As the newly reanimated pilot began lumbering toward the runners, Eight screamed at Five to run a large circle around the helicopter as a distraction.

"I'll head back 'round to the chopper to see what I can find. Deal?"

"Are you crazy?" Five retorted hotly.

Eight flashed her a threatening glare, ignoring her words. "Okay. I'll catch up with you soon. Run!"

Rolling her eyes, Five put on a burst of speed and lured the zombie away from the chopper. There had better be some good supplies in there! she thought in frustration.

Five ran through the forest quickly, making a huge loop around the helicopter as she wound around trees and over rocks. Finally, she lost the zombie and the forest was silent.

Then, Eight appeared in the underbrush, sweat dripping down her brow as she struggled to carry Janine's much-needed tools and… something else.

"Got them," she said quietly as they snuck away from the chopper. As soon as they were out of earshot of the pilot, Eight coughed loudly. "You know what else I found back there?"

"What?"

"Your ID." The runner whipped out a small card that Five recognized, and she gasped. Eight held the card up to Five's face. "There's your picture; there's your military cred. Guess you were just a raw recruit like the rest of us, huh? I guess I'll be handing this to the head of runners when we get in. Just because, you know, a bunch of us were wondering who you really were, and this, well, this is looking really great for you." Her voice dropped coldly. "Imagine what I would have had to do out there if I had found someone else's ID in that chopper. Just imagine."

Five was silent. She was innocent, and Eight knew that now. Why couldn't she just drop the subject?

Eight continued, watching Five's face closely with a knowing gaze. "Wouldn't have wanted ol' Sam to hear that. He's a good kid."

Five's face reddened and she opened her mouth to retort.

"Aaaand… we're back!" interrupted a familiar voice. Sam. "I've got you all hooked up again back here and boosted your signal a bit. Did I miss anything?"

"Oh, nothing," Five growled. "We only almost got eaten by my pilot while you were away."

"You—you what?" Sam breathed. "I'm gone for two minutes and you almost get yourselves turned?"

As Sam continued to mess with his controls, Eight spoke to Five in a low voice.

"You know, Five, I used to be at Mullins, same as you," she muttered so quietly Sam couldn't hear her. "I never saw you there, but I suppose people do move around a lot. Anyway, I keep in contact with a bunch of people back in the base. And I guess its my job to say, you and me, we got to talk sometime, Five. About Project Greenshoot."

Five didn't answer her. She wasn't about to talk to that runner about anything after how she'd been treating her. Especially not about any important Mullins projects.

As the two runners reached the base, Sam opened the gates. After waving at him in the comms tower, Five followed Eight. She wanted to know exactly where her ID was being taken. Ignoring the runner tagging along with her, Eight reached the food storage area and approached Seven, who was just finishing his lunch.

"Seven, we just made our way back from the chopper," Eight said instantly. Seven stood up, swallowing his last hunk of beef jerky and wiping his hands on a towel.

"All went well?" he asked, looking at both of them.

"I found this in there," Eight replied shortly. She handed the head of runners Five's ID card and waited, her arms crossed. "What do you think?"

Seven looked at the card closely, his brow furrowed. "Well," he said after a moment of silence. "I think it's safe to say that we don't have a rocket-launching lunatic on our hands here." He chuckled and clapped a hand on Five's back, and she broke into a smile. "We're glad to have you, Five. You've done so much for us."

Five stole a glance at Eight, who was quiet. She couldn't read the runner's emotions, but she decided not to worry about that for now. Seven trusted her, and that was all that mattered.

She had officially found a home.