Indestructible: V Plague Book 7 Read Online Free PDF

found the group’s
trail.  I had wandered way off course in my dazed state.  The good news was I
felt better.  My vision had mostly returned to normal.  I was no longer seeing
double or partial-double.  Now there was just some fuzziness around things, but
at least there was only one object when I looked at something.
    My head still pounded, but I was stronger and no longer sick
to my stomach.  Sipping more water, I adjusted the straps on my pack and broke
into a jog.  I can’t say I was moving appreciably faster than I was when just
walking, but I needed every fraction of a mile per hour I could get.  With no
idea how fast the infected that had my friends were moving, all I could do was
push as hard as possible to close the distance between us.
    After half an hour of jogging I reached the edge of the
agricultural area.  The soft soil of the field ended at a narrow, hard-packed
dirt road.  I slowed when I reached the road, noting the scuffing of the
surface made by passing feet.  Moving to the far side there was a slope down to
grass-covered prairie and the path to follow was clear.  All of the feet had
trampled the vegetation down, changing its color and texture.
    With relatively smooth ground to traverse I was able to push
my speed up to a run.  Not having to step over every row as I jogged eliminated
the worst of the jarring impact from every step.  The new terrain was a
physical relief and for the first time I began to feel that I was actually
making progress.
    The trail followed the geography, sticking to the easier
route.  It wound through low areas, seemingly avoiding climbing small rises. 
It took a while for the significance of this to dawn on me.  Humans, at least
modern humans who grew up in towns and cities and did all their walking on
smooth concrete and asphalt will normally follow a straight path when walking
through nature. 
    Maybe it’s because we’ve been conditioned since birth to get
from point A to point B in as straight a line as possible.  Maybe not.  I just
know it’s the way people behave.  Animals, on the other hand, will almost
always follow the terrain.  The path of least resistance.  Use as little energy
as possible because they can’t count on a grocery store or fast food restaurant
being just around every corner.
    The infected were moving like animals.  Like humans
travelled throughout history until we began building and living in cities.  I
didn’t know how this helped me, but it did give me some insight into the
infected’s minds.  A lifetime of conditioning to move in straight lines had
been stripped away by the effects of the virus, the infected operating on a
more instinctual level.
    These thoughts and half a dozen others went through my head
as I ran.  Running is boring, and my mind found things to occupy itself while
only devoting enough attention to what I was doing to keep me from stepping off
a cliff or smashing into a tree.  So I let it wander.  And not surprisingly,
all I could think about was Katie and Rachel.  Rachel and Katie. 
    I was thinking about how this would all shake out when I got
them back.  Katie was the love of my life, there was no question of that, but
Rachel had a piece of my hard, black heart and the thought of hurting her broke
that little piece.  I would be dead half a dozen times over if not for Rachel,
and I owed her more than I could ever repay for helping me find and rescue
Katie.
    Tabling the internal discussion, I slowed then came to a
stop when I reached a wide river.  I cast around, checking the tracks that
transitioned from the prairie grass to the dirt banks, but their direction of
travel didn’t deviate.  Straight into the water.  A few yards downstream I
found a clear set of prints where Dog also went into the river.
    This was really odd.  I looked across the water, estimating
it to be nearly a hundred yards to the far bank.  I couldn’t tell how deep it
was, the water moving so slowly that if I didn’t