To Be A Warrior

Chapter 36: Disco Inferno

"We're goin' down these tunnels?" Jody asks, looking unsure. She flinches at the frown on my face. "They look very... full of water."

"Tide is at its lowest now, Runner Four," Janine answers over the headset. "As long as you stick to the safe route, your passage to the Minister's island will be secure."

"And not too... drowny?" Peter asks, making the same face as Jody. "Because I've been drowned before. It's not fun. Takes ages to get the water out."

The comment is enough to snap me out of my pity party. "When were you drowned?"

He doesn't answer.

"Nah, no," Sam answers before I can question further. "Last time we went to Sigrid's island, there was like, a volcano down there. But all the magma's hardened into rock now. The tunnels are pumice stone-filled, but safe."

"Unlike the burn cubes," Jody murmurs. "We're sure they're here?"

"Yeah. Remember Bailey, that bloke Five, Tom and Kefilwe recused from the lynch mob? He's been trying this 'be a good person' thing and has been going over all the orders he countersigned for Sigrid. He found she sent a stock of burn cubes here."

"If anyone would have been stockpiling volatile weapons banned by the Geneva convention, it comes as little surprise that it would have been the Minister," Janine comments, and I hum.

"But it is kind of surprising that anyone would go and try to grab a handful of them like we're doing. On my freaking birthday no less!" I huff and dramatically slap my hands against my sides. This happens every year, it seems, with my birthday being a day that I have to go on a dangerous mission for some reason or another.

"We have little choice." I can hear the frown in Janine's voice. "Until now, we've managed to contain the V-Type zombies. But with the entire cohort of the Last Riders infected, we need access to a weapon that can stop them if necessary. Otherwise-"

"Yeah," Sam interrupts. "Well, we've all seen the zombie apocalypse once. We don't need to go into details."

I cringe as he says, particularly because details about the beginning of the apocalypse is something I haven't mentioned to my darling husband. The dream I had of Catherine making it to the New Oban train, I haven't really told him about it. Not because I want to keep it a secret from him, but rather that I don't want him to tell me what's supposed to happen, as weird as that sounds. Doing so might launch me back into the past, and while I'd love to figure out what the hell will happen, or did happen or whatever, something tells me that I need to wait.

And Sam might not even remember what happened. I mean, he didn't mention that he was there, virtually, on the New Oban train, or that he saw Catherine's face, which looks very much like mine. And with all that happened when the apocalypse arrived, I can't blame him for not having a perfect memory of that day.

"We have details of precisely where the stock of burn cubes are. Runners Three, Four and Five, you will proceed down the lava-filled tunnel to the island. You'll each take a small stock with you and transport them home, understood?"

Peter grins. "I like when you call me Three."

"You need to get moving, guys," Sam warns. "Once the tide starts coming back, that tunnel will be flooded. Go!"

We start heading down the tunnel, and when cold water hits my ankles I shudder violently. It's a stark difference than when I was last here months ago, running with an ERF suit and praying that none of us would die of heat stroke. I hate that we're going back, but we must. The Riders are mostly gone, but now they're threats as V-Types. I almost feel bad for the survivors, knowing that they have nowhere to go because everyone hates them.