"How do you two expect me to pick anything up from New Canton if you keep arguing in my ear!?" Five panted, exasperated.

Her run, accompanied by both Sam and Janine over the comms, had turned out worse than she expected. When they weren't fighting over something, they were interrupting each other for Five's attention and generally scattering her thoughts from New Brunswick to London.

"Don't worry," Janine replied. "You're doing well, Runner Five."

"Hey! That's my—" Sam gave a frustrated huff. "Yeah, you're doing very well, Runner Five. Everything within normal mission parameters; speed's good, see? You've outpaced those zoms, really close to Abel. You'll be back in a few minutes."

"Yes. Moving on, it is rather troubling that we should have to resort to subterfuge to spy on other humans, as I'm sure Runner Five agrees. Nonetheless, we have no option. New Canton set a deliberate trap for Runner Five. We need to find out what their plans are. Obviously, this mission was too dangerous to do any real reconnaissance work—"

"Wait, quiet!" Five yelped. "I can hear something!"

She had been catching snippets of New Canton's transmission, but this was louder. Far louder. It was… Nadia. That comms operator from New Canton.

"…Those will be useful tools for us in the future," she was explaining to her runners. "Yeah, the Council says we're running low on some supplies they're hoarding up at Abel Township." Five's stomach dropped. "No, I don't trust those bastards either. They're probably the ones that let Lem get bitten. Yeah." She paused, listening. "We'll be raiding them next week."

Five shrieked as she ran into Abel.

"What—what is it?" Sam called.

"They're planning an attack, Janine!" Five gasped, looking toward the comms tower. "They're going to raid us in a week!"

Five heard Janine stand up. "Five, I need you to memorize everything you just heard and meet me in my home immediately," Janine commanded. "I am going to go get Dr. Myers and a few other Abel citizens who need to hear about this. Sam, fetch Runners Seven, Eight, Ten and Eleven. Tell them we need them for an emergency Town Hall meeting. Tell no one else. Go."

Five ran through Nadia's words in her mind repeatedly until she reached Janine's home, the town hall. She entered the front door after knocking (she was never able to shake the habit of knocking, even after all this time) and began walking around the kitchen table in circles, unable to sit down. A raid. They were going to raid. They were going to attack.

As soon as everyone called had sat down around the large, round table, Five relayed the information shakily, pacing. She was too antsy to sit.

"Oh, God…" Runner Eleven breathed, running her hands through her hair. "Only a week to prepare."

"We have to try negotiating with them first," Dr. Myers suggested. "Maybe we can avoid this whole mess."

"No, Maxine." Runner Seven shook his head. "You know that can't be done now. Remember what happened the last time we sent someone over there to collect supplies?" He gestured at Five. "We can't afford to lose any more runners at night like that."

"Unfortunately, Runner Seven is right. Our radios don't even reach that far, so the comms aren't an option," Janine said briskly. "And, please, take a seat, Five. You're going to pace a hole in my floor." Five stopped and sat down on a side bench next to Sam, but didn't look at him.

Eleven frowned. "And sending an email? Rofflenet?"

"Absolutely not," Janine continued. "Our email security over Rofflenet is shaky enough as it is. Trying to communicate with them that way would just give them a chance to hack our system. Remember Tess? That New Brunswick girl who tried stealing our laptops for New Canton? They would use this as a ripe opportunity to hack us."

"That's it, then?" Sam asked. "Just like that? We're going to war?"

"Our best chance of survival is the creation of defense, now," Runner Ten agreed.

As the others continued discussing tactics, Five felt sick to her stomach. This was wrong. The humans were supposed to be fighting other zombies. Not humans. They were supposed to stick together and assist each other.

She looked at all of her fellow Abel citizens. Her friends. Dr. Myers, who cared for everyone and anyone. Runner Ten, who spent hours solving statistical models just to defeat the hordes. Janine, gruff and militaristic but good all around. Seven, so reassuring and calm. Sam—who was a pain in the ass.

Five only looked at Sam for a second before glancing away. She was in no mood to speak to him. Not lately. She could feel his eyes on her, but she unwaveringly stared toward Ten, listening only vaguely to his latest zombie avoidance strategy.

"What's wrong?" Sam whispered.

"Nothing," she replied, her voice barely audible as Eight began relaying how much ammunition Abel needed.

"That's a load of rubbish," he responded. "Was it what I said yesterday? The bikini comment?"

"No," Five snapped, her whisper fierce. "You think you can just get away with—"

"Runner Five and Mr. Yao." Janine looked over at the two, her mouth a thin, displeased line. Five and Sam looked up like disobedient schoolchildren caught eating crayons. "If you could kindly pay attention to the fact that we are about to be at war, we would all appreciate it."

Five nodded quickly, her face warm.

"We're paying attention, 'course we are," Sam stuttered. "Y'know, you were just talking about that—that beheading thing with the meat cleaver on the—"

"That will be all, Mr. Yao," Janine said primly. "Runner Eight, if you could please continue…"

Sam and Five were quiet for a moment before Five snatched one of Ten's scrap papers and a couple of pencils. She propped them up on her lap and handed a bewildered Sam one of the writing utensils.

As I was saying, she wrote. The bikini comment didn't upset me.

So what did? Sam scribbled on the sheet.

Five bit her lip, looking up at the round table to make the others think that she and Sam were taking meticulous notes on their discussion.

You were just being cocky about how the female runners are so grateful. Pissed me off.

Really?

Yeah. You've saved my life a lot, and I am grateful for that, but you don't have to be a dick about it.

I'm sorry. Was just joking around. Didn't mean to upset you.

So you don't really feel that way?

Are you kidding? When have I ever gotten anything besides a light thank you from anyone, like Janine said?

True. Five smirked. And with comments like that, that's likely all you'll ever get.

…That implies that there is more to be had. Potentially.

Does it?

Sam stopped. Now you're confusing me.

Doesn't take much to do that, to be honest.

Sam chuckled but stopped abruptly after a warning glare from Janine. Five took the paper and stuffed it in her backpack, folding it tightly and sticking it deep in a side pocket. There was no way in hell she was going to have Janine see that.