What. The. Hell.

I know dreams-normal people's dreams, at least-are supposed to be weird, but this makes absolutely no sense to me.

At first I thought this might be some sort of guilt dream that shows me-or Chrys to be more specific-what would have happened if Van Ark had lived but now I know that can't be it.

Van Ark was a good man, or a decent one at least, so I know this dream can't be what I originally thought, since from what he told us he never actually saw Paula; He just thought he had. And he never said anything about New Canton, at least not in the real world.

And half-zombies? Where did that come from? That's not possible. You're either alive, dead, or the walking dead. There is no half-alive, half-walking dead. It's simply bizarre.

I need to wake up.

"A few guards to your right, Runner Five. Just be sure not to get too close to them," Archie warns as I pull the third device from my backpack. I run a bit further out away from the Complex walls while ducking down low into the taller glass.

"Yes," She whispers gleefully when I place the device on the ground, it clicking on just as expected. "That's good. I don't think they've noticed you."

I keep crouched down for a few seconds as I watch them pass. Their forms are only yards away from my own, and I hold my breath as they stride by silently, watching and looking. Once they get a few feet away I jog off, keeping my steps as light and quiet as possible until I'm far enough away that I could be mistaken as another guard if seen by them.

"That's great, Runner Five," Nadia praises as I head back in closer towards Jeffro's walls. "Third device is in place. Keep running."

I give a curt nod in acknowledgment, although I know she can't see me. I focus on my breathing and my steps instead of the thoughts swirling around my head.

Stop thinking about it so much. It's only a dream.

Even as those words echo through my brain, I still have trouble truly believing  it.

I wince as my left ankle skids across the concrete wall from me getting to close. I pull away and grit my teeth together as the small scrape stings. Trickles of warm blood fall down my sweaty skin, staining my sock.

"Great," I mutter begrudgingly, knowing how hard it is to find clothing that is clean and undamaged.

The sting isn't anything that will slow me down, but now it's an annoyance-a distraction, which is the last thing I need, since I already have questions that keep drawing my attention away from today's... tonight's... this morning's?

God, now I sound like Archie.

Drawing my attention from this mission.

"That's right," Nadia says. "Runner Five's there now with Runner Twenty. They're circling anti-clockwise and-"

"Runner Five, two guards," Archie cuts in, her voice sounding rushed and slightly panicked. "I think they've spotted you."

I mutter a curse as I try to pick up my pace, the stinging pain of my scraped ankle momentarily forgotten as I wonder how I couldn't have seen them.

They must've been a few yards away from the wall itself, staying hidden in the tall grass and behind trees like I had done.

"That's a confirm. Two guards following close behind you. Doesn't sound like they've radioed back to base yet," Nadia mumbles out something before continuing. "Run straight for about fifteen feet then into the trees to your left. We have a sniper waiting about half a kilometer in. They'll get them."

My heartbeat picks up as I swallow down the lump in my throat and try to push away the panic before it sets it. I keep myself from looking back. I know it will slow me down, so I keep my gaze ahead. Their footsteps echo across the open area. I'm sure it only sounds like small taps and thuds to them, but to me it's pounding-blaring.

Eyes wide, lungs aching, feet sore, heart racing. It's just about me getting away.

I have to get away.

So I turn left.

"Please don't follow me. Please don't follow me," I whisper to myself. My voice I rasping and wheezing, but I still say the silent prayer, knowing what will become of them if they keep running after me. "Please don't follow me."

They follow me.

I close my eyes for for a small moment and a heavy weight onto my chest. It's sudden, and painful, and breathing becomes more of a challenge, but I don't stop; I don't stop running and they don't stop following.

I know what I'm doing-where I'm leading them to. A part of me whispers how I could just bound off into the woods, leading them off as they follow like lost puppies until the trees and brushes are so close together it's impossible to find me. Being there would take them a fair amount of time to return and it would mean no lives lost.

But that's if they just barely know these woods, which is unlikely. They probably know them like the back of their hand, far better than I know this place. And I need to get these devices in position as quickly as possible.

This has to be done. I have to do this, even though it means leading two men to their death.

Efficient. Effective. Just nearly silent.

It describes both the bullets fired and the thumps of the corpses hitting the ground. It all happens in a moment-a fraction of a second. Two lives-two people-two men, gone in a simple second.

It's just a dream, my mind echoes in a tone that is anything but assuring. It's just a dream.

"Did we..." Archie chokes out, not able to finish her sentence.

"Yep," Nadia says casually, "we got them. Now we need to check if let anyone know where they were going. We'll play back all the audio we have and check for trace data. Runner Five, circle towards those woods toward the next drop off point. Run silent. We'll let you know if it's safe to head back into Jeffro."

"I... copy that," I answer, voice shaky, and I grimace. Looks like all these years of being mute has made me lose control of hiding emotions in my voice.

"Also, the council wants me to pass on their respect to you, Chrys. They know you're the only one of them who could do this."

"Yeah, uh, no problem."

The coms go silent, and so do I. I start circling back like Nadia told me to do, with my feet creating a steady rhythm and adding a beat to the otherwise quite woods. It's not like the pounding of a drum or the thumping of a bass, but its just enough to keep me from thinking about what I just did.

I lead those two guards to their deaths... Even in my dreams I have blood on my hands.

"Okay, that's a confirm," Nadia says after static plays in the headset. "No one at base is looking for those guards yet, and they didn't tell anyone where they were going."

I give a small sigh of relief, thankful I won't have to kill anyone else, or lead them away to be killed. "That's good."

"Yeah, and the most we got is from one of them muttering something about looking out to see if you're one of those Abel Township runners."

My breath catches in my throat, as of something is lodging it there and refusing to let it move forwards or backwards.

So we have come to visit Van Ark, or at least see his research and the progress of vaccine.

But if they were expecting an Abel runner, which I guess they would easily mistake me for one since I look like... myself, why would they chase after like they did? Why didn't they call out to me or something?

"That's weird," Archie mutters.  "I remember seeing some people from Abel on the road earlier."

"Don't know why they'd come out this far, unless they were following us," She deadpans. "They're sneaky like that."

"Maybe they were just invited?" I guess, trying to be discreet.

"No, Jeffro doesn't invite people into their base. They don't even communicate with other settlements."

"Why?" Archie asks.

"We don't know," is the reply. "And that doesn't matter right now. Runner Five, whatever this Abel Township business is it's good news for us. The Jeffro Complex is distracted. Head back towards the walls. It's time to plant more devices."

I start circling around as told, weaving through tree limbs and bushes and tall grass. I'm lucky I've not stepped on a snake, but I'm guessing the cold weather has drawn them back into hibernation.

I truly wish I could say the same for the zombie.

A crawler-a zombie with no legs-let's put a sound that is a mixture of a growl and a screech before grabbing at my ankle. I jump up away from its grasp, and without truly thinking, bring my foot down on the zom's head. It's rotted skull is crushed by the weight of my foot, and the red-gray fluid splatters up onto the ankle that did the assault.

It's only after I've walked off and used a few blades of grass to wipe off the muck that I realize one of my ankles was scraped.

My heart stops, and I immediately plop down against a tree and examine my right foot-the foot that killed the zombie and was covered in blood of the undead-and see nothing. The sigh of relief when I examine my left and see the injury, with no zombie blood around or in it, is very much audible. I held it too high above its head for any of the splatter to get on it.

I got lucky. Very, very lucky.

I get up feeling a lot lighter now and start up a jog which quickly changes into a run, ready to finish the task at hand.

•

A small smile graces my face as a click that's becoming quite familiar leaves the device as I attach it to the hard wall of the complex. It grows even more when I hear the words that leave Nadia's mouth soon after.

"That's good, Runner Five. The fourth device is in  position now. We've got a good range of hearing across the base; Only two more to go and we'll have full coverage."

My headset crackles for a short moment. "Runner Twenty here. Still running up ahead for Five. No trouble up ahead. In fact, this sector seems weirdly calm."

"How so?" I question, brows furrowing together. The smile that once adorned my have had morphed into a confused frown as I start running again.

"Like, there's no guards, no one to work around-nothing," She replies with a tone of suspicion. "It's so strange... do you think this part is haunted?"

Nadia snickers and I roll my eyes. "We don't have time for a seance."

She hums in disappointment. "No, I guess not, but I think this see through fencing-the bit that isn't concrete wall- is a bit loose, and there's no guards around it all."

Maybe that's how Van Ark escaped, if this dream is at all accurate. I doubt it seeing as to how Van Ark is alive here when I clearly saw him get bitten.

"Just makes our work easier," The radio operator states. "Carry on. Runner Five, I've found another clip of audio. I'll pipe you into now. Just remember, the council has all agreed that the final decision is yours."

"Final decision?" I repeat. "What do you-"

Before I can finish my question high pitched static cuts me off, and Van Ark's voice follows.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were deliberately going slowly in that lab of yours."

"You know I can't do that," Paula answers.

There's a grunt, and glass breaks. I can hear it as it shatters against the floor or wall. Maxine did mention the professor having a temper.

"Do you think I'm blind?" He fumes. "Going slowly, causing confusion, mixing up supplies. Maybe I should bring you here to Jeffro where I can supervise. Maybe I need to find someone to interrogate in front of you just for... encouragement."

I gulp.

"Van Ark, why the hell would I do that?" She asks, and I can hear her own voice riding in anger. "It's not as if... it's not as if I don't want the cure as much as you do. I hate having the daily treatment too."

The headset crackles as the link goes out, and I can't help but wonder what these daily treatments could be, and these half-zombies and everything else that makes absolutely no sense.

I try to think of some sort of explanation, but all it does is make my head hurt. From what's been said it sounds like the two are looking for a cure for something, just not the zombie virus. I understand that, since there is no possible way to find a cure, and our best hope is maybe a vaccine, but that hasn't been mentioned at all in these transmissions.

So what the hell are they trying to cure? What disease do these two have that requires them to get daily plasma transfusions just to stay alive?

I need to wake up. This dream is more confusing that the stuff I'm going through in the real world; That's pretty bad to be honest.

I keep running around the base, keeping an eye and an ear out for any warnings of guards nearby, but just as Archie said, there's no one-nothing. It's eerily quite as I pass the wired fencing as quickly in hopes of not being see, but still I see no one watching, which makes me wonder if Van Ark was really kept here against his will for three years.

This is just my dream, I remind myself. The real Jeffro Complex might not be anything like this.

I'm really bad at convincing myself today, because I didn't believe that even as I thought it.

With each step I tell myself to stop thinking about this so much, but with every breath I let my mind wander back to these questions. It's like a constant battle between good and evil but I can't figure who is who, or if both of them are good I'd both are evil. There's so much confusion and it's coming close to driving me mad.

Sleep is supposed to be a peaceful time, when you rest and don't have to think about all the questions and problems you have. This just seems to be the opposite and add to my stress and worry.

Although I'm sure this dream is better than my memories, but not by much.

"I'm picking up some some activity inside the base, guys," Nadia announces. "Listen to this."

"You granted deep freeze," A man says, but I can assume he's a guard see as I don't recognize his voice. "You're good for the accommodation block. We have to find those Abel Township runners."

"So there are Abel Township runners in there?" Runner Twenty questions in disbelief while I gnaw on my lip in worry.

From the tone of that man's voice he did sound like we, or they were coming for a visit. He sounds as if the runners needs to be hunted down, as if they were trying to escape.

What are we missing here? We're missing something? What's the missing piece that ties this all together. There must be something.

"We don't know what's going on," She answers, "but we might not have time to find out. Runner Five, place your device there in that patch of grass and continue running around. It's only a few feet off from the original drop off zone anyway."

I stop, pulling the device from my backpack and placing in the grass just nearly a foot from the wall. It lets out a clicking sound, like the others before did and I race off.

"The device is in place," I state into the mic.

"Only one more to go. You're doing great," Nadia replies, but her solemn tone of voice says other wise. "The council is in emergency session. The decision must be unanimous."

I blink in confusion. "What do you m-"

"They can't vote for-" Archie interrupts, but she receives the same treatment.

"Listen! Listen to what he's saying!" She shouts, and Van Ark's voice comes in after a second of high pitched static.

"Do you know what I like about you, Paula?" He questions calmly, and then pauses for a moment. It's only after a few seconds of not receiving an answer does he continue. "I know I can trust you. Our interests are perfectly aligned. You want what I want: A vaccine; A cure. It's rather marvelous, isn't it?"

"Marvelous," She spits out venomously.

"Oh, I'm not an idiot. I know you'd get away if you could, but you can't, and so why not keep working? Now, if only I could rely on anyone else." That last sentence is spoken in a wistful voice, but Paula doesn't reply.

What does he mean when he says she can't? What exact disease is he searching for a cure for? It can't be the zombie virus. Cures were ruled out of the equation after about eight months into the outbreak. There's no way he's talking about that, right? Because if he is, than that means he and Paula-

"Oh, I suppose I should let you know," He continues. "We've captured Maxine Meyers."

I stop dead my in tracks.

"Max-Maxine?" She stammers. "Maxine?"

"Yes, she basically walked into the compound like a good little lamb. The guards are bringing her in right now." The feeling of dread that seeps into my bones as he says those words are indescribable. "Now, shall I infect her or shall I kill her? It would be nice to have the two of you working together for me, and yet, I think you two might end up causing trouble."

"This is just a dream. This is just a dream," I mutter quietly, trying to calm my racing heart at the thought of one of my friends being killed or... infected, because apparent my subconscious believes Pro. Van Ark is a freaking psychopath.

"You're lying," Dr. Cohen hisses. "You haven't got her. If you had you'd put her on. I know you now.

"Ah, well. I'll show you soon enough, but I'm afraid it'll have to be a corpse; Like all those people from Keeley who found their way to New Canton. Best to get rid of the whole place. Can't have evidence washing around when we manage to set up the new world order."

My thoughts immediately turn to Archie, who did work at the Keeley Center a bit. This all seems too real. I can feel my heart beating as if it's trying to burst out from my chest and I'm not even running.

I'm not running.

I start up a swift jog, trying to understand why this is happening, why I feel this way, and why it seems so real, but I realize that this mission has to be finished, since I only seem to wake up after it's done, so I push those thoughts aside as best I can when Nadia starts speaking again.

"Runner Five, we're ready. The council have okayed our actions here. The final vote is yours," She says, and I can't help but feel a certain uneasiness from those words. "If you agree with their decision, then we have no choice after what we just heard."

"Can't we..." Archie starts. "I know you're right, but live people-lively, alive, living people."

My throat constricts as the pieces of this plan-the plan I devised-starts to fall into place after hearing Archie's words.

Oh, God.

"We understand, but the survival of New Canton must be our priority."

I'm going to kill everyone in there, aren't I?

My breathing becomes erratic and I look down at my hands as I continue running. I can already see the blood-the blood of the people in Jeffro Complex; I see their blood on my hands. I see Maxine's blood on my hands, because I know if she's in there.

It's just a dream.
It's just a dream.
It's just a dream.

"Runner Five," Nadia states, pulling me back to reality or... dream reality, "the devices you've laid are ready and primed. Head towards the final zone to drop the last bomb and if you agree, we'll detonate them."

But I already know my answer, and it's no. I'm not going to kill all those people. It's wrong and there are Abel Township runners in there for sure, and Maxine just might be in there, and I don't even like New Canton. The only person in New Canton I know is real is Nadia, and sure, she's alright, I guess, but Archie isn't real. She's just a figure only my imagination.

And I already have killed enough people in the real world, why would I want to rack up my numbers here in the dream state?

But while I do know my answer, I still head to the last drop off zone. Since dream series is probably going to continue because my mind is weird and that seems to be how it works, I'm sure this will help us get full range of audio which we need, and maybe we can find away to stop dream Jeffro and dream Van Ark from destroying dreamNew Canton without having to blow them up.

I need to wake up.

I gaze upwards at the complex, and I hate how detailed it looks-too detailed for a dream, and even too detailed for a memory. I don't like it here, now that I realize this, and because of what I've heard. It's like when movie or book chapters become self aware, although I guess I've always known this was a dream so I guess that's not the best example.

"Chrys, you've reached the final drop off zone. Once you plant the device we want to know you're decision on what we will do," She tells me, and I fish out the device and place it onto the wall, and sigh at hearing the noise of it beeping and clicking into place.

"Now what do you-wait, I've found another interesting patch of audio. I think you might want to hear it."

"Well, I've already made up my mind," I say. "We-"

I'm cut before I can say my decision, and the voice that cuts me off is one I recognize instantly. My eyes widen and my posture stiffens.

"Come on. Run!" The voice cries out.

"Oh, my God," I mutter.

"...Sarah."

A/N: Here you go. This is your new chapter. I really hope you like it and please be sure to vote and comment. Thank you and have a blessed day!