The Virus Within: Third Wave (Book 2)

Chapter 6

The moon shone overhead as I dug up a small mint plant and slid it into the plastic tube. It was a common plant, but I was running out of ideas, and this would grow very well in a garden. I'd wait until I was back at Ironwind Stronghold to visit an abandoned town and raid some backyards for perennial herbs for Jess.

As I stood up, I felt a tweak as one edge of a smaller scab pulled loose. I examined the other scabs from my fight against the Nightstalkers. Several of the smallest ones – barely worse than a cat scratch – had already fallen off. The slightly deeper ones were beginning to lift, and the rest would likely come off in a day or two if I kept doctoring them so much. The deep cut was much further along than I anticipated, although regardless of what I did, it would take at least a week before that one healed.

Due to my cheating, my injuries were healing leaps and bounds faster than Daniel's were. He hadn't noticed the difference yesterday, but I couldn't see him missing it today. Especially if some of the bigger scabs fell off.

I dismissed it with a shake of my head. He'd notice it at some point, then he'd have another puzzle to try and solve. This trip was turning into a goldmine for him, and I was making him do all the digging.

The night was quiet as I continued roaming the fields. I saw a small stand of trees near the gas station and decided to check it out. To call it a forest would have been an overstatement since it would have fit onto a soccer field. Other than songbirds and a couple of squirrels, there was nothing interesting, so I went back out into the fields.

The waist-high grasses and self-seeded crops stretched to the horizon in most directions. If someone crouched down out there, they could have a wild game of hide and seek.

Other creatures were playing that very game tonight. My nose easily picked up the scent of numerous rabbits, mice, and quail. Several foxes and a few other predators were also in the area. One scent was a bit different – close to a rabbit, but not quite.

I knew what it was, but went in search of it anyway. It didn't take me long to find the jackrabbit napping under a clump of grass. Its huge ears and long legs were almost comical, although I knew how fast those critters could run if they put their minds to it. I hadn't seen one for months, possibly because they didn't like the mountainous or forested areas this far north. I left the jackrabbit alone and continued circling the gas station.

Closer to dawn, a rabbit hopped in front of me and sealed its fate. Ever since the controlex had removed my desire for normal food, I had been hunting more than before. In the past, I occasionally hunted a larger animal every three or four days, and it had been sufficient.

Once I started traveling with humans, I hunted a smaller creature every night just to help with my control. After the controlex had tweaked the virus in my blood, I was hunting something about the size of a rabbit each night, and every few days, I either went after something larger or hunted more than once.

Ahead of me, another rabbit hopped out of the grass and scratched its ear with a hind leg, not even bothering to look around first. The rabbits around here obviously weren't very bright.

I hadn't tended my injuries tonight, and the opportunity was too good to pass up. My instincts were all for having these pesky wounds healed so it didn't look like I had lost so many First Strike matches. I still couldn't figure out how Daniel never noticed his instincts given the number of scratches that crisscrossed his arms, although that might have contributed to his surly mood earlier.

It took mere seconds to catch and kill the unwary rabbit. I trickled the blood over the various small scratches before turning to the bandage that hid the larger knife wound. I peeled back the bandage and used a tissue to wipe the salve away.