A Different Virus: Heartfire

Chapter 13

I had a few déjà vu moments while walking around the Fort that evening and the next morning. The buildings and schedules were familiar, even after my month-long absence. I half-way expected to see Evan or Kailey appear – and the knowledge that it would never happen made my heart ache. Much to my relief, I had been given a small room to myself in a different building. I wasn't sure I could handle trying to stay in my original room.

Last night, I had briefly met my new Group Leader, Erica, and was introduced to the other eleven members. I found out that the twelfth one had broken her leg recently and decided to transfer to a less hazardous profession, which is why she was short one member. Ten of them had been in her original group from before the attack.

We were currently driving towards a nearby lake to go fishing. I glanced around the bus as I examined my new group. It was an all women group. I had never heard of an all women or guy group before. Most looked like they were between eighteen and twenty-three.

All but one had their green badges. The one with the white name tag was the previous replacement for a member they had lost during the zombie outbreak. I was now the twelfth member, although I already had my badge.

I listened to them talk amongst themselves as I tried to get a sense of the group dynamics. I blinked in surprise when one of them mentioned that we had the entire afternoon off once we got back and handed the smelly fish over to the Cooks.

We pulled up beside a small lake and got to work. There were already small boats pulled up on the sand, and someone had left the gill nets on the shore, so we just had to pull them out into deeper water. With four people in each boat, our group split up, although the others didn't go that far away.

I rowed the boat as the other three slowly released the net into the water. The floats on top of the net began to form a long line behind us. The other women talked as we worked, although I remained silent as I tried to learn more about my new group.

It was strange. This was the oddest Forager group I had ever worked with. I was used to casual chatter while working, and my old group had been quite good at keeping an eye on our surroundings. But I was somewhat at a loss of how to fit into this group, and truth be told, after listening to them on the drive up, I wasn't sure I wanted to join into their conversations.

This group reminded me more of a gaggle of college girls heading out to a bachelorette party. To be honest, Erica confused me. It was as if she had taken the coffee my perky Nurse had and had received an injection to make her scatterbrained at the same time. All the time. The rest of the girls were not any better.

It was a good thing that we were on boats since the girls barely paid any attention to their surroundings. They were mostly chattering amongst themselves, about which guys in the Fort they were the most interested in, of all things. Apparently, it was a frequently recurring discussion. I maintained a neutral expression despite my growing confusion.

"Lilly, did you see Jordan weightlifting yesterday?! Oh my goodness, some of those weights must have weighed a ton! You should really ask him to go on a date."

"But did you see Kyle's arms? He was bench-pressing weights, and I bet that thing weighed two hundred-pounds!"

I finally tuned out their conversation for my sanity's sake. It was one thing to be impressed or to admire someone's strength, but the way they were swooning over them repelled me. Such talk did not interest me at all. I had seen Kyle earlier today, with his wife still at his side. I had no clue what was going on in their heads. I would expect such talk from teenagers in high school, not Foragers in a zombie apocalypse.

Erica interrupted them, indicating that it was time to pull the nets to shore. The girls were not strong enough to haul the heavy nets into the boats, so we had to return to shore to get the fish out.