The Virus Within- Changing

News, Survivors, and a Fight

Six days later, a trading merchant came. I was in my room when she came, though everyone else was checking out the goods. I looked out the window, and I listened for any news. I caught some words of people trading, and nothing else. Just as I was about to stop, I heard something. Something bad.

"Did you know that at Hensworth Stronghold a kid was turned?" a guy said. I barely caught it.

"Who?"

"A kid named Michael. But get this: He's sane."

"What?"

I was shocked too. I leaned closer to the window.

"Really?"

"Yeah, and he doesn't fit the description of any tiers."

"What abilities does he have?"

"Sharp eyesight in both light and dark, with amazing control and instinct. He can hide his scent, believe it or not. Turns out he was turned for a month before they found out. His speed is phenomenal, as well as stamina, and he's practically invisible when he wants to be. His strength is borderline to a Nightstalker. Apparently, his claws can retract. The locals have taken to calling him an Assassin for his stealth and speed."

Fitting my abilities exactly. Wow.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

I sat back, stunned. Mostly by the fact that they allowed themselves to get caught. They should've been sneaky enough. Oh well.

Two weeks later, there were three more cases of so-called "Assassins" showing up. They fit the description, and all had hidden and were now accepted as a zombie in the community. A scientist by the name of Nina, the same one who had made the cure, had been traveling around to see if they could detect or examine one. They had already made amazing discoveries. Apparently, the virus was trying to reactivate the sneezing stage but had instead mutated, creating a new type of virus.

The old virus was the zombie virus. The new one was the phantom virus, as they had decided to call it. It was almost the same, but had a higher rank, with more strength, speed, intelligence, and spreadability. There was minimal chance of insane phantom zombies though, which was good. The abilities of the virus were crazy. It was like bacteriophages, which were tiny creatures that mass murdered specific bacteria. In this case, the bacteria were the zombie virus. The phantom virus could expel itself from a living animal. It also had the astounding abilities to give powers, like immunity to fire, color changing, but nothing too bad, like time travel. Most of these ideas were from Mother Nature. I didn't know what I had.

The next day, I walked into the cafeteria and heard something.

"Kindlewind Stronghold is down!"

I ran back to my room, searched on the net, and read. It was true. Kindlewind Stronghold was down. It was also the closest to us, so they would come to us for help.

An Assassin had slit the throats of two guards and opened the gates. The kid was Keri Nobsren, with blue eyes, blond hair, and age of fourteen. Four Runners inside with two regular zombies for each human. They didn't stand a chance. They would come in about two days. Zombies would come soon after. People were on the lookout for different Assassins. It was gonna be a rough month.

I perched on a roof, searching for lookouts. It was time. I had a flashlight, black clothes, a black jacket that covered my face, and a bar of soap. I saw three in the two towers, one on the wall, and one at the gate. It was gonna be hard. I looked for the opportunity, then jumped. slammed into the wall and slowly let my claws out, careful to not let the scent sneak through. I gradually made my way up until I was at the edge. I would have to be quick.

I peeked. The guard passed me. Swiftly glancing both ways, I jumped on and somersaulted off, sliding down the wall until I could gain purchase. Then I hopped down and darted out of sight.

When I came back, I looked. There wasn't a guard. That should've been warning enough. I don't know why I went for it. I just did. I jumped onto the wall and was jumping off when a blur of black slammed into me. I rolled onto the ground to find Dillon on me. He growled, and I growled back. He came towards me and I dodged his claws and hooked him. In that same motion, I jumped and kicked him, using him to push me away. Then I ran. I was stopped by Samantha, who stuck out her foot and tried to trip me before grabbing me by the leg as I ran. I spun my leg, pushing her with the same move I used on Dillon.

Then Dillon tackled me, and I was pinned. Samantha was there, too. I threw him off, but he spun, landed on his feet, and surrounded me with Samantha. I took out my soap and held it in one hand. I shoved in in Dillon's mouth, but Samantha dragged me down and tried to rip off my mask. I slipped out from under her only to have Dillon help her drag me down. They were holding me by my arms and legs, and Dillon snapped a quick photo before tightening his grip. I managed to pull my arm free and grabbed my flashlight. I flicked it on and they both hissed in annoyance. I ran and got away.

The survivors came at dawn. Half were infected but cured, four had turned into sane zombies, and there were only one hundred or so in all. There were more than five hundred in the Stronghold.