A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 66

It kind of felt like she had been talking in a different language despite the fact that I knew most of those words. I also had a feeling that she had dumbed down her comment so that we had half a chance of understanding it. All I got from it was that whatever she had been trying hadn't worked.

Clive smiled, "Not likely. They just arrived five minutes ago with Taver. This is Diane and the girl is Laura. They came all this way to volunteer to help you."

Ninette smiled as she stood up and stripped her gloves off, tossing them in the trash. She walked forward and held out her hand, "Nice to meet you, I am Ninette. I don't have many leads at the moment, so it is bound to be boring. Come on, I will give you a tour of the place."

Diane seemed somewhat shocked and now I knew why. I had placed her voice as well. Her energy, voice, tone, and mannerisms all matched those of Nancy and Nancine. They even looked similar. Nancy, Nancine, Ninette... How could there be more of them?! Surely there must be some sort of mistake.

Ninette gave us a tour. This place was much larger than I had thought. The upstairs was mostly empty bedrooms. Empty because many couldn't stand the thought of having zombies downstairs. The bottom floor had about fifty rooms. She seemed nice enough though. The fact that she still strongly reminded me of Nancy and Nancine actually had me more relaxed than I would have expected.

Ninette looked at us with bright eyes, "Why don't we go meet a few of our resident zombies?"

The average person would have taken one look at her enthusiastic expression and run for the hills with that sentence. Diane wasn't even fazed. "Sure." I grinned, as if a zombie was about to scare her.

Ninette led us off to one corridor before opening up a door and heading inside. We followed her. The zombie in this room had once been a rather pretty lady. Ninette walked forward, not bothered by the zombie's presence, "We call this lady here Chloe. She was one of our first guests. These cages are similar to cages at a vet's place, they can pin a zombie against the front bars to safely draw blood for testing."

She gave us a demonstration of how some of the toggles and levers worked in the cages to move the zombie easily. Diane spoke up, "Have you ever heard of anyone who was bitten by a zombie but survived?"

Ninette shook her head, pulling a chain on a pulley system, "Not past the seven day mark, although we had one almost make it eight days before finally turning."

Diane made a disappointed noise, "What would happen if we ever did find someone like that?"

I kept a careful eye on Diane. I was hiding it and pretending to be interested in what Ninette was showing us, but I was suddenly nervous about the topic Diane had chosen. This lady had zombies caged up in here!

She shrugged, "Depends on the person, most who are attacked don't get away easily. If they managed to survive both their injuries and the virus, then it would be a miracle. Provided they were willing to help, it might be possible to use the antibodies in their blood to create a vaccine or perhaps even a cure."

She gestured to the zombie, "Look at the zombies, they are healing, breathing, and still living. Something affected the person's mind and body and caused a rather noticeable change. It is quite odd that no further changes occur after they turn, this means that the changes must be quite stable to last this long."

Ninette never looked away from the zombie during the discussion. She started moving all of the toggles and levers back to their original positions. Diane gave me a hand signal and I stepped back towards the door a bit as she requested.

I could tell that Diane was nervous as she pulled off her archery guard. My eyes immediately went to her scar that stood out so prominently. It was the only scar that had never faded, all of her other ones had disappeared. As Ninette turned around, she held her wrist up at chest height so that the silvery scar was visible.

Diane looked cautious and ready to react instantly to any possible scenario that was running through her mind. Ninette saw it and froze, staring at the old injury with shocked wide eyes as she put the previous comments together with what she saw. After a bit she blinked and looked at Diane's face, she whispered, "You were bitten?"

Diane nodded slowly, "Yes, just over a year ago."

Ninette slowly got over her shock and reached into her pockets. I stood nervously by the door, but she only pulled out a pair of rubber gloves and put them on. She tentatively reached towards Diane's wrist questioningly, "May I?"

Diane nodded and Ninette gingerly touched her wrist as she carefully twisted it to examine every part of it.

She gently pressed her finger on the scar, "Does it hurt when I touch it?"

Diane shook her head, "No."

She began to get over her shock as excitement started to take hold. She lowered her hands and looked at Diane in anticipation, "Could I possibly get a blood sample? There is still enough sunlight to fire up the big dark field microscope."

Diane nodded slowly, possibly still wary of this stranger or possibly simply not looking forward to a needle considering she had been here less than an hour. Perhaps her fears of needles had been justified. "Okay, but can you tell me everything you see?"

She nodded rapidly, "Of course. I would be happy to share everything with you once I know I have my facts straight."

Ninette immediately left the room and I looked at Diane in concern. I was surprised that she had revealed her secret so swiftly. Diane nodded reassuringly at me as we started to follow Ninette. Ninette was already in a room and had blood taking supplies ready. Diane made a bit of a face at the needle in Ninette's hands, but went forward willingly enough.

Ninette had her sit in a chair while she put a rubber band around her arm and tapping around in Diane's elbow. I winced as the needle pierced Diane's skin. Diane took a deeper breath and had the studiously blank expression of someone who was doing something that they would much rather not do.

Ninette also noticed and chuckled lightly, "Not a fan of needles, huh?"

Diane made a face, "Was it that obvious?"

She grinned, "You aren't the first to hate needles and still volunteer for them."

Ninette paused for a second before reaching for handful of extra vials. My eyes widened, surely she didn't plan on filling all of them. Ninette started snapping the vials in and out of the needle before they were even quarter full.

I was confused, then I noticed that the color of Diane's blood in each of the vials was different. I walked closer to peer at the needle. Diane's blood was changing color. I had seen her half red and half silver blood a few times if something cut or scratched her, but now her blood was going more and more silver.

Ninette was just as fascinated by it as I was. Diane didn't look surprised. The blood flowing into the vials trickled to a stop. Ninette looked surprised that it had stopped, but removed the needle and held a cotton ball over where it had been, "Hold this here please."

Diane held it for her. Ninette arranged the ten vials in a small holder meant for them. They went from mostly red to mostly silver like a bizarre rainbow. The most silver one was about 75% silver. I knew that her blood could go pure silver though, but I had never seen it turn that color as of yet.

She stared at the vials, "Well, that was unexpected."

Diane shrugged, "It has been like that since shortly after I was bitten, if I get really worked up or get a large injury the blood can even turn pure silver."

She shook her head in amazement, "Well, I will have to test out each of these samples. I have never seen blood change color before."

Ninette went to the machines on the other side of the room. Diane remained sitting where she was and I climbed into her lap. After several hours, I finally learned the truth. If I had thought that math was boring, I now knew that science could be even worse.

It was so boring to just sit here. I curled up against Diane and fell asleep.