The last few miles passed without incident, and I passed my flask of whiskey between myself, Nick, and Autumn. The alcohol blunted the effects of the weed and left me in a relaxed state of mind. All my children were gathered together and I didn’t need to spend time travelling to Baton Rouge. We were travelling slower, but should make it back to the farm in just a few days. Even if we did have some additions.

September was a couple of weeks away and we still had time to plant Irish potatoes, shallots, tomatoes, lima beans and squash. Maybe winter wheat if we could find some seed, build some smokehouses and hunt the surrounding land for meat to preserve. I hate squash, did I mention that?

Gideon and Mercy met us with smiles on the road, along with a dozen other armed men who were sheltered in the brush. “Nicole was sure it was you,” Gideon said, “But we weren’t taking chances.”

“Understandable,” I said. “This is my family, and some others who decided to tie their fortune to ours,”

“Welcome!” Gideon, waved to the crowd behind me. “We don’t have much, but all are welcome to food and shelter.”

“We also brought some gifts,” I said, waving the others forward. Sassy and Moonie had hunted rabbits, some raccoons, and other unknown fauna while we travelled. While travelling I had given an impromptu class on how to drain the motes from them, leaving skins filled with meat and gifted filled with motes. “We’ll trade them for a hot meal and a safe place to sleep,”

“Sounds like an excellent pot-luck stew,” he said, clasping my hand in his after I dismounted Sparky. “I’d like to speak with you this evening.”

“I have nothing but time for you,” I said, gripping his palm in mine. “Let’s get everyone settled for the evening.”

Everyone moved up the road to the church and with only a bit of uncomfortable shuffling, settled into place at tables or on the steps of the church. People gathered around the fires and stew was cooked, supplemented by the game we had caught on the journey, along with rice and vegetables from their stores.

Dinner was a quiet affair with rumours spreading as fast as the stew was dished out. There were not nearly enough tables to hold everyone so the remainder gathered against the church with their bowls. Paige had pulled a ukulele from somewhere and walked around the gathering like some golden-haired bard, plucking out jaunty tunes on the instrument and drawing smiles from the survivors.

“Why didn’t you make me continue guitar lessons?” Astrid grumbled next to me, watching Paige play for the gathered assembly.

“Because you made a very convincing argument that your time would be better spent getting acquainted with advanced multivariable calculus,” I said, forking a piece of mystery meat into my mouth. It reminded me of buttered lamb, so it was probably raccoon.

“You know it’s your job as a parent to tell your kids that playing a musical instrument is sexy,” she whined.

“And we had that conversation too,” I reminded her. “Remember? Freshman year of high school.”

She pouted and poked at her stew. “You should have tried harder.”

“You made a 24 slide power point presentation,” I laughed, forking a fat carrot from her bowl and shoving it in my mouth. “It’s 100% your fault for being so convincing.”

I turned back just in time to catch Thom stealing food from my bowl and cocked an eye at him. “Food tastes better when you eat it with family,” he said. “And it’s even better when you snatch it from their plate.”

“Who taught you that?” I demanded.

“My father,” he replied, chewing the purloined tidbit with a grin.

“He sounds like a right proper jerk,” I declared, attempting to stab something from his bowl only to be blocked by a supernaturally fast fork. I could see his green core burning motes, turning them into a silvery field that penetrated the muscles his arm.

“You realise when I learn how to do that there will be a reckoning,” I threatened.

“But until that day comes, your food is mine old man,” He laughed, stabbing his fork into my bowl again and retreating with a meaty prize.

Doug and Astrid joined Thom in the mock battle, snatching at my food until I expanded my aura and covered my bowl rendering it impervious to their assault.

A clacking noise interrupted the fun, drawing our attention to Mercy. It seemed that she had implemented a ‘Talking Stick” where the person with the stick could speak and deliver news, then call upon others in the crowd for questions and hand the stick to someone else when they were done. It reminded me of pre-school with Astrid, but it worked to keep order among the crowd of mostly strangers.

As the stick got passed around, I learned from Nick that West Baton Rouge was uninhabitable and the Wilkenson bridge was destroyed. He had awakened his powers trying to escape the clouds of toxic smoke from the chemical plants, forcing the steel girders to bend and twist, reforming the concrete until he could leap across the Mississippi river with Autumn. I could feel his distress, the conflict in his soul; He was grateful to be alive, but silently questioning my teaching - Yourself, Your family, Your friends, Everyone else.

Doug was the worst. It physically hurt to hear him speak of the horrors they encountered, the people they left behind to save their own lives. His soft voice carried across the crowd, burrowing into your mind like a maggot, creating images that left behind bloody stains when he fell silent. He handed to stick to Paige who stared at it for a minute before standing and telling her story.

Paige handed me the stick when she was done and I rose to take my place before the gathered assembly. I was grateful for her bubbly personality that lifted the spirits of others. It was nothing but fluff and motivation, but you just couldn’t speak with Paige and not walk away happier. Her voice carried hope and cheerfulness, lifting the morale of everyone who heard he speak.

“You know me and Sassy,” I said, looking around at the gathered faces still smiling from the effervescent, rambling speech of Paige. “You’ve met my children, my ex-wife, the pilgrims from Albany. We’re heading back to my farm near the Pearl river. Winter is coming, things are going to be hard. Monsters roam the world, and unscrupulous men too. I can’t promise anything, but me and the other Gifted will do our best to make sure that everyone who follows will be cared for. Albany is a day to the west and there are several hundred people there if you would rather go there. There is safety in numbers and I honestly believe you shouldn’t stay isolated here.” I passed the stick over to Gideon with a psychic tentacle.

“I agree with Emmett,” He said, standing and clearing his throat. “We are isolated here, with dwindling supplies and no way to replenish them. From everything we’ve heard, the world as we know it has ended. I’m travelling with Emmett, and ask everyone to join me. You’re welcome to stay here or travel to Albany, but I’ll be leaving with him in the morning.”

The fires had burned low and the howling of wolves filled the woods around us. We meeting moved inside the church and it turned into low-key chaos with people interrupting with questions like, “When do you think FEMA will arrive?” and “Do you think the banks still have money in them?”

Gideon boiled it down to two choices for the gathering: Follow the powerful group of Gifted for several days to an unknown location with the promise of building shelter, or head west for one day to Albany to an existing shelter with several hundred others. I could see the aura of the crowd shift into piss yellows filled with violet flecks. They were scared and angry at their helplessness, a volatile liquid waiting for a spark to ignite them.

I rose and flared my core, pulsing my aura with inchoate energy released by the action. Even the non-gifted fell silent as my aura passed over them and travelled outside the building in an ever-expanding dome of raw power. The non-gifted were blind to the cores, but they could sense when they were flared.

Even the wolves stopped howling in the distance.

Stepping up to the podium, I stood next to Gideon. “I think it’s time to separate and discuss this matter with your family. Let’s head to bed. Vamos a la cama.”

The gathering broke up into a new type of chaos as sleeping arrangements were made for the pilgrims and my family.

“You said you wanted to speak with me?” I asked Gideon when we had retreated to his room after getting everyone settled.

“Nicole can still sense that thing in the east,” He said, settling in his blankets on the floor. “And she’s pushing me hard to abandon the church, that’s why I’m joining you.”

“Baxter,” I said, naming the thing. The motes in the room shifted subtly, the aetheric winds changing course as something moved through them. A tingle ran up my spine, like someone was watching from the darkness. It passed after a moment, leaving me cold. “You know we’re heading east, right?”

“Yes, but we can cut north through Covington to your farm in Plainview, right? Whatever’s out there terrifies her, and she would like to avoid it. I would like to avoid it too.”

“Several miles above Plainview,” I corrected, leaning back against my saddle-pillow. “But I’m all about avoiding known conflict whenever possible.”

“Good,” He sighed. “Any idea how to accomplish this exodus?”

“Not a single one,” I admitted. “I’ll ask the kids in the morning.”

After breakfast, Thom suggested using travois to haul everything, so we chopped stout poles and rigged them to the horses. Essential goods were piled onto the makeshift conveyances and our formation reordered to provide defence for both the horses and the one hundred and sixty-three souls travelling with us.

We headed north on LA-445 and I called a stop a couple miles later when we hit I-12. “Can you raise an obelisk here?” I asked Nick.

“Like the Washington monument?” He asked, frowning.

“Smaller, yeah” I answered. “Maybe three meters tall, one meter wide?”

“What’s that in American?” He asked.

“Nine foot by three foot,” I said. “You realise that I’m going to enforce the metric system, yeah?”

His lips pursed in concentration as his core burst to life and silvery threads ran from his fingers to a point on the ground. Red motes flowed along the threads, moulding the earth into the object of his desire. A few minutes later it was done and the structure stood in the middle of the road. It was a four-sided obelisk, light grey in colour.

“What now?” He asked.

“Now we carve the date at the top, and a map for future travellers.”

Half an hour later we were finished, the obelisk carved with our combined knowledge, a map of the area from Baton Rouge to Covington, including a skull and crossbones for the church of Baxter to the east. The sanctuary at Albany was noted, along with the location and name of the family farm - Dejah.

“All who come in peace and obey the law are welcome?” Doug said, reading the finished work. “No matter their species, race, sex, religion, colour, mutation…”

“Yes, yes.” I interrupted. “If there are people, things, out there who are afraid to show themselves but desire a life of peace and companionship, I want them to be welcome.”

Astrid leaned in and gave me a hug, transmitting her approval wordlessly.

Three dozen individuals had gathered their belongings in the meantime and headed west to Albany, leaving us with over a hundred thirty souls travelling north on the decaying asphalt road.

Thom and Tommy got along like a pair of bandits, practising their physical enhancement and giving each other tips on how it felt to use their respective powers. Thom had a spirit stone and Tommy a heart stone, but there seemed to be overlap between the abilities with Thom learning how to boost his strength and discovering that he could lay hands on Tommy and enhance his speed.

I watched with a critical eye as they burned through their mana and called it to a stop once I judged they hit the 50% mark. Both had just condensed the disk around their core but hadn’t resolved it into a fractal or the weird helix that spun around Nicole’s. I really needed to examine that thing. I had a suspicion that she had somehow jumped ahead of everyone else.

Jake the Raven was circling overhead, relaying information to Astrid while Sassy and Moonie ranged ahead, scouting our path and returning with anything tasty for the stewpot tonight.

“You wanna raid the store for canned goods?” Nick asked as we turned onto Hwy-190 a couple miles later.

We paused outside. I could smell the stench from the rotting meat wafting through the busted doors. “That smells seriously gnarly,” I said, playing with my aura in an attempt to eliminate the odor. I could seal it against all air, but that only trapped the smell inside with me. I had no idea how smells worked. Maybe I could tune it to allow just oxygen and nitrogen through?

“So, yeah or no?” Nick said, breaking my concentration.

“If you want to lead a team in, I’ll keep watch outside.”

Nick gave me some serious side-eye.

“Look,” I said, reaching over to give my oldest a slap on the arm. “You and the other Gifted are going to be expected to step up and take charge. It sucks. I don’t want the responsibility but this is an extinction-level event. We just gotta do it. There’s no one else, and if it gets too heavy come talk to me, because I’ll be relying on you guys to keep me sane, okay?”

He looked at me for a moment, his face reminding me of a mirror so many decades ago, and nodded.

“Gather up a group of scavengers and grab some buggies,” I said. “Get any canned goods that are available, kill anything that gets in your way, get the hell out. You’re in charge, pick your team.”

“What if I want someone else to lead?” He asked, looking uneasy.

“Then appoint them squad leader and give them orders.” I said. “Remember Sun Tsu, Listen to your men, Project confidence, Issue orders, Assume responsibility.”

“Is that what you’re doing?”

“I’m scared shitless,” I admitted. “I just want to get back home ASAP, build some thick walls to keep everything out, and relax on the porch with a drink or six. But I’m going to use you kids to get things done.”

“That’s kinda heartless,” Nick said.

“It’s good experience for everyone,” I said. “I lead you, you lead others, they accomplish tasks. The ultimate responsibility falls on me.”

“Thomas and Tommy,” Nick barked his face falling into a stiff mask, turning around to face those following us. “Astrid and Nicole, come here.”

After they had gathered, Nick gave orders, explaining the operation. “Thom, you two get some men together and gather buggies from in front of the store then wait for my orders. We’re going to scavenge the canned goods from inside. Go.”

Thom and Thomas moved to gather some men from the caravan.

“Nicole, you can sense things, yes? Do you sense anything in the store?” He asked.

Nicole closed her eyes for a moment, I felt her aura pulse as she focused on the store. “Yes. There are several animals in the store. Mostly gathered in the back.”

“What about you, Father?” Nick asked.

I pinged my aura. “I count about two dozen things. Not hostile, not human. About 50 meters from us.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “Okay, about 150 feet, so maybe in the warehouse? We’ll focus on what’s available on the shelves. Astrid, can you send your crow in to scout?”

“Jake’s a raven,” she retorted. “And his vision isn’t so good in the dark.”

Doug and Paige wandered up while we were huddled.

“Hold up a minute,” I said, digging into my pocket and pulling out a bunch of cores. I handed one to Astrid. “What about this? You said you can burn them without spending mana?”

She looked at the thumbnail-sized indigo fleck. “This is like Sassy,” she said after a moment. “It’ll last a few minutes after I empower it, maybe two or three. It’s not very powerful. I can power it myself without any trouble, I think.”

“Sassy can see really good in the dark, her whiskers can detect all sorts of stuff, and she can teleport away from danger,” I explained.

Astrid burned mana, indigo motes flaring and converting to silver that ran down her arm. The core from the Void Cat boiled with energy before an infinitely complicated pattern appeared on the ground before her, bursting into a billion motes and resolving into a smaller version of Sassy.

“How long can you hold that?” I asked, noticing that she hadn’t rushed over to pet the kitty.

“Maybe ten minutes,” she smiled through clenched teeth. “Can we get a move on?”

Nick took the hint and directed Thom and the other men to gather carts from in front of the store. After a moment of confusion, they broke the locked chain holding the carts in place.

I could see the plastic burning motes away into the aether as they pulled the carts away from the cart park.

Astrid sent her void cat summon into the busted door, her eyes distant as she tracked its movements.

“Oh shit,” She whispered after moment. “Fuckfuckfuck!”

“INCOMING!” I yelled, pointing at Nick.

“Guards! Support!” He yelled, pointing at Thom and Tommy.

A dozen men stepped forward in a semi-circle, some hesitant, others rushing to meet the unknown. Astrid’s summon burst out the door, dissolving into a million motes and streaming across the parking lot to merge into the core clutched in her fist.

Rats. Big Rats. Big Ass Rats the size of German Shepards burst out the broken glass doors, chasing the summon. Tommy burst into action, swinging like a big league hitter with his baseball bat, braining the first to emerge, sending it tumbling back into its companions. Thom blurred forward, striking the next hard with an Arkansas toothpick [1] in each hand, downing another rat.

More rats pored out and the gathered men swung machete and club, beating back the Rodents Of Unusual Size as they emerged from the choke point. I could see where minor wounds were inflicted on the men and moved forward to snatch one seriously injured with my auric arms and drag him to safety. Pouring golden motes into him I told him to stand back and wait.

Thom danced around the stream of rodents as they emerged, slashing and stabbing in a blur. Tommy smashed like he was hitting home runs, falling into a pattern where he targeted the wounded Thom left behind. It turned into a grim ballet as a rat would emerge and Thom would strike in a blur then Tommy would follow up with a home run that sent it into parking lot to be dealt with by the other men.

“Something big is coming,” Nicole announced, taking a few steps back. “Really big.”

“Incoming Boss!” Nick yelled. “Toms to the side of the door! Everyone else, stand back and distract it when it emerges.”

A confused dance took place in front of the entrance, Thom and Tommy sliding to each side of the busted doors as the others arranged themselves in front of the entrance.

The formerly wounded man next to me ran forward and grabbed up the machete he had wielded and retreated to join the others arrayed before the doors. I could sense piss yellow auras from the others in the convoy, fearful and terrified as each rat emerged, spiking into pink happiness as each enemy was defeated.

The double doors burst open, revealing a Rat Matriarch the size of a horse. It screamed, an ultrasonic attack causing everyone to flinch back before it lurched forward and attacked one of the arrayed men. Fangs the size of my hand sliced into the defender and it shook its head briefly, launching the unfortunate across the parking lot before turning to engage the others before it.

Thom and Tommy leapt into action, Thom dragging his daggers across the neck of the beast in a supernatural flash, while Tommy jumped in the air and delivered a blow across the spine that caused its rear legs to fold under it.

Screaming in agony, the Matriarch snapped at Tommy burying her fangs in his leg before he could dart out of the way. Thom darted in again, stabbing his daggers into the neck of the beast and twisting, attempting to do as much damage as possible.

The monster roared, causing everyone to flinch back or cower in fear before snapping at Thom who darted back narrowly avoiding its fangs. Nick raised his arm and a spike burst from the ground, crucifying the creature, leaving it to struggle for several minutes before it convulsed and ceased to move.

“Anything else?” He asked, letting the corpse drop to the ground.

Nicole and I pinged, indicating nothing of any importance. The others moved in with empty carts.

Canned goods rattled down the road an hour later, carts pushed by pale faced witnesses to the conflict.

“You did good,” I said, walking up next to Nick as we headed down Hwy-190

“You’re setting me up,” he said, his voice filled with undefinable emotion.

“I can move Thom into your place,” I said.

“What the fuck is your problem?” He snapped, stopping to face me.

I slapped a hardened aura into place, forcing everyone to walk around us as they ambled up the highway following Thom.

“You’re my first born son,” I said, our conversation hidden to those around us. “You’re supposed to inherit everything. If you want some sort of different selection method, let me know. Thom is second in line.”

“Are you setting up some sort of monarchy?” He snapped, glaring at me.

“Yes,” I said, “Do you honestly think a democracy will work in these circumstances? The world is burning, monsters roam the streets, people are gifted with strange powers. I honestly think that I can bury every single person here with very little effort. Do you think some congress can effectively direct people in an expedient fashion?”

I dismissed the aura and we walked another kilometer while he chewed on his thoughts.

“What are the options?” He said.

“An elective monarchy,” I said. “The family votes on who assumes leadership, and if they fail a vote of confidence, another vote is held. It’s like a presidency, except the term is for life until you’re voted out.”

“Why not a democracy?” He asked.

“Because people in large groups are pretty damn stupid. Remember the Orange Shithead? Or the Asshole from Arkansas?”

“I remember my history,” he said. “So you want to institute a monarchy.”

“Until the world is a better place,” I answered. “We have an elected monarch, an upper house of gifted who are voted in by the people, and a lower house of non-gifted voted in by the people.

“So the monarch stays in place until voted out, the upper house can call for a vote of confidence and elect someone from the lower house to be monarch, and the lower house choses which gifted will be in the upper house. Maybe? What do you think?”

“What about people like Tommy?” He said. “The non-gifted with powers?”

I fell silent as I considered that.

1. Arkansas Toothpick

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