A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 63

Taver had been surprised at our haul as he picked out his trade goods for being our guide. He left to put them with his supplies and we headed off to locate our original guide. We found him in the kitchens and took half a dozen people out for a quick test of both our and their knowledge.

They knew a lot when they pooled their knowledge, but it was no match for Diane's knowledge as an experienced Forager. They had looked surprised when I had pointed out some plants, some they hadn't known about either. They were all looking forward to the next three days. I was looking forward to it too since I would get to be outside and not stuck inside of the walls of this settlement.

It was a nice place and the people were polite, but they were still people I didn't know. Strangers. Their mere presence made me uneasy. I didn't want to let Diane out of my sight.

It turned out that my knowledge about luring zombies away got more of a workout than my knowledge of plants. Diane was focusing on the group she was training, leaving me mostly in charge of luring any zombies away and getting them stuck. The women had been stunned the first few times I did it and sent odd looks Diane's way. She thought nothing of it though, I was being careful and following all of the rules laid out in training.

I skipped along the top of a log as we headed back. It had been our second day training the group of people. Since I always ensured that I could see Diane from the corner of my eyes at all times, I noticed the instant that her body language shifted.

I looked ahead to the open gate. Others were just noticing the crowd waiting for us and started murmuring among themselves. Diane looked a bit wary, but seemed calm enough. We slowed to a stop as we approached the oddly silent group that was obviously waiting for us.

In the center three young teens were standing with their heads hanging with two different sets of very upset parents behind them. The one man pushed one of the boys forward roughly, "You tell her what you did."

The teen glanced at Diane with a slightly panicked look before returning his gaze to his shoes and stuttering, "W-we, umm, b-broke your b-bike."

The other two boys, who were obviously brothers, stepped apart to reveal a mangled twist of metal behind them. It took me a moment to recognize the twisted scrap metal as the bike and the trailer.

I was stunned. Why would they break someone else's stuff? It had been in our guest house and I didn't even recall them so much as speaking with her. Diane's eyes narrowed as they brightened a bit, but she was obviously preventing them from glowing. She was silent, but her body language said that she was not impressed. I wondered what thoughts were rolling through her head.

Her eyes locked onto the pair of brothers and they stared at her with wide eyes, stunned by her eye color. Her voice was somewhat irritated, "How did you manage this? And why? I do not recall having any sort of grudge with you."

All three boys turned red, the brothers were still unable to tear their eyes away from Diane's direct gaze. I wondered if she was even aware that she was doing it. Today wasn't a good day to inquire about it though.

One of the brothers spoke up shakily and quietly, "W-we're sorry. We didn't mean to break it. We wanted to take it for a spin to see how hard it was to ride for a long time with a trailer in tow. Anthony came along and didn't realize that it wasn't ours and he took it off some jumps before we realized that he had it. And, umm..."

The other brother picked up as his brother faltered, "The trailer slid sideways and went off the top of a ridge. He jumped from the bike when the trailer started to pull the bike over the edge. We are sorry."