A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 135

I sat in the largest room in the nursing area and listened to Diane intently. Twenty others also listened with rapt attention as she once more went over how she called up the chill. She often lacked words to describe how she did it.

Heartfire reacted to emotion, and it was sometimes hard to explain an emotion in a way that others could feel. This was the situation Diane was struggling with as those around her asked her various questions or tried to clarify the abstract process. Some questions like 'how do you hold onto goosebumps?' could only be met with Diane's shrug and an equally vague answer of, 'There isn't any way to describe it, but you will see if you manage it.'

Most here were from the first group that Diane had fired with Roland. Roland, Amber, and Todd were also part of the crowd. Todd was determined to try since he had been fired before the others by almost a month.

"...so there is no real trick we can use? It never gets easier?"

Diane nodded, "Even for me it is as hard as it was the first time. It isn't like the heat you feel that you can manipulate so easily. It resists you. You get more familiar with it and know how close you are, but that is about it."

Kerry was watching with a handful of needles in hand, "Okay, why don't you all try it? I have a bunch of needles here to get samples. If they glow and don't burn people, then we are ahead of the game."

Everyone nodded seriously. The fact that only one person was able to make their blood glow had them somewhat concerned. Many closed their eyes to see if they could do it, since they had always seen Diane do that. I also closed my eyes and tried.

It sounded simple. A strong desire to help. It was actually deceptively and fiendishly complicated. The desire was so strong that Diane had never felt such an intense desire to help before, so strong that it created a migraine level headache. Oh, and you couldn't try to resist or push away the headache or the chill wouldn't come.

Minutes passed and I got nowhere as I imagined trying to save close friends from zombie bites. With a quiet sigh, I decided that Diane was right, I was simply too young to learn this trick. I looked around, but saw that no one else was having any more luck than I had.

Diane, Kerry and several other nurses were watching silently. The nurses planned to get a small blood sample to get a better look at it. A handful of people who weren't fired had volunteered to touch it and see if it burned them.

The clock proclaimed that ten minutes had passed. No one had gotten goosebumps. I really hoped that Diane wasn't the only person who could learn this trick. I noticed that Ace had joined us halfway through and was also attempting it despite being fired much more recently. Perhaps the self-discipline that he had learned from numerous forms of fighting would aid him where others failed. He had been ahead of most when it came to reaching milestones such as being able to feel and use the heat.

The one guy sat up with a sigh and opened his eyes, "I get a bit of a headache, but nothing more..." His wife rubbed his shoulders from where she sat behind him. She was expecting their first child and had not been allowed to partake in this exercise.

Diane furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to think of a way to help, "Try again, but imagine if your daughter wasn't born with the Heartfire and had somehow been bitten by a zombie. What would you feel?"

His eyes flared blue with the strength of his emotions at that thought. His wife's eyes had also gotten brighter. Heartfire made one more protective of friends and family. He would fiercely defend his wife and unborn child if any danger made itself known. Perhaps it would work to our advantage in this situation.