Diane tossed a small piece of bark into the fire as everyone relaxed. Jeff looked half-asleep on his stump. He had once more tried to keep up with the joggers as we did laps just before sundown. Julian looked a bit tired, but he was adapting to the extra exercise with much more grace than his two friends.
My eyes were glowing just as strongly as Diane's were. I noticed that the other 38 people who had been fired had the faintest shimmer that foretold of the glow to come. Todd's eyes were a much brighter shimmer, nearly a glow, but not quite. It was an odd sight and would have likely made any visitors nervous.
Roland stood up and walked to the middle of the fire, "Could I get your attention please?"
The various conversations died down as we all turned to watch Roland. It wasn't unusual for him to address us all at this time of night. He often told us where we were going and what kind of trades he was looking for. It was his way of keeping everyone informed and up to date.
68 people were watching him patiently. Roland looked around to ensure he had everyone's attention, "I am sure that all of you know that we have two ladies here who are expecting a new addition to our family. Congratulations to them."
I clapped along with everyone else. I knew that Kerry and Diane were somewhat worried about the one lady. She had been fired before she realized she was expecting. We had no idea how the Heartfire virus would react to the baby. They were also worried about the burning that came from lack of exercise since a newborn baby couldn't exactly do much. Nonetheless, everyone was excited for her.
Roland waited for the applause to die down, "Some of us are not young anymore and some others have mentioned that they would like a more stationary lifestyle. Some of these people have already been fired. We know very well that we have not yet heard of a settlement willing to accept someone carrying the Heartfire virus." He paused while many of us nodded.
Roland took a deep breath, "Since there is no settlement that will accept those with Heartfire we are going to build one."
I sat up straighter in shock. We were going to build a town? Was that even possible? I suppose it had to be since every town had been built at some point. It had never occurred to me in that fashion before. Roland had my complete attention at this point. Others were also surprised, shocked, or excited and a few whispered to those beside them.
Roland continued, "We are going to build a small town to act as our base and as a place to store trade items until they can fetch a good price. It will also be a place for those to live if they tire of traveling or simply want a break. The rules will remain the same and any who come will be welcome until they break the rules."
He looked around to examine people's expressions. They ranged from shock to excitement and anticipation. "We have considered many locations, but in the end decided that a slightly more remote location is the most desirable. Better hunting and gathering as well as few encounters with locals who might be spooked by those with Heartfire. With our solar and steam vehicles distance isn't much of an issue so being a bit further off of the beaten path will not inconvenience us much, but it will make it harder for thieves or bandits to stumble across us."
He paused for breath while more people were starting to look excited. I know I was certainly getting excited. It was kind of interesting to see that many eyes were glittering a bit more brightly as people got more excited. Barely noticeable, but I could see it. Then again, my own eyes were probably glowing noticeably brighter in my own excitement at the coming building project.
I glanced up at Diane to see that hers were glowing much more brightly than before. Roland's plans were stirring up some deep emotions for Diane. I could understand that. We had been turned away by dozens of settlements and now we were going to create a place where glowing blue eyes were welcomed.
"We are going to be building just outside of the Jasper provincial park on the northern edge of the Rocky Mountains. It has an ideal location where two huge cliffs form a very large wall that mostly surrounds a huge meadow. A small waterfall comes off of the one cliff and flows out the opening. The clearing itself is about five kilometers wide and three times that distance in length. We can easily build one palisade fence across the opening. The cliffs are nearly impossible to climb, so nothing will be coming over the cliffs. The cliffs are made up of very strong and sound rock. We will be able to carve out homes in the cliff face out of reach of any zombies that may appear."
He paused as a small cheer started and he waited until it faded, "We plan for this new place to be mostly self-sufficient in our absence. Growing crops next year should be no problem with the creek nearby. The area outside the cliff opening is mostly open fields with a large lake just a short walk away. The area to the north or behind the cliffs to the west is solid forest. There is a deep gully just to the south and it will be easy to lure zombies into it. They will have to go a long ways away before they will be able to get up the steep sides."
He gazed at us with a grin, "I will let you mull all this over. Anyone who wants to live in the town will be welcome and any who ever dreamed of farming or believes they have skills to help build this place are free to come find me. I plan to have this place mostly up before the snow falls."
I was practically bouncing in excitement. This sounded like so much fun. Roland had obviously picked a good place too. I looked at Diane in eagerness, "We can help them build too, right?"
Her eyes were still extremely bright as she grinned at me, "Of course. At least now we know why Roland kept those six horses and traded for the extra chickens, piglets, rabbits, and dairy goats."
I couldn't wait to see this place. It sounded like nothing had been done to it yet. My imagination started getting carried away, dreaming of what it would look like once everything was built. Others were just as enthusiastic as I was and discussing possible plans and ideas.
Some ladies were eager to set up some fancy loomwork that required a stationary setup. Some men were discussing farm animals while others were discussing other details from bathrooms to solar power. All of the conversations sounded interesting, but I couldn't concentration on all of them at once.
One guy called out, "Hey Roland, what are we going to call this new town?"
Roland grinned at him, "Sanctuary."
Cheers sounded as many loudly approved of that name. Judging by Diane's grin, she also thought it was an appropriate name.
Many stayed up later than usual in their excited planning, but eventually agreed that the sun was not going to delay rising just because they stayed up. I had to run longer than usual with Diane to tire myself out enough that sleep would come.
The air fairly buzzed all day as people were busily making plans as we travelled. People were already organizing into groups based on their skills and abilities. Numerous sketches and diagrams were scattered about as people debated on where everything should go and what should be built first.
The main palisade was obviously our first priority. The animals could roam around inside since it was such a huge area until we had more time to build them proper pens.
According to Roland, there were several natural ledges that we would just have to widen a bit to make nice walkways well out of reach of any possible zombies if any ever got past our palisade. Some carpenters were already going over possible designs for railings.
Any buildings being built would be made from rock, brick, or cement with wooden rafters, and slate or tin shingles. We had all seen the damage fire could do and this would last longer. Roland knew of an abandoned plant that made cement and had thousands of pounds in storage. I listened to one group planning the barn. From the sounds of it, it was going to be quite large.
Everyone agreed that we needed sturdy ladders instead of stairs. We had lived too long in this zombie world to consider stairs safe. A couple of groups already had plans to commandeer the machines that could easily chisel rooms into the hard rock.
It came as a surprise to me that they were positive that the heat from the earth would keep any room above freezing temperatures if there was a good door on it. Diagrams of a small stove the size of a shoebox were being passed between a few people. Even a small stove would keep it warm enough in the dead of winter to remove our jackets inside.
Our solar panel expert, Danny, already had two people lined up as they were working out the plans for solar power and windmills. Roland was currently talking with Diane about getting more solar panels. He knew of a factory that built them, but it had so many zombies around it that he had no clue how to get inside safely. I wasn't too concerned. Diane's Raider training would have covered that in-depth.
We would reach the factory in two days. Then we would head to this mysterious place on the edge of the mountains that had everyone so excited. I would get to see the place where this town would be built in about three days.
Sanctuary. I liked that name. It was quite fitting too. I wasn't too sure what I could do to help though. Even with the Heartfire helping me, I was quite limited. I would just have to look for small things that were within my abilities.
The trucks slowed down to a pace that people could jog along with and many climbed off the trailers to stretch their legs. Even those without Heartfire came down to chat with those who had been on different trailers. The discussion was almost solidly focused on the place that we planned to make our home.