Chapter 9: Career Day

"Raise the gates! Covering fire... and go," Sam says, just like always. "Runner Four, Runner Five, got a fairly routine mission for you today."

Jody groans. "Don't say that. Why do you always say that?"

"Routine waste of time, more like," Janine grumbles. "This is not how I wanted to spend my last day on coms."

"Your last day?" I repeat with furrowed brows, and she sighs.

"Amelia's streamlining the operation. It appears my time is better off elsewhere. In this particular instance, she might have a point."

"Haven't you ever seen monster movies, Janine?" Sam asks seriously. "Ignoring this sort of thing never ever turns out well."

"Oddly enough, I do not rely on monster movies for my defense strategies, Mr. Yao."

Monster movies?

I blink, my hand reaching up to grab my backpack strap."Uh... what are you guys talking about? Because I'm very confused."

"The Ministry wants us to check out any lead, no matter how ridiculous it might sound," Sam replies.

I nod. "I'm aware."

"They're even thinking of letting us follow up the Phantom of Abel next week."

"Oh, that nonsense," Janine scoffs, and I roll my eyes at the mention of the stupid rumor. "Yes, a few items have gone astray. No, they have not been stolen by a masked figure dressed in an opera cloak. We never should have allowed the amateur dramatics group access to Andrew Lloyd Weber song books."

"Yeah. No, that one's definitely ridiculous. But today's assignment is a-a little bit less ridiculous," He tells us with a small laugh. "We know Comansys has been able to create some pretty amazing technological stuff. Anyway, better safe than sorry-that's what I say. Well, safe as you can be in an apocalypse. Zombies are real; Best not ignore other impossible things before breakfast."

"And uh, what other impossible things are we talking about?" I ask, swooping down to grab an unopened bottle of water. The outside looks a bit dirty, but the inside contents are still clean and the cap is still on tight. I shove it in my backpack.

"Oh, right. I haven't told you that yet. Sorry. Uh, giant footprints. We found giant footprints."

Jody pales. "That's not sound and routine, Sam. What sort of giant footprints?"

"The sort of giant footprints reported by unreliable Roufflenet sources," Janine spits out in annoyance. The agitation is practically radiating off her, and I can't even see her.

"Hey, hey," Sam says defensively, "Roufflenet's no less reliable than..."

"Yes?"

"Yeah, well... yeah, let me get back to you on that one," He says, and I can't hide my laughter. He lets out a small huff but says nothing on it. "We know Comansys had a biological research devision. It's not completely impossible that those giant footprints might have something to do with that. Four, Five, I need you to-wait. What's that?"

Jody tenses. "What's what?"

"To your right, just coming into view. Yeah. Yeah, it's a-"

"Hey!" A new voice shouts. "Hey there! You! Runners!"

My eyes widen at the sight of a short little munchkin running toward us. Black hair is flying everywhere, hiding almost all of the girl's face. I can tell it's a girl from the voice, and the outfit-a Girl Guides outfit.

"Is that your giant monster, Mr. Yao?" Janine asks in a snarky voice before sighing heavily. "Good grief. How old is this child? Seven? Eight?"

"Ten, I think," I reply. "But I'm not sure. The sash she's wearing is a different color than the ones of the last Girl Guide group we saw. She's probably someone we haven't met."

"Still, she shouldn't be out here alone," Sam says with concern. "Where's her... w-what do they call it-her pack?"

The young girl finally catches up to us, pulling back her thick hair and fixing it into a messy ponytail. "Name's Margie Gupter, Bluebird Patrol. We're in loose alliance with the Owls and the Pussycats. They told me about you. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions."

Jody and I share a wide eyed look, unsure of what to say.

"Um, sure?" Four shrugs. "Sam, we can't just leave her here."

"Yeah," He agrees, "I-I think you'd better take her with you. Head toward those old office buildings. That's where our Roufflenet sources-our highly reliable, utterly trustworthy Roufflenet sources-last saw the prints. The coast looks clear, but just in case you'd better run."

"Isn't that what we always do?" I ask with a smile. I look over at Margie, who has a pen and notepad in her hand. I can't imagine what sort of questions she'd want to ask, or why she'd risk coming to us all by herself to ask them.

But then again, the Girl Guides are pretty hardcore. I mean, they saved my ass twice from zombies, and they helped us escape those bandits when they attacked Harry's train. Girl Guides are not people you want to mess with.

We keep going, and I keep looking around for anything to pick up. I haven't found many collectibles these last few missions, which is a little disappointing. The bottle of water will be given in with the food supplies, which is great and all, but I want to find something that is basically useless in terms of the community-things that no one else will want. That way I can keep it.

I want to have a bigger collection to show Caleb when we bring him back.

I miss him... a lot, which is why I'm following this lead that seems ludicrous. If it'll help us find him, then I'll do what I have to.

I know Janine thinks this is a waste of a mission, and it does seem that way, but we have no idea what Comansys has created, and finding out what this thing is could be a key in finding our missing people.

"So, Margie," Jody says a bit awkwardly, "why exactly are ya wantin' to ask us questions?"

She beams. "It's for my Jobs Badge, ya see? I have to interview someone with a career of interest, and what's more interesting than being a runner?"

"You do realize there's a difference between something being interesting and something being dangerous and potentially life threatening, right?" I ask, and she shrugs.

"Running has tremendous growth potential right now, ya know?"

"This is not what I meant to happen," Janine murmurs in irritation.

Jody sends Margie a raised brow. "Okay, but wouldn't it be easier to interview somebody on base? There's plenty of people at Abel doing highly critical jobs while stayin' warm and safe and fed and... leavin' it to us to risk life and limb on a daily basis for them." She purses her lips. "That did always bother me a little."

I shrug off her words. Better me than Milo.

Margie frowns, her forehead wrinkling. "Already tried at Abel. Posy beat me to the radio guys; Kitchen staff said if I wasn't selling Crispy Squares, they had nothing to discuss; And Janine told me to stop wasting time and do something useful, like running from zombies."

Four and I both stare at the ravenette in shock. "Janine told you to risk your life runnin' after us?"

"I didn't mean it literally," She jumps in. "I wanted her to go back and rejoin her patrol. Why aren't you with them, Margie?"

"I've got forlorn duties. We're given one day a week now to work on our own projects," She answers curtly. "I thought about giving up on Abel and working on my Robotics Badge instead, but we're out of batteries. Jess took all our petrol to work on her Auto Repair Badge. Besides, a Bluebird never gives up."

She gestures down to her notepad. "So, I have this list of questions. When did you realize you wanted to be a runner?"

Jody hums. "Um, that would be the first time a shambler lumbered after me, moanin' and groanin' and lusting after my flesh and blood. Yeah, pretty sure it was that. Five?"

"When I was told I either ran for the base in America or my sister and I got no food," I say.

They told Wes that too. You either did what they wanted, or you'd get no food... or shelter. You either obey, or you die. The A.M.T.B. had no time for slackers.

"Guys," Sam cuts in, "I need you to veer toward those high rises and start keeping an eye out, okay?"

"Got it," I reply as we pass one of the buildings, "but nothing really looks unusual. Just broken glass, torn bags, the eerie vibe you get from almost any abandoned place. Not really any-holy cow. Jody, do you see-"

"Yeah." Her eyes don't leave the odd, big footprint a good few yards away. "It does look large, even from here."

"So," Margie pipes up, "what did you study at University?"

We both send the girl a slightly annoyed frown. I opt to let Jody answer most of the questions simply because I was twelve when the apocalypse happened, and so I was thinking about when the next episode of 'Phineas and Ferb' would be airing-not what careers I was considering before deciding to be a runner. Of course, Jody doesn't seem to like the fact that she has to answer most of the questions, but I don't really care because her life before the apocalypse was simple. At least, that's how she tells it.

Mine was too, besides the numerous times I nearly died and the time I got kidnapped, but I can only tell a few stories of my life. If I give away something of importance unintentionally, they might figure out who I am, and find out about my files. It's highly unlikely, but Amelia actually managed to contact the A.M.T.B. She could easily contact them again, and if she told my name, the operator would tell her what's on my files, whether he knew the truth or not. And I can't have Amelia or Janine or anyone asking me why my files say I'm-

"Did your parents encourage you to be a runner?" Margie questions, breaking me out of my thoughts.

Jody shrugs. "Yeah, sure, until they were eaten by... Do you see that, Sam?"

"Yep, got it on the scanners. Looks exactly like giant footprints."

I slow down to a stop, examining the dent in the hard, cold ground. It's giant alright, but I'm not sure I can say it's a footprint, mostly because the print is square and only has four toes. "This is a uh, pretty funny lookin' foot then. I guess British Big Foot is out of the question; Whatever this thing is has a foot that's longer than I am tall. I mean, that doesn't say too much since I'm short, but you get the picture."

"I don't like the look of this." Jody points up ahead to another footprint indented into a road. "That step broke right through the pavement."

"Yeah..." Sam says, uneasiness woven in his voice. "I hate to say it, but I think you'd better follow those footprints, carefully."

He put quite a bit of emphasis on that last word.

She nods. "We're on it. Come on, Five."

I don't need to be told twice. We set an easy pace, since we don't know if these tracks are fresh or not. I mean, these aren't like normal animal tracks, obviously. These tracks won't wear away in a few days or weeks, so there's really no way of telling. And we'll need to keep up our energy just in case we meet something we'll have to run away from.

And just from looking at those tracks, I think we might have to do just that.

"Did anyone inspire you to be a runner? Did you have any mentors?" Margie asks, tapping her pen against her notepad. How she manages to write and run at the same time baffles me. I can barely write anything that isn't considered chicken scratch when I'm just sitting down at a desk.

"Being chased inspires me everyday," She answers. Suddenly her brows furrow together. "These tracks make no sense. There's no pattern; They're just stumblin' around."

"Great. It's not just a giant monster, it's a drunk giant monster," Sam sighs, and a small laugh leaves my lips.

"I was thinking it just had bad coordination skills, but that works too."

"I'm still not convinced this is a monster, or anything more than a..." Janine's voice trials off.

"More than what?" Sam questions. "What besides something giant and monstery do you think this could be?"

"'Monstery' isn't even a proper word."

"Well, that's not the point. The point is uh-oh no. Group of hostiles to the west, guys, streaming out of that coffee shop less that 100 meters on. There's half a dozen-no, a dozen-oh. Oh no."

I can see them, all of them streaming out. Most of them are my height, a few being a bit taller. They're all... wearing the same bright orange and yellow uniforms.

"Oh no," Margie growls, her green eyes flashing in annoyance. "Not you lot again."

"You know these zombies?" Jody asks in surprise, and she nods.

"We keep trying and trying to get rid of them, but there's always more. Boy Scouts."

•

"Why did it have to be kids?" Jody groans. Her voice is barely audible over the scream-like moans coming from the boys chasing after us. "Kid zombies are the worst."

"Jorden says they were on a Boy Scout jamboree when the world went gray," Margie explains casually. "Only... their camping trip didn't go as well as ours did, obviously. We kill them and we kill them, but there's always more. It's like nettle rash-the more you scratch it, the worse it gets."

"There's more coming in behind you." The worry in Sam's voice only enhances the anxiety I feel. These boys are fast and we're not gaining any distance between them. "It's going to be hard to outrun them unless-wait, you see where the high rise is?"

"Uh-huh. You have an idea?" I question, my breathing labored.

"That's the perfect place for a McShell maneuver. You know the drill. You'll run north around one building, Four'll run south around the other, the zombies keep going down the central corridor. Beat them to the other side and you can take them out one by one. Easy as pie."

"Said by someone who's never tried to bake pie," Janine grumbles under her breath. He scoffs.

"Oh, like you have?"

"My point exactly."

"That's not going to work," Jody pants, and she wipes away the hairs that are sticking to her forehead. "There's three of us, remember? Where's Margie supposed to go?"

The ravenette running beside us scowls. "Margie will be running ahead of you, down that corridor so she can meet those zombies with her semi-automatic."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Wait, you've had a gun this entire time?" I gape when she nods. "And you're just deciding to mention it now?"

"I try to save ammo when I can. Thought you professionals would have a plan so I wouldn't have to use my gun," She says with a shrug, and if she wasn't such a cute kid I might've strangled her.

"But still, is that a good idea?" She asks again.

"Never underestimate a Girl Guide," Janine states. "I was a Guide too, you know."

"What? There's a badge in crazy survival conspiracy theory stuff?" Sam questions mockingly. She ignores him, but I guess that's better than her slapping him.

"Runners, tell Miss Gupter that if you all survive this, I'll answer her career day questions."

"Yeah, speaking of that, they're closing in."

"So now we get to run, right?" Margie asks, sounding way too excited about this.

"Fast as you can, guys. Fast as you can."

Margie starts sprinting forward, while Jody and I split off to head around the buildings. My hair is sticking to my forehead, the loose and badly done braid already falling apart. The growls of the zoms behind me are deafening. I can't bear to look back and see the faces of those kids.

Of course, I saw a lot of kids go gray when I was at the A.M.T.B. but I was a little girl then. I felt bad, of course I did, but I was more focused on keeping Katelyn and Wes alive to realize that these were kids were dying. They were kids even though we acted like soldiers. We were kids even though we were trained to be warriors.

Now that I'm older though, I understand. When I see this, I remember why I can't let Milo be a runner. I can't risk something like that happening to him. I can't risk losing him like I lost Willis, like I lost Wes. I can't lose him because I'm not fast enough-smart enough.

"Man, that Girl Guide is fast. She's already on the other side," Sam says. "Four, Five, speed up a little. Yeah, that's it."

I jump when I hear bullets firing, taking down all the zombies that enter into the corridor.

"Take that, you neckerchief wearing freaks!" Margie screams.

"Um, you're wearing a neckerchief," Jody says, but I can barely hear her over the gunfire.

"Uh, guys, more zoms to your east, right behind Margie," He murmurs worriedly. "They're fanning out. A McShell's not gonna cover this one, but you've got to get them away from her."

We've made it around the two buildings. Margie's still taking the group in the corridor, her back turned to small horde heading straight for her. They're fast, with their rotting hands outstretched and their jaws hanging wide open, the skin gray and ashy.

"Hey, child zombies! If you wanna chase something, chase us!" Jody yells, but she cringes when their heads all turn to her, their dead eyes focusing on her, and then me as I catch up to her. "Oh, crap. We're gonna die. We're so gonna die."

I roll my eyes, panting heavily. "Way to keep up the positivity."

"It's working," Sam laughs. "They're veering away from her. Now it's only your lives in mortal danger... and I don't like the sound of that. Pick up the pace. Yes, looks like Margie's picked off the last ones in that corridor. If you keep drawing the others off, you should be able to get her safely out of there."

"Hey, Runners! Wait up!"

"Unless she decides to follow you." He sighs heavily. "Of course."

It takes her maybe a minute to catch up to us, circling around the horde to get to us. Her face is red and sweaty, but she's wearing a smile.

What is with this kid?

"That was fun!" She pulls her notepad and pen out of her pocket. "Do you ever get runner's block, like-"

She's cut off by a loud boom, and the ground shakes for a moment. The sound isn't from an explosion. No, this boom sounded different. Like something heavy hitting the ground.

Then I see it through the trees, well somewhat. It's big, and made of metal, but I can't make out any details. Although  I don't think I want to get close enough to do so.

"What the hell is that?" I screech, coming to a stop. The metal machine groans as it raises up a metal foot to step forward, completely crushing the tree under it as the foot comes back down. The ground shakes again.

"What in the world?" Sam asks in confusion. "That looks like... like-like a-"

"Giant robot, Mr. Yao."

I stare at the... thing in awe. "You've gotta be freaking kidding me."

"Yeah, yeah, it looks exactly like a giant robot," He murmurs. "If I'd known Comansys were making giant robots, I'd have tried a bit harder at that sponsorship interview."

"I think we know what's been leaving the giant footprints," I murmur, my blood freezing up in my veins like ice. "It's huge."

"Oh, come on now. Size doesn't-"

"Mr. Yao," Janine says tensely as the robot turns and... starts heading right toward us.

"Actually, in this case, size does matter. Run!"

We look back at the zombies still heading towards us. We're stuck between two very deadly things, so we do the only thing we can do-start bolting into the gap in the sides.

Hearts pounding, legs aching, lungs burning. And the robot is catching up. In just two steps the thing is thirty feet closer to us than it was before, and it's crushed three trees so far.

Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.

Jody looks back, and she gasps. "It's not a robot. It's an excavator."

I strain to look back, watching as the thing takes a final step out of the trees, showing what it really is-an excavator.

"Oh, yeah. One of those huge construction claw thingies," Sam says, suddenly sounding much calmer, as if this new knowledge makes it no longer dangerous. "Someone's pimped that one out. Man, I haven't seen one of those in ages. Road repair just isn't much of a priority when you're trying to keep the walking dead at bay."

"Oh, that's nice," I say with a sarcastic smile. "But that thing is still chasing us! It could still crush us and probably will in the next minute or two!"

"I don't think it's chasin' us, Five," Jody says. "It looks like it's going... after the zombies."

Just as she says that, the excavator tramps over a few of the zoms, and then the claw rips up a chunk of the pavement to drop it down on the undead Boy Scouts.

"Who's that girl driving it?" Sam questions, and Margie's eyes grow wide. She whips her head around to look at the excavator, and then she gasps and glares daggers at it.

"Jess, you greedy weasel! That's why there was no petrol left for the rest of us! You took it all! What happened to 'A Guide helps other people'?"

"Hey, Margie!" The girl-Jess-yells happily. "Watch this!"

She slams the claw down on five more zoms, and grayish red blood splatters everywhere. Thankfully we aren't close enough to get sprayed by any of it.

"Girl Guides are polite and considerate and they assist other Guides!" Margie yells, obviously still very miffed about this.

I'm still in shock that this is actually being controlled by a girl who's in between the ages of eight and fifteen. I can't see her face, so I can't tell just how old she is, but still. She's a child under the age of eighteen driving a damn excavator! I mean, who trained these kids? The A Team? Even I can't do some of this stuff and I was put through hell at the A.M.T.B. so I could be one of the best child runners out there.

"Watch this!" Jess laughs. The excavator grabs another chunk of pavement, slamming it down again and again on the zombies.

"Oh, my God. That Girl Guide powered piece of construction awesomeness crushed those zombies into dust!" Sam says, giggling like a child. "Just look at those Boy Scouts going down! Man, badges and neckerchiefs flying everywhere. Almost makes me feel sorry for them. Well done, guys. She's basically killed all of them by now."

"Wait up!" Jess yells as the machine stills. "I'm coming down. Margie, I'm sorry, but I couldn't find a car to repair and this thing takes a lot of fuel." Her feet hit the ground with a small thud, and after she dusts herself off she sends her friend an apologetic look. "I had no choice. A regular gas guzzler, it is."

"I know, but..." She shakes her head. "What am I saying? That was awesome! Can I get a ride sometime, or try out the bucket?"

Jess shrugs. "Sure. A Bluebird always helps others pulverize flesh eaters into zombie dust."

Jody sends the ginger a raised brow. "That's not a Girl Guide promise I remember."

The two girls hug, and a small smile plays on my lips.

"Now this is what I like," Sam says. "A happy, zombie annihilating ending where no one dies horribly. Well, no one who's not already dead. Obviously I'm a bit disappointed it wasn't a giant Comansys monster robot, but on the other hand, it's good news that Comansys doesn't have giant monsters or giant robots-as far as we know. But at least we know about where these footprints-um, claw prints came from too."

"I knew that where they came from was not from any of your fantasies," Janine says smugly. "You might do well to remember that, Mr. Yao."

"Ah, yeah, like you didn't think it for a moment too. Yeah, I think we're done here, guys. Come on home."

"Wait." Margie straightens and looks down at her notepad. "I have more questions to ask. Like, do you have any advice for someone who might be considering a future career as a runner?"

"Don't be Five's kid," Sam murmurs, and I scowl.

"Hey!"

"Sorry, but it's true."

"Yeah, but you don't have to make it sound like such a bad thing."

"It is a bad thing if you want to be a runner."

"Advice for runners?" Four grins. "There's only one piece of advice for runners."

Margie's eyes shine brightly. "Yeah? What's that?"

Four nudges my arm with her elbow, and we share a knowing smirk.

"Run!"

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