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

Chapter 27

It took me a couple of hours to check each garage, shed, and unlooted house. My keen sense of smell helped me find things that the previous people had missed.

In the end, I had a decent haul. I had also found an engineless diesel truck in a mechanic shop and drained the fuel tank, so we now had five jerrycans of diesel and three more with gasoline – more than enough to get to Ironwind Stronghold in two vehicles.

Nicky cheered from above when she spied me pulling a wagon loaded with red jerrycans. I stopped by our truck and emptied as much of the diesel into the fuel tank as I could. That was four less jerrycans we had to try to pack into the back of the truck.

I left the wagon with the jerrycans just inside the front door and went up to the rooftop. Everyone was sitting, and there was an empty chair beside Nicky. As I walked over, my eyes lingered on Chloe, who lay near Ben's feet. Her bone was nowhere to be seen, and yet, she didn't seem anxious or worried.

"What did you manage to find?" Ben asked. "There's not much in the store, although I did find some dog treats for Chloe."

I dropped two grocery bags of food by Marissa's chair and went to take my seat. "Some food. There's more if you want me to get it, but we don't have much room. Three jerrycans of gasoline. Found a truck with no engine, so I drained it, and we have five more small jerrycans of diesel. I dumped all but one into the truck."

"Excellent. We can split into two vehicles again," Ben said in a relieved voice.

"I tried every vehicle and not one would start. Most of the fuel tanks were punctured by people draining the dredges of fuel. The only reason the truck was untouched was because there was a zombie in the garage." I really wished we had found a second working vehicle. It would have made this trip much more bearable.

"Well, it's more than what we had, so that's a plus. Daniel also found two jerrycans of gasoline," Ben replied, also slightly downcast by the news.

"I also tried every vehicle I came across," Daniel said. "Same thing. Their fuel tanks were punctured or they had clearly broken down. There's a big intersection farther down the highway, and we must be close enough to it that several groups of people found this town while looking for supplies. They probably took any working vehicle with them."

"At least we have enough to make it the rest of the way," I said. "That's the main thing."

Everyone nodded, and the mood seemed to lighten with that knowledge. Marissa dug through the bags, setting the flour, sugar, oil, and yeast to the side to make bread.

Liz slid off Marissa's chair and came over to me. I made no move to let her sit on my lap, so she dragged a smaller chair over and sat right beside me. Leaning in my direction, she fiddled with my fingers while listening to the various discussions going on around us.

"Careful, my nails are sharp."

She paused and examined the slightly pointed tips on my nails. It was just how they grew now, and I had given up trying to keep them trimmed long ago. The edges of my fingernails were sharp enough that Liz could cut herself on them.

In an almost fascinated curiosity, the child pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and lightly pushed it against one of my fingernails. The nail pierced it with ease, and as Liz pulled the paper up, it sliced through without much resistance. Liz's informal demonstration made Marissa go pale.

"Liz, can you come help me make some bread?"

Obediently, Liz slid off her chair and went over to her. It annoyed me that Marissa still didn't trust me with her, even after so much time had passed. It was almost like a slap in the face considering I had never so much as growled at the child.