Three days later the snow had almost entirely disappeared. Small patches could only be found in places where direct sunlight did not strike them. The smell of spring was in the air and I loved it.
We had just finished supper as Don invited his friends to join us on our evening run. They often joined us on our leisurely run after supper. Don was starting to need more exercise now. He saw no reason that his friends couldn't share in his misery and often tried to drag them along for company. His friends saddled their horses as I inspected some plants that were already trying to sprout.
They were ready swiftly enough. Diane picked me up and put me on her shoulders. I preferred her carrying me, and it saved me from trying to deal with a horse. Some of them were quite stubborn even if Diane was keeping them in line. It was just easier for both of us this way.
Diane grinned at a guy who picked out the most stubborn horse in the stable, "Still trying to get that horse into shape?"
He chuckled and nodded, "One day he will settle down and quit being such a nuisance. I am hoping that more exercise helps."
She shook her head in disbelief, "Good luck with that one!" I agreed with Diane. That horse was never anything, but trouble.
I looked across the side of the lake and pointed, "Can we go up to that ridge?" There were a few ridges along the cliff on that side of the lake that would make excellent viewpoints.
The one guy shrugged, "Sure, why not? It has been a long time since I went to the far side of the lake, so it will be nice to see some new trails. We can get there and back before the sun sets."
Diane and Don easily jogged alongside the swiftly walking horses. The dense coniferous trees had a different type of beauty with their dark green needles and flaky bark. Don's friends talked and joked around a lot as we travelled. It took us about two hours to get to the ridge.
Diane put me down and I jogged over to a gap in the trees to look out across the lake. This vantage point allowed me to overlook the lake and the Fort. There were gaps in the ice, "Oh, look! The ice is starting to break up already on the lake! We will be able to go fishing shortly!"
I really liked fishing. I blinked as I gazed across the wide lake. The Fort was a tiny thing in the distance and any people were little dots moving. There was an awful lot of smoke though. I glanced back, Diane was checking near the horses for something, but the others were coming to enjoy the view.
I had been around Don enough that it wasn't too bad talking with him, "Uh, Don, why is there so much smoke coming from the Fort?"
Don frowned and jogged over, his friends swiftly following. Diane looked up sharply at my comment before coming over to see past the trees. All of them frowned in concern. I looked again and blinked as I realized that I could see flickers of red that looked like fire from this distance.
Diane pulled out her binoculars to take a closer look. I heard what sounded like fireworks and looked hard, but I didn't see any colorful flashes. Why would someone have set off fireworks during the day?
Diane slowly lowered her binoculars. Her eyes were actually glowing, something had really upset her.
One of the guys quickly ran back towards the horses, "We have to get back there to help!"
Huh? Help with what? What was going on? I watched the adults in confusion. Diane managed to grab the guy's elbow before he could get past her, "Wait. I saw strangers down there. I think there is an attack going on."
He winced at her grip and she quickly let go. The man shook his head, "We have to check if there are survivors. Perhaps we can pick off some of the people attacking. We have our bows with us."
Woah, woah, woah... Attackers? Bethany Fort was under attack? And he wanted to race into an unknown situation? I may be the youngest one here, but I knew that Rick would have had some rather sharp words for his half-baked plan. I had enough Raider training to know that it was a foolish move.
Those inside the Fort would have closed the gates, so they were safe. I glanced back and began to worry, the smoke looked like it was coming from both buildings and the palisade fence... I looked back at Diane.
Diane frowned at the man, "Those sounds were gun shots. You do realize that, right?"
My eyes widened. That noise had been gunfire? To the best of my knowledge, no one in that place owned a gun. Ammo was rare this long after the Collapse.
Don didn't seem to care, "We will be careful. You and I can get close without them seeing us and our aim is excellent. We can tip the battle in our favor."
He planned to attack gunmen with a bow? Had he gone mad? The fact that he wanted to drag Diane into such a stupid fight made me frown. They would both probably get hurt with that plan.
Diane also stared at him as if he had lost his mind, "And what do you plan to do with the others?"
The young men were already mounting their horses and heading back the way we came. Diane sighed before putting me on her shoulders. Don jogged alongside her as the others pushed the horses into a trot, "We can leave Laura in one of those safe spots you pointed out to me in the past. The others can stay further out and pick off any who stray into their range."
Diane shook her head, "This is a bad idea. We have no idea what we are getting into."
Diane had far more Raider training than I did. She plainly did not like his plan. If she thought it was unsafe, then I would toss that plan right out the window. Don was plainly not that wise.
He just looked determined, "Well, it isn't like we can just stand here and do nothing."
Diane exhaled gustily, unable to refute that fact. I knew that she wouldn't let Don drag her into a dangerous situation. She was much too cautious for that. We reached more level ground and the horses picked up a bit more speed. Diane was moving at a steady lope as we travelled with them.
She made them detour down a different trail. Diane came to a stop near a huge spruce tree. She put me on the ground and crouched down in front of me.
Her expression was serious and her eyes faintly glowed, "Stay here. I will be back before dawn at the absolute latest. Hopefully I will return in a few hours. Here is some food and a blanket, I know you have your hammock. Don't leave here, I am not sure what kind of people might be wandering around in this forest, but don't let them know you are here. You do have the walkie talkie, but please don't use it unless there is an emergency. It may also take me some time to respond if I am too close to people."
I nodded seriously. Don's plan was stupid, pure and simple. She was going to have her hands full keeping this bunch from trying to be heroes and doing something idiotic. The last thing she needed was to worry about me disobeying. "I won't come down until you return."
She smiled faintly before giving me a small kiss on my forehead. She gestured towards the tree and I quickly climbed it. The group lingered below while I quickly set up my hammock and curled up in it. Diane glanced back, as if reluctant to leave, but she followed after the impatient group. I hoped that they didn't do anything rash.
Once the group was out of sight, I climbed out of the hammock to sit in the branches for a bit. I wouldn't leave the tree, I had promised Diane that, but I wanted to arrange things better. My hammock was already quite secure, so I hung my backpack up on a nearby branch and dug through it for something to kill the time.
I had a plant handbook and skimmed through it. If I didn't recognize a picture, which was rare, I read the entire article three times. Sometimes it was just a bad picture and I could list more details about the plant than what the pages offered. Boring, but it was a good review.
I glanced around, but the group had still not returned. The food Diane had left looked pretty good and I nibbled on it. I wondered what they were doing and why it was taking them so long. They had been gone over an hour already.
Diane had figured that the attack would be over by the time we returned. The trip there had taken us two hours despite how they tried to push the horses. They may have made better time going back, but they had detoured to get here.
Two of the horses had stumbled over a few rocks and had a slight limp, but we hadn't stopped in our haste to return. Those horses would need to rest a few days after this since they had probably pulled muscles.
I stretched and glanced at the sky. It was starting to get dark out. I climbed into the hammock to wrap the blanket around myself for warmth. It wasn't that cold yet, but it was better to do it before I started shivering.
Bang!
I turned my head towards the distant noise. Six more shots rang out in the growing darkness. I knew they were gun shots and not fireworks. Worry settled in my heart. I hoped that those shots had not been fired at Diane's glowing eyes or Don's faintly glittering ones. I was pretty sure that Diane was far too crafty to get spotted, she had hid the symptoms of her Heartfire for almost a year in a base with over a thousand people.
I didn't dare try the walkie talkie in case Diane was hiding somewhere near the people firing. My nervousness and questions would have to wait until Diane either returned or the morning dawned.
I was tired, but too edgy to sleep after the noise. I sighed before turning to my backpack and pulling out a flashlight. I thought I might have something that would help... Ah, yes, I still had that complicated statistics textbook that Ninette had lent me. If anything was going to bore me to sleep, this would do the trick.
I woke to the distant sound of gunfire coming from a different direction than Bethany Fort. It sounded like dozens of bullets were being fired. I waited for it to end, but it kept going. And it kept going. What was going on? That noise was not in the direction of Bethany Fort.
I was confused and waited for the noise to die down. Ten minutes later, I could still hear the occasional gunshot. I pulled the blanket over my head to block out the distant popping noise and went back to sleep. Whatever was going on, it was a long ways away.
I woke to the sound of a loud bird. I knew it wasn't a bird though, it was Diane's altered chickadee call that she used when approaching so I would know it was just her. I pulled the blankets off my head and peered below the hammock through the dense branches.
The brightly glowing blue eyes were a second confirmation that it was Diane. Don's eyes barely glimmered in the darkness. I yawned as Diane easily climbed up the tree to where I lay. I sat up and peered down. I didn't see anyone else. The gunfire had stopped while I was sleeping.
I looked over at Diane's blue eyes, they were all I could really see of her other than a shadowy silhouette, "What happened?"
Diane closed her eyes while taking a deep breath. The delaying action made me dread whatever she was about to tell me. Her eyes finally reopened and their glow shimmered with unshed tears, "It was an attack by a large group of bandits. We scouted from the trees and didn't see anyone, but when Don and the others went in, they got shot by a hidden bandit."
I inhaled in shock. Oh no. My stomach dropped, what about the others? I stared at her in desperation, "That was a big fire. Are they all gone?"
She sighed and closed her eyes again, "I did not see any survivors."
They were all gone? I had kept my distance from most of them, but I had started to like Don and Ninette. I started sniffling before my tears began to fall. The hammock rocked before I felt Diane lay down beside me and pull me against her chest.
I curled up against her and buried my head into her shoulder as I started sobbing. How bad had that fire been? There had been around 200 in that Fort and now they were all gone. I couldn't wrap my mind around it.
I had looked forward to hearing what Ninette might learn next in her scientific journey. I had hoped to be there to hear about the first possibility of a cure or vaccine for the zombie virus. Don had never reached the full extent of the Heartfire abilities or realized that his napping days were over.
Taver had still been there getting ready for his next trip. I would never see his weathered face again, nor hear him bartering with Diane over the price of delivering a letter. He would never playfully moan about the amount of energy Diane had.
Gone. All gone...
Eventually I could cry no more. My eyes were gummed up and my nose was stuffed. Diane's steady breathing was soothing as we gently swung in the hammock. At least she had made it back. I took a slow breath as it tried to hitch in my throat again. I looked up at Diane's faintly glowing eyes, "What do we do now?"
Her voice was soft, "I think it is best if we get to the far side of the lake, where we are less likely to encounter trouble. We can start heading to Toga Place in the morning. We can send letters to Wainwright Fort while we figure out where we plan to stay. I did release all of those messenger pigeons from the coop with a note letting them know what happened, but that also means that they are going to be very suspicious of anyone new."
I nodded. I knew we couldn't stay here. Carefully I climbed out of the hammock. How Diane had gotten into it with me already in it was beyond me. Once I was in the branches, Diane also got out of the hammock and swiftly rolled it up.
She climbed down and I followed. My feet didn't even touch the ground as Diane lifted me off of the tree and put me on her shoulders. I held on tightly to her hands. It was too dark to see, but I could tell that she was actually running quite hard. She must feel a need to get away from where we were.
The smell of smoke was in the air, perhaps the fire from the Fort had spread to the trees. I hoped not, these evergreen trees had sap that was highly flammable. It would be an uncontrollable inferno in this dense forest. I held on and trusted Diane's instincts.
I no longer knew what the future held, nor what to expect.