The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 34

My mind was dark and heavy as it buried me in the depths of my subconscious. I wasn't exactly sure when I started to become aware of my body. Once I started feeling it, I wished I could retreat back into the depths of my mind and hide. My traitorous body and mind wouldn't let me though.

The feelings were dim as I slowly floated into awareness. It felt like my chest was being crushed in a steel vise. It was insanely painful and it was only getting worse. Just when I thought I couldn't take any more, my heart gave a huge thump as it once more started working. The worst of the pain disappeared, it must have come from my heart trying to jumpstart itself.

My lungs automatically pulled in a deep breath and the darkness in my mind cleared a bit more. Pain radiated from several spots and my hazy mind pinpointed them as spots the bullets had hit. I also had a splitting headache. The heat from the virus burned like fire in my blood as it battled me for control.

The mouth-watering scent of my human traveling companions was very strong. I hadn't had this much trouble with my control and bloodlust even when I had first turned. Daniel's quiet voice broke the silence around me, "Her breathing has changed noticeably, she may be waking up."

Nina sounded relieved, "Already? That is a surprise." Her footsteps came closer and I struggled to simply battle back the bloodlust. I took another breath that burned the back of my throat, but the scent of a Terror so close had my instincts backing down a bit. I was thankful for the break.

Daniel spoke again, "Trinity, are you awake?"

I wasn't sure I could answer just yet, my mind was still clearing and my body wasn't quite responding to me. I slowly cracked my eyes partially open. My deeply red-tinted vision made out a rather dirty ceiling above me. I could open up my eyes a crack without severe pain, so this room was probably so dark that the humans would have a hard time seeing my body where it lay.

I knew that my eyes were glowing strongly from the bloodlust and they would surely see the glow even with my eyes being mostly closed. I turned my head slightly. I was in a very tiny jail cell that was barely big enough for the bed I was lying on. The jail cell was a good thing, my control was still uncertain and I didn't dare get close to a human at this point.

Daniel was sitting on a chair beside the bars. His presence helped with my control, since my instincts knew they had no chance of winning against him while I was injured. Nina was just behind Daniel and the heat burned in my veins a bit more at the sight of a human. I could smell the others just out of sight, although they weren't in this room.

Nina stepped up beside Daniel, "How are you feeling?"

She was far too close for my comfort or my control the way the bloodlust was raging. My voice was tight from the level of control I was using to keep from trying to attack her, "That might be a question for another day."

She tilted her head, probably analyzing my faster breathing rate and tense muscles as I tried to remain in control. She reached down before passing something to Daniel, "Daniel took down a deer and we bled it out. Here, this might help."

Daniel held a large McDonald's drink cup through the jail bars and I could pick up the scent of deer blood in it. It was wise of them to have another zombie stick their hands through the bars. I slowly sat up, my body was actually stiff. I held my breath to stop myself from growling as pain flared in my wounds with the movement. My head pounded both from the headrush of sitting up and from the bloodlust. The injury from the bullet probably wasn't helping either.

My zombie instincts were stronger than I had ever felt them in the past. I held onto control with an iron fist, it took all of my concentration to not lunge against the bars toward the human. I slowly reached out and took the cup before sticking the straw in my mouth.

I managed to mostly drain the cup before I paused to take a breath. Seconds later the straw pulled air. Nina was already passing two more cups to Daniel. I glanced down to see a cooler beside Daniel's chair with several more cups. I drained the rest of the cups in a similar manner.

It was distinctly odd to drink blood that was cold. It had a stale taste to it, but I wasn't about to complain since each cup helped me gain the upper hand on my control as my bloodlust faded. Once I had drained all eight cups, I felt much more like myself. I was quite full, although I knew with large healing wounds that I would be hunting more than normal as my body burned through resources to try and heal me.

I didn't have to fight for control any more than usual now. My headache had faded to a dull pounding. The sore and painful spots from the bullet wounds still reminded me of their presence. I really wished that painkillers worked on zombies since my wounds were throbbing painfully even while sitting still. I was not looking forward to moving.

I wondered how long I had been out cold. A gunshot to the chest took about a month to heal into a scar. I knew that from experience. I couldn't have been out for more than a few days with the amount my injuries hurt.

I felt recovered enough that the room lighting was now my biggest issue. It would be fairly dim by human standards, just about right for a haunted house. It was too bright for me. I glanced around the room, but with my eyes mostly closed I couldn't see anything in detail. "I don't suppose anyone found my spare pair of sunglasses in my backpack?"

Daniel handed something through the bars and I took my sunglasses. I put them on with a sigh of relief as I could finally open up my eyes. The good news was that I was alive and in control. The bad news was that it felt like I had been run over by a semi.

I carefully stretched my arms as I tried to work the kinks out of the joints. Even that movement hurt. "How long was I out?"

Daniel replied, "Two days."

That was a bit surprising, usually it took four to seven days for Runners or regular zombies to wake up from head wounds caused by a bullet. Maybe it was different for higher-ranking zombies or maybe my head injury hadn't been that serious. Nina pointed a flashlight at the ceiling and turned it on so that they could see me now that I had my sunglasses on.

Nina spoke again, "How are you feeling?"

"My control is mostly back in place, although I doubt I could handle a hug from Liz at the moment. I feel like I got run over by a bus. How bad was the damage?"

Nina sat in a chair and sighed, "Pretty bad. Had you still been human, you would have been dead regardless of how fast you arrived in the ER. You were hit by five bullets. One in the shoulder, a second in your upper leg, one partially collapsed your lung, another damaged your heart and the last one did a bit of damage to your head. Thankfully the one that hit your head was from a small handgun, the rest came from rifles."

Oh boy. I was going to be healing for some time. It would probably be two weeks before I could attempt things that I normally did, but until then, I was going to be quite weak. It would take much more time after that for the injuries to heal into pale scars. My body may heal fast the first week or so, but that was because my body would put everything it had into healing. That meant that it left me no reserves of energy for any kind of activity, and if I did try even something as simple as walking, I would tire very quickly.

"Do you think you can stand up?"

This was going to hurt... I took a deep breath and felt the three wounds on my chest protest against the movement. I slowly stood up while putting most of my weight on my good leg. Considering the pain radiating from my other leg, I probably didn't want to see how bad the damage was.

Nina tilted her head, "Are we safe to open up the door?"

I nodded, "Yes, just don't touch me without warning."

Daniel stood up and opened up the door. It hadn't even been locked. He kept a careful eye on me in case my control was shakier than I was letting on. I slowly walked out. The pain was too bad to go any faster. Nina led the way out of the room and I followed her. Daniel followed behind me. The hair on my neck prickled as the Terror followed behind me. I think I preferred it when he remained between me and Nina...