I followed Diane as she walked towards the group. Diane raised an eyebrow at the younger man and he blinked before he managed to collect his thoughts, "Uh, the shed is this way..."
He led the way, but was awkward in our presence. He didn't know what to make of us. I grinned as he kept glancing at me in surprise, as if he couldn't figure out why I was coming when we were going after a zombie.
Diane broke the silence, "There was only one zombie right?"
He seemed shocked that she was speaking with him, "Uh, yeah. Just one. It is still in the shed though."
I suspected that this young man didn't get out much. You could tell he was uncomfortable in social situations by the way he talked. It reminded me of myself somewhat, especially when Diane first found me. My problem was more my shyness than anything else.
I took a closer look at him and realized that he wasn't as old as I had originally thought. He was probably around 20 and his light brown hair was short and somewhat messy.
"Did it move like a regular zombie? Not fast like a Swift, correct?"
I blinked. I hadn't considered that. If it was a Swift, then that would explain how it had managed to bite Kyle. I kind of doubted it though. A Swift would have been fast enough to cause a lot more damage and neither would have likely gotten away.
"Uh.... I think so? I don't think it was a Swift..."
Diane pointed, "It is in that shed, correct?"
"Yeah." I glanced at him in surprise. That was the first time the word 'uh' had not appeared in his response. Maybe he was getting used to us already. I examined the shed and the area. It was by the lake with some trees not that far from the shed. A half standing fence would make an excellent pen for the zombie.
Diane glanced at the young man, "Would you mind waiting here until it is out of the way?"
"Okay..." He blinked as his mind processed what she was getting at, "Wait, you are going to go into the shed?"
Diane chuckled, which just served to confuse the poor guy. She shook her head, "I plan on getting the zombie out of the shed and lose it behind that rail fence. Then I plan on checking out that canoe."
He looked clueless, "How do you plan on getting it behind the fence?"
Diane grinned at him, "Watch."
Diane started jogging towards the shed and I followed her, but swerved further out until I stood across from the shed door. Several from the group earlier had followed us as the guy lead us here, but they were lingering even further back from where he still stood with a baffled look.
Diane passed the closed shed door and hit the latch that held the door shut. She swiftly ducked behind the shed as the door opened. A red eyed zombie staggered out. I skipped to the side a bit and its eyes locked onto me. It lurched towards me in an awkward zombie stilted walk.
I slowly started jogging away to lure it off. The forest had a rail fence along the edge of it and I opened up the gate as the zombie followed me. Once the zombie was far enough away, I ran back to close the gate and return to the shed.
The group of locals on the side of the hill looked stunned that a child had so easily lured a zombie away. I had to remind myself that most people were rightfully scared of zombies. There was no one out there who had not lost family or friends to the relentless red-eyed killers.
Diane already had a red canoe in the shallows of the lake as the guy stood on the shore and watched her test it for leaks. I walked forward and waited silently. The guy wasn't aware of me standing behind him as he spoke in a quiet voice with Diane.
"Will Kyle really be okay?" He did seem quite concerned about Kyle.
"I give him a 99% chance of pulling through. We will know by sunset." Diane tilted the canoe a bit as it floated, looking for any water that may be seeping through an invisible crack.
"A different virus can beat the zombie virus?"
"Yes." Diane floated the canoe a bit deeper as she kept inspecting the insides.
The guy sounded confused, "So if it means that someone won't turn into a zombie, why doesn't everyone do it?"
Diane didn't answer immediately. She jumped into the canoe, which made it drift closer to the shore. "Because it has some potentially unpleasant symptoms as well. He is in for an immediate lifestyle change."
His quiet shy voice sounded intrigued, "What kind of trade would it take to get a syringe of it?"
Diane gave him a level look that plainly said that his idea had far more ramifications than he realized, "That you would have to discuss with Roland, but either way, most places will not accept someone with the Heartfire virus. This place included, someone with the virus tried to join this place earlier and was turned away by the guy in charge. So even if you got the syringe, you would be forced to leave. To the best of my knowledge, every person who has the Heartfire virus is currently traveling with Roland's group since they are unwelcome elsewhere."
That was true. We had stopped here on our way north when trying to see if a settlement would accept us. We had taken care to remain out of eyesight of the man we had originally spoken to. He may not even recognize us, and even if he did, we didn't plan to remain here.
Diane walked back and forth in the canoe, carefully looking to see if her weight had caused any water to come in. The man was standing silently, possibly thinking about what Diane had said. Diane jumped lightly into the water before picking up the canoe and carrying it over her head. It looked like she was going to carry it by herself portage style.
She looked at the path and started walking barefoot. I shook my head as I grabbed her socks and shoes. The guy followed us, but was silent and seemed lost in thought. In fact, he didn't even look up from his shoes the entire trip back.
It was easy to spot Roland as we approached the fence surrounding the trailers. I jogged ahead to open up the gate for Diane. Roland was talking to an older man as we approached. The man looked up and frowned, "Julian, why did you make her carry that? You are supposed to carry heavy things for women."
The guy beside me jumped as he was jolted out of his thoughts. He looked up in surprise, as if he hadn't realized that we were already back at the trailers, "Uh... Sorry."
Diane chuckled, "No worries. The canoe was light enough."
Roland shook his head in amusement, "Is it watertight?"
A glimmer of light appeared deep in Diane's eyes, although she kept a fairly straight face, "As far as I can tell. There may be a leak further up on the sides since I might not have been heavy enough for the canoe to sink far enough into the water for a proper test."
Roland also saw that glimmer and chuckled, "I am not touching that subject with a ten foot pole. I have been married for twenty years. I know when to keep silent."
I giggled at that comment. I simply could not see Amber getting mad over her weight, she was simply too easygoing.
Diane broke down and laughed before shaking her head, "Where do you want this?"
He nodded his head over his shoulder, "Back of the third trailer please."
I followed Diane as the guy remained with the man and Roland. I suspected that the man had been Julian's father. There was quite a bit of resemblance at any rate.
Diane went to locate Kyle, but he was slowly pedaling one of the bicycles as he sweated. Word had spread and the locals gave him a wide berth. Those who had been fired had no such concern, although the traders who had not received Heartfire were giving him some space since the zombie virus likely hadn't been eradicated from his body yet.
"Laura, could you please bring me that bag of wool string from the second trailer?" I looked over at the one trader who was supervising a booth and nodded. The trailer was still packed very full, but I managed to squeeze down the middle row and located the wool.
He hadn't specified a color and we had three different colors. I took a bag of each just in case. The man took them with thanks. His mostly blue eyes showed that he had been one of the volunteers to get Heartfire.
Diane was getting something for another trader and I went to join her. I preferred to be close to her when we stopped at a settlement. The locals always made me nervous.
Everyone was relaxing around the long fire. Well, except for Kyle. He was currently walking laps inside of our fence. It had been busy day and it had apparently been highly profitable as well. We would depart from this settlement come morning.
Roland stretched as he turned his head to look at Diane, "So what all did you mention to that guy with the canoe?"
"Not much. He wasn't much of a talker. He did ask if Kyle would pull through and why everyone didn't have the virus if it kept people from turning. I kept it to the bare basics of theory. Why?" She wasn't sure what he was getting at, and truth be told, neither did I.
Roland grinned, "Julian isn't much of a talker. He is so uneasy around people that he remembers everything they say word for word just from sheer nerves. The man I was talking to was his father, and he will likely be having him repeat whatever you may have said."
That was an interesting trick, although if being around strangers made him that uncomfortable, then I pitied him. My shyness had faded some, but it wasn't fun when it affected me.
Diane considered that bit of information for a moment, "He wanted to know if he could trade for a syringe of it and I told him it was your call. I also let him know that most settlements would not accept someone with this virus and this place had previously turned such people away. Will that cause any problems?"
Roland gazed at the fire in thought, "I don't think so... But take care to avoid any other details of that just in case. You can send them on to me."
Diane nodded and I agreed as well. It was best if we kept as many details as possible hidden from those we were trading with, in case they never let us come back. They didn't need to know that the blue eyes were a symptom of the virus. I was sitting beside a trailer to ensure that none could see my glowing eyes from the top of the walls. The trailer blocked me from their sight.
The trailers had small led lights on the sides that ran off a small battery. The battery was powered from the day's sunlight and from the bicycles. No one was on the bikes at the moment, but the batteries had fully charged while we traded. Those solar panels collected a lot of power if they were angled right.
Diane stood up and stretched while glancing at me. I also stood up, the rest of the traders had jogged around the inside of the fence just before the sun set, but Diane and I needed more exercise than they did.
Diane was purposefully dimming her eyes at the moment and they didn't even glimmer as she inspected the palisade behind us to ensure that no one was watching. She nodded the all clear to me and we headed for the gate to go for a run in the forest.