The Virus Within: Third Wave (Book 2)

Chapter 12

As the sun continued to dip below the horizon, my instincts roused to the point where I was having trouble sitting so close to the fire. I stood up and lightly shook myself as if it would remove the restlessness. I wasn't so fortunate.

I grabbed my backpack and told Luke, "I tend to patrol the area most of the night. Feel free to sleep here. Give me a holler if anything nasty shows up."

He glanced at Daniel, as if uncertain what might show up that a Terror couldn't take on, but nodded. "Certainly. If you need any help, just call."

I nodded and jumped off the roof. Cloaked by the growing darkness, I circled the camp several times as my instincts fully awakened with the night. The way Luke's scent was mixing with Daniel's and the two women's wasn't something I was used to, and it continuously stood out as unusual to my nose.

It would be different having another zombie around. At least I knew Luke wasn't the kind to drive me crazy or piss me off. He was, by far, the most courteous zombie I had ever met.

It would be much harder for him to travel with us since Nicky and Nina would be endlessly triggering his bloodlust, and there was no "upwind" in the swirling air in the back of a truck. I slowed down and took a deep breath. Was there anything around here that might make this trip easier for Luke? Several scents had me grinning before I darted into the undergrowth.

A couple of hours later, I took the armful of plants to a creek. Using two smooth, flat stones, I squeezed the juices out of the stems, letting them drip into a small jar. I was careful to breathe through my mouth in case the resulting concoction temporarily dulled my sense of smell.

I continued searching the forest for anything else I could use but came up empty-handed. The lack of results had me turning my attention to the local wildlife. I lifted my nose to the air before disappearing into the underbrush again.

A rabbit allowed me to doctor my wounds while also taking the edge off my appetite. The blood was sweet, but I was getting tired of rabbits. Other than a couple of other animals, I'd had the furry rodents almost every day for weeks on end. At this rate, I was going to have to see if the butchers would let me borrow one of the live animals and return its carcass a bit later. That could even work for Luke if he grew tired of rabbits.

I took another deep breath and sifted through the scents to locate something that wasn't a rabbit. There was a herd of deer and a bear, although I wasn't hungry enough for something that large. I exhaled slowly in annoyance. It irked me that there were so few mid-sized creatures. It seemed to jump from tiny mice up to foxes with almost nothing in-between that wasn't uncommon or rare.

A faint, earthier smell caught my interest. I didn't mind a bit of work if it meant I got some variety in my meals. The night was silent as I tracked the scent to an open field that looked devoid of life. However, my nose told me otherwise.

When I got closer, I paused to watch the shoe-sized rodents nibble on any plants that were near them. Most people called them prairie dogs, and some mistakenly called them gophers, but I called them a welcome change from rabbits. Both were rodents and herbivores, but they tasted different, and different was what I was after.

They were much warier than their long-eared cousins and rarely ventured far from their burrows. If one gave an alarm call, the others would hide for a very long time. They preferred to be active during the day, but they would also come out at night. The grass was very short from their incessant chewing, and there was no cover whatsoever on the open ground around their burrows.

That made it a challenge. My instincts rose higher as they tried to direct me, although I already knew the tricks for hunting these furry critters. I checked the wind direction; their sense of smell was keen, so I'd have to remain downwind.