The Virus Within: Third Wave (Book 2)

Chapter 3

Daniel kept his pace to something I could keep up with, although it wasn't by much, and I was breathing hard by the time the house came into view. The truck was still parked outside, and no one was in sight. Fortunately, I didn't smell any other humans or zombies around.

Heading straight for the door, Daniel tried to turn the doorknob and furrowed his eyebrows when he realized the handle was locked.

I called out, "Nina, Nicky, we're back. Can you please unlock the door before Daniel breaks it down?"

Daniel tilted his head, obviously able to hear their movements. Seconds later, from deeper inside the house, I heard a distant click as someone unlocked a twist-lock doorknob. Footsteps rapidly approached, and more locks were undone before the door opened to reveal a worried-looking Nina with Nicky behind her.

Nina immediately noticed Daniel's arms were crisscrossed with numerous scratches and inhaled in shock, taking a step closer. "What happened?"

Her eyes darted over to me, and her look of concern and confusion grew when she spotted the scratches and the blood-stained bandage. She kept glancing between us, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. Behind her, Nicky peered around Nina's shoulder and blinked in surprise.

"I got ambushed by three Nightstalkers," Daniel admitted with a resigned sigh.

"Nightstalkers?" Nina asked incredulously, as if she was unable to believe her ears.

"Yes. They were sane and wearing welding goggles."

I snorted. "I don't count those three as sane. In control is a better term. They clearly had more screws loose than Nicky on a bad day."

Nina shook her head, although she looked relieved to learn we hadn't attacked one another, nor had been seriously injured. "Let me grab my medical kit and patch you two up."

Daniel made a face as she turned to go back inside. Apparently, he wasn't a fan of letting someone near his wounds either, although he didn't seem irritated or upset. I made my way over to a weathered bench and sat down. Digging through my backpack at my feet, I pulled out my water bottle and some paper towel to clean my wounds.

Nicky wandered over to get a better look at the blood-stained cloth wrapped around my forearm. "Shit. Did they have an axe?"

"No, he had a very sharp belt knife."

And fingernails, which had left at least a dozen shallow scratches, although some had barely grazed my skin. Several were deeper though. My left elbow was scraped up from when I had been tackled to the ground. I was very glad zombie bruises rarely became visible, or my skin would be starting to turn all sorts of funky colors.

Placing the water, paper towel, and additional bandages beside me, I began carefully unwrapping the sticky, red bandage. It throbbed in time with my heartbeat, and I gritted my teeth as the final layer peeled away from the painful cut.

The bleeding had mostly stopped, but the wound was too deep for me to see where it ended. If it hadn't hit the bone, it was awfully close. I carefully used some damp paper towel to wipe the blood away from the skin around the wound.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Nicky asked, watching the paper towel turn crimson.

I nodded toward my backpack. "There should be a few big adhesive bandages in the back compartment from when my leg was injured."

I began cleaning closer to the wound and clenched my teeth against the pain. Nicky pulled the requested bandages out, but held onto them, presumably to unwrap them for me.

"Wait," Nina said, coming out of the house, "I have some saline solution to clean those up better. I can see a piece of grass stuck to your elbow from here."