I exited the building and headed toward the mess hall for breakfast. I rounded the corner and paused as I noticed four younger men running in my direction. They noticed me and swerved to run wider around me. One called out in a hushed voice as he ran by, "Run before she sees you!"

I could only think of one reason for people to be running like that at this time of the morning.

"Free hugs for everyone!!!"

You have got to be kidding me... This was not how I hoped to start my day. Two more people rounded the corner in a full blown run. Nicky appeared around the corner in hot pursuit of them with a maniac grin plastered across her face. I do not recall this being part of our deal.

I crossed my arms as I held my ground, my instincts refused to run from an unarmed human, even if she was in lunatic mode. Nicky ran toward me with arms outstretched, thinking I was an easy stationary target. I don't think so...

I growled at her lightly as I uncrossed my arms and held out one hand to keep her from getting close. She made a few attempts, but my swifter reflexes and greater strength gave me the upper hand as I kept her at arm's length and unable to hug me.

She gave up with a groan, "You are no fun."

I rolled my eyes, "And that is precisely why I am not invited to any parties."

She yawned and we headed for breakfast. I noticed that it was oddly quiet as we entered the mess hall. I looked around and saw that it was pretty empty, possibly because many of the early risers had heard Nicky's calls for hugs and had decided to be fashionably late today. We didn't even have to wait in line because there was no lineup.

Nicky stuffed her face once we sat down. I noticed that more people trickled in as word spread that she had calmed down. We were getting more attention than usual, which was stirring my instincts. Once we finished, Nicky went off to see what her chores were for today and I headed to the kitchen as per usual.

~

I sat on the roof watching the activity spread throughout the Stronghold as people worked. I had tried to rest, but even the lightest nap would not come this afternoon and I had tried for several hours already. It was a sign that my healing was rapidly diminishing. The scab on my head had fallen off last night, which might have been the reason for some of the stares I had received this morning.

The two remaining scabs on my chest wouldn't be far behind and would probably fall off in a couple of days. Despite the level of damage in my leg previously, my doctoring had done wonders. It didn't even pain me now. I still kept to a slow walk to throw off the ever-watching humans, but I could run for a short distance without harming it if I needed to.

It would probably be a week before that scab fell off, but I could likely make a run for it in about five days. Nicky was going to talk to someone today about getting a transfer. She would likely travel with one of the groups going to trade and there were two such trips scheduled in the next week. I planned to leave a day or two after she did.

Another side effect of my slowing healing was that my energy was no longer being solely channeled into healing and I was getting restless. It had been ten days since the bullets hit me and I had done almost nothing but sit the entire time. I was seriously tired of sitting.

I started pacing a bit, trying to take the edge off my building energy and impatience. I wanted to leave this place and it was like an itch I couldn't scratch. That caged feeling was coming back, it reminded me of cabin fever where you felt like you simply had to get out. It was similar to, but yet different from when Ben and Hank had kept us closed up in that grocery store for three days.

I gave up pacing and headed for the stairs. I walked along the perimeter of the fence while watching for a particular redhead. Several people seemed surprised to see me walking instead of relaxing on the rooftop. It was about my usual time to track down Nicky, so it shouldn't be unusual.

I found her leaning under the hood of a truck with two men. I was amused to see that she was standing on the bumper since she was too short to see well enough from the ground.

Nicky was talking a hundred miles an hour, "You can easily splice these two wires to bypass the security on the starting mechanism. But never cross this wire with this wire, and take my advice, don't let them touch the battery posts once they are crossed. You get fireworks and it would take three small miracles to ever get the vehicle running again."

The men were listening intently. I leaned against the wall and simply observed them since they weren't aware of my presence. Nicky kept pointing out other wires. From her comments, I had a feeling that she had crossed almost every wire ever put into a vehicle since she knew exactly what the result would be.

Nicky shifted to point to a further wire and the man beside her uneasily moved away from her although he was still listening. I kept watching their body language. They were willing to listen to her, but they really weren't comfortable around her. The avoidance was slight, but noticeable.

Nicky sighed as she jumped off the bumper. She noticed me, "Hey Trinity, sorry I didn't see you there. Hope you weren't waiting too long."

The two men jumped a bit as they became aware of me. I shrugged, "Not really."

She dug around in her pockets before holding up a key, "Ah, got the key here. Let's go."

I walked with her as we headed to the side by side. I was no longer scared for my life when Nicky got into the driver's seat. She had been driving well enough to even satisfy Hank. We drove along the familiar path in the forest as we headed toward the live traps.

Nicky turned off the engine once we arrived and sighed, "My transfer got declined."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, "Why? I thought that transfers were almost never refused."

Nicky frowned, "It doesn't make any sense. Transfers are rarely declined since no one wants an unhappy person stirring the pot. Besides, every other Stronghold I have ever been in was more than willing to drive me to another place the very next day as long as I didn't return."

"Did they give a reason?"

Nicky snorted, "Apparently the other Strongholds are full and can't take any more people. Which is bullshit. This place trades with eight different places on a regular basis and I have never heard of a place being so full that they would turn away another set of working hands."

Bloody hell... There goes our best plan. A growl rumbled through my chest as my irritation built, "Which only means one thing..."

She nodded, "They decided that I make it easier for you to stay here and they probably won't even let me try to walk to the nearest Stronghold. Although if you think about it, in the truck they always put me closest to you since you seemed to have more tolerance when it came to me."

It was my turn to snort, "It had nothing to do with my level of tolerance. You simply didn't give a shit if I growled at you."

She chuckled, "No, and I still don't. But we should have guessed their answer. After my little meeting I managed to overhear a few things as word spread that I attempted to transfer out. Everyone here knows that zombies don't like physical contact and the fact that you willingly came into contact with both Liz and I several times caught their attention. Apparently Nina is the only one here who dares to so much as lay a finger on Daniel and even she gives him his space."

I rubbed my temple as I realized how this group would have seen our interactions. Now that I thought about it, I had only seen Nina touch Daniel twice and both times had been in the truck. Once when I had snarled at the passing Runner and she was trying to calm him. The second time had been when he had leaned over to see her notes and their arms had brushed.

I had come into contact with Nicky at least half a dozen times during that same time frame. Liz had sat on my lap, but they had not seen me come into contact with any other person in our party. Nina and Daniel had been watching me far too closely to have missed those details.

Nicky continued, "There is lots of whispering going on and I couldn't catch most of it without getting caught, but people noticed that the scab above your ear had fallen off and there is just light pink skin there now. They also noticed that you were pacing earlier this afternoon. They are starting to get worried and that isn't a good thing."

I exhaled gustily, "I can't really help it. I feel like a lion in a cage. People here first saw me when I was seriously injured, but I am getting back on my feet. Things are going to change. You remember what I was like when we were on the road previously."

Nicky chuckled, "Oh, I remember, but toward the end you were handling it better than you had before. You may not want to admit it, but you were getting used to us. You might have wanted Daniel to vanish into thin air and probably wouldn't have minded taking a chunk out of Kal, but you weren't quite so uptight around the rest of us toward the end."

I huffed, "Doubtful."

I got out of the side by side to go check on the traps, but my mind kept circling back to Nicky's comment. Some days that lady was just too darn observant for her own good or for my peace of mind. Especially when she was correct.

There were two rabbits today. I found Nicky in a small clearing not far from the side by side and she once more helped me doctor up the wound on my back. She gently ran a gloved finger over the scab once she was done, "There is a big piece here that is starting to stick up."

I groaned faintly, "I figured as much. I felt it catching on the bandage earlier when I moved. It should straighten itself out as it heals, if not, we can try cutting it once we have escaped from this place."

Nicky put a bandage over it and didn't reply. I put my shirt on before following my nose. It had become our habit to go berry picking. I picked up the scent of a nearby patch of berries that we had not visited yet. I wouldn't need supper tonight after my snacking.

Time passed far too quickly and I climbed onto the side by side with a reluctant growl. "I wonder what the odds are of us intercepting another Stronghold's trading group on their way back to their base and tagging along."

Nicky started the ATV, "Slim to none. This place mostly sends out its own trading groups. People rarely come here to trade and I am sure that they would watch us like hawks the second that anyone else arrived."

I gritted my teeth as I watched the trees go by. I went back to rolling ideas around that allowed me to escape with Nicky. Had it just been humans trying to track us, it would have been simple. The problem was that it would be Daniel on our trail the second they thought that we might have left.

That changed everything.