I awoke in a panic, my eyes bombarded by blurry lights, my ears blasted by an unbearably loud synth tune, my brain vibrating in my skull.

It wasn’t until I’d taken a wild swipe at my face and knocked my phone across the room that I realized what was happening.

“Answer it…” Millie groaned as I stumbled out of bed, which Liz promptly used as an opportunity to wrap her head with our pillow.

Fumbling with the vibrating device, I eventually managed to answer the phone and get it to my ear, “Gray speaking.”

“Morning, Gray,” Gary replied happily, “just calling to let you know the girl’s all good and is ready to be picked up.”

“Awesome,” I yawned as politely as I could, “I should be in town in the next… half hour or so?”

“See you then.” Gary said before hanging up, clearly being dragged away by something else in the garage.

“Couldn’t have texted?” Liz grumbled through the pillow.

“Knowing him, probably not,” I replied as I searched for some clean clothes, “you two want anything from town?”

“Sleep,” Millie murmured, “just let us sleep.”

I smiled at that as I started getting dressed, “I’m going to take Nolan’s shot-”

“Sleep…” Liz interjected before rolling over and cuddling into Millie, “no talk, only sleep…”

Assuming any further talk would turn the lighthearted interruptions and grumbling into an argument, I finished getting dressed in silence, pocketed the shells, grabbed the shotgun and axe, and climbed up the ladder.

As I stepped out into the mid-morning air, I could already feel the difference having a ten in my Attributes made.

I wasn’t exactly on the brink of solving some unsolved math equation, but a good deal of the fog had been lifted from my brain.

“Was that always there?” I asked, gesturing to the tap protruding from the ground ten feet from the door.

“It was not,” Nolan replied proudly from where he stood by his truck, which had been removed from the custom trailer, “figured it’d make for a good shower until we got the house up.”

“I know compared to you we’re short, but we’re not garden Gnomes.” I joked as I walked over and handed the Sasquatch his shotgun and shells.

“You really are though,” Nolan lightheartedly ribbed, “but in all seriousness, I thought we could head into town, grab a hose and a temporary shower head.”

“You didn’t get the tap from town?” I asked.

“Nope,” Nolan replied, nodding over to the trailer, “that was all Connie, melted down my kettle for it. Oh, and we should probably grab her some more fuel if we’re headed into town as well.”

I knew the whole ‘if we’re heading in’ thing was just him being polite and that in his mind it was a done deal, but there was a part of me that felt like I was taking advantage of the friendly giant, even if his last great sacrifice was a kettle for a shower that he was undoubtedly going to use as well.

“You’re sure you don’t want to hang back here?” I suggested, “I don’t mind walking in.”

“Oh yeah, sure,” Nolan laughed, “I’m sure the thing you want to do right now is walk into town on an empty stomach without any caffeine.”

“I…” I trailed off, unable to come up with a decent retort, “Okay, fair enough, but I don’t want to put you out.”

“You kidding me?” Nolan replied amusedly, “Far as I’m concerned, giving me a reason to head into town is doing me a favor. I need to visit the hardware store, grab some ammo, and I’m running low on just about everything.”

I couldn’t tell if he was being straight with me, mostly because all he did was smile, leaving little in the way of tells, but it was clear that there was no arguing with the man.

“Alright, if you’re sure.” I finally said after a long few seconds.

“Wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t sure,” Nolan huffed amusedly before making his way around to the driver’s seat, “want to pick up some coffee from Frytown on the way in?”

“I’ll pick up an energy drink if I need one,” I replied, shaking my head, “nothing against Frytown, but I’m pretty damn sure they just grind a bunch of dirt into a cup of boiling water.”

“No arguments here,” Nolan agreed after making sure I’d buckled in so we could set off, “what about a bacon and egg FryMuffin? Maybe some hash browns? My treat.”

I wanted to say no, but the mere mention of the cholesterol freight train that was the Frytown breakfast menu was enough to make my stomach gurgle.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Nolan said with a smirk as we made our way up the driveway, “mind if we split up after I drop you off at the garage though?”

“Not at all,” I replied somewhat embarrassedly, “worried I’ll cramp your style?”

“It’s not that,” Nolan chuckled, “I just thought it might be quicker if we split up, especially seeing as you’ll have some wheels again.”

“True,” I said, nodding as I started a little list in my head, “you can wander around the aisles or whatever for a while, I can look for some more work.”

“That was my thinking,” Nolan replied, seeming oddly relieved that I was willing to split up, “plus, you know how I like to window shop.”

“I don’t, actually,” I said with a little laugh, “you always struck me as the kind of guy who knew what he was getting before he set foot anywhere near a store.”

“Yeah, well, you learn something new every day.” Nolan stammered awkwardly, something I probably would’ve paid more attention to if the rumbling in my gut hadn’t upgraded to a dull ache.

I’m not sure if it was before or after we’d made our way around the blind corner, but after a particularly forceful grumble had sent a little burp up into my mouth I decided I needed to get a refrigerator.

Or some beans.

With that mistake of a thought, I got ‘Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit’ stuck on a loop in my mind.

Looking back on it, at least I wasn’t thinking about how hungry I was any more.