Daniel kept his pace to something I could keep up with. I had to push for speed, but I managed it. He reached the door and furrowed his eyebrows as he realized that the handle was locked.

I called out, "Nina, Nicky, we are back. Can you please unlock the door before Daniel breaks it down?"

Daniel had his head tilted, obviously listening to their movements. I heard them unlock the bathroom door before coming to the front door. The door opened to reveal a worried looking Nina. She blinked in shock as she immediately noticed Daniel's arms were crisscrossed with numerous scratches, "What happened?"

She glanced at me and noticed that I also had scratches. Her eyes darted between the two of us in confusion. Nicky peered over Nina's shoulder as she also blinked in surprise. Daniel exhaled gustily, "I got ambushed by three Nightstalkers."

Nina's jaw dropped and her expression was incredulous, "In the daytime?"

Daniel shrugged, "They were sane and wearing sunglasses."

I snorted, "I don't count those three as sane. In control is a better term. They clearly had more screws loose than Nicky on a bad day."

Nina shook her head as she sighed in resignation, "Let me grab my medical kit and patch you two back up."

Daniel made a face as she turned to go back inside. Apparently he wasn't a fan of letting someone near his wounds either, although he didn't seem irritated or upset. I headed over to sit on a stump before digging into my backpack for my water bottle and some paper towel. I planned to beat Nina to cleaning my superficial wounds.

Nicky wandered over to look at bloodstained cloth wrapped around my forearm, "Shit. Did they have an axe?"

"No, he had a very sharp belt knife."

I had a dozen or so shallow scratches from where fingernails had barely grazed my skin. Several of them were a bit deeper. There were a few scrapes from when I hit the ground. I slowly exhaled as I carefully unwrapped the makeshift bandage over the worst cut.

It throbbed and hurt. The bleeding had mostly stopped, but the wound went deep. If it hadn't hit the bone, then it was awful close. I carefully used a damp paper towel to wipe away dry blood from the skin around the wound. Nicky stood beside me, "Anything I can do to help?"

I nodded toward my backpack, "If you open the main flap there should be a few leftover big adhesive bandages in the back compartment from when my leg was injured."

I tidied up the cut as Nicky found the bandage and passed it to me.

"Don't put that on yet. Let me clean it properly." I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly as Nina caught me. I hadn't been quite fast enough.

I turned my head to watch the scientist as she made her way over to me first. She hadn't even paused to patch up Daniel. It looks like she knew that I had taken the worst of the damage once more. It hadn't been by much this time though, and if it hadn't been for that one big cut, Daniel would have had the most tokens to show for our fight.

She already had gloves on and dampened a cloth with some sort of sharp smelling disinfectant. Daniel was watching to ensure that I didn't act up too much. I tried to will myself to be patient as Nina started wiping down my arms to get any dried blood I may have missed.

The cleaner stung in the shallow scratches and cuts. She was more careful around the deeper cut and examined it. "I assume a blade of some sort did this?"

"A belt knife."

She nodded as she pulled out a tube of salve and carefully spread gobs of it across the long cut. Nicky passed her the big square adhesive bandage and Nina carefully put it on. I was patched up to her satisfaction and she turned her attention to Daniel.

Nina took more care while cleaning up his arms since most of his scratches were deeper than mine. Most of mine had been shallow grazes from glancing strikes. Those three Nightstalkers had circled and purposely toyed with Daniel knowing that he couldn't attack one without leaving himself open to attack from the other two.

The scratches would completely heal in about a week tops. The deep cut on my arm might take two weeks for the scab to fall off. The rest were mostly superficial injuries and wouldn't really hamper our ability to fight if we had to.

Nina finished up with a sigh, "That's about all I can do. I assume those Nightstalkers aren't going to show up again?"

Daniel shook his head, "No. We beheaded them and threw the heads far away from the bodies. They will start to decompose by morning. I got two blood samples from each of them."

"Why did they attack?"

"Apparently they had a grudge against humans and they could tell by my scent that I was around humans a lot."

Nicky tilted her head from where she had been observing, "Do you think that they might be the source of the rumors we heard? Could it have been those three instead of a feral?"

Nina blinked in surprise, "It is very possible. We should probably continue south tomorrow just to check it out in case there is a feral."

Daniel glanced at me, "How come you didn't pick up their scent?"

I shrugged, "Wind wasn't in my favor and they had not passed through this place yet. The wind just happened to shift for a bit when I picked up their scent, but you had already encountered them by then."

He grunted before glancing at the rapidly setting sun, "Let's go inside."

We all went inside and sat in the open living room as Nina and Nicky ate some supper. I chose a chair in the back corner that the firelight didn't really reach. Daniel could tell the sun was setting as his instincts settled somewhat for the night. Mine were starting to wake and were stronger due to the recent fight.

Being hidden in the shadowy corner kept the restlessness mostly at bay. I knew Daniel couldn't see me at this point. His eyes flickered in my direction, but never focused on me.

A couple of hours later I whispered, "I am heading out for a while. I will stick close enough to keep an eye on this place."

Daniel nodded. Nina and Nicky were fast asleep as I silently crossed the room and let myself out. My instincts protested crossing the firelit area, but for the handful of seconds it took, I was able to tolerate the restlessness.

I couldn't see another Nightstalker being in the area, but I would still keep my eyes out. Especially the way my luck tended to run. Daniel would not be impressed if he had to come out in the dark to bail me out of another unequal fight.

Chances of that were slim at night considering the way my instincts were enhanced now. I somehow doubted that even another Nightstalker would have much success spotting me at night unless I allowed it. Terrors didn't stir at night, so I was safe on that front.

I sniffed the air carefully. Information poured into my mind as scents painted a vivid picture of this part of the forest. I wanted a break from rabbits and pheasants. This forest had plenty of wildlife and there wasn't much for human activity so it had flourished this last year.

The smell of a pack of coyotes was tempting. I hadn't hunted a predator since that bear that was trying to break into the live trap. One coyote would be sufficient and this pack was large enough that the loss of one member wasn't going to do much.

I silently tracked the scent of the wild canines. Most were sleeping, but a couple were awake and catching mice in the long grass. I picked an older male with a limp and approached from downwind.

The coyote trotted right by my hiding spot and I ambushed it. It didn't even manage to yip in surprise before it was dead. The sweet heavy blood was one I had not tasted for a couple of months. It was a welcome variation in a usually pretty monotonous menu.

I continued patrolling the area, but the night was quiet. I didn't find any Runners, nor did a Nightstalker make an appearance or even call out. A rabbit scurried across my path unaware of my presence. I paused as my instincts prompted proper doctoring of my wounds.

Should I? Nina would be able to compare my healing rate with Daniels quite easily and some of our scratches were fairly similar. A mischievous grin grew on my face. Hell, why not. He will figure it out eventually, even if it takes him a few decades to get to that epiphany.

It took mere seconds to catch and dispatch the rabbit. I carefully doctored the big cut with as much blood as I could. The cut got hot as the heat in my veins focused on the wound as it absorbed the blood. I made sure to give each little scratch, cut, and scrape a good doctoring as well.

Several laps around the forest later I headed back inside. Being inside at night was much harder for me now, but hiding in the corner made it tolerable. It was about as fun as a get-together with unfriendly in-laws, but tolerable.

I tried a few times, but as I had noticed before, sleep was no longer possible at night. I glanced at Daniel, although with my sunglasses on he had no clue I was watching him. I subtly compared our scratches and grinned evilly.

Even just a few hours after one doctoring, my scratches were healing almost three times as fast as his were. It was barely noticeable, but the fact that I could see the difference this soon was surprising. It was barely after midnight to boot. Perhaps my healing had also increased due to the way the controlex elevated my instincts.

Sitting in a corner of a room is boring. Extremely so. I eventually approached the fire silently. My Nightstalker abilities allowed me to open up cans and get the soup ready without making a single sound.

I could feel Daniel watching me, probably surprised that I could play with cans, a can opener, and a pot without making any audible noise. Then again, it was silent for my ears. He may actually be able to hear me for all I knew.

I didn't like being in the firelight considering my instincts wanted me to remain hidden, but I put up with it since I could go outside soon. I whispered, "The soup is prepped. It just needs to be put on the fire. I am tired of being cooped up in here so I am heading outside."

He nodded silently. I once more made my way out the door. We had acquired two regular zombies since I came back. I lured them away and lost them in the forest. Wandering in circles in the forest was more entertaining than sitting in a corner like I was in timeout.

I occasionally tried to see how close I could get to animals without them realizing it. A sleeping fox didn't even wake as I gently stroked its bushy tail. I left it to continue its sleep. Another hapless rabbit went to that great big carrot patch in the sky as I once more doctored my injuries.

I didn't return until the sun had risen and my instincts had subsided to normal. The restlessness that occurred if I wasn't inconspicuous was a real pain in the ass. Although I should be thankful that it only happens at night. If it also occurred during the day, I would have Nina looking for a reversal.

I could smell that Daniel had put the soup on the fire. The last thing we needed was for Nicky to cross to the dark side on this road trip. My footsteps became audible as I approached the door so I didn't catch Daniel off guard. That guy didn't handle surprises well.

Nina and Nicky had just woken up by the looks of things. Both were drowsy and had full bowls of soup in their hands. I wandered over to look out the kitchen window despite the fact that I had just been outside. My instincts were practically obsessive compulsive about knowing what was going on and it wasn't as if I had anything else to do.

The humans ignored me as they tried to wake up. Daniel was watching me in boredom, perhaps thinking I was keeping an eye out for something. Well, if he is bored, then I may have a cure for that...

I glanced sideways at him and shifted my body language to something less defensive. He hadn't seen it since that one day on the roof when I had messed with his head. He immediately blinked and focused on me with a combination of confusion, suspicion, and curiosity. It amused me that he still did not see the invitation for a playful wrestling match for what it was.

I smirked and shook my head in disappointment at his cluelessness as I dropped the intentional body language. He would have something to think about while driving today at any rate. The best part was that Nina hadn't noticed it and he couldn't even ask her for her thoughts.

I looked out the window while watching Daniel from the corner of my eye. He was clearly thinking hard and trying to figure the puzzle out. It was just as clear that he wasn't having any success either. This kind of subtle humor suited me very well and provided me endless amusement at his expense.