A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 109

The two trucks hummed as they pulled the thick cable tighter. The entire population of Sanctuary was watching while remaining at a safe distance in case the cable somehow came loose from its anchors. I doubted that it would though, Diane had enlisted the help of someone with an architecture background when installing and cementing the massive anchors to the top of the cliff.

Eventually the cable was fastened and secured to the anchors on the meadow as well. The trucks were parked back in the shelter, their job done. Diane looked at Roland who eventually nodded. Diane nodded at me and I waved a flag in my hands. At the signal, several people on top of the cliff released the tethers that held the ski lift. It was attached to the cable with rollers and a cable with a counterweight.

It had been packed full of wood for weight and rolled down the cable at a speed that a bicycle could probably match on pavement. The counterweight rose up as the loaded ski lift went down the zipline. I held my breath, but the lift slowed as it reached the end and came to a gentle stop.

Todd went forward and put the brake lever on while he unloaded the wood. Once it was unloaded, he released the brake. The counter weight slowly came back down and caused the lift to return to the top of the cliff. Cheers rose up as the second zipline was now functional.

It couldn't take people up because the counter weight wasn't large enough, but it was a way to get down quickly. One zipline came down about a kilometer away from the cliff, and the second went as far as we had cable and went almost quarter way across the large meadow.

Roland shook his head with a chuckle, "Some of the ideas you come up with scare me some days."

Diane just grinned at him while gazing at what she had orchestrated. It had taken her half an hour to convince Roland to let her attempt to build this zipline. Then it had taken weeks of planning and building.

A cat meowed and rubbed against my ankles. I bent down to pet the friendly kitty. Roland brought back six cats to help with the mouse population. He had made numerous trips to vacant towns and some settlements in the last couple of weeks. We had a lot more animals and supplies now. It was a good thing that Roland had brought so much fencing back. One trailer had been full of travel crates of various kinds of poultry, although half had been chickens. We had just under two hundred chickens now.

Diane stretched, "Well, I am glad that it went as smoothly as it did." She glanced at Todd, "Up for another fighting session?"

Todd groaned, "Fine, but I am bringing Julian with me."

I grinned at his lack of enthusiasm. I also knew that Julian would make up for it. Roland had insisted on Todd and Julian getting extra training. Todd had become Amber's assistant in keeping things running smoothly in Sanctuary. He had a surprising ability when it came to keeping tabs on people and what they were doing.

Julian had no real desire to travel and was content in Sanctuary. To everyone's surprise, including his own, he took to any kind of fighting practice like a duck to water. Roland was hoping he would eventually become a backup trainer since Julian was still determined to get fired once his month long waiting time was up. It was only three days away and he was getting excited.

I had no desire to swing a sword around and I went over to the playground equipment and climbed to the top of it. I was pretty high up as I looked around the meadow.

We had been here almost a month and there wasn't much left to build. The fences had all been put up, including a huge one outside of the gate for animals to graze during the day. We had buried pipes leading from the creek to animal troughs with a pump near the creek, so we no longer had to carry water.