After our meal Beth showed us to our room. It was actually in what used to be a hotel. Diane locked the door behind us before casually dropping her pack on the bed and digging out the fat envelope. I jumped onto the bed in excitement as I eagerly watched her cut through the waterproofing plastic layers to get to the numerous small envelopes inside.

Diane quickly sorted them into two piles. The ones for her and the couple for me. With a small squeal of excitement, I grabbed the first one I saw with my name and quickly opened it. I flopped backwards onto my back to read my friend's writing.

My jaw dropped, she had kissed the boy a second time, although she said it was just as bad as the first time. She obviously needed her head checked. I would have to tell her to go talk with Nancy about her kiss. She was nurse, I was sure Nancy could tell her about the cooties better than I could.

Diane passed me some paper and a pen. I rolled onto my stomach and started writing my response telling her just that. None of the kids knew that I had left Bethany Fort, but the letter from Trish and Nathan showed that they were quite concerned about us. I started writing my reply to them as well.

I kept it a bit vague since they didn't know I had Heartfire. Only Ace and Matthew knew that detail so far. I told them how much fun I was having on the road with Diane. I named the settlements we stopped at and described in detail what kind of playground they had and how many kids had been there. They thought we were still at Toga Place, so I had to let them know that we were back on the road again, although I didn't know exactly where we were going.

"Huh. Trish and Nathan must have had that baby talk after all."

I turned my head to look at Diane as she lay on her back beside me reading her own letter from Trish. I was excited, "They are going to have a baby?"

Her sparkling blue eyes flickered over to me as she grinned, "Trish wrote here that she is pregnant and just a few months along. So, yes. She will likely be a mother within six months."

I grinned happily and went back to writing to Trish. I gave her a few suggestions for names as well. Trish was really not that original. She told me that she had once named her cat 'Kitty'.

"Hmmm..." That didn't sound good.

I glanced over to see Diane frowning at a different letter. "What is it?"

She re-read whatever part she didn't like before sighing, "Matthew tested the waters for us. He suggested that Wainwright Fort invite us back from whatever imaginary town that we had supposedly stayed in when we left the Trader Group. Let's just say that a handful of people almost flew off the handle and it isn't safe for us to return there yet."

Some people really needed to take some yoga lessons for their tempers. We had known that chances of us returning to Wainwright in the next two years was slim to none. I shrugged, "We kind of knew that already. So we just need to find some place that will accept us."

Diane glanced over at me and grinned, "Indeed. I am sure some settlement will accept us, glowing eyes and all."

Diane's own eyes suddenly started glowing as she stopped supressing their light. I realized that the window blinds were down and my eyes must be glimmering in the dim light. I grinned widely at her joke. I really did have to learn how to control my eyes though...

We left our room and a quick glance at my tiny pocket mirror showed that my eyes no longer shimmered in the brighter hallway. Good.

Diane murmured, "I don't see any sense in hiding our abilities until midwinter, only to be kicked out into a snowstorm. Someone will notice something sooner or later. We might as well check to see if our oddities will cause any problems before we waste too much time in one place."

I nodded, that made sense. Besides, how bad could it be? We were excellent foragers and knew almost every edible plant around. Diane was an awesome hunter and our energy would make us valuable to any place we stayed.

Diane paused outside as she looked around. I could see several dozen people working here and there on various tasks. An older guy wandered over to us, "You look kind of lost."

Diane responded, "We just arrived. I am wondering if it would be possible to speak with someone in charge in regards to our ability to try and fit in here."

The old man nodded, "We welcome almost anyone. You'll want to be speaking with Dale if you think you may have any difficulty fitting in. Come, I will help you find him."

"Thank you."

We followed him as he checked several spots before finally locating the man we were seeking in an office.

The old man knocked on the open door, "Dale, these two ladies would like a word with you."

Dale was an older man, probably in his late fifties. "Sure thing, thanks for leading them up."

The old man nodded and walked off. Dale gestured to two folding chairs in front of his desk, "Please have a seat. What would you like to discuss?"

Diane took off her pack and put it beside the chair as she slowly sat down. I copied her movements and tried to remain motionless to avoid attention in the discussion to come. Diane's muscles were somewhat tensed, betraying her slight nerves at what she was about to say. I knew it was hard for her, she had always spoken freely to me, but had done her level best to hide her abilities from others ever since she got them.

"We are looking for a place to join. We don't cause fights, we know many edible plants, and can do a lot of hunting and gathering. We have no problems with zombies. The only thing is that we tend to make people uneasy."

He looked confused, "How do you make them uneasy?"

Diane closed her eyes for a moment. The moment she opened them, Dale sat bolt upright at the sight of her glowing blue eyes. Her glowing eyes were a fascinating sight. I saw them often at night when we ran together and still admired them. She could make them glow when she chose, but rarely did so during the day simply because she saw no point in it.

Diane blinked again and the glow rapidly faded within a couple of seconds. The faintest glint in the depths of her eyes showed that she wasn't supressing the glow. The glow just wasn't needed for her to see and her emotions weren't strong enough to make them glow.

Diane continued as Dale's eyes were wide, "Our eyes have an odd tendency to glow, usually at night, and it allows us to see in the dark. We stayed at Bethany Fort for a while and assisted the scientist Ninette. She says that both of us are immune to the zombie virus, however it is nearly impossible to transmit the immunity. She did hundreds of tests and failed in her experiments in that area. We are simply looking for a chance to prove we can work for our keep."

I blinked as I realized that Dale wasn't surprised and awed like I had originally thought, he was frightened. He shook his head violently, "I am going to pretend I didn't see or hear any of that. You are welcome to stay the night, but please continue on your way in the morning."

Diane sighed as if she wasn't overly surprised. She stood up and put her backpack back on, "Thank you for your consideration."

She started to leave and I quickly followed on her heels, confused as to why Dale had been scared. What was so scary about glowing eyes? If her eyes had been red, I could see his reaction, but they were the opposite. They were blue.

I was a bit worried, I could tell that Diane was irritated by his reaction and rejection. Her body language gave her away and I was used to watching her. She somehow managed to find the least congested route on her way to the playground. At her nod, I went to go play while she sat on a bench and watched.

I knew that she didn't really want company at the moment so I went to play with several other children present. They were thrilled to play with a new person and a game of tag quickly ensued. Most tried to tag me since I was the new novelty, but unless I let them tag me, they didn't even get close.

Trying to pretend to do my best while allowing them to tag me was hard. It was a different type of acting than what Rick had taught me, but I was learning it. Tag was no longer my favorite game with other children, they simply didn't stand a chance if I even halfway tried to avoid them.

My coordination had also improved to the point where I almost never slipped or missed a landing in a jump. I was going purposefully slow, but even that speed was rapidly tiring the others out. Two of the girls flopped down to lay on the sand while trying to catch their breath. The four boys were hiding on top of the jungle gym, equally as tired.

I sat on the wooden step by the slide as I pretended to catch my breath as well. The hour of play hadn't even taken the edge off of my energy. I was used to jogging most of the day with several quick runs as I tried to outrun Diane. My breathing rate hadn't even gone up with the play.

The game had been fun since I got to play with other kids, but it wasn't as fun as it used to be when the game had a more level playing field. The interaction and their easy acceptance of me had been fun, but I was definitely going to need a hard run this evening with Diane. Perhaps I needed to find games with more thinking when playing with others kids... Hmmm... I would have to think on that idea.

My eyes once more strayed to Diane, where they often went, just to ensure that she was still there. Diane was still on the bench. I had noticed another lady come a short time ago to sit with her. I leaned back against the railing and closed my eyes as I focused on my hearing. To my surprise, if I tried, I could just make out their quiet voices.

"How is it going?"

Diane sighed, "Could be better. We will be heading off in the morning. Do you happen to know of any place that is really relaxed when it comes to new members and doesn't care about odd disabilities?"

Huh? How were glowing eyes classified as a disability? They helped us see better in the dark. Glowing eyes were an asset, not a defect. I wasn't following her line of thought.

"Have you spoke with Dale?"

"Yes, he wants nothing to do with us."

"He can be a bit of a jerk at times, but surely he is willing to give you a chance to see how you do?"

"No, he wants us gone by noon tomorrow."

"I don't understand..."

Diane chuckled darkly, and spoke lowly as if telling a horror story, "Our eyes glow in the dark. It freaked him right out."

The lady snorted in clear disbelief, obviously not believing Diane's story, "Right... I will have a word with him later."

"Don't worry about it. What is done is done. Do you have any suggestions?"

The woman started listing names of settlements and where they may be found. I gave up eavesdropping at that point. She was going into detail about each location and those details didn't really interest me until Diane led me up to the front gate.

Five minutes later, I was bored and the other kids were still too tired for another round of tag. I examined the boys who thought they were out of reach on the top of the jungle gym, "What about a different game? Like acting out a story in a book or something?"

One of the girls sat up excitedly, "What about 101 Dalmatians? We can be the cute puppies and Terry and Lance can be the bumbling bad guys!"

That sounded an awful lot like another game of tag the way she worded it, but if it got them moving and got me off of this step, then I was all for it. Soon most of us were scampering around and woofing at one another. I got to play wrestle with the oldest boy, but I quickly realized that I was much stronger than he was, so I had to be careful not to hurt him accidentally.

It didn't take long for them to tire again, but their parents arrived just as they stopped to rest. I wandered back over to Diane, who was still watching me. Diane idly commented, "I somehow suspect that we are going to be sneaking out early for a run, huh?"

She must have noticed that I had been holding back. I grinned at her, "Yep."

Her eyes brightened slightly in amusement. I glanced at the walls, but still saw no clear way for us to get out without being spotted. The sun was just about to set so we headed back to our room to wait for darkness to hide us. I wasn't sure how Diane planned to get us out, but I was curious.

With no electricity in this place, people went to bed shortly after the sun set. I gazed out of the window at the dwindling activity. There were only half as many sentries now.

Diane passed me a pair of slightly tinted sunglasses, "If we encounter anyone, put those on. You can pretend to have a childish attachment to them, but they should hide the glimmer in your eyes."

I nodded and put them in my pocket. She led me stealthily down the hallway. A pair of sunglasses at night wouldn't be the easiest to explain, but it would be much harder to explain why Diane was sneaking around with all of her weapons and backpack.

Diane watched the sentries for several minutes from the shadows before sneaking over to a small gate that was actually just a door from a house. On the other side, the trees were quite close and we swiftly disappeared into them.

Playing catch-me-if-you-can with Diane was an entirely different ball game than tag with six children. I held back my abilities with the children, and she held back for me. We both had fun though, and Diane relaxed as her eyes glowed brighter in her enjoyment. My attempts to catch her off guard never succeeded though...