The Story Begins and Week 1

Five is terrified to say the least

She had barely gotten used to Mullins before she ended up at Abel

It doesn’t take long for her to figure out that she would prefer to be anything but the new Runner Five. She hasn’t known Sam for long, but she can tell he’s been through some stuff. She wishes her existence caused him less pain

She literally doesn’t know how to accept the old Runner Five’s bag. She definitely doesn’t even use it for a while

And being new makes her feel like the ultimate third wheel. Maxine is nice, but she’s close with Sam. Also Maxine is training her and it just feels weird.

And Jody is nice to her, but they’re certainly not close yet.

She feels very alone. Her first week at Abel is rough. And she does end up reading Rajit’s book, because what else is she going to do.

Week 2

Sam terrifies her

She knows enough about Abel to know that Sam means a lot to a lot of people. And she is angry with him for putting her, the new runner, in the position of protecting him. on her SECOND week of TRAINING.

She, of course, feels for him. But she also knows that Sam must hate being out with her and talking to her. The old Runner Five’s replacement. Especially when he goes rogue and runs off to find Alice’s wallet.

But she is just angry and upset with him.

And at herself for existing.

If she wasn’t avoiding Sam before this week, she certainly was now.

She keeps the ax Janine gives her in the old Runner Five’s bag with the dagger. She doesn’t want to use them, but knows she will have to someday.

Week 3

It’s clear that everyone is worried about Sam

Five tries to not think about it, and fails

It helps when people are out keeping her company during her trainings, although she doesn’t know how she feels about Francesca or Chris. But at least they’re a good distraction. For the most part.

She very much appreciates the notebook and pens she gets from Chris, because she is able to draw again.

Even if Chris made her train with a tied up zom for them.

The can of food and hospital pass also find a home in the bag she will need to use eventually.

When she hears that Sam may be joining her again next week, she tries to ignore the anxiety bubbling up inside of her

But she knows she’s making progress with her training. And she tries to allow herself to feel good about that for a moment

Week 4

She’s avoided Sam for a couple of weeks now, and now he’s just back and can’t even address her.

She hates how high school it feels. Like they went through a bad break up and are learning to be friends again or something. Even if their situation is nothing like that.

She’s annoyed and sad and tired.

Jody is a bundle of joy though and Five can’t be sad around her

When Sam joins her for her second work out, Five feels every single emotion for a brief moment before she just tunes everything out and tries to focus on her training

But Sam just keeps talking about Alice and Alice’s sister. And Five just feels everything again: annoyed, inadequate, frustrated, upset.

And then he has the audacity to laugh at her while she’s training.

She feels like this is how Martha Jones must’ve felt when traveling with the Tenth Doctor

She does not like Sam

She doesn’t want to like Sam

But when she hears about Alice’s sister she goes soft, just for a moment. She thinks of her sisters and how, if it were her, she would want them to have closure too.

And she already knows that she’s going to help Sam out. If only for that reason.

When she’s able to assist in saving Runner Six, it makes her feel the best she has felt at her time at Abel so far.

And when she gets the gift from Evan, she is incredibly touched.

Maybe she wouldn’t live up to the previous Runner Five, but maybe she would be a half-decent runner.

Week 5

She is very intimidated by Janine, but thinks it’s sweet how she also worries about Sam

Also, it was fun hearing Maxine’s reactions. Maybe they could be friends after all. 

As much as she decided that she doesn’t mind helping out for Alice’s sister, there was something about Sam’s involvement that just frustrated her

Sam brought back her overwhelming feeling of inadequacy whenever he was around during her trainings. As much as she tried to ignore those thoughts, they were especially prominent whenever he was present.

She never took compliments well, but she hates Sam’s compliments

She knows he doesn’t mean them

And she doesn’t want him to thank her for helping Alice

She definitely doesn’t want that

But she’s civil to him. Because everyone has been through enough.

Her third work out kept her spirits up, because Jody is an absolute delight.

She’s known Jody for 5 weeks but if anything were to happen to her she would kill everyone at Abel and then herself.

But it was super fun to get out to run for yarn with Jody. 

Week 6

She thinks Sam is too hard on Rajit

His novel wasn’t terrible

But then Rajit says something about Francesca being mind controlled and she thinks maybe, just maybe, Sam might have a point

But just because Rajit has a wild imagination doesn’t mean Sam gets to be rude

And she knows she needs to get used to Sam. He is the radio operator. He will be running most of her missions once she’s done with her training.

But it’s tough

And then there was Janine and Sara talking about her. Which definitely didn’t give her the warm and fuzzies.

The rec center pass also finds a home in the old Runner Five bag. She’s not ready for that yet.

And then Maggie just had to get out on a run before she was ready.

And Five has to save her again

Training was rough this week

Week 7

When Sam asks to join on her warm up, she tries to stay open-minded

She hopes that helping out with Alice’s sister will offer him some closure

Because as much as Sam frustrates her, he also grew on her

She understands why so many people worry and care about him, because he is a genuinely good and kind person

And it isn’t his fault that she’s insecure either. She knew that was a problem long before the zombie apocalypse lol.

She just hopes that she stops feeling weird around him soon. She’s tired.

Jody runs with her again on her next training and the small break from Sam helps

Five doesn’t know how to feel about the Francesca situation, but she’s just glad that no one thought that she was the one going going around and stealing stuff

She’s starting to feel like Abel could be home. And she’s not sure that she wants to feel happy about that.

When Evan comes out for a run with her, she’s nervous for a variety of reasons

And blushes when both Sam and Maxine compliment her progress

Five’s face has always gotten red while running, ever since she was young. She never liked it, but she doesn’t mind it that day. Evan doesn’t need to know how red her face would get from his compliments.

But she has never felt more ready to be a runner after her run with Evan

Week 8

She’s glad to hear that Sam found Alice’s sister and that they’ll both get the closure they need

She already knows that she’s going to help deliver Alice’s belongings to her sister before either Sam or Maxine can ask

And Five knows that it’s still partially because she has sisters

But at this point, she can’t even deny that it’s not partially for Sam’s benefit as well

She hopes that once her final training mission is over things can start to feel normal, and maybe she can start to actually be friends with Sam and Maxine

And maybe the others too

One step at a time

The trip to Bert Airfield is more rough than she would’ve like it to be

She didn’t like being cut off from comms that long, but she figured it may be like that sometimes

But she makes it and gets the package there on time

If Five was told before the apocalypse that she would be outrunning zoms and professionally running for her survival, she would’ve thought you were crazy