A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 98

Diane was breathing heavily and she started to sway from side to side slightly. Kerry was worried, "Are you sure we should keep going?"

Diane sounded completely out of breath, "Keep going. Not long."

It was only mere seconds later that Diane spoke again, "Stop."

Both nurses immediately removed the needles and taped cotton above the tiny pinprick. Diane leaned forward to put her head between her knees as she tried to catch her breath. I watched Diane in concern, my Heartfire once more rising as I saw her like this.

I looked over at Todd. He was blinking in confusion, I wondered if his Heartfire was reacting as well. Diane sighed heavily before slowly sitting back up. She was once more exhausted.

Kerry lined up ten vials that had glowing contents, "Is that going to be enough?"

Diane looked over and nodded tiredly, "Supposedly even just one drop is more than sufficient, but it goes a bit faster if more is injected. This also causes the pain to build and disappear faster, although it still takes about 24 hours to get the pain under control. Simply holding a cut to an open wound can't get that much blood into the bloodstream itself, but it is enough to transmit the virus."

Kerry nodded briskly as she put them in a cooler and went off to plug it into the one battery that had been set aside just for the cooler. Diane yawned. A bizarre quiet belching noise had me turning around in confusion. The rooster had finally tried to crow.

Diane and many others burst out laughing at the sound. I could barely sit up I was laughing so hard.

Todd fell down laughing as he gasped out, "It sounded like the rooster burped!"

It had sounded a lot like a quieter version of an old guy's drawn out belch, but coming from a bird it was hilarious. It was a bit louder than the hens usual clucking, but nothing like the loud trumpet he usually produced. That was too funny...

Diane shook her head, "I am so glad he did not do that while they were taking blood..."

I giggled and Diane yawned again. She shook her head as she tried to wake up. I passed her an apple, which she took with quiet thanks before getting up and slowly walking over to the campfire. I sat beside her as I kept an eye on her. It looked like she was about to fall asleep while sitting there.

Roland took a seat on the other side of Diane. He watched her nibble on the apple for a few seconds before chuckling as she yawned again, "Down for the count, huh?"

Diane grinned before another yawn interrupted it. Roland found it amusing, "Not used to seeing you yawn. Nice to see that you do have some limits though."

Diane smothered another yawn behind her hand, "That's it. I am off to bed. See you in the morning."

The sun was starting to set, so the others wouldn't be too overly far behind. I watched her slowly walk over to the tree and felt relieved once she made it into her hammock without any serious problem. I heard the rooster's ridiculous attempt at a crow and laughed along with everyone else.

We were easily amused. The poor bird was going to have self-esteem issues for the rest of its hopefully long life. It looks like he was now safe from the cooking pot, even if only for amusement's sake.

I looked across the fire at Todd. His eyes had a very faint glimmer, almost as if his eyes were reflecting a tiny bit of firelight. It was a long ways from a glow, but it was the first hint. "We better go for our run before it gets too much darker out. Not that running in the dark bothers me."

Todd stood up, "Good plan. Although you really aren't running in the dark if you can see everything."

I grinned at him, "True. But you still can't see in the dark yet."