Nina and Nicky were eating breakfast when I walked through the door.

I dropped the traps on the floor with a clatter and dryly commented, "I highly advise against going more than three hundred feet from this building."

Daniel growled at the sight of them. "Where did you find those? I went farther than that, and I didn't see anything."

"They were mostly toward the east, but I don't feel like lingering in this place. How soon can we head out?" I asked as I walked to the side to investigate all the scattered bags and supplies, hoping some were ready to be packed outside.

Nina said, "If you want, we can leave as soon as we finish eating. It shouldn't take us too long to pack. We already washed the pot, and the plates are paper, so we can burn them. That just leaves the cutlery to wash."

She didn't seem to understand the gravity of the situation, and I didn't particularly feel like talking about the trap-setting stranger or his dead brother to the east. The last thing I wanted was for that guy to show up with a rifle.

I wasn't entirely sure how far off his rocker he might be, but in the name of revenge, he had hung around for a couple of weeks waiting for deadly zombies to return. If he held a senseless grudge against all zombies, I really didn't feel like lingering here in case he came looking for the two zombies he now knew were in the area. Vengeance and common sense rarely went hand-in-hand, and he had already proven he was patient and determined. I grabbed a couple of bags that were packed and began hauling them out to the truck.

Nicky paused with her toast halfway to her mouth. "What's got you up in an antsy? I've never seen you in such a rush to leave."

"Let's just say I met the man who set up hundreds of these traps. There's a chance he might travel in this direction, so I'd prefer to leave as soon as possible."

"I wasn't aware someone was around here," Nina said. "Does he need a ride to a Stronghold?"

What was it with people offering complete strangers a ride without even meeting them? Did I not just finish saying he was responsible for setting up traps in this area where anyone could blunder into them?

"No, he has his own car."

Daniel tilted his head in slight suspicion. "And you didn't mention him earlier because...?"

I made a face. "Those three Nightstalkers killed his brother a few weeks ago. I doubt he'd be comfortable traveling with us or vice versa. I'd prefer to avoid him if possible, and he might come this way. I'm not entirely sure if he fits into the mentally stable category after everything he went through."

"People often say that about me as well," Nicky commented.

I snorted. "Compared to him and his four hundred traps, you are normal."

Nicky gave me a strange look. "Okay, now you've made me nervous. I'll help you pack. Normal people scare me, and there is no way anyone ever calls me normal." She shoved the last bit of toast into her mouth and got to her feet.

"Normal people scare you, so you hang out with zombies?"

"Yep," she replied with a big grin as she began washing her knife. "Pissing off Daniel is an entertaining game with unlimited potential. It should be made an Olympic sport considering how often you and I compete to win the gold medal. You're just plain fun to hang out with."

Oh boy... I'm not sure there's any intervention in the world strong enough to help her at this point. I couldn't come up with any response to that comment, nor had I realized just how far gone Nicky was. She considered annoying a Terror a sport and found an irritable Nightstalker fun to be around. Apparently, she liked to live life on the edge.

Nina looked somewhat alarmed by her proclamation. Daniel was clearly doubting Nicky's sanity, although he didn't look overly surprised. I shook my head and glanced at the open doorway as something caught my attention. I went to the threshold and took a deep breath to confirm the smoke wasn't from our fire.

"The sooner we get moving, the better."

With that warning, Nina swiftly finished the last of her porridge. Daniel also got up and began putting his speed to good use as he packed things faster than anyone else could. I took the first load outside, followed by Nicky with her sleeping bag and backpack.

I jumped in the back of the truck to stack everything properly. Nicky dropped her stuff just inside the tailgate for me to organize.

She turned around, and when she noticed the huge column of dark smoke on the horizon, she whistled in amazement. "Wow. You didn't say he was a pyromaniac. That must be quite the fire. I wonder what he's burning?"

"He probably set fire to a pit with regular zombies in it." And his deceased brother's remains.

Through the doorway, Daniel frowned in my direction before coming outside to look. "Is he one of those dedicated zombie killers?"

"I don't think so, but he lured in a number of regular zombies. From the smell, he's using some sort of fire accelerant along with all the dry wood that was in the pit."

Shaking his head, Daniel went back inside to continue packing. It wasn't hard to follow his thoughts; zombie hunters were rare nowadays, mostly because they often wound up as zombies, especially now that ammo was scarce.

Occasionally, someone would try it, but they rarely survived long enough to realize all the possible problems that came with hunting something as numerous and dangerous as zombies.

No archer or gunman in the world could take on dozens of zombies without one hell of a good escape plan and lots of ammo or arrows. Even then, they still had to cut off the zombie's head to truly kill it, or it would be back on its feet within a couple of weeks. Not only did they have to worry about blood spatter, but they also had to deal with the blood on their weapons afterward.

Zombie blood and unnoticed zombies were deadly hazards to such people, and there was never a shortage of zombies, especially near a city. There were rumors of a handful of people who were still determined to kill zombies, but those accounts also said they were a rather demented and fanatic bunch whose numbers were slowly being whittled down by the creatures they were hunting. Not to mention that sawing off the head of a zombie – who looked as human as their past selves – took a serious toll on the killer's mental health.

This guy might not be as bad since he was after revenge against three particular Nightstalkers who had killed his brother, but a three-minute conversation wasn't a true judge of someone's mental state, and he had been luring other zombies into his traps.

With all four of us packing, we were ready in record time.

Nina looked at the dark smoke on the horizon. "We should double back the way we came and turn at the junction where the infected man likely turned. Perhaps we'll find him if we take a roundabout trip home."

"That works for me," I said, jumping in the back and sitting on the mattress. As long as the direction we picked didn't take us close to the source of the black smoke, I was content to be a passenger and not a backseat driver.

The truck started moving, beginning the slow, tedious trip north to the distant place we called home. Oddly enough, even I was beginning to refer to it as home instead of Ironwind Stronghold. That place must have rubbed off on me far more than I had realized.

~

       I sniffed the air and commented, "Well, the infected guy was on this highway."

"And just how are you so sure about that, O Wise One?" Nicky asked, not bothering to sit up or even open her eyes.

"He stopped long enough to take a leak."

"And you can smell that from here? Ugh. No wonder most sane zombies avoid people."

I didn't bother mentioning the anti-nausea part of being a zombie kept such things from being gross. The smells certainly stood out, but even though my sense of smell was much keener now, the odors weren't as vile as they had been as a human.

Nicky lifted her head. "How do you manage around women during their monthly cycle? Before the bloodlust disappeared, I mean. If I can occasionally smell those washable cloth pads and other objects us ladies are using, then you must be able to."

"It's not quite the same as blood from a cut, but it's still enough to flare up the bloodlust or lure in feral zombies."

"Wait. Do zombies go through such things?"

I leveled a mild glare at the sunbathing redhead for her topic of choice. "No. All that stops. The cycles, the attraction to a potential partner, lust. Anything romantic disappears when you turn."

"You'd make all those monks and nuns proud," she mumbled, "at least in that aspect since I can't see them being a fan of the blood-drinking part."

"Probably not."

It didn't escape my attention that Daniel was focused on the road ahead, not even glancing at me in the rearview mirror like he had occasionally done throughout the morning. Nina had her head tilted slightly, as if she were listening through the open back window, but not showing any obvious sign that she was intrigued by the topic at hand.

Nicky let her head fall back onto the mattress, once more looking up at the sky. "All those changes, and yet, it's so easy to think of you guys as humans with social problems."

"That complacency is one of the biggest dangers around sane zombies," I said seriously. "The virus puts our temper on a hair trigger, and a lot can set it off. The end result usually doesn't turn out well for the humans involved."

"Yeah, yeah. You keep saying that, but I'm still alive."

"I still haven't figured out how."

She grinned and closed her eyes, leaving that secret as a mystery for another day.

Nina finally joined the conversation. "It's almost time for lunch. But I'm hoping we can catch up to the infected man. How long ago did he pass through here?"

"At a guess, it was about twelve hours old."

"And he's likely driving at the same speed we are," Nina murmured sadly. "In that case, we might as well stop for lunch."

"I don't think we're going to catch up to him before he turns," I told her. "The infection practically dominated his scent."

"How long do you think he has?"

"Honestly? He's probably a zombie already."

She winced. "For once, I really, really hope your nose is wrong."

Judging from Daniel's expression when he glanced at her, he was far less optimistic than she was. He pulled over to the side of the road to stop for a lunch break. Nicky sat up with a groan and dug out a couple cans of soup, which would make an easy and quick meal.

I tested the air as everyone got out of the truck. "There's a couple of regular zombies close by, so don't wander too far."

Pausing, Nina asked, "Are any of them the man we're searching for?"

"No."

She sighed in relief and arranged some kindling on the edge of the road to start a fire. Daniel went to collect firewood so our companions didn't have to risk entering the forest. I leaned against the truck and kept an eye on our surroundings.

Daniel put an armful of branches beside Nina and scanned the area in a bored surveillance check, going past me, then coming back with new focus. My head was still facing Nicky, who was dumping soup into the pot, and my dark sunglasses hid how I was watching him.

He walked closer to me, which made both Nina and Nicky look up. His approach was out of character since we tended to leave a fair amount of space between ourselves, even if it was just out of habit.

I turned in his direction and tilted my head in a silent inquiry, pretending to be naïve about what had caught his attention. Daniel glanced at his arms before looking at mine again. His gaze moved to my sunglasses.

"Half of your scabs have already fallen off," he said, confusion lacing his voice. "Your injuries are healing much faster than mine are. I don't recall the feral Nightstalker in the barn healing that fast either."

Nina dumped a handful of sticks on the fire and scrambled to her feet, intrigued by the new mystery at hand.

Still playing stupid, I looked at his arms, then mine. "Huh. You're right. Your scratches don't seem to be healing as fast as mine. This is about normal for me, although you probably remember how fast those bullet wounds healed."

What were the odds of me convincing him that he was the anomaly? It could be highly entertaining to watch Nina pester him for a change.

Nina came right up to me. "Look at the differences in the rate of healing. I thought you had healed unusually fast from those bullet wounds. Let me check your arm."

I growled faintly as the overly inquisitive scientist took another step closer. Daniel narrowed his eyes but didn't growl at my half-hearted protest. Nina also ignored it, and I let her pick up my arm and gently peel back the bandage.

She blinked in surprise when she saw the wound. It had clearly been healing at an accelerated rate, and compared to Daniel's deepest scratches, the difference was quite noticeable after forty hours. Even a zombie's regular healing rate shouldn't have done quite this much.

In the background, Nicky put the pot of soup over the fire, more concerned about food than a rapidly-healing cut.

"This is definitely healing faster than the feral Nightstalker's scratches did." Nina moved her inquisitive gaze from my arm to my slightly irritated expression.

With that observation, I wouldn't be able to convince them that Daniel was just healing slowly. So much for that idea. Was there any way I could use this opportunity to drag Daniel through the mud on another self-learning trip with his instincts?

I shrugged. "Travis and Kelly healed just as swiftly. Actually, most sane zombies tend to heal faster than their feral counterparts, at least from what I've seen."

Nicky sat by the fire and added more wood, somehow keeping a straight face while looking on in curiosity. Daniel furrowed his eyebrows in thought, but even though my scent was free of any lies, he didn't seem entirely convinced by my explanation.

The smell of his skepticism contradicted his slow nod. He was accepting the logic in my explanation, but he wasn't quite buying my story. That was good. He would think about it and perhaps discover the secret on his own.

"Well," Nina said, "it's healing beautifully. I'll go get a clean bandage for this."

She left and quickly came back with another bandage and a tube of salve. After she bandaged it, she went to sit by the fire and wrote in her notepad.

Daniel went back to where he had been standing before, although he kept glancing at me. He was definitely thinking, although he didn't say anything. That in itself was unusual. I idly rubbed one of the smaller scratches, letting the dull pain help me hide a grin.

It wasn't long before the two women finished their soup. As we got in the truck, I leaned my back against the tailgate so I could see the scenery ahead. Nicky sprawled out on the mattress again and gazed at the clouds overhead.

I closed my eyes to better ignore Daniel's frequent glances in the rearview mirror. Taking a deep breath, I examined the various scents that flowed around me. I might not be able to tell which direction they were in while the truck was moving, but I had a rough guess about how far away they were.

Ever since becoming a Nightstalker, I remembered things better if I associated them with a scent. This was particularly true when it came to locations and roads. Influenced by my instincts, my mind automatically built a mental map and used scents as the main landmarks. If I ever passed this way again, I would almost certainly know where I was.

Scent made up such a large part of my world that I trusted my nose above my eyes or ears. Sure, there were seasonal changes to scents, but the very odor of the dirt and the specific mix of tree to grass to water ratio made each location fairly unique.

I didn't have to see the deep cave with thousands of bats by the river – I could smell it. I would also be able to smell it from a distance, which was easier than having to follow the river to see if I could stumble across the unique landmark if I ever passed through this area in the future.

The enhanced sense of smell was one big perk of being a zombie. Until I turned, I hadn't realized how nose dead humans were. Sure, I knew some dogs could find a certain toy in a big box of similar ones, and my horse could smell if a bear had passed by, but it was one thing to know this in abstract, and quite another to have a keen sense of smell just dumped on you.

Like a blind man suddenly gaining his sight, it had taken me weeks to get accustomed to the sense that had suddenly strengthened beyond belief. I had accepted it and used it to my advantage, willingly learning everything I could about it. And my diligence had paid off. Now, I knew the identity or source of almost every scent around me without having to think about it. I could even tell the different types of grasses apart without seeing them.

Examining the world around me by smell was more entertaining than simply watching the scenery. There were animals hidden just beyond the trees, not to mention the sharp perfumes of numerous flowers. I leaned back and continued to ignore Daniel's thoughtful glances as I investigated the world around me with my nose.

~

       I opened my eyes and looked around, although the mix of fields and forest was pretty much what I had expected.

"The guy we're tracking is somewhere ahead, although he's been a regular zombie for a while," I said.

"Any idea where?" Nina asked.

Daniel brought the truck to a stop without being asked, allowing me to get my bearings.

"Somewhere ahead. He probably turned last night."

The truck began moving again, and it wasn't long before we saw a corner store with a car parked in front of it. The man with red eyes pushing against the store window spoke more loudly than any words I could probably muster.

"Do you want to stop or keep going?" Daniel quietly asked Nina.

She gazed at the store for a while, finally murmuring, "We can keep going. We were too late."

An awkward silence surrounded us as we kept driving, broken only by the steady rumble of the engine and the occasional ping of the tires throwing a rock against the underside of the truck.