Tribulation: An Apocalyptic End-Times Thriller (Kingdom of Darkness Book 1)

by Mark Goodwin

  “Nothing that I know of. All the bridges into Manhattan from Queens and Brooklyn are gone.”

  “Okay,” Emilio sighed. “We’ll do our best to meet up with you.”

  “Good luck,” said Jessica. “If you have to, sit tight until they call off the search. Then, make your way home on your own.”

  “That’s not an option. If we can even make it to the secondary rendezvous point, we’ll be running on fumes. We have no fuel, no food, and like I said, Billy needs help.”

  “Be safe,” she said.

  “10-4.” Emilio released the talk key and looked at the dim lights hovering over Brooklyn up ahead. He switched to his own team’s channel. “Roy, the parking garage was attacked by Global Order choppers. They took out a bunch of our people. The survivors are already through the tunnel. We’re driving into a mess.” He continued to lay out the new plan.

  “They’ve got helos all over the place up there,” said Roy. “We’ll never make it.”

  “We have to try,” said Emilio. “Otherwise, we’ll be stuck in this wasteland.”

  Mackenzie turned to look through the window and pressed the talk key of her radio. “Stuck is better than dead.”

  Roy continued driving toward Brooklyn. The legion of helicopters above grew in numbers.

  “No way,” said Mackenzie. “Those two choppers are hanging out right over the entrance to the tunnel. We have to find another exit.”

  “Who has the map?” Emilio asked.

  “It’s here.” Michelle had been quiet since hitting her head, but she seemed to be coming around. Emilio watched her through the window as she unfolded the local area map.

  She said, “The Brooklyn Bridge is out, the Manhattan Bridge is out.”

  “What’s the next tunnel?” Emilio asked.

  “Queens Midtown.”

  “Roy, take us north. Michelle, can you navigate?”

  “I can think clearly if that’s what you’re asking, but we don’t have a lot of street signs for reference points.”

  “Do the best you can.” Emilio wished he could dispel the sense of doom growing in the pit of his stomach. They were cut off from the rest of the group. This detour could mean they wouldn’t make it to the reservoir in time to meet up with the others.

  Then, the situation got worse. Emilio called over the radio. “Roy, you have to punch it! We’ve got a peacekeeper patrol tailing us!”

  Emilio had to hold on to the side of the truck bed to keep from losing his balance as Roy accelerated.

  “They’re still back there?” Roy asked.

  “Yeah, but now there’s two of them.” Emilio looked at the helicopters to the south. “They’ll call for air support. We’ll never outrun a helicopter once they get a searchlight on us. We have to ditch the truck and try to evade them on foot.”

  “That’s not possible,” said Mackenzie. “Not with Billy’s leg.”

  Billy’s voice came over the radio. “Forget about me. I’ll stay behind with a rifle. I’ll hold them off while you guys make a run for it.”

  Emilio contemplated the offer. He knew it was the only possible way the rest had a chance of escaping. Even so, he could not agree to it. Emilio turned to look in the direction the Dodge was traveling. “No. Michelle, which direction is the closet interstate?”

  “We’ll run right into it if we keep left on Marcy up here, where it splits off into Union.”

  “Good. Roy, run the truck right up to the interstate. In all likelihood, you’ll hit a collapsed overpass. Mackenzie and I will engage in a firefight long enough for you and Michelle to help Billy through the rubble. Once you’ve had a chance to put some distance between yourselves and the peacekeepers, Mackenzie and I will catch up. At least if we have to be on foot, this levels the playing field. If they want to give chase, they’ll have to be on foot, also.”

  “Until the helicopters arrive,” said Mackenzie.

  Emilio looked to see that one was already coming in their direction. “Yeah, well, we’ll just have to be tucked under a standing viaduct before that happens.”

  “There’s the collapsed overpass!” said Roy.

  Emilio raised his rifle and began shooting at the two patrol SUVs behind them. He braced himself and changed magazines when Roy slammed the brakes. Emilio resumed firing. Once the vehicle had stopped, Mackenzie also exited the vehicle to assist.

  Emilio rattled through the second magazine then glanced to see that Roy and Michelle had gotten Billy over the mountain of crumbled concrete. He changed magazines. “Okay, Mackenzie, let’s start working our way in their direction. I’ll cover, and you fall back.”

  “Got it!” she replied.

  Emilio tried to conserve ammo. He only fired when he saw the head of a peacekeeper pop up to look in their direction.

  “Set!” yelled Mackenzie. She let out a volley of shots while Emilio climbed the precarious pile of rubble.

  “Here comes the chopper. Come on! Let’s go!” Emilio grabbed her arm and tugged her to follow him.

  The peacekeepers rushed to the top of the ruined roadway and fired their weapons. Emilio occasionally paused to let off a couple of rounds at his pursuers but focused more on getting out of the area.

  “There’s the others!” Mackenzie called.

  Emilio hurried to catch up. “We’ll all cut down this sidewalk for two blocks. Then you guys take Billy north one block and continue west. We’ll lead them away from you and circle back around. Stick to the shadows so the helicopter doesn’t spot you.”

  Roy nodded that he understood. Considering Billy’s injury, they moved rather quickly. In the darkness, it would be difficult for the peacekeepers to move much faster. Emilio and Mackenzie stopped at the corner of an old brick building which was still partially standing.

  Emilio raised his M-4. “We’ll hold them off. You guys keep moving.” Roy led the other group north on Roebling.

  “Here they come!” Mackenzie held her rifle ready to fire.

  “Wait until they’re closer. They don’t see us.” Emilio took aim at the peacekeeper closest to him, developing a plan for his secondary and tertiary targets.

  “On my mark,” he whispered. The peacekeepers came closer. “Fire!”

  Both unleashed a barrage of automatic gunfire, cutting down four of the enemy combatants and sending four others scrambling for cover. “Come on! Let’s go!” Emilio led the charge down 9th Street. Mackenzie kept pace.

  She took the time to voice the odd notion Emilio had already felt. “This area seems oddly unaffected. Most of the buildings are still standing.”

  Emilio wondered at the strange phenomenon but focused on his breathing to keep running. He heard the blades of the helicopter overhead. “Keep to the shadows! Stay close to the buildings!”

  The two sprinted along the sidewalk. He felt his lungs burning. “We’ve lost the peacekeepers. Let’s cut over to try to catch up with Roy.”

  “Okay,” Mackenzie agreed.

  When they arrived at the corner of 8th Street and Berry, Mackenzie paused to look right. “There they are!”

  Emilio hustled to get to Roy while still looking toward the sky. Not hearing anything, he dropped his gaze to see a worried look on Michelle’s face. “What’s wrong?”

  CHAPTER 23

  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

  Romans 11:25-27

  “Drop your weapons!” said an authoritative voice from behind Emilio.

  He knew he had no choice. He placed his rifle on the ground and signaled for Mackenzie to do the same. He turned to face his captor. To his surprise, it was two civilian men holding AK-47s. One younger, in his early thirties, and the other older, six
ties perhaps. Both wore black pants, white shirts, and black hats with long curls coming down from their sideburns despite having otherwise-short hair. The older man wore a long beard.

  “Who are you?” asked the older man. “If you are peacekeepers, why are you running from the Global Order helicopters?”

  Emilio had completely forgotten that he was still wearing the uniform. He glanced down. “We’re not with the empire. We needed these for our mission.”

  “Which was what?” asked the younger of the men.

  Emilio saw no possibility of making his situation worse by telling the truth. “We were part of an organized action against New Babylon. We destroyed construction and supply infrastructure. Other elements of our group attacked security personnel and blew up warehouses.”

  Michelle stood with one hand in the air while the other supported Billy. “Do you have somewhere else we can talk about this? The helicopters are going to spot all of us!”

  The older man nodded to the younger. “Get their guns. Take them inside.”

  The young man performed a quick pat-down and collected weapons. “Come on. Down the stairs.”

  He nudged Emilio toward a basement entrance off the sidewalk and below and old, five-story, white brick apartment building.

  “Hurry!” the older man pointed his AK-47 at the others as he corralled them through the black iron gate and down the stairs. Both of the men had headlamps, which they turned on after coming indoors.

  The older man said, “You better not be lying to us.”

  The younger added, “If you are, you won’t have to worry about the peacekeepers. We’ll kill you. Now move! Faster!”

  Emilio walked quickly as the two men prodded them to hurry. The old man took a key from his pocket. He opened a big metal filing cabinet at the end of a hallway. Inside it was empty. It didn’t even have shelves. The younger man banged on the metal backing.

  The sound of helicopter rotor blades got louder. The helicopter’s searchlight illuminated the hallway through the glass entrance door.

  “Come on! Come on!” The younger man stared impatiently at the metal furnishing. A loud creaking sound was heard behind the steel back of the cabinet. Next, the rear panel slid to the side revealing a thin young woman with dark hair.

  The young man furrowed his brow. “Goldie! What are you doing here? You should have let one of the men come!”

  She lowered her gaze. “I was the first one to hear you knocking at the door.”

  “Okay, okay, step back. We’re bringing in some gentiles.” He signaled for Emilio’s group to enter through the false wall. Once they were all inside, the younger man closed up the cabinet and replaced the metal backing. He then pulled a heavy blast door and closed the locking mechanism.

  “What is this place?” asked Mackenzie.

  The older man answered, “My father had it put in during the cold war. He survived the death camps in Germany, so he figured if he was going to have the expense of putting in an underground bomb shelter, he might as well make it a secret one. The Holocaust wasn’t the first time our people have been persecuted. No reason to think it would be the last.”

  Michelle asked, “Do you have a doctor?”

  The old man looked at the bandage on Billy’s leg. “We have. Come.” He led them to a large common area where ten other people stood staring at Emilio’s group.

  The old man said to the younger, “Ansel, get Lieber; tell him to bring his bag. And get the rabbi.”

  Emilio stood still, welcoming the uncomfortable stares. The awkwardness of this situation was far more preferable to the alternative. The old man gave orders to the men and women standing around. “Bring some chairs for the people. And someone fetch a cot for the injured man. He’ll have to lie down for Lieber to examine him.”

  The man with the beard asked Emilio, “Does your group want some water?”

  Emilio nodded. “Yes, please.”

  The older man signaled for the young woman named Goldie to bring water. Then came another man. He had a similar long beard, black hat, and curls at his sideburns. The first introduced him. “This is Rabbi Edelman. I’m Moishe, by the way. Ansel is my son.”

  Emilio thought it could do no harm to introduce his team, so he did so. Afterward, he said, “Thank you for bringing us inside. Even if it was at the point of a gun.”

  “You wear the clothes of our enemy,” said the man.

  Emilio nodded, “I understand.”

  The rabbi looked over each of the members. Roy and Michelle helped Billy recline on the cot that had been brought for him. The doctor came and began cutting away the soiled bandage.

  The rabbi stared into Emilio’s eyes. “Are you the one?”

  “The one what?” Emilio was confused.

  “The one sent by HaShem.”

  “HaShem? I’m sorry, I don’t understand. But I wasn’t sent by anyone. We were being pursued by the Global Order after an attack on New Babylon. Moishe and Ansel found us.”

  “HaShem, it means the Name.”

  “Still, that doesn’t mean anything to me,” said Emilio.

  “It’s how they say God,” Michelle said. “My mom had a friend who was a Messianic Jew.”

  “It is you. You are the one. He sent you here.” The rabbi gazed into Emilio’s eyes as if peering into his soul.

  Emilio wondered if the old rabbi might be a little senile. “No, sir. Like I said, we were part of a militia group that attacked the New Babylon construction site.”

  “These are only the circumstances that HaShem used to bring you here. Don’t you see? You are the one. He told me in a dream that you would come. You are to explain the teachings of the Nazarite.”

  Emilio shook his head. “Sir, I’m not doubting your dream, but it was about someone else.”

  “Yeshua, do you not know Him?”

  “Yeshua is how they say Jesus.” Michelle sat on the concrete floor next to Billy while the doctor injected a fluid into the tissue surroundings his wound.

  Emilio felt confused. “Yeah, I know Him, but I’m not qualified to explain His teachings. Not to a rabbi anyway.”

  “But you must!” The rabbi took Emilio’s hand and guided him to a nearby chair to sit. “My people have long believed Him to be a charlatan. However, HaShem has told me that we were wrong—in the dream. HaShem has revealed to me that it is Yeshua who was sent as our Mashiach. We were misled into believing that Lucius Alexander was our deliverer, but we were deceived. He revealed himself as being a liar when he put an end to the sacrifice. Indeed, Alexander was prophesied of in the Hebrew Scriptures, but as being our enemy, not our savior.”

  Emilio felt a great weight of responsibility. “I can try. But understand, I only started studying the teachings of Jesus about six months ago, so I’m no scholar.”

  Mackenzie tapped Emilio on the back. “I’ve got this. They can have it when we leave. My dad has a whole box of them stashed in the cave.”

  Emilio turned and took the small New Testament from her hand. “This pretty much tells you everything you need to know.”

  “Come,” said the Rabbi. “You will be our guests. You will eat with us. And you must tell us about these Greek Scriptures. The doctor will care for your friend, and they will join us later.”

  The rabbi led them to a large gathering room where everyone sat at a larger table. Food was brought out for all.

  Emilio opened the small Bible to the Gospel of John. He read from the text, pausing periodically to expound upon the virgin birth, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The Jews ate and listened to Emilio.

  When he had finished the Gospel of John, he turned to Romans and continued. This went on throughout the night. After finishing Romans, Emilio asked if any of the Jews would like to commit their lives to the one they called Yeshua. All accepted the invitation. Roy and Michelle also repented of their unbelief and asked the Messiah to come into their hearts.

  Then, their hosts arranged a sleeping area for them. They were provided with cots, sle
eping bags, and clean clothes. That night, Emilio slept like he had never slept before in his life.

  ***

  The group awoke late the next day. They were in an underground bomb shelter, so one hour was indiscernible from the next. Even above ground, the blackened sky showed little difference between morning and evening.

  Emilio’s first task of the day was to check on Billy. “How’s the leg?”

  He nodded. “I’m going to be honest with you. It hurts.”

  Emilio patted him on the chest. “It has a bullet hole in it. It’s supposed to hurt.”

  Billy smiled. “But it’s nice to know it got cleaned out and stitched up. The doctor gave me some antibiotics, also—as a preventative measure.”

  Moishe came and knelt next to the cot. He offered coffee to Emilio and Billy. “Lieber said he will need a few weeks to recover.”

  “Thanks.” Emilio took the cup. “Once we get him home, he’ll have all the time in the world.”

  Moishe helped Billy sit up. “The streets of Williamsburg are filled with patrols right now.”

  “Where’s Williamsburg?” Mackenzie joined the conversation.

  “It’s here.”

  “I thought we were in Brooklyn,” Billy sipped from the piping hot beverage.

  “Yes, you are. Williamsburg is the neighborhood.” Moishe turned back to Emilio. “This was your last known location. They may not stop looking for many days. You really did a good job of kicking the hornets’ nest.”

  “We didn’t mean to cause you trouble.”

  Moishe shook his head. “Nonsense. They’ll never find us down here. My father made sure of that when he built this place. You’ll stay here with us until they call off the search. And until Billy’s leg has had a chance to heal.”

  “We don’t have provisions. We couldn’t possibly impose for so long.” Emilio felt humbled by the offer.

  “You can, and you will,” said Moishe. “I own…” The man sighed. “…past tense, owned—a delicatessen on the Lower East Side. My son and I began stocking up the bunker with food and provisions from the deli when we saw things taking a turn for the worse. Back when they decided to do away with the dollar.”