As much as I enjoyed the warmth of the sun, I loved the cool of night. I could finally take off my sunglasses. Nightstalkers were built for the night. Our night vision was unparalleled. The moon was only about quarter full, but the forest was as bright as day for me. A red-tinted view, but every detail was clear. My sight always had a red tint. It came with the zombie virus.

I stood in the shadow of a large tree on the edge of a clearing and simply enjoyed the scenery. This was the closest I could come to truly relaxing with the zombie virus running through my veins and putting a short fuse on my temper. I took a deep breath of the cool night air as scents assaulted my nose.

My sense of smell was keener than a bloodhound. I could smell and identify at least twenty different kinds of plants on the breeze. The creek was a cool smell that dampened the air and allowed scent to travel even further.

I could both hear and smell the mice hidden in the long grass, but they didn't have enough blood to be worth the effort of going after them. I could smell other warm-blooded creatures as well. The grassy scent of rabbits, the musky scent of a fox, the pungent odor of a weasel, and the light smell of game birds.

The woodsy scent of a deer brought my deliberation of the menu to a close. A deer would hold me for four or five days before I would have to hunt again. I shifted to face the source of the scent and darted off into the underbrush. I was a darker shadow in the nighttime darkness. My movements were smooth and my passage barely made even the slightest whisper of noise.

I stealthily approached the sleeping deer and regarded it. If I did this right, it wouldn't even wake up. My instincts rang with bloodlust and the desire to attack, but my human heart didn't like to see creatures suffer. My Nightstalker instincts made the hunt easy. The virus had altered my body, making it a honed and deadly weapon.

I crouched down and sprang at the sleeping creature. With a solid blow and a quick twist of its neck I shattered the spinal cord, instantly killing it. I used my knife to shave some of the fur off of its neck. I dug one sharp fingernail into its neck as I cut through hide, flesh and finally sliced through the huge artery. I kneeled on the ground and kissed the injury as I started to drink the liquid red gold that flowed out of the wound.

I resisted the instincts that called for me to bite into the raw meat and enjoy the flavor that was rich from the animal's own body heat. Raw meat was almost as dangerous as human blood. Animal blood allowed me to remain in control of the virus. Raw meat, human blood, and human flesh would reduce me to an out-of-control zombie. If I lost control, I wouldn't be any smarter than a feral Runner.

Part of my mind disliked the thought of drinking blood, but after all of this time I was mostly over it. The virus itself also had a hand in altering my thoughts and making it far too easy to accept this fact. It tasted delicious. The blood also allowed me to remain in control and keep my Nightstalker instincts in check.

I sucked the last of the blood out and pulled out my large belt knife. I started carving up the best cuts of meat. There was no way I could eat all of this meat. I didn't eat much in the way of solid food to start with, but I would cook, dry, or smoke the best stuff.

I twisted around and snarled viciously at the trees behind me. The cougar hissed at my rude greeting. This cougar occasionally came across me as I butchered a kill. I didn't mind it enjoying what I left behind, but if it thought it was going to chase me off my kill before I was done, it had another thing coming. I growled a second warning and the cougar stepped back with a softer hiss. It slunk back into the trees.

I wasn't surprised to see this cougar. I had heard and smelt it approaching seconds after I killed the deer. It often hung around this area to scavenge off my kills and it knew that I almost always left something behind. It would return later when it thought I was gone. It would be wise for the big cat to give me my space. It wouldn't be the first time I had enjoyed cougar blood. In fact, most wild animals refused to let zombies anywhere near them.

Neither would horses, much to my disappointment. Even my old bay mare wouldn't let me anywhere near her once I turned and I had ridden her almost daily since I was small. Even weeks before I turned she had started acting skittish around me, as if she had sensed the monster that was taking hold in my body. She had been smarter than me.

The majority of cats had started acting up a couple of weeks in advance as they detected the infection in their owners, but most dogs had been oblivious. Even now half of the dogs out there didn't realize what I was unless I growled at them. They could pinpoint a regular zombie or Runner miles away, but unless I let my instincts take over they couldn't tell just by looking at me. Half were tipped off by my scent though.

I examined the pile of meat I had cut up. This was more meat than I really needed, but much more remained for the local scavengers to enjoy. I packed it up in several carry bags and headed back to the cabin. The trip back was quiet and uneventful. I put on my sunglasses and stirred up the fire. The fire was far too bright for me to look at it comfortably. I dropped a venison steak on the grill and sprinkled some herbs on it.

I dug out a tin of canned peaches and opened it. I munched on them slowly, savoring the taste while watching the flickering flames from behind my darkly tinted welding glasses. They looked almost identical to sunglasses, but I had picked them out from the abandoned hardware store simply because they did look like sunglasses.

Regular sunglasses simply let too much light in and another Nightstalker had shown me that I could go outside during the day with welding glasses. This was one of those close fitting wrap-around types with reflective steel gray lenses. I had altered them a bit so they touched both my eyebrows and my cheeks as they wrapped seamlessly around my face without letting any light leak in.

They were needed during the day. Even the full moon was bright enough to cause some discomfort. I relied on them so heavily that I had three spare pairs in my backpack in hard protective cases. These sunglasses were the only reason I could go outside during the day. The feral Nighstalkers truly only went out of their caves or hiding places when every hint of sun had left the sky.

Once I had finished a quarter of the can of peaches, I put the rest in a hard plastic lunch container for another day. I flipped the steak over. The firepit was in front of the cabin. The cabin behind me was a small one room thing barely big enough for the bed, stove, and shower. I had seen bigger buses, but it was all I needed.

I absentmindedly kept tabs on the noises in the surrounding forest as well as the scents. It was a habit, like glancing at the side mirrors on the car while driving. It was also instinctive. I hadn't picked up any hints of the humans since my close encounter three days ago, but I didn't really expect to. They would have moved on later that afternoon.

Even they didn't want to be caught outside of their Strongholds at night. I had avoided the town since then, but considering they had thoroughly looted it, there was no pressing reason to return. The virus may roll through my blood, but that didn't mean that I enjoyed the company of zombies.

I checked the steak and it was finally well done. As a human I had preferred it medium rare, but I refused to take any chances. You never realize how precious your mind and thoughts are until something tries to take them from you. Bloody zombie virus...

I ate a quarter of the steak before I was full. I really couldn't eat much anymore... I huffed in annoyance since it tasted pretty good. Oh well, Chloe would enjoy it. I glanced over at the big long-haired white dog that was waiting patiently across the fire from me. I tossed the steak to her, "Here girl." She easily caught it midair.

I watched her chew on it. I had never understood why she had started following me. Most larger dogs or guard dogs were more adept at figuring out what I was. I always gave her my leftovers or brought a rabbit carcass for her, although she was a pretty good hunter in her own right. She rarely let me pet her or sit near her. Odd as it was, I enjoyed her distant company.

The sun was starting to rise so I went inside. I might as well get a nap in. Not much else to do. Chloe remained outside, as was her preference, so I closed the door behind me and dropped my pack on the bed. I crouched and jumped up to grab onto the rafters and pull myself up. I didn't trust sleeping in a bed in the open, it was too exposed and my instincts refused to be put in such a vulnerable position.

I had built a sleeping area in the rafters by hauling in a piece of plywood and shoving it on top of the rafters. A thick piece of foam acted as a mattress, and I had gathered a dozen blankets to make it extra cozy. It was darker in the rafters even with the thick blinds drawn across the windows. If anyone did come in, chances were they wouldn't notice me up here. I reclined on the foam padding on top of the blankets and dropped into a light doze.

A deep sleep wasn't possible for Nightstalkers, but I got a couple hours of sleep a day. Oddly enough, other zombies could tire from physical activity and they also slept. Hollywood had been wrong. What a surprise. Regular zombies tended to be more limited physically than a human and slept for about 4-6 hours a day.

The Runners weren't quite as fast as humans, but they had much more endurance. They slept about 3-4 hours a day, although they were lighter sleepers than regular zombies. If they chased a slow moving car until they became exhausted, they would slow to a snail's pace as they still tried to follow their prey. Once whatever tempted them was out of sight, they would probably find a secluded area to sleep. They slept standing up, which I found completely bizarre.

Several loud bird calls disturbed my sleep, but I kept trying for more rest. There wasn't much else to do around here anyways. After two hours I gave up. I felt fully rested and in theory I could go a day or two without sleep before I got tired. I sat up and gazed at the room below with half closed eyes as I reached for my sunglasses that hung on the wall beside me. I put my glasses on and blinked at the more comfortable level of light.

What should I do today... I had lots of food. The wood pile had far more than I would ever burn. Perhaps I could head back to town and see if the people had left anything of value. The food and medicine was surely long gone, but even if a hundred vehicles had come, there was no way that they could have completely emptied all of the stores and the garages.

I could check out the town. Chloe could use a run as well. We could stop by the deer carcass on the way back and I could grab a big leg bone to roast. Chloe would enjoy chewing on that for hours. I grabbed my backpack and headed outside while stretching. It was a human habit that still remained. My muscles didn't stiffen up or knot. They were always limber and ready to roll.

Chloe raised her head and looked at me from her dog house as I stepped outside. I whistled, "Come on Chloe, let's go for a walk."

She promptly trotted over with a slightly wagging tail. She kept just out of reach, but seemed quite happy about going for a walk. I headed off at a slow lope. Chloe easily kept up with my pace. I suspected that she might be part husky since she could run for hours.

We traveled on a beaten down path through the trees alongside the highway. I gazed at the town, most of the zombies still hadn't returned. Only a dozen or so were present. I left the trees and wandered through the streets cautiously while glancing through windows. As expected, anything remotely resembling food was gone. Many of the tools were also gone.

Much to my irritation, they had somehow managed to take all of the canning and food preservation supplies. So much for my plans to can some fruits and jellies. I growled in slight irritation, they knew a survivor had been here. They could have left a dozen jars or so. I had always had a sweet tooth, particularly for fruit, and it had somehow survived the zombie virus.

I headed to the tourist information building on the far side of town. I entered the room and glanced around. A zombie turned my way with a groan and I responded with a growl. He realized that I was also a zombie and kept staggering around the room. I snorted lightly in derision and went over to a huge wall map. My eyes traced the red lines of paved roads and the black lines of the likely unpaved back roads.

I would probably be better off checking out the small backwater towns. Most survivors stuck to the major highways, and they would be less likely to travel out of their way to visit such a small town. Sure, I could live off of meat from my kills and wild greens, but I really enjoyed fruit and other processed human foods like chips.

This time I would haul the canning supplies and other stuff I wanted back to the cabin. I could build a shed to store the supplies later. I didn't want to chance another group of looters emptying out the stores again. Chances of them locating the cabin in the middle of the forest was zero since there was no driveway or road leading to it.

It had not occurred to me that a group would be so willing to enter numerous buildings that obviously held zombies. Nor had I anticipated that any group would have stripped entire shelves of thousands of jars and supplies. They had even taken the pallet loads in the loading dock. Those greedy idiots must have had a few screws loose to take that many jars. Although I do have to give them some credit, they did manage to pack all of that stuff in a couple dozen vehicles and trailers.

Roads in this area were few and far between. It looked like there was a backroad almost as far north of my cabin as this place was south of it. I hadn't crossed the big river yet, so I hadn't stumbled across it in my wandering. There was supposedly a bridge to the west. It looked like there were a couple of small towns along that road as well. Small would be an understatement, if I was lucky, there would be a dozen stores. I committed the location of the bridge in relation to the towns and my cabin to my memory.

I left the building and Chloe was waiting for me outside. Two zombies were en route with their eyes locked on Chloe as they shuffled along in a half skipping gait. It was a looming headache I didn't feel like dealing with, and since there was nothing else I wanted to see in this town, I turned and started heading towards the forest in a light run.

There was plenty of time to get to at least one of those northern towns today, even with a few breaks to rest. Chloe ran ahead of me towards the trees. She didn't like the regular zombies any more than I did.