The Virus Within: Secrets Unraveled (Book 5)

Ch 30: A Secret Message

I raced through the gate and toward the truck, refusing to think about how much time I had wasted with the zombie horde. Logan saw me coming and hoisted himself into the back.

"Where's Nina?" he asked, craning his neck as he looked to the north.

I ignored his question as I yanked the driver's door open and demanded, "Is the truck ready to go?"

He flipped the lever to send the gases to the engine. "I don't think it's hot enough yet, but you can try. Is Nina okay? Where's Daniel?"

I turned the key—thoughtfully left in the ignition by Logan—and the engine sputtered to life, protesting and threatening to stall. Still, it was running, and that was all I cared about.

Logan's frowning face appeared just outside the rear window. "Trinity, where's Nina? Is she okay?"

As I pressed the gas pedal, the truck sputtered more, almost cutting out. My voice had more than a touch of a growl as I told him, "Those lab assistants somehow found her and Daniel at the shipping container and forced them into a vehicle at gunpoint. They wanted Daniel's blood and Nina's help."

A look of horror dawned in his eyes. "What— Why? Why not just ask? Nina would have helped—she's already trying to help."

"The idiots clearly didn't think Daniel would give his blood willingly, and it sounds like they had a bit of a grudge against that Gerald guy."

"That makes no sense... Why anger the two who would have been their best allies? We would have helped—it's why we came down here!"

"Tell them that," I retorted, growling when I pressed the gas pedal a bit too far. The engine stalled, and I restarted it. "They seem to think they're a couple of blood samples away from perfecting their research. If I've learned anything from listening to Nina's murmuring, it's that the zombie virus is never that cooperative."

Logan shook his head in disbelief, asking, "Where are they?" He added, "Shift to low gear. You won't be able to go fast, but you won't stall quite as easily."

I moved the gear shift from Drive to One, and the jagged sputtering leveled out to a continuous popping. "Somewhere to the north. Wren, Jax, and Nicky are following them and leaving a trail for me."

The guard raised a dubious eyebrow at the sounds the engine was making but opened the gate for us. The truck puttered along, going so slow I was tempted to get out and push it.

"Logan, in the corner where I usually sit, dig behind the mattress. You'll find a handgun and some ammo. Take them in case you need them."

This wasn't what I had been saving them for, but I counted this as urgent enough to change my original plans. I fervently hoped Logan wouldn't get close enough to the action to need a gun, not when four sane zombies were present, one of which was a Terror.

On one hand, this felt a lot like the distant car chase years ago when Jess and Nicky had been kidnapped, but on the other hand...it was very different. This was Daniel they were trying to control. A pissed-off Terror and an intelligent scientist were a far cry from two unarmed women.

With a Terror's speed and reflexes, it wasn't a question of if they'd slip and make a mistake, it was a question of when. I could very well drive around a corner and find a vehicle destroyed from the inside. Assuming, of course, I could actually reach the forest with the pathetic speed the truck was currently managing.

By the time we finally reached the trees, the engine wasn't sputtering as badly, and I was able to shift back into the regular Drive position. In the mirrors, I could see horseback riders finally emerging from the Stronghold as they began their usual antics of luring the remaining zombies away instead of having to clean up more contagious bodies and blood.