I wasn't used to anyone putting limits on what I wanted to do. I stared at Ben with disbelief, "You want to wait in here until someone drives by?"

He shrugged as if it was logical, "This road has someone traveling on it at least once a week from what we heard. It beats skulking in the forest hoping to avoid becoming a zombie snack. It is much safer to remain inside."

I rubbed my forehead as my irritation built. I wanted to growl at him so badly, but managed to merely grumble, "Then let me outside so I can check to see if any of the vehicles run. I will go mad if I am cooped up in here for days on end."

He shook his head, "No, if anyone leaves, it could lead zombies to us. We will wait here. We have lots of food."

He must have been trying to test my patience. "Just let me out. I will wait out there until either someone comes by or you give up on your waiting game. Even if someone did come, you wouldn't be able to undo that metal twist in time to flag them down."

He shook his head, "Hank can undo it quickly enough. And no, no one is leaving."

I stilled as I faced him. His words were a challenge and they hit my instincts like gasoline on a fire. Hank seemed to sense that Ben had overstepped an invisible boundary and got up to stand behind Ben with arms folded. I turned my head slightly to examine the massive man. Had I been human, I would have been shaking in my boots. What he didn't realize was that he was like a mouse glaring at a cat.

I grabbed my control with both hands as I turned around with a pissed off huff and silently stormed off to the back of the store. It was not wise for me to be around them at the moment while I was so angry. I knew that my eyes would be glowing very strongly in my current mood, a warning that was invisible to them. I glared at the solid chains on the back door, each link was as big as my fist. Even my Nightstalker strength wouldn't be able to damage them.

I shimmied up the various pipes until I got into the rafters. I sat up there on the narrow metal rafter supports while I fought my temper back down to something that was safe for the humans to be around. Part of my temper was due to the strengthening smell of humans in the building and part of it was the fact that I hadn't hunted last night. The largest part was that he had stomped on the Nightstalker instincts in such a way that they wanted to retaliate.

Hours later I came down. Liz was sitting on a box below, simply waiting for me to come down. She took my hand and pulled me forward. I let her, she had sat patiently for three hours once she managed to find me. She had recruited Nicky to help find me and even with both of them scouring the tiny store, it had taken them almost 20 minutes to locate me on my unusual perch.

She led me back to the others as I stifled a sigh. I still wasn't exactly in the mood for company. I still sat down in my usual place and Liz crawled back into my lap. Ben's ego was overinflated from our last encounter, "I am amazed that you didn't fall out of those rafters with those sunglasses on. No need to hide behind them. I will like you just as much without them."

This guy is getting on my nerves. I wasn't in the mood to put up with him right now. I glanced down at Liz and pointed to a pencil beside her, "Can I borrow this?"

She smiled sweetly at me, "Sure."

"Thanks." In a lightning fast move I grabbed it and whipped it just off to the side of Ben without even looking up. I watched them out of the corner of my eye as I slowly turned to face them. Ben was looking at the pencil that had lodged itself in the drywall not far from him. Hank had tensed up with a hand on his knife. Nicky had her hand on her sword, waiting to see if her help was needed.

Ben turned his head to look at me, "You missed." He was trying for bravado, but his voice was shaking. He also stunk of sudden fear.

I snorted, "There is a line drawn there, and I aimed for that. My temper has a short line, and you're about that close to crossing it, buddy."

Ben and Hank glanced over at the pencil again and realized that I had hit a line that someone had drawn onto the wall with a pen. Neither of them spoke. Nicky was watching me closely with some emotion I couldn't identify. Tom and Marissa seemed surprised and uneasy at my display of temper.

Liz frowned at her pencil that now resided in the wall, "Well, they can keep that pencil. There were more on the shelf, I will go get them."

She bounded out of my lap and ran down an aisle on the far side of the store. Hank regarded me silently. Ben frowned, but didn't say anything. Perhaps he was finally learning some speck of wisdom. I am not holding my breath waiting for that to occur.

Liz came back swiftly enough with a package of pencils. She plopped back in my lap. She tried to pull the box lid open, "Ouch."

I closed my eyes as the scent of her blood hit my senses with a shock that reminded me of being ambushed with a bucket of ice water. A few seconds later I had myself mostly under control. I opened my eyes to see her examining a cardboard cut on her finger that was seeping a few drops of blood. Thankfully it wasn't deep or it would have bled more.

I kept a careful grip on my control. I was surprised that she wasn't crying. Instead she was inspecting the growing drops of blood with an interest that bordered on fascination. I sighed and grabbed a napkin from beside me to wrap around her finger. Marissa tossed me something and I caught it, it was a box of bandaids. I pulled a larger one out. The better we sealed it, the better off I would be.

I helped her bandage it up. I put the napkin in an empty pie tin and lit a match before setting the napkin on fire. I shifted Liz out of my lap and got up to go down the nearby aisle for something I had seen earlier. I undid the bottle of bleach and started pouring a thin line around the entire perimeter of the store.

Marissa looked at me as if I had gone nuts, "What are you doing?"

These people knew nothing about zombies... I sighed, "The smell of blood can lure in zombies quite easily. Between burning the napkin and pouring the bleach along any possible gap, it should cover the scent of her blood."

The sharp fumes should also help me retain my control. The smell of her blood had been brutal and I had not expected it. I had remained in control though, that was the main thing. I was glad it was just a small papercut and that someone hadn't slipped with a knife and inflicted a larger injury.

Looks of shock or surprise crossed their faces. I paused to examine them, "Please don't tell me that such a thought never crossed your minds."

All the adults shook their heads. I gritted my teeth, I was surrounded by idiots. Who, apparently, wanted to sign their own death warrants. I finished the perimeter and dropped the bottle in front of Ben. I gestured to the back of the store, "Split that bottle between the toilets and pour some down the sink drains and in the corners of the rooms. It should mask the smell in there for a few days."

I went to sit back down and Liz promptly climbed back into my lap. Ben opened and closed his mouth a few times before he grudgingly got up and took the bottle to the back. The one room had a shower and Ben had somehow convinced Chloe to use it for her business. It really needed something to help with the smell.

Nicky started snickering, "Oh, did you see his face?! Priceless!"

I chuckled, pleased that I had made him do something he didn't want to do. It helped ease the irritation. Nicky gaped at me, "Wow, how do you get your teeth so white?"

For having the most bizarre form of humor I had ever seen, that lady was far too perceptive. I grinned at her to hide my surprise, "The crest white stripes are down Aisle 4."

She blinked in shock, "How many boxes did you use?!"

I shrugged and didn't reply. She glanced over her shoulder before heading to aisle 4. I was somewhat dismayed that she had noticed my white teeth. It was something all zombies had in common, our teeth had no stains and remained white enough to make any model jealous. I was glad that she didn't realize that my canines were slightly longer than usual. They were also razor sharp, but she wouldn't know that unless she came into contact with them.

I helped Liz color various pictures to pass the time. The time was passing far too slowly. I tried drinking a can of tomato juice, hoping the iron rich liquid would help with my craving. The big can did help a bit, but nothing substantial.

I hoped that I could sneak out during the night. The craving was getting uncomfortable and the heat in my blood was getting more noticeable. I was growing accustomed to the constant burn in the back of my throat, but it was getting worse.

Ben was still a pain in my ass. "Come on, the sun has dropped behind the horizon. Nothing in here is reflecting any light. "

I groaned, "You don't give up, do you?"

"No."

I leveled a glare at him, not that he could see my eyes, but my facial expression would give it away, "And if I take off my glasses for a few moments, will you drop the subject permanently?"

He perked up, "Certainly." Liar. I highly doubted his claim.

I eyed him up, "If you shine a flashlight at me, not even Hank will be able to protect you."

Ben held up his empty hands, "I am innocent on that front."

I could control my eye color somewhat if I wasn't too worked up. I suppressed the red coloration that came with the heat and the Nightstalker instincts. At this point, they would be a rather dark burnt orange color that could easily be mistaken for brown in this low light.

Considering that the room was almost completely dark by human standards, I wasn't sure what he planned on seeing. I slowly reached up and removed my sunglasses for the first time in three days. I blinked slowly in what I considered to be painfully bright light. I composed my face so they wouldn't be able to see my discomfort and pain.

I raised my eyebrow at Ben, "Happy now?" If he didn't know I was irritated before, he certainly did now. Allowing him to make me do something that I didn't want to do was putting me in a worse mood. He was obviously too dense to realize that his actions were the main trigger of my short temper.

He grinned, "Yep. That wasn't so hard, was it?" It was official. He clearly didn't know when to quit. He was like a chicken strutting around in a KFC parking lot. He thought he might have just been taunting the people in the restaurant, but he didn't realize that the drivers in the parking lot were the true danger.

I snorted and put my glasses back on. The room may have been quite dark by human standards, but it was very bright for me. "I hope you enjoyed it because it isn't going to happen again."

He chuckled as he rubbed his hands together, "We'll see, we'll see. We cracked your defenses, so we will just have to keep working on them until we get to your soft heart."

I am beginning to think that he is a few bricks short of a garden wall. I leaned back against the wall and didn't answer in my growing anger. I had suspected that he wouldn't leave my sunglasses alone if I took them off once. He grinned and pressed his luck, "Not even a reply, shows that I am right. We will break through your shell yet."

I exhaled loudly in irritation, "Go to sleep Ben, you are getting on my nerves."

He chuckled and opened his mouth yet again. I interrupted him, "Not another word, or else."

He smirked, "Or else what?"

I grinned at him in a slightly predatory manner, "Or else I will show Nicky how to pick the lock on that bathroom door."

He immediately lay down in his sleeping bag and was silent. I silently grinned at his sudden obedience. Nicky was also grinning, "You can show me anyway. That way he can't hide. Love that grin by the way, it reminded me of the big bad wolf that was ready to rip its prey's throat out."

I turned to look at her in surprise, trying to hide my unease, "How do you even come up with such analogies?" I wished she would keep them silent, in case someone started to connect the dots.

She shrugged, "I have a gift for that sort of thing."

I shook my head and draped a blanket over my shoulders. I rested sitting up with my back against the wall, as I had pretended to sleep last night. I had managed to get half an hour of restless sleep last night, but I knew that my desire for blood was too strong to allow sleep to come tonight. It confused the others, but they ignored my odd sleeping position without comment.

Liz cuddled up to me as she slept. One by one most of the others fell asleep. This didn't help me though, since our three recent companions took turns on watch as they had last night. Once the last hint of the sun had disappeared I felt my Nightstalker instincts become stronger. They always did at night.

I wanted to run through the forest and hunt. Even the thought of putting a Runner in its place sounded good. That was my altered human mind's preferences; my instincts were more than happy to remain here if I could sink my teeth into the humans' flesh. I refused to go down that route, so I had to sit here and pretend to sleep. It chafed against my waning patience and I was having to work harder for control. Why did I have to get mixed up with a bunch of humans? Right, my human heart wanted to help.

I wasn't sure how much longer my humanity could cover up the monster hidden within. It wasn't something that was easy to hide for even a short time. With a sigh I got up to walk silently over to Nicky, who was on watch. I crouched down by her, "What are the odds of you letting me out for an hour? I am getting cabin fever in here something fierce."

She shook her head, "No can do. I can't even undo that piece of metal."

I glanced at the door, "I can undo it."

She sighed, "But I can't do it back up once you are out. Sorry, go back to sleep."

I went back to my spot. It had been worth a try. I would have to try during the day again.