Chapter 12

Waking up the next day, I was greeted by Old Man Dew and Miguel, who had taken the last watch. Everyone was too scared to sleep without someone standing guard, so we took shifts. I started with Noah, followed by Lily and Olivia, and finally, Old Man Dew, who volunteered to watch for the rest of the night. Miguel seemed to have joined him.

"Good, you're awake," Old Man Dew said, rubbing his eyes. Clearly tired but not wanting to show it, he looked away, hiding the bags under his eyes as he gazed out the window near the front door, ready for anything.

"Did you see anything?" I asked. Miguel shook his head, and Dew grunted without even turning to look at me. Not caring, I walked to the kitchen and started cooking a simple breakfast. The smell soon drew everyone to the living room, where they sat at the table, waiting for me to finish.

Silence reigned through the group, with the only sound being the sizzling of sausages. I soon plated them alongside eggs and grits, passing a plate to everyone. They ate just as silently, the only noise coming from forks scraping against plates. Even the usually lively Old Man Dew had little to say. Finally, Alejandro broached the subject on everyone's mind.

"Any idea what sound was or what it came from?" He asked all of us the fear in his voice quite evident as he said the word 'it', but I can't blame him as the screech was so blood chilling I still tremble just thinking back to it.

"All I can say is in my 45 years of running this farm, I've never heard a creature which sounded like that" Old man dew spoke next seeming just as worried as Alejandro, but seemed to be in much more control of himself.

"Then what are we to do?" Lily's voice came next, as she continued to open and close her hands, seemingly resisting the urge to summon a weapon from her inventory for security.

"You lot are to go enjoy your day off tomorrow. I will stay and watch the farm," Dew's words shocked us all and as I looked over at Alejandro, I noticed his lack of reaction, so I'm guessing he and the old man had discussed this between themselves.

"Grandpa, it's not safe! We can't just leave you alone!" Noah was the first to raise an objection but was soon silenced as the old man raised his hand to speak.

"If we live like this, I fear we will eventually be worn down. You all need a break. You've been working on schedules that even hardened farmhands would not be able to maintain and not taking a singe day off at that." Saying this, the old man walked upstairs, quickly returning with exactly six envelopes. Cracking mine open, I found about $2,000 inside. Surprised, I looked around to find everyone else looking just as confused as me.

"But what abou—" I began to question, but I fell silent as the old man pulled a massive double-barrel shotgun from under the table, placing it in front of us along with two full boxes of buckshot.

"I'm perfectly able to defend myself," he said, loading the shotgun and slipping a few shells into his pocket. He then signaled us to follow him. We obeyed, with Noah still trying to argue with his grandpa, who remained silent as he led us to a shed behind the house. The shed was wrapped in several chains, but with a swift motion, the old man took out some keys and quickly unlocked it, revealing its contents.

"Wow, that's a lot of guns," Miguel said, whistling as we took in the sight of the dozens of firearms contained within the shed. There was everything from a small, easily recognizable M9 to a large AK-47, which leaned quietly in the corner.

"We used to host shooting competitions back in the golden days. Sadly, the equipment has just been sitting here gathering dust. They should still be in good condition, though—I take one day a month to inspect them all. So, take your pick, and after that, we have more work to do."

Hearing this, no one moved at first, but after a minute, I stepped forward and grabbed the AK. It felt quite nice in my hand. After flipping the safety on the left side of the receiver, I slung it over my back. As I did, I noticed Noah grabbing two Berettas, Lily picking up what looked like an Uzi, and Olivia selecting a hunting rifle. But when I glanced over at Miguel, I almost did a double take—he was holding an MG taken from a box that had sat inconspicuously in the corner, not drawing my attention until now.

"Good choices, but how are you all planning to shoot your guns without bullets?" Hearing the old man's question, we simultaneously checked our guns, realizing the clips were empty. After a bit of instruction from Dew, we all found our guns loaded, safeties on.

"Good, now help me set up these bear traps. We can practice shooting later." Seeing us now armed, Old Man Dew pointed toward another box in the shed. When we opened it, we found it loaded with dozens of bear traps. The old man quickly explained how to set them up, and we spent the next couple of hours working in two groups to set the traps. It was quite challenging with our guns, but the security they provided was welcome. Soon enough, the day came to an end as we completed the final tasks around the farm, even giving the animals extra food so we could delay feeding them for a day or two.

"okay you lot better go packing also Noah please shut up if you don't go with your friends I will shove this shot gun so far up yo-" Turning towards his grandson Dew looked frustrated as their wasn't a single moment that Noah stopped trying to convince his grandpa to go with us, but before the old man could finish his words he was interrupted.

SCREEEEEECH

We all felt our hearts stop, our breaths hitch, and cold sweat lick our faces at the sound of that screech. But strangely enough, we shrugged off its effects soon enough, readying our guns as we moved in the direction of the sound. The old man reminded us not to fire unless it was an emergency, citing the fact that none of us knew how to shoot. I could have argued, as in my past life I was a pretty good shot with most heavy guns and had even used an AK once or twice, but I stayed silent as I watched the old man rush ahead, surprisingly spry as we approached the cow pen where noise came from.

It was pure chaos as all the cows ran around, their panic clear. Luckily, none of them moved toward the massive hole that had been torn open in the fence, but that didn't provide us much comfort. As we neared the fence, we saw Turo lying on the ground in the center, a massive gash on his side and one of his horns cleanly broken off, seemingly lost in the scuffle with whatever creature he had faced.

Despite his injuries, Turo was still alive. The old man wasted no time entering the pen, much to our horror, but as he approached Turo—who looked highly strung—the animal seemed to calm down, allowing the old man to check his wounds.

"So, what do you all think?" I asked suddenly, observing the old man as he tended to Turo, giving us the perfect chance to discuss amongst ourselves.

"Seeing how Turo survived, the creature is probably not as strong as we think," Noah responded, sounding a bit relieved, though his words seemed to surprise everyone.

"Let's be honest here—any one of us could kill Turo on our own, but the creature was only able to injure him slightly. So maybe together, we could take it on," Noah explained, clearing up the confusion. But soon, Olivia raised another point.

"What if Turo just got lucky?" she pointed out. However, this seemed unlikely, as anything that attacked Turo would have likely finished the job. With this idea in mind, we all felt a bit less worried about leaving the old man, believing that a gun would probably be sufficient to take down the monster.

"What are you lot whispering about?" the old man asked as he returned after checking on Turo. Quickly coming up with an excuse, he then ordered us to gather materials to seal the hole in the fence—something that, for now, could only be done with wood, as none of us had any experience laying concrete.

"Good for now you lot should go pack your bags, judging by how Turo horn is broken Im guessing he got that creature good so it should not return any time soon but be quick it might return for revenge" Saying that the old man walked away back to his home leaving us to continue our discussion.

Sadly, we didn't come up with anything solid, and we didn't want to risk hunting the creature, as giving home-field advantage to an unknown opponent was a terrible idea. With little else to do, we went to our respective cabins to begin packing before heading to the old man's house, where he gave us some lessons on shooting—something we each excelled at, thanks to our enhanced stats.

Finally after a long day we finally all went to sleep ready to leave tomorrow.