CJ and his team discussed the situation well into twilight before retiring for the evening. Roger and Rubio took watch that night since they weren’t involved in clearing the second dungeon. CJ unlocked the door of the apartment above the one bar in town.

  It was sparsely decorated with a dart board on the inside of the door and a single bed up against the wall. The attached bathroom was nice, and CJ would have to get Roger and Rubio to hook him up with some hot water. The walls were that tacky wood paneling you’d find in someone’s basement along with cases of pro ball memorabilia. For now, he gave himself a quick whores bath before turning back to the bed. Only he found a dark haired furball curled up on his new pillow. CJ was too tired to take the bait. He flopped down on the bed then drifted off to sleep.

  The next morning, CJ gathered everyone of the new people out by the park in the center of town. Saul joined him with Liber tucked under his arm. Roger and Rubio were getting some shut eye now that everyone else was awake. That left Monty, Elena, and Jenn to stand up there with them. Saul stepped forward and addressed his people.

  “Leonard, Hanna, and I learned a lot from this book last night. It teaches the basics about what our world has turned into. It also records our stories.” Saul held up the tome that was Liber and bookmark tongue waived at them. “Some of this will sound like nonsense for those of you who aren’t yet connected. Our host can fix that. We leave the choice up to you. CJ and his people have offered a place for us to be relatively safe. I say relatively because nowhere is safe anymore. That choice is also yours. I can tell you I’m tired of running. I’m tired of being scared and I’d like to stop waking up shaking from the things I’ve seen. I intend to stay.”

  “What about the rest of the survivors back in Atlantic City?” someone asked.

  “We ran because we couldn’t help them. Should you go back, I fail to see how that situation changes.”

  “We’ve found help now. Can’t you help?” asked the young man from last nigh who’s sister wouldn’t allow CJ to connect his slate.

  “I can and will be going to Atlantic City. The dungeon there is corrupted. We have a quest to clear it, but I need to retrieve some friends of mine from the Reservoir in the Pine Barrens.” CJ raised a hand to hold off any protests before continuing. “There is also an infestation of giant cicadas in the Pine Barrens that needs dealing with before it gets too large. This too is a quest we have. Some of you are making the what the hell did he just say face. If you’d allow me to connect you to your slates, you could understand more of what I’m saying. I can’t be in three places at once. We need to save as many people as possible.”

  Murmurs began rumbling through the gathered people. Of course, that was when the door to the bus accordioned open to reveal a haggard looking Marty. He sauntered over to the wall of the one of the main street shops and planted his left palm on it before working his belt with the other hand. Groans could then be heard from everyone as he relieved himself against the wall.

  “Meshuggeneh! Marty! Stop that at once.” Hollered Saul as he stomped toward the stoner. “There is a working bathroom in the store!”

  CJ covered his mouth to hold back his laughter, but it didn’t help much since Monty was in hysterics on the ground. Elena just shook her head while Jenn helped to refocus the gathered people.

  “Leonard and Hana, would you be willing to tell the people what classes you took?” asked CJ after he got ahold of himself.

  “Certainly. There were three choices for me. Fighter, Gunmen, and Chef. I worked in a kitchen for many years after I got out of the Airforce. I understand a chow line.” The old man began standing straighter than anyone had seen since meeting him. “I accepted the Chef class considering in my old age, it would be harder to give back just by fighting. My thing says I can make food that aids in training as well as create new recipes of my own that when combined correctly, will do a combination of things. It seemed like the right choice. I also feel better than I have in years.”

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  “I accepted a class called Ten Pins. I was a professional bowler for many years. My slate?” Hana asked getting a nod from CJ, “Says I have telekinetic over objects less than five pounds and I can do damage with an ability that multiplies with every ricochet. This would have come in very handy against those damn slot machines.”

  CJ marveled at the gulf between their classes. He wasn’t the only one as the gathered crowd started to pepper them with questions. All of that came to a grinding halt as soon as they began discussing the specifics of their abilities and the no phones only heard wah wah. Some people were still on the fence, though CJ knew how to tip them over.

  New Message from Party Leader CJ: I’m going to do it now. Try to hold them back since we don’t know if the dungeon will activate when breached by a no phone.

  He walked into the park and pulled out Johnny’s Appleseed. CJ took one last look at the description while everyone else was still distracted.

  Johnny’s Apple Seed- Legendary Item/ Earth Magic. Once planted this seed will grow a one acre apple orchard in a matter of minutes. The apples it produces will grow in all seasons. Whoever consumes one of these apples will be cleansed of any disease. The seeds from the apples produced are non-viable and cannot germinate.

  A trowel appeared in CJ’s hand from his inventory. He began to dig into the dirt at his feet until he was at least a foot below the surface. Then he upended the box and allowed the seed to fall into the hole. Quickly packing the dirt back on top of it, he spun around and faced the gathered few.

  “I found an item in one of our dungeon runs. It should provide renewable substance for us but its just the beginning.” CJ felt a surge of mana from the grounds behind him. He combined his years of stagecraft with the feeling of welling mana behind him before continuing. “Behold the fruits of our labors.”

  New Message from Elena: Tell me you did not just say that.

  A green and brown glow emanated from the park at his back. Thick and gnarled shafts of wood burst from the ground all around the park. Each one sprouted new limbs and leaves began budding. That was when the individual branches began to intertwine between trees, forming an orchard that looked like it was holding hands. Shining points of red began dotting the full acre of explosive plant life. Until the trees were laden with ripe crimson apples. One of them dropped from the tree and rolled over bouncing against CJ’s black Airforce Ones.

  CJ bent down and picked it up. He flicked his right hand producing a seven of spades. Pumping mana into the card he cleanly sliced it in half before making the card disappear. He held it open for everyone to see. It was juicy and the flesh inside was pearl white. Taking a bite out of one half, he tossed the other half into the crowd. Seeing as it was the first fresh fruit they’d seen in weeks; it was given to the children to take a bite first. The joy on their faces as they tasted something so sweet was infectious. Hana, to her credit started tossing apples from the orchard telekinetically.

  In the next hour, CJ connected everyone that was there. Including the children who read a message stating they wouldn’t get a class choice until they reached thirteen summers. In CJ’s mind, that was simply fine. Children shouldn’t be a part of the struggle that’s currently happening. Both of their parents accepted a class called Guardian. It gave them abilities that dealt with shielding.

  The biggest surprise was young man now known as Theo. His class choice was a rare one. It was called Challenger. It was a combat focused class that let him steal abilities from enemies as long as he challenged them first. CJ was completely baffled by it and his big sister was irate.

  “Absolutely not. Choose again, right now.” She complained.

  “Why should I? Didn’t you get a combat class?” Theo shot back.

  “It doesn’t matter; you can’t change it. You can’t change it, right?” CJ asked Monty who shook his head left to right.

  “I demand you do something about this!” screeched Anette.

  “Remind me again, what class did you take?” asked CJ.

  “I don’t see how that’s relevant—” she began before being interrupted by Theo.

  “Banshee.” Theo answered for her. “She took the banshee class so she could yell even louder.”

  “Theo!” she shrieked.

  “Mrs… I don’t think I ever got your name.” started CJ.

  “Anette Watson.”

  “Mrs. Watson, we’ll do our best to keep him safe. I don’t have any plans to make him fight anything, but he should start training with Mr. Trinchar. At the very least it will help him defend himself. Shit’s dangerous out here.”

  “Self-defense… I suppose that’s fine. I’ll be damned if he’s going to go out on quests or whatever until he’s an adult.” Anette said stamping her foot.