Nina and Daniel finally came onto the roof, and my instincts stirred the moment I saw Daniel's body language. His muscles were noticeably tense, and his posture was borderline aggressive. His eyes skimmed over Nicky and me, and even though they lingered on me for a moment, his gaze moved on, so it wasn't us that had him in a bad mood.
I didn't understand how helping Nina with the feral Nightstalker affected him more than the dozen Runners in the barn previously. My nostrils flared slightly as I took a deeper breath and picked up a very faint trace of Daniel's blood. I eventually spotted a tiny scratch on his upper arm. It was about as big as a paper cut and easy to miss, but I recognized the mark as a scratch from a zombie's fingernail.
No wonder he was in a foul mood. Being scratched by a feral Nightstalker would have severely insulted his instincts. If a Runner had managed to scratch me, I would've been pissed too.
Even so, that didn't give him permission to put everyone else on edge, although I wasn't too sure how to point it out to him. I had a habit of taking my anger out on trees, but he obviously hadn't worked out a method for dealing with his temper.
I examined him carefully from the corner of my eye. Most of the time I didn't care if I pissed him off, but his current mood was one that wasn't wise to trifle with. His instincts were much too high, and he was still too humanized to recognize most of the usual zombie body language. Playing passive wouldn't help me if I riled him up. He simply wasn't in tune enough with his instincts for me to rely on that backup plan.
As Nina sat down, Nicky asked, "Is the Nightstalker settling in?"
Daniel faintly growled his opinion of the subject, probably wanting to forget about the Nightstalker for a while.
Nina ignored him and replied, "Let's just say we aren't having fun. Any amount of light sends her into a frenzy and makes her extremely unpredictable. I wasn't aware of how aggressive feral Nightstalkers actually were until now."
They were accustomed to dealing with Runners, and Daniel had never really tapped into his instincts, so this was an entirely new ball game for them.
I chuckled darkly and muttered, "And people wonder why I'm irritable during the day."
Daniel narrowed his eyes at my tone, still in a foul mood as his instincts warred with his human mind. Nor did his mind completely understand his instincts, which only created more friction and hampered his control.
Nina tilted her head as she regarded me with bright, curious eyes. "After being around that feral, I honestly don't know how you can sit there so calmly. It makes me wonder if there might be something else allowing some zombies to remain in control. You're nothing like that creature in the barn."
"The difference is that my humanity is intact. That's the only thing that separates me from that feral. I may act human, but that shadowy side of my instincts is still there. I just suppress it as much as I can and hide it around people."
Nina pulled a small notebook out of her shirt pocket and started writing. I rolled my eyes as she forgot about her dinner once again. It was amazing she didn't starve to death considering how easily she got distracted. I took a drink from my water bottle and continued to subtly watch Daniel.
He kept glancing at me while eating, probably comparing the feral's behavior to my comments. I examined the Terror that sat on the other side of the circle of chairs and considered my possible options. It might not be wise to anger him at the moment, but nothing said I couldn't mess with his head.
Nicky was focused on her food, and Nina was still writing, so the two humans weren't paying any attention to me. Daniel's eyes drifted over to me once again. Keeping a straight face, I shifted slightly in my chair, altering my body language. Humans likely wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary, but Daniel's eyes narrowed as his instincts easily noticed the change.
As I expected, his human mind didn't understand what his instincts were trying to tell him. His eyes were reddish orange, reflecting his elevated instincts, which didn't help with his suspicion and confusion. After being around the feral Nightstalker, he knew my body wasn't reflecting aggression or warning, but that was about all he understood.
Every other sane zombie I'd ever met would have instantly recognized the silent invitation for a friendly wrestling match and would have altered their own behavior to accept or decline the game. Such matches were somewhat similar to our previous clashes, but at the same time, very different.
Daniel's body language didn't shift, showing he was clueless. I turned my head in his direction and smirked slightly at him before dropping the change and donning my human veneer once more.
It had been a gamble since I wasn't really in the mood for a wrestling match, but I had been quite certain he wouldn't understand the subtle signs since he barely even understood First Strike.
I had never really dropped my human facade around him in case it set off his instincts, so this was his first glimpse of me using the more advanced zombie body language, and it had nothing to do with aggression or threat. It had him confused. Delightfully so.
Perhaps his confusion would lead to some soul searching. I doubted it, but messing with his head amused me. The best part was neither of the humans had even noticed.
"Your behavior is completely different from that feral Nightstalker," Nina said, tapping her pen on her notepad as she glanced at me, completely unaware of the irony of her words at this particular moment, "yet you say you just hide that side. Are you able to show it without the risk of anyone getting hurt? I would be curious to see it."
Daniel stiffened as his eyes went red and gained a faint glow, more aware of what Nina was asking for than the lady in question realized. There was a reason both of us suppressed our instincts.
I raised an eyebrow incredulously at Nina. "Is it possible? Maybe, but it's far from wise, and I advise against it. Especially with Daniel anywhere in the vicinity. His eyes are glowing just thinking about it."
Nina glanced at Daniel and winced when she noticed his glowing eyes. "Ah." She frowned at her notepad, not quite ready to give up her idea, but also acknowledging it wasn't smart or even possible if Daniel had any say in the matter. Considering he was the strongest person here, it was pretty hard to force him to do anything he didn't want to.
Nor did I want a human to see that side of me. I had worked hard to retain my humanity, and any who saw the darkest side of my instincts would never be able to look at me the same way again. It hadn't been that long ago when my bloodlust would have loved to kill every single person in this place.
I also didn't trust Nina enough to let her near me when my instincts were so high. She was used to Daniel and could easily misstep around a non-humanized zombie and wind up with injuries. A distraction was probably the best way to divert her thoughts.
"Why did you inject that Nightstalker right away? I thought you usually did a lot of testing first?"
"Normally, I wouldn't have done so, but if the controlex causes any serious side effects in a few days, it lets me test on a feral Nightstalker without risking your health."
That was a good enough reason for me, but I really hoped there wouldn't be any more side effects.
Nina continued, "I took a dozen vials of blood from the feral and a saliva swab before the controlex was injected, so I can compare the virus in your previous samples to the feral's and see what the differences are. This could be groundbreaking research since I've never been able to compare samples from a sane and a feral zombie of the same rank before."
Her enthusiasm was probably something only another scientist would be able to properly appreciate. Most people never got that excited at the prospect of having more feral zombies around.
"What are your plans if this controlex drug does remove bloodlust from zombies reliably?"
"It's just one more tool in a toolbox," Nina replied with a shrug. "If a zombie is having problems due to bloodlust, this is an option. In your most recent blood sample, the controlex itself had broken down, and the cure works once again. So if they wanted, they could become human again. They'd just have to wait several days."
Nicky asked, "What are you going to do if someone wants to become a Terror just for the speed and strength? I've seen a lot of people out there who should never have such abilities."
Nina hesitated before sighing. "We never planned to let people turn just because they want to. Admittedly, it isn't hard to arrange to get bitten or infected, but they'd need blood or saliva from Daniel or another Terror to even have a chance of getting the Terror triggers. The other zombie ranks don't have it.
"For some odd reason, normal zombies do carry the trigger for a Runner, but none of the other ranks carry the sequences for the ranks above them. The sanity serum just blocks the normal zombie triggers, so they would almost certainly end up as a Runner unless they had the sneezing infection, in which case, they might get a higher rank."
I hadn't been aware a bite from a normal zombie had a chance of creating a Runner, but it was common knowledge that a zombie bite wouldn't turn someone into a higher-ranking zombie. Hopefully, that would be enough to prevent some idiots from dreaming about becoming a Terror and letting themselves get infected by a regular zombie.
"And if you deactivated all of the triggers, what would happen?" I asked. Daniel's eyes were back to their usual camouflaged orangish brown now that Nina was distracted by my various questions.
"That's mostly what the cure does, and once it goes inactive, the virus dies out. Without the virus or the active triggers, the person loses the zombie characteristics and the body reverts to normal. We still haven't had any success in creating a vaccine; most of the drugs capable of affecting the zombie virus either harm humans or only last a few weeks in the bloodstream."
"Ah."
As the conversation ceased, Nina took another bite of her dinner. Nicky pushed some carrot slices around to form a circle along the edge of her plate with the mashed potatoes forming a volcano in the middle, using peas instead of lava flowing down the side.
The women may have been distracted with their food, but ever since I had shown Daniel the wrestling match body language, he had been watching me closely in case I did it again.
The scrutiny while his instincts were so high was making my own instincts shift uneasily, not liking such attention from a higher-ranking zombie. I hid my unease and suppressed my instincts, although it wasn't easy. The controlex apparently hadn't changed how his rank affected me.
Still, it amused me to see how my previous actions confused him, and he wasn't having any luck figuring it out. I turned my head to face him more directly and tilted my head in silent inquiry. He remained silent and blinked slowly in frustration, refusing to voice his question when we both knew what it was.
Confusing the hell out of Daniel could become a new hobby for me. A quick peek showed neither of the humans were paying attention to us. I smirked slightly before altering my body language again. His eyes immediately narrowed as they went red. His head tilted slightly as he studied me intently, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
After five seconds, I shook my head and dropped the altered body language. Daniel was clearly a slow learner. He gritted his teeth in silent frustration. His instincts knew the strange body language meant something, and it was driving him crazy because he couldn't figure out what they were telling him.
I had never encountered a sane zombie who was so far out of touch with their instincts. Then again, I had never met a zombie who had never been apart from humans either. Like the pain in the ass I was, I took advantage of it to torment him. It was a double-edged sword though; if he belatedly figured it out, his lack of understanding also meant he probably wouldn't understand when things were supposed to stop.
I decided to give him a break and murmured quietly, "I'll give you a clue. That isn't something you'll see a feral do. That's also why your instincts are having such a hard time getting you to understand it. You've only ever dealt with ferals before. I'll leave it up to you to figure it out though."
My voice had been quiet enough that only Daniel could hear it, so the humans were still oblivious, and I preferred it to stay that way. It was a puzzle for him to figure out, and it would be good for him to work it out by himself. I might give him another clue or two, and perhaps let him see it again, but I wasn't about to just hand the answer over.
When I had first met Kelly and Travis, I had recognized what the body language meant the moment I saw it, even though I'd never seen it before. Daniel was simply too far out of touch with his instincts. The answer already lay in his mind, so he just needed to discover it.
Nicky's fork clattered onto her now-empty plate. "That was good. Do you feel like heading to the archery lanes? Those people will probably have heart failure if we don't bless them with our presence."
"I somehow doubt that they missed us that much."
Nicky huffed. "That's the difference between an optimist and a pessimist. An optimist thinks this is the best possible world. A pessimist fears this is true. So get off your lazy ass and become an optimist."
With a snort, I replied, "I'm a Nightstalker. Being optimistic is not in my job description."
"Then we clearly have to rewrite your resume and submit a new application."
"My resume only stated that I reliably showed up to work on time and didn't answer my personal cellphone while on the job, so it's still quite valid. They hired me on the spot."
Standing up, Nicky rolled her eyes and grabbed my hand, trying to pull me to my feet. "It's quite clear why you never mentioned your people skills. Come on, lazybones. If I show up without your lovely presence, they'll send me right back to collect you."
I halfheartedly growled at the trivial insult but let her pull me to my feet. Nina paused with her fork halfway to her mouth. I highly doubted the professional scientist had ever spoken to Daniel in such a fashion. Nor could I imagine the slender woman ever trying to haul Daniel to his feet. Both of them watched us, surprised by the tolerance I had for Nicky. For that matter, I was also baffled by it.
I followed the redhead down the stairs and to the archery field. Like Nicky had predicted, the archers were happy to see us back. Well, moreso me than Nicky, but a few of them also smiled when Nicky greeted them. She had obviously never chased those individuals around during an insanity blitz.
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