Chapter 18: Stray Cat Strut

Phil raises his hand to beckon me over to him. "Runner Five! Over here!"

I raise my hand up to give him a wave. The dark haired man grins at seeing me, and the tall blonde beside him seems to sigh with relief. I think that's Zoe. She and Phil do the New Canton radio show together, and they collaborate with Jack and Eugene sometimes.

"Great," Nadia says over my headset. "We can get started."

"Sorry I'm late," I say. "I was asked to help feed some of the goats back in Abel. I... don't think goats are all that fond of me, to be honest."

"Well, thank God you're here now," Zoe says. "Phil was about to explain his theory how James Bond was actually a job title instead of a name."

"No, honestly," He says. "Makes perfect sense. He works for the secret service, so code names-"

"Sorry, was I not sufficiently clear about the fact that I don't care?"

Phil frowns, and I awkwardly pat him on the shoulder. "If you want, you can explain it to me when we get back. I'm sure Sam won't mind me visiting New Canton for a little while."

He gives me a closed lipped smile of gratitude, and I return it.

"Okay, Five, Sam asked if you could tag along with Phil and Zoe today," Nadia states. "You're all headed in the same direction, so it makes sense to share an operator."

"And with me and Phil here, he can be confident Nadia's not going to try to kill you again." Zoe's eyes widen when she realizes those words actually came out of her mouth. "I mean-what I meant to say was, it's a lovely sign of Sam's renewed faith in Nadia that he left her in charge of you today."

I blink. People are still on about that? It's been almost a year since she led me into Deadlock territory. I've forgiven her. Why can't everyone else?

"And we really appreciate with you helping us out with this ridiculous outing, Nadia," Phil says, sending a look to Zoe as we start running. She scowls at him.

"There's nothing ridiculous about kittens," She snaps, and I raise a bow at Phil for an explanation.

"Some random radio caller says she needs a home for a stray litter. Sounds a bit dodgy to me."

"Strangers offer to show you puppies, not give you kittens." She rolls her eyes as if that's the most obvious thing ever. "Anyway, Kursty's got a whole animal sanctuary. We'll do a report on it for our listeners. It'll be great."

"Yeah... great," I try to say that as convincingly as possible, but from the look the blonde gives me, I obviously didn't do very well of a job.

"So, as you can see, Five, this is a really crucial mission you've joined," Nadia scoffs. "Unlike yours which Sam said had something to do with those Van Ark files you found in Deadlock territory."

I laugh, my hand grabbing at my backpack strap at the memory. "I forgot how sarcastic you can be."

"There's a possible lead on Comansys which may help us find our lost people. Much less important that kittens, obviously," She adds, which makes me laugh harder. "Okay, we've had reports of a few shamblers in the cornfields 'round here and-yeah, here they are."

I nod, watching them stumble around near a hedge, their dead eyes boring into us. I shudder. No matter how many times I see them, they'll still always be creepy and disgusting.

"Pick up the pace?" I guess.

"Yep."

"Still don't see why I had to come," Phil grumbles, and Zoe frowns at him again. I think she does that to him a lot.

"Because I can only carry two or three kittens at a time."

I can't help but roll my eyes. I've never liked cats, and since kittens will eventually become cats, I don't like them either. I also don't really see why Zoe is actually risking her life and Phil's life for kittens. But I still am going to get my mission done eventually, so I won't complain.

Although those zoms following behind us is a bit alarming. They aren't fast zombies, but they're not super slow either. If I was alone or with other runners, I wouldn't be very worried, but Phil and Zoe do their radio show and Phil is a backup radio operator. That's their jobs. They don't run on a regular basis; They don't have very much stamina.

I can tell by how much Phil is starting to sweat and how labored Zoe's breathing has become as the zombies start to catch up to us. I push my legs to go faster, but I know I can't sprint and leave Zoe and Phil behind. If they have killed zombies, it'll have been awhile. And I'm the only one with a weapon. Well, weapons.

"You know, the name 'shamblers' sort of implies slow movement," Zoe pants, her eyes wide as she looks back at the undead behind us. They're still steadily gaining on us.

"I can smell 'em," Phil says, his nose scrunching up.

"Don't panic, guys," Nadia says. "There's a foot bridge coming up that will get you clear. Most shamblers can't deal with stairs. Five will bring up the rear and fight off any zoms that get too close, right, Five?"

"Well, seeing as I'm the only one here who deals with this shit on a regular basis, sure. Why not?" I shrug, grabbing my pistol as I slow down a bit to let the others get ahead of me.

"Great. So, what're you planning to do with all those kittens?"

"What?" Phil questions.

"The kittens. Who's going to look out for them?"

"Oh, uh, Zoe wants to have a competition so we can give them away to our listeners."

They both jump at the sound of a gunshot, and I snicker before pulling the trigger again, watching with delight as two of the zoms drop dead. "Did I scare ya?"

"Could've given us a warning," The tall woman grumbles.

"Sorry," I shrug. "So what kind of competition are you having exactly?"

She looks back at me, her eyes brightening at the subject being switched back to the kittens. "I thought we'd have one person every week play live. We'll get them to roll six dice, and if they roll six sixes, they win a kitten."

Phil chokes. "Six sixes? The odds are getting two sixes are one in thirty-six, and three sixes is um, uh," He pauses for a moment, "one in 216. Four sixes... that's one in over 1,000."

"I don't see your problem."

"The odds of it are astronomical. It's over one in 40,000."

"So we would have to keep all the kittens for ourselves," She answers casually.

"Oh, I see."

"That footbridge is just up ahead," Nadia cuts in. "Hurry, before they catch up."

I keep going, watching as Zoe and Phil climb up the footbridge, with me a few steps behind, firing a few more bullets to take out some of the closer zoms. I don't mind this bridge since the ground below it isn't very far away from the bridge itself. And right now, heights aren't my worst fear, surprisingly.

It's fences.

I'm going to do everything I can to avoid them since apparently, according to Chrysalis's dreams, a fence will be what I fall off of before I'm bitten...

I never thought I'd get bit. I never hoped I'd get bit...

I wish Tony had said something like I got shot or stabbed, because you can survive a bullet wound or stab wound; You can't survive a zom bite.

And from I've learned from previous dreams, you can't escape your fate... So I will die in some weird obstacle course while being watched by a woman, a weird man, Nadia, and some young girl with Sam on coms.

Of course, there are rumors of certain people being immune, but I'm not stupid. There's no such thing as someone being immune. If there was, we'd know about by now, right?

Right... right.

The only way I'd survive was if I got plasmapheresis treatments like Paula. If I did that, I'd have to take the exact precautions as her... I wouldn't be allowed to watch children. Hell, I'd have to limit time with my children just in case I cut myself...

That's if I made it to the machine before I turned.

The only other way would be if Van Ark's treatments made me immune... I think I'd rather die.

Sadly Chrys woke up before she could see what else happen and tell Tony.

I sigh. Sam's going to be on coms when I die. He's going to hear me die-watch me die.

"You're not even my second Runner Five, you know that? You're my fourth. I guess there's no better reason you'd make it back than any of the others..."

I remember him telling me that. I was alone in the zombie infested wilderness at night. We were still at war with New Canton then... Well, not at war, but we disliked them, a lot. Guess soon he'll have to get a fifth 'Runner Five'. I don't know how soon. I hope this 'soon' is a long, long time away, but I won't know until I'm there.

"Uh, Five, you're really spaced out," Phil says. "Everything alright?"

No.

"Yeah. Everything's fine."

Phil doesn't seem convinced, but his attention is turned away from me when a slight humming noise fills our ears.

"You're basically clear of the zoms now, but I'm getting some sort of noise through your headset," Nadia says.

"I think-I think it's an engine," Zoe replies.

Phil nudges my arm with his elbow and points ahead. "It is an engine. Look up ahead."

I can see it. Barreling down the dirt path is a van. It looks to be white, or at least it was white. There's a lot of... splatter on it from what I can see. It's too far away for me to tell if it's the blood of zombies or of humans. Could be both.

"I'm getting it on your head cams now. It's not one of ours. You'd better get behind that hedge, just in case."

I practically dive behind the little hedge ahead of us. I think Zoe murmurs something around the lines of 'show off', but whether I am one or not, I don't like the idea of being killed by rogue strangers. I've had that nearly happen one too many times in my lifetime. Don't need to add anymore occurrences just because I wasn't fast enough.

Thankfully the other two get behind the bush with me seconds before the van drives by, leaving a cloud of dust and dirt in its wake. But I noticed something as it drove by. The driver was wearing a yellow jacket. Phil must've noticed as well, since he points it out.

Zoe stares in confusion. "And in China that's considered unlucky?"

He rolls his eyes. "Don't you remember our second Myth or Mistake episode?"

"Nonsense or Zom-sense?"

"Exactly."

Who the hell comes up with a title like that?

She shakes her head. "No, I have no memory of it."

"The one where Sam Yao was on. He was talkin' about what was goin' on in all the bits of the country. He said there's a militia in the southeast. They all wear these bright yellow uniforms-not the Deadlocks. But we thought they might be related 'cause of the color."

"Yellow jackets like in Hidi Hi?"

"Yeah, only more shooty. Apparently his runners started seein' some of them around here."

"What do you think, Five?" Nadia asks. "Any chance that's what Van Ark's map note was about?"

"Depends on how dangerous these people are. Van Ark only seemed to write stuff down about you if he thought you were a threat to him. I know since he had a file on me."

"Well, you kinda a were a threat since you blew him up," Phil says, and I shrug.

"I don't even believe in karma, but I have heard that it's a bitch."

"Either way," Zoe cuts in, "we're nearly there. Come on."

He purses his lips and shakes his head, getting a snicker out of me. "Great. Fantastic... just fantastic."

•

"This... is not how I visualized an animal sanctuary," Phil says, and I can't help but a agree. These buildings up ahead don't look like any place you'd keep animals. They sort of remind me of warehouses almost. I know the look of them pretty well since I spent quite a bit of time hiding in them when the apocalypse first began.

"Think of all the kittens you could fit in one of those," Zoe sighs happily, her eyes lighting up like Christmas lights.

But that's not the only thing I see. There are ton of wild flowers growing on some hedges nearby. There's so many colors-pink, blue, yellow. They're beautiful.

"What kinda of flowers are those?" I ask, tipping my head to the side. "I don't have a green thumb, so I tend to stay away from plants."

Phil hums. "I can see uh, peony and tobacco and I think those blue ones might be night pickstock."

I squint at the said blue flowers. They have thorns and are a deep, deep shade of blue. They're beautiful, no doubt... dazzlingly really, but something about them seems different than the other plants.

"You are such a girl," Zoe says with an eye roll, and Phil frowns.

"One of us has to be."

Damn. Bringing on the sass there, aren't ya, Phil?

"Careful, guys. You've been spotted," Nadia points out. "I can see someone running towards you from the warehouses."

Zoe shrugs. "That'll be Kursty. She was up all night nursing a tabby with the sniffles." She raises her hand up to wave at the approaching figure. "Hey, Kursty!"

Only... it isn't Kursty. I mean, it could be, but only if Kursty is a teenage ginger who is just barely taller than I am.

"You've still got your gun handy, haven't you, Five?" Nadia asks, but Zoe grabs my wrist before I can take my pistol out of its holster.

"I'm not having shots fired at my kittens," She says with a glare, but the look disappears when the young man waves at us. "See? He's waving. Maybe he's Kursty's son, though she didn't mention a son."

The young man makes his way to us, and the closer he gets, the more suspicious I become. The boy only looks to be about fifteen, maybe younger, but I can't shake the feeling something isn't right. I keep my face neutral when he stops in front of us.

"Hello," He says flatly.

Phil gives Zoe and I a raised brow before he clears his throat. "Hello. I'm Phil, this is Zoe, and this is Runner Five from Abel Township."

"Oh, right. I'm Darren."

"We're looking for Mrs. Banks."

"Kursty. Kursty Banks," Zoe says. "Is she your mum?"

Darren blinks, as if his brain is having trouble processing her question. Finally he nods. "Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Do you want a cup of tea? This way."

He starts running off before we can even give a reply.

Phil coughs awkwardly. "Well, he's a bit um..."

"Weird?" I guess.

"That's one way to put it."

Zoe rolls her eyes before starting after him. "Come on. I'm gasping for a cuppa, and Kursty says she bakes a great Eccles cake. You got any of your mum's Eccles cake, Darren?"

"Quickly. I have to be back inside in three minutes," He tells back, and I narrow my eyes on suspicion.

"I'll take that as a yes," She murmurs.

This definitely doesn't feel right. I don't feel exactly like I'm in danger. I mean, Darren's barely bigger than I am. I've taken guys down that were three times my size, so he would be no threat. But if he's leading us into a trap-well, that's a different story.

But again, I don't feel like I'm in danger. It just feels... weird.

I wish I was doing my actual mission. I would much rather be following this Comansys lead-but no, I have to help Phil and Zoe out first by getting them kittens. I don't even like cats! I like dogs! It'd be different if this lady was giving away pugs or Boston terriers or French bulldogs or, you know, a dog.

But again, no. It had to be cats.

Darren leads us into one of the warehouses, which surprisingly does not look like one on the inside. It's well furnished and has good lighting, as well as a kitchen and a bathroom. It's basically a house.

"Nice place," I mutter as Darren heads over to the small kitchen area to boil water for the tea.

"Uh, thanks."

Phil and I take a seat on the couch while Zoe sits down in one of the chairs. The furniture all seems to be in really good shape. The fashion of it is a bit... mismatched, but that's to be expected. In all honesty, this place looks really nice.

The only question is, where is Kursty? This place is pretty open, and I see no sign of the woman. My hand itches to grab my backpack strap, but I keep them both in my lap.

It only takes a few minutes for Darren to boil the water and pour them into little teacups. He sets them down on a little wooden table in front of us before making a mad dash to a little box on the wall-a key pad.

He carefully presses a few buttons and sighs with relief when a short little 'beep' comes through the box.

"What's that?" Phil questions.

"Oh, uh, just disabling the burglar alarm." He goes back into the kitchen to grab some cream and sugar and when he returns, hands it to Zoe. "Here you are."

"Thank you," She says. After she finishes adding the two into her tea, Darren sets the cream and sugar on the table, making no effort to pass anything to Phil or me.

"I'll just help myself then." Phil grabs the sugar and gives me a raised brow. "What about you? Want some cream? It's only a year past its date."

I laugh, but shake my head. "No, I'm good. I don't even like tea-well, not hot tea anyway."

"How else are you supposed to drink it?"

I blink. "Um, cold. You know, sweet tea-iced tea? How do you not know th... oh, that's right. You're British... I forgot."

"How do you forget that?" He asks, narrowing his eyes at me. "We're literally in England."

"So, you and your mum... work here?" Zoe asks, cutting our conversation short.

Darren nods. "Yeah."

"What is it you do?"

"I record the deliveries, and every three months I do a stock take. I write it all down in a book."

She hums. "I see. Kursty didn't say anything about that. What is it you're storing here?"

"Do you like books?" He asks, completely evading her question.

"Some books."

"You said you liked Pride and Prejudice."

She frowns. "What?"

"I've got Withering Heights." He stands up and heads over to a small bookcase that's stands up against the wall. "You can have it if you want."

Zoe looks over at Phil and I with a pinched face before looking back to Darren. "You've heard our radio show?"

Darren grabs the book, turning to grin at her. "Yeah, you're really funny."

"Uh, thanks. So, you're a regular listener?"

"I listen all the time," He replies as he hands her the book. "Do you like chocolate? I saved a box for you."

I don't know if I should laugh or be worried by him saying that. But as he heads over to a small desk to grab the box, I see Zoe go deathly still, her eyes growing a fraction wider.

"Darren."

"The corner got bashed, but they're good," He promises, "not cheap ones."

"Why is there a yellow jacket hanging up on your cupboard?"

I tense, but then my head snaps over to the cupboard, and I grab my backpack strap when I see it. It's there-bright yellow, the other splotches of color being blood stains. I stand up, grabbing my gun from its holster at lightning speed. Darren flinches at the sight of it.

"Answer the question," I say lowly.

"They left it there," He says, and Zoe stands up as well.

"Who left it there?"

"One of the drivers."

The blonde breathes in deeply. "Darren, did you call the radio station and pretend to be Kursty? Because I noticed if you spoke a bit higher, and slower, you could be... Darren, did you just want to meet me?"

He flushes and wrings his hands. "You're funny, and you have a sexy voice, and you did it with Joe McSweeny on the-"

"So... there are no damn kittens?" She shrieks, and I flinch at the fury in her voice.

"Guys, I've got zoms stumbling up from the woods and no sign of Comansys, which was the whole point of this mission," Nadia says over our headset. "I think it's time to leave."

"Too bloody right!" Zoe looks about two seconds away from strangling Darren where he stands, but he doesn't notice her anger. His face has fallen.

"You're leaving?"

"There's a bunch of zoms closing in," Phil says as he stands up beside me. "You might want to scamper too."

"But not with us," She glares. She turns to leave, but Darren grabs her hand.

"No, wait."

She rips away from him, turning to look at him with fire in her eyes. Phil grabs my arm out of fear, although I'm honestly pretty scared too. Zoe looks like she's ready to murder everyone in the room.

"Consider yourself lucky I didn't kick you in the nuts," She growls.

"Wait, listen," He begs. "The zoms won't attack. They never attack here. My bosses have fixed it so they stay away. I can show you."

"If you think I'm going to believe another word you say-"

"Wait," Nadia cuts in, "this could be very important if he's telling the truth."

Zoe grits her teeth, her shoulders tense as she struggles to stay silent. I give Darren a little nod to indicate that we're listening, and he beams. Then he starts for the door.

"We'll have to be quick. They make me send a signal every hour letting them know I haven't bunkered off and I've no trouble. If I don't enter the code in time, they'll know something's up. Come on. We've got to pick up some zoms."

"Pick them up?" Zoe asks, and he nods.

"You'll see."

•

"Can I just point out that we've gone out and gathered a whole bloody horde of zoms to chase us on the say so of a teenage fantasist?" Phil shrieks, but his voice is barely audible over the growls and roars and groans of the zombies.

There's at least twenty following behind us. I don't have enough bullets to take them all down, obviously. I have my axe, but I doubt I'll be able to take them all down before being bitten.

I may know how my death scenario will be, but I'm not going to take any chances to change that scenario. Just because I know my death day doesn't mean I am immortal until that day. I could still easily get myself killed early by being stupid.

"Oh, God," Zoe wheezes. "I don't think I can keep going much longer. What the hell were you thinking, Darren? What the hell was I thinking?"

"It's okay, Zoe. I wouldn't put you in danger," He says assuringly. "We're going to be fine. Look."

I crane my neck to look back at the zombies, and nearly trip and fall on my face when I see the zombies are no longer chasing us. They're just standing around that hedge with the blue flowers.

"What the hell?" I murmur. "It's like they've gone docile."

"So we can stop running now?" Phil pants, slowing down a bit.

Darren nods. "You can walk right up to them. They won't do anything-not as long as you're standing here. Every time they come, my bosses put something all around the perimeter, but I don't know what it is. They make me go inside while they do it."

"Right," Zoe says, breathless. "Well, thank you for your assistance, Darren. I'm sure our people will be in touch."

"No, wait," He says desperately, causing her to sigh and look at him with annoyance. "I've got a map. I nicked it from them. I know where they come from, where they bring their stuff in from. I can show you."

Phil crosses his arms. "Alright then. Show us."

The ginger boy shifts his weight from one foot to the other. "Well, but I mean, I'm not just gonna give it to you, am I? I could get in trouble."

Zoe sighs and rolls her eyes. "Fine. What do you want?"

He stares at her for a long second, and her eyes go wide. "Oh, no. Forget it."

"Just one little date. Come on," He begs.

"You lied to me, and pretended to be a middle aged woman called Kursty. With kittens!"

"We really need that map, Zoe," Nadia urges.

"Yeah, you could do worse," Phil laughs. "And some women like ginger hair and freckles."

She grits her teeth but finally lets out a sigh. "Fine. There's a disused sewage works, it'll be perfect for our date."

Darren's face scrunches up. "Sewage works?"

"Someone heard mewing the other day and I want to check it out. You owe me kittens." She holds out her hand. "Now give us that map."

A/N: Hey there! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please be sure to vote and comment! Also, sorry for taking a few extra days to update. I've been busy. Anyway, thank you and have a blessed day!