A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 47

I woke to the smell of pancakes. I silently thanked Diane for giving Nick something that even he should be able to cook. It had come as no surprise to me that Diane had no issues keeping up to yesterday's pace.

I grinned at the memory. Many of the Traders ended up riding on the trailers most of the day to give the horses a break. That left Diane to clear the road. Despite the large number of zombies in our path, Nick and the others had been astonished that Diane didn't even look tired before she headed out for her nightly run.

I watched as Sandy picked up something off of the back truck bumper. I peered at it and recognized it as kohlrabi. She lightly tossed it from hand to hand as she grinned at Nick, "Didn't know how to cook it, huh?"

Nick scowled at the offending object in her hands, "You should have seen the attitude it gave me earlier. Someone else can deal with it for supper. Consider it as my contribution."

He obviously did not know how to cook it. Although Diane was keeping a close eye on the bread and pancakes. I giggled, "You could have just diced it up and put it in with the hashbrowns. Diane did that other day. The leaves could be saved for a stir fry."

Nick looked at me in surprise, "How did you know? You were sleeping."

I saw Diane sigh as she reached over to flip the pancakes that Nick had forgotten about, saving them from a charred fate. I shrugged, "Diane showed me a long time ago and it has a distinct taste."

Dave chuckled, "I somehow suspect that you didn't even know what it was."

Nick lifted his chin, "I knew exactly what it was. It was a UFO, an underground foreign object."

We all broke out in peals of laughter.

I had the math text out again. A pentagon had five sides and an octagon had eight, how many sides did a heptagon have? I failed to see why polygons were considered important. I listened to the usual bantering below that was interspersed with the occasional snippet from a song.

I hoped that they would tell more stories tonight. Dave and several others were quite good storytellers. Even Diane had been surprised when I had told some stories. I had memorized quite a few stories like Beauty and the Beast and Peter Pan from my days at my house.

Okay, I was bored and I knew I was avoiding the question in my lap. I noticed Diane coming back from luring another zombie away. She paused to dig something up. She headed towards Nick who was driving one of the trucks and dumped an armful of stuff on his seat.

I scooted closer to the edge of the trailer to watch. Diane had been taking great delight in finding some obscure or strange plant and giving it to someone to identify. Diane jogged easily alongside the truck while Nick gave the roots a blank stare.

He reached over to gingerly poke one as if it might bite him, "What is this?"

Diane grinned, "It will go well with the rabbit that Jake caught."

Several others were watching the two. One lady urged her horse closer. She was one of the two women who were trying to learn as much as they could in the way of edible plants from Diane. She rode beside Diane and looked at the somewhat dirty tubers, "What do you have there?"

I smiled in amusement, even from up here I knew exactly what they were. What was even more amusing was the fact that both of them would have recognized the plant before Diane had dug it up.

Nick picked up one of them and pretended to be fascinated by the odd root, "Well, it is not a wild carrot or wild parsnip. Apparently it goes well with rabbit..."