The Virus Within: The Unranked (Book 4)

Ch. 22: A Rubber Ducky?

The rumbling of an approaching truck woke me. I stood up and stretched while walking to the edge of the rooftop I'd been napping on. Daniel had taken his sweet time, but it gave me a much-needed chance to catch up on some sleep.

I jumped off the single-story building and used my fingernails to slice through the duct tape wrapped around the hitch. The tape resolutely clung to my fingers, forcing me to peel the sticky stuff off. I wadded it up in a ball and tossed it into a nearby garbage can.

I'd gotten the trailer to where Daniel and I had parted ways, but this was as far as I felt like pushing it. Its meandering tendencies and love of getting stuck on every obstacle larger than my hand had been an annoyance, further topped off with how zombies kept getting in the way.

I may have unintentionally run over a few zombies, just for them to become a tire-stop block, but I wasn't about to admit to that. Faint screeching came from inside the trailer as the zombie kept trying to claw her way out. Daniel was going to love the sound of nails on metal during our drive back.

Soon enough, the truck came into sight, with Daniel effortlessly weaving through the narrow path he had cleared yesterday. He stopped the truck beside me and sniffed the air, giving the trailer—which hadn't been here yesterday—a curious look.

"How long did it take you to find it?" he asked as he got out of the truck.

"A couple of hours. Finding something capable of containing her was fun."

He lightly kicked a tire. "The tires look good. A bit sun-aged, but they should hold up. Did you have trouble catching her?"

"She's almost as fast as me, so I'm betting she's a Runner with a few Nightstalker triggers. Getting her inside wasn't as hard as I thought, but getting the trailer over here was a bit of a challenge."

He glanced around as he asked, "Because of the Nightstalker, I presume? I can smell one was around recently."

"Actually, no. The Nightstalker kept circling me the entire way here and occasionally tried sneaking up behind me, but we didn't even get into a First Strike match. The regular zombies were more of a nuisance simply because they kept getting in the way."

He picked up the hitch and pulled it over to the back of the truck. With a clunk, he attached it to the hitch post and began securing the safety chains. While he did that, I started carrying duffel bags over to the truck.

Daniel looked up. "What's in those?"

"Stuff," I replied vaguely.

"Food, supplies, or Nicky distractors?" he asked with remarkable perception.

"All of the above and a bit more." I jumped into the back and wedged the last bag into place.

"We can definitely use a few more distractions for Nicky," he said as he got into the driver's seat.

"Did you end up locking her in that cage?"

"Logan couldn't convince her to come out, so he left for a bit, but when he came back, she was gone."

"Gone?" I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering where she could have possibly ended up. Although this was Nicky, so anything was possible.

"She turned up just before I got back, but during that time, she somehow managed to make a map of the Stronghold and paint the outhouse door bright orange, all without anyone noticing her."

Yep. That sounded like Nicky.

"And that is why I stayed behind," I said. "It was inevitable without one of us on watch."

The tires grated on gravel and debris as Daniel worked his way through the crowd of zombies that had followed him here.

"I told her I'd lock her in the house with the zombie if she caused any more trouble while I was gone," Daniel said. "And, for once, she seemed inclined to believe me."