Once I figured I had my thoughts in order, I turned my head toward Nina, "Is collecting this blood going to require tormenting my shoulder each time?"

She shook her head, "No, I will use a regular collection needle like the hospitals did. I didn't mean to cause you pain and I truly was only trying to tidy up the wound. I only collected blood three times and I never intentionally caused the bleeding to collect the blood. We were hoping to map out the Nightstalker genome before you left without you being aware of it."

Such pain would have been an instant decline. I could handle a regular collection needle though. I exhaled slowly and reluctantly, "Having me here isn't going to be easy for anyone, including myself. The last few days people got a clearer glimpse of what my behavior is closer to. Nightstalkers really do not do well with large groups." I glanced toward Daniel, "Or with zombies of a similar or higher rank, as I am sure that you noticed. I will be a constant thorn in your side."

Daniel actually looked amused, "Tonight should have shown you that although I may pin you, I won't harm you. I am willing to put up with more such wrestling matches if needed, so if you feel the need to vent and strike out at me, feel free to do so."

That was a bizarre offer and I wasn't overly sure what to think of it, other than the fact that he didn't seem at all concerned that he might lose. He may have meant it as a reassurance, but it was also a blow to my pride that both of us knew I would end up in the dirt each time I tried.

Nina interrupted my thoughts, "If you need anything or if we can do something to make things easier for you, just let us know. We know it is going to be hard for you and we are willing to help."

My immediate thought went to the fence and the guards monitoring my coming and going. Even though I was in a lit up basement room, I could still feel the night calling to me – and it had been far too long since I ran through the night without worry.

I tilted my head, "Would there be any difficulty in me going outside the fence at night? I am tired of being cooped up in my room like a bat in the belfry when the night calls to me."

Nina hesitated slightly, but shook her head, "No, you are free to come and go as you please."

I relaxed a bit and nodded. Nina was obviously worried about me pulling a disappearing act after coming clean, but was trusting me to return. I turned my head toward Daniel, "Are you bothered if I start traveling elsewhere other than that small forest?"

He shook his head, "Feel free to explore. I will have them return the keys for the side by side to Nicky tomorrow." I didn't think he would care if I wandered around, but if he had objections, then that would have been a red flag of another possible secret.

Nina's eyes went to my leg where blood had seeped to the top of the bandage, "I hope you didn't injure yourself too badly."

I shrugged, "I don't think so."

Nina turned to regard Daniel, "She isn't the only one who is bleeding."

Daniel glanced at his forearm where the very shallow scratches were already drying into scabs. He gave me a rueful look, "She was quicker than I expected and almost caught me off guard when I turned to look at Nicky. I am glad that she was unarmed, otherwise I have a feeling that she could have inflicted more damage."

"That reminds me, when do I get my weapons back?"

Daniel made a face and pointed across the room, "Under that cloth. Make sure that you do not use them when you come after me or I will take them away permanently."

I looked over to see a white cloth covering something on one counter. I walked over with one eye on the two. The cloth had two familiar outlines underneath and I lifted the cloth to reveal my belt knife as well as my sickle in its sheath. I was relieved to see them once more. I would really miss that sickle if I ever lost it.

I grabbed both and put my belt knife on, but the sickle remained in my hand since the sheath was designed to go under my shirt. It felt so much better to finally have my weapons back. I doubted that Daniel and others would share the same sentiment.

Nina was digging around in a drawer behind her as I went back to where I had been standing previously. She looked up, "I will clean up both of your injuries."

I stiffened at her words. Nina noticed and gave me a reassuring smile, "Honest, it is just a cleaning and some salve. Nothing more. I promise that I will always ask permission from now on."

She turned her attention to Daniel, who made a face, but let her use a damp cloth to clean up his arm and get rid of any dried blood on his skin. She put a thin smear of salve on the scratches, "There, is there anything else?"

With a heavy sigh he pulled off his shirt, revealing two minor sets of scratches along his ribs. Nina wiped them clean, added more salve and put an adhesive bandage over it so his shirt didn't wipe off the gel that she was so fond of.

She turned to me and I watched her warily as she slowly approached. She made sure her hands were clearly visible as she only held a damp cloth, a tube of salve, and adhesive bandages. Daniel was watching me closely, ready to intervene if needed.

I wasn't sure why, but I let her approach. It wasn't due to trust, because I didn't trust her – she had destroyed any trust that she may have built on our long road trip here. It would be a very long time before there was any chance of me starting to trust her, if I ever could with my suspicious instincts. Perhaps it was to give her a chance to prove that she wasn't actually a threat. Whatever the reason was, I stood still.

I remained standing as she knelt down and lifted the leg of my shorts to reveal the blood soaked bandage. She carefully peeled it off. The scab had halfway torn off. The bleeding had been mostly from the new skin that was trying to grow, not from deeper within the wound.

Nina blinked as she noted how much it had healed since she had last seen it roughly 36 hours ago. My intense doctoring had made a considerable difference. She gently cleaned the skin around the wound, "I can't believe the rate of healing. It looked much worse the last time. Thankfully, it doesn't look as if it got too much worse."

I watched her silently, unwilling to part with the secret. Let them assume that it was natural for a serious wound to heal that quickly. They had seen my heart recover from a bullet within two days, so it shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

Before long she had it cleaned and bandaged up. She glanced over her shoulder at Daniel, "Can you go outside while I clean her shoulder?"

Daniel sent me a warning look as he reluctantly exited the door and closed it behind him. His footsteps did not continue, so I knew he was right outside the door. Nina waited while watching me. I examined her for several seconds before removing my shirt.

She moved slowly as she went behind me, being careful to not make any sudden moves. It didn't take her long to clean and bandage my shoulder wound up. I wasted no time putting my shirt back on.

Nina moved to put the dirty stuff away, "We are done Daniel."

He re-entered the room and went back to his seat. Nina put her gloves in the garbage and washed her hands for good measure. "Other than those who arrived with us, everyone else knows in general what is going on. So feel free to talk about it. We will be telling Nicky, Ben and the others what goes on here as well. Myself and Louise do the actual lab work here, although a handful of others help out a bit with the small and easy stuff."

My curiosity was piqued despite myself, "What kind of progress have you made?"

Nina waved at the rows of microscopes, lab equipment, and computers, "We could fill an entire library with the various things we have learned. The triggers within the zombie virus are one of our biggest discoveries. The fact that we can inactivate one of them is a milestone. We have discovered so many cures and vaccines that don't work that the number has six digits."

She shrugged, "We have a couple dozen things waiting for testing at any given time. We test first in various samples of blood. Whenever Daniel comes across a feral Runner, we trap it and we get to try one of the promising ones on it. The biggest problem is that almost no medication or chemical will do anything to a zombie. You are immune to almost everything, so simply finding things that are capable of even the tiniest effect is our largest task. We have had the most luck targeting the virus itself instead of trying to target the body, which is not how traditional medicine was usually developed."

Nina covered her mouth as she yawned, "Any other questions?"

I thought for a moment and shook my head, "At the moment, not really. I may think of more later."

Nina shrugged as she stood up and stretched, "Well, I will be happy to answer them at breakfast then."

I followed them back up to the main floor. They headed off to their rooms and I climbed the stairs to return to my room. I needed some time to think and wrap my head around this unexpected and abrupt change of plans.