The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 31

I put more wood on the fire as the sky started to lighten up and started sifting through our supplies. It was light enough that Daniel could see me.

"Since when do you make breakfast?"

"Normally never, but I want to test out a theory."

He raised his eyebrow in interest, "Which theory?"

I had grabbed certain supplies when raiding houses with this in mind, so it didn't take me long to locate everything. I brought the armful of stuff closer to the fire. "That a big breakfast helps keep Nicky mellow. I don't think I could handle her again today if she is acting the same way she did before breakfast yesterday."

He watched me put a package of spaghetti noodles in the boiling water. I opened up a couple cans of spaghetti sauce and put them to the side. Two cans of mushrooms and a container of powdered parmesan cheese also joined the waiting pile.

"Spaghetti for breakfast? I thought Marissa's soup was breaking a few rules."

I snorted, "No one is going to want me cooking anything that requires me to taste test the food. Hopefully it will keep Ben full for longer as well, so we don't have to listen to him start complaining around 10 O'clock."

To my surprise he actually chuckled, "Spaghetti will be a welcome break from soup."

I put more water on to boil for drinking purposes. It wasn't much longer before people started coming up. Marissa looked surprised to see pots on the fire. The spaghetti had finished cooking and simply sat near the fire to keep warm.

Nicky stormed up the stairs in her usual morning fashion. Her eyes flickered to my empty hands before she turned to Marissa, "Has she drank coffee yet?"

Marissa looked confused, "No, we haven't even made the coffee yet."

Nicky grumbled, "Bloody bet. What the hell was I thinking?! I have never even seen her drink coffee!"

I smirked, "The spaghetti is ready."

Her eyes focused on the pot of pasta and she stomped over to grab a bowl. She yanked the ladle out of Kal's hands to fill up her bowl before heading to her chair. Kal gritted his teeth, but made no comment after glancing in my direction.

It seemed to be a hit and most had two helpings of it. I even had a few forkfuls of the spaghetti. It tasted pretty good. Ben had his head on straight and didn't provoke Nicky. After Nicky had eaten and woken up some, she seemed pretty normal for Nicky. It was a promising start. If it worked, I could handle making an easy breakfast for a few days.

People seemed to have loosened up a bit. They were talking more amongst themselves. It was still a rather long day in the back of a pickup truck with only a handful of breaks. We had lost some time when our last truck died. If Nina's calculations were right, we should arrive at the Stronghold late tomorrow. I couldn't wait to be free from this group.

~

We were starting to look for shelter for the night, but weren't having any luck. No towns were nearby and there didn't seem to be any houses around. There wasn't even a gas station. What kind of road has no houses or stores on it?

I exhaled in growing irritation. I was tired of being cooped up in this truck. I had never sat so much in my life. I lifted my nose to the air and closed my eyes in concentration. It was very faint, but it was there. It was the smell that shingles gave off in warm weather. I opened my eyes and knocked on the back window of the truck cab, "Hank, stop the truck for a moment. Ben, can you pull out that map of yours?"

Everyone in the back was watching me as Hank rolled to a stop. I stood up and tested the air again. Detecting direction was nearly impossible in a moving vehicle with the way the air swirled around the truck, but now I had my bearings.