"Wh-how did you-did you steal a headset to listen in?!"
"Yeah. When I saw you and Amelia at Abel, I knew something was up. So, I took this so I could have a listen. And Singer's right. You need to take out Sage in private. So, hurry! Run!"
We head off, and I take in a deep breath as my mind reels. It was a good idea for Janine to decide to send Sam back to Abel with Amelia. It'll ensure he's safe if Sage does take the zombie pill or gives the instruction for someone else to on the rig. We need our operator, and we can't risk putting him somewhere where he might get bitten.
He's immune to regular zombie bites, but the V-Types are a different story. The cure doesn't work on them, and so immunity might not either. We can't risk it.
Jody meets us along the way. We couldn't all leave Seaside at the same time, especially since Sam and Amelia left too for Abel. That's too many people to be leaving one place all at once, so we had to split up when we met. Jody doesn't seem to mind that she was scheduled the last to meet up with our four-person team.
I think she thought it would mean she would be around Peter for less time, since he still is a bit... defensive about all of this.
Janine nods at her in greeting. "Runner Four, I'm glad you could join us. With Runner Five and Mr. Lynne, we'll make a useful and unobtrusive force to apprehend the Colonel."
Peter rolls his eyes. "Oh, you brought me here because you know he trusts me. He won't panic if I'm there."
"We just want to ask him questions," Jody says. "Find out what he knows."
"Ha!"
"What?"
"You've made up your minds already. I know how everyone talks about Sage at Abel. Controlling, dictatorial. Well, what you don't get is that's what some of us want. It's good to have someone to tell you what to do. It helps you focus."
Janine looks at him with something akin to pity. "I know."
"No one is arguing that he hasn't done amazing things," I say, and he looks at me curiously, expectantly almost. "I mean, just getting Eagle Fang to sit down with the Psychoanalysts and New Oban and the weirdos from the Hebrides is a huge feat."
"Yeah," Sam agrees. "All the different settlements have brought their ideas for how to defend against V-Types. Have you seen that stuff along the coast? Loads of different technology there for us all to learn from."
Peter sighs, his shoulders slumping a bit. "So what are we even doing here?"
"It's not that stuff we object to," Jody answers. "It's the bit where he made the zombie pills that killed everyone at the rave and at Exmoore."
He grits his teeth, just barely restraining himself from shouting. "Oh, there's 100% proof of that? Pictures of him cackling and rubbing a white-haired kitty while dropping zombie blood into a vat? Five said she only saw Jones, so it could just be him, you know!"
Janine looks at him sternly. "It happened on his watch. He must take responsibility for that."
"Oh, like Van Ark did? Like Sigrid did? Fire a rocket launcher, set off an underground volcano?"
"Not that, no. A trial, evidence. The rule of law."
He presses his lips together. His eyes show exactly how little her words affect him. "Yeah, well, excuse me for thinking it might not work out that way."
My shoulders tense when I hear a dead moan, and Peter's hand shoots out to grab my wrist. My free hand readies to grab a weapon.
"Guys, V-Type past those trees to your left," Sam warns, and I jerk my head towards it. The V-Type is there, at the trees. We keep moving, all eyes on the zom as it- "Oh. That's weird."

YOU ARE READING
To Be A Warrior
Mystery / ThrillerBook 7 in the To Be A Runner series New allies, V-Type zombies, rising anarchists, and a country that can't seem to find stable ground. Yep, that seems about right. It's been six weeks since Sigrid was taken down, and in those times, things have gon...
Chapter 72: Only Have Eyes For You
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