The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 43

I had barely sat down for lunch with a fresh dinner roll when Nina and Daniel appeared. Either word spread in this place faster than a wildfire or someone had managed to get a phone to work. I suspected the former reason.

Nina sat down with a tray of food while Daniel just had a bottle of water. Nina smiled, "I see you survived the morning. What are your plans for this afternoon?"

I shrugged, "I was going to see if I could find a quiet place outdoors for a while. I thought I saw someone on the roof of the secondary building the other day. Later this afternoon I might dig up Nicky and go hunting."

Nina nodded sympathetically, "Need a bit of fresh air and solitude, huh? Well, I can show you where the stairs are to get onto the roof. No one else will be up there at this time of day."

I watched her eat her lunch silently. I was surprised that she had realized what I was really after so easily. I had never used the excuse of getting fresh air during our trip, so I wasn't sure how she had arrived at that correct conclusion. She was always watching and taking notes though, not to mention that she was almost always around Daniel.

Nina wasted no time in cleaning her plate. We headed toward the secondary building. A dozen people were chopping wood. I picked up a faint odor and took a deep breath to verify it. I knew that scent, although I hadn't smelled it since my first days as a zombie.

I spoke quietly knowing that Daniel would hear it, "Do you smell that? I think one of those men is infected."

Daniel stopped dead in his tracks as he glanced at me and tested the air. He turned to face the busy group. "Now that you mention it, I can smell it too."

Nina was watching Daniel with a puzzled expression, "Smell what?" She had not heard my comment.

The group was slowly becoming aware of his scrutiny as they paused in their work with confused expressions. Confused or perplexed, but not scared. Daniel crossed the small distance between us and the wood splitters, "Was anyone here bitten by a zombie? I can smell that someone is infected."

The people looked at one another in worry, wondering which of their friends they might be losing. Nina gasped and quickly followed Daniel as she looked between the faces in concern. No one replied to Daniel and it was apparent that none of them thought that they were the one infected.

They watched as Daniel walked among them sniffing. He huffed in annoyance, "The smell is so faint that I can't detect which direction it is stronger in." He turned to face me, "Trinity, you detected it before I did. Can you track it down?"

I slowly started walking toward the group and all eyes watched me silently. He may have said the smell was faint, but this close to the group it was quite noticeable. I took several deep breaths as I walked through the loose group. This entire place reeked of humans, the faint tang of zombie stood out.

I stopped and looked right at one man. A shocked expression crossed his face. I went toward him and paused once I was about an arm length away. I took another deep breath for confirmation, but it really wasn't needed. He was definitely the source.

He was nervous about my proximity. I exhaled gustily, "Toss your bandana to Daniel." I backed up a few steps to give the poor guy some room.

The man looked confused, but did as he was told. Daniel lifted it to nose as he inhaled, his eyes flashed red for a second as his instincts surged with such a close proximity to the source of a zombie scent. Daniel looked at the man, "How did you get infected? Is there any chance that you might have passed it to someone else?"

The man looked like he was having a hard time coping with Daniel's way of breaking the news to him. He shook his head as if in a daze, "I didn't go anywhere near any zombies. How could I have been infected?"