We managed to get in and out of the storage room without Sandy seeing a spider. I saw several, but I declined to mention them to her, even when she stepped on one. Getting Sandy's huge hockey bag up the ladder required Diane's help.
What did she have in there? It looked heavy, even for Diane. We could have stuck three of me in there and still had room to spare for a tea party. We stopped in front of our door and Diane grabbed two solar lights that had been hanging outside our door in the sun, "There we go. Let me just put a few solar lights up so you can see and you can pick an empty room."
We kept the solar lights there in case company came over on a rainy day. Not everyone here was fired after all and sometimes we liked light too. It didn't take long for Diane to come back. It was really interesting to see her eyes glowing strongly at the end of the hall and slowly dim as she approached the open door.
"The two rooms closest to the door are full, so you can pick either of the back ones."
Ace hadn't put anything down yet, so he simply wandered in. Diane helped Sandy by grabbing that massive hockey bag again. I followed them in as I carried the rug to go over Sandy's door. Ace already had the room on the left, which was right beside ours.
That left the one across the small hallway for Sandy. The small solar light was already hanging on a hook meant for it. Sandy had been carrying a small cot and placed it in a corner. Diane put the big bag nearby. I unrolled the dark yellow rug with orange swirls that Sandy had chosen. Diane helped me hang it since I was too short to reach.
Ace was much more efficient and his rug was already hung and neatly pinned back. I went to help Sandy unpack her bags as Diane went to help Ace carry back a wooden bed frame and mattress. Apparently he had a dislike of things that moved if he sat up too fast and a cot was on that list. Luckily there was a wooden bed frame in the storage, but Ace had said that he would have been fine with just a bed on the floor if needed.
I looked around at the piles of stuff I had pulled out of Sandy's bag. This was beginning to feel a lot like watching Diane empty her backpack. This bag was massive, but there was no way that all of this should have been able to fit inside.
Clothing, shoes, makeup, hair accessories, and much more slowly piled up around me as Sandy moved them to a shelf unit we had moved up earlier. She was clearly going to have to get a big dresser or three.
Diane and Ace made one trip with the frame and mattress and went back for bedding. I took a peek at the odd frame. It was so low to the ground that even a cat wouldn't be able to crawl under it. Ace had carefully put most of his weapons and fighting gear in the corner until he had a chance to put it away.
I returned to help Sandy unpack. By the time Diane and Ace made their second trip, I was ready to escape Sandy. I vowed that I would never have that much stuff. If I didn't count my boardgames and textbooks, everything I owned could fit in my backpack. Now I realized just how easy that made my life.
I couldn't imagine trying to haul this much stuff around constantly. Diane dropped a pile of folded blankets and sheets on the mattress, "You may have blankets, but you are on your own for a pillow until Roland returns. I did overhear that extra bed sheets, pillows, toothbrushes and the like are all on his shopping list. He should have them within the week."
Ace nodded, "That is no problem. I had expected to be sleeping in a tree or on a foam pad on the ground."
Diane chuckled, "We aren't quite that barbaric. We may have hung a hammock in the room if we ran out of cots and beds, but we had a lot of those in stock from last week. Apparently a big box store was advertising a big blowout and Roland had to check it out."
A distant bell rang three times. Ace glanced towards the door with furrowed eyebrows. Diane answered the unspoken question, "Three rings is for mealtime."
Sandy's head almost magically appeared outside of her doorway at the mention of food. Diane headed for the door with Sandy hot on her heels. Ace was putting his armful of stuff on his mattress to deal with later.
I saw that Sandy had left her solar light in her room and went to grab it. I went to the main doorway and passed it to her, "You will want to hang these outside to charge. Diane and I don't need them because we can see in the dark, but you will likely want to be able to see later on."
Ace's faint footsteps had been coming up behind me, but he doubled back to collect his own light. There were more lights outside charging, so we would have spares by tonight, but it was a good practice for them to get into. Their forgetfulness would only affect them. Sandy looked a bit embarrassed, although it was her first day, so it didn't matter.
Ace swiftly rejoined us and hung his light on the hook outside. We headed to the mess hall for supper. I had never seen it this crowded, but I had to realize that there were around 180 people in Sanctuary now. This was going to take some getting used to, but the number of blue eyes that were faintly glowing was reassuring.
After supper, we took Ace and Sandy on a tour of the entire meadow as we pointed out where things were. We explained that blue tiles around the frame of a door meant it was a bathroom. Green was for showers, and its hall branched into two large rooms. The left one was for men, the right for women.
We also explained the very flexible work schedule. As long as work was being done and nothing was being missed, Amber was amiable to whatever worked. People were free to check in with her as to what needed to be done the most and pick from several options. She would occasionally suggest things as well.
Todd helped her keep track of what was going on and he was very good about catching anything that had been missed. He often did that chore himself, but occasionally mentioned it to those who came to ask if anything was missed.
I turned as Kerry's voice rang out from the main deck. Diane glanced over, "Looks like Kerry is going to go over everything they know about the Heartfire virus for anyone interested in it."
Both Ace and Sandy nodded and started heading over. Diane and I tagged along to keep them company. Most newcomers were heading over to listen even if they didn't want the Heartfire. Most gathered on the huge deck while others were elsewhere nearby. Neither Ace nor Sandy had issues with being at ground level, so we grabbed a couple of campfire chairs and sat below.
Danny had already set up a microphone and speakers on the small second floor deck so everyone could hear and see her. Kerry welcomed all of the newcomers and went on to explain that the mystery cure was actually another virus and went over all of the details we knew about it. Most had already heard the majority of the details on the drive up, but Kerry covered it in-depth.
Ace listened politely, but he knew everything already. It was the first time Sandy had heard most of it so she simply looked thoughtful. It took Kerry about an hour and she closed her speech with a reminder that the Heartfire virus was not a requirement to stay here as there were many jobs or trades that required the ability to sit still for several hours.
Diane waited patiently while the other two simply sat and thought about what they had heard. She shifted her weight and looked towards the distant gate with a sigh, "I hate to leave you two, but Laura and I really need a run. Feel free to explore the clearing and talk to people."
Now that she mentioned it, I could feel the faintest flickers of the warning heat now that I looked for them. Diane was probably feeling them much more strongly at this point. Ace and Sandy both nodded with understanding.
Ace knew all about it and Sandy had been part of Dave's trader group so Diane's runs were nothing new to either of them. I just got to go along now. It wouldn't be more than a few more months and they would also be running through the forest at night as well.
I silently helped Diane to unfold the long and very colorful plastic banner. At thirty feet long, I had never seen such a large 'Happy Birthday' sign. I carefully used a thumbtack to secure my end to the railing around the main deck as it faced the houses in the cliff.
We had also colored several pieces of paper and taped them together to put Roland's name under it. I went back to our room to bring out a couple of tiny gift wrapped boxes and put them in front of the sign. Diane had already brought those long heavy boxes up and put them in front of the sign.
Diane stepped back as she examined our handy work. She muttered, "Yeah, Roland is going to kill me."
I looked at her in worry. I really hoped not, besides, I was also partially to blame for this. The banner had been in a dollar store near Wainwright Fort and Diane had taken me inside since I really wanted to go.
Diane shook her head and glanced around as if she was wary of being caught red-handed, "What do you say we climb the rope ladder and go for a run on top of the cliff? Chances are he won't think to look for us there at first."
I took off running silently for the rope ladder. Diane followed swiftly on my heels. To get caught by Roland in front of that big sign was a sure recipe for trouble. We found a couple of good hiding places on top of the cliff where we could see the main deck from above.
Diane glanced at me, "You know what to do, right?"
I nodded, "Yes." We had gone over it several times now. I just hoped that Roland would find it as humorous as we did. He normally had a good sense of humor, but this would be a new experience for him. Diane had told me that Roland had never had a birthday party before. Amber had spilled the beans to Diane, but I wasn't supposed to tell anyone.
Others woke up and left their homes to head for their run. They immediately spotted the rather large and colorful sign. Many darted back into their rooms and shortly came out with a small wrapped gift or card and left it on the growing pile.
Diane might as well have been a statue considering she didn't move at all. I sat still as I tried to mimic her. Any movement might draw the eye and everyone awake at this time was fired. I held my breath as Roland's door opened.
Roland and Amber exited their home and started to jog down the path before Amber paused and pointed. Roland did a hilarious double take before heading over to inspect the sign. He did a slow scan of the valley before shaking his head and going back to Amber. It was quite obvious who he was looking for. My coloring and Diane's knowledge of his birthday could only mean that we were the guilty ones who did this to him.
They eventually went out for their run leaving everything untouched. We remained hiding where we were. The forest outside the gate held numerous blue-eyed people and one of those pairs of eyes were very likely looking high and low for us to learn who had given Diane the information about his birthday.
People slowly returned from their runs. Roland kept looking around, but failed to see us. He wasn't looking up though. The sun slowly started to rise and a new smarter rooster had been left uncollared as he announced the beginning of a new day.
Many of the unfired people also came out and saw the setup. They went back into their rooms to get their own presents to add to the pile. Roland sat on a lawn chair and eyed up his growing pile of presents with an unreadable look.
Well, if he never had a birthday party before, the amount of gifts that were piling up were more than making up for it. Everyone wanted to give their respected leader something. None had really started working yet, waiting to see what Roland was going to do. It was also clear that Roland was waiting for us to make an appearance.
Ace was sitting on the tiny deck by our home while he waited. He glanced around occasionally, but seemed patient enough. Sandy was off with her trader group snickering over Diane's most recent stunt. Roland's shoulders lifted and dropped as he sighed and leaned his head back.
The wind blew and my hair moved with its gentle caress. His eyes suddenly focused on us now that he was directly facing us. Uh oh. We were busted now. Roland was instantly on his feet and heading for the ladder. Heads started turning and Diane swiftly rose to her feet now that we had been caught.
I followed her as she went towards the zipline. Roland was making good use of his Heartfire speed and was already halfway up the cliff. We jumped into the lift and released the brake. The lift quickly took us toward the meadow as we evaded Roland.
Many below looked amused as we made our getaway. He didn't stand a chance of catching us and everyone knew it. Roland's voice carried up to us, "Diane! Get your butt back here! How did you find out about my birthday?!"
Diane called back, "I can't say! I was sworn to secrecy! Just open up the bloody presents already and accept your birthday like a gentleman."
Diane glanced at me and nodded. That was my cue. I turned and also called out, "Remember, a birthday is always better than the alternative!"
Several below laughed or chuckled. Diane chuckled at my attempt. Most below were quite amused and Roland had already stopped climbing the ladder as he began his descent. Roland didn't leave the deck as he waited for our return.
We had to return sooner or later, and Diane figured that he had finally accepted the inevitable. We carefully returned, although Diane climbed up the jungle gym so she could watch from safety. I happily climbed up with her. Others found her caution hilarious.
With a last glare at Diane, Roland sighed and turned to his massive pile of presents. He shook his head as he grabbed one at random and read out the name before unwrapping it. One by one he slowly worked his way through the pile. He finally worked his way down to the long boxes that had been pulled out of the trailers.
Roland nudged it with a toe and it didn't budge. He raised an eyebrow at Diane, "Do I want to know what is inside?"
Diane chuckled at his mock-irritated tone, "Honest, you will like it."
With a sigh, he cut the tape with his belt knife and opened up the box. He examined the contents as a grin started to spread across his face, "Where did you manage to get this?"
Diane grinned at him, "I ordered them from an old friend." She was quite pleased with his reaction to her gift. I had no clue what it was and hoped he would lift it up for everyone to see like he had done with the other gifts.
Roland picked up one end of the large magnetic signs. It proudly proclaimed "Traders of Sanctuary" in big letters. They would stick to the sides of the trailers where no solar panels sat so people could easily recognize us. Not that we weren't already recognizable by our trucks. There were forty of the large magnetic signs.
Diane tilted her head and added, "There is something else on the bottom as well."
A few people helped him move the long magnetic signs. Roland picked up the 18 big pieces of vinyl and pieced them together like a puzzle on the deck floor. Several people oohed and awed at the sign it made. It said Sanctuary and had a background of a big cliff with trees on the sides and a rising sun behind it. Once put together, it was massive sign that could be seen from quite a distance.
I was confused once more. I recognized this work as the handiwork of that one computer tech at Wainwright Fort that Diane was good friends with. This sign had been custom made by him and I had no idea how she had found time to even talk with him during our stop. I also doubted that work like this could be done in two days. How had she done it? Another mystery...
Roland grinned in delight as he regarded the fancy sign, "I assume that this goes on the palisade?"
Diane nodded, "Yes. It shouldn't fade or weather for at least a decade."
He chuckled, "Okay, I guess my birthday wasn't so bad after all. You are forgiven."
Others laughed, considering that she was still currently perched on top of the playground equipment and out of easy reach. Ace had even decided to join us, although in a game of keep-away, he didn't stand a chance against someone with Heartfire.
Diane chuckled, "Glad to know. When is your fiftieth birthday anyways?"
He raised an eyebrow, "That is for me to know and for you to never find out."
Most laughed and Diane grinned silently as she decided to quit while she was ahead.