Major Geoffries stood in the center of the destroyed forest, eyeing the crashed longship before him. His squad swarmed about the area, combing over the fallen trees and shattered wood for clues.

They'd been pulled from their other tasks deal with this mission, and none of them were happy about it -- Geoffries least of all. But evidently, someone had decided that this particular order was important enough to divert resources to, even with the chaos unfolding across the country. And Geoffires was one of those resources.

To some extent though, he understood. There was no sense in taking men off the front lines for a diplomatic and scouting mission. That was something he was much more equipped for. Even if things did end up going south.

One of his men came jogging up, halting before Major Geoffries with a stiff salute. "Sir!"

"Report, Sergeant."

"Sir, we've finished exploring the ship." The young man lowered his salute, but didn't relax one bit. "There's evidence that it was taken down by missiles. Strong ones."

The Major frowned. Well, that at least made sense. It was one of their most effective tools as well. One of them. But unless someone around here happened to have an AA gun or squad of fighter jets that had somehow escaped notice, he didn't know what else they might've used. In a list of completely outrageous things to look for, an illicit missile stash seemed the least absurd of them all.

"There's also evidence of a firefight," the sergeant continued. "Lots of people, lots of bullets, lots of blood. They were well-armed. Dunno where the bodies are, though."

"And the earthquake?" The Major pulled a box of cigarettes from his pocket, shaking one out. "Unless they set off a nuke out here, I don't believe some missile did that one."

"No idea, sir." The sergeant shook his head. "We found the impact point though. It... doesn't seem like an explosive."

At Geoffries's nod, the sergeant scurried off and led him toward the area in question -- a crater.

It wasn't a large crater. Only a couple of feet in diameter, at most. All of the dirt inside had been pulverized and blown away, leaving an empty bowl. But the effects of whatever had caused the crater spread much wider.

Cracks radiated out in every direction along the ground, its surface made uneven and rough from the force of the force of the impact. Fresh earth and chunks of dirt scattered across the surface where they'd exploded upward. All around were fallen trees, many split in half by what must have been a massive saw or uprooted entirely. They lay around the area like the discarded toys of some careless god.

The Major took a long draw on his cigarette. The kid was right. This wasn't the work of any explosive. This was something else entirely. Some kind of monster, if he had to guess, or some other crazy new thing from the past few days. But he couldn't be sure.

"Alright!" Geoffries's bark sent heads snapping up all around. "Load up! We got some questions to ask the locals."

"Yessir!"

The group rushed to finish up, bustling back toward the road and into their vehicles. Geoffries also made his way over, finishing his smoke and grinding it into the dirt.

Their inspection had given them more questions than answers. But one thing was certain: command was right. There was something here. Something big.

He glanced back toward the road. The town wasn't far away from here. Whatever had gone down here, someone had to have either been involved, seen it, or at least know about it. And he was going to find out who.

Hopping into the boxy vehicle, their group took off down the road with a roar of engines. A moment later, they passed a green sign emblazoned with bright white letters.

Welcome to Gainesville, Texas.

***

Chad walked over to the still-playing Jerry and cleared his throat. "Jer-bear?"

No answer. He tried again, a little louder. "Jer-bear!"

Still no answer.

"Hey, Jerry--"

As soon as Chad tapped the violinist on the shoulder, his eyes flew open in shock. The music abruptly stopped.

"W-what? I..."

"Hey Jer-bear!" Chad reached forward to steady the younger man as he stumbled slightly. "You ok there?"

"Yes. I... think so." Jerry held a hand to his head. "Apologies. I... I seem to have gotten lost in the music. How long was I playing for?"

"About..." Chad thought as the silvery sheen receded from his arms. "Oh! Iron Skin's gone. So a couple minutes, at least? I took care of the coyotes, though."

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"I can see that." Jerry's face paled as he finally registered the scene. "Did I... help?"

"You tell me," Chad shrugged. "You get experience for it?"

Jerry's eyes unfocused for a second as he checked his stats. "I... I did! I'm level five now."

"Awesome!" Chad almost gave him a slap on the back, then thought better of it. "More stats, right?"

"Right." Jerry smiled. "My playing... it's already so much better. It feels easier. More natural. Like I can truly feel the music."

"Well, maybe try to feel it a little less hard next time." Chad chuckled. "One of those things almost tore your head off."

"W-what?!" Jerry straightened in alarm. "When?!"

"When you were playing, of course! Don't worry, we took care of it."

Jerry shuddered. "I suppose I should thank you for saving me, then. Again."

"No problem!" Chad shot him a thumbs up. "Just try to pay more attention next time, yeah?"

"Yeah... I'll try." The Musician nodded resolutely. "I will practice playing while staying aware. As nice as this felt, I imagine it may not be advisable for a combat situation."

"I mean, I don't blame you." Chad shrugged. "It was pretty damn good."

That made Jerry smile. "It was, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. Though the coyotes didn't seem to appreciate it. You really messed 'em up bad." Chad chuckled. "Now c'mon, let's get outta here."

After collecting their things, the pair set off toward Tom's house.

***

As it turned out, Tom's wife was home. In fact, they met her halfway down the hill. She had been on her way to take care of the problem herself, rifle in hand, after the border collie alerted her to the danger. Fortunately, Chad and Jerry had saved her the trouble.

She quickly checked over the dog and patched him up. The collie -- named Ollie, apparently -- hadn't suffered any major wounds, thankfully. He'd also managed to reach level five from the incident, just as Jerry had. Of course, the dog also received copious amounts of pets and treats for his bravery.

After Tom's wife expressed her thanks and promised to have Tom visit as soon as he could, Chad and Jerry loaded back up onto Ol' Bessie and went about their way. They had a few more errands to take care of in town before heading home. Luckily, they were relatively boring by comparison. Like finally getting Chad a replacement phone.

How stores were still finding people to work during times like these was beyond Chad. But he preferred to think that they'd done such a good job defending the town that people could pretend everything was normal. That, or his town was full of Donna's with their heads intentionally stuck in the sand.

"Thank you again, Chadwick." Jerry said as they left the store. "For helping me to level."

"Like I said, no problem!" He hefted the box in his hands. "I had fun! And I got a lot outta it too, y'know? Not levels exactly, but still."

"I suppose. Though I don't know how you can find life or death situations 'fun,' exactly." Jerry shuddered.

"Eh, that wasn't anything bad." Chad brushed it off. "Those things were wimpy. Nothing was gonna happen."

"If you say so... Regardless, you do throw yourself into dangerous situations fairly often."

"I do what I gotta do." Chad fished his keys out of his pocket. "I gotta keep everyone safe, right? And there is kinda a competitive part, too. I like seeing how far I can take my arm, I guess. Kinda like you and your violin."

Jerry fell silent at that, staring at the oversized appendage. He seemed to be contemplating something as he bit his lip.

Chad hopped on the bike. "Anything else you need around town? Wanna stop and see if there's anywhere to grab food? Dunno if things are even open, but..."

"I'm alright. Though actually--"

Chad heard a buzz. Jerry glanced down at his pocket, retrieving his phone with a frown. "It's Annie. She says... there's someone here to see you?"

"Really? Who?"

"The military, apparently."

Jerry looked up in bewilderment, meeting Chad's own surprised expression. "What? Why?"

"She doesn't know. They just want to talk to you."

"Me? Specifically?"

Jerry's thumbs swiped over the keyboard quickly. After a moment, it buzzed again. "Yes, you. By name. They won't say anything until you're there."

"Huh." Chad scratched his chin. "Guess we really should head back then. At least we got all the important stuff done."

"Agreed." Jerry nodded. "I'm curious why they'd send someone all the way out here. Surely they have more important things to do..."

They hopped back on the bike and sped home. As they rumbled up the dirt path to Gram Gram's house, Chad craned his neck in curiosity. A boxy tan vehicle occupied the usually empty driveway, hogging his usual space.

"Well, that definitely looks military," Jerry mused. "I wonder what they're here for..."

"Guess we're about to find out, huh?"

Chad rolled up to the side of the house, parking his bike where it would be out of the way. As they stepped toward the front porch, Chad felt a bit of trepidation settle into his gut.

Why me specifically? If they're here to defend the town or something, they'd probably go to the sheriff. But maybe they found out about Paw Paw's weapon's stash or something?

Chad could only shrug. No point in wondering about it. He'd find out in just a moment.

Swinging the door open, Chad called into the room. "Gram Gram! I'm home!"

"Oh wonderful!" The old woman called over from the living room. "You have a visitor, Chadwick!"

"We're over here!" Annie confirmed.

The pair stepped inside and headed toward the living room. The army of murder cats had once again deigned to grace the house with their presence, though they'd thankfully cleaned themselves off and avoided tracking blood in. It did mean that Chad once again had to mind his steps, though.

As they navigated through the purring masses, they saw Gram Gram and Annie sitting on one of the worn couches. Across from them sat a broad, imposing figure dressed in an army combat uniform. He was clean-shaven, the dome of his completely bald head reflecting the ceiling lights. He sat leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, a steaming cup of tea untouched before him.

"Chadwick Armstrong?" The man stood as Chad entered the room. His icy blue eyes cut through Chad like a knife. "I'm Major Lloyd Geoffries. Let's talk."