The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 29

We decided to stop for lunch so we could stretch our legs. I welcomed the return of my personal space and suspected that Daniel did too. He didn't seem to mind Nina in the least, but no one else had been immune to his watching.

Tom was starting a fire at the side of the road, presumably for more soup. I inhaled deeply as I watched him. I could smell a small flock of partridge nearby. It wouldn't take long for them to roast and the meat would tide the group over better until supper than just soup. "There is a flock of partridge nearby. Shouldn't take me more than ten minutes to catch most of them if you want them."

Tom looked up in surprise, although Marissa was the one who answered, "If you could, that would be great. It has been a while since we had any kind of poultry that didn't come from a can."

I nodded and headed into the forest. If nothing else, it was a good excuse to get away from them for a while. I easily traced the scent of the birds and snuck up on them. It would have been much easier if it was night, but I would just have to plan my attack carefully.

I came up behind them and drew my sickle. It would give me the edge I needed to take down so many birds. I darted out at full speed and managed to behead three birds before they realized that they were being attacked. In the end, five birds escaped while sixteen headless birds lay on the ground.

I quickly cleaned them and headed back. It hadn't even taken me the full ten minutes. I took a deep breath and took note of a few lingering scents as I approached the edge of the tree line. I walked over and passed the small birds to Marissa who started laying them out in a frying pan.

My Nightstalker instincts shifted and I was pretty sure I knew the cause. I subtly scanned the tree line as the familiar scent once more reached me. They had to be nearby. I was amazed that Daniel hadn't picked up their scent yet. I left my backpack by the truck and casually headed back toward the trees. A few watched me go, but made no comment.

Once I entered the trees I switched to my soundless Nightstalker crouch as I skulked through the shrubs further back along the road. I could now see the familiar Nightstalker woman at the edge of the tree line peeking out at the group having lunch up the road.

I bared my teeth in a silent grin as I slowly stalked up behind her. The wind was in my favor. I was mere feet from her when she must have finally caught my scent. She started to turn as I launched myself at her with a snarl. We went rolling out of the trees onto the grass as we both snarled at each other.

I heard the others shouting in alarm up the road. I grabbed her shoulder so I could roll over, it was easier to fight if your back was on the ground. It gave you much more leverage if you were a zombie. I was careful to keep my nails from breaking her skin as we tussled, growled, and snarled at each other.

To the others it would probably look like a fierce dog fight, but in reality, this was just a friendly, if rough, wrestling match between old friends. Neither of us was doing any damage to the other as we kept rolling around on the grass.

I took a quick glance over to see Daniel in front of the humans in a defensive fighting crouch. Good, because even a Terror can't win against three Nightstalkers, even if he didn't know about the third one yet. Kelly took advantage of my second-long distraction to grab both of my wrists in her hands. I brought up my knee and knocked her off me.

She fell to the side with a thud that jarred her sunglasses loose. She hissed in pain as light hit her unprotected eyes. I immediately let go and rolled to my knees, "Sorry." I grabbed her glasses off the grass as she tightly squeezed her eyes shut against the light, "Here you go."

She held out her hand and I handed her the sunglasses. She swiftly put them on before shaking her head, she was probably trying to blink her eyes clear as they would be watering from the painful exposure to light. I heard faint footsteps coming up behind me and recognized them as her brother. I heard murmuring from the human group as the third Nightstalker made his presence known.