The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 73

The howling wind, thunder, and downpour would have had humans seeking shelter, but it didn't dissuade me. The guards on duty had tried to talk me out of my patrol, but I had gone anyway. It was about the only large period of time that I got away from the press and stench of humans and I wasn't about to miss my chance.

It wasn't as if I would come down with hypothermia. The cold barely bothered me and even though my skin was chill to the touch now, it would warm back up once I dried off. My instincts were high as they tried to survey the world around me while the storm was making it difficult.

I knew that there was no chance of Daniel coming out here in a storm like this after dark. His flashlight wouldn't light up much in this downpour. The wind, thunder, and rainfall would also render his enhanced hearing useless.

Truth be told, I couldn't hear much either. The rain was killing most scents and enhancing others. I couldn't see that far, but I could see far enough to satisfy me. The scent of wet rabbit was strong, some nearby bunny was unfortunate enough to get caught away from its burrow in this storm.

The storm made me much harder to spot and my instincts knew how to move so I was impossible to detect. I closed in on the rabbit. It was huddled inside a hollow log, probably displaced from its burrow by a predator. I silently crept up to the log and turned my head as my suspicious instincts flared.

I turned the other way and took another deep breath, but picked up nothing out of the ordinary. That didn't mean anything in a storm like this though. That first gust of wind had brought me the faint smell of wood smoke. I was much too far out to pick up the smell of smoke from the chimneys in the Stronghold with a downpour like this.

It was the rabbit's lucky night as I silently disappeared into the shadows to locate the source of the smell. Smoke didn't travel far in a downpour and it didn't take me long to find the fire. I camouflaged my eyes to a non-glowing orangish brown to avoid being seen since my glasses would have made it nearly impossible to see anything with this much rain.

The small rag-tag group of humans was unaware of my presence. I regarded the seven people who were huddled together in an uneasy sleep under a tarp. The smoking fire in front of them was barely burning. They were a long way away from any road, which was probably the only reason that a zombie hadn't stumbled across them yet.

I was quite close to Daniel's perimeter and they must have crossed it some point after his last afternoon patrol. My footsteps were silent as I backed up and moved some distance away. I had never used this communication radio before, so this could be interesting. I also didn't want the group to hear it.

"Trinity to the Stronghold. I spotted a group of seven humans near the border. Over."

The radio was mostly static, but understandable, "What is their purpose? Are they bandits? Over." The voice was rude and my eyes narrowed at his tone.

What kind of questions were these? Bandits didn't exactly wave a flag around announcing who they were. The man's manner particularly irritated me, "I doubt they are bandits and how the hell am I supposed to know why they were sitting in the middle of a forest in a torrential thunderstorm? I said that I spotted them, not that I sat down and had a tea party with them."

The radio was silent for half a minute. A different voice came over the radio. Apparently the first man had either been fired from his radio duty or had decided to pass this hot potato to the next unfortunate victim. "Can you please provide me with as many details as you saw? Over."

This guy at least had manners. I didn't snap at him like I had the previous idiot, "Four males and three females under the age of thirty. They are sitting under a tarp with a sorry excuse of a fire. They look like they have been on foot for quite some time. They are just inside of Daniel's perimeter to the south so they are quite some distance from the Stronghold. I saw a couple of daggers, some belt knives and two bows, but nothing more. Over."