Sprinting through the trees, Eight and Five took off away from the zoms, trying to track where they were going. Gunshots sounded all around them.

"Is someone shooting?"

"Quiet!" Eight hissed.

Five stopped and listened; a voice was coming through Lem's headset. She listened to the fuzzy communications, and her eyes widened as the words tumbled through New Canton's communications.

"New Canton's preparing for a raid—they think we're shooting at them!"

"Damn it!"

Five's headset crackled to life again, and she heard the New Canton operator, Nadia, once more.

"Wait! I've got something!" Nadia spoke quickly. Feverishly. "We're picking up a signal from a runner's head set! Is that—oh my god. Are you seeing what I'm seeing? It's Runner 38. It's Lem! No! look at him! He's not stumbling, he's not moving after the pack! It's Lem! It's Lem! He's alive!"

Sam was silent for a moment. "This is… not good. Not good at all. We need backup."

Five and Eight took refuge close to Abel while Sam rounded up the other runners.

"All right," their comms operator said. "Ready, Eight and Five?"

"Ready," they said simultaneously.

"We've got… Runner Three."

"Whoo!" came a yell through the radio. "Runner Three, Simon, here."

"Runner Four, Runner Six, Runner Seven," Sam continued.

"Runner Four, Jody here," came a timid voice.

"Runner Six, Maggie Doan, here."

"Runner Seven, Evan Deaubl, here."

"You guys are running interference for Five. Keeping the zoms off, being my eyes out there. Because we have no cameras, Janine," Sam finished irritably.

"Don't waste your energy blaming me, Mr. Yao," Janine shot back. "Something out there has taken our cameras down, we need to find out what."

Before an argument could break out, the head of runners cut in smoothly.

"Three, you heading East with those noisemakers?"

Three chuckled. "Oh, you know me, Seven, I love to be chased. Happy hunting, guys. Catch some big ones."

Four took off running as a lookout to the North, so Six, Seven, Eight and Five kept in a tight pack. They jogged more slowly than usual in an attempt to muffle any noises they might make and get closer to New Canton.

Finally, New Canton caught wind of Five's headset. Their radio operator gasped, sending a troop of runners after Five, thinking she was Lem. They noted, too, that Three was using noisemakers as a distraction. They seemed confused and their attack party separated, attempting to understand what was happening.

"We've got vision on them," Sam said excitedly. "Still got ten New Canton people coming at us with heavy weapons, but I think we've confused them. Booyah! We can take these guys!"

"Mr. Yao."

"I'm being told there's still a possibility we can't take these guys. Carry on."

"We should head down to the lake, where the old concert hall is," Eight said from above them, climbing a small tree to check the surroundings.

"Yeah, they'll spend hours looking for us in that mess of buildings," Six agreed, helping Eight down. The four runners changed course, satisfied with their work and ready to continue this game of cat and mouse. As long as they could keep this up, New Canton wouldn't have the organization to attack until—

"Abort! Abort, abort!" New Canton's transmission came in loud and clear. Five stopped and gasped, clutching at her ear. "I repeat, abort the mission! Come on home, now! Right now! Don't argue, council orders! Abort now! No, stop searching for Lem! If he's out there, well, we'll find him another day."

Sam whooped in triumph. "Yeah, they're turning back! We beat them! Never even had to fight, they were just too goddamn chicken and confused!"

Five could almost feel Janine rolling her eyes "Mr. Yao."

"What? I'm not allowed to celebrate? …Oh. Uh. Why is Runner Four's transmission so faint? Yeah— yeah, do whatever you can to boost it."

Four's panicked voice soon fizzled through the comms.

"Abel Township! Can you hear me, Abel Township! Come in, Sam! Please! Just please say you can hear me!"

"We're here, we can hear you!" Sam called.

"They're heading for you, Sam, from the north! There must be at least three hundred! And they're just—I've never seen zoms look so purposeful! Abel Township! There's an army of zombies heading for your position! Abel Township—"

And the line phased out into static.

There was a moment of silence, and Sam swallowed audibly.

"I guess now we know why New Canton turned back."