To Be A Hero

Chapter 27: Sweet Things

"Alright. Veronica, Runner Five-gates."

"The Ministry sent word? It's here?" Veronica gasps, and I sigh as I adjust my headset, heading towards the gates at a leisurely pace.

"Cargo plane's headed this way. They want you at a drop point in twenty."

"Ugh, finally!" She groans.

"Thought you only put the requisition for new equipment in two days ago, after Five and Steve made it out of those caves," Sam says, most likely with a pinch of his lips.

"You try spending two days staring at blood samples you can't analyze because you don't have the right equipment."

"Well, it's not like we could've gone yesterday. I could barely move," I say, and I can almost see the knowing smirk on Sam's face.

"Yeah, hangovers are the worst, aren't they?"

"I wasn't hungover," I reply with a scowl.

"You barely moved at all because of your headache yesterday and you barely remember anything from the night before, right?"

I huff, not saying anything for a long moment. The night before last is rather fuzzy, especially the date. I'm assuming it didn't go very well from how Sam doesn't seem to want to talk about it, but there is something I remember.

And that's Nicole's bullshit story about our mom. About how she was chased by zombies, but they were shot down by a group of roaming people who just happened to have raided a gun-show that was a few towns over. She said they rescued her and when she told them about us, they wanted to wait until morning, so there would be less of a chance of zombies swarming them.

By the time she found the old building we'd been staying in, we had already left, believing her dead.

She is dead.

Nicole's lucky I only gave her one solid hit, because I wanted to do worse so badly. How dare she think I'm that stupid. I'm not stupid. Whatever game my sister is playing at, I'm not buying it. I haven't even opened her gift yet. I'm honestly a bit too worried to do so. It could be some sort of trap, or some way to taunt me.

"No, I... I don't remember anything." I clear my throat. "Guess I won't be winning any contest involving shots, at least, not the shots that are made up of liquid. But uh, anyway, Veronica, the wait is almost over, and soon you'll have shiny, new... what are they again?"

"Mass spectrometer circuits," She answers, obviously excited. "The Ministry pulled them out of a genetics lab down south. We had a machine in New Canton, but the electronics corroded. This will mean we can get it working. So get these gates open, Sam! Now!"

"I'm on it! I'm on it!" He says defensively. "Raise the gates! And uh, I guess I don't need to tell you to go. But what's the rush? The thing's not going to get here any faster."

Veronica's eyes are shining when we leave the gates of Abel. It's a type of shine that usually means she's planning something, something that I possibly will not enjoy.

"I have a test that I need to run on our way to the airdrop point."

I tsk. There it is.

"Need to run, or want?"

"It's an idea I've been working on. It's not going to take long, but it requires an outdoor trail with two people. This is a perfect time. Five's the only one of your runners who doesn't mess up my notes by talking too much."

"So that's why you wanted me to come along." I sigh dramatically. "And I thought you just really liked me."

She looks at me, blinks once. "I do really like you. You're the one who almost always gives me promising results."