The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 129

I hadn't taken more than ten steps before the man came to his senses and jogged to catch up. He gave me a wide berth of space, which was a wise move on his part. We caught up with Daniel moments later since he had been lagging to allow us to catch up.

Daniel glanced at him, "As you probably guessed, I am Daniel. What were you doing so far from the road?"

The man was nervous in the company of two zombies, "I'm Joe. Liz said that zombies walk along the roads, but not many were away from it. Turns out she was right. I was heading to another Stronghold and hoping to leave Liz there before I started sneezing. Every place so far has turned her away since she still has that cold. It's just a cold right?"

Daniel nodded absently, "Liz just has the cold. It has been showing up in quite a few Strongholds."

Joe sighed in relief, "That is good to hear."

He stopped talking as he saved his breath for walking. Liz was quite happy on my shoulders as she looked around with no fear.

What took less than two minutes to run at zombie speed, took us at least fifteen to walk at a swift pace that had Joe breathing hard. We exited the trees to see all of the humans anxiously awaiting our return.

Nina was in the driver seat in case trouble showed up, but was looking toward the tree line. She did a hilarious double take at the child on my shoulder. Nicky was standing in the back of the truck impatiently waiting for us to get closer, "Shit girl! You almost gave me a heart attack when you jumped off the truck like that. Give me some warning next time!"

Daniel snorted as he added his two cents, "You could have just told me to stop the truck."

I rolled my eyes at both of them before picking Liz off my shoulders and passing her up to Nicky, "I wasn't sure how much time I had to get over there when I caught the scent of her blood. For all I knew, a zombie had cornered her. Turns out that she just skinned her knees."

Nicky grinned at the child as she helped her into the back of the truck, "Hey Liz! Long time no see! How did you get out here?"

Daniel answered those questions for her, "She was turned away from Strongholds since she was sneezing. Marissa ran into the same problem that many travelers face when camping in unsecured buildings."

Nicky winced, "Ah. I see." Then she perked up as she turned to Liz, "Well, you can certainly travel with us." Nicky paused as she looked at the rather dirty man, "Wow. I don't think you could get your clothing any dirtier if you actually tried. I know Daniel has a spare shirt in his bag. Probably have to wait until we get to a Stronghold for pants that will fit though."

The man looked a bit embarrassed. I climbed into the truck to reclaim my recently abandoned seat. Daniel leaned over the side of the truck to dig in his bag. He tossed the purple and blue shirt toward the man, "You can keep that."

Nicky huffed in indignation, "That Terror really needs to work on his gratitude. Just giving away gifts. At least he will actually wear it."

Daniel updated Nina while Joe quickly tossed his filthy shirt on the side of the road before putting on the one that Nicky had so carefully colored with Daniel in mind. Nina had a syringe ready by the time he finished, "So do you want the cure or a serum to allow you to remain in control when you turn?"

"The cure please."

I wasn't even sure why Nina asked after getting the same answer over 300 times. Maybe we would find one crazy person who didn't mind drinking blood for the rest of their life. Liz climbed into my lap and I stifled my annoyance. Why me? There are three humans in the back of this truck. She could have picked any of them. Perhaps I should have stuck her in the cab of the truck with Nina...