I tilted my head when I heard two sets of footsteps coming closer. I pulled the silly grass crown off my head, and in a swift move that made my injuries burn, leaned over to drop it on Nicky's hair. She opened her mouth to protest my removal of her creation, and I jerked my head to the corner of the chicken coop.

She immediately caught on and closed her mouth. Gazing at the trees, she leaned back against the coop and put on a bored look. I blinked slowly at how quickly she played along. She must have been the top student in drama, provided they could get her to stay in the role they wanted her to play and not turn into a serial killer in the middle of a romance.

It wasn't long before Daniel and Nina rounded the corner of the coop. He must have been tracking my scent to have found me so easily.

"Sorry to bother you," Nina said. "I wanted to let you know that people are planning a small party in the open area along the western fence to celebrate a recent marriage. You're welcome to join. I just thought I'd warn you about it in case you walked that way and stumbled into it since some of these parties can get pretty rowdy."

"Thanks for the warning, although I'll pass," I replied. "I'm not much for parties."

"No worries. They aren't expecting you, but I said I'd relay the invitation."

The wind slowed and swirled slightly, bringing the pungent smell of chickens to us.

Daniel wrinkled his nose at the odor. "Why are you hanging out beside a chicken coop? I can show you a few other places where people rarely go, and they won't smell this bad."

"The wind was blowing from the forest until a second ago. This was the best spot I could find on short notice," I grumbled.

"Short notice?" He tilted his head, more focused now than before.

Making a face, I replied, "I made the mistake of entering the dining hall during dinner."

Nicky finally looked at our guests and chuckled. "Don't worry. There weren't any casualties. But I don't think it's something we should ever try again. I'll bring her a plate of food from now on."

Nina and Daniel looked surprised.

"Did something go wrong in the dining hall?" Nina asked, glancing at me in concern.

"Nightstalkers and crowds simply don't mix," I replied with a shrug. I tilted my head in Daniel's direction. "Have you ever gone into that place during the dinner rush?"

"Yes, it's louder than is comfortable, and the amount of control I need to use is noticeable, but I've never had any problem unless someone bumped into me. That only happened once or twice, and even then, I only growled at them."

Daniel was either far more accustomed to bustling humans than I had ever been, or he was so far out of touch with his zombie instincts that he really wasn't bothered by the crowds. It was probably a combination of the two, although I wasn't sure how solitary feral Terrors were.

"It isn't a problem for us to bring you a plate if you don't want to go in there," Nina said.

"The roof of the secondary building would be a good place to eat," Daniel commented. "People rarely go up there until after they've eaten, and if another group beats them there, they usually go elsewhere."

"That's an idea," I mused. Eating in the fresh air would be a vast improvement to the dining area, especially during the dinner rush.

"I'm sure I can manage that," Nicky said. "And it isn't as if I'm ever late when it comes to eating, so I can't see anyone finishing their meal before we get up there."

Nina nodded. "We'll leave it to you to bring her dinner wherever she wants to eat. If something comes up, let us know and we can do it." To me, she said, "If you have some time later this evening, I'd like to check your injuries and change the gauze."

My instincts may have settled down from dinner, but I didn't want anyone poking at my injuries at the moment.

"They haven't bled through," I grumbled slightly. "Are you a nurse or something?"

The light retort was my attempt at digging into this lady's history and skillset since Nicky had mentioned that others weren't willing to talk about it.

"As much as I wish I had that level of training, I'm afraid I don't," she replied wistfully. "I have some advanced field first aid and more practice since the zombies arrived than I wish were necessary, but other than the basics like wound cleaning, stitches, and proper bandaging, that's about it."

"You know as well as I do that zombies can't get infections. Is changing the bandages every day really necessary?"

"Had you been human, definitely. As a zombie, I'm not sure, but I'd prefer to play it safe. It's your choice though." Nina shrugged. "On a different note, I forgot to give you your weapons yesterday. Let me know when you want to come collect them."

With a huff of irritation, I stood up. "Fine, let's go."

I wanted my weapons back. Fresh bandages wouldn't go amiss either. I was tired of smelling the old blood that clung to my leg.

Nicky yawned and got to her feet too. "Well, I'm going to go check out this party. I'm not entirely convinced it's as good as Nina's making it out to be, but I'm not always the best judge of parties until the police report comes the next day with all the juicy details. See you tomorrow."

After a big stretch, Nicky left. I walked beside Nina while keeping my pace to the slow one I had used earlier. My instincts detested showing weakness, but also preferred it when others underestimated me. I didn't want the people here to realize my leg was healing faster than before. Either way, simply walking still sent pain lancing up and down my leg. It hadn't healed that much yet.

As we entered the secondary building, Daniel sat down in a chair in a small sitting area to the side and grabbed a tattered magazine. Nina led me farther down the hallway and into the same room we'd used yesterday. She closed the door behind us as I sat on the wooden stool and took off my shirt without Nina asking.

She unwrapped the numerous layers of bandages and gingerly removed the red-spotted gauze. I inspected the scabs underneath even as Nina looked them over. The damage I had done yesterday was mostly reversed. By tomorrow morning, the ones on my chest should have recovered to the point they had been at when we arrived at Ironwind.

"These look like they're healing well." She walked around to examine my back. "This one isn't doing as well. It's kind of red, and part of the scab is bulging up. Do you want me to put extra salve on and bandage it up?"

"Sure."

She applied salve to each injury, added more gauze, and wrapped everything up with two miles of bandages again. I put my shirt back on while she got more bandages and supplies ready.

"Pant leg?" she asked.

I lifted the leg of my shorts for her, and she frowned when she saw a few spots of dried blood had bled through all the bandages again.

"Please try to take it easy. You're pushing yourself too hard if you're bleeding through this many layers."

She unraveled the bandages and lifted the faintly damp gauze pad, only for the bottom layer to stick. With a faint frown, Nina removed the loose top layers, which were also mostly red. She dribbled some water from a water bottle onto the gauze.

"I thought I put plenty of salve on this to prevent it from sticking," Nina murmured to herself, checking if she could lift the stuck section without pulling on the injury.

I made a face as I realized that I had idiotically forgotten to smear the salve evenly back across the wound when I had doctored my leg. I had dabbed it back on, but I hadn't spread it out, and now the edges and a few other spots had adhered to the gauze. My own carelessness was responsible for this one, and I sure as hell wasn't about to admit to such a blunder.

To give her credit, Nina was being gentle and trying to avoid causing pain, but any wound was sore until it healed, and the tiny movements were causing the pain to build higher. Slowly, bit by bit, she eased the wet gauze away from the wound until just one corner refused to give in.

I growled lightly, getting more and more wound up by the increasing throbbing and Nina being in my personal space. Daniel was obviously eavesdropping since I heard his faint growl from down the hall.

It hadn't been long since I'd been crowded in the dining hall, and my instincts were really taking exception to the patient nurse. I had simply been around too many people today.

"Back up a few steps," I told her as a faint growl rumbled through my chest.

She glanced at me in surprise, but didn't argue, possibly thinking I wanted to let the pain die down. Moving to the side, she busied herself with stacking the bloody gauze pads and piling the long bandages in a pile to wash later.

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the gauze and yanked it off. I snarled at the sudden blast of pain, which was worse than I had been expecting, and dug the nails on my other hand deep into the wooden stool.

Daniel's snarl echoed through the thin walls as he attempted to use his rank to make me back down if there was any possibility of me harming Nina. Still – somehow – he trusted me enough not to barge into the room.

"Why did you do that?" Nina asked in worry, hesitating where she was, wanting to come closer and help, but unsure of my level of control after that kind of pain.

"It was faster," I replied from between gritted teeth. That had hurt more than I anticipated. Another life lesson learned the hard way.

"You're almost as bad as Daniel," she grumbled, grabbing another packet of Woundseal and a piece of clean gauze. "Is it safe for me to come over there and stop the bleeding before it drips onto the floor?"

"Yes."

Nina came over and used the old gauze to wipe the blood that was already running down the side of my leg. She sprinkled the Woundseal over the emerging blood until the bleeding stopped. The powder didn't make the wound look any less nasty or painful. All it did was highlight just how deep it was, particularly the corner where part of the scab was now missing.

Despite scrutinizing it, it didn't look like it had healed any since yesterday, although I could feel the slight difference when I walked. After my impatient stunt, it was probably going to throb for many hours.

Nina shook her head and put a very generous dollop of salve on. After she finished bandaging my leg, she stood up and stepped back.

"That should do it for now. Please refrain from ripping stuck bandages off your wounds. It really isn't conducive to healing. Just watching that made me cringe, and I'd prefer it if you didn't do that again."

Well, that made two of us. Nor was I going to be that careless the next time I doctored my leg and wrapped it back up. Without replying, I got up and took a few experimental steps. As I expected, the throbbing was trying to hammer home the lesson I'd just learned the hard way.

"Don't forget your weapons," Nina said, thinking I was already heading for the door. "They're on the tray in the corner."

I looked over to see a white cloth covering something on the corner of the counter. I walked over and saw two familiar outlines underneath. I lifted the cloth to reveal my belt knife as well as my sickle and its sheath. I was relieved to see them. I would really miss that sickle if I ever lost it.

This pair of cloth shorts weren't sturdy enough to support the weight of the belt knife without a belt, so I'd have to carry them until I returned to my room. It felt so much better to finally have my weapons back, although I doubted Daniel and others would share the same sentiment.

Nina was already cleaning things up, so I exited the room. Daniel's eyes lingered on the weapons as I passed by him. The idiot should have arrived at the truck stop earlier and taken a couple of those bullets. Then Nina would have someone else to torment.

That reminded me of a question that had been bugging me, and I paused. "I never did hear why it took you so long to show up to the gunfight."

"I didn't expect to take that long, nor did I realize how close we were to the truck stop. I was trying to skin the bear and bring the hide back. It would have made a very warm bedspread. I started running the second I heard the first gunshot."

"Next time, it's your turn to be the target," I huffed, more irritable than usual due to the pain radiating up and down my leg.

He raised his eyebrow questioningly. "You expect to be shot at again?"

"With my luck? It's almost a guarantee." I continued walking, ready to relax in my room and let my leg heal some.

"If anyone points a gun at you, or gives you any sort of trouble, let me know."

Unsure of how to reply, I waved a hand in acknowledgment as I opened the door leading to the stairwell and disappeared inside. His comment surprised me and reminded me of the others who were hoping I would remain here. This place was bizarre...

I retreated to my room as my leg throbbed in time with my heartbeat. It was a relief to close my door and sit down on the bed. I pulled the belt knife and sickle out of their sheaths to check the blades. Both were still sharp.

Something caught my eye, and I examined the leather strap on the sickle sheath. There was a thumbnail-sized hole along one edge. Holding the straps against my chest, it lined up perfectly with the bullet hole that had struck my lung.

Frowning, I reversed the straps, wondering if I could wear it so the main strap went over my other shoulder. Nope. Regardless of how I twisted it, something was going to rub against at least one of my injuries. Much to my disgust, it wasn't going to be possible to wear my favorite weapon until I healed more.

Grumbling, I dug through my backpack to locate a pair of shorts that would work with a belt. If I couldn't carry my sickle around, then my belt knife was definitely coming with me.

Outside, distant laughter and music came through my closed window. People occasionally walked by below while they chatted with one another. I kept an ear on the boring discussions below as I laid back on the bed and tried to relax.