Chad froze, looking toward the sudden sound. The deep bellow of the horn echoed across the landscape, but its source wasn't nearby. It seemed to be coming from much further away than he'd expected, to the southeast.

Is that coming from Dallas?

If it was, then the thing had to be way louder than he gave it credit for. That, or somehow magical. Either way, he had no idea what it meant. But it didn't sound good.

Turning his attention back to the fight, he noticed an immediate change in his opponents. The druids stiffened and looked around at each other with panic in their expressions. Panic and fear.

The sound faded in the distance and the attackers sprang into action. To Chad's surprise though, they didn't all come at him. Instead, a few of the higher-leveled druids broke off and began to retreat, fleeing toward the distant treeline. The rest of them turned toward Chad and his allies once more. Their staves stabbed forward, sending waves of ants, squirrels, and snakes forward with renewed urgency.

Chad backpedaled away from the encroaching wildlife, hurling rocks as he went. The grey stones sent small explosions of dirt and gore into the air where they struck, but didn't do enough against the sheer numbers. He swatted a few out of the air as they leapt toward his face, but couldn't do much against the rest on the ground. Not without getting on his knees.

No shot I'm doing that. I'd prefer to not have my face eaten by a snake, thanks.

Thinking fast, he grabbed one of the snakes out of midair by its head. Whipping it downard, he slammed its body against his pursuers, taking out a small handful before his improvised weapon turned into useless mush.

Glancing to the side, he spotted a fallen support beam from the porch nearby. He angled toward it, scooping it into his hand and sent it rolling across the ground as a Curveball-infused bulldozer.

The wood proved much more effective, flattening everything in its path with ease. With a thought, Chad angled the projectile at the druids next.

He felt another force tug at the beam in midair, wrestling against his own. The beam suddenly warped and morphed, its mass shifting to either side until its center was as thin as a toothpick. One of the druids brought their staff down on the thinned section, snapping it into two misshapen pieces. Chad felt the effects of Curveball dissipate.

Damn. Plan B. With the beam gone, he settled on using the last of his rocks to take out the druids. They screeched through the air, caving in heads and chests in their path.

After a few more moments of fighting, the gunshots finally slowed and came to a halt. Between his throwing and the shots from Annie and the soldiers, they managed to take down the last of the druids in short order. The crowds of attacking wildlife scattered into the treeline, chased by Jerry's music and the mob of cats that had been tearing into them the whole time.

Chad panted, watching them go. The rest of the humans did the same, eyes scanning their surroundings for other threats.

"Hostiles eliminated," Major Geoffries called. "Anyone see different?"

"No, sir."

"I don't think so." Annie slowly lowered her gun and looked over the group. "Everyone ok?"

The Major nodded. "Good question. What's our status?"

"Everyone made it out of the house." One of the other soldiers reported. "We've got some wounded, no casualties that I can see."

As they began taking stock of the situation, the group took in their surroundings. Dead moles, ants, and snakes littered the area, turning the back porch into a more macabre scene than the night before. To make matters worse, the earthquake had evidently unearthed their hurriedly dug grave for the cat's previous kills, as well.

Chad straightened, picking shards of rock off of himself. "Damn. That came outta nowhere."

"You're telling me!" Squawkers exclaimed. "Honestly, what were they doing? Why did they come to this house, of all places?"

"No idea." Annie shook her head and turned to Major Geoffries. "But do you believe us now? About his arm?"

The man stared at Chad for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Guess I'd better. No sense pretending I didn't see that. How in the world did you get that strong, kid? Is it some kinda skill?"

"Nope," Chad explained. "It's a trait."

"A trait?" The Major frowned.

"Yeah! It's pretty neat." He grinned. "And I'm only getting started!"

"I see..." The Major's expression turned thoughtful. "We'll have to discuss this further. Having seen its capabilities firsthand, I can only imagine what this would do if put to proper use."

"Proper use?" Squawkers cocked his head. "Proper according to who?"

"According to the ones trying to stop this invasion." Geoffries gave the bird a pointed look. "As I said before, we need all the help we can get. Especially on the front lines. But we can talk about that once I've taken care of my men.

As the man stepped away, he was replaced by another figure -- a much shorter and older one. The trembling figure of Gram Gram.

"Chadwick?"

Gram Gram's wavering voice sounded faint. She shook where she stood, her face a combination of fear and confusion as cats rubbed against her legs. "Chadwick, dearie, what in heaven's name is going on?"

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Oh boy. Chad grimaced. This won't be a fun conversation.

He'd tried so hard to keep her out of all this. All he'd wanted to do was to keep her safe and away from everything. But now, there was no way to hide it anymore. Not after all of this.

"There's a lot going on, Gram Gram." He sighed in resignation. "I'll explain in a second. For now, can you go with Annie? She's gonna make sure you're not hurt."

"A-alright..."

He and Annie shared a nod. The Massage Therapist led the old woman to a place on the grass and away from the house. At they stepped away, Chad looked at it again with a heavy heart.

Gram Gram's house sat in a partially-collapsed heap of wood, its roof sunk in. Most of its windows were cracked and broken from bullets or the earthquake, while the walls weren't much better. Even now it groaned unsettlingly, additional sections of the walls and ceiling threatening to collapse at any minute.

Squawkers flapped, landing on Chad's shoulder. "Hey, Chad?"

"Yeah buddy?" His voice sounded hollow even to himself.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For... for telling you to start another earthquake." Squawkers shifted uncomfortably. "This is my fault."

He frowned. "How is it your fault? I'm the one who did it."

"Yeah, but it was my plan." Squawkers retorted. "I couldn't think of any other way to stop those things, and... well, I didn't really think it would be this bad, either. But maybe if we'd stopped those staff-waving weirdos first--"

"Don’t be an idiot Squawk." Chad reassured the parrot with a gentle pat. "It worked, didn't it?"

"Yeah, but there might've been better options!" Squawkers lamented. "I'm supposed to figure out the best solution, not the easy one!"

Chad allowed himself a small chuckle. "Well, at least it was a solution. Like I said, it worked. And besides…" He took a deep breath, sighing with resignation. "This was a pretty old house. I dunno if it would've held up even without the earthquake."

Squawkers fell silent. He seemed conflicted, like he wasn't entirely convinced on the point. Maybe he could use a distraction.

Chad sighed and gave him a nudge. "Well, maybe you can help us figure out what to do now."

"What do you mean?"

"Where to stay, of course!" He gestured toward the wreckage. "We can't sleep here anymore."

"Oh! Right." The bird perked up slightly. "Can't we stay with a neighbor or something? Or you can ask the Major guy about getting a place."

"You think I can do that?" Chad pondered.

"Uh, of course." Squawkers chuckled. "He seems real keen on getting your help. Heck, you can probably get a bunch of stuff outta him!"

"Hmm..." Chad stepped away from the house to talk, cleaning up the yard as he went. "I don't mind helping out with whatever they need, really. But I don't want to leave the town undefended, either."

"We can figure something out." Squawkers nodded. "We can negotiate a deal!"

"What are you, a lawyer?" Chad raised an eyebrow at the bird. "Next thing I know you'll want to write up contracts and do my taxes."

"Do you think I could?" Squawkers's eyes widened.

"Uh... Sure" Chad bent down again. "Whatever floats your boat, buddy. Dunno if anyone's gonna care about taxes this year, but…"

A sudden searing pain tore through Chad's legs just below the knees. They went completely limp. With a guttural scream, he stumbled forward and pitched onto his face.

"Chad!" Annie called from afar. He heard footsteps running toward him.

Looking up, Chad came face-to-face with a shadowy humanoid figure. It wore a hooded cloak that seemed to blend into the surroundings, its edges flickering and difficult to focus on. It held two blades, one slick with blood and the other pointed at his chest.

Shadowvein Assasin (Lvl 9)

The assassin raised its blade and spoke, its voice raspy. "May your deaths ensure our survival."

As the gleaming metal plunged toward his chest, Chad grabbed it and stopped the blow dead. The assassin's glowing eyes widened as it brought its other blade around. But before it could strike, Chad snapped the metal in half and hurled the fragment upward, decapitating the guy.

"Squawk!" Chad called. "Careful, there's assassins!"

"Where the hell did he come from?!" Squawkers exclaimed from high in the air. "I didn't even see him!"

Chad tried to stand, but found he couldn't move his legs. Red blood poured out of the deep slashes in his calves. The wounds burned like fire.

"Annie! To your left!"

He looked up at Squawkers's warning. Without hesitation, Annie whipped around and fired a series of rounds into the seemingly empty air. Hisses of pain sounded as two figures snapped into view, black smoke seeping from their wounds.

Annie backed up to get some distance, but her heel caught on the uneven ground. Her arms pinwheeled as she fell onto her back, losing her pistol in the process.

"Annie!"

Time seemed to slow down. The wounded assassins rushed forward, blades raised to stab down at Annie. The Major's group pulled out knives, busy fending off additional ambushers that appeared near them. Chad felt blood pumping through is immobile legs.

His skills were spent. He could use Duelist, but it wouldn't keep both of the assassins off of her. And he was out of rocks to throw.

Annie was in trouble. And there was nothing he could do about it.

No. Chad sank his fingers into the earth, digging deep. I can make it. Even if I have to crawl.

Then, with everything he had, he pulled himself forward.

In hindsight, he probably should have used a bit less power. He'd seen time and time again the dangers of underestimating his arm, after all. But the situation called for speed, and speed was what he got.

Dirt erupted from behind as Chad shot forward like a rocket. His head whipped back, the sheer air pressure pulling the skin of his face taut. On reflex, he activated Iron Skin as he flew face-first into the pair of assassins attacking Annie.

He slammed into them like a battering ram. The two cloaked figures offered just as much resistance as the shadows they resembled. Chad's speeding form ripped through their torsos, sending them up in puffs of wispy smoke. But he didn't stop there.

Chad just managed to bring his arm up protectively as he sailed even further, his shoulder clipping another assassin attacking the soldiers. He crashed through the partially-collapsed wall of Gram Gram's house. Then the next. The skill protected his head from the worst of the damage, but it still felt like he'd banged his head on a low doorway.

As Chad continued through Gram Gram's destroyed house in the quickest tour of his life, he realized that he might have made a mistake. That realization only strengthened as his body continued hurtling across the grassy fields, leaving his allies further and further behind. He felt his consciousness slipping away as he flew, whether from the force of the flight or the blood loss he wasn't sure.

Well... at least I saved Annie. Chad thought as blackness tinged his vision. Hopefully there's not any more of those guys that I missed. If there are... I still did what I could.

As his battered body slid and tumbled across the ground, digging a deep furrow in the dirt, Chad heard shouts in the distance. He wondered just how far he'd gone.