A Different Virus: Heartfire

Chapter 4

John said it was a bell. He lied. It was closer to a high-pitched squealing siren that went on for about ten seconds. Apparently, they were used to trying to rouse heavy sleepers.

Even though I normally set my alarm for 6:30, I was still tired and suspected that it was from the stress of the last week. I got up and pulled out my schedule as I tried to figure out which room I was going to after breakfast.

To my surprise, most of my first day was a basic review of my abilities as the trainers decided just how much I knew and where I needed to improve. They asked hundreds of questions as they evaluated all sorts of things. Fishing skills, archery, various kinds of snares, climbing skills, tracking, poisonous plants, bird alarm calls, guns, and the list went on and on. I turned out to be terrible at replicating the bird calls, although I could identify some of them.

I had never held a gun in my life, and they quickly decided I was not going to be carrying one even when we did go outside the fence. That wasn't exactly a surprise since rumor had it that a lot of the ammunition had been used up when the zombies first showed up, and it wasn't like a gun would stop a zombie anyway. I had occasionally used a recurve bow in the past for target practice, but from the sounds of it, they planned to take my archery skills up a few notches.

I was given several books on edible plants, survival basics, and some other things. I was supposed to read for at least an hour each day and ensure I retained the knowledge as homework for that night. Homework. At my age. At least it was something I was interested in - and it might even help me survive if a horde of zombies toppled the fences.

My past interest in nature finally proved to be a benefit. I knew at least thirty edible plants that could be eaten raw, and more that were edible once cooked, so I was ahead of most of the class in that area. The fact that I was comfortable identifying quite a few of the edibles from the poisonous look-alikes had them relieved.

The day passed by before I realized it, and if I could forget about the red-eyed killers outside the Fort, it was actually kind of fun. Once my class was over, I headed to the nearest shower area. With my hair now trailing just below my shoulder blades, courtesy of Kailey and a pair of scissors, it didn't take me very long to wash it. I quickly brushed and braided it before heading down for dinner.

I filled my plate and spotted Kailey, Evan, and John at a table near the back of the room. I sat down as Kailey continued chattering excitedly about her day. Apparently, she had a blast with the Cooks. One woman was helping her learn how spices interacted with various ingredients, particularly in soups and stews. There was supposedly a 21-year-old there who had excellent taste in shoes and fashion. Kailey finally stopped talking when she took a bite of her bun.

Evan and John were deep in a discussion regarding the pros and cons of what I assumed were various engine parts. It sounded like gibberish to me, so it was probably something to do with a vehicle engine. We all had one thing in common though; we had all enjoyed our day and looked forward to tomorrow.

I overheard a few voices with upper-class accents complaining and glanced over my shoulder. A group of people in fancy clothing were apparently not impressed that they had to work all day for their keep. I grinned. Too bad for them.

       The days practically flew by, and the zombies never managed to get through the chain-link fence. We learned so much, and with nothing really to do in our free time, we did a lot of studying that pertained to our "positions". I may have thought that I knew a lot about edible wild plants, but it turned out that I had barely scratched the surface when I opened a book on local medicinal plants.

I was also getting to know those in my group. Each group had a dozen people in it and was led by a Group Leader who often doubled as our trainer. Alex was my Group Leader, and I had mostly memorized the names of my eleven group members, most of whom were in their twenties or thirties.