I regarded Todd with my bright blue eyes, "It doesn't matter if it is raining or not. You still have to move."
"I am beginning to think that you two just like to torture me..."
I corrected him with a grin, "No, it will be torture if you don't start moving soon. Don't you remember what happened the last time you ignored me?"
Todd shuddered at the memory before putting on his raincoat and coming out from under the tarp. It had been six days since he had been bitten, and the pain and muscles had disappeared. Todd had decided to skip his evening run one night and had paid a heavy price for it the next day.
I still couldn't figure out why he had ignored Diane's warning. Watching him stagger around from the muscle pain all day after that made me very glad that I had never skimped on my exercise. Diane came back from luring off the zombies just as we got to the gate.
Todd wanted nothing to do with zombies, not that I could blame him after being attacked by one. Diane guided us on a trail that she had just ensured was clear. I could see a few fireflies here and there. I wasn't sure if any mosquitoes were around. Not a single bug had bit me since Diane had given me the Heartfire virus. A very nice perk in my mind. I disliked itchy mosquito bites.
Todd rubbed a raindrop off his nose, "I wish this rain would let up..."
Diane glanced up at the uniform grey clouds, "I doubt that it will happen anytime soon. This rain had socked in."
Todd groaned, but kept slowly jogging along while panting. He still wasn't showing any signs of the Heartfire energy or stamina yet. In fact, he didn't seem any different from before. That would be changing in a couple of weeks though.
The others in the group, with the exception of the newcomers, treated Todd the same as they had before, although they were avoiding direct contact until all seven days had passed. It was a precaution that neither Todd, nor they, minded.
They weren't bothered by Diane or me either, which was a relief. In fact, some seemed quite intrigued by the fact that there was a possible way to survive a zombie bite. A handful were even watching with a speculative look in their eyes. I kind of thought that they may ask Diane for the Heartfire virus just so that they were immune to a zombie bite. They would wait to ensure that Todd didn't turn into a zombie first though.
Todd was gasping for breath by the time Diane left us at the gate. She went off for a harder run. I had enough exercise to tide me over for the moment. I could drag Todd out in an hour or so. I had been very diligent in making sure that Todd kept moving, much to the amusement of those watching.
Diane returned a while later with a bag of roots for the soup. Todd and I started washing them while Diane chopped them up. Diane gave Todd a long measuring look. Todd raised an eyebrow in confusion, "What was that look for?"
Diane threw a handful of root pieces into the big pot, "Just making sure that I wasn't seeing things."
Her question had been deliberately worded to force him to ask a question. Sometimes her form of humor was simply to cause confusion. Such a tactic worked quite well with Todd. He blinked in confusion, "Huh? You have lost me. I have been sitting here for some time dicing up roots, I am obviously not a figment of your imagination."
I grinned as I realized what Diane had seen. Diane chuckled and elaborated, "Your eyes are getting lighter. Another week and they will be blue."
His brown eyes were a bit lighter and the faintest hints of blue were just starting to appear near his pupils. If I hadn't also looked closely after Diane's comment, I would have missed it.
He looked surprised, "They are changing already?" He shook his head, "I must have missed the memo."
If he was expecting notes from the virus that now ran in his blood, he was in for a rude awakening. The Heartfire virus was like a slowly creeping fire that snuck up on you. Sometimes it flared to life with energy and sometimes it burnt you if you weren't too careful.
A few others glanced over, but apparently were unable to see the difference. Tarps had been hung over most of the campsite so we didn't get rained on. An opening was above the fire, but that was it. Todd finished washing the last root in his bucket.
Todd shook his head, "I wish this rain would lift and let the sun out for even a few hours. Four more hours and we would finally make it to Valiant Stand Pointe."
Valiant Stand Pointe was the nearby settlement and the rain and cloud had socked in so well that the solar panels were not getting any power. We had been in this campsite for three days enduring the slow drizzle coming out of the dark grey clouds.
We had run out of flour and most supplies, so meals were whatever we could collect or gather. Todd was getting rather tired of dandelions and clover. Diane glanced at him in amusement, "I doubt this is going to lift tomorrow, so unless you can convince Roland to let us pedal our way there, we probably are not going to be going anywhere."
Roland was sitting on a log under a nearby tarp with a long stick that he was slowly roasting out of boredom. I would have to make sure the next stick he grabbed was really wet so it would take him a long time to burn it. It was tough to find wood that wasn't soaked after all of this rain.
Roland raised his eyebrows at Diane's bantering tone, "If this doesn't lift by tomorrow morning, you may regret that suggestion. I will be ensuring that you spend the most time on that bicycle."
For a guy who supposedly refused to bet with Diane, he kept constantly underestimating her. Diane grinned at him before flicking a root peel at him, "Careful. You may not be able to keep up."
He huffed, "There is a reason that there are four bikes on each trailer. Even with all four in use, we would only move at a crawl. Those trailers are heavy and the bikes don't generate that much power."
Todd chuckled as he threw the parsnip tops in the fire in front of him, "Well, even if we had been creeping, we would have been there by now."
Solar powered vehicles were highly dependant on the sun, and weather like this meant these trucks weren't going anywhere if we relied on the solar panels. Roland shook his head, "In a couple of weeks, we should be back at Steel Crossing and our steam boiler should be ready."
I looked at Roland in curiosity. How was a kettle going to help him? We had been boiling water in pots just fine for drinking water. Diane's interest was also piqued, "Steam boiler?"
Roland stretched out his legs, "We paid a mechanic to put a steam boiler on some other trucks. We will be able to use solar as well as burning wood or coal to keep moving. They are bigger than these trucks and will be able to haul more. They will probably go too fast for the horses to keep up with, so we will either have to find a trailer to haul a couple of horses or give them up entirely. They should be ready by the time we get there."
Ohhh... Not a kettle, but a steam engine. Like the old trains used to have. I thought that the teacher at Wainwright Fort told me that they were hard to make and difficult to maintain... Perhaps the solar would be doing most of the work.
Roland grinned at Diane with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "But since you are so eager for a workout, I think we will try getting those bikes to produce enough power to get us at least to Valiant Stand Pointe. We are starting to attract too many zombies here anyways."
He was correct on that point. The traders were quite good a luring zombies away, but no matter how many we lured away, they kept returning. Diane had to lure some away during the night since there were so many that the fence was in danger of toppling over again.
It was a good thing that Diane and I were such light sleepers. We heard the fence rocking before it went down and Diane swiftly went to lure them away. She wouldn't let me help either, but no one else could see in the dark like we could.
Roland nodded in satisfaction with our new plan, "Well, enjoy your supper. We will be working for our keep tomorrow."
I grinned as I looked forward to moving all day again instead of sitting in a campsite. I was also looking forward to seeing Roland surprised by Diane's stamina. Those who wouldn't be pedaling would undoubtedly be working hard to keep so many zombies away while we were moving so slowly.
A woman came over to me, "Laura, I just finished a new hammock. Can you possibly show me how to put it in a tree so I won't fall out of it?"
I nodded, "Sure. Let's use that tree, it is bigger and has more branches."
Todd stuck out his tongue at us and I giggled. The first night Todd had been scared about turning into a zombie and had opted to try a hammock. In the morning, he had fallen out of it while trying to get up. It was a good thing that he had only been just far enough above the ground that a zombie would have been unable to reach him.
The woman followed me to the tree and I quickly climbed up as she followed more slowly behind me. She was apparently not that used to climbing trees.
"This is about as low as you want to hang your hammock. Higher is better."
The woman looked down, we were about twice as high as the average adult, "Why don't we go a bit higher up? I will just be careful when getting into this thing."
I nodded and scampered higher up, "See how these branches are big and how this one is missing? You can attach the ends further out and use the trunk like a ladder to get in easily. Always test the branch first, if it cracks or groans under your weight, don't use it."
She nodded and I watched from above as she set up her hammock. I gave her a few tips and it wasn't long before it was hung. She tested it out, carefully getting in and out of it a few times, "I think this will work. It will beat having someone beside me snoring all night."
I grinned at her, I wouldn't sleep on that trailer either with so many people. I showed her how to hang a small tarp in a tent-like fashion above her hammock so she wouldn't get wet at night.
The others were watching and listened closely while I had showed her how to get in and out of the hammock while in the trees. More people had been considering the hammocks lately, and a few bolder ones were already using a hammock. None cared to put theirs as high in the trees as Diane and I did though, they were scared of falling out.
I was looking forward to tomorrow. I preferred to be moving instead of stationary. Besides, it was getting harder to find greens for salads. We had cleared out the immediate area pretty thoroughly.