The Virus Within: The Unranked (Book 4)

Ch. 45: Blood In The Sand

Sand flew up from the tires as Daniel accelerated as fast as the wood gas engine would allow. There hadn't been any other screams or gunshots, but we both knew the unranked Nightstalker had either run across our dune buggy duo, possible survivors, or someone coming to check on the Stronghold.

"It's Wren and Jax. They're circling some bushes. We'll be there in a minute." The truck continued to pick up speed.

As we got closer, the smell of Nightstalker blood permeated the air, matching the one responsible for the devastation in the Stronghold. The dune buggy swung closer to the bushes, then darted away as a sluggish zombie lunged at them. Its gurgling probably would have been a powerful scream of rage if blood hadn't been frothing out of its mouth.

It crash-landed on the sunbaked dirt and struggled to push itself up. Wren was currently in the passenger seat, wrestling with her handgun, while Jax drove the dune buggy in circles.

"I see two bullet holes—they look like exit wounds—in its back," Daniel murmured. "There's blood in its hair, so it either hit its head or narrowly dodged a bullet."

The truck slowed down to also circle the zombie, farther out then the more nimble dune buggy. Blood soaked through the zombie's clothing and dripped onto the ground as it managed to stand up.

"Got it!" Wren exclaimed as she freed a jam. "There's only got one bullet left, so we'll have to make it count."

Jax held out his hand, and she passed him the gun. He veered closer and slid to a stop, jumping out. When the zombie snarled and staggered in his direction, he aimed the gun at its face and pulled the trigger. Red sprayed out the back of its head as it collapsed to the ground.

Jax opened his mouth, then closed it as his grimace moved between the fallen zombie and the gun. Shaking his head, he passed the handgun back to Wren.

"Are you okay?" Daniel asked them as he stopped the truck and got out. I didn't see any injuries or smell their blood, so I was pretty sure his question was out of concern.

"Shaken," Jax replied. "It took five bullets to stop that thing, and three were to the head. What kind of zombie is it? Another mutant?"

Daniel crouched down beside it and began binding its hands together with wire. "Yes. Probably a Nightstalker with a few Terror abilities."

"What are you doing?" Jax asked, eyeing up Daniel uneasily.

"Tying it up so we can take it back with us. It can go in the trailer in case Nina needs some blood samples from it. Our other option is to cut off its head so it can't heal."

Jax frowned but didn't insist on killing it and leaving the body to rot. He drifted closer to the dune buggy.

Still standing in the back, I leaned against the top of the truck cab. "Well, at least we know where this zombie went. Once we toss that zombie in the gun cabinet, all that's left to do is to collect the kid in the attic and figure out where the rest of the survivors went. Did you two find anything out here?"

Jax pointed to the zombie that had killed hundreds of people. "Does that count as finding something?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, but apart from that. At least a couple of vehicles got out of the Stronghold, and they'd be the easiest ones to give the kid to."

Wren got out of the dune buggy, focusing on me with sudden interest. "You found a child? Where is it?"

"In an attic in the Stronghold," I replied. "As far as we can tell, he's the only survivor among the ones who remained inside."

"Poor thing," she murmured. "I'm amazed he survived. That zombie was something else. It pulled a stick across the road, and when we drove over to see what was moving, it jumped out of the bushes and ambushed us. It took every round of ammo I had to stop it."