Chad eyed the man curiously. Now that he was standing, it was obvious that Major Geoffries was a little bit shorter than Chad himself. However, his presence more than made up for it. Checking above his head allowed him to read the tag that hung there.

Army Major (Lvl 9)

Chad stuck out his arm to shake. "Nice to meet you, Major. You can call me Chad."

The Major's eyes moved to the outstretched arm. If he thought anything strange about Chad's oddly-shaped limb, then he hid it well. The man's face remained as unreadable as a stone.

Geoffires nodded, but didn't shake the offered hand. "Right. Well then. Have a seat."

Chad settled into the overstuffed armchair closest to him. Glancing around the room, he noticed that a handful of soldiers stood guard along the walls, most of them behind Major Geoffries. They didn't seem particularly aggressive, but they were certainly alert.

"Oh! How rude of me." Gram Gram slowly stood. "You boys are probably hungry. You too, Chad. Let me fix you something."

"Thanks, Gram Gram." Chad smiled. "Oh, Jess gave us some eggs. Jerry put 'em in the fridge I think."

"Wonderful. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

The old woman shuffled out of the room, leaving Chad, Annie, and Major Geoffries alone. Still, Chad frowned. "Where's Squawk? Should he be here for this?"

"I'm up here."

The soldiers started in alarm at the sudden voice in their heads. Glancing up, Chad saw the grey parrot hiding in the rafters and away from feline eyes.

"Hey, Squawk!" He waved. "You wanna come down?"

"No way in hell. One of those demon cats tried to sneak up on me earlier. I'll stay up here, thanks."

Chad chuckled. "Suit yourself. You can just talk too, you know."

"I don't wanna shout. This is way cooler, too."

Cooler? Damn. Chad couldn't help but grin. Maybe I'm rubbing off on him.

Geoffries began to speak, resting his elbows on his knees. "Well. You're probably wondering why I'm here."

Uh, yeah. Obviously. As tempting as it was to say that, Chad held his tongue. The question had seemed rhetorical.

"Yesterday, we received word that one of the ships flying away from Dallas had been downed by a third party." The Major met his gaze evenly. "I'm here to find out what happened."

"Oh, that's easy." Chad shrugged. "We took it out. Some of the townsfolk and I shot it down. Didn't want that thing getting too close."

"So I've been told." The Major shook his head. "The rest of the folks I've spoken to have said as much. What they haven't said though is how."

"How?"

"Yep. Those things aren't so easy to take out, you know." Geoffries eyed him. "It takes more than a few bullets and prayers to bring one down. And from what I saw, you weren't using bullets. There was some real ordinance in play."

"Why are you asking us?" Annie cut in. "The sheriff was there. You can ask him."

"Because you people were the ones to bring the big guns. At the very least, you were key players in the whole operation." The Major held Annie's gaze. "So I want to hear specifics."

Chad saw Annie stiffen slightly. He could understand why.

Telling this guy what happened is one thing, Chad thought. I don't mind that. But how am I gonna explain the damn missiles?

He already knew from people's reactions that those things weren't easy to get. Apocalypse or not, there was every chance that he'd be in trouble for just having them. Plus...

...I REALLY don't want to tell them about Paw Paw's shed.

That place was an absolute goldemine of arms and armaments. If he told the government about it, the best case scenario was them taking the stuff away -- an outcome that Chad deemed unacceptable. They needed those supplies to defend the town. Plus, they still hadn't gotten a chance to take the tank for a spin.

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Maybe I'm being selfish. But the military's gotta have plenty of its own toys. They'd better leave ours alone! Especially with all the stuff running around out there...

Major Geoffries tapped his arm impatiently. "Well?"

After weighing the options in his mind, Chad decided to tell a partial truth. One that would hopefully take some of the heat off. He didn't like taking credit that wasn't his, but if it would keep the shed secret...

"I threw stuff at it."

The room went quiet. Geoffries stopped his tapping and simply stared. "What?"

"I threw stuff at it till it came down." Chad shrugged. "Y'know, explosives and stuff like that."

It wasn't exactly what happened, but it wasn't far from the truth either. Besides, there was good reason to think that he could have taken the ship down himself with a few well-aimed bombs. If they'd had any on hand, of course.

The man's face remained impassive as he seemed to digest Chad's words. "...That's your story, then?"

"Yup." Chad nodded.

"...Kid, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." The Major's eyes narrowed. "If you're gonna lie, at least make it a good one. Who are you even trying to fool?"

"We've got some guys with demolition skills," Annie interrupted. "And it's not that hard to make some kinda makeshift explosive."

"That's not-- I'm not questioning whether you people have goddamn explosives." The Major pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's not the idiotic part. How in God's name do you think throwing them at a flying ship is a reasonable explanation for any of this?"

"My arm's really strong." Chad flexed to demonstrate. Veins and muscles bulged oddly from his arm as he did, the limb swelling to its full comedic size.

The Major just sighed, adjusting in his seat. "Look. I'll be straight with you. We saw the clearing where that ship went down. We saw the explosions, the crater, the aftermath -- everything. We even know that whatever you have, it's so powerful that it caused a damn earthquake.

"So. I know that you're hiding some kinda weapon. That was never a question." Geoffries fixed Chad with a glare. "What I need to know is whether you're putting it to its best use in fighting this damn invasion. Because right now, we need all the help we can get."

Chad met Annie's sidelong glance. He wasn't entirely sure whether to trust this guy, but there was no harm in telling him some of the truth. "Well, if you're asking about the crater, that was definitely me."

"Kid--"

"I'm serious!" Chad raised his hands helplessly. "Look, I can do it again if you don't believe me. Maybe not here, though. I don't wanna destroy the house. Did you really pick it up as an earthquake, though?"

"...We did pick up an earthquake, yes." The Major seemed to be controlling his breathing rather intentionally. "And your explanation for how it happened is...?"

"I punched the ground. Hard." Chad grinned. "It was pretty damn cool."

The Major stood abruptly. "Welp. If you're not willing to talk to us, then I'll take my leave. I had hoped we would come to a better understanding and cooperate..."

Annie stood as well. "He's not lyin'. I swear, I know it sounds like he's fuckin' with you, but he's not."

"Oh!" Chad got an idea. "Here, maybe I can show you..."

He looked for something to demonstrate with. Not wanting to destroy any of Gram Gram's stuff, he eventually settled on pulling a rock out of the bag at his side. Showing it to the Major, he closed his fist around it. A series of loud cracking sounds echoed through the room before Chad opened his hand back up. A pile of fine dust lay where the stone had once been. "See?"

"What kind of..?" The Major narrowed his eyes at the dust. "Are you doing magic tricks now?"

"No!" Chad handed him another rock from the pouch to check, then crushed that one as well. "I'm just trying to show you I'm not lying about my arm."

"There's no possible way you can cause an earthquake by punching the ground." Geoffries growled. "Nukes can barely do that, and your arm is no nuke, kid."

"Well, fine." Chad crossed his arms -- or, attempted to. "I'll show you. Let's go further from the house and--"

Suddenly, the cats scattered around the room tensed. They rose to their feet almost as one, hissing and glaring at the ground. The soldiers reached for their guns at the sudden movement.

The Major's head whipped around, pulling a pistol free as Annie did the same. Chad's brow furrowed in confusion.

What the--

A faint rumbling filtered up from below, followed by a kind of scratching. Chad looked down at his feet just in time to see the floorboards begin to bulge upward.

Uh-oh.

He leaped back just as claws burst through the wood below, sending splinters up in a spray. A second claw emerged from the new hole in the floor, ivory-colored claws bracing against the ground to heave a hairless mole-like creature out.

Enmolen Tunneler (Lvl 7)

A series of gunshots rang out. The mole creature squealed in pain as spurts of pinkish blood fountained from multiple new holes in its body.

Major Geoffries pulled a walkie-talkie from his belt. "Hostile invaders in the house. We're under attack. Peters, report!"

"Sir, we've got hostiles appearing all around the house! They're under-- gah!"

The voice on the other side cut off. As Geoffries swore, Chad felt another round of rumbling start. A louder one, this time.

Shit.

"Squawk, with me!" Chad shouted. "We gotta get Gram Gram outta here! Annie--"

"I'll grab Jerry!" Annie yelled. "Watch out!"

More holes burst open below them. Geoffries and his soldiers peppered the mole creatures that emerged with bullets, gunning them down as they attempted to climb out. Stray bullets tore into the floorboards and furniture, filling the house with a deafening cacophony. Chad ignored it all as he sprinted toward the kitchen to grab his grandma.

"Oh, heavens!" The old woman's eyes were wide with surprise. "Chadwick, what on earth--"

His eyes widened in horror as the floorboards began to rumble behind her. "Gram Gram! Move!"

He dove forward as another set of claws sprouted from the earth behind his grandmother.