The Virus Within: The Unranked (Book 4)

Ch. 23: Look Out!

The scream had barely stopped, but Nicky and I were already turning around. Only regular zombies were in sight, but they were all heading to where the cry had originated.

"Uh, unless I'm sorely mistaken, isn't the trailer over there?" Nicky asked, pointing to the trees in a slightly different direction.

"Yes," I said, quickly grabbing a handful of scrap iron bars before racing to the gate. "It must have broken out or called in enough zombies to damage the boards over the windows."

Nicky ran after me, quickly falling behind. "You'll have to hurry! There's people in the fields and pastures over there!"

I filled my lungs and cupped my hands around my mouth as I hollered at the Stronghold. "Daniel! We've got a problem!"

I hoped a window was open. The lab was usually quiet, so he might hear me even if it was closed. Either way, he wouldn't arrive quickly, and I could already see a couple of people running away from the band of trees between here and the trailer. More than a few zombies were chasing after them, and the zombies near the Stronghold were also focusing on them.

My shoes slapped against the dirt as I once more hit my top speed. The people were at least half a mile from the Stronghold, so they'd have to dodge the zombies until I arrived. Their saving grace was that all the zombies were regular ones, so they should be able to outrun them for a while.

A horseback rider charged in front of the horde chasing them, but like the last time the screaming zombie had cried out, once the zombies picked a target, they couldn't be distracted. The horse refused to get close to the growling creatures that showed no interest in it, leaving the rider flustered and confused.

A few people had slowed down when the horse arrived, but when they saw the zombies were still focused on them, they began running much faster. I was halfway there when a zombie with stilted steps exited the trees.

When it tripped and fell, it released another scream. The horse reared with a terrified whinny and bolted back to the Stronghold as the rider fought with the reins. The scream also caused most of the zombies to ignore their previous targets and focus on a man zigzagging through the dense shrubs near the trees.

The man seemed to think he was successfully luring some zombies away from his friends, but he had no way of knowing they were currently fixating on specific targets.

"Run before they surround you!" I shouted.

I gritted my teeth and tried to speed up as the man began running for all he was worth, finally realizing how serious his predicament was. The zombies were closing in from all directions, with more coming out of the trees surrounding the trailer.

I didn't have nearly enough iron bars.

As I got closer, it became apparent the zombies were chasing five people, although two of those only had one zombie each in tow. Finally within range, I hurled two iron bars. They whistled through the air and slammed into the two zombies chasing lone individuals. The ferals slumped to the ground, unconscious.

That left three people in imminent danger. Leaving the heavily pursued man for last, I flung the last four iron bars at the zombies chasing the other two, then scooped up a couple of rocks and whipped them at the remaining fixated zombies. The rocks didn't knock them out, but they staggered to a stop and turned around with affronted snarls, successfully distracted.

With the humans now making an escape, I turned my attention to the last man, who was becoming so surrounded that he was literally dodging between zombies, coming perilously close to their sharp fingernails.

Remembering how the rock seemed to snap the other zombies out of their fixated trance, I veered to the side to grab a few more fist-sized stones. I aimed at the zombies in front of the man and threw them as hard as I could. The rocks connected with their heads, and now that I was closer, some were even knocked over from the impact.