I ambled out of the trees and wasn't surprised to see that my tree ladders had mysteriously found their way inside the fence. Two were visible from here, one of which was now attached to the trailer that had turned into Nina's lab. Daniel must have figured out what they were supposed to be and had taken it upon himself to put them in place.
The guards eyed me up uncertainly, far more hesitant to open the gate than I had anticipated. What was their problem? It wasn't like the cougar I was carrying was still alive. For all they knew, one of my companions had killed it.
I raised an eyebrow at one guard and gave the gate a pointed look as I got closer. He took the hint and opened the gate.
"Where do you want this?" I asked him, hefting the cougar slightly.
"If you leave it here, we'll get someone to take it to the butchers."
That was good enough for me. I set it on the ground and headed to the lab since I could see Nicky sprawled in a beanbag chair outside the door. As I got closer, I examined the tree ladder to the side. The top and bottom had been secured to the trailer so people could clamber up and down without worrying about it falling over.
"I presume you were the beaver who dragged all those things back?" Nicky asked, still ensconced in the bean bag chair and looking quite comfortable.
"It was the easiest ladder I could find," I replied with a shrug. "Did Daniel set them up?"
"Yep. But you should have seen the locals' faces when he carried them in like two-by-fours. It was probably similar to the guards' expressions when you packed that cougar in like it was an oversized turkey."
Perhaps that had been the reason for their stares... "It's free meat. Were they brave enough to eat those ducks?"
"They're being turned into jerky and then boiled in a soup just in case one method wasn't sufficient," Nicky said, smirking. She squirmed deeper into the bean bag chair. "I'm guessing it was a quiet night since you were turning trees into toothpicks?"
"I found an unranked zombie in town, and another down the road. At this rate, they're going to become as common as Runners."
The door beside me opened as Daniel leaned out. "I found two more when I went out for a run this morning. The locals are getting worried." The smell of coyote lingered on his breath.
"I was wondering if you'd find those coyotes. I guess that's one less thing for the locals to worry about."
He flashed me a grin. "I was happy to help with that problem." His voice and expression became more serious. "But with this many unranked appearing so suddenly, I'm worried about leaving this place unguarded while we search for the group responsible."
"Why don't you take the truck while Nicky and I improve this place's defenses?" I suggested. It would spare me a boring road trip, keep the redhead out of mischief, and perhaps give the locals some peace of mind.
He considered that. "That could work. I can check the area and get blood samples from any unranked I cross paths with and lock them in nearby buildings. If you're looking for ideas, I'd suggest digging pitfall traps since it was easy to lure the unranked into the canal."
Nicky sat up—or tried to since the bean bag kept making her fall back. "If you're suggesting we build a moat around this entire place, I have a few non-kid-friendly suggestions for you."
"I was thinking of just a few holes," Daniel replied with a shrug, "but a moat would work remarkably well. Especially if we could connect it to the canal with a one-way gate so zombies can leave, but not return."
I snorted to express my opinion of that idea. "I'm not building a moat. A couple of shoulder-deep holes with ramps facing away from the fence should work. Come morning, the horseback riders can lure the zombies up the ramp and away. It'll keep them from damaging the fence at night, and the guards can walk along the fence to lure them into those holes. Nicky and I can probably dig one or two by tonight."
"How did I just get nominated to dig holes?" Nicky asked in bewilderment, glancing between Daniel and me.
"You're a master at escaping traps, so you're going to help me dig one," I informed her.
"I'm supposed to be guarding Nina and setting traps for Daniel," Nicky clarified helpfully.
I gave her a level look. "We'll be within sight of the trailer, and Logan can keep an eye on things. Digging will help you burn off some energy."
She groaned and flopped back into the bean bag. "Can this day get any worse?"
From inside, Nina's voice commented, "Well, if it helps, the zombie they locked in the shipping container was a Runner, but it had a surprising number of Nightstalker triggers. This has the most higher-tier triggers I've seen in an unranked zombie so far."
Nicky sighed and called back, "That was a rhetorical question!"
The scientist continued, "Oddly enough, Wren's sample doesn't look quite like the others, so she might have received a different chemical formula. Trinity, do you mind if I get a blood sample from you? I'd like to double-check how your triggers are bound with the controlex."
I sighed. "Fine."
This day was certainly off to a lovely start. Perhaps I should go back to sleep and see if it was better when I woke up. Seeing Nina appear in the doorway with a needle wasn't helping.
"Thanks," she said before disappearing back inside with two vials of blood.
As the door swung closed behind her, I bumped my toe against the bean bag chair. "Let's go find some shovels and figure out who has to give approval for our plans."
With a groan worthy of a teenager being told to get out of bed an hour early, Nicky finally wrestled free of the poofy chair. When I stopped by the truck to hook my radio to the solar charger, Nicky took the opportunity to dig around the mattress, uncovering various wrenches and some food. I didn't comment as she snaffled the package of jerky and stuffed the wrenches back into their hiding places.
It took a while to track down the leader of this place and explain my plans, but he immediately agreed and even offered to find helpers. The last thing I wanted was a bunch of strangers crowded around me, so I declined and told him they could build such traps in other spots if they wanted. He pointed out a large shed that contained gardening tools like shovels and wheelbarrows before going to let the guards and others know of our plans.
In the shed, Nicky bestowed a frown upon the large variety of shovels. "Why do I think this is going to be worse than picking rocks out of a field?"
"Better than sitting in a chair for hours on end. Besides, look at it this way, you can keep any rocks that fit in your air cannon."
"Now you're speaking my language!" she exclaimed as she grabbed a couple of different sized shovels and the biggest wheelbarrow. "This should hold enough ammo for some target practice."
"You won't be able to push that thing even if it's half full," I commented, wisely grabbing a second wheelbarrow to put the dirt in and a couple of sturdy-looking shovels.
"I'm helping you dig, so you get to move this when we're done."
"I guess," I agreed with fake reluctance. After seeing how many rocks had been dumped in the forest over the years by farmers, letting Nicky have a wheelbarrow wasn't going to change the outcome.
We picked a spot outside the fence and started digging as I asked her, "Do you want to take a break after lunch to test out your air cannon?"
Even though the Frankenstein invention of plumbing parts was a hazard to anyone within a quarter of a mile, it would give her something to look forward to. I'd never admit it, but I was also curious to see how well it would work. I just needed to make sure it was never pointed in my direction.
"Sure! I wanted to test it this morning, but Daniel took his sweet time on his run. He gave me the air pump just before you showed up."
I smirked at his clearly thought-out decision. I pushed the wheelbarrow to a compost pile in a nearby field as Jax and Wren emerged from the forest and walked in my direction. I dumped the dirt among the rotting weeds and animal droppings while waiting for the unranked duo to reach me.
Their eyes kept flickering uneasily to the Stronghold behind me as Jax asked, "What are you doing?"
"Daniel is warming up the truck to check the areas to the east, and Nicky and I are digging pitfall traps," I replied before going into more detail and telling them about the additional unranked ferals that had been spotted in the area.
"I thought this place hadn't seen any unranked zombies until the one in the shipping container appeared?" Jax asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.
"That's the problem—they hadn't. Or so they think. They might have assumed some were just Runners or faster regular zombies. But now that we know they're around, we're trying to give the Stronghold a fighting chance."
Wren nodded and glanced at the fence. "As long as I don't have to go inside, I can help dig."
Jax hesitated, clearly wanting to join but worried about his control near that many people. "I can push the wheelbarrows over here, but I don't particularly want to stay that close to the fence for long."
"If it helps, I picked the upwind side," I told him. "But I'm pretty sure we can fill those wheelbarrows faster than you can transport them."
His muscles relaxed slightly. "We'll see. I just don't want too many people around me."
I nodded in understanding and walked back with them. Wren claimed a shovel as I pointed out where the edges of the hole and the ramp would be. Jax examined our surroundings, particularly the fence and guard posts, slowly relaxing as he tested the air and confirmed the wind came from the fields behind us.
Nicky grinned in welcome. "You can dump those rocks over there. I'm saving them for my air cannon."
Jax maintained his vigilance as the three of us quickly filled a wheelbarrow, which he took away.
"How many rocks do you need?" Wren asked Nicky as she tossed another rock onto the growing pile.
"As many as I can get! Trinity and I are going to test the air cannon after lunch if you want to come watch."
The redhead's wild grin made Wren blink and glance at me as if wondering if this was going to be a safe event. Alas, I could never make that promise when Nicky was about to use a new "weapon".