Chapter One

“Come on hold together! You don’t want to get ripped apart by the scary, eyeless, freaks Rey!” Rey said to himself.

Inner dialog became outer dialog the longer he spent alone.

The mana chain was dim and weak. He was trying to use his control over it. To hold the chain together.

It would have been easier to increase the mana density. But if he did that the alert, almost senseless, Klaxon would know his location.

He dangled off the side of a rock. That jutted out of the mountain and over the middle of a clearing.

The humanoid monsters normally roamed about like cows in their pasture. Sensing Rey using magic, informed them of his presence.

Even hanging a car length out of their reach. Didn’t reassure him of his safety. He knew the herd of Klaxon would pile onto each other. Until they reached him.

If he could use his other hand to climb. He would. But his dog was being held underneath his left arm.

Vibrations traveled down the mana chain.

The Klaxon, that chased Rey off the cliff were coming.

His heart raced when he felt them getting closer.

Hundreds ran off the cliff and joined the thousands below him. They all tried to reach him, as they fell past.

The sharp nails on their ugly, gray hands. Grazing him was enough to make him tense.

The waterfall of bodies started to become a trickle.

In the clear now, he could retract the chain.

Salvation was so close. The stubborn Klaxon, Rey shot in the knee, limped over the edge, and grabbed Rey’s foot on the way down.

With a hundred extra pounds added to the chain, the only option now was to strengthen it. That’s what he did.

As he kicked the thing off his foot, he noticed all the stitches. That bound the Klaxon’s eyes closed.

A surge of mana allowed him to pull the chain in fast and grab the sharp rocks.

One hand was all he needed to get over the cliff.

A sigh of relief escaped him. The immediate area was clear.

He didn’t have to look. He could hear the Klaxon frenzy to reach him. It wouldn’t take long.

Faced with few options to consider. Rey chose Ole Faithful. He ran.

Seven Earth days ago.

"Damn, it's a beautiful day." Rey thought.

Vibrant green reflected off the grass. As it swayed in the gentle breeze.

The rough bark, on the Pecan Tree, massaged his back. His cotton shirt blunting the sharp edges.

With a book in hand and his dog lying beside him, Rey soaked in the serenity of the moment.

Springtime in Mississippi was beautiful. When it wasn’t raining.

He heard the back door open.

"Hey Rey you hungry?" Asked Nova.

Nova was a beautiful petite brunette. Unlike Rey, she looked younger than most people who were thirty.

But unlike Rey, she hadn’t been beaten up for twenty-plus years.

Could he give up the chance to enjoy this unusual weather for some calories?

Of course, he would. A thousand years in the best climate. Couldn’t compare to a snack with his favorite person in the world, his wife.

"Yeah, I reckon." Nova heard his fried baritone voice reply.

"It ain’t much. Just a sandwich" Nova said as she turned to go inside.

"Come on Darbs let's go get us something to eat," Rey said grunting as he got up.

If anybody was listening they would have thought Rey was an old man down in his back. In reality, he was just a thirty-year-old who pushed his body too hard for too long.

His stiffening joints signaled that it was time for the daily meds.

“I’m calling Jason tomorrow! You need your medicine adjusted.” Nova said

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Jason, their family doctor, told Rey that he had the joints of an eighty-year-old. He believed every word.

Deteriorating joints ended his MMA career, but he still trained a couple of times a week.

“No, I ain’t going to see Jason. He’ll just add another pill. Me and Darbie have enough to start a pharmacy as it is!” Rey argued.

Darbie, the short-legged, fat, dog, beat him to the door. Anybody who knew dogs would say she looked like a long-legged Dachshund. But, she had lost a few pounds within the last couple of months.

After tearing her CCL, she had to have surgery. The Vet said she would have an easier time if she didn't have to carry around so much. So Nova and Rey started feeding her that good dog food, the refrigerated kind.

As Rey sat down at the kitchen bar he pulled the sandwich from the other side.

The pulled chicken was spilling from between the two slices of bread. He could see and smell the garlic butter that was toasted onto the bread.

"Mmh this some good shit babe," Rey said still chewing.

Nova bent down to give the begging dog a small piece of chicken.

"Damn it! Thats it! I ain't giving you no more!" Nova said as she bent down pointing her finger at Darbie.

"Did she bite you?" Rey said smiling.

"Yeah! She bit my damn finger!" Nova said while looking down at her reddening finger.

Rey got up from his seat to walk around the counter. "Awe she didn't mean it mama she's just a hungry girl," Rey said

"Yeah, I know it. Look at how red it is."

Rey grabbed Nova's wrist and examined her extended index finger. Then brought it to his lips.

"Mwah, all better?" Rey asked.

Nova was the only person that Rey tried to charm.

He was respectful to others. In a crass, direct way.

"We doing anything today?" Nova asked as Rey walked back to his seat.

Sitting down with a mouth full of salt and vinegar chips he said "We need to go to Walmart. But, that’s it I think. Is there something you want to do?"

"For what," Nova said in a dreadful tone.

"We need some stuff to eat for lunch and I wanted to get something sweet. Wanna go right now or later?"

Rey’s only vice in this world was sugar. He could blame that on his mom.

His mom could bake a chocolate cake that would knock your socks off.

"Let me jump in the shower real quick then we can go get it over with,” Nova said.

Rey stood and stretched, groaning with the motion, then wrapped Nova in a hug.

She felt him start to get antsy. Standing still too long didn’t agree with his hyperactive brain.

“OK I’m getting in the shower,” Nova said as she started toward the bedroom

Rey slapped Nova on the ass. When she turned to walk away.

“Damn, that’s a good-looking booty,” Rey said

Nova didn’t respond to the slap. She was used to Rey and his sometimes childish show of love.

“Hey, you need anything thrown in the dryer!” Rey said yelling to the back bedroom where Nova was now getting ready to get in the shower.

“No, I got stuff in there already!” She yelled back.

Rey turned around and Darbie was standing there looking up at him with her once-red face. Now turned white from age.

Nova got her from the vet clinic, she worked at, more than a decade ago. Darbie had been with Nova and Rey from the word go. She was brought to the vet after she and her litter mates were found thrown away in a dumpster.

Nova saw a cute, red, baby dachshund. Smaller than her palm with one blue eye, she couldn’t resist bringing her home.

Rey bent down to pet Darbie “You so pretty. You daddy's baby dirl? Huh? You daddy's baby dirl?” He said in baby talk. “You hungy?” Rey asked the dog

Darbie started jumping and spinning around like she had been waiting a lifetime to hear those words.

“OK OK” Rey stood looking at the clock. “It’s not time for your medicine yet but I guess I can give you a lil snag”.

That reminded Rey he could take his medicine now.

His head was starting to hurt. The headaches were getting more frequent. Stress-related was Jason’s diagnosis.

When Rey told the man that he wasn’t stressed. Jason pointed to all the joint issues he had and how much discomfort it caused him. Apparently, that was considered ‘stress’.

Rey made his way to the room at the other end of the kitchen. It was a small room with a light that was way too bright for it.

Rey thought rooms deserved the brightest light bulb on the market when his head wasn’t hurting.

Standing on the washing machine, next to an empty bowl labeled cat food. A gray plump cat meowed relentlessly.

Smoky was likely the most, annoyingly, loving cat in the world.

“Let me guess, you're hungry too,” Rey said as he petted Smoky.

“MEOW!!!”

“OK, geez calm your tits.”

Rey reached above Smoky into the cabinets and got a handful of cat food.

The cat was appeased for the moment.

Rey dug threw the clean clothes basket and found a clean T-shirt that only had a couple of small holes in it.

If he bought more clothes he wouldn’t have to look so hard. It always felt like a waste of money to him. He knew it wasn’t. People had to have clothes.

With the clothes now in the dryer, he walked into the kitchen.

The pain in his head had increased tenfold.

He groaned from the pain. Hand on his head, he made his way to the kitchen cabinet that housed the medicine.

After sorting out his regimen, he chased them down with some water. Rey hoped that would remedy the volcano readying to erupt in his head.

He tried taking his mind off of the pain by going over the next day's work schedule.

Tuesday, the next day, he was going to a farm. Out in BFE to look at a problem for an old friend.

The farm owner, Clyde, is the one who founded the machine shop Rey now owned. He taught Rey’s dad, David, how to fabricate and machine. Then later taught Rey how to do it.

David worked at the machine shop from his mid-teens to thirty-seven. Clyde finally relented and sold everything to him. Then a few years after achieving his dream. His dad died.

Rey’s phone started ringing. He walked to the bar where he had left it and picked it up.

The phone read Clyde Ham. He swiped the phone to answer the call, without his usual resignation.

Rey didn’t like talking on the phone but he didn’t mind Clyde’s calls.

He was a man a few words and Rey liked that about the grumpy old man.

“Hello,” Rey said in a pained voice.

The lava still churned inside his skull.

“Hey, boy. Are you still coming out tomorrow morning?” Clyde asked.

“Yes sir.”

“You aight? You sound like you got one of the prickly pears stuck to your scrotum.” Clyde said.

“That’s a new one.” Rey thought.

“I’m alright. My head is just hurting a little bit. I’ll be out there bright and early.” Rey said.

“Yeah, I bet. It's gone be nine by the time you get out here.” Clyde said sarcastically.

“Ha like I said bright and early.” Rey smiled through the pain at the man shit-talking.

“Alright bring that fancy scanner and be careful. The roads are full of young shitheads who can’t drive.” Clyde said.

“Alright, I’m gonna come out there and learn you a thing a two. We’ll see y'all later.”

Rey never understood why he and other people would say that. There was no we and they were talking on the phone, not in person.

The next thing Rey heard was the unique sound of his head bouncing off the unforgiving granite.

“That’s gonna hurt later.” Was the last thing Rey thought as the world shrunk to a pinpoint and then nothing.