A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 60

We pushed onwards until late at night. Diane ended up guiding Smokey in the dark as she left the road to follow some deer trails as she attempted to lose any vengeful followers. I was tired, but remained silent in the saddle.

Diane's anger had slowly faded, her eyes glowed due to the darkness now. Diane paused by a fence and passed me Smokey's reins, "Stay here, I am going to check out that barn."

What barn? I peered into the darkness, but didn't see anything. I saw the fence continue along the gravel road we were now on and could just make out some trees in the darkness. Diane left and I couldn't see her eyes since she was looking the other way. It was odd that she didn't send me up a tree if she was leaving.

Perhaps she trusted Smokey to run if a zombie came by, or maybe she could see far enough to see that there were none nearby. I saw a flicker of blue ahead as Diane began to return, that must be where the barn was then.

Diane returned swiftly, "It is clear. We can sleep here."

She took Smokey's reins once more and led him forward. Once we got closer, I could see a corral attached to an old barn. The corral wasn't much bigger than the barn, but it was more than enough room for Smokey.

I dismounted and reached for the saddle, but Diane interrupted me, "Here, I can do that. Can you take our sleeping bags up into the loft? Here is a flashlight, the ladder is just to right inside the door. Get some sleep, dawn is going to come far too early."

I was too tired to argue and took the sleeping bags up. I barely had enough energy to set them up before crawling into mine and falling asleep.

   

   The smell of KFC chicken drifted through my sleeping mind and remained with me as I blinked at the bright light shining into the barn loft. I sat up as I rubbed my eyes groggily. I blinked at the empty place where Diane's sleeping bag had been, she must have already rolled it up and packed it down. I quickly changed and went down.

Some feathers by the fire showed that Diane had gone hunting and found several spruce grouse. The big birds were just a bit smaller than a chicken and were quite common. Diane must found an untouched house as the pieces in the frying pan were battered and a small bag of unopened flour sat beside the saddle bags.

I washed my face and hands in a bucket of water by the fire. I felt much more awake after that. We slowly ate breakfast. The events from yesterday still bothered me. "Why did those men try to keep us there?"

Diane was silent for a moment before she shook her head lightly, "They had a misguided notion that it was the only way to get someone to stay in their settlement."

I thought about the man and his exact words. "Why did that one guy really not want to let any women go?"

Diane shifted slightly, as if somewhat uncomfortable, "They had a misguided notion that it was the only way to get someone to stay in their settlement."

That made even less sense than the idea of trying to make Diane dance. The most confusing part was that the man thought that only women could dance and sing. Almost everyone in Dave's Trader group could sing.

I tilted my head in confusion as another thought occurred to me. "Why did that one guy not want to let any women leave?"

Diane's eyes flickered briefly as she hesitated before replying, "Well, you already know that many people think it is dangerous outside of a fence. He might have thought that he wasn't going to let us leave since we could get hurt. Although his way of trying to force us was very wrong."