"Runner Five, report to the main gates immediately. It's an emergency."

Five looked toward the comms tower, confused. That wasn't Sam's voice. It hadn't even been male.

Her eyebrows knit, Five made her way to the comms tower and knocked briefly on Sam's control room before entering. A woman Five hadn't met yet with piercing gray eyes sat at Sam's desk, wearing his headset. Before Five could question this new change of management, the brunette turned and saw the runner.

"Good, I'm glad you're here," she said briskly. "You're the only person available." She faced the controls again and let out a disapproving click. "Why does Mr. Yao keep this place in such a god-awful state? It's like he— eurgh!" Janine's fingers brushed along a strip of something dark and gooey.

"What the hell do you think you're doing in my comm station, Janine?"

Five jumped; Sam appeared behind her and entered the room.

"Never mind about that, what is this brown sticky goop?" Janine waved her fingers at him, disgusted. "Just don't even tell me! I—"

"It's Marmite, Janine," Sam said slowly, picking up a cracked jar from beneath his desk and rolling his eyes. "Simple... ordinary... Marmite. The jar broke. I may have been demonstrating how to use it to crush a zombie skull."

Five blinked. "You know how to crush a zombie skull?"

"Such a tone of surprise," he muttered. "Now, get out of my chair and away from my mike, Janine! You know we have a deal. We don't interfere with your private quarters, and you don't—"

"It's an emergency."

"Such an emergency that you couldn't come and find me?"

"About seventy zombs are heading toward Brunswick, and their comms towers are down. They don't know about the invasion, and we have to warn them before the horde arrives!"

Sam stopped and looked over at Five. "Oh. Uh… yeah. That is an emergency." He cleared his throat. "All right then, Five. Ready for another run?"

As the runner exited Abel, Sam and Janine filled her in on the situation. One of the New Canton satellite settlements, Brunswick, had fallen prey to a fire.

"Their communications are shot," Janine explained. "We can't tell them that the fire's attracting zombies to them like moths to a flame... if moths wanted to eat your face off."

"That's…" Sam struggled to find the right words. "Poetic… and… creepy…"

Runner Eight was out as well, and Abel received transmissions that the Brunswick citizens had evacuated and were currently stationed in the wilderness near their abandoned base.

Five's eyes grew dark as she met with Eight. Just the person I wanted to see.

"Finally, someone's here," Eight said briskly, all business. Five was thankful that the runner could put her suspicions aside at least temporarily for the mission. "We have to get to that hill. The settlements are there, and we need to get the people back into a barricade I've set up in an east Brunswick building, where there's no fire."

"Yeah, all right," Sam piped up. "If Brunswick is at twelve o'clock, there's a massive pack of zombs heading towards them from… what… ten past ten? Quarter past ten. Well, somewhere in the pre-elevens anyway."

"Thanks, Sam," Five smirked. "We're rounding up the people now."

"Copy that, Five."

Surprisingly, Five evaded the zombies easily and quickly rounded up the hiding Brunswick citizens. She felt a little like a sheepdog as she herded the people back toward their vacated home, keeping a sharp eye out for the undead and listening to Sam track them.

"Sam, all the people are in the barricade," Five reported once the eastern building had been locked securely. "What now?"

"Since Brunswick's weapons were destroyed in the fire, we're sending out a group of runners and gunmen to kill off the horde."

Five walked toward the door. "Oh, good. I want in. Where are they meeting?"

"Oh no, you don't!" Sam replied seriously. "You just spent the entire day running. I'm not going to have you go right back into the horde now. You're exhausted!"

"I'm perfectly fine!" Five whined, though her limbs ached. "Really, Sam, I want to help!"

"You don't think I can hear you panting out there?" he asked. "No, and that's final. We've already got Runners Seven, Two, and Eleven on the move, and some others will join them soon to take out the horde. They'll be fine without you, all right?"

"You're not my father," she retorted.

Sam chuckled. "No, but I am your friend, and I'm not going to let you get run down out there. It's almost nightfall, and you've been going nonstop all day. Please, Five. You'll be safe in the barricade until tomorrow. Get some sleep."

Five looked around the secure building; the Brunswick citizens were all huddled into groups, waiting for the storm to pass. Most were quiet, either dozing or simply holding their loved ones. Five suddenly felt remarkably alone.

"Fine, Sam," she relented. "But only because it's you. And I have one condition."

"What's that?"

"Don't turn my radio connection off, okay?"

"Will you be able to sleep?"

Truthfully, Five didn't know. "I feel better knowing that you're there. Please?"

He sighed. "All right."

Grabbing a spare pile of blankets, Five curled up as far away as possible from Eight, who, thankfully, had refrained from accusing her of treachery during the rescue. Five wrapped herself in the blankets, her uniform and radio still on, realizing just how exhausted she was. Her eyes began to droop as she listened quietly to the ongoing radio transmissions. Somehow, the sounds of dying zombies, fighting Abel citizens, and Sam's voice were enough to allow her to finally drift off to sleep.