Chapter 26

  Aftermath

  Morning air, fresh and cool, did little to dispel the lingering tension or iron smell.

  Blue sky and shining Sun promised a tale of joy and hope.

  Patches of dark soil, torn up sod, and dark haunted eyes revealed a different story.

  Dan stood like an obelisk, lost in thought, club in hand.

  There's just so much to do.

  So much to learn.

  There's just so much.

  “I need to talk to them about this,” Dan's voice was low, eyes fixed on the center of the fort.

  “This can't be brushed aside.”

  He joined Jaime, Belle, and Annette, who were huddled by the newly stoked fire.

  Eyes wide and distant.

  Kim walked to join them.

  Expression hard but composed.

  “We have to be clear on what happened here,” He started, voice commanding but gentle.

  “Those men were dangerous to us and themselves…”

  “People. They were people Dan,” Jaime whispered, clutching Belle’s hand tightly.

  “And Jimmy…”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Jaime,” Dan interrupted gently, “He did what he thought he needed to do… don't forget the cost.”

  Dan’s head shook, trying to dispel the image of a club cracking open a skull.

  Of squirting blood.

  He failed

  Annette leaned forward, her face still pale.

  “I-I trust my son to do what is right.. But absorbing the power? What will that do to us?”

  George looked down at his hands.

  Hands that carried a corpse with my son…

  Chris stepped up, face scrunched in thought.

  “I don't think it changes who we are. It changes what we are capable of.”

  “Maybe it will make us what we always should have been…” He looked to the ground, lost.

  The bubbling pot churned in the silence.

  Jimmy approached the group slowly.

  “We need to discuss our Cultivation. With the.. recent Qi, we will definitely show some growth.”

  Jaime and Belle both flinched when he spoke.

  “Yup, sure is.” Chris nodded in agreement, eyes probing Jimmy and the girls.

  “So… does anyone know how to use the damn Qi?”

  “I’ve had some small somethin’ but I don't know what the hell I'm doing.”

  “Well, we know it heals us some, just look at how well Dad is moving.”

  “Wont hear me complainin’.” George grunted.

  Jimmy looked at nothing, finger twisting his sandy hair.

  “I wonder how our supposed ‘Affinities’ are coming into play? Every time I think about my Seed, it confuses me.”

  Mental focus zeroing in on his seed, his ‘vision’ started to buzz.

  “It interacts strangely, bouncing weirdly, rippling… Disturbing.”

  “Mines’ pretty frantic, erratic.” Chris rubbed his goatee.

  Kim stirred the bubbling pot of hopefully edible stew, “I think mine likes to flow…”

  “Really?” Dan looked at her in surprise.

  “Mine don't move for shit.”

  The group settled into a necessary rhythm.

  Moral burdens were heavy.

  Esoteric cultivation, and the backbreaking labor, were welcome momentary distractions