*Two weeks later*
The zombie in the canal growled at me and clawed at the sides as it tried to climb out. I checked the air and thought I detected a very faint metallic scent, but it might have just been something the zombie was churning up in the water.
Nowadays, it was hard to tell which ones were unranked since most of the unusual triggers had let go. It was only a matter of weeks until the unranked were just a memory.
I let my eyes resume their glow, which made the zombie pause, then wade down the canal. I wandered back into the forest. Now that the trench was completed, there wasn't much to do out here.
I couldn't even annoy Regan since he had left a week ago. He had waited just long enough for Nina to figure out the B-negative blood type and then asked for several vials of the restoration serum, which Nina had happily given him for his assistance.
There was no point in hunting since Daniel or Ethan would take the truck to some distant forest before sunrise in search of several deer or elk. It was easier to tag along with them. They couldn't drink that much blood, even with Jax helping, but the meat was welcomed by the Stronghold as it tried to awaken as many zombies as it had resources for.
I lifted my nose to the air and headed to the east. Ethan's scent carried very well on the wind, so even though he was easy to track and just walking, it took me some time to catch up.
Circling ahead, I climbed into a tree and waited. The circle of light bobbed as Ethan came down the deer trail. I remained in the branches as he passed below. There was no way he was unaware of my presence.
My hunch was proven correct when he stopped and turned around. "So much for my attempt to lure you into ambushing me."
I crouched down on the branch. "It was a bit too obvious."
"Daniel was right though. If a Nightstalker is in the area and it isn't a game of hide and seek, you guys always swing by to check things out. I didn't even have to search for you."
Refusing to comment on Daniel's observation, I said, "Well, you found me. Now what?"
"How hard would it be to convince you into one last wrestling match?"
We had only wrestled twice, so it was an unusual request. I considered it. "Why don't we see if we can drag Daniel out here as well? At least it will keep you from yawning."
To the best of my knowledge, those two had never wrestled, and it would do Daniel good to end up on the losing side for once. I already knew Daniel and I wouldn't win, but between the two of us, we might be able to delay the inevitable for ten seconds or so.
"That's an idea," Ethan said as he took Nina's radio off his belt and turned the volume low. "Hey, Daniel. Trinity figures you should come out here for a two versus one wrestling match."
The radio remained silent long enough that I wondered if Daniel had switched it off to pretend he hadn't heard the suggestion. "Okay. Where are you?"
Ethan gave him the directions to our exact location.
While we waited, Ethan said, "I'll miss you when you go home tomorrow."
I stared at him, still perched in the tree. "Me? Why?"
He gazed up in my direction, although the flashlight remained pointed at the ground. "It's...hard to put into words. It's like you're always around, somewhere. I could be looking across the field and catch a glimpse of you in the forest. Or hear you pass by in the night as you patrol the forest. I think I'll miss that."
This was making no sense to me. I eventually said, "Not many people like the idea of someone lurking in the shadows. They usually find it creepy."
"I occasionally dream of the times I was trapped in the shadows," he quietly said. "But your face always materializes out of the darkness and frees me, just like you did in Yersin. I still remember that, and I'm still grateful for what you did."
Dream? Zombies didn't dream, or at least none of the ones I asked. Even Daniel said he never dreamed. We slept too lightly for such a thing. Apparently Ethan was different in that aspect too.
Unsure of how to reply, I settled for saying, "I'm glad it helped, and I'd do it again if I had to."
"How did you get close enough to give me the controlex?" he asked, tilting his head in sudden confusion.
"A trick someone used against me once," I replied vaguely, not bothering to clarify that I had also been tricked into eating something with the controlex hidden inside.
"Hmmm..."
I lifted my head when I spotted a glimpse of light in the distance. Taking a breath, I released my owl-like proximity call to guide him in. Daniel wasn't quite as relaxed as Ethan was in the darkness, and some tension lingered in his muscles. Now that I thought about it, the vast majority of our wrestling matches had been done during the day.
"Toss me your flashlight," I told Daniel once he arrived. "I'll hang it up here so you two can see better."
"Can you put your sunglasses so I can check if there are any branches in front of you," he said as he stopped, able to see my eyes glowing in the darkness.
I put them on and closed my eyes as Daniel pointed his flashlight at me. The light quickly disappeared.
"Catch."
My eyes opened as he lobbed the light in my direction. I used some string to tie it to a branch so it lit up the area below, then tweaked the dial so it went brighter. Ethan wedged his light in the fork of a tree.
The two Terrors regarded each other uncertainly.
"So... How do these wrestling matches usually start?" Ethan finally asked.
Daniel shrugged. "No idea. Trinity usually ambushes me."
I rolled my eyes and promptly launched myself at Ethan. The blonde-haired zombie easily side-stepped me, but his focus was suddenly claimed by the charging Terror. Keeping low, I twisted to the side and hurled myself against Ethan's shins. He'd braced himself to stop Daniel's momentum and wasn't able to dodge my attack.
Ethan let his knees collapse and fell into a sideways roll to evade both of us. Daniel skidded in the leaf litter as he altered his path. Ethan was back on his feet before Daniel reached him, and the two locked hands in the Terror-typical shoving match. It was a rather strange sight. Ethan was clearly trying to hold back his strength while Daniel strained to push him back.
Or, perhaps his goals weren't truly to push him back, but to restrain him just enough for me to take advantage of the opening. My favorite tactic of sneaking up behind my targets was useless with the light, but that meant I could try new things.
I jumped toward a tree and ricocheted toward another, using it to propel myself toward Ethan's back. His head turned slightly, and he spun to the side, only for Daniel to twist sideways and shoulder-check the slender man, much in the same fashion I usually tackled him. Ethan staggered back a step, right into my trajectory.
I slammed into his back with enough force to elicit a faint huff from him. I hadn't expected to actually catch him, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do at this point. There was no way for me to pin him or even hinder his movements. He was simply too strong. Ethan ignored me in favor of grappling with Daniel.
I did not appreciate being ignored.
Stripping a handful of leaves off a shrub, I stuffed them down the back of Ethan's shirt. It shouldn't have worked as well as it did, but I had yet to encounter a zombie that didn't immediately react.
He twisted to the side hard, throwing me off. Daniel used the opportunity to get to his feet, but it backfired when Ethan immediately wrapped his arms around Daniel, restraining his arms and dodging his kicks. I collided with Ethan's shoulder, but he didn't relinquish his hold on the Terror who finally gave in with a faint growl.
Ethan skipped back and turned to deal with me. When he darted forward, I barely had time to drop to the ground, lashing out with nails curled enough that only the backs of my fingers would have connected. He skipped to the side, regarding me in surprise as he circled, looking for an opening.
He edged closer, and I knew he'd grab my wrist if I tried to swat him again. Since the match was a foregone conclusion, I gathered myself and lunged at his shins again. He lightly skipped to the side, turning fast enough to snag my ankle and halt my flight. As I hit the ground, he pinned me down. I struggled against the hands restraining my arms as he used a knee to pin my legs.
I finally stilled with a faint growl. The weight immediately disappeared, and when I sat up, Ethan offered me his hand. To humor him, I took it and let him pull me to my feet.
He grinned at me and stepped back, pulling off his shirt and shaking the remaining leaves out. "Now I understand why Daniel was trying to pin you against the ground. You always go for the ankles."
"It's hard to stand if someone tackles your legs out from under you," I retorted lightly.
Daniel jumped up to reclaim his flashlight from the branches above and dropped back down. "I didn't realize how different it was wrestling against a faster zombie. I'm amazed you wrestle with me as much as you do."
I snorted faintly. "With my temper? It's the easiest way to blow off steam without wreaking havoc on the forest."
Ethan pulled his shirt back on. "Nina promised to come back once a year to check on things. You could always come with her."
"We'll see. I'm usually not much for road trips."
Another option was for me to come down on one of my vacations and see how long it took Ethan to notice my presence.
Daniel said, "It's rare to get Trinity to join a social outing, but you could always come up to Ironwind for a visit and see what it's like there."
Ethan nodded thoughtfully. "I might do that once things settle down."
I could only imagine Kelly's and Travis's reactions when he showed up.
~
I vaulted into the back of the truck while Nina said her goodbyes to Ethan and the six assistants. Logan wedged a few final bags between the piles of boxed-up lab equipment we'd brought from Ironwind. A couple of the assistants gave Nina a hug. With common goals and interests uniting them, their friendship had formed surprisingly quickly.
"Come back and visit in a few months," a woman said, releasing her from a hug.
"Let us know when you get to Ironwind safely," another added. "The radio team will be listening for any updates, and we already booked time in the radio room for our weekly calls."
Ethan shook Nina's hand and stepped back, his gaze silently promising that he'd keep an eye on things and make sure nothing untoward happened. The restoration serum had been perfected, and the group had already promised to stick with Nina's formulas for zombie drugs.
Nina and Ethan had agreed that they were free to work on human medicines as long as they were careful, much to the group's excitement, although they were mostly focused on bringing more humans back from their zombified state.
After a few more farewells, Nina finally got into the truck. A dune buggy appeared farther down the road as Jax and Wren waited for us. They had decided to travel to Ironwind Stronghold with us and see what it was like.
Jax wanted to wait another week or so for the last of the unranked triggers to come undone on their own so he could take the regular cure. That was the public story anyway. In reality, he had volunteered to do it so Nina could track the changes for her research and allow both of them to determine when the unranked zombies disappeared. It wouldn't be the same for every zombie, but it would give her a rough idea.
As the truck began moving, I gave an idle wave, which Ethan and the others returned. Nicky pointed her potato cannon to the sky and twisted the lever. Whoosh! A ball flew skyward before bursting into confetti and sparkles.
"Where is the duck?" I asked her. That thing made a daily appearance, and I hadn't seen it today.
"It's in my backpack. I had to get Jess something, and it has a ton of stories to tell!"
I bet it did, although Jess might not believe all of them. The group watched us drive away; behind them, dozens of people were building a huge apartment complex to accommodate the rapidly-expanding population.
Other Strongholds were taking in some of the newly awakened, but they were more interested in obtaining the serum so they could bring back their own loved ones. Resources and food were limited and took a lot of work to gather, not to mention helping the newcomers adapt to the current world, so this would be a gradual change.
It was a relief to be heading north and into some sense of normalcy. My eyes strayed to Daniel, who was currently wearing a rainbow-colored shirt and shoes without complaint.
As if I needed confirmation that this was going to be a long drive, Nicky pulled out a remote control and hit a button. Music began blaring from under the hood, and she promptly began singing along.
Leaning forward, I snatched the remote and hit the off button, silencing the music. I tossed it into the cab window in case Nina or Daniel were fond of that particular song. Nicky groaned and flopped onto the mattress, staring up at the cloudless sky.
My gaze drifted back to Bryer Stronghold. The assistants were already heading back inside, although Ethan remained where he was. I leaned back against the side of the truck and absently watched the Stronghold disappear from sight.
I was tired of road trips, and I was glad this one was at its end, but I was already planning another. As soon as I could talk Nina into giving me several vials of the restoration serum, I was heading back to my father's and friends' houses.
It was time to bring them home.
And thus ends the 826,000 word series. Thank you for taking this journey with me.
My next series, a post-apocalyptic teleportation one, will come out this summer. I'm working on it offline, so I'll be able to update 5 chapters a week once I start. Please stay tuned!