I was going over my textbook and trying to memorize it. It was hard to focus on the road this time with so many extra people. We had those from Wainwright Fort, but we had also picked up around fifty more people at the last settlement. They had been that big group that Roland had been speaking with.
Almost half were young adults who wanted to be fired and originally planned to join the traders. After hearing about the fine details of the Heartfire virus, they now had a different dream. They wanted to be messengers and run from town to town delivering letters and small items. Roland was thinking about it, but had already said that if they did this, then they would have to have a lot of training and have had the Heartfire for at least three months.
They had readily agreed to that as well as to the one month waiting period. Roland was working out plans on how to let them live their dream without a high risk of dying. It was one thing for Diane to drag me across the province on foot, but she had more training than anyone else here. Even Ace didn't have the Forager training or most of the survival training that Diane and I did.
The rest of the group was a mixed bunch. Some had heard of the huge area that had been fenced and wanted more freedom without the risk of a zombie attack. Others were lured in by the rumors of our weaving and loom group. There were even six couples with kids. It looked like that playground was going to get used well after all.
Ambrose was riding on the trailer ahead of us. Roland had been happy to accept him, especially once he knew that he originated from Bethany Fort. The trailers were heavily loaded with so many people.
There wasn't much room and I stuck close to Diane even though I knew that none here meant me any harm. They were still unknown strangers and it triggered my shyness. The shyness was still not that terrible shyness, but something more moderate. I bet I could blame the Heartfire for removing the extreme shyness and I was grateful for it. The past shyness had almost been painful.
One of the traders pointed, "Oh, look. You can see the palisade from here. Home sweet home."
Many stood and peered ahead at the tall palisade that was nestled between the two tall cliffs. The gates were still closed, although we could faintly see the houses and ridges on the far side of the valley since the ground in the meadow sloped slightly uphill.
"Wow. I have never seen walls that high before," One of the guys hoping to become a messenger looked shocked.
Danny chuckled, "You should have seen us trying to build it."
One of the fired people beside him snorted, "Right. You were playing with solar panels as we built that."
Danny grinned at him, but didn't reply. Several of us chuckled at their exchange. I giggled as Danny was caught in his tall tale.
Someone jumped on top of the first truck and held something in her hands. I knew it was a mirror that signalled that all was safe and that the sentries could open up the gates. I glanced back to see Ace watching in slight confusion.
Diane noticed as well, "She has a hand mirror. It means that it is us and we are just bringing new immigrants. If she hadn't done that, then they would have known that something was amiss."
Ace nodded, "That is a good precaution."
The gates rolled open as the trucks approached. Quite a few of the new people didn't realize just how huge the gates actually were until we passed through them. Even on the trailers, there was no chance of jumping and tapping the top rail that the doors rested on.
One guy peered up at the massive doors as we went under them, "How on earth did you get those doors up there? They must weight a ton!"
Danny chuckled, "From what I saw, it took a lot of effort and great care."
They all gaped at the huge area behind the gate.
"Wow, this place is huge!"
"No kidding, I have never seen a safe area this big."
"I see barns, but no houses... Am I blind?"
"No, they built them into the cliffs, remember? See you can see doors along those ridges and behind that deck."
"These look better than the condo I lived in when I was growing up."
The newcomers were getting more and more excited as we drove across the meadow. Those interested in weaving were gazing at the sheep in longing. Others simply didn't know where to look first as they kept turning their heads to try and take everything in.
The residents of Sanctuary were heading towards the truck shelter to help unload and to get the latest gossip as to why there were so many people on the trailers.
"Look! They turned a ski lift into a zipline!"
"Shit. I really have to try going on that later. I wonder how they got it up there."
Heads turned as most watched in shock as the modified zipline ski lift swiftly took two people to ground level. Diane grinned at Ace's surprised expression, "I will take you on it later, if you want."
Ace nodded while watching it in curiosity. We pulled into the shelter and I could see that most, if not all, of the remaining population was waiting for us. They had likely been alerted the moment the sentries had spotted us.
There were a couple of big bells hanging here and there, as well as two on the main gate. We had made up codes for various things and someone on the gate would have rung "traders return" so everyone had come over to help. Many hands made for light work and everyone was always eager to chip in.
The trucks rolled to a stop inside the big shelter and the people manning the boilers let the pressure out so they could cool off to be cleaned later. The doors were all open and people were waiting. The sound of over a hundred people talking was loud.
Roland blew a whistle around his neck. Those with Heartfire winced at the shrill noise, but everyone fell silent. "Okay people. We have some newcomers and there are too many for just one person to show them the ropes."
He looked around, "Phil and Rob, we have a new blacksmith here, please help him pack his stuff to the blacksmith room and help him set up. Rodger, please guide the newcomers on the first truck as you unload the fifth trailer and please show them around afterwards." Roland took another breath and continued assigning small groups of newcomers to certain people.
The newcomers would shadow that person in whatever they did for the day and would get a tour of the place and how things worked. Amber would track them down later to figure out what particular interests they had and what type of work would best suit them.
Roland finished and went to touch base with Amber. I blinked as I realized that Roland had managed to skip Ace. I glanced at him, but considering he was already following Diane's lead as we started to unpack, I had a pretty good guess that Roland didn't have to assign Ace since he already had a guide.
Roland and Amber were looking at the packed crowd and towards the cliffs. Amber would assign the new people their homes once she got the details on how many newcomers we had with us and how many were couples.
I didn't think we had quite enough homes for everyone though. We hadn't expected to bring back over 80 people. It would almost double our population. I did a quick count of the doors and came up short by quite a few homes.
Many homes had 2 rooms in them, so if everyone shared their home, then there might be just enough bedroom to handle the influx of people. Some who had been bored in their spare time had carved out extra rooms, but most hadn't bothered. Diane had carved out a total of four rooms in our home though. I wondered if we would be having someone stay in our spare rooms.
I jumped as I realized that Diane and Ace were already herding some sheep out of a trailer. I had completely spaced out as I contemplated the housing situation that Amber would already be working on. I swiftly went to help Diane.
Once the sheep were in their new pen, we returned to the trailers. One man poked his head out of a trailer, "Hey Diane, what is in this long box? It has your name on it."
A wide grin split her face as she called back, "It is Roland's birthday present since his birthday is tomorrow. Just put it along the wall in the shelter for now."
My jaw dropped. How had she found out when Roland's birthday was? No one knew it, not even those from his original caravan. He had always kept it a secret with his dislike of birthdays and aging. Many others perked up as they absorbed that detail. The guy grinned back and grabbed one end of the box while someone grabbed the other end.
I looked over and saw Roland giving Diane a dirty look. Diane noticed it as well and swiftly grabbed a big sack of carrots before beating a swift retreat. Ace grinned at her quick getaway before grabbing the last bag and following her. I tagged along with empty hands. Nothing left was light enough for me to lift.
Diane wisely headed to the kitchen. The cooks were already hard at work trying to make more pots of stew since they had no way of knowing that we were bringing back so many people. It was a good thing that Roland had brought back more of the high efficiency wood stoves for cooking. We joined the cooks both to help and to remain out of range of Roland in case revenge was on his mind.
Diane went to help make bread and Ace joined me in making stew. After the first few minutes, I had him dicing up the veggies and meat. To my utter shock, he had no idea how to make stew from scratch. He listened intently though while I explained what we were doing while we worked. I somehow doubted that he would volunteer much as a cook though.
Amber entered the kitchen and headed towards us. She held out her hand to Ace, "Hello, you must be Ace. I'm Amber, Roland's wife."
Ace dried his hands and shook her offered hand, "Pleased to meet you."
Amber addressed Diane, "Diane, Roland said that you knew Ace and Sandy from Wainwright Fort pretty well. We simply don't have enough homes available at the moment and we are trying to give each person a room at the very least. I know your place has four rooms that tie into a central hallway, would you be willing to let Ace or Sandy stay in one? Most people don't want to be on the bottom level even though there is no chance of a zombie getting up to that lowest ridge. I have filled up every room on the second level and I am just shy a place for Ace and Sandy to stay."
Aha! I had been right. I was glad it was Ace and Sandy. I knew both of them and trusted them enough that my shyness wouldn't be a problem.
Diane nodded, "Sure, both Ace and Sandy can each have a room for as long as they want. I have supplies in the one room while Laura and I share one, so two are still empty. We will have to find a bed or hammock for them. Do you know if there are anymore more of those heavy rugs left? They would make decent doors on short notice."
Amber glanced at Ace, "Would that work for you? Honest, no zombies can get up there and Diane would hear anything that scratched at the door."
Ace nodded, "Yes. Thank you."
Amber smiled at Diane, "Awesome, thank you so much. Yes, there are some of those odd rugs that Roland brought back a few weeks ago on the right hand side of the last storage room. Help yourself. There are also cots and several types of hammocks available in that room depending on what they want. They can help themselves to one or two of those solar led lights and a hanger for them as well. Take what you need."
"Thanks. We are about done here for prep work, so we will go dig up Sandy and head off to see what we can scavenge."
"They can have almost anything they want in that far storage area within reason. Sandy is in the chicken coop."
"Thanks."
Amber nodded and went off. Diane grinned at Ace, "Feel like digging through a dark dusty storage room?"
Ace looked curious, "Sounds like fun."
I grinned widely. Most people would have at least hesitated, if not tried to get out of it. Ace was intrigued. It reminded me once more that Ace had also been one of the best Raider trainers back at Wainwright Fort, as well as one of the top trainers when it came to fighting.
Sandy was scared of spiders, so it might be a different story getting her into the storage room. Perhaps we could give her a dimmer light so she simply couldn't see the occasional spider that was hiding in that room.
Sandy was planning to get fired and I didn't want to be the one to break it to her about how many spiders were actually around us. If they moved, someone who was fired could easily spot them. Sandy was in for an adjustment if she didn't get over her fear of spiders.