"Sound off, guys," Nadia says as we continue our brisk run, having just now left New Canton. "Runner Twenty, are you receiving me?"

"Loud and clear," Archie replies with a chipper voice.

"Abel Runner Seven?"

"I hear you, Nadia," Evan answers.

"And Abel Runner Five?" I raise my hand to tap out answer but I never get the chance. "No, don't bother replying. I don't think we'll be talking much anyway."

I frown. Is that an insult on me being mute?

"I don't think Five wants to talk much anyway," Archie says. "She hasn't been very happy since some of her friends left."

My frown deepens at the memory. Yesterday a few runners and Janine left for Abel to start rebuilding; Now that the fencing is secure enough to keep the zombies out, they'll be staying there and not returning to New Canton.

And of course, some of the runners that Janine chose to come back with her were Summer, Simon, and Jody, which was more than a bit disappointing. But, the worst part is, since theses runners will be running and not just rebuilding, they will need a radio operator.

Meaning Sam has to go back to Abel Township, while I stay here in New Canton.

I wasn't very happy about that, although I know he is needed. I could tell Sam wasn't overjoyed at that either, not exactly leaving New Canton but no longer being able to hand out with me.

It's flattering to actually know that, since I know I'm not the most interesting person to talk to. He asked Janine if I could come help in the rebuilding but she said I would be more useful in New Canton. And even if she allowed it I know I couldn't leave Willis; Not without good reason.

"Well, it's not like she'll never be seeing them ever again," Nadia says with a certain sting intended. "Okay, it's a simple find and fetch-some power tools. Runners Thirty-two and Ninety-eight located them in a farm house yesterday. They took what they could but it was less than half the stash. Looks the owner was a DIY nut."

My brows furrow and my lip pouches out slightly. There's nothing wrong with liking to do things DIY.

"What's our direction?" Evan asks.

"Head north into that cluster of pines on the horizon."

"Got it," He says, leading Archie and I as we all begin to head toward said pines that are covered in snow. "I was told these will be used for the rebuild of Abel."

"Yes," She answers with what sounds like gritted teeth. "It's not like we don't need them at New Canton, but apparently Abel's number one priority these days."

"Yes, I've heard about the new alliance. Something about that Van Ark character?"

I blink in surprise, but then I remember how I haven't seen him during some of the meetings with the council, Janine, and the Major, but I thought maybe Janine told him later.

"Of course, it's about Van Ark," Archie says with an eye roll. "Everyone knows it's about Van Ark. Don't you pay attention when people talk?"

My jaw drops and my eyes probably get to the size of saucers. I don't think I've ever heard anyone to talk to our Head of Runners like that. Of course, I've not spent that much time with Evan and he's Abel Township's Head of Runners but still.

"I'm a bit behind on the scuttlebutt, I'm afraid," He replies calmly. "I've been away for a few weeks tracking down an arms cache for Janine."

"Then you're new to Abel too, like me." She turns to me. "You haven't seen Abel since the attack either, so you too. This mission is going to be fun!"

I don't say anything, although I'm really not too sure of that. At least, I'm too sure about it being fun for me, especially with Nadia's cold shoulder toward me already.

I don't blame her for feeling this way toward me, because what I've done is just nearly unforgivable-making her believe that Lem is still alive. The only thing that makes me add the 'nearly' instead of 'completely' is the fact that Lem gave his headset to me. That is the only reason why I don't bury myself in guilt and self-hatred.

Although I still do feel like there's something I could have done to save him.

Then again, there's something I could have done to save a lot of people.

I try not to think about that too much, but it always seems to come back to me. The thoughts-the people never leave my mind completely. They always pop up, no matter how hard I try to forget or push it away. I guess that's my price to pay for letting them die. That's my punishment because I'm responsible for their death.

"Okay, guys, you're making good time," Nadia tunes in. "The ground's muddy up ahead so you might want to veer back onto the road for a hundred yards."

"Rodger that," Evan answers before turning to the young woman in pigtails. "So, Archie, what can you tell me about Van Ark?"

She scrunches up her nose. "He's really not a very nice person. He wants all of us dead. Everyone eaten by zombies and no one to give him trouble."

"We're ninety-five percent certain he was responsible for the rocket launcher attack on Abel a month ago, using those fast zombies he controls somehow-the ones that can fire a rocket launcher," Nadia inputs, and he chuckles dryly.

"And we thought it was you guys who wanted to blow us up."

"We did," Archie giggles, causing me to flinch, " but we hate Van Ark much more than we hate you."

"So we're rounding up and housing refugees until Abel can be put back together. Of course, you could just all stay in New Canton. Apparently that's not good enough for some people."

Well, she's not wrong; It's not good enough for me. If I stayed in New Canton then it would be her as my radio operator, and I prefer to have one who actually cares and is fun. She's just like all the other radio operators I've had-cold, stiff, and mechanical.

Sam's the first one who hasn't been like that.

"New Canton's not home, is it?" Archie asks, her bright blue eyes glancing at me for a split moment. "Well, it's our home, but Abel Township is their home. If someone blew up New Canton I'd want to rebuild it, not because it's perfect. It's really, really not perfect.

"The shower heads in Block C are too high up so the water is all pittery-pattery by the time it hits you, and why did they paint the dining room that color?"

Silence falls, the only sounds being the crunching of the snow beneath our feet.

"Oh, you're actually asking me that," She says. "Turn left, guys. You need to start that reservoir. And, Runner Twenty, it's just because we found a load of purple paint."

"Purple... purple. It's a pretty word. It's not a pretty color though, and there's a person who planted coriander instead of mint and now we have it in every meal and I'm allergic to coriander and..." Her voice trails off. "Wait, was I talking about?"

"I think you were saying there's no place like home," Evan says, and Nadia is quick to agree.

"Although it was getting hard to tell. Better save your breath. There are some zoms coming through that hedge from the west. Run."

I look in that direction, watching as four zombies all crawl out of the hedge and start stumbling after us. Snow and ice are stuck in their rotting skin, and one's hair is completely frozen. I sneer at them for a small second before I turn forward, my eyes scanning over the different things covered in white powder.

I don't particularly like the snow covered scenery since it's so much harder to find things. I usually take the less crucial missions as a chance to find things to add to my collection or give to the children, but with the ice and snow it makes it near impossible to do so. It irks me almost as much the cold that always finds a way to me does.

Even with my disliking toward the cold seasons, I try not to complain about it to others. It's pretty easy since a good amount of the people I talk to are in Abel and anytime I'm with Caleb I'm usually with Willis, so I don't have to worry about bringing anyone down by my hatred of the cold.

Just ahead is a turned over car, and beyond that is a barn and a building that might be a silo. I've only been to a farm a few times in my life despite living in the south, and I was rather young at the time so I don't remember much of it besides getting chased by a very large pig when I was five.

"Okay, the house you want is just beyond those farm buildings," Nadia states, "but you're falling out of pick up range for the head cams so keep me posted."

My eyes go upward in attempt to see the head cam that is on my head; I fail. New Canton's head cams are smaller than the ones used at Abel, but they have a shorter distance range.

"Will do," Evan replies. "I can see a wrecked car up ahead. Doesn't look too badly damaged. We should be able to salvage some parts."

"Excellent."

We make it to the car, and since I'm the tiniest, I lean down and poke my head inside through a broken window to make sure nothing-a.k.a. a zombie-will jump out at us. I see nothing and crawl back out to give Evan the thumbs up when Archie speaks.

"Oh... oh dear."

"What is it?" Nadia asks as Evan looks behind him in the same direction Archie's eyes are trained, while I quickly pull myself to my feet.

"That really isn't very good."

"What? Runner Seven?"

"Yes, sorry," Evan apologizes. "Archie has good eyes. There's a whole pack of zoms in that snow covered field behind us, and three approaching from the west."

"Can you circle 'round?"

"Doubtful. Runner Forty-five warned me that fields literally have dozens of crawlers hiding under the snow. I think someone ran a combine harvester through them."

I shudder in disgust, thinking of the monsters that lie hidden in the snow, and at the zoms that are visible right now.

"Sorry, guys. Looks like you're just going to have to-"

"Yes," Evan deadpans, "we know."

We take off, leaving the car that we were going to use. I feel a slight pang of disappointment since we could have used that for Abel, but I know we need the power tools more. It'll make the rebuild of Abel quicker which means all of us still staying in New Canton will get to go home sooner.

Home. I chuckle at the thought. After Wes died I never thought I'd have a home, and now that's what I call the pathetic and basically nonexistent township.

But as I think on that, I notice how much louder the zoms' moans have become, and when I look back I can see them slowly but surely starting to catch up. Another thing I hate about snow: it's hard for runners to run in but not so hard for the zoms. Well, except that one that just tripped and fell on its face.

We pass the old barns, and about a half mile away sits the farmhouse. It looks rough to say the least. It's too far away for me to see the small damages, but I'm sure the windows are busted, and I'm almost certain the door is broken off its hinges.

"Alright, we'll need a plan if we want to get those power tools," Evan states before turning to me and Archie. "I'm going run decoy while you two head inside and get as much as you can."

He shrugs off his empty backpack and hands it to me. "Fill it up, and when I come back 'round you can give it back for me to carry."

I nod, my breath coming out in little white puffs. Seven starts turning to the right as we go forward. He waves his arms around and lets out a shout in hopes of gaining their attention. It does, and the zombies all start heading after him, with us home for free, at least for now.

Archie and I keep heading for the house, our feet crunching against the snow as we get closer and closer. I was right, the door is hanging off its hinges and the windows are all busted and broken. I nearly slip going up the porch steps. Archie finds this funny; I do not.

Going inside we search every room, and we both keep a wary gaze as we do so. With the door and windows both being left uncovered, a zom could be in any room just waiting. My axe is readily strapped to my back, and I think Archie has a baton as well as a pistol with her.

Thankfully, we find no zoms besides a crawler, which I finish off with my axe, and then in the next room over we find the power tools that range from drills to saws. There's other things like regular hammers, nails and measuring tapes which we make sure to grab. Anything that might be useful is shoved into the backpacks. Archie seems surprised at my enthusiasm to get as much as possible.

But I can't get everything, because within a few minutes the bags feel almost too much for me to carry. My backpack is a bit lighter than the one I filled for Evan, but I'm sure he can handle it since he's a good foot taller than me, if not more, and weighs at least seventy pounds more than I do.

We leave the house quickly, and I have one backpack on my back and the other in my arms. We see Evan approaching us, still with the zombies in tow, and we start to run forward, but we run slow enough for him to catch up.

It only takes him a minute do to so, and when he gets closer to us I see the sweat that is dripping off his brow. He takes the backpack out of my hands without hesitation, and I breathe a small sign of relief because the weight of both bags was beginning to get to me. But still the added weight and the snow slows us down, and even though the zoms aren't catching up, they aren't getting any farther away, either.

"This isn't good," Archie huffs. "This isn't-it isn't enjoyable. It's definitely not fun. Nadia? Nadia?"

"We've moved out of radio range," Evan replies after our radio operator doesn't. "Keep running. If we can make it to the crossroads up ahead we should be in the clear. At least you two managed to get a good amount of tools."

Yes, but that won't do anyone any good if we get eaten before we can deliver them.

"Nadia," Runner Twenty calls again.

"She can't hear you. Don't worry, we're not far from Abel now. If we can just... oh." Evan grimaces as he looks to the burnt out barn to the left. There are five more zombies walking over to us. Archie huffs as she too sees the same thing.

"Lovely. I mean, why can't they just be people on a walk? Wouldn't it be nice if they were just people on maybe a-a picnic. Slightly gray people on a picnic," She says. "Shambling gray people on a picnic in the winter."

"Runner Five?" A voice says through my headset. I jump and let out a breath of air that, if I had a voice, would've have sounded like a high pitched squeak. "Five, that is you, isn't it?"

'You know you could give me a warning before you randomly start talking-'

"Yep, it's you, and Runner Seven and-oh, I don't know you, sorry."

"It's us, Sam," Evan replies. "We're with Archie-that's New Canton Runner Twenty."

"Oh, yeah. Five told me about you."

"Really?" She questions, her head tipping to the side like a confused puppy. "I hope it was all good things. I don't think I've ever had someone talk badly about me before, except when Runner Eight-five said I had really bad taste in music, even though I like to listen to classical music. Lots of people like classical music. I think Beethoven is really nice; He's really good at playing piano. I have always wanted to play the piano-"

"Do you have us on camera?" Runner Seven interrupts. "We're in a bit of a tight spot."

"Um, yes. I see. No problemo. The calvary's..." He sighs when only one bullet fires, and then a few seconds later fires again. "Yep, the calvary's definitely there."

The woman with platinum blonde hair keeps firing from her position, slowly but surely taking down every zombie that is chasing us.

"Wow," Archie says. "She shot them all in the head. That's very impressive. Little scary, but mostly impressive. Scressive? Improscary? Imprascressive? Impo... Scarypressive. Yes, that's the best." She giggles. "I invented a new word."

"Runner Five, Runner Seven, good to see you," Janine says running up beside us.

Where did she even come from?

"Janine, didn't expect to find you out and about."

"I prefer to coordinate from base but with Runner Eight..." She pauses to take in a few chilling breaths. "With Eight dead and two thirds of my personal M.I.A. I'm short handed."

Archie waves excitedly to Janine, who keeps a straight face. "I'm Runner Twenty, by the way, or Archie. Runner Twenty and Archie. Funny how we've got more names these days when there's less of everything else."

"Well, no time for pleasantries," She responds, looking ahead. "There's Abel's radio tower on the horizon. Keep your heads down and follow me."

•

"Looks like we're clear of them," Evan mutters, and Sam hums in reply.

"Yeah, well, no. Don't get too comfortable. There's a couple more packs within sniffing distance."

Of course there is, because it's not like we wanted to have a somewhat nice section of this run where nothing is trying to kill us. No, of course we didn't.

"We can circle back 'round to New Canton," Archie suggests, but Janine is quick to shut that down.

"No, you'll come back to Abel with me. We need those power tools and I want to debrief you."

"I was gonna say come in for tea and biscuits but yeah, debriefing works too," Sam says with a shrug in his voice.

"And we're having a memorial for Runner Eight-for Sarah-today. You two should be there. Especially you, Five, since you were the last to see her before she... before she ran off."

I swallow thickly as Evan nods. "Yes, I heard we lost her."

"We lost a lot of people to Van Ark's attack," She corrects. "Runners Two and Eleven are gone, Jack, and the majority population is scattered to the winds; All living as refugees in New Canton."

Well, it's not like we enjoy it there, I say mentally, although I know I can't sign it since Archie is here with us and Janine knows very little sign language and has yet to learn more because of her other priorities.

Evan shrugs. "Well, I could base myself in Abel if you need an extra pair of legs."

"There's no call for that."

"Also no beds," Sam inputs. "That's what I was told when I asked if Runner Five could come back with us."

"Exactly."

"Unless she wants to sleep with you which I-I mean that would be... lovely for her." It comes out more of a question than a statement. "Who wouldn't want to share a bed with Janine? W-well, not like that, obviously. Although, I mean not-not that-"

"We're doing fine and there's no call for Runner Five or Runner Seven to be back here in Abel just yet," Janine interrupts with exasperation a clear tone in her voice."With the Major back in charge we run a much tighter operation. She isn't as easy going as me."

"You're easy going?"

"You don't realize just how much I've been letting things slide, but it will be much different here from now on. No slacking off; No botch missions; No dead wood."

"No fun; No games," Sam sighs.

"We've got a job to do," She snaps, "and thanks to Major De Santa we can finally do it."

"A job?" Evan repeats with a raised brow.

"Fighting zombies," Janine replies, her lips slowly morphing into a frown, "or had you forgotten about that, Mr. Doble? And speaking of-"

"Yeah, they're gaining on you. Get those heads down and those legs pumping, guys," Sam instructs.

The coms go silent, and we follow Janine like little toy soldiers all marching in a line, except Archie. She keeps her pace beside me instead of behind me.

"You know it's really odd how much you look like New Canton Runner Five," She tells me. "I know you've met Chrysalis before and I've met you before but still it's very, very odd. It's almost like the Princess and the Pauper, although I guess now it would be the Pauper and the more poor Pauper since it is the zombie apocalypse.

"Do you think you might be related? It would make sense if you were related. Maybe cousins, or cousins once removed? I never actually understood that. Does it mean you're just very distantly related, or were actually removed from your family?

"You must've done something very bad if you got removed from your family, especially if you are a cousin twice removed. Because they let you back in and you got removed again."

"I'm sure Runner Five has done nothing wrong enough to get her removed out of her family," Janine says with a voice cold and hard, and I can't help but think on how wrong she is. "And she is most likely not related to Miss Gracier. There are many people that have doubles or doppelgängers. She may even have more than one for all we know."

Maybe if I do I can start an army to end the apocalypse.

I look ahead, and a small smile tugs at my face as I see Abel Township in the distance.

It looks even more pathetic than it did when I first arrived.

Most of the buildings are gone-burned into nothing but ash that has now been covered by snow-and the buildings that are still there are broken down and in need of major repairs or just need to be rebuilt completely. The only things that look actually decent is the coms shack and Janine's farmhouse, which has half the roof missing and I'm ninety percent sure it had a porch last time I saw it.

"Well, that's a sight for sore eyes." Evan grins.

"Do you know I've never seen Abel before?" Archie asks before her face scrunches up. "It's... actually it's a bit of a mess... Do I mean mess? Wreck? Hovel? No, hovel isn't fair-shabby."

"We're rebuilding," Janine snaps, "as I'm sure you appreciate, it takes time."

She nods, her eyes having gone big in fear of the raven haired woman. "Of course. It's going to be lovely when you've done it up... possibly." She looks around nervously. "Well, I-I must leave you here."

"You could always stop for some tea," Sam pipes up quickly.

"No, I... I must get back to New Canton for reasons-good reasons-important reasons." She shrugs off her backpack, and then then quickly hands it to Evan. "Bye-bye, Runner Seven. Bye-bye, Runner Five."

Then she turns and runs off, while Sam scoffs. "And there she goes. Wonder what those important reasons were."

'Probably didn't want any tea,' I reply, 'because no one likes hot tea, Sam. No one.'

"You're just saying that because you're American."

'And because it's gross.'

"You drink your tea cold," He laughs.

"And I drink it with my fried chicken too,' I answer, causing him to laugh harder.

"Yeah, okay. Just one last burst of speed and I'll have you guys all home. Then we can continue our debate about how tea..." His voice suddenly trails off, as if I turned him off from my headset, but I don't have time to wonder what's wrong.

"Sorry to interrupt, Five," The Major says. "Don't react. The others can't hear me."

I try to keep a straight face, keeping my eyes off of Janine or Evan, since they are both very good at reading people.

"I wanted to give you a heads up. Project Greenshoot; You haven't heard much about it of late but it hasn't withered on the vine. We have plans. You'll be a part of them."

Well, if I wasn't nervous before I most certainly am now.

"First, we need intel on New Canton. We've got to get their support locked down. Can't say more right now but keep your head down and your eyes open. That's it."

Suddenly her voice is gone, and Sam's is back just as we reach Abel.

"That's it. You're right outside the gates. Come inside, guys." He pauses for a moment and I can hear the smile in his voice. "It's good to have you home."

A/N: Hello, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please make sure to vote and comment. Thank you all and have a blessed day!