A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 75

Ninette picked up a bun, "I ran a few tests, and interestingly enough, Don only has about 8% of the amount of virus in the average blood sample that Diane has. So the Heartfire virus is still getting established, but it has slowed down considerably."

Diane tilted her head, "Ninette, could you take a look and see if there any difference between the samples when I first came and now? I am kind of curious if the virus level in my blood is stable or if it has grown."

Ninette grinned at me, "I am ahead of you on that one. The answer is no, your levels are exactly the same now as they were the first day you arrived. I checked for any other changes I could see and I don't see any. As far as I can tell, the virus in your blood is completely established and stable. Your body might strengthen and gain speed over time due to all of the exercise you get, but that is more due to your lifestyle than to the virus. Much like an athlete."

I hadn't noticed any changes since meeting Diane, although she had already been hiding her abilities so I probably wouldn't have noticed anything. Ninette waved her butterknife at Don and Diane, "I am stealing you two this afternoon for some simple racing tests. I am hoping we can see if Don can feel this heat that Diane keeps talking about."

They both nodded. I grinned, Don didn't have a chance of outrunning Diane. He could barely jog for half an hour without needing to slow to a walk for a breather.

     

I was laughing too hard to sit up straight, and I halfway laid on the rock trying to catch my breath. Diane's bright blue eyes glanced at me as she chased after a terrified Don with an evil laugh. The first two attempts at their 100 meter dash hadn't produced the results Ninette was after, so Diane had suggested they try one more time.

Diane was holding a jar with a spider in it. Don was terrified of spiders. Diane wasn't going as fast as she could, but the unexpected new incentive had Don hitting new speeds. They passed by Ninette at the finish line as she cheered, "Seven seconds! Seven seconds! Hey! Come back here!"

Diane turned back as she burst out laughing. Don kept going for another 100 meters before looking with wide eyes. Diane called, "It was dead! Come back." She turned the jar upside down and let the spider drop to the snow by her feet.

They both went to Ninette so she could get another blood sample. Ninette spoke up, "Hey, look at this!" We looked at her to see that the vial collecting Don's blood that was more than half blue. It looked kind of odd to see both red and blue at the same time. Don stared at it in amazement.

For some odd reason, every lab sample that had contracted the Heartfire virus had turned a different color. It looks like Don's was a sky blue. I personally thought that the bright blue would be a lot harder to hide than Diane's silver color.

Diane looked at Don, "You should be feeling something now..."

He looked like he was thinking hard, "Yes... I did feel something, although now I am just feeling my muscles protesting. That is so weird."

Diane chuckled and Ninette looked fascinated as she picked up her stop watch again, "Well, he broke an Olympic record with that last attempt. How about we see how fast you can do it?"

Diane sighed, but nodded slowly. I felt sorry for her, I knew that her muscles would hurt a bit after this. Diane jogged back to the start line and took a poised stance. Her eyes started glowing strongly enough for me to see them clearly in the daylight, even from where I sat.

Ninette held up her watch, "Ready, set, Go!"

Diane... blurred... There was no other word for it.