A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 86

She slapped the tree's bark as she turned back with a grin, "So you were saying?"

I spun in a circle and giggled, "I was saying that this is a good place to stop for lunch!"

Her teeth flashed in a wide smile as she laughed and pulled off her backpack to dig out the food. After a quick lunch of flatbread and smoked fish we continued down the road. This one should lead to the main highway we would have to follow for most of our journey.

We found a large highway, but we wouldn't know for sure if it was the right one until we found a sign, if there were any even left standing. I often went into the ditch to look at some flower or admire a butterfly. Diane kept an eye on me, but didn't venture off of the shoulder of the road as we continued west.

Closer to the evening I peered ahead, "Is that a sign up ahead?"

Diane nodded, "Yes, it is."

That was the first sign I had ever seen that hadn't been cut down. The big green highway sign stood out, even in the distance. I started running down the road, eager to see what it said. Diane matched her pace to mine.

I came to a stop in front of the sign. I read the names of the towns ahead. And read them again. I burst out laughing, I couldn't help it. The names of the towns were just too funny. Carrot Creek, Entrance, Foothills, Shining Bank, Mountain Park, Blue River...

I glanced back to see Diane scratching her head with a disbelieving expression on her face. That was too much for me. I dropped to ground and rolled around while laughing. It was just too hilarious. Those were actually the names of towns from before the Collapse.

Diane shook her head, "Well, I am not sure what they were smoking when they named those towns, but you are certainly not getting any of it."

That set me off again. Diane joined in my laughter, accepting the hilarity of it. At this point, there was no way I could possibly stand. I even had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. I wasn't sure I had ever laughed this hard in my life.

Diane eventually pulled me to my feet once I caught my breath. We grinned at each other before we continued jogging down the road, although I kept snickering at the memory of the sign.

  

   I woke as Diane descended from the tree. Heartfire hearing meant that I heard almost everything nearby. I stretched in my hammock. Now that I was awake, I was full of energy. There was no warning heat yet, but I preferred to prevent it from ever appearing. I had no desire to go through the pain I had seen Diane go through twice.

I glanced at the tiny keychain clock that swung on my backpack. It was 4am, about our usual time to wake up on the road. Our usual routine was to wake up at 4am, start the fire and go for a good run. Diane would leave me at the campsite while she went for a hard run at speeds I still couldn't hit.

Come nighttime, we usually ran from 9 until 10 before going to bed. Well, I went to bed while Diane ran for longer. Neither of us needed a midnight run with this schedule, which was nice. It suited both of us, and I really enjoyed our carefree travels. Even dodging the occasional zombie was easy since we could jog most of the day.

We came back from our run and had a nice breakfast of greens and fish. Once we had cleaned the dishes, I put out the fire and stirred it up to ensure it was properly out. We resumed our jog along the highway. We ran on the soft grass on the shoulder of the highway since it was easier on our legs than running on the cement.

I pointed to a pile of boulders by the treeline, "How about we have lunch over there?"

Diane glanced over and altered her path to head towards the rocks, "It looks like a good spot. There is enough rock to ensure that our fire doesn't get loose."