A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 73

The lady blushed at the reprimand, "Sorry, I didn't quite mean it like that. I was just curious as to what the outcome might be."

Ninette gazed at her and deemed her apology as sincere and nodded, "Try rewording such suggestions to make them theoretical in the future. I have a dozen zombies in the lab as it is, I don't need to add a body of a volunteer to my collection."

Diane started chuckling, "Leave it to Ninette to consider a bunch of caged zombies as a collection..."

I giggled as the others broke out in laughter. It was true though, Ninette had a dozen zombies still caged up in the lab.

We decided to stop in a large clearing for lunch before going up to the highway. It didn't take Diane long to start a fire. I collected some more wood for it from nearby. The guys went in one direction to use the washroom, while the women went in the other direction. I had gone earlier so I remained by the fire with Diane and Ninette.

I looked around, if I was correct, we were almost at the highway. Diane put a small pot of water on the fire to boil for tea, "How far do we plan to go today?"

She glanced at the trail we were going to climbing shortly, "Not too far, perhaps to that nice view point along-"

A terrified scream interrupted Ninette. Diane spun on her heels to grab her glaive as she literally blurred in her haste to help whoever was in trouble. I had barely taken a breath before she had disappeared into the trees. My training had my body moving before my head was conscious of my actions.

I was already in the branches of the spruce tree before I realized that I was even moving. I kept climbing. I could faintly hear others shouting, apparently Don was the guy who had originally screamed.

This forest was dense spruce and pine trees, so I couldn't see anything. Apparently Ninette couldn't see me either. "Laura? Where are you?" She sounded pretty worried.

I was supposed to stay silent in most situations like these, but at this rate she was going to attract even more attention. I softly called down, "I am up here."

She sounded shocked, "Why are you up there?"

"Because Diane left and I am supposed to climb up when she leaves."

Ninette started muttering and pacing as a few people regrouped by the campfire. Diane, Don, and a few others were still absent.

A while later we heard crashing through the bush. I peered out of the branches and saw Diane carrying Don in a piggy back fashion. His one ankle was bandaged up and someone else carried his snowboot. Another woman carried Diane's glaive for her, and set the end of it into the fire. She must be sterilizing it, and the only reason she would need fire to sterilize it would be because zombie blood got on it.

Diane glanced around as she entered the clearing. She spotted me almost instantly and nodded. I started climbing down out of the tree. Diane helped Don to sit on the large rock as Ninette approached, "What happened?"

Don replied with his voice cracking, "I was just bitten by a zombie."

I blinked at the broken sound of his voice. I also made a mental note to keep Diane between him and me. He could turn in as little as 15 minutes, although several days was a much more common timeframe with minor injuries. Diane was also keeping a close eye on him, she was the only one who could touch him without fear of infection.

Don looked at Ninette in desperation, "Please tell me you have something I can try! Anything!"

Ninette put on a pair of rubber gloves, "Relax, let me have a look. Are you sure it broke skin?"