The Virus Within: The Unranked (Book 4)

Ch. 8: Something In The Wind

After Nina got her blood and hair samples, we started walking back. I used a fingernail to slice through the duct tape and remove the ruined gloves. The white outfit also came off and was crumpled into a ball which I stuck under my arm.

Daniel likewise divested himself and stuffed the protective gear into a plastic bag. He passed me a second bag to put the clothing in, then put both in the duffle bag he was carrying.

As we walked, I kept checking the air and eventually commented, "There doesn't seem to be much wildlife around here."

"We didn't get much rain last year," Wyatt said. "We ended up trading for half our food. There's also a Runner in the area that hangs around the water holes. It shows up here every week or so. It decimated the deer herd and chased the others out of the area."

"In an open area like this, it'd chase them until they were too exhausted to evade it," Logan commented. "I've seen that a few times in the past."

I remained silent, still not ready to believe a single Runner managed to catch every single coyote and deer in an area. Coyotes were smart enough to run behind bushes and lose a Runner. Something just didn't seem right.

"It almost caught the horseback riders twice. Most places just tell us to kill it, but we're saving our remaining ammo for-" he glanced at me and amended his words, "-more dangerous ferals. And to be honest, we aren't killers. The idea of chopping off someone's head doesn't sit well. The last time someone volunteered to cut off a Runner's head, he was never the same afterward and eventually wandered into the wilderness. We never found him."

"I guess I can see that," Logan said, his eyes distant, although I wasn't sure if he was recalling his attempts to kill the three Nightstalkers who murdered his brother or remembering his own reaction to killing a man during the trip to rescue Nicky.

"So we just keep luring it away," Fred said with a shrug. "This one's a bit on the territorial side, and it reduces how many Runners come through, which is less risk for us. It's easier to deal with one zombie every week as opposed to different ones more frequently."

"You know, there's an easier way to deal with the Runner," Nicky commented.

Wyatt glanced over his shoulder. "How so?"

"Well, as someone who's been locked in a cage more times than I care to count, I can also testify that cages keep things out. And unless I was daydreaming during the tour, you had controlex in your lab."

Wyatt replied, "We saw it eating a deer, so we know it won't regain its sanity, but we keep hoping someone will create a miracle drug that can help zombies like that."

"That's another reason we don't like killing zombies," Fred murmured. "There's a chance we might be able to help them one day, and some of the ones around here are former friends and family."

"I don't think that's what she meant," I commented. "Even if the zombie doesn't regain its sanity, the controlex will mostly remove its desire to hunt humans."

Wyatt stopped in his tracks and turned around to face us with wide eyes. "I forgot it worked on ferals without killing them. It could keep wandering around and dissuading other Runners, but it wouldn't be a threat to people anymore." His hopeful expression faltered. "But how would we get close enough to safely inject it? We tried trapping it three times without success."

"Who says you need it in the cage?" Nicky asked. "Build a big cage on a trailer, stick one of your brave lads inside, load a cow prod with the controlex, then drive until you find the Runner-"

"And when it climbs onto the cage, they can inject it," Wyatt said, his eyes almost dancing as we continued walking.

"That stuff takes days to work," Fred said. "How would they get the Runner off the cage?"