The broadcast had made one thing certain -- the situation would get worse before it got better. A lot worse.
The issue of how to protect themselves suddenly became more pressing than anyone had expected. It also made the fast-approaching darkness loom ever more ominously. A number of families decided to spend the night together for protection, especially the ones on the outer edge of the town.
"It was good to see you, Chad." Tom shook his hand as they stood by the front door. "Even if it's under these circumstances."
"You too, Mr. President." Chad patted the Ranch Manager's shoulder with his free left hand. "You sure you don't need anything?"
"Nope," the man chuckled, donning his cap. "I'm just dandy as is. I'll go around and talk to the folks around town first thing in the morning. Seems like we'll need more hands sooner than I thought."
"Seems like it..." Chad agreed. "Whatever comes our way though, we'll be ready."
"I sure hope so, son."
With that, Tom headed toward his truck. His departure left the house empty once more, save for Gram Gram, Annie, and Chad. And Squawkers. And Jerry. And the cats.
...Yeah. Guess calling it "empty" is kinda a stretch.
Shutting the door, Chad turned back to the others. "Well. Now what?"
Annie glanced over at a clock. "It's only 7:15. We've got some time till it's all dark out..."
Chad's gaze flicked up toward Annie's tag. "Oh! You leveled up! Congrats!"
"Yep." She nodded. "Those pigs were worth something, after all. Got my first skill, just like you said."
"What-- gah!" Squawkers dodged a sneak attack from a pair of ambitious felines, fluttering to Chad's shoulder in annoyance. "Damn stupid animals... Ahem. What did you pick?"
"Pressure Point." She chuckled at the bird's plight. "It highlights weak spots when I activate it, apparently."
"Neat!" An idea struck Chad. "What do you see if you use it on me?"
"Hmmm.... good question." A brief look of concentration flashed across Annie's face. Her eyes widened, then crinkled as she suppressed a laugh.
"What?"
"Nothing. It just..." She bit her lip. "It's not highlighting your arm, don't worry."
"...But?" Squawkers prompted.
"...But the rest of you is glowin' pretty bright. Especially your back and head."
Chad frowned. "That seems kinda useless. My whole body can't be a weak point, can it?"
Annie's gaze swung to Squawkers. "For you, it's showin' the head and heart area... the wing joints, too, but those're dimmer. Nothing else is glowing."
"Hmm..." Squawkers thought for a moment. "What if it's relative?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, there's some spots that'll mess me up more than others, right?" Squawkers gestured toward himself with a wing. "I've got weak points and weaker points. That explains the bright and dim thing. But I'm kinda in bad shape if I get hit at all."
"Right..." Chad said slowly.
"So..." The bird continued. "What if there's just such a big difference between the constitution on Chad's arm and everything else that it's messing that up? Maybe that's why it's highlighting it all?"
"Maybe. Could make sense." Annie nodded thoughtfully.
"Yeah." The arm wrestler agreed as well. "That's the only explanation."
"Why d'you say that?"
"Because it's highlighting lefty. Lefty's weak, but it's not a weak spot." Chad emphasized the words with a gesture. "I could lose this thing altogether and probably be just fine."
"I..." Annie glanced at his arm. "I would say I doubt that, but now I'm not so sure. Just don't go tryin' it out, ok?"
"Of course not!" Chad dismissed the concern. "I need it to compete, after all. Something needs to hold onto the table."
Gram Gram shuffled up to the group as they spoke. "Goodness. All of that company has left me feeling a bit worn out. I'm going to head off to bed early, Chadwick."
"Alright, Gram Gram." He bent and hugged the old woman gently. "Sleep well, ok? We'll take care of things out here."
"Thank you." Her gentle smile took in Annie and Chadwick both. "Would you mind setting Jerry up in the other bedroom? I already set up Annie in your old room..."
"Gram Gram..." Chad groaned, running a hand down his face. "For the last time, we are not dating."
Glancing over, Annie's face had turned a rather brilliant shade of red. "T-that's... I've been...?"
"Of course, dearie!" The grandmother's innocent smile betrayed no understanding of the issue at hand. "I thought, since you'd probably be used to sharing a room..."
From the other room, they heard the sound of Jerry choking on something. Chad rubbed his forehead. "Gram Gram. I really think you should head off to sleep?"
"Oh, yes. Good night, dearie."
As the woman shuffled off to her own room, leaving behind a still-blushing Annie and a cackling Squawkers, Chad thought of one more thing. "Oh! Do you mind if we go through the garage?"
"Of course not. Why, I'd even appreciate it. I can hardly reach some of the cabinets in there anymore..."
"Thanks, Gram Gram." With that, he turned to the others. "Guess we've got something to do tonight after all."
***
The garage was a complete mess, just as Gram Gram had warned them. Piles of boxes, cluttered shelves, and an unplugged fridge filled nearly every inch of the space, their contents untouched for who knew how long. In the center of it all sat an old 1955 Cadillac. A layer of dust covered its beige paint job, though the vehicle was otherwise quite well-maintained.
It had been ages since Gram Gram was able to drive. Nowadays, she had to rely on others to take her anywhere. She still liked the car, though. Especially since it had been a gift from Paw Paw.
The group took in the sight beneath the light of a single humming amber bulb. Motes of dust floated through the musty air as Annie suppressed a sneeze. "Wow. This is..."
"Yeah," Chad agreed. He stepped toward the box piles, peeking inside of the topmost ones. "She hasn't cleaned it out in forever."
"What exactly are you looking for here?" Squawkers asked. His voice sounded skeptical.
"I dunno. More of Paw Paw's stuff, mostly." Chad lifted one of the boxes with ease to check underneath it. "He probably kept something in here, too."
"More guns?" Annie began sifting through boxes as well. "In here?"
"Maybe? He had other stuff, too. There's a whole barn in the back that used to be his workshop." Chad blew the dust off an old trophy. "Hey! It's my first arm wrestling trophy! I didn't know they kept this!"
Annie retreated from the cloud and doubled over with a series of coughs. When she straightened, her eyes were rimmed with red. "Can we open the garage door or somethin'? I swear, I didn't have allergies before, but I might be gettin' some..."
"Are you crazy?!" Squawkers popped his head up from the other side of the garage. "Who cares about the dust when there's no cats in here! Heck, I might sleep here!"
"I..." The Massage Therapist pulled her shirt over her nose and mouth with another cough. "I didn't mind the cats."
After deciding not to open the door on account of the late hour, the three continued their search, sifting through box after box for anything useful. Most of them contained old magazines, holiday decorations, or school art projects. Those last ones Chad made sure to hide deeper within the garage where no one would find them. But for the most part, there was nothing of interest. Until Annie caught a break.
"Uh, Chad?"
He straightened, a pair of boxes held aloft in his right hand as he searched through an ancient toolbox. "Yeah?"
The Massage Therapist stepped back slowly. "I, uh... think I found something."
Chad waded through the piles of junk until he arrived at Annie's side. Before her sat a sturdy wooden box balanced precariously atop a rusty lawnmower. Leaning past her, Chad peered within at its contents.
It was grenades. The box was full of grenades.
Chad whistled appreciatively. "That's what I'm talking about! Nice find, Annie!"
"Nice find?!" She hissed. "Chad, why is there a box of goddamn grenades in your grandma's garage?!"
"Wait, seriously?" Squawkers flapped over to them.
"I mean, I told you he had other stuff." He shrugged.
"Yeah!" Annie retorted. "I thought you meant guns!"
"Why would you think that?"
"Why would I think anything else?!"
"Well, maybe this is a good time to ask, then..." The bird’s beady yellow eyes met Chad's own. "What kinda stuff did your gramps keep lying around?"
"I dunno, really." Chad raised his hands to forestall an outburst from Annie. "Really! I don't. My Paw Paw would bring all kinds of cool stuff when we'd go shoot. Grenades, snipers, rocket launchers... I think he even brought a mortar once."
"Do they even allow those at ranges?"
"...Y'know, that's a good question." Chad's expression turned thoughtful. "Probably not the inside ones… We didn't always go to ranges, though. And we did go to some pretty out-of the-way places sometimes..."
"Chad..." Annie took a deep breath in a visible attempt to calm herself. "I'm not mad. I'm not. Just a little... concerned... That we've been kickin' and throwin' around these boxes under the assumption that they wouldn't contain damn grenades."
"Yeah... I guess that's fair." He gave a sheepish shrug. "Sorry. I really didn't know though."
"That's fine. We'll just... have to be more careful."
They moved the grenades into a less precarious position to deal with later and continued the search. After that first find, they managed to unearth a few more items of note. A few guns -- which were thankfully better-secured than the grenades -- as well as one of the aforementioned mortars. The whole thing seemed to give Annie a bit of pause.
"What did your grandpa do in the military, again?"
"Something in intelligence, I think?" They'd managed to clear enough space for Chad to open the cabinets on the edge of the room. "I dunno. It wasn't super related. He just liked weapons and stuff."
"Uh-huh." Annie said dubiously. "And you said he has a workshop, too?"
"Yeah! No idea what's in it, though. He kept a pretty tight lid on that one. I tried to sneak in a few times, and..." Chad winced at the memory. "I don't think my gramma has a key for it, either."
Squawers chuckled. "A key? Really? Can't you just break down the door?"
Chad opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Huh. Good point. Guess I know what we're doing tomorrow. Good idea, buddy."
"Thank you. Also, careful of those spiders."
"Where-- oh shit." Chad's eyes widened as he spotted a particularly nasty arachnid on the back wall of the cabinet.
Black Widow (Lvl 2)
Yeah, no shot we're letting this thing level up more. Bracing his middle finger against his thumb, Chad flicked the thing.
Crack.
Oops. He winced. The impact of his flick left a quarter-sized hole in the drywall. Should've expected that.
"Hey, what's that?" Squawkers peered into the hole. "There's something shiny in there."
"Really?" Chad looked at the bird quizzically. "What, did I hit the pipes or something?"
"I don't think so..." Hopping toward the hole, Squawkers began pulling at its edges to enlarge the gap. Soon enough, his efforts revealed a hidden seam in the wall.
Reaching forward, Chad gently felt around the wall and traced the seam. "Is this some kinda secret compartment?"
"Looks like it. Open it up already!"
Since the wall was already busted, Chad simply helped to peel the rest of the material off. Behind the white drywall and spiderwebs, a series of small hooks had been screwed into the back of the hidden compartment. From them hung four sets of keys. One looked like the kind of key one might use for a padlock, while the others were different. Closer to car keys than anything.
"Huh. What're these for?"
"No idea." Chad inspected them before sticking all four pairs in his pocket. "But I hope it's something cool."
The broadcast had made one thing certain -- the situation would get worse before it got better. A lot worse.
The issue of how to protect themselves suddenly became more pressing than anyone had expected. It also made the fast-approaching darkness loom ever more ominously. A number of families decided to spend the night together for protection, especially the ones on the outer edge of the town.
"It was good to see you, Chad." Tom shook his hand as they stood by the front door. "Even if it's under these circumstances."
"You too, Mr. President." Chad patted the Ranch Manager's shoulder with his free left hand. "You sure you don't need anything?"
"Nope," the man chuckled, donning his cap. "I'm just dandy as is. I'll go around and talk to the folks around town first thing in the morning. Seems like we'll need more hands sooner than I thought."
"Seems like it..." Chad agreed. "Whatever comes our way though, we'll be ready."
"I sure hope so, son."
With that, Tom headed toward his truck. His departure left the house empty once more, save for Gram Gram, Annie, and Chad. And Squawkers. And Jerry. And the cats.
...Yeah. Guess calling it "empty" is kinda a stretch.
Shutting the door, Chad turned back to the others. "Well. Now what?"
Annie glanced over at a clock. "It's only 7:15. We've got some time till it's all dark out..."
Chad's gaze flicked up toward Annie's tag. "Oh! You leveled up! Congrats!"
"Yep." She nodded. "Those pigs were worth something, after all. Got my first skill, just like you said."
"What-- gah!" Squawkers dodged a sneak attack from a pair of ambitious felines, fluttering to Chad's shoulder in annoyance. "Damn stupid animals... Ahem. What did you pick?"
"Pressure Point." She chuckled at the bird's plight. "It highlights weak spots when I activate it, apparently."
"Neat!" An idea struck Chad. "What do you see if you use it on me?"
"Hmmm.... good question." A brief look of concentration flashed across Annie's face. Her eyes widened, then crinkled as she suppressed a laugh.
"What?"
"Nothing. It just..." She bit her lip. "It's not highlighting your arm, don't worry."
"...But?" Squawkers prompted.
"...But the rest of you is glowin' pretty bright. Especially your back and head."
Chad frowned. "That seems kinda useless. My whole body can't be a weak point, can it?"
Annie's gaze swung to Squawkers. "For you, it's showin' the head and heart area... the wing joints, too, but those're dimmer. Nothing else is glowing."
"Hmm..." Squawkers thought for a moment. "What if it's relative?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, there's some spots that'll mess me up more than others, right?" Squawkers gestured toward himself with a wing. "I've got weak points and weaker points. That explains the bright and dim thing. But I'm kinda in bad shape if I get hit at all."
"Right..." Chad said slowly.
"So..." The bird continued. "What if there's just such a big difference between the constitution on Chad's arm and everything else that it's messing that up? Maybe that's why it's highlighting it all?"
"Maybe. Could make sense." Annie nodded thoughtfully.
"Yeah." The arm wrestler agreed as well. "That's the only explanation."
"Why d'you say that?"
"Because it's highlighting lefty. Lefty's weak, but it's not a weak spot." Chad emphasized the words with a gesture. "I could lose this thing altogether and probably be just fine."
"I..." Annie glanced at his arm. "I would say I doubt that, but now I'm not so sure. Just don't go tryin' it out, ok?"
"Of course not!" Chad dismissed the concern. "I need it to compete, after all. Something needs to hold onto the table."
Gram Gram shuffled up to the group as they spoke. "Goodness. All of that company has left me feeling a bit worn out. I'm going to head off to bed early, Chadwick."
"Alright, Gram Gram." He bent and hugged the old woman gently. "Sleep well, ok? We'll take care of things out here."
"Thank you." Her gentle smile took in Annie and Chadwick both. "Would you mind setting Jerry up in the other bedroom? I already set up Annie in your old room..."
"Gram Gram..." Chad groaned, running a hand down his face. "For the last time, we are not dating."
Glancing over, Annie's face had turned a rather brilliant shade of red. "T-that's... I've been...?"
"Of course, dearie!" The grandmother's innocent smile betrayed no understanding of the issue at hand. "I thought, since you'd probably be used to sharing a room..."
From the other room, they heard the sound of Jerry choking on something. Chad rubbed his forehead. "Gram Gram. I really think you should head off to sleep?"
"Oh, yes. Good night, dearie."
As the woman shuffled off to her own room, leaving behind a still-blushing Annie and a cackling Squawkers, Chad thought of one more thing. "Oh! Do you mind if we go through the garage?"
"Of course not. Why, I'd even appreciate it. I can hardly reach some of the cabinets in there anymore..."
"Thanks, Gram Gram." With that, he turned to the others. "Guess we've got something to do tonight after all."
***
The garage was a complete mess, just as Gram Gram had warned them. Piles of boxes, cluttered shelves, and an unplugged fridge filled nearly every inch of the space, their contents untouched for who knew how long. In the center of it all sat an old 1955 Cadillac. A layer of dust covered its beige paint job, though the vehicle was otherwise quite well-maintained.
It had been ages since Gram Gram was able to drive. Nowadays, she had to rely on others to take her anywhere. She still liked the car, though. Especially since it had been a gift from Paw Paw.
The group took in the sight beneath the light of a single humming amber bulb. Motes of dust floated through the musty air as Annie suppressed a sneeze. "Wow. This is..."
"Yeah," Chad agreed. He stepped toward the box piles, peeking inside of the topmost ones. "She hasn't cleaned it out in forever."
"What exactly are you looking for here?" Squawkers asked. His voice sounded skeptical.
"I dunno. More of Paw Paw's stuff, mostly." Chad lifted one of the boxes with ease to check underneath it. "He probably kept something in here, too."
"More guns?" Annie began sifting through boxes as well. "In here?"
"Maybe? He had other stuff, too. There's a whole barn in the back that used to be his workshop." Chad blew the dust off an old trophy. "Hey! It's my first arm wrestling trophy! I didn't know they kept this!"
Annie retreated from the cloud and doubled over with a series of coughs. When she straightened, her eyes were rimmed with red. "Can we open the garage door or somethin'? I swear, I didn't have allergies before, but I might be gettin' some..."
"Are you crazy?!" Squawkers popped his head up from the other side of the garage. "Who cares about the dust when there's no cats in here! Heck, I might sleep here!"
"I..." The Massage Therapist pulled her shirt over her nose and mouth with another cough. "I didn't mind the cats."
After deciding not to open the door on account of the late hour, the three continued their search, sifting through box after box for anything useful. Most of them contained old magazines, holiday decorations, or school art projects. Those last ones Chad made sure to hide deeper within the garage where no one would find them. But for the most part, there was nothing of interest. Until Annie caught a break.
"Uh, Chad?"
He straightened, a pair of boxes held aloft in his right hand as he searched through an ancient toolbox. "Yeah?"
The Massage Therapist stepped back slowly. "I, uh... think I found something."
Chad waded through the piles of junk until he arrived at Annie's side. Before her sat a sturdy wooden box balanced precariously atop a rusty lawnmower. Leaning past her, Chad peered within at its contents.
It was grenades. The box was full of grenades.
Chad whistled appreciatively. "That's what I'm talking about! Nice find, Annie!"
"Nice find?!" She hissed. "Chad, why is there a box of goddamn grenades in your grandma's garage?!"
"Wait, seriously?" Squawkers flapped over to them.
"I mean, I told you he had other stuff." He shrugged.
"Yeah!" Annie retorted. "I thought you meant guns!"
"Why would you think that?"
"Why would I think anything else?!"
"Well, maybe this is a good time to ask, then..." The bird’s beady yellow eyes met Chad's own. "What kinda stuff did your gramps keep lying around?"
"I dunno, really." Chad raised his hands to forestall an outburst from Annie. "Really! I don't. My Paw Paw would bring all kinds of cool stuff when we'd go shoot. Grenades, snipers, rocket launchers... I think he even brought a mortar once."
"Do they even allow those at ranges?"
"...Y'know, that's a good question." Chad's expression turned thoughtful. "Probably not the inside ones… We didn't always go to ranges, though. And we did go to some pretty out-of the-way places sometimes..."
"Chad..." Annie took a deep breath in a visible attempt to calm herself. "I'm not mad. I'm not. Just a little... concerned... That we've been kickin' and throwin' around these boxes under the assumption that they wouldn't contain damn grenades."
"Yeah... I guess that's fair." He gave a sheepish shrug. "Sorry. I really didn't know though."
"That's fine. We'll just... have to be more careful."
They moved the grenades into a less precarious position to deal with later and continued the search. After that first find, they managed to unearth a few more items of note. A few guns -- which were thankfully better-secured than the grenades -- as well as one of the aforementioned mortars. The whole thing seemed to give Annie a bit of pause.
"What did your grandpa do in the military, again?"
"Something in intelligence, I think?" They'd managed to clear enough space for Chad to open the cabinets on the edge of the room. "I dunno. It wasn't super related. He just liked weapons and stuff."
"Uh-huh." Annie said dubiously. "And you said he has a workshop, too?"
"Yeah! No idea what's in it, though. He kept a pretty tight lid on that one. I tried to sneak in a few times, and..." Chad winced at the memory. "I don't think my gramma has a key for it, either."
Squawers chuckled. "A key? Really? Can't you just break down the door?"
Chad opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Huh. Good point. Guess I know what we're doing tomorrow. Good idea, buddy."
"Thank you. Also, careful of those spiders."
"Where-- oh shit." Chad's eyes widened as he spotted a particularly nasty arachnid on the back wall of the cabinet.
Black Widow (Lvl 2)
Yeah, no shot we're letting this thing level up more. Bracing his middle finger against his thumb, Chad flicked the thing.
Crack.
Oops. He winced. The impact of his flick left a quarter-sized hole in the drywall. Should've expected that.
"Hey, what's that?" Squawkers peered into the hole. "There's something shiny in there."
"Really?" Chad looked at the bird quizzically. "What, did I hit the pipes or something?"
"I don't think so..." Hopping toward the hole, Squawkers began pulling at its edges to enlarge the gap. Soon enough, his efforts revealed a hidden seam in the wall.
Reaching forward, Chad gently felt around the wall and traced the seam. "Is this some kinda secret compartment?"
"Looks like it. Open it up already!"
Since the wall was already busted, Chad simply helped to peel the rest of the material off. Behind the white drywall and spiderwebs, a series of small hooks had been screwed into the back of the hidden compartment. From them hung four sets of keys. One looked like the kind of key one might use for a padlock, while the others were different. Closer to car keys than anything.
"Huh. What're these for?"
"No idea." Chad inspected them before sticking all four pairs in his pocket. "But I hope it's something cool."
