The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 71

Sneaking in a random bonus chapter to see who's paying attention. ;)

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I was beginning to detest long boring road trips where I did nothing but sit in the back of a truck. The air was warm and dry, so scents weren't traveling as far as they could have. Now that my control was no longer really being questioned, we were simply trying to find a feral Nightstalker. On a highway. In the middle of the day.

The fact that it was late afternoon showed how well this plan was working. I took another deep breath of the air that swirled around the back of the truck. "Are you sure that a Runner won't work? There are at least three around here somewhere."

This truck had a window in the back of the cab and it was open, so even Nina could hear my normal speaking volume fairly easily. Nina glanced back at me through the window, "We inoculated the last two Runners in the barn with that drug before we left and several people are keeping a close eye on them. At this point, we really need another Nightstalker to see if he or she has the same side effects."

I had been pretty sure I knew the answer to that before I asked, although I hadn't known about the Runners in the barn. Daniel had his window down, but his sense of smell wasn't as good as mine was and he just kept picking up my scent.

This meant that it was up to me to locate a feral Nightstalker. I sighed before taking another deep breath, trying to pick up any hint of a Nightstalker without success.

This was quite a remote area and the nearest town was still three hours away. We would camp there for the night. That was still three long hours away as I immersed myself in the world of scent. The way the air swirled was very annoying, I had no idea which direction the scents were coming from. When on foot, I had a very good idea which direction something was in and how far away it was.

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My eyes opened, "Daniel, could you stop the truck for a moment?"

The truck rolled to a stop and I stood up to take a deep breath. It was faint, but it was there. A light growl rumbled through my chest, "It is very faint, but there is a Nightstalker to the west somewhere."

Nina unfolded the map and examined the roads, "If we go to this intersection and follow this road we can get much further west with the truck."

The truck started moving and I sat back down. Fifteen minutes of driving later the scent was stronger. Daniel slowed the truck down as he looked over his shoulder at me, "How far away do you think it is?"

I stood up and Daniel gently brought the truck to a standstill. The smell was fairly strong and crossed the entire area. I doubted that this feral female ever encountered water except on the occasions when the rain gave her a free shower. "It is a female and definitely feral. Her scent is all over this area so her lair can't be more than a ten minute walk away."

Daniel turned off the truck and got out. Nina slid over to the driver's seat, if any feral zombie appeared she would drive away with Nicky in the back. I jumped out of the truck box, I was not looking forward to what we were about to do. We were going to knock out a feral Nightstalker and truss it up so we could haul back with us. This is going to be as fun as going to a tropical beach in a wool sweater and snow boots...

I leaned over to grab the bag of handcuffs and metal wire out of the back of the truck. Rope would not work with a zombie's fingernails. Daniel walked over to my side of the truck as he sniffed the air, "The scent is definitely thick around here. It is almost as if she ran around in circles. Can you track her?"

I snorted at the stupid question and pointed over my shoulder. It surprised me that he was unable to sift through the numerous scent trails and pick up the stronger one on the breeze. I left my backpack in the truck and grabbed a crowbar we had picked up last night from the motel. Daniel promised to return my weapons once we returned to the Stronghold where they had been left.