A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 94

He looked surprised, "They are changing already?" He shook his head, "I must have missed the memo."

If he was expecting notes from the virus that now ran in his blood, he was in for a rude awakening. The Heartfire virus was like a slowly creeping fire that snuck up on you. Sometimes it flared to life with energy and sometimes it burnt you if you weren't too careful.

A few others glanced over, but apparently were unable to see the difference. Tarps had been hung over most of the campsite so we didn't get rained on. An opening was above the fire, but that was it. Todd finished washing the last root in his bucket.

Todd shook his head, "I wish this rain would lift and let the sun out for even a few hours. Four more hours and we would finally make it to Valiant Stand Pointe."

Valiant Stand Pointe was the nearby settlement and the rain and cloud had socked in so well that the solar panels were not getting any power. We had been in this campsite for three days enduring the slow drizzle coming out of the dark grey clouds.

We had run out of flour and most supplies, so meals were whatever we could collect or gather. Todd was getting rather tired of dandelions and clover. Diane glanced at him in amusement, "I doubt this is going to lift tomorrow, so unless you can convince Roland to let us pedal our way there, we probably are not going to be going anywhere."

Roland was sitting on a log under a nearby tarp with a long stick that he was slowly roasting out of boredom. I would have to make sure the next stick he grabbed was really wet so it would take him a long time to burn it. It was tough to find wood that wasn't soaked after all of this rain.

Roland raised his eyebrows at Diane's bantering tone, "If this doesn't lift by tomorrow morning, you may regret that suggestion. I will be ensuring that you spend the most time on that bicycle."

For a guy who supposedly refused to bet with Diane, he kept constantly underestimating her. Diane grinned at him before flicking a root peel at him, "Careful. You may not be able to keep up."

He huffed, "There is a reason that there are four bikes on each trailer. Even with all four in use, we would only move at a crawl. Those trailers are heavy and the bikes don't generate that much power."

Todd chuckled as he threw the parsnip tops in the fire in front of him, "Well, even if we had been creeping, we would have been there by now."

Solar powered vehicles were highly dependant on the sun, and weather like this meant these trucks weren't going anywhere if we relied on the solar panels. Roland shook his head, "In a couple of weeks, we should be back at Steel Crossing and our steam boiler should be ready."

I looked at Roland in curiosity. How was a kettle going to help him? We had been boiling water in pots just fine for drinking water. Diane's interest was also piqued, "Steam boiler?"

Roland stretched out his legs, "We paid a mechanic to put a steam boiler on some other trucks. We will be able to use solar as well as burning wood or coal to keep moving. They are bigger than these trucks and will be able to haul more. They will probably go too fast for the horses to keep up with, so we will either have to find a trailer to haul a couple of horses or give them up entirely. They should be ready by the time we get there."

Ohhh... Not a kettle, but a steam engine. Like the old trains used to have. I thought that the teacher at Wainwright Fort told me that they were hard to make and difficult to maintain... Perhaps the solar would be doing most of the work.

Roland grinned at Diane with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "But since you are so eager for a workout, I think we will try getting those bikes to produce enough power to get us at least to Valiant Stand Pointe. We are starting to attract too many zombies here anyways."

He was correct on that point. The traders were quite good a luring zombies away, but no matter how many we lured away, they kept returning. Diane had to lure some away during the night since there were so many that the fence was in danger of toppling over again.

It was a good thing that Diane and I were such light sleepers. We heard the fence rocking before it went down and Diane swiftly went to lure them away. She wouldn't let me help either, but no one else could see in the dark like we could.

Roland nodded in satisfaction with our new plan, "Well, enjoy your supper. We will be working for our keep tomorrow."

I grinned as I looked forward to moving all day again instead of sitting in a campsite. I was also looking forward to seeing Roland surprised by Diane's stamina. Those who wouldn't be pedaling would undoubtedly be working hard to keep so many zombies away while we were moving so slowly.

A woman came over to me, "Laura, I just finished a new hammock. Can you possibly show me how to put it in a tree so I won't fall out of it?"

I nodded, "Sure. Let's use that tree, it is bigger and has more branches."

Todd stuck out his tongue at us and I giggled. The first night Todd had been scared about turning into a zombie and had opted to try a hammock. In the morning, he had fallen out of it while trying to get up. It was a good thing that he had only been just far enough above the ground that a zombie would have been unable to reach him.

The woman followed me to the tree and I quickly climbed up as she followed more slowly behind me. She was apparently not that used to climbing trees.

"This is about as low as you want to hang your hammock. Higher is better."

The woman looked down, we were about twice as high as the average adult, "Why don't we go a bit higher up? I will just be careful when getting into this thing."

I nodded and scampered higher up, "See how these branches are big and how this one is missing? You can attach the ends further out and use the trunk like a ladder to get in easily. Always test the branch first, if it cracks or groans under your weight, don't use it."

She nodded and I watched from above as she set up her hammock. I gave her a few tips and it wasn't long before it was hung. She tested it out, carefully getting in and out of it a few times, "I think this will work. It will beat having someone beside me snoring all night."

I grinned at her, I wouldn't sleep on that trailer either with so many people. I showed her how to hang a small tarp in a tent-like fashion above her hammock so she wouldn't get wet at night.

The others were watching and listened closely while I had showed her how to get in and out of the hammock while in the trees. More people had been considering the hammocks lately, and a few bolder ones were already using a hammock. None cared to put theirs as high in the trees as Diane and I did though, they were scared of falling out.

I was looking forward to tomorrow. I preferred to be moving instead of stationary. Besides, it was getting harder to find greens for salads. We had cleared out the immediate area pretty thoroughly.