A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 15

I giggled as I ran, but I wasn't fast enough. I barely glanced up in time to see Diane drop down in front of me from the top of playground equipment. How had she gotten up there so fast? She had been right behind me a moment ago!

I turned and changed direction, but I didn't manage more than a couple of steps before she scooped me up and spun me in a circle. I laughed in delight while she chuckled. She set me on the ground and I looked up at her with a grin. She was grinning back and her eyes were sparkling with mirth, "How about we head inside and warm up? Your clothes are soaked."

I nodded and we headed to our room so I could change into dry clothing. Diane stretched, "So, we gossiped with Nancy for a while, we helped milk the cows, and we got some exercise. Lunch should be ready in about an hour. What do you want to do until then?"

I got to skip classes today since Diane had the day off. What I really wanted to do was join Diane when she went Foraging, but I knew from Agatha that I needed a number of classes before I could go. My main obstacle was my lack of zombie training. She had spoken about tips on evading zombies before and I had carefully memorized them, but I knew that I needed more training.

"Can we do more zombie training? How much would I need to go out with the Foragers?"

Diane was silent as she thought. Her eyes seemed to shimmer for a moment before she blinked, "In order to go outside the fence with any Forager you would need three basic classes and three intermediate classes on zombie survival from an authorized trainer."

I looked at her in excitement, "Are you a trainer?!"

I was disappointed when she slowly shook her head no. "But I do know just the person to ask. We can find him at lunch as he will be in the mess hall."

I perked up again and bounced on my feet, "Thank you!"

She chuckled at my energy and excitement, "I'll point him out, but you will have to ask him. What do you want to do between now and then?"

I was nervous about approaching a zombie trainer, but I decided to concentrate on the question she was waiting for me to answer. What could I do to get myself closer to the point of being able to join the Foragers? I definitely had a lot to learn and I often saw Foragers studying various books. That's it! I looked up at her, "Can we go to the library?"

She nodded and led the way. I looked around the library, there were so many books and binders. I wasn't sure where to start. I saw a map on a table with various colored dots stuck on it. I was confused, I had never seen anyone mark up a map like that before, "Why are there stickers on the map?"

Diane took a few steps to the table and sifted through a small pile of papers while glancing at the map, "The stickers are showing a time lapse of when zombies started appearing in each country."

I climbed onto the chair to look at the map in surprise, "Where did the zombies come from?"

She pointed to a red dot with a black center, "It first showed up here. As you know, it can take days for someone bitten to turn into a zombie and many people fled the area and took the zombie virus with them. Within seven days, every country had zombies show up within their borders." She moved her fingers over the various colored stickers.

My curiosity was piqued, "How did they travel so far and so fast?"

She scattered the pile of papers in front of us and went over the zombie outbreak. I hadn't realized how many planes and roads there were out there. People had never encountered zombies at that point either, so they didn't even know as much as Diane had taught me.