The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 66

I crossed the scent wall and resumed my patrol. It was almost a relief when the sun finally set. My anger had faded, but I still felt slightly wound up for some reason. I rubbed my temples as I jogged, my headache hadn't faded, which was odd.

The scenery around me hazed slightly for half a second and I came to an abrupt stop in surprise. What the hell was that? I took a deep breath of the air, but picked up nothing that seemed out of place. I didn't hear anything odd and there was no trace of the haze now. Did I imagine it? The haze had only been present for a split second, almost as if I had been looking through the heat haze above the road on a hot day.

I let my instincts come forward in case they could pick something up. They had strengthened as the sun had set, but they seemed restless. I tested the air, but still came up clueless as to what had my instincts unsettled. I felt wisps of heat in my blood as the virus was also reacting to something.

I glanced back, but didn't see any fog or anything that looked like a gas cloud. I was in the forest and the dense trees could easily prevent me from seeing something. My run hadn't been that cautious so far and I had been traveling openly along the path. I rarely made such a mistake of traveling in such an open fashion along a deer trail and I was once more reminded that I was a Nightstalker.

I moved into the foliage and went into full stalker mode. I circled around and doubled back, trying to find what had my instincts on edge. When I moved like this in the dark, it would take another Nightstalker or a spotlight to spot me.

Nothing.

I climbed into a tree while I watched to ensure that nothing was trying to trail me by scent. I had circled this area a dozen times and came up empty. My instincts were still on edge, but they hadn't strengthened or shifted in any particular area.

With a mental shake I jumped down. If something happened when I came through in my next lap, I would note the area and have Daniel check it out during the day. Until then I would put it down as a false alarm. Perhaps I had imagined it.

I continued my patrol, but used stealth. My instincts didn't settle any and I made sure to break my scent trail several times in case something was trailing me at a great distance. None of the other animals seemed to think anything was wrong. Unless they caught my scent, they went about their lives as they normally did.

No alarm calls of squirrels or other creatures came from behind me. Even the regular zombies were acting as they always did. I took time to hunt and there was one less rabbit when I was done. I left it for the scavengers. I was not about to carry a dead rabbit around until sunrise when midnight had barely passed.

I had made another half a lap when I encountered the haze again. I whirled around with a snarl while testing the air. There were no odd scents and nothing was near me. It had only lasted a second, but I had definitely not imagined it. The haze had been strong enough to obscure my sight so I couldn't see. I turned and cautiously passed through the same spot several times, but the haze didn't re-appear.

I contemplated the haze and began to wonder if it was actually my sight instead of something around me that had caused it. My instincts were more unsettled now and stirring in response to my own unease. A tremor passed through my muscles. I narrowed my eyes, could I be getting sick? Was it possible that I was not dealing with an external foe, but an internal one?

I didn't think it was possible for zombies to get sick, so the thought hadn't even occurred to me. I focused on my body. My headache was still present and was a bit stronger. There was a very faint ache in my muscles, which I could very easily blow off as the aftereffects of my demolition derby with the trees earlier.