[b]Some time later. . .[/b]
[b]"I was unsure if Changmu heard me. Perhaps I was too hasty in my decision to take on that girl."[/b] Charles mused. The wizard walked up towards the steps of the museum, now being used as a safe house from the raiders and gangs that sometimes ransacked houses and other areas where people had left their homes vacant. The evacuation of the area was not total. Outside, after Charles phased himself through the museum doors, he looked out behind him. There was a squad of soldiers marching. . . obviously towards Fairfield. The entire city had gone into a panic. It was being evacuated, but some people were too afraid to leave their homes. Some were being eaten alive. The wizard shuddered at the thought of this actually happening. He turned his head, and started to walk forward, as guns started to point at his head. There appeared to be homeless people, or at least very shabbily dressed folk in the Museum's very spacious lounge. This place had it's own power supply, and running water, they could remain here for quite some time. 

Charles had only one reaction to the guns pointing at his body, he motioned his hands faster than they could pull their triggers, and found their guns now floating in their air, pointing towards them. [b]"I am a friend. As I understand it, there are some people who can't just walk out and leave the city. More than a handful of you are former criminals barely starting a new life. I am an answer for your earnest heart's desire to turn around and live with honor." [/b] One of the former thugs stood up from his comfortable lounge chair and gave Charles a skeptical look. [b]"What the fuck? What the hell are you doing coming in here like you can talk to us like that? Your mystic juju isn't going to make us lick your ball sack." [/b]

Charles gave a smug look.[b] "Jason."[/b] He nodded towards them all, naming the ten men who were in the lounge, and winking at the many others who were witnessing the scene in front of them. [b]"I know you all, and I don't need fancy electronic gadgets to spy on you to know all this."[/b] He looked at Jason and referrenced his vulgar statement. [b]"I don't want boot lickers, I want students. Not disciples, but those who would study what I have to teach. You can deal with your problems the way normal people do, maybe with counseling, if you can find some, maybe a Church or other sort of reform, but I have not come to have you "Lick my ball sack".[/b]

[b]"If you haven't noticed, I'm not your average street magician. I can tell you all have what it takes to become very upstanding citizens. You also all have very sharpened wits, some of you who seem dumber than any other have the most specialized focus to become renowned minds of the sciences and other important fields of study. Listen. . . please. All I want you to do is consider that I can help you."[/b] He paused for breath and then continued. "[b]You have taken refuge here in this abandoned museum, for many good reasons. It's security systems, it's self-sufficiency of electric power, you all have plenty of room for storage, and heck, if you run out of ammunition for long range weapons, there are still swords and weapons of antiquity that are available for your use."[/b]

[b]"There's plenty of food to chow down for, and even sanitary supplies, although I"m sure you had to supply much of that to yourselves. What if I told you I could just get you all out of legal trouble without any effort at all? All of you have bounties on your head, some folks want you dead, others want you in prison, but circumstances presently dictate any prison sentence will be a death sentence, and maybe a rape and/or torture sentence on your heads anyway. What happens when the alert goes away and you're stuck here? The walking dead are coming from neighboring Fairfield, and they may well take their entire city and spread out across the local area. If the law doesn't eat you alive, the walking dead just may."[/b]

[b]"Follow me as students, and I will take away your sentences."[/b] They were all skeptical as they saw this. . . [b]"You need to prove to us that you aren't just some charlatan, cult leader or something." [/b]Jason stated. With that, Charles nodded. [b]"That's a fair request."[/b] Charles blinked, and immediately, the one hundred folk using the Museum as their home for the time being found themselves in the Void. A floating area of space. They were sitting on their chairs or standing up on their feet. All of them looked around. [b]"What the hell?" [/b]

Charles smiled.[b] "Relax. .. I can bring it all back."[/b] He waved his hands, and the folk all found themselves in the City Park. [b]"Any of you who would have rejected my offer are still in the Museum. . . Now, with my final act of magic for a short while, I'm bringing us all to an area out West, in Phoenix Arizona. . . it's far enough away from this "Zombie" problem, that we should have time to ourselves."[/b]