I lifted my head several minutes later. I could hear a deer approaching me rapidly. Could he be chasing a deer toward me? I hadn't expected that, but I wasn't going to argue. I moved behind a bush along the edge of the trail at the far end of the clearing so I could ambush it when it ran by.

I could hear Daniel's footsteps not far behind the deer. I watched as the deer raced into the clearing. To my surprise, Daniel bolted forward with inhuman speed to slam his fist down on the back of its neck. I heard the spine shatter as the deer collapsed lifelessly down in the middle of the clearing.

Daniel looked around the clearing, his sight must be phenomenal since he managed to spot me despite the fact that I was mostly hidden in my chosen ambush position. "Here you go. I'll be back in about fifteen minutes."

With that, he turned and left the clearing. I remained motionless for several seconds longer to ensure that he truly wasn't coming back to claim his kill. My eyes examined the deer as I walked toward it, it looked like his strike had come close to pulverizing the neck instead of simply shattering or breaking it. If he ever got mad and started swinging his fists, I was leaving the area as fast as possible.

I didn't have a knife, but with a bit of work my sharp nails shaved the hair away from the skin. My teeth sliced easily through the skin to get to the artery. The hot blood was welcome and seemed to bolster my energy levels almost instantly. The pain in my wounds also subsided a bit. By the time I drained the deer I was quite full. I walked away from the deer to the far side of the clearing where I sat on a log to wait for Daniel's return.

I thought hard about seeing if I could try to sneak away, but he would easily catch up with me. I suspected that until my wounds healed that he would haul me back to the Stronghold by force if needed. I examined other possible ways to leave, but came up empty. Even if I left right at sunset, I wouldn't be able to get that far on foot. It may take Daniel a few hours to catch up, but Nina would probably send him after me again with her newfound mother-hen rationality.

Chances of finding a vehicle or gas around here were non-existent. The locals would have checked every place three times over. If I stole one of their vehicles, they would definitely come after me and they would be rightfully quite upset. I gritted my teeth as I realized that I was stuck here until I had healed enough to run at full speed, which would probably take another two weeks after today's stunt.

I had been walking slowly to hide a painful limp after Daniel had caught up with me. Admittedly, most badly injured Nightstalkers tended to hole up until their injuries healed, but a Stronghold was not my first choice. I wasn't being given a choice though.

If I thought that the last week of traveling with this group had felt like forever, I suspected that the next week was going to set an entirely new precedent. I didn't know what to expect from Nina. At this point, I wasn't sure what was worse, her acting like a mother hen or her curious questions. Both were a form of cruel and unusual torture.

I looked up as I heard Daniel's footsteps approaching. He walked over to me with a relaxed expression, "We can go whenever you are ready."

I managed a half smile, "I am really good at procrastinating."

He chuckled as he leaned against a nearby tree. He watched me in silence for some time. I was quite surprised that he was being so patient. I knew that I wouldn't have had nearly this much patience with a bullheaded lower class zombie that was bent on being stubborn.

He spoke quietly, "You said that the guy had tried to kill you before. Nina had mentioned when she patched you up that you had some scars that looked as if you had been shot in the past. Did he do that?"

I was silent for a bit before responding just as quietly, "It happened about a month after I turned. I found half a dozen men cornered by a couple of Runners and helped the men fight them off. They thanked me and invited me back to their Stronghold. They said that they would welcome me in if I could help keep other Runners and Nightstalkers at bay. I agreed and went back with them."

I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, I didn't like these memories, "I had been there less than two hours before the same group tried to ambush me with guns and other weapons. I easily dodged the melee weapons. I twisted that guy's arm to get the gun out of my face, I am still not sure if I actually broke his arm. I managed to get out of the Stronghold without any serious injuries, but there was a lot of open ground between the walls and the nearest cover. They caught up in cars before I crossed the field."

I gritted my teeth with a low growl, "Six bullets managed to hit me before I fell into a big river. One struck my heart dead on and managed to stop it. Did you know that even if your lungs fill up with water and blood that a zombie doesn't actually pass out?"

He shook his head. I snorted lightly, "Well, we don't. Good thing for those of us who are sane, but it is a horrendous sensation."

I shrugged, "In case you weren't aware, if your lungs give out or if your heart stops, you are even weaker and slower than a normal zombie. You are lucky if you can manage a shuffling walk until they heal to the point where they can work again. I eventually washed up on a river bank and managed to crawl out. Took me almost two weeks to heal to the point where I could function halfway normally, and longer to fully heal. After that I decided that I wanted nothing to do with humans and found a remote cabin on the edge of the mountains."

His eyebrows were furrowed as he thought, "How did you hunt?"

"I waited until night. My Nightstalker abilities allow me to move silently, even if I am reduced to a shuffling walk. I was able to sneak up on rabbits and large game birds until I had regained enough strength to manage larger prey. I set up some live traps as well."

He was silent for some time before he looked up, "Well, let's get going. If we don't get back soon, Nicky might come looking for us."

My time had come to an end. I gave in as gracefully as I could. I sighed as I stood up. Daniel went over to the deer before throwing it over his shoulder. I gave him an odd look. He started walking slowly, "The humans will either bring it to a boil in soup or turn it into jerky. The virus can't survive high temperatures or drying out. No sense wasting the meat."

I nodded, the waste of the meat and hide had bothered me in the past. I was still somewhat surprised that the humans would chance it since most were paranoid about being infected. Then again, they had welcomed Daniel into the Stronghold and most had been welcoming enough toward me. Daniel was obviously setting his pace to match the slow one I had been using earlier.

By the time we reached the edge of the trees it was obvious that my previous run had not been a good idea. I had undone all of the healing that had occurred in my leg and it was complaining fiercely about its mistreatment. Even with the slow walk I was breathing noticeably hard. I narrowed my eyes at the sight of Nicky sitting on a side by side atv while putting nail polish on her toenails.

She looked up, "About bloody time you showed up. If you took much longer I was going to have to break down and do a full makeover. Get on, you're the passenger by the way. Nina said that if I let you touch the steering wheel that she would kick my behind. I, of course, expressed my disbelief on her ability to do so and she said that if she didn't succeed, then she would send Daniel to trounce me. And honestly, I don't think a one liter can of tomato juice or a bar of soap is going to stop that guy."

Daniel gave me a frustrated look, obviously still confused about the tomato juice and soap reference. I tilted my head in slight disbelief, "And you have no problem with a zombie sitting right beside you?" This thing was narrow, our arms would be brushing. We hadn't sat this close even in the back of the trucks.

To my surprise, she grinned at me, "If you were going to kill me, you would have done so long ago on one of the great many occasions when I pissed you off. At the moment, I am offering you a lift, which you will secretly appreciate although you will probably just grumble at being forced to accept the ride."

I examined the lady who was far too observant at times, "I think you are beginning to know me too well."

She chuckled, "I also know how much your leg probably hurts at the moment. I recognize that slow walk from my own attempts at learning kickboxing years ago. I bet you would have a pretty good limp if you went any faster. In fact, I think I even see a slight limp as it is."

I growled lightly in annoyance, I thought I had been keeping the limp under the radar. I did not appreciate having my injuries pointed out in this manner. She rolled her eyes, "Oh, just climb in already, before someone realizes that I hot-wired this thing instead of taking the dinky quad that they tried to give me."

Yep. This lady clearly could not be left unsupervised. With a heavy sigh I climbed into the passenger side as Daniel started leading the way back. Nicky bent under the dash and with a faint zit the motor rumbled to life. She grinned at me, "Hang on."

Oh shit. I swiftly grabbed onto the handles and braced my feet as I realized my mistake. I had just gotten into a vehicle that Nicky was driving. My head injury was obviously affecting my better judgment more than I had realized.

She only managed to burn a few doughnuts and drift a bit before Daniel returned and glared at her, "Cut that out. Drive as if you were trying for your driver's license. You can torment one of the older quads later tonight."

Nicky frowned as she started driving straight, "All right, all right. Don't get your panties in a knot, it was just a bit of fun. Besides, the guy I tried to get my license with actually jumped out of the moving car within 5 minutes of us starting."

I shook my head and grumbled, "I think I was better off walking back to the mountains..."

Nicky turned her head toward me, "What are you mumbling about?"

I smirked, her hearing was obviously nowhere near as good as mine or Daniel's was, "I said that you should pretend to drive like Hank does."

She made a face, "That is a terrible thought. He actually reads the signs and says that the lines on the pavement mean something."

I made a mental note to never get into any vehicle if Nicky was behind the wheel. I glanced over at Daniel who was looking as if he had learned something that he would have rather not known. I made a face, "Despite Nina's threat, it is probably safer if I drove."

Nicky grumbled under her breath as Daniel sighed, "We are almost there."

We rounded the bend and I saw that we had come out of the forest in a different place than I had entered. Seconds later we drove through the gate and Nicky pulled up in front of a building where Nina was sitting on a step, obviously waiting for us.

Nina raised her eyebrow, "Just why did you steal that side by side when they gave you the keys to a quad?"

Nicky snorted, "Every once in a while I do actually use my head. It wasn't too bad getting Trinity in this thing. It would have been a lot harder to get her behind me on that tiny quad. Honestly, did you even look at that thing? It was designed for one person, not two."

Nina sighed as she stood up, "Daniel, could you possibly have a word with the guy in the garage so he doesn't freak out on Nicky?"

Daniel nodded, "Sure, then I can drop this deer off with the kitchen."

Nina smiled at him, "Thanks." She turned her gaze to me, "Let's go inside so I can check on those wounds."

I made a face as I got out of the side by side, "You are aware that zombies don't get infections right?"

She merely grinned and waved for me to follow her. I sighed as I started following her. As much as I didn't want her cleaning the wounds while they were still sore from my run, I wanted to be in that deathtrap that Nicky was driving even less.

She took me to what looked like a small exam room where a bowl of steaming water and wash clothes were waiting. There were some other supplies as well, including a needle and some rather fine thread. Nina closed the door behind me, "Take off your shirt, let's see how much damage you did."

I carefully took off my shirt and sat on the tall stool while Nina put on a pair of rubber gloves. She carefully used the water and a rag to wash off the disaster of a mess that the blood and the cayenne powder had left. The bleeding had stopped.

"Well, the one that hit your heart doesn't seem to have gotten any worse, the scab just cracked a bit. The one on your shoulder isn't too bad. This other one had a good chunk of the scab come off."

She moved to my back, "Oh my, this one is going to take a bit. You should have let Daniel clean it since you couldn't reach it."

I remained silent as she started gently scrubbing the exit wound on my back. I gritted my teeth against the pain. She reached over to grab a small bag of supplies from the counter, "Hold still, I am not sure what you did, but the scab almost completely came off. I am going to trim it so it doesn't stick to the bandage later on."

I felt cold metal against my back with some tugging and snipping noises. I exhaled slowly at the pain from the irritated wound. I gave a low growl as some tugs caused several sharp flares of pain. She didn't comment. After far too long she finished and put large bandages over the injuries. I put my shirt back on.

She came around and lifted up the leg of my shorts. She inhaled in surprise at the angry red injury. It looked worse now than it had before. In fact, it looked worse now than it did when I first regained consciousness. I had definitely done a lot of damage to it in that run. It looked like a few of those branches I hit must have snagged the injury or further injured it.

Nina started trying to clean the wound, it really did look like something that would make an ER doctor do a double take. The scab had been completely ripped off and it still bled somewhat. Nina carefully dabbed the cayenne powder and congealing blood away with a damp rag until the extent of the damage was revealed.

She sat on her heels and sighed, "Well, you aren't going to be moving much for some time. It is a very good thing that you can't get infections, otherwise this would have me quite worried."

She moved to the counter and grabbed the needle, thread, and some salve. She started gently applying the salve, "This will numb it a bit, the effect only lasts a minute or two with a zombie though. I am going to try and sew it up some, but I am not sure how long it will hold. In theory, these stitches should dissolve in about three weeks, but when we used them earlier they dissolved even before you woke up."

She threaded the needle and turned to my leg. I narrowed my eyes, but the salve was already working and I barely felt the prick of the needle. Four stitches later she wiped on some salve and put a large bandage over it. "There, we will see how that holds up. I want to take a look at it tomorrow as well."

She tossed the rags and gloves in the garbage, "I doubt you are up to doing much at the moment and you probably don't want to be around a bunch of humans. I can show you your room if you like."

I nodded, "I am not exactly fit for company at the moment."

It was a slow walk to my room. It turned out my room was on the second floor. The stairs were torture. Once I was inside the room Nina left. I closed and locked the door as I inspected the small room. It was barely large enough for the small bed, but at least I did have a room to myself.

I sat down on the bed and stretched out my leg while I pulled a book out of my backpack. I would probably nap more than I would read. Not much else I could do at this moment.