Nicky was waiting for me in the hallway before we headed down to breakfast. The night had been quiet and nothing had disturbed my patrol. My mood was back to normal and my eyes had fully recovered. Nicky chattered about the game of archery she had won. "I managed to hit the bull's eye ten times in a row!"

I sensed more than a bit of exaggeration in her story and my instincts also doubted her tall tale since she had never hit the bull's eyes twice in a row before, let alone ten times. The round and even number was also suspicious. I took a sniff and declared, "Liar."

She looked at me with wide eyes, "What do you mean?"

I smirked, "When you lie, it shows in your scent. Especially with such an unbelievable story."

Her jaw dropped, "You don't believe me?!"

I gave her an ironic look, "Have you ever hit the bull's eye even ten times in one night? Or three times in a row when I was around?"

She chuckled and shook her head, "You just had to bring logic into it, didn't you? The real story is far less exciting. Oh, and don't believe Ben if he tells you that I almost ended up shooting him."

"Why on earth did Ben come between you and your target?"

Nicky ducked her head, "Ummm... My arrow kind of ricocheted off the edge of the target and almost hit him four lanes away as he was pulling his own arrows out of the target."

That sounded like something that was only possible with my luck. A second sniff told me that this tale was the truth. I shook my head, "Ben is going to be convinced that you are out to get him, although even he can't claim that you were skilled enough to purposely make that shot."

Nicky sighed, "Yeah, that was what the immediate consensus came out to."

I went to sit at my usual place while Nicky grabbed her breakfast. We must be a bit later than usual because Nina and Daniel were already at the table. I wasn't sure whom they had sat with before I came along, but if they came into the dining area, they were guaranteed to sit at what had become my table.

Nina nibbled on some toast, "How are you doing this morning?"

She still reminded me of a mother hen on some levels. I shrugged, "About average."

"I assume you plan on taking Luke some breakfast? I can't see not offering him something even though I am pretty sure he isn't going to want to eat."

I nodded, "I plan to grab a few things before heading out to see him."

Nina nodded, "When you come back, can you come find me? Apparently that cold has spread quite a bit while we were gone and some are worried that they are infected. We are pretty sure it is just a cold and I would prefer to conserve the chemicals since your nose works better than my tests do. Daniel did take a quick sniff, but didn't detect anything. We want to play it safe since we are just weeks away from when the third wave should start appearing."

That sounded easy enough. I did recall several people starting to sneeze just before we left. It made me glad that I could no longer catch a cold. "Can do."

"Thanks." Nina went back to eating as Nicky sat down with a yawn.

Breakfast included a fair bit of gossip, but it sounded like nothing had really changed while we were gone. During our absence, someone had the audacity to say that he kind of missed Nicky's off the wall craziness, and apparently he had been dunked in the horse's water trough for that comment. I pitied the horses that had to drink that water.

I took a paper plate with some food and wrapped it up before heading out the gate on foot. Luke's scent crossed the trail here and there in several spots. He must have been exploring at night. My footsteps were fairly loud as I approached the clearing. I wasn't entirely sure he was there at the moment, but it was a good place to check.

Two dead rabbits lay on the table, probably waiting for me to take them back to the Stronghold. The noise of a hammer and chisel told me that Luke had not heard my approach above his attempts to literally raise the roof.

That was one perk of being short, I rarely had to duck. I paused outside the entrance and waited. It wasn't long before Luke picked up my scent and the pounding stopped. I moved away from the entrance to sit at the picnic table where I had left the plate.

Luke came out of the cave covered in rock chips and dust. I greeted him, "So, how are the renovations going?"

He shrugged, "It will keep me occupied for quite some time at this rate. If I can move into the Stronghold, then it should be just about done for the next occupant."

"So you have decided that you want to move in if it is safe for the humans?"

Luke nodded, "Your instincts tend to make you a loner, but Runners prefer to congregate with others. I was quite social when I was human and I miss having company. It will take a bit to get used to crowds once again, but I am sure I will manage one way or another."

As a Runner, he actually had a better chance of tolerating crowds than I ever would. Feral Runners often hung around other Runners or mindless zombies, so the idea of having others around them wasn't troublesome to their instincts. They just had an obsession of knowing where they were in the local hierarchy.

I gestured toward the plate, "I doubt you want it, but I brought some food in case you were hungry."

Luke came forward and took a few sniffs before shaking his head, "You would be correct. I don't really want to eat it. It does smell good, but I have no desire to put it in my mouth."

I nodded, "If the controlex hits you like it did me, you aren't going to want anything to do with actual food again. You will be hunting more though."

Luke looked at the two rabbits, "I did notice that part already." He sat across from me to visit, "Nina gave me notes on how the controlex affected you and my symptoms are almost exactly the same. Mine are somewhat milder though."

"How are you doing?"

He sighed, "It isn't fun, but it isn't as bad as I was fearing. The headache is the most annoying part."

We visited for a while before parting ways. I could tell that Luke didn't particularly want company at the moment and with me being a Nightstalker, my presence would make him uneasy while he was experiencing these symptoms.

I dropped the rabbits off with the butchers and went off to find Nina. Predictably, she was in the lab. Daniel was absent, which was a noteworthy occasion. She smiled, "Ready to go reassure some paranoid people?"

Not really. I shrugged, "Sure." If they were paranoid about being infected, I failed to see how the presence of another zombie was going to make them feel better.

I followed Nina back outside. I heard someone sneezing in the garage long before we saw him. The man saw us and looked relieved. He was wearing a face mask as a precaution. Nina and I stopped when we were about ten feet from him. I took a deep breath and the smell of the garage, gasoline, and oil was revolting. The man's scent only held the scent of the cold that was going around.

"It is just a cold."

The man looked surprised, "You can smell it from there?"

I shrugged, "As easily as I can smell the deer jerky you are carrying."

He grinned in relief, "Thank you so much. That is a relief. I will keep the mask on just to prevent spreading this nasty thing around."

Nina nodded, "Good plan. We will go check on the others."

I turned to follow Nina, "If the others are in a garage or other smelly place, let's have them come outside into fresh air. If you can smell it, then imagine how much more I pick it up."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't even think of that. Most of the others should be outside though."

It took us almost an hour to find every person. All of them simply had the cold and nowhere did I detect the tang of the zombie virus, apart from Daniel's scent. I could faintly smell Luke from here as well so the wind must be coming from that direction.

Nina may have called them paranoid, they were mostly worried about being infected. Not one of them had any problem with my presence, and most were glad to see me. Probably because I told them that it was just a cold.

When we were alone I commented to Nina, "They did not seem at all concerned that I could somehow infect them." I was a zombie and the virus ran through my blood by default.

Nina shook her head, "Once someone turns, it really takes direct saliva or blood contact to a wound, eyes, or mouth to infect someone. Zombies rarely sweat, but the virus is not present in your sweat or in the oils on your skin. Your tears also do not carry the virus, which is really interesting. Besides, they all know that zombies aren't much for contact to start with, so there isn't anything to really worry about."

Their rationality, mentality, and general happiness to see me still baffled me. Who in their right mind was happy to see a zombie? I was seriously beginning to wonder if the water in this place was drugged with something. Perhaps Valium, Xanax, or some other happy drug. Nicky would probably know more about them than I would.

Nina continued talking, interrupting my pessimistic thoughts, "I am glad that no one was infected, although I didn't think they would be since they weren't sneezing often enough. I am very glad that the zombie virus cannot survive air contact for more than a few seconds, so we don't have to worry about residues or something on the fruits and vegetables. The sneezing is just worrisome since we are only about two weeks away from when the first cases of the third wave should start appearing. It is very bad timing."

"I assume the other locations are well prepared for this from your previous comments?"

Nina nodded, "Yes, we expect that the wave will last about a week or two. Many places are having people wear face masks for that entire duration. It is only a few weeks after all, and it will hopefully end the airborne strain of the virus. People are more than willing to wear the masks before and after that timeframe just to ensure both their safety and the safety of those around them. The airborne strain can last up to a minute in the air before it dies."

I played the devil's advocate, "All it takes is a few people to not cover their sneezes."

"Yes, but they are only contagious for a few days and those around them simply need to cover their own mouth and nose with a cloth or mask for about a minute if someone sneezes. We are aware of the danger a sneeze can pose now, so we are well ahead of it. Unless the infected person sneezes directly in someone's face, they have several seconds to hold their breath and cover their mouth with a cloth. A few minutes later, the air is safe again. At least until they sneeze again. How is Luke doing?"

I shrugged at the sudden topic change, "He said the symptoms were in line with what I went through, just not quite as severe."

Nina nodded thoughtfully, "I suspect that is because he is a Runner. I would like to ask for a blood sample, but it has been less than 24 hours and I don't think he would do well with me that close to him."

"You would very likely be correct." At least she was being thoughtful despite her drive to learn and observe. I didn't know how to take blood and I somehow doubted that Daniel did either. He simply pinned the ferals if Nina needed blood from them.

Nina looked disappointed, but didn't seem surprised. "I am going to head to the lab and keep working. The last set of blood samples should be ready for analysis."

I tilted my head in consideration, "If I happened to know the design of a particular rabbit housing setup that allowed zombies to maintain it without scaring the animals, what would be the odds of convincing a small group to build it outside of the fence?"

Nina looked confused, "I thought that there was a rather large surplus of wild rabbits in the surrounding area?"

"There are, but Runners are not fast enough to catch a rabbit without traps and some really like the idea of a hobby farm. Luke went into so much detail that I know that this is something he wants to build one day."

I knew it was somewhat underhanded and evil since it would tempt him to remain, but I also knew that it was something that Luke had dreamed of from the single-minded way he had gone on and on about every little freaking detail right down to proper angle to hammer in nails while we were working.

A slow grin spread over Nina's face as she caught on, "Speak with Josh in the carpentry group and give him the plans. We don't have any meat rabbits here since there are so many wild ones, but I will put word in with our traders to get us some. How many would be good to start with?"

Luke had gone over this detail four times, so I knew the answer, "Two bucks and four does of different bloodlines." Nina nodded and headed off. I decided to delay my nap to go in search of this Josh person.

It didn't take me long to find him. In the end it took us an hour to draw up the blueprints with all of the tiny details that Luke had managed to unintentionally lodge in my mind. I hadn't realized just how much Luke had told me until Josh started asking questions.

Josh seemed amused to be building a shed designed for rabbits that accommodated a zombie caretaker. He planned to use a few of the ideas for some of the other animals since it reduced the workload. He sat across the table so as not to crowd me while we sketched and made careful notes on a diagram.

Josh nodded in satisfaction, "A bit complicated, but the fact that we know exactly what we want actually makes it easier since we aren't guessing about personal preference. I hear that a Runner might try to move into the Stronghold in about two days' time, so I will round up the lads and lasses who have too much time on their hands and we will make him the best house warming or welcome gift he has ever had."

"Thank you."

Josh grinned at me, "No, thank you. We like to make you sane zombies feel at home. Between you zombies keeping them ferals at bay and helping Nina with her research, it is the least we can do. If you ever want anything built, just let us know."

And right on cue, here was another person who thought that sane zombies were the best thing since sliced bread. Their hospitality couldn't be beat, but I still found it a bit weird. "I will keep that in mind. Thank you."

He nodded and started tallying up how much wood, mesh, and supplies they would need.

I left the room and made my escape. I had enough time to nap for a few hours before supper so I headed for my room.