“The first thing I plan on doing is retrieving the vehicles and supplies we left behind. While I’m doing that, Adam can work on fortifying the lodge. Ideally, we can finish the wall before the snow melts and the monsters become active again.”

“Are you sure the monsters aren’t active in the snow?” Malcolm clarified.

“Well… no…” Drew shrugged, “but we’ve seen that humid, cold air slows the beasts down. Most of them at least. I think that’s why they’re less active at night.”

Malcolm nodded.

“Adam.” Drew turned to his son. “If Matt cuts out bricks, and the others carry them to you, how long do you think it’ll take to create a wall around the lodge like you did the apartment complex?”

Adam brought his hand to his chin as he considered. “Well, if they can keep up with me, and if I begin with a ten foot wall, maybe eight hours?”

“Great! Then it should be done before dark.” Drew then locked eyes with Carol. “Can you keep watch while they all work? The last thing we want is a raptor ambushing us.”

She nodded her agreement.

“Ok, those are the top two priorities. What else should we focus on?”

“Beast core farm!” Matt interjected. When he had everyone’s attention, he explained, “Tier 2 cores are like crazy rare. If we can capture some beasts and put them in cages, we can feed them cores until they evolve. Boom!” Matt clapped his hands together. “Free tier 2 core!”

Jess responded, concerned. “What if they get out?”

“Adam, can you make a cage strong enough to hold a weasel-bear or dilo?” Drew asked.

“You saw how the wall I made out of asphalt kept them out. If I make a cage out of metal instead? There’s no way they’ll escape.”

“Where will you get that much metal?” Carol wondered aloud.

“There’s cars everywhere.” Matt reminded her.

“Should this be a priority?” Malcolm asked. “Even after Drew retrieves our supplies, we will still need more food.”

“We gotta start like yesterday.” Matt countered. “We don’t know how long it’ll take to evolve the beasts. It could take a week or more for all we know. I’ll prolly max out my core in another six or seven days. Without a tier 2 core, I can’t get to tier 3.”

“I agree, we should start that project as soon as we can. We have enough food to last over a week. If Adam can build a massive wall in eight hours, he can easily build a cage in less than one. It won’t take long and the earlier we start, the better.”

Drew waited for more suggestions.

“I know you guys want to play with your new toys and all, but I would think our food situation is more important.” Gloria argued. “Does the stove even work?”

Malcolm shook his head. “No, it ran on natural gas. I don’t know if the pump station finally lost power, or if the line was cut, but it’s out of commission.”

“Upgrading our cores isn’t ‘playing with toys’,” Drew defended. “The only reason I was able to kill the triceratops or the evolved dilo was because I made myself that much stronger. If more beasts are going to evolve, we need to be strong enough to defeat them. All of us, not just me.”

He saw a few hesitant nods around the table.

“Once I build a wall, the cores won’t matter as much.” Adam argued.

“Dude, the dragons fly and cast spells.” Matt pointed out. “What’s a wall gonna do to that?”

“They haven’t bothered us so far.” Adam defended.

“Pfft.” Matt scoffed. “Just cause you haven’t been attacked by a dragon doesn’t mean we haven’t. The one that attacked us sent a crap-load of beasts our way. We got lucky the army showed up.”

“Like you said, it sent dilos and weasel-bears after you. The wall will stop those beasts.”

“You think it’ll stop a triceratops’ charge?” Matt countered.

Drew stepped in to settle the argument. “Your wall will be amazing for our defense Adam, but we can’t stay inside it forever. Eventually, you will all want to leave to scavenge, or just stretch your legs. You’ll need higher level cores to protect yourself outside it. Especially if the beasts are evolving.”

Drew swiftly changed the subject to head off further argument. “As far as cooking food goes, there's two camp stoves in the back of the Amazon truck. We can use those until Adam figures out a way to convert the large ovens in the kitchen to propane. After that, I can steal some huge tanks to supply us.”

“What about meat?” Jess queried. “I know there’s some canned chicken in the supplies, but eventually that’ll run out.”

“Refrigeration’s been out for almost two weeks now.” Adam reminded her. “All the meat is spoiled.”

“Can we eat the beasts?” Drew wondered aloud.

“Ewww.” Matt protested.

“What?” Drew countered. “They smell good enough when you laser them. I’ll try some out and see if it’s safe.”

“I don’t think you’re a good person to test it out.” Jess stated. “Your body’s strong enough to survive almost anything now. What if Emma eats it and gets sick?”

“Won’t you be able to heal her.”

“I probably can, but I don’t like relying on assumptions.”

“I’ll try the beast meat.” Malcolm volunteered. “I’ve only consumed three cores and none of them have been used to enhance my body. If I get sick, you can try healing me. If that doesn’t work, I’ll use a beast core. However, we’ll need a way to freeze the meat so it doesn’t go bad.”

“I can handle that.” Drew offered. “I can ice things over with chi. Until I find some solar panels and inverters to power a fridge, I can just freeze it solid twice a day or so. Probably less if we clean out the deep freezer.”

“Wait, won’t solar panels draw the beasts here?” Adam pointed out. “I thought we were trying to avoid that.”

“Once you get the wall built, I’ll be much less concerned. Plus, any monsters drawn to the wall will be good practice for those of you who haven’t fought them yet.”

“What if we don’t want to kill monsters?” Megan challenged.

“Like I said, everyone contributes. Right now, Matt, Carol, and I are the only ones really able to defend us if a swarm of beasts attack. I want everyone to be able to put up a defense.”

“How is screaming real loud going to kill anything?” Megan argued. “And what are Dave and Daisy going to do? They can’t even use magic!”

“You’ll have to work on your spells to make them stronger and deadlier. As far as Dave and Daisy, if they can’t cast spells, they can at least shoot a rifle. Dave seems to be a decent shot,” Drew acknowledged. “but he can always use more practice.”

“I’ll be an even better shot after I upgrade my body.” Dave added.

“Before we can use guns again, I need to make more bullets.” Adam reminded them.

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

“True.” Drew agreed. “Although, the wall and cages are more important.”

After a lull in the conversation, Dave asked. “What about other survivors? Do we bring them back here?”

“If I find any, I’ll offer them a place to stay. Of course, they’ll have to find a way to contribute as well. That’s the…”

Before Drew could finish his statement, he heard a scream from upstairs.

“Jimmy!” Daisy yelled. She and Jess immediately rose from the table and sprinted up the stairs. Dave and Drew followed behind. Drew could hear Emma crying from two doors down as he strode toward Jimmy’s room. Adam rushed past him to his daughter. When Drew entered the room, he saw the young man thrashing on top of his bed.

“Oh thank God! He’s awake!” Daisy celebrated with tears as she tried to hug her spasming son. When he continued to seize despite her embrace, she turned to Jess. “What’s wrong with him? Why won’t he stop?”

Jess pulled the worried mother off her son and leaned forward to examine him. Jimmy continued to moan and babble nonsensical words as she held a palm up to his chest. After another thirty seconds, the young man’s movement lessened until it finally stopped all together. He once again slept.

The healer stood and turned to Daisy. “Something’s wrong with his nervous system. I tried to heal it, but nothing happened. I was concerned that he might never stop, so I found a way to paralyze him with chi.”

“You did what?!” Daisy shrieked. “You paralyzed my son?!”

Jess raised her hands to pacify the livid mother. “It’s just temporary. I can reverse it at any time.”

“Oh Jimmy!” Daisy cried and engulfed her son with a hug. Dave stood stoically beside her, tears in his eyes, as he held a sobbing Lucas tightly to his side.

I wish there was something I could do.

Drew felt useless. The boy was obviously suffering and it was his fault. Without pushing everyone to use cores and enhance themself, this would have never happened.

“Until we find a way to fix this, no one else should mess around with their brain.” Jess announced.

Drew nodded his agreement.

That could be me right now. What would’ve happened if I became paralyzed or worse on the drive to Colorado? Would any of us still be alive?

He needed something to do to get his mind off the morbid scenarios that haunted him. It did not help that as leader, he took responsibility for the disaster. Drew knew that Matt would berate him for blaming himself, but he could not help it.

I need to go out and accomplish something, standing here useless is not helpful.

“I’m going to go bring the Amazon truck back,” he announced and fled the room.”

“Snow’s not melted yet,” Matt reminded him as he trailed behind.

“Doesn’t matter, I’ll just push it on a sled like I did the van.”

“Need some help with that?”

Drew shook his head. “No, I’d rather you stay here and help Adam with the wall. Besides,” he said with a grin. “I want to test out flying with my new core.”

“Oh, I see the real reason now. You just don’t want me seeing you crash.”

“Maybe,” he admitted with a shrug and left the room.

Drew exited the unsettled house and formed two flattened planes of force beneath his feet in the shape of skis. With his newly conjured method of locomotion and his reduced weight, he skated atop the melting snow. He quickly crossed the street to the nearest abandoned car and began to recharge his dangerously low core.

After five minutes of feeding electricity to his center, the battery died. Unfortunately, his core was only a quarter of the way full.

Does a tier 3 core need that much more electricity? If I need four car batteries just to refill my core, we’ll run out pretty fast. We really do need some solar panels.

Drew skied to the next driveway and consumed a truck’s battery. It took two more dead batteries and another ten minutes before his core was filled.

Now let’s see how much easier it is to fly.

He dismissed the skis beneath his bare feet and reduced his weight until he was as light as a feather. A slight breeze shifted him a few feet to his left along with the top layer of snow.

Actually, let me try using wind for lift instead of force.

Drew imaged a gust of wind directly beneath him and fed chi to the spell. He was quickly tossed into the air, and began to tumble wildly. His body’s surface was uneven and the wind pushed him in vastly different directions. The more he flailed in an effort to reorient himself, the worse his position became.

Eventually, he gave up on the attempt and dropped the spell. Unfortunately, he still weighed less than a feather and spun uncontrollably as he continued to drift along over a hundred feet in the air. Drew tried his best to ignore the gyrations and forcibly straightened his body until he was perfectly vertical.

Ok, maybe I should mimic a plane? I can form force fields around me in the shape of wings and become aerodynamic.

He imagined the triangular shape of a stealth fighter with broad flattened wings and conjured shields around him to mimic it. Drew was careful to keep them within two feet from his body to ensure he used very little chi.

Once the wings manifested, wind quickly caught them and he was forced into a lateral position as he glided along with the light breeze. The drain on his core was almost negligible due to his domain. As long as he restricted himself to gliding through the sky, he could probably stay afloat for hours or even days. Unfortunately, his speed was pathetic and he was not facing the correct direction.

Ok, to change direction, I supposed I adjust the shield like flaps on a plane as well.

When he added wind resistance to one side, he turned to the other. With a bit of experimentation, he was able to learn how to gain and lose altitude as well as turn to his left or right smoothly. He was able to turn and fly into the wind, but like a sailboat, was forced to tack left and right to do so.

His domain, as Matt called it, not only reduced the cost of a spell by ninety percent, it also gave him greater control of it. He found it far easier to manipulate the spells within and they even required less concentration to maintain.

I wonder if I can cast more than three spells now.

Drew currently maintained only two active spells: gravity and a shaped forcefield. Even so, with how delicate he needed to be to mold the shield to his needs, he felt that those two were all he would normally be able to control.

Ok, let’s try a third.

Once he felt confident in his control, at least enough so he would not immediately crash, he decided to add his own wind behind him to speed him along. At first, he began with just a slight breeze, originating just a foot behind him. As his confidence grew, he began to slowly increase it to a gail.

Ok, this is fast enough for now. I need more practice before I speed it up even more.

Drew flitted along at around forty miles an hour. For the next hour, he practiced his movement in the sky. By the end of his session, he could not only go from full speed to a hovering stop, he could also successfully land. He was glad Matt did not see his first failed attempt, his friend would never let him live it down.

Before his flying practice, Jimmy’s illness had sent him into a cascade of self-recriminations. He felt responsible for the young man’s condition. Even worse, there was nothing he could do to fix it. Going outside to keep himself busy was the best way he knew to escape his doubts. However, as he jetted through the sky, he could not help but grin wide in delight. The sensation of soaring through the air was exhilarating.

Drew felt like a kid.

Now let’s see how fast I can go!

He turned east and increased the thrust of wind behind him. Forty miles per hour quickly turned into eighty and then a hundred and twenty. He began to vibrate as his speed increased and the wind assaulted his angled shield. However, a few tweaks later, his flight was smoothed out once more.

Ok, I need to turn back the way I came.

Drew banked to his left until he was facing the opposite direction.

More speed!

Drew quickly doubled the amount of chi he supplied to the jetstream behind him and he shot forward like a rocket. He was not sure how fast he flew through the air, but he knew it was far faster than he could run, even when enhanced. Trees and mountains zoomed past his vision until he saw the abandoned vehicles from the day before, far below.

The sight of his objective sobered him. He had gotten carried away with the excitement of learning to fly. Sure, the skill would be incredibly useful in the future, but he needed to stop being distracted like a child with a new toy. People relied upon his protection and support.

Ok, time to land.

Drew cut off his thrust and angled downward as he swooped toward the road below. When he was only a hundred feet away, he flared his conjured wings in an effort to catch as much wind as possible. His speed dramatically slowed, yet he still continued to fall far too quickly.

Oh crap!

In a panic, he quickly reversed the flow of wind and formed a new wind spell in front of him. He blasted his wings with a gust and struggled to maintain control of his descent.

Drew’s feet slammed into the ground at around thirty miles an hour. Rather than trip and fall, however, he formed skis beneath his feet and braced himself into a crouch as he absorbed the shock.

Hell yeah!

His hard landing transitioned into a slide atop the snow. As he neared the abandoned vehicles, Drew increased his weight until friction slowed his speed. When he skidded alongside the Amazon truck, he dropped his shield spell all-together and quickly slid to a stop on the snow-covered blacktop.

That was amazing!

He wished he could fly through the sky with the vehicle in his arms for his return, but it would consume far too much chi.

I guess I have to do it the old fashioned way.

Unfortunately, the sled he required so the vehicle could ride atop the snow was outside his domain and would expend a massive amount of chi to maintain. To make things worse, there was no brake connector in the back, so he had no way to recharge his chi while he pushed the vehicle from behind.

This is going to take forever.