Babel didn’t want to agree but knew his father was right. Reluctantly he nodded. That settled, the two finished their coffee, John picked up the tab, and they went about their day.
That evening, Babel pulled into his father’s driveway. As he climbed out of his truck, he noticed that he porch light was not on, which was very strange. His father always left the porch light on in the evening, even if he wasn’t expecting company.
The next thing he noticed was that none of the lights were on inside of the house. “Maybe he fell asleep.” Babel thought as he unlocked his father’s front door and walked inside.
He entered the living room and turned on a lamp. “Dad?” he called out. He waited a moment but there was no answer. “Dad?” he called out again a little louder. He walked back to his father’s bedroom and saw that it was empty. Room-by-room he searched the house including the garage. His father was not there.
He went through the sliding glass door into the backyard, thinking maybe his father was enjoying the evening weather on his back deck. He found the backyard empty.
He paused for a moment to think of where his father might be. His car was still in the garage, so he knew he hadn’t driven anywhere. The closest gas station was three miles and he didn’t think his father would walk that far at night, especially with what his father called the crazy drunks on the road.
His father didn’t have a cell phone, so without knowing what else to do, Babel pulled out his own phone and dialed only other person of whom he could think. The phone rang a few times before a voice answered, “Hello?”
“Mom, it’s me. I think Dad is missing.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Their world is one of isolation. So far as they know, they are the only people that exist. They don’t know what lies beyond the Barren Lands and very few have actually wondered about this.
In the early days of the world, they were all just happy to be alive. Most had families and they wondered if their families still lived. After years of no contact, hope faded away. It was hard enough to survive in the new world and so they pressed forward the best they could. The new world became just the world.
In everything that happens, there is always an exception. Such was the case with a man whom everyone had forgotten. Four hundred years prior, this man was sent by the first Chokka to find out if anyone else lived. He made his way north and then east and found that there were a few survivors but they died quickly. He would stay with these people until their death and then he would move on.
As time went by, what was left of the world became anarchy. The people that were left turned to marshal law, then tribal law, and then no law. Cannibalism was common. No one was exempt. What was considered atrocious in civilization became part of daily life. The weak died, were killed, or became slaves and the strong (sometimes just strong in numbers) ruled in fear of being overthrown.
As such, the man survived through it all – not entirely unscathed – and made his way to where the government once stood. He found only a ruined tundra. Buildings in which men dictated law were gone. He went north and found the same. In fact, the entire East Coast was decimated.
After two years of being gone, he returned back to his home, not knowing what to expect. This time, there were no people during his journey. There were bodies but the people who had formed groups to terrorize ceased to exist. His journey home took six months and several times he nearly starved. The water was debauched and he became deathly ill more than once.
He traveled an abandoned landscape and finally made his way back to the only people he knew to still be alive. Upon arrival – and much jubilation among the people – he reported what he saw. The jubilation became deathly quiet.
He was back among people but something had changed in him. He was now more ghost than man. The years of silence, murder, and the realities of basic survival lived within him and he no longer felt at peace with other people. Humanity’s true nature had been revealed to him and he was constantly paranoid and felt contempt for the happiness around him.
In the dead of night, he slipped off to the north, not to be seen again.
Four hundred years later, that man still lived. For reasons unknown to him, whatever had caused the rest of humanity to die had affected him conversely. It gave him extremely long life. He also ceased to be ill. His teeth not only quit falling out, they grew back. His bones would not break and neither would his skin. His strength increased. He was able to hold his breath for very long periods of time. He could run faster than any animal he could recall. And every year he lived, that increased.
He lived deep within the Barren Lands and thrived in the desolation. He had not seen another or spoken with another human for many centuries. He meditated in the wilderness and his mental capacity was greatly increased. He discovered elements of his mind that he did not know existed. He was not aware that other people had also achieved many of these similar mental capacities; but even if he had been aware, he would have scoffed at them as their abilities were dwarfed by his.
He lived in his own world and was content that way.
At first, when his abilities began to develop, he traveled west. For the first few years he encountered people (unlike in the east)
