The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 114

This routine is going to get real old really fast... I helped to pack up in the dim predawn light. My instincts were only just starting to think about fading. That meant it was far too bloody early to be preparing for another long boring ride.

Day four had begun and we were all up early to leave with minimal fanfare. Our planned route was slowly circling out from Ironwind. The places along main routes knew we were coming and happily accepted us. Other places had no such head's up and were understandably suspicious. Most loosened up as they spoke with us.

All had heard the rumors of Ironwind and of the sane zombie there which helped our case immensely. Most places had at least one infected person, although a couple had been clean. We had still left the cure in each location with instructions on its use as well as precautions to take during the wave.

I thought that they would have been more suspicious about letting Nina inject them with a mystery drug, but most of the infected admitted that they had noticed that some animals, particularly cats, had started to avoid their close presence.

Only a handful of people were up at this time and we ate leftovers from supper as breakfast. Well, I simply watched them eat.

The old man watched us getting ready to leave with a mournful expression, "Are you sure you don't want to stay a few days?"

Nina smiled gently at him, "Your hospitality has been excellent, but we have to visit more Strongholds to spread out the cure."

He nodded reluctantly, "Always feel free to return."

"Thank you."

Daniel started the truck and the man took that as his cue to stand back so we could leave. I leaned against the tailgate and watched the stars slowly disappear.

Nina groaned from the front seat and looked over her large notepad, "Why isn't this making sense? I know that there is no way that this final number is correct..."

I could see about half of the long column of numbers she had jotted down on the graph paper from my seat. I tilted my head, "Can you hold that up a bit higher?"

Nina glanced out the back window at me in surprise, but raised it up so I could see the bottom half of the page. The mistakes were easy for me to spot. My eyes had been trained for this sort of proofing.

"Whatever FT1397 and DG0121 are, they are listed twice. EN0032 has the numbers in the wrong column since it only has one number after the decimal, not two after the decimal like the rest do."

That comment earned me three startled looks. Nina swiftly scanned the page and exclaimed, "You're right. No wonder my numbers weren't even semi-possible." She lifted her head to look at me in burning curiosity, "How did you spot that so fast?"

"I used to be the assistant to an accountant. He was well known for his refusal to do anything shady. Most businesses wanted him to do their taxes to look more reputable to the small community and to the government. To enforce that image, he always had me check the numbers to ensure that companies didn't try to claim more than what they had actually spent. He even won some sort of big accountant award for his thoroughness. He helped everyone claim as much as they could, but sent cheaters packing."

Nina's eyes took on that familiar light as the interrogator in her woke to life once more, "Really? That is quite fascinating."

I decided to get the spotlight off of me as swiftly as possible, "Hey Nicky, what did you do before the zombies appeared?"

She was laying on her back watching the clouds. She turned to me with a grin, "I didn't need a job. I had my hands full just trying to keep all of my counselors and psychiatrists on their toes."