Chapter Twenty-Eight: Try Me

  I left Pen, the General, and Bear in the rift, and headed home.

  I wasn't sure how Bear felt about being left behind. Maybe Bear wasn't sure either. I told her I was trusting her to take care of Pen and I knew she'd be up to the job, and she liked that. But I looked back before we entered the breach and her ears were drooping, her eyes uncertain.

  Riley was unhappy about it, too. He didn’t object, but I could tell that he’d rather have Bear where he could keep an eye on her. I rubbed behind his ears and then gave him a long scritch along his spine, ending just above his tail as I said, “It’s just for a little while, Bud. She’ll be okay.”

  Was I lying to him? Not really. I was sure that once Bear got over that pang of separation anxiety, she’d have fun killing bugs in the rift.

  The little while, though, might be wishful thinking on my part. How long we’d be separated depended on the Barrows, not me. When would they arrive?

  It probably came down to how aggressive they planned to get.

  Politely asking about their missing child? Could be any time.

  Demanding permission to search the premises? They’d be cautious, maybe make a plan, but within a couple of hours. Definitely before lunchtime.

  Intending to add me to the list of Murder Hobo victims? That might take them a little longer.

  I looked down my driveway to the dirt road at its end. I wished I’d had time to block it off the way I wanted to, but it probably didn’t matter. If they were on foot, they’d find a way in. If they were in vehicles, they’d get out, and find a way in. The bougainvilleas made a great defensive perimeter around the front yard, but too much of my property was outside its thorns.

  The gas can was still sitting on the ground by the electric panel. I headed to the shed and dug around until I uncovered the generator. I remembered it as being heavy as hell, so I braced myself before I grabbed the handle, then nearly face-planted when it slid toward me like it was on wheels. Right. Enhanced Strength. That was never going to stop feeling weird.

  I hauled the generator out of the shed, moving easily. The challenge of getting the generator to the electric panel had loomed in my imagination as a job that would take half an hour or more. I’d done it before, so I knew it was heavy labor. It took about ninety seconds instead, including the annoying part of shifting it over the shed threshold, which I did not remember with fondness.

  The apocalypse itself sucked, but I could definitely get used to the stat increases.

  While I filled the gas tank, I thought about the Barrows.

  The first time I met the Reverend Ezra Barrow, he let me know—under the guise of welcome to the neighborhood—that a woman’s place was in the home. The third time, he told me that my dying father was going to burn in hell and invited us to join them for services.

  Asshole.

  Yeah, I despised the man. Wouldn’t you?

  I did think, though, that he was most likely to try to bully his way into searching. He'd claim he just wanted to check the property, in case Pen was hiding somewhere without my knowledge. We'd both understand that he actually thought I was hiding her deliberately. And we'd both be right.

  But I’d let him bully me. I’d let him search the whole place and I’d do it with a calm smile on my face. This was going to be one of those encounters that women slide through on politeness and gritted teeth.

  What if I was wrong, though?

  I primed the engine and yanked on the choke cord harder than strictly necessary. The generator roared to life.

  I should let it warm up before plugging it in, but I didn’t want to lose my hearing while I waited, so I walked away and sat down on the front porch steps.

  Riley followed, going past me to the Welcome mat, and curled up by the front door, clearly happy to get away from the smells and noise. Zelda, though, sat next to me and leaned into my leg. Her tail was still, her ears back.

  What if I was wrong? What if the Barrows came here with every intention of killing me? They’d know they’d need to kill the dogs, too. How would they prepare for that?

  How should I prepare?

  The obvious first step was to level up. I had the XP, and I was about to face an unknown threat. I might as well, right?

  I didn’t mess around. I confirmed Level 18, then Level 19, then Level 20.

  I was still shocked that my night had been so productive, but that rift close bonus was almost two levels on its own. That might be bad news. It sort of implied that it might be why the Rift Management Oversight Board was after me. But hey, I wasn’t going to complain.

  My new attributes were:

  Physical

  Strength: 9 (+10%) = 10

  Agility: 9 (+10%) = 10

  Endurance: 9 (+10%) = 10

  Mental

  Intelligence: 9 (+10%) = 10

  Perception: 42 (+10%) = 46

  Resilience: 26 (+10%) = 29

  X-Factor

  Presence: 4 (+10%) = 4

  Serendipity: 10 (+10%) = 11

  Will: 40 (+10%) = 44

  I had 6 free points to play with. I’d wanted to put them into Presence, so that I could get the X-Factor Synergy (10) trait, whatever it was. But now… well, 5 more points put into Physical attributes could boost my [Body in Balance] trait so that nothing and no one under Level 7 could do physical damage to me.

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  I imagined Robbie trying to hit me and having his attack bounce right off and smirked a little at the thought. Maybe it wouldn’t work quite that way, but it would be something like that. For all of them. I could be swarmed by the Barrows, but they wouldn’t be able to hurt me.

  Of course, I’d rather not be swarmed by the Barrows. What if the X-Factor Synergy trait gave me something persuasive, that would let me convince them to walk away?

  I nearly groaned with indecision, before getting up and going to plug the generator in. Strength and Endurance? Or Presence and Serendipity? Did I want to be lucky or did I want to be tough? Couldn’t I be both?

  Instead of going inside to make the cup of tea that I clearly deserved, I walked down to the end of the driveway and looked down the road. No sign of the Barrows.

  From the outside, though, my bougainvilleas were quite something. Still beautiful, still with gorgeous pink leaves pretending to be flowers, but the needle-like spikes weren’t hiding among the leaves anymore. They’d become something more like daggers, and they seemed to be dripping.

  It was my own defensive measure, and I still didn’t want to get too close. Those bougainvilleas were scary.

  For whatever reason, they helped me make my decision. With barely a pause, I dropped three points into Endurance and a point each into Strength and Agility. My physical stats were now

  Physical

  Strength: 10 (+10%) = 11

  Agility: 10 (+10%) = 11

  Endurance: 12 (+10%) = 13

  I stuck my last free point into Presence, bringing it up to 5, and because the System rounded my 10% attribute boost up, it became 6. Two more levels before I could find out what the X-Factor Synergy trait would do. But [Body in Balance] would now stop physical damage from Level 6 and below, which meant the esteemed Reverend Barrow could bite me.

  I was just about to close my status screen and go inside for that cup of tea when I noticed that Will had crossed the 40 point mark. I’d gotten a Perception trait at 40, Senses Beyond Sight, which so far just meant that I was reminded of the dead squirrels in my yard every time I took a breath. But maybe Will would give me something better.

  I looked.

  Will (40): Try Me: Your refusal bites back. If an attacker attempts to manipulate your thoughts or emotions, you have a 50% chance of causing them to be hit with a physical backlash equal to the margin by which your Will exceeds theirs, multiplied by 4% of their maximum HP.

  It was a rebound effect, like the one on Warden’s Edge, but so much less useful. It only triggered on mental effects, the odds of it working were only 50-50, and if my Will score was close to that of my attacker—or worse, theirs was higher—it would be useless, doing no damage at all.

  Color me unimpressed.

  I hoped the System used some discretion when defining “attacker,” too. After all, the last person who attempted to manipulate my emotions was the pitiful Girl Scout outside my local Publix, trying to convince me to buy her last five boxes of cookies. She deserved an eye roll, not whatever kind of smackdown this thing would deliver.

  The generator was hellishly loud, but the electricity made it worth it. I made my cup of tea, thought about breakfast, and tried not to watch the clock.

  Tick-tock, tick-tock. Would the Barrows knock?

  Both dogs had come inside with me, but I was reasonably sure we’d all sense the Barrow presence long before they made it to the front door. I didn’t know if [Verdant Sanctuary] gave me a danger sense like [Wild Sanctuary], but I was so tense that I kept wandering back and forth from the kitchen to the front windows.

  I wouldn’t hear them over the generator.

  I ate breakfast, including the toast and bacon I’d offered Pen.

  “Don’t tell Bear,” I told Zelda and Riley in my most serious voice when I handed them their share. She’d know anyway. She’d be guilt-tripping me with dirty looks until the smell faded in the house. Could be days.

  I checked the window again.

  I washed the dishes, appreciating the hot water for the treasure it was. I thought about taking a shower, but of course if I did the Barrows would immediately arrive.

  I checked the window again.

  I considered turning the television on. Some stations were undoubtedly off the air, but I might be able to find some news. Or maybe the internet would work.

  I checked the window again.

  I was… bored. And annoyed. And really, truly, deeply sick of being scared.

  I could tell myself all I liked that I was the big, tough, scary person in this neighborhood. The apex predator. But I hadn’t been running around the forest killing mana-crazed panthers. Or doing whatever it was Robbie Barrow had been doing to get that Murder Hobo title.

  Despite the goblins and bugs and those few pitiful slimes, I was going to be facing people more comfortable with killing than I was.

  And since they hadn’t shown up yet, I needed to accept the real possibility that when they did, they would be out for blood.

  I looked at the dogs. I was tempted to put them in the rift with Bear, Pen and the General. But I would never get Zelda to stay in there without me unless I tied her up, and we were beyond that point. I couldn’t do that to her.

  In jail, the threat of violence is always in the air. You can feel it when you wake up, taste it when you go to sleep. You can’t always tell the direction it’ll come from. Other inmates or, more likely, guards. Will it be personal or will you just be in the wrong place at the wrong time?

  It is a fucking stressful way to live. Maybe people who live with it longer adapt, get used to it. I should count my blessings every day that I got to leave it behind.

  But waiting for the Barrows felt a lot like being in jail and it was pissing me off.

  I stomped my way out of the house and down to the wall of bougainvilleas again. If [Verdant Sanctuary] did work anything like [Wild Sanctuary] did, I ought to be able to expand upon it. The description said nothing more than, “Territory under Guardian protection develops natural defenses over time.” So maybe I needed to tell the System what territory I considered mine.

  I pulled out Warden’s Edge and started marking a line in the ground. I’d draw a boundary around everything I wanted to protect. Okay, maybe not all ten acres worth, even though it was all mine. But not just the front yard. The driveway, the garage, the shed, the backyard. I wanted the generator to be inside my territory and I wanted the back to extend all the way to the forest line.

  This was my property. Mine. Nobody got to take it away from me, nobody got to terrorize me in my own home. I would build a wall out of mud and sticks if I had to and use magic to transform it into stone.

  Okay, that probably wouldn’t work.

  But I would find wire and maybe seeds. Bougainvilleas grew like crazy even without mana and magic, so if I could direct their growth along the path I wanted, it might not take too long before they enclosed my land. I’d have to leave openings, of course. I’d need a way in and out myself.

  I paused and leaned on the shovel. Or did I?

  I had a way in and out: the rift. If I wanted to go somewhere, I could step into my RMI, pick a rift, and go.

  I kept drawing my line in the sand while I considered that idea until Riley barked.

  Once, twice, three times. That was how Riley always announced visitors.

  I hefted Warden’s Edge over my shoulder, checked to see that Zelda was with me, and started walking back to the driveway.

  I felt this weird clarity as I walked, like the air was cleaner than usual, and every inch of my skin was aware of being touched by it. Colors looked brighter, odors were stronger, and every sound seemed sharper.

  I heard them before I saw them. Mutters of conversation, boots hitting the driveway pavement, so even before I rounded the corner I sensed what I was going to see.

  Men.

  Way too many men.

  I counted automatically. Eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. I recognized Pen’s father in the center of the group, her brother Robbie looking sulky at one edge. I was pretty sure two other brothers were right next to their father. The family resemblance was strong.

  But who the hell were the rest of these guys?

  And where were the dogs?

  If they were searching for Pen, if they were even pretending to search for Pen, they should have the dogs with them.

  Where the hell were the dogs?

  And what the hell were those black misty tendrils coming out of Ezra Barrow?

  Thanks for reading!

  I think that I am on the verge of deciding to re-post with a new name, a new description, a new cover, and edited chapters, mostly because 1) I know now that the name is wrong, and 2) I thought my copy-edits were going to be minor and I was wrong about that, too. I've merged chapters and deleted chunks and I just don't see how to update this project in a way that isn't a complete mess.

  Anyway, I'll finish this arc before I do, but I'm debating tags. I didn't do any warnings on this story, but should I be saying profanity, sensitive topics, graphic violence (okay, probably not the last)? If you have thoughts or opinions, please let me know.