The Virus Within: The Road Ahead (Book 1 - SERIES COMPLETED!)

Chapter 18

Ten minutes later, I paused to listen and sniff the air carefully. I didn't hear anything, but I was picking up Daniel's scent. He was on my trail. Considering he wasn't calling out, this wasn't a good sign. Unless he didn't think I would answer, which was also a possibility.

I gritted my teeth and picked up speed. I had planned to eventually circle behind the group and follow them, but it looked like Daniel was more persistent than I had given him credit for. As I ran, I glanced around for any suitable cover.

Not much would stop a Terror, so unless I found a cave that I could just squeeze into, I was going to be facing him shortly. He had probably regained most of his control, but my instincts had somehow decided that Nightstalkers ruled the zombie roost.

If his instincts were still elevated, this wasn't going to be a fun meeting.

It wasn't long before I began hearing his footsteps in the distance. He was gaining on me rapidly, and being led on such a wild goose chase would have annoyed even the most patient zombie out there.

No smell of a handy cave met my nose, nor any deep water he might be reluctant to enter. There weren't even many shrubs between the trees, and from how loud his footsteps were, he was probably catching up enough to see me.

That was too close. With no hiding places in sight, I slid to a stop and spun around with a defensive growl. I was done running. As I made my stand, my instincts rose to the front of my mind and my vision hazed a deeper red.

Daniel plowed through a couple of shrubs and slid to a stop, looking almost surprised to see that I had stopped. As I had expected, his red eyes reflected his elevated instincts from the earlier fight as well as from trying to track me. He rose out of his hunting crouch and took a step forward with more control than I had anticipated.

After having to get so angry to convince my instincts to attack the feral, it was almost unfortunate that the one strike on the other Terror hadn't eased my accumulated frustrations.

He took another step closer, and my snarl was closer to an enraged shriek of pent-up emotions. At this point, I was still pissed, and I made sure that anything within hearing range knew it. My control was fraying, and without any humans around, I didn't particularly care if I lashed out.

Daniel paused and narrowed his eyes, which were glowing redder as my challenge hit his instincts hard. The snarl I expected never came, although I saw him clench his jaw to stop it.

Too worked up to think logically, I growled and bared my teeth at him, egging him on as I dropped into a deeper crouch. With my second growl, his muscles began to shake as his instincts made him fight for control, and he took a step forward.

He paused and took a deep breath to calm himself – then took a step backward.

My own eyes narrowed as I snarled lowly in growing frustration. He wasn't acting like I expected him to, nor like any zombie I had ever met before. His jaw clenched again as he restrained a responding growl. The glow in his eyes faded slightly, even though everything I was doing should have set him off more.

Both my instincts and my temper wanted to take a round out of something – and the annoying zombie that kept following me was beginning to look like a decent target. My sunglasses prevented him from seeing how strongly my eyes were glowing, hiding the warning that would have told him exactly how close I was to the breaking point.

He took another step back and shook his head as he also fought for control. "I didn't come out here to fight."

His voice was nearly a growl with his instincts so high, but he was regaining control. With a sudden motion, he stood straight and dropped his slight crouch. Such an action took force when facing a zombie who was trying to goad you into an attack.