I woke at the morning bell and went out of the bedroom to see Diane lounging on a floor cushion. There was no way to get furniture up here so Diane had brought in several big floor cushions in lieu of chairs. I plopped down beside her, "What are you reading?"

She closed the book and showed me the cover. It was about bird watching and the names of many local birds. I loved it when Diane pointed out animals to me. I clapped my hands in excitement, "Can we go bird watching later on?"

She grinned at me, "Sure we can go before supper, or we can take a few minutes tomorrow if I see something interesting."

I tilted my head as I picked up her wording. Then it dawned on me. I wrinkled my nose, "I have to go to class today, don't I?"

She nodded, "It is Monday."

I now had an official reason to hate Mondays. I sighed, I was not looking forward to today.

Diane smiled kindly, "It shouldn't be too bad, I hear the other two kids told their parents and they also had a talk with the teacher. If she gives you any trouble just take note of it and let me know later. Okay?"

That was good to know. I think if the teacher gave me problems that I would go find Trish and sit with her wherever her post happened to be today. I could work on my schoolwork while sitting on the floor beside her. I nodded slowly without voicing my backup plan, "Okay."

In the end it wasn't as bad as I had feared. The teacher had actually apologized, although it sounded as forced as Lilly's had been to Diane, but I would still take it. She promised to never speak of it unless I brought it up first. I made a mental note to avoid saying anything like that.

It was a 'field trip' day and we got to go to various areas and see what they did. I was amazed at how much of the Fort was still dependant on gas and diesel despite how much trouble they had with anything that ran on it. Many places were rigging things to run off of electricity, which was taxing the solar panels and batteries more. They were planning on installing more solar panels as soon as possible.

We had barely returned to the classroom when Diane got back. She was happy that my day had gone well. The mechanic had never returned and I didn't mention him to Diane. I would let sleeping dogs lie.

We had our usual training and decided to retire to the treehouse for some boardgames after supper. I had a dozen board games on a shelf at this point and pulled down the snakes and ladders. Games of chance gave me much higher odds of winning.

We laughed as our tokens climbed ladders and slid down snakes. Diane held up her hand with the signal for silence. I sat on my cushion and watched her as she tilted her head and listened hard. She closed her eyes and looked as if she was trying to pick up every sound in the night.

I could only hear crickets, an owl, and some distant zombies. I wondered what she could hear. I knew her hearing was much sharper than mine. For all I knew she was listening to the man on the moon telling a bad joke.

Her eyes opened and she stood up before heading over to the trapdoor. She opened and knelt down to hang her head upside down out of it, peering at something outside.

"Ace, there is nothing that can catch you before you get to the ladder if you start jogging. There are three zombies heading for you, but none are between you and the ladder."

Ace was outside the fence after dark? Was he crazy? Even I wouldn't do that if I had a choice. Several moments later Diane sat up and moved back a bit. Ace's head poked inside as he glanced around.

Diane regarded him as if she thought he was crazy as well, "What on earth are you doing running around in the dark? I know I do it all the time, but I can at least see clearly enough to avoid the zombies."

He chuckled, "To be honest, I wasn't quite aware of how dark it was this far from the fence. I was bored and decided to come over for a visit."

Diane shook her head in disbelief, "Well, come on in."

I giggled at her comment. Ace was already sitting on the edge of the trapdoor. Ace grinned at my giggle, "This is much better than I had envisioned. Somebody once told me that they were just bare boxes of wood."

Diane had done a lot of work and had turned this little wood box into a tiny home. She grinned, "Check out the other places one day. This place was bare when we moved in. I spent many hours hauling in all this stuff, several nearby houses are somewhat emptier at this point. Other than that solar lantern there, we brought in everything else."

He shook his head, "You have far too much energy, but this looks very nice. I am jealous."

She chuckled, "Honest, I would happily share half of my energy if I could. Feel like joining us for a board game?"

"Sure, I can join you for a game."

I didn't know that Ace liked board games. Although I suspected that Diane didn't know how much he really liked the game Monopoly either. He won that one by a long shot. Before long I was yawning constantly.

Diane grinned at me, "Well, I think it is time for bed for you, Laura."

I grinned, it was well past my bed time. Diane looked over at Ace, "I can either escort you back to the gate or we can push two of these large cushions together and throw some blankets on top if you feel like spending the night. We do have several new toothbrushes still in the package that you are welcome to. Don't be surprised to be woken up once or twice as I come and go during the night though."

I headed to the bathroom for my toothbrush while listening to Ace's thoughtful response, "I used to go camping a lot and I kind of miss the silence. I share a room with one of the Guard Group Leaders and he snores most of the night. I would love to stay the night and listen to the crickets if you don't mind."

"Well, in that case I will lure those two zombies away so they quit stepping on your crickets. I did install a deadbolt in the trapdoor and I have the key with me. If you hear anyone coming in it is just me, so I would appreciate it if you didn't throw a weapon at me when I come in."

I grinned silently as Ace chuckled, "I will keep that in mind. Do you want any help with our two friends below?"

Diane shook her head, "No thanks, I see very well in the dark. Laura knows what is normal and what isn't. She is a pretty light sleeper and I will have a walkie talkie on me if you need me."

I came out of the bathroom and went over to Ace to hand him a new toothbrush and tube of toothpaste. Diane already had her pack on as she pulled out extra blankets and passed them to Ace who had pushed two of the biggest cushions together as an impromptu bed. I went to give Diane a hug, "Good night."

She kissed the top of my head, "Ace will be here, so he can help if anyone shows up. You have my walkie talkie, feel free to use it. I will see you in the morning. Good night."

I kissed her cheek before heading to the bedroom and closing the door behind me. Why did she expect people to show up? I had been surprised that Ace had braved the dark and zombies. Even then, if Diane hadn't helped, he could have been in deep trouble. I gave up guessing and went to sleep.

I woke up to the morning bell. I had heard Diane leave earlier this morning. She had changed the times for her runs. Instead of a long run in the middle of the night, she ran until about 11pm and left around 4am.

I got dressed and opened the door. Ace and Diane were in the living room each sitting on a cushion with a bowl of apple slices. Another bowl sat in front of my usual cushion. I smiled, "Good morning!"

Both Ace and Diane replied, "Good morning." I came over and sat on my cushion to munch on my apple slices. Ace grinned at me with a teasing tone, "So, what time did Diane come in last night?"

I looked at him, unsure why he was asking. I glanced at Diane who nodded that I could tell him. "She came in at 11pm, left around 4:30 and I don't know when she came back in since she didn't come into the bedroom."

Diane chuckled at the shocked look on Ace's face. Diane glanced at me, "Ace didn't hear me come or go last night and he doubted that you would have."

I grinned at her, I was used to trying to keep track of her and in the treehouse I slept more lightly. Ace was looking at the bedroom. From this angle all you could see was Diane's neatly made bed. "I only see one bed in that room, do you two share it?"

He might think that we shared it and that was why I knew when Diane left and arrived. I would actually love to share a bed with Diane and cuddle most of the night, but I doubted I would win that discussion.

I giggled, "Nope, I have a special bed."

Ace looked at me in curiosity, "What do you mean by a special bed?"

I was proud of what Diane had made for me. I jumped to my feet, "Come see!"

Ace got up in curiosity and I ran ahead and disappeared around the doorframe to climb up the ladder that he couldn't see. I sat on my bed and grinned at the door as Ace came in and looked up in shock. "Wow. I have never seen a bed suspended in the air like that before." He looked out the door at Diane incredulously, "How on earth did you get that up there?"

Diane's voice floated through the door, "Persistence."

He shook his head, "No kidding."

I heard Diane chuckling from the living room. Ace climbed a few steps up the ladder to get a better look at my bed before jumping back down. He looked back at Diane, "I somehow suspect that that window was not there when you first arrived."

"I suspect that you could be right. Laura wanted to be able to see outside when she was in bed."

Ace chuckled as he shook his head and regarded me, "Well, you certainly have a cozy little nest up there. I think you might be the most spoiled kid on the base."

I giggled, "Not really, since we are outside of the fence."

Both Diane and Ace laughed at that. Ace went back to the living room and I climbed down to join them.