It was late in the afternoon by the time we found a place to camp. It was an old gas station. I grabbed a few bags of supplies as I jumped off the truck and sniffed the air, "There is at least one regular zombie around, but nothing else that I can detect."

Nicky stood up and brandished two rather vividly colored pairs of socks, "I finished them!"

Daniel grumbled, "Fantastic."

Nicky beamed at him, "Great! I want both you and Trinity to wear these at least once."

A growl from Daniel and me told Nicky what we thought of that plan. Nicky raised her chin, "If I spent hours coloring a sock, then the least you can do is wear it for a day. One freaking day. Is that really too much to ask?"

Daniel gritted his teeth and growled faintly. Nina moved closer to him and was whispering too quietly for me to hear from over here, which was a remarkable feat. I narrowed my eyes at the flamboyant objects in her hand as my mind tried to find an easy way out of wearing that mortifying object.

Perhaps there was another way around it. It wasn't so much that I didn't want to wear a pair of socks as that the color would damage my rather over-inflated pride and lead to people staring. Having people stare at me set my instincts off in a rather unfavorable fashion.

I tried to think of another alternative. Sometimes indirect plans were the easiest... I had to clarify some details to know if my potential plan held any merit.

"One day? You just want us to have them on our feet, correct?"

Daniel sent me a surprised look, startled that I was giving in so easily when I had growled earlier at the thought. Nicky nodded, "Yes. Just wear them for one day. I don't care who sees them, I just want you to wear them."

I didn't like being pushed into any situation, but her conditions allowed me to form a plan for this particular one and that made it bearable. I huffed, "Fine."

Nicky turned expectantly toward Daniel, who intentionally avoided her gaze as Nina still tried to convince him to not hurt her feelings. I wished her luck with that one considering the mood Daniel was currently in. I walked toward the door to take the first load in. This place looked even worse from the outside than the previous house did.

I pushed the door open. Instinct made me try to dodge the trap even before I realized what was happening, but I was not quite fast enough to completely avoid the bucket of stagnant water that had been precariously balanced above the door inside. I snarled in rage as I shook myself off. My vision took on a reddish hue in my indignation and fury.

My clothing was halfway soaked and I was not a happy camper.

Nicky gasped, "Are you all right?"

I dropped the bags and my backpack on a dry spot on the ground as I wrung out my long braid with a half-snarl, "Just peachy."

I knew that Nicky was honestly concerned, but I was too angry to manage a civil response. Who the hell would prop a bucket of water above a door in a random building?! I would be checking the scent on that bucket before we left. If I ever crossed the path of that person, we would be having a little discussion.

My sunglasses had water splatter on them and taking them off for a cleaning wasn't possible with the sun shining on us. Even if I switched to a backup pair, the few seconds when my eyes were unprotected would be uncomfortable even if I stood in the shade of a big tree. I hated dirty glasses too.

Daniel seemed to find my impromptu shower funny and smirked, which didn't help my temper any. He faintly chuckled, "You look like a dog that got caught out in the rain with your hair like that."

I rounded on him and snarled furiously at the insult. The rude and challenging snarl hit Daniel's instincts and roused his temper with a vengeance. He stalked forward with a threatening stance as he snarled at me to back down. My conduct had just crossed several lines and pushed his instincts far past what any higher-ranking zombie would tolerate.

"Daniel!" Nina tried to catch his attention, but both of us ignored her. Nicky jumped out of the truck and slapped a hand over Nina's mouth before pulling her back out of possible danger. At least one of them had some functioning brain cells.

I snarled back at him, completely pissed off at this point and my instincts didn't want to back down. They urged me toward First Strike in an attempt to determine that he was even truly a Terror. My instincts had seen too many inconsistencies to believe him just based on his snarl. My mind knew differently, but my instincts wanted real evidence.

Neither of us was in a good mood and neither of us was backing down as we got in one another's personal space. Daniel's eyes were solid red and glowing strongly. He couldn't see my eyes, but they were probably the same as his. His deep rumbling growl was a warning that practically vibrated the air.

Terrors seemed to prefer giving warnings and having others back down as opposed to attacking a foe out of the blue. Pity for him that Nightstalkers had no such qualms. I snarled and struck out as fast as I could at his arm, aiming for First Strike.

Rationally I knew that he was fast enough to dodge me as easily as I could dodge a Runner. I didn't stand a chance of hitting him. He growled fiercely and tensed up as his eyes narrowed at me. He didn't move his arm though.

At the last second I curled my fingers up a bit so the back of my fingers skimmed his arm harmlessly as opposed to leaving deep bloody furrows with my razor sharp nails. I snarled and backed up several steps in surprise. The shock that he had let me actually get a strike in on him had distracted me from my anger in my disbelief. It shook me out of my rage and instinct induced trance.

Daniel was still growling, but watching me with a look of concentration on his face as if he was trying to figure something out. He shifted his stance slightly and I narrowed my eyes as I dropped into a deeper crouch. I knew that stance very well.

It was the same one that I had seen numerous times with Kelly and Travis. The very one that I had taunted Daniel with this morning and several days ago. An invitation for a harmless wrestling match.

Daniel wasn't quite sure what he was doing, but he likely had a guess. His movements were tentative as he tested the waters of this new silent language. I could approach this in two different ways. If I chose to take it easy on him, I could go slow so he could easily learn. Or I could just push him into the river and see if he could swim.

I altered my own body language before launching at him with a snarl. He saw me coming and tried to brace himself, but the force still sent both of us to the ground as we both snarled at each other. The tone of our growls had changed slightly, neither was truly serious as both our instincts shifted gears for a play fight, although I doubted that most humans would be able to tell.

Nina was practically in a panic and managed to get Nicky's hand off her mouth, "Stop! Don't hurt one another!"

Nicky grabbed Nina by the belt and hauled her down to the ground beside her, "Sit down and shut up. If Trinity was serious, she would have drawn her weapons." Nina shut up in surprise as she realized that Nicky was right. Both sat in the dust beside the truck and stared at us.

I ignored them as I concentrated on Daniel. He was much larger than me, although I knew more moves and had more practice than he did. That experience was my only edge since the Terror was much stronger and faster than me, although he was holding back some.

I didn't use all of my tricks and Daniel was managing to keep up fairly well in this new 'game'. Teeth were bared and fingernails glinted in the light, but no injuries were dealt and no blood flowed. It looked vicious and dangerous, but it was just a way to blow off some steam and stress without actually harming one another.

He was cautious in this game and was aware that he may not know all of the rules. Several minutes later he managed to wrap his arms around me and pin me. I stilled for a couple of seconds and growled faintly. He understood the signal as the sign that he had won this wrestling match and released me. He stood up and held out a hand with a faintly feral-looking grin.

I bared my teeth at him in a silent grin for a few seconds before taking his hand and letting him pull me to my feet. The cut on my arm throbbed, but it hadn't bled through the bandage. I chuckled darkly, "There may be hope for you yet."

Daniel looked amused and no trace of his earlier foul mood was to be seen. Wrestling matches tended to be a silver bullet for settling a sane zombie's instincts and temper. I took a step back and shook myself off.

My clothing had dried a bit in the wrestling match, but I needed a change of clothing before I sat down on anything that even remotely resembled furniture. My temper was back on par after that little workout. I was still irritated with whomever had put that pail there though.

The wrestling match tapped into different parts of our instincts since we were both zombies. The no killing rule kept things fairly risk free. In an odd and unique fashion, it also allowed our humanity to show through and overcome our testy instincts. It allowed the game to remain a game. Nina slowly stood up from where Nicky had dumped her in the dirt. She looked completely confused.

Nicky wandered over to peer through the open door to the inside of the gas station, "I hereby nominate Daniel to check this place out before I so much as stick my toe in there."

I brushed some dirt from my pants and glanced at Daniel, "I already had my fun. Besides, your reflexes are better than mine are. Although with my luck, that was the only trap."

Daniel exhaled gustily as he slowly approached the door. He peered inside for quite some time before slowly entering the building with caution. I went to bring a few more bags to the door while Daniel scoped the place out for more hidden traps or dangers.

Nina came over to me as I grabbed a couple of sleeping bags. She still looked perplexed, "What just happened?"

Nicky snorted, "Someone put a pail of water above the door and Trinity was the unlucky person to win the lottery. Obviously."

Nina shook her head, "I meant afterwards."

I exhaled gustily, "Consider it a mostly friendly wrestling match between sane zombies. You saw me tackle Kelly like that too."

Nina was still confused, "You both looked like you were about to get into a serious fight. How did it end up as a wrestling match?"

I shook my head, "With our instincts that high, the zombie rules come more into play and serious injury is actually less likely. A wrestling match like that is actually partially rooted in our instincts and is one of the very few situations where it is possible for our humanity to co-exist with our instincts. When he let me land that first blow it startled me enough to distract me from my anger, which also kept it from turning into an actual attempt at retaliation."

Nina started scribbling in her notebook although she still looked more confused than anything. It wasn't an expression I was used to seeing on her face. "I don't think I have ever seen Daniel do this before..."

I shrugged, "That is a question for him, although I somehow suspect that he has never tried it before. This isn't something that ferals will do."

Considering that he hadn't even understood the body language this morning, I could safely bet that he had never had a friendly wrestling match with another zombie. He may have only realized it because I had pissed him off so much that his instincts were strong enough to finally clue him in.

Daniel came back outside and looked at me, "I can't find anything else, but I may have missed something. Can you take a quick look before we let these two in?"

I sighed, but nodded. I passed Daniel and noticed that the faint tension that was usually present had waned. It took me a few seconds of thought, but I realized that our recent wrestling match had brought Daniel a bit closer to his instincts. Perhaps it was also because he now knew that I wouldn't inflict a serious injury on him even if I was furious.

He was somewhat more relaxed around me now and he wasn't triggering my instincts as much. It was a marginal improvement, but it was still an improvement. Hopefully it would make co-existing in the same area easier.

I slowly entered the open door. My instincts roused once more and I examined the room with intentional suspicion. If there was anything out of place, I wanted to know about it. I took a slow breath as I tested the air. I narrowed my eyes as I was bombarded by information and details from both inside the store as well as outside.

My keen instincts found nothing amiss in the scents so I took a few more steps inside. I slowly scanned the room while testing my instincts in case they spotted something I didn't. Mindful of the last place we stayed, I also kept an eye on the floor in case of a pitfall trap instead of a trap door. The way my luck had been running, it was a realistic possibility.

There were only two back rooms in this gas station and I cautiously checked those as well. I exhaled gustily as I headed back to the front door. Despite checking every corner with sight and by scent, this place had come up clean. Even with my suspicious instincts on the job, they had been unable to even find something to fret about.

This was how my luck worked. There had been one booby trap in the entire building and I had blundered into it. I bent over to pick up the pail and sniffed it. Stagnant water was the most prominent, but I could smell the young man who had placed this here about a week ago.

Nicky wandered up to the doorway, "So, I assume by the lack of snarling that it is safe to enter?"

I dropped the pail back down to the floor, "I didn't find anything, but enter at your own risk."

Nicky snorted, "The insurance guys wouldn't even sell me life insurance. Or any kind of insurance for that matter. Perhaps the cops warned them."

I chose the easy route out of this conversation, "We'll blame the cops since they aren't here to defend themselves."

Nicky nodded, "Yeah, let's do that. Because it surely couldn't have been due to the fact that my face made the front page of the newspaper two weeks in a row."

I gave her an odd look, "Why did your face appear on the front of a newspaper?"

Nicky grinned, "Because they lost me."

"Dare I ask?"

She chuckled and rubbed her hands together, "It was a great game of hide and go seek that spread across the entire city. I stole several empty pill bottles from another patient in the psychiatric ward and hid them in my bed before sneaking out of the hospital. The nurses thought that I actually took the drugs, never once considering that they always had to fight to get me to take my own for the four weeks I was in there."

She smirked at me, "Let's just say that the public was advised to call the police if they saw me since I was off my medication. It was like a game of peek-a-boo that went on for days! I would show my face in one spot and run off to a different part of the city. Of course I always had to dress up before letting the public see me. The one of me in a chicken suit on top of the fountain juggling rubber turkeys actually ended up in the paper."

Nicky was capable of taking crazy to a whole new undiscovered level. I shook my head, "And just how did they catch you in the end?"

She sighed dejectedly, "Someone offered me coffee and a donut. I didn't realize he was an off-duty police officer. I should have recognized him though, we had plenty of long chats in the past at the police station while waiting for my psychiatrist. They still can't figure out how I managed to climb on top of that water fountain while it was running."

I seriously hoped that they had given that man a raise.