It had been two days since the assistants arrived, but just like yesterday morning, Logan remained behind to make sure no one tested the lock on Nina's trailer. The skills he'd gained while helping Nina in the lab were coming in handy with organizing the new group and all the experiments they were running.
"We had a small breakthrough," Nina said as she got out of the truck. "Between Wren's blood and Ethan's, I think I've pinpointed the essential triggers that allow zombies to regain their minds without changing so much that the markers cause death."
Wren stood near the tree line, keeping even more distance between herself and Nina than yesterday. "How soon will it be ready?"
"It's a good lead, but some triggers are ones I've never targeted," Nina said regretfully. "The assistants are overseeing dozens of tests to determine which chemicals can lock those particular ones in place with no other effects. Once we find a chemical combination that works, it'll take time to make sure it's stable."
"I hope it's ready soon, because things are getting harder," she replied, wringing her hands together.
"We're trying," Nina said. "Some of the triggers, including that one from three days ago, aren't locking into place permanently. But we still have time. Most of your remaining altered triggers still look stable."
"How long?" Wren asked. "We found a dead zombie in town this morning, and Trinity said it used to be an unranked zombie. Several others were acting strange."
Nina pursed her lips at that news. "I was just about to say that we have several weeks, but Daniel also found a dead zombie yesterday, so things might be progressing faster than I realized."
"Why are they dying?" Ethan asked, glancing at Nina quizzically.
"As they revert back to their former rank, depending on which triggers they gained, some of the releases create incompatible combinations. Most of the deaths would have occurred when they were first affected by the serum. The reversal should have only a tiny percentage of fatalities."
Wren hugged her arms around herself and twisted from side to side. Nina watched her, her fingers twitching like she wanted to comfort the zombie.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Jax quietly asked.
"Maybe build more cages and put some regular unranked zombies inside?" Nina suggested. "I'll need at least ten or twenty when we reach the stage where we dare test it on an actual zombie. And considering how many have different triggers, I'm hoping we can find at least one with a combination similar to Wren's."
"I can help with that," I said. These wouldn't have to be capable of keeping Nightstalkers out—they just had to contain something similar to a Runner.
Nicky bounced to her feet in the back of the truck. "Count me in! Besides, I finally finished Daniel's shirt!" She proudly held up the very bright swirl of rainbow colors.
One spot of glaring white made me comment, "There's a problem."
"There is no problem you cannot ignore, confront, torment, plot against, or run over with the truck," Nicky proclaimed.
"You forgot to color a spot under the right sleeve."
She quickly checked and made a face. "Drat. I stand corrected. I'll rectify that before bed tonight."
"If Daniel feels like keeping an eye on things inside the Stronghold, I wouldn't mind helping build the cages," Ethan said.
The cages weren't going to be the complicated part, but I already had some ideas to speed things up. "Grab our truck and that enclosed trailer Daniel found. We'll need them to get supplies from the town and to transport the zombies once we finish."
~
Nicky hung upside down from the roof of the cage. "I'm not exactly the heaviest thing around, but I think it's sturdy enough."
The quick trip into town had let us—well, Ethan and I—load the trailer full of wire fence panels that surrounded a construction site. Wren sat outside the trailer and watched us build the long line of cages on either side of the shipping container. Had Nicky not been present, I was sure she would have come over.
"I think so too," I said. "The unranked almost never climb, so we just have to make sure the joints are secure."
Ethan examined the bands of metal he'd been wrapping around the joints. "If they manage to break loose, I think we grabbed the wrong zombies."
"Let's finish these doors and go find some unranked ferals," I said.
After coaxing Nicky out of the cage, which involved me threatening to put a feral in there with her, we dumped her by the Stronghold and drove the truck and trailer into town. It didn't take long for the zombies to surround the truck.
"The first few should be easy, but we might need to work together to shove more inside the trailer without the others pushing out the door," I told Ethan as I turned off the truck.
He jumped out of the back. "Why don't we trap them all in that yard and load them all at once?" he asked, pointing to a backyard with a chest-high chain-link fence.
"That works for me," I said. "Let's see how many unranked we can find."
The first two were easy since they came to the truck. I pushed one through the gate while Ethan just lightly tossed the other over. Two down. At least eight to go. Preferably eighteen.
We split up, tracking any non-ranked zombies we could smell. I decided the fence idea was good, and I pushed the next zombie into an open garage and closed the door. That would keep it in one spot until I found enough to make a single return trip with all in tow.
A scream from down the street gave away the location of another unranked zombie, and I went to put it in timeout. Some zombies barely smelled any different unless you passed right by them, and I had to double back a few times.
I had originally thought it would take us all day to find a dozen unranked zombies, but I was quickly proven wrong. There were clearly more around than I expected. Still, they weren't that common, and I could pass by hundreds of zombies without finding one.
An hour later, I grabbed my radio and turned it to Daniel's frequency since Ethan currently had that device in his possession. "I've found nine so far. How many do you have?"
"Thirteen. Shall we meet back at the truck?"
"Sure."
Showoff. I should have known his speed would have allowed him to travel greater distances. Shaking my head, I turned back and led the crowd down the street, pausing just long enough to free my victims and make sure they were following me.
The zombies I had disturbed on my way out were now clogging the streets and hindering my passage. I couldn't remove my sunglasses to flash my eyes in warning, nor did I dare growl at them in case my unranked followers heard it and realized I wasn't human.
I glanced over my shoulder to see hundreds staggering after me. Too many. It was hard to pick out the five unranked I'd freed so far. I opened a gate to free the unranked I'd trapped in the fence earlier and kept jogging. So many zombies were forming roadblocks that I finally jumped on top of a car and hop-scotched through the crowd, dodging the delayed arm swings of those below.
It felt like it took forever to reach the truck. Ethan must have been having similar issues since he wasn't here yet. I jumped into the backyard and examined the horde spreading around the fence as they tried to reach me. Two screams pierced the silence as certain unranked zombies protested my unfair tactics.
Once I located all nine of the zombies I was after, I gave a stern growl that made the zombies near me pause. They lost interest in me, and I waded through the crowd until I reached the first zombie.
It snarled as I grabbed its arm and dragged it back to the fence, going slowly enough that it didn't trip and faceplant. I dodged its occasional slashing strike as it stumbled over the uneven pavement, until I finally opened the gate and shoved it inside.
One down, eight to go.
The horde dissipated a noticeable amount by the time I got all nine zombies into their new paddock. My timing was perfect since I could see another huge group approaching, with Ethan jogging in front. A shriek confirmed that he had at least one screamer in tow. It was a good thing the cages were down the road and well out of sight of the Stronghold.
The zombies on the road ahead easily saw his red eyes and ignored him. It didn't stop them from joining the zombies following, as if they thought they were on some sort of hunting expedition.
I jumped onto the road and flashed my teeth as the horde parted around me. I tested the air to locate the unranked that were undoubtedly in here somewhere.
"The man with the blue shirt," Ethan called back, guessing my plan.
There were two in blue shirts nearby, and a quick sniff let me identify our new guinea pig. I dragged him into the fence as Ethan returned to help locate the others.
"Can you back the trailer up to the gate?" Ethan asked.
"Reversing isn't in my vocabulary, but I'll give it a shot."
It took more than a few attempts, and more knocked-over zombies than I cared to admit, but I finally managed to get the trailer decently close. Ethan graciously remained silent as he watched the stunning display of my non-existent reversing skills.
"I'll bring them over if you can toss them in and keep them in," I told him, already going to drag the zombies closer. "We can leave the four extras here in case we need more in the future."
He nodded in agreement. Now that all the zombies had realized what we were, they showed no interest in us and gave us our space. Unfortunately for them, we weren't about to return the favor.
"How are things going with your friends?" I asked as I pushed the first zombie over. As much as I detested idle chit-chat, this would let me dig up some information about the new lab assistants.
He was silent as he grabbed the zombie's arm and pushed it up the ramp, eventually saying, "Better than I'd hoped. I don't think Ty or Vern will stay much longer. My presence reminds them of the families they lost. But it's going surprisingly well with the others. They almost treat me like normal."
"Who was the woman who hugged you?"
"That was Liza. She's my cousin. I'm so glad she doesn't hold all their deaths against me."
I could imagine the war in their minds. A friend had been given an experimental drug, pretty much blacked out and killed all their friends and family, only to snap out of it afterward. He had killed hundreds, but at the same time, they remembered him across all the years before that. This group was smart enough to know it hadn't been a conscious decision, which would make it much harder for them to choose a side. There was no clear right and wrong dividing line in this situation.
"Just remember to head into the mountains whenever you feel worked up. At least once a month, if not weekly, for the first year. Like you said, it's not easy for you to get tired, and that's about the only way higher-ranking zombies can mentally unwind," I said as I dragged two other zombies over.
"I'll keep that in mind. How often are we supposed to hunt?"
Sometimes the questions he asked just threw me for a loop. How could he be so intuitive at times, then ask something like that?
"I'd start with a rabbit or something roughly that size every day or so. You'll notice the effect it has on your mood and your temper. Some days, you might want more. Other days, you might not feel like hunting."
"The controlex made regular food unappealing, but I never crave blood or meat. Is that normal?"
Okay, maybe his question had been valid.
I dragged another zombie over as I considered his question. "Not wanting regular food is normal. The blood and flesh part, no. Or, at least no one else ever mentioned that part changing. They always marveled that their bloodlust mostly ignored humans and hunted animals like normal. The ferals certainly never understood the meaning of stop if something was still alive in their vicinity. I know the higher ranks are often much less in tune with their instincts, so maybe that has something to do with it? Daniel never took the controlex, so I'm not sure how it might affect the Terror triggers."
"I'll ask Nina for her thoughts later. In the meantime, I can start with a small animal every day and just monitor my mood?"
"That's my best suggestion until you figure out the balance that works for you. I'd err on the side of caution and don't skimp on the blood. Just in case."
He nodded solemnly as I dragged the twentieth zombie over. After shoving it inside, he closed the door. It wouldn't take us long to return and lock them inside the cages.