My eyes refused to leave the spot where Jess's and Nicky's scent trail abruptly ended. As I stood there, my muscles vibrated with my desire to shred their kidnappers limb from limb. The problem with that idea was I didn't know where they were, only that they were driving as fast as possible and probably over fifty miles away by now.

"We're just about done packing," Nina said as her footsteps went to where our truck was parked beside the building. "If you want to grab anything from your room, we'll be leaving in about five minutes. Hank found most of the crowbars and socket wrenches we brought back, and he put the bag in the back of the truck for you."

Her words finally broke through the unthinking rage in my mind, although I hadn't been staring at the spot for long. A nearby clatter made me turn my head as Logan dumped an armful of weapons and other supplies in the back.

"You helped me, now it's my turn to help you," he said simply.

"We're going to help you get Jess and Nicky back," Daniel quietly affirmed, his eyes still glowing brightly. He remained near the steps, giving me as much space as possible while helping pack.

From the doorway, Luke asked, "Did you recognize the scents?"

"No," I growled. "Why did they take Jess and Nicky?"

"I don't know," he replied unhappily. "We can only think of two possible reasons. An enemy might be planning to hold them hostage against you, or since they mentioned visiting Nina, they mistook Jess for her and took Nicky because she was also there."

I really didn't care about the reasons – I just wanted them back – although I gave his words some thought. I'd pissed off more than a few people over the last three months, but I didn't think any of them were gutsy enough to try something like this. Shoot at me, yes. Take hostages, no.

Luke came a few steps closer. "I need your advice on whether or not I should come on this rescue mission. I really want to help, but at this point, I think we can safely agree those two Runners were intentionally left as a distraction, so this might be another attempt to lure us away. And I'm not entirely sure you'll be able to tolerate my presence in the back of the truck right now."

"No one will be able to keep up with me while driving," Daniel added, "so a second vehicle will only slow us down. Otherwise, we'd have quite a few more volunteers packing several vehicles."

My eyes narrowed as I considered their comments, although most of my focus was on Luke. "I don't think they're going to return – they already had the best opening they could have possibly had. Now we're on guard. But others may come. Or feral Runners. Remain here and guard this place. Please."

My words were clipped, and my tone was short, but it was the best I could manage when I was angrier than I had been in a very, very long time. With my instincts this high, it would be extremely hard for Luke to travel in the back of the truck with me. It was probably safer not to try. And I couldn't even contemplate the thought of taking two vehicles if there was even a chance of it slowing us down.

Luke nodded with determination at the task I'd given him. "I'll defend this place to the best of my abilities."

Behind him, John and Hank also nodded as they brought a couple of boxes over. Neither were exactly fighters, so it didn't surprise me they had opted to stay and help guard this place. With a Terror and a Nightstalker on the warpath, our biggest obstacle was the distance between us and the people we were after.

"Is there anything you want to take with us?" Daniel asked me. "We're just waiting for one more box to be brought over."

I had my backpack and was about to say no but caught sight of Logan's bow by his coat.

"Bow and arrows," I said shortly, turning to head to the archery lanes. There was a good chance a ranged weapon would come in handy.

"I already grabbed yours," Daniel said. "They're in the back of the truck." I gave him a surprised look, to which he replied, "I can't exactly shoot while driving, and they can't flee if they have flat tires."

He had a point there. One more detail niggled in the back of my mind, and without speaking, I went back inside. I descended the stairs to the lab again, and the blood smears and scent of Jess's fear hit me just as hard as the first time. I exhaled between gritted teeth and flexed my fingers, wishing the other men were within reach right now.

Ignoring the dead man, I went back into the room. Nicky's sword lay on the bloody floor, and the blade reflected the ceiling lights between the dark splotches of semi-dried blood.

As I bent over and picked it up, my eyes examined the weapon Nicky had always carried around like a costume prop. I had never seen her fight with a sword, or even practice with it, but she had managed to inflict quite a bit of damage and had even taken down one of her attackers.

I took it over to the sink and washed it. Red-streaked water ran along its surface as the residues of the polishing oil repelled the droplets. A quick wipe with a nearby rag dried the blade. The sheath was nowhere to be seen, likely still on Nicky's belt.

With the sword in my hand, I started to walk out of the room, then paused. Turning back, I quickly grabbed three empty vials from a box on the counter and some cotton balls. I wiped the cotton through the men's blood, one for each man, and tucked them into the vials in case I needed to share the scent with another sane zombie.

How I wished Kelly and Travis had stayed another day! They would have immediately joined the hunt. If the kidnappers split up, Travis's tracking abilities would have come in handy.

I capped the vials and stuck them in my backpack. If any of these men escaped, I'd be able to share their scent with the Nightstalker siblings. If they ever found them alive... I bared my teeth at the thought.

I didn't need anything else from the lab or my room, so I went back outside. Daniel, Nina, and Logan were already getting into the truck. As per usual, Daniel was driving while Nina sat beside him. Logan was against the tailgate where he had been on our earlier trip.

If they were ready to go, I wasn't about to hold them up. I ran forward and jumped into the back. One hand lightly held onto a handle on the roof for balance.

Even as Daniel turned the key in the ignition, I said, "Let's go!"

I had no idea where we were going, but Daniel must have known which road they'd gone down since he immediately headed toward the south gate instead of the eastern one, driving far faster inside the fence than what was normally allowed. The guards saw us coming and opened the gate before we got there.

As soon as we were outside, Daniel floored it, and it was a good thing there were handles on top of the cab. I remained standing, staring at the road ahead and scanning the trees as if Jess and Nicky would simply appear. With the sun in the sky, I knew Daniel would see anything long before I would, but I was too agitated to consider sitting.

Ironwind had maintained the roads within its territory, so Daniel quickly reached speeds not legal in the old world. My braid whipped behind me in the wind. Yet, it wasn't fast enough for me. The dead-men-walking had at least a two-hour head start on us, and I wanted to catch up as quickly as possible.

If there was any justice in the world, their truck would break down.

"How many vehicles are we looking for?" I asked.

Even though Daniel had his side window rolled up, the back one was open, and he easily heard me above the sound of the wind. "Three armored vans that look like they came from a SWAT team or the military. All three are steel grey."

I growled faintly. Even if my wish came true and one broke down, they had two other vehicles at their disposal. At least they'd be easy to identify. It was my only consolation.

Daniel didn't slow down as he followed the main road and ignored the small dirt track that led to the barn with the Runners.

"Do we know where they're going?" I asked. If Nina hadn't heard the vehicles drive by the barn, then they had likely remained on this road, but I wanted to be sure.

"No, but they went south, and their tire tracks are unique. They didn't go down the dirt road to the barn, if that's what you're thinking."

I glanced back at the other road, where various tire tracks lingered in the dust. Most looked like they were from the side-by-side, but there were larger ones as well. I would have needed to inspect them on foot to try and make sense of them. Yet, Daniel's eyesight was good enough to determine that while driving.

I suddenly had a sinking feeling I wasn't going to be much use on this chase. Once we caught up, yes, but in the meantime, I'd be relying on Daniel's ability to trace tire tracks since it was almost impossible to track someone in a vehicle by scent.

Almost dreading the outcome, I took a deep breath. Even with the air coming right over the truck and not swirling around, it was a confusion of scents. It was like being blindfolded and spun in fifty circles while people danced around you. I had no sense of which direction they were coming from or where they were going. Just that the scents were there.

The ambient forest smells immediately let my mind pinpoint exactly where I was in relation to the Stronghold. The air relayed all sorts of additional details. There were nine Runners in the barn, along with their bizarre friend. The diesel engine left a metallic tang in the air as it heated up. All three of my companions were upset and determined. The faint musk of Jess and Nicky's sweat lingered from our shopping trip yesterday, likely emanating from the cloth seats in the cab.

I took a second breath, hoping to pick up the faintest tang of human blood. Three of the men had been injured, and even though my bloodlust had basically disappeared, my nose was still hypersensitive to the scent of human blood.

Nothing.

It was all I could do to avoid growling. Even if the men had been bleeding when they drove along this section of road, they were in a swiftly moving vehicle, and their scents would have only been left in the air – which the wind would have blown away.

Even I couldn't track the wind.

The faint scent of gun oil persisted and made me look around with a faint frown. Logan was currently wearing safety glasses to protect his eyes from the wind, but I didn't see a gun near him. Considering how the wind was swirling behind the cab, I didn't think it originated from him. I bent down to peer into the cab, where I spotted some sort of military rifle beside Nina.

"Please tell me your aim with that thing is better than your skill with a bow."

She glanced over her shoulder, surprised to see me looking inside. "Probably not, but I can shoot it into the air as a distraction or make them take cover. If I point it at anyone, I'll have the safety on in case someone is hidden near them. I'm leaving the marksman archery shots to you and Daniel."

I stood up again without replying. Letting Nina use a gun was about as safe as giving Nicky a string of firecrackers, but as long as she planned to fire it into the air as a distraction, it'd make it easier for me to sneak up behind the people I planned to kill. It also gave her a weapon that would make someone think twice, although she'd probably hand it over to Logan if a fight broke out.

My eyes scanned the back of the truck. Neither the ladder nor the makeshift storage bin on the tailgate were present – evidence of our hasty departure. One corner was occupied by carefully stacked jerrycans of diesel, a second spare tire, and some other tools. A couple of boxes and bags – whose contents I couldn't see – also took up some room.

My bow, arrows, and a bag of metal tools were in the corner Nicky usually sat in. Seeing the items in her spot hurt more than it should have been allowed to. Jess had never been on a road trip with us, but my ears still strained to catch her voice since her absence was weighing so heavily on my mind.

With a hard shake of my head, I faced the road, although that didn't grant as much of a distraction as I would have liked. Ahead of us, a familiar ribbon was tied onto a bush at the edge of the trees, marking it as a valuable plant Jess had asked me to flag yesterday on my patrol. We hadn't gotten around to digging them up yet.

I had originally thought the second floor of the secondary building with the intricately painted doors and shiny tokens would have been hard for me to bear, but memories ghosted along this road and every side trail we passed. Nicky, Jess, and I had been on every single one at one point or another.

The trail between the chokecherry trees had been where Jess had crashed the side-by-side into the trees a dozen times, forcing me to carry it back onto the beaten path. The next trail was where she had blackmailed Logan in an effort to get at the juicy gossip she had been so excited about. The one after that led to a patch of some sort of rare herb Jess kept pestering me to find her more of.

My reminiscing was brought to an end as the truck slowed down. I didn't have to see the big sign beside the road to know we were leaving Ironwind's territory – the large pothole ahead of us made sure we knew rough roads lay ahead.

Daniel swerved skillfully around the numerous potholes and debris, only hitting the smallest holes or sticks when it was impossible to avoid everything else. He may have slowed down, but we were still going faster than we had on previous trips. On the clearer stretches, he picked up speed, only to be slowed by more potholes, debris, and other obstacles shortly afterward.

After ten minutes that felt more like ten hours, I had to ask, "Is this as fast as we can go?"

"I'm already driving like a maniac with road rage, but we can't risk hitting some of these larger potholes. If we break a tie rod or something, we'll be looking for a new truck. I've already missed five nails and a bunch of other shrapnel. We have two spare tires, but it'd take time to change them."

I gritted my teeth but knew we were likely going as fast as feasibly possible for a long-distance chase. As it was, the truck was being jarred quite noticeably by some of the potholes and bumps. His sharp swerves to avoid certain obstacles were done without slowing down. To any other observer, he probably looked like a driver who had just discovered a dozen rats by his feet, spiders behind his sun visor, and a wasp nest on the passenger seat.

I could only hope we were driving faster than those we were chasing or that they damaged their vehicle in some of the deceptively deep potholes Daniel's keen eyesight and phenomenal reflexes avoided. Why couldn't they have something puncture their tires? There was no lack of sharp bits of metal on the road, even this close to Ironwind's border.

My eyes closed momentarily as I tried to recall the old math problems with two buses going at different speeds when the first one left hours before the second one. I eventually gave up and opened my eyes. I didn't even know how fast we were traveling, let alone how fast they might have been going.

All I knew was that it would take us quite a few hours to catch up.