The Virus Within: Third Wave (Book 2)

Chapter 77

"There you are!" Nicky exclaimed, gazing down at me. "Why are you digging a well?"

"You know as well as I do that it's for the telephone post."

"Yeah, and I told you that you'd end up over here."

"So why are you here?"

"Because it's time for your afternoon patrol, and I want to vacate the area while the paint fumes dry. I almost had a heart attack when I saw the side-by-side was gone. If I couldn't go with you, I would've had to do something constructive, like actually work. But Hank was kind enough to tell me you took it. Then I saw it parked out here."

"And now you're over here bothering me." I tossed a bucketful of dirt out of the hole, forcing her to dodge the soil.

"Yep. And since you skipped lunch, I know you've been playing in the dirt for at least six hours. So quit pretending you're a rabbit and let's go for a patrol."

"You're just worried John is going to bury you in one of these holes."

"It ain't him I'm worried about. Let's go."

I gave her a long look. "Who else did you annoy?"

"I'm not entirely sure if she's going to be annoyed or not, but I may or may not have overheard your comment about forgetting to paint Jess's door."

That brought a smirk to my lips. "You're scared of Jess?" Of all the people to be worried about...

"Not really, but she's got this rather short-tempered older sister who actually concerns me, so I'd rather that Jess be unable to find her when she realizes what I did to her door."

That makes more sense. With a sigh, I jumped out of the hole.

"Fine. Someone else can finish what I started." It was going to take more than a few days to dig all the holes, even with Daniel and me pitching in.

Nicky promptly ran over to the side-by-side and scrambled into the driver's seat. I grabbed my backpack and started jogging.

~

       Nicky was remarkably silent as she sat down with her dinner on the rooftop, although from John and Jess's lack of reaction, they must not have seen their doors yet. As soon as Jess discovered Nicky had found her door, we'd hear about it. She wasn't exactly the quietest person around, although I had yet to find a bright color she didn't love.

"I confirmed the waves will continue getting shorter," Nina said as she spread some butter on a bun. "The airborne strain has a special section in its RNA, and each time it's transmitted, it loses a piece of it. Kind of like how the telomeres on the end of human chromosomes shorten each time the cell splits. Eventually, it will lose its ability to replicate."

"Do you have any idea how long that might be?" John asked.

"If the rate between the last three waves holds steady, it'll be about two and half years before the airborne version disappears. It won't affect the regular virus in zombies since that type lost that section when its host turned, so saliva and blood will remain the main vectors for transmission."

"Is the shortening section also responsible for making the sneezing time shorter?" I inquired.

Nina inclined her head in approval. "Exactly so. About six or seven hours are lost from the sneezing window each time. I'll be letting the other research centers know this later tonight. Our best defense is to spread the cure as widely as possible."

"That's a good plan," Luke agreed with a nod. "Especially since I'm not having much luck with turning the zombie's blood into a vaccine base."

"Are the immune system defenses still not cooperating?" John asked kindly.