As the hours crept by, boredom tried to set in, but my Nightstalker instincts came in handy and spurned every attempt, keeping me focused. The downside was that it made every minute just as aggravating as the one before it.

My eyes strayed to a burned-out house beside the highway, whose structure was still mostly standing. Bright green spray paint on the blackened door proclaimed, "It took a bit of work, but I got the spider!!!"

Jess would have appreciated their effort.

If they harm her, nothing will protect them, I silently vowed. My mind persistently circled back to the chase at hand. Had they just taken Nicky, they likely would have bitten off more than they could chew. But they also had Jess, and she wasn't quite as talented as Nicky was when it came to getting loose.

I also had a sneaking suspicion this group was forcing their cooperation by threatening to harm the other if they tried anything, but I couldn't dwell on that since rage swamped my mind if I considered such thoughts. It was so intense it stole the blues out of the sky and the greens from the grass, leaving me with red vision.

"Have we passed another one of Nicky's clues yet?" Nina asked. "It's been fifteen minutes, and we usually find one roughly every ten."

I hadn't been aware she was keeping track – which was a very Nina-like thing to do – but her words made worry flash through me since I hadn't picked up her scent recently, and she had been leaving the spitballs at regular intervals.

"We found her previous clue after the last major intersection," Daniel said, "and I didn't see any sign of them turning around, although they wouldn't have left any obvious signs if they went down one of the small side roads we passed."

Nicky had been leaving us clues on a regular basis, so we hadn't wasted time checking the numerous smaller side roads. So far, this group had only turned at larger intersections. If this was a new tactic of theirs, I didn't like it.

"Should we drive another five minutes and hope we find something?" Daniel asked. "I'd hate to turn around and check every side road only to discover she was being watched too closely for ten minutes to leave something behind."

If we doubled back too soon, we'd lose a lot more time than if we turned back just before our next clue. The decision was agonizing.

"Five more minutes," I finally said, knowing it was going to be the longest five minutes in my entire life, apart from when the seizures had turned me into a Nightstalker.

I stared at the road ahead, desperately wishing we'd come across another clue or round a corner and find them stopped, although we were too far behind to realistically expect such a windfall.

My nose scoured the air for any hint of their passage. I didn't even care if one of the men spit out the window like they had a few times. Surely one of them needed a bathroom break... Such things were infrequent though, and just like most of our trip, my nose wasn't picking anything up.

When the truck slowed down, I knew our five minutes were up. I gritted my teeth and exhaled in frustration. My grip on the handles tightened – not for balance – but in response to my internal rage. The group must have turned off without us realizing it. So now we had to figure out which one of the twenty or so side roads they had snuck down.

At this point, I was very grateful Nicky was dropping hints so frequently. Had she not been, we wouldn't have caught on so quickly. Hopefully she left her next clue close to whatever turnoff they'd gone down, although if she'd dropped it near the highway, I would have smelled it. She was overestimating my nose if she thought I'd detect such a tiny clue from a hundred feet away while riding in the back of a pickup truck.

"Not this road," Daniel murmured inside the cab. "The dust and twigs haven't been disturbed."

The miles felt even longer as we retraced our steps and scrutinized every turnoff. About half were in such a state that we didn't have to investigate them since the dirt, branches, and debris were untouched by tires.

"I'm not sure about this one," Daniel said as he slowed down. "Should we go down it?"

"At least as far as Nicky usually dropped those bits of thread or hair," I replied tersely. This delay was really having an unfortunate effect on my temper, and after such a long pursuit, I was already running short on patience.

We drove down the road a hundred feet. Then two hundred. Then three hundred. Nothing. Without any discussion, Daniel turned around and returned to the highway. There weren't many obstacles on this part of the road, and he accelerated quickly, trying to make up for the lost time.

Turnoff after turnoff, the stress built as we tried to figure out which way they'd gone. We went down each possible one, only to turn back when we didn't find anything. I hadn't realized just how many roads connected to major highways until we had to look closely at each one. The only thing that kept me halfway sane was that over half of the side roads clearly hadn't been used recently and didn't need to be checked.

We were almost back to the last place where Nicky had dropped something, and we still hadn't found anything despite turning down a dozen roads.

"There's a blue speck on this road, about two hundred feet up." Daniel slowed down so he could turn. He veered to the right, so I focused on that side.

I checked the air, inhaling deeply, but couldn't detect anything from here. The grasses on the side of the road bobbed in the gentle breeze, pointing away from me. Blowing any scents away from the highway.

There was too much red in my sight for me to spot the blue speck, at least at this distance, so I was forced to wait until we got closer.

Then I could smell it.

"It's hers," I told the others.

I exhaled in relief but remained alert. Now that we were on a side road, we might be getting close. With that thought, I took another deep breath, although the wind was still at our backs, so if there was a Stronghold ahead, I wasn't able to smell it. Nor was I able to pick up the scents left by people out foraging, hunting, or taking a roadside bathroom break, and such odors were common for miles around a Stronghold.

But now I had a new annoyance. Our latest turn had us driving west, where the descending sun made it impossible for me to look directly ahead.

"You're keeping your eyes open for a Stronghold, right?" I asked Daniel.

"Yes, although there aren't any signs of one nearby." As if sensing my difficulties, he elaborated, "There are no tire tracks along the shoulder, lots of dead trees in the ditch that should have been chopped up for firewood, no snares along the tree line, and I'm seeing a lot of wild edibles that haven't been collected."

That was kind of a letdown since it meant we weren't close to our destination after all. Now that he mentioned these clues, they stood out. Whereas I usually relied on scent trails to check for regular activity, Daniel had a few other tricks up his sleeves.

This wasn't the best time for a learning curve, but I wasn't being given a choice. I scowled at the forest to the side and wished some clouds would block out the sun so I could also watch the road ahead. But like on a perfect evening for fishing, the sky remained clear, and the breeze was dying off.

~

       My instincts rippled as the sun touched the edge of the horizon. "Do you want me to drive once the sun sets? Or wait until we catch up more? The light bars on this thing aren't exactly subtle."

Daniel considered it for some time. "We're still a ways behind them, and there's no sign of a nearby Stronghold, so I can keep driving for now. If we start seeing such traces, you can drive, and we'll turn the headlights off until we catch up."

"I was hoping they were pushing hard in order to reach their destination by sundown," Nina said, "but that doesn't seem like the case anymore."

"Most people won't even go outside the fence at night," Logan commented, "so I'm surprised they're still driving."

"There aren't many zombies along this road," Daniel replied. "We've only seen two during the last fifteen minutes, and this group has armored vehicles. Nothing short of a Nightstalker or a Terror is going to break in, so they probably feel safe enough to keep driving."

"I assume Louise knows you can't see well at night?" Logan asked diffidently.

"Yes. Everyone at Ironwind knows, although I don't think most realize just how bad it is." There was an edge in Daniel's tone that happened to be very similar to mine when someone expressed a bit too much interest in my sunglasses.

"That's one of the reasons I'm here," I said. "If we catch up to them in the dark, I'll sneak closer to check things out and see how well they're guarded." I was interrupted as Nicky's aged scent grew stronger, then faded. "Just passed another one of Nicky's clues, so we're still on the right path. But as I was saying, if we catch up to them on the road without them realizing it, I have a good chance of getting both of them out before this group even realizes I'm there."

"I don't think it'll be that easy," Logan cautioned. "Even if they stop on the road, they'll be in those armored vehicles. If they reach the Stronghold before we catch up, which is likely, they'll have plenty of lights turned on for a few nights, just to let them spot any potential followers well in advance. Hostages are usually locked in a secure or guarded location, so it won't be easy to sneak in."

I growled unhappily at his rationality, although I knew his words were probably far closer to the truth than I wanted to consider. Nor did I want to admit hostages made very good leverage. Yet, I had to consider all these aspects since I stood the best chance of sneaking in undetected.

The memory of the man holding Nina hostage by the bathroom flashed through my mind. It had been at night, they hadn't realized I was present, I had disarmed the only gun present, and I had taken out all his friends beforehand. That situation had been heavily skewed in my favor – yet he had kept the upper ground simply because he had Nina in his grasp.

That wasn't a situation I wanted to be in with Jess or Nicky. I continued to glower at the trees as my mind skipped through various scenarios and how I could possibly get around them.

* * * * * * *
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