To Be A Hero

Chapter 59: Back In Black

The rain falls, the thunder rolls, and the gates open. The alarm is off, but the gates stay open, with me and Janine and Tom standing just in front of it, ready to run.

"I mean, you know we're planning to head away from Abel now, Janine," Sam says. "Away from Z-92. You really think this is going to work?"

"We've exhausted our other options," She replies, the rain water dripping down her face. "We cannot force our way into Z-92. This has to work, Mr. Yao!"

"Has to work," Tom murmurs. "Yes, all of us have to work! Must work, all of the time, have to definitely work! Must do the work!"

I take a step away from him.

"Yeah, well, Tom seems a bit, um-I mean, he's never been very uh, well, as long as we've known him he hasn't, but-"

"I know that, but he's responded well to some of our old cues and MI6 call signs," Janine replies.

"Um, by 'well', you mean..."

"I mean appropriately to his context."

"You mean that when you gave him a call sign, he tried to strangle Owen with cheese wire, don't you?"

"That would have been appropriate under the circumstances he believed appertained," She says with a sharp jerk of her chin. "If you have some other suggestion, Mr. Yao, I would be delighted to hear it. As it is, these are the facts: the Minister has cut us off and has used the information she has to smear us. But there must be some reason she has not simply bombed Abel. She has the resources do to so! Runner Five, accompany me and my brother now. We're running to New Canton."

And with that, we head out. We keep a close eye on Tom, mostly to make sure he doesn't try to escape in the rain. Janine and I both have guns, and we know that we will shoot him in the leg if he tries to run. We can't kill him. We need him. But so far he's running beside Janine, eyes ahead, but I'm not sure that he's actually seeing anything. His eyes, bright blue like Janine's, are clouded over. I'm not sure if that has to do with the antipsychotics he's been given, but I'm not stupid enough to ask, so we keep running.

The rain pelts down on our skin, cold and angry. My hair is soaked, sticking to my skin, and it's moments like these I'm glad Abel's running shirts are black instead of white like some people wanted.

Each step echoes in my ears, the pitter-patter of the rain mixing along the tapping of our feet on the dirt roads. Thankfully New Canton isn't too much of a run, not compared to the other places I've ran to, like London. But I'm grateful it's only about twenty-five minutes away, since there's already multiple puddles forming, and the dirt roads are quickly turning to mud.

What a great way to start off 2019!

I missed New Year's last year because I was with Moonchild. I 'missed' it this year because I was sleeping, having weird visions that never make any sense and letting my mind rest for this. I wonder if I really needed to rest, since this rain keeps me from dozing off in the slightest. The last time I was out while it was raining like this, I was leading the P.A.C. to safety with Moonchild, before we realized she was... evil.

"You know, I was thinking about what you said, Janine," I pant, wiping the water from my eyes. "Why hasn't the Minister attacked us yet? I mean, if she took us down, wouldn't the labs be hers for the taking?"

"Yeah, I don't know that either," Sam says. "It's kind of weird that she's waiting to attack. I mean, well... maybe she just wants as many of us as possible to come over to her. That's why they keep doing those announcements."

"We must use logic," Janine says. "She knows that I would rather destroy the labs under Abel than allow her to take them. I believe there must be something down there, probably in Section Z-92, that she would much rather retrieve if possible. Remember, she tried to kill Runner Five and replace her with a double-a very risky strategy, showing the importance of Section Z-92 to her.