Rest was a much needed resource for people, especially after strenuous activity. But unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and Cain was woken up by Donovan of all people. He had apparently fallen asleep on the floor of someone’s living room, and someone had draped a blanket over him while he slept. There was plenty of light streaming through the windows, which also meant it was late into the morning.

“Cain, were you listening?” Donovan asked him. Cain shook his head, bemused. He didn’t even realize the other man had been speaking to him.

“Well I was letting you know we had let you sleep in as long as we could, but we’ll be leaving any minute now.” Cain groaned at that, but stood up and stretched anyway. Donovan handed him a water bottle and some crackers and he gratefully accepted. Hopefully he’d be able to eat some better meals soon, but right now, food was food.

“Anyways, I was also telling you about this one time…” Cain tuned Donovan out at that. He was hearing the words being spoken, but wasn’t really listening. They both left the house, which was coincidentally the same house Cain had used to defend the town from the very first wolf wave of the night. He didn’t really know what to call the organized attacks of the animals on the town, but ‘wave’ worked for now. The other members of the patrol group had already woken up and left, possibly to help with the evacuation, or to protect the town again. It had only been openly attacked during the night, but that didn’t discount the chance of an attack in broad daylight.

Donovan was right; the town was primed to leave at the drop of a hat. Children were waiting patiently inside of cars, people were sitting on the engines, waiting to do whatever it was they had to in order to make it run, and no supplies were strewn haphazardly across the street anymore.

Tom, as busy a bee as ever, was talking to a group of people who were occasionally nodding at what the man had to say. It was a short conversation, and the mayor made his way over to Cain and Donovan, the former still listening to some childhood story of the latter’s. Alice wasn’t here to reign him in, and the man took the opportunity to let Cain know exactly how many times he spilled juice in his kitchen when he was seven.

“Donovan, thank you for wakin’ him up. Now I do believe Alice has been waitin’ on ya for a while,” Tom hinted to Donovan, and that prompted him to rush towards the front of the caravan of cars and trucks waiting to leave.

“I regret soundin’ like a broken record here Cain, but really, I must thank you for your effort and hard work. I took a look at where y’all had been fightin’ and it was a mess.”

“As always, you’re welcome Tom. Is there a car with some room left anywhere?”

“Why yes there is. I’ve spread out those who were guarding the town last night, and I saved a special spot up front just for ya,” Tom said with a wink. When Cain realized why he was making a joke of it, he was not amused. The second car in line was the same truck that picked them up from Lookout Pass, and Alice and Donovan were sitting in the bed. At least he wouldn’t lack for conversation on the drive.

Tom let him climb into the truck and took his own seat at the very front car, a sleek black sedan. The caravan began to move at some unprompted signal, and Cain made himself comfortable. He could partially see the man in the front sending a constant stream of fire into the engine, but couldn’t really figure out much more than that. Perhaps he’d ask when they reached Spokane.

“Alice, Donovan, I’ve been meaning to ask, but how is it that this whole town seems really...prepared?”

“Oh well that’s a pretty interesting if short story. Most of the town are actually survivors from the Palo Verde disaster in ‘06, you know the one. We were living in a small town far enough to not get hit by the radiation, but close enough we had to all move. Government sent us all here to Mullan, and now Tom makes it a priority to undergo preparation drills every year. The whole town has been ready for another disaster to happen, we just weren’t expecting it to be so...magical.”

Cain remembered that disaster, it was the reason his family moved to Seattle. As if relocating all the disaster survivors to the Northern parts of the States would make them forget about it. It was 13 years ago though, and not worth thinking about anymore. It did explain why the town was so ready to pick up and leave though; they had been training for it. Cain studiously ignored Donovan explaining why which reactor melted, and the precise governmental response, but this was apparently something Alice was versed in. They went back and forth for a while as the caravan marched along the interstate.

They passed various towns, all empty, some bloodier than others. Animal corpses rotted as soon as they were killed, but humans didn’t. Bodies were everywhere, and their positions told a story words couldn’t. Mothers protecting their children, people running away only to be tackled and mauled from behind. Cain shivered at that, coming close to such a fate himself multiple times.

Taking his eyes off the road, he thought about last night’s events to distract himself. The shaggy buffalo was the first real sign that the world had changed in more ways than just giving people Numerals. However, it was too large to have caused the hoof print the group found earlier in the night. Something that large could never have snuck up on the town, left traces of its passing, and not have been heard or sighted. In fact, if it were possible for it to sneak that well, the town might have died in their sleep without anyone ever even knowing how.

Cain took a look at his Numeral as they passed another town. Osburn. Cain knew an Osburn on his construction team, what a coincidence. And after all of the fighting he did last night, he was presented with a nice sum of 75 Origin to throw around. That was a lot. Cain reaped the lives of dozens of animals and was rewarded generously for it.

He opened his Numeral, wanting to take a look at all of his options at once before deciding what he should invest in. If invest was even the right term to use. Strangely enough, the corner of the page was folded, a quirk Cain used to do when reading to signify the spot in a book he finished reading at. But that would mean there was part of the book left to read. Cain turned the page, and at the top of the other side was a single entry.

Prodigal - Secondary Ordinal - Second Cardinal (Solid) - Spike

It was only a single line, but the words seemed to take up the entire page. Looking at the paper, he could vaguely see the outline of a spike in the paper, but it was like trying to look at something in the periphery of his vision, constantly fleeting out of focus. Cain found this discovery extremely intriguing, and wanted to figure out what it meant immediately, but knew he would have to wait until Spokane. For the short term, it would have to be sufficient to spend his Origin.

Flipping backwards, Cain wanted to spend this car ride figuring out what each of the Elements did. Arc and Edge had already been established, and Vertex was probably also understood, but Cain had a feeling that it did more than just allow simultaneous use of Cardinals. That left Form, Purpose, and Dimension, the three he hadn’t touched yet. He defaulted to the small wisp of flame hovering over his hand for testing purposes. Alice and Donovan noticed, but they also realized he was using his Cardinal for a reason, and left him to it.

A point in Form, and the flame seemed a bit more...flamey. That was the best way Cain could describe it. He wanted a small flame to hover over his hand, and the flame was now more in line with what he imagined it being. Another point in Purpose, and the flame became slightly more centered. Licks of fire didn’t try to escape as often, and the flame seemed to be more stable in general. A final point in Dimension, and the flame grew a tiny bit larger, without input from Cain. He had to focus to shrink it back to the size it was previously.

All of the Elements in theory made sense. Arc was the toughness of the body, Edge was the strength. Form made Cardinals follow the associated mental image easier, Purpose made their actions stronger and more cohesive, and Dimension affected their size and probably power. It was a little convoluted, but the effects spoke for themselves. Vertex was the odd one out, but Cain would figure it out over time. All of that left 72 Origin to work with, and Cain knew how he wanted to spend it. The first page of his Numeral ended up looking like:

Origin - 3

Elements

Edge - 3 (0/3)

Arc - 8 (0/8)

Vertex - 5 (0/5)

Purpose - 2 (0/2)

Form - 2 (0/2)

Dimension - 2 (0/2)

Primary Ordinal

First Cardinal (Force) - 5 (0/5)

Second Cardinal (Resistance) - 5 (0/5)

Secondary Ordinal

First Cardinal (Heat) - 6 (0/6)

Second Cardinal (Solid) - 8 (0/8)

Third Cardinal (Liquid) - 1 (0/1)

Fourth Cardinal (Gas) - 1 (0/1)

Tertiary Ordinal

First Cardinal (Life) - 7 (0/7)

Second Cardinal - 1 (0/1)

Third Cardinal - 1 (0/1)

Fourth Cardinal - 1 (0/1)

Fifth Cardinal - 1 (0/1)

Sixth Cardinal (Mind) - 1 (0/1)

Seventh Cardinal - 1 (0/1)

Eighth Cardinal - 1 (0/1)

Solid and heat were the two Cardinals that spoke to Cain the most, the ones he had been using to save his life time and time again. He hadn’t seen a majority of the Tertiary Ordinal Cardinals yet, but he doubted they would change his mind. He also wanted to learn how to use force and resistance, since their simplicity meant their use would be very flexible.

Cain didn’t know how long it had been, perhaps an hour, perhaps two, by time the caravan reached Spokane. Technically the city they were approaching was Coeur d’Alene, but it directly connected to Spokane according to Donovan. Post Falls was the town in between the two, and most likely everyone from Mullan would disperse, going to stay with a relative or close friend. Entering the city limits, Cain could see the Harrison Slough on his left, and Fernan Lake on his right, named so by Donovan. There must have barely been half a mile between them at their closest points to each other.

Now that he was thinking about it, Cain didn’t think this far ahead. About where he would go once the town made it to safety, to Spokane. Perhaps he could try heading west to Seattle, where his family was staying. Minneapolis where his job was, but was almost halfway across the country. For now, Idaho would have to do.

At a first distant glance of the town, one could mistake Coeur d’Alene with just having a lazy morning. Nobody could be seen going out for a typical afternoon jog, no cars were moving in the street to go grocery shopping, visit some friends, or pick their kids up from soccer practice. The only sign of human life was in the form of large signs planted all over the interstate, with arrows pointing further into the town. The signs were only placed on the right side of the road though, quite odd. The caravan merged onto Route 95, heading North for a while. Cain didn’t know how Tom let the other drivers know where to go, but he probably told them to just follow where he went.

The first humans he spotted outside of Mullan were a couple police officers manning some impromptu checkpoint in the road. It was more like a few traffic cones, but the officers were still keeping an eye out. One of them talked to Tom for a few moments, and then waved the caravan on through. Cain did notice that neither of the officers were carrying their handguns, choosing to hold batons instead.

The end destination of the caravan happened to be at a Costco of all places, with dozens of official looking people managing lines of hundreds. The signs strewn all over labeled the building and more specifically the parking lot as a temporary food distributor. Wait in line, and whatever non-perishables were in stock would be given out to whoever asked for them. This clearly wouldn’t last for long, but Cain thought the officials were hoping the government would solve the electrical grid problem at the least in the next few days. It was only November, and anyone living this far North in the states knew to dress warmly, but without electricity? Once winter and the snow started rolling in, people would begin to die of the cold.

The line of cars from Mullan probably extended all the way past the police checkpoint even as they began parking in whatever spots they could find. The people who allowed the engines to run got a much needed stretch break, and Cain was also feeling a little stiff from sitting in the bed of the truck for so long. One of the drivers who Cain saw pull up was actually Joe, the man apparently following up on his word of wanting to help out. Cain waved to him, and he began to walk over, twisting his torso left and right as he did so.

“Old joints, got real stiff on the ride here. Word of advice Cain, don’t get old,” Joe greeted, with a wink at the end. The man was clearly in better cheer than last night, most likely because his grandchildren were just a few minutes away by car.

“Maybe lay off on the beer a little, do some cardio, and you won’t feel so old all the time,” Cain joked back.

“At the end of the world? I think a little jogging is at the bottom of my bucket list.”

“Joe, hey Joe!” Deborah, of all people, shouted across the parking lot. Dozens of weary looking people in the food lines looked their way at that, but quickly returned to slowly shuffling forward in line. And Cain thought Mullan had it bad. Hopefully Tom would be able to speak to someone in charge, and get Cain and the others in a position to help Coeur d’Alene. He didn’t know when it happened, but Cain had developed a desire to help out those in trouble, whether by getting them food, or saving their lives from an animal attack.

Alice, Donovan, Joe, and Deborah all began to talk and catch up over what they had done since they last all gathered yesterday morning. Cain left them to it, and went over to where Tom was talking to someone in a red cross shirt, catching the middle of their conversation.

“-ents set up all over the North part of the city, but we can barely keep up. The larger stores like Costco are already almost out of food, and our efforts of trying to accept strangers in their homes is barely working. We can’t stop you from staying here, but we can’t help you either,” the man said, fidgeting the whole time. There were bags under his eyes, and he had slightly slurred speech. He must not have slept for days by the looks of it.

“What about the South? We drove past it on our way here and it didn’t seem like anyone was there. We could see about finding some parks down there. Like I said, we don’t need much space or supplies, we brought our own,” Tom reasoned. The other man sighed at that, and somehow looked even more tired than before.

“It’s not that the South part of town is empty, it’s that the people living down there went all isolationist out of nowhere. With the grid down and a lack of government response, those folks all took to calling themselves the Independent Men, and refused any Red Cross or Food Bank help. We don’t have the people or time to go and try and convince them otherwise.” Tom fell into thought at that, and presented the official with a plan.

“If we could convince these ‘Independent Men’ to agree to cooperate with you, would you have any qualms about us staying here, until the government decides what to do?”

“You wouldn’t even need them to cooperate. If you could convince them to let you stay, I or any of the other managers wouldn’t say a thing. We are just trying to keep as many people fed and healthy for as long as possible, and I had to warn you what was going on with that as soon as possible. Speaking of, do you think you could teach some of our guys how to get the cars running? We could see about ferrying food from the warehouses on the edges of the city.”

“That’ll be no skin off our backs. I’ll send a few people over. One last thing though, do you know how Post Falls or Spokane are doin’?”

“No idea. Like I said, we don’t have anyone that can drive, and we haven’t heard a peep from the folks over there since this whole fiasco started two days ago.” Tom nodded, shook the man’s hand, and headed back towards the congregation of people from Mullan.

“Cain. Good, you heard most of it. I’ll be heading on over to see these ‘Independent Men’ right now, would you care to join me?” Cain nodded.

“Fantastic.”

Tom rounded up the Turners, Eric, and Lisa before taking the driver that was posted on his car back down Route 95. The man’s name was apparently Bartholomew, but he preferred Bart. It didn’t escape Cain’s notice that most of the people heading with Tom were the patrol group, as if Tom were expecting trouble at this informal diplomatic meeting.

It only took a couple minutes to pass the police checkpoint and reach the South part of the town. No traffic or stop lights helped with that. It was barely into the residential area that they had to stop at a barricade, this one a lot more obvious than the government run one. Various furniture items such as chairs, tables, and even sofas were all cluttered together in the middle of the road, preventing any cars from driving through. There was a group of about five men all holding rifles that emerged from behind the barricade, and even more were hanging back, watching the car.

“Halt, and identify yourselves,” the leading man shouted, his face covered by a bandana. Tom stepped out of the car and waved at the approaching men.

“Howdy fellas, my name is Tom Hardings, I’m the mayor of Mullan, a small town a few miles East, and I heard you might be accepting evacuees?”

“Don’t know where you heard that from partner, but we ain’t accepting nobody. This part of town is closed off, residents only. I’d advise y'all to leave as soon as possible.”

“One minute please, gentlemen. I have a town full of women and children that have had to deal with the convenience of the modern world being taken away from them, on top of having been forced from their homes. I’m not askin’ for your families to accept strangers in their homes, all I’m askin’ is for a plot of land for us to stay in. A park would do fine.”

“We ain’t acceptin’ nobody, don’t make me tell you a third time,” the man finished, raising his gun in a threatening gesture. Cain didn’t think they figured out how to use it, but he didn’t want to make such a large gamble. Tom didn’t either.

“Well thank you gentlemen for taking the time to talk with me. We’ll be on our way now.”

With that parting remark, Tom got back in the car, and Bart drove them back up to the Costco. Only once they passed the police checkpoint did Cain allow himself to relax. He had to commend Tom for his bravery, he went and talked to a group of hostile strangers about setting up in their self-appointed land, and came out with all his organs in all the right places. Cain was almost sure the ‘Independent Men’ would start firing in the middle of the conversation, but the world hadn’t gotten that bad. Yet.

When they pulled into the parking lot, a tight fit with all of the cars taking up spots, Cain noticed the Mullan townspeople had replaced a lot of the Food Bank officials in handing out goods to the people waiting in line. The ones who got their hand outs headed back to their houses, but Cain saw people constantly stream into the lines, presenting the workers with a never ending stream of hungry families to feed. No wonder they hadn’t gotten any sleep.

“Well, what do y’all think?”

“About the ‘Independent Men?’ They were one second away from shooting at all of us the whole time. If we brought more people, they might have shot first and talked later,” Cain said.

“A lot of them seemed hesitant in my eyes. That leader in the bandana seemed to be calling the shots, but a lot of the people hanging back by that roadblock didn’t even have their hands on their weapons,” Lisa noted.

“Man in front didn’t ever put his finger on the trigger. Wanted to look threatening, didn’t want to fight,” Eric pointed out.

“I saw some people looking out the windows right past the roadblock, but they didn’t look all that scared. Relieved, almost, at us being sent away,” one of the Turners noted.

With all their input carefully listened to, Tom let them know they were free to do as they liked, but he wanted to see them all again before dusk. The man walked over to the Red Cross manager and the two began to talk, possibly coming up with temporary living arrangements for those who came from Mullan. Cain didn’t think Tom was done with trying to talk to the ‘Independent Men,’ but his townspeople needed a place to stay for tonight at least.

A few of them had actually started teaching some of the Red Cross volunteers how to operate the cars, while others were starting to mingle with those in line for food, trying to cheer them up. Some of the children had even started playing a very rule-lacking football game. That brought a smile to the tired parents’ faces.

Cain didn’t have children, and couldn’t understand how they felt, but he saw where they were coming from. There were only so many non-perishables in a normal household, and families wanted to get as much as they could from volunteer organizations before having to use their own stock. That kind of thinking would end up being bad in the long run, but if there was no governmental response to power and water stopping across the country, then food shortages would be the least of anyone’s problems.

Cain couldn’t think of anything he could do at the moment, and wanted to get some information of his own. He waved at an approaching family, and the father warily waved back. He was a very clean-shaven man wearing glasses, and greeted Cain first.

“Hello, my name is Daniel. Did you need something from us?” He asked.

“Hi Daniel, I’m Cain. I just wanted to ask a couple questions if that’s alright,” Cain answered, and at that response the family relaxed. Perhaps they thought he was asking for food?

“Sure thing friend, ask away.”

“I just came with all of these people from a small town called Mullan. I know this might sound crazy, but we had to leave because the wildlife went rabid, attacking the town at night when everyone was sleeping. I was just wondering if Coeur d’Alene had something like that so far?”

“No I can’t say we have been attacked or anything of the sort. Just the South part of town closing itself off.”

“Right, ok. What about any public news of the Numerals?”

“Numerals?” Daniel asked, and was startled when he realized he was now holding something in his hand. Oops. Cain calmed down the family who just learned about the fantastical addition to their large pile of troubles, and gave them a brief explanation about what to watch out for when using Cardinals. He did notice that even the kids had their own Numerals. The children of Mullan were just well behaved enough that they never used their Cardinals. A trained populace indeed.

“Thank you for this Cain, truly. We’ll try not to let people know about this, but I believe everyone should at some point,” Daniel said, shaking Cain’s hand.

“I agree, but if it’s done wrong, it’ll just cause a panic, with people using powers like ones you’d see in a movie or read about in a book. I’ll have to think about how to let people know gradually, and maybe I can trust on you to help me with that?” Cain asked, hoping the assistance of a resident of Coeur d’Alene would make it easier for people to not start lighting each other on fire once they learned they could.

“Sure thing friend, we live in the house right behind the Costco. It still has some old Halloween decorations on it, you can’t miss it. And one thing I thought you should know,” Daniel said, prompting a raised eyebrow from Cain.

“I noticed some people indeed doing strange things in the neighborhood, probably from these ‘Cardinals,’ as you call them. That combined with the power turning off, the cars and other machines failing to work, and lack of state or government response has people already giving what happened two days ago a name. They’re calling it the Ruin.” Daniel whispered that last part, as if not speaking about it loudly would mean it wouldn't become true.

Part of the town already knowing about Numerals, half of the town declaring itself a closed border state, and naming the start of all of this something as ominous as the ‘Ruin?’ Cain had his work cut out for him if he wanted to start trying to help this town out the same way he did for Mullan. And Cain wasn’t just going to sit on his hands waiting for someone else to do the work for him. He had a plan, and he went to talk to Tom and see if it was possible.