The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 25

After several hours I grew bored of watching trees. I looked around at the other people in the truck box. Nicky was somehow sleeping. Ben was watching the scenery on his side go by. Nina was looking over her notes in her notepad. Daniel was gazing at the road ahead of us.

I spoke to Daniel, "Remind me to not leave Frank or those others unattended with our supplies. He was eyeing up the gas a bit too much for my liking."

His eyes flickered a bit redder as he nodded. Nina was back to scribbling in her notepad. Did she ever go anywhere without that thing? She was worse with it than a 2 year old with a security blanket. I gazed at her for a bit, there were only a handful of pages left in that small book. I was probably going to regret this... "What are you going to do when you fill that book up?"

She grinned at me, "I have ten more in my bag."

Why did I even bother asking? Nina flipped to a new page and poised her pen over the crisp white paper as she looked at me, "You seem more relaxed this morning than last night."

I had worried about that. Starting a conversation seemed to make Nina think that it was an open invitation for her to pelt me with questions. I sighed as I gave into the evitable. Hopefully she wouldn't have too many questions. "I took out most of my frustration on a tree last night and a long quiet night has more or less put my temper back on square one."

Her fingers fairly flew as she scribbled down far more words than what I had said. I couldn't see the book from the way she held it though. "You and Daniel seem to be traveling much better today. I was positive that it was going to come to a fight yesterday if that truck didn't run out of gas soon."

I turned my head slightly to face Daniel and raised my eyebrow, "How come she isn't pelting you with all of these questions?"

He smirked at me, "I have been traveling with Nina since the day I turned. She has asked me so many questions that she simply can't think of any more. With you here, she has a new person to talk to. She likes to hear various views and compare them."

Lovely. Just my luck to have crossed such an... inquisitive soul. Nina tapped her pen on her notepad with a grin, "You're evading the question..."

She reminded me of my old history teacher. There had never been any way to distract that old woman from something she was bent on doing, although Nina seemed like a much happier and easy-going person than that old boot. It didn't change the fact that I detested questions in general. I am never starting another conversation with this lady again unless it is urgent and possibly life threatening.

I shrugged, "I am not entirely sure. Previously we were constantly triggering each other's defensive instincts. Now we aren't."

In truth, it was mostly because Daniel had relaxed and was not eyeing me up as if he was going to attack me any second. The encounter with the Runner had probably also helped him recognize the unwritten zombie rules a bit more. As far as his deepest instincts were concerned, I was a zombie and since I wasn't challenging him, he didn't have to worry about my presence. Whether it was a conscious or subconscious side effect was beyond my knowledge.

Nina furrowed her eyebrows and scribbled for almost two solid minutes while filling up three pages. Daniel was watching what she was writing with a curious expression. If she was jotting down more questions, I could go crazy by the time we stopped for lunch. I would enjoy her silence in the meantime though.

If her questions bothered me, then they should get on Daniel's nerves as well, but they didn't seem to annoy him. I inquired, "How has she not driven you crazy with all of her questions yet?"

He shrugged, "Her questions usually don't bother me. I am not sure why they seem to rile you up."

Nicky grumbled, "She isn't much for any conversation. As she told us once, she is pretty antisocial. She still manages to put up with us fairly well, all things considered."