The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 56

Bonus chapter! Happy Christmas Eve! 

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The next day went pretty much the same as the day before. I joined Nicky at the archery range after supper, none of the other archers had arrived yet. Nicky took aim at her target, "Marissa is being quite stubborn and she hasn't let Liz out of her sight the last two days. I overheard someone complaining that no one can manage to get Liz away from Marissa and they were really trying today."

I loosed my own arrow, it hit dead center and sunk deep into the target despite shooting the most distant target. "In that case Marissa will be much happier tomorrow."

"Are you going to miss Liz? I know you were showing some teeth toward Marissa the last two times."

I snorted in amusement, "The teeth were more for her attitude than anything else. I don't know Liz well enough to miss her. She is a cute kid, but I have never really done anything with kids."

Nicky nodded as she went to collect her arrows. She had no fear about collecting her arrows while I shot at my target. Then again, my aim had never been as bad as hers had originally been. The first trickle of the archery group started arriving and we fell silent.

I tested the air and grinned internally in triumph. Perfect. A storm was on the wind and would arrive tonight. A good rainfall would wipe out a muddled or faint scent trail. Rain would also destroy footprints and other traces that one might leave behind.

The thunderclouds built on the horizon as we wasted time on the archery range. The storm might even arrive before we left. I eventually put my bow away, "Big storm coming, don't stay out too late."

She nodded as she glanced at the distant clouds. I headed off to my room to wait impatiently. My backpack got one more check before I left it at the side of my bed. It was going to remain behind as a decoy. My hairbrush and toothbrush were sitting on the tiny dresser as well to make it look like I was still planning on being here tonight.

I didn't truly need anything in my backpack. I could live without a hairbrush for a few days and I had already brushed and braided my hair in preparation. Various objects that I would rather they didn't find were in a junk bin behind the garage. Things like the glass jars and syringes. I left a bar of soap in my backpack just to entertain Daniel.

It was getting dark outside although it was more due to the storm than the setting sun. A rumble of thunder announced that it would arrive soon. My eyes watched the dark clouds that were heavy with rain, this was almost perfect. A storm this big would last almost half the night and we wouldn't even have to worry about using half of the tricks to destroy a scent trail when this storm was going to do it for us.

~

I stood under the overhang of the chicken coop in my rain jacket and waited. Where was Nicky? There was only one chicken coop, so she couldn't have gotten lost. I glanced at my pocket watch, but I was only going to give her another ten minutes to show up before I went looking for her. She better not have fallen asleep while waiting...

I remained still as I watched the Stronghold. A crack of lightning lit up the place much too brightly before a deafening roll of thunder shook the window panes behind me. I glanced at my pocket watch again, her time was up.

I growled in frustration as I headed back toward the buildings. Her room was dark and the window was halfway open. I had no idea if she was inside or not. I gritted my teeth as I began to climb the damp bricks. Thankfully the wind was blowing the rain mostly in the other direction so not much rain hit the wall or me as I climbed up.

I glanced inside of her room before growling at the sight of Nicky sleeping on her bed in her rain jacket. I pushed the window open wide enough for me to slip inside and went over to shake her shoulders. I wrinkled my nose at whatever cheap air freshener the cleaning staff used. The cleaning staff wouldn't enter my room without my permission and I never would ask them since I didn't want strange humans in my room. It was bad enough when Nicky barged in occasionally.