As afternoon turned into evening, I asked Hank, "Can you undo the metal on the doors so I can take Chloe out?"

It was a convenient excuse to slip out for a breath of fresh air and a quick hunt. I could have easily untwisted the bucket handle, but this was the best way to remain inconspicuous. The back doors had been chained shut by the previous owner, so there was no way to sneak outside.

Ben replied, "Tom managed to get her to pee in the janitor's closet. She's fine."

"Then it will give her some exercise." I also really wanted some fresh air. The number of people in this place was doing a number on the air quality.

"It's safer if everyone stays inside until a vehicle comes."

I stared at Ben with disbelief. "You want to wait in here until someone drives by?"

He shrugged as if it was logical. "Someone is bound to pass by within the next week. There's no reason to go outside, and if you go out, zombies could follow you back. It's safer if everyone remains inside for now."

I wasn't used to anyone putting limits on what I wanted to do, and it annoyed me to no end. I really wanted to growl at him, but managed to merely grumble, "Then let me outside so I can check to see if any of the vehicles around here run. I'll go mad if I'm cooped up in here for days on end."

He shook his head. "No. We already saw several zombies walking by on the highway. It's too dangerous. We'll wait here until someone comes. There's plenty of food."

He must have been trying to test my patience – and I didn't have much of that left.

"Just let me out. I'll stay in one of the other buildings until someone passes by or you give up on your waiting game. Even if someone did come, you wouldn't be able to undo that metal twist in time to flag them down."

He shook his head. "Hank can undo it quickly enough. And no, no one is leaving."

I stilled as I faced him. His words were a challenge, and they hit my instincts like gasoline on a fire. Hank seemed to sense that Ben had overstepped an invisible boundary; he got up and folded his arms as he stood behind Ben.

I turned my head slightly to examine the massive man who probably thought my desire to go outside was a death wish. Had I been human, I would have been intimidated by his size and strength. What he didn't realize was that he was like a mouse glaring at a cat.

I grabbed my control with both hands and turned around with a pissed-off huff as I silently stormed off to the back of the store. It wasn't wise for me to be around them while I was this angry. I knew that my eyes would be glowing very strongly in my current mood – a warning that was invisible to them. I glared at the solid chains on the back door. Each link was almost as big as my fist, and even my Nightstalker strength wouldn't be able to damage them.

There were only two small windows back here, but it wasn't dark enough for my preferences. I shimmied up a couple of pipes until I got into the rafters where almost no light reached me. I sat on the narrow, metal beams while I fought to rein my temper back down to something that was safe for the humans to be around.

Part of my growing irritation was due to the strengthening smell of humans in the building, and part of it was the fact that I hadn't hunted last night. The largest part was that he had stomped on my Nightstalker instincts in such a way that they wanted to retaliate. It was probably best if I remained up here until I calmed down.

This could take a while.

Nicky and Liz entered the dark room below, checked around, and left when they couldn't find me. It wasn't long before they returned, this time with a flashlight. They didn't think to look up and went to check the rest of the store again.

Eventually, Nicky managed to locate my hiding place. She passed the flashlight to Liz, who sat on a box and waited for me to come down while Nicky went to tell the others that they had found me.

Without any reason to come back down, I remained up there for several hours. Liz patiently – and silently – continued waiting while coloring in a kid's picture book.

When I finally slid down the pipes, Liz left her book and came over. She took my hand and gently pulled me to where the others sat. I still wasn't in the mood for company, but that wasn't exactly earth-shattering news for me.

I sat down in my usual place, and this time, Liz crawled into my lap.

Ben's ego was overinflated from our last encounter, and he was clearly bored. "I'm amazed you didn't fall out of the rafters while wearing those sunglasses. You don't need to hide behind them. I'll like you just as much without them."

This guy is getting on my nerves. Unfortunately for him, I wasn't in the mood to put up with his horrible attempts at flirting right now.

I glanced down at Liz and pointed to a pencil beside her. "Can I borrow this?"

She smiled sweetly at me. "Sure."

"Thanks."

In a lightning-fast move, I grabbed it and threw it like a miniature javelin without even looking up. I watched them out of the corner of my eye as I slowly turned to face them.

Ben stared at the pencil that had lodged itself in the drywall beside him. Hank tensed up, holding a knife he had found somewhere in the store earlier. Nicky had her hand on her sword hilt but waited to see if she needed to intervene.

Ben turned his head to look at me. "You missed." He was trying for bravado, but his voice was shaking. He also reeked of sudden fear.

"There is a line drawn on the wall, and I aimed for that. My temper also has a short line, and you're about that close to crossing it, buddy." The edge to my voice should relay my warning.

Ben and Hank took a second look at the pencil and realized that someone had drawn on the wall with a pen. The pencil was barely touching the line, but it had still hit it. It was an insanely lucky shot – one that I normally could have never managed regardless of how hard I tried.

Neither of the men spoke. Nicky was watching me closely with some emotion I couldn't identify. Tom and Marissa shifted uneasily at the display of my temper.

Liz frowned at her pencil, oblivious to the tension in the air. "There were more pencils on the shelf. I'll go get them."

She slid out of my lap and trotted off down an aisle. Hank let go of his knife but continued to regard me silently. Ben frowned, although he wisely didn't say anything. Perhaps he was finally gaining some small speck of wisdom. I'm not holding my breath while waiting for that to occur.

Liz came back with a package of pencils and reclaimed her seat in my lap. She tried to pull the box lid open.

"Ouch."

I closed my eyes as the scent of her blood hit my senses with a shock that reminded me of being ambushed with a bucket of ice water. The virus in my blood surged and tried to force me to attack the child in my lap.

It took me a few seconds to ensure that I had my bloodlust mostly under control. When I opened my eyes, Liz was examining a paper cut on her finger, where a drop of blood was seeping out. Thankfully, it wasn't deep or bleeding a lot.

It took a conscious effort to remain in control with the zombie virus influencing me. To my surprise, Liz wasn't crying; instead, she was inspecting the growing drops of blood with an interest that bordered on fascination.

With a sigh, I grabbed a napkin and wrapped it around her finger. Marissa pulled a box of Band-Aids out of a bag and tossed them to me. I easily caught them with one hand and pulled a larger one out. The better we sealed the cut, the better off I would be.

I wrapped the Band-Aid around Liz's finger and put the blood-spotted napkin in an empty pie tin. Lighting a match, I set the napkin on fire and watched it burn. It didn't take long before only ashes were left.

I shifted Liz out of my lap and got up, checking a nearby aisle for something I had seen earlier. I opened the bottle of bleach and started pouring a thin line around the entire perimeter of the store.

Marissa looked at me as if I had gone nuts. "What are you doing?"

These people knew nothing about zombies...

I didn't look up as I bluntly replied, "The smell of blood can lure in zombies quite easily. Between burning the napkin and pouring the bleach along any possible gap, it should cover the scent of her blood."

The sharp fumes should also help me retain my control. If nothing else, it was burning the inside of my nose, but that was the least of my worries. The smell of her blood had been brutal, and I hadn't been expecting it. I had remained in control though. That was the main thing. I was glad it was just a small paper cut and not a larger injury, such as someone slipping and cutting themselves with a knife.

When I glanced over at the humans, I paused to examine the looks of shock and surprise on their faces. "Please don't tell me that such a thought never crossed your minds."

All the adults shook their heads, and I gritted my teeth. I was surrounded by idiots. Who, apparently, wanted to sign their own death warrants.

I finished the perimeter and dropped the bottle in front of Ben, gesturing to the back of the store. "Split that bottle between the toilets and pour some down the sink drains and in the corners of the rooms. It should mask the smell in there for a few days."

I sat down in my usual spot as Ben opened and closed his mouth a few times before grudgingly getting up. He took the bottle with him as he went down an aisle toward the back of the store.

Nicky started snickering. "Oh, did you see his face? Priceless!"

I chuckled, pleased that I had made him do something he didn't want to do. It helped ease the irritation.

"Wow, how do you get your teeth so white?" Nicky gawked at me.

Despite having some of the craziest moments I'd ever seen in a human, this lady was far too perceptive. I grinned at her in an attempt to mask my surprise.

I pointed my thumb toward the shelving. "The whitening strips are down aisle four."

"How many boxes did you use?"

When I shrugged and didn't reply, she got up and headed down the fourth aisle. I was somewhat dismayed that she had noticed my white teeth. It was a zombie trait – our teeth had no stains and remained white enough to make any model jealous. I was glad she hadn't realized my canines were slightly longer than usual. They were also sharp, although she wouldn't know that unless she came into contact with them.

To pass the time, I helped Liz color various pictures. Despite remaining alert for the sound of an engine, my wait was futile. I tried drinking a can of tomato juice, hoping the iron-rich liquid would help with my craving. The big can helped a bit, but nothing substantial. And since it wasn't blood or meat, it only resulted in more trips to the bathroom.

The bloodlust was getting stronger and more insistent. I was growing accustomed to the constant burn in the back of my throat, but it was getting worse as well. The sun had almost completely set, and my instincts would be strengthening soon. I wasn't looking forward to that.

Ben, Hank, and Nicky had decided to take turns watching the door tonight, so it wasn't possible to sneak out. Perhaps I could talk Nicky into letting me slip outside.

Ben interrupted my thoughts. "Come on, it's almost completely dark in here. You can take your sunglasses off now. "

In our enforced boredom, he seemed to think his new goal was to convince me to take off my sunglasses. In other words, he was being a complete pain in my ass.

"You don't give up, do you?" I grumbled.

"Nope."

I leveled a glare at him, not that he could see my eyes, but my facial expression would give it away. "And if I take off my glasses for a few moments, will you drop the subject permanently?"

He perked up. "Certainly."

I didn't even have to doubt his claim since his scent gave him away. Liar.

Still. If I did it once, he might shut up. And if he didn't, that was his problem. "If you shine a flashlight at me, not even Hank will be able to protect you."

Ben held up his empty hands. "I'm innocent on that front."

If I wasn't too worked up, I could control my eye color to a certain extent. I suppressed the red coloration that came with the virus, something I had practiced with a mirror after a sane Runner had shown me the trick.

In this low light, it would be easy for them to mistake the dark burnt orange color for brown. Ben watched me expectantly, although I wasn't sure what he planned on seeing since the store was almost completely dark by human standards.

I slowly reached up and removed my sunglasses for the first time in three days. I blinked slowly in what I considered to be painfully bright light, composing my face so they wouldn't be able to see my discomfort.

Bestowing my fully visible glare upon Ben, I raised an eyebrow at him. "Happy now?"

If he didn't know I was irritated before, he certainly did now. Allowing him to make me do something I didn't want to do was putting me in an even worse mood. He was obviously too dense to realize that his actions were the main trigger for my short temper.

"Yep. That wasn't so hard, was it?" He grinned at me.

It was official. He clearly didn't know when to quit. He was like a chicken strutting around in a KFC parking lot. He thought he was taunting the people inside the restaurant, but he didn't realize that the drivers were the true danger.

I snorted and put my glasses back on. The last thing I needed was for him to say something that sparked my temper and have my eyes flash red. Among zombies, our eyes were usually dead giveaways for our mood.

"I hope you enjoyed it because it isn't going to happen again."

He chuckled as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "We'll see, we'll see. We cracked your defenses, so we'll just have to keep working on them until we get to your soft heart."

I'm beginning to think that he is a few bricks short of a garden wall. I leaned back against the wall and didn't give him the dignity of an answer.

With a grin, Ben continued pressing his luck. "Not even a reply. That just shows that I'm right. We'll break through your shell yet."

I exhaled loudly in irritation. "Go to sleep, Ben. You're getting on my nerves."

He chuckled and opened his mouth yet again.

I interrupted him, "Not another word. Or else."

"Or else what?" he countered cockily.

I grinned at him in a slightly predatory manner. "Or else I'll show Nicky how to open that door the next time you hide in there."

Ben immediately lay down in his sleeping bag and fell silent. I smirked at his sudden obedience.

"You can show me anyway," Nicky said. "Love that grin, by the way. It reminds me of the big bad wolf getting ready to rip its prey's throat out."

I turned to look at her in surprise, trying to hide my unease at her perceptiveness. "How do you even come up with such analogies?"

I wished she would keep them silent in case someone started to connect the dots.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "I have a gift for that sort of thing."

I shook my head and draped my light blanket over my shoulders. I leaned against the wall as I sat and rested, pretending to sleep. Last night, I had managed to get half an hour of restless sleep, but I knew that my desire for blood was too strong to allow sleep to come tonight. My odd sleeping position confused the others, although they didn't comment on it.

Once the last hint of the sun disappeared below the horizon, I felt my Nightstalker instincts grow stronger. They always did at night. I wanted to run through the forest and hunt. Even the thought of putting a Runner in its place sounded good. That was my altered human mind's preferences; my instincts were more than happy to remain here if I could sink my teeth into my companions' flesh.

I refused to go down that route, so I had to sit here and pretend to sleep. It chafed against my waning patience, especially since I was having to work harder for control. Why did I have to get mixed up with a bunch of humans? I asked myself. Right, my human heart wanted to help.

I wasn't sure how much longer my humanity could cover up the monster hidden within. It wasn't something that was easy to hide, even for a short time. Still, I bided my time as the others settled down.

One by one, the others fell asleep, leaving Nicky sitting by the door on watch. Once I was certain the others were asleep, I got up and silently walked over to Nicky.

I crouched down beside her. "What are the odds of you letting me out? Even if it's just for an hour? Being stuck in here for so long is giving me really bad cabin fever."

"Sorry, I can't even undo that piece of metal."

I glanced at the door. "I can undo it."

"But I can't do it back up once you're out, and I don't want Hank or Ben to be that mad at me."

With a grumble of annoyance, I went back to my spot. It had been worth a try. I hadn't hunted last night, and I was mentally kicking myself for that oversight since I had previously decided it was a wise plan.

Normally, going two or three days without hunting wasn't too bad, but those times had never coincided with approaching humans, let alone getting stuck in a building with them.

If a vehicle didn't pass by tomorrow, I would be pushing the issue.