Chapter 71: Reunion Tour

"Nothing like a mad house in the moonlight for romance, is there, Five?" Simon asks as we walk around the mental hospital. We've gotten out of one of the side buildings, but this place is huge, and trying to get to the opposite side is taking longer than I thought.

"Yes, the broken widows and crumbling chimneys really sweep me off my feet."

He chuckles. "Still sarcastic as ever, I see. Too bad the ivy's all dead on the walls. You can cover a lot of sin with ivy."

I shrug, staring down at my hands-the hands that nearly strangled the man I love to death. "If you say so."

"Do you see them? Where are they?" A voice yells from the distance.

The tall man clenches his jaw. "Oh, buggar. I thought we'd shaken them. Moonchild must have every mind controlled person in this part of the country on the lookout for you. Doesn't like to let go, does she?"

"I see them! Over by that statue!"

"Quickly, Five! This way! Watch out for those paving stones. Half of them are loose, and the rest are slippery as hell." He grabs my wrist with his left hand and pulls me along, and I try not to shudder at the feeling of his scales against my skin. "I'm amazed you didn't do yourself a mischief when you ran out here, not that you were paying much attention when you did. Impressive little suite of hallucinations you had going on there."

"Are you enjoying this?" I sneer, and he simply shrugs, continuing to pull me away from the mind controlled soldiers coming after us.

"Well, I just always thought you were always so much more sorted than me. You always seemed to have your head screwed on right, but I suppose after the things Moonchild made you do..."

I flinch.

She made me kill thousands of people. I killed so many innocent people... and I felt amazing doing it.

I'm a monster.

"I'd say you mustn't blame yourself, but really, what's the point? I know you do, and you will for a long time. Take it from an expert. But you can brood about it when you're safe and sound back at Abel. Amelia brought the van here once we figured out where you were headed. Wouldn't chase after you herself, obviously. Too much hard work."

I stare at him with slight wide eyes. "I'm surprised she agreed to come at all. I'm surprised she allowed you to waste that serum on-on me."

"It took a lot of convincing, believe you me, but I wasn't just gonna leave you like that."

"Why?"

He hesitates in answering, and he pulls me around the building, out of sight from Moonchild's soldiers. He looks strained, as if he's forcing himself to tell me the truth. "Because even though you'll never admit it, we have a lot of things in common. One of them being that we have very idiotic soft spots for each other."

I nod slowly. He's not wrong.

"Runner Five? Runner Five, is that you?" One of them calls, and my shoulders tense, while Simon narrows his eyes in determination.

"Let's get inside before those buggars go and get help, or Moonchild. Don't fancy being back in her power, do you?" He huffs when I frantically shake my head. "Thought not. Let's head for the main building's entrance. Come on."

He drags me along, and with the pale light of the moon shining down on us, I can assume it's well past midnight. I'm sweaty and cold, but I make sure to clench my teeth so they won't chatter. I can't have that giving away where I am.

But I still smile at the fact that Simon came back for me, for Abel. It means he still cares, even though he's prideful and doesn't want to admit it.

We reach the main entrance and head inside as quickly as we can, praying that the door won't creak or groan and attract any zombies, or attention from the mind controlled soldiers. Fortunately for us, it doesn't.

It's dark in here. An inch of dust covers mostly everything, and the olive green paint on the walls is peeling off in thick strips, but I've seen worse. There's no blood on the walls and as far as I can tell I don't have to worry about any hybrid monster jumping out and attempting to eat me alive.

So we start down one of the corridors. There isn't really a way to tell them apart. The numbers that were on the rooms have fallen off, and there's no contrast in colors on the ceilings or floors. It's almost like we're running through a maze, except mazes are supposed to be fun.

This is just frustrating.

Simon drags me around another corner, and lets out a grunt of frustration at the corridor that looks exactly the same as the last. I look around, slightly fearful, since I have no weapon on me to defend myself if we happen to stumble upon a zom or if a mind controlled soldier catches up to us, but I don't let Simon see that.

I remember our missions from the 'old days'. If I panic, so will he. So it's best if I stay calm and keeping moving forward.

"Which way? Which way?" Simon says, cursing under his breath. "All these corridors look the same. Amelia? Amelia? Ow!"

He yelps when he's smacked on the head with a shoe-Amelia's pink glittery shoe, to be precise, which she's quick to put back on.

"Mind out, you great lummox. I'm right where I said I'd be." The blonde eyes me up and down in the most uncomfortable sort of way, and smirks. "Runner Five, good to see you again."

"Really wish I could say the same," I reply, glaring at the blonde. I remember the last time she and I were together and it didn't end well. I don't enjoy heights or having guns pointed at me and my last experience with Amelia included both.

"Come on. This way," Three says, heading down another corridor. I follow, as does Amelia, but she sends us both a raised brow.

"Why are we going this way? The van's back the way you came."

"Yeah, and so are half a dozen of our mind controlled pals. We're gonna have to find another way out."

She huffs and sends me a dirty look. "This is the last time I do Abel's dirty work for them. No offense, Five, but it does seem jolly unreasonable to leave rescuing you to us."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'd rather just have Simon rescue me. You can piss off for all I care," I reply, and Simon snorts.

"Too bad we're a package deal, aye? But I told you, Amy, Abel wasn't gonna send anyone after her. Too busy fighting off that zombie incursion she caused ." He casts a glance over at me. "Not to mention they thought Moonchild still had you under her thumb. Sam wanted to come after you himself, the big softy, but Janine said they couldn't risk any of their runners being led into a trap. So it was us or no one."

"Well, I suppose we can view Moonchild's determined pursuits proof that you are indeed a valuable asset, Five."

"There they are!" A man shouts, and I hear gunshots.

"I'm obviously not that important if they're trying to shoot me," I say. "Go! Go!"

"Yes, that injection Simon gave you may have kicked her out of your head, but it won't help much if you get a bullet in your back," She says as we sprint off, bullets still being fired at us. "Of course, we don't know what effect Van Ark's treatments had on you, other than resistance to the necrotic effects of the jab. I suppose you might be fine getting shot, but I won't be, and you know how I feel about me."

"Look. There's a staircase over there," Simon says, and I cringe at the amount of cobwebs that cover it, and the fact that we're at the top of it.

"What good will it do us to be trapped in the basement?"

"I saw a service tunnel under the building. I think it leads there, and I bet it connects up to everything, including the laundry building at the edge of the grounds where we stashed our van."

"Better hope you're right. After you, Five. Quickly."

I don't hesitate, not with the sound of gunshots ringing in my ears. I ignore the cobwebs as best I can, and try to keep my steps light. The staircase is metal, so walking too hard on them will basically alert everyone in the UK where we are.

It's dark downstairs, which is no surprise, but there's also a lot of old equipment and furniture that is so worn I think touching it will cause it to fall apart completely. There's also... chains down here, and considering this is a mental hospital that closed down in the 1960's or 1970's, I don't want to know what that possibly could have been used for.

Light flickers in the corner of my eye, and I turn to see Simon taking one of those automated torches out of his backpack. He's quick to hand it to me.

"Let there be light," I mumble, holding the torch up high, letting the dull light shine across the room.

"Careful," Simon says, placing a hand on my arm as we navigate around the room. "There's not enough space between the junk down here to avoid the broken glass, but try not to step on any needles."

I keep my eyes on the floor. "Yeah, the last thing I need is more unknown toxins in my body."

"Looks like I was right though. This is taking us in the right direction, and it doesn't sound like they've figured out which way we went." The blond casts a glance at me, one eyebrow raised. "Ya know, at some point you might want to try saying thanks for us saving you."

"I suppose we're not the rescue committee you would've expected," Amelia puts in, and he chuckles.

"Or wanted, to be fair."

"Well, Five, just know the feeling's mutual there-"

"No. No, you're right," I interrupt, shaking my head. "I'm sorry. I do appreciate it that you came to save me, but Simon, why do you think I didn't want to see you again? I begged you to come back to Abel with me, but you refused. The only thing that sucks about you being here is the fact that you brought Amelia."

Amelia looks at my with a straight face. "How you wound me, Five. But Si, you might want to watch your head. I can see this tunnel wasn't built with modern heights in mind."

She's right. We enter the tunnel, and both Amelia and Simon have to duck down, but I don't. Anyone under 5'5 wouldn't need to, and I'm the only one who is. It's not exactly wide either, but it's just enough to where Amelia, Simon and I can walk side by side without our arms touching. But Amelia and I are pretty thin, and Simon has lost some of his muscle since I last saw him, so saying this is a good width is a bit of a stretch. Still, I hold my torch up just high enough so the light can emanate through the tunnel.

"So, why exactly did you decide to come rescue me?" I ask. "I mean, I know Si and I are kinda close, but it's a pretty big risk to try to get me away from Moonchild."

Simon shrugs. "Well, I know you're not exactly proud of what you've been up to lately, but if you hadn't been so good at killing loads of people, we might've stayed out of this. And you know, if it makes you feel any better, she really had to turn up those control tones to get you to attack Abel. She had them at an eleven. I could hear them leakin' out of your headset and you were still resistin'."

My eyes go wide. I really was trying to do right. It didn't feel like I was resisting that much...

But I still did it. I didn't resist hard enough.

"Still, given what you've been able to accomplish so far as Moonchild's special pet, it didn't seem like it'd benefit anyone to leave you in her power," Amelia states. "You know the way she thinks now. That information has to be worth something."

"I don't know everything," I reply. "I remember certain things she said to me, but there's a lot of it that seems... fuzzy."

"Well, once we get you back to the van, we'll drive you back to Abel Township and you can tell everyone what you know." Simon raises an eyebrow when I flinch, my chest tightening. A sick grin spread across his face. "Oh, I know that look. Don't want to have to look your friends in the eye after what you've done? Join the club, mate.

"But I wouldn't worry. Unlike some, you've got a ready made excuse, haven't ya? 'Uh, I was mind controlled. I couldn't help myself.'" He scoffs. "They'll eat that up. The runners think the sun shines out of your posterior. They'll just be looking for an excuses to let you off the hook. Mind you, you might find Janine a trickier prospect, speaking from my own experience."

"Well, unlike you, I will accept a punishment if Abel decides to give me one. I deserve it, mind controlled or not," I reply through clenched teeth. To think of the things I've done is like stabbing myself with a knife. I killed so many people. I killed my best friend. I don't deserve forgiveness.

"Well, look at you, being all high and mighty," Amelia muses, having to duck a little lower in a particular spot, just as we take a turn. "But you have to go back to Abel, or this entire endeavor will be pointless, and you know how I hate wastefulness. I may not see eye to eye with your friends, but the worst they ever wanted was to lock me up. If anyone ever did to my head what that woman did to yours, I'd tell Simon to shoot me first, if I didn't think he'd enjoy it too much."

"Ah, ah, ah," He says, shaking his finger at her. "Don't tempt me. I might get ideas."

"You wish you had the nerve." The blonde tenses at the sound of a gunshot. "Which way did that come from?"

"Behind us."

"I found her! I found Runner Five!"

I feel the blood drain from my face. "Shit."

"So much for givin' them the slip," Simon mutters before grabbing my wrist tightly. "Run!"

We sprint off, our feet padding on the stone tunnel floor. I can hear them calling out to me. I squeeze my eyes shut and shake my head.

Don't listen to them. Don't listen to them.

They're going to try to get me back, try to get me to think about how good it felt, how happy I was.

I was happy, and it did feel good, but it's not worth the price-the sacrifice of my sanity, my morals.

It wasn't worth it.

I have to remember that.

"Down here! They went that way!"

We keep running, our legs pumping as fast as we can get them to go. The tunnel curves to the right ahead of us. If we can just get around the curve, then they won't have a line of fire.

"Why are you running, Five? Don't you remember how good it feels to obey? You feel so connected. Don't you want that, Five?"

Simon tightens his grip on my wrist. "Block them out, Five. Focus on my voice. You haven't said a word about my face yet. Don't you like it?"

"Come back! It's not too late to be happy!"

I start to look back, but Simon uses his free hand to grab my chin and keep me looking at him.

"You saw Van Ark do his healing trick, didn't you? Cut him, and he'd be healed before you could wipe the blood off your knife. It wasn't like that for me. We did the hand first. Figured if anything weird grew, we could lop it off and start again.

"Turns our Van Ark never thought about scar tissue when he designed his treatments." He grimaces. "You haven't seen anything until you've seen your skin swell up and stretch like one of those alien chest busters. Amelia had it the worst, of course. Kept complaining my screaming was givin' her a headache."

I cringe when he laughs, but then I see his eyes flicker back at the shadows of the soldiers on the tunnel walls. He's telling me this to keep me distracted, because he knows I'll feel sorry for him.

"We tried shooting me up with painkillers before we did the face. Turns out that the really good, top shelf, habit forming stuff-all it does is slow down the process. Want to know what growin' a new face feels like?"

"One more chance, Five! Stop now! Open your eyes."

"Don't stop!" Amelia yells. "They can't see us to shoot, but give them time, and they'll have their chance."

"Join us. Stop running, Five."

I let out a small whine, trying to get their voice out of my head, trying to get her voice out my head.

"Five, listen to me," Simon says seriously. "I asked you, do you want to know how it felt-"

He's cut off by the pop of a gun.

"They're shooting blind." The blonde woman purses her lips at Simon. "Finish the heart to heart at the exit. Just run!"

•

"There's the end of the tunnel. Once we're through that steel door, there's a flight of stairs that'll take us to the exit," Amelia says. "A quick sprint to the woods and we'll be-"

"Don't say it!" Simon shouts.

"Home free," She finishes, and the man groans. We both know it. She just jinxed us. "Help me get this door open."

I grab the handle beside her, and pull. The door opens with a loud groan, but its sound is nearly drowned out by the groans of the several zombies behind it.

"Close the door! Close the door!" Simon panics, racing to help me and Amelia shut it before any of the zombies can lunge at us.

It shuts with a clang, and I can hear the rotting hands of the undead beating on the door now that they know there's living flesh behind it.

"Buggar it," Simon curses. "All the shooting must've attracted them. We can brace the door with some of this rubbish lying around. Five, grab the equipment cart leaning against the wall."

I nod, grabbing the cart and pushing it until it lies against the door. I send a glare at Amelia, before rubbing my temples at the sound of the zoms. "Now what?"

"They've blocked our escape route," Amelia stares, and I roll my eyes.

"Thanks for pointing that out, Captain Obvious."

"Well, it's not like you're coming up with any ideas."

"No, but I am actually doing something to keep the zombies from getting in," I reply, grabbing a discarded operating table and pushing it in front of the door as well. "There. This should momentarily reprieve us before you guys are cornered and shot and I'm dragged back to Moonchild so she can attempt to take control of my mind again."

I can't ever catch a break, can I?

"What if..." Simon grits his teeth. "Come on. Come on, Simon, think! What if we went up?"

"I think the twenty or thirty zoms on the stairs might be barrier to entry," Amelia sighs, and he quickly shakes his head.

"No. No. No. Better than that." He looks at me, then the ceiling. "If I give you a boost, do you think you could get into those air vents and pull us up?"

I shrug. "Well, I can try. I'm not the strongest person ever, but Van Ark's treatments... well, I know of two things that they've done to me."

He crouches down, holding his hands together, so I can put my foot in them. I do, and he hoists me up. Amelia grabs my other leg to keep me from loosing balance, and I reach up and grab the panel and pull it off rather easily. I throw it across the room, since dropping it would've resulted it in either hitting Simon or Amelia.

Amelia still scolds me because of the loud clang it makes when it hits the floor.

"Don't make me wish that'd I'd dropped it on your head," I reply. "Si, do you think you could lift me up a little higher?"

"Yeah. Just-just a sec." Simon takes a second to reposition before he hoists me up, the speed of doing so almost causing me to lose my balance. I manage to grab on to the vent's opening and climb up. Once inside, I shift around to grab Amelia's hand.

Simon lifts her up, and I grab her with both arms, pulling her up with only minimal struggle. She crawls in, and grabs my hips, so that when Simon jumps up and grabs my hands, he won't pull me out of the vents. I'm just glad she hasn't made any weird sexual comment. I think I'd kick her out of the vents if she did.

It's a lot harder pulling him up with me, but I manage. Although I fear I may have bruises on my arms from the end of the ventilation duct cutting into my skin.

"Well, that was fun," I say, panting slightly. "Amelia, you go first, Simon, you can go in the middle, and I'll be last. The might shoot if they find us in here, but I know Moonchild wants me back, so there's less of a chance of them doing so if I'm the only one they can shoot at."

"Good thinking," Simon says as we all start crawling on our hands and knees. "Although I don't see why you'd want to risk it. It's not like bullets can hurt me anymore."

"Call it me being a decent friend."

He almost smiles. "Heh. I forgot you still consider us friends."

I raise a brow. "You don't?"

He goes still for a second, but doesn't answer. He just begins to crawl forward. I follow in silence, until a few minutes later I hear him let out a quiet wince.

"If I kicked you, I'm not apologizing," Amelia states, and I can hear the sneer in her voice. "If this air duct were any smaller, we'd have to wiggle on our stomachs."

"It wasn't you. Stupid thing."

She sighs in annoyance. "Not your ridiculous hand again. Brilliant timing."

"Yeah. Yeah, I forgot to mention that exciting new feature, didn't I, Five?" He asks, glancing back at me, and I tip my head to the side.

"What is it?"

"The new left hand likes to have a little molt every few days. The only thing is, the new skin always seems to come in a few hours late." He winces again. "Speaking of pain, I didn't finish my story earlier."

"Yes. Yes, you grew a new face, and it was horrible. I'm sure you have Runner Five's sympathy." Amelia pauses when she hears a loud banging sound. "What was that?"

"I don't know. I can't hear anything over the loud clattering you're making. Anyway, Five, you ever hear the line about cleansing fire? That's what Van Ark's treatments felt like-fire burning the old Simon away." He sucks in a breath of pain, and I lean over just enough to see the skin of his regrown hand peeling away. "But then-then it was over, and I was still me. Patch job instead of a purge. Brand new face, same old Simon. You know the feeling now, don't ya?"

I scrunch up my nose. "What?"

"The serum got Moonchild out of your head, but you'll always remember how good it felt when you killed all those people." I can't see his face, but it almost sounds like he enjoys saying this to me. "That monster's in you for good. That's why I had to get you back. All that blood on your hands, all the hurt you caused, you still get to have a second chance."

There's a loud... roaring sound that echoes through the vents.

"Simon," Amelia says, her voice pinched.

"And I reckon, if you could go home, if you could be saved, you'd let your old pal Runner Three in on the secret, aye? That wouldn't be too much to ask in return."

"Simon, for God's sake," Amelia growls, cutting me off before I even get the chance to reply. "I know what the noise is now. Crawl faster, before that zombie in here with us catches up."

•

I tense at the loud growl that comes behind me.

"That bloody zom must've been up here since the apocalypse. Suppose it thought it would be a good hidin' place too," Simon says, and Amelia scoffs.

"Why does it not surprise me that you'd have the same idea as an undead moron? Damn it! Can we not crawl faster?"

"You're in front, Amelia? Why are you complaining?" I ask.

"Yeah. Shut up, Amelia. And there's light ahead. We must've hit an outside wall. There's a vent panel set into the wall to keep air circulation between us and outside. Move, Amy. I'm gonna have to kick it loose."

Amelia does as told, and Simon sits down and kicks in the panel. Amelia scurries to the outside, out onto the snow covered ground. Simon follows, and once he's out, he turns around practically pulls me out, as if he thinks I somehow won't make it. I grab the panel and jam it back in place just before the zombie reaches the end of the vent. I let out a sigh of relief.

"God, it feels good to be on my feet again," Simon says as he stands, the moonlight shining down on him. I wipe the snow off my ragged clothes, and kick out my legs a few times to get used to standing.

"Our van's parked just behind those oaks," Amelie says. "Let's leave. I hope you won't be offended if we drop you off before we get to Abel's gates, Five. Simon and I aren't ready to drop in for tea and biscuits with your people at this stage."

"Yeah, I think they might have crossed us off their Christmas lists," Simon jokes while Amelia heads over to the van. "I'm pretty sure even good old Sam Yao would shoot first, ask questions later if he saw you riding up with us."

"No need to be so dramatic," I deadpan, and I almost start to say more before I hear the van start, and all I want is to get away from this place. I start to head over to the van, but Si stops me by placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Five, listen, it's gonna he okay. You might not forgive yourself, but they... they'll forgive you. You're one of the good guys to them, and you always will be. Oh! And if you need somethin' to sweeten the pull, you can tell them Ed's still alive. I saw him row away from those ships before you blew them up."

I perk up. "Did-did you see Caleb? Was he-"

"No, Five... I-I'm sorry. I liked Caleb, you know. He was fun... but I didn't see him." He sends me a sad look as I wrap my arms around myself, my heart sinking. It was stupid for me to think he might've gotten out after what I did to him. It was stupid of me to even have hope.

"Oh, and uh, I heard about Janine and her brother. Amy told me the Ministry had ordered Janine on an extended furlough. She'll hate that." He rubs the back of his neck. "I thought... I-I don't know. If you see her, you could tell her from me..."

I blink. "Yes?"

"You-you could tell her..." He falters. "You know what, don't tell her anything."

"What are you waiting for, Simon?" Amelia calls as she revs the engine, and he smiles sadly.

"Yeah. Amy's more my league anyway," He chuckles. "Come on, Five. It's time to take you home."

A/N: There you are, guys! New chapter! Yay! I hope you enjoyed it. Please be sure to vote and comment! Thank you and have a blessed day!