"There you are!" Nicky exclaimed, gazing down at me. "Why are you digging a well?"

"You know as well as I do that it's for the telephone post."

"Yeah, and I told you that you'd end up over here."

"So why are you here?"

"Because it's time for your afternoon patrol, and I want to vacate the area while the paint fumes dry. I almost had a heart attack when I saw the side-by-side was gone. If I couldn't go with you, I would've had to do something constructive, like actually work. But Hank was kind enough to tell me you took it. Then I saw it parked out here."

"And now you're over here bothering me." I tossed a bucketful of dirt out of the hole, forcing her to dodge the soil.

"Yep. And since you skipped lunch, I know you've been playing in the dirt for at least six hours. So quit pretending you're a rabbit and let's go for a patrol."

"You're just worried John is going to bury you in one of these holes."

"It ain't him I'm worried about. Let's go."

I gave her a long look. "Who else did you annoy?"

"I'm not entirely sure if she's going to be annoyed or not, but I may or may not have overheard your comment about forgetting to paint Jess's door."

That brought a smirk to my lips. "You're scared of Jess?" Of all the people to be worried about...

"Not really, but she's got this rather short-tempered older sister who actually concerns me, so I'd rather that Jess be unable to find her when she realizes what I did to her door."

That makes more sense. With a sigh, I jumped out of the hole.

"Fine. Someone else can finish what I started." It was going to take more than a few days to dig all the holes, even with Daniel and me pitching in.

Nicky promptly ran over to the side-by-side and scrambled into the driver's seat. I grabbed my backpack and started jogging.

~

       Nicky was remarkably silent as she sat down with her dinner on the rooftop, although from John and Jess's lack of reaction, they must not have seen their doors yet. As soon as Jess discovered Nicky had found her door, we'd hear about it. She wasn't exactly the quietest person around, although I had yet to find a bright color she didn't love.

"I confirmed the waves will continue getting shorter," Nina said as she spread some butter on a bun. "The airborne strain has a special section in its RNA, and each time it's transmitted, it loses a piece of it. Kind of like how the telomeres on the end of human chromosomes shorten each time the cell splits. Eventually, it will lose its ability to replicate."

"Do you have any idea how long that might be?" John asked.

"If the rate between the last three waves holds steady, it'll be about two and half years before the airborne version disappears. It won't affect the regular virus in zombies since that type lost that section when its host turned, so saliva and blood will remain the main vectors for transmission."

"Is the shortening section also responsible for making the sneezing time shorter?" I inquired.

Nina inclined her head in approval. "Exactly so. About six or seven hours are lost from the sneezing window each time. I'll be letting the other research centers know this later tonight. Our best defense is to spread the cure as widely as possible."

"That's a good plan," Luke agreed with a nod. "Especially since I'm not having much luck with turning the zombie's blood into a vaccine base."

"Are the immune system defenses still not cooperating?" John asked kindly.

"A few white blood cells will attack it in about a third of the samples, but that's about it. And it isn't enough to provide future immunity."

"You've only been trying for a few days," John consoled his disappointed brother. "I'm sure you'll figure something out."

Luke nodded, although he looked disheartened by his lack of progress.

"I've been trying to make a vaccine for nine months now," Nina reassured him, "and even my work on a cure and other drugs didn't see much progress for the first seven months. Once I finish my current tests, I'll come see if I can lend my aid."

"Thanks. I've never really delved into the world of vaccines, other than to administer them to animals, so I'm kind of out of my depth. When you have time to look, I'm curious to see what you might find."

"It might take me a few days to finish what I'm testing, but I'm looking forward to seeing if we might be able to make any headway on it."

"No rush," Luke assured her.

Silence fell as they continued eating.

After a few minutes, Nina said, "Oh, and thank you, Nicky,"

"Err, for what?" The redhead asked, slightly nervous, which had me eyeing her up.

"For painting my door." She seemed honestly happy about it, which kind of surprised me. "It was getting pretty faded and dirty, and I actually like magenta and orange. It makes the perfect accent wall, or in this case, door. Would it be possible for you to replicate that pattern on the inside of my door as well?"

I raised an eyebrow at Nicky. I had a feeling my sister wasn't the only person she'd been trying to avoid. Given the amount of time she'd had on her hands, there could be a few other casualties as well.

Nicky scratched her head, thoroughly baffled by Nina's grateful reply. "That wasn't quite the reaction I was expecting, although I can try copying it tomorrow."

"That'd be great. Thank you."

I blinked slowly, although Daniel merely glanced at the redhead, so he must have already known.

"I forgot to check my door," John said. "I'll have to go look once we finish eating."

"You have blue and white swirls," Nicky informed him in her usual tone, already recovered from her brush with the scientist whose power and reaction she might not have been entirely sure of. "Although I'm not sure if one of the colors counts as blue or green."

John looked excited at the prospect of seeing what she had done. Knowing Nicky, it was either very good, or something we'd be covering up tomorrow. Oddly enough, now that I thought about it, Daniel had never bothered to repaint his door, although I didn't think he was the type of person who liked painting.

"How is that lady doing?" Jess asked. "The one from last night."

"She's leaving tomorrow morning with our traders," Nina replied. "I spoke with her briefly, although she doesn't remember much from her time as a Runner. Just that she was trying to get to a Stronghold called Ironwind to get the cure. And that she was supposed to avoid animals, humans, and meat." She looked at me. "She asked me to relay her thanks to you for helping her."

I shrugged, uncomfortable with the expressed gratitude, even if it was relayed by someone else.

"If I can ask," Jess said, with an unsure look at Luke, "why did she have so much trouble even though others like Luke managed... I don't know the right word... better?"

"The only reason I can set foot in this Stronghold is due to the controlex," Luke answered kindly. "Most Runners are like what Trinity described, and they rarely remain sane for long. I would liken it to how people have different tolerances to alcohol, although it didn't take much to drink me under the table."

"It could even be due to something like blood types," Nina chipped in. "None of the feral Runners I've taken blood samples from have Luke's blood type, although two of them have the same as Trinity, so it might not mean much, or it just might not matter among different ranks."

"That could be it," Luke replied. "All I know is most Runners go feral, and I had a few too many close calls before the controlex."

Nicky scraped her fork across her plate to collect the last dredges of gravy as she added her two cents. "If a Runner chases me, I run. If they wave and say hello, then I'd give them a chance."

"A wise plan," Luke said.

"Speaking of plans," Nicky said, "do you feel up for another game of pin the tail on the donkey after dinner?"

"The game last night was fun, and after I see John's door, I'd be happy to join."

"I agree," Nina said. "I have to check one or two things in the lab, but after that, I'd like to join the game again."

"Sure," Nicky said. "Although Trinity and Daniel can't be on the same team unless I'm also on it."

"Their archery skills are rather good," Luke offered.

As they finished their meal, the conversation revolved around the best way to balance the teams for fairness.

"If anyone wants to come, I'm going to see what my door looks like before dropping my dishes in the dining hall and heading to the archery lanes." John stood up.

"I'll come," Luke quickly said.

"I want to see his reaction," Nicky said, bounding to her feet.

Everyone else joined the entourage to see what Nicky had done. Even as we descended to the main floor, then began climbing the stairs to the second floor, the smell of wet paint lingered in the air. If the paint fumes in my room were anything like what was in the hallway, I was going to have to leave my window open all night to air it out.

We barely stepped into the hallway before Jess noticed Nicky's door was no longer white.

"Look at your door! I love how it looks like a fire!" Jess exclaimed.

I wasn't sure how Nicky had mixed the paints to get these colors, but they looked a lot like a fire, right down to the blue flickers found near the bright orange embers. The small silver flame pendant that Jess had given her sat right in the heart of the fire.

"Impressive," I commented, waiting to see how long it would take Jess to notice what was four doors away.

Jess ogled at Nicky's paint job in longing envy. She moved ahead to let the others have a closer look. Only then did she notice her door wasn't its usual dull-white self.

"Oh!" She stopped and stared at it, then glanced at a grinning Nicky before running forward for a closer look. "Thank you! I love it! It's perfect!"

Jess continued gushing over the door and how much she loved it as the group came down the paint-fume-laden hallway. Leaves in various shades of green had been painted onto a black background. Her four-leaf clover door hanger was now attached to the door above the doorknob.

"You're getting pretty talented at this," I told Nicky. "At this rate, you'll have to repaint Daniel's door so it isn't so plain."

The comment earned me a glower from Daniel, who was sure to adore whatever questionable color Nicky might dig out of that shed.

"I'm tempted to add big tropical flowers," she replied with a flattered grin, "but it doesn't quite fit, so I'll have to keep thinking."

Daniel closed his eyes as he tried to retain that odd thing called patience. John had other things on his mind and walked ahead, eager to see his own door after admiring the latest masterpieces.

"Oh, I like this..." John's eyes drank in the complex swirls and shading on his door.

I tilted my head, trying to decide if the paint job reminded me more of a rolling storm cloud or a wave crashing upon a beach. Something with flow, at any rate.

"Not quite the same pattern that was on Daniel's shirt," Nicky said, pleased by John's reaction, "but this fit better. I added some subtle shading to Luke's door so it has a similar pattern, but I was running out of those colors."

"I like how they match," Luke said. "It really gives it character, which it wouldn't have had with just one color. Thank you very much."

Nicky preened under the attention and compliments.

"Let's go see Nina's door!" Jess said excitedly.

I hadn't been able to see Nina's door while going between the two stairwells, but now I was curious since Nicky had been on quite an artistic streak.

As our group rapidly headed for the stairs, I made a quick detour into my room to open the window as far as it would go.

-------

If anyone feels like drawing Nicky's and Jess's door, I'd love to see it!