After Jack left, Logan showered, scrubbing away all that blood and grime. He cringed as he changed into the kitten-wear, but his old shorts were a lost cause—soaked in blood and stag gore and reeking as if he’d dug them out of a grave. His missing toe injury had stung as he washed it with soap, but it was a dull ache, if anything. The skinned knees, contusions, scratches and a sore shoulder were all that remained of his murderous encounters and as each minute went by, they seemed incrementally less. What would take days to heal normally was now taking hours.
He'd found a phone charger in the bedside table, and he’d managed to power up his almost dead phone to 30% power by the time he came out of the bathroom. Jack had given him the wi-fi password, so even if the phone lines were still bogged down, at least he could email his sister or message her on social media.
Logan gave her another try, biting his lip. Please pick up.
“Logan?” Lara said.
Logan collapsed to the bed, boneless in his relief. “Lara? Are you okay? Are the kids okay?” His voice cracked with emotion. The tension he’d been holding in—so desperately worried that he’d caused her to get in a car with his frantic text message—deflated like a balloon.
“We’re okay. The kids and I are home. Thank God you got through. I’ve been trying to call you for hours. What about you? By the time I received your text message the cars had already blown up. I did everything I could to help, Logan, you have to believe me.”
He laughed in relief. “No, I believe you. I know you. I know you’d do everything. I’m so grateful you didn’t get in that car. You have no idea.”
“I bet. Well, you aren’t dead. I’m assuming you managed to get to the hospital?”
“Um. In a manner of speaking?”
“Logan,” she said. “What the hell does that mean?”
There was no way he was explaining the constitution attribute. After seeing Eleanor and Jack’s reaction, he didn’t want to imagine how Lara would react. She was pragmatic and analytic to a fault. She’d think he’d cracked under the pressure and would come down here to ‘save him’ from himself. “It wasn’t as bad as I thought. Anyway, I managed to make my way over to Eleanor’s and she helped. I seem to be in a good spot here and they’re going to let me stay until this blows over.”
“You’re safe?”
“I’m fine. But I’m worried about you and the kids. You remember what happened to the toilet paper at the grocery store when the pandemic started?”
Silence. “You think I should get toilet paper?” she asked dryly.
“Lara,” he scolded.
“I know, I know. I get it. Food and water. I’ll fill up the bathtub just in case.”
“Good. But things could get bad out there, and quickly. Don’t go outside unless you have to, understand? And Lara?”
“Yes?”
“What they’re saying on the news about the animals attacking is true. Keep the doors locked and—be wary of Annabelle.”
Lara scoffed. “Be wary of our parrot? Oooh, I’m shaking in my boots.”
“Hey, I’m serious,” he warned. “You don’t know—”
“Fine,” she said, sighing. “I’ll watch Annabelle. I’ll be careful, I promise. Just be safe until I have a way to pick you up. Or hell, we might come there instead.”
“I will,” he whispered.
When the call disconnected, Logan stared into space unseeingly. After all the worry, he didn’t know what to do with himself now that he knew his sister was okay. Logan should be relieved, but he didn’t feel that way. There was a vague panic at the back of his mind telling him that despite how bad everything was right now, it could still get worse. The government didn’t seem to have any idea what was going on, and if animals were attacking others like they had him, it was going to be a shit-show out there.
The Okanagan relied on food truck transportation to stock stores. For the conceivable future, that supply would stop. He needed to be prepared to run low on food and that meant desperate people.
Ultimately, it might not be the animals that he needed to worry about.
***
He found Jack and Eleanor in the living room, both of them glued to the TV. Jack seemed worse than before, his eyes baggy and red. “I heard you talking up there. Did you manage to get in touch with your sister?”
“Lara’s okay,” said Logan. “The kids are okay. They’re back in the city, staying inside.” He was relieved to say it, but he knew hearing that his family was okay had to be bittersweet to them both. Logan didn’t want to be that guy—the one that celebrated a win while everyone else was suffering.
Eleanor gave him a soft smile. “I’m glad to hear that. I always liked Lara. Tell her that she’s welcome here if she needs a safe place to stay.”
“I appreciate that. It must be hard for you both and—” Eleanor shot him a warning glance, subtly gesturing to Jack. “Um. I told Lara to prepare for scarce resources but that might be something we should consider doing too. What’s the food situation like?”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Eleanor lurched to her feet, wobbling before straightening. “That’s a good idea. Jack and I are being what I call ‘unproductive.’” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “And wallowing in our grief. We need to get our minds off things.” Her voice returned to normal. “Jack, come and help.”
Jack grumbled, but he followed them into the kitchen. “You don’t have much, mom. That’s why Marlene took the kids to the store.”
Eleanor gently slapped him on the chest. “I have tons! Just nothing fresh.” Opening the large cupboard next to the stainless-steel fridge, she squinted. “Lots of… pasta. A few cans of soup? That will last a week, for sure!”
“Yum,” said Jack dryly.
That would run out quickly. “Do you grow anything in your garden, Eleanor?”
“Garden?” Jack questioned.
“Hmph,” said Eleanor. “I have a garden! It’s just full of weeds right now, dearie. I’m not that type of senior, if you know what I mean.”
“Okay, I think we need to gather as much food as we can before everyone else does. I saw a boat anchored off your dock. That’s got a motor, right?”
Eleanor gave Logan a considering look. “It does. What are you thinking? I don’t have enough fuel to make it to the city and back.”
“But enough to go across the lake to the resort?” There was an old resort directly across from the cabin that had been there for decades. It was mostly for tourists, but they had a boat fueling station and a small convenience store for the locals.
Back when Logan was a child, his grandfather used to drive him and his sister across the lake to the resort. They’d refuel and then pop into the store for a jumbo Mr. Freeze. Logan used to love the blue freezies both for the flavor and the tongue dye. He couldn’t remember how many times he’d gotten brain freeze while his grandad drove the speedboat back across the lake under 100 degree blasting sun.
He hadn’t thought of that in ages. Those memories were what made him regret selling the cabin… if it was even sold after all of this. Knowing the seller’s realtor, he wouldn’t put it past him to add an apocalypse escape clause.
As for the store, it wouldn’t have healthy food, but it was better than nothing.
Jack peered through the kitchen windows with a dubious look. “It’s too late now. By the time we get back, it’ll be dark. I don’t know about you, but I don’t fancy trying to find mom’s place in the middle of the lake with nothing but the moon to light our way.”
“No, I agree. We should go first thing in the morning. Jack, do you want to come? Eleanor, I assume you want to stay.”
“You thought right,” said Eleanor. “These knees of mine aren’t the best for climbing into boats. But Jack, I agree with Logan. You need to go. It will be good for you.”
Jack gave her a haunted glance. “I know what you’re doing, mom.”
Her smile was gentle. “So that means you’ll go?”
Jack nodded.
Good. They had an avenue for food, and now Logan just needed to tackle the other part of his plan. “Now to the other thing. Jack, do you still have that baseball bat?”
Jack gave him a dubious glance. “I know you’re both trying to get my mind off Marlene and the kids, but throwing a ball around isn’t the best way to do it.”
Chagrined, Logan gave him a sheepish look. He had that coming. “Um, no. It’s to defend myself. I was hoping to use it as a weapon. You’ve got the shotgun, but I have nothing but my hands. I know you both haven’t had to deal with anything attacking yet, but trust me, you’ll want to be prepared when it happens.”
“Oh, then yeah. I have the bat. You can take it.”
Logan scratched the back of his neck. “And what about some carpenter nails?”
***
It turned out that Jack and Eleanor didn’t keep tools around the house, so Logan only had the baseball bat to defend himself as he made his way outside. It was no matter. He needed to go out anyway to test the System cheat, and although he was wary of going back to his cabin, his grandfather’s supply shed was full of tools.
The baseball bat was old, passed down to Jack from his father, but it was sturdy and wooden, just what he needed to MacGyver the hell out of it.
He’d considered grabbing the weed wacker instead, but it would be useless once he ran out of gas. Eleanor had a bunch of butcher knives too, but Logan would just as likely cut himself and die of blood loss before he managed to hurt anything. It was a close-contact weapon too, and that meant a lot of potential animal bites, and a lot of potential venom if snakes kept trying to kill him. No, the bat was the best option.
Logan jogged away from Eleanor’s property, passing through her manicured grass into the wild land between their two properties. Examining the dirt and rocks, he slowed down once he entered a flat clearing that had more sand and gravel than anything.
It was perfect.
Grabbing a stick, Logan etched lines into the dirt, drawing a makeshift vertical ladder on the ground as if he were drawing with chalk on a sidewalk. He took a step back, eyeing it, before adding a few more ladder rungs. All told, it was about five feet long.
Now for the experiment.
Although Logan didn’t go to the gym often, he’d once seen a personal trainer demonstrate an agility ladder to a soccer player who wanted to build up their leg strength. If the maneuvers didn’t count as agility, Logan didn’t know what would.
He had no idea if this would work, but either the System awarded him, or he’d drop dead from exhaustion first. One or the other.
Keeping an eye on his footwork, Logan raised his knees as he jumped through the invisible rungs. It took a few tries at first—he accidentally kept jumping on the lines and ruining them—but after the sixth try, he was able to power through the ladder in five seconds, flat.
Now for the next exercise.
Logan shuffled, stepping twice into each rung of the ladder, going side to side. Into the ladder, out the side, into the ladder, out the side. His speed was horrible at first, but after the fifth try, he got the hang of it, sweat pouring down his forehead and burning his eyes. His legs were screaming at him, his thighs cramping, but he completed the exercise another two times before repeating the whole thing, but this time, backwards.
He didn’t know if this was doing anything, but repetition never hurt.
Logan repeated the first exercise.
The second.
Backward.
Forward.
Backward.
Forward.
Ding!
[You have earned one Agility point! Agility daily limit capped for the next 24 hours.]
Hell yeah! Logan fist pumped the air. He was an agility ladder master! Unlike the endurance point increase, this one washed over him as a tingling sensation in his legs and arms, making him itch to jump into the exercise again. But he was exhausted. No matter. If he did this every day, eventually he’d increase his fitness to the point where it was routine.
Now for the next experiment.
This was a long-shot, and it might end up being a waste of time, but you never succeeded unless you tried. Logan walked past his ladder and wandered around until he found something small, something hard to see. There. An ant carrying a sliced leaf twice the size of its head.
Thankfully, it looked like a normal ant—no mutation, as far as Logan could see. Sitting down in a lotus position on the ground, he examined the ant and… stared.
First, he studied the ant’s legs and the miniscule hair covering them.
This was crazy. A day ago, he couldn’t see without his glasses, and he’d be squinting at anything far away. Today, he could see the fine detail on the ant, the way the sun shone on its body, and the mandibles that maneuvered the leaf.
After the ant scurried away, another took its place. This time, it had the remains of an insect in its mouth.
Logan stared and studied it.
And stared again.
It was… an ant.
What time was it again?
After a while, Logan had to admit that watching ants was as exciting as watching a kettle boil. There must be a limit to his system cheat because he still hadn’t received a perception attribute increase. Did he need to examine something else?
Logan glanced at the ant one more time.
Ding!