My doorknob popped, and Nicky barged into my room for the second time today. "Do you see what he did?!"

I slowly blinked at the objects in Nicky's hands as I remained sitting on the edge of my bed, "Well... I hope you like the color pink."

Nicky glared at me for my lack of concern as she held up her jacket, shoes, pants, and shirt. All were a very bright shade of hot pink that matched almost perfectly. "Pink is a very fine color, but not in this shade! Why would anyone wear this shade of pink?!"

It was a good thing that no one had gone to bed yet or else they surely would have been woken up by Nicky's loud voice. Daniel was probably grinning in his room as he would be able to hear her even from the main floor.

I managed to keep a straight face, "At the very least, if you get lost in the forest I will have an easy time finding you."

"Me getting lost in the forest with three bloodhound zombies in the area is the least of my concerns."

I pretended to not understand, "So what is your concern? You have a matching outfit which is quite unique. I fail to understand why you are so upset over a gift. Imagine all of the work someone had to go through to fix up your clothes so they look brand new."

That did it. Nicky dropped her armful of pink belongings and charged toward me, "Oh, you!" I rolled my eyes and suppressed my instincts, although they had seen that she wasn't serious. I didn't even bother getting to my feet, which in the zombie world meant that I didn't even register her as a potential threat. It was also a bit of an insult saying that I didn't think she could harm me if she tried.

Nicky jumped in an attempt to tackle me, her fearlessness surprised me. My reflexes were as sharp as ever and I grabbed her wrists before redirecting her flight to land on the bed beside me. I rolled onto my side as she landed on her stomach and pressed my arm across her shoulders to pin her to the mattress. I growled lightly as I put some weight on her shoulders.

Nicky understood the faint challenge, "Okay, okay. Uncle, Auntie, I give up, however you want me to word it."

I snorted faintly before sitting back up. Nicky rolled over and sat up before leaning against the wall and grinning at me, "Well, that was fun."

Perhaps I needed to look up the definition of fun again, but I was pretty sure that jumping at someone and having them pin you in three seconds did not fall into that category. "I fail to see how you found that fun."

Nicky just chuckled, "Most people would have given me a death threat or attempted to kick my ass for that. The fact that you tolerate me is fun."

Perhaps I needed to pass Nicky the dictionary and make her read the definition of fun... Nicky sighed and regarded the big pile of eye-watering pink things that were desecrating my doorway with their very presence, "What am I going to do with them?"

This question I did take seriously since I didn't want her wearing those things while hanging around with me. I contemplated a few options, "Well... You could soak them in bleach water until they came out closer to white or you could see if some of the laundry people have a darker dye available. I can burn them in the forest if need be and you can just get new replacements."

Nicky grinned, "I say we take them over to Luke's place and burn them in his firepit. If nothing else, it will be one hell of a conversation starter. Those shoes were almost worn out anyway."

I glanced out the window, "We have a couple of hours until sunset, so we can go now if you want."

The sooner those things were no longer in existence, the better. The color was unfortunately vivid. It was practically fluorescent, it very likely glowed in the dark, and it might even be radioactive. That pile was probably visible from outer space. Last thing we needed to do was to lure in curious aliens who didn't know that such a color was even feasibly possible.

Nicky scooted off my bed and got to her feet, "Sounds like a plan. If Nina were the same size as me, I would sneak them into her closet, but she isn't, so that plan is out."

"She would also know exactly who to blame."

"True."

We left my room and headed down the stairs. A quick sniff told me that Nina was still in the lab while Daniel was in his room. Well, no sense interrupting her progress and concentration. It was a good enough excuse to not invite Nina along on this trip. She would probably tag along tomorrow to check on Luke.

~

Luke came out of the cave from where he had still been chipping the ceiling to a height he didn't have to duck. He paused and blinked in surprise as he watched Nicky pile the offending pink objects in his firepit, "Can I ask what you are doing to that poor firepit?"

Nicky chuckled and glanced at me, "I told you that he would be more concerned about the firepit than trying to save these things."

Luke shook his head and took a seat on another stump. I watched as a tremor ran through his body. He exhaled heavily as it passed and wrote it down in a notebook. He noticed me watching him, "30 hours done, 42 more to go..."

"Not that you're counting or anything."

He chuckled and shook his head, "Keeping track of it makes me far too aware of exactly how much time has passed. So what brings you out here besides a casual visit?"

I glanced pointedly at the pink objects, "You really have to ask?"

Nicky looked over her shoulder at us, "The fact that these things have not spontaneously combusted by themselves is a miracle. Now we are going to set them on fire to correct that oversight."

Luke shook his head at us, "Feel free to burn them. That color is just making my headache worse."

Nicky grinned as she lit a match, "Roger that."

Luke watched the flames slowly start to consume the unfortunate pile of cloth. He seemed perplexed about something as Nicky stirred the fire to ensure that every piece had flames touching it.

"Where did you manage to find such a color? And why did you even bring it back to the Stronghold?"

I looked at Nicky, "I think that you had better explain this one."

Nicky continued to stir up the fire, "Well, it all started when I saw a can of paint that was labeled canary yellow and I wondered exactly what kind of shade that was..."

~

The two hours of visiting was fairly relaxing, although Luke was plagued with muscle tremors and times when his sight faded out. He tensed up whenever those hit him. Nicky's scent bothered him as much as ever, so there was no change in that area.

Luke was very intrigued by the news of a potential vaccine and asked dozens of questions. I answered the ones I could before shaking my head, "How about I bring Nina out tomorrow morning and you can bombard her with questions?"

Luke chuckled at my slightly exasperated tone, "Sounds good." He knew that I didn't know the answers, so I had no clue why he was asking.

Nicky looked curious, "Considering that Nina's curiosity drives Trinity crazy, how come you don't seem to mind all of her questions?"

Luke turned to Nicky, "I had a degree in chemistry, so I understand a fair bit of what is being said. I also have a scientist's curiosity. I did notice that Nightstalkers don't seem to like being pelted with questions either, it tends to rile them up."

Nicky grinned, "Oh, we noticed that too. Trinity occasionally went out of her way to dodge Nina."

Luke shrugged, "I am pretty sure that it is a Nightstalker thing."

I rolled my eyes, "How about we pick a different subject?" The sun was currently dipping below the horizon and I knew my slightly higher irritability was due to my strengthening instincts.

The fire was burning the green wood well enough. The pink atrocities were long gone, having been reduced to mere ashes and black smoke. The only remnants were the memories which I hoped would soon be forgotten.

Nicky swatted another mosquito, "Why can't Nina make a vaccine that makes mosquitoes avoid humans?"

Luke shrugged, "That may not even be in the boundaries of science since there are hundreds of species of mosquitoes."

She rolled her eyes, "That wasn't what I wanted to hear..."

Luke tilted his head, "Well, you could always become a zombie and then the mosquitoes won't bite you."

Nicky shook her head at Luke's joke, "I'll pass, the last thing I need is for my mere smile to annoy Daniel even more. My presence already irritates him."

Luke looked intrigued, "How does your presence irritate him?"

Nicky snickered, "Because I am me. Honest, you will understand one day... If you were really curious, you could even give me a cup of strong coffee."

I growled faintly at Nicky, "Don't you dare." I turned to look at Luke, "If you ever give her coffee, you get to deal with her the rest of the day."

Luke looked mystified, "You say that like it is almost a threat. I don't see what is so bad about coffee."

I snorted, "It is a threat that most in that Stronghold have heard and understand. It isn't the coffee itself that is the problem, it is what it does to Nicky."

Luke looked confused, but he was too polite to inquire further. Nicky grinned at him, "Daniel tried to tie me up several times as well as lock me in my room on a few of those occasions. Then I got loose and that really pissed him off."

Luke eyed up Nicky in sudden unease, "You intentionally angered a Terror and you seem happy about it?" It looked like Luke was finally beginning to catch on... I wasn't sure how he missed that on our drive up. Perhaps it had been because Daniel was driving and Nicky had been exiled to the truck box.

Nicky grinned at his discomfort, "Yep."

Luke didn't know how to respond to her enthusiasm for living life on the line. I shook my head before glancing toward the sky as it was rapidly darkening, "Nicky, we should be getting back. I may be able to see where I am walking in the dark, but you may have issues with that."

Nicky sighed, "Yeah, I suppose so. I don't fancy meeting a feral in the dark and the guards don't lure them away from the fence at night."

I nodded at Luke, "Have a good evening. Feel free to give me a shout if you want some company."

Luke waved a farewell, "Will do. Walk safe."

"Thanks."

The walk to the gate was thankfully uneventful. The quads must have come by recently and lured the zombies away since the gate was clear. I left Nicky there and the guard dropped the usual radio down to me.

I turned and went back out into the growing darkness to begin my patrol. I passed by the clearing with the cave, but Luke was inside and from the lack of hammering I suspected that he had gone to bed. My footsteps were silent as I continued on.

My footsteps stopped as I noticed something new. I altered my course to approach the new building that was now standing just outside of the fence. The smell of freshly cut wood reassured me that I had not been so blind as to miss this last night.

Even though I had never seen it before, I knew exactly what it was and how it would look inside. I approached the small building and undid the sliding bolt on the door as I opened it to check it out. A grin slowly spread across my face as I looked over the gigantic rabbit setup. Every detail I had recalled Luke telling me was present. All that was missing was the rabbits.

Luke was going to be in for a shock. For that matter, I was surprised as well. The plans that I had sketched up were the size of a small shed, although this building was much larger. It still had all of the required details. Food and water could be funneled in from outside through special gravity chutes so the rabbits wouldn't realize he was there. He could even clean the trays without going inside.

Rabbits didn't seem to realize that sane zombies were actually zombies until we were within reach of them. They didn't even seem able to pick up our scent for some reason. The rabbits we had released in the barn with the feral Nightstalker hadn't realized that she or I were present and the feral had been in there for days.

I left the building and continued with my patrol. Nothing else seemed to have changed since last night, or even since we had left for our eight-day trip. I stopped in one of the small abandoned towns near the border and snooped through a few stores.

Every place here had been picked over hundreds of times since it was so close to the Stronghold. I doubted that anyone would have taken what I was after though. I found what I was after in a hardware store of all places.

It took me five trips, but I left over twenty live animal traps just inside the clearing by Luke's cave. From small ones meant for squirrels to large ones that could trap a coyote. It would allow Luke some variety in what he caught. He was very good at setting snares, but snares didn't allow someone to release the critter for another day if it wasn't wanted.

I would just have to remember to occasionally offer to take down a deer or other large animal for him. The air brought me a whiff of a big cat in the distance, which reminded me that I still owed Luke that mountain lion. I would have to ask him when he wanted to collect it, although I doubted that he would want it this week.