I climbed out of the tree quietly. A dozen hammocks now hung in the trees as people decided to try another way of sleeping that wasn't so crowded. Diane was already on the ground and adding wood to the fire. No one else was up, but at this early hour, it didn't surprise me.
The newcomers were now fairly relaxed around us. Our glowing eyes and pre-bedtime runs didn't overly bother them anymore. I followed Diane out of the gate.
"Diane, look at the mushrooms." I had gone exploring nearby seeing if I could find a small clearing with more greens, but had stumbled across a squirrel's stash of dried mushrooms in a big patch of brambles
Diane rounded the corner and nodded, "Good find. Those will go well in the soup."
I pulled out my bucket and carefully reaching into the masses of thorns. Diane was trying to get the deeper ones since the long sleeves of her leather jacket protected her somewhat. Several light scratches adorned my arms before too long.
I reached for another big mushroom and began to pull it out. It snagged on a thorn, and a bent over branch lashed up to hit my arm. I winced at the flash of pain as several thorns went deep into my skin. The heat in my blood rose and shifted.
I managed to free my arm and examine the damage. Blood was starting to slowly rise out of the scratches. I blinked as I realized that my blood was changing color. It was no longer just red, but going pink instead. A magenta pink that had a faint lighter pink shimmer to it. There was still some red, but it was mostly pink.
I was excited, "Diane, look!"
Diane came around the bush to look at my arm, "Huh, I guess we know what color the virus turned your blood. At least it doesn't stand out like mine does."
I grinned up at her. The Heartfire had progressed enough that it changed color if I was injured. Don's had been blue and Diane's was silver. No one was sure why the colors were different, although Ninette had thought it might be due to a person's genes.
"It looks pretty. At least it isn't an ugly color. Too bad it wasn't purple though."
Diane chuckled as she went back to trying to extract more mushrooms. My eyes looked at the pink blood again. There was a downside of it turning color though, that this meant that it would burn anyone else who touched it. Well, except for Diane, because she also had the Heartfire virus. The bleeding had almost stopped already, and I knew that the deep scratch would heal to a pink mark within hours.
We finished raiding the squirrel's stash and I gave my mushrooms to Diane to carry. We found a tiny creek and followed it in hopes of finding more edibles. Movement caught my attention and I went over to investigate the big frog. It was actually a toad the size of a big baseball.
I had never seen so many warts on a toad before, it was rather ugly. I knew from Diane that the toad's warts were just part of its skin and not contagious. I grinned as an idea came to me. I pulled out my pail and carefully put the fat toad inside of it.
Diane glanced at my latest find, but didn't comment as we kept collecting greens for breakfast. We returned to the camp and I helped Diane prepare the soup. Once it was cooking, I turned my attention to the amphibian in my pail.
I silently climbed up the ladder of the one trailer. People were packed pretty tightly up here and it took my Heartfire abilities to get to the end of the trailer without stepping on someone. I carefully placed the toad in a prime position and ensured that it wouldn't go anywhere.
I swiftly got off the trailer with no one the wiser. No one had even woken up. Diane glanced at me with a slight grin and I grinned back at her as I sat by the fire. All I had to do now was wait...
"Ahhh! What the-" Todd's startled and sleepy voice was loud enough that other people started to stir as they woke up.
I started giggling uncontrollably and ended up rolling off the stump I had been sitting on. Todd's tousled head popped over the side of the trailer as he stared at me in disbelief, "You are aware that the girl is supposed to kiss the frog to get a prince, right?"
I rolled around and giggled again, "I made sure it was a girl first!"
Todd looked dumbfounded and glanced back down at something beside him. He looked back up, "I am not even sure I want to know how you found that out."
I managed to stop giggling and sat up as I grinned at his expression, "Only the girls get that big with that species."
He glanced down and picked up the very large, fat, and wart covered toad and examined it, "I will take your word for it, but I am not going to kiss it."
I fell back down as I dissolved into a fit of giggles again. He was never going to be a prince at this rate. After Todd's rude awakening, others had also woken and were coming down for breakfast. Todd brought the toad down, much to the amusement of the others watching.
"Here is your friend back."
I held up the bucket and Todd the toad back inside of it. It didn't take me long to exit the fence and go to the river that was just on the other side of the some bushes. I carefully put the toad in the damp grass under a bush and washed my pail in the cold water before heading back to the camp.
I sat by Diane who was dicing up more roots for trail snacks later on. Todd came over and grabbed my bucket, "I'll grab some more water and help scrub these pots. Only seems fair since you always cook for us in the morning."
Diane nodded, "Thank you."
I piped up, "You might want to rinse the bucket first, just in case the toad peed in there."
Todd made a face and shook his head as he headed outside of the fence. Of course, I had already washed the bucket out well. I just didn't tell him that. I started bagging up the diced up roots while Diane cut more up.
A worried voice called out, "Todd! What's wrong?"
I looked up in worry, but didn't see Todd through the number of people who were already getting up to investigate. Sometimes being short had its drawbacks. Diane glanced over in worry before carefully putting the blade away and getting up. I followed her.
Everyone was just outside of the fence. I could hear people whispering here and there, but the overlapping murmurs were too low for me to make out. Diane walked around the semicircle of people until we could see Todd.
He had tears running down his face as he sat on a low rock. He held his hand over a spot on his arm as blood dripped slowly past his fingers. I blinked in shock, how had he gotten hurt with a bucket? Had he fallen and landed on a sharp stick? Why was no one else helping him wrap it up?
Diane frowned and started walking towards him. I quickly followed her, concerned for Todd. He glanced up and shook his head, "Stop. I've been bitten by a zombie."
Diane came to a stop and I almost bumped into her. I looked towards the nearby creek, I could see parts of it through the buffalo bushes that grew along its banks. I didn't see or hear a zombie though...
"I managed to push it into the creek and it was going downstream when I got up on top of the bank. Took a big chunk of my arm with it though."
Diane shrugged off her pack and dug out a large handful of gauze padding. She passed it to Todd who took it, taking care to not touch her skin just in case it transmitted the virus. Everyone had gathered in a loose and mostly silent semi-circle around the rock.
Everyone looked sad and most had tears in their eyes. Despite 70 people being present in a small meadow, it was silent except for the odd sob or sniffle. Todd looked devastated. I knew how he felt, I had been bitten once too and thought my life was over. But I had been given a second chance...
I looked up silently at Diane. Her eyes were already closed in sympathy. Her voice was just a loud whisper, but everyone could hear it clearly in the silence, "There might be a way."
Relief flooded me. She was willing to try to save Todd even if it meant opening up hidden secrets. All eyes stared at her in shock, surprise, or doubt. Todd looked desperate, "Might be a way? How?"
Diane slowly slid her archery guard off and held up her wrist to brandish her shiny scar. A few gasps echoed through the crowd. Diane spoke quietly, "I have a different virus that makes me immune to the zombie virus. It can be spread in certain circumstances through extended blood contact, but it has its own side effects."
She lowered her arm, but didn't put her archery guard back on.
Todd shook his head, as if trying to clear it and make sense of this news, "What kind of side effects?"
"You probably noticed most of them, the glowing eyes and the inability to sit still. If you decide to go through with this, you will have the same problems within weeks. It is also extremely painful the first three days."
The intense pain had mostly disappeared within the day, although the aches lasted for days, so she was exaggerating a bit. Todd looked hopeful, "But I will live? I won't turn into a zombie?"
Diane nodded, "So far every case I have seen survived."
He looked surprised, "How many have you seen?"
Diane deep breath, reluctant to tell this information, "Two real life emergencies like yours, a dozen or so in a lab using blood tests."
He sat straighter, still holding the cloth over the wound, "What do I have to do?"
Diane looked at him seriously, "It will be very painful and there is no going back, you do realize this right?"
He snorted, "It isn't as if I have much choice, do I?"
He did kind of have a point there. His other choice was to turn into a zombie, which was a terrible fate. I wanted to see Todd live so I could keep teasing him. With Heartfire, I would even have an excuse to get him to play tag with me...
Diane pulled out her belt knife and sat on the large rock where she had easy access to his arm. Todd eyed up the knife uneasily, but didn't move away.
"Give me a moment to get ready. Once I cut my hand, I want you to pull the bandage away from the bite. I will cover the wound with my hand for a while and that will allow the Heartfire virus to get into the bite."
Diane's voice was distracted, and I suspected that she was trying to make her blood glow. I watched her closely. She said her desire to help had caused the change. I couldn't even control the heat yet, but I tried to make my blood feel cold. It didn't work.
Diane's muscles twitched a bit before goosebumps started to appear.
"Last chance to back out."
Todd was determined, "I am not ready to die just yet." In another situation, it may have been quite funny. Perhaps in a year or so it might be funny, not now though.
Diane opened up her eyes and Todd looked startled, "Uh, Diane, your eyes are changing color..."
Diane didn't reply as she sliced her knife across the palm of her hand. Glowing silver blood welled up and shimmered in the light with faint rainbow colors. Todd's eyes widened as he saw it, and I heard others murmuring uneasily across from us.
Todd looked a bit uneasy, but didn't hesitate to remove the cloth from the wound. Diane pressed her bleeding hand over a golf ball sized wound. She closed her eyes and everyone seemed to hold their breath as they waited.
Diane's breathing swiftly got heavy as if she was at the end of a marathon. Her head wavered a bit before she pulled her hand back and wrapped a strip of cloth around her injury. It had taken about 30 seconds. The goosebumps faded, but she looked tired and somewhat disoriented. Diane still wasted no time in bandaging Todd's injury up as well. He winced, but didn't complain.
I felt oddly protective of Diane, I knew how exhausted she was when she did this. My own Heartfire stirred on its own accord and raised up a bit. I kept an eye on the traders and particularly the newcomers in case they thought she might be infected.
I had accidentally overheard stories of people killing other people who were infected before they turned. I wasn't sure what I would do if they did try anything, but at the very least I could make them pause if I got between them and Diane. No one was holding their weapons like they were about to use them, so that was good.
Todd spoke, "Your blood felt like ice, is that normal?"
Diane finished securing the end of his bandage, "Yes, when the virus is contagious the blood feels cold and I had goosebumps while it lasted."
Todd looked at me as if thinking before glancing between Diane and me, "Laura has this virus too, doesn't she?"
I shifted uneasily, although I knew that someone would have made the connection one day. Diane nodded warily, "Yes, the glowing eyes and boundless energy are a hallmark of the Heartfire virus."
Todd took a deep breath, it was obviously too much information at one time for him, "How long before the pain starts?"
Diane glanced at her keychain clock, "I give it a couple of hours before the muscle aches start."
Roland slowly nodded, "Let's hope it works. Todd, I want you riding on that last trailer just in case you do turn."
Todd nodded, relieved he wasn't being left behind 'just in case', "Sure."
Diane looked at Roland, "I can ride on the trailer as well and keep an eye on him."
Roland nodded, "Thanks." He turned to look at everyone else, "All right! Let's get packed up and on the road ASAP."
Diane walked with Todd to the small solar panel trailer that would be last in the group. She was trying to hide her exhaustion, but I could see it. I wasn't sure why, but seeing her like this worried me and made the heat in my blood shift. Diane climbed on the small trailer and leaned back against one of the posts that held the solar panels. Todd took a seat on the trailer as well.
I went to help pack up, although there wasn't much left. We had almost been packed up when Todd had returned. It didn't take long to take the fence down. They had lots of practice. Within ten minutes, we were moving.
Most people gave Todd a wide berth in case he was contagious, although Amber, Roland, Kerry, and the sewing lady often dropped back to check on us. Diane got a few odd looks too, although I wasn't sure if it was due to her revealed scar or the fact that she was actually riding instead of jogging.
The newcomers had never seen her ride yet, but now they were really spooked and avoided all three of us. With Diane's advice, Todd got on one of the bicycles beside him and started slowly pedalling. If nothing else, it would help charge the batteries as well. I had been told that if all bikes were in use, it generated enough power to inch the trucks along even if the solar panels weren't generating any power.
Roland and the nurse, Kerry, were riding beside the trailer most of the morning. A group that lived on the road like this forged strong bonds of friendship that were practically blood deep, and they were worried about Todd. All of them were.
Todd slowly pedalled the bike as he turned to Diane, "Can you tell me more about this virus?"
Diane blinked slowly before responding in a slow thoughtful voice, "At first I was not even aware that it was a virus. I had been bitten and you can imagine how confused I was when I didn't turn. After some time, I left Wainwright Fort and went to the big medical research lab in Bethany Fort. The scientist in charge there found the virus in a blood sample.
"Under most circumstances it is not contagious and actually causes others pain if my blood touches them. We discovered how to transmit it by accident when someone we were with got bitten by a zombie. In the tests that Ninette ran, it showed that within the first 24 hours the zombie virus is completely destroyed as the Heartfire virus takes over if both are introduced close to the same time."
Roland and Kerry were listening closely but didn't interrupt as Diane continued. I could see a dozen others listening as well.
"The first 24 hours are also the worst for pain. The only cure for the pain is exercise, but it will be at least a day before the actual pain finally disappears, although the muscle aches will last for several days. Over several weeks, the restlessness will slowly grow and you will not be able to sit as long. Oddly enough, your eyes will turn blue in the first two weeks, but they won't really glow like ours do for several months. The changes mostly finish after two to three months, although very small changes can been seen for up to a year."
Diane shrugged, "As far as Ninette could tell, the virus actually becomes replaces your immune system and it won't kill you. In time, your blood will also change color with an injury or with strong emotion. You probably noticed Laura's eyes get brighter when she is really excited or with strong emotion. Same thing."
Todd looked thoughtful, "So how long until I can keep up with Laura in the energy department?"
Diane shrugged lightly, "At a guess, a couple of months, probably two or three."
It was three months for me now and I had pushed myself a lot. Todd was pretty lazy though, so it would probably take him longer. Todd looked at Diane with a somewhat confused expression, "So exactly why are you resting instead of running as you usually do?"
Diane made a face, "For some reason, the virus feels really cold when it is contagious, but it also burns a lot of energy in that state. I will probably have some of my energy back in a couple of hours, although someone else is likely going to be doing the hunting today unless the critter in question can be shot from my current location."
He looked uneasy, "Just how bad is this pain going to be?"
Diane examined him from where she sat, "Feeling an ache in your muscles already?"
He nodded slowly. Diane took a deep breath, "It seems to vary from person to person slightly, but it is going to be bad enough that you are going to want to curl up into a ball. The problem is that doing something like that actually makes the pain worse. Walking, running, or any kind of movement is the only way to get through it. Once you get it under control initially, prevention is the best route and that involves a lot of exercise."
He nodded slowly. Accepting it and not even complaining. I knew he was going to be hurting shortly, but I also knew that he would get through it. Even if I had drag him to the ditch for a game of catch-me-if-you-can.
Diane suddenly grinned, "Oh, by the way, take my advice and avoid any kind of stimulant like coffee."
He regarded Diane in curiosity, "So, what exactly would happen if I drank two cups of that expresso coffee?"
Diane "At the moment, I am not sure, but I doubt it would be pretty. It will take several months before you have the kind of energy that Laura and I do."
He grinned at her, "And if you drank a couple of cups?"
I giggled as Diane snorted, "I probably wouldn't be able to sleep for a week."
Roland chuckled, "We are going to have to start putting you guys on the bikes if you have that much energy to spare."
We all grinned at him. Todd suddenly groaned and dropped his head to the handle bars. He mumbled, "Advil isn't going to help with this pain, is it?"
I winced and Diane looked on sympathetically, "Unfortunately not. No painkiller we tried could touch the pain. Ninette even tried a small dose of morphine with Don and it did nothing."
He sighed heavily as he kept trying to pedal through the growing pain. The exercise he was getting now was simply damage control for the pain that would be coming. It was going to be a long day for him.
I was too restless to sit and jumped down to start collecting greens. I wouldn't have Diane's help today and we still needed to eat. We were still several days away from the nearest settlement if it didn't cloud over.