I looked at the various treehouses as we left the gate. Trish was helping us pack our stuff out. I still refused to talk with her. Trish looked at the various raised structures, "Which one do you want?"
Diane nodded to the most distant treehouse, "That slightly larger one over there."
Trish gave her an odd look, "That one is a long ways away from the others and the gate."
Diane nodded, "Yes, it is a bit further away. Most of those who may wish me harm will think very hard before venturing so far out of the fence. For those used to being outside of the fence it is barely a hop, skip, and a jump with the fence in sight and several obstacles to either climb or use to hang up a zombie. It is the largest one here, it is in the best repair, and it has the most support holding it up."
She was correct. It was the largest one by a fair bit, possibly the size of a tiny cabin. The distance between the treehouse and the fence didn't bother me, although it was probably half a kilometer to the gate. It did make Trish nervous though. Then again, she never had to do as much with zombies as we did. She spent all of her days inside the fence.
I couldn't wait to get inside and explore it. We reached the base of the ladder and Diane passed me a large picture frame she had been carrying, "Please hold this for me, I will go open up the door."
I took it and she quickly climbed the ladder. I glanced at the picture, it had hung in our bedroom ever since we arrived. It showed Diane with another lady and a guy. Both looked around her age, but I hadn't seen either of them before. I wasn't sure who they were, but Trish had told me to never ask about them because it could make Diane sad.
Diane pushed a trapdoor open and glanced around before climbing into the darkness above. I glanced around us like I had been taught, but no zombies were in sight. That was really unusual, someone must have lured most of them away recently.
I heard the faint squeak of windows opening and the darkness above got lighter and lighter as Diane opened up more storm shutters to allow sunlight in. She appeared near the edge of the trapdoor and looked down at us.
She took a step forward and dropped out of the opening before she grabbed onto the smooth sides of the aluminum ladder to slide down to the ground. She turned to me with a grin, "By the way, if you ever come down like I just did, make sure I am below and ready to catch you in case you fall."
I knew she was teasing me. Both of us knew that I would never try anything like that from such a height. I grinned back at her, "Sure, what is it like up there?"
She shrugged, "Nothing fancy, go on up and take a look around. Here, let me take that picture and bag from you. You can put your pack in the bedroom for now."
I passed the items to her and quickly climbed up the ladder to stick my head through the trapdoor. It was the size of a small cabin. I stood up and looked around. The tiny kitchen was in one corner and most of the space was an open living room area. Only two doors were present, one for the bedroom and the other for the bathroom, both doors were open. I knew a water cistern fed the toilet and shower.
It was shockingly bare. There was literally nothing here. The wood plank floor and walls were bare. The roof trusses were exposed showing the plywood above with shingling nails poking through. There weren't even any plugins or light fixtures. I bet that Diane would swiftly find some LED solar lights.
Trish climbed up and looked around, "You weren't kidding when you said it wasn't anything special."
Diane was optimistic as she followed Trish up the ladder. "It could be worse. It is weather tight and we are not sleeping in a tent or cardboard box. It does need a few touches to make it nice and homey though."
Trish really needed to take her cue from Diane and look on the brighter side of things. I always tried to see the glass as half full. I giggled, "This place is bigger than both of your rooms put together!"
They chuckled and I went to investigate all of the windows. You could really see a long ways from up here. Windows pointed in every direction too. I noticed Diane walk over to kneel by the trapdoor with an intense look on her face. I stopped my exploring to watch her.
She braced one hand on the far side of the trapdoor and leaned halfway out of it. I hoped she didn't fall, but somehow doubted that she would fall through that door even if someone pushed her towards it. She was too coordinated and her reflexes were too sharp.
She reached down with one hand to fiddle with the side of the small trapdoor. She sat back up and pulled on a section of the floor. My eyes widened as a second, previously invisible, trapdoor flap opened. It made the opening almost four times bigger.
Diane chuckled, "Well, that makes it easier to get slightly larger items up."
Trish raised an eyebrow, "And just how do you plan to carry those larger objects up that narrow little ladder?"
She laughed, "I am not going to carry them." Diane pointed to the roof joist above us, "I plan on stealing a pulley from some store downtown and simply hoisting stuff up."
Trish chuckled and shook her head. We did a quick inspection of the place and headed back for lunch. Rumors must be spreading fast. People kept whispering to one another and glancing at Diane. I could see their mouths moving, but I was pretty sure that Diane could probably hear them.
Apparently almost 200 people had left yesterday. It had included the maintenance guy, the Cook, and a lot of their friends. Whispers said that all of the murderers were in that group. I was glad that they were gone. I was tired of funerals.
Matthew said we had the rest of the day to move into the treehouse and settle in. Diane was planning to head to town for some supplies and I was getting to go with her. I was so excited, it would be my first Raiding trip. I didn't have any official training yet, but Diane had shown me the basics.
Once we had finished eating Diane glanced down at me, "Feel like going shopping?"
"Yes!" I couldn't contain my energy as I danced and twirled around Diane as we walked down the corridor. Once we got outside of the main gate she swung me onto her shoulder with the ease of practice before she started jogging, easily evading the zombies. The moment we were out of sight Diane sped up to her favorite speed, a smooth ground covering lope that never seemed to tire her.
I hadn't been in the town since the day Diane rescued me. She was in a part of town that I had never been in before. Large fancy houses lined both sides of the streets. Oddly enough, I didn't see any zombies in sight.
Diane got me to climb to the top of an RV while she went to check the houses. Even a Swift wouldn't be able to climb this narrow ladder. Diane went into three houses before coming back for me. All three had spray painted symbols that showed that they had been emptied of food by previous Raider groups from the Fort.
She closed the door behind us as we entered one. "Let me know if you see anything you want." I nodded and looked around. I was too nervous to leave her side for the moment, even though I knew that Diane would have found any zombie that might have snuck in since the Raiders looted this place.
I followed her until she passed a room that was decked out in purples and blues. The previous owner of this room must have been about my age and had a moon, star, and galaxy theme. She had excellent taste. Diane left me there to see if any of the clothes fit while she continued down the hallway.
I had clothing from what Diane had gotten me, but I picked out anything I liked and tried it on. Several pieces were really nice and I put them aside. My eyes kept tracking back to a poster on the wall. It was a galaxy picture with lots of purples, blues, and pinks.
I wondered if Diane might let me take that too, even if it wasn't an essential object. I carefully took it down and put it on the bed. The bed spread was something similar and I loved the colors. I hoped we could take that too. I would ask her when she came back.
I investigated the rest of the room, but nothing interested me. Diane came back with two big storage containers under her arms. They were the kind with three big drawers on them and I was pretty sure those were the replacements for our dressers. I looked up at her, "Can I please take the bedspread?"
She glanced at it and nodded before folding it up and squeezing it into one of the storage drawers. I tentatively inquired, "Can I take this too? I want to put it on a wall of the bedroom." I held up the poster.
She looked at it and nodded, "Here, let me show you how to roll it up so we can put it in a corner of your pack."
We put the clothing I liked in another drawer. I wasn't sure how Diane planned on carrying the two big storage towers, but I knew she would find a way. By the time we finished packing, both of our backpacks were full and those two towers were only being held shut by bungee cords and some sort of cloth strap.
I glanced out of the window as Diane got ready to leave.
"Let's go back and put all of this away. We may be able to manage another trip or two today as well."
I looked back to see her grin and she looked pleased with herself. I smiled back, "Okay, I don't see any zombies at the moment either."
She put me on her shoulders and opened the door before picking up the towers by the straps. I leaned back to push the door closed and carefully held on since Diane's hands were full with the towers. I had tucked my feet behind her elbows, but that was all that was helping me keep my balance.
The town was quite a ways from the Fort on foot. It probably took us about 20 minutes even with Diane going at a lope. Once we got back I climbed up the ladder to open the trapdoor. Diane hauled up the towers one at a time.
I helped Diane empty the bins and pile things neatly on the floor. The amount of stuff she pulled out of those towers shouldn't have been possible. She seemed to have everything squirreled away in those towers or in her backpack. I was right. She had found several solar LED strings, in brand new boxes nonetheless. I was beginning to think that she was using some sort of obscure angel ability to make all this stuff simply appear.
I put away all sorts of thing. Kitchen utensils, shampoo, bedding, pillows, plates, and much more. The place looked a bit more lived in now. I unrolled two rolls of padding that was meant to be put under sleeping bags, they had already been in the bedroom when we first came. I made up two beds and put our towers in one corner.
By the time we finished it was time for supper. The entire afternoon had just flown by. And I had loved every minute of it.