My eyes flutter open as I feel something cold brush against my heel. There's a muttered 'sorry' that's slurred from tiredness, and I rub my eyes and sit up, frowning slightly at the runner who's name I have yet to learn the name of.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," Caleb chuckles from a few feet away. "Although I guess I shouldn't say beauty, no offense."

I stick out my tongue and scrunch up my nose in response. I already know from seeing the others in the morning that I have the worst bed head in this building, but hearing it isn't exactly a joy to me.

"Oh, don't give me that look," He grins. "While I know Penelope would probably run away screaming because um... yeah, but I'm sure Sam would still think you're beautiful."

My eyes widen in horror and I whip my head around the room, sighing in relief when I spot the radio operator still asleep and drooling on his too small pillow. His bed head is almost as bad as mine, and my lips twitch into a smile.

I turn and send a unamused glare to Caleb, who is snickering. I cast a quick glance to the other people who enjoy waking up at obscene hours in the morning, but thankfully they're all too absorbed into getting ready to notice my one-sided conversation with Caleb. In fact, with the way they're moving along they almost resemble the zombies, just without the moaning and groaning.

'You're hilarious, truly,' I sign with an eye roll. 'And I don't like him like that.'

God, I can't be anymore obvious, can I? I think as a blush starts to creep onto my cheeks. Thankfully only a few candles are lit so there's little chance of the redhead noticing.

"Sure, and I'm not the most amazing person you've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Let's state some other facts that are obviously not true. Hey, doc, you got any false statements on hand?"

I glance at Maxine who is pining up her curly black hair while looking into one of the small mirrors onto the wall. She turns and blinks sleepily, and even being in the darkened room I can see the dark circles under her eyes. I guess with the thoughts of Paula, the search for a vaccine through Patient Twenty-nine's files, and still being a doctor has taken a toll on her.

"Hmm?" She questions with watching eyes, but Caleb only smiles.

"Oh, nothing. Just talking about Five's little crush."

'Keep on talking, Caleb. See what happens,' I warn, but either he doesn't see my hand motions or simple doesn't care because he shows no sign of fear or nervousness.

Maxine smiles, but it's stretched and forced.

"Do you need any help at the hospital today?"

"I always do," She answers. "It always seems like someone's getting a cold or spraining an ankle." Dr. Meyers turns her gaze to me. "Do you have any runs today, Runner Five?"

'Fortunately no,' I answer, and the two people near me gape in surprise.

"Fortunately?" The doctor repeats. "I thought you liked running since you usually don't have to work in the kitchens the days you have them."

'It's true, I do despise helping in that dreaded kitchen,' I shrug, 'but I want to a mission of importance. And that's not what I've been given recently.'

"Every mission is important. Even the supply runs," She insists.

'The past three missions I've had were me raiding Halloween stores even though we're only a week into October,' I scowl.

Maxine simply shrugs. "What can I say? Sam likes holidays; Everyone at Abel does."

"Yeah," Caleb agrees, "it helps us forget that eventually we're all going to be eaten alive by the walking dead, or as you like to call them, 'rotting flesh bags'."

'Yes, but there are other things I'd rather be doing on my runs,' I say giving Maxine a pointed look, and Caleb sighs.

"Yep. Leave me out of it, like always."

'Sorry,' I shrug not very apologetically, 'but it's not exactly like you've told me everything either.'

"What have I not told you?" He scoffs.

'What exactly your condition is.'

He goes silent at that, and avoids my gaze as I stand. I grab my shirt and pants-the pairs I don't use for running-and place my Winnie the Pooh bear onto my sleeping bag before going into the changing room built into the side of the sleeping area. After I change I glance into the mirror, to pull back my hair, grimacing at the few acne scars on my cheeks, but all in all I know it could be worse.

'What time is it?' I ask feeling too lazy to strain my eyes at the battery operated clock that rests on the far side of the wall.

"Half past five," Maxine answers before leaving the building quickly and quietly, and I internally groan at the knowledge that I'll have to help with breakfast soon.

Today sadly I have breakfast and dinner duty, since apparently I'm so good at cooking. I'm really not, actually. I remember before the apocalypse I tried to microwave a biscuit and nearly burnt the house down, and then the next week I got first place in the Home Economics test. My life is basically the definition of irony.

Well, it was until the apocalypse.

I slowly make my way through my maze of sleeping people, careful not to brush against them and wake them up the same way I was. I've learned over the past few weeks or so of sleeping in this building that a lot of people here are not morning people. There are a few who are down right monstrous in the morning and invoking their wrath isn't something I'd want to do, even if I could curse them out in sign language and they'd never even know.

I'm near the door, and I congratulate myself for being graceful enough to not make any loud noises or wake anyone up. Unfortunately while doing my congratulatory speech in my head, I fail to notice someone's leg sticking out way too far from their sleeping space. Once my foot hits that person's leg though, I notice.

The elderly man jolts awake-Greg, I think his name is-and his leg kicks upward making it impossible for me to attempt at catching my balance.

I fall forward and twist a bit on the way down, my right shoulder hitting the hardwood floor, and from the pain that bursts from it, I know I'll have a bruise.

"Damn, you fell hard," Caleb mutters while Greg looks around, still disoriented from being awoken so suddenly. I grit my teeth in irritation as another groan-one of tiredness-fills my ears.

"Five, what are you doing on the floor? Just the floor I mean?"

I push myself up using my good shoulder and look behind me, seeing Sam staring at me a few feet away, tangled in the middle of the maze of sleeping people. He runs a hand through his already messy black hair, while Caleb snickers.

"Five, here decided to be Humpty-Dumpty and take a great fall."

Sam's brows furrow as he glances at Caleb, then me, then back at Caleb again. "And you didn't help her up?"

"Nah, you only do that with your friends. When you're best friends you just point and laugh."

Sam squints at him with mouth slightly parted. "What types of friends did you have?" He quickly gets up, making his way towards me through the mass of sleeping strangers before helping me to my feet. He grimaces when I wince and rub my shoulder, but then he leans a bit too close for comfort. I feel a blush rising on my cheeks as I raise a brow in question.

"I know it's a bit early but since we're both awake might as well tell you now," He whispers. "Do you remember what Chris McShell said on your mission with him last week?"

I nod.

"Well, I told Janine about it and she's decided to put a little bit of an investigation on it. She'll explain it a bit more later, but surprise, you actually do have a run today."

My lips pull up into a smile. Finally, a mission of importance!

"And even though you don't think so," Sam continues, "getting outdated candy corn is the best thing you can do for Abel Township in October."

•

"Raise the gates!"

I grab onto my backpack strap as the gates open, and I can't help but grin at the thought of actually doing something important. Sure, it has nothing to do with Project Greenshoot, or a vaccine, or Paula, or Pro. Van Ark, or Patient Twenty-nine but hey, it's something.

"Runner Five, ready. Gates are open, covering fire and... go."

I race out the gates, my balance wobbling a bit since I have the head cam on for this mission. Since my last few runs have been to local part supply and candy stores I had no reason to really wear them, but I've also noticed I'm not wearing my normal headset today. Janine gave me the one I'm wearing now, although I'm unsure what's the difference between this one and my one except for the fact that mine is less clean.

"Have you told Runner Five what's happening today, Mr. Yao?" Janine asks in her professional tone of voice.

"Well, no," He answers. "I was thinking about it but then I remembered you seem pretty convinced I didn't explain things properly on that last electronic run with Runner Two."

"Yes, I head the delightful David Robinson will be coming out of the hospital soon."

I flinch. Damn, Sam. What did you do?

"I was not responsible for that," He argues in a low voice.

"If you argue with my direct orders, Mr. Yao, and confuse the runners making them more likely to run into hostile territory, you are responsible." The spite in her voice is more than obvious, but Sam obviously doesn't seem to care because he says calmly,

"Or another way of putting that, Janine, is that if you don't let me do my job properly-"

"Runner Five, we've fitted you with the headset that you took from New Canton base and added in addition our radios. We're hoping that-"

"Hey," Sam yells a bit too loudly for my liking, "no snatching the mic while I'm talking-"

"We're hoping that you might be able to pick up some useful intel while on a regular tech supply run to one of the nearby warehouses," She interrupts once more, and I can hear Sam grumbling in annoyance. "It's a simply mission, Runner Five, and if you get confused at anytime, just listen to my voice."

"Or my voice-"

"My voice," Janine spats before collecting herself. "Runner Five, run."

Yeesh, someone's cranky. But still I run, too happy about having a real mission to argue. Of course, it was nice making Sam and the other Abel residents happy, especially since I have these feelings for the radio operator, but even with those feelings and my sense of pride when he praised me for getting that awful candy corn... I still had those questions. I still have these questions, and I'd like to get some answers.

Even if it's to a new question like what does New Canton plan on doing to us here at Abel and why?

I spot a sports bra lying a few feet away, and sprint towards it before scooping it up in my hands. I don't understand why someone would just leave a sports bra lying around, but I've learned not to question it. I already have enough unanswered questions in my head.

Like why can't I ever find any of these in my size? I wonder before stuffing the clothing article in my bag.

"You're doing well, Runner Five," Janine says, and I smile as a small bit of pride wells within me.

"Hey," Sam cuts in, "that's my-yeah, you're doing very well, Runner Five. Everything within normal mission perimeters; Speed good; Two zoms behind you but you're outpacing them. See?"

He says that last word a bit smugly so I can only assume he's talking to Janine, but I'm a bit too distracted by growling of those two zombies behind me. My fingers twitch as they itch it wrap around my axe but I keep them from doing so, since I know Sam speaks the truth when he says I'm out pacing them.

"Yes," Janine replies lowly. "Moving on, it is rather troubling we have to resort to spying on other humans as I'm sure Runner Five agrees."

I nearly snort. I'm ninety-nine percent sure if this wasn't the zombie apocalypse, I'd be one on my way to being one of best private detectives because of how much I used to sneak around.

"Nonetheless, we have no option. New Canton set a deliberate trap for Runner Five, and apparently asked Mr. McShell to find a way to make the zoms attack specific human beings. We need to find out what their plans are."

"Aye, Janine," Sam says with a lighter tone of voice than the previous speaker, "as you keep reminding me, this was your house before it became Abel Township. Didn't you uh, know anyone from the New Canton compound then?

"Old castle-the Lord and Lady didn't invite you over for tea?"

If she was as uptight then as she is now I wouldn't think so. Can't really gossip with someone like Janine, and that is what people talk about over tea right? That's what the topic was when my mom was invited to meet anyone for coffee.

"I kept to myself, Mr. Yao. Before the apocalypse it was just about possible to live a quiet life." She sighs a bit wistfully. "I suppose it was too much to hope that'd I'd be able to live alone in an old farmhouse with thick, stone walls for long. Wasn't long before the hordes descended."

He hums in response. "Zombies."

"No, you," She spats, "and all these other people seeking shelter."

I scoff in offense. 'Really feeling the love, Janine.'

She simply huffs in reply, and I'm sure she's rolling her eyes.

"Hey, we've helped out around here, haven't we?" Sam asks. "We've grown stuff; Built stuff. Anyway, you're totally lying about that quiet life thing. I know your secret."

"My secret?" Janine repeats. It takes a bit of strain, but I can pick out a slight bit of worry in her voice.

"Yeah, I hear things, you know. I meet-I meet a lot of people in this position, and I talk to a lot of people." He chuckles. "And some of those runners when I save their lives, they're really grateful-the female runners especially. So grateful."

I raise a brow at the emphasis in those last two words. What does that mean?

"Grateful enough to... thank you politely, Mr. Yao?"

What does that mean?

"Yeah, pretty much exactly that grateful," He answers smugly, and I feel my lips curl into a sneer, but it morphs into a frown.

Oh, God. It's worse than I thought. I'm actually getting jealous. I sigh and mentally face palm as Janine starts to speak again.

"And they told you my... secrets?"

"Yep. We found your old photos. You had a boyfriend," He said in a singsong voice, "and you wore a bikini."

Well, now I know I won't have to worry about my crush on Sam because Janine is going to kill him. He will be missed.

"Ah, yes. Quite the deepest, darkest secrets you could possibly imagine," She answers sarcastically, with a sliver of... relief?

Maybe she's not going to kill him... If not she's at least going to threaten to.

"Let's just hope you don't go about telling anyone, Mr. Yao, for your sake."

Sam scoffs. "Or what?"

"Or I'll be forced to shoot you in the head."

Called it.

"Uh... okay," He says with fear intertwined in his voice, and I snicker quietly. "Uh, Runner Five, you should be coming up on that warehouse now-"

His voice is cut off as my headset crackles and a new voice-one filled with urgency and panic-fills my ears.

"Runners Forty-two and Forty-nine, fall back. Fall back and fire the flares. There's a swarm headed for you!"

I see a flare fired up from my right, and my breath catches into my throat as more join it, and I push myself to go faster as they all begin to fall, heading directly for me.

"That's great, guys!" The female voice praises. "Runner Forty-two, those flares are working just like we'd hoped. The zoms are attracted by the light and noise and away from you."

I know this voice. This was the voice that called out for Lem after he gave me his headset. He said her name when he talked to her.

What was it? What was it?

...Nadia.

"Oh, no," Sam groans. "Are they doing that on purpose?"

"I suspect not. They're using a rather clever concealment strategy. I wish I'd thought of it first."

'That's nice, Janine. We can steal the idea,' I say with gritted teeth. 'What should I do?'

I jump backwards as one of the flares lands near my foot, nearly burning one of my trainers, while another one lands near my side. I swallow thickly and sprint forward as fast as I can.

"Damn it," He curses. "The flares-they're all landing by Runner Five. Five, the whole swarms heading straight for you."

"Runner Five, don't panic, do run."

"Run!" Sam repeats.

I keep my pace steady, although I can't say the same for my breathing. It's erratic and uneven and my lungs are burning as sweat drips off my face. Some of the salty liquid gets into my eyes, and I rub my face against my shoulder in attempt to get rid of the sting.

I turn to the right as I see another flare, although I only see the heat glow from just above the trees, but nothing actually reach above it.

A part of me wants to sit and wonder but after deciding that's not the greatest of ideas and I continue running away from the flares.

"Woah, good shot, Runner Forty-nine!" Nadia excitedly squeals. "Took out a zombie with a zombie flare which then attracted other zombies to it! Way to go! Just like Lem would've wanted."

She goes silent for a moment. "Yeah, I miss him too."

I blink in confusion. Why can't I hear them?

Maybe that part of the transmitter got broken when Janine hooked up our radio to it.

"We're not going to put in a new Runner Thirty-eight, you know. We're retiring his number. He.. he was quite a guy."

"They're still behind you, Runner Five. Keep running," Sam instructs, and I push myself to go faster. My feet thud into the ground, each step sending a vibration up my legs and I know I'm going to be sore tomorrow. "If those New Canton bastards are targeting Runner Five on purpose-"

"Why would they be?"

"I don't know," He snaps. "Because they're evil?"

"No one's evil, Mr. Yao," Janine states calmly, and I keep myself from imputing my own opinion because I beg to differ.

"Well, how about those billionaires who went to those private islands at the outbreak of the plague and shot anyone who tried to come near them?" He argues. "Even obviously harmless refugees!"

"Very few people are evil," She says, correcting herself. "Our best hope is to try to understand. If they're targeting us they're doing it for a reason."

"Good work, guys," Nadia says. "Zombies decoyed into empty territory."

"Runner Five-"

"They're heading away from you," Says Nadia.

"There are more heading towards you."

I internally groan. 'Should I keep going forward then?'

"Yes-"

"No," Janine says quickly. "Run towards the New Canton runners. It's the only way to escape."

My eyes nearly bulge out of my head. 'You mean circle around and hope none of the zombies see me?'

"Yes-"

"Are you crazy?" Sam just nearly screams. "Run away! Away from New Canton."

"This is exactly how Runner Two ended up in the hospital, Mr. Yao."

"And the last time we sent Runner Five to New Canton you nearly got her captured, Miss De Luca!"

'Both of you for Christ's boat's sake, shut up,' I tap into the mic, breathing heavily from both running and my annoyance. 'Either you tell me where to go or I'm going to pull a Gabriella and Troy scene and go my own way.'

There's a moment of silence before I hear harsh whispering, and this is the moment I have to physically force myself not to face palm. Then the two of them say in perfect unison,

"Runner Five, run away from the zombies!"

Now I face palm.

•

Sweat covers my body, soaking my hair and clothing while I struggle to breathe properly. Each step, each breath, each half thought curse leads me farther away from the zombies, though, so I keep pushing.

"Okay, okay," Sam says with slight relief. "You seem to be getting clear of them."

"While staying transmitted in with New Canton. That's good work, Runner Five," Janine praises, and I give her a half-hearted thumbs up through my head cam.

'Thanks. Can I slow down now?'

"No, Five. We don't want those zoms to catch up to you again," Sam replies. "And that's hardly the main point here, Janine."

"On the contrary. It's mission critical-"

"Looks like these flares will be a useful tool to us in the future," Nadia interrupts. "Yeah, the council says we're running low on supplies they're hoarding up at Abel Township."

I snort. Hoarding? The closest thing we can say we have hoards of is pumpkin seeds for the garden, since we didn't have time to plant them and will have to wait until next year.

"No, I don't trust those bastards either. They're probably the ones that let Lem get bitten... Yeah, we plan on raising them next month."

The coms go silent, and while I keep my feet moving, my mouth drops open in shock.

"Runner Five, you need to get back immediately-"

The sound of a door opening cuts Janine off and a voice, breathless and joyful, is heard.

"Sam, Janine, Runner Five, Sarah just told me something that might give us more information about Patient Twenty-nine. There's a way we can learn more from his files."

A/N: And here's that. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and please be sure to comment and vote because I always appreciate it. Hope you have a blessed day!