The man nodded tiredly. "Yes. When it's around, the other zombies don't act normal. I'm not sure where it went. It staggers around like it's harmless, but that thing is dangerous."
I frowned at that news, although we'd already seen it. "The other zombies didn't act normal? How so?"
"You couldn't lure them away or distract them. It simply wasn't possible. They just kept chasing the same person." He shuddered. "I tried luring them outside the fence, but it didn't work. Then that zombie screamed again, and the ones near me came after me. I just couldn't shake them."
"They cornered you?" I asked, already guessing the answer.
He made a face. "Yeah. They're stronger than they look. Salma knocked them off with a baseball bat, but two more came up behind her. I got away, but she didn't..." He trailed off, bowing his head once more as tears dripped down his face.
A shrill, muffled shriek came from ahead.
The man's head shot up, his eyes wide with terror. "That's the zombie! It's nearby!"
He grabbed his crossbow and stared ahead apprehensively. The woman hunched her head between her shoulders and held her blanket tightly with her good hand. Only the regular headlights were turned on, not the light bars, so their view would be limited. I saw a couple of regular zombies but doubted they could.
I pretended to examine the road. "Well, I don't see it. If nothing else, you know it isn't close to the Stronghold anymore."
I saw Daniel smirk in the rearview mirror, although his eyes never left the road. Thankfully, he didn't turn on the lightbars yet. The other two didn't look reassured and continued to stare at the darkness beyond the light.
Deciding a change of topic was in order, I asked, "Daniel, did you figure out how the zombies got inside the fence?"
"They got in through an access gate on the south side. The latch came off the wood post, likely when the zombies pushed against it. Judging by the rust and wood fragments, it was a combination of the screws rusting and the wood deteriorating. I secured it, but they'll have to replace the latch with a new one."
I was curious to know how he had "secured it", but that question was probably better left unvoiced until we reached Graydon Stronghold. I suspected Daniel was also pretending to be human to avoid spooking the rescued duo, who already had enough stress to last the rest of their lifetimes.
The light in front of us quadrupled as Daniel turned on various light bars. I grumbled and raised my hood as my instincts protested. Our two rescues were so busy staring ahead and trying to spot the zombie that they didn't notice my sunglasses.
I turned off my flashlight to conserve the batteries, leaving the rescuees to rely on the woman's dim solar light and the ambient light from the truck's lights. As if I had found their talkative switch, they also fell silent. I hoped it would last the rest of the trip.
Time dragged by. For me, it was out of boredom, but our passengers simply weren't able to relax due to nerves and fear.
Every time we passed a regular zombie, they stared at it like it was going to turn into a feral Terror and attack them. But considering they were sitting in the back of an unprotected truck shortly after surviving a zombie attack, I had to admit that they were holding up remarkably well.
When the Stronghold finally came into sight, I let my hood fall back, relieved the trip was over. Or mostly over. Several zombies circled the fence, and the guards wouldn't open the gates until they were gone. The scent of our prisoner made it impossible to forget its presence.
"How do you want to do this?" I asked Daniel. "I can lure the zombies away, but the locals aren't going to want this truck inside until we get rid of that cargo up front."
"That would work. Once you lure them away, I'll stop outside the gate and take these two inside. Then you can drive the truck to the trailer Nina was talking about."
"Why can't we drive inside?" the man asked, looking between Daniel and me. "I'm sure whatever cargo you have can wait until morning. It would be safer to go inside right away."
"It's safer to not take it inside," I replied vaguely. "I'll make sure no zombies are near the gate, so you'll have plenty of time to go inside."
"What kind of cargo?" he pressed, frowning at me.
"There's a zombie in the box on the front bumper," Daniel told them, halfway spilling our secret without revealing exactly which zombie it was.
"What? You're telling me that we brought a zombie with us?"
Under my breath, I muttered, "And just wait until they learn they were traveling with two of them." At normal volume, I said, "And that is why it isn't going into the Stronghold. So once the truck stops, you get to jump ship while I keep any company at bay."
They stared at me, then exchanged a wide-eyed look, which confirmed we had been wise to keep it a secret until now. We wouldn't have got them in the truck if they'd known; now they had no choice but to play along.
Daniel stopped the truck long enough for me to jump out, and I used my flashlight to catch the attention of the zombies before jogging away. He remained where he was while I lured them to the side. As soon as it was safe, he continued driving to the gate, unnoticed by the half a dozen zombies trailing after me.
The guards wasted no time ushering them inside, at first trying to get him to drive through, before pointedly leaving it outside. Once the gate was closed and barred, I jogged back and hopped into the driver's seat. The light bars were immediately turned off.
I put the truck into reverse while wrinkling my nose at the smell of the Terror who'd been sitting here for too many hours. As I turned around, the fence surrounding the scrapyard glinted in the headlights, and I stopped there to grab some chain-link fencing and various metal pieces. The zombies were just catching up as I got back in the truck.
They kept chasing me as I drove down the road, although I didn't care if they got lost at this point. I parked the truck by the old mobile home and went inside. After appraising the various rooms, I decided the larger bedroom could be turned into a short-term holding cell.
I didn't need to put tons of effort into it since it would only take Nina a couple of days to confirm the two zombies weren't contagious. Luckily, I had several hammers stashed beside the mattress to pick from, so it was easy to board up the window.
With a bit of creativity, I managed to build a sturdy chain-link door to keep our prisoner in the bedroom. It wouldn't stop a Nightstalker, but it was sufficient for a Runner and would also hold whatever this guy was.
With the jail cell set up, all I had to do was get the zombie inside.
I located my set of work gloves and put them on. The fabric at the tips was already starting to wear through after just two uses. Daniel must regularly file the sharp edges off his nails, since his gloves were still intact after wrestling the zombie into the cabinet.
I crossed my arms and regarded the metal container as thudding continued to echo from inside. Leading the zombie into the room and then slipping out shouldn't be too hard, but it was up to Daniel to figure out how we were getting it back to Ironwind. I wasn't sure there was room for two zombies in the cabinet, even if both were unconscious.
With a reluctant sigh, I decided to get this over and done with. I unlocked the cabinet and opened the door, letting the zombie roll out and thrash around on the ground. I stepped back and waited to see if he would be able to get to his feet.
After watching him roll around for a couple of minutes, I grabbed his arm and hauled him upright, promptly frog-marching the snarling zombie inside. I shoved him into his new abode and closed the door, twisting a piece of rebar to lock him inside.
He collided with the door, trying to bite me through it, and I snarled at him before he had a chance to create one of those zombie-rallying screams. With a growl, he backed down from the challenge and my rank. He ambled around the room while trying to free his hands, which were still bound behind him.
I shook myself off and left the trailer. I gazed up at the moon; more than half the night had passed. There wasn't time to wander far, not that I planned to during the first night, especially when these two zombies were so close to the Stronghold.
I doubted the guards would let the truck through the gate tonight, but it would be better to park it outside the fence. Grabbing the sanitizing spray, I quickly sprayed the inside of the cabinet and tossed my gloves inside, spraying them for good measure.
With luck, I wouldn't need to use the gloves again. A shooting star flashed across the sky with almost ominous timing. Some people thought they were lucky, but for me, they always heralded trouble. I frowned as I remembered that I hadn't been able to smell the first zombie on the second one's clothing.
What did these two zombies have in common? Were they really victims of Louise's tampering, or was there some sort of disease playing havoc among the zombies?