The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 80

My pre-lunch patrol was canceled due to the expected arrival of the traders. It had been politely worded, but the whispers I picked up afterwards told me that they wanted me inside the fence in case this group decided to hunt a feral zombie or two and somehow accidentally targeted me.

There may be a feral Nightstalker in the barn, but the people here still feared losing me. They had looked for a Nightstalker for far too long to get over their trepidation easily. Some of them counted me as a friend, much to my bemusement. I was halfway amused as I overheard a few plans to try to keep me out of the way of the traders without me realizing it.

I was somewhat surprised to learn that they knew exactly which people in the archery group I spoke with the most in the evenings. It was a fairly unanimous decision that I would object the least to their presence and they were being enlisted to keep me company when the trading group arrived.

Six of them were already chopping wood on the other side of the wood chopping area. I wasn't too sure where Nicky had gotten to, but no one really wanted her swinging an axe. She would appear when the traders arrived. Or she might just chase them right out the gates... It was hard to say with Nicky.

I looked over at my newfound followers, "So what is our plan once these traders arrive?"

The one guy took a breather as he replied, "The traders have been here before and about twenty come each time. One group really likes to hang out on the roof of the secondary building and drink while relaxing. Have you been on the balcony of the dining area yet?"

I tilted my head, "The one the archery group hung out on while spying on Nicky and me when we were on the archery range?"

He turned a bit red, "Yes, that is the one." He seemed a bit embarrassed that I had noticed and remembered.

I chuckled at his discomfited expression, "Sounds good to me. I am hoping that someone can dig up a chess game. It has been a long time since I played."

He glanced at another man who put down his axe and went to go find the discussed game and presumably put it on that deck. I was surprised that he had taken me seriously. I had been halfway joking. Perhaps I needed to work on my joking tone more...

We continued chopping wood until a horn sounded.

"That would be them. It might be best if we head to the deck now to avoid the crush of people that is going to occur very shortly."

I nodded and put my axe back in the shed. The group gave me plenty of space as we walked toward the mess hall. The only way onto that deck was to use a staircase at the back of the mess hall. The trucks were just arriving at the gates as we went inside.

The staircase was fairly narrow and I looked around as we came out on the deck. A somewhat battered chess board sat in the middle of a patio table with a dozen bottles of water and a plate of snacks. It looks like they were ensuring that we wouldn't have to leave for any reason.

I took a seat on a lawn chair and watched the trucks and buses rolling into the Stronghold. The others made themselves comfy and also watched as some people left their tasks to go greet the traders.

I looked over at the woman across the table from me, "So what exactly is keeping them from coming up here? I can't see them being unaware of this deck if they know about the one on the secondary building."

She grinned, "The kitchen staff was covering the door in caution tape and a sign that warned people that the staircase was closed due to structural damage."

I smirked as I played the devil's advocate, "And just how are people going to explain our presence up here?"

"Easy. We climbed up a rope to the deck." She pointed to a coil of rope in the corner that was already tied to the deck railing. Someone had been hard at work planning all of this.