Chapter 21: Autopilot

"This is a test transmission. This is a test transmission."

"I-I don't sound like that," Sam stammers in shock. "Do I really sound like that?"

"Yes, Sam, you sound like that," Nadia replies as she jogs at a leisurely pace beside me. "In fact, talking to us now, you sound exactly like that."

"But... well, that guy's-well, I thought my voice was-was deeper, more authoritative. Ah, you know. Like, raise the gates! Covering fire and-wait. Wait! No!"

I hear alarms go off through my headset, and I burst out in laughter as Sam continues to stammer.

"Sorry. Sorry. Don't actually raise the gates. Can-can you close them again? Thank you! Sorry. I was-I was talking to Nadia. I was... yeah." He sighs in embarrassment. "Five, stop laughing."

"I'm sorry," I wheeze, trying to get my laughter to die down. "You're just such a dork."

"Thanks a lot."

"You know I mean it in a good way, and if it's any consolation, I really like your voice."

"Who did you think you sounded like?" Nadia asks. "Barry White? James Earl Jones?"

"No, but maybe... Patrick Stewart? Once when I was hungover, I did a good Johnny Cash." He pauses. "Hey, there's something we haven't done-a joint Abel/New Canton karaoke night."

It takes everything in me not to laugh at the look of complete horror that appears on Nadia's face.

"And we're not going to do that," She says, her voice firm showing it's not up for discussion.

But either Sam doesn't hear it or he simply doesn't care, because he pushes onward.

"Oh, come on. I bet you have a fan club among the New Canton runners. What's your song? No. No, don't tell me. Lady Gaga-Born This Way."

"I don't have a song," She says with a scowl.

"Of course you do. Wait, I bet it's a real oldie. Marlene Dietrich."

"I don't have a song, and if I did, it wouldn't be Marlene Dietrich."

"Annie Lennox?" He hums. "No, too introspective. Debbie Harry? No, too extroverted."

Nadia sighs and rubs her temples. "You know, some operators believe in keeping their runners briefed. Like, 'Hey, Nadia and Runner Five, you're about two days away from one location marked on a map made by Darren's bosses, the Yellow Jackets. We believe they contain something there that they use to keep zombies away from their depot. We suspect the site might contain a Comansys base. Also, we will shortly trial some interesting new technology to make this whole operator/Runner relationship more efficient.'"

She smiles sarcastically. "Why, thank you, Sam, for that important information."

"Siouxsie Sioux? Nah, too much eyeliner. Kylie! Is it Kylie?"

Nadia groans. "Will you stop going on about karaoke?"

"No. It'd be fun. Five would totally do it, wouldn't you, Five?"

I shrug, but before I can answer, Nadia speaks for me.

"The only reason she'd do it is because you wouldn't stop pestering her until she gave in."

"I wouldn't pester her. Five actually likes being silly from time to time, unlike you."

"Her silly is board games and sarcasm and the occasional flirting-not karaoke."

"I'm right here, you know," I say with a slight frown, but I'm ignored. So I pick up a miniature wrench that's barely hidden in the dying grass. I put it in my backpack's side pocket, since food and water is in all the other pockets.

Sam also helped me steal a blanket, because it's cold as heck at night and is only going to get colder. It hasn't started snowing yet, but in a month or two I'm sure there will be white powder all on the ground.

Ew. Even the thought of snow disgusts me.

But I keep my thoughts to myself and let the two continue with their arguing.

At times they can be pretty entertaining since their personalities are so different. Nadia reminds me of some of my old operators at Mullins. She's not a stone cold professional like the operators at the A.M.T.B., but she's not one to goof around too much.

Sam pretty much has his own category, and that's about all that needs to be said.

Plus, their bickering does seem help pass the time.

"Who the hell does Five flirt with?" Sam asks in confusion, and Nadia just blinks.

"You're joking, right?"

"No, I-wait a minute. Are you just trying to distract me from guessing your song? You are, aren't you?"

"Can we forgot about that stupid karaoke idea?" She growls.

"Not until I guess your song correctly," He answers stubbornly. "Hmm... Shirley Manson? No, too aggressive. Tina Turner! It's Tina Turner, isn't it?"

Nadia looks like she wants to reach through her headset and strangle him where he sits in that battered old swivel chair. I would laugh, but I'm actually in reach for Nadia to strangle me, so I keep my mouth shut.

She pushes up her pink glasses as she rubs the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Sam, if you promise to shut up, I will tell you why your voice sounds different on the recording."

There's a pause. "Really? How do you know that?"

"I know because I am a radio operator and thus have learned such things."

I flinch even though the insult wasn't directed at me. "Ouch. Feisty, aren't ya?"

"Yeah, alright," Sam says. "Tell me."

"Not until you promise to shut up about karaoke."

"Fine. Fine. I promise." He sounds pretty bummed about that, actually. Makes me feel a bit bad she kept shooting down his idea.

"Good. When you speak, your vocal cords not only produce sounds, but vibrations in your skull. When you hear yourself talk, you're hearing the sound through the eardrum, and your cochlea is also picking up vibrations directly through your head. When you listen to the recording, the skull vibrations aren't present, see?"

"So when I thought I had a deeper voice-"

"You just had slower vibrations, which can be fun in their own, say if you put in... earplugs." She shrugs.

"That's not what I thought you were going to say," He admits, and Nadia rolls her eyes.

"You'll never catch up, Abel."

There's a moment of silence before a groan comes through my headset. "Ugh, I have to go. Amelia will be looking for me."

I frown. "You're leaving? Already?"

"He's been on coms with us for almost three days," Nadia says, and she frowns at the glare I send her.

"Alright, I'm gonna engage the offline operator," He says. "Now remember, it's just a trial, and I'll be back at some point to see how it's going. This is a low risk section on the journey, and we don't anticipate any complications until you get near the base."

We better expect complications now, because you totally just jinxed us.

"Your GPS will constantly transmit your position. After you've run a certain distance, it'll trigger the next audio briefing that I have pre-recorded. Pretty ingenious, actually. We could make it into some sort of game."

I hate this game already.

"We're ready, Sam," Nadia says.

"I still don't like leaving you alone. Watch yourselves, okay?"

"We can see about two miles in all directions," She replies. "Empty fields, no zoms."

He sighs. "I, on the other hand will be briefing new recruits on primary base procedures and secondary communication protocols. Maybe I should raise the gates after all. They'll be running away screaming in about five minutes."

A small laugh leaves my lips, but it fades when music comes through my headset. I mean, I'm used to listening to overplayed music while on a run, but it sucks that I won't be hearing Sam after about five songs.

No, I'll be hearing a recording because Amelia wants this to all be automated. How stupid is that? The last time I dealt with anything automated, it was an A.I. with four personalities that tried to kill me and Sam and Janine. I think it still is plotting to kill me since we didn't actually stop it and it has my DNA...

I shake my head. That doesn't matter. I did that just before Maxine went missing. If A.N.N.I.E. was going to kill me, it would have found a way to do so by now.

Still, I hate the whole idea on an automated operator thing. It just feels... wrong. But it's not like I can actually say anything on it. Sam's got things to do and Amelia won't change something just because I don't like it.

Besides, she's too busy doing... whatever it is she's been doing. I haven't really talked to her in a while, not that I've had any desire too. I've seen her talking to Janine a few times. She likes to send her on errands that literally anyone else could do. You'd think she'd have Janine look over things like strategies or plans, but no. All she's been doing is minuscule errands and some paperwork that the Ministry keeps sending. But she's our new leader. Who am I to question her reasoning?

So I keep on jogging. Since there's no danger, it's best that we don't tire ourselves out. Getting sweaty and exhausted now wouldn't be very smart since we could possibly run into zombies later. I do have weapons on me, but we still have two days of travel left. No need to use any bullets if it's unnecessary.

"Either you're really into this song or you've spaced out big time," Nadia says in amusement, and I blink, realizing she's waving her hand in front of my face.

"Sorry. I tend to... slip away when it's not life threatening out here, or when Sam's not talking. The music is background noise, but it's better than silence."

"You... don't like it when Sam's not here, do you?"

"I'm used him tuning out for a little while. It's the automated system that I don't enjoy. It seems... risky."

She sighs. "I know it sounds insane, but try to see it from the operator's point of view. You and I are three days out of Abel, navigating on guess work and a map obtained from distinctly unreliable teenager with a penchant for inventing a kitten story to tempt Zoe over. There's no visuals except for the head cams we're wearing, so the shack only gets two shaky cam feeds, and bad signals from those.

"Sam can only see what we actually look at, and he loses all the benefits of 3D, peripheral vision and environmental audio." She shrugs casually. "Yes, he has maps, but so we do we. What can he really add? So, on balance, I think-"

"Hello, Runners!"

I scream at the voice that comes through my headset. I place my hand over my heart, trying to get over the sudden shock, and then realizing it's the recording; It's Sam's voice.

"This is the offline operator. Well done. You're making good time. Your GPS shows you're only... seventy-nine hours... away from Abel. We're already heating the water for your shower. Look forward to see you."

Nadia raises a brow at me, and I scowl.

"I don't think I've ever hated hearing Sam's voice this much."

"Stop being dramatic," She says with an eye roll. "But of course, no matter how good the idea is, it all is about the execution. One operator per group doesn't scale, but imagine if everyone had access to one when necessary? It would bring back a little freedom, you know?"

"No, not really," I mutter.

She sighs, a shadow of sadness casting over her face. "Sometimes, I sit in New Canton and stare at the wall-this prison we built to keep us safe, and I get ridiculous urge to go to the beach and build sand castles, or walk up a hill to look at the view.

"But we can't do these things because they serve no purpose for the base. We can't justify the operator's time... I won a prize for building sandcastles once."

"You are now approaching Nino's Supple Shop," The recording says, and I roll my eyes. "Don't bother looking for supplies. We've cleaned out everything useful, except maybe sheep dib. There's still lots of sheep dib."

I look around, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Uh, that shop is nowhere close to where we are. It's on the other side of Abel."

"Hello, Runners! This is the offline operator. Well done. You're making good time."

"If we turn around now, we could switch it off ourselves," Nadia suggests, cringing, "in only seventy-nine hours."

•

"The thing about-" Nadia starts.

"Up ahead, you'll see a railway bridge across the road," The recorder interrupts, causing the blonde to frown. "This branch was closed in 1964. However, it still provides a workable path between Brickhouse-which is three miles to the north-and Leckwich, four miles to the south. Our most recent information suggest Brickhouse is thick with zoms, but there are human survivors in Leckwhich."

Nadia blinks. "That was... that was actually pretty useful. If I'm not mistaken, that really is a railway bridge up ahead."

The smug look on her face makes me want to slap it right off. I could, since no one is watching us. I wonder if I should tell her that.

"Just because it's given us some fact doesn't mean it's all that useful or that I have to like it," I say instead, but she simply gives me a neutral face.

Of course, she wouldn't understand much about this. This is her first run-at least, it's her first scheduled run as a runner-and while the first two days were a little bumpy, there was no time when we feared for our lives. This has been one of the smoothest missions I've ever been on.

Nadia knows what has happened before with runners, but she's always done it from a chair in a building that has a wall in between her and the zoms. She doesn't realize, after death has nearly touched you a dozen times out here, you don't feel okay outside the gates-not really.

Even when I go into my little mindspace, I still have a little piece of me that's listening for a moan, or a growl. It's scary out here, and having a operator helps ease that fear, even if the operator was one at the A.M.T.B.

But no, she doesn't get that, and I'd rather not explain it to her because it would only turn into an argument.

Nadia opens her mouth to speak again, but she's cut off.

"Hello, Nadia and Runner Five, hopefully you've just heard location information about Brickhouse/Lechwich railbranch," The recording says. Sam's voice surprisingly has its quirky tone to it, unlike the last half a dozen times the recording has played a clip. "Your objective today is a forest about three miles ahead. Pass under the bridge and keep following this track. Our last survey suggests that there's not much here to attract zoms, but stay alert all the same."

Nadia pauses to make sure the clip has finished. "I was going to say, the thing about being an operator is you can multitask. Even if Abel is running several missions at once, Sam should be able to handle it. Back at A.T.C. on ground control, I got so I could work twelve planes in a two minute window. There were older guys there who could handle up to twenty."

"Uh, that's great, I guess," I say, not bothering to hide my confusion.

"I mean, we can't do without operators; They have oversight that we just can't get here on the ground, but in a mission like this-into an unfamiliar environment, they don't really have anything to add. In fact, their suggestion can work against your instincts."

The last time I listened to my instincts, I got caught by Van Ark and then got stuck with needless.

"Talking about instinct, look left."

I do as told, and grimace at the sight of moving figures in the fields of wheat. I doubt they're farmers trying to get their

harvest, mostly because you should be done harvesting wheat by now.

"So much for seeing miles in every direction," I say, and I get a scowl in reply. "Come on. We can't lose 'em at this pace. Run."

Our jog quickly turns into a run as more zombies seem to appear out of nowhere. It's as if they've just been lying down, waiting for someone to come along.

Either way, they've seen us, and are quickly coming after us. I curse under my breath; They're sprinting.

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!

I keep my hand away from my gun. We can't risk attracting more, and so far they're too far away for me to use my axe. Hopefully if we keep going, we'll lose them.

So, I keep running, but Nadia's struggling to keep up with me. Even with her long, skinny legs, she's having a hard time keeping a fast pace. Her face is becoming red and her breathing is starting to get ragged. And we have to go faster if we want to get away. These zombies are not letting up and they're fast as hell.

"Come on," I yell, reaching back and grabbing her arm to pull her along. "We have to run faster."

She nods, her eyes wide as the zombies keep getting closer and closer. How can something that decomposed run so quickly?

I'm thinking now might be a good time to reach for my axe.

But there's a patch of trees up ahead. We can use this as a way to slow them down-since they're still stupid even if they're fast-but there are more coming in from the fields beside the trees. We have to make it before they get in front of us, or we could be boxed in.

My grip on Nadia's arm tightens, and I push my legs to go faster. The blonde nearly trips on her own feet, but she manages to keep up pace-just barely. She's sweating and trying to stay upright so she won't trip and get eaten. I think she's realizing just how much more terrifying it is out here in real life than seeing it on a screen.

We're getting closer to the cluster of trees, but so are the zoms. Just a couple more yards and we'll be there. We're so close. My legs are beginning to burn-to ache, but they keep pushing-they keep going.

We reach the clump of trees, but the zoms are right on our heels. Some trip over tree roots, some fall into bushes... but others do not. Most of them keep on coming. If we slow down even a little bit, they'll be on us.

"Five, I can't keep up your pace," Nadia huffs. "Can you pull some away me?"

I let go of her arm before reaching into my backpack and pulling out a noisemaker. I turn it on, flinching at the pitched noise that leaves the machine. "Okay, I'll head east and lead them away. I'll circle back around and meet you once I know we're in the clear."

"No, there were four coming in that way," She argues. "We have to pull back, try to get around them."

"Pull back?" I all but screech. "We have zombies three seconds behind us! We can't pull back!"

"You've been running now for two hours," The recording chimes in. "It's time to take a break."

I crane my neck to look back just in time to see a zombie lunge at us. Nadia screams as she passes a bush, coming to a jerky halt. A gray hand's got ahold of her of ankle.

"Look in your pack. Concealed under the flares, you'll find a small package wrapped in greaseproof paper."

"It's got my leg! It's got my leg!"

I drop my noisemaker and grab my axe, hacking at the hand that has ahold of her. The zombie growls and roars but refuses to let go.

"Yes, it's one of Janine's chocolate brownies," The recorder says, and I grit my teeth.

"Shoot it!" Nadia screams, and I grab my gun. I fire once, twice, but as soon as that zombie drops, another falls down to take its place, grabbing ahold of Nadia and struggling to pull her closer to its mouth.

"Oh, come on!" I yell.

"It's made from her mother's recipe."

"Shoot it too!" She kicks at the zombie's face while I shoot, but I don't aim at the zom on the ground. Instead I aim for the four zombies that are literally seconds away from us.

One. Two. Three. Four.

They all drop like flies, but there's still more coming. We have maybe twenty seconds before I'll have to start shooting again and I cannot use up anymore bullets. I have a box of rounds in my bag, but that's for the entire trip here and back. I have to be smart about this.

"With a bit of refined sugar, and some other substitutes, it still tastes just as good."

"Chuck the brownie in its eye!"

I grab the brownie from Nadia's backpack. The thing is like a freaking rock, and when I throw it, it smashes into the zombies skull.

What substitutes did Janine use? Cement instead of butter?

"Run! Go!" I scream, and while Nadia looks at me in confusion, she doesn't question it. I grab a flare from my backpack and light it up.

Then I chuck at a nearby bush just as a group of zombies run by it. It catches on fire and the flames spread to them...

Probably not the best of ideas, since there are now flaming zombies coming after me, but it's slowed them down some.

So I turn and start running.

"We thought you'd like a little taste of home," The recording says. "So take a few deep breaths, sit back, and enjoy the sunset."

"It's the middle of the afternoon, you stupid, unless piece of technology!"

"Who cares about the automated system?" Nadia screams from in front of me. "Just run!"

I want to argue that if Sam was here on coms, he could be looking at the maps and find us a safe place to run, since we can't look at our maps because we're currently running for our damn lives! But I don't. I don't argue because doing so would cause me to become breathless more quickly, and I can't give the zombies any extra advantages.

We're running out of time. I can see them through the trees. They're surrounding us. If they manage to get ahead of us, we're done for. With every breath of air I take, my body tires more. Each step sends a burning ache through my legs, and my mind is screaming for me to slow down, but I can't.

I catch up with Nadia, my eyes wide and fearful. "What do we do? I don't know what's after these trees. I don't think it's more fields."

"I-I'm not sure," She wheezes, gasping for breath. "Where are they coming from? Can you see-can you see a way through?"

"What the hell?"

I gasp. I know that voice. Even better, I know that tone of voice. It's him-the real him.

"Sam!" I exclaim joyful. "Man, am I happy to be hearing from the actual you. Get us out of here!"

"I've got GPS scan," He says. "Turn around as slowly as you can bear."

I do as told, a little squeak leaving my mouth as I see the amount of zombies coming after us. It looks like thirty? Maybe forty? Oh, God, this is not good.

"Turn to your four o'clock and run until you see a disused church."

"Got it," Nadia pants, and we start heading in that direction.

The trees fly by in a blur of orange and brown. My heart is racing in my chest, the sound nearly drowning out the moans of the zombies, or the dead leaves and twigs as they snap under our feet.

But I can see it. The churchyard is less than a quarter mile away. We can teach it in a minute and a half if we keep running at this pace. Although, it's not like we have any choice on slowing down.

"Nadia, scan to your right. Five, scan left," Sam says, and I look around as smoothly as I can to give him a good view. "Good. There are groups closing in on either side of you. Cut through the church ground and-"

"Hello, Runners! This is the offline operator. Your GPS..."

"What? No!" Sam growls as the recording keeps playing. "How do I turn this off? No! Through the back gate, and you're only about thirty seconds from-"

"Well done. You're making good time."

Sam groans as we cut across the church ground, heading for the back gate as he instructed.

"You'll see a canal." I can hear him grumble as he presses buttons to what I guess is the offline operator. "Follow it left until you see the locked gate."

"At the next junction, turn right."

"What? No!" He yells. "Turn left! Left! Don't listen to this!"

He continues to press buttons as we keep running, having already turned left. There's a dirt path that leads up to the lock gate. It's so close. Only a little bit further and we're there.

"Yes, it's one of Janine's special chocolate brownies."

"Oh, shut up! Shut up!" Sam yells. "Once you get to the lock gate, don't try and open it. It'll take too long. Just get across and find something to knock them off."

I let Nadia run ahead of me, since the lock gate is only big enough for a single file line. She crosses over first but I'm right behind her, my axe in hand. They're all coming at us one at a time. No guns are needed now.

"Five, there's a life saver on that long pole," Nadia points out. "Can you reach it?"

I stand on my tiptoes and grab the life saver that's attached to a rope. She takes it from my hands and twirls it around as if it's a lasso or something. Then she swings it at the zoms crossing the lock gate, knocking them into the water.

"Die! Die, zombies! Sink! Sink!" She screams as I slam my axe into a zombie lady's head, then into another zom who looks to be a construction worker. Nadia hits more zombies into the water with the lifesaver, screaming the entire time she does so.

There's a sickening crunch as my axe comes down on a zom's skull. I pull out my weapon, watching the corpse fall over before I decapitate another zombie. My leg kicks up to push the zombie back. It stumbles, ramming into another corpse, both of them falling into the water.

My arms are burning, my muscles screaming, but I don't stop-not until ever zombie is dead or underwater. Once that is accomplished, I put my axe across my back and drop to my knees in exhaustion.

"I need a nap," I pant, "and some peanut butter."

"Is that..." He starts.

"Yeah," Nadia huffs. "I think we got them all. Now, Sam..."

"Yes?"

"Thank you. That was... very impressive."

"You are entirely welcome. Now, I'm going to turn this stupid thing off permanently."

"Hallelujah!" I exclaim breathlessly. "That means we get you back, right?"

"Yes. Did you really hate it that much?" He asks me in amusement.

"Besides the fact that it nearly got Nadia and me killed, it gave us information that I didn't care to know about, and tried to get me to eat cement brownies. So no, I didn't."

"Cement brownies?" He asks in confusion, and I shake my head.

"Never mind, and that wasn't even the worst part."

"And what was that?"

It wasn't you.

"It only talked about boring things," I huff dramatically. "I'm guessing Amelia didn't let you talk about any fun topics because all that thing says was some info about a railway and how Nino's Supply Shop is full of sheep dip."

Sam laughs. "Well, you won't have to worry about that anymore. I think this ought to do it."

There's a little click from a button being pressed.

"Thanks for participating in this trail of the offline operator. Please remember to fill out the feedback forms provided-"

"Oh, shut up."

There's a loud crash, and I flinch before giggling in realization. He's made sure we'll never use that again. I can only guess what he used to smash the thing.

A/N: Hello, everyone! I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Please be sure to vote and comment! Thank you and have a blessed day!