Roy

----------------------------------------

I'm not ready to open back up just yet, are you?

I'm good for now. I'm still growing with the highways.

Good. Then we are gonna use this time to try and get ahead of our problems for once. Can you put out a table with a chair for each of us... and Burt. Notebooks. Snacks. And some shade. We may be here a while

Tyler and Buddy are facing off against each other again. Nobody is making a move, but I think they both want to go for round two. I hope Verdandi doesn't go for it. Tyler will tear him in half with that gun at close range

"We're on the same side guys. And we have some work to do." I called out.

The table had formed already, so I directed them to it. Oh look at that, Nola even made a couch with a ramp for Burt.

We both know a chair would have been funny, but not really useful. I don't think Burt will have much to say. He's not made that smart.

Supposedly neither are you, I'm not writing anything off just yet.

...fair enough.

Verdandi and Tyler took seats at the opposite ends of the round table. Whether to keep distance or keep staring each other down I can't tell. They were both still bleeding and scowling. But we are nipping this in the bud now.

"Both of you! Can you understand me?" I asked

"I've always been able to understand you boss." And "I can understand you core master" came out simultaneously.

"Good. Then I am only gonna say this once. Whatever the two of you have going on, we end it now. If you need to stand up and hit each other till you find out who's top dog, lets get it done. But after that you put em away and work together. Under me."

Tyler gave me a solemn nod and shifted the gun off his back and to the ground.

Verdandi also unclenched and relaxed back into the chair. I noticed he was sitting on it sideways. Oh right, tail. "What in the seven hells is a dog?" Verdandi said to himself quietly. I'm going to assume that's rhetorical and move on.

"Can you give V a message for me?" Tyler asked.

"Depends." I said in reply

"Tell him he's a strong warrior and I am happy to fight beside him against the forces of darkness." Ty said.

I relayed the message and Verdandi asked me to return another

"He says he apologizes for his dishonorable attack on a superior warrior and will gladly fight beside you as well."

Tyler took the moment to walk over to the other side of the table and extend his hand for a shake. V looked at it and then at me. "Am I expected to do something here?"

"Take his hand in yours and shake it up and down."

Verdandi rose from his chair and took Tyler's hand, and then shook it like he was trying to mix paint in a can. A for effort buddy.

Everyone went back to their seats.

"First things first, why didn't you pass out the health potion?" I turned to Tyler

"Didn't find the opportunity." He said as he reached into his battle pouch and pulled both of them out. He slid one of them to Verdandi while uncorking his and downing it in a go. "Tastes like ass." He said with a grimace before throwing his empty at the pit. He came up way short, but Nola got it anyway

Verdandi's eyes got wide. "Is this what you were calling a health potion?" He asked me.

"Yes...?" I answered hesitantly.

"I guess you could, technically, call it that. And... you said you gave me one of these already?" He was holding the vial like it was some sort of fragile treasure

"We gave you a couple." I said

He nodded. "That would explain the sleeping and the burning then. You have no idea what this is." That wasn't a question, that was a declaration directed at me.

"No, I'm not entirely sure. But Nola called it a health potion and it worked didn't it?"

Tyler chose that moment to interject. "Hey now! What did I just drink?" He looked a bit nervous. "Nola said it was a health potion." I said in response.

"You should tell your Second that it's a bit more than that. This.." He said holding up the vial, "..Is a 'best self' potion. It extends your best years and brings your body to the peak of its capabilities. Your man is likely going to live 20 years longer than men of his age, and be stronger the whole time"

"What did you just make me drink Roy? That was a lot of words coming outta him."

"It is a health potion, its just not only a health potion. Turns out you're gonna live a little longer" I said to Tyler

"Live to see the tercentenary of the USA or see the heat death of the universe?" There is a lot of range between those two Ty.

"He says 20 years more than men of your age."

"Alright. That's not so bad then. Does it stack?"

"Verdandi, you've had more than one. Are you going to live hundreds of years longer?"

"I don't rightly know. No one I've met has ever been rich or foolhardy enough to use more than 2 on one person." He said while pushing the potion back to me. "The burning I am feeling everywhere is manna burn. Too much magical energy inside me. I'll live, but I have likely reduced the effectiveness of the further potions. It's also what put me into that deep sleep. Your body can only handle so much."

"He says drinking too much reduces potency and increases side effects. So we are gonna pass" But I'll take 20 more years as my best self. If Verdandi isn't using it, I will.

I grab the vial and prepare to down it in one go. If Tyler, the man who will eat MRE's, road kill, and expired canned food thinks it tastes bad; I want to get it down fast.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Oh god it burns going down.

"Ergh" I said before coughing a few times.

"The reason we are all here is we want to get ahead of problems rather than react to them. Things have been moving faster than I am used to, we are gonna slow down and get things back under control."

"Tyler, you were here for a few days on your own. I'll hear from you first."

"The wall is crap. It's corrugated metal on rotten posts. Won't stop trucks, ladders or cutting tools. Anything larger than a sidearm will go right through. There's no cover or concealment to make a stand from and no place to hide weapons. If we're gonna fight back against anything, the whole place needs a makeover. Also, Burt needs more holes and trails. He can't move on top fast enough to get to anybody" Burt huffed in agreement at that.

Well one of those is easy to fix. Slow up on the expansion outside and give us about 6 feet of depth inside.

Done.

"That fast?" I asked her

I'm growing very fast. It's rush hour. Lots of delvers

"Alright. Burt has his new path. The whole area is prepped for him. The rest of it is harder. There's only so much defense we can put up before we start not working as a dump"

"Well that's good. Why do we need to stay here at all. You hate Melvin, he's gonna be a problem for us. Let's find a better spot. It's not like Nola needs the garbage any more."

Need, no. But I want it. I like Roy's plan of cleaning up the city and recycling everything. I just think he's thinking too small.

"He can't hear you Nola. But she wants to keep the trash collection going. I kinda sold her on the dream of closed loop recycling." I paused a beat. "But we don't have to keep the core here. We can pick another place. The core doesn't need to be in the flower to absorb trash."

This is true. I've been cleaning up the highways state wide.

"This still seems like some sort of primitive sacrilege" Verdandi said under his breath.

"Tyler, your task is to find a plot of land, preferably one that's for sale from sane people. Then you have to design me your prepper fantasy fortress." I said to Tyler

Have you ever seen a kid enter a toy store? Have you then told that child that he or she could have everything they could fit in the cart? That was Tyler. He was still here physically, but he left the conversation completely. Mad scribbling in his notebook had begun in earnest

That's all we're getting out of him today.

I turned to Burt and Verdandi "So, he's gonna be busy in his own head for a bit. You can't reach him when he gets like this. Verdandi, when he's done I'd like you to look it over before we build. You've fought different things than Tyler has. Fill in the gaps in his knowledge. But until then we have to deal with the two of you.. no, three of you. Nola, you are part of this to."

"We have 3 team members with very limited communication abilities. If things get hard, I want everyone to understand each other. Nola can only speak to me. Verdandi can speak to everyone but only Nola and I understand. Burt, honestly I am not sure about you. You seem to understand Tyler, right?" I asked

Burt nodded in reply.

"What about Verdandi, can you understand him?" I asked

Another nod yes.

"And Nola can communicate directly. Does he say anything back?"

...I kind of feel like a jerk now.

"What does that mean?"

He can talk back. I just never listened. He says hello.

"See, this is what I am talking about. We need to figure out how to get things working out better. So, to recap; Burt can communicate only with Nola well. Nola can communicate only with me. Verdandi, you can communicate with me, be heard by Nola and maybe we can work out some hand signals between you, Tyler and Burt."

I took a breath. "There's too many bottle necks in that. Nola, Burt is magic right? Any reason you can't give him vocal chords? Also, can you do the translation conduit for anyone other than me?

I don't know, and I don't know. But I am willing to try.

Burt huffed from his couch.

And so is Burt.

"I am not sure of the core's ability to translate, but I have trained at learning languages before. If we could find a way to compare my tongue to yours I am sure I could pick it up quickly." Verdandi said to me

"English is a pain to learn, and I am a native speaker. I am happy to help you try, but I think I'd like to take the easy route if we can." But in the meantime he's right. We should try something.

"We can get a dictionary and you and I can go line by line to make a translation book. Nola, do you have any dictionaries out of the garbage?"

Someone threw out an English to Turkish dictionary, but there were a lot of pages missing. It can be a good start.

"It can be a good start."

I turned back to Verdandi, he had another problem, so did Burt too, but Burt seemed happy in the dirt. I doubt Verdandi would feel the same. "You don't look like us." I said, pointing my thumb back and forth between myself and the oblivious Tyler. "On your world are there other species living among you? Sapient ones, I mean."

"Yes, but they are rare. Most pass through rather than 'live among us'. I take it from your question that is not so here."

"Correct"

"So my appearance, it presents a danger not just to me, but to the secrecy of the core."

"It's why the shed has no windows."

"What should I do then? You know this world better than me."

"Two thoughts. We can put you in a chemical suit for when you are walking around. If we get a face mask that is a little elongated we can hide your muzzle. But that will be hot, and difficult to use outside of an industrial setting like this one. Other than that, we could try a burka. It's meant for women, and we'd probably have to practice angling your face down to hide your nose, but it would allow you to go out in public as long as you don't speak to anyone."

"So our options are limited and inadequate." He seems like he's not a fan of either option.

"Little bit. But I will brainstorm more. We can work with those for now. When you aren't dressed up and people are around we will need to hide you in the shed."

Cole is approaching the gate with a ladder. He looks determined

"Crap. Verdandi, go to the shed. Burt, dive. Nola, eat the table. Tyler, we have guests."

Nola, remind me who Cole is

The reporter you promised to think about giving an exclusive to. And then you went to jail and abandoned me. I guess he got impatient.

"He's motivated. Maybe we should hire him." I said.

Tyler was out of his trance and holding his .50 again. "Is this the type of guest that needs party favors, or should I give this to Nola?"

"How about you keep it and stay out of sight."

"If violence is expected, can I retrieve my weapon as well?" I am not sure if your weapon is magic yet. No

"Ty, give him your knife and a pistol. Verdandi, take that for now and stay out of site. Don't do anything till Tyler does."

----------------------------------------

Cole

----------------------------------------

The video of the plant was my most popular ever. I had doubled my subscribers in the past day. And then the damn place had to close down. The people wanted more. They were gonna get more.

An all access tour revealing all the little secrets.

I had a safety vest and hard hat on. It really is true what they say, safety gear is an all access backstage pass. No one stopped me even though I am carrying a ladder in daylight.

I pushed through the weeds off to the side of the gate and placed down my ladder. Exclusive here I come.

I straddled the 8 foot fence before preparing to drop down. No one around. Too bad there weren't boxes around to shorten the fall.

I tweaked my ankle a little bit when I landed. I hopped in place for a moment, resisting the urge to swear and give away my position.

I unzipped the backpack and started pulling out my camera when I heard someone speak from behind me. I jumped and dropped the camera at the sound.

"Exactly how did you plan on getting out of here?"

Oh no.

I'm about to be the main character of a true crime podcast.