Chapter 2

  Day 0 since the Rift opened:

  Why is there a calm before a storm and a calm after the storm? Looking back on it, what I thought was pure chaos caused by Fearne and Mabel was a calmness because we knew what to do; we had done it before. The “calmness” after that windstorm wasn’t really calmness; it was a chaos of emotions, but there was a calmness outside, just like after any other windstorm on the high plains desert. Strange that so much had changed but yet nothing at all.

  “Kane, what are you doing?” Callie asked as she let go of Josie, realizing Kane was standing by the window of the front door with his rifle in hand.

  “I am looking at the goats,” Kane said with the no-feeling tone Callie remembered from his time in the military. She hadn’t heard that unsparing tone since Kane had started seeing a therapist for his PTSD and TBI issues years before. For her, it could only mean he was deep in concentration.

  Eliza came up and wrapped her arms around Callie’s neck. “Mom, are we going to be okay?”

  “Yes,” was all Callie could say at that moment. She didn’t want to lie to her daughter, or herself, but she really didn’t know. And she didn’t know what else to say.

  “Something has happened to the goats. I need to check them out,” Kane said, reaching for the doorknob.

  “DAD!” Josie screamed, leaping over the couch and running to Kane.

  Kane nearly hit Josie with his elbow as he swung around, startled.

  “It will be okay, Josie. I need to make sure the goats are okay.”

  “Dad, leave the gun; it will scare them,” Josie said, still not letting go of her dad.

  “Josie, I don’t know what is going on out there. I need to take it in case something comes.”

  “Dad, the un-nice thing isn’t out there right now. Please, they are already scared.”

  Finally comprehending what his daughter was saying, Kane leaned the rifle against the door jam, “Josie, how do you know they are scared? How do you know Fearne has changed?”

  “I... I don’t know, I can feel her like when I would touch her before. She has changed. I don’t think she is bad, though, Dad. She wasn’t bad before.”

  “Okay, I am still going to take the gun with me, but I promise I won’t shoot any of our animals, okay?” Kane said, still not understanding, but now really needing to see what is going on with their animals.

  “Please don’t hurt them, Dad, the mean thing isn’t here, it's. . . It's not here,” Josie said, finally letting go of her dad.

  Kane turned, picking up his rifle again, and then gripped the doorknob. He took a deep breath, “Callie, keep the kids inside, no matter what. You stay inside, but only you watch from the kitchen window.”

  “Okay, Kane. Please be careful,” Callie said as she gently grabbed Josie by the shoulders and steered her back to Eliza in the living room.

  Callie watched as Kane went through the front door with a hard thunk of the screen door shutting behind him. Kane brought his rifle up and, in the walk that only someone with advanced military training could deliver so smoothly, went towards the goat pens. Kane slowed as he approached the boys’ pen, looked around, then proceeded to the backside of the girl goats’ pen out of clear sight for Callie. Callie couldn’t bring herself to move; she needed to see Kane’s head pop back around the edge of the pen before she would move or take a deep breath again.

  Kane leveled his rifle, doing a quick look around as he hit the bottom of the steps. He had practiced this quick scan after years of coyotes trying to get their baby goats during birthing season, and again every year during their biannual migrations. Kane slowed down when he got to Turbo and Greg’s pen. The two boys weren’t paying any attention to him. Strangely, it looked like they were talking to each other. Kane noticed, but put it to the back of his mind for now; he needed to get eyes on Fearne and Mabel, and Blonde, and their babies.

  As he rounded the bottom of the pen area, where he could get a good view of the entire pen area, Fearne was already watching him. Kane turned and took a look around the rest of the area to make sure nothing was sneaking up on him. He got a quick look at the cows still lazily eating grass like nothing had changed. The non-chalentness of the cows threw him off a bit. He reached into his memory, where were they glowing too when he drove up? He should have been able to see them from the driveway. He thought he remembered a faint glow around them, too. Kane lowered his rifle just a little.

  ERROR, ERROR

  SYSTEM RECOGNIZED

  LOGGING ENTRY

  HUMAN, MALE, ADULT, PLEASE STAND BY WHILE CLASS IS DETERMINED

  Kane nearly jumped at the suddenness of those words appearing again. Just as before, the words were faint but there in front of him.

  ERROR NOTICE:

  CLASS DETERMINATION PAUSED DUE TO INTERRUPTION

  Did Kane going inside really make whatever this is pause what it was doing to him? Kane thought about running back inside to stop whatever it was again, but he didn’t think he would make it.

  “It doesn’t hurt, mister, but it is better if you stand still.”

  “Who said that!?” Kane yelled.

  “Me, mister, you call me Fearne, but that wasn’t what my mother called me.” Fearne, the goat, said as she walked closer to the fence. Well didn’t really say; her mouth didn’t move like she was talking. It moved like she was chewing cud, not talking.

  “How can I hear you?” Kane nearly whispered, leveling his rifle out of instinct.

  “I don’t know, the sun that wasn’t the sun got bright and then ‘System’ cried and said we were getting a class, whatever that is,” Fearne said, looking towards the mountains.

  Kane lowered his rifle a little again, but didn’t drop it. Internally, Kane was starting to freak out. He hadn’t felt like this on any of the missions during any of the tours he had taken. Those missions had a known effect; he was either going to kill the enemy or the enemy was going to kill him. There was nothing in the immediate surroundings threatening to kill him, but somehow the feeling that war was or had already come was settling deep in his gut.

  CLASS DETERMINED: RANGER

  CONGRATULATIONS, YOU ARE THE FIRST IN THE AREA WITH THIS CLASS DESIGNATION.

  YOU HAVE AN AUTOMATIC WISDOM AND DEXTERITY BONUS.

  CURRENTLY, YOU HAVE NO ARMOR ON AND YOUR WEAPON OF CHOICE IS HUMAN-MADE.

  UPGRADES UNAVAILABLE FOR HUMAN-MADE WEAPONRY.

  “Did you see that?!" Kane said louder than he intended to Fearne.

  “No, you lowered the bang stick and then were wordless. Was that ‘System’? It said I was a Rogue, whatever that means.” Fearne said, turning back to look at Kane, momentarily stopping in the chewing of her cud. Then she walked away towards the water bucket.

  “It said I was a monk. I wonder if that means I get to eat more.”

  Kane nearly jumped out of his skin, wheeling around, leveling his rifle at where the noise came from.

  “Hey! That’s not nice!” Jonny Boy, Kane’s bull cow, said, turning his butt towards Kane.

  “What is happening!?” Kane thought.

  “Sorry, Jonny Boy, you are what? How can you talk?!” Kane said, trying to sound calm but fully aware he was failing. Need to work on that, shock and surprise don’t win battles unless you are the one shocking and surprising. Kane lowered his rifle again.

  Jonny Boy turned as he spoke, “It said I was a monk, Charlotte said she is being called a druid. Greg and Turbo have been loudly fighting about who is better, a paladin or a rogue, since the light went away from their heads.”

  Kane turned to look in the direction of the boy goats. He nodded at Jonny Boy and started walking back up towards Greg and Turbo. Turbo had been a faithful breeder for a couple of years at that point and was big and strong. Greg, on the other hand, had just turned one, and they had meant to use him as a replacement for Turbo to get some fresh blood into their herd. The two of them had had a shaky relationship since Greg had been moved from his own pen, which he kept escaping, into a pen with Turbo. They hadn’t hurt each other yet, but they still hadn’t figured each other out either.

  “It doesn’t matter what that ‘system’ said you were; I’m older and bigger, so mine is better,” what must have been Turbo was saying to Greg as Kane got closer to the gate of the pen.

  “You can think that all you want, but I’m younger and stronger than you, so the ‘system’ gave me a better class!” Greg sounded louder than Turbo. Suddenly, the two of them ran at each other, ending in a loud *thunk* of their heads hitting each other. Both staggered back; Turbo, however, had pushed Greg back a step from the center. Both shook their heads and then looked in Kane’s direction.

  “Hey, it’s food guy!” Greg nearly yelled.

  “I’m what?! Did none of you ever hear my name!?” Kane exasperated. Then, shaking his head, he realized how ridiculous what he just said was. They are goats, and they were talking, well communicating with him! How was this possible?

  “Well, sorry!” Greg said sarcastically, turning away from Kane and Turbo.

  Turbo walked over to the fence next to Kane, “Sorry, you bring the food home with you, the little ones, Ella and Joe, we know better because they talk to us.”

  “You mean Eliza and Josie?” Kane said, not believing he was even having this conversation.

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  “Ah, yes, that is it. They shout a lot when they are feeding us.” Turbo said, shaking his head like he was swatting away flies.

  “Don’t push them with your horns, I’ve seen you do it!” Kane again couldn’t help himself. Why was he talking to a goat!

  “Ah, well, they don’t move very fast, and I am indeed very hungry,” Turbo said with a strange regalness to his tone. Then he walked away, just as swiftly as the ‘conversation’, if you could call it that started it had ended.

  Kane realized his rifle was hanging loosely at his side through all of this. Shaking the dizziness and disbelief out of his head, Kane leveled his rifle, looked around, and then relaxed, walking back to the house.

  Callie didn’t know what to think. What was going on out there that her normally incredibly disciplined husband dropped his rifle and looked like he was talking to the goats! He never talks to Turbo other than to tell him he stinks. Right as Callie was reaching for the screen door to call out to Kane, he turned, looked around, and headed back to the house.

  “What is going on out there?” Callie asked the minute Kane stepped through the front door.

  The question made Kane hesitate just long enough going through the door for Zeus to take advantage of the inattention, and he ran outside.

  “Zeus, god-damn it!” Callie screamed, reaching for Zeus’ back end but missing entirely.

  “Leave him, don’t go outside!” Kane shouted, stopping his wife from following the dog out the door.

  Zeus ran down the stairs, did his usual bark at nothing, and then stopped dead in his tracks. A weird red glow simmered around Zeus’ body, quickly isolating itself to just around his head.

  “Zeus!” Callie screamed, seeing what was happening to the dog the family had picked up as a 2-month-old and had raised and loved since.

  “He will be fine! Leave him, Callie, don’t go outside!” Kane said, trying to keep his wife from going through the door. But in a sudden pulse of strength, Callie made it onto the small front porch.

  Callie stopped dead in her tracks as she saw flashing in front of her:

  SYSTEM RECOGNIZED

  LOGGING ENTRY

  HUMAN, FEMALE, ADULT, PLEASE STAND BY WHILE CLASS IS DETERMINED.

  “Oh my god, oh my god!!! What is happening!!!!” Callie started screaming.

  “Callie, breathe, come back inside. CALLIE!” Callie heard Kane screaming behind her. She felt him grab her arm, but she was frozen. She didn’t know if it was her own fear that froze her or if something was happening to her.

  “Mom!” Callie heard one of the girls scream.

  “Stay back!” Kane was yelling at Callie, probably to stop the girls from coming outside.

  That unfroze Callie, and she turned around to go back inside.

  CLASS DETERMINED: CLERIC

  YOU HAVE AN AUTOMATIC WISDOM BONUS.

  CURRENTLY, YOU HAVE NO ARMOR ON OR WEAPONS.

  The message came so suddenly, Callie hesitated again. Cleric, what in the hell was a cleric! She went through the door and was immediately grabbed by Kane, who was slightly shaking her.

  “Callie, are you okay?! Callie, what class are you? Callie, answer me, are you okay?”

  “Cleric,” Callie said without realizing it, “What just happened?”

  “I don’t know, but you are okay,” Kane said, hugging his wife.

  “LET ME IN!!!!” they heard from outside.

  Eliza let out a scream that shocked Callie out of her daze, “Why is Zeus talking!”

  Callie turned to her daughter and grabbed her into a hug as Kane let Zeus in.

  “I’m stronger, Dad! Look at me, I’m stronger!!!” Zeus said as he started jumping up and down next to Kane.

  Josie was the first to move, “Stop, Zeus, you're scaring Eliza.” Josie said in her usually slightly broken English.

  “Opps,” was all Zeus said as he lay down at Eliza’s feet, exposing his belly in his goofy way with his tongue out.

  Eliza tried to move away from Zeus, but in the crowded entryway, she only moved closer to her mom. Zeus shut his mouth, rolled back onto his stomach, and put his head down in a sad way, whining a little.

  “Kane, what just happened?” Callie finally asked.

  “I don’t know, but there is a ‘system’ that is changing things,” Kane said.

  “How are the animals?” Eliza finally asked, not taking her eyes off of Zeus, who, for his part, wasn't moving.

  “The animals can all talk. It seems that if we go outside, the ‘system’ sees us and does something to us. Fearne, Greg, Turbo, and Jonny Boy all have classes, but it sounds like the others do too.” Kane said, putting his rifle back against the door jam, running his hand through his hair at the same time, “I don’t know how widespread this is or what it does.”

  “Can I go outside?” Josie asked.

  Stunned silence filled the entryway. No one moved until Josie asked again with a slightly more emphasized tone, “Can I go outside?”

  “Why do you want to go outside?” Callie asked without thinking.

  “I like outside,” Josie said in such a matter-of-fact way.

  Callie looked to Kane, who just stood there with the military sternness he got when he was internally debating. After a few seconds, Callie touched his arm. Kane gave a slight flinch; it had been a long time since Kane had been that deep in debate with himself.

  “Josie wants to go outside,” Callie told Kane.

  “Not yet,” Kane said with quiet stoicism.

  “Mom, your timer went off,” Eliza said, finally looking up from Zeus.

  “Thank you, Eliza,” Callie said as she stepped over Zeus, gently squeezing Eliza’s shoulder as she went.

  With Callie’s departure, Zeus lifted his head but then settled it back down. Josie went downstairs with Eliza, tentatively following after her, staying as far away from Zeus as she could. Kane stood motionless, looking down at Zeus. After what felt like a lifetime for Zeus, Kane finally walked to the kitchen table and started looking at the candles and blankets, and other items that were sitting there.

  “We need to get our emergency supplies gathered in one spot,” Kane finally said.

  “Tell me what you need,” Callie said as she took the bread out of its pan and put the pan in the sink.

  “Do you want me to tell you or write it down?” Kane said, finally looking up at his wife as he remembered how she gets scatter-like when multiple things are thrown at her. And multiple things were definitely about to be thrown at her.

  “Write it down. Where do you want to put everything?” Callie said as she started cleaning up her mess from earlier, looking up at the clock, realizing it was almost time to start supper for everyone.

  “Grab me a piece of paper and a pen,” Kane said as he sat down at the table facing Callie, “and I don’t know yet where I want everything.”

  “Kane, when did Phillip take off to come out here?” Callie asked, suddenly remembering their friends were supposed to be arriving either tomorrow or the day after.

  “I don’t know, I was going to call him and Stern on my way home, but... “ Kane trailed off.

  “A lot happened, it’s okay, maybe try and call Phillip first since he is the closest,” Callie said, trying to sound reassuring.

  Kane grabbed his phone from his back pocket and just stared at it.

  “Hopefully, they hadn’t left yet; hopefully, they got delayed. This couldn’t be happening in more than one place,” Kane thought as he kept staring at the phone in his hand.

  “Kane, it’s okay if you don’t want to call yet,” Callie said as she gently put her hand on his shoulder. Kane didn’t hear her walk over. She is normally such a loud walker that it startled him a little, as he felt her hand on his shoulder.

  “No, I’ll call now,” Kane said as he unlocked his phone to dial the number.

  *ring*

  *ring*

  “Hello.”

  “Hey, Phillip. You alive?” Kane asked sarcastically as he heard one of his best friends' voices.

  “Yeah, somehow, you?”

  “Yeah, have you been outside yet?”

  “Yeah, kids had to pee.”

  “Did anything strange happen?”

  “Dude, if you are about to tell me you saw a fucking flash brighter than the damn sun and then a wind worse than anything we experienced in Iraq came out of fucking nowhere... “ Phillip trailed off.

  “Where are you?” Kane got that feeling in his gut again.

  “Not close enough. I was hoping this was limited to Ellsworth. But what you just said it’s not isolated.”

  “Shit, okay. Have you been outside since it happened?”

  There was a long pause.

  “Rogue. The damn thing said I’m a rogue. What the fuck, man!”

  “So strategically transferring equipment to alternate locations paid off for something,” Kane said, laughing into the phone,

  “Fuck you, man!” Phillip started laughing on the other end.

  “The ‘system’ got real creative with me, Ranger.”

  “Fuck you, man! Of course it would be that after what we did for 5 years.”

  “Yeah, one of my damn goats is a paladin."

  “You're screwed, man.”

  “Yeah, sounds like no beatings for you when you get here, I guess.”

  Phillip and Kane laughed through the phone at each other.

  “All joking aside, how are you doing?”

  “We are okay, the wind storm scared the kids and wife pretty bad. The van is fine, and we are still moving south.”

  “Okay, you still stopping tonight someplace?”

  “Nah, I don’t trust anyone right now, so we aren’t stopping unless needed until we get to you.”

  “Okay, we will have the beds made up.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  “Hey, have you heard from Stern?”

  “No, I was on the phone with him right before we stopped to get gas, and then the flash thing happened.”

  “Okay, I’ll call him next.”

  “Okay.”

  The quiet pause was deafening.

  “Be safe.”

  “You too, get here, then the beatings will commence.”

  “Fuck you, man!”

  “You got too sentimental, check in at the Colorado border?”

  “Love you, brother.”

  “Back at you, brother.”

  Kane hung up the phone and sighed. Callie from the kitchen watched intently.

  “They are on their way. It's bigger than Colorado.” Kane said with a heaviness in his voice.

  “Shit,” Callie said quietly, nearly dropping the pan she was washing from her hand, “Now what?”

  “I’ll call Stern,” Kane spoke with a determined tone and a squareness to his shoulders.

  Kane looked back down at his phone and scrolled till he found Stern’s name and pressed dial.

  *ring*

  “What took you so long!” Stern exclaimed from the other end. “I’ve been waiting for one of you assholes to call me for hours.”

  “Hey, Stern, just got off the phone with Phillip,” Kane smirked.

  “Oh, I see how it is, Phillip is the sudden favorite.”

  “Haha, only because he’s closer.”

  “Nah, that’s not how this is supposed to work. I’m the pretty one.”

  “You are gorgeous,” Kane laughed, typical Stern, not a serious bone in his body. Only that attitude could survive 20-plus years in the U.S. Army, or any amount of time with the Ranger Regiment, where the three of them had met all those decades before.

  “So that stupid light show happened down there, too, I take it.”

  “You mean the light display that puts the Enola Gay to shame?”

  “Yeah, where did it hit for you?”

  “Benning.”

  “Shit, okay, how close were you?”

  “Close enough for the wind to catch the damn camper!”

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, it's going to take more than that to stop me and Ruby Sue,” Stern laughed.

  “That’s not my name!” A little voice from the back seat shouted.

  “I know, Dani,” Stern said, giggling at his daughter.

  “How far out are you?”

  “We just left Phenix City’s western edge when the light show happened. We will be a while.”

  “Have you been outside since it happened?”

  ”Yeah, what is with these kids and small bladders!”

  “And”

  “And what? I’m a damn fighter, anyone could have told you that.”

  “Ah, that does seem fitting. What is your brawl count now?”

  “Not as high as it could be, the command told me to take it easy last year.”

  “Dude, you had surgery last year!”

  “And? It just gave those frat kids a fighting chance.”

  “Fair. How’s the dog?”

  “Olive, she’s good, damn thing nearly scared the piss out of me when she started talking. But she’s keeping me in line, says she’s a paladin, so I’m screwed. Need to keep the hood-rat shit to a minimum.”

  “Yeah, you’re screwed, but hey, you finally have a lady who will keep you in line.”

  “Screw you, dude.”

  “You could if you were here,” Kane said as they both started laughing.

  “Oh, shut up, Olive!” Stern said as a whine came from somewhere in the vehicle.

  “Hey, fess up, what did you get?”

  “Ranger.”

  “What! Not cool! I’m newly retired, but you get to keep the title!”

  “It's just because I’m better at stealth and I’ve got the animals.” Kane laughed. He needed this, and he knew his buddy did too.

  “Hey, I’m getting close to Little Rock and probably should concentrate.”

  “Are you able to do that after 20 years?”

  “Not really, so I should probably get off, but how is Phillip?”

  “He’s going to check in at the Colorado border. Ellsworth got hit, too.” Kane paused, “This wasn’t isolated.”

  “Thanks for stating the fucking obvious. Glad he is on the way, don’t do too much gangsta shit before I get there.”

  “Check in at the Oklahoma border, text is fine, but call at the Colorado border.”

  “Naw, you're going to get a message from me at every border.”

  “Love you, brother.”

  “Hey, it ain't gay if a dip is in.”

  Kane laughed as he hung up, hearing the laughter on the other end as well.

  Kane looked up to see a concerned look on Callie’s face.

  “It will be okay, one way or another, it will be okay, the boys will be here soon,” Kane said, getting up from the table to hug his wife.

  “Okay, what’s next?” Callie was muffled from pressing her face into Kane’s chest.

  “I don’t know, but let’s eat and sleep on it.”

  “Okay.”