The Virus Within: Third Wave (Book 2)

Chapter 14

Daniel wandered over. "I'm going to go hunt while there's nothing pressing to do. I can bring back an armful of wood if you can supervise these two."

"Sure," I replied.

After one last glance around the rooftop, he jumped off the edge so Luke didn't feel pressured to rush down the ladder. Daniel headed in the opposite direction Luke had come from, which conveniently left me with the two humans. I meandered over to where they were setting up the chairs.

I grabbed my chair and placed it upwind. "On a side note, can you two reapply your perfumes before Luke returns? They're wearing off again."

"Oh, I didn't realize that." Nina promptly stopped and pulled out her perfume bottle.

Nicky set up her chair and began digging through her backpack for the small jar. She rubbed the oily liquid on her skin again while Nina copied her motions with her perfume. With that taken care of, I found some matches and paper to start the fire.

Once the campfire was burning, I walked a slow circle around the edge of the roof. Nina was in the tent, unrolling the sleeping mats and setting the sleeping bags on them. Nicky was putting some water on the fire to boil.

I could smell Luke somewhere in the forest. He had been gone a while, and I suspected he was trying to spook a rabbit into one of his snares. No hint of blood drifted through the air, so he wasn't having any success. I would have to come up with some sort of excuse to invite him on a hunt without making him feel like he was a bother.

While thinking, I started making dinner for the others. I put another pot on the fire and stuck a handful of spaghetti noodles in it. Luke may proclaim he wasn't a good cook, but I didn't exactly cook fancy either.

"I'm tossing up some wood. Is anyone by this corner?" Luke called out, his voice coming from beside the ladder.

"No one's in that area," I told him as I stood up.

A bundle of wood sailed into view before thudding onto the roof and rolling closer. A second bundle followed suit. Moments later, I heard Luke climbing up the ladder, and I went over to collect the wood so he didn't have to carry it closer.

"There's a regular zombie in the forest," he said, reaching the roof, "and it's chained to a tree."

A zombie in the forest shouldn't have been serious enough to warrant the intensity in his gaze, so I asked, "Is there something unusual about it, or should we just warn Nina and Nicky to avoid that area?"

"It isn't a threat, but when you have some spare time, I think you're going to want to see this for yourself."

I glanced back at the duo, who were still setting up the camp. "Let's wait until Daniel comes back, then we can go. We try not to leave these two alone."

He nodded. "Is there anything I can do to help while we wait?"

I tilted my head and thought for a moment, although it didn't escape my notice he chose to wait with me instead of going for more wood. "Feel like checking the store with me? The food will be long gone, but you never know what other things we might find."

"Sure."

I dropped off the roof, and after a brief hesitation, he followed suit. He huffed as he hit the ground, wincing slightly. Such a drop wasn't easy for him, which was why he'd used the ladder previously. Runners were quite sturdy – a trait that came with being a zombie – but each rank had its own limitations.

With my recently gained wariness of buckets of water or other booby traps, I carefully pushed the door open and scanned the area before entering. Luke followed behind me as we started snooping through the store.