Tales from a Runner 5 - The Maestro's Adventures in Abel Township

by MaestroOrpheus

The Maestro, a Timelord, finds himself in the position of a runner. He was sent to try to save Abel Township from utter destruction, but will he be able to save the township, and humanity, from the undead?

4. Chapter 4

The Maestro woke with a start. He looked around, trying to blink away the blurriness. "Where am I?" he wondered as his vision began to clear. He could tell from all the blinking lights that he wasn't in his bunk. Had he fallen asleep in the comm shack again? Then he realized that this room was too big to be the comm shack. He stood up and looked around at the foreign looking tech that lined the walls and the hexagonal table in the middle of the room. Then it all came back to him. He wasn't really Runner 5, he was the Maestro. This was his timeship, and he had been trying to change history so that Abel Township survived. He pulled the electrodes off his face and rushed to the console and pulled up a live shot of where Abel should have been. It was still a smoldering pile of debris. He began to worry that maybe it had all been a dream; that maybe he hadn't actually made any changes. He punched a few buttons and brought up replay footage of the last few minutes. He gaped slack-jawed at the township that showed up on his screen. No longer was it a loose collection of tents, as it had been not too long ago. Instead, several sturdy looking buildings stood within the confines of the concrete fence. He had done it! He had spent months living among the people of Abel Township (or at least his mind had) and had changed events for the positive.

"This isn't good enough!" he shouted, quickly realizing that there had to be something else he could do. "The township was clearly more prepared for an attack, but they still fell to New Canton, and to the zoms. Obviously, I can't go back again, because I'm back there already. But there must be something I can do to give extra assistance. But what?"

The Maestro ran from the bridge, down a series of hallways, and into his science lab. There would still be some time before the council realized that he had woken up. He would figure out a way to game the system. He would change history again. Abel would be the best settlement it could be in this apocalyptic wasteland. He would not let it fall.