The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 62

Bonus chapter! Happy New Year's Eve!

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I was quite bored by the time 10 o'clock rolled around. I headed to the north gate. One of the guards saw me coming. He was waiting by the gate with the walkie talkie, "Are you sure you don't want a quad?"

I nodded, "Unless they need me to make several laps within an hour, then I will go on foot."

The man shook his head, "No, they just want to know if a Runner is in the vicinity and only you or Daniel can pick up their scent. They will probably ask if you will check the perimeter tomorrow as well since Daniel is helping our two scientists."

It was odd how easily they accepted our sense of smell. Even walking a patrol sounded much more fun than dying of boredom on a rooftop. "Sounds good to me." I headed out of the gate.

It was different doing the patrol during the day. Various groups of people were out and about. Unless I was traveling through the forest, I was easy to spot. I kept my smooth flowing pace close to a slow jog when I was in the open. The groups waved as they spotted me, I waved back and kept going.

Most groups were helping with animals, gardening, or collecting wild foods like fruit or nuts. I even spotted the group that had adopted Chloe as they picked mushrooms. She stood by them as a sentry on the lookout for zombies, although I doubted that she saw me since I was quite some distance away.

Quads occasionally drove down the roads as they slowly lured mindless zombies away from the Stronghold. I knew that one or two heavily armed groups were further afield in vehicles as they raided empty towns. I avoided the entire area that the barn was in. If a zombie showed up there, Daniel was more than capable of dealing with it.

I kept circling further out until I hit Daniel's perimeter. From the scent, he had done a couple of loops early this morning and hadn't been back since. He must normally run numerous laps several times a day since his scent wall was starting to fade slightly.

I headed back when it was close to lunch time, having managed two complete loops. The guard took the walkie talkie back for charging and I went to find Nicky. She happened to round a corner and spotted me. She jogged over, "Did you know they have an evil turkey here? That monster chased me around the pen several times!"

I sighed as I rethought my original plan to come back for lunch. Although I was positive that someone would come looking for me if I tried to patrol until supper. "What did you do to annoy the turkey?"

"Nothing! It gobbled at me and I tried to return the greeting, but I must have mispronounced something because it took my words as an insult. It chased other people around as well, so it wasn't just me. Honest, that thing would chase you too."

I snorted, "No it wouldn't. One growl from me and it would be trying to get as far away as possible."

Nicky blinked at my response, "If you ever decide to go after it, I call the drumstick. Just make sure you target the right turkey, this one stands as high as your waist and is missing some tail feathers."

"I am not killing a turkey just because it chased you. If they are keeping it, they probably have a good reason. If it is that mean, then it will appear in the soup pot sooner or later."

Nicky sighed theatrically, "I hope that it is sooner rather than later. Let's go grab some lunch, I'm starving."

I put a handful of fruit slices on a napkin and sat across from Nicky as she attempted to down a huge bowl of soup. "What are you doing this afternoon? Why is it you end up doing different things each day?"