A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 113.5

I watched as Diane climbed up the ladder to our old treehouse. Diane had insisted on going up first in case it had somehow been booby trapped, but considering it was still locked, it was unlikely. The lock clicked and Diane slowly raised the trapdoor cautiously.

She looked around carefully, "All clear. You can come on up."

I swiftly climbed the ladder to look around. Everything was as we had left it, other than that big picture of Diane's old friends that Matthew had removed for safe keeping in his office. Matthew and Diane's old Foraging group had stopped by to visit with Diane. Matthew had also returned the picture to Diane, along with the treehouse key that she had left in his care. The picture now resided in one of the trailers to return with us to Sanctuary.

Diane quickly checked the bedroom and bathroom, but other than Matthew, no one had been up here as far as we could tell. Many of the traders were going to try the treehouses since the trailers were much too crowded to sleep with Heartfire hearing and awareness. There were no trees within the fence either, so hammocks weren't an option at this stop.

I opened up the shutters to get some fresh air and gazed at the trailers just to the side. Faintly glowing blue eyes moved around the trailers as some were preparing to sleep on top of the trailers. Others were heading out for runs or just returning. A sentry sat silently on watch. Several caravan guards were taking shifts all night to prevent any surprises.

Diane was also opening up shutters. I wandered over to a different window to look at the Fort. It was mostly dark at this late hour, but I could still see some people ogling at the glowing eyes in our camp from various windows. Diane had always kept her eyes dimmed here, so who knows what they thought of the trading group now.

I headed to the bedroom and grinned at my old elevated bed. It still held a fond place in my heart and I clearly remembered all the hours and effort that it had taken Diane to get it up there for me. I climbed up and got comfy as Diane also got ready for bed.

The day had been pretty easy. About half of the trading had been done today, but the rest would occur throughout most of tomorrow. Then we would start to organize and pack up to leave the next morning.

   

"Laura, could you please fetch me twenty leads for these alpacas?"

I nodded and went to fetch the requested items. It didn't take me long and I swiftly came back to hand the ropes to the trader. It was tempting to go with them and see the alpacas since I had never seen one in person before, despite the fact that I had been in this place for several months in the distant past.

I didn't follow the small group of traders though, mostly because Diane wasn't in that group. My nervousness had somewhat come back with our return here. When I was with Diane, I was fine. I had also been fine with Rick and Donovan since I knew them so well.

I knew that the traders would protect me, but I really didn't want to be found away from the trader group. They were bringing the alpacas here anyways, and I was much more comfortable hanging out in the trader caravan setup.

I climbed on top of a trailer and looked around. It was late afternoon already, and there were animals everywhere. Four different kinds of chickens, three different kinds of wool sheep including almost thirty with that special wool we were after, a different variety of milk goat, half a dozen angora goats, some llamas, more piglets, meat cattle, more dairy cows, another breed of turkey, and a pair of big plow horses.

More were probably on their way, including those alpacas. I bet that four of the trailers were going to be full of animals. The Fort had been eager to trade off extra animals before the snow fell and grazing became scarce. We had brought an entire truckload of solar panels and related supplies just to trade for the animals and both sides were very happy with the end result.