I collected various edible greens not far from Diane as others in her Foraging group ranged around us. We had rejoined her regular group a few days ago since her scouting was no longer needed. Plants were growing everywhere.
It was fun to run around with them and collect plants. I got to move more as well since we were mostly picking the edible greens. Diane lured most of the zombies away since she was used to moving lots. I looked forward to tomorrow's work. I enjoyed it.
There was no school today for my class. The day after we moved I had been told that Agatha had died. Her funeral had been yesterday. I would have school next week when they got another teacher.
I was excited for my training tonight. Rick was starting me on Raider training. Donovan was once more helping out, but he was learning just as much as I was. Diane had gone over lots of it even before she took me to town, but she had been showing me more.
She was still off with other fighters for fighting training most evenings. Thankfully, despite their fears, no one seemed to object to Diane's presence since knowledge of her supposedly being 'bitten' had come to light. Some parents at the playground had been nervous at first, but they had mostly relaxed.
One lady always left as soon as we arrived. It was kind of sad since her daughter wanted to stay and play. I wasn't sure why the lady was scared to be around Diane. It didn't make any sense.
Raider training involved my heart going into overdrive much more than zombie training had. In zombie training, you saw the zombies coming and had lots of room evade them. Raider training was for people stuck in tight locations. I wasn't big or strong enough for most of the things that Raiders could usually do. That meant I had to be much more careful and alert.
I snuck down the narrow hallway with one ear open. I put my ear against one door and listened carefully. Silence. I tested the door across the hallway. It was quiet as well. That didn't mean much though. I readied myself to run and quietly knocked on the door.
Growls erupted behind it and I silently bolted down the hallway, back the way I had come. I knew the layout of that part. In theory, zombies shouldn't manage to open doors, but sometimes doors weren't closed tight or it was a lever handle that zombies sometimes accidently opened. Besides, training with Rick meant that anything that could possibly go wrong, generally would go wrong.
Right on cue the growling zombie with the Frankenstein mask rounded the corner. One room here had two doors. I ran through it and closed the far door behind me before waiting around the far corner for the 'zombie' to go in. I quickly ran over and closed the second door. I severely hoped that only one zombie had been in the room that had been opened.
Rick loved to loose numerous zombies on me, forcing me to have backup plans for my backup plans. Several Raiders found it entertaining to help him make up somewhat plausible and extremely difficult situations.
The earlier part of my training had simply been listening to Raiders telling their own stories of close calls. Many had lost friends inside of buildings to zombies where maneuverability was severely restricted and the unexpected was a rule.
One thing was certain at this point, I was never entering an uncleared building without Diane or another trained person with me. Ever. It was simply far too dangerous.
As I halfway expected, two more zombies rounded the corner. I wasn't entirely sure who was behind those Halloween masks and that only increased my desire to get away from them. I ran down another hallway before I found a window with a 'fire escape'. A fire escape was my get out of jail free card.
I climbed out the 'window' and grinned as I won this round. I glanced to the side and ran towards Diane for a hug. Rick had been watching me and came over, "Impressive, I didn't even see you there."
Diane shrugged, "I had intended to watch silently for a bit, but Laura spotted me right away."
She glanced down with a grin at me. I smiled at her, "I saw your eyes glimmer. I practiced watching for them, even if I can't see you in the dark I can still see your eyes."
It had been much easier to notice her since we moved out to the treehouse. She wasn't hiding her abilities as hard. I could still pick out her movements easily since I was so used to watching for them.
She blinked slowly in surprise before grinning widely, "Practicing, huh? What else have you been practicing?"
I giggled at her teasing tone. It wasn't often I could take her by surprise. "I also practiced picking out your movements in the dark and I can now recognize your footsteps most of the time, if I can hear them. I watch how you move through the trees when you carry me and I have practiced it too. I watch how you always look around and I try to do that as well."
She grinned at me, "Well did you learn lots from Rick today?"
I shook my head, "Not really, he just went over some stuff that you already taught me."
Rick looked like he was trying not to laugh. My comment might make my practice tomorrow much harder. Perhaps silence was golden. Diane chuckled, "Good, how about we put it to the test later on then?"
I nodded happily. I was glad she still planned on taking me with her on her trips. Her nighttime trips left me alone now, which neither of us really liked. Diane installed a couple of big deadbolts that I would lock when she left at night. I refused to stay in the Fort, even if she had to leave me alone in the treehouse.
I woke to the sound of knocking. I knew the pattern and got out of my blankets. I peeked through the peephole in the trapdoor just in case. Bright blue glowing eyes were visible and only one person had those eyes. I unlocked the bolts and opened up the trapdoor for Diane.
She hung something in the rafters, "Can you help me with two items before you go back to sleep?"
I yawned against my will and nodded. She dropped two ends of a rope down the trapdoor. I could see that she had hung a pulley up. She opened up the second trapdoor flap as well.
"When I haul the item up, just pull it a bit to the side as I lower it so it sits on the floor. Then undo the clasp and let it come back down, okay?"
"Okay." Even as tired as I was, I was curious as to what she had brought back. She dropped out the trapdoor to slide down the ladder railings to ground. It made my stomach lurch just to watch her. Moments later she tied something up and hauled the ropes until a big box appeared in front of me.
I pulled on the rope until it sat just inside the trapdoor before undoing the rope. It wasn't long before the second big item was hauled up and I pulled it to the other side of the trapdoor. Diane came back up with one arm packing a big box.
She kept ferrying things up the ladder and I put them in the corner for later. She had dozens of boxes, bags, and rolled up objects, but I was simply too tired to inspect them. As soon as everything was up, we both headed to bed, leaving the odd objects for the morning.
I woke to the sound of the morning bell. We could even hear it out here. Diane's bed was empty, but I had heard her rise a while ago. In the silence of the treehouse, I could pick up her nearly silent movements more easily.
I opened the door of the room and paused at the sight before me. Diane was one of those people who could accomplish a lot in very little time if they put their minds to it. This was one of those times. Despite only being up for about an hour, she had the contents from most boxes and bags scattered across the rug to be put away. I wondered where she had found such a big rug, I didn't recall seeing that last night.
I looked around in curiosity as I walked over, "Wow, what is all this?"
She chuckled as she fiddled with a solar charger for a two way radio, "Practically anything I thought that we might need, want, or could use to make this place more comfortable."
It was a lot of stuff. I inspected the largest box near the trapdoor, "Oh! This is a bed!"
She grinned, "Yep, and just wait until you see how I plan to put it up. You really liked the high bunk bed right?"
I nodded, "Yes, it would have been too high up for a zombie even if one did appear." I was unable to figure out what she was getting at. This wasn't a bunk bed, so I wasn't sure how she was going to make it work. I was curious as to what she had planned. With her amount of energy, some of her plans were... unrealistic or simply too tiring for most people to contemplate.
She chuckled, "Good, it might take me a day or two to set it up properly, but I think that you will like it when it is done."
I couldn't wait to see what she had planned. We headed off for breakfast. There were lots of zombies around today so Diane put me on her shoulders before running past the gauntlet. I laughed in delight at her run. It wasn't often she ran faster than a lope with me on her shoulders and it had been a while since our scouting had ceased.