A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 81

I quietly tiptoed behind Diane. Other than her faintly glowing eyes, she was a mere shadow in the darkness. It was intriguing to see her eyes dim and brighten as she either tried to see better, or hid their glow. She knelt down and I took the two steps to lean against her shoulder.

She whispered, "Sentries normally watch the gates more closely since that is how they themselves would get through the wall. If needed, it is possible to scale the fence since this place only guards two of the gates at night. That one and the one by the horse barn are unguarded."

I nodded and she continued her stealthy silent walk. I followed on her heels, trying to mimic how she was walking. It was our third day here and both of us needed a midnight run. I could no longer go all night without some sort of exercise. It had been much easier on the road since we would run late in the evening and first thing in the morning.

Such runs would have raised questions here, so we ran between 8-9pm and had to sneak out in the middle of the night like Diane had always done. She had been showing me the ropes. She knew a lot of tricks for getting in and out of the palisade unnoticed, and also had several excuses if she was spotted inside the fence.

Most people didn't mind if people wandered inside the fence during the night, but Diane warned me that if someone spotted either of us outside the fence, that someone would throw a fit. I hoped it never came to that point. Diane had done this for almost two years, so she was a pro at sneaking around at night.

My eyes may not glow, but my vision was sharper. My hearing was surprisingly helpful too. We quietly snuck out of the gate and swiftly headed for the cover of the trees. With Diane present, the trees held no fear for me.

Diane glanced back in her jog and blinked, "Huh, your eyes are actually starting to shimmer in the darkness. Within a month or so they will be able to actually glow."

I blinked in surprise, they were starting to shimmer already? I grinned, happy that they were progressing so fast. At least I wasn't quite tripping over tree roots, I could see well enough for that. It was only going to get better. I was looking forward to it.

After about two hours, we headed back. Diane helped me sneak back inside our guest house, then she left to go for a hard run. There was no chance of me keeping up with the pace that she needed to keep the burning at bay. She would take me out for a run just after breakfast.

I used a net to catch a large fish before dragging it to the shore. A man picked it up and knocked it out, before putting it in the cart with the rest of the fish. Diane and a dozen other adults were manning a large gill net.

Before long, the adults had deemed we had enough fish and we started heading back. Their plodding walk was much too slow for my tastes. I had no idea how Diane put up with it and showed no signs of impatience or restlessness. I wanted to run and jump with the liquid energy that seemed to fill my body.

I decided to see how many cartwheels I could do.

"Laura, what on earth are you doing?" I glanced over to see one of the ladies watching me with a quizzical expression.

I grinned as I did another cartwheel, "I am seeing how many cartwheels I can do! 24, 25..."

The lady looked amused and counted out loud for me, "26, 27, 28..."

Her expression took slowly became one of disbelief as she kept counting. She was more out of breath from a slow walk while counting than I was doing endless cartwheels. "421, 422, 423... My goodness Laura, where do you get all of this energy?"

I was currently upside down in the middle of a cartwheel. I used my hands to push myself onto my feet to skip for a few steps as I grinned at the lady, "I am trying to keep up with Diane's energy."