The Virus Within: Secrets Unraveled (Book 5)

Ch 24: Tired Of Being Outranked

I had a very strong suspicion that I was facing an unranked Nightstalker instead of an unranked Runner. If that was the case, I didn't want to face it in the open where its speed and strength might give it an advantage.

Keeping an eye on the foot, I went at an angle toward the tree line while keeping my body language purely zombie. The shadowy figure behind the foliage also began moving in the same direction, trying to cut me off.

I stopped about thirty feet from the trees, and my stalker remained motionless beside a deer trail in front of me. The wind still wasn't in my favor to get a solid whiff and a better idea of what I was dealing with. If the zombie felt like waiting in ambush, that was fine with me. Regan was undoubtedly on his way, so my best option was to remain where I was until he arrived.

My bow remained at the ready as I waited alertly. Within less than a minute, the bushes stirred as the zombie emerged with bared teeth and glowing red eyes. His tattered shirt and unwashed hair marked the lanky man as a feral.

The zombie growled and charged forward with unfortunate speed and coordination. I loosed several arrows in quick succession as I darted toward the trees farther down the tree line. He shifted his head out of the way of three arrows, although the fourth lodged in his shoulder.

His snarl split the air as he took offense to the injury and sped up. My eyes widened as I realized he wasn't going to stop for a First Strike match. I barely had time to grab my sickle before he tackled me. I managed to slash his arm and kicked his stomach to push myself away from him.

His arm swung around and struck my shoulder hard enough that it almost felt like my shoulder dislocated. The impact sent me rolling across the ground as pain lanced across my shoulders. A quick glance showed that his nails had dug in during that powerful strike. He was definitely an unranked Nightstalker with a few Terror triggers.

I rolled to my feet even as he charged at me again. Since he wasn't playing by the zombie rules, I raced for trees, going as fast as I could, but my attacker was already catching up. The trees were getting closer, but so were his footsteps.

As his growl came right from behind me, I put the sickle handle between my teeth and leapt for the tree branches. My shoulder protested as I hauled myself higher.

A heavy weight slammed into me, dragging me back to the ground. I snarled and released my hold on the branches to grab the sickle from between my teeth, slashing behind me even as we fell. The sticky resistance and echoing snarl were all the confirmation I had before the sickle was ripped from my grasp.

We struck the ground heavily, and the other zombie lost his grip, allowing me to roll away. I drew my belt knife and sank into a fighting crouch with my hands in the First Strike position, hoping to lull my opponent into a false sense of security long enough for a solid head strike.

The zombie didn't mirror the pose. Instead, he charged again, ignoring the bleeding cut on his side and the scent of my blood drifting from the slashes on my shoulder. The frontal attack was similar to Daniel's, so I spun to the side, just out of his reach, and kicked off of a tree trunk to launch myself at his back as he went by.

He was trying to slow down and turn around on the leaf litter, which gave me the opening I needed to slam the hilt of my knife into his head with a crack. He dropped to his knees as my momentum sent me somersaulting over his shoulder.

I gawked as he staggered back to his feet with a dazed snarl. I could shatter a bear's spine with a strike like that—how was he still standing? Did he have nothing but rocks up there or something?

Since heights wouldn't help me evade this zombie, I ducked behind a tree trunk too narrow to completely conceal me as I tried to come up with another plan. My eyes scanned the forest floor without seeing the silver gleam of my sickle. He was already charging toward my hiding spot, so I crouched down and jumped away when he collided with the tree trunk in a decidedly Terror fashion.