To the Turnpike

Along with the retreating F-22's, our group also began to continue making our way down Mt. Auburn Street. Our immediate goal was to make our way down the Massachusetts Turnpike. From there it would be a straight shot to Shrewsbury. The Turnpike was notoriously crowded, however, so my only worry would be the attention the area might draw. I imagine it would still be better for traveling quicker rather than meandering through neighborhoods.

With the decision set, our small progression continued forward, ignoring the large-scale amounts of weapon discharges occurring several miles behind us. Likely law enforcement has engaged the invasion force. I thought. Only time would tell how much time that would buy the rest of us, however.

"Holy shit man!" Kevin yelled out animatedly, "You killed a freaking zombie while we had been unconscious!?"

I laughed and then shrugged.

Rachel, watching this entire exchange, frowned. "Thomas..." She said disapprovingly, "That was dangerous, and you could have been hurt." She said to me out of concern.

"I know Rachel, but it was either take the risk and kill it, or let it come after you guys, and we both know I wasn't about to let that happen." I responded.

"But still... Thomas... This whole thing has got me stressed out, and I really don't want to lose you." she replied sadly.

"Look, Rachel. You won't have to worry about that. I won't let that happen." I said as I reached over and hugged her as our group continued making our way down the street. While she was obviously still worried. The hug appeared to make her feel a bit better, and she held a slight smile on her face.

The other two just watched the whole exchange with some degree of amusement.

"I still think that sounds super cool" Kevin reiterated.

Our small group had been making our way down Mt. Auburn street for quite a bit now, and we were almost to the Turnpike. We had already passed numerous individuals in the process of grabbing whatever they could carry and begin making their way to the Turnpike as well. Like us, it looked like there had been plenty of others who realized driving was likely inconceivable as of right now.

Just as I was thinking that a blaring noise erupted from all of our phones simultaneously. It lasted for several seconds before stopping. Suddenly a voice began broadcasting. "The following message is from the federal aviation administration, an unidentified event has appeared over the following cities in your area: The Boston Metropolitan Area, Worcester, Springfield, and Lowell. It has been presumed to be foreign and has posed an imminent threat to those in the area. Massachusetts residents are recommended to tune into local media outlets for further developments and begin evacuation procedures from the affected areas. State National Guard Units are currently being deployed." The message quickly ended with several more sharp beeps before repeating itself once more and shutting off.

"Looks like the Emergency Alert System is working at least," I spoke out loud, speaking the obvious. That's a good sign at the very least. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"So," Kevin spoke, "You're a [High-Human] now?" I had shown my status to Kevin just a few minutes prior to the alert being sent out.

"Crazy, huh?" I responded. "I never even knew that race evolutions for Humans had even been possible. Sure, there had been rumors in the game that is was at the very least, theoretically plausible, considering the "high" variations of the other races within Holy Arc Online, getting it from defeating the Demon King however was quite the surprise." It was my intention to at the very least gain some input from Kevin. If anyone were at least as knowledgeable as I was about our current situation it would be him.

Kevin laughed, "Ya, I'll concede though man, I am just a little bit salty that somehow you got that evolution, and I didn't, even though we both had been fighting against the Demon King."

"Well," I said, "If it's any consolation, as soon as I am able, I appear to have the ability to trigger a racial evolution on other people... Though there are some requisites." I had checked. After we had left the cemetery, I attempted to activate the Paragon's Influence skill on Kevin.

Skill [Paragon's Bestowal] has failed to activate.

The required requisite conditions have yet to be met by [Kevin Reyes]:

- A demonstration of unyielding loyalty has yet to be shown.

- [Paragon's Bestowal] cannot be used on a classless individual.

It had been helpful to know exactly what conditions would need to be fulfilled in order to use the skill on Kevin, however the wording of 'unyielding loyalty' still proved to be extremely vague. What act would be required to fulfill the condition? Was it a simple swearing of fealty? Did he need to attempt to sacrifice himself for me? It was unclear. However, I had a feeling that over the next several days, everyone in our group would have plenty of opportunities to demonstrate their 'unyielding loyalty' to me.

Regardless, only time would tell. As of right now, it would likely be best to begin beefing up the average strength of our party. As of right now, if we were to come across any degree of real danger, then I would be the only one really capable of defending the group. If we didn't have to worry about the imminent swarm of demons and monsters, the cemetery would have actually been a fantastic place to grind for a moment and ease everyone into the mindset of actually fighting. That, plus the fact it was a literal treasure trove for mana stones. Which, now that I think about it... I thought as I pulled out the mana stone I recovered from the [Reanimated Decomposing Corpse] and quickly cast [appraisal] on it.

[Low-grade Mana Stone]

Primarily used in item enchantments.

Aaaaand, that told me just about nothing. It had momentarily slipped my mind just how useless the information from a level 1 [Appraisal] skill typically was. However, casting it was still useful as it would eventually allow the skill to increase in level, slowly providing more information until it maxed out at level 10. That was a process, though. Usually, the first few levels were easy enough, but increasing the levels, at least for a non-basic level skill, became exponentially more difficult as time went on. Even a level 2 [Appraisal] skill was infinitely better than a level 1 skill, however.

Pocketing the [Mana Stone], I glanced up once again. We were nearing the Turnpike, and along with it, the slow trickle of people beginning to grow. With the EAS announcement being broadcasted, a lot more people were beginning to make their way to evacuate the major metropolitan areas throughout the state. Most still lacked any real idea of where they were going, however, as, to my knowledge evacuation sites had yet to be announced. Unsurprising, I thought. Typically it takes more than just a few hours for even FEMA to get any real evacuations centers put up I imagine. In addition to even that, the flexible and unknown nature of the crisis is likely to make decision-making much more difficult. I can only hope that the National Guard units had already begun moving to contain the initial invasion, I thought. It's likely that containment of the rifts would be increasingly difficult as time went on, and even then, their destructive nature would likely overwhelm most National Guard units. They weren't like your normal professional soldiers. Going to training one weekend a month is not likely to keep most units up to complete battle-readiness. With a sizeable chunk of the military being stationed overseas, it was likely the situation was made even worse. The Nation's overextension might bite it in the butt. The military was stationed overseas to prevent invasion of the homeland, but the point became moot when the enemy literally appeared in portals all over your nation's major cities. I sighed. It wasn't the fault of any of the world's governments really. Nobody could have predicted this.

As we neared the Turnpike, we came across the first military presence we've seen since the invasion began. Looking down at my watch, it was clear that it was at the point we would likely begin seeing more military deployments.

5:32pm

Our small group slowly joined the expanding procession of human bodies making their way to the highway. I was hoping the crowds wouldn't become a problem. However, it seemed that most of them were stopping near the small deployment of troops at the highway's entrance, near a wide bridge that expanded over the Turnpike. It was actually fairly impressive, somehow the military had been able to deploy at least some measure of force in a short time. It looks like they were mainly serving to help the evacuation, rather than perform any direct fighting at the moment. As I analyzed the group, I noted the presence of an older M1 Abrams Tank, and also two ICV Stryker's, both had a more greenish hue to them rather than the desert tan that accompanied most military fighting vehicles nowadays as a result of deployments to the Middle East. I'm sure it would be a lot more useful to blend into the strikingly green terrain of New England, rather than stand out like a sore thumb in a dirt-colored vehicle. There was also only a platoon worth of soldiers manning the road, a few dozen at most. The soldiers wore a light gray camo uniform and were carrying dark, and long M4 Carbine rifles. Though, there also appeared to be several M16 Rifles interspaced throughout the platoon.

Though it was tempting to approach the National Guard unit and ask for an update on the military's handling of the situation, I knew that the longer we stayed, the less likely we'd be able to stay ahead of the Rifts invasion force. Take a glance behind us and looking into the distant Boston skyline, I could still clearly make out the now reddish hue of the rifts. No longer could I make out any of the descending demons and monsters. It appeared that for the moment they all were being rather uncontested by the nation's military. I had a feeling that might quickly change still. In addition to my desire to continue staying ahead of the invasion force, I also came to the realization that nightfall would soon be coming. We were still at least a good two hours away from needing to worry about that though.

I saw the group eyeing the national guard unit as it continued to direct the crowds of people. I knew I would have to make a decision, as they too appeared tempted to seek any degree of information. "Guys," I announced. "I think we should keep moving. I doubt the soldiers would be able to tell us much more than what we already know, and that is that we need to keep moving away from Boston. I imagine that soon enough the fighting will begin and we don't want to be anywhere near the city when it does."

They all appeared hesitant. Even Kevin, after our hour-long trek, seemed somewhat despondent. So, it came as a surprise when it was actually Jackson who piped up and broadcasted his own opinion on the matter. "Guys, I think Thomas is right. Besides, we can probably just look up any information we need right now, I'm sure there's probably more information online." Jackson stated.

I facepalmed. "Why didn't I even consider that." Jackson, true to my own impression of him, portrayed just how intelligent he really was, despite a lack of a college background.

As I pulled out my phone and looked at the charge, I noticed it slowly ticking downwards. 27% it read. Now that won't last me to long. Luckily we can probably just charge it tonight when we find a place to stay. However, looking at the crowds of people, I knew that might be much more complicated than it sounded. Where would we even sleep tonight? I questioned.

It was actually Rachel this time who provided the answer. "Look!" she said excitedly, as she began showing everyone her phone. "It looks like they opened up an evacuation area over at the Riverside Station. It's just about 4 miles further down the road. I don't think it'd take us more than an hour and a half to get there?"

Riverside Station? If I remember that should be just a bit north of Needham. Right on the outskirts of the Boston Metropolitan area. And honestly, I thought. Likely the best area to pause for the night. The Bus and metro terminal is probably being used to help with evacuations. Maybe they're transporting people to Cape Cod? Cape Cod was fairly unpopulated, and honestly, probably the farthest area from any of the rifts. There were likely to be rifts over both Providence and Hartford, so journeying further south would only serve to complicate matters. Cape Cod would likely be the safest immediate area. That wasn't where we were heading though. So, the station would only serve as a resting location.

I nodded. "Thank you, Rachel," I told her. "Anyone have any complaints against stopping at the Riverside Station?" I asked.

Both Kevin and Jackson shook their heads. "Alright then, to Riverside Station it is!" I announced to our small group.