A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 19

Rick was teaching me some different things. He was showing me what to do in various situations and how to hide almost anywhere. It wouldn't work against a zombie, but if Diane had to break up a fight, it wouldn't leave me exposed to an attack. He told me that someone might use me as a hostage and I had to avoid that if it was at all possible. If the people didn't know I was around, even better.

I still wasn't sure why they all figured that she would be breaking up fights. The Guards usually did that, but we were often in places with no Guards present, so maybe she was a substitute, like a substitute teacher from my old school.

Diane was off training with Ace. Thankfully I didn't see any bruises despite how Ace had spoken the first time. Diane seemed somewhat tired when she came back from her training though, which I thought was odd. I had never seen her tired before.

I missed spending most of my evening with her, but I had been training with Rick almost every night. The other nights Trish and Nathan took me to the playground. It had taken some pleading, but Diane woke me up when she came back and we got to talk some before going to bed. She often didn't get back until very late.

I yawned as Diane gently shook my shoulder, but I sat up. She didn't let me talk for long before she decided it was time for me to go back to sleep. The room was still dark, but her eyes were easy to spot since they were glowing faintly.

I smiled sleepily, "How did your training go?"

"Pretty good. I am starting to block most of Ace's attacks and I am getting one or two blows past his guard, so I am improving. What did you learn today?"

I grinned, "We practiced how and where to hide in different situations if you had to break up a fight." I tilted my head, "Why is everyone so certain that you will be breaking up a fight? Is it because of the people who were fighting when you had to leave me with Donovan?"

Diane was silent for a moment and her eyes seem to darken with sadness. I was worried, what had I said to make her sad? Before I could ask she replied, "That is a good thing to learn. Yes, it is similar to the fight that the guy got into. The reason people want me to learn is because Tom's injuries were so bad that he died. His funeral is in two days."

I gasped, I hadn't realized that the fight had been that bad. I thought he might have had a black eye or something, but that didn't even cross my mind. "Did the person who hurt him get into trouble?"

She glanced off to the side as her eyes seemed to harden. Her voice was somewhat gruff, "Unfortunately, we don't know who hurt him."

I was sad, other than Auntie, I had never had someone die before. It reminded me of how much I missed Auntie.

"I can come back early tomorrow afternoon and we can spend more time together since we have been so busy in the evenings."

Diane's comment distracted me. "Really? I would like that. I miss you when you are gone."

She smiled, "I miss you too. But it is late, so let's go to sleep and we can talk in the morning."

I nodded and lay down. Moments later I was fast asleep.

We still had some time after supper before Diane had to go for her training. Trish decided to hang out with us since Nathan had training right after supper.

"Do you want to go to the playground?"

I slowly shook my head. Knowing there was funeral tomorrow made me think of Auntie's funeral. I didn't really feel like running around with other kids. "Can we play a board game instead?"