Chapter Twelve
Tiffany was once again being held hostage in front of Gabriel. Cain was smiling in acceptance of his masterful creations. Gabriel pulled his trembling hand away from Tiffany's and looked away from them. A breeze chilled the sweats of withdraw and disgust running down Gabriel's back. Closing his eyes as to let the wind wash away the suffering and rage.
Cain's voice interrupted the calming breeze “You know they said the holy spirit is like a wind, rushing over your body. But what would I know, I never drowned my children. I may have killed my brother, and dwell within the worlds pain. But I never created it, I simply wander it.”
“What is it with you and Apollyon speaking in parables. Can't you just fucking speak what you mean?” Gabriel said opening his eye's.
“Ha! well let me break it down to you, would a loving father or god drowned his children. Would he pillage and kill, because that is what he did. You might think what I have done is sooo horrible, but you know nothing of what I have seen.” Cain stopped for a moment.
“GOD..Created this nightmare that we all live in. There was a time I yearned for his love until I saw the tangle of webs he spews. Apollyon could not even devise such sickening threads.” Cain said as he let go of Tiffany almost pushing her into Gabriel.
“Gabriel I am sorry for what I did, you....You believe me right?” Tiffany choked out the words while trying to hold Gabriel's gaze.
“Yes I do, you know as I watched your life unfold I just wished someone with a heart would have saved you. But here you are the socially architected monstrosity wandering the graveyard with a madman.” Gabriel said turning from Tiffany's innocently tortured gaze.
“Ohh you have not even seen the beginning of the outcast wanderers of gods dysfunctional Eden. There are many of us stuck here watching our numbers grow. I am the first of many, Tiffany could be one of the last you know. Just follow the footprints of OUR rage and join us in the battle against heaven and HELL!” Cain shouted as the calming breeze turned into a swirling inferno of leaves and graveyard debris.
“Don't you get it, I CAN'T make that decision. There is good amongst this world, it's to bad you guys never saw it.” Gabriel said as he walked past Tiffany and Cain. The wind pushed against his back as to lead him away from them.
“What must I show you more?!”
“How about the nameless one's of god's holy word!” Cain shouted from behind Gabriel. Gabriel could see the gates to the graveyard and his truck beckoning him. His pace picked up to almost a run as he tried to escape the madman. Just as Gabriel made it to the gate a horrific beast came running full speed from behind a tree. Blood covered it, and a puzzled heap of sown together flesh charged Gabriel. It had no clothes and appeared to be a ghoulish being of a female sex. It let out a squealing cry as it charged head first. Gabriel froze in fright as he prepared for the impact from the charge.
“MEET THE CONCUBINE OF BETHLEHEM!” Cain shouted as the puzzled together mass of flesh collided with Gabriel taking him off his feet. It was followed by the all to familiar jolt of darkness. Gabriel found himself along a mountainside above a desert village. Sand was blowing around the side of the mountain as the figure of a man in robes struggled to walk down the side of the mountain to the town.
Behind the man was another who held the reins of two asses. On the asses backs were packs and rolled up bedding. The man leading the asses struggled to keep up with the man in front of him. Gabriel covered his eye's to keep the sand from blowing into them as he followed the two asses and men. The sand created what felt like a hot bed of coals around Gabriel's feet. He looked for outcroppings of rocks to place his feet on.
Angrily kicking at the sand around his feet, Gabriel fell behind the men. Modern fashion trends stood no chance to the sand storms in the middle eastern desert. Grit from the sand blew into his mouth with each breath he took. Falling to the ground Gabriel coward under his shirt to find protection from the sand.
The only pleasure he was deprived from in the desert sand was thirst. Spitting out sand under the comfort of his T-shirt fort he shouted “GET ME OUT OF HERE!” The exposure was becoming far to much for him to take. Clinching his eye's shut he fell over onto his side. The sand burned against his flesh as the wind blew his shirt up around his head.
A vicious force pulled at Gabriel and tore him from his T-shirt fort. Opening his mouth to yell sand flew in. He quickly closed his mouth now full of sand and clinched his lips shut. The force drug him on his back across the burning sand and sharp rocks. His legs were dangling in the air as the hot sand paper and razor rocks tore into his back.
Gabriel couldn’t scream, cry, open his eyes, or even breath. He was being tormented by what only he could assume was the torture of hell. He prayed that with each rock his head bounced off that it would knock him out. The sand clawed into the open wounds on his back. For a moment he had just the agony of hot sand, then a rock would shred first into his buttock and then up his spine to his shoulder blade.
It was only moments but it felt like days descending from that mountain. The temptations Jesus faced from Apollyon on a mountain top seemed as though a paid trip to a Vegas whore house compared to the pain Gabriel was enduring. His tailbone crushed into a sandstone wall. The pain and force sent the sand in Gabriel's mouth shooting out in gritty agony. The dragging force was over as he rolled on his side to ease the pain from his back. Opening his eye's he could see the feet of the two asses going past him through a gate.
As quickly as the pain started it was over and his body return to the numb capsule of withdraw. Scrambling to his feet to get out of the hot sand, he gasped for air. For a moment he leaned up against the sandstone wall catching his breath. Old thoughts of swimming to the deepest depths or flying endlessly in space ceased.
It was now clear that although no air would not kill him, it would endlessly agonize him. Reaching down to his legs he tried to brush the sand off but it didn't matter. Although the wind was not as strong it still sprayed the skies with sand. His only hope was to follow the men and find some shelter. He ran through the gate to catch up to the men who were tying up the asses and removing the bedding and goods.
A poorly sealed door burst open and a woman stood opening it and welcoming the men. Gabriel rushed in as it slammed shut behind him. Wind and sand blew in through the seals in the door. Turning a corner Gabriel headed into the living area that was welcoming him without blowing hot sand. Collapsing to the floor he leaned up against a wall and watched as the woman removed the robes from the man who was in the lead.
The other man laid down the gear and bowed to the man and woman. Then he got up and walked out the door and back into the sandstorm. Jolting from the aftershock of the thought of the sandstorm Gabriel got to his feet and walked over and fell down into a corner farther away from the doorway. The woman began to help disrobe the man from his sandstorm armor. He was standing completely nude in front of Gabriel as he clenched his eye's shut once again.
After a few moments Gabriel was relieved that he was not suppose to follow the other man back into the sandy hell. Although it had not even been a day in Gabriel's life, it felt like he had been up for days. From following Tiffany through her horrifying past, to now following a ancient desert stranger. He knew what would come next could not be good.
His eyes were to heavy to open as he heard the sounds of the stranger and his concubine having sex. The sounds was not that of lovers but of a spoiled man and his whore. The sounds faded into darkness as Gabriel fell into a deep, sandy sleep. For a moment he was again free of sin, and in the dream land of his loving wife, and happy little town. It was far from the reality, but what good are dreams if they are not real.
“Harlot! I will show you a harlot, you wrench of a man!” The sandy towns concubine screamed waking Gabriel from his blissful slumber.
“You are a harlot, why won't you pledge yourself to me... Harlot!” The man yelled. Gabriel opened his eye's and could see the tan woman hastily putting on her robes. Here long
dark hair ran all the way down her body and tried to curtain her black nipples. With one motion she had her robe on and covered her face. The man looked at her with pleading eye's, hoping she would stop and go back to the bedding. The concubine locked eye's with the man through her veil and gave a deafening glare.
“Don't beckon me again you ass!” She yelled as she ran out the door.
“HARLOT!” The man yelled. He let out a quick sigh and laid back down in his bedding. Closing his eye's again Gabriel smiled at the fact that he was not the only one with woman problems. It was all to clear that the man had more than lust full feelings for his whore. Even in ancient time's mans hearts followed women with many admirers.
Gabriel had many run in's with Axal's harlot's. But some how he remained immune to letting them lay in his bed. Maybe this man sleeping near him was a long forgotten ancestor and the sands of time shaped his bloodline into a psychotically moral human being. Or maybe Gabriel was a freak of nature and evolution stood no chance to mans will to procreate with earth's harlots.
No matter the case, it was clear to Gabriel that this mans heart was destine to disaster. His concubine was poison, and he loved how she intoxicated him. Rustling with anger in his bedding he was instantly withdrawing from her infectious cancer that plagued the hearts of fools. They say man is the top of the food chain, and if that is the case then his harlot is a goddess disillusioning him from all self preservation.
Falling back into slumber Gabriel's mind rested for what seemed mere moments. Then the dark licenses of his eyelid’s filled with light and the heat of a desert inferno. The hot sand once again stung his back and arms. Rolling off his back his eye's burst open to the white desert sand. He was no longer in the safety of the desert village. Next to him was the tracks of a man and his asses.
Getting to his feet he hoped to see a vast ocean and private beach where he could run out to the seas refreshing arms. To his dismay before him was desert from ridge to ridge. The only tracks where the two, well three asses following after the masters of their hearts. No specie on earth was dumb enough to venture into the sandy grave of Hades.
“ARGHHH!” Gabriel kicked sand into the air as he ran to catch up to the blind fool. With each stride gave relief from the hot sand, only to be burned and burned again. Gabriel knew if he did not keep close to the man on his own, then he would be dragged along by hells tormenter. The man almost glided over the desert sand, with little effort.
If he had been one of Gabriel's ancestors then wandering through a desert after poisonous love was a instinctual trait that Gabriel clearly missed. Gabriel's normal stride was not enough and he had to run and crawl through the sand to keep pace. After swimming for sand for what felt like days a small desert sanctuary came into view. It was just a small sandstone shack somehow place perfectly in the middle of the desert Hades. To Gabriel it looked like a island resort to find comfort from the sea's of hell.
As they approached an old man stood in front of the sandstone shack to welcome the man. Time and hells exposure shaped the old man into a imperfect desert nomad. The old man smiled with few teeth and opened his arms to greet the intoxicated lover of harlots. He dropped the reins of the asses and embraced the old man with a huge smile and hug.
“Come!” The old man said in a raspy voice.
No more words were said as the man tied up his asses and followed the old man into his house smiling. Gabriel followed closely behind eager to escape the desert heat.
“Is she here?!” The man pleaded as they sat down on silk pillow’s to rest.
“Yes, yes she came home!” The old man said with a smile.
“Oh thank the heavens, I thought I braved the sands of Satan to have lost her.” The man said as his whole demeanor changed. Smiling like a drug fiend about to score his big hit. He was in the same place as his lost poison and that moment was more blissful than his calling demise.
“Father?” The woman said gracefully walking into the room. She paused a moment as she saw her admirer. She struggled not to get angry and covered her face with the veil and sat down on a pillow next to her father. The veil was the curtain disillusioning her fathers vision of his daughters virginity. If he only knew of the secrets hiding behind the dark veil.
“Please stay, eat and drink with us!” The old man said eager to keep his guest there. It was clear the old man had few, if any visitors and wanted to imprint his tales in his daughter suitor. Gabriel was jolted into darkness and found himself laying next to the asses tied up outside. Getting up to his feet he saw the mans servant had caught up with him and he held the reins of the asses. The man and his concubine walked out of the house hand in hand.
“Please!” The old man pleaded from behind them.
“It is almost dark. The day is almost gone. So stay the night here and enjoy yourself. Tomorrow morning you can get up early and go on your way.” The old man said hoping to convince them to stay another night.
“We are very grateful, but really we must be going.” The man said opening his arms to embrace the old man in a farewell hug.
“Please...Be well!” The old man said as he let go of his hug and turned away from his daughter and suitor. Gabriel watched as the old man turned around one last time to watch his daughter walk away. His face went from cheerful to loneliness. All that he had left, was now gone and the light in his eye's faded. His soul purpose in life was complete, now all he had left was to face the hands of death. Gabriel felt sorry for the old man but had no time to waste as he ran to catch up to the desert travelers. Another venture through the desert seemed all too dreadful.
Once Gabriel caught up to them he grabbed a hold of the pack on the asses back. He ran along the side of the ass struggling to pull himself up onto it. “ARRRGH!” Gabriel groaned as he finally pulled his tired body up onto the ass. Although the man had days to rest from the desert, Gabriel just left it only moments ago and was not about to crawl through it again.
He laid his head down on the base of the asses neck, and closed his eye's to avoid the glare of the sun. As the ass plotted through the desert, Gabriel's exposed skin would burn, heal, then burn again. It was a almost endless cycle. He thought that from now on he needed a backpack with items to fight the elements of hell. Then there was a city that appeared to Gabriel as a mirage on the edge of the desert.
“Let’s stop at this Jebusite city. Let’s stay the night here.” The servant man said to his master in exhaustion.
“No, we will not go inside a strange city. Those people are not Israelites. We will go to the city of Gibeah.” The man's master said pulling his concubine in close. The servant stopped halting the asses for a moment.
“Come on. Let’s try to make it to Gibeah or Ramah. We can stay the night in one of those cities.” The mans master said, urging him to continue. Shaking his head in disbelief the servant followed his master. Gabriel closed his eye's and fell asleep as they traveled through the desert. The back of the ass was not a comfortable bed but it was better than walking or being drug.
His sleep was interrupted as the momentum of the ass made Gabriel fall off the side of it. Crashing into the hot sand was a unpleasant alarm. Quickly springing to his feet looked around and could see the sun going down over the desert.
“Gibeah!” The man shouted in glee. Gabriel turned his head and could see the city gates as wanderers headed in to avoid the monsters of the night. They walked through the gates and Gabriel looked at the villagers. They all had smug and unpleasant looks on their faces as they stood outside of their huts. It was clear where Axal's hospitality evolved from.
They walked into the city square and they sat down. The man held his concubine in his arms and looked around at the villagers who watched them and then turned and went inside their homes. Night was approaching and it was clear that they would sleep under the stars in the town square. Just before the sun fell behind the walls a old man walked into the city square.
“Where are you going? Where did you come from?” The old mans asked.
“We have come from Bethlehem in Judah, where I went for a visit. Now I am on my way home, which is a long way into the hill country of Ephraim. I expected that someone here would invite us in for the night, but no one has. We already have straw and food for our donkeys. There is also bread and wine for me, the young woman, and my servant. We don’t need anything but a place to sleep.” The man said.
“You are welcome to stay at my house. I will give you anything you need, but don’t stay the night in the public square.” The old man said with a look of dread on his face. Then the old man lead them to his house. The old man fed their donkey's as they washed their feet outside of his home. Gabriel followed them inside the hut.
All seemed well but Gabriel had a very uneasy feeling about the village they were in. He could not figure it out, but there was a very evil presence all around. They sat down and had dinner and poured wine. They seemed to be having a good evening although the old man seemed apprehensive to have the strangers in his home.
“BANG, BANG, BANG” Gabriel could hear someone pounding on the door. He could hear the voices of many men shouting.
“Bring out the man who came to your house. We want to have sex with him!” A man said as the villagers behind him cheered.
“THE FUCK?!” Gabriel said with a confused look on his face. He knew something was odd about the villagers, but he did not expect that they enjoyed community gang bangs with the tourists. The old man got up and took the hand of a young woman living in his house and headed out the door. The woman was very petite and her face was hidden with a veil.
“My friends, don’t do such an evil thing! This man is a guest in my house. Don’t commit this terrible sin.” The man said. Gabriel headed out the door and could see the growing crowd outside. Stragglers headed from their homes over to the rally. The old man pulled the young woman’s arm and pushed her infront of him.
“Look, here is my daughter. She has never had sex before.” The old man said offering up his daughter to the towns festive. Gabriel could not believe how the night had turned into a village of insanity. Axal looked like who ville compared to this sick community. He could not help but wounder if they were standing in the ancient Vatican city because that was the only explanation.
“This man also has a slave woman. You can use them any way you want, but don’t do such a terrible sin against this man.” The old man said. The crowed would not listen and they were growing angry.
“We want the man!” One said.
“Yeah! The man!” Another shouted. The crowd was turning into a frenzy. The man held his concubine out in front of him as he walked out from the hut. The old man grabbed the hand of his daughter and led her back into the house, past the man and his concubine. The man pulled the robes off from the woman he marched through the desert for. Her beauty made the crowd stop and look in awe.
Gabriel saw the familiar long dark hair covering her breasts. She trembled in terror as the man who she thought loved her pushed her out into the crowed and coward back inside the hut slamming the door behind him. The villagers picked the woman up in the air and they all pulled and tugged on her like a pack of zombies. They carried her off to the town square and tied her up like a farm animal.
“PLEASE GOD SAVE ME!” The woman pleaded into the night sky. Tears ran down her face as the mob lined up behind the woman. First they laughed and pointed at her as she pleaded.
“PLEASE!” she shouted again. A man came up from behind her and spread her legs out. The mob cheered him as he pointed to her exposed butt and smiled. He went around in front of her and slapped her in the face. Each time he slapped her the mob shouted. Gabriel had seen horrific things, but nothing as inhumane as a community rape. He turned away and looked at the hut that they had just enjoyed the comforts of.
He imagined what that coward inside was doing. Trembling in fear for his own life most likely. He went through all the trouble to take her from her fathers home and now he abandoned her at the first sign of trouble. He did not even try to stop what was happening because he knew it would be him instead.
Gabriel went around the side of a hut to shield himself from the inhumane act that was taking place. The whole night he covered his ears but could hear the woman's cries. Each new town folk had his own sick desires with the woman, some beat her, spit on her, fondled her with objects, and repeatedly raped her.
“Where are you god!?” Gabriel shouted.
“Bring this place down like Sodom and Gomorrah. Turn the foul monsters to salt and ash! Send them back to hell where they crawled out from!”
Gabriel looked up and saw a somewhat younger version of Apollyon looking on and smiling. His teeth glowed in the moonlight as that of a madman drunk on destruction. His noble attire was less adorn but still far to glamorous for its time. As another man stepped up to rape the woman Apollyon clapped his hands and cheered.
“YES! Sin upon the concubine of Bethlehems flesh!” Apollyon said as he spun and danced around in drunken bliss. Then for a moment his eye's locked onto Gabriel's and he tilted his head and smiled. Gabriel gazed at him in pure disgust.
“What you disagree with your ancestors?” Apollyon said smiling as he disappeared into the shadows of the night. The light of day glowed into the village lighting up the roofs of the huts. The last cry from the woman echoed into the desert. There was just one man left who finished his desires with her. He untied the woman and pushed her down on the ground and walked off laughing.
Gabriel walked over to the bloody, defiled, beaten, and raped woman. His face turned red but he sucked back his tears. He had shed to many tears for the worlds injustice and it was as though he had none left to give. The woman crawled her way over to the hut where her lust filled suitor was hiding from the nights screams.
She clawed and pulled herself up to the door leaving a trail of blood in the sand. How she survived such unspeakable violations was a sin against mankind. She did not even get the blessings of death, and had to endure a whole town of demons. Her head fell just before the door and she remained still. The sun raised into the sky as the villagers continued to sleep due to their sickening nightlife.
The man cracked open the door to insure no one was waiting. Then he looked down at his once intoxicating obsession. She laid lifeless at his feet hopefully in deaths grasps. The man did not cry, or come to the aid of the woman. He just broke the silence with immorality and said.
“Get up let’s go!” He gently kicked the woman and she did not move. His emotionless face looked down at her. Reaching down he grabbed her arms and drug her over to one of the donkeys. Struggling he pulled her violated body up onto the donkey. Her legs hung down from one side and arms over the other. Gabriel followed the man as he headed outside of the village gates.
After walking to the outskirts of town he came to a stop and pulled the woman's body down onto the ground. Her body sprawled out before the desert sun. The man turned from her and started going through the packs on the donkey. Looking down at the woman Gabriel saw her reach her hand up at the man and then it fell into the sand.
The man did not even notice that she was still alive. Although she needed the medical attention of a modern trauma unit. The man pulled a curved scimitar from one of the packs. Anger came across his face as it reflected into the blade. He swung around and with one quick swing he severed the woman's arm off. Blood shot across the man and the white sand.
Gabriel turned away as he could hear the blade cut through the air and then into the woman's flesh. After at least 10 minutes he could no longer her the blade cutting through the flesh of the woman. He did not want to turn around to see what became of the concubine of Bethlehem. She was cut into 12 pieces of mangled flesh.
The man stacked her body parts onto the donkey. Blood covered him and the sand at his feet. Even the donkey could not look at what was taking place. He grabbed the reins of the donkey and pulled him past Gabriel and towards the town. Reluctantly Gabriel followed him, ass blood still dripped from the mangled body parts
onto the desert sand. Once at the city gate the man removed the woman's head from the donkey and placed it on the ground. Gabriel had to follow the man as he laid the twelve parts of the woman's body around the town.
Once the man was done he headed to the town square and collapsed in exhaustion. The donkey covered in blood ate from straw that was on the ground of the town square. Gabriel sat down away from the bloody mess and watched the lunatic sit emotionless. If he loved the woman, it was the most asinine way of showing it.
The villager's slowly awoke from their slumber and as they headed out to do the days work they found the body parts spread throughout the village. Eventually they all made their way to the town square to gaze at the village bloody joker. The town of villainy looked on at the man in disgust. Even to abusers, molesters, and rapists the man before them was vile. The village leader who the night before exposed and beat the woman stood before the mob.
“Nothing like this has ever happened in Israel before. We haven’t seen anything like this from the time we came out of Egypt. Discuss this and tell us what to do.” the village leader said just as Gabriel was jolted into darkness.
Apollyon's Saint The Collection: Books One through Ten Page 12