Luke sat across from me in the back of the truck. He had chosen the furthest seat from Nicky. The way the air swirled around helped to dissipate the faint scent of the two humans. Luke seemed relaxed enough as we talked.

He hadn't located his brother and his old home was in shambles with blood splatter. The scent in the blood had not been that of his brother though, and he had sniffed his brother's pillow to memorize his scent. He wasn't sure if he had gotten out unharmed or if he had been bitten in whatever big fight had occurred in the living room.

Nina was sitting sideways in the front seat so she could look out the open back window and participate in the discussion, "Once we get back, we can send messages to other Strongholds asking if he has passed through."

Luke looked grateful, "Thank you very much. I don't dare approach the Strongholds myself."

Nina jotted down a reminder in her notebook and nodded. I was somewhat amused as I realized that Nina was trying to make staying at Ironwind Stronghold more tempting. If he left, he wouldn't know if word returned that his brother was at such and such a place.

I also had a hunch that Nina would try to get the said brother to move to Ironwind Stronghold just so Luke wouldn't have a pressing reason to leave. Nina was being completely open with Luke since he already knew she was a scientist and was interested in the controlex.

They would have learnt from me that trying to hide things was not a route they wanted to go down. If they attempted it, then I would be setting things straight, even if it involved a fight with Daniel. I still had a few tricks up my sleeves...

Truth be told, I didn't think they would attempt it. They had been completely open with me since. Lies were fairly easy to scent and they had not lied to me. I was still of two minds about what they did. Did I still hold a grudge against their earlier deception? Yes, but the distrust was starting to fade without any other reasons for suspicion.

I exhaled slowly as I realized that. I hadn't thought that it would ever be possible for me to trust Nina again and for the longest time I had not trusted her at all. That distrust was starting to fade though. I restrained a peeved growl as I continued watching the scenery go by. I hadn't realized that Nina's constant truthfulness and assistance when I was suffering the aftereffects of the controlex drug would have mollified my instincts.

My instincts were one of the most suspicious, untrusting, and downright stubborn things in existence. Now I realized that my instincts didn't really hold onto the past if enough more recent evidence was provided. My instincts were starting to regard Nina's past behavior as something that she had corrected. They would still watch for suspicious activities as they always did, but they were no longer giving Nina's actions special attention.

It was just completely baffling that my instincts were more forgiving than I was. Perhaps the phrase short term memory would be more accurate. A number of human phrases came to mind. Forgiveness is divine. Actions speak louder than words. Give someone the benefit of the doubt. I believe "thou shalt not murder" was another one, but I seem to recall breaking that rule last month...

Being a Nightstalker made me testy and suspicious. It didn't necessarily make me an ass. That was my own actions. As much as I could be a jerk or prick at times, I actually did have morals and a heart hidden somewhere under my prickly exterior. I shook my head and snorted lightly. Bah... Humbug. And now I'm quoting Scrooge... I just can't win...

I noticed from the corner of my eye that Luke glanced toward me at my snort, but realized that I was deep in thought and not reacting to a potential threat. He turned back to his discussion with Nina about the various lines of research that she had tried. That left me to chew on my thoughts once more.

My instincts were a lot like subconscious emotions, it really wasn't easy to change them if I didn't like them. Sometimes you just trusted people and sometimes you never liked someone even if they never did you any wrong. My instincts were, well, more instinctive. They also based things off facts and what they had seen.

In some ways my instincts were more logical and perceptive than I was, which was probably why they often alerted me to things I didn't notice. I still had to keep in mind that these were the very same instincts that accepted Nicky long before I realized that I somewhat trusted her. Nicky. The very lady who put the 'C' in crazy. Perhaps my instincts aren't that great of a judge of character...

~

The drive was uneventful. Luke had been extremely talkative and had no problems answering Nina's endless questions while asking almost as many questions as she was. Our stop at lunch had made Daniel do a double take at my arms since the only scab left was the one hidden under the bandage. The rest had fallen off leaving faint pink scars. He hadn't commented aloud though.

I glanced down at my arms as I set the ladder against a different store with a flat roof. Even those pink marks had completely disappeared since lunch. I waited on top of the roof to catch things Daniel was about to toss up.

I caught the sleeping bags and put them down. Nicky packed them further away from me. Luke watched us in curiosity, "That is a handy trick."

I nodded, "Yep. Beats carrying everything up the ladder."

Shortly everything was on the roof and Daniel climbed up the ladder. I started to head to where Nicky and Nina were unrolling the massive tent, but paused and glanced toward Luke. He wouldn't want to be in close proximity with humans just in case an accident occurred, so helping set up a tent with them wasn't something that he would want to attempt.

I tilted my head, "Feel like starting a fire and putting some water on to boil?"

He nodded with faint relief, "Certainly. I will go gather some firewood."

I had figured that those chores would be more up his alley. As a zombie, he had nothing to fear from ferals and could play by their rules with ease. I went to help set up the tent. To my surprise, Daniel joined the three of us and it was up in no time.

Daniel glanced toward the forest, "I am going to go hunt while there is nothing pressing to do. I will bring back an armful of firewood."

He headed off in the opposite direction that Luke had. Luke had already made a few trips with wood and Nina went to start the fire. Nicky entered the tent to unroll the sleeping bags and put them on the padded rollup cushions that reminded me more of a yoga mat than anything else.

I wandered along the edge of the roof checking the air for scents. Luke packed another load of wood up the ladder and set it with the other wood. Nina had the chairs set up and took a seat in one. I tilted my head at Luke, "I am going to head inside the store and see what I might find. Feel like joining me?"

He stood up and walked over, "Sure."

I dropped right off the roof and he followed suit. He huffed as he hit the ground, such a drop wasn't easy for him. Runners were quite sturdy, although that came with being a zombie. We still had our own limits though. I carefully pushed the door open, wary of buckets of water or other booby traps.

The coast was clear. We entered and started to snoop around the store. I looked down one aisle, "There are collapsible camping chairs down this aisle. Feel free to pick one for yourself, as well as anything else you want. The bill is on me."

Luke chuckled from behind me, "Free is a good price. Is that the only time you offer to buy someone else something?"

I grinned over my shoulder at him, "In general, yes."

This store had seen travelers and anything edible was long gone. Most of the common stuff you needed or used daily was also absent. That left things like chairs, mug holders, and bumper stickers. I noticed that all of the zombie or survivor related stickers had been taken though.

Why the hell would you want a bumper sticker after the apocalypse? To plaster it on a zombie's forehead? Perhaps they were using them for something fun, like making sure that everyone knew which broken down truck was theirs... I shook my head to refocus on finding something that I could at least pretend was useful.

The pickings were slim, but Luke found a chair he liked and a small backpack. Daniel was relaxing on the roof with the women as we climbed back up. Luke set up his chair and plopped down into it. I reclaimed my own seat. I could have opted to pick a new chair for myself and let Luke keep this one, but he would feel better if he chose his own chair.

Supper was almost ready. Nicky yawned and dug through her backpack. She put things on the ground as she dug for whatever she was after in the bowels of that apparently bottomless pit. I was amused to see four small cans of tomato juice and a bottle of liquid dish soap make their appearance.

Luke stilled as he saw the soap. Nicky had colored the paper label in a blue and green swirl that read 'For use on zombies only.' He swung his head in my direction with an incredulous expression. His eyes were wide in disbelief, "You did not tell her that secret."

Nina looked up from her cooking and Daniel was focused on us. He watched us intently, hoping to discover another secret. Nicky grinned at him mischievously, "The tomato juice secret or the soap secret?"

Luke growled faintly as he narrowed his eyes at me, although I could sense his humor underneath. Luke glanced at Nicky as his eyes glowed red, "The soap one is just evil. I hope you managed to use it on Trinity." He turned back to me, "Speaking of soap, you still owe me a mountain lion for using it against me."

I pulled back my lips in a dark grin, "No mountain lions in the area. You will have to take a raincheck. You have to admit that soap works quite well though."

I had actually been the one to teach Luke about distracting a zombie by getting soap in its mouth. I grinned at the memory. I had asked him just why he was so polite. He had replied that his mother was overly fond of putting soap in her kids' mouths if they said anything bad, but he had been more scared of his dad with that big leather belt.

I had told him that unless his father had zombie strength, that he would actually prefer the belt to soap now. He hadn't believed me and I had dared him to stick half a spoonful of soap in his mouth. He had declined the dare, but then I had said that I would catch him three bears and a mountain lion if he did it. That convinced him. A Runner wasn't able to take down larger predators and they were quite food motivated, so he had been tempted by the rare and otherwise unobtainable treat and had agreed.

He completely regretted it.

Getting a mouthful of soap as a human was bad enough, but as a zombie it was unimaginably disgusting. He had hung around the cabin long enough to claim his three bears, but the mountain lion must have had ESP and had vacated the entire area while he was visiting.

Luke growled wordlessly at me, he still hadn't completely forgiven me for tricking him into that. That showed how bad it had been. The most polite person I had ever met still held a grudge months later when he had freely agreed to the bargain and I was willing to uphold my end of the deal.

I bared my teeth at his growl. Luke shifted in his chair to take a swipe at my arm. His fingers were curved so they would do no damage even if they did connect. My reflexes were much faster than his. I dodged his half-hearted strike and landed a harmless swat on his arm. My knuckles skimmed his arm and he growled at me before leaning back in his chair with a gusty sigh.

Our little display was pretty close to a couple of friends gently punching one another in the shoulder in jest. The other three had been watching us silently. Daniel was now eyeing up the soap with even more disfavor than before, if that was possible. Luke wasn't about to spill that secret either, which made it even better.

Nicky raised an eyebrow at Luke, "Now why did Trinity go after you with soap?"

He snorted in good humor, "I had no clue what it did at the time and I clearly lost that bet. It isn't something I plan to ever do again."

Nicky sighed, "Trinity told me how to do it, but I would never do that to her. Besides, as you said, she is faster and stronger than me and I really don't want to see what she may do in the name of revenge. I pack it in case a feral zombie corners me."

Luke shook his head, "Honest, it will distract them very well if you do it properly."

I highly suspected that Luke knew that we were simply tormenting Daniel with our comments. He knew about the soap, but I doubted that he understood the tomato juice part. Considering that I had shown him the soap one, he may not dismiss the tomato juice one so readily if he thought I stumbled across another zombie quirk.

Nicky was watching Luke in excitement, "Did Trinity tell you about rutabagas?"

Luke blinked in obvious confusion before glancing at me, "No, she didn't."

Nicky reclaimed his attention and was practically bouncing with hyper energy, "If you can find a rutabaga, I will show you."

I eyed up Nicky, her current energy levels were a warning sign that we needed to get her under control quickly before it escalated into something that wasn't wise to let come to life. I exhaled gustily, "Luke, even if you find a rutabaga, do not give it to her. You could regret it." I turned to Nina, "By the way, that bread is starting to burn."

Nina swiftly pulled the bread pan away from the fire, having been distracted by a conversation that she undoubtedly found fascinating. It hadn't quite burnt yet, but the first hints of black could be seen. Nina looked ruefully at first bit of charcoal that had ever graced anything she made so far this trip, "Well, supper is ready..."

They had just been waiting for the bread, so Nina cut the small loaf into slices while Daniel and Nicky dished up. Luke waited until the humans were sitting in the chairs before grabbing some food. The stuff I had given Nicky was wearing off again, enough though she had reapplied it a few times. It was really hard to mask scents and I had known that its effectiveness would be quite limited.

I was going to have to collect more of those plants tonight if I could find them.