Chapter 71

"Hold on." Courtney interrupted as Bill grabbed his phone.

"What?" Bill asked as everyone turned their attention to the strawberry blonde.

"Why aren't we going to help the national guard?" Courtney asked. "I get that Daryl doesn't want to, but what about the rest of us? He can't make the decisions for everyone."

"Do you want to help them?" Micheal asked.

Courtney frowned. "I think it is something we should seriously consider." Courtney replied. "You guys are thinking too short term. Just from what we have already seen, things are bad, and are going to get worse. Resolving everything is going to take a lot of time and effort and that is only taking into account the problems that we have now, and not what else is likely to come."

I frowned as I listened to her. "So you want to help?" I asked.

Courtney asked. "Like I said, you are thinking too short term. The national guard isn't the army. The majority of them are locals who just want to protect themselves and their families. They are also the ones with the greatest firepower in the area. Even if the government doesn't fall apart, they are going to be the biggest power base in the area for a long while. Instead of avoiding them we should assist them. Help them build a haven for everyone, and with our knowledge and power we can get a say in how things are done."

I considered that for a few moments. Karen and Megan walked over to my side and took my hands. "She might be right Daryl." Karen told me. "Besides, while they are demanding you show up and provide assistance, they haven't shown up to force you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"If they know who you are, I am sure they can trace your phone." Karen pointed out.

I shook my head. "Maybe." I said as my mind raced. I looked at the laptops and caught sight of a group of those mixed colored twisted fighting together against a group of bipedal lizards that matched the brute type twisted in size. "But with everything that is going on, they can't be sure I have my phone on me. Plus tracking me down during all this could be more than they are capable of. Besides, forcing me would set a bad precedent with other awakened, and I would bet I am not the only one they are ordering to assist them."

"You aren't." Micheal confirmed.

"Does that matter?" Courtney asked.

"What if they just conscript us and push us into the worst of the trouble? Maybe I am selfish, but I have no desire to sacrifice myself for the greater good." I told her.

"He has a point, Courty." Bill said using his nickname for her. "Besides, I am not sure how long those guns are going to help them. Instead we can consider creating a haven on this side of town. Send out messages for people to gather here. While their plan isn't a bad one. It could be a death sentence for anyone on this side of the valley."

Courtney seemed to consider it for a moment then looked to Micheal.

"If we are going to do that then we are going to need more food and supplies." Micheal told her.

"Wouldn't that be two birds with one stone?" Courtney asked.

"How?" Micheal asked back.

"She means we can recruit everyone we find as we search for supplies. As we will definitely run into twisted and monsters, we can show off our strength and prove we have the ability to lead." Karen said.

Courtney nodded as she smiled at Karen. "While this place isn't really secure, there are a lot of empty houses we can set everyone up in." Courtney said excitedly. She really seemed to be into the idea.

A loud cry from the basement turned my blood cold as I immediately sprinted for the stairs.

Caly met me at the foot of the stairs as she came running out of the hallway leading to our room. As soon as she saw me she tackled me to the ground, her legs straddling me as I landed hard on my back. Before I could question what was going on her lips were on mine as she wrapped her arms around my neck and held on tightly.

I had no idea what was going on and more than a little worried, but I quickly forgot about everything as Caly kissed me exuberantly.

"Um Caly?" Karen called after a few moments.

That got the redheads attention, and as if she was reluctant she slowly pulled away from me. Before she looked away I saw a heat in her eyes as she looked at me. A desire I recognized from Karen and Megan. Which despite being married to me, had been missing from Caly.

"Oh, uh, hi?" Caly said as she looked around at everyone who had gathered.

Looking past Caly I could see Karen, Megan, and almost everyone else had come down to see what was going on. I almost laughed when I caught sight of Rebecca covering her daughter's eyes and hurrying back up the stairs while blushing a dark red. Everyone else just seemed relieved.

"You alright?" Karen asked as she held a hand out to help Caly up.

Caly took it and stood up, which gave me the chance to climb to my feet as well. "I am great!" Caly said happily.

"Shouldn't you still be passed out?" Carol, Jake's girlfriend asked.

"No, I am good. I made preparations ahead of time so my transition didn't take as long as everyone else would." Caly replied.

"Oh." Carol said, sounding disappointed then headed up the stairs. Almost everyone else followed her up as they realized there wasn't any trouble. After a few minutes Caly, Karen, Megan, and I stood alone in the basement. While it had been clear that there were plenty of people who had questions, Bill deliberately herded them back up the stairs to give us some privacy. I wasn't completely sure why Bill was being so accommodating, but I appreciated it.

"Ah, Karen, too hard, too hard." Caly gasped as Karen gave her a hug.

"Sorry." Karen apologized as she let the other woman go. "I was really worried about you and Grace when you didn't wake up. We guessed that you were transitioning to copper core, but we weren't sure that was the actual reason." she explained as Megan took her place and gave Caly a much gentler hug.

"Yeah, that was the issue. Since I had prepared for it beforehand my transition didn't take as long as the others, But I doubt I beat them by much, maybe another hour or so." she told us.

"That's it?" I asked. I personally had been out for a lot longer than that.

"Your situation was different." Caly told me as she moved back to my side and wrapped her arms around my waist with a big smile on her face. "You went from no mana at all to gold core, with a much lower ambient mana than what we have now." she told me. Then she was kissing me again.

"Down girl." Karen called out.

"Sorry." Caly said after pulling away and licking her lips while giving me a heated look. I had no idea what had gotten her all riled up, not that I minded, I just wished the timing was better. "I am just really excited to reach copper already. I know this world is unusual, but it should have taken me years before I reached this stage." she told me. "Then I woke up and saw that fruit waiting for us on the dresser." she said as she smiled at us with tears in her eyes. "I haven't even been here a week and I can already reach the silver core! Even if I am unable to advance again for years, no decades, staying here with you has proven to have been the best choice I have ever made." she said, her gaze returning to me.

"What fruit?" I asked.

"I put those fruits I got from Enya in our room." Karen replied.

"I see, so those will raise our core levels?" I asked.

Caly nodded excitedly. "They are mana fruits. The trees only grow in locations with very dense mana. Each fruit will allow someone to increase their core level once as long as they are a metal core. While it won't kill someone in the color cores, the mana inside is too dense for their body to handle. Instead of advancing their core, they get really sick and can't use mana for a couple of weeks. Do we have more than those two?" she asked excitedly, speaking so quickly that I almost couldn't understand her.

I nodded. "Yeah, plenty. Delilah grabbed more after she realized what they were. Does that mean if I eat two of these I will advance to orichalcum?" I asked.

Caly shook her head. "No, you can only use them once. Your body will adjust to the energies in mana fruit. Eating a second one will help you restore your energy if you deplete it, but it won't advance your core."

"Pity." I said with a sigh then laughed. After advancing to platinum I already had the means to advance to mythril and was disappointed that I could directly move to orichalcum. Perhaps I was getting a bit greedy. "Is there anything we need to know before we eat them?" I asked.

Caly shook her head. "No, not really. Just make sure you sit down before you eat one. Before we do that though there is something else we need to talk about." she told me.

"What?" I asked.

"Advancing Karen and Megan to copper." Caly told me.

"Didn't you say the fruits wouldn't work until we reached the metal core?" Megan asked.

"I did, but advancing to copper would work, but that wasn't what I meant. I want to advance you to copper then have you use the fruit to silver like me." she told us.

"Then how?" I asked.

"Did you forget that your family handed you two bags of mana stones?" Caly asked me in return.

Now that she mentioned it, I had.