The sun slowly rose above the horizon as I walked down the dusty road. A zombie half-jogged toward me, thinking I was an easy target. I gave a sharp growl, which made it stumble to a stop and rethink its decision. Now that it knew I was also a zombie, it lost interest and turned around.
It finally spotted the horseback rider trotting toward us, and it took off at a shuffling jog. The rider already had a dozen zombies trailing behind him, and he ignored the incoming one in favor of waving at me.
I waved once in reply, not ambitious enough for anything more elaborate, but he seemed happy to get more than my typical nod.
"Welcome back, Trinity," he said as he got closer, guiding his horse casually around the regular zombie I had just rebuked.
"Thanks. Leading the morning horde away, I presume?"
"There are a few on the far side of Ironwind, but this is most of them. I'll return for the others once I leave this group in the ravine." With the zombies chasing him, he wasn't able to stop for a longer conversation. "Have a good day!"
"You too." Turning my head, I bestowed a frown on the clueless zombies who now thought I was the closest target, with the exception of the one I had just growled at. Another growl had them detouring around me as they continued down the road.
As I rounded a bend, the trees ended, revealing Ironwind in the middle of a meadow. The main fence was impressive, standing over thirty feet in the air with power poles as posts.
Small sections of four-foot chain-link fence dotted the grass here and there, remnants of a perimeter fence system that hadn't worked out, but parts had been left up in case someone was running from a zombie and needed an obstacle to slow them down.
As I got closer to the gate, a flurry of activity erupted inside as people ran like feral zombies were chasing them. The guards weren't sounding the alarm, which meant it wasn't a real emergency, although some of those running might disagree.
One of the guards came over and opened the gate for me. "Welcome back."
"Uh-huh. What did I just come back to?"
"Good question. I'm not sure."
"I think I'll sit in the guard tower until things calm down." Without waiting for a reply, I quickly scaled the ladder.
The female guard on the platform gave me a brief nod and turned her attention to the center of the Stronghold. I walked to the opposite corner and leaned on the railing as I followed her gaze. It didn't take long to spot the redhead pelting after three teens who had been a bit too slow to hide.
"Perhaps I should have stayed in the mountains for an extra day," I muttered, wondering if Nicky was psychic or if the timing was purely coincidental.
"The weather has been so nice we weren't expecting you back for a couple more days," the female guard murmured, mostly focused on the people running around and hiding.
"It was tempting. Huh. She almost caught that one. He's lucky she stumbled." I regarded the chase scene below more closely. "She's definitely out of practice. Half a year ago, she would have caught two or three of them by now."
"Now that you mention it, I think Nicky only had one insanity blitz so far this year. We used to have zombie drills every month until she came along and rendered such things unnecessary."
"They're getting complacent," I stated with a frown. "We either need to bring those drills back or get Nicky wound up more frequently."
"No coffee," the guard immediately said, bringing a smirk to my lips.
At least some people remembered the chaos the redhead was capable of dredging up. Unfortunately for one young man, Nicky was gaining on him, and he was about to be reminded of that the hard way.
The guard and I both watched as her hands finally snagged his jacket. A yank knocked him off balance, and as he fell, Nicky tripped over her latest victim, sending them both rolling in the dust.
"Where did she get a set of handcuffs?" I murmured. "I thought we took them all away."
"I'm not sure, but he's definitely not going far with his wrist clasped to his ankle. Oh, there's Daniel. It's Jack's lucky day."
The Terror quickly intercepted the redhead before she could charge after another victim. When she tried to snap the handcuffs around his wrists, he plucked them out of her hands and clipped them around her wrists so quickly it looked like a magic trick.
With her hands bound in front of her, he began dragging her over to a large metal cage behind the garage. Her feet were braced in front of her, but her shoes just skidded over the dirt covering the pavement as she fumbled at her wrists.
By the time he pushed her inside, she'd already managed to remove the cuffs. Alas, she was slower than usual because Daniel had already twisted a piece of metal rebar around the door to lock her in.
He stepped back and watched as she rattled the door. Reassured that peace was once more restored, he turned away. After taking a couple of steps, he paused and lifted his head as if catching my scent. He scanned the area and quickly noticed me in the guard post.
"You could have distracted her," he called out, his voice reaching me faintly.
"And ruin your fun?" I replied loudly enough for him to hear.
He shook his head but said, "Welcome back."
As he walked back to the secondary building, Nicky finally spotted me and waved excitedly from inside her time-out cage. Unfortunately for her, I had zero intention of going near that area for an hour or so.
"I'll let her cool her heels in there for a while," I told the guard. "Do you know if Jess made it to the dining area? Or is she still in the secondary building?"
"I think she's in her workshop," she replied, nodding at the sprawling building with gardens on all sides.
"Why am I not surprised..." I said as I descended the ladder, noticing that people were already emerging from hiding instead of waiting several minutes.
The door to the workshop was unlocked, another sign that some of the residents of Ironwind had been getting lax. A couple of tiny bells on the door jingled as I opened it.
"Hello?" a familiar voice called from one of the back rooms.
"Why is your door unlocked during a zombie drill?"
"Trin! You're back!" My sister's footsteps scampered like Nicky was after her, rapidly approaching as she skidded into the main hallway.
With a sigh, I opened my arms and braced myself for her hug as she ran over. Her arms wrapped around my neck, which my instincts immediately protested against. I overrode the compulsion to slash her, and thankfully, Jess released me before I had to remind my sister I was a Nightstalker with personal space issues.
"I'm so glad to see you back!" She peered past me and through the open door. "You said something about a zombie drill?"
"How did you not notice that Nicky just took a trip to the darkside?"
"Oh, that. I accidentally gave her my tea and didn't notice until she drank half of it, and by then, it was too late." Jess shrugged as if it didn't concern her. Considering how rarely Nicky targeted our sister, she probably didn't take the drill seriously.
"I ought to let her out of that cage..." I muttered darkly.
"That probably isn't necessary. Most Strongholds only have drills once or twice a year, and even then, it mostly revolves around setting up a light source to stop a feral Nightstalker," Jess pointed out logically, reminding me that most places were no longer terrified of zombies unless they got within arm's reach.
I snorted faintly. "In case you haven't noticed, a zombie outbreak isn't exactly a risk to me. Please tell me that you have your escape routes memorized."
She pointed to a doorway beside her. "The bunker is prepped with two weeks' worth of food and water. And, as you so pointed out, the cement is strong enough to stop a Nightstalker, and the door is sealed sufficiently to ensure my scent goes through the filters in the air pipe in case a feral Terror somehow gets past Daniel and you."
I grumbled but relented as she pointed out the defenses I'd help build when she was worried about a zombie invasion a couple of years ago.
She wrapped one arm around my shoulders comfortingly. "You don't need to worry so much. Ironwind is well protected. Nothing can get over the fence, and someone would notice a zombie breaking through it." Noticing my tensing muscles, she dropped her arm and stepped back to give me some space.
Nicky's head popped around the doorframe. "Yeah, but she's a Nightstalker. It's her job to be pessimistic. Welcome back, by the way."
"How did you get out?" I asked. There was no way Daniel would have let her out already.
The redhead skipped inside. "Someone forgot to check how well one of the bars was attached."
"Maybe I should have ducked into the bunker and read a book while waiting," Jess murmured, glancing sideways at the door.
"I'm with Trinity on this issue," Nicky said, crossing her arms. "Next time there's a drill, use the bunker you made me haul rocks to build. Yes, I know we have four watchdog zombies living here who'd intercept any dangerous feral. And yes, I know a Stronghold hasn't fallen in almost a year; but I also know that things have been peaceful for far too long, and we are still in a zombie apocalypse."
I regarded our adopted sister. "I thought you were too coherent when chasing those people. You instigated that one on purpose."
"Of course, I did," she said, flashing a grin at me. "They were just lucky I put the wrong pair of shoes on."
"Wait, what?" Jess blinked owlishly. "I thought that was the tea?"
"Sorry, Jess, but I'm not a fan of that flavor. Your plants got an extra drink. They should grow well for the next few weeks."
"Oh..."
"At least no one will blame you this time," I told Jess.
"True," she said. "Since I don't have to stay inside anymore, feel like coming with me to the lab?"
"Oh, let's go!" Nicky exclaimed as she skipped back out the door. "I can't wait to see Daniel's face!" She paused and told Jess, "You might have to stand to the side in case Daniel blames Trinity. Her instincts could be a bit temperamental after five days of solitude."
Jess went outside. "I thought vacations were supposed to relax you?"
"My instincts like being the boss," I reminded her dryly, closing the door behind me.
"And they don't take kindly to being demoted," Nicky chimed in, still far too hyper for my preference.
"Perhaps I need to fix your time-out cage and stick you back in."
"I thought you were trying to remind this place that nothing is truly safe?" she asked, glancing back at me quizzically.
I snorted and didn't dignify that with a reply. As we went by the cage that looked suspiciously intact, I made a mental note to hide a bolt cutter under a corner the next time I left for a few days. Just to keep Daniel entertained, of course.
My excuse was that it wasn't possible to have too many zombie drills, and as the guards and I had just seen, this place was out of practice. The other Strongholds were also getting careless, and that bothered me like an itch I couldn't scratch.
Whenever people got complacent, all hell tended to break loose.