Chapter 46: Where's Your Head At

"Not exactly tidy, is he-this Runner Three?" Louise scrunches up her nose as she looks around at the raggedy bedding and dusty cabinets. "I'd have gone on report if my cell was in the state of this shack."

"It's exactly what I'd expect of a man like Simon Lauchlan," Kefilwe states, looking around with a frown. "It looks as if he was suffering from severe mental problems."

I hum in response. That wouldn't surprise me, given his childhood. Simon never said, but there were obvious signs of a abuse-like whenever we'd share stories about the apocalypse. He would always talk about how he got into trouble with his mischievous friends, but if anyone ever asked if he got punished, he'd laugh it off and dismiss the question. He hid it well, but I'd see the flash of pain in his eyes, and I'd remember the faded scars on his shoulders. They remind me much like the laceration scars I have on my back.

I don't like to think about how old he was when he got those scars.

"Five, are you seeing anything useful under that pile of unwashed plates? Any sign of Van Ark's intel on Comansys?" Paula lets out a shaky breath over coms. "We need to make sure we have every possible advantage before the attack. Only one day... one day until-no. I'm not gonna say it."

"It's alright, Paula. It's alright to hope. Hope is good," Kefilwe says with a smile, causing the white-haired woman beside me to scoff.

"Blimey. When did you two get all touchy-feely all of the sudden?"

Paula clears her throat awkwardly. "After my attack of um, verbal diarrhea, Janine ordered us to sit down and talk. It's amazing how good it feels to share your feelings. Don't you think so, Jody?"

Four blinks, drawing her eyes away from the loose paper she's been looking through. "What? Y-Yeah. Uh, look, these are just notes on regenerative therapy. I told you it was a waste of time comin' here."

"Sorry. I forgot the last time you were here with Runner Three... it must've been difficult."

"Gettin' wrongfully accused of murder and then sentenced to death? Difficult?" She rolls her eyes. "No, it was a blast."

She hums. "And some of the things Simon says were hurtful-"

"We'll get what we can. Let's go before any Deadlocks come by."

"Nah, we're alright," Louise says with a wave of her hand. "That Darron bloke-Zoe's stalker-said they vanished two days ago. Exmoore Militia have started movin' in on their territory."

I remember that. God... it seems like ages ago since I met that young, ginger oddball.

Jody raises a brow in surprise. "He's still supplyin' us with intel, even though Zoe's miles away?"

"Sam's been lyin' to him, saying she's in the bog whenever he calls."

"That doesn't seem entirely ethical," Kefilwe says.

"On the lying front, I think Darron's got Sam beat with the 'I'm a middle aged woman who's giving away kittens'," I say, earning a half-laugh from Jody.

"Looks like that's not the only thing he lied about," Paula states. "I'm picking up Deadlocks on long range cams. They're headed right for you."

I nod. "Then let's go. There's... there's nothing here that's useful to us."

We head for the door as I take one last look at the home Simon made for himself after he betrayed Abel. I wish he would've decided to come back with us... but he didn't, and I can't change the past. And I have more important things to think about.

I just hope wherever he is with Amelia, he's close to finding what he's looking for.

We leave the shack quickly, knowing we have no time to waste. My fingers trail up to nervously grab my backpack strap, but I push the growing anxiety into the back of my mind for now. If we can just keep going, we'll most likely not be seen. They aren't looking for us, and that's our advantage.

But they have an advantage over us, if they see us. They have guns, lots of them, while all I have is my axe and a pistol, which Louise has as well. It's not terrible, but compared to what these Deadlocks have...

Yeah, it's best we aren't seen and just stay ahead of them. I've risked my life around them too many times. I won't always get lucky, and I need to keep myself alive and unharmed until tomorrow.

God, it seems so close and yet so far away. I'll be seventeen, and hopefully I'll be able to rescue Caleb.

If he's still alive.

I grimace. I don't like thinking that there are chances that he's... not. I don't like thinking that when I saw him leave Abel's gates all those months ago could have been the last time I'll ever see him alive.

"What's the news on those Deadlocks, Paula?" Jody asks.

"Not great, I'm afraid. They're moving faster than I anticipated."

"How fast? And how many?"

"I've got a couple of long range cams, but one group is about forty from the industrial estate, and another even bigger group is coming from Eastwood."

The blonde's eyebrows furrow together. "They'll be directly in our path if we head back to Abel. If we go through Beach Park House, we can get around them and head home."

"That's a really good plan, Four," Paula praises, and she shrugs.

"If you say so."

"Of course," Kefilwe agrees. "You're an expert, unlike me. I'm so glad I have you here with me today."

"No offense, but why are you here, doctor?" Louise questions while I reach down an pick up a dented can of peaches to put in my backpack. "I mean, aren't you too valuable to risk? Also a bit out of shape, if you don't mind me saying."

Kefilwe laughs. "Oh, don't be fooled by this belly of mine. I'm as fit as a fiddle. I may not have the speed, but I have the stamina."

"Okay, the Deadlocks aren't veering from the path at all, so I don't think they've seen you. Take a left at the end of the meadow and you should be clear." Paula pauses. "It's uh, it's funny you should question Dr. Lobatse's presence, Louise. You runners can be a bit clan-ish, can't you, Jody?"

She blinks, seeming a bit confused that the question is aimed at her. "I guess."

"No, definitely," Louise interjects. "It's like being a runner isn't what we do, it's who we are. Don't you reckon?"

I don't answer. I'm unsure how to on that one.

"That's exactly it," Paula laughs. "It becomes a core part of your self image. It's really because-well, I can only speak for myself-but before I became a runner, I did things for Van Ark that I'm not too proud of. I sometimes think some people might call me a criminal."

"You can talk. At least you're not an actual criminal like me and Jody... possibly Five."

"Criminal?" Jody repeats, and I give the albino woman a raised brow.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I know one when I see one," Is all she says.

Kefilwe frowns, raising a finger her lips to silence us. I can hear something. It's rhythmic... all in sync.

"It sounds like marching," I whisper.

"It's the Deadlocks. The trees should screen you from them," Paula says.

"Yeah, but... the way they're doing it. I know this." I stop and look through the trees, watching as the people in the distance all march in sync. "They're all running in perfect time. Kefilwe, could you look at your watch?"

She knows what I'm asking, and as she glances down, she clicks her tongue. "Two steps every second."

"That's weird. The Deadlocks aren't like military. They're like a-a rabble," Louise says, and Four taps me on the shoulder to silently say we should start moving again. I don't argue.

"So, they disappear for a couple of days, and when they come back they're all marching in perfect time. It's just me thinkin' this is weird, is it?"

"It isn't just you," Paula says. "They're moving out of range of my cameras. You're going to have to follow them, but carefully."

My stomach churns at hearing that, but I do as told. This is weird, and we need to figure out just what is going on. Every bit of information counts.

So we follow, staying silent, staying quick. They're in sight, but far enough away that I can't make out any distinct details on their faces. With them being so far away, I can't tell if they have guns in their hands. It's best to assume that they do. Deadlocks don't usually go about without a weapon, a gun specifically.

"Are you seein' this, Paula?" Jody asks. "Marchin' down that road like a parade. They're not even lookin' around. They're just starrin' ahead."

"They're being mind controlled," Louise states, eyes wide.

"That's bad news," Paula murmurs. "They're the nearest non-Abel allied group. If they've been taken over..."

"We should keep following them. They're not paying any attention, and we need to know what they're up to."

Kefilwe nods in agreement. "Janine will need a report."

I frown in confusion, a thought passing through my mind. Why would Comansys take our people off somewhere secretive, then have these guys parade around in their territory? I mean, you'd think the company would know that Abel still venture into Deadlock territory, so wouldn't Comansys have them be... less obvious?

"Do you really think of me as a criminal?" Jody asks.

"How do you think of yourself?" Paula replies.

"I'm just-I'm Runner Four."

"You've left the past behind, you mean?"

"I thought I had. I wanted to."

"You're not going to get very far with that attitude," Louise snips, earning a mild glare from the runner. "They're always telling you to address your offending behaviors, that you need treatment and courses to enhance your thinking skills so you won't do it again. After five years in the joint, my thinking skills were so enhance, I made Stephen Hawking look like Paris Hilton."

Jody purses her lips. "I mean, what would I address? I made fake bank accounts, but there aren't banks anymore. I've got some money I can't spend now. I'll never do anything like it again. Lookin' back, I feel stupid, like another person did it."

"Guys, those Deadlocks are converging to the head to the same place-the Exmoore Militia warehouse, where that boy Darren's at," Paula says suddenly.

"Maybe they're trying to take out the Militia," Louise suggests. "That's good, isn't it?"

I gape at her. "Darron is a teenager."

"So are you, and you've done a lot of things."

I flinch, but then I hear the pattern of the Deadlocks' steps change; It's faster. They're going faster.

They're running.

"Come on," I say quickly. "We have to try to warn Darren."

•

"How's it lookin', Paula?" Jody pants. These mind controlled Deadlocks are fast, even though their paces are all in synch. It's taking everything in Kefilwe to keep up with us as we follow them.

"The third group of Deadlocks are heading in from the west," She replies, voice tinged with worry. "They're armed. Some with guarded equipment, some with guns. They're definitely converging in Darren's warehouse. I've tried to raise him on the radio, but no answer."

Jody's eyes flicker around worriedly, and she bites her lip. "That sounds bad. I mean, Darren's a bit of a loser, but he's only a kid."

"Why do you think they're going after him anyway?" I ask. "What would they want with him? I mean, he worked for the Militia, but he has no clue what they've been doing. He literally just house sits."

"Hang on. I think I can tune into the Deadlocks' radio frequency." She clicks her tongue. "I-oh. Oh, listen to this."

"Repress all resistance and prepare for any counter attacks."

I feel the blood drain from my face. I recognize that voice.

Oh, God.

Tones sound off into the air-the familiar sound of an organ playing mixed with bad auto tune. My heart hammers in my chest, the sound so loud I fear she might hear it, even though she is nowhere near us, even though she isn't even in our sights.

"This is a command from Diana Dunken Petly. You will move directly to rendezvous with me at the Exmoore Militia warehouses. Once you are there you will repress all resistance and secure the warehouses."

"Isn't that the woman Tony told us about? The woman who killed Chrysalis in London?" Jody asks, and I nod, ice flooding my veins painfully.

"Yeah, that's her. She's... she's here." I stammer, my hand grabbing my backpack strap fearfully. "Why is she here? Why is she targeting Darren's warehouse?"

"I don't know," Paula says. "But she probably knows exactly what's happened to Maxine."

"Probably?" I scoff, voice still slightly shaky as I remember what it felt like to have her and her men after me. "She's in charge of all this, I think. I mean,  she was the one controlling all those people in London, and she worked for Comansys. It'd be kind of odd if she wasn't the mastermind here, right?"

"Right. If there any chance you can find out what she's up to..."

"You can count on us, Paula," Kefilwe says. "I can go faster, and I know Five can. Come on."

I pump my legs faster, beads of cold sweat starting to form on my forehead. My heart pounds in my chest, and my stomach churns. I don't like this. I don't like that she's here. This woman is evil. I remember what I saw through Chrys's eyes. Diana is a terrible, terrible woman. I can't help but think that all of this is her fault.

She took over London, and she most likely took our people, and now she's taken over the Deadlocks and commanded them to attack a warehouse only occupied by a fifteen-year-old boy.

They're getting ahead of us, only slightly, but they are. I can still see them in the distance, but they're starting to look a bit smaller, so I push myself harder, trying to go faster.

I can't waste this opportunity. We're attacking on Diana and the Comansys ship tomorrow. We have to know everything we can. We need to know her procedures, her standards. We need to know if there's any reason she put Maxine on a ship when she has other mind controlled people working out here.

I mean, I know Maxine's a doctor, but... something about this doesn't seem right.

Why would Diana do that? And why isn't she on Comansys ship? Wouldn't that be the best way to ensure Maxine stays on the ship?

I hum. Food for thought, I suppose. But I know we'll learn the answers when we rescue her and Caleb and Ed.

We aren't catching up to the Deadlocks, but we aren't losing sight of them either. I know they won't look around without being commanded to, so we don't have to worry about being spotted. Still, just in case, we stay hidden in the behind some of the trees and bushes, trying to be as stealthy as we can be as we spy on them.

"Careful, guys," Paula warns. "My long range cams are picking up a fourth Deadlock group carrying assault rifles. Must be 200 people by now. It's like Diana's taking the Militia with overwhelming force."

"But Darren's the only person who's there. No one else is," I say, squinting when I see some shambling zombies walking around. They've gone through the brambles, and the thorns have ripped off bits of rotting, infected flesh. The Deadlocks are heading right for it. They'll run right into that, and the zoms, if they aren't careful.

Suddenly more tones ring in the air, and I swallow thickly.

"That-that came from the Deadlocks, right?" Louise stammers, cringing when Kefilwe nods.

"Yes. Can you see any fast zoms?"

"Crap," Paula murmurs. "Yeah. There's a whole group of them running through those birch trees. You'd better-"

Her voice is cut off by Louise, who shushes her. "They're not headed for us. Blimey, they're-"

She stops talking when a fast zom tackles down a shambler, biting down into it. I flinch at the sudden move, horrified yet unable to look away as rotten limbs go everywhere and decaying teeth bite into dead flesh.

"I've never seen anything like this before," Jody says, a mixture of disgust and awe on her feature. Louise just looks surprised and... slightly impressed.

"Nice. Zombie on zombie violence."

A fast zombie tries to push down a shambler, the shambler keeps walking forward, nearly knocking the fast zombie onto the ground, as if the push of the fast zom didn't bother it. And another shambler manages to push away a fast one and stumble off.

"Interesting. The faster zombies do not appear to be any stronger," Kefilwe points out. "The fight is more even."

"Wait. Wait! I surrender," A voice says through my headset. "I'll do whatever you want, because I surrender."

"That's Darren," Paula says, "Not so stupid after all. He cut into the coms channel so we could hear him."

"I-I see you've got quite a-a nice gun there," He stammers nervously.

"We've got to get there," Jody says urgently. "Now."

I don't need to be told twice. In an instant I'm racing towards the warehouse. It's still a while away, but maybe we can make it there in time. The zombies haven't spotted us, which is good. After what we just saw, I'd rather not have to worry about fast zoms with not only infectious bites, but covered in the blood of another zombie, which may also be infectious.

It must be like the fast zoms Van Ark controlled. They obeyed the tones, just like a lot of people do. The only thing is... why are some zombies under the tones' control, but others aren't?

Sarah asked Van Ark about this once, but he said he didn't know. Apparently Diana does know, since she commanded the fast zoms to attack the slow zoms and only the slow zoms.

This seems to be getting worse and worse the longer we follow these Deadlocks.

"Further and further down the rabbit hole," Sarah laughs. "But it's best to know the truth, don't you think, Five?"

Please don't. Not now.

"Why not now?" She asks. "You know you need to keep following. Listen, Five. Listen to every word she says. There's more to this than you think."

Like what?

I don't get an answer. Of course I don't. Why would Sarah bother telling me what I need to know? Best leave me in suspense, right?

It's been a few days since I heard from her. I mean, she doesn't talk to me often, which I guess is a good thing. I'm not entirely sure. It's kind of hard to know what's good or bad for my mental health anymore. I hear from Archie, and I have dreams and visions, sometimes repeated visions-like me dying. But Sarah... hearing from her is rare. I wonder if it means something.

"This is it," Jody says.

"This is what?" Louise asks.

"Zombies on your tail, guys," Paula says. "You'll have to pick up the pace."

"This is why I'm a runner. This is why the past doesn't matter to me. I never..." She closes her eyes for a split second. "In my whole life before, I never did anythin' worthwhile. I mean, I was nice to people. I used to knit everyone hats with names on them for Christmas. When I realized I could get away with gettin' some extra money at the bank, I didn't see why not. I didn't feel like I was lettin' anyone down. But now I'm-no, it's stupid. I can't say it."

"A hero?" Kefilwe guesses with a raised brow.

"Worthwhile."

"You should say it. You should think it. What you and Runner Five and Louise and Paula do-it's heroic."

I cringe slightly. I don't like the thought of me being a hero. I mean, I've done a lot of things, but I'm not... With everything I've done, how can I be a hero? I'm more like an anti-villain. Neutral good, maybe, or lawful neutral. I don't know which describes me best. But I'm not a hero. Heroes don't do the things I've done.

"Oh, hello," A nervous voice says over comes. "Are they... with-with-"

"With me?" Diana asks.

"Damn it," Paula curses. "She's got there already. I didn't even see her."

"Can you tell them to put the guns down?"

"I will not," Diana replies, and then I hear tones. "Tell me what you know."

There's the sound of something hard hitting flesh, and Darren lets out a yell of pain. "What're you doin'?"

"Ah, I see then. You're not persuadable."

"I-I'll do anything you want," He says desperately, fearfully. "I am totally persuadable. What do you want to-"

"Shoot him."

Bang!

"Jesus," Louise says as I gasp, coming to a sudden halt.

She shot him. She had a fifteen-year-old boy shot in cold blood.

"My God," I murmur to myself, heart stopping in my chest.

"We must head home," Kefilwe says. "There's nothing more we can do here."

"But Diana-if we can capture her... there's so much she could tell us," Paula says.

Louise scowls. "We can't capture her. She's got us outgunned and outmanned."

"She's right," I say. "We're outnumbered and out-planned."

"I want Maxi back too, but I don't want to die before she gets here."

Paula sighs heavily, sounding defeated. "Yeah. Yeah, you... you're right. Come back to Abel, guys."

•

"You don't-I mean, you don't do that. He was a kid," I stammer. "He... he was only working for the Exmoore to survive. I mean, he wasn't like me or-or... he was fifteen."

"Still feel it's all worth it, Jody?" Paula asks.

The blonde nods, although Paula can probably barely see it through our head cams. "Yeah, of course. Diana, she's like Van Ark-a psycho who crawled out of the woodwork. That's who we're fightin'. That's why we're fightin', isn't it?"

"Interesting you feel that way. Why do you-"

"Hang on. Hold on a minute." She frowns, brows scrunching together. "'How do you feel about that, Jody?' 'Jody, that must be so difficult for you. How does that make you feel?' Are you-are you psychoanalyzing me?"

She gasps when she gets no answer.

"You are!"

"Told you it was a bad ideas," Louise mutters, which causes Jody's jaw to drop in shock.

"You all knew about this?"

I raise my hands in surrender. "I didn't know anything, I swear."

She looks at me suspiciously, but doesn't say anything. But it's true. I thought Paula was being a bit weird when talking to Jody like that, but I thought it was because this is the first, quote unquote, big mission she's gone on since Amelia left.

"Not analyzing," Kefilwe says, somewhat sheepishly, "more like..."

"I've got it," Four says with a slightly annoyed nod. "A test; See if I'm fit for duty after... fair enough, I suppose."

"Wait, wait. Hang on," I interject, slightly hopeful. "If this was a test for Jody, does that mean Darren's not actually dead?"

"I'm afraid he is," Paula says. "She really did kill that teenage boy in cold blood."

My stomach drops. "Oh."

"Poor lad. But did I pass?" She questions.

"You're as sane as they come, Four. I'm going to tell Janine she'd be a fool to take you off active duty, especially now. We need all the runners we can get if we're going to take Comansys. And you'll be the most experienced runner left in Abel." Paula pauses. "We've had confirmation; New Canton can't come with us. So it'll be me, Louise and Runner Five off to the Laetitia Greenwald tomorrow to rescue Maxine and Caleb."

I sigh, eyes raised up at the sky.

God, I silently pray, please put your hand of protection on us when we go on this next mission, because you know we're going to need it.

A/N: Here you go, everyone! Sorry it took so long to update. I've been kind of stressed lately. I'll spare you the details. Please be sure to vote and comment. Thank you and have a blessed day.