The van stopped before it reached us, and the door opened as Trent got out.
"Did you find your son?" Daniel asked, earning a curious glance from Regan.
"I did," he said, "and I even got to hug him and my wife."
"What brings you down here?" Nicky asked, juggling the elastic-bound ducky in her hands like she was itching to throw it at someone, likely Daniel. "It certainly couldn't have been my dancing moves."
"Ah, no. A neighboring Stronghold brought us word of your radio messages about the unranked ferals coming out of the cities to the southeast. I came to see what I could do to help."
I added up the days in my head. "You left your family only a day or two after the controlex finished to come help us?"
His eyes met mine solemnly. "They are safe where they are. I prefer to stop the ferals before they get close to my family, so here I am."
I really had to ask Logan how he worded those radio transmissions for Trent to have decided to come down here. Perhaps it was a good thing Daniel made a few extra traps.
"If you were expecting to join a war party, I'm afraid the reality is much different," Daniel said. "Nina has the original notes, so she's researching those. We know the drug is slowly wearing off, but in the meantime, we're still trying to come up with ways to protect the remaining Strongholds."
"You're just letting them run amuck?" Trent asked in disbelief.
Daniel shrugged. "There are too many unranked to lock up, and I'm reluctant to kill every one I come across since Nina thinks she has a lead on helping them regain their sanity. I knocked quite a few unconscious yesterday, but that will only buy us an extra three or four weeks of time. What were you thinking of doing?"
"We can't just sit here and do nothing," the Runner stated, frowning.
"Thankfully, there are only a handful of Strongholds in the area or around Kennewick. I plan to check on the remaining ones to the east today and make sure they aren't trapped inside their fences. Trinity and Nicky were going to build a cage so the humans can dose the unranked and regular ferals with controlex so they lose interest in humans."
"The controlex works on the unranked?"
"Yes. Nina will have a batch of controlex ready by noon, and I believe she was going to ask Trinity if she could use some on the handful of unranked zombies lingering in the town to the south. So far, it looks like most of the unranked are following the old-world towns along the highway, which is why we're seeing so many here. Most other places have only seen a couple."
Trent's frown deepened. "Perhaps, but it only takes one zombie, as several Strongholds learned the hard way. I can help inject the unranked with controlex. I can speak from experience how effective it is."
"I'll let Nina know. Would you also be willing to go into Kennewick and the surrounding cities in search of stronger unranked ferals?"
"If it's to give them the controlex, I'll volunteer in a heartbeat," he said resolutely.
Regan joined the discussion. "Since another sane zombie will be present for a while, I will check on Rainier Stronghold and inform them of what is happening. Their diversion fences will likely need some repairs, but I shall return tomorrow or the day after."
"I appreciate all the effort you put into guarding this place," Daniel said. "Thank you."
Regan nodded and disappeared into the trees, apparently far more impatient to return "home" than he had been letting on. I wasn't sure if I'd miss the powerful defender that I had been able to rely on or if I'd be able to relax a bit knowing there wasn't another Nightstalker in the vicinity. I'd probably figure it out by tomorrow morning.
His absence would also delay my trip to Yersin Stronghold, and I certainly wasn't about to complain about that.
"Do you need a couple of rabbit traps?" Daniel asked Trent. "I made a dozen last night, so we have extras."
"I've got two in the van, but I wouldn't mind another one, just in case." The way his eyes lingered on the traps hinted at a recent occasion where he hadn't been able to trap prey as frequently as he would have liked.
Wren must have noticed the same thing. "If you're hungry, we have a couple of traps set up, and one is bound to have caught something by now."
"Thanks, but I ate this morning."
"I'd offer you a room in the trailer we're staying in, but we're already using both beds," Wren said, shrugging apologetically.
He pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the van. "This is actually set up to sleep in. Mind if I park it nearby? I can go inside Strongholds, but I'm...not quite used to having so many people around."
"Certainly! We're staying in a trailer to the north. If we can fit all those live traps in your van, we can show you the way and let Daniel check on those Strongholds."
It didn't take long to transfer to cages into the van and for Wren to speed off on the dune buggy as Trent tried to catch up.
"Those three seem to get along well," Daniel commented.
"They did last time too. Runners are fairly social, and after having Regan and me haunting the area, another Runner probably feels like a breath of fresh air. Where exactly are you going today?"
"I'm going to head east and check on all the remaining Strongholds between Kennewick and Graydon Stronghold. There's only a handful of inhabited places in this state, and we stopped at almost all of them during our earlier travels, so they'll recognize me. I'll be back before sunset."
Nicky rolled her eyes. "We've heard that before."
Daniel shrugged. "If I'm late, I'm late. This trip will let me check if any higher-ranked ferals have come north, and if so, I'll track them down. I'm also using these stops to check for the lab assistants, but so far, there's no sign of them, and none of the radio towers have had a similar group pass through."
I frowned at the reminder of the missing group who might have notes on how to make the serum. "When I go back to that Stronghold, I'll check to see if the flipped vehicles near the gate have any science stuff inside."
A briefcase of old notes had started this entire mess, and now that I knew more, I'd be searching that Stronghold far more thoroughly. Assuming Mr. Hair-Sniffer left me in peace. Perhaps I could drive a deer ahead of me into the Stronghold to keep him occupied.
Daniel glanced at the path the others had driven down. "I think those three will be distracted for a while. Mind keeping an eye on things?"
"I guess. Once Jax and Wren resume their patrols, I'll start building that cage."
~
"—a hundred ways to build a cage, to build a cage, to build a cage," Nicky sang, so off-key I couldn't even tell what the original song might have been.
"Here." I tossed a roll of duct tape to Nicky.
She blinked at it in confusion. "That's not strong enough to stop a Runner or a Nightstalker."
"Think outside the box," I advised her.
Nicky stuck the roll of tape over her wrist and regarded it contemplatively while she fastened another bolt. Trent and I were graced with silence for almost two entire minutes.
"Oh! It's to hold down the launch anchor on my potato cannon so the duck flies straighter! Thank you! I might even hit Daniel this time!"
I shook my head, not about to correct her theory, especially since it had accomplished its original task of stopping Nicky's attempt at singing. I tested the roof joints and deemed them secure enough. Daniel would have to add metal bands to strengthen all the joints, but we could start adding more reinforcing bars.
"Do you think this place can create enough controlex for all the ferals and unranked in the area?" Trent quietly asked.
"The regular zombies aren't the issue," I said after a moment of thought. "It's the unranked ones if they have new tricks, and it wouldn't be so bad if there weren't so many of them, and if they hadn't spread out over such a large area. They seem to mostly be following the highways, but I'm not sure I want to look at a map and see how many roads there might be."
"Could we block the roads?" Trent asked, before promptly shaking his head. "No, that won't work. They'd just go around."
I shrugged. "I haven't been able to come up with any easy answer. The threat of the unranked ferals might only disappear once the drug wears off. It will happen eventually, although that leaves Wren in a bad situation, which is Nina's primary concern at the moment."
"Why not use scarecrows on a roof and a vial of human blood to distract the unranked feral?" Nicky asked.
"Most unranked have no sense of smell," I reminded her.
"But if they're following roads and can't climb, why wouldn't they notice a human-shaped object if it didn't move like a zombie?"
I paused to consider how easily I had led the ferals around. It might actually work... "How would you make them move enough to convince them it was alive?"
"Windmills would work well with as much wind as this area seems to get. I don't think it has stopped blowing once. Just hook them up to a couple of pulleys and gears and..."
I listened intently as she described several very detailed methods to make mannequins move back and forth and even lift their arms occasionally. Once she compared it to a clothesline and bicycle gears with a few extra pieces, it made enough sense that I could probably build one without too much trouble.
Trent's eyes were bright with excitement. "I can help with that. I can even build a few as I take the controlex with me. Where would I find a map showing all the roads?"
"I'll bring you one later," I promised.
"Bicycle tires make great windmills once you attach the vanes," Nicky added, still talking about the different ways of setting this up.
Since she wasn't singing, and because she somehow knew all sorts of ways to build something like this, Trent and I listened to her as we worked. We really needed to get her into a building mood more often, although it would probably result in more projectiles being launched in Daniel's direction.
Several short trumpet blares came from the south.
"So much for our peace and quiet," I said, frowning in that direction. "Mind keeping an eye on Nicky while I help Wren and Jax with whatever they found?"
"Sure," Trent said, looking wistfully in that direction, as if wishing he could join the fight, but also knowing that if Jax and Wren needed help, my weapons and speed were needed.
I started jogging in that direction as Wren zipped over in the dune buggy so I could jump onto the back. A trumpet was strapped into Jax's empty seat. He would be distracting the zombie like we had planned, giving Wren time to fetch me from my building efforts north of the Stronghold.
"This one is almost as fast as Jax," Wren said, "and it wouldn't follow the dune buggy after a few brief attempts."
To give the locals credit, those on the south side were near the gates, and those elsewhere were keeping a nervous watch from where they were working, trusting us to stop any dangerous zombies.
As we came around the Stronghold, passing near the fence as we took the most direct route, I got a better look at the scene. It was easy to identify the problem zombie; it was the one running a bit faster than human speed toward the Stronghold while ignoring Jax's waving arms, shouts, and other efforts to catch its attention.
When we were halfway to it, I jumped off the back and began jogging away, making my movements a bit stilted like I was hiding a limp. I zigzagged slightly to make myself a more tempting target and carefully matched my speed to the zombie who veered in my direction. I didn't want it to get close in case its nose worked and it realized I wasn't human.
I headed for the canal as Wren zipped around us a few times, and when she was completely ignored by the zombie chasing me, she took off in a different direction.
My tactics seemed to be working, and I reached the canal without losing my follower. I jogged over the bridge and angled to the side, moving a bit slower and pretending to stumble over a rock.
The zombie eagerly rushed after me, ignoring the bridge.
And jumped over the canal without any difficulty.