To Be A Leader

Chapter 58: Old Friends 4 Sale

"Janine, Five's been running through that abandoned city for... well, I haven't kept notes, but for ages," Sam says. He's getting annoyed, impatient. "There is literally no one else there. Are we sure we're going in the right direction?"

"As certain as we can be, Mr. Yao," She answers in her usual clipped tone. "Three residents of Abel suffer from Moonchild Syndrome. They have listened to the Ministry broadcasts for us. They say this is where she's telling Runner Five to go."

"Hmm. Yeah. This-it's a bit weird, isn't it? Trying to navigate using subliminal messages sent to someone else. Although-good news, Five-those broadcasts are apparently at max strength, and still no Moonchild in your head... There is no Moonchild in your head, right?"

"Nothing. I keep expecting it, since that's how things normally go, but," I tap my head, "it's completely silent up in here." I cringe. "That didn't sound right."

He laughs. "Well, Freddie from sewage says she's got a horrible headache from the broadcast, so I guess you're lucky that everything's silent."

I roll my eyes at his teasing. It's a good distraction for what's coming. I know this must be done, but the closer I get to the Minister, the more worried I become. I want this to go well, and I do have confidence in my acting skills, but missions of mine always seem to have at least one hiccup. I don't think we can afford to have that today.

"Whether it was Kytan's treatment or Moonchild's own decision, the things you've done seemed to have worked," Janine says. "You will remain in full control during this operation. But the Minister must think that Moonchild is controlling you. We will remain in contact via your concealed earpiece. The Minister is calling you to that large concrete tower."

"The one that looks like an ominous, splintered devil church that's featured in almost every horror movie," Sam hums. "Although, to be fair, it looked like that before the apocalypse too. Brutalist architecture for the fail. Still, not the most fun place to be heading to in the middle of the night."

"A building can't hurt me," I say, ignoring the creepy vibes the enormous building in the distance gives off. "It's what's waiting inside we should worry about."

Red shines in my vision, and I hiss at the bright light burning my eyes. Speakers squeal to life.

"Moonchild, so good to see you," Sigrid says, her voice echoing over the speakers. "I've placed a red light in the tower. Come home to me. As soon as you're here, we can talk."

Sam scoffs. "Yeah. Surely she means, 'I can monologue at you'. Yeah, just a sec. There's no chance she could have put together one of those helmet things that let Moonchild print out thoughts onto a Telex, is there?"

"There's some chance," Janine replies, which doesn't help the twinges of worry inside me.

"Well, what will Five do then?"

"We'll improvise. Keep going, Five. You can't miss this appointment."

If I wasn't certain Sigrid was now watching me like a hawk, I'd force out a laugh and make a sarcastic jab. Of course, I know Sigrid can't exactly kill me, not unless she infects me again. But we have the cure now, and Veronica knows how to make it. So even then Sigrid couldn't kill me.

But I remember some of the bioweapons Sigrid has ahold of. If she knows I'm me and not Moonchild, I can only imagine what she'd do to me. She seems well equipped in ways to torture a person. I've been through such things before. I'd rather not go through them again, even if I knew I'd survive it.

I keep running towards the flashing red light, ignoring every instinct that tells me to run away, to hide. It's not hard. The other part of me knows this must be done, that the danger, the risk, is necessary to win this. Being a hero, sacrificing my safety-it's just as much an instinct as the ones that want me to run are.