The Virus Within: Blood Moon (Book 3)

Chapter 7

The moon's red light dimmed as the eastern sky started to brighten. I picked up Nicky's scent as we drove through an intersection, and I started slowing down since that usually meant they had turned. Sure enough, there was no second clue in this direction, so I turned the truck around.

"What happened?" Jess asked, gazing around the pre-dawn light. "Why are we going back?"

"Nicky left a clue in the intersection, and there wasn't one this way, so they went down one of the other roads. We just have to find her next clue."

"A clue?"

"The balls of thread she's been spitting out at every intersection," I replied dryly. Did Jess really not know Nicky had been guiding us the entire way?

"Oh. I knew she had a nervous habit of chewing on her hair and bits of thread, but I didn't know she was tossing them out."

Nervous habit... Right... It looks like Nicky pulled the wool over more than a few people's eyes with that excuse.

"Were you able to tell how old that one was?" Daniel asked. He remained standing, likely watching for any hint of taillights in the distance. I'd already told him everything else I'd learned in the Stronghold, although I had kept my voice too quiet for Jess to overhear that this group was likely going to offer Nicky as a sacrifice in exchange for guns.

"About twenty minutes, at a guess."

"We aren't catching up very fast. They must be driving quickly."

"As soon as the sun rises enough for you to see the road, you get the driver's seat," I informed him.

I might be able to drive in complete darkness without any lights, but when it came to speed on these post-apocalyptic roads, Daniel had the dubious honor of holding that gold medal.

"Unless I turn the headlights on, it isn't quite light enough yet," he said.

Everyone knew our headlights could give us away, so we were forced to contend with my driving skills for a while longer.

I swerved around another pothole and didn't reply.

~

       My eyes scoured the road ahead as the wind blew my braid behind me. Daniel once more demonstrated his road rage skills as he swerved around various obstacles and blew through gaps between abandoned vehicles with so little clearance for the truck it had me tensing up.

And Jess somehow managed to sleep through it while leaning against my leg, which my instincts protested against. Thankfully, the sun had risen, so it wasn't too hard to keep them mostly focused on the hunt at hand. Jess needed the reassurance, and I was relieved to have her back, even if she invaded my personal space.

Daniel had convinced Nina to take a nap by promising to wake her if we got closer. A stressful night without sleep was finally catching up to them. Logan had occasionally dozed off, but that was about it. For some reason, he didn't seem to be able to sleep in a vehicle when the driver was replicating various maneuvers performed by stunt drivers.

I once more debated trying to tell Nina or Logan everything I'd overheard at the Stronghold, including the possibility of this group offering Nicky as a sacrifice, but with my luck, Jess would wake up at that exact moment. The last thing I needed was her panicking, and everyone already knew the kidnappers didn't have good intentions.

My nostrils flared. "We're only about ten minutes behind them."

If the road had been straight, we'd likely be able to see them in the distance, but we were in the mountains, and the road twisted and turned like a snake in its death throes. Ten minutes wouldn't be long if they stopped, but trying to catch up to a moving vehicle was an extremely frustrating experience when we couldn't really speed up.