Chapter 22

  The Resources of Man

  Birdsong slowly began with the rising sun.

  Almost as if it didn't want to break the silence hanging in the frigid air.

  Three bodies lay, in a growing pool of crimson.

  Reflecting the light gathering above.

  George dropped the shield fragments he was gathering.

  Chris gripped his spear, body rigid, mouth a thin line.

  Jaime gripped Belle tight, eyes wide.

  “Jimmy.” Dan’s voice was a soft rumble.

  “What the hell?”

  The lean man stood calmly, almost unperturbed.

  Knuckles shined white against his bow.

  “I solved a problem. This was the only foreseeable outcome.”

  “It was three defenseless men!” Annette cried, voice strained with anguish, mouth quivering.

  “Why, Jimmy? How could you do that?”

  “Because I love you mom.” His eyes didn't leave the growing light show.

  Annette grew silent.

  Jimmy pointed.

  “Qi. Just like the ‘beasts’. The reality of our new parameters are being laid bare.”

  The energy continued to gather.

  Dan looked to the scene before him.

  The same instinctive pull.

  Overlaid with a profound wave of guilt.

  “It's starting to go to waste,” Chris’ shifted side to side as the first motes began to dissipate.

  “If we absorb that, what does that make us?” Kim’s eyes were wet, spear held tight.

  Jimmy stepped forwards, approaching the nearest body.

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  He looked down at the corpse, then back at the group, face hard with resolve.

  “It makes us survivors. We didn't start this, but we ended it.”

  “We waste this today, we risk death tomorrow.”

  He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and pulled.

  Pure. Clean.

  More potent…

  Of course it is…

  Dan didn't move for a long moment.

  Finally, he nodded.

  Dan, Chris, George, and Kim cleared the remaining haze.

  The rest turned away, subdued.

  No one noticed Luna taking a hit.

  Dan looked to his brother, “Help me drag the bodies into the forest. Let's not speak of this again.”

  “No.” Jimmy stepped forward, voice cutting through the tension.

  Face stone.

  “You can not ignore this.”

  Dan didn't turn, "I'm not ignoring it Jimmy. I'm dealing with it. The trash is gone, and we are putting the Qi to use.”

  “No. You are dealing with Lucas, not the implication.”

  He pointed towards the fallen bodies.

  “We have seen that potent, clean, and possibly easily accessible power sources are other people.”

  Jimmy’s voice dropped to a cold, hard certainty.

  “People will not be fighting for food, water, or territory.”

  Hints of steam rose off of the cooling pools of blood.

  “We no longer are dealing with survival against the beasts.”

  Vital Qi flowed through him.

  “We are dealing with a reality where murder is rewarded with power.”

  He paused, letting it land.

  “When we leave this place, we need to be prepared for every person to see us as a battery. The price of our survival just went up, Dan.”

  His gaze lowered to the ground.

  “We will need to be ruthless, or be fuel for someone's Path.”

  The bearded man finally turned to his friend.

  “I know… I see it,” his voice was heavy with resolve.

  “We prepare for the worst. We will endure.”

  A depressed air hung, but the hard day had just begun.

  George and Chris, grim–faced, moved the bodies to the other side of the meadow, into the forest. They retrieved a couple spears and a woodsman's axe from the fallen equipment.

  Dan sat Jaime and Belle, talking softly.

  Kim and Annetter stirred the fire to life and started heating up some meat.

  Survival wouldn't wait.

  Luna made sure nothing hurt her people.

  Jimmy remained at the opening, face towards the rising Sun, his back rigid.

  I did what I had to do.