A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 93

I climbed out of the tree quietly. A dozen hammocks now hung in the trees as people decided to try another way of sleeping that wasn't so crowded. Diane was already on the ground and adding wood to the fire. No one else was up, but at this early hour, it didn't surprise me.

The newcomers were now fairly relaxed around us. Our glowing eyes and pre-bedtime runs didn't overly bother them anymore. I followed Diane out of the gate.

"Diane, look at the mushrooms." I had gone exploring nearby seeing if I could find a small clearing with more greens, but had stumbled across a squirrel's stash of dried mushrooms in a big patch of brambles

Diane rounded the corner and nodded, "Good find. Those will go well in the soup."

I pulled out my bucket and carefully reaching into the masses of thorns. Diane was trying to get the deeper ones since the long sleeves of her leather jacket protected her somewhat. Several light scratches adorned my arms before too long.

I reached for another big mushroom and began to pull it out. It snagged on a thorn, and a bent over branch lashed up to hit my arm. I winced at the flash of pain as several thorns went deep into my skin. The heat in my blood rose and shifted.

I managed to free my arm and examine the damage. Blood was starting to slowly rise out of the scratches. I blinked as I realized that my blood was changing color. It was no longer just red, but going pink instead. A magenta pink that had a faint lighter pink shimmer to it. There was still some red, but it was mostly pink.

I was excited, "Diane, look!"

Diane came around the bush to look at my arm, "Huh, I guess we know what color the virus turned your blood. At least it doesn't stand out like mine does."

I grinned up at her. The Heartfire had progressed enough that it changed color if I was injured. Don's had been blue and Diane's was silver. No one was sure why the colors were different, although Ninette had thought it might be due to a person's genes.

"It looks pretty. At least it isn't an ugly color. Too bad it wasn't purple though."

Diane chuckled as she went back to trying to extract more mushrooms. My eyes looked at the pink blood again. There was a downside of it turning color though, that this meant that it would burn anyone else who touched it. Well, except for Diane, because she also had the Heartfire virus. The bleeding had almost stopped already, and I knew that the deep scratch would heal to a pink mark within hours.

We finished raiding the squirrel's stash and I gave my mushrooms to Diane to carry. We found a tiny creek and followed it in hopes of finding more edibles. Movement caught my attention and I went over to investigate the big frog. It was actually a toad the size of a big baseball.

I had never seen so many warts on a toad before, it was rather ugly. I knew from Diane that the toad's warts were just part of its skin and not contagious. I grinned as an idea came to me. I pulled out my pail and carefully put the fat toad inside of it.

Diane glanced at my latest find, but didn't comment as we kept collecting greens for breakfast. We returned to the camp and I helped Diane prepare the soup. Once it was cooking, I turned my attention to the amphibian in my pail.

I silently climbed up the ladder of the one trailer. People were packed pretty tightly up here and it took my Heartfire abilities to get to the end of the trailer without stepping on someone. I carefully placed the toad in a prime position and ensured that it wouldn't go anywhere.

I swiftly got off the trailer with no one the wiser. No one had even woken up. Diane glanced at me with a slight grin and I grinned back at her as I sat by the fire. All I had to do now was wait...