"I do love what I do, but I also feel driven to do the best I can at all times," he said. "And I guess that's good."
Carson found himself staring at the struggling face of the little boy on the pavement. It twisted and seemed to change form. The face was familiar and suddenly Carson could see the three-year-old boy's face again.
"Follow your heart this time, Carson. You tried to save my life once, but were not strong enough to follow your convictions. Do it this time," the boy’s face seemed to say.
Carson blinked in disbelief and fear. Stokes and the parents were yelling, but their shouts were muted as if they were shouting through a closed window. He slowly cut a tiny incision into the boy's windpipe. Instantly, the boy sucked in a large amount of air through the tiny cut. Carson inserted a plastic tube into the cut and taped it in place. The boy's natural color returned.
"You were right," Stokes said wide-eyed. "You're a better doctor than I thought."
"Are the others stabilized?"
"Yes. One has an abrasion on his forehead and other has a broken arm and probably a couple of broken ribs. We've done all we could here. Where are those damn paramedics?”
* * *
Stokes and Carson arrived at Holy Mary's Roman Catholic Church an hour late. They walked up wide cement steps to the large black oak doors that made up the entrance to the elaborate church.
"What do you think is going to happen at this meeting?" Carson asked.
"I'm not sure. On one hand, they strongly believe in good and evil and Satan. On the other, I believe there is a scientific and pragmatic answer for the symptoms. I'm torn on how to approach it," he explained.
"I felt the same way earlier and then that accident sort of set me straight. I think it has to do with the amount of fear and the amount of faith one has in their religion and themselves. I still don't believe I went to hell and came back to tell about it," Carson explained as they ascended the steps. "I think if you really believe in yourself, your religion, and you don't let fear take hold, then you will come to the same conclusion as I have - that this has to be some type of new disease that is undetectable."
"I think you’re right. But why are all these religious leaders here? Do you think they are going to interrogate us and try to determine that it's some kind of disease? There is something far worse going on here and we'll find out soon enough."
They opened the doors to the church and the odor of stale incense greeted them. Their footsteps echoed throughout the high ceiling like a flock of birds taking off. The two doctors walked towards a figure in black at the altar.
"Greetings, gentlemen," said the figure. "We saw you pull up."
"Hello, Father," Stokes replied.
Another priest walked up to the group.
"Doctor Matthew Stokes, Doctor Carson Hyll, this is Father Keith McDuffy of St. Mary's," Pastor Millard said.
"Glad to meet you."
"My pleasure," Father McDuffy said holding out a large burly hand that seemed not to fit that of a priest.
"We apologize for being late. There was a car accident and we had to assist," Stokes said.
"Were the injuries serious?"
"Unfortunately," Carson said. "I had to do a tracheotomy on a young boy with a collapsed esophagus."
"Carson saved the boy's life," Stokes added.
"We'll pray for them tonight and for you as well," Father McDuffy said. "We hadn't started yet. We're waiting for Bishop Phulax from the archdiocese. Come, gentlemen. We'll join the others in the conference room."
The men walked across the altar, went through a doorway off to the left, and entered a room with a long oval conference table. Brown soft leather chairs with armrests surrounded the table, and the soft off white light from the overhead lights gave the room a warm, comfortable ambiance. Three sweating glass pitchers of water each with several tumblers nearby were evenly spaced on the table.
"May I have your attention, please," Father McDuffy announced to the small crowd. "This is Doctor Matthew Stokes, chief of staff at Ocean Village and Doctor Carson Hyll, also of the hospital.
The crowd smiled and nodded through a fog of gloom that seemed to hang in the room. The fog made Carson's stomach turn slightly, but Stokes appeared oblivious to it. Carson and Stokes were directed to seats near the end of the table. Father McDuffy and Pastor Millard took seats on each side of them. The head seat remained vacant.
"We’ll start as soon as the bishop gets here. He should be here any minute now," Father McDuffy said.
Several minutes later, Bishop Phulax entered the room dressed in black.
"Gentlemen, may I introduce Bishop Oino Phulax of the Archdiocese of Trenton," Father McDuffy announced.
The religious leaders stood. Bishop Phulax towered over them all, his frame measuring over six feet. He looked more like a prizefighter than a bishop.
"Be seated," the bishop said.
Father McDuffy directed him to the head of the table, but he did not sit. The bishop placed a hard black briefcase on the table and snapped the hasps open. The sound and deliberate motions of the bishop suggested that his black case held something ominous and evil and that it would be unleashed when he opened it. The men in the room watched trance-like as the bishop opened the case and took out a small stack of papers.
"All my life I have battled evil. I have avoided it at every turn. I have turned it back whenever I could. I have sacrificed and I have worked very hard to lead my people on the right road, the good road, the road towards salvation. And I have been successful. But now for the first time in my life I don't feel this is something we can ignore or to be taken lightly. I feel that this evil is very strong and we have to push hard to help our followers hold on to their faith. I have never said this, but I feel the evil is winning," the bishop announced in a deep, dark authoritarian voice.
"I believe we are seeing the beginning of the end - not a disease or a pestilence, but the rise of Satan, the rise of evil in the world. Armageddon. This did not just happen yesterday or last week or last year. I have been watching it for several decades," the bishop said.
He reached into his briefcase and took out a pair of reading glasses. He positioned them on his large, baldhead, and then reached down and took hold of a thick rust brown leather-jacketed book. Its edges and corners were lighter in color than the rest of the jacket. He pushed his briefcase aside and placed the heavy book on the table in front of him. His hand disappeared into his pant pocket and then reappeared holding a small gold key. He placed the tiny key in a gold lock that held the book shut. The men could hear themselves breathing. He turned the key and the lock made a sharp click. He moved the belt clasp out of the tiny hasp and slowly opened the book. Its pages were the color of old newsprint. He bent down close to the book and turned several pages and then he stopped. He began to read:
"'And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,' is from Revelations, 20:7 '...as ye have heard that Anti-Christ shall come, even now there are many Anti-Christs...’ from 1 John 2:18. This Anti-Christ is expected to spread evil throughout the world, only to be conquered by the Second Coming of Christ and the end of the world. The first Anti-Christ was Napoleon, who was responsible for the deaths of two million people and fourteen years of war. The second Anti-Christ was Hitler, who was responsible for the deaths of some fifty million human beings in his pursuit to conquer the world. I believe the third and last Anti-Christ is here now and living somewhere in this world in our current century,” Bishop Phulax explained without blinking once.
The small crowd sighed.
"It is also in the prophecies of Nostradamus, who lived in the 16th century, and predicted many, many things throughout history. Of course the Church has never condoned his prophecies, but now we are forced to take another look. In modern times, he predicted that a man named DeGaule would rule France, that the Russians would invade Afghanistan and that the United States and Russian would one day become friends. He even predicted the nuclear accident at Ch
ernobyl. Let me read to you what he wrote in his eighth century 77th quatrain,
‘The third Anti-Christ very soon annihilated. Twenty-seven years his bloody war will last: The heretics are dead, captives, exiled Blood soaked human bodies, water and a reddened icy rain covering the entire earth’.
He also names the identity of this Anti-Christ in his second century 62nd quatrain.
‘Mabus will soon die, then will come A horrible slaughter of people and animals, As once vengeance is revealed coming from a hundred lands. Thirst, and famine when the comet will pass.’
Nostradamus also wrote that the third Anti-Christ will be the evil man of blood, who will be responsible for triggering World War III and the final extinction of mankind through a nuclear holocaust," he said.
The bishop filled a tumbler with water and raised it to his mouth. He drank most of the water and then put the glass down.
"I don't believe the world will end by nuclear war - something much worse will happen and it is happening now," the bishop explained. The whites of his dark brown eyes seemed to flair and contrast against his smooth, black skin.
The men grumbled among themselves in disbelief.
"I can't say I believe totally in Nostradamus - I only believe in the scriptures, but I offer these facts to you because they also confirm what is written in the New Testament."
"Why do you believe the end is near?" asked Stokes. "Every new millennium brings these prophecies to light. The heretics, the doomsday seers, the mystics all seem to come out of the woodwork when we enter a new millennium. Years have passed and we are all still here."
"You are right, sir..."
"Sorry, that I didn't introduce everyone," Father McDuffy interrupted. "That is Doctor Matthew Stokes, chief of staff at Ocean Village Hospital."
The bishop nodded, but did not smile.
"My pleasure, Doctor Stokes," he said.
"Mine, also."
"You are correct Doctor Stokes, but there is something extremely evil out there, and I believe that members of your profession have named it the Hellfire Syndrome..."
"You're talking about an unknown, undetectable disease, not the coming of Satan!" Carson interrupted. "There's nothing Satanic about the symptoms of a disease. I had the symptoms and I experienced the disease first hand and I don't believe I went to hell and back!"
"Doctor Carson Hyll, I presume," the bishop said.
The men sitting around the table stirred, and some whispered to each other.
"We would like to believe that it's a disease, too, Doctor Hyll, but too many things indicate otherwise," the bishop replied.
He looked at Father McDuffy and the priest looked at the other men.
"We have reason to believe it’s more than a disease," the priest said directing his words to Stokes. "John would you like to start?" He focused on a thin young man with dark circles under his eyes and a drooping face.
"Yes, I would. I'm Pastor John Denby of the First Presbyterian Church of Manalapan," he said slowly as if he were too tired to speak. "I also would like to believe that the events we have heard about are a disease of some kind, but my beliefs tell me otherwise. For the past two months, eighteen people from my parish have had this experience or a relative who did. Six of those had to be committed to mental institutions because they were no longer functional, three died, and two women had their fetuses aborted because they didn't want their children to be born and end up in hell. Others have refused to leave the hospital because they fear dying. I can't believe that a single disease can cause all these different tragedies."
"I also had similar experiences with my following," added a middle-aged man with a wide face and ashen pasty skin. His silvered hair thick and full.
"George Bradson, pastor of the Freehold Baptist Church. I've had several people who have come to me hysterical over dying. Their fear is real. These are levelheaded, sane people, who swear that something evil is after them. They believe it's the devil and if they die, he will get them. They believe God has abandoned them."
"What seems strange to me," Carson added, "And I don't want to sound like I don't believe in God or that I'm anti-religion, but all of these people came to the same conclusion - that people who have this experience have been to hell. Where did that assumption come from? Wouldn't some just blow it off as a terrible nightmare or an experience triggered by the symptoms? Seems to me there are a lot of people out there thinking about heaven and hell all the time."
"I can explain that," interrupted a bearded, overweight man with a round, red face. "I'm Reverend Bruce Motter, Saint Ambrose Episcopal Church in Neptune. People have been talking about it ever since that story appeared in The Ocean Village Sentinel. That kind of news is like gossip - it travels everywhere. When word got around that others had the same experience, then it hit home. It was no longer gossip, and people started getting very upset, especially when a member of their church had the experience to confirm what they had been hearing. This meeting is just in time because the lid is about to blow off on this thing."
"Well, one thing is certain to keep this out of the press at all costs," added Stokes. "If the Asbury Park Press gets wind of this, it will go national, and then it will be out of control. We have a major problem here, gentlemen, because until we know for sure what we are dealing with, we have no way to control the hysteria."
A rabbi from the far end of the table raised his hand. He had short-cropped sandy hair and was younger than the others by ten years or more.
"Yes, Rabbi Bernstein," Father McDuffy said.
"Rabbi Jacob Bernstein, Temple Beth Torah in Red Bank - Why don't you issue a statement to the press on your position that as a man of science, a learned physician, you believe it is a disease of some sort."
"I think the less attention we give this the better off we'll be," added Stokes.
"What if it gets worse?" the rabbi asked.
"Then we‘ll have to deal with it," Stokes said. "One thing is certain that whatever is happening is shaking the foundations of all organized religion and this has never happened in the history of mankind. Even the Communists had a god - their god was the state, everything for the state. Whatever a man's religion is it is his hope, his future, his dreams, and when you take that away there is no telling what will happen."
A shroud of silence enveloped the room. Even the light from the overhead lights seemed to pale with Stokes' explanation. The group remained silent for a few minutes.
"We have a common cause now," Pastor Denby blurted out as if he were suddenly awakened out of a nightmare. "We have a common enemy; one that we know is trying to destroy every known religion. We should unite our efforts."
"I think that's a noble and intriguing idea and I would like to live long enough to see that happen," Stokes added. "But I think the best thing to do is to go on as if nothing has happened, and make subtle attempts to strengthen your parishioner's belief in God and religion."
"I disagree," Rabbi Bernstein interrupted. "I support Pastor Denby. I think we need to shout as loud as we can. I think we should have a multi denomination event for the public. Bring in the top evangelists like Billy Graham, his son, Rev. Franklin Graham and others."
"Where could we have something this big?" Pastor Denby asked.
"The Great Auditorium!" Carson said. It can seat 6,000 and it is almost the size of a football field. It's been used for these types of events since it was built in 1894; it is the largest enclosed auditorium in New Jersey and its right here in Ocean Village."
"Perfect," Bishop Phulax added. "You will have the full support of the diocese. I can arrange for you to have any resources you need. Can you organize the event in a week or so?"
The men mumbled among themselves.
"I would say it would take a month just to notify the right leaders and get a commitment," Pastor Denby added. "You will have the support of my church also. I don't know if we can get the Reverend Graham in such short notice."
"We can once I explain our problem to him," added Pa
stor Bradson of the Freehold Baptist Church. "I know him well. We studied together in the same seminary when we were starting out."
"I'm still not sure we should do this," Stokes added. "I think this will bring unwanted attention to the problem."
"I think if we can also present the scientific viewpoint, it will have more impact and be more effective," Carson added. "We are witnessing a convergence of science and religion. Science is now providing more evidence that Biblical events are probable, and actually happened. And Doctor Stokes if you would serve as our medical authority on this, I think we can pull it off."
Stokes shrugged and resigned himself to the majority consensus.
"Okay. Anybody have any questions?" Father McDuffy asked. "Then we’ll meet here same time next week. I’ll draw up an agenda of what I would like to see at the event. I suggest everyone do the same and then we’ll discuss them next week."
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