A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 95

Others were starting to pack up and I took a seat on one of the bicycles. I was barely big enough to reach the pedals. I stood on the one pedal and it slowly started moving. Whoa, the pedals didn't like to turn. I didn't realize that it would be so hard to pedal.

It wasn't as easy as just riding a normal bike, there was a fair bit of resistance as the belt turned the turbines to produce electricity. I had originally thought that I could pedal most of the way, but I hastily re-evaluated that mistaken idea. No wonder Roland had been so certain that Diane would have to take breaks.

After a few minutes, I could feel some muscles in my legs protesting, they weren't used to being used like this. I got off the bicycle and decided to help lure off zombies instead. Boy, there were a lot of zombies. A couple of times, I had to dodge ones that appeared on the trail ahead of me as well as the bumbling group behind me.

People pedalled until the batteries were at full charge before taking down the fence. The trucks began to creep forward until they hit a slow walking speed. People had harnessed most of the horses to the trucks, which helped some. I was very glad that there were no hills for us to go up. Diane was on a bicycle and pedaling harder than most were.

The others planned to pedal hard and switch out every 10 minutes or so as they tired. I heard people already making bets on how long Diane would last. Many of the adults didn't like me luring away zombies, they thought I was too young for such a task. I lured zombies away despite their protests.

An hour later, I glanced back, but Diane was still on the bike. Everyone had a turn on a bike and had switched out at least once already. I had tried to pedal for a while, but although the Heartfire had given me speed and stamina, it had obviously not built up my strength that much yet.

Pedalling the bike was like trying to drag Todd across the grass. It used leg muscles that I didn't normally use. It was the soreness of my muscles rather than my stamina that caused me to get off the bicycle. The fact that the bike was meant for an adult didn't really help my case either.

I put my energy into luring off zombies while picking some greens during breaks. I dumped my small bucket of greens and looked around. Anyone on a bike was breathing hard and sweating. I examined Diane. Despite pedalling for two hours with no break, she was still going faster than anyone else. Her eyes were quite bright though, so she was clearly using the Heartfire.

Diane hadn't commented on the bets going around about how long she would last, but did using the Heartfire count as cheating? I thought about it and decided that it didn't. They knew she had it and that she would use it. She was starting to breathe harder, although she wasn't sweating yet.

     

I squinted before commenting to Diane, "Oh, look! I can see the palisade walls!"

Diane was pedalling hard as she peered into the distance and nodded without responding. I didn't blame her. Her breathing was heavy and her shirt was damp with sweat. Her eyes were dim like they had been in Wainwright. She was hiding their glow, which told me that the heat in her blood was high enough that otherwise her eyes would be glowing even in the daylight.

We had managed to lose or trap most of the trailing zombies behind an obstacle, so only a handful of people were luring zombies away. They all looked tired too. The short periods of heavy exercise was taking its toll on them. They were going to sleep well tonight.

Diane pushed a bit harder with our destination in sight, although it made no noticeable difference to our speed. She was probably going to feel her legs for a few hours. I could certainly feel my leg muscles somewhat, although the Heartfire was already easing the ache. Diane looked about as tired as she normally did after a serious sparring session against Ace and the five Guard Group Leaders.