I jumped off the back of the dune buggy as Jax stopped near the group. Wren still seemed uncertain around the Nightstalker but not as nervous as she had been an hour ago. The coil of rope must have convinced Nicky to be on her best behavior since she was still unrestrained.
As I came over, Regan commented, "It's not a weapon I'd carry, but it could distract a feral."
I shrugged. "I learned to throw it, but that's about it. Prybars are much more effective."
Nicky passed the boomerang to Wren as she told me, "More effective maybe, but learning new things keeps you young. Only dead fish go with the flow, and from the smell of someone's socks, something died about a month ago."
"Zombie feet don't sweat," I reminded her.
"Must be my socks then," she muttered, skipping to the side to avoid the wayward boomerang on its return trip.
Regan snagged the boomerang as it flew past him. After spinning it in his hand, he threw it into the air, and it whirled around us in a large circle before returning to him. He idly flipped it toward Nicky.
She caught it and grinned at me. "He's a quick learner."
Regan kept a straight face without any reply, which in itself told me that he silently enjoyed the compliment. Nightstalkers might be touchy and prideful, but our egos were subject to certain types of flattery.
As Nicky jogged back over to Wren, I told Regan, "Jax and I built a few log roadblocks on some trails between here and the town. So many zombies have crossed through the forest lately that they created several paths. Other zombies were starting to use them."
"I noticed zombies kept following one path, but I doubt how useful the blockage will be. Rainier Stronghold had to keep expanding the ones they built."
Jax wrinkled his nose. "I don't think the zombies will want to use that path anytime soon. Not if they have any sense of smell."
Regan turned his head toward Jax, suddenly intent on the conversation. "Oh?"
Jax shifted his weight under the Nightstalker's direct gaze. "Trinity found three nasty-smelling fish in the canal, chopped them up, and used a grass seed spreader to spread the muck across the path."
"The crows were already enjoying the feast when we left," I said, "so I'm not sure how effective it might be."
"If the smell lingers, it might discourage zombies from walking that way," Regan said.
"We'll see." I shrugged, dismissing the matter. Time would tell how effective it would be, especially when the zombies we were concerned about usually couldn't smell.
He nodded and turned his gaze to the boomerang as Wren threw it into the air.
~
As Nicky skipped into the Stronghold, she waved at Wren. "See you tomorrow!"
Someone started ringing the dinner bell and the redhead's footsteps sped up.
"Mind giving me a lift to town?" I asked Jax as I remained standing on the back of the dune buggy.
"Sure." He turned around and picked up speed.
When he hit a bump, the coil of rope almost slipped off the floor, forcing Wren to pin it under her shoe.
Jax picked a trail we hadn't blocked as he drove through the forest and came out at the edge of town. "Is this good?"
I jumped off. "Perfect. Thanks for the lift."
With a nod, he drove back into the forest. I flashed my teeth at several zombies heading my way. They took the hint but began heading for the trail the dune buggy had left. I knew there was no point in trying to block the trail since they'd just go around me, so I spun on my heels and jogged along the tree line as if hunting.
That caught their attention, and as soon as they noticed, they decided I was more interesting than the dune buggy that had disappeared around the bend. Not wanting zombies wandering through this particular forest, I went into town and jumped a few fences to lose my followers. I could smell another muddled scent of an unranked zombie, so one had wandered into town, much to my annoyance, but I decided to ignore it and see if it would leave like a few others had.
I returned to the forest and spent some time committing all the paths to memory. Most were untouched by zombies, but some had recent trails. My fish-laden path had been cleaned up by scavengers and the scent seemed to be keeping regular zombies at bay, but I knew there weren't enough fish in the canal to consider it as a viable option.
During a few earlier patrols around the town with Jax, we had confirmed that all three highways leading to the town had quite a few zombies. Most were coming from the south, and we didn't care if they went west since no Strongholds were along that road.
The highway heading east, though, was problematic. There were no forests east of Bryer Stronghold, and only a long, low hill blocked the view of the zombies on the road.
The wind was still blowing from the northwest, but if it shifted, a small hill wasn't going to stop the zombies from noticing the scent of several hundred humans and their livestock. I wasn't going to entertain the notion of building a five-mile-long fence to keep the zombies from venturing off the highway, but I could ask Daniel to push some of the abandoned cars and trucks into a line to form a barrier.
I returned to the forest near the town and made sure no more zombies had wandered into the trees. Satisfied that I had some time, I began knocking over dead trees and using them to form a fence just inside the tree line.
A bit of rope let me tie the trees against the trunks of their living neighbors. In some spots, I used rocks to prop larger trees off the ground. Slowly, a chest-high barrier formed. It wouldn't stop anything other than a regular zombie, but the screamers we had seen so far hadn't been the most coordinated things around.
A quick trip into town let me steal some tin off a shed to form a gate so Jax and Wren had an easy way to come and go. I reinforced the fence—if you could even call it that—near the tin gate to try and keep zombies from following the dune buggy in the future.
When dead trees became scarce, I returned to the town to scavenge things like garage door panels, wooden pallets, and other large objects that weren't overly heavy. The sun was setting when I entered a hardware store and found a dozen rolls of chicken wire in the same aisle. I took a couple of the rolls, each one hundred and fifty feet long. A spool of metal wire and a pair of metal cutters also came with me.
Attaching chicken wire to trees was much easier than using tree trunks to build a fence. It definitely wasn't the straightest fence in existence, but I hoped it would reduce the number of zombie visitors.
As I twisted a length of metal around a tree to secure the chicken wire, my instincts shifted. I spun around, immediately spotting Regan's red eyes as he wandered this way.
"You've been busy," he commented. "I was wondering why no zombies had come through the forest recently."
I shrugged. "It won't stop everything, but it should keep most of the regulars from taking a scenic detour."
"As we discovered at Rainier Stronghold, if a stronger unranked zombie leads the way, others will follow," Regan said. "Especially if the screaming types are present."
"Lovely," I muttered as I unrolled the chicken wire to the next tree. "I thought you said they built fences to keep the zombies away?"
"They built wooden palisades to channel them off the highway and into ravines and the river. Prominent human scent trails worked well enough to lure regular zombies into the river as well, but that tactic proved ineffective against the unranked."
I paused to glance back at him. "Wait. How many zombies got over the palisade? If they climbed over that, then I'm wasting my time with this fence."
"The palisade was only about eight feet tall, and there were too many rocks to dig a deep trench for the trees to stand in. Runners often knocked a few logs over when trying to climb, and several unranked were clever enough to push against the logs until they found a weak spot to squeeze through. Two actually lifted the smaller saplings right out of the ground. Most followed the curve and stumbled into the ravine or river."
As I contemplated his words, I twisted another piece of wire around a tree, but most of my motivation had dissipated. If eight-foot-tall tree trunks hadn't stopped the zombies, this thin fencing wasn't going to do more than inconvenience the most clueless in the horde.
Regan picked up the chicken wire and began unrolling it for me. "Every zombie this stops is one less the Stronghold has to worry about. What you built so far created a noticeable enough difference for me to come looking."
The roundabout encouragement was the last thing I'd expected from Regan, but he was right. The fence might not do much, but it would help a bit, and right now, I'd take any advantage we could get.
~
I carefully broke my trail by using a trick I hadn't shown Regan yet, and because I didn't feel like giving up all my secrets, I didn't leave any clues behind. He needed a challenge to keep him from thinking he had mastered the game.
I quickly made myself scarce by climbing a tree and traveling along branches too thin for his weight. With a smug smirk, I dropped back to the ground and continued hiding my trail as I headed to a completely different part of the forest. My earlier searches for dead trees had left my scent all over this area, so it could take him a while to locate me this time.
Considering I had tracked him down the last two times, he knew it was his turn to be the seeker. He was getting better at covering his trail, but he still wasn't as practiced as Kelly or Travis.
I decided to go hunting while waiting for Regan to figure out all the false trails, dead ends, tree diversions, and herb headaches I'd spent the last hour arranging. I covered my trail as I made my way to the southeast. There weren't any large predators in the area, not after I had spent all evening and half the night working on the fence that now stretched to the eastern edge of the forest.
The only brave animals bigger than a mouse were a skunk and a badger. For obvious reasons, the fart mammals weren't something I often hunted, which made the badger the lucky nominee.
As I left the forest to find the badger, I knew the chances of Regan spotting me were greatly increased. But then again, would he think to check the grassy areas when all common sense said I'd be hidden among the trees? There was only one way to find out, so I jogged across the long grass.
A glimpse of glowing red in a different part of the forest had me slowing down. That hadn't taken him nearly as long as I had hoped. I narrowed my eyes—I hadn't left any trails in that area. What was he doing over there?
The figure darted between two bushes, giving me a clear outline of arms and legs. Unless Regan had left his cloak somewhere, I had a different follower. They were definitely trying to remain out of sight, but I wasn't sure if they were a shy traveler or a feral scoping out potential competition.
The silence had me on edge since the individual had definitely spotted me. A feral Nightstalker would have immediately issued a challenge, and I wasn't fond of the idea of a sane zombie skulking in the forest without announcing their presence.
In case it was a sane zombie who wasn't familiar with friendly Nightstalkers, I gave a softer version of my proximity call. There was no response. I suddenly wished I'd remained in the forest where I wasn't so exposed.
My suspicions grew, and I released my Nightstalker scream into the night. The cry was slightly altered by the controlex, but still very clearly a challenge that told every zombie in the area who ruled.
An enraged shriek immediately contested my claim. If Regan hadn't already been suspicious of the proximity call, he was now aware that an unwelcome guest had crashed our party. I grabbed my bow and nocked an arrow while waiting for the unranked zombie to approach.
It never emerged from the forest. My eyes remained locked on the shrub and the ankle I could see beneath the leaves. Even a feral Nightstalker wouldn't remain in ambush after screams had been exchanged, and this one definitely wasn't leaving.
Something wasn't right.