As Chad took in the scene around him, breathing heavily, he heard wingbeats sound next to his ear. With a buffeting of feathers and wind, Squawkers landed on his shoulder.

"Geez..." The bird panted alongside him. "Tell you what, let's not do that again."

"Welcome back, buddy." Chad gave him a tired grin and a chin scratch. "You survive ok?"

"Somehow..." He shivered slightly. "Lemme tell you, those skills really saved my ass. I nearly got an arrow straight through my wing at least a dozen times. If you ever get Blink, you should take it."

"I'll keep that in mind." Scanning the battlefield once more, Chad's brow furrowed. "You seen Annie?"

"Not for a little bit... I lost her when--"

"ANNIE!!" Chad's shout echoed across the field, cutting through the occasional moans, swears, and coughs. "YOU OK?!"

"I'm here!"

Chad looked around until he spotted Annie crawling out from beneath a battered police cruiser. Her entire front and face were coated with dirt and grass stains.

"Ugh," she brushed herself off, climbing to her feet. "Shit."

"You hurt?" Chad looked her over. The shoulder of her shirt was torn to pieces, and the front of her tactical vest showed burn marks from something, but otherwise she seemed fine. He couldn't see any blood, at least.

"I'm fine." She jerked her head toward the cruiser. "I dove under there when the melee started. That Tranquilizing Shot thing's no joke. Just one shot to the ankles and the damn things were falling all over themselves. Didn't even have to worry about hurting our own folks."

He gave a sigh of relief. "Good. I was worried there for a second."

She punched his shoulder. "You think I'm gonna go down that easy? Gee, thanks."

"Ow. That's my bad arm."

"Right, whoops." At that, her gaze finally took in the extent of the arm wrestler's injuries. "Chad?! Damn, are you ok? You're bleedin' all over!"

"Yeah..." He hissed as Annie poked at his chest wound. "I'm alright."

"Bullshit. Here," she ripped a strip off of her shirt hem. "Keep pressure on it. I'll find the first aid stuff. Squawkers, make sure he goes and sits somewhere!"

"Got it!"

"I'm really fine!" Chad protested. "I--"

"Nope, shut up and sit down." Annie called over her shoulder. "Otherwise, I've got bullets that'll make you."

"Sheesh..." Chad begrudgingly obliged, sitting back against the wheel of a truck.

"Has she always been this scary?" Squawkers asked.

"...Pretty much, yeah." He chuckled, wincing as his rib twinged. "She gets the job done, though."

"Fair..." The parrot nodded. "She does have a point, too. You look like shit."

A grunt escaped Chad. "I get the feeling that isn't gonna change anytime soon..."

As he sat, he watched the Sheriff coordinate things nearby. The man shouted orders, directing those intact enough to carry the wounded and passing out first aid kits wherever he went. It looked like most of their people had made it through, but not all of them. Chad saw more familiar forms lying still on the ground than he would've liked. The rest were bleeding, battered, and bruised, but alive.

As Annie patched up Chad, Sheriff Clay approached. The man clutched at a wound in his own side, its fresh bandages already beginning to show signs of blood seeping through. "Well, that was certainly something, wasn't it? Glad to see you're still in one piece."

Chad shot him a thumbs up. "'Course! I'm pretty stubborn when I want to be."

The sheriff shook his head in wonder. "Thanks, kid. You did a lot back there. If not for you, we would've been in real trouble."

"Yeah, well..." he spared a look around. "Kinda seems like I should've done more. There's a lot of people hurt here."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Sheriff Clay scoffed. "You're not wrong, but I'd be surprised if you could've. It didn't exactly seem like you were holding back."

After a moment of silence, Squawkers spoke up. "So... are we good? What now?"

"Good question." The sheriff crossed his arms. "I've already called a few ambulances over for the wounded, and we got medics taking care of what they can. Other than that, though..."

"We should check out the boat," Chad suggested.

Annie, Squawkers, and Sheriff Clay all turned toward him, their expressions incredulous. "What?" He glanced between the three, nodding toward the column of black smoke rising in the distance. "What did I say? It's not too far, is it?"

"Chad..." Annie pinched the bridge of her nose. "Do you see what kinda state you're in right now?"

"You guys worry too much." Chad heaved himself to his feet with only the slightest wince. "I'm fine! See?"

Annie eyed the bandages across his chest. "No, you're not. Not by a longshot. You should be goin' to the hospital with the others."

"...He does have a point, though." Now it was the sheriff's turn to be stared at. "We all saw that there were more heading toward the ground. As much as I'd like to believe they all splatted there in a big heap... well, I'll believe it when I see it. That means there's more where that came from."

"Are you serious?" Annie asked. "He's already banged up as is! He shouldn't be going out there!"

"Not alone, at least," the sheriff clarified. "We should send whoever we've got. There's a good number of people who aren't too hurt. But if we're gonna do it, we gotta act now. Otherwise, the battle is gonna come to us."

Squawkers piped up. "Yeah. Even if they run away, that's even worse. Who knows where they'll go then?

"Exactly," the sheriff agreed. "I don't particularly care to find one of those things creeping around my house."

Chad nodded along as they spoke. But he wisely kept silent.

They are good points. I'd rather deal with these things now than worry about them getting to Gram Gram. Though I honestly just wanted to see the dang ship. It's a literal UFO, how could anyone pass that kinda chance up?

Annie let out a defeated sigh. "Well, if you're goin' then I'll go too. Someone's gotta watch your back."

"Same!" Squawkers cawed.

"Alright." The sheriff gave one final nod. "I'll round up a party to go with you. Let me know when you're ready to go."

As he left, Chad noticed the level floating above his head. Instead of level five like he remembered, it now read Sheriff (Lvl 10)

What?! He shot up that quick? Looking around at his companions, he noticed that they had also leapt up in levels. Annie was suddenly level 9, while Squawkers had evidently passed his threshold and rocketed up to level 13. In fact, most of the people around had managed to reach level 7, 8, or 9.

Wow. That was pretty quick..

The sight made him wonder what level he was now, reminding him that there were notifications to be read. As Annie finished fussing over his wounds, Chad took a moment to look them over.

Lines of kill notifications scrolled past, each with some strange and difficult-to-pronounce name followed by a more recognizable description like Ghrasten Pugilist or Dova Kinsman. All were level nine, and all seemed to be some sort of fighters. Which made sense, given that they had come on board a warship.

What interested him more were the rewards. In addition to reaching level 13 and earning a D rank in throwing, he'd also managed to earn enough experience to reach level 15. He'd honestly expected a little more given how many enemies there had been, especially with how much experience they each gave. But apparently, it took a lot more to level as he got stronger.

But that was ok. He still had six stat points to assign, not to mention another skill to choose.

Let's see... he spared a side glance at Annie. I made it through that fight just fine. Which means I've definitely been keeping my end of the bargain. So no one will complain if I splurge a bit.

Navigating to his stat allocation screen, Chad put two more points each in his hand, forearm, and upper arm. He knew just enough anatomy to realize that most of his grip strength lay in his forearm instead of his hand, hence why he hadn't put any points into that particular section yet, but still. There was no harm in trying it out.

Stats

STR - 42*

All: 17 (17)

Right arm: 10 (17 + 60 = 77)

Right hand: 3 (17 + 60 + 66 = 143)

Right forearm: 8 (17 + 60 + 176 = 253)

Right upper arm: 7 (17 + 60 + 154 = 231)

DEX - 12*

All: 9 (9)

Right arm: 1 (9 + 6 = 15)

Right hand: 1 (9 + 6 + 22 = 37)

Right shoulder: 1 (9 + 6 + 22 = 37)

CON - 27*

All: 12 (12)

Right arm: 5 (12 + 30 = 42)

Right hand: 1 (12 + 30 + 22 = 64)

Right forearm: 2 (12 + 30 + 44 = 86)

Right upper arm: 3 (12 + 30 + 66 = 108)

Right shoulder: 4 (12 + 30 + 88 = 130)

As usual, he felt the targeted muscles swell in size and strength. Chad gritted his teeth as the newly empowered muscles began to pull at his shoulder and each other once again, straining with the effort.

"Chad, what--?!" Annie stepped back as the transformation took place.

"Don't worry! Just putting in stat points." He reassured her as he flexed his hand. It, too, had grown in size to the point where he could easily palm a basketball. Probably even a watermelon.

"Don't tell me you put them all in strength again." Her eyes narrowed.

"I, uh..." He shifted. "Hey, my arm didn't bother me at all that whole time! That means I can definitely put more in."

She gestured toward his chest. "Couldn't you have just saved one constitution for fixing yourself up or somethin'? I mean, look at yourself!"

He hadn't actually thought of that. Whoops. Guess that is something I can do, huh? But what am I gonna do, have weirdly strong pecs? No thanks. Those points are way better spent on the ol' tournament winner.

With that taken care of, he checked over the next item on the list: his new skills.