Employee Five: A To Be A Runner Short Story

If self== Employee: Print shirt

Sam laughs, running a hand through his hair as we look ahead. "Barbed wire, electrified fence, spiked wall, and gun turrets. That is a lot of security for a T-shirt factory. What are they printing here? Limited edition Articuno shirts?"

Janine sighs through her nose, and Sam rolls his eyes.

"That's a rare Pokémon, Janine. I'm saying they must have been making something valuable here."

"I understood your reference, Mr. Yao. I simply chose not to reply to it. I'm planning our strategy for entering the building."

Maxine nods. "Yeah, this is serious. We have three weeks now until Junin2 season. I don't want to be the one to say this, but Junin2 hemorrhagic fever is deadly. Just because we have to deal with zombies now doesn't mean other diseases have gone away. With no healthcare available, an ordinary flu could kill. And Junin2 is no ordinary flu."

"If it's so deadly, why are we only worrying about finding this vaccine now?" I ask, my voice cracking. Sam gives me a raised brow, but I ignore him.

"Because for the last few years it's been calm. Junin2 has a 'season', but it's usually only one of two cases of it. Every few years it spikes, and that's when we get worried. The last time it spiked was before the apocalypse, and the government only held it at bay with the help of Xia-Hifa."

"Yeah, I remember," Sam says. "Bulletins on the news all the time about Junin2 safeguards, and 'always take your flu mask' and stuff. But these last few years have been fine. Just a few isolated cases."

"That's because off what we did after the spike. Mass mosquito spraying, rapid isolation, and treatments to help for future infections."

"But why do you think it's going to spike now?" I ask, wincing at the pain in my throat, but continuing. "I mean, not to say this doesn't sound important, but Van Ark is still out there doing God-knows-what after he dragged me from the back of his Jeep. Shouldn't we be worrying about him?"

Maxine huffs. "We've already had reports on Roufflenet that multiple people are starting to show earlier signs of Junin2. It's going to come back, zombie apocalypse or not. We know Xia-Hifa was holding their vaccine to ransom for tax credits from the government, and we need it. So I've got to ask, Janine, isn't there a more direct way to get ahold of the vaccine than T-shirts?"

"Unfortunately not, Doctor," Janine answers. "Six teams have tried to get into Xia-Haifa Biologics to retrieve the vaccine. Six teams have failed. But each of them has given us valuable information. We know that one of our team members must pose as a new employee with Xia-Hifa in order to pass through the security systems."

Sam points at me, doing stupid finger guns that make me smile. "That's you, Runner Five. Your body and biometrics most closely matches an employee we found on their new hires list. We think we can fudge it as long as we don't put it in that you're sixteen. But you need one of their special biometric T-shirts. So uh, yeah. That's why all there's so much security outside the factory."

I nod. Figures.

"Xia-Hifa Biologics protected themselves well," Maxine says. "Even though their employees are dead, their protective measures are still working. Every bit of their system was automated. It just keeps going even though their people are dead."

"That's not creepy at all," I say.

"We have a window in the security camera sweeps in ten, nine..." Janine starts.

"So we're running for the electrified fence?" Maxine asks.

"I  have a certain device on hand that will cause it to short out and deactivate once we get in range," She says, counting down under her breath.