The yeast had obviously expired and Marissa's attempt at bread had more in common with a brick. It wasn't too bad if dipped into the soup. We all ate slowly by the light of the campfire as the stars slowly brightened overhead.

A piercing cry in the distance had everyone's head turning. I growled lowly at the sound as my instincts stirred. Nicky looked back at me, "If you are here, then I somehow doubt that you made that noise."

Nina frowned in the direction of the Nightstalker's cry, "That is the same way we came. It must have caught our scent on the road and is following it back here."

I gazed in the direction of the cry as I finished the last bit of my soup. It was far enough out that I hadn't caught its scent yet, but it would undoubtedly show up within the hour. Nicky raised an eyebrow at me, "You don't seem overly concerned."

I glanced at her, "Those cries really carry, so it is further away than you likely realize. I see no point in me running for at least fifteen minutes to meet it halfway if I can let it run most of the distance and tire itself out a bit."

I pulled out my grain sickle and my sharpening stone. It was still extremely sharp, but the extra bit of sharpening wouldn't hurt if I was going up against a feral Nightstalker. I wasn't overly worried about the fight. Feral Nightstalkers were always loners and never used weapons.

After a few minutes, I sheathed my weapon in its special holder on my back. I noticed that Daniel already had that flashlight in his lap, although he was watching me intently. I decided to mess with his head just for the hell of it.

I looked over at Nicky, "Still have that bar of soap in your backpack?"

"Yep."

"Mind if I borrow it?"

She fished it and lobbed it at me. I easily caught it and tucked it into my coat pocket, "Thanks."

Nicky gave Daniel an odd look, "Aren't you going with her?" Other than Nina and myself, no one else here knew about Daniel's poor sight at night.

Daniel shook his head, "After what happened last time, no. I don't feel like chasing her halfway across the country again to convince her to come back."

She nodded and looked at me, "Need any backup? Although I have to confess that I would feel more like bait if you did accept my offer."

I chuckled and shook my head, "No, I will manage against a feral. They are unarmed and have no strategy."

I stood up and headed for the edge of the roof. Nina called out behind me, "How do you plan on finding that Nightstalker?"

I bared my teeth in dark humor as I looked back over my shoulder, "I don't have to find it. It will come to me."

She blinked in surprise and I turned to jump off the house. I was glad that every place we camped was only one story tall. I wasn't sure if I could drop down two stories without sustaining damage. I took off down the road.

After five minutes of jogging I paused to throw my head to the sky and loose my own Nightstalker scream. Mere seconds later the feral responded with its own enraged cry. It was still some distance away and clearly did not appreciate me contending its hunting ground. Well, I didn't appreciate its approaching presence either. I kept heading down the road.

Several minutes later, I let my voice pierce the night again, only for the Nightstalker to answer me immediately. It wasn't that far away. I picked up a fist-sized rock and waited on the road for it to make its appearance. I felt the heat in my blood shift in preparation for the upcoming fight.

A Runner or Terror would have run down the middle of the road, but that was not the way of Nightstalkers. We were a hidden assassin in our hunt and travels. I spotted it as it moved stealthily through the trees. It knew I was here and it was eyeing me up.

The red tint in my vision intensified as I geared myself up for the fight. I had yet to fight a zombie my size or smaller. Then again, even as a human I had always ended fighting with those larger than me. It could practically be called tradition at this point, another tradition that survived my turning was that I always like to cheat to tip the odds in my favor.

I dropped into a crouch and snarled at the red eyed creature in a challenge. This Nightstalker was just as temperamental as the rumors made us out to be. It ran forward with a snarl and I drew my sickle. It thought we were in a First Strike competition over who had first dibs on the hunting grounds that smelled like humans. How wrong it was.

I threw the rock at its head and it fell to its knees, stunned, but not unconscious. I really have to find another crowbar... Rocks are clearly not a weapon of choice. With a snarl of rage, I closed the space between us. It was still stunned and trying to regain its feet. I grabbed its hair, pulling it off balance as I slashed the sickle toward its neck.

It shrieked a high pitched challenging snarl as it realized the game we were playing. It tried to slash my face, but I managed to dodge it. My sickle hit its spine and its other hand managed to graze my forearm before I could force the sickle through a joint in the spine. I snarled as I felt its nails slice through my skin.

I jumped back as its head rolled free. I shook myself off with a growl as I settled my Nightstalker instincts. I was breathing somewhat hard even from that short battle. It may have been a feral, but we were both Nightstalkers and pretty equally matched. Luckily this one hadn't been much bigger than me.

I always tried to knock a feral unconscious before killing it, it reduced the risk of me possibly ending up on the losing side of a battle. Ferals wouldn't kill me since that went against their instincts and they had no control over their instincts. If I tried to kill them, they could still do some serious damage as they retaliated.

I cleaned my sickle with some water and a tissue before sheathing it. My shirt had a few spots of blood splatter on it. A quick glance around and a sniff told me that I was alone. I took off my shirt and washed off the cloth where the bloodstains were with Nicky's soap and some water.

My arm had four slashes that were slowly oozing blood. It didn't really surprise me, I had not expected to come out of this fight unscathed. I carefully dabbed it clean, it should stop bleeding by the time I got back.

With a deep breath and with a heavy exhale, I started heading back at a slow pace. There was no need to rush after all. It wasn't long before the fire on the rooftop was in sight. I hadn't removed my sunglasses, so there was no need to put them back on. I let my footsteps fall heavier as I approached the door so Daniel knew it was just me.

I came up on the roof and was somewhat surprised that all of the adults were still awake. Nicky looked over, "I assume that you won? Any injuries?"

I shrugged as I took my seat, "Yes, I won. It is dead. A couple of scratches on my arm, but that is it. They'll heal up in several days."

She sighed in relief, "That is good."

"Oh, here is your soap back." I handed her back her bar of soap.

Nina was watching inquisitively as Daniel wore a puzzled expression. He could probably smell the soap residue on me, but had no clue what I had done with it. Score one for messing with his head.

Nicky took the bar of soap I held out, "Thanks. Did it work well?"

This was too priceless. "Meh, not bad. Liquid dish soap works better on the higher-ranking zombies."

Nicky grinned, "Thanks for the tip. I saw some downstairs, I will have to grab it in the morning."

At this point, Daniel looked thoroughly confused and Nina was scribbling in her notebook again. How she could see what she was writing was beyond me. I restrained a chuckle, that would have surely given me away.

Most of the adults headed to bed now that they knew they weren't going to be attacked. I turned my chair to the side so I could see the majority of the town. Daniel remained in his chair across the fire, watching the firewood slowly burn.

The night was oddly quiet and almost no animals moved around. They had likely been spooked by the Nightstalker screams that had torn through the night. I had gotten my one wish – we had not found any stray humans tonight. Although I now realized that I really should have been more specific.

I wanted at least one night without any drama or new people. No new human strays, no nighttime zombie visits, no fights, nothing. The nights had been that peaceful when it had just been the two adults and two kids, but that had completely disappeared when we found Ben, Hank and Nicky. I had not had a completely uneventful night since, and that had been eight days ago now.

Things had gotten even more complicated when Nina and Daniel had shown up. Even the days had been fairly stressful with Daniel around. Most of that original tension had eased, but some still remained and it was constantly triggering my Nightstalker instincts to a degree.

Was I really asking too much out of life? I didn't think so. A shooting star flashed across the sky. Hell, why not? Star light, star bright, First star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, Have this wish I wish tonight. I want a peaceful night tomorrow night. No drama, no bad luck, just a peaceful quiet night.

Yeah, I feel like an utter fool now. At least I didn't have to say that aloud. That would have been awfully embarrassing. I turned my gaze back to the forest. Several rabbits scurried around and I watched a fox quietly trying to sneak up on them.

An hour later a rabbit screamed as the fox finally succeeded. Daniel's head jerked in the direction of the sound. From the way his head jerked, I was pretty sure that he had been drowsing and the unexpected noise of a rabbit's death cry had startled him awake. I spoke quietly, "It was just a fox out hunting."

He grunted his thanks for the information. He was silent for some time before he spoke, "What does dish soap do to a zombie?"

I chuckled deeply, "If you haven't figured it out by now, then I am holding that tidbit of information in reserve in case you come after me again."

He growled lowly as I kept potentially important information from him that could possibly cause him to lose a fight. I bared my teeth silently, fairly certain that the firelight would reflect off of my white teeth enough for him to see. "You may be faster and stronger than me, but if you can't hear or see me, there is a good chance that you won't be able to catch me in a game of hide and seek in the dark."

He gritted his teeth as his muscles tensed up. That challenging comment riled him up much more than I had anticipated. Although it did make sense, I was targeting his only real weakness and his instincts would not appreciate that.

I turned my head back to town, relying on my ears in case he decided to try to force the answer out of me. I doubted that he would go that far though, especially at night. The night was my element while the day belonged to him. That thought was quite intriguing. It might even distract him from thinking up plans for revenge.

I spoke contemplatively, "Have you ever thought about how odd it is? Nightstalkers normally only come out at night and Terrors have full run of the day, yet all of the other zombies have no problem moving during either the day or the night. I know that Runners don't see nearly as well at night as I can, but they can see better than humans. It was almost as if our two kinds were purposefully designed to never cross paths."

I watched him from the corner of my eye as I continued to face the town. His eyes focused on me as a look of surprise crossed his face. He had never considered that angle either. His expression showed that he was thinking hard, "I hadn't thought of it quite like that before."

He didn't elaborate, but the new puzzle clearly had his attention as he stared into the fire. His mind had something new to chew on for the rest of the night. In that fashion, he seemed a lot like Nina. Any complex or abstract thought held his attention.