To Be A Warrior

Chapter 34: Free Fall

Thunder rolls, the sound louder and seeming to shake the earth as rain pours. My coat does little to keep the cold and wet from getting to my skin, and I tug at my hood, hoping I'll have a few minutes before the wind rips it from my head like it's been doing.

"Five, Paula, are you there?"

"We're here, Sam. Keeping watch at the perimeter of Last Rider territory, as ordered," Paula answers with a monotone voice, "Within range of that big old hotel they're using as their hidey-hole." She glances over at me. "I know it's been a few days, but are you sure you're okay to be here, Five?"

"Five is fine," Sam urges. "I mean, you and Maxine were the ones who looked at her brain scans. She didn't have another seizure. And you both said she was probably suffering from stressed-induced hallucinations."

That's the story we're going with. I mean, it's something that we could use logically. My lack of sleep followed by this new revelation about the Riders' plans and other aspects of my life could cause such hallucinations. It's a good cover up to what happened a few days ago. Of course, Sam and Peter know this isn't true and have been asking me about it nonstop.

I don't think I've ever seen Peter look so distraught. He loves Janine and she loves him, despite her never really showing her affections publicly. The thought of her dying terrifies him. He made me tell everything I heard, everything I felt. Since I didn't see her die, he believes there's still a chance she'll be okay. I want to believe that too. I mean, I saw myself get bitten and felt myself dying and it still wasn't the case when the vision actually fulfilled itself. Maybe it will be different here.

But what if it's not?

"Yes, I know. I just don't want this weather and everything else to cause another situation like a few days ago," Paula says, and I understand her worry. Me passing out in Abel is one thing, but passing out here where there are Last Riders about...

And I didn't put in any bright red hair dye because of the rain, so if I'm found, they'll recognize my face even with my Runner Ninety-three T-shirt.

"I've been getting proper rest and Kytan's been making me meditate every day," I reply, "even when I don't want to. Everything will be fine. We're just watching right now anyway."

"Yeah," Sam sighs, sounding a bit upset that perimeter watch is all we're doing. "We told Nadia she should get out after we found out about the Riders' plan to plant people in different colonies to take the zombie pills, but she reckons she's onto something with this 'The Method' person or idea. She wants to find out what's going on."

I shrug. "Can you blame her? She knows she's our best way to get intel on the Riders, and the more we know about them, the better. The risk is terrifying, but when the payout could be taking down one of our biggest enemies..."

Especially since we have another enemy coming, one we haven't met yet.

Suddenly the door to the coms shack swings open, the hinges squealing from the force.

"Dr. Cohen, Runner Five, urgent transmission from Miss Al Hanaki," Janine says, her voice clipped and slightly strained. My shoulders tense and she plays the clip.

"Janine! Anyone!" Nadia yells. "If you're receiving this, get me out of here! I'm in danger. There's-" She's cut off by the sound of a clatter, then a scream. "Oh, God!"

The clip ends a second later.

"That's it?" I ask as I rack my brain in attempt to figure out what's going on.

"Picked up seven minutes ago," Janine replies. "We presume the Riders have identified Miss Al Hanaki as a mole."

Paula mumbles something under her breath in Hebrew. "This quickly?"