I was on my back, something around me limiting my movement as I flailed around, trying to figure out where I was. How had I gotten here? Where was I? The last thing I remembered was being on the wall outside with my kids, waiting for reports on the safety of the neighborhood. Now I was here, bound in these… sheets?

My panic receded as I recognized my own mattress and bed. I didn’t remember how I’d gotten here, which was still disquieting, but at least it wasn’t some strange new vista.

I managed to wrangle one arm free from my sheets and push them away from my face. The rest of the bed was empty beside me.

My kids! Where were my kids? They-

“Your children are fine, Meghan.”

Pointy’s squeaking reassurance, balm of many a nightmare, calmed me. I looked over my pillow and saw the turtle peering down at a book. She had a cheap rubber bracelet around each of her front legs and was using their grippy surface to turn pages. It was a solution we’d found to let her occupy herself at night if Cassie let go of her while sleeping, although resizing the bracelets had required some creative ability use from Micah. It wasn’t the easiest, but Pointy’s ability to multitask allowed her to approach the task patiently.

“I see you ripped the sheets. Again.”

“They’re like tissue paper now! I was practically still asleep!”

Pointy just stared at me primly.

I sighed. The rip wasn’t on a seam or anything - I could mend it myself with a needle and thread, but the sheet would be weaker there. Maybe I could find someone to Repair it. That would be better. Hmm… Who can I ask? Sophia has Repair, but she probably won’t want to use her abilities this morning with the new-

“Wait! There are new monsters today. I need to get ready!” The light coming in around the barricaded window was bright. I probably didn’t have much time before they spawned. I pushed myself to my feet, looking around for clean-ish clothes. I’d fallen asleep in the jeans I’d been wearing last night. The pants had seen better days and the slice to my thigh had a large part of the denim hanging loosely away from my leg. Whole sections were stiff and crusted with blood, too. Ugh!

I shucked my pants and dug into a pile of clothes, not even sure what I was looking for. Those had been my most comfortable jeans! I wasn’t going to fight monsters in dress pants. Maybe exercise shorts?

Pointy interrupted my frantic search. “No need to rush. The new monsters appeared approximately an hour ago and do not appear to present a major immediate issue.”

“You let me sleep through a new monster spawn?!”

“I believed those around you would be capable of handling the new monsters without your assistance, and judging by what I’ve seen and overheard - not to mention your Novelty - you had quite a stressful night. Additional rest seemed appropriate.”

My Novelty…? I almost asked, but then checked my interface and winced.

Novelty: 144 (144)

Being the commander of a defensive force, getting into a melee battle with a human monster, leading a charge into a group of the enemy… Okay, yeah, I guess those things would probably make me a bit interesting. I had been worried I would die multiple times last night. Those jerk viewers loved that, I’m sure.

I wasn’t thrilled about being great entertainment, but there were more important things to focus on. “So, I take it the new monsters weren’t too bad?”

“They are not assaulting buildings, and seem to be fleeing humans when able.”

“Fleeing? That’s weird.”

“Yes. I speculate that there is more to them than there appears, but for the time being they are not an issue. It would be useful if we had someone with Analyze at a high synergy so we could get better than basic information. Perhaps we could adjust our plans for Cassie’s ability choices?”

I frowned at her. “Maybe you can fill me in on what’s going on, instead? Like, how did I get here, for example?”

“I believe our arrival relaxed you immensely. Judging by your breathing patterns, you fell asleep somewhere between 23 and 38 seconds after we sat down with you. You were deeply asleep and did not rouse easily. Tamara stayed awake to take the reports from the neighborhood scouts, who did not find anything, while Priya and your children carried you upstairs.”

“Oh,” I said, embarrassed to have left Tammy in the lurch like that. “Do you know if it took long for the groups to show up?”

Pointy shook her head. “Not long. The first arrived just behind us, and the other three within the following twenty minutes. Tamara was able to rest.”

“What about everything else? Did the Dragons kill anyone else in the neighborhood? Do we have numbers on the people they attacked on their way in? What about the rescue group, are they back?”

Pointy took my flurry of questions in stride. “We’ve seen no murders as the Dragons departed the neighborhood. We have two additional bodies, residents who were killed by the Dragons as they approached the Shop. The rescue group did not return overnight, but Colonel Zwerinski awoke three hours ago. He went out in the truck to see if he could find them, and he did. They are alright.”

“They’re alright?! What’s kept them from coming back?”

“Nothing, really. Logistics? They are far to the southwest. The hostages were being kept on the westernmost edge of the Dragons’ territory. When our people found them, they took them further west, trying not to move through territory that we knew was hostile. Until recently, they did not know the Dragons had attacked us and were moving slowly and defensively, assuming they were being searched for and pursued. Even beyond that, many of the former hostages were elderly, young, or otherwise infirm and could not move swiftly unless carried. Our driver picked up the eight slowest in the truck and brought them here, which should increase the group’s speed significantly.”

“Thank God,” I said gratefully.

“It will be helpful to have them here if the Dragons’ former soldiers return.”

“They haven’t come back yet?”

“No. The colonel has been attempting to Message those he got a good look at via Clairvoyance. He believes he has gotten through, but he cannot locate them now and they appear unable to Message back.”

I thought about this for a moment, then shrugged. It should be alright; the last few Dragons shouldn’t be eager to tangle with a group that size, and we had plenty of evidence that we’d been acting in good faith. “No casualties among our rescuers?”

“None. The Dragon guarding the hostages was killed without lethally injuring any of our people.”

I let out a deep sigh of relief. George would be alright, then. It might take him a little bit to get home, but he’d make it.

I found a pair of shorts and pulled them on, then swapped my stiff, sweaty, blood-encrusted shirt for one from my dwindling clean pile. George was using Cleanse when he could, to help out, but he was nowhere near powerful enough to do two families worth of laundry via alien ability. I kind of wished Priya and the kids hadn’t put me in my bed last night. The sheets hadn’t been pristine before, with all of us sleeping cuddled up in the Alabama summer with no air-conditioning, but they were unquestionably worse now. There was no point in complaining, though. What was done was done.

“Ready to head downstairs?” I asked Pointy.

“Certainly. Cassie instructed me to watch over you until you awoke.”

My heart melted at the news that it had been my daughter’s idea to leave her important friend to take care of her Mommy. She could be a handful, but Cassie really was a sweetheart.

To my surprise, the downstairs was quiet. I looked around, but the steady stream of invaders - uh, neighbors with issues - wasn’t in evidence. Instead, the kitchen held only Tamara and Priya, each drinking a mug of tea. Tamara saw my confused expression and waved at me.

“I put a sign on the door and a box for complaints. Unless it’s an emergency, we’re taking the morning off. Put a couple addresses of empty houses in case there’s anyone looking for shelter. They can organize themselves today.”

“I’m surprised people accepted that.”

“We had two or three genuine problems I had to deal with, and a few entitled idiots who needed an earful, but most did. The, uh…” Tamara paused, lowering her voice. “The bloodstains outside probably helped.”

I sighed. “We still need to figure out where we’re going to bury people, huh? We’re going to need at least two places. I’m not burying Dragons with everyone else, and we can’t do it right here. We’ve got the hole, but if we’re going to be housing people there, it’s a terrible place for a graveyard.”

“Maybe over by the Points Siphon?”

I nodded slowly. “That would work, I think. I do want to do something at the Shop, too, in remembrance. Sueann - um, she’s part of the Living Legion - told me they had a memorial carved into the former waterfall in the hospital lobby. The names of their dead are up there.”

“I think people would appreciate that. I’m sure we can get Helen to lend a hand.”

“Mommy! I heard you!” Cassie stuck her head into the kitchen. “Good job, Pointy!”

Pointy nodded with faux gravitas and I passed her down into Cassie’s chubby hands.

“Mommy, did you see the new monsters? They are very beautiful.” Cassie sighed dramatically, clutching Pointy against her heart and staring skyward as if overwhelmed by the memory of loveliness.

“No… I haven’t. Why are they so beautiful?”

“They look so soft, and they are rainbowy!”

“They’re mostly pink!” Micah called from the next room, not willing to let any minor inaccuracy go unclarified.

“Pink and rainbowy!” Cassie yelled back.

“Are they joking with me?” I asked Priya. “These are starting to sound less like monsters and more like cartoon mascots. They don’t attack people, they’re soft, they’re adorable…”

She shrugged. “They’re definitely weird. I went out to fight them, but I didn’t get any; they were a little too fast. They’re built like a smaller emu or an ostrich, and they’ve got a muzzle instead of a beak. Very fancy plumage, with tails sort of like a rooster and a crest and ears on their head. Three eyes.”

“Their tails are like unicorns,” Cassie corrected. “All rainbowy.”

“Yes, all rainbowy.” Priya nodded seriously to Cassie, who seemed satisfied her correction had been accepted. She gave Priya a thumbs-up, then disappeared back around the corner. Priya sighed, and continued in a lower voice after Cassie left.

“They are very colorful, but they’re not innocent. They’ve got a mouth full of fangs and some wicked talons on the end of their legs. They’re definitely meant to fight. I don’t know why they’re not.”

“Is our neighborhood full of them, now?” I asked. Draw Attention should make it tricky for them to run.

Priya laughed. “No, no! When I said they were a little too fast, I didn’t mean I couldn’t have caught up with them, I just meant that I couldn’t do it before the people with ranged abilities in our neighborhood took them down.”

“They give 24 Points and two Money, just like the Bladetails,” Tamara added.

I got myself a ration bar and some water and sat down on the couch to watch the kids play a board game. Miraculously, they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Almost as fortunate, the first bite of my ration bar was actually palatable, sort of a cinnamon-and-oats taste. The followup bites were decidedly less compatible combinations that I tried to ignore, but I decided to take the first bite as a good omen. Tamara and Priya brought their tea in to join me.

“Where’s your husband?” I asked Tamara.

“Dane went out in the truck to rendezvous with the rescue group one more time and pick up the last of the slower hostages. The rest should be more like Ava: preteens, teenagers, and healthy adults. He’s just dropping them off at 143 Russet right now, where the others from Cotton Acres have been staying. He’ll be back soon.”

It actually took a little while for Colonel Zwerinski to return. There was a little of the tea left in the kettle, so I helped myself. It was weak, with only one teabag for the whole pot, but at least the taste it had was reliable and consistent, and helped clear the lingering disjointed flavor of the ration bar. The kids continued their game - King of Tokyo - although there was some ill-feeling after Cassie got some lucky dice rolls and some good strategic advice from Pointy. She’d been largely making random decisions before we came downstairs, so her rapid turnaround from near-defeat to outdoing children two and three times her age was a little tough for the older ones to take. It didn’t help that Cassie was in no way a gracious winner.

“I’m beating you alllllll up!”

“If you say that, they’re not going to want to play with you next time,” I told her mildly.

She looked confused. “But I am.”

Trying to explain empathy to a three-year-old is a challenge, and I was grateful when the door opened and Colonel Zwerinski came inside. It distracted everyone. Anju actually stood up from the game to come over to him. “Is Dad still doing good?”

“He’s just fine. Should be making much better time now. Lucky the new monsters aren’t slowing them down any further! I actually got another ability while we were out. Boosted my range a bit. I can keep tabs on them now.”

“You can?” Priya was delighted by the news. “What ability?”

“Yes, ma’am.” The pride in his voice was evident. “It’s called Signal Boost. Doesn’t do much on its own, but if we get another person with communications abilities we should be able to work together to reach a good chunk of people. I’ve got some other hopes for it too, but even if those don’t pan out, it’s got excellent synergy with my existing skills. Uh, how are you doing, Meghan? We put you in a pretty difficult position last night. You did a damn fine job, though.”

“Oooh, that’s a baaad word!” Gavin said.

We all ignored him.

“I… don’t know.” I looked down at my hands. “Okay, I think. I feel bad, obviously, about… the casualties… but I guess I expected to take them more personally. It helps, I think, that we didn’t really have much choice. I blame the Dragons much more than myself. It was… scary. If you hadn’t heard from the refugees when you did, I’m not sure what would have happened.”

It really had been lucky that they’d come into his range when they did. They… Wait a minute. I looked up at him suspiciously. “If they were on the far western edge of Cotton Acres, and kept going further west, how did you see them? Did you earn your new ability last night? That seems like it would be out of your range.”

Colonel Zwerinski cast a glance down at the kids, then stepped closer to the couch.

Oh, I didn’t see them. I just saw that you’d all be dead if those people didn’t turn on the Dragons.

We all stared at him.

Information warfare. Figured it was true anyway, and it was.

He seemed utterly unrepentant. The kids continued their game, obviously not hearing what must have been a very short-range Announcement.

“Well,” I said slowly. “You definitely saved my life. And it did end up being true, so, uh… Good job, I guess.”

Maybe it had been unethical of him, but much like the execution of the Dragons last night, perfectly ethical behavior was out of reach for us right now. It was a goal to keep in mind, and I didn’t want to slide down a slippery slope of justifications… but there were too many physical threats for me to get worked up over his possible trespass.

Especially since it had saved my life.

“It’s good to hear you’re not blaming yourself,” Priya said.

“Not much, anyway. If…”

I trailed off, and there was silence for a minute as people let me think, and I used it, trying to sort through my jumbled mind.

“If I blame myself for anything, it’s for not being prepared.”

“That’s on me more than you,” the colonel said. “We should have started working on the walls earlier. I should have found some way to get a guard rotation going.”

I shook my head. “Maybe that’s true, but I could have been more ready. I didn’t recognize - didn’t want to recognize - how people were looking up to me. Owning the Shop… it’s not really any kind of qualification for leadership, but everyone knows who I am. That makes me something of a leader, whether I like it or not. I’ve been focusing on my kids - and they’ll always be my top priority- but helping everyone helps them too.” I flexed a hand. Took a deep breath. “I could have done more. Starting now, I’m going to do more.”