"Come on. Run!" Sarah cries out. Her voice sounds stern, with just the slightest hint of panic. It's classic her, really.

"That's them there!" The voice of a guard screeches. "After them."

"There has to be a way to help them," I say quickly, still not truly understanding what is going on. "Those guards have nearly got them and-"

"Help Abel?" Nadia interrupts with a scoff. "After all they've done to us? You know we're about to attack them."

"Maxine Meyers is Abel's only medical doctor. If we let them get her Abel Township will have no one to care for them."

Nadia doesn't reply, and I clench my jaw angrily.

"Do you really hate us that much?" I whisper with hurt interlaced in my voice.

"Us?" She repeats. "What do you mean-"

"I agree with Chrys," Archie buts in. "Right now we are fighting the same enemy; My enemy's enemy is my friend. Anyone that jerk Van Ark wants to kill is well, you know. I don't think we should kill them with our explosives like this. That's all I'm saying."

She sighs in exasperation. "Fine, let me just..." Her voice trails off and I can hear her muttering to someone else. There's agitation in both voices, but still she comes back with an answer.

"The council advocate a principle. Runner Five, the decision is yours. If you want to help those people, we can start detonation from the farthest mark from the Abel runners. That might give them a chance to get away, but that will mean the decision will be to set off the explosives. Are you willing to do that?"

I don't want to. I really, really don't want to, but these people are bad... they're bad people. Maybe not evil, but bad. They're doing all kinds of weird, confusing mumbo-jumbo with half-zombies and Paula and who knows what else. And it seems Van Ark also wants to destroy New Canton, but worse than that he wants to kill Maxine, and apparently any Abel runners inside the Complex.

And who knows who else might be in there with Eight? ...Jody? Summer?

Me?

"Yes. Yes, we'll detonate." It hurts so much to force those words out, but I manage to do so, and funnily enough, no tears even try to well up in my eyes, even though I know there will be casualties-many of them.

"Okay, but to set off the explosion farthest from the runners, you'd have to head back 'round to relay station One and set the charger to go off manually." Nadia lets out a deep breath and I have a strange feeling that she's nervously wringing her hands together.

"The decision is yours, Chrysalis. If you want to help those Abel Township runners, go now."

I take in a shaky breath, but I already know what I have to do. I may not like or trust Sarah, but I like her more than Van Ark-or dream Van Ark, at least-and there's other Abel runners in there,and I'm not going to let them die; Not even in a dream.

I know what I need to do, and I do it.

I run.

•

The first drop off point not too far away, but it is still far enough off that if I don't make it there in time I could be too late. With that in mind I fight to push my burning legs to go faster. My head is still screaming that if I do this people will die, but I fight back the thought with another-that if I don't do this, my friends will die.

Another step, another breath, another note to the chorus of choppy breathing and uneven steps. It's endless; Going over and over until the beat of running is as memorable as that of a favorite song.

"Runner Five, another 100 meters or so to the switch to detonate," Nadia announces.

"You have led me on quite the merry little dance, Maxine. Up hill and down dale," Van Ark says with amusement, and I blink in surprise as I was too focused on getting to the first bomb to realize she's turned on the audio wave.

"I can't believe I liked that guy," Archie grumbles. "What an egghead."

I believe the term an old friend of mine would use is 'meanie-nugget.'

"You mean as a clever, well read person?"

"No," She answers with a bite in her voice, "a person who's head should be smashed like an egg. Why would it mean-"

"Sorry to interrupt," I cut in, "but I'm here."

"Alright, that's good, Runner Five. Now flip the switch on the device's left side and run as fast as you can." I nod at the command, crouching down to flip the switch and then standing up to run like hell. "Detonation in ten, nine, eight..."

"Oh, this little thing?" Van Ark chuckles through the headset.

"Seven, six, five, four,"

"Oh, we've got far worse in store for you, I'm afraid."

"Three, two..."

"Far, far-"

Boom!

The explosion rattles that far side of the compound, but I don't dare to look back. Even being turned away from Jeffro I can see the light of the flames and hear the screams of panic and chaos.

Oh, God.

Another bomb goes off, rattling the earth with its power, but it's not at the number two drop off point. I didn't manually set any of the others to go off so this one must be the number six drop off point, so it must be counting down.

Please let them have gotten away from there in time.

I finally stop at one of the larger trees, leaning against it while desperately gasping for air like a dying woman. From this spot I'm out of sight from anyone at Jeffro Complex and any zom that happens to shamble along here because of the noise and light.

"Runner Five, there you are!" Archie shouts, and I turn my head to the left and her waving at me while leaning against a tree of her own. She opens her mouth to speak but her voice is cut off by another explosion at drop off zone five.

I cringe as more voices join in the chorus of screams and more fire joins its brothers in the burning flames. I can't understand what people mean when they say destruction is beautiful. It's the exact opposite really. It's hideous and terrifying.

"Do you think those Abel Township runners made it out okay?" Archie asks, and I shrug.

"They probably haven't made it out yet. They'll have to get to the first drop off point and they were at... probably three or four since those two were the farthest away from it," I cross my arms and finally turn to stare at the flames, swallowing down the bile that rises in my throat.

"Do you think they'll make it out?" She asks, having gotten much closer now. I sigh and grab onto one of my back pack straps.

"I hope so, but I guess for now we'll just have to wait."

And wait we do. We watch every single bomb go off, lighting up the night sky with its own chaos and panic to go with it. It's a symphony of pain and destruction and death. It's not beautiful or magnificent. It's disturbing, and horrifying...

But no one said doing the right thing was beautiful, or easy, or magnificent.

"Look," Archie whispers, wrenching me from my thoughts. "It's a helicopter rising from the Complex. Do you think-"

"That's definitely Van Ark," I say with confidence, watching said helicopter rise above the fire and ashes like some sort of Phoenix. The helicopter takes its leave, heading to whatever lab or secret base or whatever he has.

"The fire around drop off zone one is starting to die down," She states. "Do you want to go take a closer look?" She doesn't really give me a chance to reply before darting off into the trees, weaving around stumps and through branches, giving me little choice but to follow.

When we get back to Jeffro, we simply stop and watch, and while we see no guards we still stay behind the cover of the trees just to be safe. Through the smoke and rubble in the far off distance I can see figures-shadows, but I can see no detail of their faces. That is, until I see them running out of the Complex and into the trees, only a few feet away from us.

"... Through that hole some new best friend blew into the outer perimeter of that compound," Sarah grins while running a hand through her sweaty brown hair.

"Did they... blow up Van Ark?" Maxine asks shakily. "Or whoever it was?"

Archie clears her throat awkwardly and steps out into their line of sight, and I do the same, although only one of the three gives her attention to me.

"Hello," She waves timidly. "Hi... hello. You were asking about Van Ark, and who blew him up? That was... us. But no, we think he got away; Helicopter heading north."

I nod in confirmation, still refusing to make eye contact with the brown eyes staring me down.

"You're the... the New Canton soldiers," Sarah gapes, and Runner Twenty sneers in offense.

"I'm not a soldier. I'm a protein crystallographer." She giggles suddenly. "That's always been such a funny word. Crys-ta-llo-gra-pher."

"Runner Five," Nadia interrupts through my headset. Her voice is low and soft, so I can already tell she doesn't want anyone else to hear. "I've heard word from the council. They're in agreement with actions here today. There's no need to antagonize Abel at this juncture.

"We still hope they'll come to their senses eventually and join with New Canton. We're stronger together... It's that Major of theirs, holding out like some damn survivalist. When we get rid of her, they'll come to us. There's no sense wasting human lives before hand.

"The council wants to hear your views as soon as you come back, Five. They won't act without you."

Then the coms go silent as Maxine gasps.

"You worked with Van Ark?"

"That's how I knew who you were talking about." Archie shrugs.

"We need to talk."

"That we do," Sarah agrees.

I take a deep and finally look ahead, facing the face that's been staring at mine since I walked out.

Runner Five-Abel's Runner Five-Me, is watching with wide eyes and stiff posture, and I can by her gaping mouth and hand reaching up to grab her backpack strap that she's nervous and shocked, but there's something else, and it takes me a few moments of studying my own face to realize what exactly it is.

She knows something that I don't.

Funny how that is.

I slowly start to walk over to her... me, and it seems that just now the others notice our resemblance, although I guess in the darkness it would be hard to see that we have a resemblance. I stop a few feet ahead at her, my green eyes staring into my brown ones. I hold out my hand.

"I'm Chrysalis Gracier," I state simply before tilting my head to the side, "but I have a feeling you already know that."

•

Then I wake up, eyes already open just like always in these dreams, but instead of staring up at the ceiling, I'm staring up at a very annoyed Sam.

"I'm upset with you, you know," He says, glaring but still scooting back so I can sit up and rub at my aching back and shoulders.

'Good to know,' I sign, thankful to be back in the real world.

"I was trying to be nice when I let you sleep on the cot," He grumbles, but I keep a straight face as I reply,

'I was trying to be nice when I moved you onto the cot.'

"But you slept on the floor!"

'I've had less comfortable sleeping arrangements."

He groans and runs his hands through his constantly messy hair. "You're very stubborn, do you know that? I didn't want you to be uncomfortable at all, Five."

A small frown graces me features as I raise a brow. 'Why?'

"Be-because you're my friend and I... care... I didn't want you to have nightmares," He stammers out. He looks like he might say more, but then he must've thought against it because he doesn't.

'Well, your plan of me sleeping in here didn't work,' I say with a shrug, eyes darting around the dimly lit room so I don't have to see his face, even though I did miss it since that dream seemed to last an eternity.

"Yes, I know. Your eyes were wide open and you'd jerk every so often." He leans in a bit closer and I sigh, forcing myself to meet his gaze, and I see his eyes fill with worry. "You scared me, Five. I kept trying to wake you up but you just stayed like that. Are you sure you're alright?"

I don't answer. I just look down at my feet, finding it much more interesting than Sam's concerned face.

"Five, you know you can talk to me, right? O-or if you don't want to talk to me you have Maxine, or Summer... or Caleb."

I sigh and still keep my eyes to the floor. 'Yes, I know.'

"Then why don't you?"

Because talking about it makes it all the more real.

'Because it's just a dream, Sam.' I look up and try to give him a playful eye roll but by his scowl I know he can see right through me. 'We have bigger problems to worry about.'

"Just because we have other problems doesn't mean that we shouldn't focus on yours."

'They're dreams.'

"They're nightmares, Five! We're already living a nightmare if you haven't noticed so I don't like the idea of you leaving one hell and then entering another." His voice is a lot louder now, and I almost fear someone might come in and ask what the hell is going on.

'Other people have nightmares all the time, you know. It's just a thing that comes along with the zombie apocalypse,' I sign with knitted brows and a slightly pooched out lip.

"They aren't you, though," Sam argues back.

'And what is so special about me?'

That question stops him dead in his tracks. He immediately avoids my hard gaze and maybe it's just the way the room is lit, but his face suddenly looks a bit flushed.

"You're... you're-well..."

'Exactly,' I say, 'there's nothing remotely special about me besides the fact that I'm younger than most runners and I'm mute. Don't waste your thoughts on me when we have bigger things to worry about.'

I stand up immediately and march off towards the door.

"Five, wait! Wh-where are you going?"

I turn just enough so he can see my hands. 'To go read my Bible or pray or something. I need to do something that'll make me forget.'

As I open the door I hear Sam mumble something else, but I can't understand exactly what, so I close the door of the coms shack and stride off, feeling surprisingly awake for hour that it is.

•

I slowly take a bite of the banana pancake that is known as my breakfast. It's not bad actually, and if this were any other time, I'd be savoring the amazing taste of this, seeing as it's the closest we can get to eating bananas. Sarah told me it was a early birthday present or something like that, but I try not to think on how she figured out the fact that my birthday is next month.

Instead I'm trying to ignore Caleb, Milo, Willis, and Penelope who are all staring at me as if they're trying to read my mind. Their eyes bore into the side of my head and after a while it almost feels as if they're actually burning their way through.

I set down my fork with a sigh of indignation. 'Is there something you four need or...?' I wave my hand around in questions.

"What's wrong with you?" Caleb asks with narrowed eyes. "You've been very quiet, and not in your normal 'I'm mute' way either."

'I'm just nervous about my mission today,' I answer, a neutral expression on my face.

"Didn't you go on a mission yesterday?" Willis questions, and I nod. "I thought you got a day off in between runs."

'I usually do but these are... important.'

"Is it about New Canton?" Penelope pipes up. "Are they really going to come and take our stuff?"

I stiffen and shoot a glare at Caleb, who raises his hands in defense. "Don't look at me. Word travels fast in a small town. It's been three days since you got the news. You're lucky it's stayed secret for this long."

'My super secret missions have been kept quiet for a while now,' I reply, and he simply scoffs.

"That's because you're tight lipped and won't say a thing no matter how much we pester."

"We?" Milo repeats.

"Fine, no matter how much I pester."

'And your condition?' I raise a brow.

"Well, you all know I have a hearing aid, it's just the other thing you don't know about, and it doesn't matter that much anyway so..." His voice trails off as he looks away, but his eyes quickly snap back to me a second after. "So where were you last night? I didn't see you when I went to bed or when I woke up."

I blink, feeling slight panic because I don't know if I can think up I lie quick enough for this one.

"I didn't see Sam last night either," He adds with a sly grin, and I narrow my eyes.

'Caleb, there are children here.'

"We're only like three years younger than you, you know," Milo spits, but I ignore him as the redhead beside me gasps dramatically.

"I was just stating facts. If you're thinking I'm implying something that's your fault, Miss Born-and-Raised-Baptist."

I roll my eyes but don't say anything more, knowing this could escalate very quickly.

"So does that mean you and Sam went on a date?" Penelope asks, her six-year-old mind too innocent to grasp what we were talking about a few moments before.

I raise my hands to reasons but Caleb speaks before I can. "Something like that."

She gasps while I glare. "Really?"

'No,' I answer with a shake of my head. I stand up and pick up my plate which still has a good half of a banana pancake on it. I've lost my appetite because of this conversation, but I don't want it to go waste, so I set the plate in front of Willis.

'Merry Christmas,' I say with a straight face, and he looks at me with confusion.

"It's the middle of October."

'Just eat it.' I take a step away and reach up a hand to grip at my nonexistent backpack. 'I have to get ready for my run. I'll talk to you later.'

"You didn't answer our question though," Milo states. "Is this one because of New Canton?"

A small smile appears on my lips. 'Not this one. It's about something important though.'

"Oh, really?" Caleb asks, leaning on his arm and watching with interest. "How important?"

Important enough to change the world.

'Let's just say it's pretty damn important.'

A/N: Here's a chapter that's not totally a mission chapter. Hope you enjoyed. Please vote and comment because I love hearing from you. Thank you and have a blessed day.