Marcus Caine - The Last Words

We just have to start the fires, and hope the flames will do the rest. Without anyone there to put out the fires they should spread easily. There’s plenty of fuel in a city, not just buildings but gas lines, chemical plants, cars full of gasoline, gas stations. Hell, New York is already on fire, we might find a lot of our work already done for us by the affected.

I can’t believe I’m writing this, or even thinking this. To set fire to my own country, the country I love, the country I fought for and almost died for. But, is it really my country anymore with everyone dead or affected? I can’t believe I’m going to burn cities down, cities full of people, full of books. Jesus, God, I’m going to become a book burner. And all those people. What will my body count be? Worse than a dictator’s? But, are they really even people anymore? They’re barely more than animals. And chances are any people who are left are already dead, or soon will be, devoured by those cannibals. Everything about the world I knew and loved, gone, burned down, by me. But what choice do I have? I must destroy my own civilization, or at least as much as I can, so that humanity has at least a chance to live.

Writing this is hard enough, but saying it out loud, trying to convince them that this is the only way, that will be so much harder.

I can’t, I just can’t believe the things I’m hearing, the things Jude is saying. To destroy everything, everything we are, as a people, as the human race. Not everything of course, but as much as possible. To kill all those people; will it be thousands, millions? I can’t believe I’m hearing this madness.

Surely he is affected now or maybe he has gone mad after seeing so much death.

Will the others listen to him, ilk or not? Should I listen to him? Is he right that we must start over?

How can I watch established civilization burned to the ground? All the knowledge of centuries of progress gone?

I cannot. I am out here with them, but alone.

Maybe I could surprise him but can I take the other two under him myself?

Will they fight me or side with him? After all, faceless killing is easy. It’s not like they will see the people they are destroying. But I’m not a soldier and he is.

Would they listen to him otherwise?

So how can I possibly foil his plans?

I fear I cannot.

Will every evil we inflict be for the greater good?

Now I grasp I’d erred in favor of reason when reason has nothing to do with this.

Do I participate in this macabre dance?

Help to fire on cities full of people? Are they really people?

Is Jude correct in that we are guided by a divine providence?

Are we the last of humanity? The last vestige? Really?

We, the guides of this mobile firestorm.

Without Jude, would those two be able to continue this assault?

I’m thinking of things I abhor, nedless to say. Murder. Mayhem.

Entering the valley of the shadow of death as a deliverer instead of a receiver.

Is this what route I must take?

This unbearable genocide.

What if I begged Jude, would he rethink this?

Or can I figure out a way to change his mind?

Could I prod him into waiting? Buy myself time?

Or sabotage the navel vessel?

To prevent the massacre. Stop the mass murder.

But by killing what may be the last remaining real humans. Am I defending the affected? Am I… is it possible I am affected? It was just a short nap. But how could I be thinking of cold blooded murder if I’m not? Sure, I left the others to die in their cells, told Cassie and Eric that they were already affected. And that wasn’t a lie, not really. They were affected, even C5. But it was because I exposed them. But I was doing it to study The Phrase, to learn to fight it. To see the many ways it could be spread. To see if seeing it in pieces here and there would still affect someone. To see if hiding the phrase subliminally would affect someone. I did it for science, for humanity.

But, looking back at what I am writing, there is little doubt. I am affected. It is too late for me. And if you’ve read everything I’ve written so far, and if what I learned from testing on the others is accurate, it is too late for you too.

Then:

See what else Marcus Caine has been up to in the Kindle Store

Or visit Marcus Caine’s Amazon Authors page

Like what you read?

Then be sure to leave a review. Few things are more important to me as an aspiring author than an honest review. Not only does it help other readers discover new and exciting works of fiction and give them some idea of what to expect before they hit that purchase button, but it also helps me hone my craft and improve myself as a writer.

If you have the latest generation of Kindle then turn one more page for the Before You Go feature where you can share what you think of this story or see what other people who read this are buying.