I sat on top of the trailer on high alert while watching for any trace of a zombie. I could hear the loud music from across the river, but I ignored it. Joel had hooked up some loud speakers and a CD player to the one trailer and parked it on the ridge that overlooked the far side of the town.
The noise had lured most of the zombies away, but Diane had asked me and one other lady to stand as lookouts. I was taking my job very seriously. Half of the Trader group was raiding the store that Diane had originally found the extra solar panels in.
Only Diane and I had any sort of Raider training. The others normally avoided any building like the plague. Diane had cleared the store while the music had lured the zombies away. They were trying to get as many solar panels into the two trailers as fast as they could.
I called out, "Diane, we have a zombie coming. It is half a block away." It had just rounded the corner and the other lady had been watching the other direction. Diane immediately appeared and jogged towards it before luring it behind a fence, she jumped the fence and came back. The zombie wasn't smart enough to go back out of the gate since it could see us.
Diane returned to help load more solar panels. She was the only one who wasn't sweating in sheer nerves. Well, I wasn't either, but I was a sentry, besides no zombie could climb on top of the trailer that served as my lookout post to get at me.
Only three zombies had appeared and Diane lured them all off. I had offered, but she had declined in case something went wrong. We finally had everything loaded and we headed out of the town as fast as we could.
We regrouped with the two who were guarding the horses before heading towards the third trailer that was making all the noise. The music was really loud even all the way over here. I noticed that Diane had put earplugs in, so the sounds must be too loud for her. Thankfully a couple of people on the horses raced ahead and the noise stopped before we got there.
As soon as they got there, the third truck started and we all headed down the road as fast as the trucks could. Even with the bright sun, the horses were only going at a canter. Diane opted to run alongside them.
Everyone was excited about their first raid. Nothing had gone wrong and the solar panels would be welcomed and appreciated by the Fort. Dave was hoping to get another solar truck built with some of them.
I grinned as we made camp that night. Diane was as energetic as ever and the others simply couldn't believe that she had not passed out yet. It didn't surprise me, even the once or twice I saw her tired after an intense fighting workout with Ace and the other fighters, she had recovered within hours.
Only four days left until we would arrive back at the Fort.
Well, it would have been four days if the clouds hadn't socked in merely two days from our destination. Despite the overcast sky and drizzling rain, I was happy. This delay meant more time on the road.
Joel ended up hooking up more solar panels to the trailers and even then we barely moved at a crawl. Even I could keep up on foot. I loved being able to walk beside Diane. She often had to leave to lure zombies away since we were going slower than they were.
I helped out too, luring them through the gate of a farmer's barbed wire fence and crawling under the fence. Most zombies were unable to get past a barb wire fence easily. This slow pace chaffed on most of the group. I noticed that Diane's evening runs kept her out longer and her morning run started earlier.
What should have been a two day trip had turned into a five day crawl. Diane was watching the dark grey clouds that showed no signs of breaking up. At least it wasn't raining at this exact second.
Nick noticed her hopeful gaze and grinned, "Well, we aren't that far out. We should be there in a half a day even at this speed. Although if there had only been one truck we could have hooked up a bicycle to a small generator and stuck you on it. We would have been there days ago."
I grinned silently. Nick and the others had finally realized that Diane was a boundless fountain of energy. Diane narrowed her eyes at him and reached out to grab the branch of a shrub growing by the road. I recognized it as a wolf willow plant as she striped a handful of leaves from its branches.
I watched in anticipation, everyone in this group would have known how bad those leaves smelt. Nick turned to jump onto the horse that he had been leading before urging it into a run. Diane took off after him. I giggled as Nick's lazy horse didn't want to go any faster than a canter.
Nick had been ahead to start with and now he had a head start, but I doubted that this little detail would stop Diane. I noticed her eyes flickered with a faint blue glow before her run suddenly hit speeds that shouldn't be possible. I simply couldn't figure out how she could move her legs so fast.
She caught up to the cantering horse in less than ten seconds and jumped onto the back of his horse to shove the handful of the foul smelling leaves down the back of his shirt. She slapped his horse's rump as she dropped down. His bay mare had not been expecting someone to jump on her and bolted forward. With a yelp, he clutched at the saddle horn as his horse hit a gallop with short notice.
Diane slowed to a stop with a wide grin while watching him trying to regain control of his horse. She was actually breathing somewhat hard. I laughed in delight as Nick was once more served the revenge that he so deserved. A few others were laughing or chuckling as well. Dave and a few others looked shocked, probably at her speed.
Then again, I had never seen her run that fast before either. I knew she could move her hands faster from her fighting practice, but I hadn't been aware of the speeds she could hit. Considering that she still kept her eyes dim at night, she was probably still hiding the true extent of her abilities. I was beginning to wonder if she even had limits at this point.
The group caught up to Diane. Sandy grinned at her, "Just full of surprises aren't you? How long were you going to wait to tell us that you are a champion at the 100 meter dash?"
Diane shook her head in amusement, "Claiming to be a champion creates too many requests for competitions and challenges. I am too lazy for that much work. Besides, it comes in handy as a surprise."
Dave had recovered from his shock and found it entertaining, "I am beginning to see why Matthew explicitly told you to keep your antics under tight wraps on our trip."
Diane grinned at him unrepentantly, "Can you imagine how much mischief his group could get up to if we were left unattended for five minutes when they had my energy at their disposal?"
He shuddered lightly, "I will have to have a glass of wine with him to allow him to get those tales off of his chest."
I wondered if they would let me sit in on that discussion. I had helped with some idle mischief, but it sounded like there were some really good pranks in there somewhere. Diane laughed at his response and did a handful of cartwheels for the sheer joy of it.
The others were amused or shook their heads in disbelief at the way she was showing off her energy levels. Nick finally returned with a grin on his face, having regained control of his horse as well as having evicted the leaves from his clothing.
I really liked traveling with this group.
I rode Diane's horse as Diane jogged beside me. My smaller horse was having a hard time keeping up lately. I looked around, I knew exactly where we were. Diane and I had travelled along this road countless times while scouting in winter and while foraging. There were two more bends and the Fort would be in sight.
In one way I was glad to be back and get to see old friends, yet part of me was sad that the carefree life on the road had come to an end. I glanced at the sun, it had finally peeked through the clouds and the Traders were trying to make the last few kilometers before the sun either hid behind the clouds or dropped below the horizon.
We rounded one bend and Diane suddenly plucked Dave's binoculars from his saddle horn. I craned my head to look ahead to see what caught her attention. Others were also looking. Diane passed the binoculars back to Dave with a grin at me, "It's Ace! Come on, let's go meet him!"
She picked up speed and I nudged the horse to follow her. Her horse hadn't been ridden much and was a bit frisky, but I didn't let her pass Diane. I was surprised that Diane had seen Ace so far ahead. He was almost at the next bend as he sat on a rock watching us approach with a grin.
He seemed happy to see us and had obviously been waiting for us, "Glad to see you two made it back in one piece."
Diane grinned at him, "After all of your training? It would take more than forty villagers who were scared of a zombie shadow to stop us. How have you been holding up? Found a new training victim yet?"
He shook his head, "I was doing pretty well the first few days, but then your old sparring partners were bored without a challenge. Some of those Guard Group Leaders have chased me around the training circle a few too many times."
Diane laughed while I giggled at that thought. Come to think of it, Diane had always been the one outnumbered. Diane tilted her head, "So have things quieted down any? I must say that other than a rock or stick winged at me by Nick, nothing has been flying in my direction since I left."
He winced and his good mood disappeared. He glanced at the group approaching behind us. His voice was low, "It isn't good. Don't enter the base tonight. Don't go near the treehouses either. If possible, don't even get spotted."
I didn't understand, why couldn't they see us? Diane looked surprised, "Is it that bad?"
He nodded solemnly, "Yes, in fact it is best if the traders don't come inside the fence tonight either."
The last bend in the road was just behind him. If we went past it, we would see the Fort. What was going on? Why were none of us allowed inside? If they were scared of Diane, why were the Traders also being stopped? This didn't make any sense.
The group behind me caught up, Ace put a smile on his face, "Hey Dave, how is it going? Did this trip wear out Diane's welcome?"
Dave grinned, "It is going quite well, it will be even better if the sun continues to shine for a bit longer. We aren't giving up Diane anytime soon. She always has breakfast and coffee ready in the morning when we get up. She is also a match for Nick in the mischief department."
The vehicles slowed to a stop behind Dave to allow the reunion. Ace sighed, earning an odd look from many present, "I hate to ask this, but we are hoping that you wouldn't mind camping in the clearing over there tonight and keeping a low profile."
Dave frowned in concern, "Why?"
Ace shrugged, "I don't have leave to say. The Base Commander and some of his Commanders will be coming out later tonight to explain."
Why were they coming out? Why couldn't we go in to see them? Others were murmuring among themselves, worried at this news. They didn't recall this ever happening before either.
Dave slowly nodded, confusion still on his face, but accepting it in stride, "Of course. We almost spent this night on the road anyways."
He twisted in the saddle to look at those behind him, calling out in a louder voice, "Okay, change of plans. We are camping in that clearing back there tonight. Keep it quiet and keep out of sight. I don't know anything more than you do, but hopefully we will know more by morning."
People nodded all around. I was surprised that they accepted it so easily. Many had varying expressions of worry, confusion, curiosity or irritation. The trucks crept forward making a tight turn to head to a clearing a bit further back up the trail.
Dave gave Diane a look and she went off to ensure that the long grass wasn't hiding any obstacles or holes that the trucks might stumble into. I followed to help her look. Everyone else also fanned out to help the trucks turn around and head back to the clearing on the other side of the bend that we had already come around.
I glanced back after a while to see Ace and Dave talking quietly. I was worried. It wasn't like Ace to leave the fence often. For him to be out here sitting on a rock for who knows how long meant that things weren't good. I kept close to Diane.