Disclaimer: I do not own any of the "Zombies, Run!" characters, although I wish I did. I do, however, own Jessie Myers.

M1: Part 2

"Wow, there's… There's someone alive down there, running. Hey, can you hear me?" Sam, the radio operator asked her. She didn't answer. Jessie knew that she couldn't and she didn't need to attract more zombies. She picked up an ax that was lying on the ground. Surprisingly, it was sharpened. A little dirty, yes, but sharpened. She would need this later.

"No answer. Still, just look at 'em go! Heading for the tower, just like I said. Okay, running person, if you can hear me, well you're going great. The main group is behind you, and you're going to come out of this forest soon, but there's a… yeah, well I-I can't think of a phrase that's not 'small army of zombies.'" Jessie cursed, groaning quietly. Why did it have to be her to do this? Couldn't they have sent out someone else? Someone with more experience than her? What she knew, she had learned from basic training and watching her sister, and that wasn't much. Now she was stuck here, running for her life from a 'small army of zombies' with an ax in her hand. "Sorry. I don't do so well under massive pressure." Sam said.

"Neither do I, hun." Jessie whispered. Lady luck was not on her side right now.

"There's a… well one of those directly to the east of the trees so if you head more towards the old saw mill, you should be able to see its massive red signs from where you are." Jessie immediately turned towards the saw mill and ran at full speed. "Oh man, look at that. They're changing direction. They can… You can hear me. Okay, okay. We can keep you safe. It's cool, it's cool. We can bring you in." Jessie smiled, her face lighting up. That smile quickly fell with what she heard next.

"No, we can't ask them that. They might be injured." Sam said. Jessie could tell he was covering up the mic. 'Oh no. This isn't going to turn out very good.' Jessie thought to herself.

"Well all the more reason to ask them that. This is Dr. Meyers, only medicare at Abel Township. Lord knows I'm sorry to ask you this, but your route will take you almost past the old hospital. We know there are medical kits still there from the first wave of infection. If you could pick up even one or two, that would help us—"

"That's too dangerous. You know what happened to Runner 5." Sam said to the Dr. Jessie's eyes widened. She wanted to scream 'What happened to Runner 5?!' but that would attract more zombies and it would be useless anyways so she stayed quiet.

"The zoms have all followed the noise of the crash." Dr. Meyers said to Sam. It reassured Jessie; made her feel a bit safer, but not very much.

"But what about whoever fired that rocket launcher?" Sam pointed out. The safe feeling disappeared immediately. She would rather be bitten than get fired at by a fucking rocket launcher!

"If someone wants to kill that runner, taking an unusual route will make it even harder, not easier." "Good point." Jessie whispered to herself. "I don't want to be hard headed, but everyone in this township earns their keep. You should be able to see the Robinson hospital now. One of the buildings, Griffin Tower; it's the tallest building in the abandoned city, and if you can't find anything, we might not be able to let you in when you get here." Jessie's eyes widened. She most definitely needed to be let in. She ran faster than she ever thought she could.

"Okay. Okay. That's great. You're making good time. No broken legs, I guess. Hey, uhh… listen. I'm gonna call you Runner 5. Umm, just 'cause I don't know your name, and we just lost a runner. In that same hospital you're running through now." Jessie was going to punch Sam in the face when she got to the township. This is just what she needed to hear. That she was going to die before she even got to the destination of her first mission. Sam continued with his useless babbling. "She was so fast; really funny and clever. Me and her, we sort of… She was amazing. But hey; you could be our new Runner 5 if you make it back alive." 'Again with the you're-going-to-die bullshit.' Jessie thought to herself as she picked up 2-3 medical kits and a bag-full of prescription pills. She stuck all of it in a backpack she found by a dead teenager's bed; thankfully he died from trauma and not a zombie bite. Sam spoke up again.

"Yeah, uhh, the runners are pretty important in keeping–keeping us going here. Any fuel we have goes to working the generators and the truth is, if you've got two legs and you can go above a slow shamble, you'll be able to stay out of the zoms way; Am I right? Yeah, okay, your pace is good but, umm, maybe head through the ground floor of the hospital." Jessie ran down the stairs. "There's a little swarm gathering in the parking lot I don't like the look of and… Yeah, yeah, that's good. You could even pick up anything interesting you pass. We think there might be some—Uhh, well, we sent the old Runner 5 there looking for some file the Doc's interested in so umm—You know, if you find anything official looking lying around, just bring it home."

"Home, huh? I haven't had one of those since the outbreak." Jessie said quietly to herself. She walked up to a room that had the word 'Files' on it. That seemed like a good place to start. She jiggled the knob. It didn't budge. "I knew there was a reason why I picked this up." She said to herself as she raised the ax above her head. It crashed down on the door knob and she kicked the door open.

"They're tough, aren't they?" Sam said to Janine as he watched the security camera. Janine nodded. Maybe this person would be an asset.

Jessie saw a bunch of files. She wished she could as Janine which ones to look for. Oh well. She grabbed a box of files titled 'CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL,' stuffed most of them in her back pack, and held the rest in her left hand, the ax in her right.

"Hey. There you are. I've got you on camera now. Great to see you, even though you're kind of blurry. Umm–What's that you're carrying? Umm, look at this Doc. Runner 5 picked up something in the hospital." Sam said, pointing at the screen. Dr. Meyers gasped in surprise.

"Is that the Center for Disease Control file?" Jessie looked up at the camera and nodded. Dr. Meyers smiled.

"What's that?" Sam asked, feeling left out.

"Runner 5. I don't say this lightly. That box could be worth your life to protect. Don't drop it." Jessie smiled to herself. She was right after all. She did pick up something important.

"What's that shadow over there?" the Doc said, pointing to the left of the screen. Jessie frowned. "Oh. Oh no! This is what–When we sent her out. This was what happened. They're following you, Runner 5. The swarm from the car park. They're following you now. Run!" Jessie looked over her shoulder. Twenty zombies at least; at most, fifty. She was never good at guessing numbers. She took off into the forest.

"They're so fast. Why are they so fast? They never run. Why are they running? Runner 5. Runner 5. They're gaining on you." Jessie looked over her shoulder and wished she hadn't. The zombie WAS running. A petite blonde with glazed over blue eyes. She looks like she's only been dead for a few days. Dried blood was on her closed and half of her face was torn to pieces, obviously zombie food. She turned back around and ran.

"Runner 5. You're not far from the gates now. If you can keep going, we'll send some people with guns out to meet you. Only one zombie is close to reaching you. Just put on a burst of speed now!" Her legs were burning, her chest aching badly. She couldn't help but slow down, but when she did, the groaning got louder. A fresh dose of adrenaline shot through her and she shot out into the open field where the township was located. Sam piped up almost immediately after she ran into the clearing. "Oh, God. It's her. I can see her. It's Alice; it's the old Runner 5. She's the one chasing you. She's–She's still wearing her head set. She's–" His voice was cut off and replaced by a deeper voice, obviously older than Sam.

"Runner 5. It's Runner 7 here, head of runners. They've just told me you've found something useful in the hospital. We're sending out a couple of people to bring you in. Just keep running as fast as you can. Don't look back. She's right behind you. Just run!" Runner 7 said. The gates were being raised. She was about three/fourths of a mile away from the township. About 5 people ran out of the gates, all holding guns. "This way! Run!" one of them said, shooting the freak of nature in the chest.

"They're going to shoot her. I can't watch. I don't want to." Sam said quietly. Jessie could hear his whimpering. She felt sorry for him only for a split second and could hear the Doc comforting him. Jessie then went back to concentrated on getting into the gates. She could hear Alice drop to the ground, but Jessie didn't stop running. She didn't think she could stop running, but just as soon as the gates closed behind her, she collapsed.

"Hey. Good to see you in the flesh. The totally unbroken, not bitten by zombies flesh, right?" Sam said, walking up to the sweaty pile of pale flesh that was Jessie Myers. She gave him a shaky thumbs-up, gasping for air. People were gathering around the exhausted runner. They were all very curious. Some of the children were poking at her sides, asking their mothers and fathers all sorts of questions they themselves were thinking.

"Step back, step back everyone. Don't crowd. Give Runner 5 some space. Can't take in so many new faces right now." The people took a few steps back, some leaving to go back to whatever they had been doing before she ran it. Jessie wanted to kiss Sam, she was so grateful.

This chapter took awhile to write, but it was a joy. I hope you like reading it as much as I liked writing it.