CHAPTER 3: KEEP ON WALKING

[Authors note: No spoilers for any of the seasons apart from a minor reference to Ian Golightly from Season 3-4. Enjoy!]

"Runner 5, do you copy?"

You nod, but realize that this is obviously not visible through the comms and you quickly add a short 'yep' between two breaths as you jog at a rather decent pace. You didn't have time to warm up before going, so you consider this your warm-up, which Janine thankfully doesn't mind. It's not like you are running for your life yet. If Janine had listened hard enough, she'd notice that your voice was strained for more reasons than just a light jog (it honestly doesn't affect you much generally).

"Good." You hear the shuffling of paper, likely some mission briefing notes that Janine keeps for her own reference – And Sam's, because he still 'forgets' to read them. Doesn't seem like any of them noticed.

He elaborates from somewhere next to Janine in the comms room. "Yeah, this should be an easy one, 5. Just a perimeter run to make sure Sigrid's remaining isn't making some... Funky advances of any sort. Y'know, even with her out of the picture, a few of the loyal ones, namely Ian, are kinda, uh, keen on getting revenge if you know what I'm saying."

Well, obviously. It wasn't like Ian would have liked you even if you hadn't helped take Sigrid down – You always got in his way in the first place and his priorities were always askew from yours, so you didn't get along well. You never tried to, though, especially not after the whole 'i'm gonna kill you' business.

"Although I might not have phrased it exactly like that, Mr. Yao, that is what we are doing, yes. You just need to run around the perimeter through the woodland path to make sure that the area is safe from both zombies and Sigrid's people."

"And especially not Sigrid's people as zombies!"

A sigh. "No, especially not that. Go on Five, give it a short burst of speed and then this should be over with in a good 40 minutes."

A small, 40 minute run. Should be enough, really. You more or less appreciated that Sam just kept on with his gibberish comments of Janine not appreciating his humor and Janine chiding him about his behavior on 'crucial missions'. It was just so.. Them. Just what you needed right now.

"Thaaat's great Five! Strong pace – See I'll never understand how some people can run like this even after the apocalypse happened. I mean I would only last about 10 minutes at that pace."

"Try 6 minutes, Mr. Yao. Probably barely even. You always sit in the comms room, so why should you be able to run more?"

"Oi, are you saying I'm weak? Because I can assure you that although not as good as our head of runner, I can run from zombies for more than 6 minutes!"

"Do you want to test that on the training grounds?"

"Yeah you know, on second thought, 6 minutes seem about right."

You smile to yourself and hear Janine sigh all the same but you know she doesn't mean it seriously. She pretends to be uptight in mission situations but is more light-hearted than she appears. You're going to miss that.

"You'll be entering the forest soon, Five. It looks good and no zoms too close. We don't have cams in that dense area of the woods, you know, but I see nothing on the radar so you should be good."

You're going to miss a lot of things, but it'll be for the best. You haven't told anyone about this – Only Owen looked at you a little strangely this morning when he saw you with quite the load in your backpack, but you didn't explain it, just hurried on.

It has been a long time coming, but you know it'll seem sudden from the outside because, well, it is. You have made the decision to leave Abel behind.

If you told Sam, Jody or Maxine or Paula or Owen they'd just be upset. Confused. Janine would be critically analytical as usual. Amelia would probably not be surprised, just assume it natural that you'd 'get bored eventually'. But you're not sure they'll understand so, as cowardly as it is, you assume it better if you just… Don't tell them.

Sam jabbers on in your ear about some old tv-show he watched as a kid while your feet carries you to the dense, woodland area that you know will be the end-station for you as an Abel Runner and the thought of telling them that you're gonna leave, hell, even the thought of not doing it at all, strikes you. You hold your ground for your own sake though; at least you tell yourself that.

It's not because you're tired of them and God forbid, it's not because you're betraying them. Not at all, you love Abel and the people there mean so much to you, they are your family.. Which is why you see it necessary to go. You know that many people across the country are still after you because you've got intel and you're a valuable personality and a lot of people still hold grudges (cough Ian cough). Staying in Abel is too dangerous for them, for little baby Sarah and for all those you care about.

That, as well as the fact that you yearn for some purpose. The zombie apocalypse isn't over but all you do these days is running perimeter runs and Janine says that it's a waste of resources to head further out… So now, you will do it yourself. And you'll likely take contact to Abel again soon enough and explain it all to them but you really need to get out for a bit. You're a runner, for Pete's sake, not a guard.

"Any zombies, Sam?" You ask and you hear Sam pause his sentence and hum thoughtfully before answering.

"..Uhhhh no, it doesn't seem like it – Not nearby anyways, a small horde to the northwest but that's about all. They're a good 10 minutes away from you at ordinary pace." He explains calmly and you thank him.

No zoms in the direction you're heading. Good.

You know that there are no cameras here and you pause for a second when you hear Sam and Janine talking about something trivial again, just to reconsider… And then you make a break for it in another direction.

It takes a while before any of them notice.

"Runner 5, what on Earth are you doing? You are far off route!" It's Janine who points it out and she sounds surprised and stern all the same, almost making you flinch like a child caught with its fingers in the cookie jar. "Why are you heading East? Mr. Yao, did you not say there were no zombies on the path?"

"Eh, uh, yes—I mean no- well yeah there are no zombies on the path! Five, what are you doing?"

Janine sounds stern and Sam sounds concerned. Just like how it's supposed to be, you think and bite your lip, not answering any of them.

"Runner 5, report immediately! Where are you going?"

Already now, you are beginning to get out of range because the headset crackles a bit and you have to slow down because otherwise you'll be out of reach before you have a chance to say anything. But you do say something.

"I-I'm sorry, Janine, Sam—I'm really sorry, but I've gotta do this. I hope you understand."

"Five what the hell—"

"What are you—"

The voices talking on top of each other are cut off at the same time as you pull the headset off, breathe out shakily and toss it on the ground. You didn't actually mean to break it, because the equipment could still have been used but in your minor panic you throw it hard enough for the microphone to fall off, rendering it somewhat useless.

"..Sorry." You whisper again, more to yourself, as you (with some effort) turn to continue on your own route.

And this was what you did. You did mean to contact Abel again but it was harder to find a settlement than you thought and by the time you did, you got cold feet – You backed out on them without an explanation, incredibly suddenly. It would not surprise you if they were mad and you don't want to face that… What a chicken, actually.

Just like before the apocalypse, when you would mean to answer a text and never got around to it, and it would eventually reach a point where it would just be unacceptable to answer it at all – Yeah, that happened, it seemed. The longer time passed, the less you could make yourself message them because you became a fragment of the past. You still listened in on them occasionally, obviously, without saying anything. Just to make sure they were doing well.

Over the years that eventually passed, you sent them some anonymous packages too through a few contacts, pretending that it is some care package from an unheard-of military group. Usually some silly items from somewhere or even the occasional food item that you know someone will love back home. As a form of consolation to yourself and them, maybe.

Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. You're feel like you need to return to Abel to let them know you are still alive. Correct?

IF YES – PROCEED TO CHAPTER 4

IF NO – YOU DO NOT CONTACT ABEL AND REMAIN ANONYMOUS. RETURN TO ZOMBIES, RUN SEARCH TAG