The Virus Within: Blood Moon (Book 3)

Chapter 18

"-then we ran into the forest. One of the men spotted us and alerted the others, so they weren't far behind." Jess hesitated, and at Nicky's encouraging nod, continued, "Nicky and I split up when they got closer, but I don't think they saw me go the other way. They- they caught Nicky, a- and I kept running." Jess clenched her teeth, too embarrassed at having left Nicky behind to finish her story.

Nicky shook her head. "It was five against two, and neither of us had any weapons. Trying to help me would have just allowed them to catch both of us. Keep going. You can't stop right at the part I don't know about."

After taking a deep breath, Jess obliged. "I kept running down a trail. I wasn't sure where I was, but I didn't dare stop in case they caught up. Then Trinity called my name." Some of the tension left her shoulders. "I was so happy to see her. Nicky said they'd be coming, but I didn't think they were so close."

"While that was happening, they shoved me into that armored van," Nicky said, picking up her side of the story, "and took off like a bat out of hell since everyone at the Stronghold was furious with them. I kept dropping bits of thread after chewing on them, but that was about all I could do."

Luke nodded and waited for the next person to continue the story. I was the obvious choice since I'd been driving at the time, but I didn't feel like talking right now. I'd had far more than my fill of company over the last two days. Now that Jess and Nicky were safe, what I really needed was some peace and quiet.

Sensing I had no desire to join this conversation, Daniel took over. "Trinity snuck into the Stronghold to find them. The men left unexpectedly, but she found out where they were going and then located Jess in the forest. Once they reached the truck, we continued chasing after the kidnappers."

Daniel kept talking, and the others chimed in as they retold our wild tale. Luke listened with avid attention and occasionally asked questions.

The pounding rain slowly subsided to a light drizzle as the storm continued to sweep onward at an impressive speed. The wind dropped to a light breeze that gently stirred the air inside the open garage door and kept it from getting stuffy.

The food was long gone before Daniel reached the part where we'd left Regan and began our journey back.

"Wow." Luke finally said. "That was not a trip I would have ever predicted."

"No kidding," I muttered, joining the conversation for the first time. "I need a holiday after all of this."

"What's your definition of a holiday?" Nicky asked, tilting her head inquisitively.

"Three or four days out in the forest by myself." Now that I was thinking about it, such a thing sounded perfect. It was something I'd have to seriously consider later.

Nicky scratched her head. "Are you sure you can leave us alone for that long?"

"I'll stick Luke and Daniel on babysitting duty," I grumbled.

The two zombies exchanged a glance, not looking like they were entirely in favor of my latest idea, but not protesting since my tone suggested I was a bit on the grumpy side right now.

"I assume the lab was cleaned up?" Nina asked Luke.

"Yes. The bleach fumes are overly strong, so we have the exhaust fans going, but the floor was scrubbed until even the scent of their blood was gone. I saved samples in case we needed to track them."

I'd have to go through the vials in my backpack as well. Only one of the men who'd lost blood down there still lived, having defected from Charles's team to help fight Nicky's fire, so I'd have to point that vial out to Luke. There was no sense in keeping the blood of dead men. But not today. I was probably going to start my patrol early and see if I could straighten out my mood.