Everyone finished their breakfast at the same time, so we left the dining hall together. Nina and Jess happily discussed which supplies Jess might need today. As we walked around the side of the main building on our way to the secondary one, a hushed voice caught my attention.

"How are we going to manage this without them seeing?"

Daniel and I turned our attention to the handful of men standing by the corner ahead of us. I wasn't sure what they were looking at, but they were along the main road that ran through the Stronghold and hadn't noticed us behind them yet.

"What are you trying to do?" Daniel inquired.

The five men all jumped and spun around, gawking at us before relaxing.

"The old, blue truck broke down again," one man said, pointing to a rusted and dented vehicle, "and we're trying to get it out of the Stronghold without Trev's group seeing us. They don't like getting rid of any vehicle that still runs, but we have more trucks than we need, and that one breaks down the most."

Another man added, "If it just disappears, they won't even remember it, but if they see us hauling it away, there'll be war. They hate throwing anything away, but if we need more trucks, there are plenty along the highway that are just out of fuel. We want to haul this old junker across the border and dump it in a junkyard. We just need to get it out of here without them seeing it."

I walked over so I could see around the corner. There were about fifty people on the main road, and more that would be able to see this street. I wasn't sure which ones might belong to Trev's group.

Daniel considered the matter. "Taking it out in the evening or night would get a lot of attention since not many vehicles run during those times."

"Exactly," the man replied.

Breakfast was mostly over, and people were out and about, already going about their usual tasks. Clearing such a large area would take a miracle. Or a nightmare...

With that thought, I shrugged off my backpack and dug through it. The others watched me, unsure what I was doing. I pulled a can of tomato juice and a small bottle of liquid dish soap out of my backpack and balanced them on the palms of my hands as I turned to face Nicky.

I grinned ferally at the redhead. "Do you think you can pull an insanity blitz out of a hat?"

She smiled evilly as she reached for the two items. "I'll put that particular captain at the helm of the ship, but you have to deal with her afterward. Weirdly enough, she actually likes you, which is bizarre because she doesn't like anyone."

Oh boy. Her most crazy personality had decided she liked an irritable, bloodthirsty Nightstalker who got caught in an evil experiment. I could only imagine what her psychiatrist would think.

One of the men gazed on in horror and whispered, "Is she talking about herself in third person?"

No one answered the poor guy, leaving him to his own devices and thoughts. Jess looked equally as confused, but now wasn't the time to enlighten her. Nina watched in fascination, although Daniel shifted his weight and frowned at the objects in Nicky's hands.

These were the very two objects Nicky had alluded to time and time again, and he still hadn't figured out how they were used against zombies. The fact that I was carrying them in my backpack wasn't about to put him at ease either.

"Back up," I told the others, also retreating around the corner so Nicky was the only one visible.

The redhead tested the weight of the soap and can as her grin got bigger and a wild glint appeared in her eyes. Standing straighter and looking around, she shouted, "Who wants to play zombie killer with me? I got some new weapons, and I need someone to be the zombie for target practice!"

She began jogging down the street.

Mere seconds later, Ben's voice called out, "Run!"

I could fully imagine how his eyes would have widened in horror at the sight of the familiar objects. Some unfortunate person must have been on the slow side since Nicky's footsteps picked up to a run.

"If you move fast, everyone will be too distracted to notice," I told the mechanics.

The five men quickly scattered; two ran to the blue truck, another headed to a second truck with a tow rope attached to the hitch, and the last two disappeared into a garage.

I walked around the corner to check who might still be lingering around. As if by magic, the street was devoid of people, apart from a redhead still running around. People had likely decided to busy themselves elsewhere, but that left the path clear for the five men to get the broken truck out of the Stronghold.

The men quickly hooked up the tow ropes and began driving toward the gate, which the guards were already opening for them, seeing nothing amiss. I crossed my arms and watched as they made their getaway. That left just one problem.

I glanced at Daniel. "The hardest part will be disarming her. Do you feel like seeing how good your reflexes are?"

He growled faintly at the idea of going near her when she was like this. He had undoubtedly noticed how frantic Ben had sounded when he yelled at everyone to run. The redhead was grinning like a maniac as she raced around the corner of a garage and disappeared from sight.

"I don't get it," Jess mumbled. "Why did everyone disappear? And why is Nicky chasing them?"

"Because Nicky jumped off the sanity train," I replied, still keeping watch in case Nicky came this way. "There is no logic behind it. This is why we never let her have coffee."

"We've convinced the people here to treat it like a zombie drill," Nina said. "The easiest way for them to tolerate such behavior was to turn it into a possibly life-saving training exercise."

That was news to me, although it explained why they hadn't kicked her out yet. Their willingness to treat it as a drill was a good thing since Nicky had officially managed to pull a record-breaking insanity blitz out of a hat. I only saw a couple of people when dozens had been present a mere minute ago.

"I guess that's one way to keep people on their toes," I finally said.

Nina glanced at me. "As you told Ben and the guards, whoever riles her up gets to deal with her. It looks like it's your turn this time."

"Do I have to?" I asked with a wince. "I'm not sure I want to meet this captain she was speaking of."

"Well, she did say you were the only one she liked, so you're the best candidate." Nina linked arms with Jess, ready to usher her new assistant out of harm's way. "We're heading to the lab and locking the door behind us. Have fun."

Jess let Nina lead her away, and Daniel followed them. I sighed gustily, wondering if it would've been easier to get Daniel to push the truck down the road and ignore any questions. It looks like I'm on babysitting duty yet again. Just my luck. And I can't even blame the coffee this time. This was not how I had planned to spend my morning.

Apparently, I hadn't thought this through since I now needed to come up with a way to separate Nicky from the rest of the population and get her back to normal. Considering she had already eaten breakfast, my main tactic of stuffing her full of food was out the window.

I had to move fast before someone truly got mad at Nicky instead of cautiously humoring her by practicing their zombie evasion tactics. The best way to accomplish this was to get her out of the Stronghold.

I quickly headed for the garage, opened the bay door, and grabbed the keys for the side-by-side. The engine had barely started when I hit the gas pedal hard enough that the tires spun before they found traction. I sped over to where I heard Nicky calling for volunteers and slid to a stop beside her.

"Change of plans," I told her. "We're pretending we're in the movie Smokey and the Bandit, and we need to get to our next stop before the Sheriff catches us."

She jumped into the passenger seat. "Pin it!"

It was a good thing she was easily distracted when she got like this. Once again, I hit the gas pedal harder than needed and headed straight for the gate. The guards saw me coming and opened it before I got there.

I had successfully removed Nicky from the Stronghold. My mission was halfway accomplished.

~

       I drove slowly down the street, which was currently empty of zombies.

"Okay, Bandit. Which house do you think has Coors and snacks in it?"

Nicky examined the abandoned houses and pointed. "That one. Whoever painted their fence neon green was either drunk or high. We'll find beer or munchies as long as the owners didn't eat them all."

That was good enough for me. I pulled up in front of the house and sniffed the air. No zombies were inside or in the immediate area.

I still planned to play it safe. "I'll go in first. You cover me."

Nicky was as suggestible as ever and flattened herself against the side of the house with a can of tomato juice in one hand and a bottle of liquid soap in the other. I wasn't aware Smokey and the Bandit had such a poorly equipped SWAT team in it.

I tested the doorknob and wasn't surprised when it turned. This town was just past Ironwind's border, and every building would have been picked over several times.

I carefully entered and went down the hallway for good measure before calling out, "All clear."

Nicky came inside and closed the door behind herself. She immediately went into the kitchen and started rooting around in the mostly empty cupboards. From the noise, she had found pots, pans, and other cooking implements. If she found any food, I'd be surprised. Using my nose, I went in search of potential stashes hidden elsewhere in the house.

In the end, we found some food that had been missed. Most of it was in bizarre locations or hidden behind non-food items. It took us two hours to thoroughly scour the house from top to bottom, although I had grown tired of digging through another person's possessions long before that point. The good news was that Nicky had slowly wound down to her normal self.

"Okay, I think we've checked everything," Nicky said, holding a bag of chips. "Let's go. I'm not sure which version of Smokey and the Bandit you were watching, but I don't recall any scene where they rooted through someone's sock drawer in hopes of finding a granola bar."

I opened the door and checked outside to ensure the coast was clear before we got into the side-by-side. Once again, I was driving while Nicky sat in the passenger seat. She was still holding her bag of chips like a precious artifact that might try to fly away.

"That's another thing," Nicky said, gesturing to the windshield. "This ride is a far cry from a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. I still say that the Dodge Charger from The Dukes of Hazzard is cooler though. I mean, come on, it has to be a great car if guys will drive it with a neon orange paint job!"

"Ah, but would they drive it if it had been painted fluorescent pink?"

"I'm not sure about them, but I sure would," Nicky replied with a grin. "Although it may never be the same after I take it for a spin."

"You wouldn't get me in that car with you either," I said with a faint chuckle. "But you might want to eat those chips before Ben sees them and thinks you should share."

She promptly opened the big bag and started munching. It would keep her quiet for a while and also bring her the last little way back to what classified as normal for Nicky.