Once more I carried Liz on my shoulders, and Tom had Josh on his shoulders as we trekked through the forest. I avoided the town, angling further west. Marissa ducked beneath another branch, "Is there a reason we are walking in the trees when the highway is right there?"

It was a miracle that they had survived two days by themselves. They knew nothing about evading zombies. And I was the lucky one who got stuck with them. Oh, joy. This trip is going to be as fun as playing football using a porcupine.

"We can see the road from here and if anyone drives by we can get out in time to wave them down. If we walked on the road, any zombie out there could see us and potentially scent us."

She was silent after that. I kept a sharp lookout as we walked. I had half a dozen crowbars hanging from my backpack. The way the one had flown previously had impressed me and I really didn't have any sort of ranged weapon. Truth be told, I didn't need one with my speed and strength, but I wanted to avoid melee fights unless these people were unable to see it. I had no idea how they would react if I attacked a zombie with a hand weapon at unnatural speeds.

We paused for short breaks and for lunch. So far none of the zombies on the road that we passed had realized that humans were walking through the trees just out of their sight. After seeing several of them on the road, Marissa and Tom had fallen silent with jittery nerves, afraid to attract attention to themselves.

Silence was fine by me. It saved me from trying to talk when I had nothing to say. Three times we had passed by abandoned vehicles and I had snuck out of trees to check if they started. I swiftly returned each time with no success. I hadn't expected it, they had been abandoned for a reason, but the fact that they didn't start still annoyed me. If they had started, we could have made much better time and my task would have been completed sooner.

I paused and held up my hand for silence, tilting my head as I listened. There it was again. I jogged for the tree line and my luck was back with me as no zombies were in sight. Marissa and Tom now heard the vehicle in the distance as well and swiftly ran after me. We made it to the side of the road before the truck got close.

It sounded like it had seen better days. I was positive that the serpentine belt was having a war with the radiator fan while the engine pistons were rocking to a Nickelback song. It was a terrible combination... Marissa and Tom started waving at the truck while I stood and watched them approach from behind my sunglasses.

The truck slowed as it approached and the windows rolled down to reveal two men in the front seats. I could smell a woman in the back seat as well. The smaller guy wore a camo shirt, "What are you doing walking on the road?"

Tom replied, "Our car broke down and we are trying to find a Stronghold. Can you possibly give us a lift?"

The men looked at each other before Mr. Camo shrugged, "Fine by us, but you have to ride in the box."

Marissa smiled in relief, "Thank you so much!" Marissa and Tom wasted no time in clambering in. Chloe jumped into the truck box and Tom held her collar to keep her in place.

I glanced at the hood of the truck, "That thing isn't going to explode, is it?"

Both men chuckled and a lady's voice answered me, "I keep asking them that exact same question! We are simply hoping that it holds together long enough for us to get to safety."

I shook my head in disbelief before vaulting over the edge of the truck box to land on the bed mattress that they had obviously put there for passengers. The dried spots of blood and faint scents of strange humans gave me a pretty good idea that their party had decreased in size recently.

If this thing made it to any Stronghold, then I would be amazed. I sat with my back against the cab so I had an excellent view of everything beside us or behind us. It would also give those inside a nice view of the back of my head.

The truck picked up speed again and the noise from the engine got worse. It was giving me a headache. At least the wind whipped the scent of the humans away from me swiftly. Liz wasted no time crawling into my lap for a more comfortable ride. I raised an eyebrow at Marissa who was watching us intently, I was kind of hoping that she would take the child back.

She shrugged, "Liz is very outgoing. I am kind of surprised at how she has attached herself to you though."

I examined Marissa with my red hued vision, "You don't seem overly bothered, which I find odd." I was a complete stranger and most adults were fiercely protective of any surviving children.

She sighed, "I helped out at the orphanage. Tom also worked there and these two children are all we have left of the forty that had been in our care originally. So many turned or were killed in the first wave. Liz tends to love anyone and gravitates toward strangers."

Lucky me... I nodded and turned my attention to the passing scenery and occasional zombie that tried to follow us as I tried to ignore the small warm child in my lap. I found it a bit odd that the trio inside had accepted us so easily. Then again, if we had been infected and turned while we traveled, we were in the truck box and the three of them would be fairly safe in the cab.

Chloe huffed as we hit another pothole in the road. She was a silent vote for our humanity, most big dogs could sense someone who was infected and close to turning and avoided them. Chloe was running freely with us and that had probably scored us some brownie points. At least we were covering plenty of distance with no effort on our part.

~

Hours later I turned my head as the engine took on a new whining and the smell of something burning was detectable on the wind. I gently knocked on the tinted window, pointed forward and then pointed to my nose. This truck had a small sliding window on the back glass and it opened a crack and the woman's voice spoke, "I don't speak sign language. Try that again in English."

"I can smell something in the engine burning. It is making more noise too."

I heard one of the men groan and call back, "Doesn't surprise us, but we can't exactly fix it so we are just going to drive until it breaks down."

The window slid shut with a click. I sighed, there weren't any zombies at the moment so they could have let it cool down for half an hour. The truck would probably make more distance in the long run that way. It was their truck though, so who was I to argue? Logical thought had no impact on the slowly burning rage at being brushed off like that. My Nightstalker instincts were insulted and detested their offhand dismissal. I hoped that this truck kept its shit together until we found the walls of a Stronghold.

The burning smell became stronger, showing that my luck had once more evaded me. Something else started squealing like a banshee, causing me to eventually plug my ears against the noise. The others also covered their ears. I had no clue what those inside were doing, the tinted windows provided me with an excellent reflection of my face and sunglasses when I glanced over my shoulder. I had a distant and somewhat suspicious expression on, which was my normal appearance.

Nightstalkers were a top predator and top predators were usually cautious and didn't trust easily. In fact, I did not even trust this truck to get us another ten feet. As if it had heard my thoughts and had been insulted, a new deep humming noise joined the orchestra under the hood. I suddenly hunched over to shield Liz with my body as a huge boom echoed behind me. The truck shook and skidded forward as the driver hit the brakes.

I heard the faint hiss of something from the motor, but otherwise silence greeted my ears. Liz was shaking silently in fear. I cautiously lifted my head, and movement above caused me to jerk my head skywards. I watched the truck hood as it fell out of the sky and landed in the ditch with a thud.

I slowly stood up so I could see over the truck cab, leaving Liz at my feet. I looked at the engine, or rather, what was left of it. It hadn't quite exploded, but it was close enough in my books. This truck wasn't going any further unless we pushed it, and I had no intention of doing that.

Both doors opened and the two men got out shakily. A red-haired lady jumped out of the passenger side after the guy got out. She sighed heavily, "Well, I guess we are walking." She was thin, and looked pretty fierce. She was even shorter than I was, which was saying something since I wasn't much over five feet tall. I was certain that she knew a few fighting tricks from how she moved.

I lightly jumped over the side of the truck and held out my arms for Liz. She crawled over and I put her on my shoulders. Chloe was more than ready to get out of the truck at this point. The other three in the back quickly followed. Our three newfound traveling companions were watching us with sharp eyes, obviously checking for any noticeable injuries or bite marks. The guy with the camo shirt walked forward, "Well, I'm Ben, this is Hank, and that is Nicky."

Tom came forward with Josh on his shoulders, "I'm Tom, this is Marissa, the little fellow here is Josh, that is Trinity and Liz is on her shoulders."

The man nodded, "Alright, none of you were bitten right?"

We all nodded. It wasn't even a lie for me. No zombie had ever managed to sink its teeth into me. I had also never bitten anyone either, although I had no plans on mentioning that at this point in time. He sighed, "Well, we better start walking before it gets dark out. I don't fancy spending a night under the stars."

He took the lead and the rest of us followed him. No zombies were in sight at the moment and I was glad that I had those crowbars. I carefully inspected the three new members of this crazy party while I pretended to scan the tree line. I was glad for my sunglasses; they wouldn't be able to see me looking at them and I took care to never face them directly.

I didn't see or scent any guns, which was a relief. Hank was a huge man and packed a huge two handed sword with ease. Ben was leaner and had a baseball bat along with several knives. Nicky had several knives and a sword that would have fit into a pirate movie perfectly.

Liz looked around before commenting, "Why aren't we walking in the trees like before to avoid the zombies?"

I remained silent and the lady turned around, "What is she talking about?"

I turned my head so I was clearly looking at Nicky, "Normally those who travel on foot walk just inside the tree line. Zombies can't see or smell you easily so you can pass by the majority of them with no problem."

Ben had stopped to watch our conversation, "And this works?"

Another group with no real zombie evasion experience outside of the classic hit-the-gas-and-drive strategy. This trip just gets better and better... I reined in my temper and nodded, "We walked for two solid days and saw dozens of zombies. None of them noticed us."

Nicky scratched her head and huffed, "Well, if you know what you are doing, lead the way. If it keeps zombies away then I am willing to try it."

I had noticed that she had been getting grumpier as we kept walking. I had an odd feeling that her temper was a close match for mine if she got angry. Their scents were human and untainted, so she couldn't even blame her mood on the virus. This could be an interesting trip.

I headed for the trees. The others followed, Tom and Marissa with familiarity, the other three with reluctance and suspicion.

It worked though. The first zombie had made them very nervous, but we had passed by half a dozen of the mindless cretins by now. I could smell more zombies and human buildings ahead. "I haven't seen a map the last few days, but I am pretty sure we should be approaching a town soon."

Ben grunted, "Good. We can hole up in a building for the night."

I slowed as we neared the edge of the trees, the small town was in plain sight at this point. I saw one zombie, but that was it. I could smell a few more in the area though. Thankfully there was no scent of a Runner. My eyes zoned in on the grocery store. Food was still on the shelves. Movement inside explained why it was left untouched, there was at least one zombie in there.

Tom and Marissa stood nervously near the back while Ben and Nicky came forward. Ben frowned, "I see at least one zombie. Any idea which building we are going to target?"

Nicky eyed up the town, "We have no supplies, so something with food. Any idea if that grocery store is safe?"

I kept my voice low, "I have some experience in clearing stores, I can check it if you want."

Ben glanced at me in surprise and I could feel Hank's suspicious stare from behind. Nicky looked at me speculatively, "Well, if you are up for it, then go for it."

I nodded and put Liz down. I headed further along the tree line and whistled, "Chloe, come." Chloe joined me with a reluctant glance backward. I was somewhat surprised that she had come with me so easily.

Once I was across from the store, I exited the trees. I jogged across the parking lot and started banging on the windows and doors. Two zombies came down the streets at the noise and two appeared at the door. My casual human-like stance and Chloe's presence had them convinced that I was human. My contact with Liz had also rubbed her scent off on me.

I kept banging until I was sure that no others were hidden in the back. I yanked the door open and ran while Chloe barked her dislike of the approaching zombies. I started jogging at a good clip down the street away from the hidden humans. My four new followers were hot on my trail as I led them away. I headed to the spray park, it had a tall twelve foot fence surrounding it. It should be sufficient to contain normal zombies.

I opened one door and left it open as I ran across the spray park. They followed me inside and I quickly left via a second door. After Chloe was out, I closed it and bolted it shut. I quickly ran to the first entrance and closed it as well. I jogged halfway back to the grocery store before stopping to look back and double check that the zombies were going to stay put. I had known by sound that they were stuck inside, but I was well aware of my audience and had to keep up appearances.

They pushed on the chain link, but that was it. Regular zombies rarely climbed up fences if they could see through them. Good enough for me. I headed back to the grocery store and banged on the door again. I could see the others hiding in the trees with shocked or surprised expressions. The heavily built man was watching me with a closed expression. I didn't think I had heard him talk once despite walking for over four hours.

Nothing else came out of the store and I crept into it slowly. It was more for show, my nose told me that two different zombies had been in here and I had removed two. Nonetheless, I checked every aisle and the back storage area. It was all clear now.