Chapter 8

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After far too much driving, we pulled up to a small gas station with a flat roof.

I tested the air as I hopped out. "There's a couple of zombies in the area, although none are close by."

Nicky nodded and grabbed her backpack as she got out. I hefted the ladder and leaned it against the building before climbing up to the roof.

By the time I got to the top, Daniel was waiting to toss our stuff up to me. The first object was the large tent for Nina and Nicky, followed by the sleeping bags. Most of our supplies could stay in the truck, so it didn't take long before we had the essentials.

I helped Nicky and Nina unroll the tent while Daniel set up the small firepit and arranged the chairs around it.

"I'll grab some firewood," he said, heading to the edge of the roof and jumping down.

That was usually my excuse to avoid having to help set up this tent. It took a bit of communication, particularly with Nicky, but soon we had all the supporting poles unfolded and in their proper places.

Daniel returned just as we convinced the tent to stand under its own power. He started the fire while we finished up and stashed the sleeping bags inside.

Nina sat by the fire and sorted through the remaining food while the rest of us sat in our usual chairs. With a meditative expression, Daniel gazed at the fire, eventually looking at me.

When he didn't look away, I turned my head to face him. "What?" My voice clearly told him that I didn't appreciate him staring at me.

He blinked slowly, calm and contemplative, but still didn't look away. "I think you know the answer to that."

I rolled my eyes and responded in a dry voice, "If I had, I wouldn't have asked."

He snorted lightly, although he seemed faintly amused despite my tone. "How did you do it?"

"Setting up the tent or sitting in the chair?"

"How did you get your wounds to heal so fast?" he clarified. "What did you do?"

Nina blinked in surprise and glanced between the two of us as she caught onto Daniel's deduction. I guess he isn't as dense as I thought he was. He knows that I know something. He just doesn't know how I did it.

"What makes you think I did anything? You saw me sitting in the back of the truck all day."

His eyes never left me. "I'm not sure what you did, but I know you're doing something. Your previous wounds also spiked in healing at a certain point as well. Besides, you didn't react when I kept watching you in the mirror while driving, and that should have irritated you to no end. Yet, your scent was halfway amused. You did this to me with the wrestling thing, and you found it amusing then as well."

I sat motionlessly as I debated my options. He clearly knew I was doing something, and all of his observations were valid. With a sigh, I dug into my backpack while Daniel and Nina watched me intently. Nicky gave me a strange look, surprised I was letting this secret go so easily.

In the end, he was a zombie, so he would have figured it out eventually. I lobbed a small jar at him, which he easily caught. He turned it over as he examined the red liquid inside. He gingerly opened it and took a small sniff. His expression grew even more confused at the scent of rabbit blood and my saliva. Blood that should have been clotted by now, hadn't, likely due to something in my saliva and how I had spit it into the jar.

Nina leaned forward. "What is it?"

"It's rabbit blood." Daniel sent me a puzzled look.

"Why is she carrying that in a jar? I thought zombies disliked drinking cold blood."

They both looked at me.

I smirked at Daniel. "I just handed you a key clue. Surely you can figure it out from here."

He frowned slightly, not truly upset, but a bit annoyed I wouldn't come right out and give him a straight answer. Nicky started snickering at his frustration with the purposely unforthcoming Nightstalker.

The sound had Daniel examining her instead. "You don't seem particularly surprised or confused..."

Huh. He's in a rather perceptive mood today. If this becomes the norm, I won't be able to get away with half of what I currently manage.

"Nope. I know the secret," Nicky declared with a grin.

Startled by that revelation, Nina asked, "Really?"

Nicky rubbed her hands together like she was plotting world domination. "Zombie secrets are the best. Blood, tomato juice, soap, rutabagas... The list goes on and on."

Rutabagas? I'm not even going to ask...

Nina opened her notepad. "How did you find out about them?"

I rolled my eyes at her roundabout attempt at prying clues out of the redhead. Unfortunately for Nina, Nicky liked tormenting Daniel too much to slip in such a fashion.

Nicky shrugged. "Trinity dropped some hints, and I put them together. It took a few tries to get the correct answer, but I managed it. Take my advice and don't stick a mini firecracker inside a rutabaga. You get the wrong answer."

Nina and Daniel glanced at me, and I simply smirked as a response. Nicky had a wild imagination, but for all I knew, she might have blown up a rutabaga at some point in her somewhat daunting past. Nina dutifully scribbled down the facts, warning, and her own speculations.

"Care to expand on Nicky's comments?" Daniel asked me.

I bared my teeth in a feral grin. "The answers lie within your instincts. I've already given you far more hints than I originally intended."

He sat up straighter in sudden realization. "You knew I'd notice your injuries were healing faster than mine."

Okay, maybe he isn't the sharpest crayon in the box after all... "I thought that was kind of obvious..."

He growled faintly at the mild insult, and the faintest flicker of red flashed through his eyes. I ignored the faint growl and pointedly stared at the fire, although the flames were high enough that it was somewhat uncomfortable.

Nicky started chuckling. "Do you honestly think she worked so hard to get those wounds to disappear, and it didn't cross her mind that you or Nina wouldn't notice the difference?"

Daniel gritted his teeth and growled lowly at Nicky, the red flashing through his eyes again, lingering slightly longer this time. Nicky grinned at his reaction before leaning over and digging through her backpack. She pulled out a bottle of dish soap and placed it near her feet with a flourish.

I smirked at her actions and Daniel's suspicious glare. She's just evil. There's no way he'll consider soap harmless after how she lumped it together with her knowledge of my enhanced healing. It must make him wonder every time he washes his hands.

"Why don't you go hunting and see if you can figure things out?" I suggested.

It would also separate him from Nicky, which would keep things from potentially escalating. Daniel gave me a long look, but eventually sighed and nodded. He got to his feet and walked to the edge of the roof.

"Oh. Daniel?"

He paused and glanced back at me. "Yes?"

I grinned evilly. "This trick is a double-edged sword, so don't hurt yourself too badly. Consider that my final hint."

Surprise, then more frustration crossed his face at the nearly useless advice. I wasn't sure if he wanted to thank me for the warning or strangle me for being such an ambiguous pain in the ass.

He settled for a gruff response. "Thanks."

There was more than a hint of sarcasm in his reply, which I found more amusing than irritating in my current mood. He dropped off the roof and was soon jogging to the forest again.

As vague and nonspecific as the warning was, it was a valid concern. The heat that focused around a wound while it was being doctored could reach insanely painful levels if too much blood was applied at once. The heat also took quite a bit of time to fade, sometimes even hours.

He would be careful with anything he tried now, so he should be able to avoid that error. I smirked as he disappeared into the trees, knowing the suspense would drive him crazy as he wondered if each attempt was going to help or hurt. I believe I might be the kind of teacher that students pray they don't get.

I leaned back in my chair and regarded the fire through half-closed eyes, admiring the yellow in the flames. After not being able to see it for so long, it really made me appreciate the bright color.

"Well, that was fun," Nicky commented.

She started digging through her backpack and pulled out a bag of peanuts to munch on. Nina was still writing in the notepad, so both of them were occupied for now.

I wondered how long it would take Daniel to realize he actually had to put blood on the wound. It really wasn't that obvious considering we normally drank it. Our own blood didn't do anything, but the second he saw the animal blood disappear into the wound, he would know he'd found something noteworthy.

Putting her notebook down for now, Nina pulled some flour and several other items out of a bag by her feet. Her meticulousness in the lab transferred over to her cooking. I had never seen someone manage to make bread dough without getting a single spot of flour on themselves. Admittedly, it also took her much, much longer.

The bread and fried sausages were almost done cooking by the time Daniel finally emerged from the forest. About time, I was beginning to wonder if he had gotten lost... As he jumped onto the roof, I glanced over and did a double-take as I regarded him in faint disbelief.

He hadn't figured it out.

Despite his thirty-minute excursion, his scratches still weren't doctored. How is this even possible? I know his instincts are alive and kicking because I'm constantly triggering them. How did he spend so much time out there searching for the answer and still not figure it out?

From his sour expression, he was more upset about that than I was, and my disbelieving gawking wasn't helping his mood. Nina looked up with an expectant expression, but it disappeared when she saw his expression.

"No luck?" she asked somewhat tentatively.

"None," he growled. "I'm so full I couldn't even manage another drop. It did nothing, and I made sure to target rabbits too." He turned to me with a frown. "I'm obviously missing something."

Did he really expect me to just explain it to him? He needed his head examined with thoughts like that. I wasn't that type of teacher, nor had I ever met a zombie so out of tune with their instincts before. Even after being around him for over a month, I still had a hard time wrapping my head around it. I was sorely tempted to make him walk back, adding rules like behaving like a zombie whenever he encountered a feral.

"It took you over a week to figure out the wrestling thing, so you'll eventually manage this. This time you have some incentive." My blunt tone revealed I wasn't going to budge in my decision.

He shook his head with a low growl, more in control than I expected after such a comment, although after hunting, his instincts would be fairly mellow. "I think you might have written the manual on how to be stubborn."

I snickered but didn't contradict him. As a Nightstalker, I was as stubborn as a stick in the mud, and I knew it.

"Why are you refusing to tell me?" he finally asked.

Tilting my head slightly, more serious now, I studied the higher-ranking zombie who had never resorted to violence to tear a strip out of my miserable hide, regardless of how much I provoked him.

"I think you unconsciously understand the necessity of figuring this out on your own. There are reasons, rather good ones, in fact."

Daniel frowned, still confused and frustrated. He examined my expression and slowly nodded, although he clearly wasn't happy with the outcome of this discussion. That was good – he had to learn, and the sooner, the better.

The tension that had disappeared after our wrestling match still hadn't reappeared, so he was making progress. He just had a lot to learn, and considering he was an original, he was so far behind he could mistake himself for being ahead.

"He may have to figure it out by himself," Nicky said, "but if we're going to attempt any explosions, then I call dibs on the lighter."

My instincts shifted as I eyed up the redhead. "Why are you so obsessed with explosions lately? They never interested you before."

"That guy made a huge fire, and I have to beat that. You probably won't let me have a fire that big, and nothing beats an explosion! Well, except a bigger explosion."

Coming from Nicky, such a statement was faintly alarming. Simply giving Nicky coffee was dangerous – explosives were to be avoided at all costs.

"How about we don't play with explosives? I'm sure there's warning labels on them for a reason."

"Warning labels are useless around me!" Nicky cackled. "And no label can ever properly communicate my potential!"

That is exactly what has me worried.

Nina whispered to Daniel, "If you see anything like an explosive or fireworks in her hands, you need to act fast."

Daniel nodded seriously.

Nicky caught the whisper and grinned at the scientist. "Ah, but I know what a few of the chemicals in the lab can do if they're mixed in the proper proportions."

"You're not using my lab supplies for explosions." Nina leveled a stern glare upon the woman who was fixated on making something go boom.

"That kind of sounds like a challenge to me."

Both Daniel and I growled at her at the same time, and Nicky gave us an odd look. "For being so different, you two are far too much alike sometimes."

"That comes with being zombies," I replied tartly. "If you try to make anything explode, I'll tie you up."

Her grin disappeared as she eyed me warily. "Why is it that I take your threats far more seriously than Daniel's?"

"Because you know I won't make the mistake of leaving you unsupervised."

"That's probably it." She shrugged, dismissing the riddle, then perking up and excitedly asking, "Can I blow up another rutabaga?"

I hadn't even seen a rutabaga since the zombies appeared, so this was probably safer than anything else she might think about blowing up. "As long as everyone has twenty-four hours' notice, you use miniature firecrackers, and you don't do it inside of a Stronghold or near anyone."

Not even bothering to complain about the list of conditions, Nicky whooped. "Awesome! Do you have a rutabaga?"

"Nope."

She groaned. "You take all the fun out of everything. Can I blow something else up?"

"How about that package of markers?" Daniel quickly suggested.

Nicky shook her head fiercely. "Not a chance. I ain't ever giving those up. Trinity gave me those, and they're the first present she ever gave me. Other than the door hanger from Jess, I haven't had a present in over five years. The person who steals my markers or that door hanger had better hide, because I'll be in hot pursuit."

Sometimes loyalty met crazy and their combined momentum took things to another level. I made a mental note to think before giving her anything else in the future, even if it wasn't meant as an actual gift since she clearly put great value on anything given to her. Nina and Daniel didn't know how to respond to that fierce declaration about a simple package of markers and remained silent.

I lifted my head in sudden suspicion. "Nicky, do you actually have more firecrackers?"

"No..." she replied dejectedly.

I sighed in relief, although I was pretty sure I would have been able to smell any explosives had she been carrying them. "Good."

"Hey!"

I grinned darkly at her. "That means Daniel can't steal them and use them to blow up your felts."

"Oh, I guess that's a good thing then. Speaking of the felts, don't forget about your promise to wear those socks one day."

I smirked. "I'm already ahead of you on that one."

All three sent me an astonished look before glancing at my black socks in confusion.

Nicky scratched her head. "Unless I've suddenly become color blind, you might need to clean your sunglasses."

I rolled the black sock down to reveal the tormented rainbow one beneath it. "You said I had to wear them. You said nothing about them being visible."

Daniel gaped at the hidden rainbow cloth, stunned by my ability to think outside the box. Although, now that I thought about it, he never had agreed to wear the socks in the first place. I had stumbled into the water bucket trap right then, and the matter had been forgotten.

To my surprise, Nicky started laughing wildly, finding it so hilarious she was close to falling out of her chair. Considering I had expected her to protest against the unfairness of my method, this wasn't the reaction I'd been expecting.

Nicky eventually managed to get herself under control and wiped away a laughter tear. "Oh... You can always tell who your friends are. I know Daniel has no intention of wearing those socks, and he thinks I simply forgot about him, but it didn't even cross my mind that you'd wear them since Daniel never agreed to it. Especially not the very next day."

Daniel had the grace to look somewhat chagrined at being caught, partially due to Nina glancing at him with an "I told you so" look.

"I always keep my promises, even if I don't like doing it," I said.

Nicky took a deep breath, trying to recover after laughing so hard. "You can take them off. I know you don't like things that stand out."

That was a startling concession from Nicky. However, my mind was one step ahead of her.

I gazed at her intently. "How about I wear them like this for another couple of days, and you promise to check with me before doing anything with explosives or fireworks? For safety's sake, of course."

She grinned enthusiastically at me. "Deal."

In my mind, the trade was well worth it. It would take us two days to get back to Ironwind Stronghold, so no one would see the colorful socks even if they weren't hidden. Since I was a zombie, my feet didn't sweat, so wearing two layers of socks wasn't much of an inconvenience.


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