The Virus Within: Secrets Unraveled (Book 5)

Ch 17: Stalked By A Terror

I let my eyes resume their glow—marking me as a zombie and not potential prey—as I turned, making sure I didn't look directly at the Terror. If he saw as little as Daniel, he wouldn't be able to see my body posture. Just my eyes.

I kept my eyes lowered and slowly edged away to avoid a challenge. He tilted his head slightly and walked forward. The smell of human blood clung to him and left no doubt that he was feral. I just hoped he wasn't as unpredictable as the Nightstalker he'd crippled with one blow.

Now that he knew I was a zombie, why was he still focused on me? He had ignored the other zombie on the road. His body language was as tense as it had been the entire time, although not what I would call aggressive, nor was he growling.

Being on a rooftop with him wasn't where I wanted to be. Letting my footsteps fall loudly enough for me to hear them, I took several steps to the edge of the roof and dropped down. I immediately darted around the building with silent footsteps.

A dull thud came from the other side as his footsteps followed my trail. Why was he following me? Didn't Terrors hate the dark? I was beginning to feel like I was in a horror movie as I camouflaged my eyes and silently ran away.

My options to break my trail were limited in a place like this, but a trip through an herb garden and a few rooftop ventures gave me some breathing space. Would I even be able to open a door without this guy hearing me? Blasted Terrors and their superior hearing skills that rivaled bats. Their insane strength and speed were also huge complications.

A baseball lay near a front porch, and I picked it up and threw it towards the fence, back the way I had come. It hit with a clang. It didn't take long for the zombie to stumble in that direction.

I stared when I noticed he was still holding my hoodie. Ferals almost never carried anything except food, and even then, not very far. It didn't take him long to locate the baseball. After a brief sniff, he dropped the kid's toy. He carefully investigated the hole I'd climbed through, but rather than following my trail outside like most ferals would have, he lifted his nose to the air before turning toward the Stronghold.

His nose was definitely sharper than Daniel's if he was able to tell that my trail over there—even though I'd left it only ten minutes ago—was older than my trails in the Stronghold. I seriously hoped he wasn't tracking my scent on the wind like that last sniff had implied. The herbs weren't enough to cover my scent, only muddle my trail.

I had to get moving. He was too strong to lock up, too fast to outrun, and I knew almost nothing was capable of restraining him. From Daniel's comments, even something as strong as a shipping container wouldn't contain a Terror for long. I wasn't used to dealing with feral zombies like this.

Calling in Daniel wasn't a wise option. Not only did he need light to see, but I was quite certain this zombie outmatched him. Since the zombie didn't seem excessively aggressive and hadn't bothered the other zombies, I was presumably safe enough as long as I didn't try to attack him.

I jumped on top of a shed and then onto the side of a brick building in an attempt to break my trail again. Could I lure him outside the fence so I had a chance to check the lab? Or perhaps drive a deer inside to distract him?

Brick mortar grated under my nails and weight, and a few small pieces broke free and hit the leaves on a shrub below in a barely audible pattering. The zombie sped up. I kicked off the wall and landed as quietly as I could on the road. It was too bad the rain had stopped a while ago. The sound would have allowed me to move more freely.

There were several other zombies on the road, and I threw rocks at them so they'd growl and give my stalker someone else to investigate. Crouching down, I propelled myself in a huge leap, trying to avoid leaving a trail on the ground. After a dozen jumps, footsteps made me look back to see that the Terror had almost caught up.