I've decided that this has to be a seriously messed up dream. It has to be. I'm not New Canton's Runner Five and my name isn't Chrysalis. And apparently according to everyone else it's not October, either; It's the middle of September.

The past. My dreams are always in the past.

Although this isn't exactly a memory like most of my dreams are. I know nothing of this place, and trying to find the north-west tunnel is a complete nightmare.

"Runner Twenty, report to the north-west tunnel," Nadia says through my headset. She pauses and growls softly when she gets no reply. "Runner Twenty!"

"I'm here. I'm here," Another voice, presumably Runner Twenty, replies. "You don't have to shout. I requested this mission to the Keeley Center. I'm hardly going to be late to investigate my old offices."

Keeley Center... I visited it in August... That must be why I'm dreaming in the past... because this is a dream. It has to be.

"Sorry," She apologizes. "It's just... Runner Five's going to be here any minute."

"Wow. What did I do to warrant the big cheese?" Runner Twenty giggles gleefully. "Big cheese... why cheese? Cheese isn't really scary or important. Big shark would work better; Big rhino? Although I suppose cheese is scary if someone is wheeling it down the road at you."

I snort. My subconscious makes up the funniest things.

"Not that I'm saying Runner Five is scary," She continues, "more like impressive or maybe intimidating."

I see a girl maybe in her mid twenties jabbering on and I immediately know this is the girl I'm apparently going on a mission with. Short black hair pulled into cute little pigtails with skin paler than mine-oddly enough. I didn't even think that was possible. I can only see one side of her face but I think I can see freckles splattered along her nose.

I slowly start to approach her as she continues to ramble.

"Runner Twenty," Nadia sighs.

"Yes, that's a good word. Intimidating. In-tim-a-dat-ing."

"Runner Twenty." Her voice holds more aggravation now.

"Lem always said Runner Five seemed kind of-"

"Archie!" She snaps, before quickly composing herself. "Runner Five is here now. Look to your left. No, your other left."

Archie's blue eyes sparkle when she sees me, and she beams so brightly it nearly hurts my eyes. "Ah, Runner Five-Chrysalis Gracier-good to see you again."

Really? That's the best fake name my mind could come up with? Chrysalis Gracier?

"I was just coming up with words to describe you. Want to join in?" Archie asks, but I don't respond, not wanting to get used to having a voice only for it to be snatched away when I wake up. "No? Okay."

"Runner Five and Runner Twenty, mission to the Keeley Center," Nadia announces. "Nothing too taxing. It's just five kilometers and we're light on zombies today. Should be an easy run there and back. Open the tunnel!"

I hear a loud groan of metal as the tunnel is opened in front of us.

"Set off the noise makers to the west!"

Loud booming noises sound into my ears seconds later, and I shift a bit uncomfortably at my mind's active imagination.

"Go!"

We take off, and I'm honestly surprised at how real this all feels. Almost too real to be honest- the pounding vibrations as my feet hit into the ground, the wind whipping my pony tail against my back, the slight chill in the air causing my skin to prickle-but I simply pass it off as me overthinking this-something I've never had the ability to do in my dreams before.

Through the corner of my eye I see Archie watching me and when I turn to give her a raised brow she smiles nervously.

"So, Runner Five, you're interested in this mission?"

I want to respond but I'm unsure how. I don't know what this 'mission' is about so honestly I'm not, but even if I wanted to tell her that I'd have to speak, and it's already bad enough I get dreams of my past where I had my voice, so talking here and now is not something I wish to do, but I can't sign her an answer because I don't remember how.

And my mind may not have her knowing sign language...

"Ah, I know. No chatting on the mission; No unnecessary clatter to the airwaves. Protocol. Responsibility," She then shrugs and adjusts her backpack. "I don't know. It's fun to talk on missions, isn't it? I like it. This is how Runner Thirty-four and I started dating. We did break up after a few weeks and then he got... eaten. But still it's fun to find out about new people, or at least you can find out about me."

I simply nod in response as she forces a smile. "You can tell me if I need to be quiet."

There's a hesitant tone in her voice, and by the way if wavers oh-so-slightly I can tell she's afraid of annoying me. Even if she is a creature of my own subconscious I don't want to be rude, so I simply shrug in response. Archie grins before sweeping her gaze over the sights before us.

"No zombies about, aye? Do you think the weather effects them? There was a woman in G-12 who used to be a meteorologist. She thinks there are fewer zombies when it rains heavily for three days. Rot sets in or maybe there's a certain air condition they don't like? We need to study it more. I said I'd help her.

"I liked working with Christopher McShell. Remember him? Yeah, I remember you two would always get confused since we both call you Chrys, although we called him Chris with an 'I'."

My eyes widen a fraction at that. I went on a run with Chris about a week ago, so I guess that's why he was mentioned.

"Hey," She says suddenly, her pigtails bouncing, "want to swap stories about the apocalypse? I'll start. I was doing my post-doc in the University with an attachment to the Keeley Center two days a week. That's where we're going today to get equipment.

"And I was doing a bit of time in the labs of Pandora Hayes researching some crazy things to make mice regrow their legs," She snorts loudly. "I know, totally insane fairytale stuff. Also the mice had to have their legs cut off. We had death threats from the mice liberationists."

Now it's my turn to snort, and the look of pure happiness that appears on Archie's face is so priceless I almost wish she was real.

"But when everyone started to go crazy with the growling and the... lurching and you know, crazy, me and my boyfriend, Peter, just decided to stay inside. Our flat was on the top floor of the building. We cleared that whole floor of the zombies, put out buckets to catch the rain, made two or three raids to the supermarket, grew a little garden. It was quite nice, although a lot of our friends were dead.

"We decided to come to New Canton when it got rainy and cold; England is so rainy. Peter works in the New Canton gardens. He's seeing one of the girls there now." She giggles. "They are so cute together with their earthy fingernails."

Suddenly her smile drops and her brows knit together. "Earthy? Groundy? Soil...y? English is so funny."

Archie continues to babble on about words and boyfriends and other things that I'm barely paying attention to. Why this girl is a part of my dream I'll never know, but then again this dream is different than the others I've had.

My breathing is steady, although there is a few small beads of sweat forming against my forehead, and I'm very glad I don't have the straight-across bangs that my running partner has. The feeling of the hair sticking to my forehead like that would drive me insane.

I can't wait to wake up and head back to Abel and see what other leads we can find. The closer we get to finding a vaccine-if there is one-the closer I can stop asking so many damn questions.

I'm still wary at the belief of finding a vaccine, but the more I see and find the more open to the thought I become.

"Look, do you see it?" Archie says, gaining my attention. I look at the building she's pointing to. "There is the Keeley Center-that big building in the middle of the grounds with the trees to the side."

It's just like I remember... I think, but then I narrow my eyes at said building.
Actually, it's not.

There's detail there my brain didn't pick up. The way that one tree is tilting slightly or the bright yellow color of that patch of flowers near the entrance.

Maybe I forgot?

"It's so pretty," She giggles, pigtails bouncing, "and it hasn't crumbled like some of the buildings s-"

"Runner Five, Runner Twenty, stay alert," Nadia interrupts. "There's a runner two o'clock from your position."

I whip my head in that direction as Archie rolls her eyes. "We see the runner, Nadia. Looks like someone from Abel Township."

My breath catches in my throat as the runner races by, unaware of us standing so nearby. So stupid to be so unobservant. I can't believe who I'm staring at.

"She actually looks like Runner Five."

No, she looks exactly like me. She is me. This is a third person dream after all, just a bit different than normal.

"What's Abel Township planning?" Nadia questions. "What could they want to have sent a runner out all that way for?"

Archie and I sneak closer to the Keeley Center as I watch myself run into the building, which Archie reports to Nadia.

I glance around and see a man in dark clothes wandering around. I narrow my eyes at him. He's waving his arms around almost like he's-

Crap.

I bolt towards the tree line, knowing that he absolutely cannot see me, or... other me. I crouch down against a tree, turning my head to the side and seeing Runner Twenty isn't beside me. Instead she's still standing out in the open, practically asking to be seen.

"Shall we follow?" She asks the radio operator. "We could be spies following a suspect. Oh, wait... Runner Five, where'd you go?"

She looks around in confusion as I raise one hand to silently signal her over. "Over here," I whisper, hating the fact that this isn't my voice. God, I hate that.

"Where is she?" Nadia asks.

"She's over toward the tree line." Archie jogs over to me and before she can question my actions I pull her down. I can hear the whirling helicopter blades and my partner's face scrunches up, with confusion and curiosity swirling in her eyes. "Do you hear that?"

"Good thinking, Runner Five," Nadia says. "There's a man signaling to a chopper. Stay where you are and out of sight, both of you. That's not an aircraft we're expecting."

I remember this. I remember Sam telling me this and me nearly having a panic attack as I rushed to find Patient Twenty-Nine's files. I remember all of it.

But if this is a memory dream, why didn't it start with me leaving? Why did I have to be Chrysalis Gracier?

Something's not right. This doesn't make sense.

"That chopper is landing. Stay clear."

I watch as what Nadia said is true, but Archie tugs on my arm and points at the figure pressed up against the building.

"Do you see, Runner Five? That runner went out an exit on the other side of the building. She looks so scared."

"I was," I mutter, eyebrows creasing at how small and frail I look. I need to start lifting weights.

I... well, Abel's Runner Five suddenly tenses and sprints towards the woods, praying that she won't be seen. I remember it. I remember praying that.

"What's that? Nadia, can you see what the running is carrying? I think it's a file."

"I can't see it clearly," She replies. "Stay low though, both of you. Start circling around through the trees."

We both slowly stand from our crouching position and briskly jog around as quietly as we can, keeping an eye out for whoever was signaling the chopper. We can't have him-or anyone else-seeing us.

"Tell me if you see anything, but be careful. We want to know what's going on but I don't want-"

"Oh, my God!" Archie exclaims, making me jump in surprise before angrily slapping my hand over her mouth. I sent her a glare and she shrugs in apology.

"What is it?" Nadia asks, voice sounding panicked and concerned.

She cautiously moves my hand from her mouth, shrinking back at my glare before turning her eyes to what's ahead of her. Once again her face morphs into shock. "Oh my... look at that man getting out of the helicopter."

I look at the man she's speaking of, and I tilt my head in confusion. The man-average height with straight posture, hair peppered with gray, and face slightly slouching-is someone I've never seen. I didn't see anyone's face when I fled. I was too busy, well, fleeing.

Maybe he's like Archie. Someone my mind just made up.

"Do you know him?" Nadia asks, and Archie nods, not once taking her eyes off him.

"I used to work for him. It's Pro. Van Ark."

I blink in confusion. I don't understand. This wasn't how I envisioned Van Ark. I always thought of him as one of those mad scientists with the spiky white hair and large glasses and are skinny as a beam pole, so why does he look like this in my dream?

"Weird," I mutter, before turning to Archie. "Follow me."

•

"Runner Five, Runner Twenty, report," Nadia commands ten minutes later of running around.

"Can we report quietly?" Archie whispers. "We're trying to be very sneaky here, aye? Sneaky's a good word. Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky, sneaky." Her face suddenly falls. "I... now it sounds like it doesn't mean anything. Sneaky, sneaky... sneak. I've lost all language."

"You'll need some language, Runner Twenty, in order to report," She replies trying to hold back a laugh.

"Okay, I'm here following Runner Five who I think has some kind of plan."

Uh... yeah. You keep thinking that while I keep improvising, I think as I slow down and narrow my eyes at the two men in uniforms whose sight we are just out of.

"We're walking slowly around the far side of the building," She continues. "There are two guards at the main entrance; Runner Five is glaring at them. That Pandora Hayes helicopter is parked further back." Archie pauses again and I internally groan, having learned this is her 'thinking about words' face.

"Wait, do you park a helicopter?" She asks and I sigh. "That doesn't sound right. Land-but then if it's just there do you say 'it's landed further back'? That sounds like it's just arrived."

"I think there's a linguistics professor in Dorm Seventeen," Nadia answers. "You can ask him when you get back from your dangerous, important mission."

Archie nods even though the radio operator can't see her. "Okay, we're sneaking a bit closer to the guards." She giggles. "It's still fun to say."

"And what can you see?"

Archie gasps and my eyes widen as the entrance door opens. "There's someone coming out. We've got to get out of here." She grabs my arm and pulls me back. "Run."

We race towards the back of the building, pressing ourselves against the wall and not daring to look around the corner in case someone is walking there. After about ten seconds we start running to the other side of the building, peeking around at the men guarding the chopper about fifty feet from the building.

We keep from their sight by crouching low, and with a shared look we face to the group trees and bushes a few yards away. Once we reach it and know we're a safe distance away, we slow down to a brisk walk to keep from making too much noise.

"Okay. We're okay," Archie breathes. "We're farther away now, still looking but just circling 'round again. Pro. Van Ark's come out of the building with three soldiers."

I nod in confirmation at the sight, leaning against one of the trees before going completely still. My eyes focus on what is in the soldiers' hands.

"Are those boxes?" I whisper, and Archie scrunches up her face in concentration.

"Big boxes." She shrugs. "Equipment maybe? Or lots of files or..." Her voice trails off as I see one of the men near the chopper grab something. "Oh."

Crap.

"What are you seeing? Are you and Runner Five safe?" Nadia questions with slightly shaky voice, and Archie swallows.

"I... we're safe, aren't we, Runner Five? We must be safe."

The ground shakes as an explosion goes off in the building, and then another and another. I pull Archie back as I watch the Keeley Center going up in flames.

Oh, God.
Oh, God.
Oh, God.

...This-I never saw this!

No, the Keeley Center must be still there. This is a dream, after all.

Why does it seem harder to believe now than it was before?

"What are you seeing?"

"They've got... rocket launchers. They're firing them at the building." Archie's voice shakes as she speaks. "They're-why would they destroy the whole building? How can Van Ark still be alive? Why are they blowing up the Keeley? What did that Abel runner want?"

Even in my dreams there are in unanswered questions.

She stops momentarily as Van Ark and his men climb into the chopper, and we watch as the blades start up again and it begins to lift into the air. She takes in a deep breath and looks at me, eyes hard and determined. "We need to follow that helicopter so we can roughly see the direction it's heading and figure out where to go next. Let's run."

She takes off once the chopper is in the sky and making its exit. It only takes me a second to catch up with her. I try to keep focused on the task at hand-on keeping up with that helicopter without being seen-but my mind keeps coming back to the question of why would I have this sort of dream? I never even thought of what Van Ark would have done to the Keeley Center after I left.

Well, actually I kind of did, but I never thought he'd blow it up with a rocket launcher. It makes no sense.

Archie gasps for breath as she and I pick up our paces to a full sprint to keep up with the helicopter, but still it keeps getting farther and farther away. We keep sprinting as fast as we can, sweat dripping down our now red faces as we go on like this for about five minutes.

My feet pound into the grass as we start going on an incline. "Just up this hill; We can stay there and still be able to see which direction they're going in," I breathe, my chest burning and I can't believe how hard it is to talk and run. I honestly don't remember it being this hard.

"I-I'm not sure I can," Archie replies, struggling to catch her breath.

"Yes, you can. You have to." I wheeze out. "We have to know where Van Ark is going... next. What if he... destroys something else?"

She breathes deeply and keeps going with me, pushing our achy, sweaty legs to run all the way to the top of the hill. Our breathing is labored and heavy and we both take in big gulps of air as we force our eyes to stay on the helicopter.

"There. We've done it. Do you see?" She asks once catching her breath.

"We've only got patchy cameras in that section, Runner Twenty," Nadia answers. "What's going on?"

She smiles widely and jumps up with glee. "Woo-hoo! We did it! We made it. I didn't think I could but Runner Five encouraged me for the last 500 meters."

I shrug when she grins at me. I wouldn't exactly call that encouraging but whatever floats your boat with Jesus on it.

"Well, what did you do?"

"We're on the top of a hill," Archie replies. "We can see where the helicopter is heading. Due north; We'll have to find out what's there."

I open my mouth to speak but when I turn to look at Archie she isn't there anymore. I'm not on a hill anymore. Hell, I'm not even outside. I'm...

Back in the barn.

I sit up, looking around, wondering why I didn't have the sense of actually waking up. Something just doesn't seem right. It's like my eyes were open the whole time-like I never actually went to sleep.

Strange. Very, very str-

"You sleep with your eyes open."

A silent scream comes out of my mouth as I jump back, nearly falling off the hay loft. My head whips around to see a pair of un-humanly blue eyes staring at me. The owner of them wears a blank expression.

"And you mouth things too." Aaron fiddles with his hands. "You saw something through someone else's eyes, didn't you?"

A/N: Hello! Here's the new chapter everyone! Hope you enjoyed because I really liked writing this chapter. These next few might be a bit confusing but it'll make sense soon. Anyway, don't forget to vote and comment! Thank you all and have a blessed day.