A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 106

The small creek glittered in the moonlight as it made a fairly straight path away from the cliff, flowing out the opening to a lake that I could just make out from here in the darkness. Thick grass, clover, dandelions, and other plants covered the field. The animals were going to love the fresh green leafy stuff.

I tried to estimate the sheer size of this meadow, but failed. I glanced over at Diane who was also examining the view, "How big do you think this meadow is?"

She tilted her head as she looked at the area that the cliffs hemmed in, "The valley is likely around fifteen kilometers long and probably five wide at the widest part if I had to guess. It is more room than we will likely ever need. Simply running from one end to the other will take a bit of time. We will have to set up some sort of sound communication system with a horn or bells or something."

I blinked slowly at the peaceful valley below, "It looks so pretty."

"Yes, I think Roland picked out the perfect spot."

I looked at the cliff opening. I already knew that thick forest spread to the north and behind the cliff to the west. More grassy plains went to the east and south. We had both forests for hunting and fields for crops or grazing. It really was an ideal setup.

I couldn't wait to see what it would look like once we were done.

Those who were fired woke up shortly after we did in the morning. There was one big downside to having other people with the Heartfire virus around. No matter how quietly you moved, someone heard you. It was only 4:30am, but we were awake and had energy to burn after sleeping all night.

We headed back to the row of cut down trees that were going to form the palisade. We let the others sleep, it wouldn't be nice to wake them up just because we couldn't sleep in. I jumped on my shovel, but it barely went into the ground. I swiftly realized that most of the work being done was not something that I would be that helpful with.

The two pregnant women were acting as sentries in case a zombie or predator showed up. Their husbands didn't want them doing any heavy work and they had reluctantly agreed. Heartfire gave a person energy and it was hard to just ignore it.

Dozens of blue eyed people were digging a trench. We could stand the logs up in it and it would help keep them upright. They had worked out a plan, but I didn't understand it. There were actually two long trenches with one untouched area between where the gate would hang. It was going to be a hanging two door gate that would slide on hangers with one gate being able to slide each way.

Diane came over to me, "Can you possibly go to the trucks and set the stew on the fire? It should warm up in time for breakfast. If you could tend it so it didn't burn, that would be great."

"Sure." I took off at a light run towards the distant trailers. Even at a run it took me some time to get to the trailers. I knew that I wasn't heavy enough to get the shovel into the ground and this would free up someone else from cooking. I bet I could even manage flatbread if I was careful. That would surprise Diane.

I grinned in anticipation of her expression and decided to do it. With such a large group there were three stew pots that we had made up last night. I pushed all three on the coals and added more wood. I found the flour and started mixing up the runny flatbread dough.

I sampled the first edible looking piece of flatbread and thought it was pretty good. I had accidently burnt two of my first attempts, but the piglets, chickens, and goats had thoroughly enjoyed my mistakes.

I looked towards the opening in the cliff in the dim dawn light to see that numerous sets of blue eyes were hard at work in the distance. The trench was so deep that if someone jumped in, their eyes were no longer visible. Were they just digging a trench or a tunnel to China? Although if it had to hold up tall trees, the trench would have to be deep and narrow.