It's even easier to track down an Infiltrator when they find you first. After @astrowave blew himself up, I was on the move and pissed off. I blamed myself, and I was only slightly concerned that my anger would make me reckless.

  I ran the train, something I thought would make a great sporting event on Dactyl if they could ever exterminate the overtaken and reestablish the colony. I made a game of it to try to take my mind off @astrowave and my hatred for @bronzelion and @moonqueen and whoever else was involved.

  He's out in the lead. He should be able to hold on as long as he doesn't make a costly mistake. Here comes another gap. Will he make it?

  I jumped over the gap and kept running, glancing back as I landed to see where the zombie horde was. Dozens had climbed up to the top of the train where @astrowave had blown up. I had been able to grapple over them so that I could continue in a southern direction. More zombies followed after that first group on top of the train, a collection of ambitious zombie marathon runners, while the majority continued to run below, alongside the track. The more I ran, the more I gathered. But the zombies on the train couldn't jump the gaps.

  And he made it! Another skillful leap.

  That's right! Barely even slowing down. @kittyboy is impressive.

  Do you think he'll set a solar system record?

  My oh my. He could!

  The screaming, growling, screeching, shrieking, yowling feral horde of zombies would have been hard for anyone not to notice. I ventured a guess that the screams could even be heard hours away at the central landing pad, but I hadn't picked up any messages from The Pharaoh since leaving Racers behind.

  I first spotted an aiways 53 minutes into my run. I was finally gaining distance on the horde. They might be able to run forever, but I move like lightning when I want to, and I was streaking across the train fueled by rage.

  kittyboy: "This is @kittyboy. Please come in."

  At this range, my short-range comms had to work. I knew I would at least be received. Who was receiving it? I had no idea.

  I figured it had to be @awesomedog unless someone on Dactyl had managed to survive. Given the way people turned, I assumed everyone on the colony was infected. Why wasn't I? I didn't know. @astrowave and I had been careful. We had cleaned the blood and spit off ourselves diligently, and we only ate what we found on the shelves in the store.

  Don't drink the water, I remember thinking. I didn't think that would matter, but we didn't just in case.

  I was wrong. It wasn't @awesomedog.

  sundial: "This is @sundial. Good to see you, @kittyboy. We're here to rescue you."

  I kept running. The shape in the distance appeared to be feminine, with long hair pulled back in a ponytail. They were standing on a third-floor balcony, one of many balconies that extended from a large apartment building. That was all I could make out. They were waving at me, though, so that was a good sign.

  I still didn't trust them. I still wasn't sure what their definition of rescue me was going to be. But I was willing to risk it.

  kittyboy: "Who's we?"

  sundial: "Alliance Starmada. @horus sent us. @awesomedog, Kibble, and I."

  So it wasn't just @awesomedog. That was good. I hadn't known Infiltrators to take on a crew, but I'd take it. The more the merrier.

  sundial: "I see you. Head toward me. Do you see me? Where is @astrowave?"

  kittyboy: "I see you. OMW. @astrowave's gone."

  "But I've got you with me, buddy," I whispered, clutching his memoryshard.

  Now that I had somewhere to be, I focused too much and tripped, nearly mucking up the last jump from train to train.

  The sports announcers in my head noticed.

  Oh no! A misstep down the final stretch. That will cost him the record!

  It will indeed. But what a race! I hope we see more of @kittyboy in the future.

  Yes, but such a disappointment. He must be kicking himself to have come so far only to lose the record at the very end.

  sundial: "Climb down. There's an entrance in the back, right in the middle of the building. You can get in through there."

  I stopped atop the train just across from her. She was up higher than I was, leaning over the railing and motioning, using a long rifle to point me toward the entrance to the building. Something seemed off about @sundial. I could see her head and her maplewood colored hair clearly, but then she just sort of disappeared. Was it a mind trick? I felt like I was looking at a floating head.

  Infiltrator armor! I realized. She had one of those suits that shifted, camouflaging herself against the backdrop. No wonder she had asked if I could see her. If I paid attention closely, I could see how the colors shifted, outlining her arms and upper body.

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  The height of the train put me just between the ground floor and the second floor of the apartment building. The building was about 15 paces away. My grappling hook could cover that easily.

  I tucked @astrowave's memoryshard away in the right pocket of my jeans.

  "Stand back!" I yelled, abandoning my comms now that I was in audible distance. I gestured with my hands for her to move backwards, away from the railing. I think she shrugged at me. I kept motioning until her floating head disappeared.

  I ran a quick systems check while I had a moment. Running along the train had been good for my kinetic energy buildup. My systems were at 97% battery power. After all I've been through, this should be a cakewalk.

  My grappling hook zipped out into the sky above. I nudged it down, catching it like I had caught @astrowave, a little loop around the handrail of the balcony.

  I soared up through the air, over the railing.

  @sundial hadn't moved back far enough. What I thought would be a super cool landing to impress the Infiltrators ended in me screaming, her screaming, and a mess of intertwined body parts as she tried to catch me and cushion her blow at the same time.

  I lay on the ground looking up at the railing, while my grappling hook released and retracted back into my ARM.

  "I think I sprained my wrist," I said, flexing my right hand and spinning it in a painful circle, while I let my back settle on the paved concrete.

  Next to me, @sundial was on her side, holding her head. She had a long scrape along the right side of her forehead.

  "What the fuck," she moaned.

  She looked fine. Really.

  "I told you to move back." I turned my head away, looking straight up at the inverted pyramid sky.

  My rage had died down now that I was safe and away from the zombies, but I could still hear their animalistic yapping and cries down below. I didn't realize how tired I was. That was a lot of running, and it wasn't over yet. It wouldn't be until we were all safely on The Pharaoh.

  "What's your status?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the roof of Dactyl, absently counting the inverted pyramids.

  I heard her moving and caught a glimpse of her ponytail out of the corner of my eye. "We found @awesomdog. His clone, I mean. We think he and @foxcutter are in a mansion a few blocks away. We were almost there when we heard all the overtaken out here by the train."

  "And then you came to get me," I said. "Thank you."

  "No," she interjected. "We were worried we would be overrun, so we came here to scout the location."

  "You said you were here to rescue me."

  "Once we saw you, we were."

  I sat up and checked my pocket to make sure @astrowave was still with me. He was. Right there in my pocket. "A happy coincidence then," I said.

  She helped me to my feet, making a weird face at me. I must have looked a bit of a mess. A healing scar across my face from @horsehead, a fresh bloody nose, and I smelled worse than the zombies.

  "I wouldn't say happy," she corrected. She had a slender face with a little nose and brown eyes. I couldn't read her expression.

  These Infiltrators. I tell you. They're trained for deception. I'd figured @auroraloon out. At least, I thought I had. But I decided I'd just have to live with a bit of uncertainty around them. This one, @sundial, was more stoic than anything. She didn't look angry, happy, excited.

  I made the Yew sign with my hands, and then reached out for a handshake. @sundial accepted, and that was that.

  "Where's @awesomedog?"

  "At the back entrance." She picked up her rifle where it had fallen, the result of my abrupt arrival. "Where you were supposed to be," she added.

  Ah, that made sense. I walked over to look down from the balcony. The zombie horde had made it to where I was, but once I had disappeared, it was like someone had turned off the switch. They were already walking, not running, and it was aimless meandering now that I wasn't around to draw their attention.

  "Is the building secure?" I asked.

  "No, it's not."

  I made grouchy grumpy noises. Not because I was hungry again. Because I didn't want to clear out a building full of overtaken.

  The balconies weren't that far apart. I made my way over to the side, across from the neighboring balcony. I could probably jump from one to the other without even needing my grappling hook. We could make our way along the exterior, then drop down to the back of the building.

  "Follow me," I said, and I leapt over.

  I caught the railing easily, and my feet landed between the bars, but I had too much momentum, so rather than absorb the iron bar against my hips, I flipped myself over the railing. I somersaulted, less than gracefully, knocking over two of the five potted plants the owner had carefully arranged on the platform.

  But I bounced right back up to my feet, turned, and smiled. "Easy," I said with the most glee I could muster. I wiped the dirt from my face and clothes and walked to the far side, waiting for her to follow.

  She was less than impressed, but who cares what she thinks? What really irked me was that she showed me up by standing on the railing itself, crouching like a little translucent tiger ready to pounce, and springing over. She cleared the other railing with plenty of room to spare, landing on her feet with a little bounce to absorb her weight.

  "Show off," I muttered. "Do you want to lead?"

  She smiled. Finally, a little emotion.

  She crossed her invisible arms. "No. You're doing fine."

  And on it went like that. Me spilling over railing after railing, cursing, cradling my sore wrist. @sundial launching herself seamlessly from ledge to ledge.

  By the time we got to the middle of the building, the overtaken below us had mostly scattered. I wondered what went on in their brains. Would they wander off to their homes, their places of employment, a park, a favorite restaurant?

  "It's safe to go down now at least," I said, peering over to the ground below us.

  She joined me at the lip of the balcony and hoisted one leg over, and then another, so that she stood facing my direction. I took her cue and did the same.

  This part made me nervous, to be honest. My wrist hurt like a motherfucker, and it had been long enough that I didn't have any pain medication running through my body. The bone marrow under my ARM was screaming at me like it was going to burst. My back, despite the treatment at Love Hurts, was sending me signals from all the lashes. I couldn't remember the last time I wasn't hurting somewhere in my body. I could even tell where I last hit my head on my old i35 ship. Dropping straight down and trying to catch myself seemed like a fool's errand.

  "Care for a ride?" I asked. I opened my ARM and pulled the grappling hook out manually, attaching it to the railing in front of me. I looked over at her and raised an eyebrow.

  I knew exactly what @auroraloon would have done. She would have punched me, flicked me off, insulted me, or simply pushed me off the edge to see if I could fly. I missed her.

  This Infiltrator, however, gave me a quick once-over. I could see the logic running through her brain, and then she smirked, eyebrows raised and lips pursed. "Why not?"

  @sundial latched onto me before I was ready for her weight, grabbing my shoulders and straddling my legs. Her feet landed briefly on the concrete. She bounced on the tips of her toes, wrapping her arms around my chest, practically forcing me to push off from the ledge.

  I let out a childish yelp as we dropped downward.