Finally!

Drew was annoyed. On his way back to the lodge, he had been forced to stop twice to refill his core. Each stop consumed four car batteries and added over twenty minutes to his task.

I’ll wait until the snow melts to get the Humvee.

While almost half of the snow was now gone, there was still three to four inches of frozen precipitation on top of the roads. Drew pushed the Amazon truck into the driveway and past the eight foot opening in the short wall still under construction.

In the two hours since Drew left, it seemed that Adam and the others had completed an almost full wall around the house, two feet in height. Drew abandoned the vehicle full of supplies in front of the lodge and walked toward the wall to examine it.

After close scrutiny, he realized that the two foot wall continued into the ground. He resisted the urge to dig down alongside it to discover how far its roots extended. Rather than spend the time investigating it himself, he located his son. Adam leaned over a two foot section as he liquified bricks and molded them to the structure.

“Good job so far Adam,” Drew praised.

The young man turned away from his work and stood. With a groan, he arched his back and stretched. After he was done, he bent down toward the car battery on the snow-covered ground and began to recharge his core. “Thanks. It’s going faster than I thought with everyone bringing me bricks.”

“Which is stronger, the asphalt your last wall was made from or the bricks?”

“Well, both materials are magically enhanced, so they’re about the same density. But, I’d say this wall will be better when it’s done.”

“Why’s that?”

“I started the last wall at night and didn’t really know what I was doing. It was a rush job, so I had to cut corners. I was able to fix some of that later when I raised the height, but it still wasn’t as sturdy as I wanted it to be.”

“Well, it still worked pretty well.”

“Sure, but that was against the weaker monsters. With this wall, I want to make sure it can stand up to a triceratops charge.”

Drew scrutinized the length of the wall and recalled the earlier conversation in the cabin. “What’s so different about this one? They’re different colors, but other than that, they seem about the same.”

“Well, for starters, this wall extends four feet into the ground instead of one foot like the apartment’s. It’s also far wider at the base and will slowly grow narrower the higher it gets. I made sure to put vertical steel beams every few feet into it as well to reinforce it.”

By the end of his short explanation, he had a huge grin on his face.

“Well done.” Drew praised his son once again. “Just make sure the gate’s big enough to drive through this time.”

“Way ahead of you. I’ve got some ideas of how I can make a locking mechanism so you can open it from the outside.”

“Well, I’ll let you get back to it, I’m going to carry the supplies inside.”

Drew slapped Adam on the back and left to find Malcolm. The old man had proven his worth with his skills in inventory and managing supplies, and Drew wanted to make sure he did not have to move them again when the vet wanted them stored elsewhere.

When he passed by Dave ferrying an armful of bricks to Adam, he did a double-take.

“Woah… you look different.” Drew remarked.

“Yeah, I used a core to make myself younger like you suggested. It’s amazing! I have so much more energy now, and my gut’s gone!” Dave gushed as he repositioned his load to reveal his now flat abdomen.

“Nice.” Drew commented. “It gets even better when you upgrade your muscles and make your skin harder.”

“I can’t wait!” Dave said with a grin as he continued his trek toward Adam.

Drew found Malcolm on lookout next to Matt as the twenty year old bent down and cut into a brick wall that lined the road. Drew stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened in surprise.

Malcom’s left arm, which once ended mid bicep, now extended almost to his wrist. Drew could not help but stare at the mostly regenerated limb.

Malcolm chuckled when he noticed Drew’s scrutiny. “I got tired of being mostly useless,” he explained and lifted the arm for further examination. “I was hoping the beast core would restore my entire arm, but half of it is a good start.”

“I’d say.” Drew agreed. “Soon, you’ll get to haul crap around just like us. Speaking of hauling crap, where do you want me to unload the supplies?”

“The living room is good enough for now. No one really wants to use it anyway since the floor is still blood-stained.”

Before he left for his next task, Matt paused and asked, “Did you try out flying?”

Drew nodded. “Yep.”

When refused to elaborate, Matt responded in an annoyed voice, “And? How’d it go?”

“It was amazing,” he grinned.

“So baller. I can’t wait till tier 3!”

“Yeah, you’re gonna need it, too. It used a ton of chi to create the wind needed to propel me forward. If I didn’t have a ninety percent discount, I’d fly a quarter mile before I had to refuel. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you all about it later. I’ve got to unload the truck.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

It took two hours to completely empty the back of the vehicle. Drew knew he could have asked for help, but he liked the simple task and he felt the wall was more important. As he unloaded the van, he spied a bag of BBQ flavored potato chips Matt had smuggled aboard and sat it aside.

By the time he finished, he was starving. Now that his work was over, Drew retrieved the bag and began to devour its contents.

Guilt free junk food is the best.

While he stuffed himself full of simple carbohydrates, his granddaughter entered the room.

“Can I have some chips too?” Emma pleaded.

“Go ask your mother if it’s ok.”

Emma turned around and sprinted upstairs. When she was only halfway up, she shouted, “Mommy, mommy! Can I have some of Grandpa’s chips?”

Drew enhanced his hearing so he could hear his daughter-in-law’s response.

“Emma, slow down! I don’t want you getting hurt.” A second later, he heard, “You can have a few chips, but make sure you ask him politely first. What do we say?”

“Please and thank you.”

“Exactly. Now remember, no running down the stairs, ok?”

“Okaaayyyy,” the little girl whined.

Drew chuckled.

While they finished off the bag of chips together, Drew asked her all kinds of questions. Of course, most of her responses were, ‘uh huh’ or ‘uh uh’. Despite the almost entirely one-sided conversation, he enjoyed spending time with her.

When the bag was empty, he told Emma to go find her mother, and considered his next course of action.

Should I help with the wall or find some solar panels?

The bottleneck on building the wall seemed to be Adam, as he was the only one able to reshape matter. Drew decided that his time was best spent enhancing their quality of life. Decision made, he headed outside to hunt for solar panels. Of course, the best place to scout from was the sky.

That fact did not factor into his decision making process at all.

Honestly.

With a huge grin, Drew lightened his weight and jumped into the sky. He conjured wings and formed a gale of wind behind him. In less than a second, he cruised along at a hundred miles an hour, a thousand feet in the air.

From high in the air, he saw white covered evergreens and roofs heavy with snow. When he realized every solar panel would be covered by a layer of frozen precipitation, he dropped his altitude for a better view.

At the improved vantage point of only a couple hundred feet off the ground, he quickly found his first score, only a mile away. About two hundred square feet of solar panels were fastened to the south side of a ranch’s roof.

This’ll be good practice.

Drew lowered his speed and angled himself to land on top of the house, a short distance from the panels. When he was only a few feet off the shingles, a random gust of wind blew him off course. Despite the complication, he was able to touch down without destroying the panels or the roof.

Not too shabby.

Sound from inside the house distracted Drew from his self-congratulation. He froze, enhanced his ears, and listened. He could hear muffled steps on the floor as something or someone inside moved around.

Is someone still alive inside?

At this point, every human life was a precious resource. It had been almost two weeks since the alien invasion, and those that had not been eaten by the beasts had most likely starved. Only a small portion of the population seemed to have survived. Those lucky few seemed to have prevailed by either pure luck or preparation.

I bet preppers feel vindicated right about now.

Drew stepped off the roof to the ground below and approached the front of the house. When he rounded the corner, his hope for more survivors was dashed.

The front door was shattered and the frame around it bent. Wary of the intruder, Drew enhanced his body, formed a blade in his hand, and carefully entered the house. Wood snapped beneath his feet as he traversed the debris.

The pacing inside suddenly stopped.

As Drew moved into the hallway, a roar came from the room at the end and a large dilo raced toward him. The beast was not as large as the super-dilo he killed the day before, but was much larger than normal. It clipped the door frame as it charged into the hallway, and wood and plaster sprayed into the air.

To his time-dilated perception, the monster moved in slow motion, leaving him plenty of time to prepare. Drew quickly began to lower the beast’s temperature. It kicked off the floor, ripping up the carpet and pad below, and flew toward him. Suddenly, heat flared from within the beast and it glowed brightly in his infravision, almost searing his eyes.

The change surprised Drew so much that he froze for a split second in disbelief.

Despite his astonishment, he recovered from his daze and leaped to the side. A swipe from its arm caught his leg as the evolved dilo raced past him.

Its claws were unable to penetrate more than a millimeter into his flesh. However, the quick attack melted his skin and left third degree burns on his foot.

Drew dampened the pain and quickly climbed to his feet as the beast slammed into the wall, catching it on fire. Before it could pivot toward him, he sprang forward with an overhand strike and plunged his blade into its back.

Bones cracked from the strike, but his sword was unable to penetrate the hardened scales.

Another freakin’ super-dilo already?

The heat the beast radiated was intense. Its new ability distracted him again as the beast twisted its back leg to sweep him off his feet.

He landed hard on his back, but was ultimately uninjured.

Ok, no more messing around.

Drew increased his own gravity until he weighed twice his normal amount. With two thousand pounds of mass to anchor him, he kicked off with both feet into the dilo’s head.

Teeth shattered and its jaw snapped from the massive force of the blow. It soared across the room and smashed wooden studs to kindling as it was sent through the outside wall.

Drew was right behind it.

When it slid to a stop through the snow with a moan of pain, he did not allow it to recover. He vaulted into the air above its prone form. When he reached the apogee of his leap, he quadrupled his own gravity and slammed his knee down into the beast’s head.

Its skull dented inward from over two tons of force. The shattered bones sank deep into its head and pierced through its tiny brain. After the beast spasmed and then stilled, Drew dismissed his enhancements and wiped the blood and sinew off his leg.

I guess that’ll work too.

While the beast's scales seemed to be impenetrable, physics still existed. The force of his blow was transmitted through the toughened scales and into the supporting organs below. Unlike its armored hide, that skeletal structure was NOT impervious to harm.

Let’s see what kind of presents you have for me now.

Drew could not wait to extract the beast’s core, despite the difficulty in retrieving it. Unless it evolved its core into a new location, his prize was buried deep in its chest, protected from incisions.

It took ten minutes of disgusting work before he was able to successfully harvest the core. Drew was forced to rip off the super-dilo’s jaw, reach his arm into its throat, and cut his way into its chest cavity.

However, his annoyance was instantly replaced with elation at the brightly glowing tier 2 core now in hand. Drew did not even bother to wipe the stone off as he brought it to his lips. He focused on dissolving the beast core into a cloud of dispersed chi.

Immediately, the crystal disappeared in his hand and was replaced by rampant energy. He latched on to the chi and brought it to his newly formed core.

To his dismay, the energy refused to enter.

Over and over, Drew frantically tried to harness its power. However, no matter what he attempted, his core refused to accept it. When he gave up on upgrading his core, he found that he could not even use the chi to enhance his body. Ultimately, the tier 2 core was wasted.

Drew watched helplessly as the chi dissipated uselessly into the air.

Matt’s gonna be so pissed.