Sam sighs heavily, but his voice coming through my headset is nearly drowned out by the rumble of a motorcycle.

"I still think the two of you should have taken a burn cube, Nads. Just in case."

Nadia rolls her eyes sending me a sideways glance in annoyance at my husband's words. I simply shrug.

"Janine went over this before we left, Sam. Twice," She replies.

"I know. I know! But we do have burn cubes from Sigrid's island. And I know we don't have loads, but we did get them specifically to use on V-Types. And now you and Five are running towards the biggest horde of V-Types in the country!"

I shift, trying not to appear too worried. I suppose it's kind of funny. I've been spending the last week or so resting since I "collapsed from exhaustion" and now that I'm presumed to be better again I'm sent out to the one thing that can actually kill me.

"We have to do something. The horde is moving through the UK's most fertile farmland," I say. "I know it's winter now, but this is where high yielding wheat grows. If we use a burn cube, it could poison the soil for generations. And we can't do nothing. The country's relying on us." I pause, biting the inside of my cheek. "Have we lost any more colonies since yesterday?"

"Two, wasn't it?" Nadia asks.

"Well.... did you hear about South Roughhead?" Sam asks, and I raise a brow. It's vaguely familiar. We often traded with them because they had a lot of scavenged videogame consoles. Helped a lot with morale.

"I loved that place," Nadia says.

"Yeah... The horde got them overnight."

My eyes widen. "All of them?"

"A few managed to escape. But this horde-well, it's not like normal zom hordes. Normal hordes are straggling, disorganized. But the V-Types... it's like it waits and the strikes all at once. And the Ministry used to do zombie horde reports so people could know what's coming, but we can't even work together enough to do that anymore!"

The amount of frustration and tension in his voice surprises me. When I open my mouth, no words come. It takes me a good minute to think of something to say that might make things better.

"Well, that's not the fault of Abel, is it? I mean, we're willing to communicate. We want to! It's just everyone else is so distrusting because of the Minister..." I shrug.

"Those early warnings," Nadia pauses to force a laugh. "South Roughhead used to think it was funny. They used to prank it, remember?"

"Yeah, those reports of zombies with the bodies of horses got them out of the warning network," He replies. "So they had no idea that horde was coming."

Completely unaware. It's kind of like my dream of Catherine. No one else knew what was happening. I still don't know everything. Sleep has been nothing but an abyss lately, but maybe that's a good thing. There's so much to think on at once I can't remember everything. Things get left behind and forgotten, only to be remembered when I'm not busy working on everything else.

"All the more reason to work together now," Nadia says, pulling me from my thoughts. "Valmont says he's got an anti-V-Type weapon that won't leave environmental fallout. That's got to be worth trying." Her brows knit together in thought. "I keep thinking some of the Riders would be happy about this. The bad ones, I mean. They're causing more chaos dead than alive."

"I mean, did they really like that? The chaos?"

She nods. "Some of them were almost religious about it. 'You have to choose-order or chaos. No middle ground.'"

My face twists in discomfort as she pushes on.

"Five, we're close to Valmont's rendezvous."

I nod, eyeing the massive farm up ahead. There are no crops to be harvested, of course. What is there is dead or dying, but the barn's visible from here. It's probably the size of a small mansion, and the water tower is bigger than the one in my hometown. It looks like a UFO on stilts.

Suddenly my headset crackles.

"Hello!"

I cringe at Valmont's loudness.

"Brent speaking. Uh, meet me by the stables. I have exciting news."

"That sounds promising," I reply.

"Oh, you have no idea," He says smugly. "But, uh, do hurry. A.N.N.I.E. has prepared some welcome canapes!"

At the mention of A.N.N.I.E. I flinch, and Nadia notices, giving me a sympathetic look. It's hard to tell if this A.N.N.I.E. will actually be A.N.N.I.E. or if it's more Veronica. I doubt she'd try anything around Valmont. Does Valmont know about Veronica yet? Maybe? I can't remember. Everything's so cloudy these days, my mind crowded with smoke and noise and lights and it's all too much.

Sometimes I think my times of periodically fainting could have do with exhaustion, only it's the mental kind instead of physical.

There's so many lies and secrets that I can't remember who knows what.

That's very dangerous. Best to not say anything just in case.

That is one of the many downsides to lying and keeping secrets. You'll eventually get tangled up within them until one of the ties ends up wrapping itself around your neck and you strangle yourself with your own words.

We reach the stables, which is actually quite a distance away from the barn to my surprise. But that doesn't matter since Valmont is where he said he was. Valmont's eyes flash cheerfully when he sees us, quickly waving us over to him.

"Legs!" He greets me. "Oh, you're looking healthy as ever. I bet you've got your husband in your ear. Don't worry. I've got speakers A.N.N.I.E. can connect him to."

"Oh no, please-" Before Sam can even finish, his voice is coming through the speakers connected to the inside and outside of the stables. He sighs. "Ugh. Okay then."

I frown. Valmont was able to speak to us through our headsets, so why didn't he connect his earpiece or whatever else he was using to be able to hear Sam like me and Nadia? From the amused and almost devious look on his face, I think he can, he just plugged Sam into the speakers because he knows he doesn't really like it.

But his attention soon turns to Nadia, who's looking rather unimpressed.

"And if it isn't my very favorite runner, old Hot Wheels!"

"No."

His shoulders visibly tense at the coldness in her voice.

"Ah, uh Nadia Al Hanaki." He gestures to a small table beside him. "I brought food if you're hungry. Help yourselves."

I sigh sadly. While the fruit and nuts on the table do look good, and I'm sure they taste good too since Valmont is rich and can afford the luxuries the rest of us in the apocalypses can't, I know how bad of an idea it is to eat just before going on a big mission. Plus eating when I'm going to be around hundreds of corpses that smell atrocious is not a good idea.

Just because V-Types don't decay like normal zoms doesn't mean they don't smell like them.

Suddenly there's a loud snort, and the table shifts slightly. Nadia and I share a raised brow.

"Uh, is that a pig under the table?" She asks, and Valmont clicks his tongue.

"Straight to business, eh?" He lifts the tablecloth to let the pig waddle out, huffing that it's been found. "This is one of my new secret weapons. Come here, Voltaire." The pig walks around him before taking a seat beside him. "That's a good pig. Voli here is a special breed of truffle hog, an old Xia-Hifa pilot scheme at the company's farm."

Nadia smirks. "Big bacon market in the arms industry, was there?"

He laughs. "Oh, good heavens no! No, Voli isn't for slaughter. Far from it. You see, my clients occasionally had a lot of bodies to dispose of and well-"

"Pigs eat anything," I finish, and Nadia gives me a odd look. "What? I watched a lot of crime shows as a kid. Plus I was a part of a secret undercover group that specialized in torture and murder and how to cover it up."

"I forget just how many secrets that innocent face hides," Valmont says, to which I don't reply. "Anyway, because of my clients' needs, we engineered a breed which was enthusiastic about necrotic flesh."

"Guys, I've got cams up on the farm," Sam pipes up. "There's more pigs penned in the barn. Pretty cute, to be honest. Apart from the tusks."

"I was thinking about the V-Types when it struck me. We can't blow up V-Types because the bits go everywhere. Except with the pigs, we can! We blast them and the pigs gobble up the remains."

I nod. That is a smart plan, since animals don't turn zom, the only exception being that one anomaly a few years back that led us to meeting Veronica.

"So, basically your plan is to turn the V-Types into compost," Nadia says, which gets a grin from Valmont.

"Never let it be said that Brent Valmont is not a friend to nature." His grin falls with a quick, high pitched alarm goes off from the speakers. "And that would be A.N.N.I.E.'s proximity alarm."

"Yeah, there's a bunch of ghouls passing near you, led by a V-Type," Sam says, and Nadia looks up at Valmont.

"Alright, this is your chance, Mr. Smooth. We can test out your idea, if you feel up to the challenge."

The smile that spreads across his face tells me he is most definitely up for it. "I was hoping you'd say that. I have a few grenades in the farmhouse. Why don't we grab some and welcome our new friends?" He turns to me. "Legs, the pigs are penned up in the barn on the other side of the farm. Run over there, open it up. They'll go straight for the smell of rotting flesh. Hurry, everyone. Time and ghouls wait for no man."

With a small nod I race off, running as fast as my legs can carry me. This should be a good test. Ghouls can be killed, so if this goes wrong we can still try to fight our way out. Of course, there is a V-Type, but only one. One V-Type we can run away from, or possibly trap it or something.

This is a safe test. Safe-ish. It's better than going up against the V-Type horde outright.

Repeating those thoughts help keep away the bubbling anxiety. This is, of course, a risk, but it's a risk that has to be taken. We're running out of options. There are so few burn cubes that we have to think of other options, even ones that involve weird engineered pigs. If this works, then we'll have a solid plan and can use the burn cubes as a last resort like we'd hoped.

I reach the barn, slightly sweaty from the sprint, before opening the doors and heading inside. The pigs are all snorting and huffing. They can smell the nearby ghouls, and I think they're becoming frustrated at how they're penned up and unable to get to them.

"Not for long," I murmur. "Sam, I'm opening the pig pens. Have Brent and Nadia got the grenades?"

"Yep," He replies. "They're heading away to get a bit of distance between themselves and the horde, but they're about to start throwing the grenades."

"Okay," I nod, opening up the pens and having to jump out of the way to avoid being trampled. The pigs waste no time charging out the door and towards the horde that should be passing by the farm house. I only wait until the pigs are out to leave myself and try to find Nadia and Brent.

It doesn't take too long, since within a few seconds I hear multiple loud booms in the ghoul horde. I squint as I try to spot another flying grenade and figure out just where it's coming from. I grin when I spot one, and then I start racing towards the two figures on the hill of the farm.

I duck down to avoid getting smacked in the face with a grenade. I'd hate to have to explain how I survived that. Also I think that would really hurt.

I hear another explosion behind me just as I reach the top of the hill.

"I got that V-Type dead on that with that grenade. Took out the ghouls too," Nadia says.

"And one wall of my farmhouse, but I have others," Valmont adds. "Bits of zombie and ghoul everywhere, of course." He blinks and looks over at me and I bend over to catch my breath. "Oh, there you are, Legs. I was wondering when you'd get back to us."

I send him a dry, unamused look which he ignores.

"Oh, here come the pigs," Nadia says excitedly, and I force myself to look up at the army of pigs charging towards the ghouls. Those that are still in enough of one piece turn to look at them, but nothing they do stops what happens next.

The pigs immediately start tearing through the bits splattered everywhere and those that are still in one or two pieces. It's rather revolting, honestly, but I can't force myself to look away.

"That is cute and disgusting," Sam says. "Is-is that a thing? Adorable, yet awful? Ugh, look how they go straight for the eyeballs."

Valmont claps his hands together, looking rather pleased with himself. "A rousing success! Now, with a little time to organize-"

"What's that?" Nadia asks, and his smile becomes strained at the worry in her tone.

"Come again?"

She points out on the horizon, and I feel the blood drain from my face when I see the big moving blob. It looks like hundreds of shadows all coming in at once, too far away to really see but still large enough to know it's there.

"It's zoms," Sam answers, and I don't like how fearful his voice has become. "A lot of zoms. In leather clothes. With face tattoos."

No.

It's the Last Rider horde. They're here. From how big the horde looks, it's got to be all of them.

Valmont hums, his brows pinching together. "Mm, A.N.N.I.E. was sure they wouldn't come this way. The old girl has been a bit unreliable lately. I'm still getting to the bottom of why."

I breathe in sharply. So he doesn't know just yet. Why would he? It's a good thing I decided to stay quiet just in case. It's getting harder to know just what's being kept from who. I may need to write it down in a journal or something and keep it hidden.

"They're headed right for you," Sam says, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You don't think maybe they can sense you killed one of their own?"

I shake my head. "No, no, zombies don't work like that, Babe. Brent, how many grenades do you have left?"

"A gentleman never tells," He replies, but then me and Nadia both give him fierce glares. "Oh, wow. It's actually more terrifying when both of you are looking at me like that. Alright, uh," He looks into his bag. "Three."

Nadia curses. "That won't even make a dent in that horde... Wait, I have an idea."

"Praise God," I mutter.

"Everybody, head to the water tower. I'll explain when we get there. Just run!"

•

"Okay guys, I see you under the water tower," Sam says, but before I can say anything, Valmont laughs lightly.

"You know, Legs, life is much more rambunctious when you're around."

"Thanks," I reply flatly. His words are true, which is sad, since people like him can come around me when they please to add a little bit more excitement to their day but then leave when they want peace. Unfortunately I cannot escape myself.

"Remember, London, Callista?" Nadia asks. "With you and Jody and Nicole? You blew up the Thames barrier to wash away all those V-Types. It worked there. It'll work here. We knock over the tower, it cracks open, water rushes out, zoms get scattered, we get time to escape."

I nod quickly. Something is better than nothing.

Sam lets out a little noise of panic. "You'd better hurry, guys. The horde is closing in fast."

When Nadia looks out, her expression falters for just a moment. "I recognize some of the faces. See that one at the front? Minty Davis, just turned fourteen. Liked snakes. Became a Last Rider because he missed his mum. The worst Riders would have liked this. The rest... they were just lost. They didn't deserve this."

She shakes her head, seeming to rid herself of those emotions for the moment. "Five, chuck a grenade at the right support strut. Smooth, take the left. That should set it teetering in the right directions. We'll need to run clear before it falls. Regroup in the barn. Go, now."

We start running, and as we do, Valmont and I both turn, pull the pins from our grenades and throw them. I'm so thankful we both have good aim, but now that we've got those grenades where we need them to be, we break out in a full-out sprint towards the barn. Nadia is just barely ahead of us on her bike, and she constantly keeps looking behind her to make sure we're still there.

The sound of the horde behind us deafening, but I can't push myself to look back. I don't want to know how close they could possibly be. My legs and lungs are burning from the sprints, and sweat drips from my face as the barn is in sight. I count the seconds in my head, waiting for the grenades to go off.

My count down in my head reaches zero just as we reach the barn door.

The explosion when the grenades goes off is nothing compared to the screech of metal that comes from the tower as is collapses. There's an loud crack as the tower hits the ground and water rushes from it. Thankfully we're far enough away to avoid getting hit with the wave of water that flows from the tower, and it's not as much as there was in London, so we don't have to worry about being trapped and needing rescue from Valmont. Still though, that water tower was huge and held enough clean water to keep Abel going for three weeks. It's a shame we had to use it on the zoms.

Sam lets out a cheer. "It's working! It's washing the zoms away."

"So much for the Last Riders, eh?" Valmont scoffs. "The living ones are gone and the dead are scattered. They never were high achievers."

"The survivors-the ones who weren't at the hotel, or who chased Five and Peter to Sigrid's island-they're not all gone," Nadia says, and I tense.

"What?"

She shakes her head. "Some of them are residing in Fort Canton and other settlements now, trying to work out how to live normal lives."

I roll my eyes. "I swear these people are like freaking cockroaches. They just never die."

"Look who's talking," Sam mutters, but I continue to seethe. I thought they were all dead. Why couldn't they just all be dead?! "And I mean, that can't be easy. Were they-were they like, brainwashed into it or something?"

She nods. "Yeah, some of them basically were, I think. They were confused about why they were there to start with, and now that they're not surrounded by cannibal nihilists, they're doing okay."

"But some of them were enthusiastic about the old cannibal nihilism," Brent points out, and he receives a shrug in reply.

"A handful. There's still some chatter on the Last Rider frequencies. A few survivors say there's nothing left to do but die in glory. Which is a worry, I'll grant you."

More than a worry. My teeth grind together at the news.

Damn it! This is like the third time I thought they were all dead and they weren't! Was this how my enemies felt every time they found out I hadn't actually died?

"Something's wrong," Nadia says, eyeing the water that's flooded a good portion of the farm. "The horde was huge when we spotted it, but when the tower burst, it looked small."

An alarm rings out. It's A.N.N.I.E.'s proximity alarm from earlier. That can't be right. The zombies shouldn't be anywhere-

"V-Types coming out of the fields east of you. Lots of them," Sam says, and my eyes go wide.

"Leather jackets?"

"Yeah. It's the same group. Minty's at the front."

Nadia pales. "They split their forces while we were running, had some of them approach under the cover of the dead corn. They were trying to outflank us!"

Sam's shuttering exhale reveals his shock and fear. "Wow. That's like Janine-level thinking. We've never seen zombies do that."

"Not on their own," I correct. "Not without someone programming them to... We've never seen this many V-Types in one place." I swallow. "I know I said zombies don't work like this earlier, but do you think-do you think they're discussing tactics together?"

Valmont lowers his hand from his earpiece. "I've been asking A.N.N.I.E. for a helicopter pick up, but the nearest craft is uh, some time away."

"They'll be on us in minutes," Nadia says. "We need a new plan... The pigs! They're our only chance. They're over by the farmhouse." She scowls when she sees the confused look on Brent's face. "Don't gawp at me, Smooth! Run!"

She revs up her bike before heading to the farmhouse, and Valmont and I follow as fast as we can. The growls of the zombies behind us makes me ignore the burning in my legs or the discomfort that comes from the cold water that splashes up with every step and soaks my pant legs.

They're smart. We knew that already. I mean, the McShell maneuver doesn't work on them and neither does noisemakers. We knew that! But this! How much worse can they get?

I wince, knowing I should not have asked that question, even silently. I know God is a loving God, and He already has life planned out, but it seems that whenever such a question is asked, He takes it as a personal challenge to show just how much worse things can become.

I can see the pigs milling about the farmhouse, still eating at the chunks of ghoul that are left. There's not much, but there's just enough for me to be disgusted. This all would have gone so well if those stupid V-Types wouldn't have shown up. I mean, those pigs were a success. They destroyed the ghouls and the one V-Type. They probably could have destroyed the Last Rider horde if we had more grenades.

Where is Steve when you need him?

I shake my head as we reach the farmhouse. We can't spend time wishing for what's not here. I grimace when I see one of the pigs licking a skull that's been stripped down to the bone.

Valmont's face scrunches up. "Oh, good God, Voltaire. Stop licking the skull and just eat it, please."

"Uh, why exactly did you name your pig after a French philosopher?" Sam asks.

"Genius, enlightened man, name beginning with 'V'. Whimsical nod at the historical competition. But I don't see how my pets can help us."

"Those pigs have nasty tusks and eat dead flesh," Nadia explains. "And there's dozens of them. If we charge them at the zoms, we might buy some time to escape."

His eyes widen. "These pigs are worth a fortune! And they're not meant for combat."

"Then we'll have to motivate them. I'll rev my engine behind the heard. That'll get the pigs moving. Five, Smooth, take a sidearm each and run alongside the herd, firing into the air. Once they're in a good panic, we can break off. The pigs'll slam into the horde and we'll run as fast as we can the others way.

"The zoms won't eat your pets. They're only interested in human flesh. Everybody ready?"

I nod, grabbing my pistol from my holster. I'm glad I grabbed a second pistol today so I can hand it over to Valmont. He takes it, but he wears a frown as he does so. Nadia notices and rolls her eyes.

"Don't give me that mopey look, Smooth. It's this, or we join the Last Riders, and once was enough for my lifetime. All of you, three, two, one, go!"

•

"The pigs are charging straight towards the horde!" I yell, firing off my pistol one last time. "Everyone, break off! Head for the dead fields!"

I break off and don't look back to see if the others did as well. Within a minute or two Nadia and Valmont are beside me, moving as fast as possible.

"The pigs are just about to hit the horde," Sam says. "They're in a panic, but they're smelling the dead flesh. I don't believe it. The horde parted to let the pigs through!"

That is enough to make my steps falter, and I look back as the horde separates to let the pigs through. Once they're in the middle of the horde, the zoms start to close in on them. They surround them. They-

Loud squeals and shrieks come from the pigs as the zoms attack, tearing them apart with their hands and teeth.

"Oh my God!" Sam cries. "They're tearing them to shreds, like they knew they were a threat."

Nadia shakes her head in disbelief, even as she looks over her shoulder and sees it happening. "That's too smart. And we didn't see them communicating with each other, did we? The whole lot of them moved as one, like they have one mind!"

I nearly trip.

"One mind..."

Hive mind.

No...

"So much for my pets," Valmont murmurs. "And I had such high hopes for them. Oh well. A.N.N.I.E.'s mapped a safe route back to my nearest compound, so I think I'll be off. But let's do this again sometimes. It was rather thrilling."

"But-" I start, but he's already off. Of course he'd decide to leave right now. Such a move reminds me of Amelia, and I can see how he was married to her for a time.

"Five, get back to Abel," Nadia says. "I'm going to head straight for the nearest colonies. I'll warn them to lock down or get out. There's nothing we can do to fight a horde like this."

I open my mouth to protest. She's right. We can't fight this horde, but even if settlements go into lockdown, it won't keep the zombies out forever. And V-Types aren't like regular zoms. They don't get bored. They don't move on. They keep digging and digging until they get through.

"That's a good idea, Nadia," Sam says before I can speak. "Five, you need to head away from the nearest colonies. You'll rendezvous with Peter and Janine to encourage the zoms to chase you, not Nadia. It's dangerous, but they're the only ones near enough to help.  I'm calling in Nicole to help me on coms. We have to draw the horde away from the settlements. Any direction will do."

"Y-Yeah, okay," I stammer nervously.

Radio static comes through my headset.

"Abel runners, this is Colonel Sage of Banktown. I think I can help. My plan requires split-second timing, but if you are willing to trust me, it may save all our lives."

A/N: I'm alive! Sorry for the long wait between chapters. I've spent these last two weeks studying and taking finals. And I passed! Whooo! Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to natlinaksita
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please be sure to vote and comment! Thank you and have a blessed day!