Flare (39 page)

Legion had another sip of wine.

“I understand why we eat, get mad, fall in love, get scared,” said Legion. “Animals do that stuff, ’cause it keeps ’em alive. Hell, I don’t even ask why we go to war, because animals do the exact same thing. Everything we do, you’ll see in ants, monkeys, dolphins, everywhere. Even the bad stuff—jealousy, murder and rape—you see in the animal kingdom. Makes sense too. Jealousy, murder, rape, even war, it’s just a way to help us outcompete, survive. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with these things in the grand scheme of life.

“Cruelty is different though. You don’t really see depravity, real
planned
abomination like you see with us humans, time and time again. Cruelty, that’s ours, and no one else’s.

“You see wolves killin’ each other, maybe ants take down a snake and eat it while it still breathes ’cause that’s what they programmed to do. But you don’t see a chimpanzee tyin’ another chimpanzee to a tree and poking it with a sharp stick for three days. You don’t see a whale chewin’ off another whale’s fins and then watchin’ it drown.

“So what is it with us? Why do we always go for the wicked, when it’s no benefit to us? Those Africans could probably get the point across by just killin’ they enemies, the Nazis could’ve just deported the Jews and been done with it. Why do we do this when it doesn’t really benefit us to go that extra step to
hurt
someone else? When the food runs out, why don’t we just kill each other? Why do we rape and then cannibalize, as a matter of course? What’s in it for us?”

Zeke had no answer, and Legion didn’t seem to expect one. He scooted his chair towards Zeke and nodded at Delilah. She brought him another glass of wine and he took a draught, savoring the taste. Legion took Zeke’s arm and held it out, and held his own arm next to it. Zeke’s arm was still a few shades darker, visible even in the low candlelight.

“Answer is …” said Legion. “Answer is,
I don’t know
. All I know is that it’s truth. We do what we do, and that’s that. But I also know that cruelty, depravity, abomination, they ain’t permanent states of mankind. Devastation comes, we descend and commit unspeakable acts, and then we rise back up. African civil wars end, Germany wakes the fuck up, and then it’s back to normal, time and time again. So the question is, how do we outlast this flare, and how do we become ourselves again afterwards?”

Legion drank more wine and looked down at the skirmish below. The fighters had made a small bit of progress against the pig-handler. The woman must have cut the pig-handler’s leash, because his animals were now roaming free in the pit. The two fighters were a little tentative because the pigs were still ferocious, but the crowd was now on their side and trying to distract the pigs so that the fighters could have a go at the creatures’ master. 

Legion nodded at Delilah again and she brought out a book similar to the one from which Cain had read. Legion opened up a chapter and read for a moment before talking to Zeke.

“The answer to how we’re gonna survive this flare lies in two places,” said Legion. “First and foremost, this book. We call it
Abaddon’s Bible
. I call it
The Scarred Bible
, because that’s what it is, a regular bible that tells our whole history, bad included.”

Zeke examined the leather-bound book. It was as thick as a normal bible, but the copy in Legion’s hand looked hastily put together. The print on the cover was flaking off and the pages were rumpled, as if they had been soaked in a bathtub overnight and then left to dry.

“The second place is sittin’ in front of me. The end of the depravity lies within
you
, black brother,” said Legion. “You hold the key, and our guide is this book, the one that talks about what we do when shit goes bad. I’ma first tell you a story from it. A parable, one that every prophet and every
Son of Man
failed to talk about.”

/***/

Legion took some more wine, savoring each drop in silence as if it was the last drink he would ever have.

“You ever heard of Nebuchadnezzar the Second?” asked Legion.

Zeke nodded that he had.

“You know him well?”

Zeke didn’t know what to say, and Legion laughed.

“I’ll answer that for you with a
no
, ’cause no one does, not even scholars,” said Legion. “We all know about the big stuff, Babylonian ruler 600 BC, conqueror and all that. The Old Testament says he forced everyone to bow down to a gold idol, and those that didn’t were thrown into a furnace. When three Jews emerged unscathed, he went insane for seven years.

“Islam’s got him too, shows him throwin’ Daniel to the lions, and once again Daniel emerging
unscathed
.”

Legion took a sip of his drink.

“But there’s one thing that all religions, all histories, and all people can agree on, and it’s this: that Nebuchadnezzar was
a bad motherfucker
.”

Legion stared at Zeke, giving the crude description weight.

“He was a force of nature, ya’ feel me? Cimmerian, Scythian, Aramean, Jew, future Muslim or Christian or whatever you were didn’t matter. When Nebuchadnezzar’s army was on the horizon you heard ’em, and you got real worried, real fast. Because he was a bad motherfucker, a force of nature, and a patient one at that. Ya’ understand what it’s like to be up against a
patient
conqueror?”

Zeke hadn’t thought about such a thing before and didn’t know how to respond.

“Let me put it in a more specific context, brother. Nebuchadnezzar was known for his
sieges
. If he couldn’t run you over, he’d surround your walled city. His second siege of Jerusalem lasted thirty months. Thirty! That’s a long time to be in one place, running out of water, food, no end to the blockade in sight.

“But I ain’t here to talk about the siege of Jerusalem, because that’s been well covered. I want to talk about another siege, three others in fact, and it’s all in
here
.”

Legion placed his old book in Zeke’s lap. Zeke thumbed through the rumpled pages and noticed that the typography didn’t match from chapter to chapter, or even from page to page.

“These are three towns you ain’t never heard of, not in history nor church neither, I guarantee you that much. The only-est place you gonna read about ’em is here, in this Scarred Bible, the one that shows the truths that its famous counterpart does not.”

Legion took another drink, and then stared at Zeke.

“But I’ll break it down for you, son, if you listen:
The Parable of the Three Sieges.
”

/***/

“See, Nebuchadnezzar needed to assert hisself early in his reign, so ’fore he went off and did somethin’ big like invade Egypt, he practiced on three small towns first, just to get some victories under his belt. He started with the city of
Ramm
to the north, the city of
Qut
to the west, and the little Red Sea port city of
Jawadh
to the south. Two small towns and a place no one wanted, three sieges, get ’em all and expand his borders a bit. He gave hisself two years for all of these, because like I said, he was a patient motherfucker, even as a young buck.

“The city of Qut to the west was a city of farmers, and they had that nobility in ’em, you know, don’t cheat nobody, all that. Ain’t no benefit in shaftin’ someone when you got a field of crops you can’t move year after year, so they were tough, good, hardworking people, and they had one of them
death before dishonor
militias.

“City of Ramm? That’s another story entirely. They were goatherds up in the mountains, and as you know, goatherds are some cheatin’,
devilish
dudes, and they don’t really care for one another neither. They always stealin’ one another’s goats, always killin’ someone who they thought was stealin’ theirs. You think someone did you over, can’t prove it? You might steal his wife to get even, have your way with her while he’s away and let him figure out the rest. Nasty people, ya’ feel me?

“City of Jawadh was a little backwater, ignored by most. Coupla traders, coupla ships and all the rest, you know, nothin’ special, and if you attacked it no one would even care you did.

“So Nebuchadnezzar sent one army west to surround the noble boys of Qut, and sent one army up north to siege them Ramm devilish dudes, then some ships to Jawadh, made a blockade. Sieges started, usual thing, you know, no supplies in, maybe attack they stores of food for good measure. Let ’em all sweat it out, week after week, month after month, let ’em know they can give in and swear allegiance at any time.

“Qut, as expected, didn’t surrender so easily. Month after month Nebuchadnezzar sent an emissary over, no dice. Month after month, they negotiated with farm boys who got skinnier and skinnier, but still had spirit. No retreat, no surrender, death before dishonor.

“Tenth month, them Qut boys went out in a blaze of glory. Daring midnight raid, buncha skinny warriors coming out to see how many of Nebuchadnezzar’s men they could take out before they was taken out. And they fought nobly—whoo-eee! Slashin’ and runnin’, takin’ lances for they friends. All told in the end, it was three of Nebuchadnezzar’s men for every Qut farmer, slam bam, smash. Slit the enemy’s throat, stab another two, then and only then can the Qut boy get skewered, see what I’m sayin’? Three enemies for each man, and when all the warriors were done, the hobbled army of Nebuchadnezzar went inside to get they booty.

“They found nothin’ in those walls. All the women had killed theyselves, choosin’ death over violation. Killed the young’uns too, choosin’ that over havin’ they churren enslaved. Everything of value destroyed, be it art, machinery, even a few inventions they made. Better to be gone forever than be left to benefit the enemy. Death before dishonor, and whoo-eee, did that happen to a
T
!”

Legion poured another glass of wine.

“Ramm was a different story. Nebuchadnezzar’s other army surrounded those devilish, goatherdin’ brothers with ease. Some scattered away to the mountains, others stayed inside the city walls, but no one fought. Town was situated way up high, so Nebuchadnezzar’s commander thought it best to just surround them and wait for the white flag.

“And they waited, one month … two months. Five months, seven. Tenth month, he sent a spy to find out what was happenin’ within those walls. Spy never returned. Sent another, that spy didn’t return neither. He sent word back to Nebuchadnezzar that something was up, so the king sent ’em the
best
spy they had, I’m talkin’ ’bout a Babylonian
ninja
, ya’ feel me?

“So this dude sneaks on over to the walls of Ramm, peeks about. Then he goes in, peeks about some more, listens in on conversations, probably joins in a few. Gets all up in there, still sneaky and shadow-like, gone three days. Sneaks back out, gets to the commander, white as a sheet, shakin’ in his boots, can’t talk. They beg him to report, he can’t do it, just can’t talk. This is a trained dude mind you, best of the best, seen more shit than most of us see in a hundred lifetimes, still can’t describe what he saw in there. Too scared, too shook up.

“They finally calm him down, and this ninja starts talkin’, and yeah it’s clear he done his job at least, because he saw it all. Basically what’d happened was, first month, the Ramm people ate all the grains and anything else they had left over. Second month ate most of the goats, kept some of ’em for milk. Third month, pets start goin’ missin’. Anything with four legs, it’s gone. Fourth month, shit starts to really go down. People start dyin’, right, and they put ’em in a warehouse at first. Then people start dyin’ some more, and those bodies disappear before they go to the warehouse, if you know what I’m sayin’.”

Legion took another swig of wine, and then cocked his head after he took it down.

“I know what ya’ thinkin,’” he said. “Why didn’t those guys just surrender? Take they chances with Nebuchadnezzar? Well, that’s where it gets interesting, see, ’cause the ninja tells his commanders that most all of ’em were tryin’ to do
just
that
by the fifth month, and when those at the top caught ’em sneakin’ over the walls, shit really went down.

“See, the Ramm males started a little hierarchy in there, tough guys who knew they’d be killed by Nebuchadnezzar at the top, everyone else layered beneath. What little resources remained went to the top, and if you fucked with the hierarchy, you got fucked with back. Not just pushed down like in normal times, but
fucked with
, to send a message. First a public ass-whooping, then as the months went on, maybe a limb chopped off. Then another month and a limb chopped off and eaten in front of you, and then … it got bad. Don’t matter who you were, if you was lower on the totem pole and you weren’t in line, someone above was gunnin’ for you, maybe if nothin’ else just to show everyone else who’s boss.

“The worst transgression was tryin’ to escape, and if you got caught … whoo-eey, make our boy Scox look like a saint. They chop your parts off, rape you, torture you, eat you, and not in that order. They probably do the same to your family and make you watch, just because they could.

“And that’s what disturbed this ninja to his core, that he saw this city of men torn in half, crawlin’ around, dismembered women tied to stocks and flailin’ about, and butcher shops filled with bodies still wrigglin’ on they hooks. I mean, Nebuchadnezzar did some shit, but he didn’t come close to what the city of Ramm did to theyselves. I mean most
everyone
got it, and they couldn’t have
all
tried to escape, right? Ramm started eating itself, and by the time the ninja came in there was a handful of rulers on top, and the rest tortured just because.