Kane found Miles towards the front, talking and joking with Anthony, their rifles slung across their fronts. Kane hesitated, seeing them like that reminded him of countless boring hours shooting the breeze with his friends between missions overseas. Despite the chaos and horrors in the world, these two friends were still finding things to smile and laugh about, just like the soldiers of the 75th Ranger Regiment had. The down times in war didn’t change; it just changed locations sometimes.

  “Any customers?” Kane asked, walking up to Anthony and Miles, startling them.

  “None in the store, and the parking lot is pretty dead," Anthony stammered back.

  “Okay, let’s shut down the store. I want to hear what has been happening while I have been gone. Not just here at the store, but in general,” Kane hesitated, then decided to continue, “We had some run-ins with some nasty creatures at the homestead, and it sounds like being in town hasn't been any easier.”

  The two gentlemen visibly relaxed when they realized they weren’t in trouble. They looked at each other, then looked back at Kane and nodded. Anthony headed to the front doors and locked them. Then he pulled the security gate across the front. Steven must have had the key to the lock because Anthony just left it like that and headed towards the back of the store.

  Kane walked over to Connie, “Let’s talk in the back. I need to hear what has been going on in town.”

  Connie nodded and headed to the back room. Steven came almost running from the direction Anthony had gone.

  “I hear we are talking in the back?” Steven said.

  “Yeah, lock up the security gate, please. I don’t want anyone coming in while we talk," Kane said as he walked to the back, following Miles, who was following Connie.

  “Okay, I’m going to make sure everything is secure, then I’ll head back,” Steven said, opening the security gate enough to check the front door locks and turn off the automatic doors.

  “Thanks, Steven,” Kane called over his shoulder.

  When Kane got to the back room, he looked around. The stock office door was still shut, but he could see through the small window in the wall that Maria was sitting in the chair rocking Mani, who looked asleep. Kane looked at his office; it was too small for all of the adults.

  “Hey, kids, why don’t you go in my office and play? The adults are going to talk out here,” Kane said loud enough for the adults in the office to hear.

  Callie came out of the office with a folding chair in hand. A moment later, the rest of the adults followed. Anthony and Miles had already grabbed chairs and were coming to join Kane. Connie appeared from the kitchen shortly after with a chair in one hand and a steaming coffee mug in the other.

  “We already talked to Steven. Is it okay if we don’t wait, or do you want him to be here?” Kane asked as he grabbed a chair himself.

  “Steven has already heard from me. I can start. What do you want to know?” Miles looked to the stock office at his wife and kid.

  “Do you want to start with last night, or start with when the Rift opened?” Callie asked as she leaned forward.

  Kane hadn’t realized until that moment that they had unconsciously formed their chairs into a circle. He was reminded of the one time he had done a group therapy session at the recommendation of a fellow veteran. He had hated the format, he had hated the ‘soothing’ voice the moderator used, and he hated how it felt like it was a ‘poor me’ session for a bunch of big army guys who had seen very little to no combat. Kane hadn’t returned to that therapy after the first session. The couples therapy that Callie had dragged him into, nearly kicking and screaming, a year later, was much better, and they had been in couples therapy on and off since. Not because it wasn’t helpful, just life commitments made it hard to be consistent, or at least that was the excuse Kane made when Callie brought it up.

  Kane shook the thought from his head; he needed to pay attention to what Miles was saying. Miles had opted to start his tale from when the Rift had first opened. He described what he saw, which wasn’t much different from what Kane had experienced. Miles described the initial rush of men coming in to restock on ammo and some basic survival supplies. They were all respectful, which Miles said reassured them to close and open like normal. The second day was a little rougher; people were a bit more aggressive, and a few minor fights had broken out. That second day, Miles and Anthony weren’t carrying their rifles on them; they had them in the back room, but they didn’t believe Steven when he said things could get crazy.

  After the fighting started, Miles and Anthony had decided to heed Steven’s advice and start carrying. They started limiting how many customers could come into the store, too, to try and avoid fights. That night had ended similarly to the night before. Miles had gone home, and there was a group of men standing outside his apartment building. They said they were waiting for a family member to come home. Miles had his rifle with him, so they didn’t mess with him. That night, Miles was woken up to gunfire and screaming. When Miles had looked outside, he didn’t see much, but his windows faced the back of the building and not the front where the guys had been.

  The next morning, when Miles had left for work, the men were gone, but there were blood stains on the concrete. Miles tried not to think about it. He walked to work because Maria and Mani had doctor’s appointments. Maria had been having some complications with her diabetes, and it was Mani’s annual check-up. Miles had seen a couple of groups of men with handguns or rifles walking the streets. Everyone had seen the presidential message about staying inside, but there were plenty of people not following the orders. No one bothered Miles, and he had seen a small group of derbits. The way Miles described them, they figured they were the deer, rabbit things they had seen as they were driving into town. Miles reassured them that the system said they were docile and only attacked when provoked.

  Miles also told them about the bear buffalo creatures, which he called burs. He warned them to stay away from them. They could be really aggressive if they saw you, but he said they had such poor eyesight that they often didn’t see you at all. Miles had figured out from watching others that they saw things in front of them, but had horrible peripheral vision, much like their black bears, which could cause even more damage if provoked. Kane had asked why the bur they had seen was attacking. Miles thought for a moment but could only come up with the guy who was in front of the bur and maybe had attacked it.

  Miles went on to briefly talk about how more fights occurred with customers that morning, so they went to the extreme of only having enough customers that they could watch or escort around. They had to stop a few people who felt the need to try to run past them, but those were quickly stopped due to their close monitoring, so for the most part, the rest of the day passed uneventfully. Thankfully, at the end of the day, Maria and Mani came to pick him up. It was dark enough that they could see the batzls flying around.

  When Miles and his family got back to their apartment, a different group of men was waiting outside where the others had been the previous day. Miles had tried to get Maria and Mani past them without an issue, but the men stopped Miles after Maria had passed, holding Mani. The men wanted Miles to pay an entrance fee to stay protected for the night. Miles first tried to say he lived there, but the men won’t let him through until he pays them something. A loud argument ensued, and Mani started crying. That alerted a couple of lizawks that were flying overhead.

  The men started shooting at the lizawks, which attracted more of the creatures. The lizawks had grabbed one of the smaller men and were shredding it when a pack of coyzards appeared. Miles had tried to get Maria and Mani inside the building, but they had someone inside who wasn’t letting anyone through, and now the guy was so scared to open the door that he wouldn’t open it even for Maria and Mani. Miles finally convinced the guy to open the door, but as he did, a coyzard grabbed onto Maria’s bag and they accidentally pulled it in with them.

  The guy and Miles tried to fight the coyzard, but the other guy ran off down the hall and ran into an open apartment. Thankfully, Maria had run upstairs to their apartment with Mani. Maria was crying for Miles as he tried to make his way upstairs. Miles had always worn long, thick pants from years of working construction, so thankfully the coyzard was just shredding his pants and not his skin. When Miles finally got away long enough to get up the stairs, one of his neighbors was waiting with a shotgun. Miles dropped down, and the neighbor shot the coyzard.

  Miles had thanked his neighbor, who had responded with a ‘get inside and stay inside’ before turning and going back to his own apartment. Miles had locked the door and barricaded it the best he could. Maria kept Mani in their room for the night, but Miles didn’t sleep well as he kept hearing growls and screams outside.

  In the morning, Miles didn’t want to leave Maria and Mani at the apartment, so he brought them with him to work. Kane couldn’t blame him, being shaken down two nights in a row and being attacked by a coyzard where he thought he would be safe. That would be a lot for anyone to go through.

  “Where do you plan on going tonight?” Callie asked him.

  “I don’t know, we don’t want to go back, but there isn’t anywhere else to go. As we left this morning, we saw the National Guard pull onto our street, so I don’t know if we could leave again if we did go home." Miles sounded exhausted, and his face showed more years than his age of 25 should have.

  “Stay here with Steven,” Kane said after a moment, “Do you need anything from the apartment?”

  Miles looked up at his boss, shocked, “We can’t stay here! That is too much.”

  “Miles, you have been with me for over three years, you have spent the last three days defending my business and ensuring I had a business to come back to. This is the least I can do,” Kane said humbly, “Now what do you and Maria and Mani need from the apartment.”

  “I, uh, I don’t know. I’ll need to ask Maria.”

  “Kane, are you about to do what I think you are going to do?” Stern asked Kane quietly, leaning over to him.

  “Yes, we are adding a mission, I can go alone if you don’t want to go,” Kane said, not trying to be quiet.

  “Oh, I’m going, if it means a fight, I’m going, but we still need to get food?” Stern reminded him.

  Kane thought for a moment, “I think we do need to split up. But I want to hear from Anthony and Connie first.”

  “I’m going to be honest, my story isn’t as interesting as miles,” Anthony chimed in.

  “What do you mean?” Carlie spoke for the first time since they entered the building.

  “Well, I have a car so I saw the groups of men ‘patrolling’ but didn’t have to deal with them. Well, at least not as bad as Miles,” Anthony said, rubbing the back of his neck looking around the group.

  “Anthony, we need to hear what is going on out there,” Kane said, looking Anthony in the eyes.

  Anthony took a deep breath and then continued, “Well,the first couple days were exactly how Miles described them. Last night was my first run in with guys outside of my duplex. They tried to shake me down, but they backed down when they saw a National Guard vehicle come around the corner. They pretty much scattered and I raced inside before I could be seen. I kinda figured if I made it out in the morning I might have to do a dash for it. I don’t have a kid or a wife like these guys do so I figured I should make an ‘emergency kit’ like I heard you and Steven talking about. I went out just before daybreak and put all the things I couldn’t live without in my trunk. I was going to wait to leave but the National Guard came back. I hopped in and left going the opposite direction. They either didn’t see me or didn’t want to follow. I drove around for a while and then came here.”

  “So you just left your house not planning on going back?” Callie asked, amazed.

  “Not really, I don’t own it, the landlords are nice enough but it was just a place to sleep. I’m 19, my main worldly possessions are my car and my rifle. What else do I need?” Anthony shrugged with his usual goofy smile.

  Kane was dumbfounded. He hadn’t thought of it, he had hired Anthony about two years ago. Anthony had been in his senior year of high school and was quickly working his way up the ladder. His parents had moved out of state the summer after Anthony graduated and Anthony had chosen to stay in Colorado Springs. Kane had no perspective on it, he had joined the military right out of high school. He had one month off from high school graduation before boot camp. Callie and him had started dating during senior year so he had spent that entire month hanging out with her.

  “Kane,” Callie said gently, breaking Kane out of his thoughts.

  “Anthony, stay here too. Looks like we are starting a small compound," Kane sighed, “Connie, please, your turn.”

  Connie had tears running down her face and was just shaking her head.

  “Connie, what happened to you?” Kane asked, trying to be gentle but knowing it probably didn’t come off that way.

  “Connie, please, tell us,” Callie said much more gently than Kane. She also glared at Kane for his harsh tone. This indicated what Kane had suspected, and he had been harsher than he meant to.

  Connie finally looked up through her tears.

  “My husband and daughter have been slowly driving around most of the day just trying not to be noticed by the National Guard and avoiding the damn hunters,” Connie said through tears.

  “Hunters? Where did you hear about hunters?” Phillip asked, startled, hearing the name of one of the potential enemies.

  “I, I, I don’t know, we have been calling them that, they are acting like they are hunting the beasts and humans alike. I didn’t think our town was this cruel, but there are so many people doing bad things,” Connie choked out.

  “Extreme situations make people do strange things. The best isn’t always brought out of people; sometimes it brings out the worst," Stern explained with his head down.

  “Where is your family now?” Kane asked.

  “They texted right before we shut down the store; they were heading to the grocery store to buy something to eat for supper," Connie said, tears still streaming.

  “Connie, why couldn’t your husband and daughter stay at your house?” Kane asked, realizing there was something she hadn’t said.

  “You know our area has been slowly going downhill for years. We talked about moving last year, but decided to stay to let Peggy finish her senior year. Some punks from down the street came two nights ago in the middle of the night and told us we had until morning to get out. Our house was no longer ours.” Connie was crying hard enough that it was hard to understand her, “‘Sam and I packed up what we could, and when it was time for me to come to work, we put everything we could in the van and locked up the house. We slept in the van at the top of Palmer Park last night.”

  “Connie, why didn’t you tell me?” Steven was in tears himself.

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  “We didn’t want to be a burden. Sam is taking it hard. He feels like he should have done something, but I talked him out of it. He has that heart condition, and those thugs have been harassing the neighborhood for years. I don’t know what Peggy or I would do without him.”

  “This really is becoming a compound,” Kane sighed, looking at Callie.

  Callie nodded at Kane with a slight smile.

  “Okay, boys, we have a backup location. Let’s figure out how to fortify it, and then Callie and Phillip should go to the grocery store. Stern and I will go get the stuff from Miles’ apartment. Callie, pick up what this place needs. Fort Mountain Man needs to be stocked as well," Kane exclaimed, suddenly standing up and heading to his office.

  The rest of the group looked at each other slowly. Stern and Phillip got up and followed Kane. Steven was next to follow, with Anthony and Miles after. Callie and Carlie moved to Connie and tried to comfort the sobbing woman.

  In the office, the men got to work figuring out the weaknesses in the building and strategizing on how to secure it better. They had a long debate about whether the store should stay open or not. It was eventually determined that although they were supposed to get a shipment order the next day, the likelihood of that happening was slim to none with the roads closed. With it being unknown when a restock would happen, the group decided the limited supplies needed to stay in their possession. No one knew how long this was going to last or how bad things were going to get.

  Callie and Carlie eventually walked in and listened to the debates quietly. Eventually, there was a pause, and Callie walked over to Kane.

  “Connie helped me make a list of groceries or items that they would need here. Carlie sat with Maria and figured out what she needs from the store as well as what she would like from the apartment.” Callie handed Kane two lists, “And we decided it would be better for the kids to stay here, so Carlie volunteered to stay behind.”

  Kane nodded with a smile. This is one of the reasons he loved his wife; she had taken care of the lists and the kids without him asking. It made the next discussion easy.

  “So, Stern and I are going to the apartment,” Kane said, getting up, “I’ll need an address.”

  “Yeah, you will, but I’m going too. I know my apartment, we can get in and out quicker with me,” Miles said, standing up and heading to the door.

  “Steven, Anthony, can you handle securing the front doors while we are gone? I like the idea of only having one entrance to worry about. We will worry about reopening later,” Kane instructed.

  “Yup, we got this,” Steven said, grabbing Anthony gently and heading to the front.

  Kane walked out of the room. “Connie, are Sam and your daughter still at the grocery store?”

  “I haven’t heard from them since we started talking,” Connie was nearly back in tears with that admission.

  “Okay, Callie, are you going to the same store? If you are, tell them to come back here. Don’t give them details, and if they ask questions, tell them to call Connie once they are in their car," Kane instructed.

  “Okay, Kane,” Callie said, looking with concern at her husband, “Be careful, okay?”

  “Always,” Kane said, kissing her and then heading to the back door with Stern and Miles following. Stern had been talking to Dani while Kane had finalized everything, and Miles had come from the office where Maria and Mani were. Both were ready to go and had determined looks on their faces, which was reassuring to Kane.

  As they left the building, they were reassured that the trucks looked in the same condition as they had left them. However, as Kane went around the front of Stern's truck to get in the passenger seat he noticed the homeless man sitting on the running boards. Kane hesitated, swinging his rifle around.

  “Woowa! I’m not going to hurt you. I had plenty of opportunity earlier, just had to chase off some assholes trying to steal the gas cans. I’m old and out of breath,” the old man wheezed.

  “You what? Why would you do that?” Kane asked, surprised enough to bring his rifle back down.

  “You never asked me to leave. Every other business on the road sent me packing time and again. Figure it was the least I could do. Besides, the sleeping bag you gave me last Christmas probably saved my life,” the man said, still breathing hard as he stood up.

  “I, well, thank you," Kane said as Stern walked around the front of his truck to see what was going on.

  “Kane, we are taking off, you got this?” Phillip asked from the front door of Kane's truck.

  “Yeah, just make sure you put the gas cans in the cab when you go to the store. Oh, and be safe," Kane added at the last second.

  Phillip just laughed and shut his door, turning on the truck a second later and driving away.

  “Why did you try to break in this morning?” Stern asked, still on the defensive.

  “Oh, I didn't, there was a group of guys coming down the road with rifles, I wanted to give Steven a heads up," The guy said.

  “‘Steven didn’t tell us that,” Stern said, starting to let down his guard.

  “If it hadn’t been for the military convoy coming around the corner and stopping them, I don’t know what they would have done.”

  “What is your name? That is twice now you saved something important to me,” Kane said, putting out his hand to shake.

  “Mark Smithson, but my friends used to call me Doc,” Doc said, “I was a medic in ‘Nam. Bet you wouldn’t believe it, but I've been clean and sober for a couple of years now.”

  “Well, Doc, it is nice to finally meet you. How are you going to ride this shit out?” Kane said, waving towards the Rift.

  “No clue, figure the same way I survived the last 40, roughing this shit out,” Doc laughed so heartily and warmly Kane couldn’t help but smile, “This system thing seems to have liked my previous professions, it told me I'm a cleric, put everything I could into healing. I was a nurse when I got back, but the drugs were too tempting.”

  Kane nodded but looked towards Stern, who made a slight shake.

  “Miles, what do you think, could Fort Mountain Man use a healer?” Kane asked, turning away from Doc towards Miles.

  “Anything would help,” Miles shrugged as Stern grunted and walked away to the driver's seat.

  “Doc, I don’t know you yet, I can’t trust you, so no firearms, but these guys could use some help,” Kane said.

  “Steven has always been kind to me, and we talk sometimes on his breaks. I’d be happy to help. But I’m telling you, the loading dock door is weak; you should reinforce it if you aren’t going to use it," Doc nodded as he offered the suggestion.

  “Thanks, let me take you inside quickly,” Kane started, gesturing towards the door.

  “No thanks, where are you three heading?” Doc asked.

  “I need to get some stuff from my apartment,” Miles offered freely. Kane glared at him a little, although he was willing to give Doc a chance; he didn’t trust him.

  “I can help. If you run into packs of those feral humans, you could use all the help you can get,” Doc said, reaching for the door handle.

  “Well, okay, then,” Kane sighed hesitantly as Miles walked around to get on the other side of the truck.

  Once they were all loaded in, they headed, with Miles’ instructions, to the apartment. Thankfully, it wasn’t far, but they passed at least one group of men with rifles walking and another group that looked like it was trying to shoot a couple of derbits. The trip was relatively uneventful, but as they drew closer to the apartment, everyone could feel the tension radiating off of Miles.

  “Hey Miles, I forgot to ask, what class did you get from the system?” Kane broke the silence, trying to break the tension as well.

  “Rogue, if you can believe it, Anthony got barbarian. I still can’t believe that scrawny kid got barbarian. Steven is a paladin and Connie is a Druid,” Miles said, smiling a little as he talked about his friends.

  “Phillip is a rogue, too. Maybe you guys can compare skills when we all get back,” Kane said as Miles told them they had arrived and where to park.

  There wasn’t anyone currently in front of the apartment, but the front of the building had blood glistening on it, and there were some marks that Kane and Stern recognized as bullet holes in the stucco finish. Kane and Stern looked at each other after they had parked, did a quick nod, and then got their rifles ready.

  “Miles, you lead, we will guard, get ready on my mark,” Kane said over his shoulder.

  “I’m going to stay and be a lookout,” Doc declared.

  Kane and Stern looked at each other as Stern put the keys in his pocket. They didn’t trust Doc, but they did need someone to watch the truck. Kane was glad Stern had thought to take the keys out; they needed a way to get away if things went sour.

  “Ready? Mark,” Kane said, and the three of them exited the vehicle.

  They put Miles at the lead, and they headed to the building entrance. As they got closer, it was evident that the divots in the stucco were bullet holes and they had come from someone, or multiple someones, who were shooting towards the building, not away. Kane gave Stern a quick look, and from the look on Stern's face, he had come to the same conclusion. They heard something growling from the bushes at the corner of the building, but didn’t slow their pace long enough to investigate.

  Miles unlocked and opened the entry door, holding the door open for Kane, then Stern. Kane and Stern dropped their rifles slightly as Miles closed the door, but still had them posed so that they could quickly bring them up if needed. Kane looked around. The carpet was blood-soaked, and there was the smell of blood permeating the space. Kane was quickly brought back to clearing buildings in Iraq.

  “What the fuck happened here?” Stern muttered barely above a whisper.

  “Let’s not linger,” Kane quietly snapped as he came out of the olfactory memory.

  Miles just nodded with a terrified look on his face and headed up the stairs. Kane took the rear as they headed up the stairs. As he did a final look before following Miles and Stern, he saw what looked like a bloody arm just past the stairway. Kane frowned as he headed up the stairs. Something bad had clearly happened here. What Kane didn’t know was whether this was all from the night before that Miles had described or if this was more recent. From Kane’s experience, this looked like more blood than would come from one or two people.

  As Kane rounded the top of the stairs, he saw Miles talking with his neighbor, whose door was open just enough for the older gentleman to be halfway out.

  “Glad you took your wife and kid with you. It was a hell of a mess a couple of hours ago,” the old man was saying.

  “What happened?” Miles asked as Stern started scanning the area.

  “Those punks came back that tried to barricade your family out last night. They were pounding on the doors and windows downstairs. Those assholes made so much noise they alerted the National Guard. Idiots actually got into a shooting match with them! What the fuck kind of National Guard shoots at a building where families could be present?!” The old man was nearly screaming in rage at this point.

  “Not well-trained ones,” Stern muttered.

  “Damn right they weren’t, they weren’t even wearing the right uniforms. Damn camo had red and blue in it like some Hollywood shit,” The old man said as he calmed a little.

  “What? What do you mean?” Stern lowered his rifle slightly with concern etched into his voice.

  “Yeah, they were the typical green and grey camo kind of look, but there was red and blue mixed in. I had to look twice. I thought it was just blood at first, but then I saw the blue. It was weird, they wore black French hat-looking things, but the American flag wasn’t right. Didn’t get a close enough look, but I have been an American my entire life looking at that flag, and something was off." The old man had stepped out of his door by this point and was rubbing his chin with one hand while he held his shotgun with the other.

  Kane and Stern looked at each other. Something wasn’t right.

  “We are going to grab some stuff. I don’t know when we will be back. Can I give you our spare key? You are welcome to anything we leave as a thank you for last night,” Miles said, ignoring the guy's previous statement.

  “Yeah, appreciate it. Not sure how long I’ll stick around. Trying to get a hold of my kid up in the Loveland area. It can’t be as bad as this shit is getting. No one at my job is answering the company phone, so I doubt they will miss me if I leave." The old man nodded and sighed.

  “Probably not a bad idea,” Stern commented absently as he started his scans again.

  The old man just nodded and went back into his apartment and shut the door.

  “I’ll knock when we are done!” Miles called after him as the door shut.

  Miles looked at Kane, who motioned towards what he assumed was Miles’ door. Miles just nodded and unlocked the door, and held it open for the two men.

  The apartment was a one-room, one-bath apartment, but it had a large living room. There wasn’t much in the apartment, but the little that there was had been well cared for, even if most of the furniture had seen more years than the young family. Kane looked around quickly and then did a quick clear of the bedroom and bathroom before returning to the living room. Miles had already started gathering items from the kitchen and placing them on the small island.

  “Stern, keep guard. What can I help with?” Kane asked Miles, pushing his rifle onto his back.

  Miles thought for a moment and then started rattling off items for Kane to grab from the bathroom. Kane grabbed what he could find and put them on the island with the rest of the small pile. Miles had gone into the bedroom and had come back with a bag.

  “I’ll get the bedroom stuff if you want to load up the pile and anything else you find that we could use," Miles nearly whispered, clearly lost in the thought of what he needed to grab. Kane just nodded and started packing the bag.

  “That wasn't the US National Guard,” Stern suddenly proclaimed.

  “No shit, but who were they?” Kane grumbled as he started looking through the kitchen cabinets.

  “Alex talked about the Hunters and the Frowlers. Could they have been one of them?” Stern contemplated sifting through some toys and stuff on the living room coffee table.

  “Maybe. Do we want to find out right now?” Kane asked, finishing going through the last of the cabinets, throwing some items into the bag.

  “Not yet,” Stern decided after a moment and went into the bedroom with Miles.

  About 10-15 minutes later, Miles came out carrying a full oversized duffel bag, and Stern followed, carrying a folded up Pack N’ Play. Miles put the bag down by the door and went back to the bathroom. He came back out a few minutes later with his arms full of items. He put them in the bag on the kitchen counter, went one last time into the bedroom, but quickly came back out carrying nothing, and looked in the hall closet between the bedroom and the bathroom. There he froze.

  After what felt like a minute of Miles just standing there, Kane decided to ask, “Miles, you okay?”

  “Yeah,” Miles jumped a little like he had been lost in thought, “This is the apartment we brought Mani home from the hospital to. This was the first place Maria and I lived after we got married. We were on track to have enough for a house next year.”

  “Who knows what the future will hold, but it’s not safe here anymore. You will have a new extended family at Mountain Man,” Stern walked over and put his hand on the young man's shoulder in an unexpectedly warm and supportive gesture.

  “You are right. Let me grab a few toys for Mani, and then we are done,” Miles shook his head, clearly having been broken of whatever spell he had been in.

  The last couple of items were grabbed and stuffed into the remaining open bag quickly. Miles did a final sweep of the kitchen, going into the fridge and grabbing some medicine, and putting them in his jeans pocket. He walked towards the door but paused before picking up the duffel bag, taking one more look around. With a big inhale and exhale, Miles picked up the bag, nodded to Stern and Kane, and started reaching for the doorknob.

  “Hold up, let me check outside from the window quickly," Stern said, stopping Miles mid-reach.

  “Good thought,” Kane said, “Then you take point, Miles, if you will grab the pack n’ play, I’ll grab this last bag and take up the rear. Drop off the key with your neighbor, then we’ll move quickly to the truck. I don’t like how long we have already been here if someone was watching for us.”

  Miles nodded and retracted his hand. They waited till Stern had looked carefully out all the windows he could.

  “Clear for now, let's get that key dropped off quickly,” Stern said, grabbing the doorknob but waiting to turn it till Miles and Kane had their bags loaded onto their backs.

  Miles quickly knocked and gave the key to his neighbor while Stern took a look down the stairway. When Stern heard the neighbor’s door shut, he proceeded down the stairs with the other two following. As Kane hit the top of the stairs and looked back, he saw that one of the other neighbors had opened their door and was speaking so quietly that Kane couldn’t hear. It was a young lady who looked absolutely terrified. Kane hesitated for a moment but then remembered, “You can’t save everyone," and quickly moved down the stairs.

  They made it down the stairs and out of the building with no complications. They were quickly moving along the sidewalk with the door of the truck open, and Doc stepped out.

  “Hurry, a human-like thing just walked around the corner of the building,” Doc exclaimed in a very hushed voice, motioning with his hands for them to hurry up.

  Stern picked up his pace, and Doc opened the front passenger door. Stern moved quickly around the front of his truck while Miles quietly threw his items into the cab of the truck and ran around the back of the truck to the back driver's side door. Kane threw his bag in the backseat and hopped in right as he saw the tall, human-like thing walk around the corner.

  Whatever it was, it was at least 7 feet tall, and it had long, shoulder-length hair that almost looked green in the sunlight. Its eyes were oversized compared to a human’s, as well as its hands. The skin on the creature seemed a bit more pink than a human's, too, but that may have just been the green of the hair making it look more pink-toned. It opened its mouth almost like a smile, exposing not squared off teeth like a human's but sharp teeth with elongated incisors like fangs. It had on what looked like combat pants, but they ended just above the creature's ankles. Its shirt was a low-cut V-neck tan almost blouse with ? sleeves that looked too big for the creature.

  As Kane shut his door and Stern started the truck, the creature started lurching towards them. Kane realized that the system had put a message over his vision, but Kane had ignored it while trying to get into the truck.

  “SHIT!!!!” Kane screamed as the thing lurched fast enough to almost touch the truck as Stern stepped on the gas and they sped away.