I just sat down for lunch with a warm, buttered dinner roll when Nina and Daniel appeared. Considering how quickly they had appeared, I suspected that the gossip vine spread information faster than a wildfire in this place.

Nina sat down with a tray of food while Daniel just took a bottle of water.

"What are your plans for this afternoon?" Nina asked.

"I was going to see if I could find a quiet place outdoors for a while. I thought I saw someone on the roof of the secondary building yesterday, so I'll see what it's like up there. Later this afternoon, I might dig up Nicky and go hunting."

Nina nodded sympathetically. "Need a bit of fresh air and solitude, huh? Well, I can show you how to get onto the roof. No one else will be up there at this time of the day."

I watched her eat her lunch silently, surprised that she had known what I was really after. I had never used the excuse of getting fresh air during our trip, so I wasn't sure how she had immediately arrived at the correct conclusion. Although she spent a lot of time around Daniel, and we had talked in the truck, so maybe it was more obvious than I had realized.

Nina wasted no time in finishing her food. Once she was done, she got up and put her dishes in the bins by the door.

"You can put your dishes in the bin with the water," Daniel quietly advised me. "There's bleach or soap in it to kill the zombie virus. They usually let it soak for an hour or so for good measure."

I nodded at the wisdom of that plan and put my plate and butter knife into the proper bin. Daniel had taken my plate and cutlery for me yesterday, so I hadn't known there were special considerations for whatever we used.

We went outside and walked toward the secondary building. I picked up a faint odor and took a deep breath to verify it. I recognized the scent, although I hadn't smelled it since my first days as a zombie. Looking around, I spotted a dozen people chopping wood behind the nearest garage.

I spoke quietly, knowing that Daniel would hear me. "Do you smell that? I think one of those men is infected."

Daniel stopped dead in his tracks and glanced at me as he tested the air. "Now that you mention it, I can smell it too."

He turned to face the busy group. Nina hadn't heard my comment and watched Daniel with a puzzled expression.

"Smell what?"

"Someone's infected," Daniel replied as he walked toward the people splitting wood.

Nina gasped and quickly followed him. I trailed behind, watching. The group noticed our scrutiny and paused in their work. They wore confused or perplexed expressions, but they weren't scared.

"Was anyone here bitten by a zombie?" Daniel asked when he reached them. "I can smell that someone is infected."

The people glanced at one another with wide eyes, wondering which of their friends they might be losing. No one replied, apparently assuming they weren't the infected individual. Daniel walked into the middle of the spread-out group while sniffing the air.

He huffed in annoyance. "The smell is so faint I can't detect which direction it's stronger in." He turned to face me. "Trinity, you smelled it before I did. Can you track it down?"

I slowly walked toward the group, and all eyes watched me. He may have said the smell was faint, but this close to the group, my nose wasn't having any trouble detecting it. I took several deep breaths while walking into the middle of the loose group. This entire place reeked of humans, so the faint tang of zombie stood out.

I stopped and looked right at one man. A shocked expression crossed his face. I went toward him and paused once I was about an arm's length away. I took another deep breath for confirmation, but it really wasn't needed. He was definitely the source. He fidgeted nervously, and I backed up a few steps to give the poor guy some room.

"Toss your bandana to Daniel," I told him.

The man looked confused but did as he was told. Daniel lifted it to his nose and inhaled. His eyes momentarily flashed red as his instincts surged with such a close proximity to the source of a zombie scent.

Daniel asked him, "How did you get infected? Is there any chance you might have passed it to someone else?"

The man shook his head, dazed by the devastating news. "I didn't go near any zombies. How could I have been infected?"

Another man inhaled sharply. "The river!"

The infected man's eyes grew wide in realization. "We went swimming in the river yesterday after fishing. We thought it was a log floating toward us, but as it passed by, we realized it was a zombie. I might have swallowed some water when I tried to warn the others. I was quite close to it."

Nina approached him with her eyes full of pity. "Come on, let's go to the hospital."

The man started following Nina. Daniel glanced back at me and hesitated before looking at a blonde-haired guy. "Ty, can you show Trinity how to get to the roof of the secondary building?"

Ty nodded, and Daniel quickly caught up to Nina and the infected man. The rest of us watched them until they rounded a corner and went out of sight.

Ty seemed unsure of how to address me. "Uh... It's this way."

No shit, Sherlock. Even I knew the stairs to get on the roof would be in or around the building in question. I walked beside him without replying. We were moving faster than Nina had, and my leg was telling me about it. I hid my pain lest it attracted unwanted attention or questions. My silence seemed to make him uneasy, but he didn't comment.

We entered the main entrance, and he went over to what I had previously assumed was a linen closet. When he opened the door, I saw it led to a stairway.

"Here you go, Miss. It leads right to the roof."

"Thanks."

He went back to split wood, and I started climbing the stairs. I had assumed the staircase I used to get to the second floor kept going all the way up, but apparently, that wasn't the case. I hadn't expected there would be a separate staircase connecting the main floor right to the rooftop. The design made no sense to me, and I wondered if the architect had been drunk when he drew the blueprints.

This building was three stories tall, which meant there were far too many freaking stairs for someone with a bullet hole in their thigh. As I paused a fourth time to let the fire in my leg die down, I began seriously reconsidering my destination.

Finally, at long last, I reached the top. As I pushed the door open, I looked around. The roof was flat, and half a dozen camping chairs were scattered about, although there was no firepit up here. A faint breeze brought me scents from the forest beyond the fence. The roof was high enough that the wind hadn't picked up too many scents from below, so the human odor was reduced to something much less noticeable.

I sat in a chair and gazed at the view, trying to remember Nina's numerous long explanations during our tour. Less than half of the buildings showed signs of age, although it was hard to tell if the tin on the garages, sheds, and other buildings was new or not. From this angle, it was easy to see that most of the bricks on the main building were brighter and newer, evidence of their expansion.

My eyes kept scanning everything below, committing the paths and possible escape routes to memory. There were three "rows" of buildings arranged in a loose C shape with streets of shabbily paved asphalt between them. The tall chain-link fence circled the buildings in a roomy oval, leaving plenty of space between it and the buildings for some gardens, a chicken coop, and even an archery range.

Outside the fence, most of the area was open meadow that was likely swathed for hay when the grass grew long enough. To the southeast, a shorter fence guarded a couple of livestock barns and pens meant to hold larger animals like cattle and horses during the night. I didn't see any animals there now, but a well-beaten path went through a stretch of trees to the daytime grazing grounds that Nina said were on the other side.

Rows of solar panels stood in the open grass of the field, along with several rows of tiny wind turbines. Several roads led to the fence, but the edges weren't straight, and the asphalt didn't look completely flat, so this group might have paved a few roads when building this place. There wasn't much else I could see from here.

The pain in my leg slowly faded as I continued to watch the people going about their various tasks. Despite not doing much today, I was tired. I knew it was a side-effect from how swiftly my body was healing my injuries, but that didn't really help. I closed my eyes and let myself fall into a light doze.

~

       I gave up on my attempts at a nap once I felt rested. The people walking below weren't in a hurry or doing anything in particular, so they had probably finished their work for the day. Some voices floated up to me, and while I ignored most of them, one discussion caught my attention.

"Did you hear Mack was infected?"

"Yes. I'm glad we discovered it before he turned. Nina got him to the hospital pretty quickly. Hopefully, he'll remain in control when he turns."

The voices faded as the people kept walking. It still surprised me that they took him to the hospital instead of ushering him outside of the fence as fast as possible. Unfortunately for Mack and those below, the chances of him turning into a normal zombie were very high. If he had been infected by a normal zombie, it was a guarantee.

For some reason, if a person was bitten by a zombie, they could turn into the same rank or lower. I had never heard of someone getting a higher rank than the zombie that infected them. Runners, Nightstalkers, and Terrors were originals, infected by a sneeze of an infectious person, or bitten by an equivalent or higher-ranking zombie.

Even if Daniel were to bite someone, the person would still almost certainly change into a regular zombie. The odds of becoming a Runner were less than one in ten thousand. Nightstalkers were much rarer, about one in a million. A person had a better chance at winning the lottery jackpot three times than becoming a Terror. I would be shocked if there were more than fifty worldwide. The fact that I had encountered two Terrors in less than two weeks just went to show how bad my luck was.

My gaze lingered on the archery range, and I saw a familiar redhead trying to shoot a bow. Really? Who gave Nicky a ranged weapon? They obviously were not sufficiently warned.

Even from here, I could tell her aim was terrible. She hadn't hit the target once. I sighed and got to my feet. It was probably better for everyone if I got that bow out of her hands. Not one of her fifty arrows had even come close to the target, much to the unease of the others practicing there. At this rate, she stood a better chance of hitting someone behind her instead of the target she was aiming at.

I slowly made my way to the archery area which hadn't been visible during my original tour due to it being hidden behind a row of trees. On a whim, I silently walked up behind Nicky. As odd as it was, she was the only one who wouldn't freak out or get nervous regardless of what I did.

Most of those practicing archery watched me in confusion, unsure of what I was doing when Nicky was clearly unaware of my presence. I stopped mere feet behind her as she drew her bow again.

I sighed faintly before saying, "Your posture is wrong. You'll never hit the target firing like that."

She jumped a bit at my voice, and her head whipped in my direction, glancing at me over her shoulder. "Give me some warning next time! At this rate, I'm going to stick some bells on you so you can't sneak up on me."

It was bizarre to realize I had actually missed her humor and complete lack of fear. "Bells won't help with a Nightstalker," I replied with a faint chuckle. Taking another step closer, I gently put my hands on her shoulders and turned her a bit. "Stand sideways like this. Point that foot at a forty-five-degree angle toward your target. Keep the other one pointing straight. Yes, like that."

Several others stared at us, surprised that I actually touched Nicky's shoulders. They were even more shocked that it didn't bother Nicky in the least. It was kind of amusing actually. In general, it wasn't wise to get close enough to touch a zombie, so even though Daniel may call this place home, I highly doubted that anyone other than Nina would dare to so much as touch his arm or pat him on the back.

Stepping back a few paces, I examined Nicky's posture. "That bow is a bit too long for someone as short as you or me. Draw the string and tuck your thumb knuckle behind your earlobe. It'll help keep your aim consistent."

"I'm not short. Things only grow until they are perfect. Some of us clearly didn't take as long as others."

I actually laughed at that. Considering I barely stood over five feet tall, Nicky was one of the very few adults who were shorter than me.

"Keep your bow vertical. Now take aim. You usually have to aim above and to the right of your target when firing like this. Don't forget to inhale and then exhale very slowly when you release the string."

Her bowstring twanged as she released it, and with a thud, the arrow actually hit the target. She didn't hit the center, of course, but the fact that she finally hit the edge of the target was a huge improvement. She whooped and punched the air above her head in victory.

She turned to me with a grin. "So, where did you learn archery?"

"I can't really remember. Girl Scouts, I think."

"You were a Girl Scout? I can't really see you running around selling cookies, regardless of how old you were."

"I only managed a year before my parents moved to a new town. Who let you pick up a bow, anyway?"

Nicky chuckled and examined the recurve bow in her hands. "I made sure Ben and Hank weren't around when I asked if I could try it out." She raised her head to look at me. "But I'm sure you didn't come all the way over here just to save innocent bystanders from my questionable aim."

I raised an eyebrow in amusement at her perceptiveness. "Do you still have the keys for that side-by-side?"

"Yep. Just let me put this bow away before Hank or Ben see it in my hands and have heart failure."

It didn't take her long to come skipping back. I sighed as she slowed to a walk beside me.

"You remember that you promised to drive like Hank, correct?"

She cackled and rubbed her hands together gleefully. "Oh, but I crossed my fingers and added 'if he was completely and utterly drunk' to the end of my promise!"

Someone please save me... I growled a light rebuke at Nicky, which caused two nearby people to glance over with startled expressions.

"If you don't drive like a sane person, then I'll take over driving and you can sit in the passenger seat. If I can walk, I can manage the gas pedal."

She sighed, managing a remarkably good impression of my own irritated sighs. "All right, all right. I'll drive like my driving trainer wanted me to, but I want that bag of peanuts I saw in your backpack in exchange."

I didn't even hesitate. "Deal."

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Here's a map of Ironwind, lovingly created by Eventide932.