Wren shot another arrow at a ball of grass we'd hung on a tree, and it struck true yet again.
"I think you have the hang of it," I told her. "Do you want to see if we can find some rabbits or quail?"
Jax pointed to the side. "I think I saw some quail over there when we were coming this way. Not sure if they're still there or if they scampered off."
"Let's go check," Wren said eagerly.
We let her take the lead as we trudged through the shrubs and tall grasses. With the amount of noise we'd been making while Wren was trying out her bow, the quail had likely moved on. The smell of water grew stronger as we approached the canal, although I couldn't smell any quail.
Wren's shoulders slumped when we reached the canal. It was over ten feet across, and quail were noisy little buggers in the air, so we would have heard them take flight. A couple of dragonflies zipped above the water as minnows created tiny ripples.
Her gaze skimmed the shrubs behind us. "They must have left. I wonder if there is anything else around."
Past Nicky's shoulder, some ripples appeared on the water as a duck swam into sight. I inclined my head in that direction. "Duck."
Nicky instantly dropped to the ground and rolled to the side. Even as she craned her neck around to see what was behind her, the duck quacked several times.
"You have good reflexes," I commented, impressed at how quickly she'd thrown herself to the dirt with zero warning.
She mock-scowled at me and stood up, dusting off her knees. "After the week we've had, you really have to be more specific when you stare at something behind me and say duck."
She might have had a point, but I wasn't about to admit it. Instead, I asked Wren, "Do you want to shoot it down there or spook it into flight so we aren't trying to fish it out of the water?"
Wren pursed her lips and glanced at the bridge several hundred feet away. "The water is at least four feet below the top of the canal wall. It'd be easier to collect it on dry ground, but it'll fly away from us, and it might bleed out by the time we reach the bridge and get across."
"Wait here," I said as I jogged away.
Once I was far enough away to not bother the duck, I picked up speed and jumped over the canal. The duck would fly away from the one spooking it, and if that someone was me, it would fly to Wren's side of the canal.
Wren put an arrow on the bow as I looped around, guessing my plans. As I got closer, I could see that there were two more ducks farther down the canal. If they behaved like the wild ducks back home, the instant one took flight, the others would too. I took my bow off my backpack and grabbed two arrows in case Wren missed her target.
"I'll let you shoot, but if you miss, I'll see if I can bring it down." My words were loud enough that the duck was making small quacks and watching me rather alertly. Unfortunately for the duck, its reflexes were nowhere near as lifesaving as Nicky's were.
I raised my arms and ran toward the canal. The duck in front of me began running across the water to take flight, flying away from me and toward the zombie whose drawn bow followed it.
The other two ducks decided something wasn't right and also began fleeing. I veered to the side and nocked an arrow on the bowstring as I gave chase. As soon as they were past the canal and over solid ground, I loosed my arrow. The duck fell from the sky in a similar fashion to Wren's target.
I waved a hand toward the downed bird as I told Jax, "It's all yours."
He crossed his arms. "I'm not taking your dinner again."
The show of chivalry only exasperated me. "I'm a Nightstalker. I have zero interest in food while the sun is in the sky." The controlex was really to blame for my current lack of appetite, but he was too far away to smell the partial lie and I didn't feel like elaborating at this exact moment.
He hesitated, and after a glance at Wren, who was crouched down with her back to us, he began jogging to where the other duck had fallen. I jumped back over the canal and went over to Nicky as she examined two fist-sized rocks, pointedly keeping her gaze away from the zombies who might be self-conscious about their dining habits.
"Do you have a bag in your backpack for me to carry these in?" she asked.
I pulled off my backpack and dug through it until I found a folded bag made from scraps of hide. It had plenty of sap stains from how often Jess had borrowed it during our evening strolls. Nicky picked a few more rocks while waiting for our companions.
"I think this is about as many rocks as I dare bring back after Daniel saw what I was building," Nicky told me as Wren came over with the dead duck in her hand.
"You can leave it in the barn with the potato cannon," Wren suggested.
"That's a great idea!" Nicky promptly ran over to grab another rock. "I wonder how many more I can find on the way there."
"You're carrying all those back," I informed Nicky, "so you might want to wait until you're closer to the barn before collecting too many."
"Drat. I was counting on your muscles to carry back a haul worthy of making Daniel do a double-take."
As Jax came over, he said, "The locals were dumping rocks from the fields into the edge of the forest. There are quite a few piles along the tree line by the barn."
"Perfect!"
That wasn't the word I had for this situation. Nicky had a potato cannon capable of launching rocks, there was apparently an endless supply of stones at hand, and Daniel was likely finding her a bicycle pump. The only thing limiting the potential destruction at hand was how long her arm muscles could pump up the air chamber to the required pressure.
"Let's put those rocks in the barn, and you can take the bucket of paperclips back," I told Nicky, ready to hand her off before she got too many more ideas. I was sure Daniel needed something to keep boredom at bay, and supervising Nicky would be a full-time job.
"The sun is still a couple of hours from setting," she said, glancing in that direction and back at me.
"I want to go exploring before Regan returns," I replied. "If Jax and Wren feel like tagging along, we can check the town and see if there are any live traps or anything else we might need. Daniel didn't bring any traps, so I'm betting this place isn't willing to part with theirs."
"I'd like to check the town," Wren murmured, and Jax nodded in agreement.
Nicky sighed and gave in. "I should let the PVC glue cure overnight, so I might as well head back and color Daniel's shirt a bit more. He loves watching my progress."
Of course he did... Not.
Nicky left the rocks in the barn in case someone decided to steal them, or so she claimed, then we escorted her and her pail of paperclips to the Stronghold gate.
The guards let her in, looking almost as confused by the contents of her bucket as they did when I turned away from the gate. Before they could ask if I was coming inside, Nicky held up the ducks and asked them if they had ever cooked a sane zombie's kill, and they glanced at each other in confusion. Leaving Nicky to explain things that were considered common knowledge in Ironwind, I left with Jax and Wren.
"Let's grab the dune buggy," Wren said. "Do you think you can stand on the back and hang onto the roll bars?"
I nodded. "I was going to suggest that. It'd take us hours to walk there."
"The gasifier will be cold. I'll run ahead and light the fire," Jax said as he began sprinting.
"How long does a setup that small take to warm up?" I asked Wren.
"Not long. Faster than a car or a truck."
"Did you trade for it?" Most places would charge a fortune for anything with a wood gas engine. I couldn't figure out how they got their hands on one in a legit fashion, yet these two didn't strike me as the type to steal things.
"We found it in an abandoned Stronghold. Most of the vehicles and supplies were gone, but no one had entered the garage. Do you think we'll be able to find live traps in the town?"
"No harm in looking. Humans won't enter a town as big as the one we're going to, so there should be lots of stuff left. Live traps aren't common, but some people used them for catching stray cats and other critters."
She nodded in excitement and shifted the bow to her other hand. I made a mental note to look for a purse strap or something she could use to hang it over her shoulder.
~
I examined yet another window that had been pried open. The air drifting out confirmed no one was inside, but the scents on the window sill were too old to identify.
"Looks like a sane Runner came through," I said. "Possibly a couple since some doors were forced open in different fashions."
"I'm sure there will be something left," Wren said, looking around eagerly.
"Let's find the unranked zombie first. I can smell it, so it isn't far. At least five passed through, but I'm fairly certain one hasn't left the town yet." I scanned the streets again, but I didn't see any zombies who were acting unusual.
"Are you sure it's feral?" Jax asked, also looking around.
"Quite sure. Either that, or he has a phobia of water and any notions of cleanliness."
"We haven't exactly been quiet," he said. "I thought it would have appeared by now."
He had a point, but it merely led me to a different conclusion. "Not all unranked hear well, and those usually end up being more unpredictable. Let's split up and search the town. Give a holler if you find it and act like a zombie so it doesn't come after you."
They nodded in agreement and went down different streets. I headed for a fire escape ladder on the side of a building. It was out of reach of humans and most zombies, but I was able to jump high enough to grab on and climb to the top.
Another jump got me on top of the three-story building for a bird's eye view. My eyes scoured the streets and hundreds of zombies ambling around. I wasn't used to seeing this many, especially so close to a Stronghold, but two major highways came through this town and brought in plenty of aimless wanderers. Wren and Jax were having no problems walking through the horde without rousing any suspicions.
None of the zombies in my sight seemed to be acting strangely. I tested the air and only smelled older scent trails, not a live source, so the zombie must be downwind. I went to that side of the building but still didn't see anything unusual, although the zombie could easily be in a building or behind one.
I was going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. With a sigh, I climbed down a fire escape and picked a street that went directly downwind. My jog had zombies taking notice and chasing after me.
After my excursion into the larger city, I was much better at vaulting over the numerous vehicles to lose my followers. I was leaving quite a stir in my wake, although it didn't have the desired effect of luring in the zombie we were looking for.
I passed street after street without seeing anything other than regular zombies and a dozen Runners, all of which were feral. A scent drifting on the air had me turning down a different street and slowing down.
My slow walk kept any zombies ahead of me from taking notice, and the zombies who had been trailing behind me weren't bright enough to connect the fast-moving "human" who'd disappeared around the corner to the zombie ambling down the street.
The confused, milling crowd had one zombie staring in their direction. Her head shifted side-to-side in rapid movements that reminded me of an owl focusing on prey. Her fingers and arms continuously twitched like a dog wanting to chase after something. She took a step forward with far more aggression in her posture than I was accustomed to seeing in a zombie about to join a hunting horde.
Well, I had found our zombie. Now I just had to figure out if she had any new tricks or abilities hidden up her sleeve.