To Be A Warrior

Chapter 41: Midnight City

"Runner Five, Runner Three, Colonel De Luca, I'm approaching you from your nine o'clock," Colonel Sage says, and I notice the tension in Janine's face eases slightly when he finally reaches us. We only received his first message ten minutes ago, but time is of the essence.

"Colonel Sage, we were glad to receive your message." Janine looks over her shoulder. "As you can see, the V-Type are now a significant problem."

Peter makes a face. "Uh, a problem is an ingrown toenail. We've got a horde of a thousand zombified former bikers."

"Eh, I'd say about 800," Nicole corrects. "There were about 200 bikers that went gray, and the settlements that have fallen since then are what really added the numbers."

He rolls his eyes. "My bad."

"Even with those numbers, we have a way to destroy them," Sage says, looking at Janine expectantly. "Do you have the burn cubes with you?"

She nods and gestures to the pack she's carrying. "A small stock. I am wary of using the burn cubes willy-nilly, Colonel. My runners retrieved some from Sigrid's island, but there will be no more when these are gone."

He nods in acknowledgement. "I know how to use them to best effect. It's a plan I've been working on for some time."

I release a small breath. That is a relief to hear. If he's been looking into this plan for a while, that means there's less of a chance of all of us dying. Although I can only hope this plan doesn't rely on zombies being stupid, since well... they're a lot smarter than anticipated. I mean, we already knew they were smarter than regular zombies, but seeing how they literally parted for the pigs and killed them as if they knew they were a threat, and how they tried to outflank us, we have to assume they think like humans.

But what I don't understand is how some V-Types seemed more animalistic and normal zom-like in smaller numbers, while they're more tactical in groups. Nadia said it was if they had one mind. If somehow this new strain of zombie virus allows them to have one mind, we're in deep shit.

Dr. Feive said that her project's hive mind meant we could take down an entire country in a few nights, and there was only five subjects in that project, and we could die. If these zombies are anything like that...

"Uh, Janine, I should bow out now, right?" Peter asks nervously, wringing his hands. "Because you know-V-Types, me... could make a worrying immortal zombie situation."

"You and me both," I mumble under my breath, but thankfully no one hears me.

"There's no time for any change in personal. This plan requires pinpoint timing and several runners. We must hurry. Run!"

Sage picks up the pace, and we're forced to do the same. I can see the worry flashing through Peter's eyes, and I feel it when he grabs my wrist so tightly it borders on pain. Still, I don't say anything. After what happened at Sigrid's island, he's had this look of growing self-hatred of what he is and what he can make zombies into.

And it's hard to convince someone of their innocence when it comes to this. He chose to take Van Ark's treatments and so he feels like he should feel guilty for what he can do years and years down the road, even though at the time he had no idea any of this would happen.

If someone had told me that unkillable zombies were a thing when I was sixteen, I would have either laughed or had a heart attack. If you told me the unkillable zombies biting Peter or possibly even myself would make them healing zombies as well...

I can understand why he's feeling the way he is.

But apparently we have no time to change personnel. Even if we got Peter away, I'd still be here, and I'm just as much of a risk as he is. It's just that no one else knows it. We have to keep each other safe. Peter can't turn, but we still can't let him get bitten. I could turn and infect other zombies, and we need Janine's leadership if we want Abel to stand. Sage is one of our best allies. If we lose him, we lose a lot.