Once outside on the sidewalk, I turned back towards the house and began casting spike growth. I focused my mana in one hand. The sensation felt like I grabbed thickened air. It felt entirely different than when I cast heal or Tame Animal. Compared to this, those spells only brushed against my mana. When the ten second cast time was finished, I pushed my hand forward towards the spot I had chosen.
Eight inch barbed spikes rose out of the ground in a twenty-two foot diameter that covered the driveway and side yard gate. I thought that would be the easiest location to break into. The garage and side yard also housed our two working vehicles and the load of firearms we had taken from the PD.
I inspected the spikes and saw, even with my night vision color change, the spikes blended in with the concrete. Even the spikes that grew out of the grass changed colors to blend in better. I estimated there was approximately one spike for every one foot square within the twenty-two foot diameter. The spell only lasted ten minutes with an hour cooldown, so I would cast it every hour while on patrol tonight. That would surely gain a couple levels I hoped.
With that done, I headed to Joe’s house. Along the walk, the streets were mostly empty. I saw a few people moving about in their residences but no one was out causing any problems. It looked like Joe and his partner’s patrolling efforts made a difference in this neighborhood. When I got to Joe’s house, I radioed in and let them know I was there. This time they didn’t open the garage door, but let Dog and I in through the side gate.
“I brought the spare AR mags with me, I said. Maybe someone can load them up for tomorrow.”
“I can do that," Johnny answered. I’m staying here to guard this stuff tonight while you guys are on patrol.”
“Sweet”, I said, and emptied the duffle bag onto Joe’s workbench. “Where are the forty caliber rounds? I need to take some back with me so I can get the pistol mags loaded as well.” I located the cases of ammo Pete pointed to and grabbed several fifty round boxes of the .40 caliber. "I also need uniforms and gear for my four kids.”
It took me a little bit, but I went through the boxes of stuff they took. I found black BDU’s that should fit each of them, and put together duty belts with a holster and mag pouches. I figured they wouldn’t need more than that on their belts for the time being. I also grabbed four helmets and three tac vests, figuring one of them could use my old tac vest.
The ballistic panels in the vest were most likely expired but they would still stop pistol rounds. Not yet able to adequately inventory the gear, I estimated we could outfit at least twenty more people in uniforms and armor. With everything put in the duffle bag, I selected a helmet for myself and adjusted the straps to fit properly.
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“So what’s the plan for patrolling?" I asked.
“We don’t have a real plan in place," Joe said. We just walked through the neighborhood looking for trouble.” The neighborhood was about four square blocks with Chad’s house on the south side and Joe's to the north. The town developers created little gated communities. In order to get to another neighborhood, you had to leave your area and go down a central road and then turn into another neighborhood. Honestly I thought it was always a pain to get through the city.
“Sounds good to me," I said. Dog and I will cover the southern two blocks, you two will take the north. And if anything goes wrong, we'll hit each other up on the radio."
"That sounds like a plan to me,” Pete replied. Securing the duffle bag, Dog and I left Joe’s house and headed towards Chad’s house. I dropped the duffle bag off with him and started patrolling. Chad said he would care for the gear and load the .40 caliber mags. He also wanted to take out the Glocks and clean them. “Not much else to do,” he said. “We ain't got no TV anymore.”
I left the house and activated my sneak ability, ducking into the shadows. I wanted to patrol the whole night in stealth if I could, but the math didn't work out. My sneak ability cost me ten stamina per minute. My stamina regeneration rate was seven and a half per minute. That meant I lost two and a half stamina for every minute I used sneak. At two hundred five stamina, I could remain in stealth for eighty-two minutes before bottoming out. I felt tired when my stamina was low after fighting Joe in the streets.
I had no desire to feel complete stamina loss. In some games and fantasy novels it was mild, but in others it was completely debilitating. I did not want to discover what it would be under this system. I decided to use Sneak for an hour each time and then let my stamina recover fully before activating Sneak again.
About every hour, I would swing by the house and re-cast the spike growth near the garage. I was getting used to using that spell. Even if I didn’t gain any levels tonight, I was glad I practiced. Casting the spell for the first time in the heat of battle might have thrown me off my game for a split second. That could be the difference between life and death. And I really liked my life, and I wanted to keep it. I was sure my wife wanted me to keep it as well.
Only one time during the night did I have to deal with someone trying to break into a house. Dog noticed the guy first and gave a low growl. Too low for anyone else to hear but me standing next to him. I found the culprit trying to move between the bushes. Not very well at all, I thought to myself. Still in sneak and sticking to the shadows, I followed the man until he apparently picked what he believed was a soft target.
I moved to the corner of the house the guy planned on breaking into and got a better look at him. He looked like he couldn’t have been older than sixteen or seventeen. This kid was probably just trying to find food for his family. Still, I couldn’t let him break into my neighbor's house and take theirs.
Just as the kid was about to break the long window by the door, I called out and said, “Hey kid, get your ass away from there.” At that moment Dog let out a long growl. The kid screamed loudly and about fell off the front steps of the house. He got his feet under him quickly and sprinted down the street as fast as his teenage legs could handle. I laughed hard for a good long minute. Then I looked down at Dog and said, “are you sure that was a guy?" Sounds more like a girl’s scream to me.” I swear I saw Dog look up at me with a Scooby-Doo "I ron't row” look. But it must have just been the shadows playing tricks.