A temper tantrum woke Drew from his sleep.

Man, my head hurts.

“But I want cereal mommy!”

“Emma, I already told you, we’re out of cereal. Now eat your soup.”

“I don’t like soup! I like cereal!”

“I know you do baby, but soup is all we have.”

Heh, that argument sounds familiar.

Drew stretched out his arms and legs with a yawn.

My leg! My chest! It’s healed! Oh thank God, it worked!

“Bout time you woke up old man.” Matt interrupted his internal celebration.

His friend stood by the glass sliding door to the balcony on watch. Matt’s comment started a flurry of activity. Jess ran into the living room to assess her patient.

“How are you feeling? Can you move your leg? Does this hurt?” Jess asked in rapid fire.

“Well, I feel fine except for a blazing headache. The leg’s fine, and so is my chest. And no, that doesn’t hurt.” Drew answered while Jess pushed on his abdomen.

“This is amazing! I can’t believe you’re completely healed! There isn’t even a scar.” Jess said in wonder.

“Yeah, it’s pretty great. By the way, what happened last night? My memory is a little hazy. The last thing I remember was Matt kicking me across the room.”

“I KNEW you were faking!”

“Well, after he fed you the crystal core, you started to convulse. Then you suddenly stopped, so I was worried that you died. I checked your pulse and found you were in v-fib. I didn’t have a defibrillator, but Matt said he could shock your heart back into rhythm. It took three tries, but eventually it worked.”

That’s the second time he saved my life.

“Thanks Matt. It almost makes up for you kicking me.”

“Uhuh…”

“Well, after you passed out, Matt filled us in on how you guys got here. I can’t believe how dangerous it is out there!”

“Yeah, I’m glad you guys are on the second floor. All the apartments downstairs were destroyed.”

Jess nodded in agreement.

“Where’s Adam?” Drew asked when he got to his feet.

“He’s in the back room. He’s not very happy with you right now.” Jess informed him.

“That’s an understatement.” Matt muttered.

“I’m so sorry about Sarah. You must be devastated.” Jess said with sympathy.

“Yeah, but at least you and Adam are still alive. And… Emma? How come I didn’t know about her?”

Jess looked away, embarrassed. “Adam was so mad after you left, he wanted you cut out of the family.” Jess looked into his eyes with shame, “I argued that you should know, that it might even bring you back, but in the end, you’re HIS father not mine.”

“It’s fine, I don’t blame you. Do you mind if I get to know her now?” Drew asked.

“Of course not. After everything you went through to get back here, how could I stop you?” Jess said with a huge smile.

Drew returned her smile and gave his daughter-in-law a hug. Then, he entered the kitchen to see his granddaughter.

I have a granddaughter!

Drew kneeled down next to Emma while she ate her soup. “Hello Emma, do you know who I am?” he asked gently.

“Nuh uh.” she shook her head.

“I’m your grandpa!” he said with excitement.

“Nuh uh. Grandpa's old!”

Jess entered the room to help. “Baby, remember how I told you that grandpa and grandma are my parents, right?”

Emma nodded dubiously.

“Remember how Nanna is your daddy’s mom?”

She again nodded.

“Well, Drew here is your daddy’s dad.”

Emma gasped in amazement. “For really real?”

“I sure am, princess.” Drew confirmed.

After the life-altering revelation, Emma looked back at her soup and began to eat once again as if nothing had changed.

Drew chuckled.

Kids.

“Well, I’ll leave her alone for now. I need to have a conversation with Adam.” Drew informed Jess.

She nodded. “He’s in our bedroom, it's the last room on the left.”

Drew walked down the short hallway and paused before the doorway. He idly patted his pocket full of beast cores, distracted.

What do I say, how can I apologize?

He knew the conversation would not be pleasant, but it needed to be done. If he wanted to protect his family, and be a part of their lives, Adam had to accept him.

Come on, man up!

Drew gathered his courage and entered the room after a short knock on the door. His son, Adam, lay on the bed on top of the covers. The young man stared vacantly at the ceiling with bloodshot eyes and ignored him.

“Adam.” Drew paused. After his son continued to ignore him, he continued on. “Adam, I’m sorry I left. I wish I would have come back, or never left at all, but I can’t change that now. All I can say is that I won’t leave you all again. I’m here to stay!”

Stolen novel; please report.

Finally, his statement garnered a reaction. Adam turned to look his father in the eye and responded with seething vitriol, “She’s dead because of you. Mom died because she didn’t have anyone there to protect her. That’s on you.”

Drew hung his head in shame. He did not have a response for that, he blamed himself as well.

“You’re lucky Jess convinced me to let you stay. I wanted you gone. I still do.”

His son’s words hurt him more than any monster ever could. He wished he could mute the emotional pain like he could the physical.

“Get out.” Adam demanded. “Get out of my room!”

Drew nodded and dejectedly fled the room. As he entered the kitchen, Jess gave him a look of sympathy. He was left with no goal, and nothing to do. For the last week, his desire to reach his family consumed him. Now that he was home, he was at a loss.

What do I do now?

Once more, the beast cores called to him. It was hard to resist the urge to swallow them all.

I need to do something to get my mind off this.

He turned to Jess. “What’s the food and water situation like? What supplies are we missing?”

“We’re almost out of water. A couple of days ago when we ran out, Adam went downstairs and found some 2-liters of soda and bottled water. But, I don’t have the heart to ask him to go out again. Not after last time. He said… he said it was awful.” Jess trailed off.

“Don’t worry about water I can… Matt can create as much water as we need with chi.”

Jess nodded in relief.

“What about food?”

“Well, the food in the fridge is spoiled now, but we still have the canned goods from the pantry. We’re running low on that too. We started rationing it to make it last…” her voice began to crack.

Drew put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry about food Jess, Matt and I will get all the supplies we need.”

“Thank you.”

He left the kitchen and walked over to Matt. “Seen anything?”

Matt nodded. “Yeah, those corpses we left got eaten last night. Every once in a while, I’ll see one of the armored beasts or a pack of the hairy ones.”

“You mean dilo and weasel-bear?” Drew asked.

“Ughhh...” Matt groaned and rolled his eyes. “Fine, dilo and weasel-bear. I get to name the next monster we come across though.”

Drew smiled. “Deal. Now, let’s go scout for supplies.”

Matt followed behind him to the front door. “How’s the headache?”

“It’s still there, but after the last few days, I’m almost getting used to it. I can’t wait until it goes away though. I feel defenseless without my core.”

Matt laughed as he helped Drew remove their makeshift barricade. “Yeah, totally defenseless. You’re just stronger than Captain America and bulletproof. Poor you.”

“Yeah well, I already miss my magic.” Drew reached into his pocket and unsheathed his hunting knife, the only weapon to survive his journey. “All I got now is this little thing.” He unfolded it and showcased the three inch long blade.”

“Dude… Just a couple of days ago you snapped a weasel-bear's neck with your bare hands.” Matt reminded him.

“Yeah, I guess I am still pretty strong.” Drew conceded.

“Bet.”

They made their way down the outside steps to the destroyed apartments below. All four doors were broken with the metal plating dented inward and the door jams splintered. Drew entered their first apartment cautiously with his small knife in hand.

The living room was a disaster. Dried blood soaked the carpet and stuffing from the couch littered the room. The now unmistakable smell of a rotting corpse assaulted his nose.

I wish I was able to shut off my sense of smell.

When they entered the kitchen, they found the remains and gave it a wide berth. They checked the pantry, but it was empty of any bottled water or soda.

This must be where Adam got their supplies.

Drew turned to Matt who pinched his nose shut with his fingers. “I think this one’s a bust, let’s go next door.”

Matt nodded and quickly fled the apartment. Once they were outside, they both took a deep breath of fresh air.

Oh God that’s awful!

Over the next hour, they scouted the other three ransacked apartments. The next apartment held a body as well, but luckily the other two were empty. They spent far more time at the vacant apartments and found plenty of food and bottled drinks.

Throughout their supply run, Drew continuously fought back the urge to consume a core. He knew it would be bad for him to use any while he still had a migraine, but that knowledge did nothing to diminish his urges. A few hours later, he finished his last trip downstairs.

“Cereal!” Emma shouted excitedly.

Drew chucked as he unloaded his garbage bag of goods into their pantry.

“Mommy I want cereal!”

Drew dug into the bag, pulled out a box of Captain Crunch, and sat it on the table for his granddaughter. She squealed in celebration and clapped her hands together.

Jess nodded, “Ok baby, let me get you a bowl.”

Drew continued to unload the food while Matt kept watch through the living room glass sliding door. While Drew worked, Jess answered question after question from her little girl.

Kids are always so curious.

After Emma finished grilling her mother, Drew broached the subject of beast cores.

“So, I’ve been thinking. I have a pocket full of cores. I’d like you and Adam to use them.”

Jess looked scared as she responded, “I don’t know about that.”

“You’ll be safer if you take them.”

“It didn’t seem like you were safe when you got here.”

“That’s because I fought off the triceratops, it’s much stronger than the other monsters.” Drew heard Matt snort, but ignored him. “Because of the cores, my skin is incredibly tough. It doesn’t just stop needles like last night, it also stops teeth and claws. I fought three weasel-bears a couple of days ago that couldn’t gnaw through my skin, no matter how hard they tried.”

“You fought what now?” Jess asked, confused.

“You know the smaller hairy monsters that hunt in a pack?”

“Yeah…”

“I call those weasel-bears. The other one that’s bigger and armored I call a dilo.”

“Why a dilo?” Jess asked.

“Because it looks like a huge armadillo.”

“Not really.” Jess disagreed.

“I told you fam! It looks nothing like an armadillo!”

Drew sighed. “Well, as long as you know what I’m talking about, that’s all that matters. Anyways, those can’t really hurt me either. If you use a core, you can be protected like that too. You can get stronger, or even form your own core so you can use magic, even heal yourself.”

Drew could tell that the last point interested her. “Do you think I would be able to heal other people?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Matt and I couldn’t figure it out, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to. There’s just so much we don’t know.”

“That’s what worries me, what if there’s some unknown side-effect from swallowing them?”

“I’ve worried about that too, but I’d be dead countless times over without them. There’s no way I could have made it here without them.”

Jess nodded. “I’ll think about it, but I want to talk it over with Adam before I make a decision.”

“That’s understandable.” Drew agreed.

I just hope he doesn’t reject it out of hand because he’s upset with me.

“Hey old man!” Matt raised his voice to get Drew’s attention. “You up for another trip outside?”

Drew walked into the living room. “For what?”

“Well, I was thinking. My biggest problem is running out of chi, and I can’t just swallow a bunch of cores to refill like you can.”

“Well evidently, I can’t either.” Drew reminded him.

Matt waved his hand in dismissal. “Whatever. I was thinking that I could get a stash of car batteries and put them in a backpack. Then, I could wire them together so I can recharge all the time. Kinda like I did with the cigarette lighter. Wasn’t that badass?”

Wow, that’s a great idea! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that! Although for me, it might be a bit bulky if I’m close up fighting. It’d be perfect for Matt though!

“That sounds like a plan. Where’re we going to find a backpack that can hold car batteries though? Just two will weigh a hundred pounds.”

“Already thought of that. I saw a huge overnight backpack downstairs in the closet. I think someone used it for camping or something.” Matt explained.

Good, I need something else to get my mind off beast cores.

“That’s great! Let’s go get some batteries!”