We sat on the bench while Nicky somehow managed to wolf down everything I had packed in that box. She sighed in satiation, "That was good. I feel much better now. On a side note, how bad is the collateral damage?"

I glanced at her, "What collateral damage?"

"Did I scare John, Luke or Logan out of the Stronghold?"

"No. You severely confused them though."

"I tend to be really good at doing that for some reason..."

I didn't bother responding to that comment. Nicky stretched, "So what is on the agenda for the rest of the day?"

"First off, I think you should change and brush your hair so people don't think you slept in a cave. Then you can think of what tasks you feel like attempting. I already spent all night patrolling, so I did my due diligence."

"Braggart. Just because you finished working doesn't mean that you can rub it in."

I snorted, "After what you just put me through, why not?"

"Because it reminds me that I haven't even started my chores yet."

By this time we had reached the secondary building and Nicky went inside. I decided to wait a few minutes to give Nicky a head start before going in so that she wouldn't realize that I was in my room. Someone else could deal with her for the rest of the day.

After sleeping so much yesterday, sleep didn't want to come. I did manage to nap a bit on and off though. It didn't take long for me to get bored and give up. I headed downstairs and looked around once I was outside.

I decided to go chop wood. As per usual it was deserted. Wood chopping must not have been a popular chore since no one had really done much since I left. They had hauled the pieces here to be split, but had not taken the axe to them yet.

I had nothing better to do, so I kept chopping wood through lunch and well into the afternoon.

Luke eventually showed up, "Well, you certainly put a dent in that pile."

I swung the axe again, "Someone else gets to stack it. That is an easy enough job."

He shook his head in amusement, "I doubt they will argue. But I was sent to fetch you while the others went to grab some food."

I put the axe away and walked back with Luke as we headed to the secondary building. We reached the rooftop just in time to see the others exit the mess hall and headed in this direction. I was somehow not surprised to note that no one other than our group planned to eat up here tonight. They were either nervous about having three zombies in one spot, or they were giving us our space. It was almost certainly the second option.

I slowly blinked as I noticed that Liz was also tagging along with them. Nicky was carrying her plate for her. I sat down in a chair to wait for them to climb all those stairs.

I looked at Luke, "What have you been up to all day?"

He grinned at me, "I played in the lab, of course. John, Nina, and Daniel were down there as well, although Nina and Daniel were often in different rooms. Logan came back just before lunch with some weird plants that have Nina pretty excited."

I rolled my eyes, "If it involves science, then it is pretty easy to get her excited."

Luke was silent for a moment, "Is there something going on between Logan and Nina? He never took his eyes off of her..."

Luke was much more observant after the controlex removed the haze from his mind. I chuckled, "He has a crush on her, but don't tell her that. I am waiting to see how long it takes her to notice."

He bared his teeth in amusement as he changed the topic. "What are your plans after supper?"

I shrugged, "Probably some archery, since that is what Nicky and I did in the past after supper."

Luke gave me an odd look, "After how she acted this morning, you are letting her shoot a bow?"

"As long as it isn't pointed at me, I don't care. She hasn't killed anyone yet."

"That does not particularly reassure me. I will not be going anywhere near the archery lanes while she is in the vicinity."

I snorted faintly, "Her aim is getting better, although you want to make certain that you are never in front of her."

I heard footsteps and nodded toward the door to let Luke know that the others had arrived. Daniel was the first through the door as he held it open for the others. He wasn't even breathing hard, although that wasn't a surprise. It would take more than several flights of stairs to tire any zombie, even the normal ones. Liz was panting, but eager to keep up.

Liz went over to a corner to grab a much smaller chair and proceeded to drag it between Nicky's chair and mine. Once she was sitting, Nicky passed her the plate. I examined Daniel, but I doubted he had heard our quiet comments about Nina and her admirer. He would have been near the bottom of the stairs with noisy people around him and our voices had been quiet.

Luke was sitting on my other side while his brother sat by him. I took a long drink from my water bottle as I listened to the various conversations. Luke and John were debating about what to do after supper, but seemed to be leaning toward a game of chess with some people that Luke had been hanging out with. Logan and Nina were still talking about plants.

Nicky nibbled on a carrot slice, "Cynthia asked if we could watch Liz for the evening. I agreed since it wouldn't be the first time we took her to the archery lanes."

Daniel glanced over, "I am surprised that her foster parents didn't want to spend the evening with her."

Nicky shrugged, "They haven't decided who gets to adopt her yet, so she will sleep in Cynthia's room for a week or so. By then it should be apparent who Liz has bonded the most with and there are three sets of couples who are interested in adopting her. In the meantime, Liz kept going on and on about wanting to do archery with us, so Cynthia dropped her off with me."

Liz smiled up at me, "Can we play pin the tail on the donkey again? That was fun last time!"

I was surprised that she even remembered that. "I don't think it is set up at the moment."

"Can we set it up? I will help." Liz was practically begging with a hopeful look on her face.

I shrugged, "I don't see why not." It was just a big piece of plywood with a painting on it. I may be short, but my Nightstalker strength made carrying it no problem. The bigger problem was that Liz needed a lot of help to get her arrow that far with a ribbon on it...

Nicky chuckled, "I bet you want to shoot the arrows with ribbons too, don't you?"

Liz grinned at the redhead beside her, "Yes! It was really fun when Trinity let me aim her bow."

Luke looked amused, "You think Trinity is fun?" He just found it too ironic that she considered a Nightstalker fun. He knew that I was a party pooper.

"Yep! She is really fun, even if she never smiles. She reminds me of my Mommy, but Mommy and Daddy went on a vacation right after Mommy crashed the car. They haven't come back yet."

I wasn't sure who had told Liz that, but to me it was clear that Liz had been the only one to survive that car crash. It also explained why she ended up at the orphanage in the first place. The others didn't say anything either as they realized the same thing.

Liz turned to me with a beaming smile, "I really like spending time with you! Can we be friends?"

I regarded the child steadily for several moments. I slowly and somewhat reluctantly responded, "That might be possible."

It wasn't a yes and it wasn't a no. This wasn't exactly a topic that I wanted to discuss, but I also didn't want to hurt her feelings. She was just a child after all. I turned my gaze across the Stronghold to avoid looking at the child who was far too happy about my response.

Daniel was watching me in curiosity, as was Nina. Neither of them spoke though. I probably would have growled at them if they had inquired about my unusual response. And then Daniel would probably put me back in my place... I knew he would. Any higher-ranking zombie would respond to such a challenge or insult. I had bared my teeth or growled at Luke more than a few times when he had growled or snarled at me in surprise.

Liz was happy and lost interest in the discussion while trying to spear some peas with her fork. Nicky picked through her salad before flicking a piece of onion at Daniel. It bounced off his knee and he lifted his head to eye up the annoying redhead, "And just what was that for?" He did not sound impressed.

Nicky shrugged, "Some idiot put onion in the salad. You should really have a talk with them about that."

He growled faintly, "If you don't want to eat it, then put it at the side of your plate. You ate it yesterday without any problems."

"That is because I saw them dump cow poop on the onions in the garden today. They said it was organic, but I just call that gross."

Daniel snorted, "Well it already touched the rest of your salad. Besides, they would have washed and peeled the first layer of the onions off."

Nicky gave him a look of disbelief, "It was cow poop. And they dropped shovels full of it on the onions! How can you not care about this?!"

Daniel shrugged without worry, "Fertilizer is fertilizer. If I can't smell it, then they were cleaned thoroughly."

He knew as well as I did that they only fertilized the half-grown plants, not the stuff they were just about to pick. He was not fussy when it came to food and really didn't care what kind of fertilizer they used when growing it.

Nicky turned to me and held out a second piece of onion, "Does this smell clean to you?"

I ignored the piece of vegetable in her hand. Raw onion had a strong smell when I had been human and it was pretty potent as a Nightstalker. I crossed my arms, "Perhaps the better question would be how many of those squirrels and rabbits peed on the berries you picked in the forest when we went berry picking."

It was a lie, plain and simple, but I hadn't been able to resist taunting her. I kept a straight face though.

Her jaw dropped, "And you didn't warn me?!"

I shrugged, "Surely you noticed that I was fussy about which patch I would eat berries from."

"Traitor! And to think I trusted you!" Nicky was starting to go off the wall once more as her voice climbed up an octave or two. She threw the onion at me.

She missed, but I still snarled lightly at her, "Cut it out. I was joking." My mood was not back on par yet and I did not have the patience to deal with her antics.

Nicky blinked and took it all in stride, "Oh, that is fine then. Do you smell any cow poop on that thing though?"

"No." I was not about to sniff a piece of raw onion either.

She relaxed, "Oh, good. Then it is edible."

Just like that she started eating her salad without picking out the bits of onion. I simply shook my head.