A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 24

Minutes ticked by and I began to wonder if the bus was even in the same province. I didn't doubt that she had heard it though. If she was sure that it was a bus, I was going to believe her. I craned my head as I finally heard the faint motorized sound.

A while later it finally appeared above the hill in the distance. It was a bus too. It sounded funny though, it kept sputtering and whining. Diane moved to the side of the road as it approached. It slowed down to a crawl as it went to pass us.

The driver opened up the door, "Want a lift back?"

"Sure." Diane easily jumped onto the moving bus. Diane put me down in the aisle and I saw brown and grey uniforms of both Raiders and Foragers on the bus. There were lots of bags and boxes in the back showing that they had been collecting greens.

We took an empty seat as Diane spoke to another Forager, "How is it going?"

The guy grinned at us, "Pretty good. There will be lots of dandelions in the salad tonight."

I smiled, nothing killed dandelions. Many plants turned to mush once they froze, but dandelions could actually grow a bit even under the snow. Diane chuckled, "What did you guys do to this poor bus? We could hear you coming miles away!"

I hoped that she was speaking for herself. I certainly hadn't heard it until it was much closer. They didn't seem to doubt us though. The bus still sounded terrible.

A Raider shook his head, "Most vehicles will start sounding like this pretty soon. The gas is getting old. Kind of like when you have old gas in your lawnmower and it doesn't want to work after sitting still all winter. The gas we are using is almost a year old now. Within another year it won't be good for anything other than fire starter."

What would they do if the vehicles stopped working? I looked at him, "Does that mean that the vehicles won't run for much longer? Is there a way to get new gas?"

"Yes, it won't be much longer before most vehicles won't start. We don't have much gas left either. We could get more from other gas stations once the snow melts, but it will all be old as well. Unless someone starts up one of the refineries to make more gas, there won't be any more. There is no refinery anywhere close to here either. The world would have to return to how it used to be in order to get those refineries back up and running."

I blinked slowly, so the vehicles wouldn't be running for much longer. There was no way to get more new gas either. This didn't sound good.

"What the..." I turned to look at the bus driver in worry. I saw that we were approaching the gate. There were lots of people milling around one building. Most of them had blue or grey uniforms. Guards and Raiders.

Diane frowned and glanced at the Raider Group Leader off to the side. He didn't look too happy either. Neither of them said anything though, so I remained silent. Everyone else was looking out the windshield in worry.

The bus went around to the loading docks. There was a group here who usually helped unload anyone who came. Everyone on the bus also helped to unload. I helped unload the smaller bags as I listened to the others.

"What is going on by the third building? Was there another murder?"

"Yeah, we don't know all the details yet, but it sounds like one of the women from the kitchen was killed when she ran back to her room for a recipe book. When she didn't come back, they went looking for her and found her just outside of her room."

"I have a few friends in the kitchen, do you know who it was?"

"No name has been mentioned yet since it happened less than an hour ago. Someone from Cloe's group is all we know."

"I think I will go see if Kim and Stacey are okay after we are done unloading. Joey, could you come with me? I don't want to go searching for their group alone."

I saw one of the Foragers nod and the conversation ceased. Everyone looked worried. I hadn't heard of a murder until this point, so I wasn't sure what they meant by another murder. We all worked together in the Fort to survive the zombies outside of the fence, why would someone try to kill someone else? The zombies were more than happy to kill everyone here given a chance. It didn't make any sense.

It didn't take long to unload and people scattered in various directions. Diane took me to the playground. I didn't mention the conversation I had overheard. I had a feeling that I wasn't supposed to have heard them.

I played with other kids on the monkey bars. It didn't slip past my attention that numerous Guards were on patrol. We eventually headed for a shower and supper. Guards were also stationed at almost every hallway junction.

Even if I hadn't overheard that conversation, I would have known that something wasn't right. I still didn't know exactly what was happening though.