I was wearing my warmest coat and had a small light backpack on. Diane picked me up and put me on her shoulders as she jogged to the gate. The sentry waved as we passed through, but made no comment. I was happy that I finally got to go out with Diane.
She kept up a steady jog until we were out of sight of the fence before she picked up speed to a fast lope. My hair was braided so it wouldn't fly into my face and I looked around in curiosity. We were on a road where the snow had been packed down, but most of the snow elsewhere was untouched.
Not long afterwards she left the road to follow a trampled trail. She still hadn't slowed down any. She didn't seem to be tiring either, her breathing was slow and steady. I remember how long she used to jog around the running track, so I knew that she could run for hours on end.
She occasionally paused to kick some snow from the ground and inspect the hidden plants. I watched what she was doing. I recognized most of the plants I saw. After a while she stopped and put me on the ground. She unfolded a shovel and scooped some snow off the ground.
She crouched down, "Okay, what edible plants do you see here?"
I came forward and inspected the somewhat snowy plants that were somehow still mostly green. "This is clover. Here is a dandelion. Snowberry. These two grasses are also edible."
I picked a piece of clover and popped it into my mouth. It was cold and fresh. Diane chuckled as she picked me up and put me back on her shoulders. She kept running down various deer trails, although she occasionally left the tracks and plowed her way through untouched snow.
Just like when I had seen her run from my house, she ran through the deep snow almost effortlessly. I knew from experience that it was not nearly as easy as it looked. We talked a fair bit as she pointed out various plants and animals.
It often took me a bit to see what she was pointing at. The forest that had seemed so empty was full of animals as she pointed them out. I saw deer, moose, rabbits, grouse, and even a fox. We occasionally stopped in a clearing to check what was hidden beneath the snow.
I got to mark good spots on our map and put a piece of flagging tape on a tree. Diane showed me how much damage mice could do to the plants we were after. Some clearings had almost nothing left untouched. That was why she was out scouting. She found the good spots for others to go to.
I loved our new routine. I got to go out with Diane almost every day, although I did have to go to class with Agatha at least twice a week to learn other things. She gave me homework like math and I carefully kept my grades up.
It was nice to spend all day with Diane since she still spent most of the evening training with Ace. Rick was helping me with more training as well, although Trish was taking me to the playground more and more.
It had taken a few days to get used to being carried around on Diane's shoulders. She didn't mind if I squirmed a bit, but I had to be careful if I moved too much because it could throw her off balance. She easily corrected the few times it had happened, but there a chance of her stumbling if she had to watch her step in a bad spot.
Diane twisted and glanced behind us before dropping to a light jog. I turned on her shoulders and looked behind us, but I didn't see anything. I wasn't fooled though, Diane normally ran at a lope all day. She wouldn't have slowed down without a reason.
"I don't see anything, why did you slow down?"
"I can hear the bus, it should be visible soon."
I pulled my winter hat above my ears, but it didn't help any. All I could hear was Diane's boots crunching the skiff of snow on the road and the birds in the nearby tree. I kept glancing back curious to see when the bus would appear.
Minutes ticked by and I began to wonder if the bus was even in the same province. I didn't doubt that she had heard it though. If she was sure that it was a bus, I was going to believe her. I craned my head as I finally heard the faint motorized sound.
A while later it finally appeared above the hill in the distance. It was a bus too. It sounded funny though, it kept sputtering and whining. Diane moved to the side of the road as it approached. It slowed down to a crawl as it went to pass us.
The driver opened up the door, "Want a lift back?"
"Sure." Diane easily jumped onto the moving bus. Diane put me down in the aisle and I saw brown and grey uniforms of both Raiders and Foragers on the bus. There were lots of bags and boxes in the back showing that they had been collecting greens.
We took an empty seat as Diane spoke to another Forager, "How is it going?"
The guy grinned at us, "Pretty good. There will be lots of dandelions in the salad tonight."
I smiled, nothing killed dandelions. Many plants turned to mush once they froze, but dandelions could actually grow a bit even under the snow. Diane chuckled, "What did you guys do to this poor bus? We could hear you coming miles away!"
I hoped that she was speaking for herself. I certainly hadn't heard it until it was much closer. They didn't seem to doubt us though. The bus still sounded terrible.
A Raider shook his head, "Most vehicles will start sounding like this pretty soon. The gas is getting old. Kind of like when you have old gas in your lawnmower and it doesn't want to work after sitting still all winter. The gas we are using is almost a year old now. Within another year it won't be good for anything other than fire starter."
What would they do if the vehicles stopped working? I looked at him, "Does that mean that the vehicles won't run for much longer? Is there a way to get new gas?"
"Yes, it won't be much longer before most vehicles won't start. We don't have much gas left either. We could get more from other gas stations once the snow melts, but it will all be old as well. Unless someone starts up one of the refineries to make more gas, there won't be any more. There is no refinery anywhere close to here either. The world would have to return to how it used to be in order to get those refineries back up and running."
I blinked slowly, so the vehicles wouldn't be running for much longer. There was no way to get more new gas either. This didn't sound good.
"What the..." I turned to look at the bus driver in worry. I saw that we were approaching the gate. There were lots of people milling around one building. Most of them had blue or grey uniforms. Guards and Raiders.
Diane frowned and glanced at the Raider Group Leader off to the side. He didn't look too happy either. Neither of them said anything though, so I remained silent. Everyone else was looking out the windshield in worry.
The bus went around to the loading docks. There was a group here who usually helped unload anyone who came. Everyone on the bus also helped to unload. I helped unload the smaller bags as I listened to the others.
"What is going on by the third building? Was there another murder?"
"Yeah, we don't know all the details yet, but it sounds like one of the women from the kitchen was killed when she ran back to her room for a recipe book. When she didn't come back, they went looking for her and found her just outside of her room."
"I have a few friends in the kitchen, do you know who it was?"
"No name has been mentioned yet since it happened less than an hour ago. Someone from Cloe's group is all we know."
"I think I will go see if Kim and Stacey are okay after we are done unloading. Joey, could you come with me? I don't want to go searching for their group alone."
I saw one of the Foragers nod and the conversation ceased. Everyone looked worried. I hadn't heard of a murder until this point, so I wasn't sure what they meant by another murder. We all worked together in the Fort to survive the zombies outside of the fence, why would someone try to kill someone else? The zombies were more than happy to kill everyone here given a chance. It didn't make any sense.
It didn't take long to unload and people scattered in various directions. Diane took me to the playground. I didn't mention the conversation I had overheard. I had a feeling that I wasn't supposed to have heard them.
I played with other kids on the monkey bars. It didn't slip past my attention that numerous Guards were on patrol. We eventually headed for a shower and supper. Guards were also stationed at almost every hallway junction.
Even if I hadn't overheard that conversation, I would have known that something wasn't right. I still didn't know exactly what was happening though.