The Virus Within: Secrets Unraveled (Book 5)

Ch 17: Stalked By A Terror

His head faced in my direction as if he could hear my clothing whispering against the air during my long jumps, which was unfortunately possible. Why was he so persistent? Had he been a Nightstalker, I could see it. We were quite territorial. But he was sharing this town with a boatload of other zombies that he was currently walking past and ignoring.

Since evading him was working about as well as telling Nicky to sit and behave like a lady, I only had one option left. I let my eyes resume their glow as I waited for him. If he followed zombie rules as well as the resident Nightstalker did, I could be in for a world of pain.

He approached without giving a dominance growl or any other sort of audible warning I expected from a higher-ranking zombie. My unease spiraled higher as he got closer. He stopped just out of arm's reach and watched me expectantly.

The seconds dragged on as I avoided looking directly at him. What was he waiting for? If the smell of human blood and rotting meat didn't linger on his breath, I would have wondered if he was really a feral or someone like Trent who just needed some help out of the abyss. My nostrils flared, confirming he'd feasted on humans. He'd also tasted most of the livestock in this place.

But something was missing.

Taking a chance, I took a half step toward the zombie, ready to skip away if he objected. He tensed but kept watching my eyes as something akin to curiosity lurked in their depths, which wasn't something a feral zombie should possess.

Something wasn't quite right with his scent... I took another half step while sniffing the air in growing bewilderment. My muscles tensed as he leaned forward and also sniffed the air.

There was no metallic undertone in his scent. He wasn't an unranked zombie, but neither was he a true Terror. What the hell was this guy?

If his scent hadn't been so similar to a Terror's, I would have wondered if I had just stumbled across a new zombie rank. But it was a muddled scent, similar to the unranked zombies, albeit lacking the metallic undertone.

The super Terror took a step forward and ignored my faint warning growl as he leaned closer to smell my hair. I ducked down and skipped back, not comfortable with his proximity. Me sniffing him that closely was bad enough, but him sniffing me back was just downright creepy, and considering I was a zombie, that was saying something.

He gave a faint huff but continued watching me. Now that we had our greeting, if I could call it that, would he be content to let me wander off? Cautiously, I began walking down the street. I hadn't even taken five steps before Mr. Creepy followed behind me.

It was hard not to whirl around to face the unknown zombie. My ears remained trained on his footsteps, but since they were slower than mine, I kept going. Ignoring the rest of the Stronghold, I headed to the east wing of the main building. That was where the lab was supposed to be. The sooner I could get in and out, the happier I'd be, and the sooner I could lose my delayed shadow in the dense forest.

There was no growling or chest rumbling as the Terror followed me. My footsteps were silent, at least to me, but he might be following my scent trail. I stepped around a door lying on the ground, which the zombie behind me stumbled over. This time, he didn't even growl.

I glanced back and sighed at his unfortunate coordination and balance. He was handling the dark far better than I had expected. His sight was clearly lacking, but all his other senses and abilities made up for it.

I turned my eyes back to the open doorway and quickly climbed the four steps to the entrance. The zombie stubbed his toe and growled faintly, and after waving an arm in front of him to make sure it wasn't a larger obstacle, he lifted his foot higher.

He must have done this a few times before since he climbed the rest of the stairs without much issue. He seemed to think there was an extra step at the top, but when his foot hit level ground, he adapted to the discovery and had no difficulty with the flat floor in the hallway.

I peeked into a large room and was delighted to see two doorways connected to the same hallway. Even though I knew it was probably futile, I entered the room and dashed around the toppled couches and chairs to the second door.

As I exited the room, I closed the door and quietly ran back to the doorway that the zombie had just entered. After giving him a few seconds to get away from the door, I closed it behind him.

I jogged down the hallway silently, occasionally entering various rooms. The detours were more to confuse my scent trail than expecting to see anything useful. Apart from the human bodies and upturned furniture, it resembled a well-kept place with children's toys in various areas that gave it a supportive community feeling. A few zombies staggered around inside, half of which were unranked Runners, with the rest being regular zombies.

The snapping of breaking wood echoed down the hallway as my stalker displayed a blatant disregard for doors. Or possibly a wall. I didn't feel like going back to check.

When I turned a corner, I found a heavy set of metal double doors. The sharp bite of chemicals leached through the gaps, and I put my gas mask on just in case. The air filter immediately ruined my sense of smell and left me nose blind.

The hinges squeaked faintly as I pushed a door open. Footsteps came down the hallway as the Terror homed in on the sound. Why couldn't he get distracted by some of the zombies I'd found in the other rooms? Talk about a stalker...

I examined the rooms as I slowly walked past them, taking mental notes since Daniel and Nina were guaranteed to ask for details. The setup in most rooms looked remarkably close to Nina's, although I wasn't sure if it was standard for all researchers or not.

It was just equipment though, no papers, notes, or anything. A heavy clang came from the main lab door as the Terror figured out how to push it open without ramming through it. Apparently he was a fast learner. Lovely.

Trying to ignore the imminent return of my stalker, I entered a room that had notes and diagrams on various corkboards and tables. The scientists here were just as organized as Nina was, and each project was clearly labeled and had its own section on a table.

Most seemed to be human medicines like antibiotics and cough syrups. This room didn't hold anything interesting, so I went back into the hallway. A biohazard sign looked promising, and I went into that room next.

Everything in this room was about zombies. The walls had plenty of diagrams and what I suspected was a drawing of the zombie virus strands and its triggers. Along one wall, bookshelves were stuffed full of notebooks whose papers were yellow with age. Oddly enough, other than a couple of computers, there were no machines. Just chairs and four separate tables with neatly arranged notes.

I paused by one table and skimmed the papers, pausing at the phrase "drone delivery system". As I leafed through the notebook, footsteps entered the room and came over, definitely following the sound of the paper as opposed to my exact scent trail.

The hairs on the back of my neck rose as he came up behind me. I sent a sharp look over my shoulder as he began sniffing at my hair again.

"Do you mind?" I asked, my voice muffled by the gas mask. I didn't bother asking where he'd dropped my hoodie.

The zombie blinked blankly at me and leaned forward.

"If I can feel your breath on the back of my neck, you're way too close," I informed him tartly.

My tone had him narrowing his eyes as a growl rumbled through his chest. His shoulders squared as he drew himself up threateningly. The normal reaction almost seemed out of place, but I really didn't need him upholding his rank. I camouflaged my eyes and slipped to the side, putting the table between us as I moved to the far side of the room.

His growl cut off as his unfocused gaze followed me. If I needed any proof that he could hear me in this silent room, I now had it.