I opened the side yard gate as Frank started up the van. I heard Chad opening the garage door by unlocking the motor chain and pushing the door up. When Frank backed the van out I shut the gate and jumped into the truck. As I backed the truck out of the garage, I could see Denise looking out through the front window. I stopped the vehicle in the street and blew her a kiss and waved. She returned my kiss and wave, as was customary for us, but this time I could see sadness in her gaze. I pointed to myself and then to the house and held out my pinky in an air “pinky promise” telling her again that I promised I’d be okay and would return to her. She nodded her head, grimly smiled and held out her own "pinky promise." With that, I turned the truck towards the intersection. I turned left heading north out of town.
The trip to my mom’s house turned out as expected. I followed Frank as we headed east towards the house. I had to drive around a few vehicles that had died during the EMP. We didn’t drive past anyone on the streets this time. Probably because the sun was coming up and it would be easy to spot all the looters and murderers. Only once did I hear Dog growl at something in the distance. I didn’t see anything and trusted Dog to see whatever was coming before I did.
What I found amusing was, a couple times I looked in the driver’s side mirror and saw Dog with his face in the wind with his tongue hanging out all derpy like. I couldn’t understand exactly what changed the dog so much from a feral animal about to attack two men in the wild to the house dog I saw before me now. Was it the naturally less aggressive American Dingo breed or was it the magic of my tame animal ability? Maybe a bit of both. I didn’t know either way. But I was definitely happy that it turned out the way it did.
As the two vehicles approached my mom’s house, my eyes widened with shock. There was an eight foot high vine wall that spanned the entire front of the property from side fence to side fence. The vines appeared to be so tangled and intertwined that it’d be impossible to pass through without a team of people cutting and chopping the vines down. There were also sharp thorns on the vines that looked like they would shred flesh if unprotected. Frank and I pulled the vehicles alongside the wall and shut off the engines.
Stepping out of the truck, I climbed up into the truck bed to see over the wall. When I looked over the wall, I was met with an even more shocking sight. As my head rose above the wall, so did that of my son Alex. Alex stood on the other side of the wall at the same height. He had a huge grin on his face. He held a shotgun in his left hand with the barrel pointed in the air and the butt resting on his left hip. In an obviously fake British voice, Alex said “Ello Fatha, did ya bring the milk?” I immediately started laughing. The scene was too unreal. Here I was, worried about my mom and son out here in the country all alone, defending against Lord knows what, and my son is just sitting here behind some thorny wall with a shotgun like it’s an everyday event.
Well sitting there wasn’t exactly correct, he was standing on something. Something that rose into the air to greet me. After my laughing fit ended, I asked, "What in the world is going on?" What are you standing on? What is all this?”
“Do you want me to answer all those at once or should I pick one at a time?" Alex asked.
“Ok smart ass, I chuckled. What is this wall thingy?”
“It’s my bramble wall.”
“YOUR bramble wall,” I repeated. I activated inspect: Human, level 5, Druid. “Level 5 Druid," I exclaimed. Okay, you'll have to fill us in on what's going on. First things first though, I’m assuming you and your grandmother are fine, correct?”
Stolen novel; please report.
“We are,” Alex stated with pride.
“And two, how do we get into the property?"
Alex replied, "It's easy." And without notice, the bramble wall disappeared and Alex landed on the ground only having to bend his knees slightly as he landed.
“Were you standing on a wall section or something?" I asked.
“Yeah, I sure was. It’s one of my spells I received after the “system” did its thing and the power went out. I got two spells, bramble wall and vine whip.”
“Okay well, you can tell me all about it in a minute, right now I’m just happy to see you,” I said as I brought him in for a big hug. “We need to get these vehicles in the driveway so you can put that wall back up,” I said as I let him go. Frank gave Alex a quick hug as well, then we got back in the vehicles and drove them down the long driveway.
As I got out of the truck, I looked down the driveway and saw Alex raise his hands. I could tell he was focusing on his mana. The bramble wall started to regrow itself from one side of the yard to the other. In the matter of a minute, Alex had regrown the eight-foot wall, cutting off the property from the roadway. Before turning and heading into the house, I glanced over and saw mom’s greenhouse was also full of lush green plants. I could also see lots of vegetables hanging from them.
I heard a commotion behind me and turned to see Pepper, Frank’s dog, had burst out of the house and ran up to him. I immediately grabbed Dog by the back of his neck and sent a calming intention towards him, telling him to “Stay.” Dog did so, but I could see and feel Dog’s eagerness to check Pepper out. Pepper, it seems, was also affected by the system's magical growth. She stood just as tall as Dog, and every bit as heavy and muscular as he was too.
Pepper was a German and Australian Shepard mix breed with a dark brindle color. When she reached Frank, she jumped up and put her paws on his shoulders and started licking his face, almost dragging him to the ground. If it wasn’t for the added strength points, Frank probably would’ve been crushed by Pepper.
“I think she missed you,” Mom said as she came out of the house after Pepper. Frank smiled brightly and pushed Pepper off his shoulders and went to greet his wife in a deep embrace.
“Sorry I’m a bit late from work,” Frank said.
“It’s okay," she replied. I guessed you guys had car problems or something.”
“Or something,” Frank responded with a laugh. She then walked up to me and gave me a big hug.
“I missed you,” she said.
“What? You weren’t worried about us?" I asked sarcastically.
“Nah, she replied. I knew you’d be home sooner or later. Who’s that you’re holding back there?”
“Dog,” I answered.
“Yep, that’s what I figured, " she responded. I don’t even have to ask. I already know, John Wayne.”
“Got it in one,” I said giggling.
I was reminded by a whimpering sound that I was still holding Dog back. I looked at him and could tell he wasn’t acting aggressive towards Pepper. His tail was wagging and I could sense his eagerness. I looked over at Pepper and saw that she was now being held back by Frank as she was wagging her tail and whining. “Alright, I said. Let them go, they'll have to meet sometime or another.” With that, both dogs were released to go. Dog jumped over the side of the truck bed and ran over to Pepper. They started doing that whole “Hi, how are you? Let me check out your rear end” thing while circling each other. “Well they’re not fighting, I said. Let’s let them figure everything else out.”
Before stepping into the house, I keyed up my radio to see if I could contact the other house. “Base, this is Red Rover, how do you copy over?"
"Loud and clear." Came Chad’s response.
“Copy, we’re on location, everything’s code 4, I’ll be back en route soon, over.”
“Copy that, see you soon, be safe, over.”
“Will do, over and out.” With that handled, I grabbed my sword, bow and ruck from the front of the truck and left the dogs to their business as we went inside.