It has been a week since we arrived at Carson village. Mag has been generous enough to let us stay in her loft while we wait for Kane to wake up. Every day, I go to the Humanura’s Locus Familiae to see Kane and talk to him, reminding him of the things we have done and gone through together. It took the girls a few days, but they finally felt ready to see their dad lying there.

  I finally asked Mag yesterday why Kane wasn’t waking up when the humanura were so positive that he eventually would. I couldn’t believe it when Mag told me the Hunters put magic on some of their bullets to hurt their victims more. Mag explained that the Hunter’s magic users would take random bullets and cast spells on them to either inflict more damage, or sometimes they would cast a spell to make the victim sleep. She explained the sleep kind of like the fairy tale of ‘Sleeping Beauty’, that sometimes the victim would go to sleep immediately, but be woken up by the person they loved. But sometimes the sleep spell needed something else; those victims usually described a dream-like state.

  The longer the bullets were in a person the stronger and longer the effects lasted. It is why it always upset Mag, to some extent, when the humnanura would ‘forget’ to take out the bullets. It wasn’t every bullet and the effects strength seemed to effect certain classes more than others. For some reason, the fighter-style classes seemed to be more prone to the magic bullets effects.

  When I asked Mag how we could check if that was what was going on with Kane, she said it most definitely was. It was probably why the humanura had wanted me to sit with him and talk to him. I broke down; thankfully, the kids weren’t in the house at the time.

  Mag, not sure what else to do, sent for Walynic and Grandfather. The kind humanrua’s said they would not move Kane until he woke up or stopped breathing, and that Kane would wake up. Stephan, in his joking and jovial manner, just had to add that Kane would wake up when he felt like it, just like any man would. I know it was meant to be a joke, but somehow it didn’t make me feel better.

  When I asked them what I could do to help him wake up, they just looked at each other. It was Mag who broke the silence telling me the longest she had seen someone sleep was three months. How was I supposed to live without Kane for three months, especially knowing he was alive, just essentially in a coma.

  It was then that Mag suggested that I start writing things down to help me pass my time. And it would give a record of things I would share with Kane when he did finally wake up. With some prodding, Grandfather finally tried to reassure me that Kane would wake up, I just had to give him time to work through whatever was going on.

  I should put in here that I did check my phone the day after we arrived to see if the message had gone through to Carlie, or if I had gotten anything in response. Unfortunately, my phone showed no signal. Mag caught me looking at it and said it reminded her of the bigger villages she had been to. Some people used cell phones, but there weren’t many towers so they were pretty much useless until you got to the cities.

  The contrast was that some things were like the Earth I had left behind but was so much different. It was and has been jarring. There aren’t as many cities and large villages in this world because the war had gone on so long and was so brutal it is like the civilizations haven’t fully modernized like our world had been given a chance to.

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  I am grateful that Walynic and I have played cards every day, some games I grew up playing like solitaire and cribbage, and occasionally he would rope Grandfather or Stephan or one of the other elders into playing hearts with us. But he was also trying to teach me some other card games that the humanura liked to play. Their games didn’t use 52 cards, and I have been having a harder time learning them. So graciously, Walynic has been sticking to the games I know, mostly. It has been a great distraction.

  Mag has been showing me some of the herbs that she uses to heal, because she told me, unfortunately, it wasn’t the nature of this world to stay together for long. I tried to ask her what that meant, but it was one of the few times that talkative Mag didn’t say anything more. I tried to talk with some of the other villagers, trying to figure out what they did or where they were from. Most don’t seem to want to talk to me. I asked Mag why, and she would spit, telling me they were superstitious fools and to ignore them.

  “If they don’t want to take advantage of your gifts, then I will,” Mag would always say when I brought it up.

  The few kids in the village seemed to like to come and play with Zeus. We haven’t seen any other dogs, but Jonah told me this morning that a humanura, well, I don’t remember the word he had used, but I got the hint that it is some sort of merchant, was expected any day now.

  Josie has tried to ask Grandfather and Walynic, and Stephan for some of their stories, but they all just smile at her and tell her that when Kane wakes up, they will have a celebration and will tell their stories. Their stories are meant for feasts and celebrations, they keep telling us. When I asked Mag, she just said it wasn’t her place to tell their stories.

  Eliza hasn’t said much this week, and it took her an extra day to go and see Kane. This isn’t like my normally talkative child. I know this is hurting her, but I don’t know how to comfort her when my pain is so great.

  It happened! This morning, I went to see Kane, and he was on his side and was breathing heavily. Instead of like the last two weeks, he actually looked alive! He is still sleeping, but Grandmother seems to think it will either be today or tomorrow that, as she has come to call Kane, “Stubborn boy” will wake up.

  I didn’t bother to stay and play cards with Walynic like I normally do. I raced home to tell the girls. Josie didn’t wait for me or her sister and ran out of the house towards the Locus Familiae. Eliza wasn’t as sure and decided she wanted to stay and help Grandma Mag, as she has affectionately started to call the woman who is caring for us.

  So here I sit, next to Kane, writing. He keeps gently moving and twitching like he does when he is dreaming. Josie will occasionally reach over and grab his hand. It is getting to be lunch time, so I may send her away to go have lunch with Grandma Mag and Eliza.

  “Stubborn boy” is right! I sat with Kane that entire day, and nothing! Grandmother said not an hour after the sun went down, Kane sat up, screamed my name, but then passed back out!

  Grandmother had Jonah run to get me, but we couldn’t wake Kane again. He has been tossing and turning all night. I am getting ready to kick his skinny white butt for doing this to me.

  I heard Callie’s voice, but I couldn’t get to her. I heard my children’s voices, but there is something between us.

  “DAMN IT!” Kane screams into the setting sun, “I will get to my wife and kids if it is the last thing I do!”

  “Traitors don’t win,” the voice that had been haunting Kane came through the darkness.

  “Fuck you!” Kane screamed into the nearly dark sky, “CALLIE!”