"You're... and you're sure it was Jones that you saw?" Janine asks me, and I nod frantically.

"I-I saw him and I heard him," I reply. I grip the sides of my chair to keep from trembling. I'm not exactly sure what I'm trembling of. Anger? Fear? Possibly both.

Sage's right hand man was making V-Type zombie pills. He was the one who created the pills that killed all those people in the Exmoore Militia, and then Sage had the audacity to act nervous, afraid!

He told Sam not to radio Exmoore security, that we'd handle it. Did he do that because he knew transmissions would be blocked later on? Why would be put himself in danger of being there if he knew what would happen?

Janine sighs through her nose. "We need to take action as quickly as possible, but we cannot do so without a plan. Not only that, but Runner Five, you must be exhausted as you've spent the last few hours running back and forth. You should get some rest, and I will devise a plan that can help us get to Colonel Sage and Mr. Jones."

My laughter is bitter. As if I'm going to get a wink of sleep after what I've seen tonight. As if any of us will get any sleep after what we've seen tonight. I can feel Peter staring at me from a corner of the room, his arms crossed defensively. He doesn't really care much for Jones, but he still believes Sage isn't at fault.

He hammered me with questions when I got back to Seaside, asking if I'd seen Sage there or if Jones had mentioned these plans were from Sage or anything of the sort. I answered truthfully, but Janine still believed Sage needs to be questioned. I understand that. Jones is Sage's right hand man, closer to him and more loyal than anyone else.

He was so easily swayed by the Ministry he would have done anything they told him to. Who's to say he wouldn't have done the same for Sage? Sage could have asked him to do this, and he would have in a heartbeat. And it would have been the perfect way to get the Exmoore Militia out of the way so they couldn't take over and lead against the V-Type uprising, leaving only Sage as the option for leader.

I keep my head hung low, refusing to look up. Janine's left already, and I think Sam's gone back to our room to try and get some sleep. He'll be tossing and turning for the remainder of the night, and I can't find it in me to go in there and join him when I know I'd just go through the same restless phases as he could.

I can still feel Peter staring at me. I force myself to look up at him, tired and annoyed and upset that he's looking at me as if I'm the bad guy.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing," He replies, but it's not nothing. The slight pitch in his voice and bitterness laced in his tone tells me that, along with the sarcastic smile he wears with all teeth and no joy. "I just find it funny how you jump to blaming Sage when we have no real evidence that he was any part of this."

"We're not jumping to conclusions. I saw Jones-"

"But not Colonel Sage."

"No, but Jones is his right-hand man."

"I'm pretty close to Sage too. If it had been me, would you have assumed it to have been his fault?"

I suck in a deep breath and stand. "Peter, listen to me. Sage told us when we were at the Exmoore celebration not to radio in the guards, and by the time we realized an attack was going to happen, the signals had been blocked. And now Jones was the one making the pills. Can you really tell me that's a coincidence?"

"Uh, yes? You thought it was just dodgy plumbing when you went to check it out! Sam wasn't even going to send you that way, but Janine wanted you to be extra thorough."

I grit my teeth. "Okay, fine. Let's say that it was a coincidence. Do you really think Jones came up with this plan on his own? The man is not very bright. We were able to subdue him fairly easily-"

"Just because he might not seem the smartest doesn't mean he wouldn't do something like this," Peter says with a scowl. "He had a zombie attracting device in Abel when you first met him, remember?"

He's right. But I stand tall. "And you don't think it's weird at all that the attack on Exmoore directly helped Sage get into position to be the new leader of the UK? I mean, the only person that would outrank him would be the freaking King! How can you tell me you don't think Sage would convince Jones to do this-"

"Because he's not like that!"

I laugh, my eyes burning and heart pounding. "Oh? What about what we saw hours ago, huh? He sent people out there on a suicide mission!"

"They volunteered!"

"It doesn't matter! It's still wrong!" My voice isn't as steady as I like it, because God, it hurts so much to be fighting with him. I hate it especially now, when it's three in the morning and today's the day I was supposed to give him his present. Today was supposed to be a happy day filled with laughter and smiles and talks of peace and the future, and here it is, starting off with a heated argument with harsh glares and poison-filled tongues.

So, I force a smile-a mean, painful smile to hide just how badly I want to cry because this wasn't the plan.

"But I guess you don't see it that way, considering that you seemed to be okay with it even if it was me and Tom out there."

His eyebrows shoot up as realization hits him, but my face stays the same. Although to my surprise, Peter scoffs and sneers at me.

"So that's what this is about. You're wanting to pin this on Sage to make me change what I said."

I stare at him in shock. "What?"

"If I'd known you'd be this upset over a hypothetical situation I would have just said no. I didn't think you'd try to push the idea that Sage is guilty because you saw someone he associates with in that building." He looks at me as if I'm the bad guy here. The burning in my eyes get worse as I try to blink back tears of anger, my face heating up just from the sheer rage inside me.

"I'm not pushing it because I'm upset! But think about it! You wouldn't have defended that if it were anyone else, but it was Sage! Jones might be the same way with those pills. He's doing it because Sage asked him too."

"But you don't know that!" He insists, and he rakes his hand through his dirty blond hair. "And I can't believe you're turning on his so quickly after he-he helped you!" He gestures to the bandage on his hand. "Care to tell me what that's about?"

I freeze, and he notices how my angered tone shifts to one of nervousness and fear. "I-I can't."

His sneer only grows wider. "Oh, you can't? How can you say that Sage can't be trusted because he keeps secrets when you're doing the same thing?"

"Because my secrets aren't having other people make V-Type pills for me!"

"You don't know that he did that! And I know some of the secrets you've kept, and some of them were pretty big and important. So don't try to act all high and mighty now."

I'm grinding my teeth so hard they might chip. "I'm not!"

Peter stalks over to me, grabbing my wrist harshly and pulling me flush against him. Even though I know Peter is way taller than me, the position we're in now makes it seem like he towers over me. I don't think I've ever seen him look at me like this, with this much anger and intensity.

But I hold my ground. I've faced far worse than a couple of hard stares and close proximities.

"If you're not, then tell me what this is." Peter pulls my wrist up to force me to look at the bandage. "You don't get sick. You wouldn't need an IV or to get your blood drawn or whatever this now healed wound was caused by, so what were you doing?"

I keep my lips pressed together. I can't tell him. I won't, not like this, not when we're in the middle of a screaming match. This gift is supposed to be something good, happy. I can't tell him about this now. It would ruin everything!

"Tell me," He demands, his voice raised just slightly. I'm glad he isn't yelling in my face. That would just make things harder.

"Peter," I say, as calmly as I can. "I can't tell you why yet, but I promise it's the best for everyone, especially you."

He laughs mockingly. "How many of our worst enemies have said that line?"

The fact that would he compares me to them is honestly insulting, but I don't get a chance to reply, because he keeps talking.

"I don't understand why you're lying."

Now it's my turn to laugh. "Like you didn't just say you'd lie to me earlier today if you'd known I'd be upset."

It's a dodge of the question. I know it, and Peter probably does too, but he seems more annoyed that I brought this up again to call me out on it.

"Oh, for God's sake, Callista, you would be fine if, hypothetically, you were ever sent on a night run. You survived it at fifteen after running for hours. Not to mention, you're immortal now! Just don't get bitten by a V-Type and you'd be fine."

My eyes narrow. "And what if I wasn't immortal? Would you still be okay with it then?"

I'm stepping into dangerous territory, asking this question. I may not get an answer I'll like.

Peter looks at me as if I've lost my mind, and I stare up at him, his hand still having ahold of my wrist. I wait for him to answer, but all he can get out is a sputtered, "What?"

"I said-"

"I heard what you said. I just don't understand why you would ask that."

A part of me doesn't either, but I honestly want to know if he's so loyal to Sage he'd be okay with me going out there, with the potential of actually dying. It will never happen. Abel would never make anyone do this, but I still want to know.

"Just curious," I say lowly. "What if I was in that crowd, completely mortal? What if I died out there, doing that? Would you still be okay with it?"

"I..." He looks conflicted, but his face hardens. "If you volunteered, then you would know the risk. If you died, I'd mourn you and then move on."

My eyes grow wide in disbelief that he actually said that, that he'd be so stubborn, so certain and loyal to Sage... I stare up at him, lips slightly parted, too shocked to say anything. Peter clears his throat and looks away from me, before letting go of my wrist and taking a small step back to put some distance between us.

"I'm not sure why you're looking at me like that. Were you expecting a different answer?" His demeanor has changed slightly, from less angry to more awkward, as if he's forcing the words from his lips, forcing himself to sound cruel. I know he doesn't truly mean what he's saying. There's no more intended malice or anger in his words, but he's found himself too deep into this argument to give it up now, even when he's wrong.

And it doesn't hurt any less with this knowledge, not when he keeps talking.

"Callista, you are my best friend, but you're not the center of my world. If you, hypothetically, were mortal and hypothetically died, my world wouldn't completely stop. I'd do what we've all done, what we've always done. You're not irreplaceable, Five."

The sound that leaves my throat can't be described as anything other than a noise of pure pain. It shocks Peter to the point that he physically flinches back, and his brows furrow in confusion and slight alarm when I feel tears running down my face.

"So I'm replaceable," I say, and it's only then he realizes just how poor his choice of words was. I almost want to laugh because I can picture the amount of panicked curses flying through his brain right now.

"No, I wasn't-I didn't-" He chokes on his words and with blurry vision, I shake my head.

"It's fine," I say, which is stupid because we both know it's so clearly not. "I can't say the feeling's mutual, but it's fine."

He looks genuinely surprised when I say that, which only makes me angrier and only makes the tears fall harder. I take a step towards the door.

"I'm gonna-I'm gonna go. I want to be alone right now."

I turn and practically sprint out the door before he can say anything and before he can follow me.

•

I find solace being alone, away from everyone. I climb up to the high part of the rig Lizzy led us to just hours ago. I do it because no one can hear me up here.

Because I scream.

It's anger and frustration and sadness because deep down I know he didn't mean it. I know he didn't, but he still said it and it hurt! It still hurts! Because even though he didn't mean what he said, he still believes Sage is innocent and he still refuses to think that maybe there's more here than what we might now and I just-

I scream.

My hands are curled into fists and my blunt fingernails dig into my palms. I barely feel the pain. I don't know what else to do because this has messed up everything!

It's ruined so much, no matter who is really responsible for the Exmoore. The peace conference will most likely have complications, there's no way I can tell Peter about his gift tomorrow, and Sage will be unable to become leader against the V-Types. Because even if he's innocent, then that means he was so incompetent that he let his right-hand man resurrect the Last Riders, this time with V-Type pills!

I scream again, my vision blurry as I bend down and slam my fist down on the metal ground below me. There's a clang, and when I raise my hand up there's a dent. My knuckles throb, but I fall to my knees and sob. I can't even focus on how my strength seems to have stayed with me.

"It's ruined," I hiccup. "Everything's been ruined!"

I want to tear my own hair out. I want to hurt something, destroy it into a million pieces because this isn't fair! After everything we've worked for, for this to be destroyed because of some stupid scheme!

"It's not fair! It's not fair! It's not fair!" I scream, gasping for air as sobs escape my lips. I feel like a toddler throwing a tantrum, but I can't help it. I can't stop crying. I can't calm this anger. It just hurts and I want to get it out. I want my screams to carry over the water. I want this pain and sorrow to leave my lips in desperate cries and follow the ocean several miles away from me.

I want it to stop. I want it to go back to how it was before, before Amelia knocked on our door and I was hugging Peter and Sam because I was so happy that I finally, finally, was mortal, and soon before he would be too. We were happy and smiling and joking around. I was so giddy, imaging how Peter would react.

How will I be able to tell him now? When will I be able to tell him now? After we arrest Sage? I can't tell him beforehand. Our entire focus has to be on our potential enemy. And after, will we even be able to get it? Will they let us? I'm sure everyone there is loyal to Sage. They might not even let us have it, and then I'd have to steal it from them, because I can't just leave those nanites here! Not after everything.

Hot tears drip down my cheeks, and the cool breeze of the ocean makes me shiver. My clothing keeps me warm in the February air, but not warm enough to be really comfortable. My nose is stuffed from crying, and I can only wonder how awful I'll look when I finally decide to go to my and Sam's room. My cheeks red for the cold and from crying, eyes red and puffy with wet lashes and a choked voice.

I shift around so I'm sitting on my rear and bring my knees up to my chest, letting my head fall forward as I keep crying. I don't know what else I can do. It's a horrible thing to realize everything you worked hard for is about to fall apart in front of you. I mean, there is still a chance we can get the nanites for Peter without any of the nurses or anything withholding them; and there is a chance we'll be able to easily detain Sage and Jones without causing the entire peace conference to go awry, but we still need a leader, and after this we'll have none.

No one trusts Abel, and there's too much bickering between the other settlements to choose one of them. That's why we allied together and wanted to make Jules head of the V-Type resistance, and then Sage. Who do we have left to choose from? Who can we even trust?

This was supposed to be a step in the right direction-a way to find a method to stop the V-Types. Every time we think this may come to an end, something else happens. When will we be able to get out? When will we able to actually get a happy ending, and rebuild the world like we've been wanting to do for years now?

Why won't this just end? Why are we always thrown back into this chaos?

I pray for an answer, although I doubt I'll be able to make reason of any of this through the fog of frustration and hurt that clouds my mind.

I know being angry and crying will get me nowhere. It's not even making me feel better. It just makes me want to cry more. A cycle of sadness, I suppose.

I raise my head to rest my chin on my knees when I hear footsteps, but I don't turn my eyes toward the sound. There's very few people awake at this hour and only one that would come up here to look for me.

"Took you long enough to find me," I say, my voice ragged. I look out into the ocean as Peter sits down beside me. His silence tells me he's thinking, trying to figure out what to say. He's smart to be choosing his words carefully. I may know he didn't mean what he said, but that doesn't mean I won't snap if he pushes too far.

Still, I tell him there's no need to apologize, that I know those hurtful words he spit were all empty and held no true meaning.

"Still said them, though." From the corner of my eye I see him look out into the ocean that stretches out until there's nothing left but pitch black, the night sky and dark waters just merging together.

I sigh. "Yeah. Yeah, you did. And it still hurts, but I'll... manage."

"Not really what I was hoping to hear."

"Was there something else you were expecting me to say?"

"I..." He trails off with a sigh. "I don't know. I'm sorry."

"I know," I say softly. "I forgive you. It'll just take a while to get it completely-the hurt, that is." I swallow, a beat of silence passing between us. "You still think he's innocent, don't you?"

He doesn't answer me, so I ask him again, this time turning to look at him. He won't look me in the eye, but he does answer.

"Yes. I just-I just don't see how Sage could-"

I cut him off before he can finish. "I hope you're right. I hope we're wrong and Sage is innocent, and that it was a big misunderstanding or that it was just Jones or that Jones has some evil twin or something that he thought died at birth or-I-I don't know. Something. I really do hope this isn't what we think it is, but we have to approach it as if he is a part of this, because if we don't, and he is...

"I know it's not easy for you, but remember we all respected and trusted him and this messes up a lot of things for everyone. So don't think we're just turning on Sage for the fun of it. We don't want to believe it, but we might have to. I..." I press my palms against my eyes. "I trusted Sage with something... something very important. The gift that I am getting, it-there was a lot I had to do, and he helped, and I want to believe he isn't..."

"Gift?" Peter grabs one of my wrists to pull my hand away from my eye. "You're still thinking about that at a time like this?"

I don't particularly care for the judgment I sense in his tone, so I pull out of his grasp. "Yes. I did a lot to get that gift. I gave a lot! A lot of information a-and those meetups when I went to Banktown were a part of it. I gave him everything Veronica gave me on Van Ark's experiments-"

I realize I've messed up before he even cuts me off.

"Woah, slow down. Van Ark?! Why the hell where you looking up files on Van Ark's experiments?! Why-" He stops and glances down at my bandaged hand, and while I know he doesn't get the full picture, something clicks. "Were you letting them do tests on you because you'd been experimented by Van Ark?"

"Well, I mean, I had to so I could get the gift-"

"What kind of gift is so important that you would let him do that? Why would Sage even want that kind of information? I-" He shakes his head. "You know what, I don't care right now. We'll figure that out later. But you won't be doing anything else like that for any kind of gift, do you hear me?"

"I don't have to. I've got everything. They've got everything-"

"I don't even think I want to know what you thought was so great that you thought a good form of currency would be allowing yourself to be a test subject!" He stands, distress written all over his face as the sky becomes less black and more of a darker blue, signifying the sun's coming arrival. "You were upset that people felt the need to go on a mission to get back privileges, but you did this for a gift that I could probably live without?"

I frown. "I did it to help."

He looks more confused than ever. "Help? I don't-no matter what you got me, I'd never see it as justified because of the price you paid for it."

"You say that now," I mutter, but then sigh. "Look, you can be angry at me, but I did this for you."

"I know! That's what makes it worse! I don't want people hurting themselves for me!"

"Well, I think it was worth it," I say, "and I'll give it to you once we get Sage and Jones and have them brought in for questioning or whatever it is Janine decides to do with them, okay? I'd give it to you before but... I don't want it to make you feel sick if you have to go run."

I remember my dizzy spells after I got them. I don't want that happening to Peter when we're out in the field.

"What?" He asks, and I grasp one of his hands in both of mine.

"Please, just trust me." I'm pleading, eyes still puffy and voice still raw from crying. "Please."

Before he gets a chance to reply, I hear an odd static sound. Peter reaches into the bag he brought with him and pulls out his headset and turns it on. He makes sure it's loud enough so we both can hear through it.

"Uh, hello?"

"Mr. Lynne," Janine says. "Meet up with us in the accommodation block. The sun is starting to rise, and we need to get ready. The peace conference is about to begin, and we have work to do."

"Good morning to you too."

She sighs in exasperation. "Just get here as quickly as you can and get Runner Five if you see her. She isn't answering on her headset."

"You got it," He replies, and I think he starts to say something else, but Janine signs off. He looks down at me, still looking a bit hesitant. I look at him pleadingly.

"Trust me. You've already made me cry once today. Don't be mean to me and make me cry again."

He frowns, and I know it's a bit of a low blow to use what he did say he was sorry for against him, but I know I can't tell him now. Not when we have this at stake, and not when it could make him sick when we need him on this mission.

Peter huffs and takes my wrist. "Well, come on then, cupcake. Looks like it's time."

A/N: Here you go, guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Gotta love it when friends fight lol. But just so you know there's only three chapters left in this book, so be prepared! I'm working out a plan based on some of the answers about planning and writing, along with how I think certain timelines will be in terms of the app.

Please be sure to vote and comment! Thank you and have a blessed day!