I collected my ruck and weapons, said goodbye to Mom and Frank, then walked outside with Alex. I whistled at Dog, who came running. I dropped the tailgate and Dog jumped into the truck bed. “I’ll check in with you daily ok son? I said. I have to get a hold of a few people and then we will figure out a plan of action. Until then, remember what I said. If you need me, call me, and I’ll head right over as fast as I can.”

“I’ll remember Father, but we’ll be okay. I handled everything the last few days and now Frank will be here to help. We’re better off than we were yesterday.”

“I know, I said sadly. I’m sorry you had to handle all that alone. I’m sorry I couldn’t be here with or for you. I’m also sorry for asking more of you. It’s time we protected our family.”

“We will father,” Alex said. Whatever it takes.”

“Alright, drop your brambles, I need to get back and get some sleep. I’m dead on my feet.” I placed my weapons and gear in the truck and gave Alex a long hug. Alex waved his hand and the bramble wall disappeared. I backed the truck out of the driveway and waited for Alex to re-summon the wall. Once again Alex raised his hands and focused on his mana. From one fence to another, the brambles grew eight feet tall.

It was about 5:30 am when I hit the road headed home. The sun was just about fully up in the eastern sky. As it usually did when I worked graveyards, the rising sun left me even more tired. There was something about the sun rising that made the world seem quieter, or more still. This made me want to crawl into bed and sleep. This morning it was even more difficult as there were no cars on the highway commuting to various destinations in the rat race cycle of the working world. Now a new kind of rat race was starting and I still didn’t know all the rules.

The drive home was just as quiet as the journey to Mom’s house. When I hit the city limits, still taking the back roads to avoid as many dangers as possible, I noticed there was a lot more movement as the sun came up. There were a few people here and there and there were a couple working vehicles, with people traveling Lord knows where. But these people weren’t smashing windows or robbing people. As a matter of fact, some of them were even trying to fix damage they suffered during the night to their homes. People tried to board up windows and repair doors with whatever materials they could find. I even saw two people carrying something that looked like a body wrapped inside a blanket, from inside a house.

When I was around the corner from the house, I jumped on the radio and let Chad know I was two minutes away. When I turned the corner, the garage door was already open and Chad was standing in the driveway with his AR-15 strapped to his chest. I pulled the truck into the garage and shut the engine off. As I pulled my gear out of the truck, I asked Chad, “What's with the rifle?" Did you have any problems when I was gone?”

“No, Chad said. I’m sure you could tell the streets are quieter during daylight hours. Most of the really bad people take off during the day. Probably because they’re easier to see in daylight and you know evil, it works at night.”

“Very true, but then why the rifle?”

“Well, Chad said. If you see an old man in the driveway and an old man in the driveway holding an AR-15 with a thirty round mag strapped to his chest, which one are you less likely to mess with?”

“Well, I can’t argue with that.” I giggled.

I let Dog out into the side yard and made sure he had water for the day, then walked inside to get some rest. As I entered the kitchen door, Denise met me and threw her arms around me. “How’s your mom and Alex doing baby?” she asked.

“They’re good. Better than I thought they would be. Alex has already leveled to level five and picked a Druid class.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“I don’t know what that is Honey," she said. I’m not a gamer, remember.”

I giggled, “yeah I know, I replied. Don’t you wish now that you were? I’ll have to explain it later as I’m too tired but basically it’s a nature wizard.”

“Ah yes, a nature wizard." She repeated. Something I never thought I’d hear describing a real life person.”

“See, " I said while laughing, you should've been a gamer. " Where can I crash baby?”

“We’re in the front bedroom, the kids are in the back bedroom and my parents are in the master of course.”

“Okay, I said. I’m going to lay down for a few hours. Can you make sure I’m up by noon?"

“Sure, she nodded. Especially since my dad gave me an old-fashioned alarm clock that wakes me up no problem.”

“It probably won’t wake me up at this point,” I said.

“Oh don't worry honey, I’m going to be right there with you. I haven't slept much at all and I need some cuddle time.”

“That’s even better, I said. Music to my ears.”

“Okay, I’m going to drop my stuff in the room and get out of my gear.”

I entered the front bedroom, dropped my ruck on the floor and leaned the bow and sword against the wall by the bed. I took off my tac vest and duty belt and placed them next to the weapons. As I kicked off my boots, I heard the back bedroom door open. I stuck my head out of the room and saw my stepdaughter, Isadora, exiting the room. She turned and froze as she saw me standing there in the hallway. She opened the bedroom door wide and yelled, "Get up, dad's back." Then she turned and rushed over to me and gave me a hug.

As Isadora approached me, I heard my youngest son, Jace, yell out sleepily, “did he bring the milk?” I laughed and hugged Isadora. A moment later, Jace and Travis walked up. With Isadora still holding on, I grabbed Travis and Jace and pulled them into the hug. Or should I say tried to. Travis, being six foot three inches of a seventeen year old kind of held us all as he towered over us. Jace, who was fifteen, was not far off as he was as tall as me at five foot ten inches tall.

The boys, too tough for anything, just stood there in the hug, but for Isadora and I, it was a different story. I was too emotional to hold anything in and began to silently cry. I could feel Isadora’s shoulders moving up and down as she cried. I kept thinking to myself, just one more to go. One more child to go and all five of my children are safe. But the last was the hardest because I had no way to get to him or even knew where he was right now. It took a few moments, but I was able to get a hold of myself.

Letting go of the embrace, I asked, “How are you, are you guys okay?” Isadora didn’t say much, as was her usual way, especially if she didn’t know what to say. She just shook her head up and down affirmatively, but I knew better. I could see in her eyes that she was not. Jace and Travis said they were okay too, but agreed that it had been frightening at the beginning. I could see through them as well. Even though they put up a convincing front, and maybe they were handling it a bit better than Isadora, I could tell their eyes still held fear in them as well. I didn’t blame any of them, I was scared too, but it hurt my heart for my children to have to go through this fear.

I smiled at them, attempting to put on a brave face. Who knows, maybe they saw through me as well and put on a brave face for my benefit too. “Things will get better,” I promised. I’m exhausted and will lay down for a bit. But when I get up, I’m planning to find a few of my friends that are prior military like me and we'll figure this shit out. We’ll come up with a plan to protect our family, and maybe even thrive.” At that part, I could see recognition in their eyes. If they knew one thing, their father and his friends would absolutely wreck shop protecting their families. Fear was still there, but there was also something else directly behind the fear, and that was hope. “I’m going to go lay down now," I said. Before I pass out on my feet.” I hugged my children again and told them I loved them and said goodnight.

I stepped into the room where Denise was waiting. She walked past the children and I while we hugged. “They missed you and worried about you,” she said.

“I missed them and worried about them too. You as well. But I’m home now and we’re going to figure this out.”

Denise looked me in the eyes and simply said “I know.” And I could see that she really did know. Her eyes spoke of confidence. I finished getting undressed and crawled into bed with my wife. I kissed her one long kiss then cuddled up to her. I whispered into her ear “Goodnight baby, I love you.”

“Goodnight baby, I love you too.” I tapped my wedding band against hers three times, then held her hand as we both fell asleep.