changing when I wobble a bit.

"Er, uh, yeah. You're wearing a head cam," He says. "Mostly so the doctor can take a look and see what you see when you're inside a building and partly because it's just cool. Right? Am I right?"

I shake my head, regretting it when I nearly lose my balance, but I smile nonetheless. Although the smile falters when I hear Maxine snickering at me as I stumble around.

"Janine was kind enough to fix it up for us so uh, we're doing some testing for her too," She explains. "Although I'll have to see if she can make it any lighter for you, Five, because you look like you're going to fall flat on your face any minute."

I roll my eyes at her statement, even though it is very true and I know I probably look like a moron.

"And uh, where are we headed today with this amazing piece of particularly priceless technology?" He asks. "I say 'we', I mean Runner Five because you, the doctor, are too valuable to risk and I-"

"You're valuable right here."

"And I have trouble with lefts and rights, and finding my way anywhere, and geography in general."

'That really isn't reassuring to me, the disposable runner.' While I know I can easily be replaced, I still like to believe that every life is still a life-that it matters. Including my own.

"R-right. Sorry, Five," Sam apologizes. "Don't worry. I'll keep you safe. I promise."

'I plan on holding you to that promise.'

I hear a breathy chuckle in response.

"Anyway, like I was saying, valuable right here," Maxine continues. "We're heading to the Keeley Center on the far side of town. Take a left and then head straight for a bit."

I nod, turning into the top quiet town. My pace is leisurely since the only zom in sight has no legs. My lips curl up into a sneer at its attempts to pursue after me.

Ugh, I hate crawlers.

"I-it-was that why?" Sam stutters, and the doc sighs.

"You know I've been in here when I get the chance listening to Paula's message again. That doesn't mean I'm not thankful for your gift, Runner Five, but this is the only place I can get privacy." She laughs, but it's clearly forced. "I don't exactly like nearly breaking down in my tent where everyone can hear me."

'It's fine,' I tap hastily on the mic, although it does hurt a bit that she doesn't like to use my gift.

"Runner Five said it's fine, and it is. You can come and listen as-as often as I can make space for you."

"One night I-I left it playing and at the end of the recording there's a last track," She states as I my brows rise in curiosity. "I thought it was blank, but actually there's a gap-maybe fifteen minutes, and then there's... well, I'll cue it up for you so you can hear it yourself.

"Runner Five, keep going. Make another left once you get to that brick building and you'll be heading in the right direction. I'll find Paula's secret message and play it as soon as I have it."

You can't just fast forward it a bit? I know there's a way to do to it. I did it so I could listen to the bridge of that one song in High School Musical 2. 'Bet On It' I think it was called.

Whatever. I bend down, nearly stumbling again because of the head cam, and grab kit that looks like eyeshadow.

Sweet. Now I can have dazzling eyes while I slam my mace into the side of a zombie's face.

I airily chuckle at my own thoughts, but push it away as I continue running, my steps wobbly but swift enough that I don't have to worry about affecting the mission too much. As long as things go smoothly and I don't run into a swarm of zoms everything should be fine.

Yeah, I give it about twenty minutes until something goes terribly wrong.

"Okay. I've got it," Maxine says. "Listen."

"I haven't got much time," Paula's voice comes through my headset. It sounds almost like she's whispering. Her volume is just barely above it. "Listen, something weird is going on. We're down to our last few people here. They choppered some out yesterday and said they'd come back for the rest of us, but so far we haven't heard anything.

"And this morning I woke up early; Can't sleep with that blasted noise. I found one of the researchers burning his notes." The spite in her voice is clear as day. "I stopped him; Asked him what the hell he was thinking. Even if we die here we leave them in water proof bags so someone else might find them."

That's smart. The water proof bags is smart too, although when I was there I saw no water proof bags, in fact according to Dr. Meyers there was little of any use to the notes I found. The only thing that meant anything was what Paula left for her.

Which means they must've gotten rid of a lot of the evidence.

"And he says that Pro. Van Ark at Pandora Hayes had been on the radio overnight and told him to destroy them-to destroy all evidence that we found that the zombie virus is linked to our VS72; Our cell regeneration research. It... makes no sense."

There's a good moment of silence before Paula starts to speak again.

"That's not true. It makes one kind of sense," She reasons. "Van Ark is trying to cover something up. So look, try the Tessen-Dory lab first, but that's Van Ark's lab. If he's told us to destroy our research, he'll have told them to get rid of theirs as well.

"So otherwise, go to the Keeley Center-the government place. They were supposed to look to just look over our files and return them but I know that more than once they actually copied files before they gave them back."

A sly smile stretches across my face. Those sneaky little-

"Try there. We need to find Patient Twenty-nine in the VS72 trial. If you can find out what was different about him, you might find out how all this happened."

There's a click, and after a few seconds of silence Sam breaks it.

"Hmm, okay. That's simple enough... Did she say they were being choppered out? Well, you don't think that-"

"You know we can't think that, Sam," Maxine cuts him off with a sad voice.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I know. Sorry."

"Runner Five's almost at the Keeley Center now. Sprint, Five, and I'll direct you when you get there."

Ah, yes. Sprint, Five, like it's an easy thing to do with an added eight pounds strapped to my head.

I start at a quicker pace, gradually picking up speed until I'm sprinting down the street. My feet create a quick tap-tap-tap rhythm against the asphalt. The head cam thankfully doesn't bounce against my head, but my backpack bounces against my back; I'm tempted to take out the mace up to ease my paranoia of suddenly being impaled by multiple spikes.

My thoughts wander to this Van Ark person. Paula mentioned in the beginning of her message that we should take our notes to him if he's still alive, but in her new discovered tract-that proves he was still alive at that time-he has something to hide. It's safe to assume that he won't be much help. If he's still alive today, he'd probably burn the notes right in front of me if I were to bring them to him.

Hopefully he's working on something else or is somewhere else. I'd rather not have another obstacle that needs to be taken down, especially one that's a living person.

My eyes widen as I approach a tall building-one that looks like the ones in movies with the rich, super attractive CEO and pretty temp who always get together. Its windows are in deep need of cleaning though, and the closer I get the more blood I see on the outside wall.

Ew.

"Good. We're picking you up on your head cam well, Runner Five,"
Maxine says. "Go ahead and go through the front doors of the Keeley Center, and I know it's a revolving door but you don't have time to play around in it."

"Oh, come on," Sam groans. "When's the last time anyone's gotten to play around swinging through a revolving door? She's even wearing a head cam so we could have the fun with her."

"Sam."

"Right, right. Sorry. Carry on."

I slowly walk through the doors, looking at the desk just a few feet in front of me with its non working laptop.

I go over there and shove in my bag anyway, careful not to damage it with the mace.

There's a staircase that is grand and curves upward, but I know that probably doesn't have anything there that will be much help. The upper floors will need to be used by those staircases that are small and hidden and very, very creepy when you're alone, cold and dark.

"I know it's enormous, Five, but I should be able to help guide you 'round," The doctor says. "No elevators, of course so head to the back of the building and you'll find a door that leads to a staircase. Go upstairs to the third floor."

'On it,' Is my reply as I start running. Usually from what I've seen the staircase is somewhat close to the elevator. In this case it's only a few yards away.

I open the metal door, cringing at the awfully loud squeak that comes from its hinges before I hastily make my way up the stairs. I keep a hand on the railing to keep me from losing my balance and to keep myself from running too fast since there is a very sharp weapon and a salvageable laptop in my backpack.

"Huh," Sam mutters.

"What?"

"Did you see something... moving in the outside cams? Just over there?"

Freaking called it.

"I didn't see anything. I-I was focusing on Runner Five's head cam."

'One question, am I going to have to kill it?' I ask as I continue racing up the stairs.

"I don't...No, look. There it is again. See? Look, there by the trees. Can't see it when it's not moving but," He sighs in frustration, "it... it looks like a man in dark clothing. Do you see the outline?"

"Zombie?" She guesses, and Sam gives a noise that tells me he's not totally convinced. "Okay, Runner Five, you're on the third floor now. Do you see just in front of you is an office labeled Dr. Sumuka."

I walk up a bit further after exciting the staircase, nodding when I see said office. I grab the door knob and twist it, a bit surprised that it was not locked. With a shrug I head in, looking at the room that's way too neat for a normal person.

"Yeah, he was Paula's liaison with the government here at the Keeley Center. I need you to check through his files. We're looking for anything that's labeled VS72 or Pandora Hayes. It might take awhile."

"No," Sam says with urgency, "we haven't got awhile. Look."

Maxine gasps. "It's a-"

"That is a man moving by the trees. He's signaling to that helicopter."

There is a helicopter flying around and you're just noticing?!

I hear the swirl of the blades of it from outside, but it's muffled from the thickness of so many walls.

"Something's coming," Sam warns. "Whatever you're gonna find, Runner Five, find it fast and get moving."

In a split second I'm stumbling around the office, opening every drawer and flittering through the many pages of documents and files. Within a few minutes the once spotless room is scattered with papers. My hand pulls open a drawer of a filing cabinet on the right wall, the force of it nearly pulling drawer completely from the cabinet.

I pull out paper after my paper, my breathing becoming more erratic and panicked as I find nothing. I find the same thing in the next drawer, and the next.

The fourth though, is locked. You don't just lock one draw.

I take my axe off my back, swinging it against the lock of the drawer. I yank  it open with my free hand and put my axe back in it's place before immediately starting my search. Papers fly around in haste, and my hands throwing page after page of useless information. But then my hand pauses for a split second as I spot the number twenty-nine. I crinkle in my hands in a desperate grip, nearly laughing when I see the name Patient Twenty-nine.

I don't even bother to wait the extra few seconds to shove it in my backpack as I race out the door, nearly slipping on a random piece of paper.

"It's landing," Maxine breathes. "It's... it's not from the Military. Look at it. It's-it's painted with the Pandora Hayes logo. How are those guys even still alive?"

"They had a lot of money," Sam answers. "That's what it takes to survive."

'Can we talk about this when I'm no longer in potential danger?' I ask, my fingers tapping quickly on the mic.

"Don't worry, Five. You're going to be fine," He promises. "What have you found?"

"It looks like-yeah, there it is. The copy of Patient Twenty-nine's file. Name: Arthur Gurckin. Nothing obviously strange on it. Bring it back, Five. We'll see what we can work out."

"Better head towards the back," Sam instructs, and I'm already heading down the stairs to get out the back way. "There are three people from that chopper coming in the coming in the way you entered the building."

I race down the hallway, cringing when I hear the screen of the laptop in my bag crack as the mace's spikes slam into it.

I hear Maxine start to stutter. "I-is that-"

"Runner Five, two people are heading towards the back of the building; You need to get out of there now. Run." Sam's voice is loud and panicked making me run as fast as I possibly can with a mace in my backpack and a added weight on my head. I reach the door and race outside, my feet hitting the ground for only a second.

I plant myself against a building to keep from being seen. My chest rises and falls rapidly as I look at the woods about twenty yards away.

'Sam, what should I do? Tell me where to run,' I say, swallowing thickly.

"I only met him a couple of times at Christmas parties but-"

"Runner Five, you're doing good," Sam interrupts Maxine's incoherent mutters. "Just... get ready. They won't spot you if you go now. Now! Now! Now!"

I sprint off, my feet hitting the grass just outside the city, mud splashing up to my knees but I ignore urge feeling.

"Out into the woods. Run!"

I breathe heavily as my legs carry me closer and closer to the woods; I don't dare look back. I jump behind a tree and lean against it for a few minutes to catch my breath, but I only stay still for about thirty seconds before taking off again, wanting to get as far away from them as possible just in case I was seen.

"I'm sure that's him in the chopper," Maxine states. "Look at his face... That's Pro. Van Ark!"

A/N: Yeah, here's another chapter for ya. It's really long, oops. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and please be sure to vote and comment! Thank you and have a blessed day.