A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 35

I collected various edible greens not far from Diane as others in her Foraging group ranged around us. We had rejoined her regular group a few days ago since her scouting was no longer needed. Plants were growing everywhere.

It was fun to run around with them and collect plants. I got to move more as well since we were mostly picking the edible greens. Diane lured most of the zombies away since she was used to moving lots. I looked forward to tomorrow's work. I enjoyed it.

There was no school today for my class. The day after we moved I had been told that Agatha had died. Her funeral had been yesterday. I would have school next week when they got another teacher.

I was excited for my training tonight. Rick was starting me on Raider training. Donovan was once more helping out, but he was learning just as much as I was. Diane had gone over lots of it even before she took me to town, but she had been showing me more.

She was still off with other fighters for fighting training most evenings. Thankfully, despite their fears, no one seemed to object to Diane's presence since knowledge of her supposedly being 'bitten' had come to light. Some parents at the playground had been nervous at first, but they had mostly relaxed.

One lady always left as soon as we arrived. It was kind of sad since her daughter wanted to stay and play. I wasn't sure why the lady was scared to be around Diane. It didn't make any sense.

           

Raider training involved my heart going into overdrive much more than zombie training had. In zombie training, you saw the zombies coming and had lots of room evade them. Raider training was for people stuck in tight locations. I wasn't big or strong enough for most of the things that Raiders could usually do. That meant I had to be much more careful and alert.

I snuck down the narrow hallway with one ear open. I put my ear against one door and listened carefully. Silence. I tested the door across the hallway. It was quiet as well. That didn't mean much though. I readied myself to run and quietly knocked on the door.

Growls erupted behind it and I silently bolted down the hallway, back the way I had come. I knew the layout of that part. In theory, zombies shouldn't manage to open doors, but sometimes doors weren't closed tight or it was a lever handle that zombies sometimes accidently opened. Besides, training with Rick meant that anything that could possibly go wrong, generally would go wrong.

Right on cue the growling zombie with the Frankenstein mask rounded the corner. One room here had two doors. I ran through it and closed the far door behind me before waiting around the far corner for the 'zombie' to go in. I quickly ran over and closed the second door. I severely hoped that only one zombie had been in the room that had been opened.

Rick loved to loose numerous zombies on me, forcing me to have backup plans for my backup plans. Several Raiders found it entertaining to help him make up somewhat plausible and extremely difficult situations.

The earlier part of my training had simply been listening to Raiders telling their own stories of close calls. Many had lost friends inside of buildings to zombies where maneuverability was severely restricted and the unexpected was a rule.

One thing was certain at this point, I was never entering an uncleared building without Diane or another trained person with me. Ever. It was simply far too dangerous.

As I halfway expected, two more zombies rounded the corner. I wasn't entirely sure who was behind those Halloween masks and that only increased my desire to get away from them. I ran down another hallway before I found a window with a 'fire escape'. A fire escape was my get out of jail free card.