July 10, 2013
Journal,
With Kara home, everything seemed to run much smoother. The fortifications were almost finished, the gardens were well taken care of and the girls were ecstatic to have one of their best friends back.
Everything can't go great forever though, not in this new world.
The day was an uneventful one. Boyd and I finished building up the fences in the front of the house and reinforced the fences that were already built around the property. While we worked on that, the older girls worked in the gardens and pasture. Jayda volunteered herself and Ella to patrol the perimeters and keep an eye out for stragglers. I could see her pass by the front of the house, Ella ahead of her sniffing out dangers, numerous times throughout the morning.
We worked hard and we worked fast, only breaking for lunch in the cool shade of Karen's tree. Jayda took it upon herself to prepare a small feast, she'd not seen any undead all day so figured it would be safe to throw something together for us.
Kara sat beside me, her head leaning on my shoulder as we ate. It felt good to have her nearby again and I couldn't keep the grin off my face.
"How are you feeling?" She asked Boyd, concern evident in her voice.
"Just a bit under the weather, nothing I can't handle." A smile broke through his weathered face.
"You really shouldn't be working in this hot sun if you're still sick." Kara chided. The other girls murmured their agreement.
"Like a bunch of mother hens you are, always clucking about, worrying over the smallest things." He chuckled at his comparison. "I'll be fine, I can turn in early tonight. The work needs to be finished and I ain't letting you all do it on your own."
"We can finish it up, Boyd." I reassured him. "The girls can help, their chores are done. You can go ahead and play with Oliver inside where it's a bit cooler at least."
"Really, I'm old but I'm not dead yet." He argued. "Let me pull my own weight around here."
Connie sighed, "If you insist."
After finishing lunch, Boyd and I went back to the fences, Jayda and Ella to patrolling and everyone else into the house to rest after the sweltering hot morning of work.
"So," Boyd started as he drove another nail into the back fence, "we're going to stay I take it?"
"I wouldn't be doing all this work otherwise." I answered. "Kara has been through enough and Oliver is growing quickly but he's still too young to travel so much."
"If we can manage it, we could start heading north around winter."
"Why?" I asked Boyd. "It would be so hard for Oliver to travel in the rain and cold like that."
"The going would be tough but if we can make it through to where it snows..." He trailed off and I looked blankly at him. "Think about it Bruce. These things will be frozen. They'd move slow, maybe even not at all. We could go out and clear them so much easier, escape so much easier if need be."
"That's actually a smart move." I said after thinking it over. "We can bring it up at dinner, this isn't a choice for only us to make."
"Agreed. Now let's get this fence finished up then all we have tomorrow are the rest of the pitfalls."
We finished the fences within the next two hours. The whole perimeter was now covered with barbed wire and spikes jutting out every few feet, we would need to watch Oliver carefully when he played outside but he was a smart boy and would learn quickly to steer clear of the danger.
