"-the cure is probably going to be our best option once the next wave starts. It just needs to be tested-"
I cut Louise off with a growl, turning around to face her with bared teeth. "Enough. I don't want to hear about it anymore."
"But-"
"Forget it." I glared at her, my muscles tense in warning.
Nina came around the corner of the garage and paused when she saw the scene before her. "Is something wrong?"
Daniel was only a few steps behind her, already frowning. His gaze lingered on Louise and not my bared teeth.
"She's trying to convince me to take the cure," I replied shortly. "And my answer remains no. I donate blood and saliva. That's it."
It was Nina's turn to frown at Louise, who tried to defend her actions. "It would be-"
"Leave her alone," Nina interrupted her. "She has no interest in it."
"But-"
A deep growl came from Daniel when she tried to argue. He also bared his teeth at the annoying young woman. "Leave. Her. Alone."
His eyes flashed red, a clear warning that he was serious, as if his you're-pushing-my-patience-much-too-far tone hadn't already conveyed that. With a visible gulp, Louise finally shut up and scurried off, clearly far more intimidated by the Terror than by me.
I shook my head with a huff as she disappeared around the other side of the garage. This wasn't the first time I had growled at her since she began pestering me yesterday, but she just wasn't taking the hint.
"Sorry about that," Nina said.
"If she keeps annoying me like that, she's going to get slashed."
"And you are fully within your right to do so if she ignores your words and warnings," Nina agreed surprisingly firmly. "Please refrain from inflicting serious injuries though."
I gave her a sidelong look, halfway curious about how much leeway a zombie had in this place if sufficiently annoyed. "What do you count as serious?"
"Something that needs more than a handful of bandages, requires too many medical supplies, or puts the person on bedrest."
"I can probably keep it to a shove or a light slash..." I murmured as I considered the enticing thought.
I'd never slashed a human before, but there was a first time for everything, and with Louise's attitude, I was willing to deviate from my nearly flawless track record in this Stronghold.
Daniel growled faintly at that idea, as if the thought of me harming someone – even if it was well-deserved – bothered him. I frowned at the temperamental zombie, halfway wishing he'd figure out a way to blow off some steam so he'd quit being so grouchy.
Recollecting himself, he shook his head and apologized, "Sorry. Dealing with those Runners is making me as cantankerous as a Nightstalker."
Considering he hadn't gotten to the point of launching himself at someone in a rage, he needed more practice. But, for my sake and the safety of others around this place, it was probably best if he didn't try to perfect that role.
"They all woke up, huh?"
"With the exception of one, yes. And they're just as snarly as most newly-turned Runners," he replied sourly.
"One didn't?" I threw Nina a look.
She shrugged. "All the ones we reinfected with the Runner triggers turned like most people do. We tried the triggers for a Nightstalker on one, and it went into seizures, but it's still comatose. There's no trace of the zombie virus in the bloodwork – almost as if the virus didn't take – so it might be a possible lead for a vaccine, but I have to analyze more blood samples to see what happened. It's possible we might have missed one of the Nightstalker triggers, but I don't think that's the case this time."
I hadn't been aware of her attempt to turn one into a Nightstalker, which led to a different concern.
I glanced at Daniel, then back at Nina. "Please tell me that you aren't going to try turning one of them into a Terror."
She shook her head hard. "Definitely not. The cages in that barn wouldn't be able to contain a Terror, and I don't even want to think about the potential consequences of a feral getting loose."
I sighed. "That's a relief. Just having Daniel is more than enough drama."
"I'm not that bad," Daniel grumbled. "Especially compared to Nicky when she gets her hands on coffee."
He did have a point there. Although I wasn't going to acknowledge that he actually might be right.
"If you think having me around rubs your instincts the wrong way, just imagine what I feel like when you're pretending to be a thundercloud."
Familiarity accounted for some of the dismissal of our ranks, but the virus in our blood would never let us truly forget. My instincts would always urge me to back down, and his would goad him into upholding his rank. Neither of us could stop it, although we could control it to some degree.
Daniel closed his eyes, visibly reining in his mood, before exhaling gustily. "Sorry. I'll try to tone it down. I might have to start hunting after I leave the barn instead of coming right back into the Stronghold."
Instead of making some offhand remark, I simply nodded. "Thanks."
At least one of us had to try and act civil. Apparently, it was my turn this week, however I suspected it wouldn't be long before the roles were once more reversed.
~
I sighed as I sat down in the lawn chair.
"I don't know why you're sighing," Nicky said. "I was the one who was stooped over all afternoon picking rocks. All you did was run around outside the fence. You were gone so long I was beginning to think you planned on moving out there or something."
"I'm spending more time outside the fence because Louise is terrified of feral zombies," I grumbled, once more reminded about the source of my irritation.
Nicky gave me an incredulous look. "Is she still bugging you about trying that new cure? I thought Nina and Daniel told her to leave you alone yesterday?"
I scowled at the clouds overhead. "They did, but she already came by twice today when they were elsewhere. The last time she got snarled at, and I held my hands in a ready-to-strike position."
"Did you slash her?"
"Had she continued talking, she would have been sporting a new trophy, but she decided she had pushed her luck enough for the time being and left without another word."
Nicky snorted. "Maybe she finally learned some wisdom?" Her tone conveyed her lack of optimism.
"Doubtful. Goats will probably fly before that woman learns to respect my space and decisions. Her persistence is beginning to seriously annoy me."
"Some people are such treasures that you just want to bury them?" Nicky asked, somehow making it sound like a suggestion. She sat up straighter in sudden eagerness. "I think I know where a few shovels are."
I tilted my head contemplatively. "Well, Nina did say whatever I did couldn't require too many medical supplies or a lot of recovery time."
It was almost too easy to picture. Especially when my Nightstalker skills were almost perfect to make someone disappear. Alas, Louise was one of only two "scientists" in this place, and the people here would be upset if someone with that sort of training was killed.
"At least I have permission to slash her," I grumbled, knowing that killing her was out of bounds when lesser retaliations were an option.
"Speak of the devil, and she shall appear..."
Nicky's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I followed her gaze. A low growl built in my throat at the sight of the blonde-haired woman below. Since she was walking toward our building while carrying her plate, she likely planned on eating dinner with us like she had the last few days. I didn't see Nina or Daniel, although they probably weren't far behind.
Simply knowing Louise was on her way had me grinding my teeth. She would almost certainly bring up a certain discussion before Nina or Daniel arrived, but unfortunately for her, she had already worn out my patience, and I didn't even have a plate to occupy my hands.
The lab assistant appeared on the roof far too quickly for my tastes. Her chemical-laden smell made me wrinkle my nose in disgust. How did her daily shower not put a dent in the odor? Maybe I needed to leave a bottle of dish soap outside her door and label it "essential shower gel".
It was a pity she never so much as stuck a toe outside the fence, or I'd be secretly hoping a zombie would eat her. Surely at least one of the regular zombies out there would overlook her unpleasant scent in their eagerness for a meal. My bloodlust proclaimed that she had to taste better than she smelled, which only reinforced my certainty that the virus tried to influence some really dumb choices some days.
She sat down in a chair and started cutting up some meat. "The reason the zombie died was because the first virus infection actually left a few Runner triggers in the person's genes when we cured it, and they refused to deactivate when we tried to turn him into a Nightstalker. Using several blood samples, we confirmed we can turn someone into a Nightstalker, cure them, and re-infect them as Nightstalker without any problems. We just can't change the rank."
I remained silent, not sure if she was trying to tell me about their progress or very subtly hinting about a certain possibility she wanted me to try. So far, subtle wasn't a word that even came close to describing her attempts at persuasion.
"So, the cure does remove the zombie virus," she continued, "but it won't act as a vaccine. We can also turn someone back into whatever zombie rank they were before. It works flawlessly in that area. Now all we need is for a sane zombie to try it so they can tell us if the virus's mental influences – such as the bloodlust – is also gone once they're human."
A low snarl was my immediate response, just so she knew I was serious. "I'm not volunteering. I'm here as a blood and saliva donor. That's it. I quite enjoy being a Nightstalker, and I have no desire to go back to being a human with illnesses and slowly healing injuries."
Nicky sent a worried glance my way, noticing my mood was rapidly sinking to a dangerous level. How Louise seemed oblivious to my vanishing patience and partially bared teeth was beyond me. And that detail wasn't exactly helping my temper.
"We have the triggers worked out," Louise replied with a shrug, "so you could always turn back into a Nightstalker."
Her offhand suggestion had me fully baring my teeth as my chest vibrated with the force of my growl as I retorted, "If you want to see the results so badly, then you can turn yourself into a Nightstalker and see if you can reverse it."
My vision was taking on a redder hue, and I flexed my fingers, wondering if the unobservant lab assistant was about to get a lesson in remembering to watch people's body language when she was annoying the hell out of them.
Louise frowned at me. "I know Nightstalkers are normally stubborn, but this would prove we've made a huge breakthrough. Your sister would probably do it if she was here."
I was instantly on my feet and in a fighting crouch as my snarl split the air. "You did not just go there."
A second snarl echoed mine. I glanced to the side to see that Daniel had arrived without me noticing, although he was also focused on Louise. His snarl had been directed at her, and his bright red eyes showed that he was not happy.
My hands were shaking from the effort of not killing Louise where she stood, but as enraged as I was, I knew it would be nearly impossible to keep my bloodlust in check if any of her blood tainted the air. The unusually angry Terror also distracted me and kept me from going after Louise.
We both wanted to set Louise straight, but that was like having two weasels go after the same rabbit; the weasels almost always ended up in a fight and the rabbit usually didn't survive the event. As much as I would have preferred to see her dead, that sort of fight wasn't one I wanted to get involved in.
Nina walked past Daniel with a livid expression. "And just what is the meaning of this? I told you to leave Trinity alone, and you take that as leave to harass her?" Her tone could have cut glass.
Louise hunched her shoulders, her eyes darting between Nina and the two royally pissed-off zombies, finally realizing just how badly she had messed up. For the first time ever, she decided that not responding was the wisest choice of action. Unfortunately for her, her guilty silence did nothing to appease anyone's temper this time.
Nina pointed to the door she had just come through. "Go. I don't want to see you near Trinity again."
Louise hesitated, but when Daniel and I growled at her, she picked up her plate and scurried off under our combined glares. Nina turned back to me with a regretful expression but realized I was in no mood for a conversation.
I was still in a fighting crouch with my teeth bared at the door as I fought with my temper. The person responsible for my rage was gone, but my anger didn't dissipate so quickly. Nina sat in a chair to the side, wisely keeping silent. Daniel watched me closely but also took a seat, moving slowly to avoid triggering an attack.
My instincts and anger were too strong for me to relax my stance. As much as I didn't want to be up here right now, there was only one quick way down that didn't include jumping off the three-story building, and Louise was still in the stairwell. She wouldn't survive such an encounter with me.
The way Nina had intervened also had my instincts up in arms. It was me she had been annoying, and my sister she had brought into the conversation. I should have been the one to set her straight, although I still wasn't sure how I could have done so without killing the woman out of sheer rage.
I knew Nina had only been trying to help, but she must not have realized how much my instincts detested her intervention. Oddly enough, my instincts didn't object nearly as much to Daniel doing the same thing; they had expected the higher-ranking Terror to push me away from a "human snack". They didn't like it, but it wasn't as difficult to tolerate his interference.
My vision was still tinted deep red, almost like a gauge on my temper, and just like on the gauge, the red meant warning, at least for those around me. I fought with my temper, but it was easier said than done. The others slowly ate in silence, watching me in their peripheral vision.
In a way, I was actually impressed I hadn't killed Louise. My self-control was better than I realized, although part of me was convinced that if there ever had been a time for a lapse in control, it had just passed.