Bonus chapter! Happy Christmas Eve! 

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The next day went pretty much the same as the day before. I joined Nicky at the archery range after supper, none of the other archers had arrived yet. Nicky took aim at her target, "Marissa is being quite stubborn and she hasn't let Liz out of her sight the last two days. I overheard someone complaining that no one can manage to get Liz away from Marissa and they were really trying today."

I loosed my own arrow, it hit dead center and sunk deep into the target despite shooting the most distant target. "In that case Marissa will be much happier tomorrow."

"Are you going to miss Liz? I know you were showing some teeth toward Marissa the last two times."

I snorted in amusement, "The teeth were more for her attitude than anything else. I don't know Liz well enough to miss her. She is a cute kid, but I have never really done anything with kids."

Nicky nodded as she went to collect her arrows. She had no fear about collecting her arrows while I shot at my target. Then again, my aim had never been as bad as hers had originally been. The first trickle of the archery group started arriving and we fell silent.

I tested the air and grinned internally in triumph. Perfect. A storm was on the wind and would arrive tonight. A good rainfall would wipe out a muddled or faint scent trail. Rain would also destroy footprints and other traces that one might leave behind.

The thunderclouds built on the horizon as we wasted time on the archery range. The storm might even arrive before we left. I eventually put my bow away, "Big storm coming, don't stay out too late."

She nodded as she glanced at the distant clouds. I headed off to my room to wait impatiently. My backpack got one more check before I left it at the side of my bed. It was going to remain behind as a decoy. My hairbrush and toothbrush were sitting on the tiny dresser as well to make it look like I was still planning on being here tonight.

I didn't truly need anything in my backpack. I could live without a hairbrush for a few days and I had already brushed and braided my hair in preparation. Various objects that I would rather they didn't find were in a junk bin behind the garage. Things like the glass jars and syringes. I left a bar of soap in my backpack just to entertain Daniel.

It was getting dark outside although it was more due to the storm than the setting sun. A rumble of thunder announced that it would arrive soon. My eyes watched the dark clouds that were heavy with rain, this was almost perfect. A storm this big would last almost half the night and we wouldn't even have to worry about using half of the tricks to destroy a scent trail when this storm was going to do it for us.

~

I stood under the overhang of the chicken coop in my rain jacket and waited. Where was Nicky? There was only one chicken coop, so she couldn't have gotten lost. I glanced at my pocket watch, but I was only going to give her another ten minutes to show up before I went looking for her. She better not have fallen asleep while waiting...

I remained still as I watched the Stronghold. A crack of lightning lit up the place much too brightly before a deafening roll of thunder shook the window panes behind me. I glanced at my pocket watch again, her time was up.

I growled in frustration as I headed back toward the buildings. Her room was dark and the window was halfway open. I had no idea if she was inside or not. I gritted my teeth as I began to climb the damp bricks. Thankfully the wind was blowing the rain mostly in the other direction so not much rain hit the wall or me as I climbed up.

I glanced inside of her room before growling at the sight of Nicky sleeping on her bed in her rain jacket. I pushed the window open wide enough for me to slip inside and went over to shake her shoulders. I wrinkled my nose at whatever cheap air freshener the cleaning staff used. The cleaning staff wouldn't enter my room without my permission and I never would ask them since I didn't want strange humans in my room. It was bad enough when Nicky barged in occasionally.

I shook Nicky's shoulder harder. "Ungghhhh...."

I growled, "Nicky wake up."

"Lemme sleepppp...."

My instincts rolled and I tensed up at the force of them. Nicky had never slurred her words before, even when she had been woken up during the night. I took another breath as I tested the air for any trace of sickness, but picked up nothing. Except for a different faint scent on her breath. Something isn't right.

A rumbling snarl built up in my throat. The door handle started to turn and I darted to the far corner where the deepest shadows were. There wasn't enough time for me to climb out the window. The door opened and Daniel walked in before switching on the light.

He barely spared a glance at the sleeping redhead as he focused on me. From his expression, he had known I was coming and had been waiting in the hallway. That was why I hadn't heard his footsteps. My words were warped by the intense growl in my voice, "What did you do to her? Why were you waiting outside her door?"

I had not expected him to show up and it had me severely off balance. He was watching me with the intensity of a hawk, "We don't want either of you two to leave. We were quite certain that you wouldn't leave without her so I simply waited for you to show up."

I dropped into a deeper crouch as I snarled at him. His eyes flickered red, but oddly enough, he didn't growl or snarl. I was reminded of the time I had egged him on in the tree, the harder I pushed him, the more control he seemed to have. That was not how zombie instincts were supposed to work.

I growled, "Let us go. How did you know what we were planning anyway?"

He ignored the first demand, "We bugged Nicky's room and happened to overhear your conversation last night."

That meant that they had likely bugged my room too. My privacy was something that I held almost sacred and they had violated it. My pissed off snarl was drowned out by another peal of thunder. The flash of lightning was bright, but my vision was extremely red in my rage.

"How dare you invade our privacy?!"

He shrugged, "It was needed. We had to know when you planned to leave. We only bugged Nicky's room since you would pick up the scent if someone entered your room."

Nicky groaned and I glanced at her as she pulled the pillow over her head. The sound of footsteps had my head whipping back toward Daniel who had come several steps toward me. My body vibrated with my warning snarl, he bared his teeth and growled deeply back as my disrespectful snarl affected his instincts.

My body tensed up like an overstrung spring, my instincts were insanely high as the heat rolled through my veins along with the adrenaline. My instincts wanted to back down from the higher-ranking Terror, but my human mind was pissed at whatever the hell was occurring in this place. Part of my mind was worried about Nicky though, something wasn't right. "What did you do to Nicky?"

He glanced at the redhead, "We drugged her with sleeping aids so she couldn't run."

They had drugged her?! My vision was all red at this point and I was beyond pissed with this newest betrayal. I launched myself at him with an enraged shriek. He barely dodged my attack. He managed to grab my wrist and I turned as I slammed my body into his with all of my enraged strength.

I got a painful growl out of him from the blow as we tumbled to the floor. He managed to block several of my blows before he got a good hold on me. I snarled and thrashed, likely leaving bruises on both of us. A growl rumbled in his chest as he struggled to fully pin me. I felt my nails rip his shirt a few times, although I didn't feel them connect with his skin.

I struggled and snarled at him as he finally managed to wrap his arms around me and successfully pin me. His one hand managed to contain both of my wrists while he knelt and used his own weight on top of the back of my legs to pin them. My back was against his chest so I couldn't bite him.

His voice was strained from the effort he was using to contain me, but surprisingly calm, "Relax. We never meant you any harm. We will explain everything."

I was far too furious at the moment to be bothered with listening. I snarled viciously at the man behind me as I tried to fight back. I contorted my body and managed to free my one leg before kicking his shin since that was the only thing my foot could reach.

It took him a few seconds to immobilize me again. He was breathing heavily as I snarled breathlessly in his grip. He kept me pinned as I wore myself out against his greater strength. A Nightstalker could never match a Terror's strength.

Once my struggles grew weaker he spoke again, "Once you calm down I will let you go. Then we will explain everything."

The worst edge on my anger had worn out with the fight. I was tiring and I knew it. My body hadn't fully healed either, so I wasn't at the top of my game. I also knew that I had no chance of winning this fight, especially when I was already pinned.

I stilled although my muscles vibrated in my lingering anger. Daniel waited a few seconds to ensure that I wasn't about to start struggling again. He carefully released me while standing up and taking a cautious step back.

I was on my feet and whirled to face him as swiftly as I could move, unable to allow him to be behind my unprotected back. I was in a slight crouch, but held my ground. Daniel was watching me, halfway expecting me to come after him again.

I wasn't that foolish. I was no longer blinded by rage either. Anger still made my muscles tremble as my eyes never left Daniel. I was outclassed and outmatched—and I knew it. My eyes narrowed in faint triumph as I noticed that Daniel had not escaped from that clash unscathed.

He had a small set of scratches on his arm where my nails had barely grazed him. His shirt had several slices through it from my nails and I had a feeling that I had managed to leave another set of minor scratches on his ribs. He was going to have several bruises on his arms from where he had blocked the worst of my blows.

I didn't move from my crouch, but my body was doing its own system check. The wounds on my shoulder and leg were throbbing. From the wet feeling around them, I knew that both were bleeding. I could feel spots that were going to bruise. My knees were a bit scraped up from hitting the floor. Other than my current wounds re-opening, Daniel had a bit more actual damage than I did.

I exhaled gustily in annoyance as I realized that he hadn't tried to inflict any damage. He had only blocked me before proceeding to pin me. He had held back to avoid harming me. This discovery did not help my already smarting pride.

Daniel seemed surprised that I didn't initiate another attack. He slowly stood up out of his crouch, "As I said, we will explain everything. I am not sure what you may have thought, but we have no plans to harm you. Once you calm down, I will guide you to Nina and she can also show you what it is we are doing here."

There was no trace of a lie in his scent. My anger was still simmering, but it wasn't at a level where I was in danger of harming someone unintentionally. My muscles no longer vibrated in anger. We had been here ten days and they were finally offering an explanation? A bit late in my opinion.

My mind was working rapidly though. The number of options in my current situation were rather limited. I couldn't outrun Daniel and I sure couldn't overpower him. That left him as having the final say if he decided to back up his decision with his muscles. The fact that he was still trying to just convince me with words was the only reason I was even listening to him or thinking about this.

I knew in theory that if he wanted to force me to stay here that he could have easily injured me so badly that I couldn't leave. He had killed several zombies on the drive here. If I went along with his suggestion, I would learn more. I would likely have another chance to run later, as long as they didn't cripple me or imprison me.

There really wasn't a choice. I could stand here until he tired of waiting. Or I could try to make a break for it and undoubtedly get caught before I even made it to the window. Or I could go with him and learn what secret this place had so carefully guarded, the very thing that had 200 people trying to convince a Nightstalker to stay with them. If I knew exactly what I was dealing with, it might be easier to run later on.

I was still angry, but I knew which option I was picking. I slowly stood up out of my crouch. Nicky had somehow slept through the chaos. Daniel relaxed as he saw that I wasn't about to try anything stupid. I glanced at the snoring redhead, "What about Nicky?"

"She is fine. She will sleep until around dawn. There is a guard by the door downstairs in case she does manage to wake up."

He gestured toward the door, "If you are calm enough, we can go and let her sleep without disruptions."

I reined in my temper some more and nodded stiffly. I was still upset and not entirely happy with my decision, but I was going along with it. Daniel turned his back on me as he led the way, which surprised me. I had no idea how he was turning his back on me so soon after our rather unfair wrestling match. He left the room and turned off the light. I followed him out into the hallway and closed the door behind me.

There was some light in the hallway and it must have been enough for Daniel to see. My sunglasses had somehow stayed on my face during our scuffle. I ensured that my footsteps were loud enough for him to hear me. Daniel pulled out his flashlight and pointed it toward his feet as he went down the dark stairs.

A guard sitting by the door pretended to not see us as we walked outside. Daniel grabbed a raincoat from a hook and turned on his flashlight before he passed through the door. This storm was a good one. Rain fell down in buckets and thunder rocked the air continuously.