I sat in a chair in boredom and watched as Nina put slide after slide under the one microscope. I felt my instincts retreat slightly as the sun rose. Another tremor rolled through my muscles.

Nina glanced up before glancing at her watch and noting the time down. "Once Louise comes I will send her off to the bigger machines and see what images they can give us. I am not seeing anything on this, although I didn't really expect to with a microscope this small."

Nina picked up the blood pressure cuff and other tools again. She was taking my vitals every hour. Nina's frown told me that they had not improved. She noted everything down and put the stuff back on the counter.

Nina looked at the clock, "I am surprised that Louise hasn't shown up yet. It is 9am. Daniel, could you possibly track her down and bring her here? She may have heard that Trinity and I are here and decided to work elsewhere."

Daniel nodded and left the room. He had left earlier to let Nicky know where I was so she wouldn't worry too badly. My vision hazed over and I sighed once I could see again, "My vision just went again, took about five seconds to clear."

Nina nodded and jotted it down along with the time. I wasn't sneezing or coughing, which was a relief as that would have opened up a huge can of worms. A plate of fruit sat untouched on the counter, Nicky had sent it back with Daniel since she knew I loved fruit, but I had no appetite. It wasn't unusual for me to skip a meal, especially if I hunted recently.

The enforced idleness irritated me, but there was no way to avoid it. There was no way for me to really do anything with my vision taking frequent vacations and my muscles acting up. I picked up my book again and tried to lose myself in the story without success.

I gave up trying to read before too long. I tilted my head as I listened, "I wasn't aware that Nicky knew where the lab was, but those are definitely her footsteps clomping down the stairs."

Nina's head shot up in surprise, "Neither did I. If she touches anything in here, I will break her fingers."

Nicky's head poked around the doorframe before she sighed and entered the room, "I was beginning to wonder if they tied you up and just claimed that you were helping out down here. How exactly are you helping by sitting in a chair?"

My absence would have been immediately noticed by the population at breakfast, so Daniel had spread the word that I was helping in the lab today. I rolled my eyes, "They lied. In truth they are trying to help me figure out what the hell is going on."

Nicky glanced at Nina in suspicion before dropping into a nearby chair, "Huh?"

"I had always been told that zombies don't get sick, but we are pretty sure that I am breaking that rule."

She blinked in shock as she looked me over, "Well, you don't look sick to me..."

I sighed, "That is a good thing since I am not feeling 100%."

Nicky tilted her head in confusion, "So what is wrong?"

I shrugged and glanced at Nina. Nina shrugged as well, "It isn't something I have heard of or seen before, but I had always thought that zombies couldn't get sick so it wasn't something that I ever looked into. Zombies usually do not make good patients."

I grinned somewhat ferally in agreement. I had never been a good patient, even before I turned into a zombie. I was just too bloody stubborn. Daniel's footsteps descended swiftly down the stairs before I heard another door down the hallway open. His furious snarl made all three of us jump. I eyed up the door warily as his footsteps approached. I growled lowly as I picked up his rage-laden scent.

Nina blinked as Daniel entered the doorway, "Daniel, what-"

Nina's voice cut off as she noticed his tense muscles and furiously glowing red eyes. I wasn't sure what had happened, but he was clearly enraged about something. A deep growl rumbled continuously off of his chest. Nicky sat still and just watched him, even she knew enough to not provoke him in this mood – and that was saying a lot.

Nina took slow steps around the counter and cautiously approached him, "Daniel? What is wrong?"

He snarled again and his voice was deep, "Louise is gone. No one has seen her since last night when she was helping Liz in the kitchen. The gate guards said that she came to them last night claiming that you had asked her to fetch something from a nearby Stronghold and they gave her a car."

Nina frowned, "I didn't send her anywhere and none of the nearby Strongholds have anything I need."

Daniel growled, "I know. She had a large backpack when she left and the guard said that she seemed nervous. I just checked the main lab room and a vial is missing."

My own growl sounded as my nails dug into the arms of the chair as my mind connected the dots in a different fashion, "Could she have slipped it into a cookie? Liz was handing out cookies to the entire archery group and had made one just for me."

Daniel narrowed his eyes at me, but surprisingly didn't growl back, possibly because my growl hadn't been directed at anyone in the room specifically. Nina's eyes went wide in shock, "Oh no." She shook her head, "We never tested it orally, but in theory it could work if it didn't get too warm in the oven."

"That cookie wasn't quite fully cooked. No wonder there was so much cinnamon and allspice in it, she was covering any scent." My rage was causing my vision to become redder, although it also made my vision go a bit hazy, as if there was a very light fog in the room. My anger seemed oddly strong and defined, but it didn't interfere with my thought processes. My instincts surged forward in my wrath.

"That traitor!" Nina had gone from shocked to livid. We all glanced at her in surprise at her outburst. Her anger rolled off of her and was clear in her scent, she was almost as furious as Daniel. My instincts subsided a bit as I realized that neither Daniel nor Nina had a hand in this.

Nicky was also fuming, "Oh, if I ever get my hands on her, she isn't going to live to regret this."

Daniel nodded, "I agree." His eyes were still red and he was clearly angry.

I turned to Nina, "My instincts are as present as ever. How long does it take this cure to work?"

Nina frowned, "It should have worked within six hours."

A chill ran down my back. I should have been human by now and I clearly was not. Nina furrowed her eyebrows before jogging toward the door. Daniel moved to the side so she could get through, although he wore a confused look as he waited with us, his anger dimming with this new finding.

Nina's footsteps echoed down the hallway before she entered another room. "Shit! What the hell was she thinking?"

I lifted my head in apprehension. Nina came back into the room flipping through pages in a thick book with a bewildered expression. I narrowed my eyes, "What is it?"

Nina shook her head, "I don't get it. She didn't give you the cure."

I was stunned, "What? She nagged at me for almost five days about it."

Nina found what she was looking for in the book, "She took a vial from the experimental rack, which makes no sense since we hadn't even tested those ones in a blood sample under the microscope yet. They have never been tested on an actual zombie either. In fact, they were just made the other day."

Nicky shook her head as if baffled, "I detest that woman, but she doesn't strike me as being stupid. Could she have shuffled the vials around to make it look like she had used that one when she really used a different one?"

Nina glanced at Daniel, who darted out of the room to double check. Nina was reading the page with the notes as I waited impatiently. Louise had better run for the hills, because if I ever cross her scent or spot her, her days will be numbered. If this is her idea of revenge, then she had better pray I don't survive this.

Daniel came back and shook his head, "Nothing else was touched and all of the labels are correct. Her scent entered the room as she headed straight for the rack and immediately left."

Nina furrowed her eyebrows as she tapped her pen against her leg in thought for a bit. She inhaled sharply, "She thought she was grabbing the cure. I rearranged those shelves two days ago when I made that new batch of experimental drugs and she hasn't been in there since. Unless she read the labels on the other side of the racks where the clipboards were, she wouldn't have known."

Daniel growled lowly, "And her scent did not go around the counter."

Nina shook her head with a grimace, "She hasn't talked to me much since I told her off, so she didn't know that the new batch even existed."

I somehow doubted that my luck could get any worse at this point. Someone had slipped me a sabotaged cookie and she had put the wrong thing in it. I growled and rubbed my temples, this was not helping my headache, "How often do your experiments fail and kill? What exactly is this thing supposed to do?"

Nina made a face, "We hadn't even tested that one in a blood sample. At that stage, most do not even affect zombies. We have had much more success since you came and we understand the zombie genome better, but it is still science in a backwater lab in a collapsed human civilization."

That was not what I wanted to hear. I growled faintly to get her back on track, "So what was this one supposed to do?"

Nina glanced at the notes, "It was supposed to target the virus itself to prevent the wild mood swings that zombies seem prone to. It was also designed to help keep anger at bay."

I snorted, "Well, I can tell you that it missed its mark. It is doing one hell of a good job of giving me a headache though."

Nina gave me a remorseful look, "It hadn't even entered the first stage of testing."

I sighed, "What are the odds of this thing killing me?" As much as I dreaded several of the possibilities, I had to know what I was dealing with.

"In theory, it shouldn't kill you, but any drug that affects a zombie is usually pretty nasty and would have an unfortunate effect on a human."

Nicky groaned, "In other words, we are flying as blind as a bat with a firecracker tied to its tail."

The silence was confirmation that Nicky was right. Nina grabbed the vials of blood, "I am going to fire up the big microscope and see if I can figure out what this drug thinks it is doing."

That left Daniel, Nicky and myself looking at each other. I looked over at Daniel, "At least this means that I am not contagious with some superbug."

My vision hazed out and I shook my head, although the motion was useless until it abated on its own power, "There goes my vision again..." I detested the lack of sight and it put me on edge.

Daniel walked over to Nina's spare notepad and jotted down the time. If it wasn't for the fact that we needed the times to know if it was getting better or worse, I wouldn't mention them. I couldn't hide the muscle tremors, so they could easily track those.

Nicky was looking at me in curiosity. I quickly explained things to her and brought her up to speed. She shook her head, "I hope your body fights it off like it does most stuff. I wonder if that stuff would survive if you bled out and died again like at the truck stop?"

I made a face, "How about we leave that experiment until I am at death's door?"

"That is a good idea. It sucked when you were out cold last time. You don't seem like yourself when you aren't growling or watching someone suspiciously."

I rolled my eyes, but didn't comment.

~

Nicky brought a plate of supper for me, but I shook my head, "No thanks. I'm not hungry."

Nina finally entered the room and took the plate that Nicky had brought for her. Nina glanced at the notepad that recorded my episodes, "The good news is that the symptoms aren't worsening as fast as they had been earlier, although they are not decreasing yet. How is your headache?"

"I am positive that there is a rather energetic work crew in there with jackhammers."

She noted that down while chewing a mouthful of food. She swallowed and sighed, "You were correct about it not targeting your disposition. This drug seems to work differently on the different types of zombies. With Runners, it does target the mood area. If put into a sample of Daniel's or your blood, it targets different areas."

I tilted my head, "So what is it targeting?"

Nina glanced down at her notes, "It is targeting a section of genes unique to Nightstalkers, so I have no clue what to expect."

Nicky frowned, "Since Nightstalkers are nocturnal, does that mean the effects will become more apparent once the sun goes down?"

Nina nodded slowly, "Very likely." She glanced at me, "Are you noticing any other differences?"

I considered it, "Not really. Pretty much the same as earlier. The muscle aches and headache haven't let up any."

Nina nodded, "If the episodes are occurring less frequently, that is a good thing. By the way, the cure we made earlier is not an option. The drug currently in your system is lethal for humans, so if we remove the zombie virus with the cure, that drug will kill you."

Since this drug was targeting the virus itself, that had been one of the emergency backup plans. I rolled my eyes, "Lovely."

Nicky chuckled, "The drug has obviously had no effect on her sarcasm."

I growled halfheartedly at her, "You had better make yourself scarce before the sun sets."

She grinned, "Nah, I have the best judgment of when you are bluffing or serious. Besides, if I hide behind Nina, Daniel will protect me."

I snorted and shook my head at her plans. I debated for a moment before sighing, "You had better take these for the moment."

It took me a bit to undo the sickle sheath since it was under my shirt, but it eventually slid down. I also removed my dagger. Daniel came forward to take both from me, "That is probably a good idea."

"You should start wearing weapons. Most sane zombies do."

He shrugged, "I haven't needed them yet and it keeps the humans more relaxed."

I shook my head at his overconfidence, but didn't comment. Considering how often we came close to clashing, that might be a good thing for me.