I carried a bucket of bolts for some people to secure the huge steel plates to the steel beams. The beams had been lifted on end and cemented into holes about an arm's length away from our current wooden palisade.
The cement had been curing for almost five days and we were safe to secure the steel plates onto them. Each steel plate was twice as long as I was tall. Each one was as thick as a water bottle was wide. Needless to say, it took quite a few fired people to budge those things and hook them up to a pulley so we could lift them onto the beams.
The pulleys were attached to the wooden palisade while people and horses pulled the rope to drag and lift each plate into position. The plates were being bolted on and a second team was welding them into place as well.
Diane helped push a steel plate that was being hoisted until it rested on top of the plate below it. That was no mean feat on a ladder. With a bit of jostling, Diane and four others managed to get it in the proper position while others hastened to bolt it into place.
Diane rubbed sweat off her forehead, "The good news is that we are over three quarters done."
Another guy grunted as he tightened the bolt, "Once these are all up, we can start pouring the cement. The other group is already setting up the rebar in the gap. We will have to pour in shallow layers and let it cure before adding another layer."
Diane nodded, "Then it is a good thing that Dave got that cement auger, I have no desire to be hauling that many buckets up ladders to pour them into that gap."
He chuckled, "This will all be up within a week."
Diane nodded, "I very much look forward to that day. The idea of just a wooden palisade disturbs me during a thunderstorm."
The man nodded. It seemed to be a common sentiment considering how hard people were working to build this steel palisade in front of our original wooden one. Our gate also had steel plates bolted to it.
The wind blew past us and I wrinkled up my nose at the smell of the fire retardant paint that was being coated in thick layers on any wooden object in the meadow. At least I didn't have to worry about fire anymore. I glanced over my shoulder to see a solar tractor already heading down the road with a machine attached to cut the first swath of hay in the fastest growing meadows.
It wouldn't take more than another hour to get the last of the steel plates bolted to the beams, and Diane had promised to take me fishing this afternoon. I was really looking forward to it.
The fish almost flopped back into the water. I scrambled towards it, "Hey!" It was not supposed to do that! I got to it just in time and tossed the slippery fish onto the higher part of the bank.
Ace reached over to snag it by its gills and put it in a small cart we had brought to haul fish. Diane was throwing a cast net into the murky waters while Ace stood on top of the bank keeping an eye on our surroundings while putting any fish in the cart.
Ace called out, "Zombie coming down the river." I glanced over, but it must still be around the bend and out of sight. I followed Diane up to the top of the steeper section of the bank to wait on top. We watched as the zombie bobbed into view.
It was a young girl. Maybe four years old with a torn pink dress and her blonde hair was badly knotted. She snarled as she caught sight of us. I watched with wide eyes. I wasn't scared of her since I could easily outrun her, but it reminded me of that feral dog.
It also reminded me of the scar on the back of my leg. Had it not been for Diane, that could have been me in the water. I could not imagine a worse fate than becoming a mindless zombie intent on attacking any living thing around.
I watched her float by, "That is so sad."
Diane nodded silently. I looked up at her, "That could have been me."
She would understand. The scar on her wrist had caused her a solid week of grief and torment. Diane nodded slowly, "Yes. I could have had that fate as well."
Ace stood silently behind us as we watched the zombie float out of sight.
I ran around a rope wall and swiftly climbed up the other side. The other blue eyed child wasn't far behind me. He was fast, but so were the other three blue-eyed children. The problem was he was 'it' and he was after me. I jumped across open air to climb up the other rope wall.
"No fair!"
I grinned back over my shoulder, "Completely fair, it won't be long before you jump like that too. You just need to get brave enough."
He hated the feeling of freefall and would never jump like that. He swiftly headed for the bridge that connect the two jungle gyms and came after me once more. I was the best at tag and they often tried to catch me. A girl tried to cut me off. How two people had become 'it' baffled me, but I played along.
A glance across the field showed that Ace and Diane were in a similar situation. Diane and two of our best fighters were giving Ace a run for his money. It was closer to a draw than anything else though. Ace was like greased lightning and all four sets of eyes were glowing, showing that they were relying on their Heartfire to get through that practice session.
That very same Heartfire had turned Julian from a shy bumbling young man into a phenomenal fighter. He was fast. Not as fast as Ace, but faster than any other fired person in Sanctuary. Julian had no desire to leave Sanctuary, and the one time he had gone home to visit his father, he was eager to return to Sanctuary.
His shyness had also abated as his Heartfire got established, even as my own shyness had. He still preferred to avoid strangers, but he almost never used the word 'uh' anymore. He was gaining confidence and a knowledge of where he wanted to be in the world.
He could simply watch a fighting move several times and usually managed to replicate almost perfectly the first time. Apparently Ace had been like that when he was younger as well.
My Heartfire shifted and I changed direction to avoid the boy who was waiting in ambush beside the slide. A second girl giggled and also gave chase. I blinked and pulled the heat in my blood as I swiftly climbed up a tower. How was four against one fair? My only edge was the fact that they couldn't use the heat like I could yet.
The spirited game of tag went on for quite some time. I saw the fighters head for a shower and knew Diane would come fetch me after she was done. My stomach gurgled as it knew supper was close. The smell of some sort of meat pie didn't help any either.
"Ready for supper Laura?"
"Coming!" I swiftly planned my escape and managed to get past the edge of the sand that Roland had hauled in for the jungle gym. I hadn't been tagged and cheered as I spun around and ended up grinning at Diane. Her eyes twinkled in amusement at my artfully planned escape.
I skipped up beside Diane and we walked to the mess hall. I grabbed a plate and put my favorite foods on it. The salad looked really good. We headed over to our usual table. Trish and Nathan were already there.
Trish showed me her latest creation and I examined it in interest. Trish had been working on the bright yellow and orange woven sling for a couple of days. It would allow two babies to sit against the mother's chest, and when they were older, she could move some of the straps and one could hang off her back while the other would be on her chest.
I showed it to Diane, "Look what Trish made! It is going to be for the lady we think is having twins."
Diane looked at it, "That is a neat idea. I have no idea how she wove so many straps onto that thing without making any seams."
Trish grinned, "Trade secret."
I giggled at Trish's reluctance to give up the mysteries of the woven yarn. Trish had been bitten hard by the weaving bug. She was also getting very good at dying the yarn she was making.
The cooks occasionally came across a strong color while experimenting in the kitchen and passed it off to the sewing groups. Some of the dyed yarn and thread were very popular and were eagerly accepted by other settlements. Actual woven goods like these were much more valuable.
Trish chattered on about a new dye color they had come across. I heard whispering from other tables and focused on them as a few words caught my attention.
"Another settlement was burnt down just north of Edmonton. It is halfway between the first place and us."
"That place had almost 200 people and they were used to dealing with zombies. How did the raiders succeed?"
"Zombies don't use fire..."
"At least we have never found anyone dead at those places..."
It sounded like another place had been hit by the raiders. That was the fourth place already. It made me uneasy, but we had been practicing drills and had fireproofed everything. We had enough food that we could lock ourselves inside Sanctuary for months on end. That was without counting our ability to rappel down the back of the cliff to hunt or gather greens.
I hoped that they never showed up here.
I ducked behind the rope climbing wall and grinned at Diane. Diane was grinning as she slowly stalked to the side. I went the opposite direction to keep the wall between us. She was too big to fit through the holes.
There was a feeling that I was being targeted by someone else. I didn't hesitate as I tried to dart off to the side. Ace was faster than me and had almost snuck up silently behind me where I couldn't see him. His arms snagged my waist and I was tossed lightly into the air. I squealed in surprise and delight at the ride.
He caught me on my way down and grinned widely at me. I accused him, "That was no fair! You were sitting over on the bench before!"
Ace chuckled, "Ah, but I have legs and I can move."
He put me down on the ground. Impulsively, I stuck my tongue out at him before scampering off to a new tower that had been made by bolting tires together. Adults had a hard time getting inside. He chuckled as he joined Diane, and they circled the tower.
I darted out and just barely slid under the bottom of the rope wall before Diane got to me. Ace was already circling around the other side. My small size and cornering abilities were my only advantage and I used them wherever possible.
I always had to work harder to evade these two than I did when playing catch me if you can with anyone else. It was so much fun though.
We got to play a lot more now that most of the spring and mid-summer work was done. We had moved all of the fruit trees we planned to this year and we had also upgraded the wall and gate. The work that Diane and I did shifted more towards a foraging role, which I found hilarious. That knowledge was truly worth gold in this world.
Ace had decided to tag along and was rapidly learning which plants were edible and desirable. His face the first time he had seen a truffle was priceless. He had a hard time believing that such a strange looking thing was edible. I had been giggling so hard that I couldn't stand up. Needless to say that he had an easy time catching me for revenge tickles...