After lunch we spent a couple more hours at the seaside. This was not only the first time the rest of my family had seen the ocean in real life, but it was the first time they’d ever left the city.

  I never really enjoyed going out into nature. I didn’t find rocks and trees all that interesting, and they had a habit of attracting the Antithesis. All my previous trips outside the city were to deal with massive Antithesis incursions, so they tended to remind me of work. Not that relaxing.

  That being said, I wasn’t going to deprive everyone else of the experience. As long as they wanted to play, why not let them?

  Jennifer and Issi seemed to finally wear themselves out just as the sun started to go down. Playing in the water, building ‘sand castles,’ and exploring the surrounding foliage, they did it all. Eddie participated in some of their adventures, but often excused himself so he could sit with his back against a tree so he could write.

  Even though I didn’t understand his love of writing, or more than half of the stuff he wrote, that didn’t mean I didn’t want to support him. If that’s what he wanted to do, I’d give him the space to do it.

  The folding table and chairs were actually a bit of an issue. Without a trailer, the truck had absolutely no storage space. It actually would have been difficult to even fit the garbage in the cab with us. Considering the number of family activities that Jane had arranged just in Vancouver, never mind the rest of our stops, I would definitely need to investigate a way to either increase the truck’s storage capacity or get a new family vehicle.

  Thankfully we didn’t need to just abandon the furniture like garbage. We did have a Kodiak following us around, and the bots didn’t care about the space.

  Well, the foxes didn’t anyways. It’s possible that my squad didn’t enjoy the slightly cramped conditions, but no one complained when I packed everything away.

  “Did everyone have fun?” I asked brightly when I finally returned to the family.

  “Yesssss….” the kids replied simultaneously, in the most unenthused and tired tone I’d ever heard.

  It looked like Issi and Jeni were on the brink of falling asleep. Their eyes were drooping, and they were leaning against each other for support.

  “Well, I’m glad. I don’t quite get the attraction of running around in circles until you exhaust yourself, but if you enjoyed yourselves, who am I to judge?” I said, pulling open the rear driver-side door for the kids.

  Issi normally had a little trouble climbing into the large vehicle, and after a day of playing around, that ability hadn’t improved. The little girl was so tired that she could barely raise her arms, and she didn’t even have the energy to reach the bottom of the cab, so I casually lifted her up so she could crawl in.

  When Jennifer approached the cab, she shot me a look. It was obvious that she didn’t want the same treatment. She struggled a little to climb in, but in the end her pride won out over her exhaustion, and she managed to clamber into the back.

  Eddie, who wasn’t anywhere near as tired as the other two, easily climbed in last, closing the door behind him.

  By the time I climbed into the driver’s seat, the girls were already asleep. Despite not being related by blood, they looked like real sisters as they leaned against each other, snoring quietly.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Since both Jane and Alan were already seated, the wide smiles on their faces mirroring my own, there wasn’t any reason to stick around any longer, so I immediately started the truck and threw it into gear.

  We probably could have made it home in five minutes if I drove like usual, but since the girls were sleeping and I didn’t see any reason to rush, I took it easy and let everyone enjoy the scenery.

  “I can’t believe how thick the trees are around here,” Jane whispered. “Didn’t Vancouver just experience an incursion? How can there be so much foliage?”

  “Layla was telling me that Cascadia has a group of samurai who are making an effort to replenish the local forests. It’s a constant, uphill battle, because by replacing the trees, they provide the future Antithesis incursions more raw materials to feed on. They apparently think that preserving our natural foliage is worth the effort and risks, though,” I told her. “They are doing some interesting things, like investing in creating new breeds of tree that are less palatable to the Antithesis or that can send out messages when they’re attacked. Things that both slow down the Antithesis and make it easier to discover Antithesis that are trying to hide in the wilderness. That’s one of the reasons we stopped here. We need a way to help us identify and eliminate hives around the city before they become an issue again.”

  “With trees?” Alan asked, unconvinced.

  “Trees, sensors, scouts, it doesn’t matter the process,” I muttered. “We won the last battle, but there were a couple extremely strong Antithesis running around, because the Antithesis managed to go undetected for an extended period. We can’t risk that happening again.”

  “So when are you going to talk to these people? It better not be tomorrow. We’re planning on taking the kids to Nimbleland, remember?” Jane grumbled.

  “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t miss that for the world,” I assured her. “Besides, even though the project isn’t secret, some samurai don’t like to reveal their secrets, so it’s taking a while for Lalya to get in touch with everyone involved. Apparently there’s a lot of important people involved.”

  “Well, good,” Jane huffed. “If you had skipped out, the kids would never forgive you.”

  “Just the kids?” I smiled.

  “Hey, we’re going for the kids, but it is a family activity,” Jane quietly declared. I stared at her for a minute, sure there was more to it than that, until she finally sighed. “Okay, I’ll admit, I’m looking forward to it too. When we were kids, before we started looking after this lot, I needed something to help me get through the day. What I found was an old pamphlet for Nimbleland Edmonton. Even though I knew I’d never be able to go there, seeing all those happy people… it made me feel better.”

  “I didn’t know that!” I exclaimed.

  “Of course not, I kept it hidden from everyone. I thought you’d all think I was stupid or something,” Jane explained.

  “What happened to the pamphlet?” Alan asked.

  “Lost it a long time ago, when we had to abandon our house during the first ‘Guiding Light’ purges,” Jane muttered. “After that we all became so busy just trying to survive that I barely had enough time to sleep, never mind daydream.”

  “Well, I’m glad you’re finally able to live out your dream,” I said. “You know, we spend so much time being responsible that we tend to forget that to most people we’re not much older than kids ourselves. You’re only nineteen! You deserve to go out and have fun occasionally. Embrace your inner child.”

  “I don’t know about ‘embracing my inner child’,” Jane replied. “But I totally intend to enjoy myself tomorrow, and I’ll be extremely disappointed if you two don’t do the same. Understand?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Alan replied seriously. I just smiled.

  We arrived back at the Carrier not long after that. Even with the bright light from the hangar floodlights pouring through the windows, the girls didn’t stir. They must really have been tired.

  When we settled down, Jane and Alan immediately went to the back seat and fished them out before I could get 'round the vehicle.

  “I could carry one of them,” I pouted.

  “I have no doubt that you have the strength, but I doubt you’re tall enough to carry Jeni without her legs dragging across the ground,” Alan smirked.

  My eyes flared. “You may be taller than me, but I’m both older and stronger. Don’t make me hurt you!”

  “Enough, you two,” Jane whispered harshly. “The kids are trying to sleep. Alan, stop trying to get a rise out of Evelyn. I know you enjoy doing it, but you should really dedicate yourself to more difficult endeavours."

  I cocked my head to the side. “Wait…”

  “And Evelyn, you can carry the frog. You know that Issi will want to see it as soon as she gets up, and we shouldn’t leave it in the vehicle,” Jane continued.

  “Fine, I guess that’s important enough,” I muttered. When I turned to grab the box, I found Eddie there, already holding it. He just shrugged.

  I just sighed. It wasn’t like I really wanted to carry the critter anyways.

  “Let’s get back to the residential area and get those two into bed,” I said. “Today was packed full of fun, but the trip is far from over. We’ll all need to rest well if we want to be ready for tomorrow.”

  Eddie smiled. “I can’t wait!”

  “Good, neither can I,” I replied.

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