The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 123

It took several turns before we located the man. He was rather easy to spot. He was holding a bucket of oats and trying to lure some horses to his side of the fence. The horses weren't stupid and kept to the far side of the pen. No one in our group had any difficulty figuring out the source of the problem this man was having.

The leader went forward to have a quiet word with him before bringing him over to Nina. John and Logan never seemed to tire of watching Nina inject the cure. Our tour continued on. We passed quite a few groups of people who were relaxing.

Several called out greetings as we passed. We nodded a response as we carried on. A few started following us in curiosity. Their quiet presence as they tailed us slightly stirred up my instincts which were more noticeable since the sun was starting to approach the horizon.

One young man ahead hailed us, "I hope you are enjoying your tour. Your supper is ready for you and is in the main hall. Our hospitality can't be beat by anyone else, if you need anything, just ask."

We had walked closer to him by now and my instincts stirred as I narrowed my eyes. I bit back a growl, but that didn't help conceal the dirty look I gave him. He was observant enough to notice it. He raised an eyebrow at me, "What? You doubt our level of hospitality?"

I snorted faintly, "As long as you were not the one responsible for it, then it will likely be quite welcoming."

The young man frowned in confusion, "I have never been less than cordial toward guests and I have no idea what you are referring to." The others were also giving me odd looks. It did not help with my rising irritation.

I leveled a challenging stare at him, "Does putting a pail of water above a gas station door about two weeks ago ring a bell? Well, guess who got caught in that trap."

The young man's jaw dropped as his face started to turn a striking shade of red due to his embarrassment. The leader watched his reaction with narrowed eyes, "Bill... Please tell me that you did not do such a thing."

Bill ducked his head in shame, "Joe put me up to it since he was too short to reach that high... We never thought that anyone would figure out who did it."

I did not enlighten him as to how I knew. After my challenge and his guilty reaction, he didn't question it either. The leader exhaled slowly in clear disappointment, "You should have known better. You will be scrubbing pots and doing dishes, as well as mucking out the pig, cattle, and horse barn for a month. I will be having a word with Joe as well."

"Yes sir." Bill turned to me, "I am very sorry. Is there any way I can make it up to you?"

The last thing I wanted was attention in this place. I huffed, "If you are offering, our truck needs a wash and that mattress and its cover could use a bit of beating to get all of the dust and dirt off of it."

I honestly didn't expect him to take me seriously, but he nodded, "I will see to it."

Although considering how unimpressed the leader looked, I suspected that Bill would have been forced into it even if he had protested. There were only so many surviving humans out there and it would not be good if one of his people offended a potential ally or trading partner with childish pranks. It also would not reflect well on their reputation.

The leader turned to look at me, "I am sorry that anyone in this place would have done such a thing. Please accept our hospitality and let us know if we can do anything for you."

I nodded somewhat stiffly. My instincts did not like to let this one go so easily. They wanted to add a few bruises to that man's hide for setting up such a trap. I overruled my instincts, although the others would have likely noticed I was more irritable than I had been on our ride thus far.