The Virus Within: Third Wave (Book 2)

Chapter 51

I was seriously confused and just as suspicious. I had met this man once, and it had only been for a few minutes. And that was after I had scared the crap out of him by sneaking up behind him and practically interrogating him. Yet, he had just vouched for me. Needless to say, my hackles were rising in distrust and suspicion.

This was the same man who had lain in ambush for weeks on end as he waited for three murderous Nightstalkers to return. If this was another trap, I didn't want to blunder into it blindfolded.

I took a deep breath of the air. It wasn't surprising to smell guns in a Stronghold, although there were only a few, and the ammo was almost certainly being carefully rationed.

The gates slowly opened with a groan, as if even the fence itself didn't want us to enter. Daniel drove through the now-open gate while three of us put on masks. My eyes scanned and appraised everything as fast as possible. Several people held bows, but only one or two even had their arrows nocked onto the strings.

Now that we were inside, I could see four guards in the sentry posts, each with a rifle, as they carefully remained out of sight of anyone outside the fence.

The man who had vouched for me was already climbing down the ladder. Others watched, but he was the only person to approach the truck. As soon as he was close enough for me to pick his scent apart from the others, I took a deep breath and swiftly dug through the layers as best I could at this range.

It was mostly caution and curiosity. Some distrust. And, bizarrely enough, an undertone of hope. None of the scents were those of someone on a hunt or contemplating aggressive actions. It gave him some leeway, but it wasn't going to get him far until I knew what he was up to.

The first man, who I suspected was the local leader, watched him stop some distance from me. His eyes narrowed when it became apparent we weren't long-lost friends like he had assumed.

With an edge to his voice, he asked, "Logan, who is this?"

"She never did tell me her name," Logan replied calmly, still observing me with wary curiosity.

"You mean you don't know who she is?" the leader demanded.

Logan finally looked at the leader of the Stronghold he had chosen to stay at. "I said I'd vouch for her, not that I knew her."

"You imbecile! Why did you vouch for someone you don't know?"

Logan shrugged dismissively. "I met her once. If she wanted me dead, she had a golden opportunity then."

The leader grabbed his hair with both hands and tugged the short strands in frustration. "I'm surrounded by idiots! How this place is still standing, I will never know!"

My opinion of this leader dropped a few more bars. Logan shook his head at the display but didn't seem surprised by the rant.

"You mentioned there were several ways to locate those who were infected?" Logan prompted.

The question had been directed at me, so I replied, "Yes. Daniel can sniff them out. If you don't trust him, simply hand someone a cat. If they're infected, you'll see what I mean."

Logan knew I was a zombie since he'd seen my eyes glowing that night, but I preferred to remain under the radar. The last thing I needed was insane vigilantes coming to kill me just because I was a zombie.

He nodded thoughtfully and looked around. "Ah, Trent, please go locate a cat and put it in an animal carrier. We'll see how it reacts once Daniel finds someone who's infected."

Most people rarely used a zombie's name so casually when they didn't know them, so his easy words had me questioning some other details about this man's past.