Nicole was folded up on the floor of her apartment in 'Child pose' when her cell phone rang. With a sigh of irritation, the blonde stood and moved to the kitchen table where her cell phone rattled.

"Nicole speaking." She answered plainly. Over her shoulder, the calm yoga instructor led her class of one onto the next pose from the television; something about a tree.

"Hey. You move out of town; you don't email... you don't go online..."
"Matt, get off it." Nicole takes a seat in the solitary chair at the table. "It's been three days. You guys forget how to reset the fuse box already?"

"Ha. Funny." Her old buddy grumbled. His lack of understanding the fuse box had always amused Nicole.
"No, we just wanted to make sure you had arrived all right."
"Yeah, I did." Nicole frowned. "Didn't you get my text?"
"No, must have missed it." Matt came back. He hung on, the silence on the line bothering Nicole. Matt never was good on the phone; his social skills dropped off a crater.
"So what are you guys up to?" Nicole tried to reach him. "Skyrim?"
"Yeah, um. We were... I just wanted to remind you to check the site."
"The site." Nicole blinked. "What site?"
"The site."

"Oh right, the site." Nicole rolled her eyes as she opened her laptop; hitting the necessary buttons for the internet to wake up. "Is there something in my area?"
"No, but we wanted to make sure you remembered to check it out. There could be something."

Oh. That's what this was about. She'd left the group that had taught her about the monsters, had taught her the rudimentary skills of documenting and sharing the monsters to the Network Zero web site and now Matt was worried she'd forget, out here on her own. Forget about the Network or about Matt and the guys?

"Thanks." Nicole replied, making her voice warm. "You're right; I should have checked in sooner. I bet Zeke still checks first thing in the morning...?"
"Right at 4 A.M., before bed." Matt comes back more quickly, more relaxed.
"You guys on anything right now?"
"No, haven't found any thing that looks suspicious. Zeke thinks there might be a picture that looks like the pier on the beach, so we'll be checking that out tomorrow."
"You remember what I told you." Nicole cautioned. "Don't go alone."
"Yeah, yeah. You're the little sister, remember."
"Yeah." Nicole smiled. "You see big sis lately?"

"Yeah, we're seeing her tomorrow at the beach. New jobs kept her busy; but she said she'll have some time to hang."

Nicole set the phone down sometime later. The Netflix screen had loaded; signalling her yoga session had completed. She realized she felt better after the guys had checked in, but realized she should have expected this. She should have remembered how socially awkward they were and that the good bye had been painful all around.

Still, she reminded herself, they hadn't asked her to come back. They had big sis; the one who had been so against her Hunting in the first place. They'd be fine.

For the first time, she realized she was alone in a big, new city and she'd come here to hunt what she'd never figured out.

Feeling isolated, she logged into the Network Zero website and began typing.