The next few weeks were quiet for Isaac. The bear meat was plenty for the soldiers and people with connections, so they didn’t need him to go along on another major hunt.

This meant that he was free to hunt on his own.

Unfortunately, it was meager pickings.

There weren’t any normal animals larger than a rabbit. No deer or wild pigs. So, all he managed to harvest were the aforementioned rabbits and squirrels.

There were less and less of the normal ones. Soon he’d have to start taking the mutant ones.

He returned after lunch with a brace of rabbits and a string of squirrels.

The gate was manned by group of soldiers.

“Good hunting, Hotstuff?”

“Not really.” Isaac kept his face guarded. No reaction. He didn’t want to show any discomfort or that he was intimidated by the guns pointed vaguely around his feet. He knew they could swing them up in a split-second.

“Damn shame. It’s been months since I’ve had any bacon.”

The gate slid open and the soldier on the wall waved him through.

“You know the drill.”

Isaac placed his haul and his day pack on the table outside the guard shack. He kept his face neutral while the soldiers inspected his pack.

He unlaced his boots and placed them on the table. His jacket went next as he stood with arms out wide for the pat down.

It took less than a minute, but it felt like an eternity as he forced himself to look unconcerned while the soldiers looked down on him with smug faces.

“No contraband. We’ll take the rabbits. You can keep the squirrels.”

Isaac nodded.

“Barely any meat on them, right guys!”

The soldiers laughed.

“Thanks again, Hotstuff. You do your community a service.”

An unbidden image popped into Isaac’s thoughts.

Of the soldier’s face melting in a fire.

Of all of them on flames, screaming.

“Oh, the major wants to see you. ASAP. So once you take care of your squirrels, best you head on over right away.”

The soldier patted Isaac on the head.

Their laughter followed him as he walked away.

Isaac didn’t waste any time. He dropped the squirrels off at home and went straight to town hall.

The park next to the building had been turned into a workout and training area for Cade and his crew. The regular gym had gotten to small for the over-sized meatheads.

The meatheads were busy at lifting ridiculous amounts of weight, grunting and yelling at each other.

It made Isaac cringed internally. The distaste he felt was visceral.

He walked with a purpose, hoping that they wouldn’t notice him.

“Hotstuff!”

A gruff voice shouted.

“Shit,” Isaac muttered.

Cade came stomping over like some kind of flesh-colored hulk.

“What’s up, bro?”

“The major wanted to see me,” Isaac said.

He had to crane his neck up to look at Cade’s caveman-ish face.

“Oh yeah, wonder what my dad wants with you?”

Isaac shrugged.

He had been vaguely aware of Cade’s existence back in high school.

The Cade of today was world’s apart from the Cade of the past.

Isaac was three years ahead, so they hadn’t crossed paths. Not that they traveled in similar circle anyways.

From what he remembered Cade didn’t really travel in any circles. A loner and a neckbeard, that’s what the meaner people called him, which, since it was high school, was practically everyone.

The spires changed everything. They made Cade’s life better.

Isaac didn’t know the full details, but whatever class Cade got allowed him to come up with a serum or a potion. Isaac wasn’t too clear on the proper terminology.

This serum was responsible for the ridiculously muscled teenagers and young men sweating all over the park.

It was like fictionalized steroids. You took it, lifted weights and you got bigger and stronger. Except you went way beyond known human limits and what was physiologically possible.

Cade had grown a foot and probably weighed somewhere in the five to six hundred pound range.

The best part of it was that the extra mass didn’t make him a plodding behemoth barely capable of movement. He was quick and fast. They had timed him at near Olympic records in all kinds of running events. Even his stamina was greater than it should’ve been.

They made the biggest bodybuilders look small and they could run and fight better than the best athletes.

Isaac kept the disgust off his face.

Cade was grotesque. Bulging muscles on top of muscles.

That wasn’t the only reason for Isaac’s disgust.

Cade and his crew where as ugly on the inside as they were on the outside.

“Hey, man, so I’m throwing a party Saturday night. Tell your sister I’d love to have her come.”

Cade’s eyes looked beady set in his massive face. They reminded Isaac of a wild boar he saw once. A mutated animal that he had burned to death.

All that muscle hadn’t kept it safe from the flames.

Isaac controlled his building rage.

“I’ll let her know,” Isaac said lightly.

“Cool, cool. I’d invite you, but,” Cade shrugged boulder-sized shoulders, “no old people… no offense.” His grin was too close to a sneer.

“Totally get it. I’m not allowed to go to high school parties, it’d be lame for a college guy to do that,” Isaac said.

Cade forced a laugh.

Isaac knew full well that Cade had just graduated high school before the spires ruined whatever post graduation plans he had. Though from what he had heard, Cade hadn’t had any.

“Alright, Hotstuff. I better let you go. You don’t want to get the old warhorse pissed off at you.”

Cade slapped Isaac on the back and sent him stumbling forward.

Isaac tried to ignore Cade’s booming, mocking laughter as he made his way to the building.

All that muscle wouldn’t keep Cade safe from the flames.

The major was in his office, which used to be the mayor’s.

“Freeman,” the major said. “Sit down.”

Major Glen Tanner was a big man. He looked like a bodybuilder. Except it looked new. The stretch marks on his skin suggested rapid and new growth.

Isaac wondered if Cade’s serum-potion wasn’t quite as effective for the old soldier. He wondered how that affected a man’s pride to see his formerly useless, neckbeard of son surpass him physically in every conceivable metric.

“Sir?”

Isaac kept his tone as deferential as he could. It wasn’t hard. Growing up in the town as the ‘half-breed’ had pounded that into him at an early age. He had learned that any sign of defiance just made problems for him and his parents. That had been the last he had wanted. It was even worse for his parents since they were black and he hadn’t wanted to add to their burden after they adopted him and his sister.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

At least half of him was considered okay. A bitter thought that he still struggled with.

“Good work with the bear. My men really needed the protein. It’s hard to stay strong without proper nutrition. Can’t protect you all if we are weak.”

“Glad to be of service.”

“That’s why I brought you here.” The major pulled out a slip of paper and slid it across the desk.

Isaac scanned it quickly. It took supreme effort not to show his surprise and dismay.

“You’ve shown your mettle and with your… abilities,” the major couldn’t quite disguise the distaste, “you’ve proven yourself a valuable asset. Congratulations, son. As of this moment you are now Private First Class Isaac Freeman. You’ll report to the barracks on Monday for basic. It won’t be the same, but we’ll do our best to give you the same experience we got before things went to shit.”

What else could Isaac say to that?

“Yes, sir.”

The major stood and saluted.

Isaac tried to copy the gesture.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you doing that properly. We’ll make a proper soldier out of you, son. No more wasting your time hunting tiny animals. Dismissed.”

Isaac walked home like a dead man.

He didn’t stick around for dinner. He handed the piece of paper to his mom and left.

The military assholes had the gall to print up the draft notice like they were doing a book report. They didn’t call it a draft. Called it an honor.

Isaac reached the gate just as the sun started to dip low over the mountains.

Jordan and a couple of soldiers were on duty for the night. The former always got stuck with the worst shifts. Probably had something to do with his failure to buy in with Cade and the major. Too bad for them Jordan was too valuable as the only one with healing magic.

“Isaac… going out hunting?” Jordan smiled.

Isaac studied the soldiers. It was a different set from the ones earlier. “Yeah. Don’t know how long I’ll be.”

“Man, Hotstuff you’re pretty badass for going out in the dark,” one of the soldiers said. “Them little fire balls of yours sure pack a punch for looking so dinky.”

“Fire darts,” the other soldier corrected.

“They’ve done right by me so far,” Isaac said.

“Alright, you know the drill, Freeman.”

The soldier’s smile looked like a sneer to Isaac. Nevertheless he smiled back and complied with the pat down.

Jordan disappeared into the guard shack, while the two soldiers searched through Isaac’s pack and clothing.

Isaac understood why they did it when he was coming in, but he didn’t get why they did it when he was going out.

When they were done, Jordan came back out of the shack and slapped hands with Isaac.

“Take care, bro,” Jordan said lightly. “Don’t step in any bear shit.”

Isaac steeled his features as he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small flashlight.

He had to disguise stashing the slip of paper Jordan had stuck in his palm from the soldiers.

The walk along the side of the winding road lasted about thirty minutes before he dipped into the forest. Anyone that might’ve been following him would’ve stopped there.

The forest night was too dangerous for most.

It was no different for Isaac, except he only had to be afraid of two things, mutated black bears and mutated cougars. The smaller mutated animals haven’t attacked him for some months. He had no idea why.

After he had walked for about fifteen minutes he stopped and removed his boots and socks. He tied the former to his pack and took a deep breath.

Isaac drew on the fire he felt inside of him and pushed it down to his legs and feet.

He took off at a sprint that would’ve left a racehorse in the dust.

It was a long way to the city and he didn’t have time to waste.

His father depended on him.

The city was about forty miles away from Isaac’s hometown. About ten was winding mountain roads. The balance was straight down the interstate.

The only reason he felt secure going for medicine was because there was no way that the soldiers would’ve thought it possible that he could get to the city and back in the span of a night.

They wouldn’t have been happy to learn that he was bypassing their stranglehold on the one pharmacy and one clinic in their town.

Anger rose in his chest at the memory of them denying painkillers to his father. They said that it was necessary to save vital medicine for essential personnel.

Isaac stopped just before the city and read Jordan’s note with light from a small fire from his fingertip.

A flare of rage accidentally set the paper on fire.

“Shit!”

Isaac tamped the flames out with his fingers. His anger had gotten away from him.

Jordan’s note was terse.

It stated that he had overheard Cade’s flunkies bragging about what they were going to do at the party. More specifically with the girls. Sofia’s name was mentioned.

The walls were closing in on Isaac.

He burned the note and strode into the dark city.

Gremlin-like monsters, big and small, waited for him.

They couldn’t stand up to his rage-fueled fire.

Isaac made it back just after midnight. He would’ve made it before, but it took a little bit of extra time to find some bear shit. Fortunately, he was familiar with the game trails around his town.

He found a massive pile and stepped his boots in deep.

He didn’t know why Jordan wanted him to step in shit, but it didn’t cost him anything to do so.

The reason became clear when Isaac got back to the gate.

Normally, Jordan was the only one on duty, which was why he had timed his city trips on such nights.

The two soldiers weren’t a welcome sight.

Isaac was lucky he had caught Jordan’s oblique warning.

“Finally! Took you long enough and you came up empty,” one of the soldiers sighed.

“Been seeing less animals out there. Had to go out further.”

“Whatever, man. Let’s get this over with. I want to sleep,” the other soldier said. “Pack, jacket and shoes on the table.”

Isaac almost breathed a sigh of relief. He had tucked the medicine for his father into his boots when he had figured out Jordan’s secret message.

“Jesus Christ! You stepped all the way in the shit! Jordan!”

Jordan made a face, but grabbed the shit-smeared boots. He took them aside and placed them on the ground before checking them over.

The soldiers checked Isaac and his gear. He knew they’d find nothing.

Jordan would find the medicine in the boots, but would pretend there was nothing.

“Clear,” the soldier said.

“Same,” Jordan said as he pointed toward Isaac’s boots. “You can take them. I’m moving over there, where it doesn’t smell like mutant bear shit.”

“Thanks,” Isaac said dryly. He put his boots back on quickly, but not too eagerly.

The two soldiers walked away into the gas lit night street.

Jordan subtly signaled for Isaac to wait.

Isaac wanted to get home and get the medicine to his father.

“What?” Issac said as soon the soldiers were out of sight.

“One sec,” Jordan said. He flashed his light down the street.

Someone appeared out of the shadows. The figure revealed itself to be a girl, young woman. Isaac vaguely recognized her as a high school student, well formerly, since that wasn’t a thing anymore.

She looked haggard and scared. She glanced at Isaac hesitantly.

“It’s okay, Tif,” Jordan said. “Isaac’s cool.” He ran back to the guard shack and came back with his pack. “How’s Liv?”

“Same, always hungry.”

Jordan pulled out a plastic bag filled with what looked like a few cans of food and handed them to the young woman.

“Thanks, Jordan.”

Tif looked like she was going to cry.

Isaac looked away in discomfort.

“Sorry, that’s all I have for you,” Jordan patted Tif on the back. “Now, get home and be careful.”

Tif sniffed and nodded before disappearing into the darkened street.

“What the hell was that?”

Jordan shrugged. “Tiffany and her little sister lost their parents to the monsters. They don’t have any useful abilities like us, so they’re low on the list when it comes to getting supplies.”

Isaac nodded. He felt a surge of heat in his chest. He could already guess where this was going.

“So, in order to avoid starvation, Tif does… favors for Cade and his crew,” Jordan made a disgusted face, “I’m sure I don’t have to spell that out for you. Anyways, there’s a bunch of girls in Tiffany’s position. It’s like Cade’s taking his revenge for high school.”

Isaac shook his head he didn’t trust that fire wouldn’t shoot out of his mouth if he spoke.

“You know, Cade was the biggest neckbeard back in high school. I always tried to be nice and stopped my teammates from picking on him too much when I was around. Couldn’t always be there though. It’s sad that he lived up to it. As for my old teammates, well, I’m not surprised they turned out like this. Just surprised they’d kiss Cade’s ass so quickly.”

Isaac took a deep breath. “I was a few years ahead of you guys so I don’t know anything about all that, but I’ll say you’re a pretty decent guy for being the star quarterback.”

Jordan smiled sadly. “A different life. Honestly, feels like a whole different person lived it.”

“Have you considered telling Major Tanner?”

“He knows,” Jordan spat. “I think he’s scared of his son.”

“Cade’s big and strong, doesn’t mean a bullet to brain won’t stop him,” Isaac said.

“Calling him ‘big and strong’ feels like a gross understatement.”

Isaac thought a moment. “Maybe, but he’s not bulletproof.”

“Are we sure about that though?”

Isaac considered it. “I guess they couldn’t really test that or if they did, it’d be done in secret.”

“Probably not fireproof though,” Jordan eyed Isaac.

“Thanks for the help,” Isaac said quickly, “I should get the meds back to my dad.”

“Hey, no worries. Just glad to be of help. I’m sorry I can’t do more.”

“No, Jordan. You’re probably the best person in this town.” Isaac was surprised to realize that he meant it.

“Just trying to do the best I can. Our town would be in better shape if we all did the same. I guess,” Jordan shrugged. “Be careful, Isaac. The major and Cade’s got plans for you and your sister.”

“Two more days till that party. I’ll figure something out,” Isaac said.

“I’ll be here if you need me,” Jordan said. “Literally, I’ll be manning this gate on Saturday, like always.”

Isaac looked up at the blue eyes, blond hair and broad shoulders. He looked away quickly, embarrassed.

“Thanks, man.”

Isaac rushed home. The fires in his chest burned hotter.