I held the pole while Sandy put the peg into place. The big box tent on top of this trailer was now up and shielded us from a nasty cutting wind that found every gap or joint in our clothing. My Heartfire kept the chill at bay, but I noticed that the cold bothered the others more. Diane barely even noticed the cold, so it must have something to do with how long someone had Heartfire.

We would stay at this settlement tonight and head out in the morning to more places. This was the third place we stopped at, although most just wanted small regular items like rope or knives. We went over to the tent with a specially built raised firepit that looked like a long rectangle. It allowed us to have a fire on top of the trailer inside of the shelter.

Most of the others were here, although some had gone out for an early run. There were only 21 of us on this trip, which was fine with our Heartfire endurance and other abilities. Ace and Diane were already in here.

I took a seat by Diane and listened to the talk of trade and places that might be the most profitable with what we were currently carrying. Ace inquired, "Which towns are we heading to tomorrow?"

Dave replied, "We are heading about as far west as we can go without a snow blade. Two towns next to one another, one is Whispering Hills and the other is Tango Place."

Diane turned her head in sudden interest, "Uh, Dave. Was that Tango Place or Toga Place?" I perked up as well, could it be?

Dave tilted his head, "Now that you mention it, it might be Toga Place. Wait, you stayed there for a while, didn't you?"

Diane burst out laughing and grinned down at me, "I wonder if they found you yet?"

I start giggling uncontrollably. I somehow doubted that they had found me, and Diane would be the best one to know since I had been with her. Others were watching us in confusion, uncertain as to what we had found so funny.

Diane grinned at Dave, "Don't be surprised if they don't let me inside the walls, they thought I might have been infected when I killed a Swift that was breaking through a door. Several will probably be happy to see me though."

Dave looked at Diane suspiciously, "What exactly did you mean by you wondered if they found Laura yet?"

I was still giggling, it was just too funny, "They thought I was inside the walls when they refused to let Diane back in. They didn't know I was following her while hiding in the forest. We always wondered how long they searched for me."

Dave shook his head in playful exasperation, "You two are going to be the death of me one day. Is there any place in this province that you didn't stop at?"

Diane tilted her head in consideration, "Well, we never really went any further south than Calgary..."

Dave sighed, "Trading runs were less complicated before you became so popular."

Diane snickered, "Popular. Right. Half of those people couldn't get me outside of the fence fast enough."

Dave pretended to consider the matter, "Perhaps notorious would be a better term..."

Diane tossed a twig from the firewood pile at him and he dodged it. A thought suddenly struck Diane and you could see it in her face, "Hey Dave, your goal is just to fill the trailers up right?"

Dave gave her a long look, trying to figure out what idea was rolling through her head this time, "Yes. With useful things. Why?"

Diane peered down the line of people sitting at the fire, "Hey Joel, do you still have those speakers?"

Joel looked up, "Yeah, why?"

What would an electrician and speaker have to do with filling the trailers? Sometimes Diane's mind wandered down some strange paths. If we needed speakers, then zombies were obviously involved.

Diane turned back to Dave with an excited look, "How about we go shopping before we hit these two places? We could have a bit more to trade."

Dave gave her a level look that bordered on misgiving, "Please tell me that I am not going to regret this plan of yours..."

Diane grinned without a response as her eyes unfocused, her mind going full tilt with numerous ideas. Her lack of a response did nothing to reassure Dave.

   Sometimes Diane's memory scared me. We had passed along this road twice in our travels, and she had somehow noted a huge Walmart along a distant highway just outside of a town. We had covered hundreds of kilometers and seen countless houses and stores, and she somehow remembered that this one was far enough away from the town that we wouldn't be overrun with zombies.

Diane's logic had been quite simple actually. A dozen zombies wouldn't scare us off, but would be a deadly problem for other groups who lacked our training. That left many stores untouched, and no one in their right mind went into those huge windowless box stores that could hold zombies in their dark interior. We simply needed to pick the one that suited our needs and Diane knew that this one was right on our way.

We made plans and Ace also added his own input. He had the knowledge and training to be a Raider trainer after all. This Walmart had been far enough from town that only about twenty zombies had been in the immediate vicinity.

We had lured them quite a distance away and ensured that they wouldn't return anytime soon. We had also set up the chain link fence around the trailers and the loading dock for our peace of mind and safety. Our glowing eyes with some flashlights to read small print would allow us to see clearly where others would not have been able to.

I sat on top of the trailer waiting for them to pronounce the huge store as all clear. It had been tightly locked up, so we doubted there were any zombies inside, but Raider rule #1 said to never assume a building had no zombies. It was usually your last mistake.

Ace had a trick up his sleeve and made a grappling hook out of some twisted metal. This allowed them to get into the ceiling trusses to check out the store from a vantage point before double checking it on foot. We were just waiting for those two to confirm that the store was clear.

About twenty minutes later, the loading dock door started lifting as someone hauled on the chain to open it. Ace's head popped around the corner, "It is all clear."

I climbed down as most of the group flooded inside. Dave was going to remain at the loading dock with a clipboard to note what went into which trailer. I swiftly followed Diane, who had finished lifting up the door.

My blue-tinted sight made it clear that no one had come in here since the power went out. The shelves were mostly full and the loading dock had numerous pallets stacked all over in orderly rows. Diane grabbed a large flat trolley and started going up and down the aisles as we shopped.

Dave had tasked each person with finding certain things, although he didn't mind if we grabbed some other stuff we saw on our way. We were after desks and tables in those collapsed boxes. I saw Sandy in the aisle with the soaps and shampoos.

The produce section was dust and dried husks after all of this time. It didn't even smell. Half a dozen people were scanning all of the dry goods to see if they could find something still within the expiration dates. They were rapidly filling their carts.

We found our section and started loading up a variety of different desks, tables, and bedframes. I wasn't sure how those objects fit in those heavy flat boxes, but the box claimed that they did.

We unloaded our stuff in the back of one trailer as Dave noted it down. Several trips later, it was clear that all six trailers were filling up rather rapidly. Dave scribbled down our latest load and commented to Diane, "Okay, I quite like your idea. We will have to do a few return trips. I never realized that there was a Walmart so close to the edge of this small town."

Diane nodded as she glanced around the trailer. It was almost full and, surprisingly, most of this trailer held food. Entire pallets of rice, beans, and other dried or dehydrated foods were present, not to mention other boxes and bags of other things.

I tilted my head and asked Diane, "Why does Roland have two pallets of bug spray?"

Those who were fired were never bitten by bugs, although those in Sanctuary would welcome it. Oddly enough, mosquitoes and biting flies were rare in the meadow, possibly due to the number of fired people around.

Diane glanced over, "People in Sanctuary will like it. It is also a very valuable trade good."

I nodded my understanding. I now remembered that bug spray had always been one of the things that people favored as a trade good when I had been traveling with Diane. We quickly got off the trailer to let someone get in while pushing a pallet jack with a pallet full of barley.

Everything from pots and pans to towels and clothing to sewing supplies and building materials and more were all packed to the roof of each trailer. We emptied the shelves of toothpaste and cleaning supplies.

By the time we lured off the zombies and took down our fence, all of the trailers were fully loaded. We very carefully barred and locked up the store doors so no one would get into until we returned. The trucks moved down the street slowly while the people who were luring away zombies took them back to the Walmart and quickly lost them there. Zombies were excellent guard dogs if they stayed put and these should stay there for quite some time with how much we walked around the loading dock area.

Dave looked quite satisfied with himself, "The trailers are fully loaded, but we still have to stop at Whispering Hills and Toga Place since they are expecting us."

Ace looked curiously at him, "Where are you going to put more supplies if we get them? I don't think it would be possible to stick so much as another pillow in any of those trailers."

Dave grinned, "I ensured that the stuff we have extras of were packed near the doors of the first trailer. We can also pile stuff in the truck cab as well as in the truck box. It wouldn't be the first time we tarped a lot of supplies on top of a couple of the trailers either."

Ace looked amused, "And if they have livestock?"

Dave chuckled, "Most of the smaller animals can ride in a truck box if we make a cage out of wood and chicken wire. If it is larger livestock, we can either make just enough room in the trailer for it or I will send someone to pick up another enclosed trailer and one truck will haul two trailers. I have been taking note of all the ones we passed."

Diane commented, "Whispering Hills is a very tiny place and they didn't have much for larger animals at all. Toga Place is bigger, but other than a big herd of sheep, I don't recall them having many animals either."

Dave nodded, "We will see, they are likely looking for stuff more than they are trying to get rid of excess stuff."

Diane looked at our surroundings, "We should be at Whispering Hills in several hours at this rate. We shouldn't have any difficulty trading and getting to Toga Place by nightfall."

It was like Diane had a mental map in her head. Then again, anyone who was fired did. I could easily point in the exact direction to Sanctuary. I wasn't able to point to places that I had visited before I was fired. I could point out Toga Place, but I wasn't sure about Whispering Hills. We hadn't stayed here long enough and I hadn't really trying to keep track of where we were like Diane had been.

Dave continued looking through his numerous lists while making notes on surplus things we could trade. He was planning on making at least three return trips as soon as possible to that store. No one else really wanted to enter big box stores since it was so easy to miss a zombie and have it sneak up on you in the dark. Most such stores were also in bigger cities with far too many zombies to even consider luring away. The fact that we knew this store was cleared was a rare opportunity.

Roland was going to fall over when he saw the contents of the trailers.