I shall never eat it
That curly wurly from Sam is too precious.
Not today Justin

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@greyarea89
I shall never eat it
That curly wurly from Sam is too precious.
Damn it Sam!
Stop making me cry Mr Yao!
I'm coming home!
Ok, so not literally for a few more weeks but....
Maxine: That's it, come on home Runner 5.
Me: *runs a lityle bit harder, swelling with pride*
Me: I really miss Sam.
*end of run*
Maxine: *blah blah blah * Sam
Me: SAM IS COMING BACK!!!
Thanks to ZR I have a new powersong
Dance with the devil by Breaking Benjamin. About 90% of the time I'm thinking of Sam, and I suddenly get faster and can keep running. I kid you not.
I feel so fit
The first session I did of the 5k app I felt like a fraud, a has-been who would never get back into it. Fast forward to w3d1 and I'm filled with smug pride as Francesca tells me she can't keep up. (Mind you my physio has got me smashing it out at the gym as well.)
My local sports shop had a sale. I did walk out mumbling "collected a sports bra".
Zombies run enthusiasts
I need more zombies run posts on my feed. Reblog this please if you love zombies run so I can follow you :)
I found this in a roadside stall in South Australia. A chuckle I thought I would share.
The feels.... already
While I'm recovering from the surgery, I thought I would play through the 5k app. Week 1 day 2 ending had me tearing up in the middle of the running track like a weirdo.
Post S1M1
So, thinking I’ll just see what I feel like writing. Here’s a small piece I felt like after M1. I’ll probably change it again later. But here it is for now.
It’s written directly from when you get into Abel.
I’m on an injury recovery period at the moment, so I’ll see how I go for zr from here on out. Probably be a bit slow for a while.
Yes, my Five talks. Ye my Five is a girl. That is because when you play Five is you, and I am female.
‘Alright everybody. Don’t crowd, don’t crowd.’ Sam sighed, pushing to the front of the crowd inconspicuously. ‘Give Runner Five some space.’ He swallowed a bit hard. The term hurt. ‘Can’t take in so many new faces.’
No. Alice isn’t Five any more. He reminded himself forcefully. Alice wasn’t anything anymore. He had been true to his word. He hadn’t watched. He couldn’t handle remembering her like that. Head bursting, the look of surprise the Undead all had the moment before they finally died a proper death. Just remembering her after she had changed was bad enough.
Her headset was still out there, lying in the grass. Someone would collect it in the next day. That sort of technology was too valuable to leave behind. He looked over at the new Runner Five. She was doubled over, huffing.
Layered in sweat, and dirt. A few scratches and cuts from the helicopter crash. The Doc would check her over, and then she would be quarantined for a few days, just to be sure. She was at a first glance, similar to Alice. About the same size. A few of the features looked the same.
She handed over her stash of goods. The Doc snatched up the CDC box. That damn box got Alice killed. Sam thought bitterly.
‘Welcome to Abel.’ Evan said, as a few others picked through the water bottles and light bulbs. He gave New Five a friendly slap on the shoulder. ‘Sam, when Five here has caught her breath, I want you to show her around quickly, the amenities, sleeping quarters and then I’ll meet you back in the Mess Hall.’
‘Yeah, alright.’ Sam sighed as Evan grinned. He picked up the satchel, to stop the quarreling, and took off. Leaving Sam with the New Five. He needed a moment alone. He had to deal with what had happened to Alice. That she was gone. And already replaced. It had been his idea to call her Runner 5. But now, thinking about it. It had been a bad idea.
New Five straightened, and stood silently, waiting.
He realised he had been staring while he worked through his sudden turmoil. She had the same straight manner about her that always came from Mullens. Her uniform was fell fitted. Someone had taken the effort to adjust it to her size. She was valuable to them. Probably a good yes-man.
‘O…okay. Let’s go.’ He stammered. She turned sharply. Very regimental. Maybe she had been military before the outbreak. She walked stiffly. Clearly Mullens. But she hadn’t run like that, she had run like someone from Abel.
‘Uh, so this is the front gate. Obviously.’ Sam began. Great coms guy. ‘This is the Coms shack. Where I sit. It’s my job to make sure runners get home safe. I always do my best. So if you stay our new Runner Five, and don’t end up like….’ There was that lump again.
‘I’m sorry.’ She said quietly. It wasn’t sincere, and sympathetic like someone who was genuinely sorry. It was scripted. Like someone who had been on the ground since the outbreak, and had seen so much of the death and heartbreak that it was just an everyday occurrence now.
‘Over there are some farming areas. Since the zoms, we needed to start getting more self-reliant. I mean, Mullens can’t keep just sending people over. And probably won’t since your helo went down. Well, you know how it is.’ The lack of sincerity from her had thrown Sam. ‘Over there is the training compound. Guess you’ll spend some time in there when the Doc is through with you. We’ll show you how it’s done at Abel. And then I guess, we’ll put you to work.’
He paused, evaluating again. She was not at all like Alice, physical similarities aside. Alice had been warm. And funny. ‘Here are the amenities. Bathrooms. Showers. We’re strapped for space so it’s shared. Probably don’t strut around in the nude, unless you want that reputation. Did you want to… well I guess we don’t have anything clean for you to wear right now either so no point in you cleaning up yet. It’s all cold water for most of us out here. If you manage to pull off something amazing before the Major gets back, you’ll probably earn a warm shower.’ He started walking again. Trying to be relaxed was so difficult, with her standing so straight, and silent.
‘Over there is the armoury. Next to it, sleeping quarters. Runners are separated from most of them, because of what you all see, so you’re in the little stand-alone building. And this is the Mess hall.’ He stopped and opened the door for her.
She gave a nod of appreciation as she passed. A crack in her Mullens exterior. As they cleared the door Evan waved her over. Sam looked at the nearest table, with Jack and Eugene already waiting for him.
‘Okay, I’m off then. I guess that I’ll see you around then. If the doc clears you and all. Good luck.’
‘Sam.’ she said suddenly. The look on her face taking him by surprise. Nothing regimental about it. ‘She didn’t suffer. It was quick.’ And she was gone.
Sam felt the lump in his throat try its best to take over all of a sudden. He threw himself into his chair across from Jack and Gene. He felt like he had been given a gasp of fresh air and punched in the gut all over again.
‘We are so sorry Sam.’ Gene said, genuine, full of the sympathy he needed. ‘Here,’ Jack passed him a bottle. ‘Even the Major wouldn’t say no to this.’ It was a rare commodity to have a beer on this base. It was also usually illegal. But no one was going to argue today.
Sam looked over at Sarah, on the next table. She raised a bottle similar to his to him in salute. She and Alice had been good friends. She would be hurting too.
‘What do you think of the new runner?’ Jack asked. Sam didn’t know if the question was for him or for Gene.
‘She’s fast.’ He replied, before taking a deep drink. But she’s not Alice.
Alice’s last run
So, here’s my idea of what happened on Alice’s last run. I’m not far into the story yet, so please be patient if it’s wrong.
The only sort of spoiler is if you haven’t played through S1M1 yet.
Oh, and I’m still getting the hang of Tumblr, so I have no idea how this will turn out. hopefully I tag properly.
It was supposed to be an ordinary type of mission. A bit more specific than normal. But a standard in and out run. The Doc had pulled Alice in to do it. On her day off. We had made plans, nothing fancy. But as fancy as you can get around Abel. Bargained and swapped rations, for a sort of picnic at sunset. Just the two of us. The bag was sitting just outside my coms room, waiting, ready to go the moment the scheduled runs had finished. But then the Doc came in letting me know she had sent Alice on a last minute mission, and that I had to pull some overtime. Not that there was a standard shift in coms. Alice, that’s to say, Runner Five, was out at the old hospital. There were med supplies out there that we needed. The weather starting to turn on us, we had a bout of the flu going around. Of course the hospital was on the limit of my clear vision. Once a runner was through the carpark, I lost line of sight of them and had to switch to an overhead sort of view. We had managed to get the system showing a brief overview of hostiles in the area. They showed up as shadowy patches. Not ideal. But we were meant to be getting the system upgraded soon. Why we couldn’t have waited for those few days, I didn’t know. But here we were. Spending our first designated date night in ages, once again with one of us in the coms room, and the other out in the field. Without full support. ‘That’s good Alice.’ I encouraged, as she reached the end of my line of sight, and I switched to overview. Alice became a yellow dot on a map, moving quickly. I was forever grateful to Gene and Jack for writing up the new system for the moving dots. I couldn’t count how many missions it had rescued. How many runners. ‘How does it look Sam? Can I use the main entrance?’ Her voice came over the speaker, still minimum static at this distance. You could barely even tell she was running. ‘Uh… I can only give you a rough idea,’ I reminded, zooming out a little wider. ‘There are a few zoms in the carpark. Maybe see if you can find a way around. Stick to the trees for a little longer I think.’ The hospital had been hit hard during the outbreak. Those who had been bedridden for broken legs and what-not had been eaten in place. But at least they weren’t rising again. A lot of the people who had been able to move, and tried to barricade themselves in hadn’t been so lucky. There was the odd bite here and there. Before we knew it, the hospital was lost. Since then, the zoms never left the grounds. ‘Roger. I’ll go around the back.’ Alice replied. Her yellow dot changed direction. ‘What is she even looking for?’ I asked the doc, abandoning my screen. ‘There could be a file in there that could really help me out.’ Doc Myers replied vaguely. ‘She’ll be fine Sam. Five is the best we have.’ I looked back at my screen. The dot was missing. ‘Something is wrong. Alice, where are you?’ ‘I’m fine Sam.’ Her voice chirped back, happy as always. ‘We really need to get that repeater fixed, so you stop worrying all the time.’ Her dot flickered back on the screen. Heading straight towards a large moving shadow. ‘Alice, stop!’ I barely kept my voice level. ‘There’s a pack in that direction. Maybe they heard you I think.’ I zoomed out a little. ‘Yeah, there’s a few of them. Try going the other way.’ ‘Okay.’ The dot stopped abruptly, and then suddenly zipped over the last open ground directly against the building. ‘Alice?’ ‘I’ve found the ambulance entrance. I’m going in.’ Her reply seemed determined. ‘I don’t have eyes in there. Your signal is getting lost.’ I voiced, watching her dot flicker on and off as she entered the building. I had no hope of finding any hostiles in that building. ‘It’s okay Sam. I’m quicker than any zom. I’ll still be home for dinner.’ She laughed again. She knew how much I had been looking forward to this. I watched with baited breath, as her dot flickered out, then reappeared seconds or minutes later at a completely different area. ‘Five, that group look like they know where you went in. They’re gathering around that door. Find a different way out. ‘I advised, zooming out, and then back in again. It was futile to hope that zooming would give me a better idea what was going on in the building, but I needed to know where she was. ‘Got it.’ It sounded like she was barely listening to me. ‘Tell the doc I got some bandages, but can’t find many meds.’ Her dot suddenly stopped moving. ‘I think I’ve got it!’ there was a fair bit of static with that transmission. ‘Five, did I just hear that correctly?’ The Doc snatched my mic out of my hand. ‘Uh, yeah.’ Her voice was tense. So very unlike Alice. ‘Uh, Sam. How does my main entrance look now?’ Her dot flickered out again. ‘Still a few out there.’ I replied, quickly zooming out, cursing that I didn’t have a better camera out there. ‘What’s going on?’ ‘I need to start moving.’ Her response was overshadowed with some groaning. There was one in there with her, and I could hardly help. ‘How many at the front?’ ‘I can’t tell you, there’s just a grey clump. Maybe ten?’ I hated our system then. What good was a coms link this far out if I was no other use than a voice. ‘They’re in the visitors’ area.’ Silence for a painful minute. ‘Phew. I lost him.’ The coms crackled. Her dot reappeared, right before the main door. ‘I’m sorry Doc. I lost the file.’ Her voice full of regret. ‘Hey, that doesn’t matter. Let’s just get you out of there.’ I responded. ‘We can always try again another day. ‘Yep. Your best bet is that entrance. A burst of speed should get you through those zoms and,’ Then it all went to hell. I zoomed out, as she ran out the door, and I saw the huge shadow/hoard round the corner next to her. ‘Alice, RUN!’ She didn’t need me shouting. She would have seen them the moment she got outside. They must have followed the sound of her moving through the building. Her dot sped through the carpark, too close to the dark blips for my liking. But the system could be off. There was static, and some groans across the coms link. And heavy panting, as she sprinted for her life. Her dot darted into what I could only assume was another building, and then stopped. ‘A…Alice?’ I wasn’t sure if I was asking or begging. My heart was racing. ‘I’m in the guard house. It’s okay Sam.’ She huffed. ‘I’m inside. It’s boarded up pretty well. I’m safe for now. I can hear them outside.’ I zoomed out a little. The dark mass was huge. ‘I’ll wait them out. It won’t take long for them to get bored.’ ‘It’s okay. We’ll send someone for you.’ I reassured. Gene, who had ducked his head in when I had started shouting, nodded, and disappeared again, probably to find our freshest runner. ‘Sam, go get a cup of tea. I’ll chat with the doc until you get back.’ Alice said suddenly. Her voice was too calm for what she had just done. ‘What? I’m not going anywhere until you are home again.’ I huffed. Although the fright had left me craving a cup of earl grey. ‘Go on Sam. I’ll be waiting for you. We have a long wait ahead of us anyway.’ She urged. There was no arguing when she had her mind made up, and on this she had made her mind up. ‘Well, okay. But I’ll only be a minute.’ I conceded, getting up slowly. ‘It’s alright Sam. I’ll keep an eye on her.’ The Doc soothed, taking my mic and headset. ‘She’ll be safe with me.’ She argued as I had a backward glance at the door. No matter how badly I wanted her home now, I dawdled with my cup of tea. I didn’t want to see the black mass surrounding her building, and think about the noises they must be making. Jack sat quietly in the tea room with me. No doubt thanking whatever cosmic force was out there that Gene was no runner. ‘If only we had those cameras up,’ I began, dunking my teabag a few more times. ‘I know Sam.’ Jack nodded sympathetically. The door pushed open and Sarah Smith came in, the regular forceful presence that she was. Gene struggling to keep up. ‘What on earth is going on?’ Sarah gasped, looking disapprovingly at my cup of tea in hand. ‘Alice and I had the day off. And you were meant to be having dinner.’ ‘I know. I know.’ I defended. ‘The Doc pulled her out for a last minute mission. It’s gone wrong.’ I clutched my tea. It was a lifeline all of a sudden. From the situation, from Sarah’s anger, from my own fear that this could still keeping going very wrong. ‘Alice is held up in a guard house at the hospital.’ ‘Right. Let’s go get her then.’ Sarah nodded, with understanding. Suddenly seeming a little more forgiving that I wasn’t at coms. Gene sat down next to Jack, and gave his hand a tight reassuring squeeze. We headed back down the hallway. There had been a constant hushed murmur from the Doc while I had been gone. It halted suddenly as we walked back in the room. She handed me back my mic and headset, and stepped back stiffly. ‘Hand me a noisemaker.’ Sarah instructed, as she shook her arms out, getting herself ready for a run. ‘Not yet.’ The Doc’s response made both of us freeze with surprise. ‘What do you mean, not yet?’ If we wait too long, it’s going to get dark. And there’s no hope for a recovery mission in the dark.’ Sarah argued forcefully. ‘Then we need to wait until morning. And it’s getting cold out there at night.’ She flicked her head towards the door. ‘Armoury already agreed, they have a gun ready for me for this mission.’ ‘And I’m saying, not yet.’ The Doc stood her ground. I had to hand it to her. I certainly would never be daring enough to stand up to Sarah in the mood she was in. ‘Hold on Alice,’ I said over the speaker. ‘We’re just sorting some stuff out. Runner 8 will be on a decoy mission for you soon enough.’ I soothed. ‘Sam, it’s alright. I told the Doc to wait.’ Alice answered back. ‘I’ll let you know when it’s safe to send someone.’ ‘What do you mean, you’ll let us know.’ Sarah snatched my mic off me. ‘It’s going to be dark soon.’ ‘Sarah, it’s alright. Really. There is no point in you racing out here with this many focused zoms. You and I are fast enough we can outrun them before dusk still any way.’ I could hear the smile on her voice. ‘Riiight.’ Sarah replied slowly, clearly still not happy, but accepting that Alice was right. ‘I’ll just wait here with Sam then. Until you decide it’s time.’ And she dropped my mic back in my waiting had, and dropping into one of the chairs in the corner of my coms room. I hated having this many people around. This was my space. ‘It’s okay Sam.’ Alice diverted back to me. ‘I might be a bit late, but I’ll still make it for dinner.’ I heard the Doc walk out. ‘Please tell me you remembered the crackers.’ Alice giggled. ‘Yes, I remembered the crackers,’ I sighed. She was never going to let me forget that time that I’d forgotten them. ‘And I have the Marmite. And when you get back, I’ll make us a thermos of tea too, since it’s going to be darker than I’d expected.’ ‘And the cake?’ ‘Yes, I remembered the cake too.’ Mind you, I wouldn’t exactly call it cake. But the end of the world kind of changes your view on things. ‘Good, you know how I hate it when you forget dessert.’ I looked at her wide angle screen again. There were so many of them. I had no idea how even with Sarah on decoy duty we were going to get her out of there. Maybe she was right to make us wait. She was safe indoors. Maybe we could even wait until morning. I took a sip of tea while all these thoughts ran rampant through my brain.
It was almost half an hour before the Doc came back. That had been a half hour of small chat. Alice seemingly nostalgic all of a sudden, bringing up the first time we had been on a run together. The first time we had eaten together. It was odd for Alice to be talking about the past, instead of the now and the future. But still, it was nice. Even with Sarah listening in the whole time. ‘How are you doing Five?’ The Doc asked. ‘I’m getting a bit cold.’ Alice responded. I had my usual instinct to wrap her in a hoodie or blanket. Only this time I couldn’t. Alice coughed lightly. I looked up. The doc had her brow furrowed. ‘Runner Five. When you had the file, did you see anything that was in it? Anything at all?’ ‘Does that really matter now?’ I interjected. Doc silenced me with her hand. ‘No, sorry.’ Alice sounded dejected. ‘When I found it, I realised that a zom had followed me in. It was so quiet. Not like the rest of them. Like it was properly hunting me.’ She coughed a little more persistently this time. ‘Sorry Doc. It’s dusty out here. Dusty, and I’m getting a little thirsty. Permission to open one of the bottles of water?’ Ever the poster-girl for the rules, my Alice. ‘Of course it is.’ I responded before the Doc could answer. ‘Hold on Alice, we’re coming to get you.’ ‘The hoard aren’t moving on that quickly. I can still hear them out there.’ I checked the screen. Some of them were moving on though. Was it enough yet? Sarah looked at the screen and stood up, apparently deciding that it was enough. ‘Wait Sam!’ Alice cried, coughing hard after she had. ‘Runner Five, are you sure you are alright?’ The Doc persisted. The look on her face didn’t make me feel any better about the situation. Alice coughed again. ‘Maybe tell them Doc.’ The Doc nodded, and turned to me and Sarah. ‘Runner Five wasn’t sure if she was bit while escaping. She did a self-check, but there were some ambiguous responses and wounds. We agreed that as she is currently secure, we would wait, and she would serve her quarantine outside of Abel. But it’s starting to look like she’s changing.’ Her voice was that perfect blend of compassion and science. I guess they did teach that at medical school after all. ‘I’m sorry Sam.’ I glanced at Sarah. Her face showed more resignation than I would have expected. ‘Alice?’ It was all I could manage. There was coughing over the coms. ‘I’m sorry Sam. I might miss dinner after all.’ ‘No.’ I disagreed. ‘It’s just getting cold out. Half of Abel is getting sick. No reason a runner can’t get sick. Runner Eight will come and get you. After a cuppa you’ll feel better again.’ I argued. ‘Sam,’ she sighed. ‘I’m cold, I’m coughing and I feel like hell. And I felt perfectly fine this morning.’ I could almost see her shaking her head at me in my mind’s eye. Perfect sweet Alice, who always said I would see things differently if I had my feet on the ground with them all. ‘Sam, it’s too dangerous to send anyone for me right now. If I’m still alive in the morning we can re-evaluate.’ She knew she had me with that logic. Even if it sucked. ‘Okay.’ I resigned. ‘I’ll stay on the line with you tonight then.’ ‘I really was looking forward to dinner.’ She sighed. ‘It will still be there for breakfast in the morning, when you get home.’ Coughing. The Doc grabbed my mic off me. ‘Runner Five. Alice. I don’t want to take too much of your time any more. But,’ she took a deep breath. It shook a little. ‘I just wanted to say that it has been a pleasure, and an honour, to work with you at Abel Township and I count you among one of my closest friends here. Goodbye Alice.’ As she handed the mic back, I thought I saw her wipe a tear. She turned and left. ‘It’s okay Alice,’ I soothed. ‘I’ll stay with you until Sarah brings you home tomorrow.’ ‘Sam, I don’t think I’m going to make it.’ She coughed. Only this time, her breath rasped as she gasped for air. ‘I don’t want you to listen to me die. I don’t want to become one of those…’ ‘no. no. no!’ I shook my head, willing her to be silent. ‘Don’t talk like that. Don’t think like that. It will all be okay.’ I looked to Sarah, who I had never seen look so dejected. She crossed her arms, and walked out, after the Doc. ‘Sam, you and I both know how it is.’ Her voice was a little gravelly, but the coms signal was coming through strong. ‘I’m fading, and I’m fading fast.’ She gasped, as if something hurt. ‘I’m not going to listen. And I’m going to do my best not to turn. I can’t live like that. And I don’t want you to see me like that.’ She gasped again. I could hear her move, her coms link still on. ‘I’m going to turn my mic off. I want the last things we say to each other to be memorable. To be nice.’ ‘Okay.’ I forced. ‘But only because I want to prove you wrong in the morning.’ There was a lump forming in my throat. And if I gave it the slightest lee-way it was going to take me over. ‘Oh Sam.’ She laughed. It wasn’t her laugh any more. It was thin, and painful. ‘For the record, I hate Marmite.’ She tried to chuckle, ‘but I put up with it for you. Because, well, for a coms guy, you’ve been pretty swell.’ Some static followed that. Or maybe it was a rattle. ‘You know I hate flattery.’ I sniffed. ‘You’re…’ I had no words. ‘Amazing. And you know I would have converted you to Marmite in the end, anyway.’ My voice was shaking. ‘Alice, if there is the slightest chance you aren’t going to change, then please please please! Don’t turn off your mic. Just, come home. We can sort it all out afterward.’ Begging. I had to beg. ‘Goodbye Sam.’ Her link went dead. Her dot vanished off my screen. She was gone. I stared at the screen, I don’t know how long. A second. A minute. It didn’t matter. I pulled off my headset, and walked out. My stomach oddly empty, but it knots at the same time. I looked down at my bag. Dinner for two. But not even one wanted to eat. I picked it up and dropped it in front of Jack and Eugene, who were still waiting in the tearoom. I could feel their questions for me. But I couldn’t say a word. I just walked, on auto-pilot out of the hut. I didn’t feel the warmth of the setting sun on my face. Today, everything that was hope for me of a future in this place, was gone.
Random thought
While doing s1m6, all I could think was "she hates me and wants me dead" and "just keep talking Sam".
girls don’t like boys girls like Chinese-British engineering students who operate communications for the zombie apocalypse
Its a start
Going to be loading up some fic up here... eventually. But just starting with a hello. And an i want to run. And i want to get back to my Zombies Run.