Time moved slowly the rest of the afternoon. Callie finally got back into her menus and selected SANCTUARY. She checked each of the other options this time since she felt like she had the time. She finally settled on HEALING WORD. She didn’t know if it was counterintuitive to have two healing spells, but if she could only use one a day, she figured having two would be better. Despite her buff saying she was exhausted and definitely feeling exhausted, she told the other three adults she would watch the kids while they took naps. She didn’t know how long they would have before the next attack or when Stern would arrive, but she knew she wasn’t a fighter, and the fighters needed to be ready.

  Kane saw when he selected his new skill that his exhaustion buff was now reading three instead of one. He definitely felt it. What he couldn’t reconcile was that it also had the word RESISTANT underneath it. He knew Callie had the resistance skill, but she didn’t tell him she was turning it on. Who else had that skill? And for that matter, did they all have it? They couldn’t, Phillip had gotten that pretty nasty gash, so either he didn’t have resistance or the snagon was powerful enough to break through it.

  That couldn’t be it, though; he had felt the spike of the tail graze his head, he should have gotten cut, too. Sitting down at the table, debriefing in his head, he realized he hadn’t imagined it; he had felt the tail graze him, and he should be in a worse spot than Phillip. Thank God he wasn’t, but how?

  Kane didn’t want to think about it; his mind was hazy after the stress of the fight with the snagon. The worry over Stern had taken the little remaining energy he had left. He went to his bedroom, he looked from his favorite chair to the bed and back to the chair. If he needed to get up quickly, he could get out of the chair faster. He decided that was where he would take his nap. It also helped that the chair was an easy dash to the bedroom door and out into the living room if he needed to quickly take action.

  Phillip led Carlie downstairs after thanking Callie. Although Phillip had gotten a nap, he knew his wife hadn’t, and as the military taught him, you never know when your next sleep will come. He was going to take advantage of the time. Also, if he was asleep or otherwise occupied, no one would notice the numbness in his hand or the fact that the green goo was still soaking through his bandage.

  A few hours later, Callie was awoken by a cell phone ringing.

  “Shit!” Callie mumbled, realizing she had fallen asleep at the kitchen table. She scrambled to her feet, looking for the cell phone.

  “Hello,” she heard a groggy Kane say from his chair in their bedroom, “Shit, Stern, you’re alive!”

  Kane came out of the bedroom, still rubbing his eyes but heading for the stairs, and Callie assumed to grab Phillip. Callie walked over to the coffee pot and dumped out the old coffee to make a fresh pot. She wasn’t sure how long any of them had slept, but either way, it wasn’t long enough.

  “Yeah, man, I’m alive, barely, but I’m alive," Stern said on the other end.

  “What have you seen out there?” Kane asked as he switched to the speaker phone. Making it to the bottom of the stairs, he went towards Phillip’s closed door.

  “Well, a coyote that decided to grow a lizard tongue and a tail from a Dr. Seuss book,” Stern said with a laugh in his voice.

  “A what?” Kane asked, startled, pausing, not believing his ears. Kane knocked on Phillip’s door.

  “Dude, are you knocking on a door? If it’s Phillip’s, leave him alone, at least one of us should be getting some still," Stern said, full on laughter now.

  “What the fuck, man! Is that Stern?” Phillip said, opening the door, hearing his friend’s voice.

  “He better not be in his ranger panties,” Stern laughed.

  Phillip laughed, “Shut up, man, I look damn sexy.”

  “If they have more holes than you do, they aren’t sexy anymore, Phillip,” Kane said, laughing.

  “Get out if you're going to talk so loud!” Carlie called from the bed with a pillow over her head.

  Phillip and Kane walked out into the playroom with Phillip shutting the door quietly behind them. Kane sat down on the couch while Phillip opted for the bean bag chair next to it.

  “Anything else out there?” Kane asked as they settled in.

  “Yeah, stay away from the fucking hazards!” Stern said.

  “Hazards? Like traffic cones? How much sleep have you gotten?” Phillip asked with mock seriousness.

  “No, that is what a flock of lizawks is called. And they are fucking brutal. Nearly took out the truck and camper, and both Dani and I had bleeding ears from their screams. This system thing said they have something with their tongues, too, but I didn’t give them a chance to show me. They came out of the dark spot by Ft Sill," Stern explained with a serious tone that they rarely heard from him.

  “Oh, shit, are you guys okay? Are you still on the road?” Kane asked, leaning forward in concern.

  “Yeah, we are maybe an hour from the New Mexico and Texas border. Dani had to pee, and I needed to refuel the truck, and refuel Dani and I. Been debating sleeping in the camper for the night, but... “ Stern stopped short of finishing his sentence, the worry noticeable even through the phone.

  “No, get here if you can. We will have the water line and the electric line ready for you. We need to know you are safe, and it is safer taking turns patrolling here than by yourself," Kane said as Phillip nodded silently with looks of concern on his face.

  “Okay, thanks, man, I needed to hear that. We will be on our way shortly. I’ll try to text you the ETA when we are back on the road," Stern said.

  “Any road closures down there?” Phillip asked the concern obvious in his voice.

  “The interstate is completely blocked off, and some of the bigger highways, but the two-lane roads seem to be fine. It is eerie, though, there just isn’t anyone on the roads. I saw a couple of people at the last gas station, but they said the National Guard was telling everyone to stay inside. Can’t blame them, fuck after the lizawks I don’t want to be outside,” Stern said with laughter coming back into his voice at the end.

  “Well, at least the 2-lanes are open; we had to take dirt roads most of the way through Colorado, so watch out when you hit the border,” Phillip said, giving a concerned look at Kane.

  “Will do, make sure that purty mouth is ready for me when I get there,” Stern said, laughing.

  “Haha, love you bro, drive safe, get here in one piece," Kane laughed.

  “Love you too, see you soon," Stern said and then hung up.

  Kane sat there looking at his phone, trying to digest what he had just heard from Stern.

  Phillip was the first to say, “We didn’t warn him about the snake-things.”

  “No, but it sounds like he has had his own challenge,” Kane said, standing up, “I’m going to go make sure Callie sleeps a little in case Stern needs some healing when he gets here. He needed a healer before all of this, from all the bar brawls, who knows what kind of trouble he’s gotten himself into now.”

  Phillip laughed as he stood up and followed Kane up the stairs. He figured there were some animal chores or something that he could help with; if not, it wouldn’t hurt to check the perimeter before it got dark.

  After Kane convinced Callie to go to bed, he and Phillip grabbed the girls and went out to check on the animals. There were a few snarky remarks from Alexandrus on the porch about ‘his lady’ not coming out to check on him and sending ‘unworthy scoundrels’ instead. Phillip and Kane ignored the ball of fluff and went to fill the water troughs again. The twins laughed and asked if they could play with Alexandrus, who indignantly scolded them and scurried off to the backyard.

  Greg and Turbo were still fighting. The momma goats and babies were begging for hay, so Kane did that while Phillip worked with the girls to gather eggs. The hens hurled curses at Phillip as he grabbed their egg, shoved them away as he did, flinching slightly as some of them pecked his hand. The cows, for their part, just watched all of this while getting scratches from Cosette and Giana through the fence.

  Kane finished putting hay in for the momma goats and decided some hay would maybe calm Greg and Turbo, too. Which completely backfired, making them argue further, turning into not just verbal fighting but head-butting as well. Kane walked over to the small garden area and found Momma Melody and her kitten tearing apart what might have been a rabbit.

  “Good cat,” Kane said.

  “How dare you doubt my superiority!?” Momma Melody said indignantly, pausing from the shredding just long enough to look abashedly at Kane.

  “My bad,” Kane said, putting up his arms in the air, backing away from the massacre.

  “Hey, let’s get the kids back inside and check on that water and electrical hookup for Stern,” Phillip said, coming up next to Kane, holding a squirming Giana, who was crying something about petting the big puppy.

  “Yeah, I’m sure he is going to crash, or at least want to, when he gets here,” Kane said, following Phillip back to the house. “You can pet the COW tomorrow, Lil G.”

  The struggling Giana slowed down her wiggle in Phillip’s arms but replaced it with a pouting lip. Phillip took the kids all downstairs and tried to turn on the TV for them. The TV was now running the message:

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  Phillip stood there in disbelief. What was going on in the world? It was bad enough that the National Guard was blocking off the major roads, but now they weren’t allowing people to leave their homes? Phillip thought about his and Carlie’s home in the suburbs in Minnesota, and he was suddenly glad he wasn’t there. They had to be patrolling the cities more closely than out here. He thought about it some more. He hadn’t seen any form of law enforcement all day out here in the country. He took a big sigh of relief. He knew the creatures were dangerous, but at least out here, he had the chance to protect his family. If he had been at his home, protection wouldn’t have come, and they would be in a worse position than they already were. Or at least that was what he was thinking.

  A small tug on his shorts reminded him he was supposed to be turning on a show or movie for the girls.

  “Sorry, G, I’ll get something turned on. What do you want to watch?” Phillip asked, smiling down at his youngest.

  “Horse mom,” Giana said.

  “Heartland!” Cosette and Eliza said almost in unison.

  Phillip smiled, “Okay, let me see what I can do.”

  Phillip went outside to help Kane get things ready for Stern’s camper. It took them a bit to find a hose that the goats hadn’t torn holes in, but eventually everything was ready. They went back inside to find Callie and Carlie tripping over Zeus and Giana while trying to make supper. Phillip grabbed his youngest daughter, and Kane grabbed Zeus’s tug toy. For a short hour or so, their small part of the world seemed normal.

  Then, just after finishing supper, they heard a thud like something had hit one of the vehicles. Kane and Phillip looked at each other before launching themselves from their seats and to the door, grabbing their rifles on the way. They couldn’t see anything from the front door or the kitchen windows. With one look, Phillip was at the front door, getting ready to open it, and Kane was standing at the ready next to the door.

  It startled Kane a bit that, almost two decades out of the service, this exercise of breaching a door came back to him so naturally. Phillip and Stern, and Kane had been in the same unit, the same company, but only in the same platoon for 2 training cycles, then Phillip got assigned to a different platoon, which had never sat well with the three best friends. Stern and Kane were in the same platoon until Kane left the service, but were never on the same squad after that first cycle without Phillip. Still, they had run breaching exercises so often and performed them so effortlessly in combat situations that it somehow felt natural to do it again.

  Kane gave Phillip a nod, and the door was flung open as Kane heard Callie tell the kids to get in the bedroom and shut the door. Kane exited the house effortlessly, thanks to the push latch on the screen door, and was shocked by what he saw. Phillip exited right after nearly bumping into the stopped Kane.

  “Holy shit! What is that!?” Phillip said, dropping his rifle awkwardly.

  “Ummm, is that a . . . a cow?” Kane questioned, dumbfounded.

  What they saw indeed looked like a longhorn cow, but it was bigger than Phillips van that it was currently rubbing against. But the horns looked more like the antlers of an elk, though. The boys just stood there, stunned on the deck. Kane lowered his rifle slightly as suddenly Carlie, with the shotgun, and Callie came out the door behind their husbands.

  “What... what is that?” Callie whispered.

  “What is it doing to my van!” Carlie said, probably louder than she had intended.

  The ‘cow’ suddenly turned, looking at the four people staring at it.

  The four of them started looking at each other and then back at the cowk when suddenly Kane’s phone rang. Hearing the ringtone, the cowk suddenly reared up, which was quite astounding to see as its proportions reminded Kane of the Angus cows down the street. Coming back down onto its hoofs, the cowk looked like it was getting ready to charge. Kane, without thinking, slung his rifle across his back and ran down to face the cowk.

  “Whoa, whoa!” Kane said, putting up his arms like he would to stop Jonny Boy from charging, “Get going!” Kane yelled; somehow, his brain equated this creature as having the same mentality as cows.

  Kane’s gamble paid off, the cowk swung its head and antlers in frustration, nearly hitting the side of the van, and then ran off towards the side pasture. Kane realized his phone was still ringing.

  “Hello!” Kane accidentally yelled, still high with adrenaline, into the phone, pressing the speaker button.

  “Hey, no need to yell, I can still hear you despite the bleeding!” Stern yelled back.

  “Sorry, we just had a . . . well, a cowk got a little aggressive," Kane said, not knowing what else to say about the situation.

  “You know what, that is the most normal thing I have heard today. You can tell me more in about 2-3 hours when I get there,” Stern said.

  “Two to three hours, you’re finally making good time,” Phillip said as he walked over to Kane, slinging his rifle like Kane had across his back.

  “Yeah, it's amazing what happens when the radio tells people to stay off the roads and stay home. Somehow, in the madness, people are actually listening. That never fucking happens,” Stern said with a slight laugh in his voice.

  “Yeah, it’s on the TV too,” Phillip said, getting a questioning look from Kane.

  “Well, I made it into Colorado, but I’m going to continue on the back roads the best I can the interstate was blocked in New Mexico, so I’m going to assume they are blocked in Colorado,” Stern told them.

  “Okay, get here safe, man, hook-ups are ready for you, just pull around the west and north side," Kane said, looking off in the direction the cowk had gone. Suddenly, they heard the baying of multiple cows.

  “Umm, I think we need to go," Kane said hesitantly.

  “You think? Don’t go doing that, you’ll hurt yourself," Stern laughed at his own joke on the other end.

  “Maybe, but either the cows are fucking or fighting, so I'd better go," Kane said, starting to walk towards the pasture.

  “Don’t ruin their good time!” Stern laughed, “I’ll see you soon, brother.”

  “Yeah, see you soon," Kane said, eyes fixed on the broken pasture fence as he hung up the phone and shoved it back into his pocket.

  “Callie, Carlie, stay here,” Phillip told the ladies as he awkwardly swung his rifle back in front of him and followed Kane.

  Kane, forgetting about his rifle entirely, walked over to the fence. When he got to the slight knoll the fence was on, he stopped in his tracks and started laughing. Phillip came up next to him, saw what was going on, and lowered his rifle, starting to chuckle.

  What they saw wasn’t fucking or fighting, but Jonny Boy and Charlotte contentedly grazing with a whole herd of cowks. The two cows looked like infants next to the bigger cowks. Jonny Boy looked up at Kane and Phillip, seemingly nodded his head, and went back to grazing. Charlotte looked up as well and slowly made her way to Kane and Phillip. Who had finally stopped laughing and were smiling by the time the overly pregnant cow came up to them.

  “Two of the females are pregnant, and they needed someplace safe to birth their young," Charlotte said, turning her head towards a couple of the cowks. Kane guessed she was talking about a couple of antlerless cowks, which seemed to be the only difference between the females and males of the species.

  “Why did they come here?” Kane asked, taking a look over the herd and making a count in his head.

  “There weren’t any predators around, and they smelled the hay and water when they came over the hill and saw my Jonny and me, they saw relief from their travels," Charlotte said, looking over at Jonny Boy.

  “Okay, how did they get here?” Kane inquired, double-checking his head count again. Two of his cows, three male cowks, six female cowks, and what he thought were two yearling cowks if their species was in fact similar to cows.

  “They were migrating to the birthing grounds when The Rift opened up; they were drawn through and ended up here. They need a safe place to have their babies. It doesn’t sound like their world is very safe with the war of the humans,” Charlotte said, suddenly sounding sad and dropping her head.

  “Can you tell them they can stay as long as they don’t rub on the cars or any of the buildings?” Kane asked after thinking for a little bit. It sounded like these creatures knew danger; hopefully, that meant if they were around, they could alert to threats coming close to the house. Especially threats they weren’t familiar with from whatever other world these creatures

  “I will let them know, thank you. One of the older females has given birth many times and is skilled in helping with the process. Although my previous babe came out easily, I don’t like to assume this one will be the same. I can already sense a stubbornness in it," Charlotte said with such a matter-of-fact tone Kane couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.

  Kane and Phillip stood watching Charlotte walk back to the herd and start grazing again.

  “Well, do we fix the fence now or wait till later?” Phillip asked, putting his hand on Kane’s shoulder.

  “Let’s go tell the ladies that we somehow have 13 cows instead of two, then yeah, let’s fix the fence. At least with the herd here, we know there isn’t any immediate danger,” Kane said, smiling at his friend.

  They headed back to the house. The ladies took the news well, but with some shock. The three older girls wanted to go out and meet the herd. Callie and Carlie stood in the kitchen negotiating with the girls, balancing the danger of the unknown herd, with knowing the kids had been cooped up most of the day and needed to get their energy out somehow. Like the conclusion Kane and Phillip had come to, at least with the herd, they had some sense of safety. While the debate was happening, Phillip and Kane had already returned outside, gathering the equipment to repair the fence.

  Thankfully, the fence repairs didn’t take long, and the sun was just beginning to set as Phillip and Kane finished cleaning up their mess. The girls were all playing and running around in the front yard, having gotten bored watching the cows and cowks eat. Callie and Carlie were still leaning on the fence posts, savoring the simplicity of the moment and trying to forget the snagon from the morning and the terror they had heard from Stern.

  “Mom, can we make s’mores?” Eliza asked, running over.

  Callie looked at Kane. Who had heard the question and was debating an answer. Kane looked towards The Rift. The lightning hadn’t stopped for a while, which was unusual, but a welcome change to the almost rhythmic dropping of creatures that had been happening all day.

  “Only until it gets dark, I don’t want the fire to attract anything unwanted,” Kane said after a long, silent debate with himself.

  “YAY!!!!! I’ll get the stuff!” Eliza cheered, running towards the house, calling her sister to come help her.

  “Is that a good idea?” Callie asked, walking over to Kane with Carlie a short step behind her.

  “Actually, it might be good to help the kids relax, as strange as it sounds. And Kane is right, we don’t want the fire attracting anything tonight. Let’s give them the little moments of normalcy when we can,” Carlie said in a weird tactical tone that Callie hadn’t heard in the years she had known her friend, “Especially since we don’t know how long this peace will last.”

  Kane just nodded as Callie said, “Okay, but let’s limit the sugar, or all this running around would be wasted. Phillip, will you help me do a final check on the rest of the animals?”

  “Sure,” Phillip said, sounding startled like he wasn’t expecting to be addressed.

  Checking on the goats and chickens had gone quickly, and Phillip and Callie had rejoined the rest of the group just as the first marshmallows were being put over the small fire. Thankfully, Kane had decided to do some twigs and two small logs instead of his usual bonfire-like flame show. The kids ate their s’mores joyfully, giggling and laughing at each other's jokes the whole time. Callie and Carlie, in typical mom fashion, smiled but fussed over their girls. Kane and Phillip seemed to wordlessly take turns walking around the women and children watching and looking for something.

  Just as the last of the fire was burning out and the kids were cleaning up their messes with the instruction of Callie and Carlie, a familiar truck and, slightly more, beat-up camper trailer came into view. It turned down the driveway, and Callie and Carlie quickly got the kids to put their leftover s’more items back into the house. Everyone was outside as Stern drove the camper trailer around the back of the house like Kane had told him to.

  Stern hadn’t fully come to a stop before Dani and Olive were leaping out of the backseat, running towards the girls who were running around the corner of the house to greet their friend. Zeus, as well, came from nowhere in the back field to greet Olive, who, remembering the anxious pup from a year before, stopped in her tracks and seemingly braced herself for the high-energy Malinois.

  “FRIEND!!!!” Zeus could be heard screaming the whole way to Olive.

  “MANNERS!” Olive yelled, jumping slightly in the air *thwapping* Zeus on the head with her paws.

  Zeus bowed to Olive and then lay down, exposing his belly with his usually goofy tongue hanging out.

  “Play?” Zeus asked enthusiastically from that position.

  “Not yet, manners!” Olive scolded, walking away from him and finding a place to pee.

  Zeus rolled onto his stomach and whined.

  “Hey man, you finally made it,” Kane said, hugging Stern.

  “I did, shit, they didn’t want to make it easy though,” Stern said, hugging Kane back.

  “Get a room, you two,” Phillip laughed, wrapping his arms around the two of them.

  “It ain’t gay, I got a dip in,” Stern said, letting go and flinging his dip out of his lip, “Now it’s gay, come here you handsome devil,” Stern said, grabbing Phillip’s face, trying to plant a kiss.

  “Get off me!” Phillip laughed, pushing Stern away as Stern planted a juicy kiss on Phillip’s cheek.

  Kane was nearly rolling on the grass laughing, “Let’s get this fat ass set up and unhooked.”

  “What’s your fat ass hooked up to?” Stern laughed.

  “Me! Hey, Stern,” Callie said, walking up and hugging Stern.

  “Hey, Callie,” Stern said, hugging Callie back.

  “Glad you’re here, Stern,” Carlie said from behind Callie, holding Giana.

  Stern smiled at Carlie and Giana, “Glad I’m here too.”

  “Help me get unloaded? I have presents," Stern said, walking back towards the truck.

  “Uh oh,” Kane sighed, knowing Stern's gifts sometimes were more gags than gifts.