SUMMARY:

The apocalypse is over. Sigrid and the Ministry has been defeated and settlements of survivors are starting to become small cities – The world is starting to recover. Abel too.

But during a scouting mission 3 years, 2 months and 8 days ago, you, Runner 5, vanished from Abel Township without a trace. No backpack, no runner number, no dead or undead body was found, only a broken headset - but Colonel Janine DeLuca declared you dead after 9 months of searching in vain and no indication of life. Many grieved cross-country and even cross-borders.

They never knew that you survived for this long, against the odds. And now, after the end of the end of the world, it might be time for you to return.

What do you wish to do? Will you return to Abel Township?

YES – PRESS TITLE AND PROCEED TO CHAPTER 1

NO – IGNORE AND KEEP SCROLLING

[There will be individual spoiler warnings for the chapters – Generally, there may be some spoiler-y references to events up until season 5, as well as characters met until Season 4. I will try to keep it all minimal, though! You will likely get the most of the fic if you're more or less up-to-date, not to be said that it can't be read otherwise! The end of the apocalypse has not yet happened in the game; Everything here is from my own imagination!]

CHAPTER ONE: BABY I'M BACK

[Authors note: This chapter contains no spoilers for any of the seasons! Enjoy!]

One-two-one-two. Breathe in breathe out. You let your feet thump against the ground in rhythm to the imaginary, stable beat in your mind that your breath follows. It's the way you've always done it – Either that, or humming an upbeat tune you might have listened to sometime before the apocalypse, when running was just exercise and not a skill that lives depended on. Not as often, anyways. There are still zombies around these days, but they are few and usually long between.

You don't need to consider the route. Your feet knows where to carry you even when you are absentminded, because it is a familiar line of trees to the left and wide open plains to the right, a well-known, worn down path and open land ahead and behind.

You really are still not sure about this. After all, your disappearance from Abel Township was sudden and you haven't said a word to any of them since then, not even a clue that you were still alive and maybe it would just startle them, perhaps upset them if you returned. Hell, you don't know if they are even still all alive. At this point, though, you cannot make yourself stop because you just need to know if they are doing okay and if they are, well, maybe you can leave silently.

Anyways, your mind keeps getting side-tracked with these thoughts, huh? It is hard not to let them. You feel your backpack thumping against your back and try to let it distract you from the thought you know will come next, but it is almost impossible not to.

Abandoning Abel was never easy. If it could even be called abandon – Maybe not initially but it may have become abandonment the moment you decided not to return, no matter what reason you had.

So, Runner 5. What was your reason to leave Abel Township behind?

IT WAS AN UNWILLING CHOICE AFTER BEING ATTACKED ON THE SCOUTING – PROCEED TO CHAPTER 2

IT WAS A WILLING CHOICE OF MY OWN – PROCEED TO CHAPTER 3