The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 101

Nicky was waiting for me in the hallway before we headed down to breakfast. The night had been quiet and nothing had disturbed my patrol. My mood was back to normal and my eyes had fully recovered. Nicky chattered about the game of archery she had won. "I managed to hit the bull's eye ten times in a row!"

I sensed more than a bit of exaggeration in her story and my instincts also doubted her tall tale since she had never hit the bull's eyes twice in a row before, let alone ten times. The round and even number was also suspicious. I took a sniff and declared, "Liar."

She looked at me with wide eyes, "What do you mean?"

I smirked, "When you lie, it shows in your scent. Especially with such an unbelievable story."

Her jaw dropped, "You don't believe me?!"

I gave her an ironic look, "Have you ever hit the bull's eye even ten times in one night? Or three times in a row when I was around?"

She chuckled and shook her head, "You just had to bring logic into it, didn't you? The real story is far less exciting. Oh, and don't believe Ben if he tells you that I almost ended up shooting him."

"Why on earth did Ben come between you and your target?"

Nicky ducked her head, "Ummm... My arrow kind of ricocheted off the edge of the target and almost hit him four lanes away as he was pulling his own arrows out of the target."

That sounded like something that was only possible with my luck. A second sniff told me that this tale was the truth. I shook my head, "Ben is going to be convinced that you are out to get him, although even he can't claim that you were skilled enough to purposely make that shot."

Nicky sighed, "Yeah, that was what the immediate consensus came out to."

I went to sit at my usual place while Nicky grabbed her breakfast. We must be a bit later than usual because Nina and Daniel were already at the table. I wasn't sure whom they had sat with before I came along, but if they came into the dining area, they were guaranteed to sit at what had become my table.

Nina nibbled on some toast, "How are you doing this morning?"

She still reminded me of a mother hen on some levels. I shrugged, "About average."

"I assume you plan on taking Luke some breakfast? I can't see not offering him something even though I am pretty sure he isn't going to want to eat."

I nodded, "I plan to grab a few things before heading out to see him."

Nina nodded, "When you come back, can you come find me? Apparently that cold has spread quite a bit while we were gone and some are worried that they are infected. We are pretty sure it is just a cold and I would prefer to conserve the chemicals since your nose works better than my tests do. Daniel did take a quick sniff, but didn't detect anything. We want to play it safe since we are just weeks away from when the third wave should start appearing."

That sounded easy enough. I did recall several people starting to sneeze just before we left. It made me glad that I could no longer catch a cold. "Can do."

"Thanks." Nina went back to eating as Nicky sat down with a yawn.

Breakfast included a fair bit of gossip, but it sounded like nothing had really changed while we were gone. During our absence, someone had the audacity to say that he kind of missed Nicky's off the wall craziness, and apparently he had been dunked in the horse's water trough for that comment. I pitied the horses that had to drink that water.

I took a paper plate with some food and wrapped it up before heading out the gate on foot. Luke's scent crossed the trail here and there in several spots. He must have been exploring at night. My footsteps were fairly loud as I approached the clearing. I wasn't entirely sure he was there at the moment, but it was a good place to check.