My muscles twitched restlessly as I waited for the sky to darken further. The restlessness was back and a bit worse than before. It was hard to sit. My instincts were definitely stronger though. They wanted to head to the forest instead of hanging out on this open rooftop.

The fire was burning merrily and giving off enough light that Daniel didn't need his flashlight to watch me, although it was in his hand just in case. My senses seemed to come alive as my instincts strengthened. Even from up here the small movements of animals on the edge of the forest caught my attention.

Details were sharper and my sense of smell was even keener. A heat haze interrupted my watch of the forest. "Ten seconds. This one was 20 minutes from the last one. The one before was 18 minutes."

Nina nodded and recorded it in her notepad as well. "The drug is probably breaking down faster now. I assume your headache is fading. How is your control?"

I nodded slowly, "Yes, the headache is fading to something that I can actually ignore."

I was silent as I evaluated my control and noticed an anomaly. I examined it in bewilderment. Nina noticed that I hadn't answered her one question and I had always answered each one so far, "Trinity? Are you having any problems with your control?"

All three were watching me closely. I slowly looked toward Nina with a confused expression, "My control is fine. The bloodlust is gone though. Your scent is even less appealing than that apple was."

Daniel looked at me in complete disbelief, "Are you sure?"

I took a slow deep breath, I halfway expected to be hit with their strong scent, but it didn't bother me. The burning in my throat was truly gone. The faintest hint of desire for their blood was there, but I had to look for it to notice it. Normally I had to constantly use control to avoid giving into the siren-like temptation. I wasn't sure when this change had occurred.

I exhaled slowly, "I know I was getting accustomed to the scent of humans back in the Stronghold, but this is different. I actually have to look for it to find even the smallest hint of bloodlust. The burning in my throat is gone as well. I am so used to suppressing it that I am not sure when it faded."

Nina took quick notes, "Has your sense of smell changed?"

I took another deep breath, the strong scent of the humans still didn't bother me. Daniel's scent bothered my instincts as it always did. I could smell the animals in the forest beyond and their scent caused a thread of bloodlust that I usually felt. "My sense of smell got stronger as my instincts rose. I can easily smell the wildlife in the forest. Their scent makes me want to hunt, but neither you nor Nicky cause any noticeable bloodlust."

Nina looked intrigued as she made notes, "Let me get a blood sample so I can compare the samples. The batteries have about an hour of charge left."

She pulled out a needle and with a sigh I held out my arm for her. I was beginning to develop a dislike for needles. Nina also took note of my vitals before heading back to her microscope. I shook myself as I stood up. The restlessness demanded attention as much as a swarm of ants did if they were under your clothing.

I glanced at the three, "Unless someone needs something, I really can't sit still anymore."

Daniel shook his head and Nina was too preoccupied to respond. I turned and went to the edge of the roof before dropping down. I wasted no time heading for the nearby forest and switching to my silent Nightstalker stalk. The restlessness disappeared.

My instincts were still high and making me more aware of things, but they weren't trying to push me to do anything. I removed my sunglasses and looked around in amazement. The details were sharp and crisp – even more so than usual. I hadn't noticed earlier due to how dirty my glasses had gotten while riding down the dusty road.

The heat haze once more clouded my vision. Once it cleared, I noted it down. Even standing hidden in the shadows was enough for my instincts. I took a deep breath as thousands of scents hit my senses. Layers upon layers of smells for me to unravel. My instincts and mind did so automatically and almost instantaneously as they painted a vivid picture of the forest around me.

There were lots of deer in this area. My mind shifted into hunting gear. I swiftly and silently tracked the nearest one. It was sleeping without any idea of the danger that lurked nearby. I examined it for a few seconds before attacking.

My footsteps were silent and I broke its neck before it woke up. I growled lowly as I realized that I didn't have a blade to shave the hair away. I could have at least borrowed a small swiss army knife. My nails once more served to shave the dense hair away from the neck.

The deer's blood was sweet. It hadn't just been the rabbit, my taste buds were changing. I hadn't felt hungry at supper, but nightfall had woken my appetite up. Human food didn't interest me though. I managed to drain the entire deer.

I clenched my jaws with a low growl as my instincts tried to push me into making a Nightstalker scream. That would probably give everyone within hearing distance a heart attack. I exhaled slowly as I shook off the urge. My hunt was done, it wasn't like I needed to tell the world that I was here. Stupid instincts...

I did a few slow laps around the motel. A few times I came close enough to see the fire that Daniel was tending. He was letting it burn quite high as I had suggested. The wind blew gently toward me and my nose wrinkled at Daniel's scent. My instincts wanted nothing to do with the higher-ranking zombie.

My instincts also didn't care about the humans. They saw no reason for me to remain in this area when there was an almost endless forest stretching to the west that I could explore. My humanity was the only thing that kept me here. Since I was traveling and moving in a fashion that Nightstalkers were supposed to, my instincts didn't really care what I did.

It was much like when I had been in the mountains and I had done as I pleased. The restlessness was gone and my instincts saw nothing to warn me about. It was actually fairly peaceful like this. I decided to try a few things out to see what triggered the restlessness.

~

A couple of hours later I was pretty sure I had it figured out. It was as if the details that made a Nightstalker unique had been amplified.

If I stood up straight, my instincts kicked in, which in turn stirred the restlessness up. Nightstalkers, Runners and even Terrors never stood up completely straight like a human unless it was a deliberate action. Our knees were always slightly bent the smallest amount, and never locked straight unless we overrode our instincts. Almost like when playing sports, our bodies were ready to move at a moment's notice. Keeping my knees just barely bent prevented my instincts from getting worked up.

After a lot of trial and error, I realized that it wasn't so much that my instincts wanted me to hide in the trees, as they wanted me to be inconspicuous. Nightstalkers were supposed to be impossible to spot at night and my instincts were like a nagging teacher about that detail.

At the moment I sat on a rock under a tree. A human would have been unable to spot me in the shadows and the deer grazing across the clearing was certainly unaware of me. I was sitting and I wasn't bothered by my instincts even though I wasn't hidden. I wondered if I could sit on the roof if I was further away from the campfire. I would have to head back before the sky lightened to test that theory.

I lifted my head to test the air again. The Runner had been drifting closer to the motel all night. He was going slowly enough that I knew he had not caught the scent of my companions. I headed off in the Runner's direction.

Runners staggered around unless they were actively chasing prey and this one looked like a drunken sailor. No wonder some humans thought they were just a normal mindless zombie until the Runner started to chase them. I stalked out of the trees and onto the road that it was slowly following. It saw me and growled lowly.

My instincts were insulted that the low ranking zombie dared to growl at me even though my eyes were visible and glowing faintly. I snarled at it in challenge. My fierce snarl surprised the Runner, normally snarls that aggressive were not directed at another zombie.

The Runner turned and walked away from me, back in the direction that it had come from. Which was exactly what I had hoped for when I had snarled at it so. I zigzagged down the road to make my scent heavy on this part of the road. Hopefully it would keep the Runner from returning this way again.

I circled the motel, occasionally putting on my sunglasses to lure the regular zombies away. I paused to scent the air and followed my nose to the small cabin that was tucked away in the forest. No one was home unless I counted the mice. It had likely been a small hunting cabin with the emphasis on small. The bed took up half of the tiny building.

I investigated the three cupboards and grabbed any food I saw. It didn't interest me, but any additional food would be welcome for the others. I knew Nicky would go crazy for the Doritos. Maybe a big bag would pull her out of her coffee stupor.

I continued patrolling until the sky started to lighten. Normally at this point, my instincts would start to slowly fade, but they didn't take the hint. I started to head back. I put my sunglasses back on and let my footsteps fall louder as I approached the motel.

"It's just me." In my mind, it was better to ensure that Daniel knew it was only me and not a possible foe, especially considering that the wind was not in his favor at the moment.

I climbed up the ladder. As I had suspected, my instincts were fine until I got close to the fire. Daniel was facing my direction, "How are you doing?"

I pulled my chair further away from the high burning fire, "It feels like the changes are settling down." I pulled out the notepad and gently tossed it to him to look at. He almost missed it, which surprised me. I hadn't realized that his sight at night was quite that bad.

He turned his chair a bit so the firelight could let him read my brief notes. He nodded thoughtfully as he skimmed the times, "How is everything else?"

I sighed, "The headache is mostly gone. My muscles no longer ache. The restlessness is actually tied to my instincts and as long as I am not too easily spotted, it more or less disappears. My instincts are quite high, although they are just watchful. They should have started to fade by now since the sky is getting lighter, but they aren't, which strikes me as strange."

He glanced in my general direction, although I noticed that his eyes failed to focus on me, "So that is why you moved the chair so far away from the fire."

I nodded, although I doubted that he could see the motion, "Yes. It has the restlessness down to a level that I can ignore."

He pulled a pen out of his pocket and started writing on the notepad, probably noting down all of those details. I watched the earliest hints of the sunrise as the sky started to lighten. The sun had almost peeked above the horizon before my instincts finally started fading. It was a relief since the restlessness had started getting stronger as the world got lighter and I was more visible, now it began to recede swiftly.

I sighed, "My instincts are finally starting to fade to normal. Normally they have almost completely subsided by now."

Daniel nodded and wrote that down as well. He was almost as bad as Nina when it came to note taking. I relaxed a bit more as the sun peeked above the horizon and my instincts started to retreat more swiftly. Daniel got up and dug through our supplies to bring out a box of porridge.

The sun had almost cleared the horizon when I heard shuffling from inside the tent. The porridge had just finished, so we were safe even though I was pretty sure it was Nina who was getting up. Nicky was much louder and didn't care who she woke up when she rose.

Nina exited the tent and walked over to warm up at the fire. She glanced at me and Daniel passed her the notepad before she could repeat Daniel's questions. She nodded, "This is looking better. Did the bloodlust return?"

"Not for humans. The desire for animal blood is more noticeable and I also noticed that it tastes sweeter. I had no desire to hunt while the sun was in the sky, but it came back once my instincts strengthened at night."

Nina took Daniel's pen and started taking notes. I shook my head as the main note taker once more started analyzing the notes. I heard more shuffling from the tent and before long Nicky tromped out of the tent. She headed straight for the food before taking a seat.

Mornings and Nicky often did not get along, especially if she had coffee the day before. I also wasn't too sure where her fashion sense originated from either. Her shirt looked like something a secretary would wear while her faded and stained jeans looked like they had traveled across the country on foot several times.

Her one sock was pale green and the other was deep yellow. I blinked slowly before scanning our surroundings. My eyes went back to her bright socks. Nicky noticed my preoccupation, "What are you looking at so intently? Honest, the clothes I am wearing wouldn't get me expelled from school. Been there, done that. Although having the one teacher faint as he walked in was worth it."

I blinked slowly, "Your sock is yellow. I haven't been able to see that color since I turned. The red haze in my vision has almost disappeared."

Nina finished her last spoonful of porridge, "Very interesting. There is enough light for the microscope now, let me take a look at your blood before we hit the road again."

I grumbled, but let her take the sample. I sat as I watched her play with the microscope.

Less than ten minutes later she had an update, "The drug is almost completely gone. The changes look permanent though. I am hoping we can find a feral Nightstalker and test this drug on it. If it keeps a feral from attacking humans, then that is a huge breakthrough. So, let's get on the road and see if we can find one."

She sounded so optimistic that my pessimism immediately kicked in. Yeah, we are going to find one as it is taking a leisurely stroll down the middle of the highway. Right.

I had a feeling that this was going to be a long day.