Diane shoveled some snow out of the way, and I bent down to collect the plants below. Don had joined us since he had to keep moving. It had been four days since he had been bitten, and he still remained at the lab most of the time.
Don was talking with Diane as we worked, "I didn't see you running last night, how did you manage to sleep all night?"
"I went outside of the fence for my run."
Don's eyes got wide, they had already started to turn blue, "What?! Please tell me that you are joking!"
Don was looking at her like she was crazy. Diane chuckled and shook her head, "No, I am not joking."
I giggled at Don's flabbergasted expression. You would think that Diane told him that she was having a tea part with a Swift for that reaction. Don shook his head rapidly, "Well, there is no way I am going outside the fence to run around in the forest in the dark when there is who knows what lurking around out there."
Diane grinned in amusement, "I don't expect you to, at least for a month or so until your eyes start glowing enough to give you some night sight."
Don shook his head in disbelief as he started to shovel more snow. He inhaled in shock as he suddenly stood up and twisted towards Diane in alarm. I jumped and rapidly glanced around to see what was wrong. I realized that Diane was relaxed and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Don still looked freaked out, "What do you mean when my eyes start glowing?!"
Really? How had he not heard that when Ninette had been telling him? Diane found his delayed reaction quite hilarious, "In time your eyes will have the ability to glow, it has to do with the virus being shiny and some sort of glowing chemical."
He looked at Diane's eyes for a moment, "Well, yours aren't glowing..."
I giggled even as a grin spread across Diane's face. Her eyes suddenly started glowing brighter, Don took a step back in shock. Diane slowly blinked as the glow once more started to disappear. I had known that she could make her eyes glow at will, but apparently Don had not.
"It is more noticeable at night, when you try to see things in the dark, the heat rises to compensate."
Don rubbed his eyes and looked at Diane again as if wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him, "What exactly is this heat you keep speaking of? So far all I have felt is pain and aches."
Diane regarded him thoughtfully, "During the first month you will notice an increase in your speed, strength and stamina. Any injuries will heal faster. The restlessness will increase as well during this time. After that the changes slow down a lot.
"About two months later if you really push yourself you will notice a warm heat appear that will boost your speed and strength even more, this also causes your eyes to actually glow. It is different from the warning heat that you can probably recognize easily by now. When this heat rises, it will also cause your blood to change color. At least if you follow the same pattern as me. Slight changes will keep happening for about a year, but you really have to think to notice them."
Don looked dubious, "Okay... I will take your word for it."
Diane chuckled as we got back to work.
We brought supper to Ninette. Once more Don's friends gathered with us. From what they were saying, many in the fort still thought that Don might change, even though Ninette didn't see any evidence of the zombie virus anymore. It had been over a week already, so it looked like the zombie virus really was gone for good. At least they were more tolerant of Don than the Wainwright Fort had been with Diane, although there were far less people here.
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.
I had never seen her move so fast. Now I knew for certain that no one could ever outrun her. She was breathing hard as she came back to Ninette. Ninette's jaw was still hanging as she took a quick blood sample, "Three seconds! I have never seen someone run that fast before! I can't wait to get this under the microscope!"
She eagerly spun on her heels and started heading back to her lab to compare the samples with excitement. I watched her go in confusion. Did she even realize that we were watching her practically jog away? Diane and Don exchanged a look. Diane raised her eyebrow, "Feel like jogging for a bit before heading back?"
Don nodded and Diane put me on her shoulders as they started a slow jog towards the forest where Diane had packed down dozens of jogging trails through the snow.
I was eating my soup, only half of my attention was on the adults. They were once more talking gibberish. Ninette was jabbering away about the racing experiment. Diane's body was much more efficient at releasing, as well as using, the virus, so Ninette figured that Don's would eventually adapt as well.
Ninette was still excited about her newest discovery though. She had mixed Don's and Diane's blood and the Heartfire viruses hadn't attacked each other, or any of their other cells. Both viruses had attacked any other blood or skin sample added to the slide.
"Almost if they are somehow recognizing that both came from people with Heartfire virus!" Ninette looked at Don, "Feel like an experiment?"
Don suddenly looked uneasy, "What kind of experiment?"
Ninette grinned and held up some needle-like object, "I am just going to get Diane to prick her finger with this diabetes lance and put a drop of blood on the back of your hand. Here is a damp cloth to wipe it off quickly if it starts to cause discomfort. What do you say?"
Don nodded and relaxed, "Sounds easy enough."
Ninette passed Diane the lance. She closed her eyes and a faint look of concentration crossed her face for a few seconds. Diane opened up her brightly glowing eyes and lanced the tip of her finger. She reached over to gently dab the small drop of silver blood on her finger onto the back of Don's offered hand.
Diane's eyes rapidly faded back to their usual brightness. She never really bothered to hide their natural glow anymore, at least around us. I held my breath, that silver blood supposedly burned as bad as fire. Don looked at the tiny silver dot on his hand suspiciously "Well, it doesn't hurt. It could be water for all I can tell."
Ninette looked excited, "Really? Very interesting. No discomfort or tingling at all?"
Don shook his head and Ninette got up and came over to inspect his hand. I watched incredulously as she reached out and quickly touched the small bit of silver liquid. She swiftly wiped it off with a wince, "Ouch. That burns. Well, it looks like the Heartfire virus won't bother anyone else who also has the same virus."
Diane shook her head in disbelief, "I thought you figured out that my blood would burn you the last time you tried that."
Ninette just grinned at her. Diane glanced at the door and tilted her head for a second before grinning and calling out, "We are in the lab!"
I hadn't heard anything, but that really didn't surprise me. Ninette and Don looked confused. Either the Heartfire virus wasn't responsible for Diane's excellent hearing, or else Don's body hadn't adapted that far yet.
I could hear heavy footsteps now. Taver entered the doorway. Ninette jumped up in excitement, "Taver! Welcome back!"
Taver smiled at her as he appeared in the doorway, "Thank you. Long time no see. I am wondering if I could beg a guest room from you again."
Ninette smiled, "Of course. There are always rooms here for those who don't mind having zombies in the same building."
Taver didn't seem bothered by that detail, "Oh, here you go."
Ninette took the package and opened it, "The part I needed! Thank you so much! Let me know later what I owe you for it."
Ninette scampered off to a different table with a big dusty machine set up on it that had been pulled halfway apart.
Diane chuckled, "Well, that did it. We lost her for a while now. Feel like some tea Taver?"
He nodded and took an empty chair, "So what's new?"
I grinned, "Well, Don is still alive."
Taver turned to glance at him, "You look hale and healthy. What happened to you while I was gone?"
Don fidgeted, "I got bitten by a zombie on Christmas day." He was understandably nervous about having others learn about that, just in case someone reacted badly.
Taver spun his chair around to face him. He regarded him for a moment as if suspecting a joke and Don bent down to roll down his sock to show the scar. We were inside, so we were just wearing shoes. Taver let out a low whistle, "What happened? Did Ninette create a cure?"
Don pulled his sock back up. "I went to the bathroom along the trail and didn't check the area thoroughly. When the zombie showed up, I tried to climb a tree, but my pack and clothing got stuck on branches and it managed to grab my leg. Diane and the others came and killed it. Ninette and Diane decided to try to transfer the virus in her blood and it actually worked."
Taver looked confused, "I thought that the virus Diane had attacked other people's cells?"
Diane made a bit of face and replied in a somewhat dry tone, "We had a small breakthrough. He is also now carrying the Heartfire virus, and is starting to have many of the same symptoms that I do."
Taver raised an eyebrow. He knew about the restlessness from our previous trip. "How long until Ninette offers it to others?"
Diane shrugged, "We are waiting to see what happens to Don. For all we know, this virus is slowly killing us. So unless someone's life is on the line, we aren't going to try it again until we know more. It may protect us from most pathogens, but it also wiped out our original immune system."
I felt sad, I hoped that it was not true. I didn't want Diane to die. She was all I had at this point. Taver shook his head at that bit of news. He dug around in his pack, "This is for you. It was waiting at the last big town so I brought it back."
He handed Diane a fat envelope. She took it with a smile, "Oh, I got a reply already. Thanks Taver!"
My eyes lit up at that. A reply! Diane tucked it into her backpack as she started discussing Taver's last trip with him. I couldn't want to read it later tonight.