Nina examined the town from her seat. "How about a race to that truck over there? Or something else?"

The truck was beside the highway at the edge of the town. With a sigh, I glanced at Daniel and tilted my head in a silent question. He nodded and stood up.

I set Liz down. "Go see Marissa for a bit."

With a yawn, she wandered off. I stood up and walked to the edge of the roof, where I smoothly vaulted over the parapet to land lightly on the ground below. Daniel hit the ground a mere second after me. Apparently, heights didn't bother him either. That didn't surprise me.

Footsteps above made me look up as Nina walked to the edge and held up her watch.

"Okay, when I yell 'go', race to that truck. Once you reach it, please stay there. Ready, set, Go!"

I dropped my human facade and pulled my Nightstalker abilities out, reaching speeds that humans couldn't touch. My footsteps echoed around me as I traded my silent stalk for speed. Daniel easily pulled ahead and beat me by a long shot.

His speed wasn't something that could keep up with a vehicle on a good stretch of road, but it would be more than enough to match the pace Hank had been driving so far.

I slowed as I reached the truck, keeping an eye on Daniel since his red eyes showed that his Terror abilities had come out to play.

Nina's voice reached us as she called out, "Can you please lift the front bumper of that truck and consider how long you can hold it for? And also, how hard it was to do so?"

Her easy assumption that I could lift it made me wonder just how strong Daniel was. I glanced over at Daniel, who waved me ahead to have the first attempt. I reached under the bumper and lifted. My muscles strained with the weight, but the front tires came off the ground.

I held it for ten seconds before lowering it back down and backing up, moving well to the side to let Daniel take his turn. There was some tension in the air between us, courtesy of the zombie virus, and I gave him a fair bit of space.

His muscles tensed, but he didn't seem to be straining to lift the front of the truck. After about fifteen seconds, he put it down in a much more controlled fashion than I had. I had already known I wouldn't be able to outrun or outfight a Terror, but having that fact flaunted in front of me was a blow to my rather over-inflated Nightstalker pride. I wasn't used to being outdone – it had never happened since I turned.

"How long do you think you could have held it?" Daniel asked.

"Maybe a couple of minutes. You?"

"Possibly half an hour."

Mine was a bit of an exaggeration to keep my dignity semi-intact, but I suspected that he was restraining himself to avoid showing off. I hated to break it to him, but it was having the opposite effect.

Hiding my envy, I turned to face the motel, where all the humans were now watching.

Nina called out, "I'd also like to compare your hearing abilities. I'm going to call out words one by one, please raise your hand if you can hear it."

"Sunshine."

I raised my hand as Daniel also raised his. Each word was called out more quietly. This time, I decided to keep the true extent of my abilities hidden. Soon enough my hand remained by my side even though I could still hear her.

Daniel raised his hand while he listened intently. Four attempts later – the last three of which I couldn't hear – his hand also remained down. That was interesting. Unless Nina had really dropped her voice those last times, his hearing didn't outstrip mine by as much as I had assumed.

Nicky handed a bag of something to Nina, who called out, "The wind is blowing toward you. Please tell us the scent when you smell it."

Mere seconds later, I called back, "Lavender."

Daniel glanced at me in surprise while sniffing deeply. It took him ten seconds to catch it before proclaiming, "Lavender."

Time after time, I caught the scent way before Daniel. Much to the surprise of both of us. From how his scent became laced with frustration, I knew he wasn't throwing off the results of this test. His eyes were also a brighter red as he let his instincts rise higher to assist.

The scents were getting fainter since Nina wasn't spraying as much into the air. I sniffed and growled faintly in disgust before shouting, "Ben, put a cork in it. You passing gas was not part of this test."

Nicky fell down in peals of laughter, disappearing from view behind the parapet.

I shook my head before calling again, "It smells like a bounce sheet, although I have no idea what that scent is called."

Daniel moved closer to me in case I was more directly downwind as he tried to catch the scent. He stood close enough that he could have reached out and touched my arm. He shook his head in frustration, clearly unable to pick up the scent. Neither of us were entirely comfortable with the close proximity.

My nostrils flared, and I raised my voice in irritation. "Nina, was that really necessary?"

The faint scent of her blood wafted on the wind, as if she had pricked her finger and a drop of blood had beaded up. Daniel took a slow, deep breath and exhaled with a faint growl of irritation as he once more failed to pick up whatever scent I was smelling.

I tilted my head and spoke quietly. "It's the smell of human blood. Surely it should stand out more than those air fresheners."

Zombies were like sharks when it came to picking up the scent of human blood. The potent smell wasn't something that was easily overlooked – it grabbed our attention as surely as a firecracker going off by our feet.

Daniel narrowed his eyes and sniffed again. "I'm not picking anything up."

No trace of a lie tinged his scent. And this was human blood we were talking about.

"Is that normal?" I asked. "I thought you would've been ahead in every ability."

He shrugged, irritation clear in his body posture. "I don't know. I know I'm faster and stronger than the other Nightstalker I encountered, but our sense of smell never came up."

Apparently, my ego was not the only one smarting from this series of tests. He shook his head and began jogging back to the motel. I followed more slowly.

With a powerful jump, he managed to get up on the rooftop without too much difficulty. I scowled as he unintentionally flaunted his abilities. I doubted I could manage that, so I didn't even try, opting to go through the front door. No sense in kicking my already-aching pride.

My petulant desire to stomp my feet warred with my zombie instincts to remain undetectable. Compromising, I let my footsteps fall heavier than usual to vent some of my frustration. When I reached the roof, the others were putting out the fire and downing the dredges of the coffee.

Ben stretched as he tossed his Styrofoam cup into the wet firepit. "I don't suppose you know if there are any working vehicles in this town?"

"Every vehicle is either out of fuel or in serious need of a mechanic," I informed him dryly.

Nicky groaned. "Just our luck. If I get heatstroke again today, I will kill someone."

With a half-smirk, I added, "But I did manage to find a jerrycan of gasoline, so you get your pick of the ones that are simply out of fuel."

Nicky let out a whoop that made all of us jump and stare at her. Shit, that girl really had a set of lungs on her.

Hank looked eager, although his voice was still calm and collected as he asked, "Where is it?"

"Just inside the main door."

He shouldered his backpack and headed downstairs. Everyone else followed him. I grabbed Chloe's bone, thus gaining her undivided attention, although she had already been watching the departing humans closely.

Daniel went after Nina, although I wasn't sure if he was just being courteous or making sure he remained between his companion and the only other zombie present. Chloe's nails clicked on the wooden steps behind me.

"When did you grab the gas?" Daniel asked, glancing over his shoulder in confusion.

"This morning around sunrise." I watched him more intently than I was letting on.

He furrowed his eyebrows. "I didn't hear you leave."

I fought to hide a smirk – he hadn't heard my footsteps. "Nightstalkers can move silently when we choose. Getting the door open was the biggest challenge."

His hearing may best mine, but my footsteps must have been too quiet for him to hear them, at least if there was a door between us and snorers in the vicinity. I filed that tidbit of information away.

We gathered on the street as Hank scanned the selection of vehicles within sight. "How many of those garages did you check?"

"All of them. Nothing inside is going anywhere. You get to choose between two cars and a truck."

Nicky immediately started walking toward the pickup truck Daniel and I had used as a weight. "Well, I'm not riding in a dinky car with six people and two zombies. Especially not when Ben had beans for breakfast."

Hank made a face. "I smelled him earlier. Ben is exiled to the box."

"Hey!" Ben objected. "I call shotgun!"

Nicky snorted. "I don't care what firearm you're packing. If your only ammo is coming out of your rear end, it isn't going to help you any."

"Tom, Marissa, and Liz can sit inside," Hank declared. "The fourth seat is open for anyone except for Ben."

Glancing at the dog trotting beside us, Nicky commented, "I honestly say we stick Chloe in there. I'm not sure how she'll handle two zombies in such tight quarters."

"That's a good thought," Nina said. "I'm surprised she hasn't reacted to Daniel's presence. I've only seen two dogs not run the moment they pick up his scent."

At least Chloe wasn't the only dog out there that didn't realize sane zombies were still technically zombies.

I eyed up the truck before turning around. "I'll go get a mattress for the truck box."

It didn't take me long to grab a mattress and return, just in time to see Hank dropping the hood of the truck down.

"Everything looks good," Hank told Ben, who dumped the precious fuel into the gas tank.

Even though I was a bit hampered by my short stature, I managed to fling the mattress into the back. Daniel grabbed the other side and twisted it so it fit properly. We loaded our supplies in the middle since some of us needed more personal space than others.

I sat in a corner with my back against the cab while Daniel leaned against the tailgate in the opposite corner, as far away from me as he could get. Nina had no problems sitting beside him, although there was still enough space between them that their arms wouldn't brush even if we hit a bump.

Nicky sat beside me while Ben wisely occupied the other empty corner behind the cab to avoid being within cuffing distance of two zombies with the way those beans were kicking in.

In one way, the gas would run out far too fast and we would be walking all too soon, but in a different way, the tension in the back of this truck was going to make that time go far too slowly.

Hank stuck his head out the window. "Which way are we going?"

Nina pointed the way that we had been heading. "That way. When we reach the junction by Rose Lake, we'll turn right."

The truck started and headed for the highway.