The moon shone overhead as I dug up a small mint plant and slid it into the plastic tube. It was a common plant, but I was running out of ideas, and this would grow very well in a garden. I'd wait until I was back at Ironwind Stronghold to visit an abandoned town and raid some backyards for perennial herbs for Jess.

As I stood up, I felt a tweak as one edge of a smaller scab pulled loose. I examined the other scabs from my fight against the Nightstalkers. Several of the smallest ones – barely worse than a cat scratch – had already fallen off. The slightly deeper ones were beginning to lift, and the rest would likely come off in a day or two if I kept doctoring them so much. The deep cut was much further along than I anticipated, although regardless of what I did, it would take at least a week before that one healed.

Due to my cheating, my injuries were healing leaps and bounds faster than Daniel's were. He hadn't noticed the difference yesterday, but I couldn't see him missing it today. Especially if some of the bigger scabs fell off.

I dismissed it with a shake of my head. He'd notice it at some point, then he'd have another puzzle to try and solve. This trip was turning into a goldmine for him, and I was making him do all the digging.

The night was quiet as I continued roaming the fields. I saw a small stand of trees near the gas station and decided to check it out. To call it a forest would have been an overstatement since it would have fit onto a soccer field. Other than songbirds and a couple of squirrels, there was nothing interesting, so I went back out into the fields.

The waist-high grasses and self-seeded crops stretched to the horizon in most directions. If someone crouched down out there, they could have a wild game of hide and seek.

Other creatures were playing that very game tonight. My nose easily picked up the scent of numerous rabbits, mice, and quail. Several foxes and a few other predators were also in the area. One scent was a bit different – close to a rabbit, but not quite.

I knew what it was, but went in search of it anyway. It didn't take me long to find the jackrabbit napping under a clump of grass. Its huge ears and long legs were almost comical, although I knew how fast those critters could run if they put their minds to it. I hadn't seen one for months, possibly because they didn't like the mountainous or forested areas this far north. I left the jackrabbit alone and continued circling the gas station.

Closer to dawn, a rabbit hopped in front of me and sealed its fate. Ever since the controlex had removed my desire for normal food, I had been hunting more than before. In the past, I occasionally hunted a larger animal every three or four days, and it had been sufficient.

Once I started traveling with humans, I hunted a smaller creature every night just to help with my control. After the controlex had tweaked the virus in my blood, I was hunting something about the size of a rabbit each night, and every few days, I either went after something larger or hunted more than once.

Ahead of me, another rabbit hopped out of the grass and scratched its ear with a hind leg, not even bothering to look around first. The rabbits around here obviously weren't very bright.

I hadn't tended my injuries tonight, and the opportunity was too good to pass up. My instincts were all for having these pesky wounds healed so it didn't look like I had lost so many First Strike matches. I still couldn't figure out how Daniel never noticed his instincts given the number of scratches that crisscrossed his arms, although that might have contributed to his surly mood earlier.

It took mere seconds to catch and kill the unwary rabbit. I trickled the blood over the various small scratches before turning to the bandage that hid the larger knife wound. I peeled back the bandage and used a tissue to wipe the salve away.

The ointment had kept the wound from forming a proper scab, so I gently wiped off the sticky, half-congealed blood. I carefully dripped the rabbit blood into the rather ugly wound, where it disappeared like water hitting sand. The wound began heating up from the blood application, growing more and more noticeable until it bordered on being painful.

I stopped doctoring the wound and drained the last of the rabbit blood into a tiny jar. After fishing a crumpled piece of plastic wrap out of my backpack, I put it across the mouth of the jar, then put the lid on, ensuring it was done up tightly.

The plastic would prevent any leaks, so it was safe to stash it in my backpack for later. I took out my water bottle, dampened another tissue, and wiped any blood residue off my arms before reapplying the salve to throw Daniel off track.

With nothing else to do, I wandered through the long grass. The night was oddly quiet; there weren't even any regular zombies to lure away. I slowed to a stop as I realized I hadn't seen a single zombie all night, nor had we dodged any on the road during the last fifteen minutes of our drive.

That wasn't normal.

I scanned the area while carefully testing the air. I could smell zombies, so they had passed through, but the traces were old and faint. My instincts stirred, and I agreed with them. We were along a decent-sized road that saw traffic at least a couple of times a month, so zombies should be roaming up and down the highway like they had at most of our stops.

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion, growling faintly as I continued to scrutinize the fields around me. If I hadn't been circling this area for most of the night, I would've been alarmed enough to warn Daniel that something was amiss. My vigilance must be rusty, or possibly overconfident, but the lack of roaming zombies wasn't exactly something I had been on the lookout for. I had been watching for trouble, not its absence.

When we had first arrived, I had smelled a zombie, but I wasn't picking up its scent now. With large fields sprawling around us in most directions, it wasn't exactly easy for a zombie to hide. Other than Nightstalkers, no zombie cared about remaining out of sight. It certainly hadn't been a Nightstalker, so where on Earth had it gotten to?

With a huff, I picked up speed as I headed downwind to find the blasted creature.

~

       At this point, I was seriously confused. The eastern sky would begin to brighten soon, and I still hadn't located a single zombie. I had gone quite some distance downwind, but that search had also come up empty. That thing didn't just turn into a butterfly and flutter away, so where the hell did it go?

My gaze roved over the plants that barely shifted in the almost non-existent breeze as I growled in frustration. There was no point in going farther out, since the regular zombie shouldn't have wandered too far unless it was actively chasing something.

Shaking my head, I altered my path to make a huge circle around the gas station. Perhaps this tactic would turn up some clues. Other than the sound of my heavy breathing from the quick jog, the night was still silent.

I paused and took a deep breath as I turned to face upwind, finally having caught a trace of the zombie, as well as something I hadn't expected. The smell of a rotting human body.

I hadn't smelled it earlier, but I also hadn't gone so far east. Another deep breath revealed several faint scents I hadn't expected: those of the three Nightstalkers we had killed. With a frown, I jogged through the grass to investigate.

My instincts flared, and I snarled in alarm as I jumped sideways mid-run. I came to a stop and did a quick check around me before focusing on what I had just avoided. A growl still rumbled through my chest as I bent down to inspect the trap. Just the barest hint of steel poked through the long grasses. I picked up a rock and backed up a few steps before throwing it at the center of the barely-visible circle.

With a loud clang, the steel jaws of the bear trap snapped shut. That would have been nasty if I had stepped on it, but one tooth on the jaws had given it away. I had probably just used up my entire month's allotment of luck, and I was thankful for the unexpected lucky break, although I was royally pissed at whoever had left it out here. If I had been wearing my sunglasses, I might have missed it.

I picked up the trap and sniffed it, but it had been out here for so long that no trace of scent clung to it. I dropped it to the ground, but wasn't ready to dismiss it as a coincidence just yet. Why would someone set up a bear trap in the middle of a field? It makes no sense.

Crouching down, I brushed the grass to the side, discovering the stems pinned under the steel trap were pale yellow, but not dead. This trap hadn't been here for more than a few weeks, which meant someone had recently put it here – and they had been careful enough to avoid leaving their scent on it.

And that made me suspicious. Such an action had no apparent logic behind it, but in the current zombie-filled world, people like that didn't live long, which meant something was up. Moving more slowly now, and watching where I stepped, I continued in the same direction. My instincts were very vigilant, still up in arms over my close call.

A glint of wire made me stop as I examined it from a distance. I tossed a couple of rocks, but nothing happened. Breaking the stem off a tall plant, I reached out to move it. The foot snare easily closed around the stalk, pulling a sharpened wooden stake out of the ground on some sort of rope hinge, where it would have stabbed deep into the leg of whoever had been unlucky enough to get caught in this trap.

Even more wary now, I kept going. I had never gone so slowly when I was tracking a scent, but this was far from normal circumstances.

Time passed with an almost agonizing slowness. I hadn't covered much distance, but I had found two more bear traps, half a dozen foot-stabbing snares, and even a pitfall trap, although that one had been easy to spot since there was no grass growing above it.

I disarmed each trap I found, although I manually released the springs on the bear traps so they didn't make any noise. Considering I had been going in a mostly straight line, there were probably a lot more around. Someone had put a lot of effort into setting all of these up.

The smell of rot was much stronger now and unpleasant. A normal zombie would be lured in like a bear to honey if they were downwind. I moved slowly and carefully as my glowing red eyes inspected everything around me.

The ground ahead dropped off into a large pit that held the source of the smell. At the bottom, a dead human had been tied to a stake on a platform. Considering he had been beheaded, it was clear someone thought he'd been infected. The pit was so deep that the platform and the body were still below the ground I stood on, which was why I hadn't been able to see it from a distance.

Once I was standing close to the edge, I could see the bottom of the pit. Instead of the dozens of zombies I had expected to find, there was – nothing. Just mud. A lot of mud with skid marks coming down the sides of the pit and disappearing into the water-sheened surface.

I could smell that a zombie had stumbled into this pit just before sunset; the sides were much too steep for it to climb out, so I suspected it sank so far beneath the mud that no trace of its scent could escape. Like quicksand.

My instincts twisted in warning, and I examined my surroundings with narrowed eyes, trying to determine what they had detected. I was surrounded by waist-high meadow grass, but as far as I could tell, there wasn't anything around me or near my feet.

I took a deep breath but didn't pick up much besides the rotting human and the fading traces of the submerged zombies. My instincts rose even higher, and I inhaled with a faint growl. I wasn't picking up many of the smaller and fainter scents. They were missing. Cloaked.

In a smooth and fluid movement, I backed into the tall grass and ducked out of sight. Back when I had been human, moving through long grass without giving away my position would have been impossible. As a Nightstalker, it was a challenge, but manageable. I crept farther away in a half-circle and tilted my head as I listened intently to the world around me.

After about ten minutes where only the crickets occasionally chirped, the faintest rustle of cloth came from the other side of the pit. If I hadn't been stationary and intently focused on the sounds around me, I would have missed the barely audible sound in the silent night.

I turned toward the noise and silently stalked in that direction, taking a roundabout route to get behind whoever was there. With my skills, I didn't have to raise my head above the grass, but it took some careful skulking since I couldn't smell my quarry.

It took me some time, but I finally found the man lying in the long grass. I took a deep breath, but once again, I couldn't smell him. It was like he wasn't even there. Whatever he was using to camouflage his scent worked astoundingly well, and he wore a mask with some sort of filter that prevented me from even picking up his breath.

He hadn't noticed me behind him and peered through the long grass around the pit with a pair of binoculars as if waiting for me to return. I could see a bow and arrows beside him, so he likely wasn't carrying a gun or he would have had it out. But with my ability to pick up scents incapacitated, I wasn't about to trust an assumption.

I examined him carefully, but I didn't see any other ranged weapon. Just the bow, a belt knife, and a long dagger. I slowly stood up and crossed my arms as I glared down at the oblivious man, who had almost certainly been the one to place the traps.

In my attempts to locate him, I had crept so close my shoes were mere feet from his boots. At this range, my speed should be sufficient to disarm him if he turned violent. Considering the number of traps I had encountered, I wasn't about to trust this man any farther than I could throw him. Even if he went farther than that, I still wouldn't trust him.

I kind of suspected this had something to do with the three Nightstalkers, but it would have taken them at least a week to travel from here to where their bodies now lay. So there had to be some other reason for this man to remain here so long. What kind of lunatic hides numerous traps in the middle of the countryside? Even Nicky isn't that crazy, and I sure hope this isn't a distant cousin of hers.

The world around us was getting brighter, and it wouldn't be long before I'd need to put my sunglasses on, but at the moment, I was a grey shadow with glowing red eyes. He should be able to see my silhouette in the dim predawn light without a flashlight, although I didn't see one from where I stood.

I sighed heavily. "I hope you have one hell of a good explanation for the number of bear traps I found. If one of my companions had stumbled into them, I would not have been impressed."

The man practically jumped out of his skin as my irritated voice came from behind him. With a surprised gasp, he flipped over onto his back and grabbed the large dagger on his belt, tensing up as if waiting for me to pounce. I watched him like a hawk; his knuckles were white from his grip, but he hadn't drawn the weapon yet.

After a quick glance around, he tore off his mask and threw it to the side, glaring at me furiously as he got over his initial shock.

"So, are you planning to torment me like you tortured my brother? Where are your companions?"

My instincts chafed against his tone, but I kept my voice halfway bored. "Unless Daniel is your brother, then you have mistaken me for someone else. As to my companions, the humans are sleeping with Daniel keeping watch."

"If you think I am going to fall- wait, you're a girl..." He trailed off, squinting at me in the dim light.

I growled lightly at his choice of words. "I'm no child. If you insist on calling me girl, then I'll call you boy. So, boy, why don't you sit up and tell me what you're mumbling about?"

My words and tone had him glaring at me again, but I would have been far angrier if I hadn't spotted that trap in the first place. The man held his tongue and regarded me while taking the chance to get to his feet. He blinked in surprise when he realized just how short I was, although he still stepped back to put more distance between us.

I huffed in agitation at his incredulous expression. "So what were you saying about a brother?" The question was likely a moot point since I had a feeling I already knew what happened.

He glanced between me and the dead man tied to the stake, cautious, but no longer furious or even really expecting an attack. With his mask off, I was finally able to pick up some scents from him, the primary one being grief, with confusion and distrust being close seconds.

"Just over a week ago, three Nightstalkers came through," he finally said. "They caught us and tied us up. One licked his fingernails before taking a swipe at my brother, drawing blood. They laughed as they dragged him away."

He clenched his teeth at the memory, and I waited silently, feeling some compassion for the man since I couldn't imagine what I would feel if someone tried doing that with Jess. I'd probably have murdered them.

"I heard him scream as they tortured him. By the time I got loose, they had already tied him to that stake and cut his head off. That group hung around for two days, tormenting me with threats before disappearing for several hours, only to reappear later. I know they'll be back, so I set up those traps to catch them."

Needless to say, I had a pretty good idea of who he was referring to. "Two with brown hair and one blonde? All men?"

He narrowed his eyes, his guard back up. "You know them?"

I snorted. "No, but we ran into them a few days ago. They're dead."

He shook his head. "I highly doubt that. Not all three of them. They occasionally played dead just to lure you closer."

I held out my arms and twisted them in case he was able to see the bandage or darker scabs in the dim light. "It wasn't an easy fight, but they weren't aware I was around when they tried to kill one of my companions."

"I don't see how you could have killed three Nightstalkers, even if you're a zombie." He stubbornly refused to believe the foes he had been waiting for were truly dead.

"It was those three Nightstalkers against myself and a Terror," I replied with a dark chuckle. "I also have a bad habit of playing dirty in a fight, and they didn't expect that."

"You're traveling with a Terror?" He paled slightly.

I shrugged. "Unfortunately. He's a right pain in the ass some days, although he gets along much better with humans. You might have heard of the sane zombie that resides at Ironwind Stronghold? Well, that's him."

Recognition flashed through his eyes. "I heard of that one. But what are you doing down here? And what do you want from me?"

"We heard rumors of a feral Nightstalker around here and came to investigate in case it wandered too close to a Stronghold, but it seems those three were the ones responsible. As for why I stumbled across you, I was trying to figure out where all the local zombies were and tracked one over here. All I want from you is for you to take down those wretched traps before a human steps in them."

"That's it?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. "The others made a ton of demands and threats." The man's hand fell away from his