Chase Hatter's Origin of Pangaea

Chapter Twenty Five

"When I came back from my deployment, I lived in an apartment above a bar in Massachusetts." Jack explained. "At night, I went down to the bar and drank until they closed. I hated what I did when I was overseas. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I'd executed people in the name of a place that didn't even feel like home. But I didn't know what a home was supposed to feel like. I didn't know what it would feel like to fight for one. And if I did have a home, I didn't even know what it would look like. Every night at the bar, I saw the same man there. I never saw him order any drinks. He'd gather a group of drunks into a circle and he'd tell them stories about a life he had lived, about a family he had come from, dreams that he'd had, people that he'd lost, and hopes that he'd tried to realize. One day, he told the story of his death. He said that he was trying to make a difference, but there were people who didn't agree, so he was shot and killed. But he wasn't angry. He said, 'In my time as a dead man, I realized that there are too many people, too many different personalities, and too many splits in morality that it was idiotic to think that we could make a single society and make decisions in everyone's best interests at the same time. Perfection is dependent on the person. And a utopia can only exist when it is full of people who think the same. Perfection is relative. So, perfection is many. So, a perfect society means many societies.' Everyone's home is different, but I was special because my home didn't exist. I stayed after his group was over and I asked him how I could make my own home and how I could find the people who were like me to live there. He helped me create a blueprint for this place and we called our home Pangaea. It's a place for the lost. A place where the only goal is to live as many lives as possible, as freely as possible."

Axel looked to Waylon with bright eyes. "Are you satisfied?"

Waylon hadn't noticed that he'd started shaking. His eyes were glazed with tears as he looked desperately at Axel. "Please... Please don't kill me." Axel smiled and handed him a pen.

Waylon signed the treaty.

Axel took the document and began on his way.

When the politician opened the door to Waylon's office, he found Carl and Cole waiting in the hall. Axel smiled at Cole and held the office door open for him. On his way inside, Axel congratulated Cole.

"Cole Ryan, I thank you for your service to Pangaea. You will be rewarded upon our return home and you will live the rest of your days in a paradise of your choosing and across all of your lifetimes to come, even the ones after death."

As the door closed behind Cole, Waylon heard Axel's final farewell to him.

"Good-bye, Mr. Brose. If you're lucky, I shall see you in another lifetime."

The door slammed shut and left Waylon trapped in a room with silence and two Pangaean soldiers who would see to his end in the coming minutes. He felt numb as he realized that his fate could not be changed. He wouldn't ever see the sky again. He'd never see the street or a tree. And the last two human beings he would have contact with were his killers. Waylon bawled his fists as he looked to Cole with desperate eyes.

"You're going to do it?" He asked. Cole nodded. The soldier began loading his pistol as Waylon Brose spoke his final thoughts. "The man you follow is deluded. His mind is a million miles away, and his life is a lie. He claims to have lived a past life as Robert Kennedy, but you have to know that he's insane to think so. What has he told you? What proof do you have that he's even lived these past lives as he claims?"

Waylon was met with silence.

"Please," Waylon begged, "don't kill me."

Cole wasn't listening, but Jack was. Cole pulled the trigger.

Outside of Waylon's old compound, Carl leaned on a rail and stared at the Bay with glee. He missed this, the feeling of being on the West Coast with the warm wind crashing against his face. Behind him, Axel got on the radio and delivered the good news to anyone who was listening.