Chapter 61: Addicted To Love

"And here is Runner Five. Sorry to drag you all the way out here," Maxine says as I wipe the sweat from my face and run through the gates that close just behind me, "although Sam said Moonchild's been force feeding you ginseng tea and playing trance remixes of whale song. So uh, maybe we did you a favor."

"You did," I pant. "You really did."

She got me to drink three cups of that retched stuff, and she got the P.A.C. members to drink even more. And that song wasn't something I enjoyed. I went to sleep rather quickly in hopes to block it out, but the nightmares I had still had that low beat to it, as if to say it was something I couldn't escape.

I already have too many things I can't escape. I don't need anymore added to the list.

"Any word on what we did to that shooter at New Canton?" Louise asks, and Paula shrugs.

"Nothing coherent. They managed to bring him down, but he just keeps saying he had a grudge against the P.A.C. Still, you're a bit of a hero to New Canton, Five."

Lovely. I have even more people I'm eventually going to let down when I get mind controlled, and then die.

I know Sam says we have to have hope, that there might be some way to stop this, but I really, really doubt it.

"Okay, guys, ready to go?" Maxine says before coughing loudly. Paula frowns.

"You're not well enough for this, darling."

"I'm-I'm fine. I've... got to do this. I can't-Paula, I don't know how many more times I can wake up and not... lose myself. I've only got an hour before I have to go back under and... you have to go."

"And you really think this is gonna help?" Louise says with a raised brow. "I'm not havin' a go or anything, but when I left the nic, I didn't have any plans to go back."

I tense. We're going back there?

Flashes of whips and forceful blows and a crown made of barbed wire flashes through my head. Taunts of 'Where is your God now?' and 'Pray for your God to save you,' ring in my ears.

I don't want to go back there.

"It's worth it, I promise. I've been running brain scans on myself when I'm conscious. I uh, played a variant of the mind control signal."

"Which was a very stupid thing to do," Paula grumbles.

"I can't beat this thing unless I understand it, and I think I do understand it. The scan showed that the mind control activated the same neural pathways as addiction." She pauses for a moment. "Don't you see how important that is? If we can treat addiction, maybe we can treat this the same way.

"I studied OP dependency at MSC, darling. Do you remember? But I need the latest research-the latest drugs. That's why I'm sending you to the prison. They had an entire drug treatment wing there. It had a reputation as the best in the city. Please, Paula. Please help me help myself."

The redhead nods. "Always, Love."

"Thank you."

"Uh, you need to raise the gates again, Maxi," Louise points out.

"Oh. Oh, yeah. Raise the gates! Covering fire!"

The alarm goes off as the gates go up, and I take in a deep breath. I don't want to do this, but I will. For Maxine... and myself.

If this can keep me from hurting Abel, hurting my kids, hurting Sam, then I'll do it. I'll go back to that place if it helps save them from me.

"We'll be quick, Maxi. We'll be really quick," Paula says, and we run.

The ground is still muddy from the terrible rain that we had last night. And the cold December air doesn't make me feel any better. It's odd. The last time I was at the prison, it was just beginning to get warmer. It was earlier this year, really. It has only been about eight months since I was last here... God, it feels like it's been years since I last visited...

It's odd how things seem like it was just yesterday, but at the same time, it feels like it happened a lifetime ago.

There's things that I miss from a lifetime ago. I've only been here at Abel for two years. Really, I've been here less than that. I've only been here since June of 2016. Now it's December of 2017. I've only been here about a year and a half.

God, it feels like I've been here so much longer. This place feels more like my home than anywhere else has, even though I've only been here for a short amount of time. How odd it is to see this place as my home, and these people as my family, while the people I knew in America are either dead or complete strangers now, and my home there is nothing but a faded memory I'm unsure I want to even go back to.

"It's left past this duck pond, isn't it?" Paula asks, and Louise nods.

"Yeah. Not that there's any ducks left in it after early Thanksgiving dinner. It was you who shot them, wasn't it, Five."

I nod. We did so just before my birthday, so we could all celebrate the holiday before we went on the Laetitia Greenwald to rescue Maxine... and try to rescue Caleb...

"I-I didn't..." Maxine sighs. "I wish I could have been there with you when you... but I was there on the ship and..."

"We know, darling," Paula says comfortingly. "But you're gonna be awake and here for the next Thanksgiving, and all the ones after that."

I really hope she's right about that.

"So, you reckon getting mind controlled is like gettin' high?" Louise asks.

"Yeah, it feels... amazing. Like nothing could make you happier than doing what you're told. It's better than any drug I've ever taken."

I shrug. I wouldn't know since I've never taken any drugs, besides a few pain meds when I fell off a high platform when I was seven. Besides that, I've never taken anything else, although I wouldn't be surprised if Moonchild put something in that tea she gave us, because I did feel a little weird after that, and I didn't even drink that much.

"You know, before I went in the nic, I steered well clear of all that stuff. Never even smoked any weed, but inside it was so boring. I thought I'd give smack a go. I could quit once I got out."

Maxine huffs. "That was really dumb, Lou."

"Nah, I was fine," She says with a wave of her hand. "I don't know why people make such a big thing about it. It was like-I don't know-having a nice, hot bath."

Paula stares at her for a moment. "You're saying injecting heroin was like having a bath?"

"Yeah, you know, it's really relaxing, but you wouldn't want to stay in all day. That whole addiction thing's bullocks. I could take it or leave it."

"I wish the people I knew were as strong willed as you," I mutter, and the albino woman looks at me in surprise.

"The innocent little Christian knew druggies?"

"I'm Christian, yeah, but in America, especially the south, it's not hard to find people who were on drugs. I mean, my family's Christian, but my dad wasn't... before he met my mom, he was... and then after me and Katelyn, he just... fell back into it. That's why..." I sigh. "That's why they got a divorce. But then the apocalypse happened and the rest is history. So, yeah."

I point ahead. "That's the station, right? The place with the plastic dinosaur outside? Means we're close, right?"

"Yeah," Louise says, looking at me uneasily. "Once we get to the top of the hill, we should be able to see-oh."

"What?" Maxine asks. "What is it?"

There's smoke on the horizon. A lot of it. It's dark and gray and nearly matches the snowy clouds above. My stomach twists. "Is that coming from the jail?"

"Yeah," Louise says. "And those are zombies on our tail. Run!"

There's a sinking feeling in my stomach as we keep running towards the jail. I don't like this. I don't like this at all.

I can smell the smoke from here. I can even taste it on my tongue. The zombies are behind us, but they're the least of our worries if we lose the jail. This is our only lead in finding a cure for the mind control.

Maxine needs this. Caleb needs this...

I need this.

I need it before it's too late.

Through the freezing air and relentless chill, I feel heat from the flames that eat and eat and eat away at the jail, showing no mercy. It's bittersweet to see this place die... but my feelings aren't what matters right now. What matters is doing what I can to find a cure for the mind control.

"Jesus. The whole bloody place is goin' up," Louise says, eyes wide. "The chapel's gone already. It's nothin' but ash."

I jolt at the loud sound of gunfire, and there are figures running around near the prison. It looks like some people are trying to start a fire and others are trying to put it out.

"I recognize some of those girls," Louise says. "That's Femie and Evaun. I did that stupid Advanced Thinking Course with them. What the hell is going on?"

"Nothing good," Maxine says quietly. "You'd better come home, all of you."

Paula frowns. "Come home?"

"It's too dangerous."

"I'm a runner now, love. Danger's what I do. And if there are answers here, something to help you..."

"We have to do this," I agree. "It might be our only hope to stop Diana."

To stop me.

"All the drug rehab stuff happened in C-wing," Louise explains. "It's that building with the mural of all the angels and demons on it."

I grimace, not because of the murals or anything like that. If only it was that. But, unfortunately, it's not,

Sadly, C-wing, if I'm not mistaken by Louise's description, is the building that's currently on fire.

I square my shoulders, and take what might be my last breath of fresh air.

"Let's go."

And we run, past the gunfire, past the people and into the building. I use my shirt to grab the door handle so I won't burn myself, then I open it.

Heat hits me like brick wall, and the sudden smell of smoke and flames makes me cough terribly. Fear knots in my stomach, and I swallow thickly.

I have to do this. Right now, it's our best chance in finding a way to stop the mind control, so we run inside with me leading.

I keep myself crouched down as best as I can while still keeping a quick pace. I try to keep my breathing shallow so I won't inhale too much smoke, but I know I won't be able to keep the slow breaths up for long if I continue to run this fast. But I can't slow down with how quickly everything is catching fire, so I can only hope we get in and get out of here as quickly as possible.

Louise and Paula are already starting to sweat, and I can tell they're trying to keep calm. But it's hard to do that when you're literally surrounded by death. My eyes are constantly looking around, to make sure the fire doesn't get too close. It so easily can, and I know the damage it can do isn't pretty nor painless.

God, I hope we make it through this.

"Paula? Paula, are you okay?" Maxine says worriedly, her voice barely audible over the cracking flames. "I can't see anything."

"Yeah, it's-it's smokey," Paula coughs. "But we're fine."

As soon as the words leave her mouth, Louise lets out a shout and I dodge on instinct, just barely missing being crushed by a falling ceiling joist. I breathe heavily, but it only comes out in ragged coughs and breathy gasps for fresh air that cannot be found.

"What was that?" She screeches.

"Piece of the ceiling fell," Louise says, covering her mouth with her shirt. "Nearly got Five. Half of the roof's burnt through."

"The building's collapsing?"

"Calm down, darling," Paula says before glaring at Louise. "You're not helping."

Louise opens her mouth to snap back, but her mouth snaps shut when a certain sound pierces through the air.

I feel the blood drain from my face, even as the heat hits me full on.

Oh, God.

It's the tones.

Mind control tones.

"Shit. Maxi, did you hear that?" I ask, praying to God she didn't.

"Hear what?"

I cough out a sigh of relief. "Good. Good. Get off coms right now."

"What?" She gasps, and Paula rushes on into the next hallway, coughing and gasping as she tries to respond.

"She's-She's right. We can hear control tones. We can't risk you hearing them too."

"I'm not leaving you in a burning building without backup."

"Then fetch someone else," Louise snaps. "Don't be an idiot! You might have heard the tones already without even realizing. You could be working against us and you wouldn't even know. Stop farting around and go!"

"But-"

"Get Sam, Maxine! Just get Sam!" I yell.

"Okay. Y-yeah. You're right. You're right. Paula-"

"I love you," The redhead says. "I'll be fine. Now go."

"Look out!" I push her out of the way just in time to avoid a piece of the ceiling from crushing her. I cough loudly, my eyes and nose burning from the smoke.

We have to get out of here.

Fear and panic start to take over. This isn't something we can fight, something we can kill. We cannot outsmart it, out-muscle it. We can only pray we can outrun it, and we only have a small amount of time to get out of here alive.

I rub my watering eyes, heart hammering in my chest, my mind racing. I have to dodge the the flames at every corner. My skin burns, and sweat drops from my face. I use my shirt to cover my mouth and keep out some of the smoke.

It does very little to help.

But we keep running and running and running, flames licking up the walls and burning through everything in its path.

"My hands are blistering," Paula gasps. "Feels like my face is as well. Please tell me we're close."

"Yeah," Louise coughs. "Look up. The smoke's rising. High ceilings mean we're at the bottom of C-wing. It's where I spent half of my sentence. Med building's just on the other side."

"It must be nice, in a way, to see this place burn down," Paula says, blinking rapidly. I'm sure her eyes are burning just as much as mine are.

"Nah, it wasn't so bad, before the Freak arrived-watch out, Five!"

I jump forward as a window blows, shards of glass going everywhere.

"You're lucky you've got quick reflexes. Thought that window was gonna tear you to shreds. But yeah," She pauses to cough, "it was alright in here, you know, at least after they sent me on that Advanced Thinking Skills course."

"Because it gave you the mental tools to deal with your-your circumstances?"

She laughs, although it doesn't last long with the large amounts of smoke pouring through. "Don't be a moppet. If we volunteered for the Thinking Skills treatment, we got a year's remission and put straight on advanced regime-PlayStation in your cell and everything."

"Oh, right."

"All they did was teach you meditation and then you're off to the hospital and put you in one of those big brain machines."

"An MRI?"

"I don't know," She shrugs, running past flames that surge up suddenly, causing a wall to cave in. "'Check our our neural placidity,' They said, whatever that means. PlayStation did a better job at that if you ask me. Eighteen hours banged up a day, you want a bit of Car Jacker: USA."

"Honing your skills, were you?" She asks with a tagged laugh, and Louise shakes her head.

"No, I wasn't the getaway driver. I was the sh-" Her words are cut off when the entire corridor ahead of us crumbles and falls, collapsing entirely and blocking our path.

"Shit!" I yell, looking at Louise. "Please tell me that's not to only way to the Med wing."

"Alright, I won't. But there isn't any other open corridor that leads to it." She looks behind her. More debris from the ceiling has fallen, blocking our way back as well. My chest tightens.

"We're... we're trapped."

"Well, there is-there is another way... through the old warden's private quarters-the Freak's. You remember her, right, Five?"

As she asks me this, I see a flash of fear in her eyes, and I nod, remembering what she did to me.

"But she never let us in there. Told us they were booby traps. Told us anyone tryin' to break in was in for it."

A window explodes from behind us, glass flying in every direction. The three of us all turn and use our hands to cover our faces.

"It's a risk we have to take," Paula says. "I've not come all this way just to let Maxi down, and if we stay here, we'll burn to death."

•

"Are those-I mean, that looks like a rack-a real, old fashioned, Medieval rack," Paula stammers, gasping the fresh air now that we're away from the fire. It hasn't made its way here yet, thankfully, but it'll be here soon if those people who were trying to stop it fail.

"Yeah, the Freak was... a freak," Louise agrees, and the redhead squints at the drills lined up on the walls.

"I can still see blood on those drills."

"Yeah, she brought some of my mates in here after the apocalypse. Never saw 'em again. You should've seen what she did to Five."

"No, you shouldn't've," I reply darkly.

"What happened to her?"

"Five killed her. Fed her to her own pet crawlers." A sick grin spreads across Louise's face. "It was beautiful."

"She... fed her to the zoms? Thereby turning her... into a zom?"

"Not necessar-" Her words come to a stop when we hear a loud growl. There's a door to our right, and there's a hand beating on the other side, trying to get through. "Oh. Oh, bollocks."

The hinges on the door breaks, and the door falls, revealing the monster that was behind it. She's just as I remember-tall and big and terrifying and evil.

"Run!" I yell as the zombie lets out something akin to a roar before charging after us.

We race down the foreign corridors, the halls dark and threatening. I have no flashlight with me. I didn't think I'd need it since the prison was supposed to be up and running just fine with the other prisoners here. How stupid I am sometimes.

The sound of our feet hitting the concrete floor is deafening alone, and we can't be quiet enough to hope that we could lose her, not that we are out of her sight right now, anyway. She's keeping pace, even with half her face chewed off and an arm gone. She's like a freaking track runner!

I have my gun on me, but I'm reluctant to fire. It's so dark. The lights are so dim I fear I won't have a clear shot. I cannot waste any precious ammo.

But we're not gaining any ground. She's keeping up good pace even after being a zombie for months and months. I thought leaving her to die with those crawlers was a good idea. I thought it was poetic, seeing it was her fault Willis was bitten and I had to kill him. But now it's come to bite me in the ass, and it will go from figuratively to literally if we don't gain any ground on her soon.

She doesn't tire, we do. We can't keep going like this forever. So I grab my pistol from my hip, twisting so I can see the wretched zombie running after us., growling and roaring and with hands outstretched to grab at us.

I fire, but I miss her head. The bullet goes straight through her neck, knocking her back only the slightest bit before she's charging after us again. I curse in anger.

"She's so quick," Paula gasps. "How is she so quick? Never mind. Never mind. Which way, Louise?"

"I don't know. I've never been in here before, have I?" She chews on her bottom lip. "Left. Go left."

"Okay."

We do as she says, going into a room with tables that have blood crusted tools on them, and jars that might actually contain body parts. I can only guess since I can't take the time to stop and look at them.

But reaching the end of this room, we open the door to see a hallway that has no other turns, no other doors. It's a dead end.

"We have to turn around," Louise says.

"We can't," I argue. "She's right behind us."

I grab a table, and Louise helps me push it towards the warden. It's on wheels, so it's not hard to push at it, but even with the amount of force we put into hurling it at her, it doesn't even slow her down. It just hits her and she climbs over it.

"Guys, go into that next hallway and keep running straight on."

I gasp. "Sam!"

"It's a dead end," Louise argues, but obeys anyway.

"I've got the plans. It's not. See that light switch on the left? Five, hit that and-"

I immediately do as he says, and a section of the wall opens up. I let out a breath of relief.

I swear if I make it out of this alive, I'm getting Sam as many curly-wurlys as I can find on my next supply run.

"Now go through it and hit the light switch on the other side. Should shut her in."

I go through the door, then Louise, then Paula. As soon as she's through, I hit the switch, watching the wall close in on the warden. She lunges for us, but she's not fast enough.

"Yes!" Paula shouts. "Sam, you're a life saver. An actual, literal life saver."

"It's nothing," He replies nonchalantly.

"No, it's not." I say with a slight laugh. "I don't think I tell you this enough, but you're the best. Like, the absolute best."

"Oh!" He says, sounding a bit less nonchalant. "It's uh, it's um... all in a day's work for your friendly neighborhood radio operator. Heh... A-And you should be in the med wing now. That's where Maxine said you were heading."

"Yeah," Louise says, looking around. "I recognize that lime green paint. Drug treatments are just around that corridor."

"Then run and grab any files, memory sticks and drugs you can find, but hurry. That building's already on fire."

"Yeah, totally didn't realize that when we were running through collapsing hallways and just barely missing being torn to shreds by exploding windows," I say with an eye roll.

"Weren't you just saying I was the best?"

"Never said 'the best' never says stupid things from time to time."

"Real cute."

I grin. "Now who's being sarcastic?"

"You can continue the flirting later. Right now we have a job to do," Louise says, which causes Sam choke out a response that's nowhere close to understandable. I simply send Lou a glare, and she simply smirks in reply.

I don't say anything to her though. We reach the drug treatment area, or whatever it is they called it, and look around. I don't recognize any of the words on the pill bottles, so I open up my backpack and grab all the files I can get my hands on. I leave the medicine and needles to Paula. I'd rather not accidentally stick myself with something that could kill me, not after surviving that run-in with the Freak.

I hope her zombified corpse burns to ash.

I can smell the smoke through the air vents. It won't be long now until the fire creeps its burning tongues of orange on these walls. Paula's packed her backpack full of pills, and Louise has a good amount of papers in her arms.

"We should go," I say. "It's not safe to stay here any longer. Those flames will have engulfed this room in just a few minutes."

Paula takes one last look around before nodding in agreement. "Yes, this should be enough. At least, I hope it's enough."

I swallow thickly.

So do I.

•

"Okay, guys," Sam says, "I can see you leaving F-wing now. You're in the clear, but keep running. Looks like the whole place is gonna collapse."

"I grabbed all the drugs I could collect," Paula says. "Methadone, Suboxone, others I don't recognize. Five and Lou have all the files. Find anything interesting?"

"Yeah," Louise says as she looks through one. Her brows furrow, and her lips press into a thin line. "I... shit. Yeah, there is."

"Well, what is it?" Sam asks impatiently.

"It's me... in these files. That course they sent me on, that-that machine they used on me, it wasn't an MRI. It was... I don't know. Some experimental thing, a treatment for addiction."

"I guess that explains why heroin never had much effect on you," I deadpan.

"Yeah, but look at the logo."

She shows me the files, and my jaw drops.

"Comansys."

But maybe it wasn't really Comansys... maybe it was...

Diana.

"Well, looks like the fight's over," Sam says, causing me to look back as we exit the prison. "The good guys won, if the good guys were the ones trying to put out the fire, which, you know, those are the ones I'm rooting for."

"I can see them driving off the stragglers." Louise pauses, then her eyes go wide. "Jesus, how did I not notice before? The attackers, the ones who were mind controlled, they were prisoners too. But all the people fighting them off-Femie and Evaun, and there's Nikki and Denny and Crystal-all the ones who heard the tones and didn't turn, they all went on that Advanced Thinking Skills course with me. They all went through the machine."

"What machine?" Sam asks.

"That treatment they gave me. Says here it was supposed to stop you from getting hooked on drugs." She laughs and thumps the file with the back of her hand. "I mean, it looks like it did a hell of a lot more."

"You think it made you immune to mind control?" There's so much hope in his voice. I love it.

"Yeah. Yeah, I reckon it did."

"But the people who went through it, some of them were already addicted, weren't they?" Paula asks hopefully. "It didn't just prevent addiction. It cured it."

Louise nods. "Denny never touched crack again."

"So It might be able to cure mind control too. It could cure Maxi. Louise, do you know where that machine is? Please tell me it wasn't in the prison."

She shakes her head. "No, we went to a clinic for that. If it's still there, if they haven't moved it, I could take you there tomorrow."

A/N: Hey! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please be sure to vote and comment! Thank you and have a blessed day!