The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 84

Slipping in another bonus chapter since it's fairly short.  :)

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I continued casually pacing around the edge of the clearing for several seconds as the silence and suspense increased like a drawn bow. I was clearly not leaving and one of the men shifted his stance with a low snarl to try and intimidate me. I turned my head infinitesimally toward the trees as if something had caught my attention and I was trying to hide it. The Nightstalker between Daniel and that section of the trees whirled to face the trees with a growl, expecting an attack from the hidden enemy in the trees.

The other two glanced back thinking that he saw something and they wanted to know what other unknown foe they were dealing with. I whipped my crowbar at the growling Nightstalker's head full force. With an echoing thud, the crowbar slammed into his head and he dropped to the ground unconscious.

The moment the crowbar had left my hand, I had charged forward with silent footsteps as I reached back toward my backpack. One hand pulled out my sickle and my other hand grabbed the can of spray paint I had stuck in my water bottle holder.

I raised the can and snarled viciously. The one closest to me whirled around with his knife at the ready, but I had already depressed the plunger on the spray paint. He had not expected me to have any ranged weapons and the paint hit him full in the face.

He skipped awkwardly backward as he tried to swiftly wipe his welding goggles clean. I threw the can at him and pegged him in the shoulder while launching myself at him. He swiped at the can with his knife, thinking it had been me.

I grabbed his wrist to stop him from using his knife while I slashed at his throat with my sickle. I only managed a glancing blow before jumping backward. He lashed out with his knife. I snarled in sudden pain as he managed to cut the outside of my arm. He had sustained more damage though, the side of his neck had been cut and was bleeding heavily. I hadn't managed to cut his throat though.

I heard snarling behind us and knew that Daniel was fighting the third Nightstalker. Hopefully he knew enough to watch both the knife and the Nightstalkers nails. Daniel might take some cuts from the armed Nightstalker he was fighting, but unless he was a terrible fighter, I was pretty certain who the winner would be even if he was unarmed.

My fight against this larger Nightstalker was a much more even match. My main advantage was that I had taken him by surprise by playing dirty and my weapon was better than his. I circled him silently before darting in and attempting to strike at his goggles. He scented my approach and managed to block me, even though he gained a cut on his forearm.

I reached down to pick up the can of spray paint again. He had managed to rub most of the paint off his goggles with his forearm, but it was a streaky mess. If I could keep him partially blinded, blood loss would slow him down before too much longer. I didn't dare let him get a good grip on me since he was likely stronger than me.

He charged me with a snarl and I pointed the spray can at his face. He tried to hold out his hand to block it, but I swung my sickle to cut deep into his arm. I managed to hit his face again with an indirect haze of blue paint.

The downside of my curved sickle was that if it couldn't cut through something, it tended to get stuck. My sickle hit the bone in his arm and he managed to wrench the weapon out of my grasp as he yanked his arm back. I snarled fiercely as my favorite weapon was thrown into the trees from the force of his arm movement. At least he didn't have it in his grasp.

I grabbed my belt knife and held it at the ready as I dropped into a deeper crouch. My other hand still held the spray paint. My vision had a slight red tint to it due to how much the fight had elevated my instincts. I bared my teeth silently, hoping to unnerve him since I was plainly waiting for him to attack, just like in an ambush.

He was too far gone to think rationally as his instincts overwhelmed his mind. He dropped his knife and launched at me with a deafening snarl. I tried to dodge him, but he managed to grab onto my arm. I slashed my knife at his throat and managed to slice it partially open, although this blade was not good enough to cut through his spine. He jumped back as he managed to avoid the worst of my strike.

He snarled as he lunged forward again and managed to tackle me onto the ground. I snarled as I hit the ground. I reached up and managed to snag his goggles before ripping them free and throwing them far to the side. Nothing could distress a Nightstalker – feral or sane – as much as bright sunlight.

He reared back with a pained snarl as he instinctively covered his eyes with his hands. I kicked his leg as I rolled out of the way. He stumbled, but remained on his feet. I froze as Daniel darted up behind him and struck his head. The Nightstalker flew across the clearing with the force of the blow. His head was practically crushed, there was no way he was going to recover in less than two weeks.

Daniel turned to face me and I tensed up. His eyes were glowing a brighter red than I had ever seen before and I wasn't entirely certain that he was in control. I remained where I was on the ground as I watched him carefully. There was no way I could outrun him and I was less of a threat on the ground.

He was breathing heavily and his muscles were tensed as he watched me. He suddenly stood up a bit straighter as he came out of his crouch. His eyes dimmed a bit as he regained control. His voice was a deep growl as he tried to suppress his instincts, "Are you all right?"

I relaxed somewhat and nodded, "I'm good." I slowly stood up, cautious of triggering his instincts after he had killed two Nightstalkers. I gave myself a quick look-over once I was standing.

The cut on my forearm was the worst and went almost to the bone. I had numerous small bruises and scratches from the Nightstalker's nails. I glanced over to appraise Daniel's condition. His speed as a Terror had stood him in good stead, and as far as I could tell, he didn't have any more injuries than what he had when I first arrived. He still had far more scratches than I did on his arms.

I brushed some leaves and dirt from my clothes, "I assume you aren't too badly injured?"

He shook his head. I sighed heavily, "Good. I am going to track down my sickle and I think that we had better ensure that these guys don't get back up. Then we should go back and let Nina know that she can stop hiding."

His eyes flickered at Nina's name. I was using the same tactics that he usually did, talking and mentioning someone he was close to. He would want to return as soon as possible to ensure that she was alright considering that we had left her alone for so long.

I was more worried about leaving Nicky and Nina alone together as opposed to being concerned that another unknown danger might find them. To the best of my knowledge, those two had never been left unsupervised together in an enclosed area.

It took me only seconds to track down my sickle by scent in the dense brush since it was covered in zombie blood. Daniel had already forced one of the Nightstalker's belt knives through the neck of the one I had knocked out with the crowbar. I took care of my foe while Daniel dealt with the last one. I looked at my thoroughly bloody clothing, "Well, I have to change before I return. Do you want to run ahead?"

He glanced at his own clothing before heading for his discarded backpack, "I had better change as well."

I quickly went off into the bushes to swiftly change. I quickly wiped down my arms and legs with a clean section of the bloody shirt. I tore a strip of clean cloth off the destroyed shirt before wrapping it around my forearm as a makeshift bandage.

I left my shirt and shorts in the dirt. They were so bloody from the fight that there was no salvaging them. I reached the clearing and saw Daniel filling a handful of small glass vials with the dead Nightstalkers' blood.

I found his actions somewhat unsettling, but dismissed the feeling. They were already dead, so it wasn't like they would care. He finished seconds later and stood up as I slowly entered the clearing. He stuck the vials in his pocket, "Ready to go?"

I nodded and he took the lead as we went back to the house.