I woke to the smell of pancakes. I silently thanked Diane for giving Nick something that even he should be able to cook. It had come as no surprise to me that Diane had no issues keeping up to yesterday's pace.

I grinned at the memory. Many of the Traders ended up riding on the trailers most of the day to give the horses a break. That left Diane to clear the road. Despite the large number of zombies in our path, Nick and the others had been astonished that Diane didn't even look tired before she headed out for her nightly run.

I watched as Sandy picked up something off of the back truck bumper. I peered at it and recognized it as kohlrabi. She lightly tossed it from hand to hand as she grinned at Nick, "Didn't know how to cook it, huh?"

Nick scowled at the offending object in her hands, "You should have seen the attitude it gave me earlier. Someone else can deal with it for supper. Consider it as my contribution."

He obviously did not know how to cook it. Although Diane was keeping a close eye on the bread and pancakes. I giggled, "You could have just diced it up and put it in with the hashbrowns. Diane did that other day. The leaves could be saved for a stir fry."

Nick looked at me in surprise, "How did you know? You were sleeping."

I saw Diane sigh as she reached over to flip the pancakes that Nick had forgotten about, saving them from a charred fate. I shrugged, "Diane showed me a long time ago and it has a distinct taste."

Dave chuckled, "I somehow suspect that you didn't even know what it was."

Nick lifted his chin, "I knew exactly what it was. It was a UFO, an underground foreign object."

We all broke out in peals of laughter.

I had the math text out again. A pentagon had five sides and an octagon had eight, how many sides did a heptagon have? I failed to see why polygons were considered important. I listened to the usual bantering below that was interspersed with the occasional snippet from a song.

I hoped that they would tell more stories tonight. Dave and several others were quite good storytellers. Even Diane had been surprised when I had told some stories. I had memorized quite a few stories like Beauty and the Beast and Peter Pan from my days at my house.

Okay, I was bored and I knew I was avoiding the question in my lap. I noticed Diane coming back from luring another zombie away. She paused to dig something up. She headed towards Nick who was driving one of the trucks and dumped an armful of stuff on his seat.

I scooted closer to the edge of the trailer to watch. Diane had been taking great delight in finding some obscure or strange plant and giving it to someone to identify. Diane jogged easily alongside the truck while Nick gave the roots a blank stare.

He reached over to gingerly poke one as if it might bite him, "What is this?"

Diane grinned, "It will go well with the rabbit that Jake caught."

Several others were watching the two. One lady urged her horse closer. She was one of the two women who were trying to learn as much as they could in the way of edible plants from Diane. She rode beside Diane and looked at the somewhat dirty tubers, "What do you have there?"

I smiled in amusement, even from up here I knew exactly what they were. What was even more amusing was the fact that both of them would have recognized the plant before Diane had dug it up.

Nick picked up one of them and pretended to be fascinated by the odd root, "Well, it is not a wild carrot or wild parsnip. Apparently it goes well with rabbit..."

The lady grinned at him, obviously enjoying his struggle, "So you don't know?"

Nick glanced at her, "I am waiting for your guess."

She grinned at him, "You know that there is a much easier way, right?"

Nick raised an eyebrow at her in inquiry. She glanced up at me, "Laura, I will play a game of Connect Four with you if you can tell me what this is and how to cook it."

I grinned, she hadn't known the answer, but she knew how to find out. I found it funny that she resorted to bribery just to make Nick look bad. Diane looked quite amused, they had obviously figured out that I knew a lot about plants.

Jake chuckled as he watched from his perch on top of the same trailer, "Now that is just cheating. It was much more fun to watch Nick squirm."

I smiled at the lady, "It is burdock root. You cook it like you would a carrot."

The lady grinned at me, "Thanks! I will be right up to play that game."

Connect Four sounded much better than my math problems. Nick looked at Diane, "If I had seen the leaves I would have been able to ID that one."

Diane chuckled, "That is why I cut them off."

He shook his head and pointed ahead, "I am sure that the zombie there would love your presence."

With a backwards grin, Diane picked up speed to intercept a zombie. I played several games of Connect Four before turning back to the textbook. The lady helped me with that as well. The teacher had given me an outline of my study schedule, but I had worked hard and had completed everything on the list within the first two days.

I kept studying to prove my due diligence. I was secretly hoping that if I could prove my study skills when away from class that I might not have to go back into the classroom. If nothing else, I would be so far ahead of Elisa and Mark that I might get transferred to a class with older children and a different teacher.

I watched as we rounded a corner and saw a wooden palisade wall in the distance. That would be the town we were heading to. The thought of more strangers made me uneasy. Dave turned to Diane, "Diane, would you mind mounting your horse? They should spot us shortly and it will allow you to blend in with us."

Diane nodded and loosed the lead line of her horse before swinging into the saddle. It was the first time she had actually ridden her horse. I moved my smaller horse closer to hers. I was going to be sticking close to Diane during our overnight stay.

The trailers would have to remain outside as they would not fit through the gate. This village apparently always offered a guesthouse which most of them accepted for the night, but Dave preferred to have someone watch the trailers overnight just in case. He was not surprised when Diane had volunteered to be the one to stand guard. No one even had to ask to know that I would be staying with Diane.

We were about halfway there when a smaller gate opened and four horses came out with riders. They headed our way at a gallop. After a few minutes they were closer and slowed as they neared us. I kept still and hoped to avoid too much attention. Although, being the only child in the group made me stand out.

One guy introduced himself as Mick and he decided to ride beside Diane. The rest rode near the front with Dave. Mick and Diane spoke about the village and how things were going there. Mick simply couldn't understand how Diane wasn't bothered by the thought of zombies on the road. Thankfully I seemed to have mostly evaded their attention.

I noticed the town gates had opened and people were putting up an impromptu fence that we could park inside of. It would keep the zombies away from the trailers. There were quite a few people helping to set up or otherwise waiting for the Traders.

Many smiled at the Traders, obviously recognizing them from past trading runs. Everyone who spotted me looked startled. The trucks rolled to a stop and we all dismounted. I stuck close to Diane's side as we started unloading.

It was odd to see people who were not wearing badges or name tags. It reminded me of those two men in the garden who turned out to be murderers. Dave and Travis stood side by side comparing notes and checking off stuff as the Traders, Diane and I unloaded it and passed it to the townsfolk who were waiting to haul it inside their settlement.

I passed a bag to a guy who took it with a nod and left. One lady paused to talk with me, "Do you want something to eat? I have some food at my home."

I shook my head shyly, "No, thank you."

The lady looked concerned and took another step closer and crouched down, "You must be tired after your long journey, I have freshly baked bread and some warm water to wash up in."

Why was this lady trying to get me to go with her alone? That just screamed of stranger danger. I felt my eyes widen in my alarm, "No, thank you."

I quickly ducked to the other side of Diane as she passed a box to another guy. The lady stood up with a frown and took a step closer. Diane paused and turned to face her with a fairly passive expression, although her stance issued a slight warning.

The lady looked right into Diane's eyes and blinked in shock. She must have just noticed Diane's eyes, they were such a startling shade of bright blue that they surprised almost everyone who she locked eyes with. After a few seconds the lady moved away to take a bag from someone else and carry it away.

I was glad when the lady left. That incident had just been creepy. It didn't take us that long to unload all three trailers with so many eager hands waiting to help out.