Jacques again attempted to charge the flame but Babel elevated the level of difficulty for him. Jacques squatted as if he might attempt to leap over the flames and Babel drew the flames higher until a twenty foot high circle of flames obscured their view of Jacques. It was in that moment of blindness that Jacques broke free, falling upon the dirt and rolling to extinguish the flames that stole across his clothing and hair.
Babel watched Jacques rise and determined the will of the man in his wild eyes. Babel knew he would not give up and would not assist them. That left him only once choice. But did he want to take that path? What would the others think? Babel knew that as soon as he possessed the upper hand, Jacques would kill all of them. Babel couldn’t let that happen.
Leaders of men live lonely lives and not only bear the responsibility of difficult decisions, they must also live with those decisions afterward. Babel decided he could live with blood on his hands and could not, literally, live if he chose otherwise. With the weight of the decision still heavy on him, moved and increased the flames to surround Jacques.
Jacques voice echoed across the empty sky as screams escaped his terrorized body. The flames consumed him and although in a last effort to survive, he attempted to run from the flames, Babel pushed the flames to purse him.
Quentin and Jims watched on in horror at the man being roasted alive. They felt pity for the man, who had just been living out his life and had not asked for them to come to him. But they also felt justification in the fact that the man who had killed their own people was now dying before them. And what a gruesome death.
Jacques fell to the ground through the flames and his charred body was exposed. Babel experience the same sense of compassion at that moment as his fellowship and with that revelation of pity, extinguished the flames. He waited for the heat to dissipate before approached the fallen survivor of the end the world. Next to Jacques body, he saw the device for which they were seeking.
CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN
Quentin insisted they bury of the body of Jacques. Jims wasn’t sure that they should spend any more time there. He was concerned that the Klopph would pick up Babel’s energy but Babel agreed with Quentin.
After Jacques was in the ground, buried in the backyard of the home he had inhabited since the world ended and began again, Babel found himself staring at the freshly laid earth. Jims and Quentin left him to his thoughts, which were many.
Babel thought on who he had become in such a short time. It wasn’t that long ago that he ran a construction company with his father. His largest concerns then were that a contract might fall through and that he would have to lay off some of his workers. Now, he had become a man who would murder another man to get what he wanted.
Was that the type of man he was? He had always enjoyed zombie flicks and considered while watching them the depths to which men had to resort when facing the walking dead. In the absence of rules and organized civilization, men became animals, doing whatever it took to ensure their survival. Is that now where he was? A man willing to do anything for survival?
Babel thought on the Klopph and with all that had transpired over the past few days, in the excitement of it all he never gave much thought as to who the Klopph were. They were the enemy and they were a threat to the lives of the good people he had met. Babel had killed several of the Klopph already – again, a source of questioning. How had he slipped into someone who could kill so easily so quickly? He had barely been in a fight his entire life and here he was waging a full war against a government of a future world. It was mind numbing.
Babel considered that the Klopph were just men. And those who died left behind a family who mourned their loss. These men were just soldiers under order by a ruthless man. They were little different than the men in armed service from his own time, just trying to make a living.
Babel stood at Jacques grave for a while longer, pondering his role in this new world and how far he was willing to go. Then he inhaled and looked out across the field to the rest of his companions. They were waiting patiently on him to finish. And when he was done, they would look to him for leadership on what they should do next – on the next group of Klopph they should kill.
Babel’s last thought as he turned from the grave was whether or not Jacques would actually stay dead.
“All set?” Jims asked as Babel joined them. Babel nodded. “Good,” Jims continued, “we have been talking and have decided that the best course of action, now that we have the transport device, would be to transport some our people across the Outerlands. There they will spread the word of what we are attempting and ask them to join us. It will be a revolution.” He paused and looked at Babel for his approval.
Babel took in the enormity of what they were about to undertake. After only a brief internal discourse, he nodded his agreement.
Jims smiled and looked at Quentin. Quentin was nervous but the thought of riding the world of the Keeper fueled his ambition and he nodded for Jims to ensue conferring the plan.
The spoke for
