"I thought you said you didn't have any family in the city?"

Annie bit her lip, nodding. "I don't. I shouldn't. But apparently, my little brother decided to pay a visit for my birthday. He was going to surprise me tomorrow."

"Oh, happy birthday."

"Chad, focus. My brother's still in Dallas."

Chad suppressed a swear and ushered Annie away from Gram Gram. He spoke in a low voice so as not to worry the elderly woman. "Have you talked to him?"

"Yeah. He's holed up with a bunch of other survivors in a hotel by the airport. They're ok for now, but…" She fidgeted. "The things won't stop coming. And they're getting stronger. Chad, I have to go find him."

Chad met the masseuse's gaze. Fear and concern filled those dark eyes, but something else too. Something he knew all too well. Determination.

He glanced back at his grandma. She's my first priority. I have to keep her safe. But…

"Nope. Annie, you're staying here."

"Chad, he's my brother. He's only eighteen–"

"I know. But someone's gotta stay and protect Gram Gram. And I don't trust these cats to do it themselves."

She blinked. "You mean…"

He was already moving toward one of the bedrooms. "Yup. I'll bring him back."

***

While time was of the essence, there was no way Chad was leaving without some preparations. At the top of the list was making sure both he and Annie were armed to the teeth.

He pulled out a dusty lockbox from underneath the guest room bed. Blowing on it, he found the keyhole and inserted the brass key she'd given him.

Annie whistled with appreciation from over his shoulder. "Damn. Your grandma is packing."

"Nah, this is my paw paw's stuff." Chad picked up an assault rifle and checked it over. "He was ex-military. Used to take me shooting all the time."

"Sounds like a pretty cool guy."

Chad smiled fondly. "Yeah. He was."

A few more lockboxes appeared from underneath the bed, revealing a wide array of sidearms, rifles, and shotguns. He passed them each to Annie. "Keep them nearby, just don't let the cats mess with 'em or something."

"What about you?"

"I'll take a couple." Chad held up a Glock and an M4 decked out with some possibly illegal modifications. Slinging the rifle across his back, he resumed digging. "Gonna be hard for me to shoot on the move, but they should still help. I'll bring extra for your brother, too."

She shook her head. "You can, but… he's not exactly a gun guy. He's always been a pretty awful shot anyway. My dad tried his best."

Chad paused, staring at Annie. He set the extra rifle in his hand aside and grabbed a shotgun instead. "Guess one of you had to be lame. Keep an eye out for anything coming out this far. If stuff starts appearing, you call me right away. Got it?"

Annie nodded. "Got it. Does your grandma have a first aid kit? I want to look at your arm again, and it's probably not a bad idea to take one with you."

He glanced down at the arm in question. His jacket and bandage hid the worst of the damage, but he knew what was underneath. The jagged perforations running up and down its surface resembled a shark bite that someone had rubbed poison ivy on. His only saving grace was that the wound didn't feel quite as bad as it looked. That wasn't to say it felt good, of course. The wound stung whenever he moved and the flesh itched uncomfortably, to the point where it took some effort to keep himself from scratching at his bicep. At least the bleeding had slowed.

He poked at the wound and hissed. "Yeah, check under the bathroom sink. Little white box."

Annie ran off to find it as he moved to the dining room table with his haul. A quick glance around revealed that Gram Gram had indeed decided to start tea. The elderly woman shuffled her walker about the kitchen as an audience of cats watched.

Chad settled down into a chair with a heavy sigh. A few cats jumped onto the table and rubbed against his legs, but he ignored their plaintive meows. Instead, he took advantage of the brief moment of respite to peek at his status screen again.

Name: Chadwick Armstrong

Class: Arm Wrestler (Lvl 2)

Race: Human

Stats

STR: 18*

DEX: 9

CON: 12

INT: 6

WIS: 12

CHA: 13

Available Points: 2

Traits

Specialized Training (I)

Arm-ed Combat (I)

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Late Bloomer (I)

Skills

N/A

Proficiencies

Fistfighting (E)

Driving (E)

Titles

Champion Arm Wrestler

Huh. There's an asterisk next to my strength now. Unsure of what that meant, he focused on the stats area and was confronted with another window.

Stats

STR - 18*:

All: 17 (17)

Right arm: 1 (23)

The numbers only reinforced the dramatic growth of his arm when adding that first point of strength. Is the number in parentheses my total strength for that limb? Does that mean every stat I put into my arm is basically… wait. He did some quick math. Dang, six times as effective? That's awesome.

He couldn't keep a grin from spreading to his face. The idea still seemed unbelievable. Even his own highly specialized training resulted in some bleed-over muscle gain into other muscle groups and limbs, particularly his left arm. It was like the human body itself rejected his idea of efficiency in favor of balance. It was why his left arm still had any muscle at all. Left to him, the thing would wither away. But now…

Ok, focus. If I'm gonna go back there, I should probably experiment with some of these other stats too. Even if I do just want to just dump everything into strength right now. Like, REALLY want to.

The stats themselves seemed pretty self-explanatory, but there was no teacher quite like experience. Plus, it would only be prudent to further cultivate his greatest asset however he could. While strength was obviously his favorite of the bunch, some of the other numbers might prove useful as well. Strength wasn't everything after all, even if it was the most important thing.

Specialized Training indicated that it only applied to his physical stats - strength, dexterity, and constitution from what he could tell. He supposed it was a reasonable limitation. The idea of putting intelligence into an arm or leg didn't make much sense, anyway. With two available stat points remaining, that meant he could still put one into constitution and one into dexterity. And considering the state of his bicep, constitution seemed like a good place to start.

Adding a point to his right arm, he felt the effects immediately. A surge of newfound energy flowed through it like live electricity. His soreness and pains evaporated, leaving the arm feeling fresh and ready for a workout. Even more interestingly, the limb seemed to shrink slightly. He didn't feel any weaker, so it didn't feel like he'd lost muscle mass. Instead, it almost felt as though his tissues condensed together and became more tightly packed. The arm was still larger than it had been this morning, though.

Huh. That is pretty useful. Flexing his arm, it felt… sturdier, somehow. Not stronger exactly, but like it would tire less easily. Poking it, the muscles felt more like solid rock than flesh. And as someone whose muscles were often described as rocklike, that was saying something. Good to know. The whole shrinking thing is kinda disappointing, but I dig this.

Moving on to dexterity didn't yield any obvious results. That was, until Chad started stretching. His muscles definitely became more flexible than before. In fact, he could almost extend his arm fully straight. Almost. There was still a slight bend in his elbow, not that it really mattered.

Still, the effect seemed a bit underwhelming. Hopefully dexterity does more than just let me reach that itch on my back. Otherwise, it's kinda useless.

Picking up a nearby orange and tossing it up and down, the motion felt smooth and easier than ever before. He even picked up a second one and tried to juggle one-handed to moderate success. That was more like it.

Now I'm all well-rounded and stuff. Just like Annie wanted. A giddy grin split his face. Well, maybe not exactly, but it's pretty damn close, right?

He set the oranges back on the table as Annie returned with a first aid kit in hand. "Ok. Just give me a second to clean the wound. I don't know what kind of nastiness that thing might've infected you with…"

She wiped away the crusted blood as her voice trailed off into stunned silence. As he followed her gaze, Chad's own eyes widened as well. His bicep wound looked as though it had happened days ago rather than hours. Instead of the rows of jagged tooth marks they'd expected, wiping away the mess of gore revealed a row of already healing indentations. The rash of red across his skin had receded to a minor case of irritation. It didn't even itch any more. Even better, the bleeding had stopped entirely.

Annie just stared for a minute. "What the…"

"Damn." Chad stared at his arm in shock. "That's fuckin' cool."

"What do you mean, cool?!" Annie asked incredulously. "That's not supposed to happen! It's unnatural! What in the world did you do?"

"Nothing! I was just messing with my stats, seeing what they do! Though I uh, may have added a constitution point to my arm along the way."

Annie fell silent, eyes darting through unseen text. After a moment, she frowned. "Weird. I just put a point into strength, and I only feel a little difference. Nowhere close to what you got on the road. How much of an effect is that trait of yours having?"

"A pretty big one. It seems like it's six times as effective. At least, If I just put stuff in my arm." Checking his status confirmed the trend for his dexterity and constitution as well.

Stats

STR - 18*

All: 17 (17)

Right arm: 1 (23)

DEX - 10*

All: 9 (9)

Right arm: 1 (15)

CON - 13*

All: 12 (12)

Right arm: 1 (18)

"Six times… wow." Annie blew out a breath. "I have no idea what that means, but it sounds like a lot. Especially since we only got three stat points from leveling up. But who knows? Just be careful with that, Chad."

"What do you mean?" He grinned. "This is awesome! I can get my arm even stronger!"

Annie fixed him with a serious look. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Chad, you were at risk of messing up your back before all this. If you can now inflate your arm at will like a damn balloon… Just try not to push it too far, ok?"

He just shrugged. Chad knew better than to argue with Annie about this. But if things were really so bad out there… Well, being able to punch and chokeslam things into oblivion might be just what he needed.

Despite his bicep's improved state, Annie still smeared it with disinfectant and bandaged it up. Afterward, they stuffed a backpack full of food, water, and other supplies that Chad could carry with him on the trip. He also made sure to grab a few other odds and ends like a fresh shirt, a belt knife, and a small ax from Gram Gram's gardening supplies. Between those and his firearms, Chad felt ready to go out and face the apocalypse.

Within half an hour, Chad hugged his grandmother goodbye. "I'll be back soon, Gram Gram. Annie's gonna keep you company, ok?"

"Oh, good." She hugged him back with significantly less force. "I'm so happy you've finally brought a girlfriend home. I'll make sure to tell her all about how you were as a child."

"Gram Gram…" Chad let out an exasperated sigh.

"Oh, don't be embarrassed." The old woman chuckled. "You were an awfully cute baby, Chadwick. Will you be back for dinner? I'll make sure to cook your favorite."

"Maybe," he hedged, happy to move away from the previous topic. "I'm not sure. I'll call you when I'm heading back, ok?"

"Alright. Drive safe out there, honey."

He waded through the sea of cats toward the threshold and turned to Annie, checking the pistol at his side. "I need you to call the neighbors. Use Gram Gram's landline if you can, they'll recognize the number. There should be a list of them by the phone. Warn them that something's going on, and if you need anything, ask. And if anything happens, call me - I'll turn right back."

The raven-haired woman nodded resolutely. She'd already given Chad her phone to ensure they could contact each other. Especially since he didn't plan on checking the massage parlor on the trip. "You have everything you need?"

"Think so. I'm gonna head out before I start having second thoughts."

As he opened the door, Annie called out once more. "Chad?"

"Yeah?"

"Stay safe out there."

He met her serious gaze with a nod. Then, he stepped outside.