"Maxine? Callista? See those tube-shaped buildings on the horizon? That's the sewage treatment plant."

Maxine's nose scrunches up. "You don't have to tell us, Sam. We can smell the place from here."

"You'd think being around so many decaying corpses and lack of soap we'd be used to horrible smells by now," I joke through chattering teeth, blinking away the snowflakes that land in my eyes. Maxine doesn't seem amused by my comment, although I can't blame her. It's not exactly easy to be cheerful when you're out in the freezing cold two days before Christmas near a sewage plant.

"Veronica says it was one of Sigrid's most covert facilities before the Ministry. Maybe the smell is a security measure?"

She shrugs, sparing a glance over at me. "Is anyone else nervous? Last time we visited Veronica's labs, things didn't exactly go well."

"Are you talking about the time I was trapped in a basement full of killer spiders, or the time the plaster zombie nearly killed me, you, Amelia, Nicole and Nadia?" I ask in a flat tone.

"Well, the Aqua Center was where her labs were, but now that you mention it-both."

"Veronica swears she's feeling better now," Sam insists, although I'm not sure if he's saying that for our sake or his. I mean, Veronica was awfully quiet for a long while until a few days ago. "And it was us who asked for help this time, and she replied. That P-Type thumb's already grown a whole hand since we brought it back from Sigrid's island."

I shudder at that. It's been about two weeks since then, which may seem like a long time, but it's really not since it was the tip of a thumb that was originally cut off.

"Oh, and now Kytan's absolutely taken care of the Last Riders," He continues, and I narrow my eyes in doubt. "Hey, did you hear Dr. Lobatse's working with him, too?"

Maxine shrugs. "She didn't say anything to me last we talked. I know Steve's working to train communities and runners in using burn cubes. Not like we have any to spare to let them practice. But Kefilwe and Kytan will do good work together."

"Yeah. So now that we don't have to worry about the Riders, Janine says zombie research is our top priority."

My eyes are downcast for a small moment. I know he's right, although it's a bit of a letdown that Veronica hasn't found anything out about Van Ark or any notes he may have about his experiments. We have the ones she sent us before, of course. Sam has it kept in a file on the computers, and it requires a passcode, so Nicole and her nosy ass won't try to look at it. She already knows I'm a part of the Feive Project. I don't want her knowing about this.

But it's still disheartening to know it may be even longer before we find a cure for myself, or for Peter. I've tried not to let Sam see my disappointment when we talk about it.

"Yeah," I finally say, clearing my throat. "We only have a short window until we have another V-Type horde to deal with."

"Yep. And we have to be ready with all the info we can get on them. So, we need Veronica to take a look at that P-Type."

"P-Type?" Maxine asks with a raised brow.

"Yeah. A V-Type with Peter's abilities." A snicker leaves Sam's lips. "He's been insisting we call it that. Either that, or-"

"Or Thing from The Addams Family. Because it's a mobile hand." She looks at me, her eyes searching. "Do you think he's okay?"

"I..." My words seem to get caught in my throat. It takes me a minute to dislodge them. "He's been working with Sage a bit. Um... The stuff on Sigrid's island freaked him out. We've talked a few times. He and I get each other, in a way, since we were both experimented on by Van Ark."

"You got lucky though."

I grab my invisible backpack strap. "Heh. Yeah... Peter told me he feels like a monster."

"I might feel that way too, if my DNA could make one of these." Maxine looks down at the box in her hand, not noticing my harsh flinch or Sam's soft gasp at her words. Her eyes are on the box that's now rattling, as if the hand inside knows it's being talked about. "Uh, Five, can you take a turn holding uh, the Thing? I hate the way it's rattling its box."

"S-sure," I stammer, my chest suddenly feeling heavy. I take the box, and she doesn't notice the sudden change in atmosphere.

"We're almost at Veronica's lab. Let's speed up."

I don't say anything, just nod and push my legs to go a little bit faster. I try to ignore Maxine's words, and more importantly, her tone. She said it so nonchalantly. I suppose that in a way I can't blame her. She thinks she's just talking to me and Sam, two normal (-ish. She knows I'm Van Ark's test subject and that Sam's immune) people. She doesn't understand the truth and power her words hold.

But she says it as if this is all normal. I know Peter's been with us for a while, and before that it was Simon. But still, it's just...

I let out a huff, trying not to breathe in too deeply since I want to avoid the atrocious smell. I can't even find the right words to say in my own mind, and I glance down at the rattling box in my hands. The P-Type hand seems restless. I've noticed it does this whenever one of us holds the box a bit too close to our bodies. It's like it knows, even though the metal. We've tried to keep it a bit of a distance away, but it's awkward when trying to run and hold something at arm's length.

We make it to the admin building, wasting no time to swing open the door and head inside. Thankfully the spacious building is well lit. The idea of being in the dark scares me, especially since this is a place Sigrid used to do her dirty work. Who knows what she may have in here?

"We're in the building, darling," I say as Maxine and I take a few cautious steps forward.

"Just a mo," He replies. "Veronica's granted me access to all the cams in there."

"Means you get to see my good angle?"

"All your angles are your good angles."

I laugh, slightly nudging Maxine when she rolls her eyes, as if she hasn't made me feel incredibly awkward when I've had to third-wheeled on a mission with her and Paula. Her faux annoyance drops when she sniffs the air.

"It smells nice. Sweet. Like someone's pumping Febreze into the air."

I sniff cautiously and am pleasantly surprised when I smell vanilla. It's a bit strong, but not overpowering. I can't smell any of what I smelt outside.

"That would be me, Doctor," Veronica chimes in over the speakers. I jump, nearly dropping the box in my hands. "I wanted you and Five to be comfortable."

Maxine has a happy but hesitant smile on her face. "Veronica! It's nice to hear your voice. How are you feeling?"

"Better than ever, Doctor. I know you must be apprehensive after the Aqua Center, but my systems are vastly improved-all thanks to the hardware obtained for me by Abel. The sewage plant is largely automated. There are secret lab facilities in a building beside the bio reactors. You can access them via the door to your left. Please head to Lab 14 quickly."

She and I both share a look, then glance at the box in my hands. As fearful as I am of what creatures might be in these labs, Veronica is working better than she was before. Hopefully she can protect us from them, if there are any we need to worry about.

So we head through the door, going at a pace that's not as quick as a jog, but still faster than a brisk walk.

"The P-Type is interesting," She says as we move. "I'll perform a quick scan, but then we must neutralize it. My model indicates it will regenerate faster as it increases in size, and a full-grown specimen would be very dangerous."

"Very," I mumble in agreement before looking ahead and heading into the room with the door that had a plaque with the number '14' on it. My eyes widen slightly at the clean lab with an array of equipment. I don't recognize much of it, but Maxine seems pretty interested. "It's nice in here."

"Given some of your experiences with old labs, I thought you and Dr. Meyers would appreciate a sterile environment."

Maxine presses her lips together, as if contemplating what to say next. She must notice how forced Veronica's words seem; how stiff she sounds.

"Veronica, we know you're trying to make us feel at ease. It's okay. We don't blame you for the Aqua Center." She looks at the big glass tank in the center of the room. "Is this where you want us to put the P-Type hand?"

"Thank you, Doctor. I... appreciate being able to be myself with you. When communicating with people outside of Abel, I still have to pretend. Please open the box and drop the hand inside."

I let out a shuddering breath as I head over to the top of the tank. With a flip of a latch, I open the box and immediately turn it upside down, and the hand plops into the tank. There are more bones that before. Now instead of there being just a hand, the two bones that make up the forearm have grown back, although there's no muscle or skin. The hand thrashes around, the bones seeming to swing around as if it was a tail.

"Oh, that's horrible," Sam chokes.

A second later a glass seal slides over the tank, and the hand pulls itself along, pressing and tapping itself against the glass wall.

"I have sealed the tank."

"Uh, Veronica," Maxine says unsurely. I turn to see what she's looking at, and on the far wall, a computer turned on and there's a glowing green hand outline on the screen. "Did you do this?"

"Yes. Even in Sigrid's top labs, her safety protocols were questionable. I have instituted my own. All high danger experiments now require a DNA print from a trusted Abel individual to authorize."

"That's actually really reassuring," Sam says with a smile in his voice...

while I remember the last time a hand scanner took my DNA sample.

"Tag, Employee Five, you're it."

"I'm also working on a way to sterilize the facility in case of a serious containment breach."

Maxine frowns. "That's less reassuring. So I put my hand here?"

She heads over to the computer and places her hand down, and a second later it beeps.

"Authorization confirmed," Veronica says. "Dr. Maxine Meyers. I will now subject the specimen to a nanotech treatment to both scan it and nullify its regenerative abilities. Sigrid devised these nanites in case she ever needed to neutralize Van Ark."

I perk up. Neutralize?

We know Maxine's "cure" that took away Van Ark's immortality doesn't work on Peter and probably wouldn't work on me if we tried it, but maybe these things...

"They're very rare, and I could only find a small sample to work with, but they should be effective here."

I hum. I suppose that's why Veronica didn't tell me or Sam about these. If there's very few to go around, there would be no use in her telling us there's a chance these things could help only to say there's not enough of them to test and use.

I don't see the nanites, although I can only assume Veronica issues them from the bottom of the tank. Either way, I know she's given it to the hand, because it's slamming itself into the tank, even as more muscle and skin grows. The skin is bubbling, like blisters, and the bubbles keep getting bigger and bigger.

"Uh, Ronnie, I think you're making it angry-" I start, but then I shout in shock as the P-Type hand-well, it's now an entire forearm now, and bones of the upper arm are starting to regenerate-throws itself at the tank's wall, shattering the glass and plopping down onto the floor.

"Interesting," Veronica hums calmly. "The specimen should not have had the strength or mass to break out of containment."

"Well, it did! And it's starting to crawl towards us!" I screech, grabbing Maxine's arm and pulling her back as the arm pulls itself towards us at an incredibly fast rate.

"I am deploying the security partition between you and the specimen to discourage it from attacking."

Suddenly a glass barrier falls into place, separating us from the P-Type arm. I stay tensed, watching as it hits the barrier, stops, then scampers into an air vent located near the floor.

"It appears Sigrid's treatments stimulated growth. Fascinating!" She exclaims. "I'm sealing off the air vents... Ah. It appears the specimen is strong enough to break through the vent seals. They were only designed to stop pathogens.

"It has exited the vents in the main inlet station. It should be small enough to recapture for now, but you will need to hurry to retrieve it. The inlet station is on the other side of the sewage plant. You must run."

•

"Veronica, Five and I have arrived at the inlet station," Maxine says, and I cringe as I look down from the platform we're on. There's a big pool of sewage below us. It's quiet nasty, smelling like it did before we entered into the plant where Veronica was kind enough to spray Febreze. "No sign of the P-Type, and there's a large pipe dripping liquid into the pool. Lovely."

"According to the blueprints, this is where the sewage comes in," Sam replies. "Luckily for you, there won't be much flow. No one's flushing much these days."

She makes a face, but it fades. "You know if we do get Sigrid's anti-immortality treatment working, it might help Peter."

"What, you think he'll want to use it?"

I blink, wondering why he asked such a question when he already knows the answer.

"I think he need to not feel like he's the same as a V-Type. Sam, you and I make strong connections. You too, Five. We know other people care about us, that we're worth something. Peter's never believed that about himself."

"Yeah, but if Kytan can help the Last Riders, there must be some way we can help Peter. I-I mean, we helped Five. I know she's better now, but..." He trails off, as if he can't finish, so I do it for him.

"I felt worthless, that my value was only what I could do as a runner. It... took a long time to convince me otherwise."

"I would need to review my nanite research to make it relevant to Peter and Five's condition," Veronica says, and I turn as white as a sheet.

"Five's condition?" Maxine repeats.

"Yes. I'm sure she would want to reverse whatever effect Van Ark's treatment has done to her. We know some of the side effects can take years to finally show up, meaning her condition could change to something like Peter's, or worse. If the nanites could somehow reverse Peter's immortality, it may be able to reverse what it has done to Five too, so she'll never have to worry about growing scales or a lizard tail or any other oddity that has come from Van Ark's treatments."

"I guess," She says with slight suspicion, although she still drops the subject. I refrain from audibly sighing in relief.

Good save, Ronnie.

"But concerning the nanites, there are clearly elements here I don't understand. Scans indicate Sigrid's method went awry on this P-Type because of a secondary organism intertwined with the zombie's biology. This organism was able to break down the nanites and metabolize their energy. The organism is very hard to detect.

"If it exists in all V-Types, the implications are fascinating! Nadia told me the V-Types appeared to become more intelligent the more of them there were. She suggested they might be talking to each other, but I believe it's more significant than that."

My brows knit together, but I don't have time to ask her what she could mean by that. Maxine points downward, her eyes narrowed in concentration.

"I see movement! Oh... it's just a rat swimming out of a pipe. Wonderful."

"The sewer rat population has grown out of control in recent years, but my sensors are detecting movement too large to be a rat. It must be the specimen. There is a maintenance ramp into the pipe to your left. You must hurry!"

I dart down the ramp, my movements hurried and clumsy. My body curls up in disgust as I step into the into the large pipe drain, the thin trail of liquid staining my shoes. The faster we get this arm, the faster we can get out of this. I thank God my immortality keeps me from getting sick. Who knows what diseases are in this gunk?

Maxine looks equally disgusted as we start running, going farther and farther into the sewers. It's been a long time since I've had to travel by sewers. It's as disgusting now as it was then. Although this time, there's no side platform to keep us from having to walk in the dirty liquid that's rising upwards to ankle deep.

Maxine pulls out a flashlight from her pack and shines it ahead, the light reflecting all the dirty walls. I hear the skittering and splashing of a few nearby rats, and my grip tightens on the containment box. I hope the arm hasn't grown too big to fit in this thing. If it does, I don't know what we'll do. We can't exactly drag it back, and these things seem to have some kind of intelligence. They're smarter in numbers, but that doesn't mean they are stupid when alone.

There's a chance this zombie could know if we tried to bring it back to Lab 14 and analyze it, even though it was just a hand that couldn't see at the time. If it gets too much bigger, it could mean the death of us all.

If it gets out of these sewers that are connected to the plant and reaches the systems that extend outward into the city, into the world itself, it will mean the death of us all.

"I will never forgive Buffy the Vampire Slayer for making sewers look glamourous," Maxine mumbles under her breath with disdain. She shines her flashlight around, her face pinching in frustration when we see no zombie.

"There aren't any cams down there, guys. What do you see?" Sam asks.

"We're in a dark tunnel," I reply, "walking in a stream of liquid that I do not want to think about. I'm going to have to boil my feet and ankles when we get home. But it's only ankle deep-"

"Five," Maxine says in a hushed, urgent voice. "I see movement. Get the box ready."

There's a low, menacing growl-one that's more animalistic than any V-Type I've ever heard. When the creature steps halfway into the light, the box rattles in my hands as I tremble in horror.

"Veronica, we're too late," Maxine whispers, her eyes wide.

"What do you mean?" She asks through our headsets. "Dr. Meyers, you must understand, because there are no cameras down there, I see as much as Sam does. You have to tell me what's happened."

"It-it's big," I stammer, feeling frozen as the creature, shuffles, jerking oddly. It's like it knows we're here but hasn't fully realized it. "Really big. It's zombie shaped, but... Max, it looks like it's nearly twice your size. How tall are you again?"

"Six-one," She responds.

"Oh, Jesus on a boat. And it-" I nearly gag. "It's got a rat tail."

"Interesting," Veronica replies. "To have regenerated so fast, the creature's cellular matrix must be unstable. It may have absorbed rat DNA from the surrounding sewer ecology."

The P-Type-rat-hybrid-monster-thing takes another step into the light, and Maxine slaps a hand over her mouth. "Its face! Five, other than the rat eyes... is it me or does it look like Peter?"

"I'm going to be sick," Is my reply.

"Perhaps the zombie inherited some of his sample genotype," Veronica suggests, and a second later the zombie jerks, as if coming out of a daze. Then its eyes land on us, and it roars.

"It's coming for us. Five, run!"

Maxine doesn't even give me time to obey her command, instead opting for grabbing my backpack and jerking me back down the tunnel. The box tumbles from my hands and into the dirty liquid, and I hear the splashing as the monster charges after us.

"A specimen of that size will be impossible to contain," Veronica states, and I resist the urge to give a sarcastic reply, "but I have an experiment that could destroy it in Lab 43 on the top floor. Get there as fast as you can. Go!"

I ignore the feeling of the water splashing up past my ankles as I run, along with the scurrying of more rats that have been disturbed by our sudden noise. The P-Type behind us roars, and I look over my shoulder to see it jerk violently, slamming itself into the wall off the tunnel. That doesn't stop it from coming after us though, its beady red rat eyes focusing in on us. The fact that it has Peter's face is just-ugh!

I suppose this is how everyone else felt when the Greenshoot zombie-Anna-stole Sarah the day she was born.

We get outside of the tunnel, clamoring up the ramp. I nearly slip a few times because of the sewage that coats my shoes and the bottoms of my pant legs, but Maxine and I both manage to keep upright. The zombie claws after us as we rush out of the inlet station, running down the hallways that lead to the staircase. It smells nicer in here, like Febreze. It clashes horribly with the filth Maxine and I carry on our clothing.

The zombie behind us slams into the hallway, breaking a door from its hinges. Its head nearly reaches the top of the ceiling. Why is it so tall? The original zombie that bit Peter was barely five foot eight. This thing is over twelve feet tall! What kind of DNA could this thing have possibly absorbed to make it this big?!

We head up the stairs to the top floor, and I pray whatever experiment Veronica's been working on will be enough to save us. We can't let this thing get out into the world. We must do whatever means necessary to kill it.

For a moment, I think we've gained some ground on it, since we're halfway to the top floor and I still can't see or hear it. As soon as the thought crosses my mind, it bursts into the stairwell, barreling after us with such speed and ferocity I feel my heart stop beating for a moment. I look back down and...

No way.

"Veronica, patch us into Sam!" I demand, my voice strained and cracking. "We need to talk to Janine, now! I think-I think that zombie's gotten bigger! It's another six inches taller and its shoulders-ugh, they've gotten broader too, and its skin is bubbled and puffy. It's destroying everything in its path."

"I'm sorry, Runner Five. My outbound coms have been severely disrupted. I think the specimen must have chewed through a cable."

"Peter's definitely not going to enjoy hearing about this," Maxine says as we make it to the top floor. She looks over her shoulder, eyes widening in fear as the zombie chases after us.

I push my legs to run faster.

"The monster's regeneration has been compromised by Sigrid's treatment. That's why it's growing tissue out of control and experiencing violent spasms. I have unlocked the computer room on your left. Cutting through it is your fastest route to Lab 43."

She doesn't have to tell me twice. After Maxine and I rush into the room, I slam the door shut. I doubt it will do much to keep the P-Type out. My breath comes out in quick, uneven pants, my steps faltering in our escape when I notice a sign on the wall.

"Uh, Veronica, that sign says, 'Computer Core'?"

"Run, Five!" She shouts urgently, ignoring my confusion. "The lab is down the next corridor."

Something deep in my chest tells me that cutting through here was a bad idea, but the sounds of the P-Type approaching stops me from thinking about it. I follow Maxine's lead to Lab 43. My stomach clenches when I see all the biohazard posters on the wall.

"This room is intended to test an experimental super acid I have been developing as a weapon against the V-Types. When the zombie follows you inside, run through the far exit. Once you are out of the room, I will seal the door and spray the zombie. The acid should melt it beyond and ability to self-repair."

I raise a brow. "Should?"

The door to the computer room bursts down, and the zombie barrels through, jerking and smashing into one of the computer towers in the room.

"We can't let it damage the core!" I shout, panic firing up every nerve in my body. If that core gets damaged, we're on our own. "Hey, ugly! In here! This way!"

The zombie's head snaps up, an animalistic growl leaving its mouth as it leaves the computer room and heads down the hallway.

Maxine grabs my arm in urgency. "Run. Run, Five!"

I turn on my heel and spring out the far exit, like Veronica said to. There's a beep behind us, and the door slams shut.

"It's in. Dr. Meyers, Five, get away now!" Veronica's voice holds just as much urgency as before. "That room's about to fill with acid, and it will spill into the connecting corridor. Run!"

•

"Keep running," Maxine pants fearfully. "Five, just keep-"

I nearly shriek when I feel the floor tremble, the bit of it just at my heel giving away, and everything behind me crashing down to the floors below.

"Doctor, Five, you can stop now," Veronica says calmly. She sounds almost... tired.

As we both slow to a stop, Maxine turns and looks at the wreckage behind us. "A huge chunk of the floor is just gone. It's just a chasm."

"Only the lab was proofed against the acid," She explains. "Once it spilled out into the corridor, it dissolved a section of the floor and board everywhere else."

I lean against the wall to catch my breath, squinting to see through the glass into the acid filled lab. "I think I can see what's left of the zombie. Thank God it didn't make it out of the lab. It's just a-a puddle of brownish goo."

To be honest, it looks like the slime Phineas told me some of the other kids started making at school, with glue and saline solution and food coloring and some other ingredients. It reminds me of that, although the color of the zombie goop is less appealing than the bright colors Phin told me the slime was.

"Now that the danger has passed, I must conduct a full diagnostic. I'm running the building from a single computer core, and it has been severally damaged. I will be offline during the diagnostic."

Maxine stiffens. "Wait-!"

There's a beep, signaling Veronica's gone.

She rolls her eyes. "Great... Five, I've got sewage all over me from the pipe. There's an employee kitchen over there. I'm going to go wash up in the sink."

She heads into the kitchen and I follow. While I'm sure we won't be able to get the smell out until we get home to take a proper shower, we can at least rinse the sewage off our shoes and pants. Maxine turns on the faucet, and there's a loud creak as... something starts pouring out of the taps.

"Ew!" She jerks her hands away in disgust. "What is wrong with these taps?!"

I grimace at the odd liquid leaking from the faucet. It's a dark color, and the consistency is far too thick to just be dirty water. It looks like slime-

"Get away from there!" I scream in realization, pulling Maxine away from the sink. As soon as I do, tiny tendrils of the liquid reach out, as if trying to grab at her, or pull itself out of the sink.

"Oh, hell." She curses. "It's the zombie! How did it get into the taps?"

I shake my head in terror. "Doesn't matter. What matters is we need to get out of here because we didn't kill that thing. The P-Type is still alive!"

A/N: Cliffhanger! Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please be sure to vote and comment. Thank you and have a blessed day!