A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 138

One pod of peas for my bucket, one pod of peas for me...

I loved garden peas.

I wasn't the only one munching on the on the fresh delicacies as we picked either. It was quality control, right? I think everyone was munching pretty good and there were about eighty of us in this large field.

Peas had to be picked by hand since no machine out there could remove the ripe pods without damaging the plant or smaller pods. Thankfully Dave had traded with another group of traders from the US for a machine that was able to shell the peas.

Diane spoke quietly to Ace, "Ace, keep picking peas. I am going to use you for cover, I think I saw something."

I kept picking while watching them from the corner of my eye. I did subtly look at our surroundings, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Diane moved behind Ace and crouched down as she pretended to pick peas before pulling out her binoculars.

Diane was looking towards the forest on the far side of the highway. The forest was quite some distance from the highway and I doubted that I would be able to see anything smaller than a deer at this distance. I didn't see anything at all.

Ace glanced over as he pretended to look at the trailer. Others had also noticed Diane's actions, but were also playing along. I kept picking peas as I watched them. Ace ran out of peas in his reach and pretended to pick them instead as he remained where he was so Diane could take a closer look at whatever had caught her attention.

Diane stopped her scanning and was watching something intently. I carefully looked at that section of forest from the corner of my eyes, but still didn't see anything. I kept working and simply waited as I kept a careful eye on Diane's hands in case she sent me a hand signal.

Several minutes later, Diane put her binoculars away and stood up as she went to pick peas as if nothing had happened. Her act showed that she believed someone might be watching. Ace moved so he could actually pick real peas instead of pretend ones. He glanced at Diane in a silent question.

Diane spoke quietly, "We had three men in the trees across the highway. One had a binoculars and I caught a glimpse of the light flashing off of it. I didn't recognize any of them, but I have a feeling that I have seen the one somewhere before."

Ace hummed tunelessly, "Well, if no one shows up at Sanctuary in three days it may be wise to have sentries further out just in case."

Diane nodded as we all kept picking peas. No one ever came out of the forest and the trailer here was clearly sprayed with the word 'Sanctuary' on the side. I looked over my shoulder and could just see the cliffs of Sanctuary from here.

The people may have been traders heading to Sanctuary, but I found it really strange that they were hiding in the trees when we clearly belonged to Sanctuary. I shook my head and focused on my work. Even if they appeared out of the forest with horses running full tilt, it would take them some time to get here.

Diane still had her bow and we could easily crouch down for a game of hide and go seek in the waist high pea plants. The presence of the hidden men had several of those with us quite uneasy.

Diane and Ace didn't seem overly worried, but they did keep glancing at that section of the forest. Diane said she thought the one man was familiar. Was it possibly someone we had met in our travels? We had stopped at so many places that it was a good possibility.

I wondered which place the man might have come from.

   I twirled around in time with the music. Ace watched me in amusement as Dave's group played music from the main balcony. Diane went to fetch water for us as the party started up. Usually we had music and dancing every few weeks.