A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 77

The snow was coming down quite heavily now. Diane's voice rang out from behind me, "We are almost there. Keep going."

The group of people in front of me picked up their pace a bit with that news. Ninette didn't need Diane or Don for most of the lab work, so we had been making ourselves useful. We had been helping people find edible greens outside the fence.

Don tagged along since it meant he was constantly on the move. He was somewhere in the lead, guiding us back to the palisade in the blinding snow. The storm had come up quickly and we had started heading back, but it had caught us just before we reached the walls.

We had discovered that the Heartfire virus apparently gave people a perfect sense of direction. Don may not be able to see far, but he knew the exact direction to go. Diane took up the rear to prevent someone from falling behind. I was just in front of her.

The wind was whipping and the snow made it nearly impossible to see things more than a few feet away. Diane seemed on edge, constantly looking around. I slowed down a bit to walk beside her. "Is something wrong?" I spoke at a normal volume, I wasn't sure she would hear a whisper with this wind.

Diane's faintly glowing eyes surprised me. Normally she took care to avoid letting them glow around others. "The snow is thick, and the wind is covering up every sound with its howling. It feels very odd for me to not know what was in the immediate vicinity. I feel almost blind and deaf. I do not like this feeling, and I will be glad once we get this group inside the fence where no zombie can sneak up on us unseen."

I felt bad for her. There were about 25 people ahead of us somewhere, but I could only see glimpses of a few that were just ahead of us. The snow was really coming down, and the wind wasn't letting it settle. Diane would feel responsible for those she was with, it was just her nature.

I sighed in relief as I saw the wooden walls suddenly loom up in the snow. People scattered to head towards different destinations. Don waited for us and we all walked back to the lab together.

I was glad that Diane had given me a protective cloak to go over my jacket. The cloak was caked with thick snow, but my jacket was still dry and warm. I was glad for the scarf wrapped around my neck, it kept my neck warm, although my cheeks were cold.

We hung our cloaks by a wood stove to drip into a tray and dry out.

Ninette glanced up as we came in. She seemed sad for some reason. Don tilted his head, "Is something wrong?"

Ninette made a face, "Remember that zombie we were testing on?"

Don nodded, "The one we injected the Heartfire virus into two weeks ago?"

Ninette had injected some of the glowing blood from Diane into a zombie to see if it would reverse the effects. It had started acting odd the last week.

Ninette sighed as she nodded, "Yes. Well, as far as I can tell, without entering the cage, it is dead."

What? Zombies were nearly impossible to kill, how had it died? Don looked confused, "What happened?"

Ninette shrugged, "That is what I need blood and skin samples for, but when I get that close to it, I want Diane present in case it isn't really dead."

Diane nodded and exited the room with Ninette. Don and I followed.

It really was dead. It may have just died today, but it already stunk badly. Ninette carefully obtained her samples before passing Diane and Don protective plastic gear and a body bag, "Please put him in the bag. The rate of decomposition is through the roof and that bag will contain anything until we can burn it."