The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 103

My doorknob popped, and Nicky barged into my room for the second time today. "Do you see what he did?!"

I slowly blinked at the objects in Nicky's hands as I remained sitting on the edge of my bed, "Well... I hope you like the color pink."

Nicky glared at me for my lack of concern as she held up her jacket, shoes, pants, and shirt. All were a very bright shade of hot pink that matched almost perfectly. "Pink is a very fine color, but not in this shade! Why would anyone wear this shade of pink?!"

It was a good thing that no one had gone to bed yet or else they surely would have been woken up by Nicky's loud voice. Daniel was probably grinning in his room as he would be able to hear her even from the main floor.

I managed to keep a straight face, "At the very least, if you get lost in the forest I will have an easy time finding you."

"Me getting lost in the forest with three bloodhound zombies in the area is the least of my concerns."

I pretended to not understand, "So what is your concern? You have a matching outfit which is quite unique. I fail to understand why you are so upset over a gift. Imagine all of the work someone had to go through to fix up your clothes so they look brand new."

That did it. Nicky dropped her armful of pink belongings and charged toward me, "Oh, you!" I rolled my eyes and suppressed my instincts, although they had seen that she wasn't serious. I didn't even bother getting to my feet, which in the zombie world meant that I didn't even register her as a potential threat. It was also a bit of an insult saying that I didn't think she could harm me if she tried.

Nicky jumped in an attempt to tackle me, her fearlessness surprised me. My reflexes were as sharp as ever and I grabbed her wrists before redirecting her flight to land on the bed beside me. I rolled onto my side as she landed on her stomach and pressed my arm across her shoulders to pin her to the mattress. I growled lightly as I put some weight on her shoulders.

Nicky understood the faint challenge, "Okay, okay. Uncle, Auntie, I give up, however you want me to word it."

I snorted faintly before sitting back up. Nicky rolled over and sat up before leaning against the wall and grinning at me, "Well, that was fun."

Perhaps I needed to look up the definition of fun again, but I was pretty sure that jumping at someone and having them pin you in three seconds did not fall into that category. "I fail to see how you found that fun."

Nicky just chuckled, "Most people would have given me a death threat or attempted to kick my ass for that. The fact that you tolerate me is fun."

Perhaps I needed to pass Nicky the dictionary and make her read the definition of fun... Nicky sighed and regarded the big pile of eye-watering pink things that were desecrating my doorway with their very presence, "What am I going to do with them?"

This question I did take seriously since I didn't want her wearing those things while hanging around with me. I contemplated a few options, "Well... You could soak them in bleach water until they came out closer to white or you could see if some of the laundry people have a darker dye available. I can burn them in the forest if need be and you can just get new replacements."

Nicky grinned, "I say we take them over to Luke's place and burn them in his firepit. If nothing else, it will be one hell of a conversation starter. Those shoes were almost worn out anyway."

I glanced out the window, "We have a couple of hours until sunset, so we can go now if you want."

The sooner those things were no longer in existence, the better. The color was unfortunately vivid. It was practically fluorescent, it very likely glowed in the dark, and it might even be radioactive. That pile was probably visible from outer space. Last thing we needed to do was to lure in curious aliens who didn't know that such a color was even feasibly possible.