The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 42

Hours later, someone rang the supper bell below, but I ignored it. I didn't feel like being in a big room with two hundred humans. Besides, I wasn't hungry after that deer.

I heard footsteps outside my door before someone popped the twist lock on the door. I officially have a serious grudge against whoever invented the twist-to-lock door knob that can be so easily opened from the other side. I sighed, I was really going to have to install a lock that was more dependable. "Either come in or go away Nicky."

The door knob twisted and she skipped into the room as she closed the door behind her. I was still sitting on the bed with my back against the wall as my leg was stretched out in front of me. She sat on the foot of the bed while she grinned at me, "You won't believe it, they are going to let me drive the side by side as long as you're the passenger and I try to drive like Hank."

That was very surprising, I was amazed that they were going to let her drive anything other than a bicycle at this point. "How did you manage to pull that off?"

She grinned at me, "Daniel did it actually. I get to take you north to a place where there are lots of rabbits when you want to hunt. Nina doesn't want you walking that far on your leg for a while."

I regarded her, "That vehicle is loud enough to scare anything away. What are you going to do while I have to leave to hunt?" I didn't trust her to behave herself for even two minutes, let alone for the amount of time it would take me to sneak up on a rabbit in the daylight.

She chuckled, "Daniel is currently out there setting up three large live traps for rabbits. You won't even have to hunt. We are being asked to clean the rabbit and bring back the meat though."

"And just why are you up here when supper is being served downstairs?"

She made a face, "Whatever they made looks like porridge and smells like my gym socks. I know you have food in that bag of yours and I am hoping that you will share instead of subjecting me to food poisoning."

My instincts didn't like sharing, but my humanity could overrule those compulsions. Besides, Nicky might tell me about how things worked in a place like this if I bribed her. This was the longest I had ever been in a Stronghold after all. I reached over to snag my backpack and dug through it. There was no way I was sharing my can of pineapple. I lightly tossed her half a dozen trail bars, some jerky, and a thing of dried fruit. "Thanks!"

I watched her shove food in her mouth, "So, what do you think of this place?"

She swallowed her mouthful and frowned. I blinked at the sight of her frown, I thought she would have been ecstatic to have new people to torment. "It's... weird..."

I tilted my head, "How so?"

She took a slow bite of her trail bar and chewed in thought, "I have been in six Strongholds already and this one looks like the rest on the surface, but when you start looking, things just don't line up."

I waited silently. I had no basis for a comparison since I could count the total hours I had been in a Stronghold on both hands. She looked at me with a serious expression, "The day you decide to leave, take me with you."

That shocked me, "Why?"

She furrowed her eyebrows, "Something isn't right here. I have walked into rooms to have conversations suddenly change over a dozen times today. That is very odd, even if I am an untrusted newcomer. Some common questions seem to either confuse the locals or make them a bit defensive, which makes no sense."

I slowly blinked as I regarded Nicky. This was the very observant side of her and if she said that things weren't normal, then I was inclined to believe her. I sighed heavily, "It isn't as if I am here willingly. I won't be going anywhere for some time though. Daniel could outrun me previously, and as things sit currently, even you would be held back by the pace I could manage. I am equally sure that Daniel would drag me back here if I tried to leave."