Chase Hatter's Origin of Pangaea

Chapter Eleven

Cole sat in the driver's seat of the parked Jeep with his feet hanging out of the open door. He had been assigned to watch Axel and Carl while Jack searched for food in areas recommended by the Cincinnati Barrier Captain. Instead of lying low, Axel insisted that they listen to his music over the Jeep's stereo to keep them entertained. Cole complied reluctantly.

Cole was not bothered by the music. Axel had a habit back at their camp in Maine of playing his music over the intercom. He did it so often that Cole sometimes didn't even realize it was on. It had become a white noise in his every day life. Axel's music was dated back by some time. It always had been. He was a big fan of Jazz, Blues and Show tunes, styles of music that had faded out in popularity and availability as time went on. However, Axel's repeated soundtrack had normalized the music for Cole.

In the middle of a song that Axel and Carl were ballroom dancing to, Axel's radio cracked on with Waylon Brose on the other end. Cole turned off the car stereo.

"Hellooo!" Waylon said. Cole thought he was trying to sound friendly, but it accidentally came off as being condescending. "I need an update. Where are you guys?"

Axel stopped dancing with Carl and walked over to the Jeep. He picked up the radio. "Cincinnati, Ohio." Axel told him. "Pit stop."

"Got it."

The radio cut off.

"Axel." Cole called out.

"Yes?"

"I'm requesting permission to ask a question." Axel cocked a brow and looked around, no doubt searching for Jack.

"I'm sorry." Axel said. "I can't tell you what to do. You're not my soldier, Cole."

"So if I ask a question, you can't punish me or anything?"

"In theory, I cannot." Axel said.

"The question might be better for you anyway." Cole explained. "What makes Pangaea so special? Why's it different from everywhere else?"

"That's an excellent question." Axel told Cole. "But it's a question for Jack."

"Don't you know the answer?"

"Yes, of course." Axel said. "But I've been sworn to secrecy. It's a good discipline to have with a mission like ours. It makes it easier to solve problems. You spend so much time with Jack, I wonder why this hasn't come up already."

"He's not big on conversation." Cole sighed. "He just points and I kill. We don't know a lot about each other aside from that. I don't even know where he's from. Do you?"

"Sworn to secrecy." Axel reminded him. Suddenly, Jack appeared from behind a broken building with a small duffle bag full of cans of food and fruit from his scavenging. "Happy hunting?" Axel asked Jack.

"It's the best we'll get." Jack reported. "We should set up camp for the night. By the way, I could hear your music from a block away. Knock it off or I'll break the tape."

"That's so harsh of you, Jack." Axel whined sarcastically. Jack wasn't entertained.

"We're close to ending all of this. I thought you of all people would be able to concentrate."

"It's the journey, Jack," Axel began, "not the destination that makes something worthwhile."

"This isn't a roadtrip, Axel. The destination matters much more than the journey. You know that better than anyone."

In the midst of the disagreement, Cole heard the glove compartment being opened behind him. Cole jumped out of the Jeep and drew and aimed his weapon at two men in white lab coats who had silently opened the passenger's side door.

"What do you want me to do?" Cole asked Jack.

"Nothing." Jack demanded as he stepped towards the Jeep. Cole lowered and holstered his weapon. He stated harder at the two men rummaging through their Jeep. He noticed that they looked exactly alike. Indistinguishable actually. Were they twins?

"Hi," Jack said, "I'm Jack. These three are Axel, Carl, and Cole. What about you two? What are your names?"

The twins stopped tearing through the Jeep and gave Jack their full attention. "I'm Elijah Grant," one man said, "and this is my brother Ethan Grant. We're twins!"

"I got that much." Jack said. "May I ask what you're doing in our Jeep?"

"My apologies. We would have asked, but you seemed busy and we didn't want to talk to you anyway. So this seemed like the better option for everyone." Elijah explained. "We have no intentions on taking anything necessary to your survival. We're just looking for a map."

"We heard from a friend-" Ethan began.

"Who heard from a friend-" Elijah said.

"Who heard from a friend," Ethan continued, "that we were missing out on an entire realm of knowledge if we didn't dip our feet into some circuitry. We've dreamed up an entire line of biomechanical tools and prosthetics that would revolutionize the world as we know it. We decided that we could get a head start at the library while we wait for this small apocalypse to blow over."

"I can help!" Carl cried. "I'm an Electrical Engineer and I'd love to help you design and build these machines you've dreamed up. If you'd have me."

"We're always looking to expand Grant & Grant Industries!" Elijah told Carl. "From janitors to scientists. We're a small company with only two employees at the moment, but that just means you can get in on the ground floor."

"Yeah, literally the ground floor." Cole pointed out. The soldier had caught the attention of the twins.

"Would you like to join as well, sir?" Ethan asked. "As my brother said, we're hiring for janitors as well."

"Son of a bitch." Cole scoffed.

Jack reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded up map. He handed it to Carl.

"Find a library close by." Jack told him. "We'll go there and look for their books. When you find the library you want, tell Axel. Axel, radio the Cincinnati Barrier Captain and tell him to meet us at the library Carl chooses so he can take Ethan and Elijah back to the barrier."

"We really do appreciate this." Ethan said. "If any of you even find yourselves in need of employment, please reach out. Grant & Grant Industries is always looking for new talent."

"Here!" Carl announced. He pointed to a location on the map. "There's a library just a few short miles to the West and it'll keep us on track with our main goal. I really do appreciate you making time for this detour, Mr. Richards. You will quickly find out that this small investment in your society's technology will go a long way. I promise."