Sneaking in a random bonus chapter to see who's paying attention. ;)

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I was beginning to detest long boring road trips where I did nothing but sit in the back of a truck. The air was warm and dry, so scents weren't traveling as far as they could have. Now that my control was no longer really being questioned, we were simply trying to find a feral Nightstalker. On a highway. In the middle of the day.

The fact that it was late afternoon showed how well this plan was working. I took another deep breath of the air that swirled around the back of the truck. "Are you sure that a Runner won't work? There are at least three around here somewhere."

This truck had a window in the back of the cab and it was open, so even Nina could hear my normal speaking volume fairly easily. Nina glanced back at me through the window, "We inoculated the last two Runners in the barn with that drug before we left and several people are keeping a close eye on them. At this point, we really need another Nightstalker to see if he or she has the same side effects."

I had been pretty sure I knew the answer to that before I asked, although I hadn't known about the Runners in the barn. Daniel had his window down, but his sense of smell wasn't as good as mine was and he just kept picking up my scent.

This meant that it was up to me to locate a feral Nightstalker. I sighed before taking another deep breath, trying to pick up any hint of a Nightstalker without success.

This was quite a remote area and the nearest town was still three hours away. We would camp there for the night. That was still three long hours away as I immersed myself in the world of scent. The way the air swirled was very annoying, I had no idea which direction the scents were coming from. When on foot, I had a very good idea which direction something was in and how far away it was.

~

My eyes opened, "Daniel, could you stop the truck for a moment?"

The truck rolled to a stop and I stood up to take a deep breath. It was faint, but it was there. A light growl rumbled through my chest, "It is very faint, but there is a Nightstalker to the west somewhere."

Nina unfolded the map and examined the roads, "If we go to this intersection and follow this road we can get much further west with the truck."

The truck started moving and I sat back down. Fifteen minutes of driving later the scent was stronger. Daniel slowed the truck down as he looked over his shoulder at me, "How far away do you think it is?"

I stood up and Daniel gently brought the truck to a standstill. The smell was fairly strong and crossed the entire area. I doubted that this feral female ever encountered water except on the occasions when the rain gave her a free shower. "It is a female and definitely feral. Her scent is all over this area so her lair can't be more than a ten minute walk away."

Daniel turned off the truck and got out. Nina slid over to the driver's seat, if any feral zombie appeared she would drive away with Nicky in the back. I jumped out of the truck box, I was not looking forward to what we were about to do. We were going to knock out a feral Nightstalker and truss it up so we could haul back with us. This is going to be as fun as going to a tropical beach in a wool sweater and snow boots...

I leaned over to grab the bag of handcuffs and metal wire out of the back of the truck. Rope would not work with a zombie's fingernails. Daniel walked over to my side of the truck as he sniffed the air, "The scent is definitely thick around here. It is almost as if she ran around in circles. Can you track her?"

I snorted at the stupid question and pointed over my shoulder. It surprised me that he was unable to sift through the numerous scent trails and pick up the stronger one on the breeze. I left my backpack in the truck and grabbed a crowbar we had picked up last night from the motel. Daniel promised to return my weapons once we returned to the Stronghold where they had been left.

I turned to the forest I had just pointed at and started jogging. Daniel easily kept up as he ran beside me. The forest here was quite thick and this zombie had apparently covered every inch of it. I slowed to a walk as I tried to sort which direction the scent was strongest. This close to her lair, her scent was so strong that it was practically embedded in the area like a fog.

Daniel was watching me as I led the way. There is a much easier way to do this... I called up my instincts and took a deep breath. The smell of damp cave was child's play to track and there was only one cave in this area. I altered my course and pushed through the shrubs and undergrowth.

I had no problem shifting through the tight spots without moving branches or rustling leaves. It was part of my Nightstalker abilities to move soundlessly without giving away my location. Daniel was now following in my tracks and it was quite apparent that Terrors were not meant to navigate tight spaces.

It didn't take long before I came to a stop. The cave was half hidden behind shrubs, but the resident within had worn a trail with all of her coming and going. I eyed up the opening, it was barely waist high on me. I glanced back. Daniel was glowering at the cave entrance.

"Let me guess, there is no way I am getting you in there?"

He growled, "Not a chance."

A faint growl came from the cave. The Nightstalker knew we were here and had probably caught our scent already. I glanced at my pocket watch, my vision had faded out only half an hour ago, so I still had time if I didn't dilly dally.

I dropped the bag of supplies on the ground, "Mind if I borrow your flashlight? I doubt I can spook her out, but it will keep her from attacking me the instant I get into the dark. This is the only entrance by the way, unless my sense of smell is out to lunch."

He tossed me the flashlight that I had originally given him. I glanced at it to ensure that I knew how to turn it on and adjust the brightness. The crowbar was in my one hand as I approached the cave. I turned the flashlight on to its brightest setting before I even crouched down to enter the cave.

Daniel would likely have not fit through the first part of the entrance. The passage got narrower further in before widening again. A couple of the spots were tight for me since my hands were full. I heard the Nightstalker snarl as it retreated from the light.

This must not be a very big cave. I rounded the corner cautiously and the zombie shrieked a high-pitched painful snarl at me. The Nightstalker had her back to me as she tried to shield her eyes. I took several silent steps forward, but I needed her to raise her head in order to knock her out.

I balanced the crowbar in the same hand as my flashlight as I picked up a fist-sized stone. I snarled nastily at her and she rounded with a furious shriek to try and lash out at me with her eyes tightly closed. I wasn't as close as she thought I had been. The rock whipped forward hitting her in the head. She stumbled to her knees in a daze.

I darted forward silently to crack her upside the head with the crowbar. The blow was hard enough to knock her out cold, but not so hard that she would be unconscious for days. I erred on the side of caution, we could always knock her out again if needed. I tucked the crowbar through my belt before turning off the flashlight and sliding it into my pocket.

I examined the filthy creature, the thought of touching her disgusted me. Feral zombies had no notions of cleanliness. In the end, there was no avoiding it. With a sigh I grabbed her hands and started dragging her back through the dark tunnels to the sunlight.

The low entrance was the worst and I had to go on my knees just to get enough leverage despite the fact that she wasn't that much bigger than me. I finally felt open air around me and glanced over my shoulder. Daniel was waiting with the handcuffs and other binding implements.

It didn't take long to ensure that she wouldn't be going anywhere if she woke up. With a reluctant growl Daniel threw her over his shoulder and headed back for the truck. I guess he didn't want to have to touch her either. I followed behind him, ensuring that my footsteps were loud enough for him to track.

Daniel wasted no time getting to the truck and dumping it inside the box against the tailgate. He ensured that the creature was chained to the truck itself, just in case. Nicky had her back against the truck cab and watched with a frown, unimpressed with her new company.

I vaulted into the back to sit with my back against the cab as well. Daniel reclaimed the driver seat and swiftly started driving. He was going to drive as long as possible, hopefully until we got back to the Stronghold. This truck had high beam headlights that were far too bright to be legal in the old world and it should be enough to allow him to see well enough to drive at night.

It was my duty to keep an eye on our new friend. If Daniel couldn't see well enough to drive, then I would take over, but the lights on this truck had been installed with Daniel in mind. Daniel picked up speed until we were going as fast as we could while dodging the large pot holes in the road.

On the way out, we had been driving slower so I could keep tabs on scents, but now speed was our goal. We would probably make it back before noon unless we broke down. This was still going to be a long drive even if we didn't stop for anything more than bathroom breaks.

My instincts started strengthening the instant the sun touched the horizon. Sitting in the corner of a truck box in the growing darkness was inconspicuous enough to prevent the restlessness from getting too bad. My instincts were not impressed with the presence of another Nightstalker. She was an unknown stranger in the same vicinity as I was and my instincts considered her a potential rival that did not belong.

My instincts were just a touch stronger than last night, but I didn't notice any other changes. The drug had finally stopped playing havoc with my body and mind. I had survived it. The aftereffects were nowhere near as bad as they could have been with an untried drug. Louise had still better never show her face, I still got mad if I thought about that despicable underhanded woman.

The control that had been honed in keeping me from attacking humans was now needed to rein in my strengthened instincts and simply sit here. Nina's breathing showed that she had fallen asleep in the front seat. I was pretty sure that Nicky was close to sleep, if she wasn't already there. It was going to be a long night.

~

We pulled up in front of the barn just before noon. Nina got out and headed over to open up the barn doors. I stood up and kept watch while Nicky slid over the side of the truck. Daniel dropped the tailgate and grabbed our new guinea pig.

I slowly followed the group into the barn. I hadn't been sure what to expect, but on the inside it looked more like a jail with a science lab at one end. Two zombies moaned against the bars in their jail cells. Nina opened up the door to a heavily reinforced cage that I was certain would contain a Nightstalker.

Daniel put the Nightstalker on the floor of that cage and undid most of the bindings. He left the ankle shackles on. He closed the door as he left the cell and ensured that the door was truly latched. Nina was over on the science lab side of the building. I slowly wandered over.

She looked up at my approach, "We will inject the feral with the same drug before she wakes up. Then we can see if she has a similar reaction. We have decided to call it the controlex drug since it removed your bloodlust. It will probably do something similar to any zombie."

I nodded slowly as I scanned the room, slightly on edge. I really didn't care what they called it since it wasn't going to change what it had done. Nina had already taken a dozen vials of blood from the Nightstalker while Daniel had held the feral's arms even though she was unconscious.

Nicky walked up beside me, "This place is creepy. I am glad that they didn't lock the two of us in here when we tried to run."

Nina shook her head, "We wouldn't have done that. There is a huge difference between a feral zombie that will attack any human and a sane one. We'd never lock a sane one up unless we were trying to help them retain control, like we did when Trinity got knocked out cold. Once we were sure she was in control, we let her out. The door on her cell wasn't even locked."

That still did not overly reassure me. Nicky frowned, "So why exactly is there a cage like that in here?"

Nina started filling a syringe with some sort of clear liquid from a vial, "We've been trying for almost six months to find a Nightstalker, and we had never imagined finding a sane one. This was built to contain a feral."

I tilted my head, "What exactly did you think that first night when you stumbled across me?"

Nina glanced up at me in amusement, "We heard your scream first and thought that it was very odd considering that the sky was still quite light out. The rumors we heard said that Nightstalkers never came out until it was almost pitch black out. Daniel was hoping to corner it while he could still see.

"Once we got closer, Daniel picked up your scent as well as the humans. At first we thought that a feral had been lured out early by the presence of humans and was waiting for dusk to attack. It wasn't until we got closer that we realized that this wasn't the case. The humans were relaxing on the roof without a care when any other group would have been hiding after that noise. Your scent was also mixed up in theirs. We were stunned, we had never imagined that we would come across another sane Nightstalker."

She held out the syringe to Daniel who took it and headed back to the Nightstalker. He injected her before once more closing the door securely and dropping the empty needle in a biohazard bin. Nina picked up two notebooks from in front of the Runner's cages and examined them. The Runners growled and shook the cage bars as they tried to get at her.

"These two were injected with the controlex drug. They had somewhat similar muscle tremors and likely had some vision problems from how they wiped at their faces. They are still attracted to humans though."

I examined the zombies, they didn't seem quite as determined as most normally did, "You two are the only non-zombie creatures in the room. Have you had a rabbit or another animal nearby to see if that made a difference?"

Nina looked stunned and glanced at Daniel with wide eyes. Daniel took off at full speed as he exited the open barn door. I blinked slowly before exchanging a look with Nicky. From her expression, she was on the same page as me. Neither of us could believe that they hadn't thought of that, nor did we see a real need for Daniel to take off like a freaking rocket just to test out a thought.

In less than two minutes Daniel had returned with a wide eyed rabbit that was frozen in fear. He walked toward the cage and the Runner backed up from the high-ranking zombie with a growl. Daniel frowned in confusion. I covered my face with one hand in exasperation, "Daniel, please use your head. You are a bloody Terror and he is a Runner. Put the rabbit in the cage beside him and give him some space."

He growled at my tone, but did what I said. He backed up so that the Runner wasn't as affected by his presence. Nina inhaled in excitement while she wrote as fast as she could. The Runner was against the cage trying to get to the rabbit even though Nina had moved close to the cage. She was clearly excited, "This is amazing. I am much closer than the rabbit is, but it is ignoring me in favor of the rabbit!"

Nicky tilted her head, "So you are able to prevent people from becoming a mindless normal zombie if they are bitten. You also have a cure to reverse the zombie virus. Now it looks like we have something to help with control?"

Nina nodded as her eyes shone in excitement, "Yes! Exactly! This is more than we ever hoped for. It is too bad that we don't have an actual vaccine yet, but at the very least we have something for when that third wave appears in a month or so."

I blinked slowly as I realized that she was right. Those who had been infected from the sneezing of the people in the second wave would be turning before too much longer. I nodded slowly, "I hadn't thought of that. I am not even sure how early I would be able to smell their infection before they start sneezing."

Nina nodded, "Just keep an eye out. We can always do a blood test even if you aren't certain they are infected. It is better to catch it early and have them wear a mask than to have them sneeze even once and potentially spread it. As it is, we are spreading word to other Strongholds regarding precautions. Everyone will ensure that they sneeze or cough into a rag or something closer to the time. Many places will also have everyone wearing masks just in case."

Living in the forest away from people for so long, I had forgotten that the virus waves were still a hot topic among the humans. I had barely noticed the second wave as I had already headed for the hills. It sounded like the surviving Strongholds were implementing precautions and were ready to make sure that this wave was the last one.