A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 50

Nick noticed her hopeful gaze and grinned, "Well, we aren't that far out. We should be there in a half a day even at this speed. Although if there had only been one truck we could have hooked up a bicycle to a small generator and stuck you on it. We would have been there days ago."

I grinned silently. Nick and the others had finally realized that Diane was a boundless fountain of energy. Diane narrowed her eyes at him and reached out to grab the branch of a shrub growing by the road. I recognized it as a wolf willow plant as she striped a handful of leaves from its branches.

I watched in anticipation, everyone in this group would have known how bad those leaves smelt. Nick turned to jump onto the horse that he had been leading before urging it into a run. Diane took off after him. I giggled as Nick's lazy horse didn't want to go any faster than a canter.

Nick had been ahead to start with and now he had a head start, but I doubted that this little detail would stop Diane. I noticed her eyes flickered with a faint blue glow before her run suddenly hit speeds that shouldn't be possible. I simply couldn't figure out how she could move her legs so fast.

She caught up to the cantering horse in less than ten seconds and jumped onto the back of his horse to shove the handful of the foul smelling leaves down the back of his shirt. She slapped his horse's rump as she dropped down. His bay mare had not been expecting someone to jump on her and bolted forward. With a yelp, he clutched at the saddle horn as his horse hit a gallop with short notice.

Diane slowed to a stop with a wide grin while watching him trying to regain control of his horse. She was actually breathing somewhat hard. I laughed in delight as Nick was once more served the revenge that he so deserved. A few others were laughing or chuckling as well. Dave and a few others looked shocked, probably at her speed.

Then again, I had never seen her run that fast before either. I knew she could move her hands faster from her fighting practice, but I hadn't been aware of the speeds she could hit. Considering that she still kept her eyes dim at night, she was probably still hiding the true extent of her abilities. I was beginning to wonder if she even had limits at this point.

The group caught up to Diane. Sandy grinned at her, "Just full of surprises aren't you? How long were you going to wait to tell us that you are a champion at the 100 meter dash?"

Diane shook her head in amusement, "Claiming to be a champion creates too many requests for competitions and challenges. I am too lazy for that much work. Besides, it comes in handy as a surprise."

Dave had recovered from his shock and found it entertaining, "I am beginning to see why Matthew explicitly told you to keep your antics under tight wraps on our trip."

Diane grinned at him unrepentantly, "Can you imagine how much mischief his group could get up to if we were left unattended for five minutes when they had my energy at their disposal?"

He shuddered lightly, "I will have to have a glass of wine with him to allow him to get those tales off of his chest."

I wondered if they would let me sit in on that discussion. I had helped with some idle mischief, but it sounded like there were some really good pranks in there somewhere. Diane laughed at his response and did a handful of cartwheels for the sheer joy of it.

The others were amused or shook their heads in disbelief at the way she was showing off her energy levels. Nick finally returned with a grin on his face, having regained control of his horse as well as having evicted the leaves from his clothing.

I really liked traveling with this group.

I rode Diane's horse as Diane jogged beside me. My smaller horse was having a hard time keeping up lately. I looked around, I knew exactly where we were. Diane and I had travelled along this road countless times while scouting in winter and while foraging. There were two more bends and the Fort would be in sight.

In one way I was glad to be back and get to see old friends, yet part of me was sad that the carefree life on the road had come to an end. I glanced at the sun, it had finally peeked through the clouds and the Traders were trying to make the last few kilometers before the sun either hid behind the clouds or dropped below the horizon.

We rounded one bend and Diane suddenly plucked Dave's binoculars from his saddle horn. I craned my head to look ahead to see what caught her attention. Others were also looking. Diane passed the binoculars back to Dave with a grin at me, "It's Ace! Come on, let's go meet him!"

She picked up speed and I nudged the horse to follow her. Her horse hadn't been ridden much and was a bit frisky, but I didn't let her pass Diane. I was surprised that Diane had seen Ace so far ahead. He was almost at the next bend as he sat on a rock watching us approach with a grin.

He seemed happy to see us and had obviously been waiting for us, "Glad to see you two made it back in one piece."

Diane grinned at him, "After all of your training? It would take more than forty villagers who were scared of a zombie shadow to stop us. How have you been holding up? Found a new training victim yet?"

He shook his head, "I was doing pretty well the first few days, but then your old sparring partners were bored without a challenge. Some of those Guard Group Leaders have chased me around the training circle a few too many times."

Diane laughed while I giggled at that thought. Come to think of it, Diane had always been the one outnumbered. Diane tilted her head, "So have things quieted down any? I must say that other than a rock or stick winged at me by Nick, nothing has been flying in my direction since I left."

He winced and his good mood disappeared. He glanced at the group approaching behind us. His voice was low, "It isn't good. Don't enter the base tonight. Don't go near the treehouses either. If possible, don't even get spotted."

I didn't understand, why couldn't they see us? Diane looked surprised, "Is it that bad?"

He nodded solemnly, "Yes, in fact it is best if the traders don't come inside the fence tonight either."

The last bend in the road was just behind him. If we went past it, we would see the Fort. What was going on? Why were none of us allowed inside? If they were scared of Diane, why were the Traders also being stopped? This didn't make any sense.

The group behind me caught up, Ace put a smile on his face, "Hey Dave, how is it going? Did this trip wear out Diane's welcome?"

Dave grinned, "It is going quite well, it will be even better if the sun continues to shine for a bit longer. We aren't giving up Diane anytime soon. She always has breakfast and coffee ready in the morning when we get up. She is also a match for Nick in the mischief department."

The vehicles slowed to a stop behind Dave to allow the reunion. Ace sighed, earning an odd look from many present, "I hate to ask this, but we are hoping that you wouldn't mind camping in the clearing over there tonight and keeping a low profile."

Dave frowned in concern, "Why?"

Ace shrugged, "I don't have leave to say. The Base Commander and some of his Commanders will be coming out later tonight to explain."

Why were they coming out? Why couldn't we go in to see them? Others were murmuring among themselves, worried at this news. They didn't recall this ever happening before either.

Dave slowly nodded, confusion still on his face, but accepting it in stride, "Of course. We almost spent this night on the road anyways."

He twisted in the saddle to look at those behind him, calling out in a louder voice, "Okay, change of plans. We are camping in that clearing back there tonight. Keep it quiet and keep out of sight. I don't know anything more than you do, but hopefully we will know more by morning."

People nodded all around. I was surprised that they accepted it so easily. Many had varying expressions of worry, confusion, curiosity or irritation. The trucks crept forward making a tight turn to head to a clearing a bit further back up the trail.

Dave gave Diane a look and she went off to ensure that the long grass wasn't hiding any obstacles or holes that the trucks might stumble into. I followed to help her look. Everyone else also fanned out to help the trucks turn around and head back to the clearing on the other side of the bend that we had already come around.

I glanced back after a while to see Ace and Dave talking quietly. I was worried. It wasn't like Ace to leave the fence often. For him to be out here sitting on a rock for who knows how long meant that things weren't good. I kept close to Diane.